They arrived around midday to the outskirts of Aldrion, walking toward the eastern gate. Mel had prepared for the conversation she would have with the guards. She didn’t want to sneak into the city this time like a fugitive. She wanted to hold her head high and march into the city like she belonged there just as much as Derek Taveck did.
She’d thought maybe the guards would protest at first, telling her she was a traitor, but after she’d told them Austin was expecting her. They’d be sure to let her in. Let her see the person who’d fought to keep the city safe.
She’d imagined all this during her trek today and it was the only thing that had kept her walking despite the exhaustion that had crept all the way inside her bones. She’d thought about seeing Austin again and what she would say when he embraced her once more. Maybe she would be so overwhelmed by the moment that she’d blurt out that she loved him, too. But she didn’t think so. Her feelings were still too fresh. Still too vulnerable to let her share them with anyone else.
Luthel and Hanon had been quiet most of the day, leaving Mel to her daydreams. It seemed that the closer they drew to the city, the more anxious the air grew around them. Luthel bore a deep frown on his forehead that he must have glued there this morning. For it never left his side and Mel worried he would kill their chances of being let into Aldrion with his scowl. Hanon mostly seemed lost in himself, staring down at the ground and once in a while letting his gaze flick over to Melissa as if to make sure she was still there.
It made her nervous walking with these two and she wondered if it really was in her best interest to bring them into the city. She’d tossed this question over in her mind a couple of times, but each time, she ended up convinced that she didn’t have another choice. If she told Hanon and Luthel, they could just drop her off and stay in the wasteland, then she knew Luthel would bring them back to the village. By nightfall, Hanon would be sacrificed and roam the sandy plains like a shadow.
A shiver ran down her spine as she thought about this. She felt like she was traveling with a ticking bomb. Even if she let them into Aldrion with her, she’d eventually have to leave them behind when she, Gabs, and Austin continued into the valley. She knew their agreement was only to help her to the valley, not to come with her. Mel had a plan to try to convince Hanon to leave Luthel behind and join her in the meantime. But she felt almost certain he would decline her offer. That she wouldn’t be able to diffuse this bomb before it was too late.
Mel’s eyes lifted to a pillar of smoke rising through the sky beyond the walls of Aldrion. They’d gotten closer to the city by now and she could see it was burning. Her eyes traveled to Hanon, who’d stopped a short distance away from her. His eyes were wide and his mouth slightly agape, staring at the city. Mel drew her gaze back and now she saw the wall further to the north. It had crumbled and the crack where she’d fled with Austin and Gabs was now a big gash, spreading out before her.
There were figures moving by the eastern gate, and Mel took a few tentative steps forward. The sun was beating down on them, only easing up where the dark clouds were the thickest.
“Don’t,” Hanon said from behind her.
But Mel kept walking toward the gate, not wanting to believe her own eyes. But as she drew closer, she saw the unmistakable wispy limbs of shadows and she stopped dead. She dragged in a ragged breath and felt her lungs aching. Her heart beat furiously in her ears and she wanted to sink down into the sand and cry.
She heard footsteps behind her and felt a cool hand squeeze tightly around her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Melissa. We’re too late.”
Mel shook her head and felt the corners of her eyes prickle with heat. “No.”
“We need to leave,” Hanon said, his voice more urgent this time.
“No,” she said again, turning to him.
“They will be able to see us out here,” Hanon said.
“I’m not leaving my friends behind.”
Hanon shook his head this time. “But Aldrion has fallen. I’m sorry. But we don’t know if they’re…” His voice trailed off on the last word and a tear slipped down Mel’s cheek.
She wiped furiously at her face and shook her head once more. “I’m not leaving them. I’m going to Aldrion and they will be there waiting for me.”
Hanon’s mouth opened, but then closed again. His jaw tensed, and he gave her a curt nod. “Perhaps it’s still possible to get you into the valley. If only we could sneak past them and get you over the mountain.”
He dragged a hand over his chin just as Luthel walked up to them with a grin on his face. The frown he’d worn the entire way here was completely gone, and Mel felt like she wanted to punch him in the stomach. He was happy that her friends had failed? That Aldrion had fallen? Of course he was.
“Well, it looks like we don’t have to go to Aldrion then,” Luthel said. “I’m sorry, Melissa. But you are welcome to come with us to the village if you want.”
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Mel’s eyes narrowed, and her hands clenched into fists at her sides. But before she could bite his head off, Hanon intervened. “We’re still going in there,” he said. “We will sneak her over the mountain and make sure she gets to the valley.”
Luthel’s face fell and the deep frown reemerged. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“I’m sorry, Luthel,” Mel said. “But you’re welcome to come with us to Aldrion if you want.”
His gaze cut to hers, his eyes narrowing. He clearly didn’t like her imitation of his previous words. But he said nothing. Only turned his back to them and walked off, muttering something to himself.
Hanon’s voice was low when he continued their conversation. “You know your way around in the city. Do you think we can get over the mountain without being seen?”
