Six of Ruin (Heirs of Irenwell #1)

I froze.

I forgot anything else existed.

Disgust filled me from head to toe.

Voices and sounds drowned out and all I could hear was the gentle tap and my raging heartbeat. Nausea filled me and I wasn’t capable of turning around.

My mind swarmed with random thoughts. I was in a hollow tree trunk, small, confined space.

Safe from the wolves, sure.

But I stumbled into someone’s home.

Oh, Goddess.

Mustering all possible courage I possessed, I turned my head slowly.

Eight-legged, hairy creature, larger than my own head, hung on the silver, silken thread, its eyes fixated on me. All eight of them.

Its hairy legs touched the top of my shoulder, almost as if caressing me.

I stared at the spider, my jaw clenched, my heart stuck in my mouth. The spider stared at me, as if politely asking me to get the fuck out of its house.

I’ve never felt such overwhelming fear. My mind could not comprehend, I could not move. Its legs dangled in the air, brushing against me, sending waves of nausea through my body.

I was going to faint.

The rational part of my mind began tugging at me. Colours were important, right? In the darkness of the tree trunk, the spider appeared black, but it could have been brown.

Which ones were poisonous?

Fuck.

Slowly, I moved away from the arachnoid creature, but the space was too confined for my taste. The staring contest continued.

Until my vision blurred and Rixen pulled me into his mind again.

He was on the ground, branches scratching against his skin, digging through his tunic. Blunt pain gripped his muscles and bones.

The wolf was on top of him, its canines almost grazing his skin. Rixen pushed the wolf away, but he was pinned to the ground.

Out, out, out.

I blinked, returning to the tree trunk and my fellow arachnoid, which was now on the ground, slowly climbing up my leg.

I screamed and pushed it off, but the spider caught my silver shoe and wouldn’t let go. I shook and I shook, with utter desperation, until its grip loosened and it ran away from me.

I breathed in, blood pumping through my veins.

The outside world finally reached me. Rixen managed to get up, but he staggered back, apparently lost somewhere else.

“Fuck.” I said out loud. “I’m pulling him in.”

“Yes!” Rixen shouted. “Stop it! Damn it! It’s a spider!”

Alright, alright. I took in a sharp breath and turned to the spider. It cocked its head to the side and for a moment it felt like it was mocking me.

I lifted my shaky finger, trying to appear intimidating, “Alright. Hello spider. I am going to call you Amelia and if you try to bite me or climb on my leg, I will scream.”

The spider did not seem to understand the message.

I imagined the panic coursing through me and leaving my body in waves.

The spider moved and I screamed.

“Stop it! Stop that!”

The spider stopped.

Dread kept on running through my veins, icing me from head to toe, but instead of getting caught up in it, I breathed through it.

“Amelia, stay there and be quiet. We need to think.”

The spider pulled back, lingering at the other end of the trunk, staring at me with its black, glassy eyes.

And I tried to focus on helping my companions.

Spirits. Nickeltinker said the wolves were spirits.

“Are you a spirit?” I asked Amelia. “Or just a regular spider?”

The spider did not answer.

Deciding there was nothing else I could possibly do, I tried to negotiate with the eight-legged creature.

“If you are a spirit, can you please tell the demigoddess Loria that we just want to pass through and get to the mage? I swear we do not have bad intentions.”

A random thought appeared in my mind. Intentions.

My eyes widened, “Of course.”

With shaky fingers, I pulled out the emerald pendant from underneath my fur robe. It glowed green. Amelia tilted her hairy, eye-filled head to the side.

My brother’s words flashed in front of my eyes. If it glows green, the people around you have good intentions.

The pendant was of Fae origin. There had to be a connection. They had to understand.

Deciding to risk it, I nodded my goodbyes to Amelia and crawled out of the confined space of the tree trunk.

The battlefield was covered in blood. My companions were worn out and tired. Upon seeing me, their eyes grew wide and slightly irritated.

Understandably so.

Danilo and Torvald fought three wolves at once. And they were losing. Their movements were getting slower, but the wolves remained agile. Nickeltinker helped Rixen and they fought the remaining two wolves.

The pendant in my hand changed its colour to red again and I swallowed my fear as I stepped out of the shadows. The wolves glanced at me, their knowing, almost sentient eyes seeing through my soul.

“W-wait.” My voice was barely audible. “We just want to pass through.”

I lifted my hand and threw the pendant in front of the wolves.

“We do not want to hurt you.”

“Speak for yourself, Princess.” Nickeltinker grunted as he manoeuvred between the wolves.

“Be quiet!” I commanded. “We do not want to hurt you.”

Rixen caught on, “She’s right. We do not want to hurt you.”

The black wolf came closer to the pendant and sniffed it. The round thing slowly turned green.

The whole world ceased to exist as I watched the wolf cock its black head to the side, like it pondered on its next movement. If it jumped now, it would kill me.

Nothing stood in its way.

The wolf lifted its head and looked at me. It sniffed the air.

Its companions did not move.

The wolf let out a low grunt and slowly walked away, disappearing between the trees. Its companions followed, leaving the battlefield once and for all.

I held my breath for what seemed like ages, until the last glimpse of fur disappeared in the darkness. Only then I dared to look around.

Men around me breathed heavily and they were badly hurt. Danilo’s robes were torn and blood trickled down his hands. I took in a sharp breath, realising everything I owned that might help was back in my suitcase strapped to the donkey.

