The Great Hunt (Eurona Duology, #1)(80)

Aerity slowed their approach. As she got closer she released her sister to lean against the wall, and she found a gap in the door’s wood where she could look in. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dimness of the cavernous room. What she finally saw made her slap a hand over her mouth. At the wide entrance area, just inside the rickety old sliding door, was their guard, lying in a thick pool of his own blood. His head was wrenched to the side at an unnatural angle, his stomach torn open.

Vixie leaned in toward the gap and gave a small gasp, her face horrified. Aerity tried to block her view, but she knew it was too late. Her sister had seen the grotesque sight for herself. Aerity got close to Vixie, taking her ashen face in her hands, meeting her eye to eye. “Stay calm,” she mouthed. Vixie’s eyes watered as she nodded.

Hearing Wyneth fumbling for her voice, Aerity peered in again.

“I . . . I’m . . . L-lady Wyneth, miss.”

“Lady?” The woman’s voice was calm, even happy sounding. “As in a royal lady?”

Don’t tell her who you are! Aerity wanted to scream.

“Y-yes. Wyneth Wavecrest.” Curses. Her cousin was rasping, terrified. From Aerity’s angle she could see her cousin’s profile through the gap, but not the other woman.

“Ah . . . it appears the luck of your seas is on my side,” said the woman, delighted.

Aerity heard another sound now, like the snuffling of a giant hog.

“Please, miss,” Wyneth begged, but the woman only chuckled.

“The winds have sent you right to me . . . exactly what I need.”

At Wyneth’s side, a giant creature with both hair and scales flopped itself down and curled up, bumping Wyneth’s hip, causing her to scream again and cover her mouth as she stared at it, trembling. Aerity and Vixie both jumped.

What on Eurona was it? Aerity stared, immobilized by fear.

“I told you, girl, he won’t hurt you. He’s trained to feed only from those with the scent of a grown man like that one who interrupted its sleep.”

This . . . oh, seas . . . this was the beast! And it had killed the guard, a good man with a family, a young son. Aerity, flooded with panic, swallowed back the urge to be sick. She had to help Wyneth. She had to get into that room, but this door was the only entrance into the warehouse area. Aerity looked up at the high roof. A weathered ladder was at the corner they’d passed, and sections of the roof were missing, caved in.

Aerity had to move fast. She held Vixie’s waist tightly, moving them back to the corner. She spoke in barely a whisper. “I’m going in.”

Vixie shook her head in panic. The girl’s eyes went up the ladder. “It’s not safe!”

“Hold it for me as best as you can while I climb. Then go to the shore and signal the hunters to come.” Vixie looked down at her sister’s leg. It was worse than she’d thought, gaping red muscle showing. A path of blood trailed where she’d walked. And the side of Vixie’s foot was swollen and bruised with scratches. Her face appeared drained, like she might pass out. Aerity wanted to tend to her, but there was no time.

Her eyes skittered around, searching for something she could use as a weapon, but all the fallen branches were too brittle, too small. Finally, she saw a jagged rock the size of her fist. She quietly bent to pick it up and stood again, flattening herself to the wall. Vixie grabbed a nearby rock as well, following her sister’s actions. They squeezed the rocks into their pockets.

Aerity took hold of the ladder, giving it a gentle shake. Dustings of particles showered down. Aerity wiped her face and began to climb, testing each rung in her hand before applying weight. A few had to be bypassed. She looked down once to see Vixie’s frightened hazel eyes staring up at her as she held the ladder tightly, balanced on one foot. Good girl.

Aerity lifted herself gingerly onto the edge of the roof, which hadn’t fared well. She crawled to the largest gap of warped wood and lowered her head. A series of beams ran along the ceiling, crisscrossing. It was a far drop. Across the space, at the back of the warehouse, was a pulley system of ropes that’d been used to lift and lower crates. If Aerity could get to that, she could climb down. Her heart raced as she reached down for a beam, grabbing hold with her fingers and swinging her legs around.

The woman’s back was to Aerity; her hair was black and she wore a gown of the richest red. Wyneth was stock-still, continuing to stare down at the thing at her side. It seemed benign, harmless, but Wyneth’s face appeared ready to crack, her voice like shaken shards. “It . . . he . . . what do you mean trained?”

Aerity still couldn’t see the woman’s face, but her voice sounded pleased, as if she was smiling. “All my life I have prepared, royal girl, to take back what is mine—my family’s, my peoples’. For years I watched my father create and fail, but he never gave up. He went to his grave, laughing with satisfaction when he had succeeded at last, not even caring that his own creation took his life. And then I began building on what he had started, allowing it to grow. Now . . . finally . . . I have succeeded.” The woman paused, and Aerity let the horror of her words sink in.

She carefully lifted herself onto the beam, as wide as her hand’s length, and began to move on her hands and knees. Her breaths felt so loud, but neither Wyneth nor the woman seemed to notice her. She hoped to the seas that if Wyn saw, she’d have sense not to bring attention to her.