The City on the Edge

Ronnie made certain to keep a wide berth between them and the lagoon. She wasn’t eager for a repeat encounter with the sylph that still sang her sorrowful melody down in the water. The further they traveled into the forest, the denser and darker it became. Ronnie had to turn sideways to squeeze between thick tree trunks several times. The black and burnt bark smeared over her clothes the gritty streaks. She clenched her teeth and stomped through the underbrush, cursing her situation until something tickled at her nose. A new scent.

Ash. Still hot and burning.

“We’re close,” she called back to Sebastian and Lorna.

“Good. I’m getting char all over me,” Lorna complained.

She looked back at Lorna and shrugged. “Bathe when we get back home.”

It took several more minutes for Ronnie to finally see something other than trees. Light. Someone had a fire burning. It had to be the hellhounds. She pushed through another wedge of trees and popped out the other side on the edge of a small town built entirely of stone and metal. If the cluster of poorly constructed buildings could even be called a town. A little well sat in the center and there was even a little cemetery fenced off in one corner, filled with stone markers and crooked wooden crosses.

The town sat in the center of a wide circle of tall sunset orange flowers. Fire flowers, their petals burning gently. Large stones of colored arcane symbols sat between each cluster of blooming stalks, marking a clear and unmissable perimeter.

“This is it,” Ronnie said.

Their noisy traipse through the charred trees had drawn attention. Someone stood on the other side of the flower barrier, watching them. Ronnie cautiously drew near, trying to appear non-threatening. The watcher, Ronnie recognized, turned out to be the young hellhound from before. His eyes widened when he saw Ronnie and the others and he darted off into one of the buildings.

“Well, they know we’re here now.” Sebastian tried to wipe some of the soot from his clothes.

A whistle and a gust of cold wind shot past them suddenly and Ronnie shivered. Shadows danced around the stone and flower border, advancing and the quickly retreating as if repelled by something. Ronnie knelt down. The knee of her pants grew damp from the ice covered grass she hadn’t noticed before. The ice only got so far though, before it melted at the stem of the flower. Ronnie held a hand out to the bloom and felt the warmth it was gave off.

Fire flowers weren’t common in the north. No doubt Liva and her magic sustained them. She really was playing mother to the hellhounds, using her magic to keep a protective shield around them. Ronnie recalled how Ignis had accused her of imprisoning them instead. How long had it been since the hellhounds had set foot out of forest? Had they ever?

A shadow swooped over her again, shrieking as it rounded the barrier, searching for a way in while completely ignoring them. Liva was right again, it seemed. The nightmares had no interest in anyone except for the hellhounds. Ronnie stood back up and surveyed the barrier. There were so many moving shadows- one for every hellhound.

What happened out here?

“Well,” a smooth voice called. “You sought me out? I’m flattered.” Ignis had a wide grin plastered to his face as he sauntered over, weight centered at his hips arrogantly. A nightmare noticed him and sailed around the barrier, tracking his every movement. As it drew near, Ronnie swore that in the swirl of black smoke and darkness she saw golden eyes and specks of silver. Ignis stopped when he saw the nightmare hovering behind Ronnie.

“I’m not going out there for obvious reasons,” he said. “If you want me, you’ll have to come in here.”

Ronnie was tempted to snarl at him, still itching for a good fight. She wanted to swipe that smug expression off his face with all five claws. But with Sebastian’s scent around her and his cool calmness settling over her like an evening rain, she held back and stepped over the flowers. With him to temper her flame, she would be fine. Sebastian and Lorna followed behind her.

“Did you come to turn the human over to me?” Ignis asked, a smile in his words.

“No. I came to ask if you’d be interested in joining a rebellion. The Guild.”

All traces of humor dropped from Ignis’ face. He straightened up. “The fairy sent you?” When Ronnie nodded, he barked out a laugh. “I see. Her first offer fell flat, so she sent a pretty face, thinking it would charm me.”

