Icebound (Legends of the Shifters Book 2) (4 page)

“Why
wouldn’t you be?” he asked.

I
shrugged.  “Two weeks is a long time, that’s all.”

We
stopped walking just before we got to the tree line.

Before
he continued into the woods, he pulled me into a hug. “It’s good to finally see
you again,” he said.

I
nodded against his shoulder uncomfortably. He was almost a married man. I
wasn’t sure if we should be treating each other like we used to.

I
watched his retreating back until the trees swallowed him completely,
remembering a time when he had been my best friend. It was nice while it
lasted, but now we were older and going our separate ways. Perhaps when he
moved to the castle, Emillia and I could be good friends, but things could
never be the same with Ayon.

After
I turned away from the woods, Sir Lochlan waved me over to where he stood, in
front of the second largest tent. “This will be where you sleep for the night,”
he explained. “Two guards will be stationed outside at all times—,” he said
gruffly before I cut him off.

“Don't
waste the guards. I don't need them,” I said.

“There
are bandits in this part of the forest. The prince just wants to ensure your
safety.”

“I
can protect myself,” I protested, crossing my arms.

“He
insisted,” Sir Lochlan said. “And as his subject, you will comply.”

I
sighed. “Fine.”

Sir
Lochlan gave a sharp nod and turned away. “Good.”

-Chapter Five-

That
night, as we sat around the campfire to eat dinner, my thoughts returned to the
pendant that Rowan passed on from Kurt. Unfortunately, I could only get to it
in half form, so I’d just have to wait until everyone else went to bed.

Alyss
and Grix approached me as I tore into the leg of a rabbit the guards had caught
and roasted on a spit. I probably looked like a barbarian, but my hunger took
me past caring. They shot worried glances at the intimidating Sir Lochlan, who
sat between me and the prince, the two people he needed to protect the most.
He'd eaten quickly, and was now glowering at them as he sharpened a knife, as
if considering whether or not they were a threat.

Grix
spoke up first. “We just wanted to say thank you, Ivy. It was a relief to
finally see the light of day.”

“And
I've always wanted to go to the castle,” said Alyss quietly.

I
took the time to swallow before answering. “Think nothing of it. It's nice to
have someone I know on this journey.”

Alyss
smiled timidly. “You don't know me very well yet, but I hope that we can be
friends by the end of this trip.”

“I'm
sure we will,” I said with a slight smile as I raised a canteen to my lips.

*   *   *  
*   *

Later
that evening, I was restless. I wanted to study Kurt's pendant, but I was
certain that the glow of my skin would attract attention through the thin
canvas walls. I was beginning to dislike the fact that I could only get to it
in half-form.

Outside,
the guards talked quietly to keep themselves awake, but it kept me awake, too.
Finally, when their voices died down for a few minutes, my eyes drifted closed,
but no matter how much I willed myself to sleep, I simply couldn't.

It
felt like hours before I heard the snores outside the tent. I sat upright and
tossed aside the covers, quietly lifting the tent flap to find both guards
sleeping as soundly as babes. I grinned at my luck, and tiptoed outside. Two
more guards were stationed near the fire, right outside the prince's tent. I
crouched behind a fallen log before they could spot me. They didn't notice a
thing.

With
silent, bare feet on the cold grass, I hurried deeper into the woods, trying to
avoid twigs and rocks. When I was sure that I was too far away for anyone to
see the swirls of light, I changed into my half-form body, heightening my
already strong senses. I was rocked backward by the power that enveloped me.
I'd felt nothing like it before, but it worried me. Just how much would this
plant change me before it finally settled down?

Worried
that the guards in the camp would be able to see me after all, I traveled even
deeper into the forest. I pulled the phantom stone out of my pocket and studied
it as I walked, turning it in my fingers. There was no inscription carved into
it, nothing that differentiated it from any other survival test necklace. I
slipped it over my head...

And
my vision went dark. A dizzying sensation shivered through my body, and I
suddenly felt as if the sky had swallowed me whole and spat me back out again.

Suddenly,
I was in a dark room that smelled of rot and mold, staring at a figure hunched
in the corner. I knew my heart should be beating hard in my chest, but the
strange thing was, I couldn't feel it. There was no glow from my limbs either,
because my entire body had turned into a translucent grayish blue.

I
tried to speak. “Hello?” I said to the figure in the corner.

The
figure flinched and turned its head in my direction. He didn't have time to say
anything before something clanged loudly. I pushed myself into a corner as a
heavyset guard walked by, lantern in one hand and the other pulling along a
cart of limp, bloodied bodies.

