The Crossing
1507 Words
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE CROSSING
Cassien
The sea crashed against the cliffs below,
throwing cold spray into the air.
Salt, smoke and fish clung to the air so heavily
that even the air couldn’t carry them.
Grim water Cove, the home to the most
notorious rogues stood.
Jagged black rocks rose from the shoreline like
broken teeth, while crude wooden huts clung
stubbornly to the cliffside. Smoke drifted lazily
from scattered chimneys, and somewhere
beyond the cliffs, wolves howled.
I crouched on the ridge overlooking the
settlement.
From here, every entrance was visible.
Every escape route.
Every sentry.
“See anything?” Kael asked beside me.
“Too quiet.”
He snorted.
“You say that about every place.”
“Because every place proves me right.”
Kael rolled his eyes.
“And here I was hoping today would be
relaxing.”
I looked at him.
“You volunteered.”
“You outrank me.”
“Exactly.”
You two are impossible.”
Mara climbed the last few feet of the ridge
and stopped beside me.
“I counted eight guards.” She brushed dirt
from her gloves before answering.
“Nine.” I answered.
Her eyebrows lifted.
“You missed one.”
I pointed toward a patch of rock near the
western entrance.
“He hasn’t moved in six minutes.”
A horn echoed through the cove.
Every head turned toward the ridge.
So much for surprise.
“There goes the peaceful approach, These
rogues like to claw faces and we’re
outnumbered, I may not be as handsome as
you dear prince but I’d appreciate going home
with the same number of scars I arrived with.”
“Be quiet.”
“Who’s there? Show yourselves.”
I stepped out from where I was hiding.
“The prince…” The guard’s face was drained of
color.
The others who were holding their weapons
quietly lowered them.
No one wanted to attack first.
One of them lowered his eyes.
Another stepped back
Kael grinned as we passed them.
“For a moment, I forgot who I was entering
the Lion’s den with.”
A huge rogue blocked the entrance to the
cove.
Seven feet tall with a scar across his face.
He started to speak.
Then I looked at him.
And he slowly stepped aside.
The leader of the rogues, Varek sat inside
calmly while watching us as we stepped inside.
He was getting older now, with grey slowly
creeping into his beard.
One eye clouded from an old injury.
He didn’t stand when he saw me.
Instead, he poured himself a drink.
“Your Highness.”
I remained standing.
“Varek.”
“Soldiers dead.”
“The veil crossed.”
“Tell me why I shouldn’t rip you all apart right
now.” I demanded.
He laughed before slowly taking a sip of his
drink.
“You came all this way because you think it
was us, you overestimate us, your Highness.
“Why would we even do that? We detest the
humans.”
Just then.
A rogue child ran past.
Laughing. Normal.
Women were preparing food.
No emergency.
Outside, fishing boats were still unloading.
They didn’t look like they had just attacked
anything.
“If it wasn’t us..”
Varek stood.
“…then someone wants us blamed.”
I turned to leave, Kael and Mara close behind
me.
“That’s it?” Kael asked.
“Do we just believe them? They could be lying
to us.”
“I could smell he was not.” I replied, bending
by a stream of water to splash my face.
“But how.”
“I just do.”
“So now what.”
“Now-“
I paused, sniffing the air, we had walked a long
distance from the rogues and the smell of
blood hit me fast.
“What’s that?” Mara pointed out.
There was thick smoke filling the sky, facing
north.
The Border.
None of us said a word as we shifted and
started running toward that direction.
Shifting back once we reached, Commander
Rowan met us.
His armor was streaked with dirt.
His breathing was uneven.
“They’re back.”
“Numbers?”
“At least thirty.”
Kael frowned.” Thirty?”
“That’s impossible.”
“So was breaching the Veil.” Rowan replied
grimly.
“There’s no time to waste, come on.”
I pulled out my sword just as Rowan
transformed.
The camp was pure chaos.
Wolves fought against wolves.
But these wolves were like nothing I had ever
seen.
Barracks burned.
Supply wagons overturned.
One of them lunged at me.
I stepped inside the strike instead of away
from it.
My sword hilt struck his temple.
He dropped.
Another came from the left.
