Promising Light (41 page)

Dar held his breath as Jared and
the two guards began searching. He turned as quietly as he could,
his body screaming in pain. He had a few gashes on his face and
arms, and his knee was throbbing. He reached down and gingerly
touched his knee. It was tender to the touch, and he wouldn’t be
surprised if there was some nasty bruising later.

He saw the figures of the men
looking around for the intruder. He wondered how long he could stay
up here before they realized he was in the tree. He tried to change
again to no avail.

Minutes slipped by, and they
searched the entire area, but few men looked up, and the one who
did was on the wrong side of the tree. Jared went into the
building, and Dar heard Sierra and Evan’s voices. He looked around
quickly; the man who’d been outside of the door was a good distance
away now with another guard.

Dar crept down the tree and dropped
five feet to the ground. The sudden weight on his knee made him
stumble, but he hobbled to the building as quickly as he could. If
Jared was the only one in here, then Jared would be outnumbered. If
not…

Dar hesitated outside of the door,
trying to decide whether to burst in or walk in quietly. He checked
the handle; it was unlocked. He took out his sword, unlatched the
handle, and kicked the door open. Jared stood over Sierra and Evan,
who were chained up, with a lantern in his hand. Dar shut the door
behind him, locking it, and he turned on Jared.

“Untie them,” he said.

Jared stared at him, his mouth open
in shock. He opened it wider, getting ready to yell, but Evan
wrapped his legs around Jared’s ankles and pulled. Jared lost his
balance and fell, his lantern shattering. The flame caught on
Sierra’s dress, and Dar rushed over to stamp it out. He untied her
as Evan pinned Jared down, even with his hands tied behind his
back.

“Are you okay?” Dar asked.
Sierra’s nose looked broken, and her dress was torn at the top,
exposing half of her chest.

“Yes, are you?” she asked, pulling
her dress up over her chest. “You’re so bloody.”

“I’m fine,” Dar said. He unlocked
Evan’s manacle, who immediately put his hands around Jared’s neck.
“Evan!”

“If we don’t kill him, they’ll
know it was you,” Evan said as Jared fought and kicked.

“They’ll already know; Kale tried
to turn me in and I changed to escape.” Dar tugged on Evan’s arm.
“Evan, don’t do this.”

“Get off me,” Evan said
gruffly.

“Evan, stop it!” Sierra rose her
voice, staring at him in horror.

He ignored them as Jared’s face
went red. Dar heard voices and footsteps approaching the building.
Dar stood up with his sword ready. “People are coming, Evan! Come
on!”

Sierra pulled on Evan’s shoulders,
and Dar turned to the door. One of the guards had a lantern, and
when he saw Dar, he let out a yell of warning and took out his
sword. Dar swung his sword, and the guard dropped his lantern in
alarm. The guard tried to advance, but Dar wouldn’t be trapped in
the building. He charged the guard and drove him outside. The other
guard sprang up behind him, but he was unarmed. He ran off, either
to get more guards or his sword. Neither were good.

As Dar fought with the guard, he
could hear Sierra and Evan arguing behind him. They came out a
moment later, and Evan ran to his horse who was tied up next to the
gate. He found his sword and joined the fight. Dar was afraid of
what he might do; he was staring at the guard maniacally as the two
of them cornered the guard into the area where the gate and the
building met. The guard sliced Evan’s bicep, and Evan glared at
him. In the dark, he didn’t even look like himself.

“Evan,” Dar said in a warning
tone.

Evan disarmed the guard and ran his
sword into the man’s stomach. “Evan!” Dar swore colorfully.
“Leaving a trail of bodies behind us isn’t going to
help!”

“When did you turn so soft?” Evan
snarled. He stabbed the man again, baring his teeth as the guard
sunk to the ground. Dar swallowed hard and turned away just as the
other guard approached them with a sword. The man saw his companion
and stopped in his tracks.

Evan turned around, and he grinned
when he saw the other guard. He charged for him, and they dueled
violently. The guard shoved him to the ground after a moment, and
Dar ran in to help, blocking the guard’s blow toward
Evan.