“Her first offer?”

“She came out a few months ago. Offered to get rid of these damned nightmares for good, but only if we joined her side. I told her we weren’t interested, so she high tailed it out of here and left the nightmares. Security, I suppose. She can’t risk us siding with someone else, she said.”

Alukorra hadn’t mentioned that. Of course she hadn’t. Ronnie clenched her fists, biting down the growl that rolled around in her throat. Here she was doing Alukorra’s dirty work. Again. And Alukorra was withholding information from her. Again.

“Why did you refuse the first time?” Lorna asked. “Don’t you want to get out of this forest?”

“Do you know how long hellhounds have been in this forest? Right here? Being chased and mauled by those shadows?” He pointed past her to the dancing nightmare watching him with hungry eyes. “Two centuries. At least. No one offers to help. No one in the Edge or anywhere else cares about us and the few that do end up-” He cut himself off with a harsh inhale. “No one has ever done anything for us just because they want to help out of kindness. No. They want to help us because they want us to risk our lives for them and be grateful for it.” Ignis stepped close. “That fairy can’t be trusted. She schemes just like Sloan does. Just like the humans do. Tell me, honestly, did you seek her out? Or did she strong-arm you into helping her? Did she play games with the people around you, put them in danger so she could get what she wants?” Ignis’ voice rose to a shout, pent up frustration in every word.

Anya. Black blood. Grey rotting flesh and screams of pain. Dead.

I knew she would be taken. I needed you to see what we’re fighting against.

I’m sorry.

No one answered his question and Ignis nodded, taking his answer in their silence. “I thought so. She doesn’t care about anyone but herself. She doesn’t care about the Edge or the people in it. She just wants the gates to the Glowing City opened again. She wants that barrier down and she’s using us to get it.”

“Is that so wrong?” Sebastian asked. Ronnie turned to him, surprised.

“Seriously?” Ignis snorted. “Like you even have an opinion here, human.”

“No, really,” he continued. “Maybe her methods seem…bad. But she’s going through the same struggle you are. What would you sacrifice if it meant getting out of this forest? What lengths would you go to if it meant the nightmares were gone for good? The Glowing City has been sealed shut. No fairy can leave its borders. She’s desperate, is all.”

“She tried to have you abducted and it almost got you killed. She stood back and let Sloan take Anya,” Ronnie reminded him.

“I’m not saying her actions are morally right, just that I understand where they’re coming from. Her people are prisoners, too.”

“Right,” Ignis said, arrogance coloring his tone. “All thanks to you.” He dug a finger in Sebastian’s chest. “Your people. Humans believe they have a right to everything.”

“If fairies can’t leave the city, then how is she here now?” Lorna asked.

Ignis shrugged. “She obviously found a way.”

The other hellhounds filed out of the buildings, alerted by Ignis’ volume, eager to see what was happening. They came to stand behind him, staring with red eyes and flexing their cracked, burning skin. Ronnie wasn’t bothered. As a shifter, she recognized posturing when she saw it. They wouldn’t intimidate her.

“The fairy sent another offer,” Ignis told his pack without looking away from Ronnie. Discontentment rumbled through the hellhounds, with more than a few choice words for what Alukorra could do with her offer.

“Even if we agreed, she can’t stop those nightmares,” one hellhound called from the back. “We’d be torn to shreds as soon as she dropped the barrier. We’re lucky we even manage to hunt without dying in those trees.”

Ronnie looked over her shoulder at the circling shadows, watching the hellhounds with hungry eyes and eager hands. Manifestations of grief and regret…

“Those are people who have died because of you,” Ronnie said softly, her gaze swinging around to the cemetery. Now that she was closer, she could see skulls atop the graves. Liva had said that hellhounds were born of shifters and demons, but not every skull belonged to them. She recognized the sharp curve and fangs of vampire skulls and human looking witch skulls among them. “Manifestations, Liva said.”

