“By the gods!” exclaimed the monk as he ducked to dodge yet another stray fireball that flew over Tobi’s shoulder. “You’re going to kill us all!”
But none of the warriors paid him any heed as the cavern lit up with bursts of lightning and roaring flames. Arrows flitted between the re’shahna and the one-eyed assassin, picking off minions who dared to intervene. It seemed like chaos had erupted beneath Hikshu’s cathedral as Levee, Tobi, and now Gavin faced off against Shadow’s mercenaries.
Pip, although hard-pressed by the re’shahna’s ever-changing combination of blade and blasts, made it a point to laugh each time Tobi missed. “Close, but not close enough!” the assassin taunted. Tearing a leather whip from his belt, he unraveled it with a crack, its entire surface erupting in flame. “Now let us see how well you dance!”
Tobi skipped back, then left, as Pip snapped his fiery whip at his prey. “And one, and two…” he teased until Tobi wheeled around an old stalagmite. The re’shahna ducked as the whip ripped out a chunk of rock and showered him with shards and dust.
“Tobi!” Levee called, seeking backup as two of Pip’s companions closed in on her, one from the front and the other from behind.
“A moment—or four, if you can spare them!” the re’shahna shouted back while he sidled to avoid another one of Pip’s flaming lashes. “This one has me a tad busy!”
“My cover is gone. I need a sword!” She plucked off another arrow, snagging her front attacker on the shoulder before pulling a second from her quiver and spinning around to stab its tip into the neck of the killer who thought himself closing in unsuspected from behind.
Gavin launched into the fray with a flurry of short, quick thrusts and horizontal slashes, beating back Levee’s attacker. “Your friend will have his hands full for a while,” the half-blood soldier grunted.
“Glad you decided to join us then,” Levee replied. She sprinted toward the catacomb’s seal, putting ground between herself and her targets.
On the other side of the cavern, Tobi worked hard to shake his foe’s newest weapon. With that biting whip keeping Tobi at bay, he needed a new approach. Clinching his sword between his teeth, the re’shahna tore his cloak free and threw it out to his right.
Pip took the bait, slinging his whip around the empty fabric as Tobi shot around the left side of the giant stalagmite, arms extended as he morphed into his elemental equine form. Before the assassin could retract his whip, Tobi blindsided the rahee, his horn leaving a deep gash in Pip’s arm as he bowled him to the ground.
The re’shahna continued his canter several feet, tossing his blade at the feet of the monk.
“Amazing,” the monk marveled as he stared at the creature before him. “I have heard the myths about the relationship between the re’shahna and unicorns, but I never—”
Tobi wheeled before Brother Jebediah could finish his statement, his interest invested in engaging the assassin before he could take aim again with that nasty whip.
“So you decided to make my target a little easier, eh?” Pip grunted despite the searing pain jolting through his skewered bicep. “Well, that takes the challenge out of hitting you.”
Tobi reared, his sharp hooves forcing the assassin back. Pip retracted his arm, snapping the whip around the re’shahna’s horn and yanking hard enough to bring Tobi down on all fours.
From there a tug of war ensued, with Tobi shaking his head wildly from side to side as he fought to tear free of the burning binds. Pip gathered a second flame in his free palm, thinking he’d finally gained an upper hand, when suddenly…
Brother Jebediah gasped as the seal hummed and Jaycent stepped through its barrier, Clovenhoof’s fabled blade firmly in hand. Levee lowered her bow as Gavin finished off the last of Pip’s henchmen, gawking as the prince made a beeline for Pip, his blue eyes alight with the magic of Lumiere.
Pip lost his focus for a second as his eyes fell upon the relic he’d sought for so many years, but it was a split second too long. Tobi reared again, lurching the whip from the assassin’s hand and flinging it aside with a toss of his head.
“I suppose it is only fair you kill me,” Pip resigned as the prince backed him into a corner. The last of his crooked grins spread across his thin lips as he accepted his fate with one final, vicious jab. “Although a thank you would be nice. After all, I helped seal the fate that led you here.”
