Did I have a choice?
I tried to put the thoughts out of my head by focusing on the man sitting in front of me, but he wasn’t exactly one for conversation. Our last exchange had gone like this:
“So, you’re an assassin?” I’d asked Reven, after we’d been on the road for fifteen minutes.
“Yes,” he’d said, his voice showing no emotion at all.
“How did you get involved in that kind of work?”
“It’s a long story.”
I’d waited for him to go on, but he seemed content to leave it at that. Giving up, I’d sighed and turned back to gazing at the forest and the mountains in the distance instead. Good thing the Water Temple was last, because I had a hard time seeing the two of us getting intimate anytime soon. Assuming Reven would even stick around that long.
We stopped for lunch in another clearing and then it was time for me to ride with Jasin, who still wore his military uniform. Even though I would never admit it out loud, it was a good look on him, complementing the red highlights in his hair and enhancing his broad shoulders. There was something about a man in uniform, and Jasin looked commanding, dangerous, and incredibly sexy.
“Don’t you have something else you can wear?” I asked, as he helped me up onto his war horse. Unlike the others, he had me sit in front of him, and the solid presence of him behind me made my heart race.
He took the reins in front of me, his arms brushing against mine. “Not really. I only grabbed a few things when I left, and since I was traveling alone I figured it would be safer if I was in my uniform.”
“Maybe, but it might draw attention now. It’ll be hard to explain why you’re traveling with the four of us. Plus a lot of people don’t look fondly on the Onyx Army around here.”
I felt him shrug. “It’ll have to do for now. I can take the coat off when we enter a village.”
“That could work, and once we get to a larger town we can see about getting you some other clothes.”
He snorted. “Make sure to get some for Auric too then. He sticks out more than I do.”
I cast a glance over at Auric, who sat straight on his white horse wearing clothes that looked more suitable for going to a ball than for traveling. “You have a point there.”
We continued for another few hours through a bit of road that had thick trees on either side of it, cutting out a lot of the light. I nearly dozed off, with the horse moving rhythmically underneath me and Jasin’s very warm body behind me. I almost leaned back and rested my head against him, but managed to restrain myself. My body was comfortable with him already, even if my mind wasn’t yet.
As the hour grew late, we decided to stop at a village up ahead for the night so we could get supplies and feed the horses. But as we approached, it was immediately clear something was wrong.
We walked our horses slowly into the center of the village, their steps the only sound we could hear. The stone buildings around us had all been turned to little more than rubble, with huge pieces missing or crumbled to the ground. It seemed fairly recent, since the nearby forest hadn’t taken over the ruins yet, but there was no sign of anyone still living here.
“What happened here?” Auric asked, as we spun around to take it all in.
“An elemental attack, most likely,” Slade said, his tone grim. “The people must have abandoned the village afterward.”
“I heard about a town that was attacked by rock elementals a month ago,” I said, remembering the doomed travelers’ words. “This could be the same place, or one that suffered a similar fate.”
“If so, where are the elementals now?” Jasin asked, his hand on his sword as he glanced around.
“Perhaps the Dragons took care of them,” Auric said, with a shrug.
“Unless the Jade Dragon is the one who did this,” Slade said.
“It doesn’t matter what happened,” Reven said. “No one is here now. We should look around for any supplies they might have left behind and find a place to sleep for the night.”
The thought of staying here in this abandoned town made my stomach twist. “What if the elementals return?”
He met my eyes. “Then we’ll deal with them.”
I still didn’t like it, and the other men seemed wary as well, but they nodded and dismounted their horses. We did a quick search through the crumbled buildings, with Slade moving the stone so we could look for supplies or any sign of what had happened. We found very little, which made me think we weren’t the first people to pick through these ruins.
We found a small building that was mostly intact except for one missing wall and decided to sleep there for the night. As I pushed aside the debris and laid out my things, I wondered what the building had once been used for before. A small house? A shop? It was hard to tell. I picked up a dusty old doll with only one leg and shuddered, before tossing it aside.
Between exhaustion and the eeriness of the place, none of us spoke much that night before we took to our beds. I fell asleep almost instantly, but it seemed as if only minutes had passed before Reven’s voice woke me.
“Wake up,” he said in a low voice. “We’ve got company.”
I rose to a sitting position and blinked back sleep as his words settled over me. Reven had taken the first watch, and now he stood over the four of us with only the moonlight illuminating his dark frame. Outside, the night was silent. Maybe too silent.
Jasin jumped to his feet instantly. “What kind of company?”
“Not the friendly kind,” Reven said.
“How many?” Slade asked.
Reven glanced through the missing wall, though I couldn’t see anything out there. “Seven at least. Bandits, most likely. They’re surrounding us now.”
Jasin swore under his breath. “They must have been watching this town. Waiting for us to go to sleep so they could attack.”
Yes, that was definitely their plan. I remembered as much from my short time living with a group of them myself.
“Can we get our horses and outrun them?” Auric asked, as he quickly pulled on his boots.
“Not likely,” Reven said.
“Especially not with Kira sharing a horse,” Jasin said. “But we could try.”
