Jiro POV
Of course, it should be Lilia going to check on Ravyn and Jude, but if she could convince the faeries to join their side and free their queen, then so much the better. His heart might cry out for Ravyn and Jude to be safe, to be back home among their family and pack, but he knew that there was a bigger picture at stake. Dane's visions had spelled it out plainly.
How could they defeat the Dark Goddess for good, though?
An unorthodox idea came to him, thanks to Ravyn's years of tutelage and guidance.
"Garnet?"
"Yes?"
"I've been thinking." He followed the distressed trail of Ravyn's and Jude's scent, with a third one intertwining. Hades' scent. Interesting. Maybe Hades' influence was getting stronger?
"About what?"
"Could we capture the Dark Goddess in Daxius' crystal skull?"
Garnet squeezed past him, knocking him to the left a little. "WHAT? Give that sacred object up? Something that the Moon Goddess inhabits?"
"Who better to handle her sister than the Moon Goddess herself?" Jiro argued. "Besides, she's everywhere. There's only a fraction of her inside that crystal. The way this place feels, I think the Dark Goddess has poured all of herself into it."
The corridors looked dark and twisted around them. Beautiful, yes, but cold and cruel. Once-refined and artistic and pleasing faerie portraits and statues and furniture seemed demonic and soulless, as though the fiend had sucked everything good and noble from every inch of this castle. The word Jiro would use to describe the place was hopeless.
Garnet sniffed the air and gagged. "It's a crazy idea. But we have to do something. Those poor faeries. They never signed on for this. And now that the fiend has a stronghold, her power will spread to the other kingdoms."
"Precisely. I'd say one crystal skull is a small sacrifice," Jiro concluded.
"I can go get it," Garnet volunteered.
"No. Let's see to Ravyn and Jude first."
"Oh, yes." Garnet raced faster, following the scent up the winding stair. "You see what you did? You got me all excited and diverted."
"Sorry. It's a peculiarity of mine ..."
"Mine, too, especially around you," she answered. "But you are right. Ravyn and Jude need us."
Cyran growled, "I can go back for the skull."
"Or I can," Naomi volunteered, her tail wagging.
"No," Jiro replied. "We have to find Ravyn, and we're the four sneakiest wolves in the Shifter Federation. Let's move!"
The scent trail snaked up the stairs and through the corridors, until they reached an upper floor and followed their noses down the dark gloaming passageway. Garnet's ears pricked up, and so did her nose, sniffing the air. "Explosion, just like Anneliese and Thessi said. Smoke. It smells like cold death and crystals."
Cyran agreed. "And Hades. I didn't realize we could still smell him ... I wonder if anyone else can? Somehow we have to make sure ... we don't want to give away that secret."
Jiro let out a little woof, touched by Cyran's protective tone. "Moon Goddess forbid that the Dark Goddess sniffs out even a fragment of that scent ..."
"Not one jot, or we're all doomed," Cyran replied.
Naomi halted, planting her feet firmly. "I hear something ..."
Wheels.
The creak and clatter of wheels on the floor. Smoke had wafted into the corridor, hanging there, reaching foul dark fingers into the midnight atmosphere. Out of the smoke rode a tall dark-haired faerie in a wheelchair, carrying Ravyn across his lap, while a tiny amber faerie zipped alongside him.
"It's Prince Danniall," Garnet broadcast to all of them. "He's the hero of the hour!"
Jiro and the others shifted instantly, and Cyran called, "Give her here, Your Highness."
Prince Danniall, or Niall, powered his chair toward them, and Cyran scooped up Ravyn in his powerful arms. "Have we met?" Niall asked.
"Cyran Sinsworth," Cyran said, cradling Ravyn in his arms. "We haven't met, but I've heard of you."
Niall's eyes glimmered with recognition. "Rogue ex-Alpha that started all this. At least you're free of the darkness now."
"That I am." Cyran's voice held a note of respect. "We can discuss my misdeeds at another time, but in the meantime, Alpha Jude is still missing."
