Page 124 of A Game of Monsters

It will be if we don’t save it, I thought.

Erix had voiced the concern that had grown inside of me. The last of our Nephilim army had just flown out of view, leaving us alone for the first time. They would stop only when they reached Cassial, slowly infiltrating his ranks, poisoning his army of Fallen with Faithful, without him realising.

“It is,” I agreed, looking out at the ramshackle farmland beyond the window. “And I don’t like it, not one bit.”

“Me neither, little bird,” he said, protectively stepping into me, not trusting even our own shadows. I glanced back at him to find his body slouched, a sickly pallor clinging to his once sun-kissed skin.

“I’ll be all right to carry on in a moment,” Erix announced, reading the concern in my eyes.

We had to catch up to Gyah and Seraphine, and as long as we kept pace, we’d be only hours behind them. But one look at Erix, that was all it took, and I knew he wouldn’t make it.

Exhaustion told stories across every line and shadow across his brilliant face.

“You need to rest,” I announced, leaving no room for him to refuse, nor did he try.

I looked around, scanning the area around me for an answer.

On all sides, fields of grazing livestock were left unattended. Chickens ran around without purpose. I’d lived near enough to farms like this that I recognised the keening screeches as requests for food, and the smell. In the distance was a ramshackle building, almost leaning to the left slightly as if the foundations were far too relaxed to hold it.

“Over there,” I said, pointing with one hand whilst taking Erix’s hand with the other. “We can afford a couple of hours to rest. Maybe we’ll find some answers as to why Durmain is so quiet…”

I was relieved to find the farmhouse empty, but it also added to my concerns as to why. There no one here. No one but me and Erix, filling the rooms of someone’s home like unwanted guests.

Erix had finished checking the small dwelling set into the farm’s heart, confirming it had been recently vacated. I tried to convince myself that whoever had been here had moved on to better things. But drawers were full of clothes, vegetables and meat were left to rot in their respective storages.

It was like the humans who lived here had upped and left with little notice.

Giving myself something to do, I knelt before the hearth, running fingers through cold soot. The stone around it was also cold to the touch, proving it had been some days since it was last lit.

“And your gryvern have shared the same update?” I asked again, stomach cramping from hunger and worry.

Erix nodded, hesitant eyes scanning the empty room as if an assassin would spring from the shadows and murder us. Distrust was evident in every crease in his brow and nibble of his lip. “It would seem that Cassial hasalreadyordered the evacuation of any dwelling close to Wychwood. He beat us to it.”

“If that was the case, we would’ve seen those refugees making their way to Lockinge.” Yet the roads had been empty, the streets of the human city almost void of life. “Humans don’t just disappear in a matter of days, so where did they all go?”

“I don’t know,” Erix said, clearly displeased with the lack of knowledge. His eyes fluttered closed, his attempts to keep them opening failed over and over.

“No more questions and answers,” I said. “Get some more sleep.”

“If I can. Perhaps the Nephilim are built for such long journeys, but I feel like my wings are seconds from falling off. Hopefully when I wake my gryvern will have more news on the humans’ whereabouts, and you will have conversed with Jesibel on the passing of your messages.”

Erix looked like a man struggling. Shadows clung beneath his eyes, even the usual bright hue of silver looked more akin to dark storm clouds.

Unlike Erix, I’d slept some of the flight, finding it easy to focus on his heart’s canter and the beat of his wings. I’d woken when we passed over Lockinge, so I was as rested as I needed to be. We briefly stopped just south of the city, in a nondescript building that had once belonged to the Asps. I’d been inside it once, after we escaped Lockinge, only to return to it. In truth, with the combination of being close to the fey realm, and knowing Duncan was on his way to infiltrate Cassial’s league, I hardly imagined sleep would be a possibility until this was all over.

“Wake me in an hour,” Erix grumbled, head leant against the side of the worn chair.

“You can take more than a few hours,” I said. “If all goes to plan, Duncan will be able to reach Cassial just after Gyah reaches him. Then your gryvern will follow.”

“It is Gyah I am worried about,” Erix echoed my own unsaid thoughts.

“I trust Seraphine will not let any harm come to her,” I reminded him, and myself. “And Cassial is going to be so focused on the Wychwood border that Duncan’s attack will surprise him threefold and from three different sides. Wemusthave faith that the distraction will be enough.”

Whatever game Seraphine played, it was full of overlapping lies. I trusted the Asp, or at least, I knew our hopes for a future were aligned. But she’d had a reason not to involve me in her plans. I just hadn’t worked out what those were yet.

“Are you trying to convince me, or yourself? Erix asked, a single brow raised.

It was natural for my mouth to draw into a tight line as I shrugged. “Both.”

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