Promising Light (52 page)

“Oh, leave her alone,” Sierra said
as she got off her horse.

Matilda turned on her, her eyes
flashing. “My mother died here! But you didn’t care about that when
you attacked me that day, did you?”

Sierra’s face warmed. “I told you I
didn’t know that at the time—”

“If you had waited all of five
minutes before running off, you would have found that out.” Matilda
stomped toward the old well.

Sierra gritted her teeth, looking
at Grace apologetically. She turned to Evan, who was
dismounting.

“I’m going to go walk around,” he
said.

Sierra bit back her attempts to
discourage him to save his strength; she’d found over the last few
weeks that trying to talk him out of something just made him want
to do it more. He seemed more stubborn than usual as he settled
back into normal life. Not that this was normal life, really. “Do
you want me to come?” she asked.

She thought he’d say no, but he
nodded and smiled at her. They walked back to the ruins. To any
unseeing eye, they’d only see a preteen boy staring at the charred
remains of a foundation, not a husband and wife returning to where
they’d been separated. Not two people visiting the place where
their friend had died.

Sierra crouched down, bending her
knees and leaning back on her ankles. It was strange when she was
taller than Evan. She watched as he slowly moved around the
ruins.

“Where’s he buried?” Evan
asked.

“I don’t know,” Sierra said. Her
eyes stung with tears. “When I vanished, I… I had to leave
completely, so I didn’t see where they took his body.”

Evan met her at a corner of the
house. “But there was a body?”

Sierra took a shuddering breath as
she remembered the image of Seth’s body: his throat slit open,
blood all around him. “Yes, there was.”

“Did you check his pulse? Did you
make sure he wasn’t breathing?”

“Evan, he was dead.”

Evan shook his head and walked back
to the cluster of trees. “Dar?”

Dar, in the form of the brunette
woman, looked up. “Yes?”

“You buried Seth?” Evan asked.
“You found his body?”

The woman frowned and nodded. “Yes,
I buried him. I pulled his body out as the fire
started.”

Evan’s small shoulders fell, and
his gaze went to the grass at his feet. “Where… where did you bury
him?”

“In Jolen with his parents,” Dar
said quietly.

“I thought… I always hoped…”
Evan’s voice faded.

They were silent for a moment, and
Sierra lightly touched Evan’s shoulder. He turned away from her and
went to his horse. “Are we ready? We have to do this.”

“I’m ready,” Grace said
softly.

“Where’s Matilda?” Lee
asked.

Just then, Matilda and Chad
stumbled into sight. Chad had blood covering his torso, and he
leaned heavily on Matilda. Sierra gasped, her heart slamming
against her chest.

Dar was on his feet first and he
ran to them, Lee just behind him. They lowered Chad on the ground.
Sierra tried to see his face around the others surrounding
him.

“What happened?” Lee asked, taking
one of Chad’s bloody hands in his own.

“I tried…” Chad trailed off. “But
they found out…”

Evan pushed Sierra aside and shoved
his manacle into Chad’s hand. Nothing happened. Sierra doubted a
shape changer could keep up a different form being so
injured.

“Someone get the Mahri potions out
of my bag,” Matilda said, her voice shaking but her gaze steady on
Chad.

Sierra ran to Matilda’s bag, but
Evan took it from her hands. She stared as he dug through the bag
and pulled out a small pouch. Evan ran to Chad, dropping to his
knees next to Matilda. “Here.”

She emptied the bag out on the
grass, bottles falling out. Her fingers shook as she looked through
the flasks.

“Get out of here,” Chad said, his
bloody fingers touching Matilda’s dress. “They’re coming… they’re
here… I led them straight here. I’m so sorry…”

Sierra caught movement behind her
and saw they were surrounded. The same crew from Aron: the prince,
Arlan, Grace’s brother, plus three others. Matilda started to
charge at them, but Dar grabbed her from behind.

“What did you do to him?” Matilda
screamed, trying to push Dar off of her. “What did you
do?”

