A Rip of Realms (A Shade of Vampire #39)(11)

“All right. We’re ready to move out. We’re all going to travel by bull-horse while the guards and some of the ministers take the birds to see what state the rest of Nevertide is in. I want to take us via the village—see if we can pick up anyone on the way.”

“Is Lieutenant Ragnhild leading them?” Ruby asked.

“Yes,” Ash replied – surprised at the question.

Ruby nodded stiffly but stayed silent.

What was that about?

“Let’s go,” Ash instructed after Ruby didn’t elaborate. “Hazel, are you okay to travel with Tejus?”

“Um, not really—not yet.”

The hunger had resurfaced fully, and it was painful enough being surrounded by the humans. Being around Tejus would be intolerable until I could syphon again.

“All right, we’ll get you your own bull-horse.”

“That’s not fair,” Benedict objected.

I glared at him, half bemused and half irritated.

Seriously?



Ash and Ruby rode up front together, followed by Queen Trina in the Hellswan carriage. She was surrounded by guards, and the compartment was wrapped in heavy iron chains. Clearly, they weren’t taking any chances. Tejus and I were bringing up the rear, herding the kids, who sat four each to a bull-horse, led by a few ministers on foot. Julian had flown on ahead with Jenney on one of the vultures—she had been hit quite badly by some of the falling rocks, and Julian had insisted that she didn’t travel the journey on horseback. For someone who was usually quite shy and awkward, Julian had kicked up a massive fuss, arguing with the guards until Ash intervened.

As we approached the village, my heart sank. I’d be amazed if there were any survivors. The crack in the earth ran alongside the main road, and most of the land that lay to the north of it had fallen inward—up ahead I could see it starting to snake through the main thoroughfare of the village, and where once there had been cluttered rows of small cottages, now the land looked almost entirely flat.

“Oh, my God,” I breathed as we passed the first set of homes, all completely destroyed. Farm animals roamed over the rubble, their hooves clamoring, breaking the oppressive silence that had settled over everything, along with the thick dust that hung heavy in the air. The place was starting to give me the creeps—the piles of wood and stone created dark shadows in the daylight, black crevices where I felt eyes watching me as I rode past.

“Hello! Anyone out there?” Ash called out from the front, his voice echoing on for miles. It seemed strange that there weren’t more sentries wandering about; the atmosphere at the castle had been crazy, ministers and guards rushing to and fro as they tended to the wounded, but here there was absolutely nothing, not a soul to be seen.

“Anyone?” Ash called again. The kids started to join in, but still nothing stirred in the piles of broken houses and farms.

I looked over at Tejus. His brows were furrowed—he was clearly finding the silence as odd as I did. We walked a bit further, the end of the village in the distance. My bull-horse was starting to get jumpy, not wanting to move forward.

“Tejus, there’s something wrong,” I murmured. “I don’t like this.”

“Neither do I,” he muttered. “Hang on—I’m going to ask that we turn back.”

He reared his bull-horse, ready to gallop to the front, when a voice cried out from behind a part-crumbled stone wall.

“Ash?” It was a woman’s voice. We all came to a standstill.

“Abelle?” Ash replied, jumping off the bull-horse.

I recognized the woman who emerged from behind the wall—she was large, even for a sentry, wearing brightly colored robes that were swathed about her as if she were a Grecian statue. I’d seen her last at Ash’s coronation, talking to Ruby.

“I’m so glad you’re safe!” she cried, embracing him.

Leaving the horses, Tejus and I followed Ash and Ruby over to the woman. I kept looking around to see if I could find any of the other villagers, but I couldn’t see anyone.

“Are you alone?” I asked her as she extricated herself from Ash.

She shook her head, smiling. “Thankfully not. Some of us made it out alive—they’re in the barn.” She pointed to one of the more stable-looking buildings further off in the field behind her. “We wanted to be careful. I was worried that with Hellswan destroyed, Queen Trina would be on the warpath, but I haven’t seen her or any of her followers yet.”

Ash smiled at this, and as he started to explain to Abelle who we had in the carriage, I caught Tejus’s attention and cocked my head in the direction of the barn. He nodded and together we began to navigate our way over the debris.

“Hello?” I called. “It’s safe to come out!”

I couldn’t hear a sound other than the fragments of conversation Ash and Abelle were having. I looked at Tejus, who shook his head, perplexed. Maybe they were still frightened?

The barn was more or less in one piece, with the only obvious damage being to its doors, which were hanging lopsided off their hinges. I peered inside the gloom, careful not to move too far away from Tejus—seeing Abelle hadn’t lessened the weirdness of the place, and I was still feeling a little jumpy.

As my eyes grew accustomed to the gloom, I saw twenty or so villagers, huddled together at the back of the room, all totally silent, staring at us.