Frowning, Soren studied the rusted hangar doors at the front of each wing. “Okay, we need to split here. I’ll take the east side. Maya will head west.”
“Wild. Why are you separating from your mate?” Alain asked.
“Because we’re dealing with separate structures,” Kailen explained. “One group searching is inefficient. We could be entering one wing while Dubtach and company escape out the other. Plus, for reports, we need silent comms. Soren and Maya are telepaths.”
“I see… In that case, I’m going with Soren.”
“Chicken.” Talaith snickered.
“Like you had a choice. You were coming with me anyway. I’m keeping you real close.” Soren shook his head. “Stay alert, Maya. My gut tells me he knows we’re here. I want updates. If you go silent longer than a minute, I’m coming in hot. Alain, did you bring your weapon?”
“Yes, right here.”
“Talaith and I will go with Maya,” Kailen said.
“Aye, so will I,” Eachann added.
“Good,” Soren grunted. “Bromm and Djoser, with me.”
“Will you stay visible?” Talaith asked Eachann.
“You know me well, lassie.” Laughing, he moved next to Maya, who was already on her way to the hangar door.
The cunning vampire had skipped answering her question. She figured he’d stay corporeal until the fighting began, then he’d be at one with the wind’s formidable energy.
“Don’t be afraid. I’m going to be with you all the way,” Kailen murmured, clasping her shoulder.
“I know. I never fear when you’re with me.”
“No matter what happens I will always protect you. Before we go inside, there’s one thing I want you to keep present at all times.”
“What is it?”
“Your sorceress nature protects you from lieutenants, drones, and minions. You can be injured, although not killed. Dubtach is different. He’s a high mage. His power rivals Khnurn’s, so avoid a direct strike from him. Should he aim at you, duck, jump, move out of the way. Don’t hesitate. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Kailen.” She nodded, trying to smile even though her stomach had turned inside out.
“It’ll be all right.” He kissed her forehead, then gave her rump an affectionate pat.
Savannah’s lively sounds, a city popular with partying humans, began to fade the farther they advanced inside the building. The crunch of packed dust, rubble, and gravel under her boots replaced the happy noises. As promised, Kailen stepped silently at her side, his wrist guards on and holding his modified laser sword at shoulder level, ready to wield it.
Something about walking into the thick of danger, her empty arms swinging casually at her side, made her feel silly and irrelevant. She wished someone had given her a weapon to hold on to. A staff or long stick would work, anything that would steady her nerves, occupy her trembling fingers, or at least help her present a menacing image.
Her weapons were internal, same as Maya. She glanced at the phoenix. Her friend didn’t seem bothered by the lack of external trappings. Chin raised, her sharp eyes surveying perilous grounds ahead, she walked on.
The pendant hanging next to her skin heated. She clasped it, and a settling wave of confidence and understanding surged in her. It became clear the universe intended it this way: misjudgment from strangers was her fate. For magical creatures like her, with a harmless facade, being overlooked by enemies was an advantage. Because in reality, she was the ultimate deadly stone fish lurking at the bottom of the ocean. With one flick or snap, she could vanquish them all. Comforted and strengthened by the wisdom in the message, she breathed deeply and settled into her new role.
Five minutes into the building, they reached a half-collapsed wall, opening the way to a cavernous storage room. Her shoulder brushed the edge when she stepped through, and pieces of stone and mortar trickled with a dull, dry sound. Maya eyed her in warning. Talaith gave an apologetic cringe in return.
Holding up a fist, Maya signaled to halt next to a tall pile of dilapidated stones. Maya waited and watched. When nothing but complete silence came at them, she waved and continued forward.
Colorful graffiti and a variety of imaginative drawings embellished the deteriorating plaster walls. On the far end of the room, corroded beams did their best to support a loft that threatened to tumble at any minute. What used to be a side row of windows—glass panes and frames long gone—opened to a darkening sky.
A chittering noise got her attention, and Talaith moved to the right wall. She went around an overturned container. A pair of rats scampered and disappeared through a deep crack on the dusty floor. Other than the rodents, the area was clear. She picked up no traces of magic or enemy activity.
