Soul Seeker

38: Eternal Night

As soon as the sun vanished, darkness swept over the world like a mantle.

Hati and Ask looked at each other, before they each vanished in a flash of fire so bright and hot it made them all fling up their arms to shield their eyes.

Ciara was overwhelmed with the sensation that she was still being pinned to the floor, her entire body reeling with the shock of the alternating heat and cold she had been exposed to. Her head was spinning and even moving her legs felt impossible.

Sebastian and Tonraq each seized one of her forearms and helped her to her feet.

"Thank you," she whispered hoarsely. She tried to pull away but they didn't let her, instead slinging her arms over their shoulders to hold her upright. She hated it, but she needed it – her legs were wobbling.

"What have you done?" Fell shouted at Morrigan through the sudden darkness.

Morrigan was flanked by her bodyguards, backing slowly away from them. "I'm simply letting nature take its course. I knew there was a reason the White Rider was so infamous. And look, I managed to use the guardians against each other. I faced four – four of them – and have not a scratch on me!" She barked a harsh laugh.

"You're insane," Isa said.

"You know me better than that, Isa. I know where to find the wolves. So does he. He will be there, I will be there... All is going better than we could have imagined. I'll be waiting, and I hope to see you before the end."

She spun on her heel and broke into a run.

"Someone stop her –!" Sebastian began to shout, but she and her bodyguards disappeared through an unharmed archway. A moment later, a portcullis dropped, sealing the way.

"Ciara, are you all right?" Fell asked immediately.

No. Not all right. Not at all.

She found her mind running through things Sköll had told her, glimpses of his true nature which she had been too blind to see.

I'm not like you. Any of you.

My people don't live in a village, we roam.

I'm not used to wearing so few layers. I normally wear at least one more. His fur – he had been constantly cold without it.

Where I come from, the women are more forward. They don't dance around the topic. Right. Because his women were she-wolves, and when wolves courted, it was obvious.

"We have to get out of here," Isa said. "The entire thing was set up by Morrigan – it was a trap. They'll arrest us, or worse. Come on!"

Ciara let Tonraq and Sebastian lead her blindly back inside, the way they had come. They ran, pushing and shoving through a crowd of clamouring nobles and governing officials. Wails hurt their ears.

"The sky! Look at the sky!"

"What happened?"

"The wolf!"

"Did you see the fire?"

"Somebody help me! Guardians, somebody! I'm burned! My arm! I'm burned!"

"Where did the sun go?"

Somehow, they made it outside through the chaos, but the Protectorate itself was worse. Outside the wrought-iron gates, a crowd seethed through the city streets. People were crying and screaming and Ciara clapped her hands over her ears as the group shouldered their way into it. It was too much. Too much. Above them, the sky was black and angry, without even stars to light their way.