Silver Secrets

Chapter 16: Mel

I hear the thought-buzz in the same instant that Rowan's hand clamps around my forearm and he presses his finger to his lips. I nod in silent understanding.

They've caught us.

We stand there for a moment, both listening to things the other will never hear. We shouldn't be in the open like this, but there's nowhere to run to. They're close, I can tell that much. I can make out several distinct thought-buzzes, and two are not quite human. One of them must be the elemental girl. I let Ember's reins fall from my hand, hoping she and Mistil will know to run away. We'll find them later, if we have to.

Rowan closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and begins to shift. Dead leaves swirl around my feet, and after a few seconds the wolf is there again, all coarse fur and sharp teeth and pricked ears but still with eyes that are unmistakably Rowan's. He prowls around me on four legs, nose lifted to the air.

I close my eyes and focus on the ever-present dull ache at the base of my neck. That's twice I've used my powers to save my own life. I just have to hope my luck will hold out for a third time, if it comes to that.

The thought-buzz is getting closer. I furrow my brow, concentrating so hard it's almost painful. It seems like one of the sources of the buzz is somewhere off to the side, away from the others...

Before I can register what that means, an arrow whistles past my ear and thuds into the tree behind me.

Rowan growls. I turn to find two people emerging from the forest. One of them is the elemental girl, and the other is a woman in a chain mail shirt, a sword gripped in her gloved hand. Behind me, I hear Rowan spring forwards, towards the separate thought-buzz, his paws whispering over the fallen leaves.

I back away from the women. I want to close my eyes so I can focus on their thought-buzz better, but I don't dare look away from either of them. They match every step back I take. The blonde raises her sword in front of her, but it's the elemental I'm worried about. She can travel in her element, is what Perdiscio said, and I realise with a chill that the ground is damp and muddy beneath my boots. That must be how they knew how to find us.

The blonde lifts her square chin. "Surrender now, Melanthe of Highhold, and your death will be swift and painless."

The elemental wrinkles her nose. "Because that's always worked before." She smiles like a cat that's just cornered a mouse. "Run for it, Psychic girl. Give me a good chase."

"River," the blonde says, a warning note in her voice.

The sounds of a fight drift down from further up the hill. There's a man shouting, punctuated by Rowan's savage barks and snarls.

We'll have a better chance if we're together. At least, that's what I tell myself as I turn tail and run.

I claw my way through the forest, kicking up plumes of dead leaves as I charge towards where I heard Rowan's barks coming from. Behind me, the blonde woman's thought-buzz gets closer and closer, though it's more frightening that I can't hear River any more.

Finally I stumble into a small clearing scattered with boulders. On one side is a steep embankment, and my heart sinks when I see the stream of water cascading down it and feeding a small creek that runs through the clearing. This is the absolute worst place to confront a water elemental, but there's no going back now.

Rowan's in the clearing too, and he has a trembling red-haired man with a bow backed up against a tree. Arrows litter the floor and tree trunks around me, but Rowan doesn't seem like he's hurt, and I think the archer is all out of arrows. A few feet away from him is a grey centaur brandishing an axe, stamping the ground anxiously and looking like he's waiting for a chance to dive at Rowan.

I creep around the clearing, just inside the cover of the trees. If I can get closer to the centaur, it might be easier to get into his head and get him to leave Rowan alone, long enough for us to get away. I'll have to be quick, though, before—

The woman bursts into the clearing, red-faced and sweating. "Where's Melanthe?" she shouts at nobody in particular.

"I'm having other problems right now," the centaur calls. "Ed's gone and used up all his arrows."

"I haven't," says a small voice from the other side of the clearing.

"Bree, you get away from here!" the archer screams.

I seize my chance and push through the undergrowth so I'm closer to the centaur. This will be the closest I can get without being seen, so it'll have to do.

I look up to see a girl with the same bright red hair as the archer, taking aim at Rowan with her own bow. It won't matter, though. Normal weapons don't hurt werewolves, that's what Captain Holanan said when he gave me the knife.

I drop to a crouch and close my eyes, focussing everything on the centaur.

His thought-buzz is different to how a human's is, but not by much. It's not like when the elemental was in the water. That was inhuman. This is almost exactly the same, but—

My concentration shatters when I hear the wet thunk of an arrow hitting flesh, followed by an agonised whimper like a kicked dog.

This isn't right. I spring to my feet in time to see Rowan turn and swipe at the centaur as he charges, then again at the blonde woman. The centaur ducks out of the way in time, but Rowan's claws rake the woman down her back, tearing her chain mail to useless shreds. An arrow is buried in Rowan's shoulder, and even as I watch I can see him struggling to stay in his wolf form.

An arrow shouldn't be able to hurt him like that.

A twig snaps behind me, and I turn to find the elemental stalking towards me. She is no longer smiling, and her thought-buzz is a storm of barely-contained rage. I try to reach for it, but I know as soon as the creek water splashes over my boot that it's not going to work.

They have silver arrows. We never stood a chance.

River bares her teeth. They're sharklike again, and they're the last thing I see before a torrent of water slams into me, knocking me off my feet. It keeps coming even as I fight to get up. A boot on my back forces me down into the water. Even as the air is snatched from my lungs and water fills my nose, all I can think of is the sight of Rowan with a silver arrow embedded in his shoulder, blood matting his fur. 

~

A/N: The first bonus story has been published! It's in a separate book, so you can find it on my profile. The next bonus story will be published after Silver Secrets reaches 250 hits, and will be from Rowan's POV.