“So, you abandoned Blay when he needs you the most.” My accusation makes him flinch, for the first time showing a flicker of real emotion other than disappointment in me.
“I swore an oath to protect you, Rayna, one that I will never renege on, no matter what you throw at me.”
I meet his hard gaze, unflinching and strong, the way I’ve always known him to be. I glance at Mum, still shattering from the level of undiluted hatred I’ve sent her way, her sadness chipping away at my hardened heart even though I don’t want it to. Once again love makes me do stupid things.
I drag my eyes away from her, needing the full extent of anger to fuel me on, to be able to demand what I need next.
“Well you sure are doing a fantastic job of that, aren’t you Zaneth?”
“It was never my intention to hurt you, Rayna. It took us both by surprise and we wanted to wait until you weren’t under so much pressure before explaining this new situation to you.”
I glare at him, still unwilling to let the hurt go. If I’m honest I know that Zaneth is a good man, a strong man, and really that’s what Mum needs; someone to be her strength when she can’t hold it together herself. If things were different, if Mum hadn’t already betrayed me once before, then maybe I could give them my blessing, or at least understand it, but that’s not the case and it never will be.
“At this moment, your romantic relationship with my mother isn’t important and when it truly comes down to it, my opinion has never mattered to her anyway.” I see Mum flinch again out of the corner of my eye.
“Right now there is only one thing that I want to concentrate on, and that’s getting to Blay. I need to be a part of that raid.”
“That’s not going to happen, Rayna.” His eyebrows pull together, annoyance with my persistence darkening his masculine features.
“All that is left for you to do is wait. The warriors will return and hopefully the mission would have been successful and Blay will be with them.”
“Hopefully isn’t good enough.”
“There is nothing else you can do.”
“Yes, there is, and you are going to help me.”
He scoffs, shutting me down before I can go on.
“Why should I help you do something utterly stupid and against the wishes of my queen?”
I glance at Mum, her face twisted with worry, wanting Zaneth to stop me, yet not wanting to fight me herself.
I point directly at her, no longer caring if my actions cause her added pain, needing any leverage that I’ve got to get Zaneth to agree.
“Because you betrayed me, and now you owe me.”
Chapter Fourteen
“What exactly do you expect to achieve from this?” Zaneth grunts, still trying to persuade me not to go through with this plan.
“Calasis is going to need as much help as he can get.”
Truth be told, I really don’t know if me barging onto Zantron and joining the fight will make any difference. Certainly having Zaneth there will give Calasis and his warriors the added benefit of another seasoned fighter, but me personally? What the hell is the point of me being there?
The terrified wussy part of me is eager to let Zaneth talk me out of going. It would be far easier to just stay here, hide out in my room until they return, Blay in tow, wounded but alive and ready to be healed. Once upon a time, I would have done just that, hidden away and let someone else deal with the mess.
Now though, it is different. It’s Blay that is in danger. He is the one who is suffering and with him is a small, but growing, piece of my heart. If I stay here, then that’s basically saying I don’t care and that’s not true.
It doesn’t matter anyway. I can’t hide out here. Not when my stomach rolls like boiling metal twisting inside me. Something is not right, I can feel it. The queasy uncertainty of intuition urges me on. I need to go to Zantron, I need to join this fight. Maybe having me there will even the balance, perhaps Garvien will be distracted by my presence and that will be enough to allow the warriors time to rescue Blay. Who knows? But I’m about to find out.
“Get on with it, Zaneth. They’ve been gone for a while, we need to get there now.”
We stand side by side, back in the armoury, Zaneth’s body encased in leather armour, with more weapons than I can count strapped to his body.
I pull at the strap which wraps around my neck, soft against my skin, yet uncomfortably tight, all in the hopes to deflect a blade from tearing open my throat.
Zaneth forced me into wearing matching, although considerably smaller (possibly even child’s sized) armour as him, even as I complained loudly about wasting precious time. Zaneth didn’t budge, if I didn’t wear protective armour I wasn’t allowed to go.
I tie my thick strands of dark-chocolate brown hair back into a tight bun, throwing disgruntled looks his way at every moment I can, while tugging on the chest plate, ensuring that it covers me properly. The chest plate armour I don’t complain about; the memory of my chest being split open is still all too vivid and makes me pull the straps extra tight.
I admit that the added waste of time was necessary, even if the minutes slowly passing by felt like walking on hot coals.
Now as I stand here, fully loaded with weapons and weighed down by too many layers of protection, I can barely hold my patience any longer.
“If we convince the queen of your quest, she will be able to summon Calasis on the Eidolon Eye, we will at least be able to see what we will be facing.”
I shake my head irately.
“No, Karadese will lock me up before I have a chance to even ask. She will never allow me to do this, you know that as well as I do, so stop suggesting it, it’s not going to happen.”
He sighs heavily, running his tongue across his teeth as he tries to come up with any way to stop what I’m demanding he do.
“Are you sure you want to do this? Going back there isn’t going to be easy you know,” his voice is soft, not trying to force the memories back on me but still needing me to realise the difficulties ahead.