Light
flashed over the room we were in as the man held the lantern up to the bars.
“Still alive, eh?” he grunted with a scowl, his breath puffing out in a white
cloud. “I guess the king would be mad if you weren't.”

The
face of the prisoner was lit up for just a few seconds, but it was enough for
me to recognize the drawn face and dull green eyes. It was my brother, but an
emptier version of him.

As
the man rolled the cart away, I whispered, “Kurt,
it's
Ivy.”

“I
know,” he said, his voice cracking as he watched the light of the lantern creep
farther away.

“How
is this working?” I asked.

He
leaned forward and crawled to the stone slab in the corner, digging under it to
pull out a matching black gem. “Rowan made them,” he said in a rusty voice.
“They're connected together somehow. Whenever one is slipped on, it takes that
person wherever the other pendant is.” He coughed, and pulled his ragged
clothes tighter around him. It must've been cold here, but I couldn't feel
anything.

“What
have they done to you?” If I were in my normal body, tears would spring to my
eyes, but in this strange spirit body, there weren't any.

“They
want to keep me alive, but barely,” he rasped. “Every day they take me to the
room with dark red walls. It reeks of death and rot and the heat from the
torches only makes it worse. They want me to tell them about you. Your
weaknesses, your strengths, your location, anything... But I won't,” he
breathed. “No matter how much of my blood they use to paint those dark red
walls.”

If
I were in my normal body, I would’ve felt sick. I struggled to find the words
to speak.

Kurt
was hurting for me. Hurting so that they wouldn't know where I was. “You have
to tell them. If you died...” I didn't finish the sentence. He knew what would
happen if he died. “I can't have you die, too. Not after Roland. Not after
Mother and Father.”

“Roland's
dead?” he said flatly.

“Yes…
And he wasn't who you thought he was,” I added quickly. “Something was
controlling him, making him do all those awful things.”

“I’d
hoped so,” he replied. “As soon as you broke the spell, it was obvious that he
didn’t know what was happening…which is why I didn’t toss him off my back when
we were trying to escape.”

I
looked down as I remembered that day. “Before he died, I tried to save him.
Tried to give him the plant of eternal life, but he wouldn’t take it.”

He
raised his eyebrows, the first flicker of hope settling over his features. “You
got to the plant?”

I
nodded. “I did. And some of it got into my system when I accidentally punctured
the stem.”

He
sat up straighter. “So you’re telling me…you’re immortal.”

I shook
my head. “I heal quickly and I’m stronger, but…I’m not sure if I’m immortal. I
didn’t consume the whole thing.”

He
shrugged, and then winced as if he’d hurt something. “Stronger is good. It will
help you with your destiny…whatever that may be.”

“Can’t
it help me rescue you? I was right there, in the same building, and Rowan
turned me away.”

“No.
No, if you get caught, it’ll put you and the rest of the world in danger,” he
said.

I
tilted my head. “The rest of the world?”

“Don’t
you realize why King Ciaran wants you? He wants your power. To control you and
use you against his enemies.”

I
went quiet, and eventually, Kurt broke the silence. “If I tell them things
about you Ivy, they'll only kill me sooner. Once they have enough information
about you, I'll be useless and they'll either stop bringing me food or kill me
on the spot.”

“As
long as I’m alive, they’ll consider you the bait to get to me,” I said softly.
“But you need to tell them something, if only to keep from being tortured.”

He
didn't reply. “Ivy, there's something that you have to know,” he finally said.
“Mother…is dead.”

I
knitted my eyebrows. “I know. I just said that a moment ago.”

He
sighed. “Well…Father isn't dead.”

“What
do you mean?” I asked. “How is that possible?”

He
leaned back into the wall, as though bracing himself for the next words. “He's
working for King Ciaran.”

I
wished my body could feel something. The cold that didn't bite, the tears that
didn't fall, the heartbeat that was absent. But there was nothing.

Should
I be angry or sad or relieved?

“How—how
did you come to know this?” I forced out.

Kurt's
breath puffed out in white fog as he whispered, “He's the painter.”

-Chapter Six-

Before
I could reply, the sky sucked me up again and plunged me back down into my body
with a jolt that sent my heart hammering as if it had just remembered how to
beat. Kurt’s expression as he said those last few words seemed to linger in the
silhouette of trees overhead. I blinked once in confusion, but it took only a
few seconds to discover why I’d returned to my body.

