Death's Dragon Box Set

Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

A lump formed in my throat the size of the Rocky Mountains. I drew my hand back and clutched my arm against my chest. “She… if I’m really dead, will she take me?”

Duncan studied my face and there was a hint of pity in his eyes. “I don’t know.”

I tightened my shaking hand into a fist and swallowed the lump before I gave him a shaky smile. “Well, I guess we all have to go some time. Now lead the way.”

He stared at me for a long moment before he offered me his arm. I blinked at him as he nodded at the road ahead of us. “It’s a long walk, and you look tired.”

I snorted and looped my arm through his. “You wouldn’t believe how tired.”

A ghost of a smile touched his lips as we ventured onward. “Perhaps I might.”

Our journey ended an hour later and some five miles away from the strange house of the witch. The way opened to a clearing, and the trees spread apart as the angled road came into a central circular area in which stood a platform. Four other cobblestone paths led their own directions to other wild growths, but even the trees couldn’t hide the peaks of some of the buildings. I glimpsed the tops of a medieval castle and a French château. The largest of the buildings, however, stood at a different angle from any of the other roads. I could just see the top floor of some sprawling mansion with battlements atop that and two stone towers in front.

Duncan drew his arm out of mine and moved toward the center. I turned around and walked backwards trailing behind him. A thorough look at the layout struck a realization in me. “These roads are in the shape of a star!”

“A pentagram, to be precise,” Duncan told me as he stepped up onto the low round platform and lifted his eyes to the sky. His clear voice rang out across the silent air. “Mordra!”

A distinct chill filled the air and a stale scent followed. I was hit by a bone-chilling breeze from out of nowhere that rocked the branches of the trees around us. A black mist floated up from the stones near the empty sigil and shaped itself into the familiar cloaked figure of death, complete with hood and puffy sleeves. My blood ran cold, and I couldn’t help but shrink away.

The mist finished its job as the figure lifted their arms up and used a slim pair of hands to draw back their hood. My jaw fell agape as I beheld a woman both beautiful and terrifying. Her hair was blacker than the night, so black that I swore I could see my reflection in those silky strands. She had skin as pale as death and her fingers were so thin, I could see every bone. Her features were slightly pointed but still beautiful, but her eyes were the terrifying part. They were pure black pools nestled in white, and staring at them made me feel as though I was falling away to a beyond I couldn’t imagine. It both scared and excited me with promises of an eternal peace, but one for which I wasn’t ready.

I turned my face away and only then did I realize my heart pounded hard against my ribcage. The woman’s eyes remained on me for a moment longer before she turned her attention to Duncan. “You called me, Master Duncan?”

I couldn’t believe he met her gaze with his cool one. “You offered this young woman a food from your domain.”

She feigned surprise. “Me? Why ever would I do such a thing?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know, but you must allow her to leave.”

Her good humor fell away as she folded her arms over her chest and shook her head. “You know as well as I the rules of this domain, Duncan. Once a piece of food from this domain is eaten then they must remain forever.”

He took a step toward her. “Then you admit to giving her a berry? You would trap this young woman here, Lady Death?”

The woman seemed to grow in height and a dark aura flowed from her person. She raised her chin and she looked down her nose at him. “You forget yourself, my Keeper. As for your question, no. I did not feed your friend a berry, nor anything else from my domain. My rules still stand, and she still stays.”

My heart fell along with my shoulders. “I… then I can’t go home?”

The woman’s features softened and the horrible beauty around her was dampened. She moved over to me with footsteps as soft as those of a cat. I shrank away from the dark depths of her eyes, but when I caught a look at them the shadows had vanished. There was only a deep well of pity that caused some of my fear and sorrow to melt away.

She set her hands on my shoulders and studied my face. “No. I’m sorry.”

I bit my lower lip and bowed my head. “You… you’re not going to take me, are you?”

I risked a glance up and beheld such a smile as I’d never seen before. A feeling of pure bliss and quiet fell over me, more so because she shook her head. “No.” She dropped one hand from my shoulder and half-turned to face Duncan. “I will leave you in the capable if rough hands of this young master.”

Duncan’s eyes widened and a look over confusion dropped onto his handsome features. “What do you mean?”

Death laughed and stepped away to move toward the center of the circle. “Just what I said, Master Duncan. She will become your familiar, of sorts.”

He frowned. “But I already have one.”

“This one has far greater skills than that which I have given you,” she told him as she stopped in the middle and turned to face us, her bright smile still illuminating her pale face. “Good luck.”

She drew her hood over her head, and the moment her features were covered she vanished in a puff of black and purplish fog.

I gaped at the spot where she had disappeared, not quite believing that I hadn’t been taken with her. Duncan, however, scowled at where she had vanished before he turned to me. “What’s your name?”

I blinked at him for a moment before I shook off my stupor. “I’m Adi.”

He lifted his gaze to the pentagram point where the English manor house stood. “You’ll be staying with me until She decides your time has come.”

Some of my relief faded away as fear of the unknown reared its panic-stricken head. “You mean what she was saying about being a familiar? What was she talking about?”

He folded his arms over his chest and furrowed his brow as he stared at the far-off opulent home. “In this land, a familiar is one who helps watch over one of the points. Each point has such a creature.”

My face fell. “You mean something that helps to fend off things like that troll?”

He nodded. “Yes, among other enemies.”

I took a step back and held up my hands in front of me. “I really don’t think I’m your, um, familiar. I couldn’t fend off a butterfly.”

Duncan sighed. “I’m apt to agree, but even if that’s true you’ll be safer in my lodgings than wandering the woods.”

I cast a glance over my shoulder at the wilderness that occupied much of the pentagram. A cold breeze blew through them and rustled their branches. I took a step closer to him. “I’d really appreciate it.”

He swept one arm in the direction of the huge manor house that peeked over the trees. “If you’ll follow me, Adi, I’ll see that you’re made as comfortable as possible.”

I reluctantly followed him as Duncan led me down the narrowing lane. The cobblestones here were also cracked, and overgrown with trees and grass. An eerie silence hung over the forest, one that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

I scurried up to Duncan’s side and cast a curious look at him. “This place looks a little… neglected.”

Duncan’s eyes flickered over the area. “Yes.”

An awkward silence fell between us, but I cleared my throat and broke the stiff air. “So, um, how did you get here? And that Eva woman?”

“In our own different ways.”

The corners of my mouth drooped downward. “So not like me?”

A bittersweet smile slipped onto his lips as he shook his head. “No. Our deaths were not so… kind, though rather more willing.” I blinked at him, and he stared ahead as a sigh escaped his lips. “We Keepers were given choice. To die forever or to die for another purpose. That purpose is to protect the Land of Shadows from creatures such as the troll you discovered.”

A chill crept into me. “You… that means you and Eva are dead?”

He nodded. “Like you.”

I lifted up my hands and studied their bright, lively flesh. “I don’t feel dead.”

Karma struck. The cold pain I had felt shortly after my arrival in this strange domain returned, and the ache was focused in one of my eyes. I stopped and furiously blinked my eyes to dispel the pain, but it didn’t help. The chill remained.

Duncan noticed and paused a few steps ahead where he half-turned to face me. “Is something the matter?”

“It’s my eye,” I told him as I rolled my eyeballs around. “It’s been bothering me since I ate that berry.”

“The brown one or the white one?”

I froze mid eye-roll and stared blankly at him. “What do you mean white one?”

He nodded at my left side. “Your left eye is white.”