Page 2 of Immortal Alliance

“Don’t trust my vision, then, but trust my magic, Dragan. You’ve seen some of what I can do, but there’s more. I can use my magic toprobesomeone’s soul. Kolvar witnessed it, and so has Aima. And when Theren touched me in the clearing, he wasn’t alone there. The King of The Unseelie Court isn’t in control of himself. I don’t know what’s happened to him, but that person I met out there, that isn’t him,” I argue. “And neither is Variant. We need tohelpCambion so he doesn’t end up like them, trapped in his own mind while Morrigan uses him as a puppet.”

“Morrigan has no power. Even Pyre couldn’t sense much of any strength inside the Midnight Queen.” Baron stands up and faces me boldly. “I’m not saying you’re wrong or right, but we can’t just go on another rescue mission when we don’t have all the answers. We have to assume that Cambion may already be corrupted. Let’s follow Kolvar’s plan, all right?” The vampire reaches for me, but I turn away from him and walk over to my corner of camp, keeping my back to all of them.

When the others fall asleep, I follow suit. I don’t know how long it is until Pyre wakes me. He limps off and I follow him as he points to another portal not far from where we stand. “That’s the main portal to the Unseelie Kingdom, one not even Noni knows of. You and I need to close it, Eilish. I can’t do it without your power.”

“What about Baron?” I ask.

“He isn’t a strong enough spellcaster just yet. Please.” Pyre begins walking toward the portal, leaving me no choice but to follow him. His steps are careful, so as to not cause himself more pain than necessary. “I agree with you, by the way. The others do as well, but it’s still too soon for them to properly process what they saw in that clearing. I know Cambion wasn’t acting freely and he did what he thought was best. It’ll take the others time to see that. Give them that time.”

We close the portal much more easily than I’d expected and make our way back before the others are the wiser. I lay beside Dragan. Though we’ve argued over Cambion, I still find myself seeking his comfort. Baron reaches for me subconsciously in his sleep and I tangle my fingers with his and close my eyes. But, of course, the dreams return…

Go, now, Eilish, run!

The voice grows more insistent, panicking even. I don’t know where it’s coming from, if someone I can’t see is talking to me or if the voice is just in my head. Or if I’m just imagining the whole thing.

“I can’t... run anymore,” I say out loud, panting with the exertion it takes to speak. My voice sounds strangely foreign—high-pitched and terrified. Inhaling, I shake my head as I face the road ahead of me—asphalt that stretches for what seems like miles, with only the loneliness of a dark forest on either side to keep it company. And the occasional broken-down car, mostly reduced to a skeletal, rusted frame.

It’s coming, the voice warns. I can hear it. Tree limbs snap behind me, accompanied by growling and the sound of something sniffing, catching my scent on the wind.Move, Eilish!

My heart beats like a frightened bird trapped in a tiny cage. The chills are growing stronger now, refusing to let go. Beneath my armpits, my shirt is soaked, and still more beads of perspiration bleed from my hairline. I’m so exhausted, the idea of continuing on makes me want to pass out.

If it finds you, it will rip you to pieces,the voice cautions.

My eyes open just as the sun begins to rise. What was the beast chasing me in the forest? No. Not a beast, a man. I know it wasn’t a beast, though it growled like one. Whoever he was, Morrigan didn’t want him to catch me. Was it out of concern, or something more malicious?

CHAPTER TWO

FLUMPH

The Veil

My skin prickin’ like a son o’ a bitch when I sleepin’. Everythin’ begin to spin around, like when that fuckin’ dragon show up an’ starts burnin’ shit. It were real scary. One minute, I helpin’ the shadow dick fight the Unseelie jerks, an’ then the fightin’ turn real crazy. Harpies—big fuckers with pretty faces an’ ugly-ass wingses—just swoop down an’ picks up soldiers like they don’t weigh nothin’ at all! It scare the shit outta me an’ I was screamin’! I ain’t afraid to says it.

