Defy (33 page)

“What is that awful sound?” C.K. asked.

They all heard it, even from their distance.
It was a mix of howling and growling, like an animal tearing into a
bit and fighting for release.

“I have never heard anything like it,”
Ini-herit said. “It appears to be down on the ground among the
Mercesti.”

“It’s no animal I’ve ever encountered,” one
of the Waresti commented. “They should put that thing out of its
misery.”

“Whatever it is,” Alexius said, “We must
consider it another threat to the females. I don’t know what
Zachariah and Eirik are discussing, but it seems clear that Tate
and the Lekwuesti are a point of contention.”

The Waresti second commander had recognized
Eirik even without Tiege sharing his name with him from Tate’s
thoughts. Apparently, the huge male had been rather tight with
Grolkinei at one time and was infamous among the Waresti for his
evil nature. He had separated himself from the Mercesti a number of
years before, however, rather like Zachariah had removed himself
from Estilorian society. It now seemed that the two were in league
with each other.

“There are at least five times more Mercesti
down there than us,” Alexius continued. “
Archigos
Uriel and
commander Harold are both fifteen to twenty minutes away with
reinforcements. Although we’ll still be outnumbered, we will have
the power of the elders at our disposal when they arrive.”

Ini-herit raised an eyebrow.

Alexius cleared his throat. “Sorry,
archigos
. I meant the more enhanced power of the elders
working together. And, of course, the abilities of
adelfos
James and
adelfos
Caleb.”

C.K. exchanged a look with Ini-herit, then
caught Tiege’s gaze. “I don’t know if we have that kind of
time.”

“Sir,” said another Waresti, drawing Alexius’
attention, “we have noticed that some of the Mercesti are
disappearing in the forest and not returning. There appears to be
some kind of movement deep within the trees. Should we go check it
out?”

Tiege said, “I’ll bet that’s Sophia and
Quincy.”

Shifting to get another look at the forest,
then glancing to the sky as if determining geographic coordinates,
Alexius nodded. “They would certainly have reached this point while
flying in the direction that our Waresti tracked them.”

“Zachariah is going to kill that Lekwuesti,”
Ini-herit said in his unemotional tone.

They all turned to see that the confrontation
between the two Mercesti males had taken a bad turn. Tiege found it
interesting that the mountain wall illusion was so powerful that
Zachariah was able to hold the Lekwuesti against it as though it
was actually a solid surface. His illusions weren’t nearly that
strong. They dissolved when touched.

But perhaps even an illusion from a distance
could help save his sister.

“I have an idea,” he said.

“I am listening,” Sparky said.

Tate swallowed over the cool tone he used as
he held the Lekwuesti female propped almost casually against the
mountain with his hand around her throat. He was trying to bargain
for her safety, she tried to remind herself. His methods
were…questionable. But his intent was pure enough.

Wasn’t it?

“I am open to a compromise,” Eirik replied.
“I have need of the Kynzesti to keep this Lekwuesti in line while I
achieve a goal. As soon as it is complete, which should be within a
matter of minutes, I will turn the Kynzesti over to you.”

“Lie,” Tate said. She couldn’t help herself.
Her fear combined with the enormous lie energy that resonated from
his words prompted her to speak before she thought better of
it.

“Shut up, female,” Eirik growled, pressing
the kris against her skin once again. “Do not deign to call me a
liar.”

She shut up.

“How much longer?” Zachariah asked. “I am not
known for my patience.”

“Ask the female you are choking.”

He didn’t look away from Eirik. Instead, he
briefly squeezed the female’s neck to get her attention. “How much
longer?”

“I don’t know,” she said hoarsely. Although
her throat was open enough for her to breathe, he was still
applying pressure. “We’ve come as far as I can bring them. The
trail ends here.”

Tate pieced it together then. The markings
around the other female’s eyes. The unusual sword she had been
carrying. The fact that she stopped walking just a few feet away
from the sacred artifact being hunted by the Mercesti.

She was somehow able to find things that
other beings couldn’t.

Tate’s eyes widened when Zachariah glanced at
her. She looked at the scroll just beyond where he stood and then
back at him, hoping he knew what she was trying to convey. Then she
felt Eirik look between her and Zachariah.