“Don’t worry,” Arlan said,
smirking. “He spent his last days nobly. Once we broke him, he told
us all about the tigers, Mumbar Jungle, and the house where he
thought you would meet if you split up.” He laughed.

Matilda broke away from Dar and
flung herself at Arlan. He pushed her aside, and she fell to the
ground sobbing. She crawled back to Chad. “If he dies, I’ll kill
you all!”

“We even had time to bring
reinforcements thanks to his help,” Arlan said. “You see seven of
us, but there are dozens more. So, this will be easiest if you
don’t fight.”

Prince William looked around their
group quietly. To him, there were four: Lee, Matilda, Dar the
woman, and Evan the preteen boy, each of them crouched around Chad.
At least Evan had a different form than the one he’d taken in Di’s
house. Sierra looked at Grace, who was staring at her brother with
her knife in her hand.

“Where’s Grace?” William asked. He
walked closer until he stood just behind Matilda. “We have a Cosa,
too, and he’ll reveal anything we need to see.”

Matilda ignored him as she opened a
flask and dripped the potion into Chad’s mouth. Sierra knew it
wouldn’t work. Mahri potions didn’t heal like a Thieran did. She
backed away and slowly picked up Matilda’s crossbow. She knew
anyone who looked in her direction would see a floating crossbow
and arrow, so she stepped behind one of the horses and loaded the
crossbow as quietly as she could.

“If you tell us where Grace is, we
have a Thieran who could heal Chad,” Arlan said.

Sierra shot her arrow into the
chest of one of the men. He let out a surprised yell as blood
stained his shirt and he fell to his knees. She reloaded and stuck
another; by the time the second arrow hit, the others were in
battle. Dar and Evan fought with Arlan, who was yelling for someone
named Wendy. William and Lee had their swords out, but they weren’t
fighting, just speaking.

A man struck blindly in Sierra’s
direction. Grace grabbed a bag off one of the horses and flung it
into his head. He stumbled, putting his hand on his head, and she
hit him again.

Suddenly, the air pressed into
Sierra from all sides. Dar and Evan changed into their original
forms, and Arlan laughed in glee. The duel became quicker in
violence, but Sierra only saw a few moments of it, because suddenly
the man Grace had been attacking reared up and grabbed Grace’s
wrist.

“Don’t hurt her!” Grace’s brother
yelled.

Sierra hit the man in the stomach
with an arrow from the crossbow. Grace pushed him off of her and
flashed Sierra a grateful look.

For a moment, it seemed as though
they might have had the upper hand, but then more men ran through
the trees into the battle, including a broad man with short, gray
hair. When he saw Grace, he froze. “Grace?”

Grace backed away from the man
toward Sierra. “Father.”

* * *

Chapter
Thirty-One

“You’re okay,” Father said
quietly. “You’re alive.”

Grace looked at Kyler, who gave her
a helpless shrug as if to say, ‘I tried.’ Hadn’t Kyler told Father
she wanted to be here? Her gaze ran over the clearing. Six more men
had come with her father, and Grace recognized some of them. They
were her father’s most prized fighters, soldiers with histories of
violence and victory. Sierra was good with the crossbow, but not
that good. She stared at the men, the crossbow hanging in her hand.
Arlan, Dar, and Evan still fought violently, and no one looked
ready to interfere.

William still spoke with Matilda
and Lee. Lee was the one they needed most, the one who would get
them through Mumbar Jungle, the one who could lead them to the
tigers.

“Just wait, Father,” Grace said.
She ran and put herself between William and Lee.

“What are you doing?” William
asked, glaring at her.

“You can stop this. Call them
off.”

He scoffed. “You think it’s that
easy? After everything that’s happened? After all the Avialies have
done?”

“You’re coming home,” Father
announced, walking over to them. “You’re coming home now, and
everyone else is going to die for their crimes.”

The words sent a shudder through
her. She searched her mind for a way out of this. They had no Aron
guards to save them. She suddenly remembered Holden. Where was he?
She turned and called to Sierra, “Where’s Holden?”