I know it will be hard. Returning to the place where I thought I would die. Seeing the creatures who ripped apart my friends before eating them, laughing all the while, right in front of me. Seeing the blood of the fallen still embedded in the dusty, blackened earth.
The quivering weakling inside of me has already reverted to cowering deep out of reach, hiding from the horror to come. Yet something else drives me, some minuscule force of bravery too strong to be held down. I hold on to it like a lifeline. Daft as it is, this strength is what will keep me going.
“Do it.” I hold my breath, willing my heartbeat to slow, and ease the adrenaline rapidly pumping through my veins, making my hands shake with the fear of the unknown.
Zaneth’s face changes with acceptance, turning stone cold into a battle mask of the damned, and a shiver runs down my back for all the creatures who will have to face him. I certainly wouldn’t want to.
He pulls the leather-bound package from his waist, spilling the blue-turquoise powder onto his hand.
“I will summon Zantron, it’s your job to follow as close behind me as possible.”
He doesn’t even bother to close his eyes, knowing the ruins of Zantron so clearly enough by now to picture it completely.
In one quick breath, he blows the powder into the air before us, placing the remaining planet jump potion back into his pocket as the space in front of us begins to shimmer.
It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve seen this, it never stops amazing me how these simple, inconspicuous ingredients mixed together can form a portal into another world. What a time saver.
Once the black gaping hole emerges into a human sized portal, Zaneth takes a step forward, throwing a glance over his shoulder at me.
“As soon as we are through, run as fast as you can to find cover. We need to assess the situation before we can take action. We are going in there blind, I’ve got no idea what will be on the other side, but no matter what it is, it’s
going to be dangerous. If you can’t find a place to hide, stay close to me.”
I nod, my eyes glued to the shimmering portal, terrified that something will jump out at us at any minute.
With one hand clutching a sword in front of himself and the other grasping the portal deactivation powder, ready to shut it down as soon as we step free on the other side, Zaneth marches through and I follow suit, stealing my stomach for the inevitable freefall that will threaten to spill out my stomach’s contents in a disgusting show of weakness.
The acidic scent of sulphur hits me first, burning the hairs from my nostrils and sending a spike of pain radiating through my skull, my senses immediately recognising the place of my own personal hell. My eyes take longer to adjust, not expecting to emerge into such darkened surroundings of this horrific world.
My head spins and I fall to my knees, the chest plate digging into my breasts, the heaviness of the armour making my movements even more unbalanced than usual.
Zaneth’s large hand wraps around my arm in an instant and in one quick motion he drags me to my feet, his head turning from side to side, already scoping out the situation in front of us, while I struggle to get my mind to focus through the usual travel sickness that hits me every time I make a planet jump.
I gulp down mouthfuls of air, trying to settle my stomach and regret it instantly as the suffocating mugginess of our humid surroundings conjures every memory of this awful planet that I’ve tried so hard to bury.
Shaking my head, I blink rapidly, my eyes already burning as the scratchy dust clings to my iris’s, distorting the images in front of me; my mind playing catch up to what lays, sprawled out, before me.
There are bodies, so many bodies. Zantronian fighters in their last agonising moments as flames lick their skin, and unfortunately, Prytorian warriors too.
Small fires burn in rock pits dotted around the campsite, casting flickering light onto the fallen; each one cut to shreds, blood still oozing from their wounds, in a fight that ultimately took their lives, and yet somehow the fight still feverishly rages on with the lingering few.
There are still plenty of warriors attempting to outwit their adversaries in a battle that seems never ending as metal against metal sings out with each failed attempt to take the other down. Grunts of exhaustion and cries of pain cut through the night as another warrior falls to his knees, using the last of his strength to delve his sword into his opponent’s stomach in a final strike before he too falls in a bloodied heap onto the charcoal ground.
I don’t have time to process the situation further and there is no chance of following Zaneth’s orders of hiding out. The instant the portal behind us shrinks and disappears, extinguishing the only escape we had, two Zantronian fighters charge towards us, both intent on ending Zaneth’s life while disregarding me altogether. Their dismissal suits me fine.
Zaneth raises his sword, stepping in front of me to take the first blow. The Zantronian fighters are huge, I’d forgotten just how intimidatingly large they are, dwarfing Zaneth and his own hulking frame and leaving me feeling no bigger than an ant. Perhaps that’s why they disregarded me as a threat. Stupid creatures. Don’t they know that the smallest of beings can contain the deadliest poisons?
Zaneth blocks each blow they throw at him, his sword twirling in a complicated arc of deflection faster than my eyes can keep up. He’s so busy deflecting their attacks that he has no time to produce an attack of his own.
They bare their teeth, growling words that are no better than gibberish to my ears, yet Zaneth must understand them as he lunges forward, anger twisting his face, his full strength aimed at taking them down, his own battle cry ripping from his throat in a declaration of hatred.
One fighter steps back, leaving the other to increase his attack, trying to distract Zaneth in an attempt to give them an opportunity to take him down. Unfortunately for them, Zaneth knows all their tactical tricks; he never lets his guard down and when the second fighter makes his move, Zaneth is ready, his blade whizzing through the air, blocking the deadly attack at the last moment.