Evan jumped to his feet and pushed
Dar aside. He disarmed the guard and he didn’t hesitate to slit his
throat.

Dar looked to Sierra for a source
of reason. She was already on her horse, and was pulling Evan’s
beside her, and she trotted toward Evan. She threw him the reins to
his horse. “Come on!” she called, turning toward the
city.

Evan wiped his sword on the grass
and mounted. Dar joined him on the back of the horse, and they
followed Sierra. When they left the Cosa barriers, he changed. “You
should change,” he said into Evan’s ear.

Evan laughed. “I’m not afraid of
them seeing me.”

Sierra went straight for the
southern gate, but they stopped as soon as they saw the gate was
guarded by half a dozen men. The guards were lounging around, but
they were armed. Sierra pulled her horse over behind a cluster of
trees. Evan dropped the reins to clutch to his bloody
arm.

“Are you all right?” Dar
asked.

“We need to find the others,”
Sierra said, spinning her horse around to face them. “Evan, why
haven’t you changed?”

“I’m not afraid of them seeing
me,” he repeated.

“What about the rest of us?”
Sierra motioned to the gate, about a hundred feet away. “As soon as
they find those bodies, they’ll send up the alarm. We need to find
Matilda.”

“I’ll go looking for them,” Dar
said, dismounting. “Fix yourselves up. If they sound the alarm, get
out any way you can. We’ll meet up at… at Seth and
Sashe’s.”

She stared at him for a moment.
“Isn’t anybody living there?”

“No, Lina looks after it and Sashe
still owns it.” Dar looked up at Evan. “Don’t forget about the rest
of us, Evan. This isn’t about your revenge.”

“This isn’t about revenge! It’s
about justice!” Evan said.

“Do you want to wage a just war on
the Protectors, or do you want to help us?” Dar asked, grabbing his
leg.

Evan grunted, kicking his hand off
of him.

“If no one has showed up by dawn,
go to Seth and Sashe’s,” Dar told Sierra. He turned into a bird
again and flew into the air, keeping low to the ground just in case
he ran into any more Cosa barriers.

* * *

The sun had set, and Grace could
see a few stars out now. They walked along the quiet streets, Chad
leading his horse. A bird circled around them, and Chad stopped,
staring at it. The bird touched down on the ground, and Chad turned
to Matilda and Grace. “I think that’s an Avialie,” he
whispered.

“Tell him we’re right here and
we’re going to the gate,” Matilda said.

Chad was mid-sentence when a loud
bell tolled. The bird changed into Dar. He had blood covering his
face from a broken nose and scratches. “Where are they?” he
demanded of Chad.

Matilda took Grace’s wrist, and Dar
looked directly at them.

Grace walked to Dar and touched his
face. She ran her fingers over the scratches. “What happened to
you?”

“Long story,” Dar said. “I told
Sierra and Evan to meet us at Seth and Sashe’s if the alarm
sounded. We need to get out of the walls, but there were six guards
there.”

“We could climb over the walls
again,” Matilda said. Grace winced at that idea, looking down at
her palms, which she still hadn’t cleaned.

“It’s either that or break through
the gate,” Dar said.

“He’s not climbing over the wall.”
Chad motioned to his horse.

“Do you have to bring your
horse?”

“Yes, we’re bonded,” Chad replied
with a glare.

Dar swore. “Fine, the
gate.”

He took Grace’s hand and was about
to leave when Matilda asked, “Where’s your horse?”

“The tavern,” Dar said. “It’s on
the way, come on.” He moved his arm in a sweeping movement. “Evan
killed three of their men; we need to go.”

He broke into a jog, and Grace held
his hand as they moved down the streets. Her eyes widened as she
realized he was favoring his right leg. “Are you
limping?”

“Long story.” After a couple
blocks, he stopped in front of a tavern and grabbed his bag off of
his horse. “Come on!” He pulled Grace onward again.

