Avenging Amethyst (Immortal Eyes) (20 page)

"I can
count at least seven areas where there is a threat. Some areas have a stronger
threat emanating from them so I think there are more than one Zhulik in those
areas. My guess is there are ten or fifteen Zhulik in that cave."

"Shit,"
Felix cursed. "I don't care how amazing your power is, there is no way we
can handle that many Zhulik by ourselves."

"There's
more," I interrupted. "I think I know where Ellie is."

"How?"

"I can
sense areas where there is magic but no threat. I think those areas are Nesmyr
that are being held captive. The sensation is the same as it was at the
facility when I could locate Nesmyr that weren't using their power. There is
one area that feels small. It's not as strong as the other areas so I think it
might be Ellie because she's so young."

"I don't
think it's safe to risk going in there. Even if we manage to get past the
Zhulik guarding her, it will most likely alert the other ones to our presence.
They'll all come after us."

"We have to
try," I argued. "We took this job to rescue her. If we know where
she's at then we at least have to try. We can come back for the others another
time. I feel bad leaving them but we didn't take a job to rescue them. If
they're important to anyone then they'll be someone else's job."

"One job is
not worth having fifteen Zhulik come after us. We need to go back to
headquarters and alert the council of what we found. We'll get a group of Lovac
and come back when we have a chance of surviving."

"Ellie
might be dead by that time. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if that
happens."

"There's a
lot of things that you're going to do that will have you thinking that but
you'll learn to live with them eventually."

"This isn't
one of them," I said, walking towards the cave entrance. "I'm going
in with or without you. Besides, the sun will be coming up soon so if any of
the other Zhulik come after us we'll make a run for it. Once we make it outside
we'll be safe in the sunlight."

"But Ellie
won’t. She’s a Nesmyr. We have to get here out before the sun rises
or she’ll burn. We don’t have that much time."

"Then we
better hurry." I would not give up that easily.

I was entering
the cave now and glanced back to see Felix's reaction. He looked very torn. He
still wanted to get Lovac back-up but he didn't want me to do this alone. I saw
a look in his eyes that showed he had come up with an idea. He caught my eye
and gave me a half smile just before he started to run after me. It only took
me a second to figure out that he was planning on tackling me and forcing me
back to the headquarters.

I was surprised
he hadn't considered what my power might do. It kicked into full attack mode
and just as he reached for me, I ducked and kicked his legs out from underneath
him. He landed on the hard ground with a thud and a groan.

"You
should've known better than to try that. Doing anything to me against my will
is considered a threat. When you threaten me, my power kicks in. Next time I
won't be so nice. Now are you going to come with me or wait in the car?"

He sat up
quickly and grabbed my hand, yanking me to the ground on top of him. "I
don’t want you to get hurt," he said into my ear. The pleading in
his voice was almost enough to make me change my mind, but I had to put mine
and Felix’s feelings aside.

"She’s
only a girl, Felix. Can you imagine what they’ve done to her or are
planning to do to her? We have to get her out."

He sat up with
his arms still wrapped around me and looked deeply into my eyes. I hoped he
would see how badly I needed to this. A defeated look washed over his face and
he sighed. He stood up, bringing me to my feet as well. He had decided to trust
me with both of our lives.

"Don't mess
this up," he told me, bringing my hand to his lips for a gentle kiss.
"I still have a few good years left to live and I would like to enjoy
them." I knew he was more concerned with my life than his own and I hoped
he would be able to spend those years with me. Somehow.

"Just stay
quiet and follow my lead."

I had never
thought of myself as a leader before but in that moment, I felt like I was born
for it. I led us through a maze of caves, carefully tuning into my power to
make sure we avoided the wrong groups of Zhulik. The group where I was hoping
to find Ellie was deep in the cave and we had to pass at least four other
groups of Zhulik undetected.

The Zhulik were
in small caverns that led off of the main pathway, so we wouldn't be walking
too close to them but it was still terrifying to move past each path that led
to where I knew they were at. Each time we passed one of them I held my breath
and felt like they would come running after us at any moment.

I didn't say a
word to Felix when we were near them. I didn't want him to panic more than he
already was. I would just slow down and move extra slow and he would follow my
example. I'm sure he caught on but he didn't show any reaction.

We had already
passed about ten paths that lead off of the main one into different parts of
the cave and I wondered if the cave stretched farther than my sensing power
could. For all I knew, these paths could be miles long and there could be
swarms of Zhulik hiding in their depths. I gulped at the thought and sweat
beaded on my forehead. That was not the kind of thinking I needed.

I felt like we
were going to have to walk for miles before we got to where we wanted to be but
we finally reached what I thought was the right path. I paused in front of it
and glanced at Felix to indicate that this was the path we wanted. 

Before we
continued, I heard voices moving towards us. Felix grabbed my arm and pulled me
into a nearby crevice in the rock wall. We were squished together but out of
sight for the most part.

The voices got
louder and we saw two Zhulik dragging away a third one. I immediately knew the
third Zhulik was Colin, who looked exactly like Colette but with shorter hair
and red eyes. He was thrashing in the arms of the other Zhulik and shouting.

"You
promised me my reward! I brought you the girl, now give me my power," he
said, spitting into the air.

"You'll get
your reward at dusk at the ceremony, with everyone else. That is, if she deems
you worthy," one of the other Zhulik said.

I glanced at
Felix but he just shrugged. He had no idea what the Zhulik were yelling about
either.