Nickeltinker leaned against his knees, green liquid pouring out of his cuts. Rixen wiped the blood off his forehead.

Torvald wasn’t hurt as badly. I remembered how he asked Rixen whether to “kill” in the middle of the fight and Rixen answered no. The interaction irked me and I wondered about their relationship briefly.

Sound of rustling leaves caught my attention and I looked at the weeds and branches blocking our way. They retracted, revealing the lost path.

Nick chuckled, “I guess this little trick worked.” He hopped over to the emerald pendant on the floor and handed it to me.

“Fae Folk made it.” I tucked the pendant back under my robe. “We better keep it safe.”

Danilo smiled at me, “You were very brave, Irina.”

“Brave?” Rixen laughed out loud. “Fuck, it was a spider!”

Panic gripped me. I turned around to face him.

“Rixen-”

The shadowman marched towards me, “I almost died!”

Danilo stepped in front of me, his sword still in his hand, “What’s your problem?”

“She is!” The shadowman shouted. “She is my fucking problem. I almost died because you saw a spider! For fuck’s sake.”

I shook my head, begging him not to say anything with my eyes. But Rixen was outraged and he would not stop.

Danilo looked at me, “What is he talking about?”

My mind ran wild with things to say. I stared at them all with my mouth open.

“I saw a spider.” I blurted out, deciding on the half-truths, which always made the best lies. “And I screamed. Rixen heard me and thought I was in danger. The wolf knocked him down because of me.”

The shadowman opened his mouth, but said nothing.

“I’m sorry.” I said. “It’s hard to control fear.”

Danilo put his arm around me, “You did nothing wrong.”

Nickeltinker cleared his throat, “We should go while the path is clear.”

I kept looking at Rixen while Danilo pulled me away. There was nothing I could do but whisper that I truly was sorry. The shadowman shook his head, cleaned the blood off his forehead and walked ahead.

As we moved through the forest, Torvald lingered next to me. The brute’s proximity made me feel somewhat uneasy, especially as his dark eyes bore into mine intensively.

“Ugh, Rixen, sorry.”

I smiled, “It’s fine. Truly.”

The brute shook his head, “No. He, ugh, sorry.”

The shadowman strolled through the forest, with his hands in his pockets.

“If he’s sorry, he should say so himself.” I mumbled.

The brute chuckled, “Ugh, idiot.”

A smile emerged on my lips, “He is an idiot.”

For a while, we walked through the forest. It was still unnaturally quiet, but the path remained clear in front of us and the fear somewhat ceased. It seemed as if the pendant truly worked and we were granted safe passage through the woods.

I fell into step beside Nickeltinker, “How did you know those wolves were spirits?”

“A demigoddess lives here.” Nick looked up at me. “And spirits love to lurk around demigods or other powerful beings. Plus, they were impossible to kill.”

“Impossible or very hard to?” I asked.

“Impossible.” Nick said. “Well, impossible for us. It takes a special kind of weapon to kill a spirit, one that has very old and very powerful magic on it. Nothing you, me, or anyone here might have in their possession,”

“So, you would have just fought until you died.” I realised.

“Something like that.” Nick shrugged. “Which is why we need a mage.”

Danilo’s strong voice caught my attention, “Get over here, now!”

Nickeltinker gripped the dagger and leaped forward, while I lingered behind. Torvald followed and soon, all four men stood not far from me, staring at something ahead.

“Well, I suppose we’re here.” Rixen said.

I came closer.

A small clearing appeared in front of us, with a stony cabin in the middle. The cabin was small and neglected. Wooden windows were ajar, the edges chipped. Smoke rose from the chimney on top of a straw roof. There was nothing around it except for a small wooden bench nearby and a couple of wooden buckets.

“I imagined something more imposing.” I admitted.

Still, I squeezed my fingers nervously, wondering if some sort of trickery was at hand.

“So,” Nickeltinker let out a laugh, “Shall we knock?”

“I guess.” Rixen answered. “Let’s go.”

As he made a step forward, another beast appeared in front of us.

A warthog.

Men grabbed their weapons and I immediately hid behind Danilo, almost stepping on the hem of my purple dress. Energy burst through me and I was ready to run as soon as someone commanded. I might even crawl into another tree hollow, spider or no.

The animal was larger than any boar I’ve ever seen; large enough to ride. The warthog grunted and bowed its huge head, pointing the sharp tusks towards us, which looked like they were made out of steel. Its body was covered in armour, with spikes on the back pointing upwards. Its eyes narrowed and focused on us.

Everyone took a step back as the animal prepared to chase us. The warthog made a loud, protruding sound and leaped-

“Frank, halt!”

The warthog stopped mid-air, its hooves burrowing into the ground. Its eyes, however, remained focused and alert, taking in our every movement.

Tearing my eyes off the animal, I gazed in the direction the voice came from.

The walking stick tapped on the ground, followed by a shrunken, wrinkled apparition with long, grey beard and grey hair. A deep frown settled between the white brows as the old man stepped in front of us, barely standing on his two feet. His bony hands shook as he held the walking stick. Over his tiny body, he wore dark grey rags.

Squinting, dimmed green eyes flew over our little group. An ugly sneer gripped the man’s lips.

“Now, who the hell dares to intrude my humble home?”