“This place matches what the Crystal Queen showed us.” Rhennic rumbled, breaking their silence as everyone gazed around. “Some of the pillars here look different than she saw, though. I think we’re in a different spot in this crystal forest than she was in.”
“This was where the Vittrians planned to heal their wounded from the battle.” Dusk spoke softly as he gazed around also. “The healing frequencies here are massive – far stronger than that cave we found in the Thin Ways. It’s as if this place was created by masters of that healing art; while that cavern was only created by the last surviving novices after they’d fled the destruction of their realm. But all these chambers are empty; so I surmise the Vittrian Dragons who fought on that plain never got as far as using this healing-forest they had created.”
“But Hunter found it and learned how to use it, at least partly. Whichever part of it he was using to keep his army in stasis for millennia.” Rhennic rumbled now with a frown. As he gazed around, Layla looked also, noting that there were indeed differences to the columnar formations of crystal here than Queen Ishet Arlohaina had seen. The pattern of colors through the tombs was different also; and as Layla glanced right, she saw a path burrowing through the forest of pillars. Once she saw that, she noted at least ten other paths leading out from this area and through the tremendous forest of crystal all around.
“I think this place must be like a honeycomb.” Layla spoke as she nodded to the paths. “There must be different clearings, all connected by those paths. We should find the one Hunter kept his army in – that’s where he’s most likely to be.”
“Agreed.” Adrian spoke as he glanced at her. “Can you feel if Hunter’s here, Layla, through the Bind?”
“I’ll try.” Opening herself to the golden thread of Bind she shared with Hunter once more, Layla thought she might just get his spider’s web of madness again through the ether. But as if searching through a three-dimensional space with both time and distance put limits on her viewpoint, she felt only one long thread now; uncoiling from her heart and leading directly ahead through the crystal behemoths. As she gazed in that direction, Layla felt a sudden endpoint to her connection with Hunter – and then a pulse of energy rushed through their shared Bind. Layla hadn’t meant to send it; it was simply a product of their connection. But she felt Hunter suddenly look up from where he sat upon a gemstone bench, draped over a crystal sarcophagus beside him. Through their Bind, his dawn-mad eyes fixed upon her.
And Layla knew he’d felt her presence also.
Drawing a deep breath, she nodded to the path directly ahead. “He’s here. And he felt me through the Bind. If we were hoping for an element of surprise… I’m sorry to say, it’s gone.”
“Is he alone?” Rhennic asked as the tension in the group suddenly cranked up ten notches, Layla and all her men now preparing for a fight.
“I can’t tell.” Layla shook her head, not feeling anyone else through the Bind or even the ether in this highly energetic space.
“Hang on. I’ll find out.” Dusk spoke up then, moving to the nearest crystal sarcophagus and setting a hand to it. Sending a deep but subtle pulse through the structure and down into the forest of columns, Dusk sent his vibrations in the direction Layla had indicated. Taking a deep breath as he returned from a light trance, he removed his hand from the sarcophagus. “There’s someone else with Hunter, with a strong Dragon signature. That person is in one of these tombs; alive, but with a smooth vibration like they’re asleep or unconscious.”
“Then I guess it’s time we go have one last chat with our heinous friend.” Rhennic spoke darkly as a flash of lightning seared through his eyes, a crackle of power simmering around him. “Is everyone ready?”
“Ready.” Adrian spoke as everyone nodded.
Rhennic didn’t have to tell them to prepare for anything as he led the way with Layla just behind to direct him. Walking through the valley of tombs, they soon gained the path that led through the crystal columns. Entering the forest of softly-glowing crystal with their diamond-bright centers, Layla felt like she had entered a hall of mirrors as her reflection and her men’s were cast back from all sides off the massive, clear surfaces. As they followed the tight path single-file, Layla kept her gaze on Rhennic’s feet so as not to get disoriented by the towering structures all around. But within five minutes, they were through the enormous forest, their way opening up into another rolling valley of sarcophagi.
One that looked just like the Crystal Queen’s vision.