“What is your second power?” he asked
suddenly.

Before she could answer, a voice called out,
“You are surrounded. Release the females and we will let you
live.”

The Mercesti all looked up, as did Tate. All
along the mountain were Waresti as far as she could see. Of course,
they were shimmering blue-green. To her eyes, at least.

The Lekwuesti female took advantage of that
moment of distraction to gain her release. She managed to use her
elbow to catch Sparky hard in the ribs, then twirled fast to her
left to get out from under his single-handed hold. Unfortunately,
she tripped over the fallen sword, sending her careening into the
Mercesti holding the howling animal.

Movement and noise flowed from the Mercesti
as they unsheathed their weapons and weighed their chances against
the Waresti soldiers. Tate watched the events in front of her
unfold with a clarity that bordered on slow motion.

She knew the female had miscalculated. As
that thought hit her, she lifted her unbound hands, grabbed Eirik’s
knife hand, and spread her legs for momentum in a downward lurch
while dragging his hand away from her. Then, holding his arm
straight out from his body, she used her boot and smashed him in
the knee as she lifted her elbow to catch him in the throat. He
went down, though she knew it wasn’t for long.

The group of Mercesti blocking the
savage-sounding creature had been jostled enough by the Lekwuesti’s
forward motion that they were quickly thrown apart. Even as Tate
escaped Eirik’s hold, a figure shot like a darting shadow and
knocked the Lekwuesti to the ground.

The female’s horrifying scream cut through
the unfolding noise of battle.

Tate fumbled in her pocket and pulled out the
first fabric she could find—her torn panties. She then reached into
her boot and retrieved her slayer grass blade, wrapping it in
fabric even as she moved. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed
Sparky assuming what appeared to be a defensive stance, but she
hoped she was quicker. He could get hurt.

Rather than trying to stab the awful being
tearing at the Lekwuesti’s throat, since she doubted that would do
any good, Tate did the next thing that came to mind. She sliced
open her hand, got as close as she dared to the pair on the ground
and flung her blood at him.

He looked up with lips and wicked teeth
coated in blood. His red eyes latched onto her. A whimper caught
her around the throat, but she didn’t let it escape.

Instead, she said, “Come and get me.”

Sophia and Quincy watched from their position
among the trees. It was chaos. Mercesti fled into the woods to try
and get out of sight of the Waresti. Those remaining on the
mountain who refused to flee in the face of battle or were just
unable to do so quickly fell to the Waresti coming down the
mountain. Sophia spotted Alexius among them and knew this wasn’t a
random offensive maneuver.

“Let’s go help,” Sophia said as she watched
Tate and the Lekwuesti free themselves from their captors.

“With what weapons?” Quincy argued, though
she could see he was having a hard time restraining himself. “You
can’t shift. Your injuries—”

“We can’t just sit here,” Sophia argued.

Then she lost her train of thought. Tate
somehow managed to knock Eirik to the ground. At the same time,
Sophia watched in a blur of confusion as a figure shot out of the
crowd and tackled the Lekwuesti. She noticed Zachariah reaching for
something at the small of his back and realized he had pulled out a
tomahawk. His flat red eyes shifted to Tate, and Sophia felt
certain he was going to kill her.

Tate did something as she neared the
screaming Lekwuesti that caught the attention of the savage
creature. Her actions succeeded in stopping the frenzied attack.
Unfortunately, it also left her vulnerable to the two armed males
at her back.

I have to get to Tate
, she thought
with a surge of panic and protective instincts as Eirik raised his
kris and Zachariah’s tomahawk gleamed in the moonlight.
I can’t
shift and I have to get to—!

Before the thought fully ran through her
head, she was airborne.

Tiege watched the events unfold from the top
of the mountain. He couldn’t go down to Tate because he had to keep
himself focused on casting his illusion. Generating hundreds of
Waresti that all looked different and moved in unique ways was a
massive drain on his energy. It was the biggest and most complex
illusion he’d ever attempted.

