As they crawled through the night, Merrie fought with her frustration from their slowness and the inability to use the Shadows. Fang was helpless in the dark. He couldn't see the branches or the route they were taking. He hesitated on the inclines and dips. His experience told him to be cautious while running in the dim light. It didn't matter that she would keep him safe or that he said trusted her, he couldn't run blindly through the night.
“I-I'm sorry,” he gasped as he held out his hand in front of him, “I just can't run faster.”
She had to clamp down on her emotions to avoid crushing his mind. (It's okay, just keep walking. There is a slight dip in front of you.)
He hesitated and reached out with his foot.
She fought the urge to snap at his ass. The seconds were ticking by too fast and they weren't far enough away to relax. It was less than hour since they fled the caravan and she doubted they were more than ten kilometers away. She didn't dare sent out a pulse to identify her location, either toward the Puppy Mill or back to the caravan. Given the preparations Gillette took already, it would take only a single slip of magic to betray their flight and location.
(Come on, just over this ridge.)
Fang grunted and lurched forward, his hands planting on the ground before he crawled up the side.
Merrie bounded ahead, her furry body easily covering the distance without disturbing even a pebble. At the top, she turned around and peered down at Fang who inched up the side of the slope. (There's a root to your right, ten centimeters… there.)
In the distance, a column of light suddenly appeared and speared toward the heavens. It expanded into brilliance of white and gold flames before snuffing out. The afterimage was a black-on-black slash speared the sky.
Fang gasped and then thumped his head against the rocks. “They found the body?” His voice trembled with his effort to breathe.
Merrie's stomach knotted in fear. (Yes.) Her cloak snapped out and formed a loop for Fang. When he didn't respond to it, she smacked it against his face until he grabbed it.
“Fuck!” Fang hauled himself up the cloak. Sweat rose around him as he gasped for breath. “I'm hurrying, but I haven't had to climb rocks in years.”
Her paws dug into the ground as she braced herself against his weight.
Tamin's thoughts drifted through hers. (They'll be coming for us soon and we're not far enough away. Just under eight kilometers. And, without their illusions, they don't have to worry about light. They'll be on us soon,) he let out a long breath, (if we've headed in the right direction.)
She nodded but didn't respond. He knew her thoughts and he was only saying the same thing she had been dwelling on since she realized Fang couldn't move fast enough.
(Alpha.)
Merrie froze at the tone in Tamin's thoughts. The sick feeling grew as she turned to her companion. Her stomach clenched as she stared down at his paws, drinking in the sight of his pitch black form in the night. She didn't want to look up in fear of what he was going to say.
She could feel the determination rolling in his mind, a hardness and protectiveness that had dominated his thoughts for years. Part of his own thoughts were hidden in darkness, boiling in the dark core granted by the Lord of Shadows, but she knew what he was going to say.
And it made her sick. Tears burned in her eyes as she lifted her gaze and peered at him, her ears flat against the side of her head.
His eyes were as dark as the abyss, even with her ability to see in the dark. Shadows burned around him as he stared back. (Let me hunt.)
She knew what he meant, but she shook her head. (No, not now.)
(With Fang, we cannot travel fast enough. And neither of us can abandon him. They know where to go and how to beat us. It's a race and, if nothing changes, we will lose. Either we'll be too late or they will kill us before we make it.)
She stared at him for a long moment, wishing she didn't know what he was talking about. It had been hanging over their heads for years, a shadow of fear and the promise of the Lord of Shadows. He had been saved to protect her with his life.
He was right, she knew that, but she didn't want to lose him. (Can't we take them. You and me? There is very little that we can't defeat.)
Tamin rested his head on her shoulder. (Against a hundred paladins? What if we lose? Who will protect Fang? Warn Bass?)
(They won't kill Fang.) She stared down at the man making his way up the rocks.
(We leave him here in the dark? He is no better suited for the woods than we are. If we lose, he will die out here alone.) Tamin's thoughts concentrated on the slightly overweight man still struggling to climb up even with the assistance of Merrie's cloak.