“You’re just going to leave your
horse?” Chad yelled after him.

“It’s not even mine!” Dar called
over his shoulder.

The city walls loomed in front of
them, and Grace heard shouting and clanging of metal. As they
approached a gate nearly identical to the one on the opposite side
of the city, she saw Evan and Sierra fighting with a trio of
guards.

Dar drew his sword and shoved his
bag into Grace’s arms. “Get out of here while you’re still
invisible,” he told her.

He joined the fight with a yell,
and Sierra broke away from them, holding her side. Grace ran over
to her. “What happened?” she asked, staring at the growing red
stain on Sierra’s dress.

Sierra didn’t respond, and it took
Grace a moment to realize she was still invisible to her. She
touched her shoulder, and Sierra jumped, striking out with her
dagger. Grace narrowly avoided it, and she turned to Matilda to
tell her to make them visible. She was in the fight, too, though,
using her invisibility to gain an advantage. Chad was speaking to
the horses nearby. Grace didn’t understand how that was any help,
but she turned back to Sierra.

She grabbed Sierra’s right wrist,
which held her dagger, and Sierra tensed. Grace reached out and
touched Sierra’s shoulder, squeezing hard. Sierra visibly relaxed;
she somehow knew it was her. Grace pulled her to her feet and tried
to drag her to the gate. Chad now had a wall of horses keeping more
guards away from the fight. Sierra faltered, looking toward Evan,
but the fight with the trio of guards was almost over. They turned
back in time to see Evan stabbing one of the guards in the chest.
Grace clutched Sierra’s wrist, gasping.

Dar ran to Grace and Sierra. “Are
you all right?” he asked Sierra.

Sierra broke away from Grace’s grip
and went to Evan. She pulled him away from the bodies.

“Come on, we have to get a horse,”
Dar said, taking Grace’s hand again. They ran to the nearest horse,
but he was too small to carry both of them. The next one was
larger; Grace mounted first, and Dar got behind her. “Sierra, we’ll
see you at the meeting place!”

“Wait, we’re leaving them?” Grace
asked. The horse took off through the gate. Grace had to lean
forward, holding onto the saddle. A few minutes later, she heard
accompanying gallops, and she turned her head to see the others
behind them. Each had their own horse, and the tolling bell faded
as they left Rahuda behind.

* * *

Chapter
Twenty-Five

When they finally stopped riding,
it was close to dawn. They brought their horses to a halt by a
babbling brook, and Grace nearly collapsed on the bank. “There’s no
one behind us, right?” she asked breathlessly.

“No,” Dar said, dropping next to
her. “We had some for a while, but we lost them.”

“Oh, right, that’s when we went
off the path.” Grace touched the gash on her cheek she’d received
during their trek through the forest. “Where are we?” She knew
they’d let Sierra lead after a while, but she couldn’t even
remember why.

The others huddled around them,
sounding just as exhausted. “We’re near Vashti, where the circus
should be,” Sierra said. Her voice sounded strangled.

“How’s your side?” Grace asked,
crawling toward her. She winced in pain as the rocks brushed up
against her palms. She plunged her hands into the water and bit the
inside of her lip as the coldness of the water stung her
scrapes.

“It’s just a shallow cut,” Sierra
said, closing her eyes with a groan.

“We should look at it,” Evan said.
He had a crude bandage around his upper arm, a blood stain seeping
through the fabric.

The water soon ran pink with their
blood as they washed themselves. Matilda and Chad had gotten free
without too many bruises, but the others were wounded in some way.
Grace felt weak for feeling so much pain from her scraped palms
when Dar’s entire face was bloody. He held a damp cloth to his
nose, sighing in relief as cold water ran down his face. She
wrapped her palms and cleaned the scrapes on his arms.

“Where did these come from?” she
asked.

“I fell through a tree,” Dar said,
the ghost of a smile on his face.

“How did you do that?”

“I was a bird, and I hit a Cosa
barrier. My knee is killing me.”

“I hurt my ankle, if that makes
you feel any better.”