“Run or fight?” Slade asked, turning his green eyes to me. The others waited for my answer too.
I swallowed. All my life I’d stayed in the shadows and kept to myself, trying to draw as little attention as possible. I wasn’t used to being a leader and wasn’t sure I liked this new role. What if I made the wrong decision and one of them was injured, or Gods forbid, worse? How could I live with that?
I went over everything they’d said. We were surrounded and couldn’t outrun the bandits, not with me riding with one of them. We didn’t know the land around here, and the bandits probably did. No matter what we chose we were at a disadvantage.
“Fight,” I said, praying I’d made the right decision and wasn’t leading my men to their deaths. I’d only known them for a few days, but I was already terrified of losing them.
“So be it,” Jasin said, flashing a bloodthirsty smile. “I do love a good fight.”
“We have to be careful not to use our powers though,” Auric said. “We can’t let anyone know who or what we are.”
“Or we need to make sure no one is alive to speak a word about us,” Reven said, pulling his hood over his head again.
With that grim thought, we quickly prepared ourselves and left the ruined building, since there was no room to fight inside it. As we stood in the center of the village, the men all drew their weapons and I gripped my bow tight. Jasin clutched his large sword, while Auric held a long, thin blade with elaborate carvings. Slade lifted his huge axe, his stance wide, like nothing was getting through him. Reven disappeared into the shadows or maybe onto a nearby roof, I wasn’t sure.
Dark figures crept out of doorways and blades glinted under the starlight, but my rapid breathing was the only thing I could hear.
Auric raised his sword. “Here they co
me.”
“Protect Kira,” Slade told the others.
Jasin gripped his weapon tighter. “With my life.”
“I can protect myself,” I told them, readying my bow. I prayed to the Gods it was true.
17
Kira
As dark figures approached from all around us I nocked an arrow, my heart pounding in my chest. We were outnumbered and would soon be surrounded. What if I’d made the wrong decision?
When the first bandit came within range, I released my arrow. It struck the man in the chest and he hit the ground. I grabbed another arrow immediately, but by then the attackers were already upon us.
Thin knives appeared from the rooftops above us, landing in the throats of two of the bandits, killing them instantly. Thrown by Reven, no doubt. He leaped off the rooftop and his twin blades sliced through another bandit as he landed. He then launched himself at the next attacker in a blur of movement.
Slade swung his axe at a man wearing a gray hood, while Auric’s long blade clashed with a curved sword wielded by a woman. Jasin moved in front of me, meeting two bandits with his heavy sword, his movements swift and powerful. He spun and slashed between the two of them, keeping them at bay.
Everything happened so quickly it was hard to tell who was friend or foe in the darkness, and I hesitated to release my arrow while wishing I could be of more help in the fight. When Auric narrowly dodged a blow from the woman with the curved sword, I saw my chance and let my arrow fly, taking her down with a well-placed shot in the chest.
The two men fighting Jasin pushed him back against a wall and I saw a burst of blood under the moonlight. Panic shot through me and I readied another arrow to help defend him, but then a woman lunged at me with a dagger. Auric let out a shout and blasted a gust of wind toward her, sweeping her off her feet—and me along with her.
I hit the ground hard on my back, all the air knocked from my chest and my head smarting from the impact. The bandit woman recovered faster and grabbed her dagger off the ground, already getting back to her feet. I sucked in a breath and lifted myself up, but I wasn’t quick enough in reaching for my own knife from my boot. She raised her dagger, but then a barrage of rubble slammed into her, courtesy of Slade I assumed.
Only problem was the rocks went wide and smashed into Jasin and Auric too. Flames lashed out from Jasin’s hands at the two bandits in front of him, setting them both on fire, along with everything around them. In an instant, the nearby brush was alight and blazing with heat.
Behind me, Reven swore under his breath and conjured a downpour of water over the flames like he’d done this morning, except on a larger scale. A much larger scale. Suddenly we were up to our knees in a flash flood of muddy water, which swept two of the bandits away into the forest. I grabbed onto a nearby piece of rubble to steady myself as the water rushed around me.
Within seconds, all our attackers were either dead or gone. I wasn’t sure if any of them had escaped or not. If they did, then our secret would be out.
A body floated up beside me and I shuddered, while our nearby horses stomped their feet in the rising water. I lifted my bow above the water and each of my men looked somewhere between stunned and exhausted, which was about how I felt too. We were all soaked through, covered in mud and blood with a few cuts and bruises, but at least we were alive.
“Is everyone all right?” I asked.
Jasin touched his neck, which was still bleeding. “Nothing serious.”
“I’m fine,” Auric said.
Reven regarded the ruined village like he still expected trouble to emerge from its dark doorways. “We should get moving.”
“No kidding,” Jasin said, as he trudged through the knee-high muddy stream. “Think you summoned enough water here?”
Reven’s eyes narrowed at him. “I wouldn’t have had to use my powers at all if you hadn’t set the entire place on fire.”
“That wouldn’t have happened if Slade hadn’t attacked me with a pile of rocks,” Jasin snapped.
“That was an accident,” Slade said.
