Flames cackled, the cabin moaned, and with a thunderous roar the roof collapsed just as Kara jumped off the front porch. She landed easily in a soft patch of grass. Tabbris landed with a loud thud beside her. The heat of the burning remains of the cabin pressed against her back. The elder’s face was covered in sweat and soot. She studied his eyes for a moment and was surprised at the amount of venom in them. With his lips pressed in a hard line, he glared at the Seirs as though they were the foulest creatures in the world. His hands were curled into fists. Kara was certain that Elder Otis had been a force to be reckoned with when he was younger. She stood up slowly. With her eyes fixed on the Seirs, she moved swiftly to David, Peter, and Jenny. They were livid. David bounced on the balls of his feet like a boxer.
The air was filled with smoke. The fragrance of wild flowers had been replaced by the stench of burning wood. Grey clouds of smoke hovered all around. It was like standing in a stinky mist. The Sensitives coughed behind her. Everyone was out safely. With scorched faces and marred hands the Sensitives formed a protective wall in front of Elder Otis. Their long silver swords glimmered in the sunlight and reflected their grim faces. Santo stood in the lead. With his shoulders tensed, he looked as though he would pounce at any moment.
Kara surveyed the Seirs. How did they find us out here? The foul army of white-faced men stared back at her. Their gloomy black coats were unnatural in the field of wild flowers.
“Look, it’s our favorite Seir, dog breath Ranab.” David clenched his jaw and cocked his head. “He seems to have added a little more makeup today.”
The tallest of the group stood before his brethren. With eyes as black as coal and an ugly pallid face, he smiled wickedly at Kara.
“What do we have here boys,” said Ranab smoothly, “our special prize...and an elder. I’d say this is a pretty good hunt, don’t you think?” He stepped forward, his glossy black coat rippled at his heels. “I’ve been looking for that old fool for years.”
“How did you find us?” Santo’s voice dripped with poison. He pointed the tip of his sword dangerously and stepped forward in a challenge, his body locked in a fighting stance.
Ranab raised his arms, his coat billowing out like giant bat wings. “What? Didn’t you enjoy the camp fire?” he laughed. “I’ve always enjoyed a good camp fire...with a little song.” He watched the burning cabin with satisfaction. “One among your kind has sold you out, my friend. We have our spies within your pitiable little group.”
Spies? Kara cast a nervous glance around the Sensitives. How could any of them rat them out? It didn’t make sense. They almost died in that fire.
Santo’s dark eyes shone dangerously beneath the rim of his hat. He looked as though he would kill the rat with his bare hands. One by one, the Sensitives shrugged and shook their heads innocently. Tabbris scowled like a wild animal protecting its offspring. He looked as though he would tear apart anyone who got too close.
Kara watched the Sensitives more carefully. Who among them had sold them out? Most of them were burned. She doubted it had been one of the Seirs in the cabin. It must have been someone outside of this group. She didn’t believe the traitor would have risked their life in the fire. Traitors were cowards. They would put their lives first. Ranab sneered. He was enjoying this. It was clear to her that he was trying to upset them.
“Don’t listen to him,” Kara called out suddenly. She stared at the Sensitives’ anxious faces. “He’s trying to divide you. Stand together. They are the enemy; there’s no one here who didn’t almost perish in the fire. We must stand together.”
“She’s right.” Santo tapped his sword against his thigh. “It’s not someone here. Must be someone back at the district. And when I find them...they will answer to my sword.”
Kara pursed her lips. This wasn’t going well. Although the Sensitives fought extremely well, they were outnumbered two to one. The fire had somewhat sapped their strength, and Tabbris wouldn’t be able to fight because he had to protect Elder Otis. It would be practically impossible to get the elder to safety without hurting any of the Seirs.
“Where’s your mistress, Ranab?” Kara called out. She tried to add the same kind of venom to her words as Santo had done. She wasn’t sure it worked. “I thought you never left home without her. Has she decided to cut you loose?”
Ranab scratched his chin. “She is occupied elsewhere at the moment. But don’t worry—your soul will soon meet with her. She has something very special planned for it. It’ll be a real pleasure ripping it out of your angel carcass.”