(You'll…) she struggled with the thought they were both showing. (You'll…) A tear ran down her cheek. (I don't want to lose you.)
He licked her face. (I love you since the day you gave me thoughts. But, my second chance was a gift to protect you from your enemies. That man,) he presented Gillette to her, (is our enemy. I'd be a fool to think I could go toe-to-paw against him, but we've both seen him fight. Even if we both take him on, he is our equal if not better. We've fought and killed, but he spent years fighting against the Shadows in the district we created. He has specialized in hunting me, you, and us. He knows our limits and he knows our abilities. If he's in charge of Lemetri's battles, he's probably seen more war than anyone but Bass. Even together, we will never beat him.)
As the hard thoughts drifted through her mind, she sobbed. They were the same thing she had been dreading for the last hour, but she didn't want to say them in fear they would come true.
(Alpha, I can promise you one thing. I might not stop him, but I will go down fighting and kill as many as I can. Let me hunt, not the man who betrayed you, but the army that stands behind him. I will slow them down with death and destruction.)
Merrie transformed back into a human female and wrapped her arms around his shoulder. His icy body tickled her skin as she sobbed into his shoulder.
(Their blood will run free and the ground will be stained crimson until the end of time.) Tamin rested his head on her shoulder. (I'm sorry, Alpha, but I beg you from the bottom of my black heart. Let me serve you with the last of my life. Let me defend you with my last breath.)
He took a deep breath and his heavy chest ground against her breast. (Let me hunt.)
She ground her fast into his short, black fur. Taking a deep breath, she tried to memorize the scent of his body. (Is there another way?)
(No.)
She held him tight, squeezing until it hurt. (I love you.)
(And I will love you until my last breath.)
She wanted to deny it. She wanted to tell him there was another way, but he knew her thoughts as well as his own. They both knew the truth. She risked everything by saving Fang, but she couldn't abandon him with Sama's death hanging over her. The Lord of Shadows gave her Tamin to protect her and the dark cloud hanging over them had finally peeled back.
Closing her eyes against the tears, she leaned into him as the spells began to flow. Calligraphy ran across her mind, fueled by the power stored in her collar. Strength, speed, armor, and protection. She poured every defensive and offensive spell into him, giving it as much duration as she could muster. She knew that when the spells ended, so would Tamin's life.
As soon as she finished, she started on a new spell. She had never done it before, but she remembered the way the creatures of the Shadows had gathered around her, to serve her until the end of their existence. Merrie couldn't be with Tamin, but she wasn't going to let him go into battle alone.
The spell was complicated and untested, but her instincts told her it would work. She gathered it up and let her energy pour into it until it was about to explode. Forming it into a mental crystal, she embedded it into Tamin's very soul. She sniffed as she kissed his nose. (Release this as you find your prey. It isn't the pack but it will give you an edge.)
She almost told him “be safe” but stopped. With a kiss on his muzzle, she took a deep breath to remember the smell of shadows on his fur and the touch of his nose against her cheek.
(Good hunting.)
(Be safe, Alpha.)
And then he was gone.
Merrie sobbed as she felt him racing through the Shadows. He would be on the paladins in less than a minute and her heart pounded with the dread.
Fang gasped as he reached the top. “M-Merrie.”
She pushed down her emotions and gave Fang a wave of comfort. Her cloak wrapped around his wrist and she tugged him forward. (Come.)
He obeyed follow. It was a painfully slow moving, but it was the anticipation that tore into her. She could feel it rising between their connection until it spiked as Tamin stepped out of the shadows and charged into the caravan.
Merrie closed her eyes and tried to shield herself from what would happen next. Tears burning, she pulled harder on Fang's leash and yanked him along the darkness.
“Merrie! I can't.”
(Shut up!) she snapped and she cast a domination spell. With her dread, it was a struggle to keep the magic together, but the focus helped keep her from thinking about Tamin's sacrifice.
Fang gasped as he lost control over his own body.
Merrie charged forward, driving him forward with the desperation. She couldn't do anything to help Tamin and it tore her from the inside. Her tears splattered on the ground beneath her and she was thankful that Fang couldn't see them.