She returned to her group. Maya, Kailen, and Eachann were inspecting what years ago might have been an office. The gloom made it difficult to find anything of value. Talaith turned inward, and gathering her force, she radiated her platinum light outward.
Kailen, who’d never seen her illumination, glanced at her with amazement.
Maya winked, mouthing, Thank you.
A frustrated Eachann punched a fist on the remnants of a metal file cabinet. “I sense nae magic and nae hostages. This is a waste of time.”
Maya’s amused expression twisted into a grimace. She stiffened, placing a palm to her temple. At the same time, Eachann froze and fell silent as if he too had heard the telepathic message. His eyes flashing bright, he gyrated into his wind form and blew out of the ancient office, lifting clouds of dust and debris.
“Soren’s calling for help!” Maya’s exclamation confirmed Talaith’s worst fears.
Talaith took off after the vampire’s trail, Kailen close behind. Eachann’s preternatural wind was much too fast. To stay on his path, she sent out her senses in a relay chase. As one returned with his location, the next set out. She fled to the outside, traversing the pylons in the main entrance, crossed over cracked asphalt, and plunged into the stygian darkness of the next building.
“Talaith, your light.”
Kailen’s urgent call came in the nick of time. She lit up before crashing into a metal cart. The next locator sense returned, and she veered to the left, sliding feet first into a wide, angled chute that led to a set of rickety stairs. She flew to the floor below.
“Stairs ahead,” she warned over her shoulder.
Her senses weren’t necessary anymore. Shrieks, loud masculine grunts and curses, and flashes of light guided her to the fight. Talaith, with Kailen at her side, stopped at the archway waiting for Maya to catch up. She resisted the impulse to run in. Instead, she gauged locations and combatants.
The arrangement in this room was the mirror opposite of the storage area they’d just left. An unconscious Alain lay sprawled on the floor. Four drones and two lieutenants surrounded Djoser and Bromm. She watched in awe as the Aurician and his terrible weapon separated a lieutenant’s head from his body in one stroke, then kicked it aside. A screeching drone pounced on Bromm. The werewolf reared back as he fired his laser sword. His target burst in a haze of red.
Perched on the loft and safely above the fray, Dubtach, Rhonda, and her bodyguard supervised the struggle.
“Soren. I don’t see him,” a panicked Maya shouted.
Off to Talaith’s right, a strange effect in the air caught her attention. Soren’s form flickered on and off, hopping from one spot to the next, infuriating the minions, drone, and lieutenant trying to pin him down.
“Look. He’s in the rippling air.”
Talaith pointed, then followed the magic line from Soren to the office room. There, Khnurn, bound and gagged, sat cross-legged in the same floating cell Dubtach had used to trap him in Hillsborough. Despite his wounds, and even without his amulet, he was sending blocking waves to protect Soren. She knew her master couldn’t sustain this effort much longer. The magic shielding Soren was already beginning to weaken.
Rushing to join her mate, Maya vaulted over two drones, then planted her ba
ck against Soren’s. Uncaring of who saw her Simurgh lightning force, she sliced minions in half.
Up on the loft, a wide-eyed Dubtach watched as Maya, deploying her Titanian-like abilities, engaged a lieutenant twice her size in a fierce one-on-one. This was clearly a huge discovery for the mage and as he continued to observe the phoenix, surprise changed to admiration and assessment. It was obvious he wanted Maya for his own.
Talaith used the opportunity to slink along the western wall and approach the office unseen. With Kailen covering her back, she moved closer and closer. She only had to free Khnurn’s hands, give him the pendant, and, with his power returned, the skirmish would be over.
Howling in pain, Bromm dropped a knee to the floor. The ooze that drones called blood had struck his thigh, injecting acid into the wound.
“Watch out, drones carry acid in their blood!” Kailen shouted before she did. “If they’re wounded, keep clear.”
The attacking drone turned its hideous glare on Kailen and made a move to discharge his weapon when Eachann’s wind picked it up and pitched it against the southern wall full force. The entity splattered. Its acid blood dripped down crackling, bubbling plaster. Kailen lifted the injured wolf, tossed him over his shoulder, and rushed him to the archway. With Bromm resting on the sidelines, he joined Djoser, who now fought alone.
