Willow's Arc

Chapter 8 of 12

Willow waited for the beast to retreat into the water. It didn't move. The chains wrapped around its body clinked softly as it shifted its weight. She turned to face it, unsure what it wanted from her now. Footsteps splashed through the shallows behind her. She spun, expecting the elders to return with more members, but it was Gnewt who emerged from the darkness. He carried a twisted wooden lamp post that glowed with golden light, planting it in the mud at the water's edge. Stryker followed, stopping beside the weathered coffee shop that sat abandoned near the shore. He nodded to Willow, then looked past her at the beast. "The elders are gathering at the shrine," he said. "They're bringing the others." Willow's chest tightened. She'd made herself an enemy of the cult, but she hadn't expected anyone to stand with her. Gnewt adjusted the lamp post until its light fell across the water. "We block them here," he said. "They want the beast, they go through us first." Willow pulled the crystal from her pocket and held it where both of them could see it. "They'll kill us for this." Stryker shrugged. "Probably. But I've seen what they do when they get what they want." He gestured toward the beast. "It's been protecting the village from something worse. The elders just want to control it." Willow looked at the beast again. It lowered its massive head, eyes still glowing that same teal. She realized she wasn't trying to capture it anymore. She was trying to keep it free. That wasn't what the elders had sent her to do, but it was what needed doing. She tucked the crystal back into her pocket and turned to face the direction the elders would come from. "Then we stop them," she said. The three of them stood together at the water's edge, the beast behind them, the village ahead. Willow had chosen her side. Now she had allies who'd chosen the same.