The hellhounds fell quiet at her words. Lorna gasped and covered her mouth. “Of course,” she breathed.

Ronnie stepped up to Ignis. “Who was Alura? Is she out there waiting for you? Or did you bury her over there?” She pointed to the graves.

Ignis snarled at her. “Don’t say her name. You have no idea what happened.”

“I can take a guess,” she said. “Alukorra has a plan,” her voice rose as she addressed the hellhounds. “to free the essence of magic from human hands. To give power and control back to us. To all supernaturals. Imagine what life would be like if you didn’t have to hide here.” She looked from face to face, but none were willing to meet her gaze. She dropped her eyes to Ignis. “Imagine being close to someone without fear of hurting them because you have no control.”

“What do you know about our suffering?” a burly hellhound asked.

Lorna stepped forward. “Witches know. With every spell, we either lose a piece of our minds or a piece of our youth. I know witches, friends, that I played with as a child that are decades older than me now. They’ll die withered and grey before they see thirty years. For others, their blood will turn black and they’ll lose their sanity. They won’t even recognize their own family anymore. Trust me, we know what it’s like to be hurt by your own power.”

The burly hellhound shook his head. “Not like this you don’t.” He stepped away. “I will have no part in this. I’m no one’s beast of burden.” He turned and left the group, vanishing inside one of the buildings. After a moment, the other hellhounds broke away and followed after him.

Ignis stayed rooted to the spot. He reached up and ran a finger over the chain around his neck, considering. “Follow me.”

He took them to the little cemetery, climbing over the low fence. “I didn’t bury Alura anywhere because there wasn’t anything left to bury,” he said bitterly. “We call this place the Matriarch. It’s where most of our mothers are. What’s left of them, anyway.” He stopped at a crooked monument and ran his hand over a poorly written name. “This is where my mother would have been if the wind hadn’t taken her ashes.” He flicked at the teeth on his necklace. “This is all that was left of her.”

Ronnie felt like she stood on an empty battlefield. “Liva said you all were hybrids.”

“We are. ‘Born from the fires of rage,’ as the legend says. The demon Cerberus took a shifter mate. He was murdered while she was carrying his son and her rage resulted in the first hellhound. Before the war, we weren’t any different than every other supernatural. Hellhounds could be birthed like every other child and have a mother who loved them, but when Marla was killed and the war began, the elves thought we’d be too much of a threat. When the humans took the magic, they took our control.” He shrugged, trying to appear careless but Ronnie could still read the pain on his face. “They were right, of course. We are dangerous but I still think this is overkill.” His attempt at humor fell flat.

A shadow fell over them. Ignis’ nightmare floated like black fog a few feet away, unable to cross the barrier. He reached out, putting his hand over the line of flowers. As soon as he did, the nightmare swirled into an unrecognizable storm and descended upon his hand. He yanked it back in. Chunks of skin had been ripped away and his molten blood oozed from the wound, sizzling as it dripped to the ground, burning the grass and leaves. The wound didn’t last long, though, and healed as quickly as the cuts Ronnie had made on his face earlier.

“We can’t leave on a hollow promise that the fairy made. We may be bitter and angry, yeah, but we’re not stupid,” he said, shaking his hand. “She can’t stop these nightmares and she knows it. Sorry, gorgeous, but it isn’t happening.”

Ronnie let the nickname slide. “Think about it. Liva said the nightmares are confined to the forest. Once you clear the trees, they can’t touch you anyway. Besides, Sloan is in this forest too. His manor isn’t so far that he’ll overlook you guys forever.”

Ignis laughed. “He doesn’t scare us. And the nightmares? They’d find a way. Even when we manage to distract them with the orbs Liva made for us so we can hunt, they eventually find us. They always do. Always.” Ignis broke off with a sigh and ran his hand over the cemetery sign again. He stood there for a quiet minute, tapping his fingers on the wood, staring out into the trees. “But, I guess it couldn’t hurt to mull it over.”