Messenger (Guardian Trilogy Prequel 1) (29 page)

My eyes fell to Bailey’s body and new tears came but I was able to hold myself upright this time.

Part of me wanted to beg her for forgiveness, knowing that what happened to her wouldn’t have if it hadn’t been for me, and part of me wanted to yell at her for doing something so foolish. But nothing I said to her would have made a damn bit of difference.

“There were eight of them,” Eran said to himself and I realized he was analyzing what had transpired. “They were standing there.” He pointed uphill from Bailey’s body. “Once Bailey landed, she never moved. When they attacked, they used their appendages, taking off from where they stood, digging their toes into the earth to propel themselves at her. She braced for the impact…there…and tried to fend them off. There were too many of them…and she collapsed. From that point, it was only a matter of time.” He twisted to face downhill. “Now, him, I…”

I had noticed a second body on my dive toward Bailey, but she had taken precedence. Now I twisted around for a look at one of her murderers.

He had fared far better than her. His forty-year-old face was unblemished, his unbroken body lay curled on its side, and his clothes were nearly untouched. The only detail that kept us from believing he was simply knocked unconscious was the knife still protruding from his chest.

“He reached her first,” Eran said.

“How do you know?” I said, my voice weak as I fought to regain my strength and composure.

“Because the rest didn’t give her a chance to fight back.”

She had fought and I respected her for it, but she should never have had to.

A few seconds later, Eran stood before me. I was so immersed in a deluge of anger and pain that I hadn’t even noticed he’d moved.

He ducked down to draw my eyes to him. When I locked on, I couldn’t let go.

“You’re likely to fight me on this point,” he said, “but I’m going to say it anyways. What Bailey did by coming here she didn’t do because of you. She did it because of me. She had feelings for me, feelings I didn’t reciprocate. I just didn’t know how deep they went. For this, I am to blame. Not you. Do you understand?”

I did, and while I appreciated his honesty and his effort to comfort me, the truth couldn’t be denied. I was the one who started this war. Bailey entered it because of me. And she was now dead because of me.

I was about to say as much when the familiar pain at the back of my neck flared. Breaking my gaze from Eran, I searched for the source and found two people in the treetops, watching us.

They had bright white hair.

My heart stopped for a split second and then started again as the blood in my veins began to race. Before the blanket of unyielding vengeance came over me, I was already tensing my muscles for flight. From behind me, the hushed whisper of expanding feathers reached my ears.

“Magdalene,” Eran said in warning, but it was too late.

I sprang upward, twisting in the direction of the Kohlers.

They saw me coming and whipped around to flee.

I pumped my wings harder, faster.

They peered over their shoulders in time to see me catching up, and from there they bolted.

I chased them through the valleys and over the hills, between the outskirts of towns and over the rooftops of cities. We went north, where the air grew crisper, where the sunlight was vibrant but cold.

They didn’t slow and they didn’t stop, leading me directly into the tallest range of mountains I had ever seen. Barren of shrubbery, jagged and capped in white, they were equally imposing and awe-inspiring.

The Kohlers headed directly at them, turning at the last second to skim the protruding rocks. I did the same, moving up the face of the mountain until they took an abrupt angle directly into one.

I chased them over the ledge and directly for the rocks before realizing what was ahead of me. A dark, wide opening stretched across the face of the mountain.

I angled my wings back and skidded to a stop when my feet met the rocky ledge.

“A cave,” Eran remarked, stepping up beside me.

I hadn’t even considered that he would follow me, but of course he had. He thought of himself as my guardian.

The sound of rasping metal merged and I knew Eran had withdrawn his sword at the same time as I had. He stepped up and came into my view as we marched across the threshold to be consumed by the shadows.

Listening intently for any indication of the Kohlers location, we moved through the caves. Light seemed to radiate from inside the rocks, but I knew it was a phenomenon not many had seen in which sunlight reflected off the jewels imbedded in the walls.

The cave wound around, splintered, led deeper into the mountain, and splintered again. With each turn we took, we moved farther in, confusing our path, and leaving little hope of recalling how to leave. I realized the jeopardy of this when our path dropped into a vast cavern. Large enough to fit a high-rise building, the flap of our appendages created soft echoes across its expansive cavity. Its sides were pockmarked with hundreds of alternate cave routes, making the opposing walls look like they had been splashed with black spots. Its bottom was flat and smooth making me think it was waiting for, begging for someone to land on it.

We were so deep inside now the wind didn’t reach here. It was completely silent and still. The air was stagnant, stifled, devoid of any definite scent, as if we had just entered a long forgotten attic.

I slipped down the wall and pushed myself off, using my wings to hover in the middle of it. Because I was exposed, Eran came with me.

We drifted toward the other side, remaining alert to sound or movement, but when it finally came, its direction was obscure, bouncing from one direction to the next. Even my alarm was of no use. All I knew was that they were nearby and that I needed to brace myself against the pain of their presence or risk plummeting to the rocks below.

“It has been naturally carved over time,” Kaila’s voice echoed.

Eran and I spun around searching for her, only to be met with her mocking laughter vibrating from one side of the cavern to the next. The pain spiked but settled as I remembered to breathe.

“You can thank the elements for this impressive piece of the natural world. Of course,” she said, her voice turning cold, “you can thank
us
for carving out
your friend
.”

