by Lee Hayton
“I’m only doing this out of respect for my men,” Wella said. “If that wretch hadn’t killed them all, I wouldn’t stoop to this.”
“If their souls are still out there somewhere, I’m sure they’ll be grateful to you.”
Wella shot her a quick glance but Shandra wasn’t mocking her. They needed friends a lot more right now than they wanted an enemy. “What’s your plan, so far?”
Shandra tilted her head toward Sulli. “This man trained under the mage, Cade Storm, and knows his ways better than anyone. He’s prepared to fight him in a battle, using what he’s learned.”
After looking Sulli up and down, Wella sniffed. “He’s barely half the size of the men who were in my harem. How do you expect him to battle a man who can call hell-beasts out of thin air?”
“With the same darkness that Cade uses to call them.” Shandra held Wella’s gaze, not wanting to show any signs of weakness. “As I told you, he knows his ways. A strong man can’t fight this battle. Only a man steeped in magic can beat Cade in a fight.”
“What about your dragon?”
For a second, it was on the tip of Shandra’s tongue to ask, which dragon? Then she bit down, ignoring the pain in favor of the silence it brought. Wella had only seen Mal change. She didn’t know for sure the other clan brothers had the ability to shift.
Better that Wella didn’t learn any information that wasn’t essential.
“He can’t fight this battle, although he’ll be there to lend strength and support if Cade calls his creatures forth again. These men and women have volunteered to do their part, too, even if it means they lose their lives.”
Wella didn’t even glance at the surrounding people. Shandra supposed the woman had been leading an army for so long, she’d grown used to people sacrificing themselves.
“My army is ready to make inroads into the Davelmiotas.” Wella rubbed a fingertip along her left eyebrow. “Although I’ve lost my harem, the rest of my force is ready and willing to jump back into battle.”
Shandra shook her head, swallowing around a lump in her throat. “Haven’t you been listening? If you do that, then we’ll be in the path of your soldiers. We can’t fight off your men and win over Cade at the same time. If we split our focus, we’ll lose on both fronts.”
“I was just informing you of my position.” Wella tilted back her head and looked down her nose at Shandra. “I’m prepared to call off my army and offer no resistance to your continued presence in this area, so long as you do your part as promised, and have your mage”—she nodded to Sulli—“eradicate Cade Storm.”
Her lips curled as she said his name, revealing gleaming teeth, sharp enough to bite the flesh from a man’s bones.
“Thank you.” Shandra inclined her head in gratitude, feeling a sense of relief so intense she nearly closed her eyes. “But I’ll only agree to that proposal if it lasts for longer than this one battle.”
Wella stared at her, a cloud forming on her brow.
“The war you’re fighting to win territory is costing the lives and livelihoods of all the people in my community. If you continue to draw men and women from the district to fight, you might win, but the area itself will lose.”
“I’ll repay them a thousand times over with the riches we gain from mining.”
“That you gain.” Shandra stiffened her muscles but kept her gaze locked fast on Wella. “You’ll decimate out community so much, nobody will be left to draw minerals from the mines.”
“Fine.” Wella almost snarled as she turned away and glared at the men and women gathered to watch them talk beside the campfire. “If you want to save these people over the fortunes of the district, then I’ll agree.”
With such limited contact over the years, Shandra couldn’t tell for sure if the overlord was lying through her teeth, or if she made the agreement in earnest. In the end, she had no choice but to trust Wella at her word. “Thank you. I appreciate it.”
Wella raised her forefinger. “In return, you promise that if you fail in your quest, I can announce your death and claim any of your harem left standing as my own.”
A million thoughts raced through Shandra’s mind, even as her voice accepted the proposal. Topmost of those was the idea that Wella had just set a trap.
And Shandra might just walk straight into it.
Chapter Twelve
“The plan hasn’t changed.” Sulli stared at each member of the small group in turn.
Shandra nodded. She had always been going to support Sulli in his quest to end Cade Storm but with Wella’s promise hanging in the wind, she now had more reason.
The dream of bringing all the warfare to an end and returning the district to the state it had been in during her childhood was a tantalizing one. She forced it out of her mind to concentrate on what Sulli was now saying. There’d be time enough to dream when the fight was over.
“What about those of us who weren’t privy to the original plan?” Zen stood at the back of the group, picking at his teeth with a long stick. “To me, it sounds like you’re missing a step. Find Cade. Something happens. Go home victorious.”
“That’s not what we’ve—”
But Zen held his hand up. “I’m telling you that’s all I’ve heard. Since the guy wiped out a third of my warriors, I’m eager to know more about how we’re dealing with him when we find him.”
“Sulli knows what to do.” Shandra spoke in a low voice but all heads turned toward her. She had to fight hard to stop flushing at the attention. In a few hours, she’d gone from ignored to revered and the transition spooked her. “He’s dealt with Cade before and is ready for his tricks.”
“They’re not tricks.” Zen moved over and stared hard at his sister, standing toe to toe. “They’re teeth and flames and tearing limbs. They’re invisible and speedy and scaring the fuck out of me just thinking about them!”