“What
'
ave
we got 'ere? I thought
fer
certain you were dead.”

I
jerked my head slightly and caught sight of a man above me. He grinned from ear
to ear beneath a speckled gray beard, his eyes shimmery black pools of
malevolence. In his rough, dirt-stained fingers, he held the phantom stone. I
sat up quickly, leaves falling from my tangled hair, reaching for the sword
that was no longer at my side.

One
by one, men sauntered out of the shadows and joined their leader, eyeing their newest
find. The leader swung the pendant from side to side.

“It
couldn
’ be black diamond, could it?” he asked with a
twisted smile.

I
pushed myself to my feet slowly, calmly. “I'm not looking for trouble.”

“Doesn't
look like it to me,” snickered one of the men behind me. “Laying down on the
ground with your skin glowing like that.”

I
turned to face the man that had spoken.

“Got
anything else valuable?” he asked. He stalked around me like a cat, eyeing me
up and down.

My
muscles tensed. “I'm not your prey,” I snarled.

He
sneered and looked over his shoulder. “What do you say we take her to camp,
boys?”

Their
faces glowed as they shouted in agreement.

Someone
shoved me forward from behind, and the man caught me, digging the hilt of his
blade into my back. “Then let’s go!” he barked as he tried to push me forward.

That
was enough to send me over the edge. In an explosion of rage, I whirled on him
and hooked his jaw so forcefully that it cracked. He fell to the ground,
suddenly still. I reached down and took his knife while the other men stared at
their fallen comrade in shock, the grins wiped from their faces.

Taking
advantage of their shock, I kicked the feet out from under the leader and pried
the phantom stone out of his grasp. He was stunned to find himself on his back,
gasping for the air I’d knocked out of his lungs. Before he had a chance to
react, I’d already swiped the gem and pocketed it.

Realizing
what I’d done, he grabbed my ankle, digging in with his short, stubby nails. “I
want that diamond!” he shrieked, spit flying from his mouth.

With
a simultaneous roar, the other bandits rushed at me, their weapons raised. The
nearest one carried my sword. I dodged his badly aimed swipe and slashed at the
hand that held it. He moved faster than I’d expected.

Instead
of me wounding him, he managed to slash through the leather of my glove and
deep into my flesh. I hissed through my teeth, trying not to focus on the pain
as I used the man’s moment of victory against him. I twisted the hilt out of
his hand into mine, and when I hit his temple, he dropped like a fly.

I
started to turn toward the others, but before I could face them fully,
something sharp plunged into my back. I cried out, faltering momentarily.

The
bandits didn’t hesitate once I was weakened. One punched me in the nose while
another kicked me to the ground. Blood seeped out of my mouth, but the kicks
kept coming until black spots clouded my vision.

“NO!”
came a sudden, furious shout. There was a click and the whistle of an arrow
before it embedded itself in flesh with a thud. A howl sounded, and one of the
bandits fell to the ground next to me. His body twisted away at an odd angle so
that I could see the thick arrow shaft sticking out of his back.

There
were more running footsteps and then the sound of ringing steel. Most of the
bandits knew to run away, shifting into various forms—a squirrel, a warthog, a
cat—but one bandit foolishly tried to get the pendant out of my hand.

Not
a second after he touched me, there was a click, a whistle, and a thud. The bandit
landed heavily beside me, his face buried in the leaves and mud, one eye
staring blankly.

“Ivy!”
said Prince Matthias' voice, rushing toward me and brushing the hair out of my
eyes. I stared at his blurry figure, unable to breath.

“Lochlan,
come here!”

Another
figure appeared from the other side and rolled me over. I winced and tried to
suck in a breath of air, but was only met with a stabbing pain.

“She's
badly wounded. See the way the blood foams? Punctured lung, I think,” said Sir
Lochlan.

“What
do we need to do?” Matthias asked.

Sir
Lochlan hesitated. “Hold on. Look.” He pulled off the glove that had been cut
through with a sword. Slowly, my vision started to clear. The prince and Sir
Lochlan both stared at my hand as the flesh grew back over it.

At
the same time, my broken nose snapped back into place, bringing tears to my
eyes.

Sir
Lochlan narrowed his eyes in disbelief. “Hold her down tight,” he said to
Prince Matthias.

He grabbed
the knife in my back and yanked it out. I jerked violently and sent the prince
sprawling.

