Tainted Rescue

by Jenn Vakey

  “Take a step back from the woman,” I said, stepping right up to the edge of the ward.

  Surprisingly, they actually listened. That was why I'd mentioned Adler. I was more valuable to them than she was. Eden would reward both of them greatly for delivering the person responsible for killing Adler. I had no doubt they would also try to pin Phineas and Gryffin’s deaths on me too.

  At this point, they had no choice but to listen until I was outside of the wards.

  Watching them carefully, I took two steps out so that I was by her side. Then I leaned over and asked, “Do you intend to harm Alkwin or the people there in any way?”

  “No,” she answered quickly, telling the truth.

  I nodded and moved her to the edge of the archway. Close enough that she could move quickly when the time was right, but not through. I couldn't let them see that. Then I whispered, “Stay at the edge until they’re distracted. Then slip through and hide on the other side of the wall. Don't come out until someone comes from Alkwin for you. If I don't make it, tell them to tell Lillith I love her.”

  From the corner of my eye I could see her nod again. Then I took a breath, tightened my grip on the bastons, and walked out toward them.

  “So, are we doing this one at a time or…” They both charged me. I let myself smile. “Okay then.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  RHYDIAN

  I was walking out of the dorm after my shower when Joury came running up so fast that she almost slammed into me. I grabbed her by the arms to steady her. That's when I saw the panic.

  “Sentry at the archway with a Tainted woman,” she pushed out quickly. “Leeya said get Linley safe.”

  “Where's Leeya?” I demanded, feeling almost like her panic was flowing through my grip on her and into me. Why would Leeya tell her to get Linley safe? Why wouldn't she have done it herself?

  “She went to the archway,” she said, shaking her head like she didn't believe it. “She said she was going to stop them if they got through. To tell you to get Linley.”

  Dammit!

  My mind started to spin, pulling me in several directions at once. Alkwin was in danger. My sister was here. And Leeya…

  I took a quick breath and shook my head. I needed to think.

  “Get the kids secured,” I told her. “Make sure Linley is there. Then tell Orson. I'm going after Leeya.”

  Joury nodded quickly, then took off running again. I knew I could trust her to take care of Linley. Everyone in Alkwin would fight to keep the children safe, even if they didn't know how important she was. They would all fight for Alkwin. Leeya was alone.

  I ran through the training field, slowing just enough to grab my staff as I passed. Then I went after her.

  What the hell was Leeya thinking? Why hadn't she just sounded the alarm and waited for a team to move in? If anything happened to her, I was going to kill her.

  I didn't slow until I neared the archway. I wanted to keep pushing myself until I was right in the middle of everything, but I couldn’t risk distracting her. I also didn’t want the Sentry to know I was there until absolutely necessary. So I waited for as long as I could, then quieted my steps and moved the rest of the way as silently as possible. I might not have been able to do even that had I not heard the faint sound of her voice moving toward me. She was still alive. Now to keep her that way.

  To my relief, she was still on this side of the wards when she came into view. Just talking to the Sentry.

  That pang of distrust hit me before I could stop it. Why was she talking to them? I didn't want to believe that she could still be working with someone in Eden, but the question was still there. The doubt. I need to know for sure.

  Careful to stay out of sight, I moved behind the remains of the walls until I was close enough to hear what was going on. If she was up to something, I would find out right now. Although I really didn't want to believe she was. That would mean that I had been a fool, that she was still playing me. Caught in one deception only to jump right into another.

  There would be no covering for her this time. Orson’s daughter or not, she would pay for this. Pay for all of it.

  If not, I would let her handle things her way, only stepping in if she needed help. Unless she was in danger.

  “I'll make a deal with you,” she said, her tone strong and steady. “I'll fight you for her.”

  Fight them for her? I looked over to the woman who was in tears between them. This was her plan? Well, at least it didn't sound like she was conspiring with anyone, but that was a stupid plan.

  “No tricks, no Tainted powers. I win, I get her and you walk away. You win, you let her walk away, but you get me.”

  “How does that equate to us winning?” asked one of the men, looking at her skeptically. “You've already said you can't give us access through the wards.”

  Smart girl. At least for that part. I'd give her that much.

  “Because I killed Adler,” she announced.

  No, definitely back to this being a dumb plan. Dammit, Leeya. It was all I could do not to just walk out after that. What was she thinking? There was no way that she wasn't going to be named public enemy number one now. Every Sentry in Eden would be coming after her.

  Their looks reflected exactly what I feared. I knew she blamed herself for what happened to Auggie. She didn't want people getting hurt because of what she'd done. But this was too far. She didn’t understand what she was doing. The way Sentry treated Tainted was nothing compared to what they would do to someone who committed treason. That was exactly how they would see this. And it wouldn’t just be her. They would have Lillith right there at her side, innocent or not.

  “And here you were telling us that we were the ones that killed innocent people.”

