Eris Vanserra Fanfiction-A Land Of Lavender And Thistle-Book One

CHAPTER II

Eris

The sound of the stallion's hooves thundering over the leaves-covered ground reverberated in my ears. My eyes were fixed on my three ghost hounds, their lithe bodies a rushing image of white, rippling smoke as they raced through the woods, the sun high above us.

After getting a report about two of my men found slaughtered near the border with the Summer Court, I had my stallion and hounds ready. The two males weren't moved from where they'd been discovered, leaving them in their initial state.

Murdered felt like too good of a word, considering that their faces were mutilated to the point of no recognition, their insides left in pulps and bones broken to pieces. At first, I suspected some of High Lord Tarquin's angrier and more vengeful subjects to be involved. But, if that was the case, then the High Lord of the Summer Court and I would have to discuss the dwelling of his people around the Autumn Court borders. That, or someone greater and far more lethal had their hands in this. Someone like Koschei the Deathless, for instance.

Although, I intended to keep the Old God out of this, since my hounds were able to track the killer so far.

I rode on for a while more, until the hounds stopped abruptly, sniffing and searching the grove we had entered moments earlier. As they slowly moved through the red and yellow leaves scattered across the green grass, the sunlight appeared to almost course through them, their small round eyes focused and blank of color. Sometimes, it looked as though the white of their eyes was moving, reminding me of the silver flames I had spied in the blue-gray eyes of Nesta Archeron that day in the Spring Court.

It was one of the very few memories I had from those last few weeks. Everything else was a blur of time and space, lost to the power of the Crown and Koschei. A shudder ran along my spine at the thought of living that way again, functioning as if nothing was wrong but having no memory to prove it to myself.

I lifted my gaze to the sky visible between the half-bare trees, when one of the ghost hounds snarled and my stallion stomped his hooves, his ears turning stiff as he tucked his tail down. I palmed the gilded hilt of my sword, bracing myself for anyone foolish enough to challenge me. The crackle of my flames was a song in my ears, a rallying thrum in my blood.

My stallion stilled then, the hounds lowered themselves to the ground, ears pointed back and their teeth revealed.

Heartbeats later, I felt it.

It had no voice, no sound or form at all, but I felt it. I felt its presence growing in the air, like that of a Bogge, but much worse. Even the birds I heard moments ago hushed, the wind vanished, the leaves unmoving. It felt as if time itself had stopped. I still couldn't see anything, but, when a few more quiet seconds passed, the corners of my eyes became shadowed, my own powers seemed to have fled beyond my reach.

I heard nothing, spare for the hammering beat of my heart, each pulse a kick in my chest, as if my own heart wished to flee. Then, as if someone had blown out the candle, it was gone.

The wind hooted once more, the leaves rustling, my fire sang to me again, but the ghost hounds and the stallion remained unsteady. I panted, gasping for air like someone had held me by the throat. My hand rose to my chest, the other settling on my stallion's gray neck to calm him. My heartbeats throbbed against my palm in a wild, panicked rhythm.

Whatever that was, it was gone now.

Yet the tension and the unease it brought lingered, as if its very appearance cursed the grove.