“Lying through your teeth even as you face your death?” Gavin moved to join Tobi and Jaycent, his voice cold as he pointed his blade at the assassin. “You’re a coward, Pip.”
“I am not a coward, nor am I a liar,” the assassin met the prince’s gaze, his one good eye glowing red beneath the black strands of his hair. “One day you will you learn it’s all about perspective.”
Jaycent lifted the pearlescent blade, its cold tip poised against the hollow of Pip’s throat. “If I cared about perceptions and life through the looking glass, I’d be talking to the monk. Now tell me where Shadow hides and I will consider sparing your life.”
The assassin chuckled. “If my life mattered that much to me, I would not have killed Nevaharday’s king and queen.”
Jaycent’s arm stiffened. His eyes narrowed. “What did you say?”
“Nothing personal, young prince. They were merely unfortunate pawns in a grander scheme. One that will unfold even after you kill me,” the assassin looked at Lumiere and shrugged. “And with a fine blade at that.”
“Why are you so eager to die?” Levee asked. She slid between Gavin and Tobi and brushed passed the prince, her attention fixed on the assassin.
“Not eager, my dear. Simply acquiescent. As your re’shahna friend stated before, I am an agent of Shadow, and he does not tolerate failure. I would rather die by your hand than suffer his own.”
“You don’t deserve that kind of mercy,” Gavin growled.
“Neither did the king and his qu—”
A flash of ivory sent Pip’s head from his shoulders before he could finish his words, and Levee screamed as it rolled across her feet, its one eye open in a listless stare.
Tobi shifted to his original form, his green eyes wide. “Jaycent…”
“He carries an augment stone somewhere on his person. Help me find it,” the prince commanded, ignoring the re’shahna’s incredulous stare.
“Beneath the patch,” Gavin muttered, halfheartedly waving toward the decapitated head.
Tobi motioned for Levee to tend to the prince while he knelt and extracted the onyx stone from the gruesome corpse.
“Jayce,” Levee placed a hand on the prince’s cheek, urging him to face her. The prince looked down at his mate, and she was both wounded and relieved to see tears in his eyes.
“Let us keep moving,” he said in a low, husky voice. “I want to be out of this city and well on our way to Bresan T’ahnya before we make camp.”
“W-what about the bodies?” stuttered Brother Jebediah.
“Let the dead deal with the dead,” he replied. All eyes drifted toward the catacombs where Jaycent’s companions saw the faint outline of ancient soldiers staring back at them. “Our business is on the surface.”
WHEN THE PATH FORKS
Gavin walked the trio to the gates of the Brennensdale where they said their farewells. It was a joyless exchange. They’d all experienced losses that left a foul ache in their hearts. Justice gnawed at their souls, but it would not bring back what was lost. Nothing could.
“As a soldier of Brennensdale, my place remains with my city, but I will let my Captain know of your plight,” the half-blood soldier offered. “Perhaps he can convince His Highness to send soldiers to Nevaharday.”
Gavin’s offer was little more than a formality to Jaycent, who had been in politics long enough to know Brennensdale would find no advantage in sending even a fraction of her Legion to the aid of a distant, unknown city. But he thanked the boy for his efforts anyway, and they kindly parted ways.
The return to Bresan T’ahnya was uncomfortably quiet. The su
n hung at mid-height in the west as Jaycent led his companions at a swift pace through the gorge. Only the crunch of snow beneath their feet broke the thick silence, but none held the urge to say anything.
The group paused only to break camp that night. Even then, it was because Tobiano insisted. By the second day, the gypsy and re’shahna realized Jaycent wouldn’t shake his newfound attitude. His two companions shared a concerned glance and fell back several paces so they could carry on a hushed exchange.
“He has not spoken a word since we left Brennensdale,” the re’shahna whispered with a shake of his head.
Levee looked at her mate, his simmering blue eyes focused on the mountains ahead. Jaycent seemed lost on a plane of thought separate from his two companions.
“Let me try talking to him again,” Levee offered. She jogged over to her mate and doubled her stride to keep up with his pace. “Jayce?”
The prince didn’t respond, his attention fixed upon the horizon.
