The Warrior's Assault

by Kristen Banet

  No. Not like this. She wasn’t going down without a weapon. She tried to bring up her left sword to stab the male on her right. Before she had the chance, the same tactic was used on that wrist, twisting so hard, she was afraid it might break. Using the control over her wrist, her arm was painfully yanked behind her, and she was forced to her knees.

  “Stop,” Luykas snarled down at her.

  She did, blinking several times as calm was shoved into her body. She looked up and saw him panting over her. In her rage, she’d missed the normal flood of emotion through the bond. They touched often enough now it didn’t feel unnatural or strange. For once, that had worked against them, making his tactic less effective.

  “What happened?” he demanded.

  Under the calm, she caught currents of other things—worry, anger, dismay—so many things wrapped up in the gold-eyed enigma above her. She couldn’t find words. She just tried to push back to him how she had felt in that moment when Nevyn’s boot had connected, and her head thumped against the wood—the fear she was going to be beaten to death, the need to protect herself the best she could.

  The realization she was free and could kill anyone for doing that to her.

  “Nevyn kicked her in the face,” Mat said, revealing himself to be closer to her than she expected. She tried to turn to see him, but Luykas didn’t relent, his eyes locked on hers. Internally, they were having an entire conversation, based purely on emotion, but he obviously wanted her to speak the words.

  “I…” She trailed off, sighing as her mind came back to her, hearing them. She was on the ship. She’d been sparring against Nevyn. “I spent a lot of years getting kicked in the face,” she finally said plainly, hoping it would explain. After that, she shut down, trying to school her face into a blankness she was used to. “Sorry, Nevyn.”

  “You nearly took my head off,” he said, walking in front of her. “You back?”

  “I’m back.” Cool. She had to remain cool.

  “Good.” He tilted his head, revealing a small line of red going over the right side of his neck. “You damn near killed me. Let her go, Luykas. She’s fine.”

  She was released unceremoniously, leaning back to fall on her ass instead of her face.

  Well, this is embarrassing.

  She was getting edgier every day, but she never thought a kick during sparring would send her off the deep end. She wasn’t prone to moments of feeling like she was back in the Empire, in danger constantly and fighting for her life daily. The time in Senri’s home, with the fire and music, when it was too hot for her…That was the only other time that really stood out. Most of the time, she was assaulted by memories when no one was around, or they discussed what was probably happening to Senri and the others, but she never let them drag her under. She never felt like she was there. Twice now, she had been ripped back, thinking she was in the pits or in the company of monsters wanting to hurt her.

  She looked at the single males she had been drilling before the sparring match. Most were staring at her with a healthy dose of caution again.

  “A thousand years of suffering take a toll,” she explained to them. “I don’t know how many previous slaves you have met.”

  “One or two,” a close one answered. “None that…did that.”

  “Well, this is what we’re saving Senri from. Allaina. All of them. We’re saving them from being like me.” She pushed herself up, suddenly tired of the ground, reaching for Matesh when she was on her feet. He grabbed her hand and let her lean into him. Not because her legs were too weak, but because he knew she’d grown used to the physical comfort of her male. He’d seen her after one of those nights—one of those awful nights. He knew where she went in her own head.

  “No more kicking Mave in the face,” Luykas ordered, stomping off. She watched him go, a little confused by his attitude. She’d caught sympathy in the bond before he released her. Now, he was angry and tense again? She didn’t understand.

  “Can someone else finish drilling them?” She jerked her head at the young males. “I’m going to clean up.” She wiped her face and found blood smeared all over face now. “Nevyn, I’ll heal you too. I’ve got more than enough extra blood hanging around for it.”

  “Sure. Let’s get inside.” The warrior grinned amicably, gesturing for her to lead the way.

  “Hold the door,” Alchan called. “Sen, we’ve got to have a meeting. It’s approaching that time.”

  She groaned…another meeting. There was always a meeting now. She would rather get kicked in the face again.