  “Adler wasn’t innocent,” she snapped back at them. I watched as she lifted up the side of her shirt, showing them the scar he had left her with. “He shot me first when I was unarmed and defenseless.” She shifted, and I barely had time to pull my head back to make sure I was completely hidden before she turned around. Had she heard me? Expected someone else to come? But then she spoke again, and I realized what she had been doing. Making sure she was alone. “Then he tried to kill the man I love. So I stopped him. Truthfully, I didn't even mean for him to die. Not that that matters, right? So, you fight me for the girl.”

  My heart almost stopped right then and there, her words echoing through my mind. She loved me? Or was she just saying it as an excuse? I slapped my hand down over my chest, as if fearing my heart was going to beat its way out. I wanted to know the answer. I needed to know.

  But their next words brought me back to the archway. To what was going on. I'd have to deal with the rest of it later. “And what's to stop us from killing you right here for your crimes against Eden?”

  My head whipped back around so that I could see them again, ready to move at the first sign that she needed me. She might be within the wards, but the magic in them wouldn’t stop a bullet. I itched to step out, to move close enough that I could knock her out of the way if either pulled out a gun. The only thing that held me back at this point was knowing that my presence could just make them do that.

  My eyes landed on her again just in time to watch her shrug.

  “I don't care at this point. If it's my life for her life, then you have your deal.”

  She didn't care? That one I wanted to believe that she was just saying because she needed to, but I could hear the truth in it. I could see it when I looked back over the past couple of weeks. I had been wondering after some of the things she had said, but I didn't think it was more than just talk. Her sadness showing through. Was it more than that?

  “You really expect us to believe you killed Adler for the sake of love, but you have no problem dying for a stranger?” The guy who was speaking started shaking his head. “This is some kind of trick.”

  Then Leeya shook her head, taking a small step toward them. When she spoke again, there was a resignation in her tone that
couldn’t be denied. “I already lost him. So no, there's no trick. Just a fight. I also give you my word that if I win, I won't actually kill either of you. It's not our way here.”

  My heart hurt. I wanted to both shake her and hug her. Honestly, both probably would have made me feel better. She had told me that day in the woods that none of it had been an act. Honestly, I never really believed her. Even now there was a large part of me that didn't want to believe it was possible, convinced she was just making up a believable story to get the woman away from them. But was it the truth? That she loved me, and that she had given up caring because she had lost me?

  Linley’s words from earlier rang through my head. Telling me that Leeya was hurting. Asking if she would leave Alkwin to get away from me. Leeya was strong, a fighter. She was doing everything she could to get her sister back. Could I really have meant that much to her that she was left feeling as broken inside as I did? Enough to overshadow everything else?

  All I could do was stare at her after that, trying to understand. Trying to figure out what the truth was. All the while still trying to watch what was playing out in front of me.

  “Okay,” she said. “Take a step back from the woman.”

  And they did. Then she stepped past the edge of the wards and stopped next to the woman. I couldn't hear what she was saying, but I could see her moving her closer. Then the woman nodded and Leeya turned her attention back to the threat, walking even further out. My fingers ached to reach out and pull her back, but it was like everything I had heard left me planted in this spot. Unable to do anything but watch.

  The men also watched her as she approached, her hands gripping the bastons.

  “So, are we doing this one at a time or…” They both charged her. “Okay then.”

  Leeya didn't hesitate as she went at both men at the same time, shifting her focus between the two with impressive precision.

  I gripped the staff in my hand, ready to jump in if it even looked like she was losing ground. I might not know how I felt, but I wasn't going to let her kill herself.

  The moment both men were focused on her, the woman she had left at the archway moved through it, crouching to the side and pressing her back up against the wall. As soon as she was hidden from them she buried her face in her hands, her chest heaving as she cried. She was safe now.

  Leeya didn't retreat with her. She was fully engulfed in the fight. Striking, ducking, spinning. Even when she leveled a blow to the head of one of the men and took him down, she didn't lessen the intensity. He was still conscious, though it appeared his will to fight was gone. And his buddy wouldn't last much longer.

  He tried to play dirty, grabbing a handful of her hair to try to get her down. That might have worked a couple days ago. With as short as it was, she only needed one hit to his kidney before it slid right out of his grasp. His arm was still extended, though, giving her the perfect target.

  He howled in pain when she brought the baston down and broke his arm. And then it was over.

  Leeya stood over the two men that lay at her feet, her breathing labored and muscles still tense. Linley had said she looked more like a warrior now. No statement had been truer. Gone was the innocent, naive girl who had first stepped out on my training field. She was so much more now.

  “Tell your friends that I'm the only one to blame for Adler,” she stated. “Leave my people alone. If they want revenge, they come after me.”

  She turned on a dime and walked back through the archway, stopping in front of the woman and extending a hand to pull her up. I slid further back along the wall and watched silently as they started retreating down the path toward Alkwin.

  I waited until she was gone, then walked out to the men still on the ground. I could understand why she had done what she did. Why she had told them that, but it wasn't something I could let happen. I was certain that none of the others would have wanted her to put a target on her back to keep them safe either.