“I’ll kill you before you lay a finger on her, clown-face.” David rushed past Kara. She grabbed his jacket and pulled him back. He glowered at Ranab. “Looks as if you forgot your red nose back at the circus, freak. But I don’t mind giving you a new one.”
Kara shook her head and lowered her voice. “This is what he wants, David. Ignore him. He knows we can’t touch him. Don’t give in to him.”
David scowled. “It’s the stupidest law the legion has ever made up. It’s retarded that we can’t defend ourselves.”
“Maybe. But we don’t have a choice. We have to do our best to protect the elder.”
Jenny stepped in. “Do you have a plan? What do you propose we do?”
Kara bit her bottom lip. “I think I can distract them long enough for Tabbris to get the elder to safety.”
“How?” Peter interjected. “There’re a lot more of them than us.”
“We’ll just have to wing it.”
Santo sliced the air with his sword. “No angel is dying on my watch, Ranab. The blood that spills will be yours. Mark my words—your angel killing days are over.”
Ranab twisted his blades in his wrists playfully. He lowered his head and grinned. “You’re wrong, angel lover. You’re seriously outnumbered, haven’t you noticed? We both know how this will end. I will take my prize, and the elder, if you please. And I will kill you in the process.”
Tabbris stepped through the wall of Sensitives. Elder Otis sat comfortably upright in his arms, like a ventriloquist puppet. His skeletal arms dangled at his sides, his frail body lost in the folds of his guardian’s arms. But he continued to glare at Ranab in disgust.
“You have been evil since you were a child, Ranab,” wheezed Elder Otis. He lifted a bony finger. “Too much evil flows in the veins of a son who kills his father.”
Ranab tossed a death blade in the air and caught it easily with a hand behind his back. “My father was an old fool, just like you. He paid the price for his stupidity. And it’s called ambition and the love for power. You’re just too stupid to know the difference. You Sensitives are all the same—angel loving fools. Can you not see how the angels are using you, old man? They don’t care about you; they never have. You have been deceived old man.”
Elder Otis’s blue eyes almost disappeared into his scowl. “Your end is near, Ranab. There have been too many deaths at your hands. Killing the innocent, taking the children; in the end, you will pay for what you have done.”
Ranab clapped his hands. “Still speaking in riddles, you pathetic corpse. It is certain your end is near old man. By the looks of you, it’s going to be very easy. Think of it this way. I’m doing you a favor by killing you, putting you out of your misery like an old dog.”
Elder Otis smiled. “We shall see.”
The elder turned his head to Kara. His eyes twinkled with mischief as he nodded at her. Kara studied his face closely. What was he trying to communicate?
“Let’s go, brothers.” Ranab brandished his weapons before him. “We’ve got some killing to do.”
At once death blades appeared in the Seirs’ hands. Black vapors coiled around their arms and the sound of clashing steel rose around them, as the Seirs hit their death blades together.
The hair on the back of Kara’s neck stood up—two against one—their chances of winning were slim. Although they were burned and weary, the Sensitives were undaunted. They were prepared to fight to the death for the sak
e of the innocent.
Kara gritted her teeth. She had to do something to help. But what?
Jenny paced on the spot. Peter stood in her shadow, petrified, like a mouse caught in a trap. He held on to one of his contraptions, as though it could save him somehow. David shifted his weight nervously with his hands curled into fists. Kara shook her head at him and mouthed the word no. David looked away.
The Sensitives cried out. Smoke from the burning cabin clouded the air. The Seirs roared and charged.
A horde of big Seir warriors stampeded towards Kara. The ground vibrated beneath Kara’s boots. Kara stepped forward.
“Angels, get back!” ordered Santo as he pushed Kara back forcefully. He charged into the oncoming crowd like a madman.
Five Seirs met him head on. But Santo spun on the spot. In a flash he brought his sword up and down across the chest of the first Seir. The man crumbled to the ground. Santo stepped to his right, brought his sword up to deflect the next blow, and swung at the second Seir’s left arm. The arm fell to the ground and the Seir fell to his knees, wailing as he clasped his bloody stump. Three more Seirs attacked, but Santo was ready. He sidestepped and parried. With a powerful swing, his blade sliced the three Seirs across their necks. Their death blades dropped to the ground. They fell over and Santo ran into the onslaught and disappeared into a wall of smoke.