Twenty minutes, her spell faltered between one sob and another. In the brief space of a single gasp, she close control of both Fang's domination and her efforts to shield herself from Tamin.
Tamin's body smoked with black flames as he leaped over the burning tent. On the other side, a paladin was fighting against a swarm of shadowy raccoons. The holy glow surrounding his body was fading underneath the boiling of death and claws. Tamin slammed into the paladin and threw him down to the ground. In a blur, he bit down through the man's helm and ripped out his throat. Blood jetted against his chest as Tamin used the gurgling man's shoulders for purchase and launched himself across the melee toward his opponent.
Gillette stood in the middle of the flames, his body encased in white armor and his scythe leaving waves of white and gold as he spun around. The holy flames surrounding his body were blinding, but Tamin would not look away from the man who threatened his pack.
The last of the Reapers chomped down on Gillette's armor, teeth punching through the metal. The black tentacles of the shadowy cat shot forward to slam into Gillette's chest and hips. The rip of metal ended with the thud of the ground being pierced.
Tamin would have had a moment of hope, but he had seen it before just minutes before. He accelerated faster, putting everything he could into getting to Gillette before the paladin recovered.
Hidden magic boiled inside him, the last of the power the Lord of Shadows gave him to protect his alpha. The obsidian power ripped away from, billowing out like his alpha's cloak but instead of forming a ripple of darkness, he broke it off and let his memories solidify into the only shadows he had left inside him.
Seven other Bel Dark hounds appeared around him. It was the pack that he grew up with, the ones he died with, and the ones he would see when he died again. Eight hounds tore through the paladins fighting in the campground and left nothing but blood and bodies.
Tamin cast the spells that he learned from his alpha, the calligraphy wasn't as fast or powerful, but he needed everything he could. His pack became nothing but pools of obsidian as they struck Gillette.
The paladin's body began to glow yellow-green from regeneration when Tamin's teeth punched through his leg. His pack caught his arms and legs, throwing him to the ground as they tore through metal and into flesh. Blood sprayed everywhere as Tamin forced his head into the torn metal and chomped into the hard, muscular leg underneath.
Gillette let out a cry as he struggled to pull himself up. His entire body shuddered as Reaper's tentacles punched into him again, piercing his chest and throat.
Tamin couldn't give up. He couldn't give Gillette a single chance to cast another spell or call to his god. He could feel the magic gathering in the enemy, a radiance spell that would blow away the shadows. Flames burned around him as he finally tore through the flesh and bit down on bone. Magic poured through him as he and another hound pulled with all their might.
A wet popping noise filled the air as the flesh tore.
Gillette ripped his right hand free. His scythe fell, the white blade arcing down. The tip punched into Tamin's back, piercing his lung and pinning him to the bloody ground.
Tamin desperately kept his teeth on Gillette's leg, his body shuddering with agony. He pulled and pulled, trying to rip the paladin's leg off.
There was a thump and then another. Tamin glanced up to see Gillette pounding his chest, the gauntlet indenting the breast place. Blood spurted out of the holes in the armor. And then he hit hard enough that the metal collapsed and a gasping word burst out of his ruined throat. "Lemetri!"
Despair slammed into Tamin as the world exploded into light. The holy magic speared into Gillette's chest. Yellow-green healing magic burst out of his body and his leg was torn from Tamin's mouth as it reconnected to his body.
Merrie flinched as the trees around her flashed with light. She knew there was another column of light behind her but she didn't dare look. Her stomach was twisting violently as she began to pant. Tears ran down her cheeks as stared at the stark shadows forming in front of her.
“What is—”
With a flash of despair, she locked Fang's voice in his throat.
Fang clawed at his throat, his eyes white in the reflected light from Gillette's spell.
The light grew brighter and Tamin felt his body melting from the intensity. The only thing keeping him together was the dark core of the abyss that bound his soul. His pack and the Reaper were not as lucky. They let out silent screams of agony as they were burned away, melting in a flash, and then blowing away in wisps of black flames.
