House of Dragons (Royal Houses #1) - K.A. Linde Page 0,128

the Society.”

Kerrigan sighed. “You’re all so predictable.”

“Shut up, bitch,” Darrid snarled, brandishing the weapon in her direction.

“It’s two on one, Darrid,” Fordham said evenly. “What do you think you’ll accomplish?”

“Oh, is it?” he asked.

And then Kerrigan realized Darrid had been the distraction. Taiga came out of the woods to their left and Chelcie to their right. From high in the tree above Darrid, Posana knocked an arrow and let it loose at their feet, just to let them know that running would be no use.

“There’s nowhere to go,” Darrid jeered.

“Four against two. That’s almost a fair fight,” Fordham said confidently. “Look at you, the little gang leader of the wayward competitors.”

Darrid stiffened at the words. “We’re going to cut you down, Ollivier, and no one will mourn you.”

“Fordham,” Kerrigan whispered, drawing even closer. “The medallion.”

He nodded his head once and then tensed, as if preparing to meet Darrid’s attack. But they had been training so long that they both saw it coming. Darrid hadn’t been training out his mistakes, and he had many.

“Left,” Fordham whispered.

“And turn.”

“One, two, three.”

Darrid ran at them with the knife, but as a seamless unit, Kerrigan and Fordham pivoted left, away from the oncoming assault, just missing the arrow from Posana. Fordham broke open the raven medallion and waited for what he had risked his life for.

Suddenly, the sound of wings filled the air. Even Darrid paused at the unholy noise. Birds rushed out of Noirwood Forest and blanketed the sky black. Hundreds, maybe even thousands, of ravens descended on the battling ground just outside of the forest.

Kerrigan ducked her head to try to shield herself from the attack. But the ravens never touched her or Fordham. And a memory hit her, though she knew not from where, of ravens guiding spirits through the unknown. Psychopomps—the word came to her, unbeknownst.

Spirit guides. Ravens were spirit guides. They directed the dead to the next world, but that wasn’t all they could do.

“Trust me,” she told Fordham.

She grasped his arm and closed her eyes, and they walked into the raven melee, letting the birds carry them onto the spiritual plane.

48

The Raven Flight

The ravens disappeared, save for one lone bird, as they exited the physical and materialized onto a new plane. The raven looked at her, and she shivered with the realization that this was what she was here for. Not to survive in the forest, but to cross the spiritual plane.

“What did you do?” Fordham gasped.

“I saved us.”

She didn’t know what she had done. Not really. But she had done it. It felt the same as the time with Gelryn when she had unconsciously pulled him into the spiritual plane. Now, here she was again with a raven waiting for her command.

Before Fordham could ask any other questions, she smiled at the bird. “Are you here to guide us?”

The bird cawed, knowingly.

Kerrigan nodded, ignoring Fordham’s look of puzzlement. She couldn’t doubt herself. Not here. For some reason, she felt perfectly at ease. As if she had been waiting for this very moment, and she knew exactly what to do. “Can you take us to the caves?”

The bird cawed and then was off.

Fordham’s eyes were wide. She touched his hand, not quite real, not quite not. “Do you trust me?”

“Yes,” he said easily.

“Then trust me.”

And with their first step together, they followed the raven across the expanse of the plane.

That first step was the hardest. Her body felt encased in the energy of the plane. But as soon as they started up an easy pace behind the raven, they moved through it like free-flowing water.

She had never seen anything like it. The sky was the bluest blue, and the ground was the greenest green but not naturally so. As if the entire space had a blanket thrown over reality. What they were staring at was the clearest, purist, bluest form of the world below. None of it felt quite like walking, per se. At least, she didn’t feel the stretch of her muscles or the elements against her skin or get tired in the same way. Though she was certain that, this time, her physical body was coming with her. It wouldn’t have been much of an escape if they’d left their bodies behind for Darrid to ravage.

After a short time, the landscape at their feet began to change. No longer were they on the plane, but right ahead, they could see a raging river.

“That’s the South River,” she said. “I didn’t think we were that close to it