After the Zhulik
disappeared down the tunnel, we quietly moved down the path they had just come
from. I concentrated on my power and felt a cluster of three Zhulik less than a
mile off of the path. Near them was a faint tingle of non-threatening magic,
indicating a Nesmyr. Since Colin had just come from this path, I was almost
positive it had to be Ellie.

 Felix
looked at me for confirmation and I turned to him and nodded. I took a deep
breath to prepare myself and we slowly crept closer to the Zhulik. I had never
practiced being stealthy but it seemed like I had a natural ability at it and I
wondered if all Lovac were like that. I glanced at Felix and decided we must
be. We were both walking completely silently and I didn't think the best
hearing in the world could detect us.

The tingling in
my body was getting stronger with every step we took and it got to the point
where it was almost unbearable. I had to pause to get control of my power
before it took over too soon. Felix gave me a concerned look but kept his mouth
shut. My body was twitching with the desire to fight but we had to try to get a
peek at the situation before we went in there and attacked.

I had been
holding onto my stake the whole time we had been in here and I took a good look
at. It was the first time I was going to use it and I only hoped it would serve
me well enough to keep me alive.

Once I had the
twitching under control we moved forward again, slower this time. The path
curved slightly ahead of us and we slowly peeked our heads around the corner to
make sure we didn't come face to face with a Zhulik. What we saw was the
entrance to a small cavern and the glow of a lantern that cast shadows all over
the walls. I could only see one Zhulik from our position but the shadows
indicated that there were three total. I could also see the front of what
looked like a cage. Inside, I could just make out the ends of someone's long
blonde hair. It had to be Ellie.

Felix and I
pulled our heads back around the corner before we could be spotted, to mime out
our plan. We didn't want to risk talking and being detected before we even had
time to make a plan. I indicated to Felix that he go after the closest guard
and once he had that taken care of to get Ellie free. I would go after the
other two Zhulik.

He seemed to
understand and didn't look happy that I would be going after more of the
Zhulik. I knew he wanted to argue but we didn't have the time. We both knew my
power was stronger in this situation and I would have more advantage in the
fight.

I readied myself
to start attacking but before I could, Felix grabbed my hands. He looked me in
the eyes with such a serious look that I couldn't move. Then he kissed me. It
was slow and gentle but it was enough to express his concern for our lives. My
breath caught in my throat and I tried not to cry. We pulled away and I gently
ran my fingers down his cheek.

I took a shaky
breath to try to calm my nerves before I felt like I was ready for the fight.
We gave each other one last look of longing before we bolted around the corner
and into my very first battle.

The Zhulik
hadn't been expecting us so we had a slight advantage but it only lasted a
second. I landed one hard hit on the Zhulik I was facing before he went into
full attack mode. I wasn't expecting how powerful his attacks would be and even
though I managed to dodge most of them he was a lot faster than a Lovac. He was
even faster than my power at one point and was able to throw me into the wall.
The hit was so hard that my vision blurred and my head spun.

He was
immediately back in front of me and I had no time to recover before he opened
his mouth to reveal his sharp fangs and lunged at my neck. The smell of blood
on his breath was strong and I snapped out of my daze just in time to thrust my
hand upward to fend off his face and drive my stake through his heart. It had
been tough to get the stake through all of his flesh and bones but my desire to
live increased my strength in that second and he froze.

Everything had
happened in slow motion up to this point. The start of the fight, me being
thrown against the wall, his fangs almost ripping my throat out. Now I was
suddenly covered in blood splatters and the body of the Zhulik was replaced by
a pool of blood and organs. No one had explained to me that Zhulik literally
exploded after being staked.

I was in such
shock that I almost forgot what I was supposed to do next. The sound of Felix
grunting my name made me look around. He was still struggling with his Zhulik
but the Zhulik was bleeding in a few places and I had no doubt it would be dead
soon. I looked around to find the final Zhulik and saw him approaching Ellie's
cage. He had completely ignored us, thinking his comrades could easily take us
down.

I didn't know if
he planned to kill Ellie or was just trying to get her out of there and into
another cage somewhere with more Zhulik to guard her. I wanted to interrogate
the Zhulik about why they were keeping Nesmyr captive, but I knew I wouldn't
have the time. Ellie's life was more important than my curiosity. I ran toward
the Zhulik and jumped on his back to try to bring him to the ground. It didn't
work.

This Zhulik was
a lot stronger and bigger than the other one. He barely paused to shake me off
of his back and kept moving. I went after him again, this time with my stake. I
couldn't reach his heart from behind him but I managed to dig it into his side.
He howled in pain and finally faced me.

I wasn't sure if
that was good or bad. He wasn't going after Ellie anymore but I didn't want
this beast of a man going after me either. My power still made me an excellent
fighter but I physically was not fast enough to dodge everything the Zhulik
threw at me.

The few punches
that did make it past me were so powerful they made my eyes water and knocked
the air out of me. But I landed a lot more of my punches on him than he did on
me. However, mine didn't seem to be affecting him as much as his punches were
affecting me. 

My stake was
still stuck in his side and I kept maneuvering around his punches to try to get
close enough to get it back. I felt like an idiot for letting it slip from my
hands and I knew that I would only be able to kill him if I got it back. A few
good punches and dodges later I was finally able to tear my stake out of him.
Blood came sputtering out of the wound and he howled in pain again. If he
didn't weaken from blood loss soon I didn't think anything could stop him.

But he was
definitely slowing down and I was beginning to think I was finally going to be
able to kill him when he slammed me to the ground. I had tried to dodge the
attack but he was too fast and he seemed to be able to sense where I was going
to move next. I was instantly pinned to the ground with the Zhulik looming
above me. I saw his fangs and in a flash he was heading towards my neck.