With a clang, the scythe fell out of his shifting body and hit the ground with a wet splat.
Tamin couldn't give up. He would defend his alpha with everything he had to give. He forced everything he could into one final attack. He surged forward, the darkness fighting against the brilliance of a god. He clawed and bit down on Gillette's face, tearing through the visor and ripping into flesh. He heard bones cracking. Magic burned through his veins and the world grew dark with smoky fire.
He dug deep and found magic that his alpha used only a week before, the corrupting darkness that was left behind when she ripped off Haviston's arm. It would kill him to use it; the spell needed more energy than he had left. But, he was already dead and there was no reason to hold back. Ripping out his very soul, he poured it into the spell as he bit down with all his might. His teeth tore into Gillette's face, shattering bone as he ripped out the paladin's right eye.
Corrupting magic fought against the holy light, but Tamin shielded it with his body as the injury rotted away, sealing it like Tabitha's cropping and ensuring that no healing magic would ever recover the enemy's face.
Swords pierced Tamin's back as the other paladins joined the fight. Holy flames burned him from the inside and his guts ignited into flames. Gauntlets grabbed his body and threw him off Gillette. He got a single look of Gillette's face and felt joy at the sight of the injury. There was nothing but a bloody hole where the enemy's eye was. The edges of the shattered bone were black and corroded.
Gillette staggered to his feet, fueled by the holy magic that glowed from inside his body. The light came from his remaining bones, glowing from the inside. Injuries sealed over and healed in a flash. The tears in his armor sealed up and flowed over each other until they were once again solid metal. As the visor repaired, Tamin watched desperately to see if the eye would heal, but the magic couldn't touch the blackened bones. And, when the armor had completely repaired itself, Gillette's ruined face remained as bloody as when Tamin tore it off.
Tamin fought with all his might, his body burning away with every moment. He tried to bite, but there was nothing to sink his teeth into. He couldn't get off his back, not with the men holding him down and the swords punching into his body over and over again.
The last thing he saw with Gillette's scythe as it sliced him open from belly to the top of his skull, slicing through bone and skull in a flash of brilliance.
Merrie stumbled and hit the ground. The despair drew her down and she couldn't find the energy to push herself up. With a sob, she curled up into a ball and held herself tight, sobbing pitifully as the light along the horizon died with Tamin. The memory of his last memories played over in her head, an obsessive loop that she couldn't tear her mind away.
Her body shook as she cried, letting out long wails of pain as the pain of Tamin's death tore into her heart. It was like losing Kine again, the sharp-edge of agony stabbing into her stomach and heart. Her mind obsessed with playing back the final cut that sliced Tamin open.
“Bitch!” Fang crashed to the ground next to her, his sweat-soaked hand grabbing at her. He was gasping for breath and his body shuddered from exhaustion.
She cried and pulled away, curling into a tight ball with her tail over her face and her ears against her face.
Fang whimpered and slumped to the ground. Tears ran down his cheeks as he slumped against her. “Fuck, that was Tamin, wasn't it.”
Merrie whimpered, her short arms clamped around her knees.
“Damn the gods. I-I don't know if I can go on either.”
Tears kept pouring out of her. She tried to push herself up, but her limbs shook with exhaustion. She was broken. There was nothing left inside her.
Fang rolled on his back. “F-Fuck. Everything hurts.” He gasped. “A-Are we almost there?”
Merrie didn't know where they were. She had gone in the right direction, but there was no more energy to cast a spell. She had lost Tamin, everything. There was nothing left to keep her moving. With a whine, she slumped to the ground and let the tears pour down her cheeks.
He let out a sob. “Fuck, I just wanted to see her again. I touched to touch her grave.” He inhaled and his body shook with the effort. “I just wanted to punch Bass once. Damn him.”
Merrie opened her eyes as she stared at the mist swirling around her. In a short time, the sun will burn it away, but at the moment, it tickled against her skin.