Pressed against the wall, Talaith watched Dubtach’s reaction. The mage scowled, evaluating the fight below. Up to this moment, his forces had outnumbered Soren’s group. But Eachann had tilted the battle against him. Pushing the woman out of his way, he took the steps to the ground floor.
Khnurn grunted at Talaith. His eyes sent a message she couldn’t decipher but that worried her nonetheless. She dashed to the office in a semicrouched position, but a dark-haired male wearing a hooded black robe intercepted her. A malevolent sneer flashed across his face as he raised his hand. Under his gag, Khnurn shrieked a louder warning. The pendant went hot. An order hit her brain. Obeying, she lifted her palm in defense mode as the male threw a lightning bolt. She cringed, expecting a deadly blow. An inch away from hitting her, the bolt splintered into a shower of sparks, then dissipated into the ether.
Talaith blinked, but remained alert to her predicament and kept up the defensive position. The hooded male repeated the attack. The next bolt disintegrated against her magic, same as the first. The mage cursed. Covering his face with the edge of his hood, he turned on his heel, opened a personal portal, and dived through.
Talaith glanced at her hands in surprise, then dropped them to her sides. This wasn’t the right time to examine what had happened and why she wasn’t hurt. Later, she could ponder all those questions. Now she had to release Khnurn.
She made it to the office doorway, then scanned the interior for hidden enemies. Satisfied no one but Khnurn was in the room, she hurried to unlock his door. Gently, she wiped his pale sweaty face. His facial contusions and lacerations didn’t worry her as much as the wet spot spreading on his chest did.
“You’re bleeding, Master.” She pulled down his gag. “I need to know what he did so I can help you.”
“It’s nothing, child,” he rasped weakly. “You’ve made me so proud. I can rest.”
“Rest? No. I brought you the pendant. It will heal you, make you strong again. Here.” She pulled chain and ankh out of her top. Surrounded in a bright halo, the diamond sparkled with an unnatural light.
He waved her effort away. “Not now, child. You’re so strong. Believe, Talaith. Take your rightful place. Do it, protect us all.”
“But, Master—”
“Give me the pendant, and I shall save him.”
Talaith spun. Dubtach stood at the doorway, extending an open hand.
“Liar.”
Behind her, an explosion tore a hole in the wall of the office. She covered her face as shards of stone flew. One hit Khnurn above his ribs, and he gasped in pain. A second beam struck, enlarging the hole, and a new round of plaster and rubble rained on her. An armed drone stood at the opening.
“The pendant is mine, little one. Give it now.” Dubtach’s tone was calm, patient.
“No.” She pivoted from the drone to Dubtach.
She didn’t have to look to know the drone approached. Its harsh breathing came closer, the putrid scent invading her nostrils. With a strange detachment, she wondered how much longer she could stand her ground.
The mage smiled. Reading her hesitation, he narrowed the space between them.
Just when she thought the drone would fire its weapon, a sudden gale barreled into the office, tumbling and tearing at anything in its path. Talaith held on to the bars on Khnurn’s cell as an ear-shattering shriek reverberated and the creature was swept out and impaled on the jagged tip of a water pipe.
Dubtach scowled. “The pendant, now. He’s dying. I alone can heal him.”
She turned to check on Khnurn. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Dubtach’s hand movement. As the mage pitched his bolt, Kailen jumped in front of her, his wrist guards deflecting the edge of the bolt. Falling short, the fireball hollowed out the ground a foot away from Kailen, but death-magic splinters struck his legs. Grimacing, he rolled onto his back.
Talaith froze. She couldn’t think, feel, or speak.
Looking down at Kailen, Dubtach shoved him in the ribs with the tip of his boot. “We meet again, Danann. Hardly a fair fight.”
Kailen ignored the taunt. His fathomless water-colored eyes were focused on her. He was losing color, growing paler. The shadow carrying death magic moved up his legs.
Despite the pain reflected on his handsome face, he managed to smile. “I love you…a cuishle…mo croí,” he whispered.
Words caught in her paralyzed throat. She wanted to scream and couldn’t.
