Heart [ON HOLD]

Chapter 16: Heartsmith

The past beats inside me like a second heart.

- John Banville 

"Cora?"

She went limp against him and the Wolf darted and grabbed her beneath her arms. Her heartbeat plummeted and her skin drained of color.

"Cora!"

He laid her on the ground. He could hear her heartbeat growing fainter and slipping out of reach. Each breath passed her lips only faintly. He looked up and saw the dwarves just across the courtyard. The Wolf opened his mouth, but instantly lightning seared his chest. He gasped and clawed at his ribs. When the pain eased up a second later and he saw the knife strapped to Cora's waist.

His knife.

He could almost hear the Queen's voice in his ear.

Kill her. Do it now.

Another stab went through his heart like the snap of a whip and he fell forward, choking on air. But he couldn't kill her now. Not within sight of the dwarves. He'd never make it out alive.

"Help," he rasped. "She needs help."

That barest whisper sent knives through his chest, sent acid pouring over it. He screamed.

That got their attention.

The Wolf's face twisted and his teeth ground together. His nails dug into the earth and he struggled to suck air into his lungs as the burning in his chest intensified.

The sound of feet pounded the ground- there was shouting, screaming- possibly his own. He felt hands yank him away from Cora. They were taking her-

"-the circle-,"

"Corazon get over-,"

He felt a growl building in his throat. The pain that spiked his blood prickled all across his body and he felt his bones bending-

He shook his head, but his eyes rolled of their own volition. Every inch of his body felt as though it were splitting.

Someone's hands grabbed his shoulder and he felt the ground scraping his back.

He felt his skull twist and his teeth pushing through, sharpening-

And then it ceased.

There was silence. And a thrumming noise. A coarse bass that throbbed beneath him.

He took in a shallow breath, regaining his mind inch by inch. He looked down at his arms. Human. He felt his face. Human. No tail, no fur...

He pushed himself up and stiffened to keep his legs from quaking. But when he looked around nothing was familiar.

Blank white stretched as far as he could see. His bare feet felt nothing beneath them. Nothing smooth, nothing warm, simply nothing at all.

"Wolf."

He turned.

The dwarf - the blonde one they called Corazon - stood a short distance away, and behind him Cora lay limp. But what was just beyond them was most startling of all. Three massive shapes, each twice his height easily, floated in the air, all oblong but slightly different in shape. One was more round and bruised purple in color. One was wide and fleshy. The third gleamed like glass and was cracked and mottled with stone. From within it was a small glow that fluttered like a candle's flame.

"Is that- what is-,"

"Hearts," the dwarf said. "Did Cora mention I was a heartsmith?"

He shook his head dumbly.