“I bet,” he growled.
“Let’s just get to the part where you call me an ass, and I admit that I was a good little solider back then, and then we go see what’s going on,” I said as I faced him.
“You’re an ass,” he said.
“Yes, I was a good little solider, and did anything I could to help kill Fae, because—and stop me if you know this part—they killed my parents…or so I thought. Anything else you want? Do you need me to say sorry? Because you can hold your breath on that one,” I warned as I glared at him. Adrian looked uncomfortable beside me, because he was riding the same ‘good soldier’ horse I was.
His men laughed, and I caught hint of a smile on his lips before he dropped back into warrior mode. “We need to move. This is too many armed Fae to have in front of a Witches’ Guild and we will have company we don’t need sooner than we like if we don’t move now.”
“Agreed; so do your invisible thingy and let’s go,” I said in agreement.
“My invisible thingy, huh?” Ryder asked as he pulled me closer to him, and looked across the street. “Are you okay?” he asked, without waiting for me to answer him on his first question.
“I’m not going to lie; seeing it like this is sad. Not knowing what we’ll find in there is even scarier. I don’t want to even think they won’t be alive, but if they were captured…it might be easier on them to have died,” I whispered.
“What they did to you…” Ryder hissed.
“I don’t want to think about that right now. Let’s just stay on point here, please,” I whispered. We hadn’t discussed what had happened to me during my stint with Faolán and the Mages, and I wasn’t ready to. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be ready to speak of what Faolán did to me and what he wanted to do before Dyson stopped him. Now definitely wasn’t the time to talk it out.
“You guys want lead?” Aodhan asked as he walked beside us, and Zahruk took flank on the other side of Ryder.
“You have to ask?” Ryder asked.
I turned to smile reassuringly at Aodhan, and caught sight of a blue strand of hair peeking from beneath his armor.
“Just figured I’d ask,” he said as he continued to walk beside us.
We approached the stairs that led into the Guild, and Z stopped us. “Do you feel that?” he asked.
“I feel nothing,” I admitted.
“No wards,” Ryder announced as he chanced a step forward. “Nothing,” he continued.
“That’s just not possible. It’s always warded,” I said, but then again, I wouldn’t be affected by it, since I wasn’t really Fae.
“Shit; why would they pull the wards down?” Vlad asked as he moved closer.
“They wouldn’t. Someone else had to have done it. No one that I was aware of knew how to remove these wards; it was a safeguard, to protect us,” Adrian said as his eyes met mine meaningfully.
I met his turquoise stare head on and shook my head. “That means anything could have done this. We were attacked often by Fae trying to get in, and if they knew the Guild was vulnerable, they wouldn’t have hesitated to make a try for it.”
Asrian moved in, his lime and grass-green eyes watching us as he interrupted. “Hate to say it, but we gotta move faster. We’re sitting ducks here.”
I looked at him and nodded before I moved up the steps with guilt in my heart that the Guild was in rubble, and the chance of anything or anyone being alive inside was getting slimmer with each new discovery.
It was hard to believe that this had happened in so little time, and although it was hard to imagine, we’d made a lot of enemies who wouldn’t hesitate to join in the destruction. I couldn’t see any sign that any of the other Guilds had come to see what was going on at this one, but if they’d been here or sent someone to report on the damages, it only made sense that they’d report back immediately and call it a complete loss.
I stepped through the doors and had to force myself to remain strong.
It was eerily silent. Huge pieces of the once elegant cathedral ceiling lay upon the floor, the stained glass ruined. The smell of sulfur was rich and pungent. The holy cross from the church in Ireland had been tipped over and chopped apart, as if someone took an axe and destroyed it on purpose, instead of damage that happened in the midst of looting.
Not that this place could be looted. The weapons were in a vault, one that you’d need a live Witch to open, and not just any Witch, one registered to this Guild. Glass crunched beneath our feet as we made our way through the main room and into the separate ones that were in the main hallway.
I paused and chewed my bottom lip. I could smell the nauseating scent of death. I could do this. I was strong enough and, as sad as it was to admit, I wasn’t a stranger to death, or the sight of it. I’d been trained to see it, feel it, learn from it, and grow stronger because if it. Problem was, I was tired of seeing my friends and people I cared about die.
I winced at the dead body that lay over the reception desk. Douglas, one of the Elders from the look of it, had a pistol in one hand and his brains on the far wall. How could it have gotten this bad and I’d not known it?
You’ve been in Faery, playing with the Fairies!
Guilt heated my face as I moved closer and looked around the room. Something was off, as an Enforcer I’d been trained to look at scenes, and Douglas had been left handed, and yet the gun was in his right hand, as was the entrance wound. The angle of the wound and the exit wound was off, even if he had been right handed. Someone had shot him, and tried to make it look as if he’d done it himself. Why? It wasn’t like the other Guilds would come investigate it, since most were probably run by the Mages, unless they were still trying to cover it up to the Humans.
Everyone had stopped outside the door, except Adrian and Ryder, who both held one of my hands and I had to shake my hands loose to gather one of the many tapestries and pull it from the wall to cover the body.
