Return (Lady of Toryn trilogy) (27 page)

"My Lady," he said, stopping in front of her and inclining his head slightly. "We are under attack."

"So I'm told," Ashlyn said dryly. "Have you brought in the people from outside the gates?"

"I have, yes. They are…in your father's home, as you requested." His eyes asked her not to argue, at least not now. "I ask that you would allow me to escort you to the crow's nest atop the walls, Lady, so that we may better see our enemy."

He was trying to get her away from the rest of the troops, probably so that he could explain whatever was happening. Smart guy, she thought begrudgingly, and followed him to the shoddy wooden stairs that led them to the tops of the walls surrounding Toryn.

She glanced over at the soldiers as she climbed, trying to seem casual about it, and a hundred pairs of eyes stared back at her. Oh yeah, real casual. Among them she picked out
Restlyn and Vargo. She didn't know where everyone else was, or even if anyone else had come. Would Drake have healed enough in the past few days to travel all the way to Toryn? It seemed doubtful, but he did have superhuman healing powers.

She ascended the last few steps and moved up next to Kou, who was staring out at the hills and plains surrounding the city, and beyond that, the craggy mountains that made up part of the island.

"What's the story?" she asked, careful to keep her voice low and level.

"They're out there," he answered, not facing her. "You won't be able to see them, but I know they're out there."

"Who?"

"The army who follows the man I spoke of earlier."

It took her a few seconds of digging around in her not-so-clear memory to realize what he was talking about. "The man with the other
shift
stanes?"

"Yes."

"Great." She blew out a breath. "And they're going to attack, right?"

"Yes."

"How is it that you know they're out there and I can't even see them?"

"
The effects of the
shift
magic don't completely abandon their master," he said, tapping a finger to his temple. "I can sense them."

"I should try that
out," Ashlyn said ruefully. She knew she could never stomach that kind of magic.

He glanced at her. "We need to speak somewhere,
Ashlyn. Privately."

"Okay." Not back at her house- she hadn't emptied the bathwater and she didn't want to have to explain that, although Tag would probably blurt it all out to Kou soon anyway. Not at her father's house, either, because the refugees were stowed there, safely
beyond the reach of this army that Kou was so afraid of. "Is it something that'll upset me?"

"Yes."

Aw, man. She really didn't feel up to this. "Can it wait?" she asked hopefully.

"No."

Damn. "Enough with the cryptic answers, already," she grumbled. "I'd rather you just tell me here, and I promise I'll do my best to hold it together."

"We could return to your home-"

"Just
tell
me!" Ashlyn snapped, throwing her hands up. "I'm so sick of secrets and lies. A week ago, Kou, I thought Devlyn was the enemy. I thought he was waging war against the rest of the world, and my friends were trying to fight him off. Then I meet you, and I find out
you're
Devlyn, which you still haven't completely explained to me, and suddenly everything's all hunky-dory and you're not my enemy, even though you attacked January Harbor and lied to me and almost killed one of my best friends. Oh, and one more thing- you just so happen to be my half-brother!"

She took a deep brea
th, staring into his sharp black eyes. "So whatever you're about to throw at me now, whatever you're going to floor me with or break me with or destroy me with, just tell me and get it over with, because I'm tired of lies. I'm tired of games. And if this whole twisted web doesn't get sorted out soon, I'm going to start beating it out of people, starting with you."

She hadn't meant to end her mini-exposition with a threat, but
Ashlyn didn't regret it, and Kou didn't seem too offended by it, either. "Fine," he said calmly. "I told you that the
shift
stanes began to control the evolved generations of Angels. What I didn't tell you is that
shift
does not simply control its user's actions; it eventually completely incapacitates the user's mind." He raised his chin slightly, looking as if he'd much rather be talking about something else, but continued, "The more you use the magic, the less human you become. The more
insane
you become."

"That explains a lot about you,"
Ashlyn said before she could stop herself, then grimaced. "Sorry…lame joke."

Kou didn't appear t
o have heard her. "The man out there, who wields the magic, is beyond help- at least as far as I can determine," he told her. "I've tried and tried to reason with him, but he is intent on taking over Toryn- and the rest of Kresmir."

"So we kill hi
m. Kill him, destroy the stanes, go back to our happy little…" Ashlyn trailed off, puzzle pieces suddenly clicking together in her head. Kou was making a big deal out of telling her who this mysterious shape-shifter guy was.

Obviously he thought it was going to upset her quite a bit.

Who…?

The last piece fell into place.

Oh, no.

Oh,
no.

"Oh crap
," she said glumly. "I think I know what you're going to tell me."

Kou wet his lips. "I know you've been through a lot in the past week-"

"Not any more than I can handle." That was arrogance talking.

He sounded sincere when he spoke. "He was the on
e who ordered an attack on January Harbor. I did everything he asked. I killed the ambassador from January. He's my
father
, and…I couldn't…I couldn't defy him…at first. Later, I tried to stop him, Ashlyn-"

"No one could ever stop Dad from doing what he wanted," she said, her voice flat. Her stomach lurched. "Oh,
Gods, I think I'm going to be sick," she muttered, clutching at the railing in front of her. She couldn't look weak in front of the soldiers. She couldn't.

"I wish there was an easier way to tell you this," Kou said, standing stiffly beside her, as if he didn't know what to do with himself.

"Don't worry about it," Ashlyn ground out, hanging onto the railing like it was the only thing keeping her upright. "I'm fine. I'm fine." If only she could make herself believe it.

"We could capture him," Kou suggested. "See if there's any way to rehabilitate him from this…sickness."

