The air in the Blackwood did not flow. It stagnated. It was a thick and freezing mist that tasted of copper and ancient rot.
Julian stood at the edge of the clearing. His hand was still clamped around Elara's wrist. He could feel the vibration of her terror. It was a frantic and fluttering thing beneath her skin. The golden light that had shielded them in the Archives was fading. It was being sucked away by the oppressive dampness of the trees.
The spectral rider sat atop a horse that was nothing more than a cage of blackened ribs and blue fire. The rider did not breathe. He did not blink. He was a sentinel of the Shadow Vail. He was a nightmare given form and armor.
"The girl is not a debt for the dead," Julian said. His voice was a low and tectonic rasp. It cut through the mist like a blade. "She is a guest of Oakhaven. You are trespassing on sovereign soil."
"There is no soil here," the rider replied. The voice was a chorus of a thousand whispers. "There is only the Hunt. The Seeker has been marked. The beacon has reached the ears of the Unseen. Step aside, Stone King. You are a relic of a dying world."
Julian felt the stone on his chest begin to tighten. Without Elara's direct contact against his flesh, the curse was reclaiming its territory. The gray film was creeping back over his vision. He could feel his heart slowing. It was becoming a heavy and cold diamond in his chest.
"Julian," Elara whispered. She was staring at the rider's spear. The blue flame was casting long and distorted shadows across her face. "Mina says there is no record of this. She says the digital trail just went cold.
Who is this guy?"
"He is the end of the line," Julian said.
He turned to Kaleen. The castellan was standing three paces back. He was holding his silver cane like a sword. His eyes were fixed on the dark tree line where more shapes were beginning to emerge from the fog.
"Kaleen. The girl is the priority," Julian commanded. "Take her toward the Heart-Stone coordinates. I will hold the clearing."
"You cannot hold a ghost, Julian," Kaleen said. His voice was tight with rare emotion. "Not in this state. You are half a statue."
"I am enough," Julian growled.
He shoved Elara toward Kaleen. The loss of her touch was a physical agony. It felt like his blood was being replaced by liquid lead. His vision went black. The gray fog was total now. He was blind in a forest full of predators.
"Run!" Julian roared.
He didn't wait for them to obey. He focused on the sound of the spectral horse's hooves. He focused on the crackle of the blue fire. He sank his mental weight into the ground. He tapped into the deep and tectonic hunger of the Stonework Curse.
Julian didn't just swing his arm. He commanded the earth to rise.
A wall of jagged obsidian erupted from the dirt. It sent a shower of black soil and frozen roots into the air. The spectral horse screamed. It was a sound of tearing metal. Julian felt the impact of the rider's spear against his stone shoulder. The blue flame didn't burn his skin. It burned his soul. It was a cold and hollow pain that made his knees buckle.
"Go!" Julian shouted again.
He heard Elara's boots scuffling through the dead leaves. He heard her frantic breathing as Kaleen pulled her into the deeper thicket.
"I am not leaving him!" Elara's voice was a distant and desperate cry.
"You are the only reason he is still standing!" Kaleen's voice was fading into the trees. "If you stay, you both die! Move!"
Julian stood alone in the clearing. He was a blind and broken monument. He could hear the clicking of more riders. He could feel the cold wind of their passage. They were circling him like vultures around a dying lion.
"The Seeker is a prize for the King of the Vail," the lead rider said. He was closer now. Julian could smell the scent of old graves and ozone. "You are merely the shell she left behind."
Julian let out a low and dark laugh. It was a sound of grinding rock.
"I have been a shell for a hundred years," Julian said.
He reached out with his mind. He didn't look for the riders. He looked for the connection he had shared with Elara. He looked for the residual heat she had left in his veins. He found a tiny and flickering ember of her Night-Blooming Cereus scent. He pulled on it. He used it as a compass.
Julian lunged.
He didn't use a weapon. He used his body. He slammed into the lead rider with the force of a mountain. He felt the spectral armor shatter under his stone fists. He felt the blue fire licking at his face. He didn't care. He was a monster made of grief and marble.
Inside the woods, Elara was running. Her lungs were burning. The cold air was like needles in her throat. Kaleen was a silent shadow beside her. He was cutting through the briars with his silver blade.
"Mina! Talk to me!" Elara gasped.
"Elara, stop!" Mina's voice was a frantic screech in her ear. "The coordinates are wrong! The Heart-Stone isn't a place. It is a trap. I just found a hidden file in Silas's private cloud. He didn't sell you to the Fenris Pack. He didn't sell you to the Vail. He sold you to the buyer who provided the 'tuning' drugs."
Elara skidded to a halt. She nearly fell into a shallow ravine.
"What are you talking about?"
"The drugs weren't just resonance stabilizers, Elara. They were markers. They were meant to attract the Hunt. Silas wanted the Vail to take you. He wanted them to take you to the Heart-Stone so you could unlock it for him."
Elara looked back toward the clearing. She could see the flashes of blue fire through the trees. She could hear the sound of Julian's roar.
"He's still fighting them," Elara whispered.
"We must move, Miss Vance," Kaleen said. He grabbed her arm.
But Elara didn't move. She felt a sudden and violent surge of heat in her chest. It wasn't the warmth of Julian's touch. It was a hot and oily sensation. It was the "priming" Silas had done to her. It was waking up.
The trees around them began to wither. The leaves turned to ash in seconds. The ground beneath Elara's feet began to glow with a sickly and amber light.
"Kaleen," Elara said. Her voice sounded different. It was layered with a thousand hums. "I don't think I am an anchor anymore."
"What is happening?" Kaleen stepped back. His eyes were wide with a terror he couldn't hide.
"I think I am the detonator," Elara said.
A massive and obsidian claw erupted from the ground between them. It was followed by a head of scales and hellfire. It wasn't a wolf. It wasn't a rider.
It was a Dragon Beast. And it had Elara's golden eyes.