I
rolled onto my hands and knees as I coughed up blood. It became easier to
breathe as my lung healed itself. My broken and bruised ribs slowly began to
mend. I wiped my face on my glove and tried to stand. Sir Lochlan helped me up
while the prince stood and watched in fascination as the fresh, blue bruises
that lined my arms and face faded.

“What
is this?” he asked in a hushed voice.

“It's
the plant,” I replied weakly.

“It
healed her,” Sir Lochlan said.

My
entire body shook with fatigue as I took a step forward. “We should get back to
camp.”

“This
way,” said the prince, taking me by the arm and turning us to the right. The
few times that I accidentally tripped, he made sure that I didn't fall.

Sir
Lochlan watched for any other threats, not even bothering to sheath his
bloodied sword. Every now and then he would make us stop to listen, but there
was nothing.

The
sky lightened as dawn crested over the horizon. When we could finally see the
glow from the dying campfires, enough of my strength had returned that I
managed to walk by myself. The guards were busying themselves around the site,
patrolling, packing up, and cooking breakfast. As we neared, the ones who noticed
us eyed my shredded clothing and Lochlan's sword. “Everything all right?” the
closest guard called.

“Bandits,”
Sir Lochlan said darkly. “It's settled now.”

The
flap of a nearby tent opened and Grix peered out, a pillow mark still lined on
his face. “Bandits? Did they hurt anyone?”

“Do
any of us look hurt?” Sir Lochlan barked as he sulked away.

I
raised my eyebrows at Lochlan’s tone, and Grix, looking affronted, ducked back
inside without answering.

The
prince placed his hand on my elbow and led me to my tent. “See if you can get
some rest. We'll be leaving within the hour.”

I
nodded and slipped inside, dropping onto the mat. Even though I was exhausted,
I could only listen to the activity of the camp. It felt like only a few
minutes had passed before Alyss shook my shoulder.

The
guards deconstructed my tent quickly. Once it was packed with the other things
on the top of the carriage, the prince climbed inside. Sir Lochlan turned back
to me, his hand held out to help me inside, but was greeted with a gust of wind
in the face as I took off into the sky in phoenix form. I circled over them,
ready to get going.

Lochlan
raised his hand to the sky and shouted, “Seriously?”

The
prince poked his head out and looked up. He muttered something, and Sir Lochlan
gave up on me and pulled himself into the carriage, shutting the door behind
him.

Relieved
that I would be allowed to stay this way, I looked forward. At my height, the
ocean was already visible, a blue line that stretched across the horizon as far
as the eye could see. Below, the trees and grass gave way to rocks and sand. I
closed my eyes as the cold wind rippled through my feathers. My thoughts were
clearer in the sky.

The
moment of peace couldn’t last long. Before I knew it, Kurt's words about our
father rushed back into my mind.
He's the painter
. He was the person
that smeared the blood of prisoners over the walls of the torture chamber. His
own son's blood.

I
hoped that Kurt was wrong, that the painter just looked like our father. Better
to have a dead father who lived an honest life than a living father who
abandoned his children to work for King Ciaran.

We
traveled for about two hours before I was forced to land. The carriage and
horses had stopped at the docks, just past a small village.

The
ship was a good size, big enough to hold all of us and our horses. Almost
everyone, including Alyss and Grix, went below decks for rest after the early
start they’d had. I wanted to sleep, wanted to let it take my troubles away for
even the smallest moment, but my mind was still reeling from this morning’s
events. Instead, I sat on a barrel and watched the land fade in the distance.
It was just a small, dark hill on the horizon when a shadow fell over me. I
looked up at Sir Lochlan.

“Can
I ask you something?” His eyes dared me to say no.

“Of
course,” I answered.

“When
you went on the quest for the plant, did anyone...go with you?” He clenched his
jaw as he waited for me to reply.

I
looked away. “Yes.”

“Where
are they now?” he asked.

I glanced
up at him, confused as to why he was interested in asking. “One of them, my
brother, is in King Ciaran’s dungeon, and the other—” I couldn’t meet his gaze.
“The other one died. An allergic reaction to the natives' sleeping draft.”

Sir
Lochlan's voice was barely above a whisper when he asked, “What was his name?”

“Roland,”
I answered quietly.

There
was no reply, but Sir Lochlan's shadow stayed where it was. I looked up at him,
and was utterly surprised to see that his eyes were red and watery. He dashed
the tears away with the back of his hand, and turned to the ocean so that I
wouldn’t be able to see his emotion.

“Roland…Roland
was my brother,” he choked out.