Page 107 of Renegade Kings

“How much longer do we have until we stop for the night?” I asked Rhidian.

Maybe befriending him was cruel, but we were in this for the long haul, and if we could all get along, it would make life easier. For him as well as for us. If he got to know us, maybe knowing that how we truly felt about Alyssa would relieve some of the sting. There was no doubt in my mind that he wouldn’t become part of the pack. Rhidian just didn’t gel with us that way.

“Not much longer. I don’t want to push them so hard that they’re exhausted by the time we get there. Plus, we have some good cover a little further up we can use to our advantage,” Rhidian replied as he fell into step beside me.

“You’ve done this route before?”

“A few times when we were in the area and wanted to see what Arik’s forces were up to. We have some spies in the villages, but sometimes it’s easier to get eyes on him ourselves, especially this far out.”

I could see the logic in that. It was one thing to let people pass on information about the Endless as they came and went, but to venture into an active war zone, it was too much to put on a single person.

“Is that why you’re so sure we won’t come across any of his soldiers? Because you’ve done this before.” It was a question that had been plaguing me since we started this trek.

“That, and the fact no one comes through the mountains if they can help it.”

“Why?”

“Because, usually, they die,” Rhidian answered, completely unphased by the fact that we were now walking through the place where most of Nymeria feared to tread.

“Erm… should we be worried about that, too?” My wolf was back at the surface again and his anxiety had doubled.

“It’s always something to be worried about in Nymeria. But Arik has hunted enough of the creatures around here that most have moved down into the planes now. We should be fine.”

Why didn’t that fill me with confidence?

“I’m going to run to the front and direct us through to where we can set up camp,” Rhidian said, slapping me on the shoulder as if completely unaware of how much I was freaking out right now. And then he jogged away while I tried not to enter a spiral that ended with me grabbing Alyssa and running back for the ship.

“What was that all about?” Maddox asked as he caught up to me.

Dean and Alyssa were walking in front of us with Tank and Damon. Dean didn’t look happy about the whole thing, and I knew he wanted Alyssa as far away from Damon as he could get. His problem was that he also didn’t want to take his eyes off her, so instead he was set on sulking and growling at anyone who came near him.

Alyssa seemed to take it all in good humour, but it must have been wearing thin on Tank because he dropped back to join us, shrugging at Dean when he looked back at him in question.

Damon wasn’t going anywhere. Not that he’d get far, even if he wanted to. The nightmare seemed to be right where he wanted to be. There didn’t seem to be any love lost between it and Arik, and I couldn’t help but wonder if it had its own plan it was trying to set into motion.

“Rhidian was just telling me how no one comes through the mountains because everyone dies here, so we shouldn’t meet anyone on our lovely hike to the death fields.”

Okay, so maybe that was a bit dark for me, but my mind had little else to do while we were on this monotonous trek other than keep reminding me of the worst-case scenario. Who knew that so many things could go wrong?

Tank shrugged. “I doubt Rhidian would have brought us this way if it was going to place Alyssa at risk. Even if he didn’t have any other motives, he needs her to survive until whatever fight they believe will see the end of this and that hardly seems like it will be some skirmish on a mountain pass.”

“It baffles me how we got into a position where knowing we’re going to die some other horrible way is the sunny side of any scary situation,” I quipped, desperately trying to reach for that no worries attitude I was known for and struggling to pull it back into place again.

“The sun shines in even the most terrible of places,” Tank said with a shrug.

I resisted the urge to point out all the occasions where that wasn’t true.

I hadn’t realised the front of our line had come to a stop until we all bunched up enough that Damon’s pleading voice reached us.

“This is madness. Surely, you can see that. Coming through the mountains won’t save you. Arik has his Endless all around the palace. It doesn’t matter what direction you come from; as soon as they see you, their numbers alone will overwhelm you.”

“Shut. Up,” Dean growled.

But now that the rest of us had grown close enough to hear their conversation, Damon seemed to see this as his opportunity to win others over to his side. He looked at Alyssa, and a curious expression crossed his face before he turned to Maddox and I.

“I know you love her. You can still save her if you turn back. Take her back to the ship and just leave. The Autumn Court is lost. Go back home. Go to the portal and leave this place behind,” he pleaded.

“You need to trust us,” Maddox said softly, his voice cracking with emotion as he talked to his brother. “You’ll understand when you see what happens next.”

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