  “Aye, sir!” Sen followed them inside. Matesh stayed close to her back. When they entered the mess, she found Bryn quietly playing cards with Zayden. When they looked up, Bryn jumped out of his seat. He didn’t rush to her, but he did take a single step, betraying he didn’t like what he saw.

  “Sparring match,” she explained. “Nevyn won again. I’m going to clean up.”

  “Let me get ya something.” He jogged out of the room. She took the chance to sit down in his spot, not touching the beautifully painted cards left on the table because of the blood on her hands. She wanted to. Even after months of seeing them, she was still fascinated by how gorgeous they were.

  “Are you really okay?” Mat asked her softly as he took the seat next to her.

  “Yeah.” She didn’t want to tell him how angry she was. “Nevyn, get over here.”

  The warrior stood patiently as she brought a bloody hand up over the cut on his thigh. It was so easy to draw the life force and push it into him. In mere seconds, the injury began to close. She ran out of power before she could do more, but a good nap would finish the healing. Over the months, she had learned even more about the healing sleep of the Andinna and how it was rooted in their ability to do blood magic. While not every Andinna was a Blackblood, every Andinna naturally spent their blood’s life energy as they slept to heal their injuries. It wasn’t a conscious decision, but it meant they all had some small ability in them to do blood magic—just a tiny piece of power.

  With both Leshaun and Luykas on the ship, there was no avoiding a lesson here and there.

  “Thanks.” The warrior stepped back when she let him go. Any of the other Blackbloods on board could have done it, but she was the one who injured him, so she wanted to heal him. It was only fair. “So, we’re having a meeting?” He looked over his shoulder.

  Mave leaned around him to see Alchan had followed them in, Sen right behind him. Slowly but surely, all of the Company was coming into the room. Bryn came back with a clean rag and handed it to her. She was pretty sure he would have cleaned her face but knew better than to try. She wiped off and pinched the bridge of her nose to test it—definitely not broken.

  “Sen, how far out from land are we?” Alchan asked as he approached the table. They all shifted and tried to make him a place to sit. Zayden ended up standing, scrambling to gather his cards, and moved away, Rainev taking his place to sit beside their commander. Luykas slid behind him and leaned against the wall. Kian stood far enough away to be separate but still came inside.

  This wasn’t the first meeting, but hopefully, it was the last. Once a week, they sat down to talk about their plans. A lot of information was unavailable for much of the trip, but hopefully, Leshaun had something good for them today.

  “We’ll make land in the night,” Sen answered.

  “Leshaun, have you gotten word from your spies in the city?” Alchan turned his attention to the old male. There was one good thing about these meetings—Mave didn’t have to do much. She was a sword, not a strategist. All she craved was to be pointed in the direction of her enemy and told to kill them.

  “Just this morning. They beat us to Ellantia by only a day if we’re going to dock tonight. We stayed on their heels the entire trip, which means the females shouldn’t be out of the city before we arrive. There are processing and sales that will need to happen, so that gives us time.”

  “They’ll be given to a noble for…training,” Bryn remi
nded them. “Any slave caught after the War is ‘trained’ by nobles with a strong presence in the merchant world. They’re worth more when they’re already broken. Not many want to buy an Andinna with too much fight in them.”

  Mave growled, low and deep. She wasn’t the only one. Kian, Nevyn, Mat, and Luykas couldn’t resist giving voice to their anger.

  “It works in our favor,” Alchan said, giving all of them a pointed look. “It means they won’t be rushed out of the city. No noble is going to want to pass up the chance to break the Empress’ new slaves. He’ll fight to keep them. Leshaun, have you heard from anyone about which noble received them?”

  “Yes…” The old male gestured to Mat. “Can I have the seat?” Her male jumped up and stepped back, letting his uncle sit down. Leshaun pulled out his peculiar book and dropped it on the table. “They say it’s Lord Junius.”