My hand tightened around my sword.

“First we took your family,” Kaila taunted, “and then we took your friend. Others don’t last long around you, do they?”

She was speaking to me, using my weaknesses against me. And it worked. She had tapped into my greatest fear and was now ridiculing me with it. And there was nothing I could do, because she was right. Fury flooded me, heating my limbs, my face, my hands where I held my sword. Before I knew it, I drew in a breath and was about to release a scream when Eran leaned toward me.

“Don’t give her that power.”

It was solely because of him that I was able to physically restrain myself.

Exhaling rapidly, I compressed my lungs until there was no air, and no hope of releasing my emotions.

I drew in several breaths as Kaila and Deschan’s laughter echoed back to us.

“We’ll find you,” I seethed. “And when we do you will know what it feels like to experience eternal death.”

“You’re too late,” Kaila casually mocked. “You’ll be so preoccupied soon that you won’t have time to hunt us down.”

“You’re wrong-”

“We know your secret,” Deschan called out.

I glanced at Eran who continued studying the openings around the cavern.

“We thought you were special, Messenger.” She sounded artificially disappointed. “But you’re just like the rest of them. Just like Ariela. Just like Alban and Heath. Just like Hermina. Just like Bailey. Just like all the others. Or rather…
they
are just like
you
.”

At this acknowledgement, two things happened at once. First, the pain of their presence spiked, running down my arms like a thousand spiders sprinting from my neck to my hands. The panic was almost overwhelming. The first reaction was a precursor to the second, and was far more unsettling. The realization of what Kaila had said swept over me, making me drop several feet in the air.

The other Messengers were just like me…

My mind began to race.

What set me apart?

My ability to send Fallen Ones to eternal death.

If that was the only trait that set me apart and they were just like me…they could do the same…

“When Bailey came to ask us for leniency,” Deschan said through a disgusted chuckle, “and she took poor Rolan’s life in cold blood, we waited for him to return. When he didn’t…we knew. All of you messengers harbor the same twisted skill. Don’t you?”

Without waiting for an answer, Kaila picked up where her brother left off. “And since we aren’t the only ones who know it, it’s only a matter of time before the rest of you join your precious little friend, Bailey.”

They’re coming for them
, my mind screamed.
The Fallen Ones are coming for the messengers!

Never before had I felt so cornered, so powerless.

I looked to Eran, whose own face was rigid with understanding.

Breathe
, I told myself,
as Eran instructed. Or you’ll be no good to anyone
.

I was in the midst of trying when they spoke again, their voices beginning to fade as they moved away.

“That is…if you’re ever able to escape this maze of caves.”

My eyes darted across the cavern, seeing nothing in particular until they landed on Eran. He was now calculating a way out. Our eyes met and we stared at each other, contemplating just how we would do that as the Kohlers’ laughter grew more and more faint.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: WAR

T
HE ENTIRE WORLD OF
F
ALLEN
O
NES
was about to descend on our camp and we were trapped inside a complex system of caves, unable to send a warning. I knew this when I looked at where we’d entered the cavern and couldn’t recall the route back. This, I knew, had been the Kohlers’ intention. As this realization settled over me, my appendages pumped harder.

“Calm yourself,” Eran instructed.

I had risen several feet by then and had to consciously focus on relaxing the muscles in my back so I could lower myself.

“We came in, so we can get out,” Eran said so reassuringly.

“I’m not afraid. I’m furious.”

“I know. You’re emitting it like a raging bull.”

I tilted my head at him in offense.

“An attractive one,” he said, and glanced at me for my reaction.

He was either tiptoeing the line of propriety between a guardian and a messenger or trying to bring humor to our situation. When he looked at me again for my reaction, I wondered if it might be both.

I heaved an impatient sigh, which ended in a weak smile.

“Good, that’s better,” he said, somewhat relieved. “I believe we entered there…”

He pointed to one of the caves behind me. Having no reason to reject his assessment, I swiftly moved toward it. Eran appeared from behind me but beat me there. He drew in his wings and stepped inside. I did the same. He then led me through the tunnels. With each fork, he stopped, considered our options, and moved on. I was thoroughly impressed when the natural white light of the sun came into view.

Stepping outside, I exhaled with relief.

Hearing it, Eran looked my way and nodded in agreement.

From that point, there was no conversation, no delays, no detours. We headed straight back to camp, to our friends, to where our enemies would soon converge.

We set down on the side of the hill opposite our camp and retracted our appendages before racing over its peak and down the other side. Both camps were bustling. The rebels seemed to be preparing for another raid while ours was showing the return of those who had gone searching for Bailey.

Eran and I entered ours from between two tents and wound our way to the center where Cilla was blowing on the community fire and igniting it for the coming night. As we came into view, the others stopped what they were doing and joined us.

While I didn’t count the number of heads, I processed that everyone was present, everyone but Bailey. Their faces were expectant, though not optimistic, because as far as they knew Bailey hadn’t been found.

Eran waited until everyone had drawn close, until messengers and guardians blended into one massive group before him. I had seen them gather around the fire and earlier in the morning for assignment of roles, but this was the first time I saw them for who they were…a motley collection of diverse skill sets and experiences. Yet somehow, we’d managed to work together over the last few days. Knowing it, gave me hope, which lasted right up until I was reminded about Bailey.