“What Pip said back there… It’s digging at you, isn’t it?” she guessed. The mere mention of the assassin’s name stirred the prince’s anger. He tightened his grip on Lumiere, as if killing the rahee hadn’t been enough to quell his fury.
“I know the pain you’re feeling,” Levee sympathized. “There are still days I replay my own family’s murder in my mind, thinking if only I had done one thing different…”
“Such thoughts aren’t worth entertaining,” the prince countered. “Hindsight cannot change the past.”
Levee nodded in agreement. Her mate was clearly angry, but at least she had him talking. “So then why are you—”
Jaycent spun around so quickly, Levee shied back at step. “Is it wrong to feel a sense of urgency? We have the weapon we need to defeat Shadow. We should be moving swifter than this! At our current pace we will hardly break Bresan T’ahnya’s borders before sunset.”
“Jaycent!” Tobi scolded, his spotted ears flicking back against his two-toned mane. “Calm yourself. Our pace is swift enough.”
“Ah, yes! ‘Have patience.’ That is your favorite motto, isn’t it?” the prince gave a cynical chuckle. “Tell me, re’shahna, how many rahee are you willing to let die as we tarry here? How many children must lie in Nevaharday’s streets, their bodies littered beneath mimics and night mares?
“As we linger here, minions like Pip carry on Shadow’s deception in secret, caring naught for the lives they take. How many will you let them sacrifice to please their master? Hundreds? Thousands?”
Levee’s ears drooped at the vivid images spewing from Jaycent’s lips. “What have you seen, my love?” she asked. Jaycent’s lips snapped shut, but the pain in his eyes betrayed his silence. “What did the spirits show you inside the catacombs?”
“Bresan T’ahnya,” Tobi assumed. “You saw what Shadow can do.”
“Not what he can do—what he already did! I cannot bear to let it happen again.”
“And what if you must?” the re’shahna challenged.
Jaycent’s scowl deepened.
“Hear me, Connor Prince!” Tobi pressed. “It is you Shadow seeks, for you are Connor’s descendant and the only one who can wield Lumiere. So long as you live, you are a danger to him. That is why you mustn’t throw yourself at him ill-prepared.”
Jaycent stared hard at the old warrior who had been a friend and teacher to him these last few months. Tobi was right. All this time Shadow’s eyes had been on him.
The nightmares that made him ill; the ambush near Dragon’s Mist; Pip’s vicious guard over the catacombs; all of it was connected to Jaycent and the mighty weapon now hanging from his belt.
Still, that only heaped more guilt upon the prince’s conscience.
“I will not give up hope that easily.” To prove his point, Jaycent turned back to the path, eager to put in several more miles behind them before they set camp.
“Jaycent,” Tobi called again, his voice low and stern. The prince paused in mid-step, but didn’t look back. “Do you not trust me after all I have shown you?”
Jaycent spoke slowly, testily, so that the re’shahna understood every terrible word. “You are telling me to abandon my people.”
“They are not alone,” the re’shahna assured. “Patchi has brought in a formidable force to help them.”
“Help them do what?” He threw his arms out wide. “Die fighting a foe they cannot kill? I will not turn my back on them and call it fate like you do! I must find a way to warn Nevaharday and urge them to retreat.”
“Patchi will take care of that. Have faith in him,” the re’shahna implored.
“I have the sword that can change the tide of this battle,” Jaycent argued. “Not Patchi.”
“Foolish yearling,” the re’shahna huffed, his rare display of exasperation making Levee nervous. “You talk of walking into a lion’s den! Even Connor’s sword could not save you once you step inside of there.” Tobi hopped up the path so that he stood directly in front of Nevaharday’s heir. “Shadow has agents all throughout your city; deceivers whose faces you may have seen a thousand times and never known their true intentions. You will be alone and outnumbered, unable to trust any you may have once called friend.”
“I know my way around my city,” the prince countered. “I can find my way inside without a soul knowing it.”
“To what end? The enemy has infiltrated your walls. Nevaharday is already lost, Connor Prince. In fact, it was lost many years before your rise to the throne. Our downfall began when the tribes were broken and our people divided themselves with names like gypsy, Nevahardan, re’shahna, and rahee. Our hatred of our kin and our forgotten heritage has made us weak.”
