The smith ground his teeth together and flipped the handles to Paige’s weapons in the air. “You want to poison the Torva’ox just for Weshruuv, yes?”
“Yeah.”
“Then poison one who is already dipping into Torva’ox . . .”
“Wait,” Paige snapped. “Dipping in?”
“Using it,” Ira said. “In it. Whatever. I know what I want to say, but there is no translation.”
“We know what you mean,” Cole said. “Go on.”
“Poison a Weshruuv who is dipping into Torva’ox, then draw the Torva’ox through him and into Jekhibar. Then, plug Jekhibar back into the Torva’ox.” Snapping his eyes back to Paige, he added, “However you want to say. You know what I mean?”
“I think so,” Paige replied.
“I can craft something to hold the Jekhibar and channel it into the Torva’ox,” Ira continued. “Once the power you draw from the Weshruuv is mixed in with the source, it should trickle down to the other Weshruuv that drink from it. If the first beast is poisoned, the others should be poisoned too. And since the poison came through a Weshruuv, it should only effect Weshruuv.”
“Are you sure about all of that?”
Ira puffed out his chest in response to Cole’s question and said, “Of course I am! I am Chokesari! This is what I know!”
Sophie nodded and patted the burly man on the shoulder. “He is the only one in this country who can make that claim.”
“I can craft something to hold Jekhibar and channel the Torva’ox for you, and it should be easy,” Ira said. “The tricky part will be to draw out the Torva’ox from a Weshruuv instead of a pure source. You would have to do more than stab the Weshruuv. You would have to get the weapon to soak up his . . .”
“To bond with him?” Cole asked.
“Yes. Can you accomplish this?”
Cole stooped down to pick up a portion of his spear that had been chopped off. Most of it was coated in the metallic varnish, but an inch or so of the original wood could be seen. “We’re Skinners. That’s what
A few hours later Paige was standing outside Ira’s cabin with her arms folded and her eyes focused on the trees beyond the ridge. Light had pulsed from there ever since Tristan arrived. When the Dryad stepped through the arch and saw the temple, she dropped to her knees and wept.
Now, Cole asked, “What is she doing?”
Without turning to look at him, Paige replied, “There are other nymphs there now. They’re all performing some sort of ritual to connect that temple with the others.”
“Are they singing?”
She closed her eyes and felt herself drifting off into something between a waking dream and a light, much- needed nap. “Yeah.”
Cole’s arm settled around her shoulders and drew her close. “It’s incredible.”
They stood in the freezing night air to listen to the song of joyful nymphs dancing in the Slovakian forest. Of all the things he’d experienced since becoming a Skinner, this was one of the strangest and most sublime. And like most of life’s greatest moments, it was over much too soon.
“I am finished,” Ira said as he stormed around the cabin to approach them.
Straightening up and forcing the stupid grin off his face, Cole turned to ask, “Sure you couldn’t charm a few rounds of ammunition for us?”
“How many times do I have to tell you? There are no silver bullets! That is Hollywood movie bullshit. There is not enough room to write the proper engravings on a bullet, so stop asking. I do have these for you, though.”
Cole took the weapons the blacksmith offered and handed two of them over to Paige. Ira’s slap on the shoulder was almost hard enough to send him staggering to the ground. He laughed heartily and spoke to the Amriany who had come around the cabin with their weapons.
“Not looking to go back on our truce already, are you?” Paige asked.
“No,” Milosh said. “Me, George, and Nadya are coming with you.”
“We can use the help, but it’s gonna be rough,” Cole warned.
“I know that. It’s all over the news. We were with you in Atoka, so we will be there for this as well.” And before anyone might think the Amriany was getting overly sentimental, Milosh added, “If we leave it to you, the Weshruuv will spread to our country after cleaning out yours.”
“Fair enough.”
“But one of you must stay behind.”
Cole felt the hairs on his arms stand up when he heard that. “We never agreed to that.”
“No,” Sophie said, “but it is a necessity. I’ve brought up our arrangement to the rest of the Amriany leadership and they refuse for us to part with so much just so you can go back to America.”
“You don’t think we’ll return?” Cole asked.
“I do,” Sophie replied. “They don’t. They ask for a representative to stay behind.”
“You mean a hostage,” Paige snapped. “Screw that.”
“No,” Waggoner said as he approached the group. He’d been so silent until now that Cole had almost forgotten about him. The expression on Waggoner’s face was surprisingly calm when he said, “It makes sense. I’ll stay behind.”
“I don’t know when we’ll be back,” Paige warned.
Waggoner shook his head. “I know you’ll come back. Besides, I don’t think these folks will hurt me. I wanna fight, but whatever you’re headed into right now . . . I know it ain’t a place for someone who’s still learnin’ the ropes.”
Nodding, Sophie said, “This will be acceptable. We can even show him how things are done here as a way to start forging our alliance.”
“Just keep him safe for now,” Paige said. “You sure you’re all right with this, John?”
“Yeah. I still feel bad for signing up with Jessup for the short time I did. This’ll go a ways in proving I intend on being more than an overblown hunter.”
When Paige looked over to him, Cole said, “Seems like the way it’s gotta be. I sure as hell won’t be staying behind.”
The group walked to the clearing, checking their gear, weapons, and ammunition along the way. Before they could see the Dryad temple, melodious voices drifted through the night air. When they caught sight of the delicate structures, and a soft, green glow, the winter chill evaporated. Cole didn’t feel warm or cold when he stepped into the clearing. There was only comfort and peace within the circle of tall, wispy grass that had sprouted since the temple was reclaimed. In that short time the grass had grown tall enough to brush against his waist.
Marissa and Lexi stood swaying on either side of the arch as Tristan knelt before it with both arms raised. They were all naked and their hair flowed around them without a breeze to push it. When Tristan stood and turned to face them, it looked as if she’d just arisen from a lake of the purest water earth had ever known. Her skin shimmered and her nipples stood erect. When she spoke, her voice was carried by the air to slip enticingly into each human’s ear. “I can see where you wish to go.” Her eyes, without pupils, were a solid, jade green. “I can send you there, but not all at once. This temple is fragile and not fully entwined with the others. I can use the Hub as a Skipping Temple to send you straight into Shreveport, but I can’t guarantee both groups would land in the same spot.”
“We’ll just have to take our chances,” Paige said.
The symbols on the arch began to shine, and when they grew bright enough to cast shadows in every direction, a rippling, translucent wave toppled from the apex and came down like a ghostly version of the beads that hung from the entrance of the Dryad bridges Cole had seen before. He steeled himself before stepping through, but knew there was no way to prepare for what awaited him on the other side.
Chapter Thirty
