Chapter 12 An eye for an eye
~Lyra's POV~
The rogues drove like men possessed. They soon left the major road and went into a forest path. The tires screamed against wet soil as the car lurched and bounced over stones and tangled roots.
No one spoke. The men at the front exchanged guttural words in a language I did not recognize, their voices low and grim. The one beside me turned once, and his red eyes flashed with amusement. He grinned, but I looked away before his ugly face would be stamped on my mind forever.
When the vehicle finally stopped, the engine sputtered into silence. The doors slammed open. Rough hands seized me and dragged me out before my thoughts could catch up. My legs buckled, and I hit the ground hard, the cold, wet soil soaking through my clothes.
The forest around us was wild. Giant trees loomed overhead, their branches like a blanket against the gray sky. Beneath them spread a camp built from decay and madness. There were tents patched together from torn hides, wooden stakes driven into the mud, and a smoldering bonfire that sent up thin trails of smoke from the night before.
There were so many rogues present. Some looked almost human. Others were wrong in ways my mind struggled to understand.
“We got the moon girl. All hail the void wolf,” the rogues chanted when they saw me.
“Bring her to the cages,” a deep voice commanded.
I turned toward the sound. The man who spoke was massive, with a scar that ran from his temple to his jaw. His eyes were cold, and the faintest curl of satisfaction tugged at his mouth.
The rogues obeyed instantly, dragging me across the mud toward a cluster of cages made from crude iron bars. Inside one of them, a werewolf lay collapsed, his fur matted with blood, his breathing shallow. When I looked closely, I realized he was wearing the uniform of warriors of iron fang.
One of the rogues yanked the cage open, seized the werewolf by his arm, and threw him to the ground.
The others began to chant in harsh, guttural tones that scraped against my ears. They formed a circle around the dying werewolf.
“An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth. Our people were killed by Ironfang. Today, we get even by taking one of them,” The scarred man announced, then drew a long blade from his belt and raised it high. The werewolf tried to crawl away, but one of them kicked him back down into the mud.
“Stop!” I pleaded in a whisper, despite knowing it was no use. These people were animals.
My voice was swallowed by their chant. The blade came down with a sound I would never forget, followed by a scream that tore through the trees. I turned my head away, but the tearing, the choking gasps, and the laughter that followed filled the air.
Then everything went silent.
When I dared to look again, the rogues were kneeling. The scarred man dipped his fingers into the pool of blood spreading through the mud and smeared it across his face. The others followed, one after another, whispering words I could not understand.
“For the Void Wolf,” one said.
“For his return,” the others answered.
Their voices rose together in a howl that was not human. It echoed through the forest, deep and hollow, and I could swear the earth itself trembled in response.
I felt sick. My heart slammed against my ribs, my stomach twisted, and every breath came in shudders.
How did I even end up here? All I wanted was to attend Aunt Mia's funeral. Why was everything going wrong in my life? What did these people want? What exactly was the void wolf? What did it have to do with me? I needed answers. I needed to understand, but it wasn't forthcoming.
Time lost meaning. Hours slipped by, though the sky never brightened. The forest seemed caught between night and dawn.
When they returned to my cage, they carried a dagger etched with strange symbols.
The scarred man crouched before my cage. “Moon girl,” he said, his voice low. “You carry what we need.”
“I do not know what you mean,” I said. My voice trembled despite my effort to sound strong. “And my name is not moon girl.”
He smiled, slow and knowing. “So ignorant, but that’s what makes it interesting.”
Two rogues opened the cage and dragged me out. I kicked and struggled, but their grip was unyielding. They forced me to kneel. The scarred man rolled up my sleeve, his fingers rough and cold.
“Do not move,” he said.
The dagger cut across my right arm, then my left. I gasped as blood welled and dripped into a metal bowl held beneath me.
When they finished, the scarred man dipped his fingers into my blood and drew a mark across my forehead. “Blood for the Void Wolf,” he said. “The first seal is given.”
They took a lock of my hair and dropped it into the bowl. One of them began to chant, his voice low and rhythmic. I could feel something pressing against the edges of my mind, something vast and hungry.
“What are you doing?” I asked, my voice shaking.
The scarred man’s grin widened. “Preparing for his return.”
“I do not want any part of this,” I said. “You cannot force—”
He struck me hard across the face. “You will speak only when spoken to,” he said.
My cheek throbbed and I tasted more blood. They shoved me back into the cage and locked it again.
At that point I wished I was back at iron fang. Yes, it was a cage as well, but for some reason I felt safer there than I did here. This place was all shades of wrong.
I was left alone for some time before a woman finally arrived. She wore a robe black as ink, threaded with silver that shimmered with every movement. Her hair was fiery red, her eyes faintly luminous. Every rogue fell to their knees as she passed.
“Welcome, priestess Valira, the mouthpiece of the void wolf,” they greeted.
The priestess turned her gaze on me. “Bring her,” she said.
They dragged me from the cage once more and forced me to kneel before the woman.
“You will help us complete the opening ritual, Moon child,” she said.
Moon child? It’s no longer moon girl?
“I don't know what ritual you are talking about,” I answered.
“You will,” she said. “You were chosen for this. Your blood already knows the way.”
She handed me a scroll made of something that looked like animal skin. The writing shimmered and shifted, the letters alive, crawling across the surface.
“Read the words out,” she ordered.
I froze when I saw the words. It was forbidden dark magic, something a witch of my caliber was not supposed to meddle with. I had never touched dark magic. Scrap that. I had never touched any serious magic apart from basic playful ones, and my healing ability. I knew it would have a negative effect on me should I try it.
“I will not,” I refused. “I will not summon whatever it is you worship.”
She nodded to one of the rogues. That one plunged a dagger into my thigh deep enough to make me scream my lungs out.
“Read it,” she repeated, her voice rising above the sound of my pain.
Tears blurred my vision.
Against every instinct begging me to stop, I began to speak the words aloud. The words felt wrong in my mouth, but they spilled out anyway. When the final word left my lips, silence swallowed everything.
Something powerful stirred inside me, and the mark on my palm began to glow faintly.