Tobiano was trying to appeal to Jaycent’s rationale and help him see the bigger picture, but all that the prince heard was callous abandonment.
“So then you have known my city’s fate all along?” the prince’s ears bent back, his voice echoing off the rocks and through the hills. “I have followed you with the expectations of aiding my kingdom! You were aware of this, and yet now you look me in the eye and proclaim you have misled me.”
“I have been trying to tell you,” the re’shahna shouted back. “But your ears are closed. You do not want to hear the truth.”
“No, Tobiano,” the prince growled. “I think I hear it loud and clear.”
The last fiber of the re’shahna’s extensive patience snapped. “You want to die for your city? Go then!” Tobi tossed his hand toward the river below the wide ledge they had been walking. “Graystone River spills back into Nevahardan territory. Take it yourself and see the truth. But if you live to recount the tragedy of war, do not return to me and say I did not warn you. I will be too busy fending off the swelling number of Abysmal foes Shadow has summoned to the surface!”
“That is enough!” Levee shoved her way between them, her glare causing the heated males to avert their eyes, though their tempers were surely fuming. “Both of you settle down. We will break camp here until you two calm down. Then—and only then—will we decide where to go.”
Jaycent scoffed and stomped several yards away to a shallow cave where he threw down his pack and started to set up camp.
The re’shahna frowned and shook his head, a frustrated sigh escaping his lips. In the past, Tobi had pursued the prince and tried to calm his fears, but not this time. Instead, he walked away with an excuse to find wood for a decent fire.
Levee’s shoulders drooped as she watched the pair part ways. “Oh Tennakawa,” she called in a pleading whisper. “Don’t let our hope unravel now.”
* * * * *
Tobi tended a modest fire near the mouth of the cave, his back to the prince as he warmed stones to heat their bedrolls. The re’shahna had not spoken to or approached Jaycent since their spat that afternoon.
The prince slid several subtle glances his mentor’s way as he mulled over their exchange, unable to shake the wave of anger that flooded him every time he considered Tobi’s words.
Images of Bresan T�
�ahnya still hung vividly in his memory, warning the prince of what Shadow could and would do again. Still, there was a conflict inside the royal, for despite his own feelings, Jaycent couldn’t deny the wisdom in Tobiano’s advice.
But how could he not return? Familiar faces flashed through Jaycent’s mind, stacking guilt onto his conscience like heavy sacks of flour. Could he bear to abandon Rayhan, who had been like a brother to him? And what about Arelee, his childhood friend?
Then there were his people. They supported him even when grief had turned his empathy into apathy and his honor into shamelessness. Now they fought in his stead, holding on to what they had built, the families they had made, and the futures they still clung to.
Jaycent couldn’t stand by and ignore their plight. At the very least, he had to warn them.
“Copper for your thoughts?” Levee’s hands slid across Jaycent’s shoulders, her fingers working the kinks from his muscles which were taut with stress.
“The list would fill the walls of this cave and half of the mountain,” Jaycent sighed. He watched as Tobi donned his cloak and slipped outside, busying himself with a search for more firewood. “Was I wrong, Levee? I cannot argue Tobi’s logic, yet I cannot fathom leaving Nevaharday to Bresan T’ahnya’s fate.”
Levee ran her hands down Jaycent’s chest, then crossed them as she nestled her head into his shoulder, her lips caressing his neck.
“I don’t know, Jayce,” she whispered. The prince closed his eyes and relaxed as he drifted into the comfort of her touch. “But I try not to abandon my faith in those we left behind. We rahee are a sturdy lot, after all.” He felt her smile against his skin. “And this is not the first war we’ve been through.”
“Aye, but this is a new kind of enemy, darling. Shadow’s power and his minions are not something we are equipped to face.”
“This is true,” she sat on her knees while Jaycent slid onto his bedroll, his thick hair tousled across her lap as he leaned his head against her. “But Jayce… I trust Tobi, and so have you up until today.”
The Rogue Trilogy Page 38