I’d liked Douglas. He’d always been nice to me…one of the good ones, which was probably why he was dead. I left the room, and started down the right hallway that led to meeting and conference rooms, using my heightened senses to search for anything living, moving, or dead. It became almost unbearable when every room held a dead occupant, but none were the ones I was looking for.
I was getting to the last ones when I heard it, and my heart stopped. I sped up, and turned into the next room. It was empty. So was the next one, but the third one wasn’t, and I ran in, heedless of what else might be in there. Alden was sitting against one of the pillars in the room, and he wasn’t moving. Ropes were the only thing holding his upper body upright. I dropped to my knees and placed my fingers on his artery, and sighed.
“He’s alive, but just barely, Synthia,” Adrian said as he started helping me with the ropes. “I don’t sense any spells or curses around him,” he hissed.
“Alden,” I whispered, afraid to have gotten here too late. I couldn’t have found him just to turn around and lose him. “Alden, get the fuck up, don’t you fucking do this to me!”
“Synthia,” he whispered without opening his eyes to look at me.
“I’m here,” I whispered and kissed his bruised cheek. “Now get up,” I urged.
“Can’t, kid, they broke ‘em’,” he said.
“Broke what?” I asked, and my hands instantly started to feel down his body, but Ryder stopped me.
“His legs, and much more; Asrian, we’re going to have to risk sifting with him; get him to Eliran, and tell him to be ready for when we find Ristan,” Ryder ordered.
“Demon wasn’t so lucky,” Alden whispered and started coughing. “I should have listened to him, should have just moved the kids like he wanted.”
“What do you mean not so lucky?” I asked, as ice wrapped around my heart.
He opened his eyes and I could see veins that had rup
tured in his eyes from torture. I sat back on my heels and reminded myself that right now I had to be strong. I had to find my Demon and save his ass.
“Is Ristan alive?” I asked, hoping the lead in my throat didn’t show in my voice.
“They had us both in the catacombs for a while, don’t know how long, and don’t know what day it is. Brought me back up here and left me for dead. They tortured us both to figure out how to get to the Horde King and his girl. Ristan took the brunt of it, never thought I’d hear a man scream like that. They cleaned house. Anyone standing, anyone alive is our enemy. They killed the kids, all the kids…I failed them all.”
“Alden, they’re partially Fae, and while you may train them to fight the Fae, they couldn’t have been ready for treachery from their comrades—their coworkers—and if you tried to tell them, it would have given you away. Sometimes you have to sacrifice a few for the many. You taught me that, remember? We knew this might happen, I told your stubborn old ass to come with me.”
“Synthia, this is my life. This is my world and those were my kids. I raised them; I raise all of them when they come here to be trained. Sometimes I think you got your stubbornness from me, even if we aren’t blood. I sent you to the Dark Prince, because I had to make a sacrifice, and I knew you would be able to stand up to him, but these kids…They didn’t even have a chance.” Tears flowed down his damaged cheeks.
“I survived it, and that choice gave me my babies, Alden. I’m actually happy you sent me to the Dark Fortress, and I wouldn’t change my life for the world. You already know that. Now, do we know if they have wards preventing anything sifting out?”
“I don’t know what wards are left, but there really can’t be any if you are all inside the Guild,” he said wryly as he cleared his throat of the emotion that he’d just felt, shedding it like a second skin. One minute he’d been broken, and in the next he was back and fully in charge of his emotions. “They’ve got a guy with them, scary as shit. Not Human, and not Fae. The way he moves…it’s not normal. Shit, damn thing doesn’t even pretend to be Human.”
“We can handle him,” I whispered as I helped Alden as he tried to get up and failed. Asrian was right behind him and scooped him up as if he weighed nothing.
“Leave me here and go save the Demon,” he whispered brokenly.
“Never,” I answered and looked up at Alden.
We waited for them to sift out before I stood and looked at Ryder and his men. I knew that if Ristan had screamed, something had been horribly wrong. He was a born fighter, as were all of these men. They didn’t show weakness to an enemy, ever.
“They’ve got God bolts. That’s the only way—” I announced, and then I felt power, immense power unchecked in shielding itself. I turned and watched as Danu shimmered in, and then the feel of power was gone.
“It’s a trap,” she announced and I noticed she was dressed for war.
“We kinda figured as much,” I said, and then tilted my head. Well, I had figured it was. Why else bring Alden upstairs where we would find him and keep him separated from Ristan?
“No, Synthia, Bilé is here. Not even Ryder can stand against him. He’s helping the Mages, and he’s close. I can feel him.”
“We’re not backing down, period. Ristan is alive, and down in the catacombs. I won’t believe otherwise unless I see his corpse,” I seethed. I was serious; I wasn’t leaving without him or his bloody heap of remains. I owed him that much.
“I can’t challenge the Mages, but I can help with Bilé. He’s crossed the line, and he’ll pay for what he’s done. That I can do without repercussions,” she said, and I turned to find the entire Elite Guard staring at me like I was insane, except Ryder.
“Mother, show yourself, at least enough that they can see you,” I groaned.
“You think it wise?” she asked Ryder, instead of me.
“Yes,” he said. “My brothers know her secret already. I trust them with my very life.”