“Never thought I'd be fighting against a paladin. Fuck, those guys are suppose to be good but I saw what they did in that fight against Bass. They said a lot of them died, but there were none of Lemetri's men in the morgue.”
She looked around at the unfamiliar trees and bushes. She had to move, she had to get up. She pressed one severed arm against the ground, but it slipped along the slick ground. With a thud, she hit the ground with a sob.
“M-Merrie?”
Merrie tried again to push herself up. But, as she managed to push herself up, the gaping hole in her heart slammed into her. She shuddered and slammed back into the ground. Sharp rocks caught her breasts and left long scratches along her skin.
“We can just wait here, right? They won't find us. Not if they are going after Bass.”
She curled herself tight against his body, her tail curling around his back and she pressed her face against his sweaty thigh.
Fang rested his hand on her. “I'm sorry,” she gasped, “we can't save him.”
(He'll die if we don't warn him.)
“Yeah.” Fang suddenly sniffed. “I just wanted to see her grave… I,” he choked back a sob, “just wanted to touch it. M-Maybe after Gillette kills him, the grave will… still…” He stopped talking when a sob tore out of his throat.
Merrie took a deep breath and closed her mouth. She wiped her face on Fang's thigh and pushed herself up to look into his face. Seeing his despair pushed back her agony. He was just as devastated as she was, but unlike Tamin, he was only driven by the hope of seeing his sister one last time.
There would be more deaths if she did nothing. Gillette would attack Bass and Tabitha. They might be able to survive, but she knew that Licker would suffer even if they won. There would be a lot more graves if she didn't move.
Determination rose up inside her. She couldn't stop. With a groan, she sent herself an order. (Get up.)
The command came through and the compulsion forced past her exhaustion and pain. She shook as she pushed herself up to her knees. Her arms and legs trembled with the effort to remain up, but the command burned across her mind and she couldn't lay down. She wanted to give up, to desperately crawl into the darkness and let the world pass, but then she would leave the mill to their deaths.
Gulping at her dry throat, she whined.
“Where are we?”
Fighting the despair, Merrie sent herself another command. (Find the mill, bitch.)
The heartbeat it took for the collar to repeat the command was an eternity. The order blossomed in her thought, driving her to obey at all costs. She dug the power from her collar and crafted it into a seeking spell for the mill. Taking a deep breath, she threw it out in front of her in a narrow wedge. The wave of force rippled out, wrapping it in a seeking spell.
She held her breath as she waited for a response. Nothing came back. She let out her breath in a rush.
(Try again,) she ordered herself.
Merrie couldn't disobey her mistress, no matter how much she wanted it to. And she couldn't do it on her own. The command came rippling across and she sent out another wave seeking wave to the side and then the other. She didn't want to send anything back the way she came, in case Catais could some how detect her magic.
After a heart-stopping minute, she let out another sob. (I can't find it,) she sent to Fang.
Fang groaned. “Then, what do we do?”
Merrie concentrated on her mind and sent out a command, forcing herself to keep moving. It blossomed through her mind and she shivered at the desperate intensity of the words that echoed in her mind.
(Keep going. We keep walking until we find it.)
“I can't—”
(I can't give up on them… or you.) She turned around and used her cloak to help Fang to his feet. He was exhausted and heavy, but he eventually staggered to his feet.
He took a step and stumbled.
Merrie flowed across to catch him, bracing him on his feet.
“I-I can't run, Bitch.”
(Call me a good girl.)
He chuckled, the sweat dripping from his face. “Good girl?”
She shivered at the words that echoed around her. The faint tickle of power rose up inside her chest, the thrill of submission filling the pain. She stepped forward and he followed her.
His weight bore down on her, his fingers digging into the flesh of her shoulder. The wheezing gasps tore at her heart, but they had to keep moving, they couldn't stop.
(Tell me again.)
“Good girl.”
Another step.
“Good girl.”
They would make it. They just had to keep walking. She leaned into him, bracing him as the exhaustion tore at her limbs and senses. Crawling into a ball and falling asleep lured in her mind, but there were two words that kept her moving.
“Good girl.”