Sierra stared at her for a moment.
“I…” she trailed off.

A bird fluttered over Grace’s head
and landed on one of the horse’s saddles. Grace stared it for a
moment. It turned suddenly, and then an Avialie sat on the horse,
who reared in surprise. Grace recognized the shape changer—he’d
been the one to change into rope the day they’d kidnapped her.
Caleb.

The men around them let out cries
of surprise, staring at the newcomer. Father glared at him, a vein
in his forehead throbbing. Dar, Evan, and Arlan stopped for a
moment, the three of them panting.

“Greetings, your Highness,” Caleb
said, bowing his head. “I have a message from Jeshro. He asks that
you let this group pass. If you don’t, you will be starting a new
war.”

William raised his eyebrows; he
looked torn between amusement and anger. He looked at Grace, then
Dar, then Father. “I’ll let them pass if they leave Grace with me,”
he told Caleb.

“Your Highness,” Arlan said
breathlessly, “we cannot let them go!”

“Grace must go with them,” Caleb
said, “or there will be no point.”

“You still believe the prophecy?”
William scoffed. “Tell Jeshro Grace stays or they all die. Tell him
we are the least of his troubles.”

Caleb turned back into a bird and
flew away. One of the men tried to shoot an arrow, but Father
stopped him. “We’re aren’t barbarians,” he snarled.

“Grace,” Matilda
whispered.

Grace looked down at her; Matilda’s
eyes were red, her bloody hands clutching to Chad’s shirt. Chad’s
form was still.

Grace crouched down, touching his
pant leg with a frown. “Is he… ?”

Matilda let out a sob. “Yes. There
are Protectors in the jungle. Chad said they know
everything.”

Grace’s eyes widened. “Do they have
a Boren?”

“I think so.” Matilda shuddered.
“We have to get out of here.”

“You’re not going anywhere,”
William said. He raised his voice and called to the others, “Let’s
go! Gather them up, kill the ones who protest.”

Matilda closed her eyes, muttering
under her breath.

William let out a cry of surprise
and grabbed Matilda’s arm. “Where is she?” he demanded.

“You’re invisible, Grace, go!”
Matilda yelled, trying to pull away from William.

Grace sprung to her feet and
grabbed Lee by the arm. “We have to get out of here,” she said.
“Get on your horse.”

Sierra fired arrows from the
crossbow again as Grace ran to Dar. Arlan was fighting him and Evan
again, their swords flying and clashing together. Grace waited and
when she saw an opening, stabbed Arlan in the side. He let out an
angry yell, swinging out with his sword. She ducked to miss it and
sliced Arlan’s leg. This time, he didn’t miss; his fist hit her in
the face. She scrambled away as Dar and Evan renewed their attack
on him. Her ears rang, and her face throbbed in pain. Still, she
was lucky it was his fist and not his sword.

She looked up in time to see Evan
stab Arlan in the stomach and bare his teeth at the Protector.
Grace ran forward, grabbing Dar’s arm. “Let’s go!” she
cried.

Her father’s men had surrounded
them, though. Dar fought as well as he could, but these soldiers
were trained in all kinds of combat.

“Try changing!” Grace
yelled.

A fresh chorus of yells filled the
air, and Grace saw a new flood of people coming into the cluster of
trees. Caleb, Adrian, Myra, Jeshro, Lisbeth, more Avialies, and
Holden joining them, attacking the men.

Grace cried out in relief, but then
she panicked for Kyler and her father. Father was soon violently
fighting with Adrian, but Kyler was walking around, yelling her
name. Grace started to turn to Matilda, but she was fighting with
William.

Grace swore, running back to Dar.
He fought with a soldier named Leck, and Grace remembered with a
jolt when her father promised that his soldiers would take care of
anyone who hurt her.

Leck had a knife in his hand, and
he charged at Dar. The two of them wrestled on the ground as Dar
tried to avoid his weapon. Grace searched for an opportunity to
help, but the two men moved so quickly she could only
watch.