I never looked.
The sound of claws scraping stone was
enough.
I ducked.
The claws passed over my head.
My blade flashed upward.
The rogue crashed into the dirt.
Someone shouted behind me.
“Your Highness!”
Too late.
I twisted.
Caught his teeth before it reached my
shoulder.
I stabbed him in the chest.
The wolf howled in pain.
One kick.
He disappeared over the battlements.
In front of me, I could see Kael excitedly swing
his sword killing everything in his path.
He enjoyed fighting.
“You’re slower than last month!”
He shouted while knocking someone off a
ladder.
Mara answered without looking.
“You’re talking too much.”
An arrow whistled toward Kael.
She threw a dagger.
It knocked the arrow off course.
Kael blinked.
“You do care.”
“Don’t ruin it.”
Turning my head, I saw fresh armor headed
our way.
Palace banners.
The sound of synchronized shields.
The battle finally looked like it was even.
“Your Highness, you should run back to the
palace, we’ll take over.” One of them said,
trying to cover me.
Then a horn sounded.
Not from the keep.
From the forest.
Every rogue froze.
One by one…
They turned.
Not toward the soldiers.
Toward the Veil.
One rogue different from the others.
Black fur. Larger.
Scar across one eye.
He didn’t attack anyone.
Instead he ran.
Straight through the camp.
And toward the Veil.
“Cassien!”
Kael shouted.
But I was already moving.
I shifted mid-stride.
Boots become paws.
The ground disappears beneath him.
Branches whip past.
Behind me, I heard Rowan shouting orders.
Ahead…
The rogue reaches the Veil.
Like a silver lake standing upright between
worlds,
The Veil rippled violently.
But the rogue never slowed.
I leapt and the surface tears open around me.
For a heartbeat…
The human world is visible beyond it.
Then I’m through.
Before I had a moment to think, I jumped.
And the Veil swallowed me.
The world shattered.
For one impossible heartbeat, I wasn’t falling.
I wasn’t standing.
I simply… existed.
The air pressed against me from every
direction, cold enough to steal the breath from
my lungs. Silver light swallowed everything
until I couldn’t tell where the Veil ended and I
began.
Then the ground slammed into me.
Pain exploded through my shoulder as I rolled
across damp earth, dead leaves clinging to my
skin.
Skin.
I froze.
My claws were gone.
I instinctively reached for them again.
They were still gone.
My fur.
Gone.
My heartbeat thundered in my ears as I
pushed myself upright.
Bare hands met rough bark.
My breathing hitched.
“What…”
The shift had broken.
Not by choice.
Never by choice.
Behind me, the Veil shimmered once, its silver
surface folding back into the night as though
nothing had happened.
Silence settled over the forest.
Not the living silence of our forests.
This one felt… empty.
The moon hung lower.
Smaller.
Its pull was distant, muffled beneath
something I couldn’t explain.
For the first time in my life…
I felt disconnected from it.
A growl cut through the darkness.
I looked up.
Thirty yards ahead, the rogue stood between
the trees.
Still in wolf form.
His yellow eyes burned in the moonlight.
So…
He’d crossed before.
He knew.
His lips peeled back over bloodstained fangs.
Mine clenched.
Neither of us moved.
The forest held its breath.
Then—
The wind shifted.
The rogue’s ears snapped forward.
His nostrils flared.
Mine did the same.
Blood.
Fresh.
Human.
Not much.
Just enough.
The scent drifted through the trees before
disappearing again beneath damp earth and
pine.
The rogue’s posture changed instantly.
Not defensive.
Excitement.
As if it had found what it was looking for.
A low rumble vibrated in his chest.
My stomach tightened.
No.
He wasn’t here to hide anymore.
The rogue lunged.
Not at me.
Past me.
Straight toward the scent.
For half a heartbeat, instinct screamed for me
to chase him.
Instead…
I inhaled again.
The blood carried something else.
A scent so faint it should have vanished long
ago.
Wildflowers after rain.
My chest tightened.
Impossible.
No.
It couldn’t be.
Not here.
Not after five years.
The rogue crashed through the undergrowth
ahead.
Without another thought, I ran after him.
- Writer