I heard them gasp, and knew the moment she revealed herself.
“Shit,” Aodhan whispered and then kneeled at her feet, as did the rest of them.
“Get up, fight now, worship later,” I said and turned back to Danu. “If Bilé is here, that changes everything. Zahruk fashioned some of the bolts that Joseph used on me into daggers, he showed them to me the other day. Will they work on him?” I asked, and then almost groaned as her eyes grew wide with pleasure.
“Yes, they should. He created them to use on me. He and his men tested them on another God who had displeased him first. We can’t touch them though,” she admitted.
“Actually, we can. The guard, grip and pommel of the daggers are bronze wrapped with leather. He’s pretty bad ass with knives and daggers, and I should know, he stabbed me once.” Zahruk rolled his eyes as he glamoured the sheathed daggers and gave them to us.
“Then let’s go take their God, and see how tough they are without him fighting at their side,” Danu said with a little bit too much enthusiasm for my taste.
Chapter Twenty-Three
We were back in the main hall, deciding what would be the smartest route. Ryder had dispatched part of our group to search for the living and the dead in the upper and central areas, keeping the main body of Fae with us. I had showed them to one of the many hidden ways into the catacombs that lay just beneath us in the Guild’s lower levels. We couldn’t hear anything, and Danu couldn’t sense Ristan, or feel him either.
She’d gone back to being hidden from the men, which was how it should be, considering the way some of them had looked at her.
Ryder had decided it best that we not sift to the catacombs, since I knew the Guild had spelled it for sifting, and we didn’t have the time it would take to undo the spell if it was still in place. That meant we had most of the Horde’s Elite Guard stealthily sneaking into some trap.
I waited as Zahruk and Ryder whispered intensely over which would be the best course. Zahruk wanted Ryder to sift out, and I understood his fears. There was only one thing the Mages wanted, and that was to kill the strongest being in Faery, which was Ryder. I wanted him away from here as well, because I needed to focus, and the idea that there was a God down there, waiting to help the Mages hurt him, left me mindless.
“Forget it, not going to happen. I owe Ristan, and I’ll be damned if I hide from a fight.”
We both stared at Ryder, and I got it. It sucked, but I understood his need, and knew how it felt to know someone you loved was in trouble, and the almost suicidal need to sacrifice yourself to save them. Not that Ryder was thinking he’d need to, but he wasn’t going to back down.
“Ryder will be fine. He’s the King, and for all we know, they already know we’re here. If he leaves, who’s to say they won’t just kill Ristan?” I asked; and yes, my heart was in my throat, and I knew they could see the anxiousness in my face.
“We’ll be fine,” Ryder said as he finally agreed to fall back and let his men go before him. “Synthia,” his mental voice flashed across my mind as we fell in behind Aodhan, Savlian, and Zahruk. “I need you to stay back, so that my focus is on Ristan and what is happening when we get there.”
“Don’t do that,” I said not bothering to meet his eyes. “You didn’t leave so your men could focus, so don’t even think of asking me to stand back and wait this shit out. Maybe I should be asking you to stand back, so that I don’t worry?”
“Yes please,” Zahruk growled from the front of our line.
“Shut it,” I snapped at Zahruk’s back, hopping on Ryder’s mental path to his men and watched with an angry glare as his shoulders moved with his silent laughter. “We are facing a God, and neither of us knows how to handle that, but if we get him, Ryder, if we can take away their advantage, we have a huge chance of ending this war before it even begins.”
“Then I want you beside Danu, and we go wit
h her plan,” Ryder said. “I’ll stay with Zahruk and my men, and we both win.”
“I’ll agree to that.” I slipped my hand into his and twisted my fingers around his larger ones. “I just hope we’re not too late.”
We stopped in front of an old tapestry and Zahruk shot me a questioning look. “That’s not it,” I noted, and moved closer to it, as I pointed out one of the other tapestries further down the hall. “The steps at the bottom of that one are in shambles, but we can get to the catacombs faster that way. They also wouldn’t think we’d use these ones. From the bottom it looks like it’s completely destroyed.”
I passed the one we’d been standing at and headed to the secondary one which was never used because of the mishap of a young Warlock who’d accidently blown most of the bottom steps into pieces. I slid the Plexiglas out of the way, and slipped through before holding it open for the rest to make it through.
The staircase was rounded, and the upper half wasn’t as damaged as the bottom. I made sure to overstep the large pieces of stone that would alert anyone with clear hearing of our arrival. At the bottom, I paused and listened. It was eerily silent, and that worried me. The rest of the men followed my lead, and then I fell back to Ryder’s side, and continued to listen.
Ristan was a fighter, and a damn good one at that. He was powerful, and the only thing that I knew of that was strong enough to slow the Demon down, would be God bolts. Luckily Zahruk had the foresight to make weapons out of those things that we could use when they couldn’t figure out how they worked.
As we grew closer to the large open room that served as one of the reception rooms for the library and archives, I stopped and paused. So too, did everyone else. Not far away from us, we could hear soft crying that sounded like a female. I couldn’t tell who it was, but I figured it was a start at finding where they’d placed Ristan.
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