Mel’s gaze trailed after Luthel, watching him with suspicion. “If we can make it to the mountain pass, I think we can. There is no one up there. The road is too dangerous for most folks, anyway.”
Hanon nodded, seeming content with this explanation. “We’ll wait for nightfall and then make our way into the city.”
#
When the sun stood low on the horizon, Hanon, Luthel and Melissa snuck their way around the rubble that used to be the eastern wall. Mel led them down through a narrow path between empty houses, close to where Austin’s mother had used to live. No one was here anymore, though. The streets lay empty and only the presence of bloody corpses existed between the soot stained walls of old buildings.
They crept through the city, covered by darkness, toward the Last Stance Inn, where Mel had stayed when she first arrived in Aldrion many months ago. She had a growing feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach. It told her Austin and Gabs would have waited for her in the city despite it being dangerous. It told her that the next corpse she would find would be of someone she knew.
As they drew closer to the inn. She crouched down in an alleyway and waited for Luthel and Hanon to catch up with her. She stopped there, looking at them both, speaking in a hushed tone. “I think I need to go to Falden first and to the Taveck mansion.”
“Why?” Luthel asked.
“I know it’s strange, but I have this feeling that my friends would have stayed in Aldrion despite the shadows lurking around.”
Hanon met her gaze, but said nothing.
“No,” Luthel’s voice cut through the silence. “We won’t go looking for your friends. The deal was we would get you into the valley. Nothing else.”
“But I can’t leave them here if they waited all this time for me.”
“You don’t know that. This is only a stupid hunch.”
As if to punctuate Luthel’s words, a shadow slipped past the end of the alleyway and Mel’s heart jumped in her chest. Her breathing picked up at a frantic pace. They were close. She could feel their eyes searching the streets for something, for her perhaps.
Luthel’s voice was lower this time. “If your friends were smart, they would have left Aldrion by now. They will be in the valley waiting for you there.”
Mel’s lips drew into a taut line and she struggled for how to continue. She wanted to scour the entirety of Aldrion before she left for the valley. But she couldn’t do that with all these shadows lurking around. She needed to think about herself. About making her way to safety.
“Fine,” she said. “If they’re not in the valley, I’ll get help and return.”
Luthel seemed satisfied and didn’t argue her point. He just motioned for her to continue leading them toward the mountain pass. She turned and stalked out of the alleyway, looking in both directions before crossing the street. A few feet away, there was a beast standing on all fours with its hind legs toward them. It was watching the street for something.
Mel didn’t understand what they were all doing. These monsters were guarding something or waiting for something to happen. She didn’t understand what they were waiting for, though. She wanted to ask Luthel and Hanon, but as they snuck around the Last Stance Inn, she held her tongue.
Waiting for them on the other side was the western gate, and there marched a line of shadows. It looked like a black serpent with white glowing dots that snaked all the way from the mountain pass down to the eastern gate. It was thick with shadows and at first, Mel’s eyes couldn’t comprehend what they were doing. There were so many of them. But after a while, it dawned on her that these monsters were walking into the valley.
They were gathering for something big in the mountain pass and Mel could only guess what that could be.
Hanon crouched down beside her, putting his hand on her shoulder and dragging her back behind the inn. “You can’t go into the mountain pass. There’s too many of them. Is there another way into the valley?”
Mel shook her head. “Not that I know of. This is the only way I’ve ever taken to Aldrion. If there was another way, I wouldn’t have risked my life traveling through the mountain pass last time.”
A feeling of disappointment and sadness stretched in her chest and she had to swallow a lump that had formed in her throat. She was stuck here now on this side of the mountain. With Austin and Gabriella probably on the other side. With everyone she’d ever known back in the valley. She looked over at Hanon and then her gaze slid over to Luthel. She was stuck here with him.
In a way that felt almost worse than being trapped in the wasteland with all the shadows and the beasts. She knew he wanted to turn her and Hanon into shadows, and she didn’t know how long she’d be able to fight it alone.
A figure drew closer to them and emerged behind Luthel. Mel sucked in a breath and bit down on her lip. She connected to her center and let the cool liquid of water slosh through her. A faint glow lifted from her mouth and Hanon’s eyes went wide, darting behind them to where the figure crept closer.
Luthel was the last to notice the change in the air and turned slowly toward the dark shape, his hands up in surrender and his head cast down toward the ground. He fell to his knees in front of the figure. “I’m with the void. I’m here to serve you. Please spare me and my son.”
The figure took a step forward and reached out its arm toward Luthel. Mel was ready to breathe ice on its limbs, locking them into place, when she saw the unmistakable color of flesh on his hand. Her eyes lifted and her mouth closed. It was a man with a thick beard standing in front of them, looking down on Luthel with a frown on his forehead.
His eyes trailed over to Hanon and then to Mel, connecting with her eyes and the frown lifted from his features. A smile grew over his lips and he took another step forward. “I’ve been looking for you.”