nodded. “Okay, good. What happened?”
Mia relayed the tale again.
Running her fingers around the edge of the hole, Tatiana studied the wound. “Hounds are very intuitive. Some even say precognitive. It’s one of the reasons so many Cymmerans keep them as pets. They make extremely efficient guardians.” She pulled a knife from her boot and cut the head from the arrow, then slid the rest free. “And they never hesitate to defend their owners, even at risk to themselves.”
“But I don’t understand. This pup isn’t mine.”
“He is now.” Tatiana placed a hand over Mia’s and frowned. “You’re cold. Your lips are blue, and your hands are like ice. Are you having trouble regulating your temperature?”
“No. Well, not really too much.” She shifted the pup so his head lay in her lap as she stroked his silky ears. “Elijah said it would be hard for a little while.”
“Have you seen Elijah? No one seems to know if he got out.”
Mia lowered her head, cradled the pup against her, and sobbed.
“He—” The words caught in Ryleigh’s throat, finally emerging in a hoarse whisper. “He didn’t.”
Tatiana tilted her head and pinned her with a glare. “Excuse me?”
Ryleigh sucked in a deep breath and tried again. “He didn’t. Get out, I mean. He was killed in the throne room.”
She jumped up. “You left him? We have to go back.” She started back toward the cave opening. “He can be saved if—”
“No.” Mia laid the pup on the sweatshirt, rose, ran after Tatiana, and grabbed her arm. “He burst into flames. He couldn’t be saved. He knew it was going to happen and has been training me to take his place.”
Tears shimmered in Tatiana’s huge green eyes. She wiped the pup’s blood from her hands onto her jeans, then used her wrist to push back some of the blond strands that had escaped the long braid that always hung down her back. “You’re sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“Very well.” Not one tear fell as Tatiana nodded and turned away. “I’ll go find Kiara.”
Ryleigh couldn’t help a spark of admiration.
“There’s no time.” Noah strode toward them. “Come on. We have to get out of here. The Guardsmen can’t hold them back any longer. Lucas is getting everyone together, but he wants to know what you want to do, head farther up the mountain or go into the caves?” He spotted the pup lying on the ground. “Ah, man.” He lifted him into his arms, careful to avoid the wound in his side. “Go.” He gestured toward the cave entrance where the crowd gathered, all glancing between Ryleigh and the nearing battle sounds.
All these people, yet not even a fraction of the kingdom she was responsible for, looked to her for answers.
She pitched her voice low so only Tatiana, Mia, and Noah would hear. “If we continue up the mountain, we are sure to lose at least a few, probably children, as the terrain becomes harsher and steeper. If Chayce is smart, he’ll assume we’ll take them into the caves. There’s probably an ambush waiting.”
Though most Cymmeran women, and even the older children, were well trained in battle, few of them were armed. A confrontation in the tunnels with Chayce's beasts would certainly end in a massacre.
“There may be another way.” Mia lifted her sweatshirt and pulled a book from the waistband of her jeans. She opened it and flipped through the brittle pages. “This is what I went back for. Elijah foresaw the attack on the castle. He knew some would escape.”
Noah glanced down the mountain. “There’s no time—”
“I only need a few seconds.” She ran her finger along a page. “Elijah found an uncharted realm just…beneath, for lack of a better word, Cymmera. He said it’s closest to Cymmera right here, at the base of the dragon caves. It’s extremely unlikely Chayce, or anyone else, would know about it. If I can open a portal, we can hide everyone there.”
Tatiana shook her head. “That’s crazy. We have no way to know what lies in wait in an uncharted realm.”
Grunts, snorts, and clashing swords echoed up the mountainside.
Noah shrugged. “We know what waits here.”
Ryleigh asked, “Did Elijah suggest you try it?”
“He didn’t say whether we should go there or not, simply offered it as a viable option if we got into trouble.”
“Well, we are definitely in trouble, and Elijah didn’t say anything simply. If he mentioned it, he had good reason.” She was going to have to make a choice, and she didn’t have time to weigh her options. “Okay. Tatiana and Noah, start moving everyone around the cave and toward the back side of the mountain, and take Nahara and the pups with you, then wait for me to signal. If Mia can open the portal, we’ll enter the new realm. If not, we’ll head up the mountain.”
They followed her orders immediately, without question.
She wasn’t quite sure how to feel about that, grateful or scared. “You know what I find weird?”
“Seriously?” Mia stared at her and lifted a brow.
“Okay, aside from the…well, pretty much everything. Chayce entered the throne room alone with his savages. Where was Thaddeus?”
“Hmmm. From what I understand, Thaddeus has been at his side since he fled Cymmera.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought too.” When they’d confronted Chayce last, Thaddeus had been practically glued to his hip. If Thaddeus was lying in wait somewhere, they were all dead. Or worse. “Could he know about the new realm?”
Mia shifted. “I suppose anything is possible, but Elijah was very specific about one thing when he passed his knowledge on to me. No matter what I see, no matter what I think I might know, only relay the information that’s absolutely needed at any given time. Mistakes in this business can be costly.” A shiver tore through her.
“All right.” For now. “See what you can do.”
Mia stared at the book for what seemed like forever, then closed her eyes.
Savages poured onto the platform. The tempo of their grunts and snorts increased as they surged closer.
With a gut-wrenching scream, a Cymmeran Guardsman plunged over the cliff and tumbled down the mountain.
A portal opened, barely an opening at all.
The stench of decay accompanied the savages surging forward.
Not yet big enough for the smallest child, the portal kicked up wicked hot wind, howling louder with each inch the portal grew.
Her soldiers pulled back.
“Come on, Mia.”
“I’m trying.”
Another Cymmeran soldier fell.
Ryleigh started toward him. She had to try to heal him.
A savage fell on him before she even got close. He grinned, a mouthful of crooked, rotted teeth covered in blood.
She raised her voice above the howling wind. “Now, Mia.”
Mia raised her arms above her head, her entire body trembling with the strain of trying to tear the portal open.
The portal wavered, then jerked open a little more.
The Queen’s Army lined the edge of the plateau, weapons ready.
Tatiana stood with them.
Three savages scaled the rocks and lurched onto the platform where her soldiers stood.
Tristan and Jimmy sent them flying