The Raven and the Wraith Book 2 (Completed!)

The Raven and the Wraith 2 Chapter 22

The Raven and the Wraith 2 Chapter 22

"No walls, no defenses, nothing. And a city this size must be thousands of years old. So it's been peaceful here that long?"

Our Cha'el guide maintained his characteristic silence, though he did look mildly irritated that I had spoke to him.

"They don't need physical defenses. Can't you feel it? The air, the buildings, even the stones of the street are all boiling with countless wards."

I looked at Kiera in surprise. I had not felt any such thing, which made me feel off balance, as I had most certainly felt the wards in the Cha'el tree city.

"I don't feel anything. This city feels as empty of magic as some of the smaller villages back home do."

Kiera looked puzzled. She opened her mouth to ask me something, then looked past me with her eyes popping wide. Her stunned expression, combined with how off balance and confused I was feeling, had me spinning in place with my knives appearing in my hands like flashing mirages of cold steel.

The busy city street, bustling with thousands of black-skinned Cha'el, was going silent as the crowd quickly, and fearfully, hurried to press against the sides of the street. Opening a wide line down the middle, making way for a progression of Cha'el riding creatures that looked like they were born from nightmares.

They had four legs and were roughly the size of a horse, but they moved in a slithering, slinking pattern that screamed lethal speed and raw danger. A cats stalking steps blended with the cold ferocity of a hunting lizard. They were bristling with spikes and scales, razor edges rippling smoothly with every movement, a dance of blades that was chillingly beautiful. Those edges flickered with a dark orange light, reminding me of the twin, orange suns here, and their slitted eyes flickered with barely restrained power.

I felt rooted to the spot, in the middle of the street, my mouth feeling like it was full of hot sand, and I could feel my heartbeat ratcheting upwards with every beat. I knew these creatures. They were from nightmares.

My nightmares.

"Out of the way, peasant!" The lead Cha'el snapped at me.

The sheer venom in his voice was enough to get me shuffling out of the way, though I was still in shock. I had dreamed of these things many times in my life, but I had never expected they were real. Having them bearing down on me was enough to put me in that same terror-frozen state as in my nightmares.

I pressed up against the nearest wall, as far away from the thing as I could. Then, as it stepped forward to move past me, it's ears twitched, then it's head swiveled smoothly over to stare at me as it stopped.

I met it's unblinking, fiery orange gaze, feeling like I was being pulled into a shifting, unknowable landscape where every thing that moved was a lethal threat. But even as the fear rose up in me, an answering animal ferocity sprang higher and pushed it aside.

The Hunger and the touch of the Cat were not prey to anything.

I stepped forward, baring my teeth, my eyes locked with its eyes in a clear contest of wills. The creature let out a wicked, rasping hiss, it's forked tongue lashing about like a demons tail, just behind its fangs. I snarled back, letting tendrils of the darkness inside of me ripple in my voice.

I distantly heard the crowd draw in a collective gasp, but I was too focused on this savage being stalking towards me, trying to crush me beneath the fire of its raw willpower, to care what the crowd was doing.

Behind me I felt Chan step forward slightly. My senses were so alive at that moment that I was acutely aware of the location and movements of everything around me. It was like my life was accelerated, with everything around me crystal clear.

"Do not move. Do not look away. The Kahlraugh will destroy you instantly." Chan said quietly, his voice ringing with dire warning.

I appreciated his help, although I somehow already knew not to move or look away. Then the Kahlraugh stepped even closer, our noses mere inches apart, and it growled, it's aura flaring even darker, even more lethal, rippling in time with the shifting notes of its voice.

I opened my mouth wide in an evil grin, snarling at it with the entirety of the darkness of the Hunger inside of me. In my peripheral vision I saw hundreds of Cha'el sag to their knees at the combined sounds, their eyes rolling back in their sockets.

After a long moment, the Kahlraugh stopped growling. It's aura receded, it's eyes opened back into a normal curve instead of a fiery slit, and it slowly bowed its head to me, until it's chin was resting on the ground at my feet.

Silence like a great blanket draped over the street, with every living thing in sight holding perfectly still, as I looked around in confusion.

Then the air shook with the thunder of thousands of voices, a jubilant roar that rose in volume and tone, until it was an unnerving shriek. Every Cha'el in sight had their heads thrown back as they screamed to the sky.

I was in a balanced crouch, my knives up and in a defensive posture, my head swiveling as I instinctively blocked out sound and shifted my focus to scents and sight. Ready for anything.

Ready for anything except when the Cha'el all stopped shrieking, turned towards me, and silently bowed. Up and down the street, as far as I could see.

Every last one, bent in a respectful bow towards me.