I use that exact second to make my move, when the three of them are locked in battle and not bothering to worry about me. The first Zantronian pulls his sword back, ready to unleash his fatal blow while Zaneth still holds the second fighter off. I spring forth, Blay’s sword, too cumbersome for me, clutched firmly in my hand as I duck under the creature’s blow meant for Zaneth, diving to my knees and sliding towards him, not noticing the shards of rock grazing my shins, the sword raised high, aimed straight towards the creature’s chest.
At the last moment, I jump to my feet, using the momentum to force the sword deep into his flesh. An animalistic grunt vibrates inside my chest as blood spills from his wound, dripping down the hilt of my sword that I quickly pull free, only to thrust it back into his stomach with feverish intensity, his bleached eyes widening with pain.
His weapon clatters to the ground, his claws uselessly scratching at his chest when I pull the sword free, the tip hitting the ground heavily as the flood of adrenaline leaves my body zapped. I step back, knowing what is about to happen and not wanting to be caught too close.
I barely notice Zaneth finishing off the other fighter, his own sword sliding across the creatures thickened throat with such force it nearly severs its head clean from its body. My eyes are glued to the dying creature in front of me, his body engulfed in flames, self-combustion leaving nothing but a pile of dust within minutes.
“Move.” Zaneth doesn’t wait around to watch the dust of his enemy’s drift around us. He grabs me around the waist, pushing me towards the nearest covering of boulders and doesn’t stop running until he is sure no one is following us.
My chest heaves, the shaking of my shoulders revealing the shock of what I’ve just done.
“Pull it together, Rayna,” Zaneth growls, never one to show any actual concern. “We’ve got a hell of a lot more to get through yet before you can break down.”
I clamp my teeth down hard on my trembling lip and replace Blay’s sword back in its sheath, using the time to try to settle my shaky, irrational emotions before Zaneth chides me again.
For all of the horror that these creatures have committed, not only against me, but to each and every one of their victims, I should be intoxicated with happiness that I have managed to take another one down, to rid all the worlds of future hurt that even just one of them can create. But I’m not. I took a life. I stopped another being from existing, even though my intentions were purely good, the gaping hole inside my chest scorns me for being just as evil as they are.
I lean heavily against the shadowy rocks, their heat inching through my muscles and making my skin itch. I hate this place and everything about it. I need to get out of here as quickly as possible.
“Let’s go,” I say, wiping my sweat covered hands across my pants, before reaching for the sword once again. Like it or not, I’m going to have to use it if I’m going to survive and that’s going to happen, I refuse to die on this forsaken planet.
“Where?” Zaneth peers around the covering of boulders, his eyes scanning for possible escape routes. “I can’t see any sign of Calasis or his group in the pack still fighting, they must have gotten by undetected.”
Crouching down, I peek around the corner, ignoring the sharp edges of the rock digging into my side, and search the ashen faces I can make out in the distance. Zaneth’s right, there is no sign of Calasis amongst the men still fighting, and even though I can’t make out any familiar faces of the fallen, I’m certain that Calasis isn’t one of them.
I sigh with relief. Calasis made it through. He’s far safer than anyone else at the moment, including us, and if he is not among those still fighting then he is out searching for Blay. So that’s what we need to do too.
I hadn’t planned for this. What to do if we got here and Calasis wasn’t close by. Now it’s going to be all down to guess work……. unless?
Turning away from the fight, I push my back again
st the boulder, needing the stability of something solid behind me. I hate what I’m about to do, the feeling that washes over me whenever I sense him near me, but right now I have no other choice. I have to find Blay and I know wherever Blay is, Garvien won’t be far away.
My eyes snap closed and I inhale deeply, this time using the stinking humid air as a prop in my plan. I let my mind drift, blocking out the fight raging so close behind me, trusting Zaneth to keep watch so we won’t be ambushed at any minute.
I haven’t done this before, willingly tried to sense Garvien. Any time I’ve felt his presence I’ve vehemently tried to hide away from it, to fight that which connects us. Not this time. Now I need to feel his greedy, demonic soul. I want to pinpoint him so then I can follow that vindictive thread right to his evil self.
I let my mind wander, actively pushing out my senses while becoming more in tune with my own body. The sounds resonating behind me begin to fade, while Zaneth’s smooth, even breathing soothes my anxiety and I sink deeper into the connection which I’m determined to create.
Slowly, pinpricks of awareness emerge into my mind, like burning cigarette butts being rubbed against my skin, it’s painful and I wince, involuntarily trying to escape the sensation. I hold tight, honing in on every little needle-like fibre as if they are a lifeline. Each stab of pain, every quiver in my heart, represents a monster that I’m connected to. Each one a warning, a statement of acknowledgment that they are there, within my reach.
As I sink deeper into a bond that binds us, the bracelet begins its slow burn, awakening to intensify the connection to a crystal-clear map that I can’t see but can clearly sense with my whole being.
The bracelet’s energy scorches up my arm, coming alive far more intensely than ever before. Now that it’s back on its own planet, it’s as if it’s been reanimated, injected with a new source of evil which fuels it, making the strength of its hold so much greater to endure.
Fallen Paladin (The Paladin's Curse Book 2) Page 11