  Now, I wasn’t the best with magic. I had it, as one of my sources was witch based, although it wasn't something that I had spent time nurturing. But I knew the basics.

  So I cast one of the few spells I knew, then looked down at both men. I watched as a dazed look settled over both of their faces. The same one people always got when they had time erased from them. It wouldn't be much, no more than an hour, but they wouldn't remember even seeing Leeya, let alone anything she had said.

  Then I just left them there.

  I didn't bother rushing on the way back. I needed the alone time to think. Time to process everything before I had to talk to anyone. Especially Leeya.

  All of Leeya’s actions came into question. Did she really mean what she had said? I couldn't believe that. Too much had happened for me to accept it as the truth. Maybe she had convinced herself after the fact that that's how she felt, but it couldn't have been true at the time. Otherwise she wouldn't have done what she had. She wouldn't have been able to.

  I did believe that she didn't care about staying alive. Even if it wasn’t just because of me. Her guilt over betraying Alkwin was strong. I never doubted that. Especially since I had felt something similar after receiving news of my brother’s death. Knowing deep down that, had I just stayed in Eden with my family, I might have been able to stop it. That they wouldn’t have spent four years thinking I was dead because I hadn’t been strong enough to face everything.

  I didn't like it.

  Was Linley right that I should just get past it and tell Leeya I wasn’t angry anymore?

  I was furious now, but only because she could have gotten herself killed. But could I really tell her that I wasn't mad about the rest of it? Would she know I was lying?

  I waited in the woods until she was out of sight when I finally reached Alkwin again. Then I walked out and went looking for Orson. Everyone was on alert by that point, so he wasn't hard to find.

  “What happened?” he asked, meeting me on the training field.

  I sighed, watching Leeya’s back as she disappeared into the clinic with the woman. Given that she hadn’t looked back once, no one had told her that I’d gone after her.

  Good.

  “Leeya talked them into fighting her in exchange for the woman,” I told him, careful just how much I divulged. “She took them down, then told them she was the one responsible for killing Adler. That the Sentry should leave the rest of us alone.”

  “Shit,” he breathed out, and I could see the wheels turning as he tried to decide how to handle it.

  “It's okay,” I told him. I put my staff back on the rack and rolled my shoulders. “I wiped it from their memories. And Leeya doesn't know I was there. It's best to keep it that way. Let her believe the Sentry know she's the one who killed Adler.”

  Although that wasn't the real reason I didn't want her to know I was there. I didn't want her to know I'd heard what she said. I needed time to sort this all out before I even considered whether or not that was a conversation we should have.

  Orson nodded. “What about the woman?”

  “Tainted,” I said. “I watched her pass through the archway. And Leeya wouldn't have brought her here if she hadn't questioned her first. She wouldn't risk our people.”

  He groaned, running his fingers through his black hair. “That girl is going to be the death of me.”

  I couldn't argue there. I felt the same way.

  As much as I wanted to yell at Leeya, I avoided her for the rest of the day. I couldn't talk to her about what I'd seen. Not without her knowing that I had heard it all. I'd have to figure out how to deal with that later. How to make sure she didn't actually succeed in getting herself killed.

  So I sat with Orson and Faida during dinner. It was safer that way.

  That guy was sitting across from Leeya at the table again. Alister. I felt bad for disliking him, because I liked his mother. I trusted her. But watching Leeya sitting there talking to him, smiling at him… It left me with the same feeling I'd had before. I didn't like the attention he
was giving her. I might not want her, but that didn’t mean I wanted to see her with anyone else.

  How was this whole situation even more complicated than it had been before?

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  LEEYA

  I could still feel the energy from the fight with the Sentry when I walked down the hall of the dorm after dinner and made my way to my room.

  Rhydian's door was already closed, his light on telling me he was there. I won't even pretend to be surprised that the sign with his name on the door was gone. His need for security was stronger than the desire to please the children. He might be using a different name to keep people from learning who he really was, but I had known even before walking into Alkwin that he was a target. It wasn’t smart to make it obvious for anyone coming in to know where to find him when he was his most vulnerable. Not that I thought even a sleeping Rhydian was vulnerable.

  I had expected him to talk to me after I went out to fight the Sentry. Even if only to lecture me about being reckless. But he didn't. Just further proof that he didn't really care anymore.

  The fight did wear me out, though, and I had barely made it into bed before I felt my eyes growing heavy, sleep moving in to claim me.

  It was dark, the world around me silent when the sound of my door opening woke me up. I sat up quickly, just in time to see the outline of a small body coming in before it closed again.

  “Linley?” I asked, watching her silhouette move quickly toward the other side of the bed. “Honey, what's wrong?”

  “I had a nightmare,” she said, tears making her voice crack. “I couldn't find Rhydian's room. I didn't want to be alone.”

  “Come on,” I said, patting the bed beside me. She crawled quickly up and moved to the middle of the bed, her little fingers clinging to my shirt like she was afraid I was going to leave her. I reached out without delay and pulled her into my arms, rocking her as she cried.