There at the center of the valley of tombs was Hunter – draped over an ornate diamond sarcophagus right in the middle just as Layla had seen him. He didn’t rise as they approached, all their Dragon-magics cranked up to the max now and ready to be cast as they wound their way through the tombs. Though Hunter was draped with his face down upon the bier and his arms over the tomb, sitting upon a ruby bench beside it, Layla could feel he was aware of them. Breathing softly, she could feel his heart rate slow as they neared; almost impossibly slow compared to their tense, racing beats. But even as they arrived, fanning out in a semi-circle so each of them had a clean sightline to strike, Layla felt him give only a soft sigh.
And then raise his head from the bier.
As Hunter straightened upon his bench, he left an arm draped over the tomb as if it gave him comfort. His dawn-mad eyes were bright as he watched Layla; but even though his gaze held her with a formidable presence, she couldn’t help but glance to what was inside the diamond bier beside him. Her breath caught as she saw dark, caramel-lovely skin and sleek black hair with model-high cheekbones and angled-up eyes – Nadia. Her hands folded across her chest, Nadia’s face was almost beatific inside her coffin.
Though with Dusk’s senses, Layla could feel Nadia’s heartbeat, smooth and deep as she breathed peacefully – alive.
“Congratulations. You found me.” Hunter spoke softly then, and Layla glanced back to him. His dawn-bright eyes were still penetrating but his smile was wry now upon his exquisitely beautiful face. “Could you not let me be, Layla? Let me wallow in my misery here until the end of my days… and let me go.”
“You and I both know it doesn’t work like that, Hunter.” Layla spoke quietly now as she pinned him with her steady gaze. “You’ve killed a lot of people, and hurt a lot more than that, all throughout time. You don’t get to be a tortured soul who fades off into the night. You need to come to reckoning for everything you’ve done.”
“And you six will be the ones to bring me to the weighing of my soul.” He spoke wryly now as he gazed around their group. “You know, in ages past, I would have thought that person would be Nadia. But here she lies, caught in a coffin of her own making – one I cannot wake her from.”
Layla blinked at this news, that Nadia had somehow been able to get around Hunter’s vast powers once again, though she tried to keep her astonishment from flooding through the Bind. But all the same, Hunter felt it, and smiled sadly now at the sarcophagus and the beautiful woman within as he ran a hand over its ornate diamond top.
“Yes, she was ever able to defy me.” He chuckled as he gazed at his once-lover within. “Even when our powers were young, she had something that could stop my magics from completely destroying her – call it love, call it fate, call it destiny… call it what you will. Though we’ve fought more than banshees over the years, she never truly succumbed to me. At times I wonder if she was a Royal Dragon Bind of equal might to me, even back then. Only my magic matured sooner, and so hers acquired my imprint and I became the pinnacle of our Bind, rather than her.”
“She was a formidable adversary.” Layla commented, not knowing what else to say.
“She still is.” Hunter chuckled forlornly as he stroked his hand over the diamond bier again. “And now she will keep herself this way until the end of time, or until she dies, and we shall never have reconciliation. Though we are still Bound, she will defy me until we both go to our graves, and I will never attain the forgiveness I once sought from her. I suppose I should have seen that she would never come back to me. Yet still… I hoped.”
“Treat people like shit, Hunter, get shit responses back.” Layla spoke then, feeling little sympathy; though for some reason, she still felt compelled to help him. “Maybe you should speak with Nimir and see if he’ll forgive you. If he did… maybe he could get Nadia to do so as well.”
Layla saw the spark in Hunter’s eyes as they suddenly fixed upon her, acquiring that intense Dragon-like slit as his face flashed through numerous personae again. She saw then that she had hit the nail on the head; Hunter still wanted Nadia and Nimir’s forgiveness for everything he had done in his long, tortured life, and held out hope that they could somehow love him again. Since Layla had rejected him, his deepest need now was to have them love him once more; to be Bound to them again and believe he was good deep inside, because of their love.
But he had lived too long and horrible a life for that – and as he watched her, Hunter’s eyes did not return to human.
Layla stared into the eyes of his beast as he suddenly snarled at her, low and cold. “You assert that Nimir is alive. Tell me – is it so?”