  There was another collective growl through the room, though Mave didn’t join this one. She didn’t recognize the name. She leaned back, waiting for anyone to elaborate.

  “That means we’ll be dealing with the sea cliff cells,” Luykas said pointedly to his brother. “That won’t be easy.”

  “No, it won’t be, but we’ll make do. I think the real problem lies with the location of his estate. He’s right in the city with a mansion built at the top of a cliff. The best ways in are from the sea, which will be heavily guarded, or going around and getting through the city somehow, which is impossible with this many Andinna.”

  “And we’ll need every one of them if he’s guarded Shadra’s new slaves, an honor he won’t take lightly.” Luykas and Alchan only had eyes for each other now. “She’ll have sent word for them to up security as well. She must already know about Blackstone. There’s no way she doesn’t.”

  “Hmm. So coming in by sea is the best option, but—”

  “They have the warships protecting the harbor,” Leshaun cut in and said quickly. “We’ll need a way through them.”

  “Your spies tell you that?” Alchan frowned, but not to anyone in particular. Mave watched him carefully, just wanting to hear her orders, just wanting to know the plan. She just needed a target. “Never mind that. I figured they would keep guards on the water as well. Sen, I had you keep everything on the ship. Did you find any Elvasi gear?”

  “I did. Resisted letting the boys break it down for the scrap fabric. You think that will work? All my boys are human.”

  “So are most of the Empire’s sailors and foot soldiers. We’re still using their colors on the open water.”

  “They will know we stole a ship in Blackstone,” Luykas pointed out.

  “In the middle of the night, they won’t be able to see and count the ships. They’ll see a normal ship, just floating on the water with a regular crew of men in their colors…I hope.” Alchan shrugged. “You have a better idea?”

  “No. The best thing we could do is let Rainev set fire to everything as we make our way in, but that would give Lord Junius reason to kill the Andinna he has in captivity. There’s a reason we’ve never been able to do a hit on him. He lives in a damn fortress and practically runs Ellantia.”

  Mave sighed and looked at Matesh. He shrugged in response. Bryn rested a hand on her shoulder and squeezed, causing her to look up and give him a small smile.

  “We’ve bored them,” Luykas muttered. She looked back to the brothers, who were now staring at her. “Do you have an idea?” He crossed his arms, waiting for her to say anything.

  “No, I’m just waiting for you to point me in a direction and tell me who to kill.”

  “A real fucking warrior,” Alchan said in an almost accusatory way. “Kill something, ask questions later. I bet you wouldn’t even ask Shadra anything before you cut her head off.”

  “Shadra doesn’t deserve the breath it takes for me to ask questions,” she snapped, betraying the rage boiling in her blood. Luykas straightened up a bit, his eyes going a touch wide. She met his gaze behind his brother before returning her focus to Alchan.

  “No, but the Andinna you could save by taking the time to ask them, do,” he retorted.

  “Point taken,” she growled. “But tell me, would you single out anyone else in the Company for getting bored because you two are plotting, and the rest of us have to sit here?”

  “No, but no one else in the Company is a dominant female or the child of two military geniuses.” Alchan shrugged. “You rank higher than them.” They held the stare down for a long time. His point was he expected her to be better than the rest of them. She didn’t ask for it, but it was his expectation.

  “Get back on topic,” Leshaun demanded. “There’s no reason to derail this entire meeting for you two to get into a pissing contest.”

  Alchan’s eyes never left hers as he started talking.

  “We go in through the sea. Sen, have your sailors change into whatever you can find. It’ll be dark, so if some don’t completely match, they should at least be similar to best hide them. I’m going to split our attack force into several groups. Mave, you’ll be leading the main assault alongside Luykas. I point, you kill? There you go. You’ll be assaulting a seaside fortress while defending a group breaking into the cells to get our females out. Leshaun, you’ll stay on the ship with the crew. Rainev, stay with them as well. If we need covering fire, I’ll call you in, but I want you to have access to the open air.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Mave caught the way Rain looked at Alchan as he said it. There was something reverent in her little brother’s deep blue eyes.

