back. You can hide your face and not eat a pound of bugs. All that wind is bad for your skin, as well.”
Rune curled her lip. “Before the witch stole my monster, I ran like the wind. I’m used to picking a few bugs out of my teeth.” And she turned around. “One of you slide on in here.”
“I’m just going to listen to Snow,” Lex said, and jumped on her ride’s back.
“Rune,” Snow said. “Sure you won’t change your mind?”
“I’m sure.”
Snow sighed loudly, but Rune ignored her.
And five minutes later, she was kicking herself for being so stubborn.
The dead…
The dead could run.
They would have left her and her monster in the dust, as much as it pained her to admit it.
She kept her mouth firmly closed, but bugs and other small things got in anyway. Her nostrils were clogged, her face stung, and the wind burned her watering eyes. She figured she’d have to shave her head—there’d be no untangling the mess her hair was in.
She imagined the berserker was faring worse—at least she was used to running at speeds that were incredibly fast. Strad had nothing at all to compare it to.
Finally, they stopped. Rune couldn’t have guessed how long they’d run, because their running was like…shoving through time.
And it was incalculable.
Her carrier released her and she stumbled forward on shaky legs, almost unable to keep her feet beneath her.
“How was it?” Snow was grinning.
“Smug bitch,” Rune said, after coughing up a lungful of winged creatures and blowing God only knew what from her nose. “It was great fun. I’d like to do it again sometime.”
She slapped bugs from her hair as she surveyed the area. The Army of Death and Darkness had brought them to…
“Oh,” Rune said. “No.”
“What is it?” Strad pushed his way to her. He looked only a little worse than she felt after the run with the Army.
“The crawlers’ boneyard,” she whispered.
“There,” the captain said, pointing to the ground. “There is the witch. This is the moment the true battle begins. The last battle. Open yourself to it. Do it now.”
Rune nodded and tried to speak, but her heart was knocking against her ribs and her lungs didn’t want to inflate. Her stomach tossed so violently she was sure she would disgrace herself by throwing up.
“Rune,” Fie insisted, “do it now.”
She felt something—a familiarity, a longing, a need. All inside her. Skyll was her world. Hers.
Magic swirled around her, inside her, lay heavy in the air.
She parted her lips and the magic—she had no other word for it—slid into her mouth.
Began to take her over. And she let it.
It had all come down to that moment.
“We all have a job to do,” the captain continued. “Those who should will find their way here. The witch will not run again, as her time is also up.” He made a sweeping gesture at the surrounding area. “This is your arena.”
“This is the beginning,” Snow said.
“And,” Rune murmured, “this is the end.”
One way or another.
The berserker drew his spear. “You’re not alone.”
“She will fight magic with magic,” Fie said, her sweet voice slicing through the cold morning. “And you, Berserker, are not magic. The witch will kill you in seconds and Rune will be too grief-stricken to fight. Back away and let the princess go to her destiny. There will be more than enough combat to keep you occupied.”
She paused, then spoke directly to Rune. “Do not walk slowly to your destiny. Embrace it. Grab it. Satisfy it. Then the worlds will be right and you will be free.”
What if I don’t? What if I can’t?
“Damascus,” Rune muttered. “Fuck you.”
Lex grabbed her hand. “Make her your bitch.”
Yeah.
“The crows,” Snow said. “Look at all the crows.”
They came suddenly, a black mass that grew larger and larger until it blocked out the sun and made the sky a dark, undulating, living thing above them.
“It all comes down to this.” Rune rubbed her arms and shivered at the cold heat of the magic. The magic joined her blood and circulated through her. “Just this.”
It invigorated her.
It scared the fuck out of her.
“No fear,” Strad said. “You’re not meant to lose.” And his voice, deep and hard and dark, brought her close to tears. She didn’t know why and there was no time to wonder.
The witch was coming.
And she realized something. The realization grabbed her by the throat and if she hadn’t listened, it would have choked the life out of her.