“It’s over. You cannot save him.” Dubtach’s green eyes scrutinized her. He extended his hand again, clearly expecting her to hand him the pendant.
How could he ever imagine she’d give it up?
A hot surge of pain erupted from deep within her core, lava singeing everything in its path. Opening her mouth, she bellowed, releasing a raging energy that would not be contained. Fury and hatred churned within her. The pendant vibrated, speaking in a mental language she’d never heard before, yet clearly understood. Extermination magic exploded out of her. Her hair lifted in a wild corona, the tips ejecting multiple blades of fire at a stunned Dubtach. She aimed her eyes at him. Flaming missiles shot out and cracked his magic shield, showering fire on his clothes and body. The mage contorted, but this wasn’t enough for her. He had to die. Twisting her palms together, she curled energy within, rolled it, tighter…tighter… then let it go.
The fireball struck Dubtach dead on, and the mage vaporized in a black cloud.
Her wrath spent, she turned to Kailen. “No, no, no…” She dropped to her knees and crawled to him. Relentless in its purpose, the shadow line had already reached his waist. The death magic wouldn’t stop until his life force was extracted.
He had saved her, sacrificed his life for hers, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. What good was all her magic and power? Nothing. Worthless. She’d give all of it away in exchange for Kailen’s life.
“Oh, please… Oh, please…” She kissed his cooling forehead, his eyes, his lips. “Stay, Kailen. Stay. Don’t leave me. I can’t do this without you.” His eyes glazed over, and she became desperate, pressing her hand on the shadow line, urging the darkness to take her too. But the death magic, satisfied with its victim, ignored her plea and slipped underneath her hand.
To her horror, his legs were turning to stone. If this continued, what would he become… a statue…an item stored in a corner of some mausoleum…forgotten, lost in the sands of time? She covered her mouth, stifling another scream. How could the gods allow such an undignified, miserable end? Kailen was an honorable knight, the last Danann on earth and champion of worthy causes, who’d followed every order given him, who’d protected the weak and the natural order, who’d saved
her…
“Talaith. I’m here.” A grim Maya spoke at the doorway. Soren, Eachann, and Djoser stood behind her.
“Child,” Khnurn whispered from the cell, his voice a thread. “Listen to me. Out of the ashes, a full-fledged phoenix resurrects the deserving, the noble, and those she loves. Kailen has earned the right.”
Maya knelt at her side. “Don’t give up, Talaith. You and I can crush death magic and wrest its power. Release your innate healing. Let it flow through me. We can do this, together. Hold my hand, and do what I do.”
Torn between a glimmer of hope, insidious doubt, and despair, Talaith asked, “Gods, Maya… Are you sure? Tell me the truth. You’ve never done this before. How do you know it will work?”
In answer, a luminous cloud enfolded Maya, and her eyes emitted red sparks. “The phoenix has risen in me. I’m its obedient vassal.” Her voice deepened, became husky and distant. This wasn’t Maya speaking anymore. The phoenix was in command.
Talaith held on to her friend’s glowing hand and followed her every move. Anguish struck when she touched Kailen’s cold, lifeless chest. She fought back. Recalling his smiling, handsome face, she pushed the crippling emotion aside, then opened her soul to the possibility of miracles.
Pressure built against her palm, and a vision formed in her mind: the purest of energies, colorless, radiant, and perfect, streamed past the open gateway and swept through her system erasing fear and doubt. As the swell moved on, all her cherished memories, the goodness, her dreams of happiness and love, transported from her into Kailen.
The aura enfolding Maya brightened to a vivid crimson and expanded in the shape of unfurled wings. In a moment, Kailen and Talaith were subsumed within its magical space. A spot of light sprang from the base of Kailen’s spine. A second spot flashed from his navel, then another out of his solar plexus. One by one, the phoenix was charging his energy points in a direct line to the crown. When the seventh point at the top of his head flashed, a blinding vortex of light surged out, forcing her to close her eyes. The air crackled, the floor and walls vibrated, loose items crashed and crumbled, and Talaith was thrown on her back. She peeked just as the vortex imploded within Kailen’s chest and disappeared.
The Last Danann (Titanian Chronicles, #2) Page 29