“We all made mistakes,” Auric said, glancing at me. “I’m sorry I hit you also.”
“We’re still alive,” I said. “That’s what matters. We just have some things to work on, that’s all.”
“That’s an understatement,” Jasin muttered.
We made it to the horses and began packing up quickly, all of us eager to get away from this wretched place. But then Slade stopped just before mounting his horse and moved to rest his hand against a large rock nearby. All of us paused to watch him, wondering what he was doing. He closed his eyes and stood there, his palm pressing on the smooth stone, before finally pulling away. “There’s a cave nearby. We can camp there tonight.”
“Now you tell us,” Jasin said, throwing up his hands.
“I didn’t feel its presence before.” Slade frowned. “Actually, I didn’t know I could do that until now.”
“Fascinating.” Auric said. “I suspect we’ll all discover new uses of our powers the more we use them.”
Reven mounted his horse in one quick movement. “Let’s go.”
As Jasin pulled me up onto the horse behind him, he flinched a little. His neck was soaked in blood from the wound he’d received earlier. The wound he’d gotten defending me.
I lightly touched his neck, inspecting the gash. “We should take care of this.”
“I’m fine,” Jasin said, as he flicked the reins of his horse. “Just a scratch.”
“We should at least clean it and wrap it.” As we left the abandoned village behind us, I covered his wound with my hand, trying to stop the flow of blood. It was the only thing I could do while we were riding. Warmth flared as we touched, making my fingertips tingle against his skin.
“It’s not so bad, really. I’ve had worse while shaving.” Despite his words, he rested his hand over mine, like he didn’t want me to pull it away. I became acutely aware of how close we were, with my fingers on his neck and my other hand on his hip. But I didn’t pull away either.
I ran my thumb slowly along his skin. “I just hate seeing any of you hurt.”
“Ah, so you do care about me.”
“You may be growing on me a little,” I admitted.
“I knew it.” He flashed me a roguish grin over his shoulder.
“Don’t get—” I started, but then I pulled my hand away to check the flow of blood and the rest of the words caught in my mouth. Jasin’s neck was not only no longer bleeding, but it didn’t seem to be injured at all anymore. How…?
“What is it?” Jasin asked, twisting on the saddle to look back at me. Auric glanced over at us, his brow furrowed, while Slade stopped his horse.
“Your neck,” I said, running my fingers over it, not believing my eyes. “The wound. It’s gone.”
Jasin touched the area where he’d been cut with a frown. “Gods, you’re right.”
“Kira must have healed it,” Auric said.
“Me?” I asked. “I didn’t do anything.”
Slade shrugged. “You’re the representative of the Spirit Goddess and the next Black Dragon. It makes sense you would have some powers of your own.”
Jasin stretched his neck, but he didn’t seem to be in any pain anymore. “Incredible.”
Auric examined Jasin closely. “I’ve heard rumors that the Black Dragon can heal her mates. I should have realized that would apply to us as well.”
I stared down at my hand, which was still coated in Jasin’s blood. “When I touched Jasin my hand felt warm, but he’s always warm so I didn’t think much of it. Maybe that’s how I did it?”
“Is anyone else injured?” Auric asked.
Slade shook his head, and we turned to Reven, who’d been watching the entire conversation in silence. When all eyes fell upon the small cut on his forehead, he sighed. “Fine, you can heal me.”
I slid off of Jasin’s horse and climbed up behind Reven. I was even more hesitant to touch him than Jasin, but I braced myself
and lightly rested my hand over Reven’s forehead. While Jasin was comforting and warm, like sitting near a hearth on a cold night, Reven was cool and soothing, like diving into a refreshing lake on a hot day. That same tingling feeling returned to my fingertips, and when I pulled my hand away, the cut on his forehead had vanished.
“Praise the Gods,” Slade said quietly.
I stared at my hand. Even though I hadn’t been given any direction by the Spirit Goddess, it seemed she’d given me a gift too. Praise the Gods indeed.
18
Kira
As the moon climbed the sky, Slade guided our horses through the forest toward the mountains and the cave he’d sensed. The entrance to it was so small that none of us could squeeze inside, but he used his powers to push some of the stones away so we could enter.
We spread out around the cave and Jasin started a fire, while Auric created a breeze so the smoke would travel outside. Slade made a circle of stone, which Reven filled up with water, allowing us to wash ourselves and our clothes as best we could to get the mud and blood off. I took care of the horses, rubbing them down and giving them a few slices from an apple. They all butted their heads against my hand, wanting my attention. No surprise, really. Animals had always liked me. A coincidence, or because I was the representative of the Spirit Goddess? I wasn’t sure.
After washing our clothes, we hung them on rocks near the fire so they would dry by morning. I’d donned one of my fraying dresses, while Jasin had opted to go shirtless, wearing only trousers after claiming he was hot. I tried not to stare at his naked chest and failed horribly. Who could blame me, with all those muscles on display and that intriguing trail of dark hair going down into his pants? He smirked at me, like he knew I was enjoying the show, and I swallowed and forced myself to look away.
Her Elemental Dragons: The Complete Series Page 7