“We’ll handle a lot of that.” Mal stepped forward, nodding to his clan brothers. “We have a surprise of our own in store for the creatures. We’ve fought them before, as children, and won. As long as Sulli has Cade occupied elsewhere, those beasts will go back to the same nuisance creatures they’ve always been. It’s only his power over him that turns them into monsters.”
“Forgive me if that’s not exactly reassuring.” Zen turned back to the group, his jaw jutting out. “And that just leads me back to the same question. How is Sulli going to ‘occupy’ Cade?”
“It’s not something easy to explain—”
“Look around you.” Zen stretched his arms out wide. “I’ve got time, mate. And you’ve got my rapt attention. It’s not like any of us are going anywhere without you. All I’m asking for is a basic bloody plan.”
From the bulge in the side of his jaw, Shandra could see Sulli was clenching his teeth together. She put a hand on her brother’s arm. “He’ll fight Cade in another realm. It’s not something he can explain to you, not when you don’t have preexisting knowledge of the ways of the mage.”
“You’re saying I have to trust you?” Zen spat on the ground near Shandra’s feet.
“You don’t have to do anything,” she said with a serene smile on her face. “Except help clean up the mess you made when you invited that evil shit into your camp and made him welcome. If you hadn’t been so greedy for a victory, none of us would be in this mess.”
“Hey.” Zen held his hands up. “This isn’t a rehashing of past mistakes, okay. This is about the future and at the moment, I can count it in hours rather than years.”
“Then, it’s simple.” Shandra punched him in the shoulder. “You stand by my side and help me fight the creatures popping up out of nowhere, under Cade’s control. When they stop coming, or you die, then you can stop. That plan enough for you?”
Zen continued to grumble under his breath while Sulli threw Shandra a warm smile. “We’ll all try not to get killed, okay?”
“Make unfair demands, why don’t you?” Baile said from his seat near the fire.
The jok
e was as lame as always but in the heightened tension, everyone broke into laughter. Shandra felt her stomach unclench as she looked around the group. Almost everyone she loved in the world was gathered here, and they would fight together. Only her younger brothers were missing, and for that she was grateful.
“Can you sense where Cade Storm has traveled to?” Shandra looked to Sulli.
Zen had passed on all the information he held on the mage and added it to the knowledge Sulli had drawn from the fire. Together, they had placed him in the sprawling topography of the Davelmiota mountain range, narrowing his position with a mixture of the dark magic’s star pattern and Zen’s knowledge of where the mage liked to bed down.
“He’s not far away now. He didn’t bother to journey far after the last encounter because he didn’t expect a challenge. When he senses us heading his way, he’ll stop and prepare to fight.”
“Great.” Zen snorted. “Now you’re telling us he can see our every move before we make it?”
“He sees enough.” Sulli stopped and rested his hand on the sword in his belt while his eyes grew unfocused, staring into the middle distance as though it were a precious jewel. “Every move we make in this world is echoed in the darker realms. We might never touch them directly, but they reflect our actions like ripples on a pond.”
Shandra shifted her weight from one foot to another as she stared at Sulli. The clouds of darkness were drawing close again. Although she’d told Zen she would be fighting the same creatures as he, by his side, she knew her part in the fight ahead of them was different.
Her focus wasn’t on the hellspawn trying to tear them apart. It would be on Sulli. If the darkness put too much effort into dragging him away, she would be there to combat it and pull him back into the light.
If she could.
A shiver rose from the base of her spine and ran up to the nape of her neck as though icy fingers were playing her vertebrae like a keyboard.
Sulli waved the group apart, each of them headed off in a different direction to draw the strength they needed for the battle ahead. He came over and laced his warm hands around Shandra’s neck, combating the cold.
“We can still leave you here, in the safety of this tribe.”
“Stuff that for a joke.” Shandra laughed with genuine amusement. “If my brother’s the best of this lot then they’ll enslave me and auction me off the moment you turn your back.”
She put her hands around his waist, pulling him close and feeling him grow hard against her thigh. “Besides, this is my fight as much as it is yours. As the mistress of this harem, I have a duty to protect you. With Wella’s promise on the table, I’d never turn away from this fight.”
“You know she mightn’t keep her word.”
“Of course, I know that.” Shandra shook her head, peering into Sulli’s eyes, the brown irises leading in concentric circles down to unknown depths. “But if I don’t try, then I’ll never find out if she meant it or not. Besides, what else are we meant to do? Go home and pretend Cade doesn’t exist?”
“I really wish that was an option.”
The sadness in Sulli’s eyes both moved and concerned Shandra. She felt again the bond that existed between him and the mage he sought.
“I’m here. When you need me, I’ll never be anywhere else.”
He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against hers. “Wella scares me sometimes. I can’t fathom why she wants us to be in her harem when she appears to hate all of us, but I can also see she won’t rest until her wishes are met.”
“Not this one.” Shandra laid a gentle kiss on Sulli’s lips before pulling away. “When it comes to protecting you and your clan brothers, nothing scares me. Not Cade. Certainly, not Wella. Unless you want to be free, my intention is never to let you go.”