  “Are we going to kill Junius?” Brynec asked before Alchan could continue.

  “No. We have enough to worry about right now to go after big game. Our females are our only objective. Though, if you see him, you can kill him.”

  “Of course.” Bryn sounded pleased with that decision.

  “Sen.” Alchan looked to the captain, worry coming over his face. “If things get bad, I want you to get however many of us on board as you can, then leave. Don’t worry about getting all of us.”

  “Alchan…” Mave heard the displeasure in his voice. The captain didn’t like that at all. Mave was inclined to agree with him.

  “I’m serious. The plan is the assaulting force holds a line to help our escapees get to the ship, so the females will be getting back first. If anything happens, you take them out of here. The rest of us can survive in the Empire. That doesn’t worry us. We can always run north into the Dragon Spine.”

  “How close is it?” she asked quickly. The Dragon Spine was the natural barrier between Anden and the Empire. Most of the War had been fought there. Elliar was on the opposite end of the Empire.

  How close am I to home?

  “Only a week on foot. Ellantia was once the port city the Empire used to do most of its trading with Anden and Zira. We had a city a week north of the Dragon Spine as well, so no one had to go through the mountains.”

  “So, there’s our escape plan if anything goes wrong. Run north and don’t stop. Perfect. We’re all going to die,” Luykas snorted. “Any other troubles we want to add to this suicide mission?”

  “It’s not a suicide mission, it’s a military assault with what is currently the Andinna army.” Alchan stood up slowly, glaring at his brother. “What’s bothering you? I know it’s not the mission.”

  “I’ll talk to you about it later,” Luykas answered quickly. He glanced at her, shaking his head. “For once, it’s not you.”

  “Good to know.” She tilted her head to the side, confused by that statement, but Alchan seemed to understand, chuckling at his brother.

  “I need Leshaun, Nevyn, and Sen to stay, but the rest of you are dismissed. We don’t have maps to go over. We’re flying blind. I’ll pass on any information as Leshaun and I get it.” Alchan waved them all away. Mave took that chance to step back outside, glad to see one of the sailors was teaching the males. They had been kept busy, at least.

  She didn’t stop to train them, walking through them to get to the bow
of the ship. She didn’t hesitate, stepping up onto the rail, opening her wings to catch the wind and lift her up. It was a small cheat Bryn taught her on the trip. There was no reason to take off when the wind caused by the ship could take an Andinna up without the need to burn energy.

  “Going for a fly?” Kian called out. “Really?”

  She pulled her wings in and dropped onto the deck, landing on her feet. She hadn’t been too high.

  “Stretching my wings. What do you need, Kian?”

  “Just wanted to check on you.”

  “Liar. You wanted to give me a hard time for considering a fly while Senri is being held captive.” She crossed her arms, leaning on the rail of the ship. She didn’t need him to confirm or deny it. It was written all over his face. “I liked you better a few months ago, Kian.”

  “And now?” he asked rudely, stepping up to lean on the rail as well. Her back was to the ocean, but he opted to stare out.

  “I think you’re blaming all the wrong people,” she told him. “I’m pretty fucking sure Senri will tell you the same thing.”

  “I told Alchan I didn’t blame anyone specifically. I blame all of this. All of this pisses me off. The fact that…” He growled. “It hurt to lose our child in the War, Mave. She stopped being a soldier after that. She promised to protect people, and my gallivanting around got her taken.” He groaned. “She’ll hate me after this.”

  “Will she?” Mave frowned at the concept. Senri never seemed like that type of person. “She made a decision to defend her village, something she had promised to do. She got captured in the process—”

  “We’re the reason the village got attacked,” he snapped. “There’s no denying that.”

  “And we’re going to get them back,” she growled in response.

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’ve never been more positive about anything in my life. I’ll die before I let them keep her.”