Clara Kate and Ini-herit remained with him,
as did a few Waresti. Their actions were necessary to protect him
from the Mercesti charging the mountain. Maintaining his focus as
C.K.’s blessed butterfly swords flew and Ini-herit protected her
back with a Waresti blade had sweat trickling down his temples.
When some of the Mercesti took flight as a skirmish broke out down
at Tate’s location, he used his power to send some of the Waresti
illusions after them to keep it realistic.

He managed to maintain his grip on the
illusion even through the female Lekwuesti’s screams, though every
instinct in him wanted to drop it and hurry to aid her. He
maintained it when a Mercesti managed to get in a strike to C.K.’s
upper arm and her blood sprayed in his direction. He maintained it
when Ini-herit beheaded that Mercesti.

But he lost it when he saw Tate standing
between the gruesome Mercesti with blood dripping from his mouth
and Eirik…who lifted his black blade with the clear intent to run
her through.

Tate realized her mistake about two seconds
after she got the attention of the savage Mercesti attacking the
other female.

She had trained for nearly all of her
seventeen years for something like this. Up until that moment, she
had been rather pleased with her efforts to defend herself and the
Lekwuesti. She thought she did her parents proud. But she had
always trained with her twin at her back.

Tiege wasn’t with her now. She knew her
mistake was fatal.

In the split second of time she had to
realize her error, she sensed Eirik on his feet. She felt the
slight breeze caused by the lift of his weapon. She heard the blade
slicing toward her unprotected back.

Then she was grabbed from her left and flung
so hard her feet left the ground. She heard the sound of a weapon
sinking sickly into flesh. Her side flared with projected pain. It
was all she registered before she careened headlong through the
illusion that everyone saw as a rock face and shattered it into a
nova of eye-searing light.

Ariana wasn’t sure how injured she was. She
felt Deimos bite her, and it hurt every bit as much as she feared.
But it ended almost as quickly as it began.

In these many days among the Mercesti, she
had learned to manage her fear. Despite her terror over Deimos’
attack, it didn’t incapacitate her. Even as she watched him turn to
address the Kynzesti, who held a strange knife and taunted him with
a hand dripping with blood, she started to roll out from under
him.

She almost didn’t make it. Deimos sensed her
actions and jerked back to her, reaching out with clawing hands to
grab her skirt. A series of movements, the sound of pain and a
brilliant flash of light distracted him, however.

This time, it was Deimos who screeched.
Ignoring him, Ariana scrabbled to her hands and knees and spotted
the Kynzesti. She was sprawled on the ground and struggling to get
to her feet.

Right beside a pedestal housing a piece of
parchment.

Not bothering to look in Eirik’s direction,
knowing that he was moving at least as quickly as she was if the
grunt of pain hadn’t come from him, she leapt toward the Kynzesti
and the scroll. Somewhere in the back of her mind was the hope that
one of the Waresti surrounding them would fly to her aid. She
hadn’t noticed that the number of Waresti soldiers had reduced
dramatically just about the time the light burst around the
scroll.

She got to the pedestal at the same time the
Kynzesti managed to stand. They both reached for the parchment.
Ariana’s fingertips brushed it.

Before she could get it, she was suddenly
flung against the Kynzesti and wrapped so tight she couldn’t
breathe. The world shifted around her in a dizzying swirl. Though
she failed to see how, she realized they were flying.

And she also knew Eirik had the scroll.

Zachariah spit blood out of his mouth and did
what he could to staunch the blood leaking from his side. He should
have known that damned female would be the death of him.

The injury slowed his reaction time. He
normally would have countered Eirik’s strike with one of his own
and killed the bloody bastard. But the combination of being
off-balance from tossing Tate out of the way and the hard strike
beneath his ribs had prevented it.

Instead, he staggered away from where his
instincts told him he needed to be—between Tate and Eirik.

The noise from the fleeing and battling
Mercesti around them reached his ears. He smelled fear and death on
the night air. Flashes of orange, red, and—unexpectedly—silver and
blue-green energy lit the dark sky as Estilorians took flight. The
sharp pain in his side eased into numbness, something that probably
should have alarmed him but instead helped him regain his feet.
Still, he knew that even the few feet separating him from Tate and
Eirik were too many.