Page 158 of The Last Syphon

It was all she needed.

She had spent enough time in his presence to be able to read him from body language alone.

Inara did not even know why he decided to come if he was just going to sulk the entire time. He could have simply waited in Deadhaven for her to return, and then taken her back. She would not have struggled. He didn’t have to tag along, although Inara had to admit she was fucking glad to have him with her.

The closer they got to the Dead Kingdom, the more Inara felt it. This shift in the air. It started small at first. A slight shiver here. A creepy feeling there. Gradually getting worse and worse until she felt as though it surrounded her on all sides. This terrible, evil darkness. She could not escape it. It suffocated her. Smothered her. Made it hard to even draw breath.

Inara knew she wasn’t imagining it because the soul-link told her Fraener could feel it too. That dark, vile corruption that stained the very ground below them before they could even see it with their own eyes.

And when they did finally see it?

Nothing could have prepared her for that.

It was…devastating.

The rough, desert-like terrain of the Borderlands just…ended. Jagged lines of dark, permeating rot seeped into the brown earth, as if plaguing the land with this horrible, terrible sickness.

It stretched for as far as the eye could see. The ruined villages of Blackpeak, Holen, and Prector came into view—or what they used to be. She’d never seen them in person before. Never had the guts to venture this close to the boundary of Tolanaa. But she knew they didn’t used to look like that.

Rotted. Ruined. In pieces. Utterly destroyed, as if an explosion of magic had detonated right in the centre and wiped the entire village and every resident from the face of the realm.

Inara had seen the reports, but witnessing it in person?

It was a million times worse. Made the magnitude of what they were dealing with that much more grave.

Fraener suddenly veered down, and Inara had to quickly grip onto the spikes in front of her, or she would have been flung off completely. He landed harshly just before the cursed land, almost skidding to a halt so he would not come into contact with it. Tydus did the same, and both dragons all but scurried backwards, trying to distance themselves from what lay ahead.

“What’s going on?” Inara asked Prince Walder, her voice travelling across the wind.

She didn’t doubt that he could hear her, thanks to their Guardians’ superb hearing.

“I don’t know.” His forehead creased. “They do not wish to venture any further.” His frown deepened as his eyes glazed over slightly. Inara knew what he was doing.

She checked her soul-link, too, and discovered he was right.

Apprehension pounded through her body. Her mind. So much so that she could hardly form a coherent thought. Fraener didn’t want to be anywhere near the cursed land. He wanted to leave. To get the fuck away from whatever was going on here and never return.

Conflict warred inside her. Anything that could make one of the most feared creatures in all existence feel this way was something she should run from. There was no doubt in her mind about that. Whatever was spreading was something evil. Vile. Wrong.

That was the feeling.

This harsh wrongness.

Her mind screamed at her to get the fuck away as quickly as she could, and she almost listened to it. She didn’t like this feeling. This horrible, sinking feeling choking her. That something bad was going to happen, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Determination steeled her spine.

No.

There was something she could do about it. She had no idea what that was. Not yet. But she was so sure about it that it overrode everything else she was feeling. She was meant to be here. She could feel it, deep in her bones.

Tydus and Fraener continued to back away, making Inara and Prince Walder jostle on their backs from the harsh, abrupt movements.

“If we wish to progress, it will have to be on foot,” he said, frown still in place.

Inara nodded. Yeah, she figured that. Curses. She’d kinda gotten used to being able to fly wherever she wanted. She was going to have to use her legs?

Ugh. How boring.