Alex POV
"Alex, think about this," Trellis says. He twists his rings around his fingers, a nervous gesture. I feel bad for the man, for what I'm putting him through. "I cannot hold the pack together if you leave," he says, his voice filled with panic. Marcus… Jorah… they are too cunning. They will try to undermine you."
I shake my head. "I don't have a choice, Trellis." My traveling bags weigh on my back, filled with supplies. I'm dressed in comfortable but indescript clothes. As alpha, I have access to all of Silverlight's holdouts outside our capital. I could travel like a king if speed and anonymity weren't so necessary.
I place a hand on Trellis's shoulder. His eyes are filled with terror as he looks to me to assure him, and for a brief moment, I have the odd sensation of being the older, more experienced one.
"You're the only one I trust," I tell him honestly. "Find a way, Trellis. Buy me time. If I can't find the symbol, we'll all die." My face hardens. "I can't let that happen."
"Then at least, don't go alone. Let me send help with you. For my peace of mind."
I frown. "Ivan will be with me."
He scowls. "He might not remember it, but he is still a murderer. I cannot trust your life into his hands. Please. This is my one request."
I grit my teeth, but I nod, agreeing. "Two. You can send two with me. That is all I will allow."
He leaves to choose them. I check my packs again. Dried meat, hardtack, a water skin, a rolled map. A knife sharp enough to shave with. Ivan watches me from the doorway, his arms crossed. He says nothing.
An hour later, we all meet in my father's garden. The air is cool. Trellis stands with Loras and Finn, the two warriors he selected. They are capable, their faces set in grim lines. Trellis and the other two eye Ivan with distrust, but Ivan is as cold as a ice-capped mountain. Just as beautiful and terrible, too. I look away from him, and force myself to focus. I can't let my attraction to him interfere with my duty. I must not.
The gnome Diez, who is to operate the wardstone, yawns. He is already at the stone plinth, his thick fingers tracing the runes. He spits on his hands and rubs them together. "Well, come on now. Let's be off."
Trellis wraps me in a bear hug. Tears glisten in his eyes. "I am sorry, Alex. For this responsibility we have given you. If only… if only I could…"
"Enough," I growl. "This responsibility is my birthright. To give his flesh for the pack is the alpha's honor so do not dishonor me. Tell the pack that. Tell them that I go on this mission for their sake."
Trellis sniffles, but he nods and promises me that he'll do his best. He walks out of the wardstone's perimeter.
"Gather around, gather around. We'll conserve power that way," Diez says in his nasally hawking voice. We do as he instructs. Ivan stands close to my right, Loras and Finn on my left. The gnome nods and then begins the spell. The air pops and warps around us, like the inside of an opaque bubble. I can not see Trellis nor the rest of the garden.
Ivan moves like the wind, his face a mask of rage. He's holding his terrible sword, swinging it… at me.
I'm too stunned to even move. My mind registered the attack but my body was frozen. Before the sword connects, Ivan roughly shoves me aside with his free arm. The force sends me stumbling. He stabs the man behind me, the one I thought was my escort. The steel makes a wet, punching sound.
I land hard on my back, the air driven from my lungs. My heart is in my throat. The man Ivan just stabbed bleeds from his chest, his eyes wide in pain and death. His hand is clenched around the hilt of a dagger, its point aimed where my kidney had been a second before.
Trellis… Trellis has betrayed me? The thought is a cold shock.
"Hey! Hey!" The gnome swears harshly. "No fighting during transport! Are you insane? Do you want to kill us all?"
The remaining man, Loras, looks from Ivan to me. He slowly pulls his own knife from its sheath. The blade is covered in a slick, green liquid. Poison.
Loras looks at Ivan and salutes, a grim finality in the gesture. "Blood and Steel."
Ivan realizes what he means to do, but he is a step too late. Loras doesn't attack me. He dives at the little gnome, who is still shrieking about the rules of transport. He spears Diez through with the poisoned dagger. Diez is stunned as the blade sinks into his chest. His eyes widen in surprise and pain. "But… but the oath of non-violence… you've—" Green blood drips from his mouth. His skin begins to smoke and bubble. He screams. Then he explodes. Still screaming.
Diez is dead. The oath… the pact of the wardstone… oh, gods.
Ivan lunges. His movement is perfectly efficient, a executioner's pirouette. His blade swings horizontally. It bisects Loras cleanly at the neck, taking his head off. The headless body topples to the floor.
But my eyes are glued to the wardstone. The runes have turned a furious red and they flicker wildly. The opaque bubble around us shudders and wavers like it's caught in a storm. The transportation is destabilizing. Fear grips my chest. What will become of us without Diez to steer us?
I don't have to wait long. The air shrieks as it implodes around us. I am hauled by a powerful, unseen force, spinning as if in a hurricane. I can't see Ivan. I can't see anything but the violent, flashing red of the wardstone.
It explodes with a roar like a beast, washing over us with a powerful white light. I shield my eyes with my hands, and I can make out my skeleton, tissues, arteries and veins, as the light passes through me.
Then blinding, all-consuming pain.
Then… nothing.