There be some things in life us sprites ain’t ‘pose to see. An’ a giant dragon be one o’ them.

I thought my heart was gonna fall outta my anus-hole when the ground were shakin’ an’ rumblin’ all scary-like. The growlin’ an’ breathin’ fire weren’t no fun, neither. Then the lightnin’! HOLY FUCK! Since when do them big lizards do that, huh? I ain’t never seens it before. Then again, I ain’t never really seen a dragon before, either, so I don’t really knows exactly what they like. But breathin’ fire an’ lightnin’ ain’t fair. ‘Specially when I were already injured. There I was with my body all hurtin’, an’ then suddenly I was over by the window, watchin’ all hell break loose in The Veil.

Ain’t nothin’ scarier than a fuckin’ dragon, and that’s that! I’ll never sleeps agin without that big ‘ol thing poppin’ into my brain all creepy-like. If not for Noni, I don’t ‘pose I’d be here. She a good one. She don’t piss me off as much as she used ta. Now, we sorta friends an’ I ain’t all that uncomfortable with it no more. Not when she save me every times I get my ass blown off or skewered onto somethin’ sharp an’ pointy. I owe her a hug or somethin’, but that it. I ain’t all lovey-dovey.

But there been a real naggin’ thing in my brain that won’t go away. I gotta talks to Pretty soon as possible. She the only one who wantin’ to figure out what goin’ on with the elf. If it was my choice—which I knows it ain’t—he’d be sinkin’ to the bottoms of some ocean with rocks tied to him’s foots. Fuck him an’ his perfect fuckin’ hair. Unseelie an’ Seelie can both suck a greasy dick!

My little feets carry me over to wheres Pretty sleepin’. I tap her cheek, but she don’t wakes up. She havin’ one o’ them dreams again. I go back to bed an’ let her sleep more. But in the mornin’, we already packin’ up an’ movin’ out like I ain’t in needs o’ some beauty rest after all this shit. I overwhelmed by all the fightin’ an’ dyin’ an’ betrayin’. These giants gonna be the deaths o’ me, I swear it. An’ when I do finally die, I don’t wants no necromancer bringin’ my sexy bones back to life.

When the group leavin’ the forest, I hear them fuckin’ harpies again an’ nearly fall offa the Shadow King’s shoulder. He glare at me all pissy-like, so I goes to climb up Pretty so we can talks ‘bout stuff. Real important stuffs.

“Don’t looks at me or let ‘em know we talkin’,” I whisper, real quiet, in her ear. She just nod her head an’ get to listenin’ real good. “So, the Mother Heifer was doin’ that creepy shit when she leave her body again. An’ when she don’t thinks I listenin’, I really really listenin’, you know?”

She nod again.

“Well, she say somethin’ ‘bout her lover, Abbey, not so long after she babblin’ ‘bout a great dark power or somethin’ like that,” I say. “Now, I thinkin’ they one an’ the same, you know? She been talkin’ ‘bout inefebles power an’ whatsnot for a long time now. Then she escapin’ not too long after. Coincidences? I don’t thunk so.”

Pretty lookin’ real confused, so I tell her all the stuffs I hears the Mother Heifer say. She look like she ate somethin’ real bitter an’ that mean she thinkin’, soze I leaves her to it an’ flys over to Assface. The enormous Satyr cast a shadow on the Ashland ground bigger an’ wider than the fuckin’ mountain we gettin’ closer to. He swattin’ at me likes I some sorta fly or somethin’.

“Hey, you mean what you say when you say you wantin’ to library them fae like me?” I ask him.

“Liberate,” he grate through him’s teeth. “And, yeah, I meant what I said. Worry not, pest. I’ll free the faeries and make sure Variant and every sort like him are dead and gone soon enough.”

Them words makin’ me happy, so I flys by the satyr for a while longer, but when we gets to the fuckin’ mountain, I gotta rest my wings. Shadow King still lettin’ me sits on him from time to time, an’ that make me even happier.

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