Arron Liken's Arc

Chapter 10 of 11

Arron and Lilly landed hard on cool stone. The portal spun behind them, blue and violet light pouring from its runed arch. Its hum filled the air. Arron rose and turned toward it. The gate still stood open. He knew what that meant. If it stayed open, Victor and his hunters could leap through after them. On the far side of the light, the temple hill still burned in his mind. Elizabeth stood there yet. The seer gripped their staff, its fiery head bright against the dark. Arron could see them faintly through the swirling ring, small and steady among the moon-lit grass. "Close it," he shouted into the light. "Close the door!" Elizabeth heard. They raised the staff in both hands and drove it down. The runes flared white. The swirl inside the arch tightened, folding inward like water down a drain. Back on the hill, Victor reached the top step. He saw the shrinking gate and ran. His marked blade caught the moon. He launched himself at the light, arms out, teeth bared. But the portal snapped shut a breath too soon. Victor struck bare stone and rolled. He came up empty-handed, screaming at the space where the door had been. Arron and Lilly were gone. He had missed. Then Victor's rage found a new target. Near the temple wall lay a lean shape wreathed in shadow. The black wolf. It lay still, dark coat swallowing the light, as it had since he cut it down on the valley road. Victor limped to it. "You cost me the wolf and his mate," he spat. He raised the marked blade and drove it deep into the wolf's side. He twisted the steel. "Now stay dead." The wolf did not move. Victor waited, breathing hard. Nothing. He yanked the blade free and turned away, satisfied. But the wolf had only been pretending. It had never truly died on that road. Its eyes opened, pale and cold. It watched Victor's back for one long moment. Then its edges blurred. The dark coat spread and thinned. The wolf sank into the shadow at the temple base and vanished, leaving no body, no blood, nothing for Victor to find. When he glanced back, the ground was empty. On the other side, the runed arch went dark and quiet. The hum died. The light drained from the swirl. Arron pressed his hand to the cold frame. No hunters came through. The way was closed for good. He knelt beside Lilly. She sat on the strange stone, brown eyes wide, her wolf still sealed and silent inside her. "We made it," he said. "Victor can't follow." Lilly gripped his arm. "Then where are we?" Arron stood and looked around. Bare rock stretched in every direction under an unfamiliar sky. No river. No pines. No path. They were safe from the hunters at last. But they were also lost, alone, and far from any home he knew.