"Right," Ashlyn said faintly. The sudden meaning of his words hit her solidly. There were so many questions to be answered, and yet right now all she could think was that she might never see her father as himself- as her dad- ever again.

I can handle this,
she thought, wondering why, aside from the sudden nausea and the aching in her heart, she wasn't reacting more violently.

"You are
Lady Li," Kou murmured, touching a hand to her shoulder. "I have done my best to lead the city of Toryn in your stead, but now it is your time. They will trust you to defeat this new enemy. They will follow you into death, if that is what you ask."

"That's a little melodramatic, don't you think?"
Ashlyn said, insane laughter bubbling up in her throat. She fought to keep from giggling out loud. "I think…I think what you just suggested sounds a hell of a lot easier than the whole leadership duel I was counting on."

He didn't answer, and she cleared her throat. "Where are the rest of my friends?"

"I believe they're in Heaven," Kou said. He dropped his hand from his shoulder. "You should speak with them and decide your strategy. I will keep watch."

"Thank you,"
Ashlyn said faintly. She turned and made her way slowly down the rickety stairs, each time moving her foot to the next step slowly and deliberately, as if it took a great effort just to descend.

Restlyn
met her at the bottom. "Are you all right?" she asked, concern showing in her sweet mahogany eyes.

Ashlyn
looked out at the hundreds of Toryn soldiers still staring at her. They were unwavering in their stalwart observance; she couldn't even see if any of them were blinking. No familiar faces were in the crowds. She didn't recognize anyone. Had all her friends gone with her father?

"
Ash?" Restlyn prompted, touching her hand where it lay on the railing.

Achieving leadership had been the plan all along.
Ashlyn couldn't bear to think of herself as Li. The house was broken, the bloodline impure, and the blood soaking through her sock was proof enough that she no longer carried the mark. She would defeat her father's army and find someone else to lead Toryn. That was what Drake had suggested in the first place, right?

Ashlyn
took a deep breath.

"Yes," she said, meeting
Restlyn's eyes. "I'm fine."

Chapter 13

The Bridge is Crossed

The way the
Toryn army watched her was
beyond
weird. Ashlyn walked across the bridge and made her way briskly towards the Heaven tavern, careful not to limp and trying her darnedest to ignore the hundreds of pairs of eyes boring into her back as she did. What the heck was wrong with these guys? Restlyn was walking not five feet away from her, and yeah, although there was never anything even remotely come-hithery in the brunette's mannerisms, she was always totally sexy. Restlyn couldn't
not
be sexy if she wanted to. It was in her
pores
. If a couple hundred Toryn men were going to stare at somebody, Ashlyn would've bet credits that it'd be Restlyn.

But
no
. Right now all they could do was look at
her
.

And frankly, that sucked.

Besides that, the story thus far had Ashlyn thoroughly confused, and the more she tried to sort it out, the more holes popped up in the scenario that Kou and Tag had provided for her. The biggest dilemma was obviously her father. Ashlyn was assuming leadership of Toryn in place of Lord Li, who had, according to Kou, been driven somewhat out of his mind by the
shift
magic. Ashlyn didn't doubt that the magic was completely capable of rendering a man insane, but her dad had always seemed…well…

N
o, if she was being realistic, then she’d have to admit that he was never really level-headed, and rarely thought things through. So as much as she hated the idea, she wasn't surprised that he had been the first to succumb to the effects of the dark magic.

She took a deep breath, trying to clear her head as she stopped in front of the huge double doors marking
the entrance to Heaven. Restlyn stopped just in front of her, one hand poised to push the doors open. "Are you going inside?"

"Oh yeah,"
Ashlyn said. "But maybe you could-" She broke off as Vargo appeared beside her, raggedly stylish in his blue jeans and suit jacket. His clothes were rumpled, the half-buttoned dress shirt underneath his jacket revealing a wrinkled t-shirt that had seen better days. Meeting her gaze evenly, he flipped open a lighter and lit his cigarette, not breaking eye contact.

She suddenly remembered that the last time she'd seen
Vargo alone, she'd kissed him. And knocked him unconscious immediately following. Of course, she hadn't exactly thought
that
whole development through before she'd acted, and she certainly hadn't expected to have to explain herself. Dang.

Mental note: only kiss and knock unconscious men that you will never ever have to see again
.

"You go on in,
Restlyn," Ashlyn said, giving the other girl a slight smile. "I'll be there in just a second."

One of the things that she had always liked about
Restlyn was that the girl didn't question much. That was not to say that the look in her eyes wasn't curious, but Restlyn was much too smart to ask what was going on in front of Vargo. Instead she simply nodded and slipped inside, leaving Ashlyn and the redheaded Spartan alone.

Well, alone save for the several hundred soldiers that were watching
Ashlyn's every move. She suddenly had the intense urge to pick her nose or hock a loogie across the bridge- anything to save her from being regarded as the immortal future savior of Toryn and the new Elder Lady.

Ashlyn
leaned back against the wall of Heaven and stared at Vargo. "You have something you want to say?" she asked, and was pleased with how calm and level her voice sounded.

Vargo
smirked as he took the cigarette out of his mouth, flicking the small paper cylinder above the stone trash can to remove excess ash. "I might," he replied. "You got something to say in return?"

She was silently running through her options before he had finished his sentence, and it didn't take long for
Ashlyn to decide that a good defense might be the best offense. "Depends on what you're going to tell me," she said, tossing her head in a way that might have looked a little more dramatic if her hair wasn't tied in a big ugly knot at the base of her neck. Eh.