around the hand grip. It was unlike any weapon she'd ever seen. The men of the village had crude swords forged of metals easily found in the surrounding areas. Even her father's chosen instrument was a weapon of simple design.
This was a broadsword, nearly half her height and much too heavy for her to actually wield against an attacker, but she couldn't bear to leave it behind. She was also quite conscious of its strange appearance. There was always the chance that she'd imagined it to be hidden and, in her delirium, envisioned that it was revealed at her touch. She couldn't deny its impressiveness. Perhaps she was much closer to civilization than she thought.
She glanced at Koen long enough to motion him onward. Just a few miles farther, they reached the edge of a city. It was grand — high spires draped with marble carvings rose in the distance, overshadowing smaller yet similarly adorned buildings. The stone was cut in a fashion that gave a sense of great wealth. This was once, if no longer, a flourishing city. What struck her, though, was the lack of movement, the lack of any sound except of creatures scurrying in the woods behind her.
Had she thought at all that she weren't alone, she wouldn't have gone closer. After a few moments of observation, she was certain. She made her way past the wooden doors and into the city itself, wandering for a bit before pausing to take in the magnificent temple in the center of the city. She opened her mouth to say something to Koen about it, when she realized he wasn't there. Not in the least surprised by his disappearance, she continued on.
Removing her dagger from where it was strapped to her thigh, she stayed close to the buildings that lined the main throughway. The sword in one hand, useless for anything but intimidation, and her dagger in the other, she thought briefly to herself that her father would eat his words if he could see her now. He abhorred her interest in archery and would have killed Duncan with his bare hands had he known his friend had tutored her not only to shoot with startling accuracy, but to throw hand blades with equal stealth. Surely, her father would have seen the benefit of her having such skills now.
There was an eerie stillness about everything. As she passed the shops, she noted they were devoid of settled dust, rotted food, or any other signs that there had once been life. She also noted that not only were there no humans or Ereubinians present, there was not one thing living past the wooden doors. Nothing. No bugs, rodents, or animals had found shelter in the city's abandonment.
Something is wrong, something feels so very unnatural about this place.
Despite her growing concern, she couldn't stop herself from entering the temple. The closer she came to its enormous doors, the more compelled her feet were to pass through them.
As soon as she stepped onto the polished stone, euphoria washed over her. She had to grip a small bench to steady her feet. She looked up into the rafters and the carved wood that trimmed the walls, losing herself as her gaze turned upwards. More than ten stories high, the domed ceiling was painted with a bright mural that depicted a multitude of scenes. There were two dragons in battle; one bright silver, the other an almost iridescent shade of white, surrounded by winged beings that she could only guess were Adorians. Another picture displayed a beautiful woman with dark hair standing behind a sandy-haired man, whispering into his ear. He held a book that glistened gold. Farther over was an image of two lovers embracing, tears streaming down their cheeks. She touched her hair, similar in shade to the tresses in the mural, and sadness swept through her.
'Your sorrow is without cause, you have much to be thankful for.' A little girl's appearance startled Ariana.
'What?' she murmured. The euphoric feeling strengthened, blending with the grief she felt, making her behave as if drunk.
The girl drew closer and took her hand. 'Come, let me show you.'
Ariana hadn't the will to say no, nor the clear consciousness to question it. She followed until they came to a low pool of dark water, its surface completely still. A perfect reflection of the painted ceiling appeared on the water's surface, the lovers frozen in their woeful stance.
'Do you believe in dreams?'
Ariana considered the little girl's question as she peered at the water's surface, feeling her chest tighten as the image changed into her parents' likenesses.
'You can be with them, Ariana. All that is required of you is to say the words.'
Ariana watched her mother reach out to her. 'Mother,' she whispered.
'Say the words and this will all be over, a nightmare from which you will awaken.'
She closed her eyes, her vision starting to spin. Feeling overwhelmed, she knelt down, gripping the side of the well for support. This cannot be real.
'But it is. See for yourself what is offered to you. I can give you anything you desire, Ariana. Anything.' Another face appeared in place of her parents, with the opposite effect. In the water she saw Sara.
'Sara needs me,' she murmured. 'No, this cannot be real. None of this is real.' Her voice steadied with resolve and she rose to her feet, fighting the fog that blanketed her consciousness.
The little girl began to back away from Ariana as Koen's foreboding howl echoed in the distance.
'Say the words before it is too late!'
'No!' She screamed, groaning with nausea as the spinning increased tenfold. Suddenly, everything around Ariana decayed, the walls crumbling and the wood rotting. She covered her head and dropped to the ground, watching the drastic transformation.
The drugged feeling lessened only slightly, leaving a haze over her field of vision as she looked around her. A thousand or more years had passed over this place. Stone had not only eroded from rainwater, but thick moss had grown over the walls, or what was left of them. She rose to her feet, alone now, peering out past where the temple doors had been. Ruins. Nothing was before her but the ancient ruins of some long-ended kingdom.
'What?' she whispered. The sun, which had been resting on the very edge of the horizon, had fallen below it, replaced by a luminous pale orb.
Hearing Koen again, she tightened the strap of her satchel and started toward the sound of his howl, through the ruins and beyond the edges of the city, where she paused to take in her surroundings. It took Ariana a few moments to fully understand that what she was seeing just beyond her in the distance was snow.
She had never seen it. Palingard was too far south, and freezing rain was as close as it ever came. I haven't traveled that far north, I couldn't have. As far as she understood, the only place within six months' distance where it did snow was beyond the Elixen Sea. Yet, as she trekked opposite of the way she had come, snow fell from the sky and blanketed that which had to have been accumulating for many days.
She stopped and turned, making certain of what she was seeing. The snow stopped just outside of what had been the northern wall. From a few paces away, it looked as though the city had never been there at all.
'Koen!' she cried, feeling fear for the first time since the siege. She shook her head, again putting her hands over her face. 'Where am I?' she breathed. 'Koen!' her voice echoed through the trees. A large pale moon, now full, cast a bright reflection on the snow that covered the ground. The forest beyond was deep with darkness, leaving little visibility. Koen howled again in the distance ahead of her, and she ran toward him, falling twice as she slid down the embankment at the edge of the clearing.
His eyes were cold. Staring into the well, The Dark Lord Azrian watched the ripples shiver across the surface of the water from where his fist had made contact with the stone. A foul, black curse left his lips in a language he rarely spoke as he leaned over, resting his weight on the centers of his palms, his arms outstretched on both sides. He'd been foolish, he knew. Ariana had been there all along, among the humans, right in the midst of the fray. It was nearly insulting. He wondered if Ciara had felt it too. No matter, he told himself, keeping his eyes fixed on her pale skin and fluid blue eyes.
It has begun.
CHAPTER THREE
Michael had been tracking the wolf for miles as it dodged in and out of the woods, narrowly escaping his line