"One moment." Niall glanced at the amber faerie, who buzzed around Cyran. "Sparkler, stay with them. I'll be back as soon as I can."
Jiro marched toward him. "I'm going with you. Jiro Cresta, Cyran's brother-in-law."
Niall snorted. "And you're supposed to be the smartest Alpha. I can handle this on my own. If my mother even catches a glimpse of you--"
"She won't if we're quiet. Come on."
Not taking no for an answer, Jiro raced down the corridor. The sound of the wheels behind him sped up, and Niall groused, "You shifters, always sticking your nose into things."
"Not normally. Normally, we stay in our own lands," Jiro replied. "But your mother took a simple rejection too far."
"It wasn't all her fault," Niall muttered. "But yes, she has taken it too far, and we'll never live down the embarrassment."
There was nothing Jiro could say to that. He chose not to engage in a heavy discussion, but focused instead on reaching the chamber from whence all the smoke originated. Cyran, who had given Ravyn to Garnet and Naomi, went with him.
His eyes watered, and his nose ran, but it wouldn't be much better in wolf form. Besides, he needed two hands to carry Jude.
He braved the smoke long enough to squat down and feel for Jude. Floor. Crystals. Debris. Aha. A solid muscled shifter body.
Jiro hauled Jude off the floor, and, together with Cyran, carried him out of the room. They almost got to the door when an arctic voice reached them.
"STOP. RIGHT. THERE."
Jiro and Cyran didn't turn to look. It wasn't worth the risk. They couldn't afford the distraction.
Prince Niall spun around in his chair. "Don't worry. I will handle her."
Jiro experienced a pang. "But you don't know what she'll do to you."
Niall's mouth slanted in a broken smile. "She isn't my mother anymore, Alpha ..."
"It's just Jiro." He stared at Niall through intense turquoise eyes. "I'll come back for you--and an Alpha's word is his bond.
"That goes double for me," Cyran pledged.
"Forget honor," Niall barked. "Go! Go! Save Jude."
Jiro and Cyran rushed out, the smoke chasing them with the same stubbornness as Queen Ylavi trying to recapture her prisoners. Carrying the heavy Jude between them, Cyran and Jiro didn't look back, but they both had the same thought.
They WOULD go back for Prince Niall.
"If Queen Ylavi dies, he's going to be the next ruler of the faeries," Cyran declared. "We have to save his life. For their sakes."
Jude coughed as he stirred and said one word in a voice as thick as molasses:
"Yes."
Energized and cheered, Jiro sped up. "Can you walk, Jude?"
Jude attempted to get down, but he moved like molasses, too.
"It's alright," Cyran assured him. "After what you've been through, service like this is the least we owe you."
Jude coughed again. "Niall."
"We'll go back for him, I promise," Jiro assured Jude.
The smoke, with its foul odor, finally dissipated before they reached the stairs. Jiro mentally prepared himself for the descent.
Jude's eyes bugged, and finally his limbs began to move freely. He slid down to the floor. "I ... I can ... I can walk. He ... he's helping."
Hades' voice broke through, echoing in Jiro's mind and probably Cyran's, too.
"Perhaps I can be of some help after all."
Jude slowly limped down the stairs, with Jiro in front of him and Cyran behind, just in case he should be unsteady and take a tumble.
Cyran's voice filled the link. "Moon Goddess, I have never been so happy to hear that voice. Jiro, maybe you would tell him your idea?"
"Idea?" Hades sounded intrigued. "An idea from this man is worth hearing."
Jiro explained, "Daxius got his hands on a crystal skull inhabited by part of the Moon Goddess herself. You've no doubt heard of such things."
"Tried to find them," Hades admitted. "SHE doesn't much like them ..."
"That's too bad," Jiro replied in the link. "Because we have a mind to trap her in this one."
Hades' response was instant and shocking.
"Then there's no time to waste. This may be our only hope."