“There she is. Get her!” Two Seirs rushed towards Kara.
Kara turned to Jenny, Peter, and David. “Stay together—no matter what.” She dashed across the yard leading the Seirs behind her. She didn’t know what she was planning to do next, but at least the Seirs were more interested in her than her friends.
“Your soul is ours, angel girl!”
A death blade whipped past her ear. Kara kept running. She circled the battlefield, but when more Seirs followed behind, she realized it wasn’t such a bright idea.
A blade sunk into the soil at her feet, and she raced over a dirt mound and across a clearing of tall grasses, into another wall of Seirs.
Kara skidded to a halt, jumped back, and ducked, just as a volley of death blades flew over her head. Shapes charged at her. Blades flew. Kara parried and kicked sideways into the gut of a Seir. He moaned and went down, only to be replaced seconds later by another. She swung at him with her fist. To her surprise, the Seir blocked the blow with his forearm and reached out for her neck with his right hand. Cool metal grazed her neck as she leaned back. She grabbed his right wrist, hauled him over her back, and tossed him through the air into the horde of Seirs. They fell over like pins in a bowling alley.
Excruciating pain tore at Kara’s right shoulder. She wrapped her hand around the death blade’s handle and pulled it out, but the blade’s poison burned its way down her arm, leaving it numb. She tossed the blade into the grass. The Seir smiled and licked his lips. He drew another blade. Suddenly his eyes went wide. Blood poured from his mouth and he toppled over.
A Sensitive woman stood behind him. She nodded to Kara and dashed back into the fight.
The smell of blood and smoke rose around her. Bodies fell to the ground, but their brilliant souls hovered above them, waiting to be saved by the guardians. Should the souls of the Seirs be saved, too?
Kara saw Jenny and Peter gathering the souls. She zigzagged through slashing swords and spinning daggers to help them—
“Tabbris!” someone shouted.
Kara froze.
Tabbris teetered, struggling for consciousness. Ten death blades perforated his back and shoulders. He stumbled to his knees. The elder spilled out of his arms and sprawled to the ground. Blood dripped from Tabbris’s mouth. His eyes rolled in the back on his head. He tipped over and crashed to the ground. He never moved again.
“The old man’s mine.” Ranab smiled wickedly as he stood over Elder Otis. “Told you you’d die today, old man. I should have killed you long ago. And now you will join my father.”
Elder Otis pushed himself up on his elbows. He glared at Ranab. He took Tabbris’s hand, and with tears flowing down his cheeks he held it close to his chest. The elder closed his eyes and lowered his head.
“I’m going to enjoy this very much.” Ranab stepped forward and raised his blade over Elder Otis.
Kara raised her hands and her elemental power ignited. But this time it was different— darkness like an icy chill was mixed with her hot elemental power. The giant surge of strength intoxicated her. The darkness took control, and she embraced it.
“Kara! NO!” David ran towards her.
Before she knew what she was doing, golden rays shot out of her hands. They struck the Seir.
Ranab’s body spun violently in the air as golden electric current coiled around it until he was covered like a mummy. With a smell of burnt flesh the Seir screamed as his body convulsed. With a sizzling blast and then a pop his body exploded in a cloud of golden dust.
Only a tiny brilliant sphere remained.
“Kara, what did you do? You...you killed him.” David clasped his hands over his head, terror spreading over his face. His mouth fell open. “You killed a mortal.”
“Oh. My. God.” Jenny and Peter rushed over, their eyes wide in shock.
Kara gazed at the dust particles settling around the ground like soft snow. What had she done?
A foreign coolness replaced the warmth she usually felt when her wild power had abated. At once, stinging pain shot through her body as though thousands of knifes pierced her skin. Was this the end? Was she really dying an angel’s true death?
She tingled in bright light. David’s anxious face appeared. His lips moved, but she couldn’t hear what he was saying. The world shifted around her as the faces of her friends disappeared.
And then blackness took her.
Chapter 10
The Crystal Timer
Marked, Soul Guardians Book 1 Page 94