When he didn’t look convinced, Shandra gave him a cheeky smile. “If Cade destroyed Wella’s full harem as we think, that makes her a single woman now. She’s entitled to chase you and win you if she can.”
Sulli burst into laughter, shaking his head and choking when he tried to get some words out. His face grew red enough for Shandra to join him, chuckling at the sight. When he calmed down, he wiped tears from his eyes. “I can’t speak for my clan brothers, but for me, it’s a no.”
Shandra left to pick up her few supplies and met the group back at the campfire. Zen still appeared the most apprehensive of all of them and in a moment of family solidarity, she hooked her arm through his and gave him a smile of reassurance. “All ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
They headed out, tracing a path up the mountainside to where Cade Storm lay in wait for them.
Chapter Thirteen
A few miles out from their target destination, Sulli stopped the horse and tipped his head back to sniff at the air. Not with the usual olfactory senses but with the ones woken by the darkness a few nights before. “He’s close. Near where we thought he’d be.”
When his clan brothers tried to move ahead, Sulli signaled them to stop. “Not yet. There’s something else happening.”
He dismounted and walked sideways until he was next to the rock face. They were close enough to use an old trick. With one hand on the stable surface, Sulli went inside his own mind before sending it out like a separate eye.
It rode through the realm between worlds, punching a hole back through when it caught sight of motion. The campfire lay beneath it, not just one mage but a gathering. As Sulli watched, the sorcerers pulled from the realm, jostling him as they tugged the power loose to surround them like a cloak.
When he pulled the vision back into his tangible body, Sulli staggered backward, almost losing his footing despite the rock under his hand. He could sense Shandra moving toward him and waved her back. He needed to hold on to the darkness for just a little longer. If he didn’t season himself up for the black magic, it would overpower him as he came to confront his enemy.
“There’s more than Cade waiting ahead for us,” he told the group. “The other mages aren’t nearly so powerful, but they’ll use up our resources. Jump down now, and I’ll show you the tricks you can use to take them out.”
Sulli drew some power from the space between realms into himself, just as the mages gathered around the fire had done. He paused, looking around the group at the trusting faces. The power shouldn’t corrupt them—he believed his clan brothers to be good through and through—but a chance always existed. It had come close to claiming him once, body and soul, so to downplay it would do nobody any good.
“This power is like a drug,” he said, holding his hand out so his fellow dragons could see the darkness whirling and dancing on his skin’s surface. He checked that Shandra had pulled Zen away and nodded to her. She understood. Her brother wasn’t strong enough to resist the temptations of mortals, he’d never survive if he got a taste of more.
“If you feel it pulling at you, tugging you towards more, let it go.” Sulli closed his eyes and thought of every positive emotion in his life. He let the warmth and the light of those memories fill him, driving away the dark cloud. As it dissipated, he relaxed and let it flow back to him again. “Drive it out with light and laughter, happiness and love.”
“How do we use it?” Chance stared at the dark swirls with eager eyes. On any other brother, the expression would have concerned Sulli but not on Chance. His anger was so pure, so driven, it would never allow the coldness to thrive.
“You direct it at targets, wishing with all your heart for a thing to be, then throwing the darkness toward your man.”
He demonstrated with a bush, shriveling it into dust before their eyes.
“For death and destruction, it’s easy. The darkness wants to perform those tasks, so won’t offer any resistance. The mages won’t expect power to hit them, not coming from the likes of you. Use that to your advantage. Once they’re wounded, take them out with your swords.”
“Won’t they direct the same power back to us?” Baile raised his eyebrows, not challenging bu
t seeking to understand. “Even the lowliest mage will have more training than this. If we can control the darkness with a five-minute lesson, surely they can use it to kill us in one blow.”
“They won’t expect you to wield it at all.” Sulli nodded in thanks to Baile. With his tactician hat on, the man lost the foolishness of his joker personality and became akin to wise. “And they’re physically weak. Once you get the jump on them, let your knife and sword skills do the rest.”
Zen had drifted closer while Sulli spoke. Now he butted forth to stand in front of him, arms crossed and nostrils flaring. “And what am I and Shandra meant to do while they”—he jerked his head at the clan brothers—“are taking out the mages? Fight the invisible creatures all by ourselves?”
“Do whatever it takes to keep yourself alive and thank the heavens that Cade hasn’t taken you out already.” Sulli stared at the sullen man until he backed up, eyes dropping to the ground. He sympathized and knew the anger was born of fear, but they couldn’t afford a tantrum at this late stage.
“Ready?” Sulli asked but didn’t wait to see the answer. If they weren’t ready now, there wouldn’t be the opportunity to prepare further. “Let’s go!”
They jumped back upon their horses, the clan brothers keeping their left arms raised while the dark magic writhed within their cupped hands. Their right gripped the swords or knives at their hips, their knees controlling the horses for the rush forward.
“Cade Storm. I have a quarrel with you.”
Sulli jumped down from his horse, throwing a bolt of dark magic toward the mage as he turned toward his voice. While the lesser mages ran, more turning away from the fight than ran toward, the clan brothers each chose a victim and performed the trick they’d just be trained in. As quickly and expertly as though they’d prepared for days beforehand.