Sure enough, in just over an hour, they located a natural cave with well-worn stone carvings inside and around the opening. Ebony would have missed the thing. The opening appeared as a crack between two rocks at first. The marks to her looked like weathering and it didn’t correlate to anything the forest rangers learned about. What else lay hidden out here that went missed because the few people who entered the area were unskilled to pick up on the existence? At first, all Ebony stood there and touched the marks until her father pulled her hands away from it and shook his head. Her mother looked at the other side of the entrance where Ebony was unsure how any adult would fit through, let alone a wolf shifter. It would be a tight squeeze. Maybe that’s why the servants weren’t wandering around? “Are we sure this is it? I mean, can you read any of this to confirm this is the correct spot?” Michael asked his mate, seeing what looked like random scratches in the r
Ebony ended up as one of the wolves to enter the Wight’s Den and search through it for the Wight and its servants. The space was dark, rough, and tight. This place appeared at first sight as a location to fight in. She couldn’t figure out how they’d get the thing out and defeat them all at once. But her mother claimed she had a plan to fix it. Ebony wasn’t sure if it would work and when she said something to that affect her mother stated it will work if we can pull them to this entrance. Her mother admitted if there were other entrances, then it might not work completely. But she claimed it would be odd for such a place like this to have more than one entrance. She’d never heard of it occurring. For that, Ebony felt grateful. Now, with powerful lights and weapons in hand, they stalked the tiny space that acted as a tunnel or corridor. But really, it looked like a natural crack in the ground, which didn’t make her feel any more confident about entering it. Crevices like this could eas
This is what Ebony worried would happen when they got about ten minutes into this place. The floor of the tunnel was far from clear. Even with the lighting, they had anyone of them could stumble on some piece of debris. It was a bloody death trap. Of course, it was a death trap. The Wight most likely played that part up to catch anyone unwary enough to enter its domain. This is probably how some of the native population was caul. Something she didn’t like to think about, but it was an undeniable fact of history. “I say that we now know how deep this place goes and how deep these things stay. We should head back now and regroup. Maybe come up with a better plan. This wasn’t part of the plan that I’m aware of.” Peter suggested. He wasn’t being a coward. Peter just said out loud what Ebony thought. “We have time. These things will avoid leaving this place until nightfall. So, I say we go back, making enough noise to make them aware we’r
It only took a moment for everyone to stop and turn to Ebony. Another to realise what had her screaming, and by the third moment, they were responding to the problem.Magnus and Con were the first to jump into action. Benedict was not far behind them. Franco pulled the distraught Ebony away from the entrance before she could give chase.She went into action beside her father, preparing to do battle with anything that came out of the tunnel. But Ebony didn’t miss the fact, even in the frantic state she was in, that no one assured Peter would be alright.“Con will sort this out, Ebony. We’ll find out what happened. The space is tight and the fewer people going in will make fighting easier.” Franco tried to reason as others followed the three into the burial cave. “I heard him stumble, but I didn’t hear him fall. He was right behind me. We were so close to the entrance. There weren’t any side tunnels. How could anything have caught him we all didn’t see or heard?” He’s got to be safe. M
The noises echoing from deeper within the cave were frightening to hear. Ebony couldn’t believe what she was hearing. If those things touched them, they’d die. Daylight was fading as they waited. If those things followed them out, they’d have them. But Ebony agonised about whether they could get out of there alive. Sapphire wasn’t far from Ebony, and she too flinched with each sudden howling. No one could tell who made the sounds, but the battle went on for so long. Ebony wanted to scream or go chasing after them. Do something, anything, other than wait. But they wouldn’t let her in there. She still didn’t know how or what happened to Peter. Which made everything a hundred times worse, because her imagination was in overdrive working on the possibilities and probabilities. Each one she came up with was less likely than the last. What would she do? If something happened to Peter, what would it do to Benedict and Franco? They were both so close to Pet
Ebony’s mother worked hard and fast to stop the bleeding and anything else going on with Peter. Benedict hovered over Ebony’s shoulder and Franco had pulled her back, so her mother had room to work on Peter.“Did anyone figure out how he got separated from us in there? Benedict? Con? Anyone?” Ebony asked Benedict, never taking her eyes from Peter. “Are you alright?”“I’m fine. Now, as far as I can tell inside the burial chambers, there’s more than dead bodies. The wight has stored its servants in some of them. Somehow, we woke one up and it went after Peter. He’s been gouged badly, and I think the thing drained his life before we found them.” Benedict reported to Ebony as he watched her mother treat Peter’s wounds.“What do you mean? Did we walk right past the crypts? How? I don’t remember any bodies.” Ebony didn’t remember seeing any coffins, bodies, or bones. She didn’t remember any niches either.“Magnus found a recently opened niche in the wall. It was at ground level and in the
Peter settled down again only when the servants ended their struggles permanently with the end of the ritual that cut the wight off from controlling them. Benedict knew that was not a good sign. The attack on Peter didn’t kill him. Since, he wasn’t dead yet by any means. Magnus claimed while they searched for Peter that if they found him alive but injured by these things, Ebony’s mother would attempt to keep him alive past the destruction of the wight, and Peter wouldn’t become a new minion. Benedict didn’t like the new minion option or Peter’s death from any of this. But as Benedict thought about it now, he could see that Magnus didn’t say Peter would live but live past the wight. Now though, Peter’s flailing had knocked out Ebony. Which Benedict believed would help in the long run. With this happening to Peter, it was all too much in his estimation for her to deal with. He and Franco couldn’t deal with everything else if they feared she’d do something extre
Franco lay there as Benedict disappeared into the cave again. No once commented, but the air was thick with tension as Con, Ran, Magnus, Stone, and Flint went ahead of Benedict on the hunt for the wight. “I should go with them, Howard. They might need my skills.” Jane said to her mate. She feared the power of this creature because the information on these things was so incomplete. “Oh no. You are not running into the dragon’s den blindly, Jane. Because you’re needed out here more. You must do everything you can for Peter, or we will deal with three mourning wolves. They’ve partially bonded already.” “Howard.” Jane stopped speaking. Howard looked into her pained eyes. He knew what that look meant. She’d withheld something from someone. When she did that, it never boded well. She pulled him aside and made sure no one listened in or watched them. “There’s nothing more I can do here for him. It’s too late.” Her words made barely