Darkness Possessed (Order of the Blade)

by Stephanie Rowe

  The night was alive with metal blades streaking through the darkness as he fought, but he couldn’t keep up the pace. There were simply too many of them. They were going to defeat them with sheer force of numbers, he realized. Not a single one of them had thrown a weapon at him, and he realized it was because he was so close to Rhiannon. Clearly, they had orders not to kill her. That gave them time, an extra three or four seconds at least. “Rhee?”

  There was a sudden burst of wind, and he looked down. The earth was splitting beneath their feet, and green vines were streaking through the opening. It was working, but not fast enough. Swearing, he grabbed another torch and hurled it upward. It crashed into one of the Calydons, and Zach felt a rush as the flames erupted, as if he’d done it himself. Instinctively, he palmed his hand to call another fireball…and nothing happened.

  They were halfway down the sides now, at least twenty of them. Jesus. How many had José sent for her? “Rhee?”

  “Come on!” She grabbed his arm, and he looked down. A dark tunnel lined with vines had opened up beneath them.

  Without hesitation, they leapt into it. They dropped about ten feet, and landed hard on the dirt. As they landed, the earth closed over their heads, plunging them into pitch darkness. It took a moment for Zach’s eyes to adjust, and then his preternatural vision took over just enough for him to see that the tunnel opened up to the west. Rhiannon grabbed his hand, and they ran down the tunnel…about twenty feet, and then they hit the wall. The vines were still sweeping around them, and dirt was churning, but that was as far as they’d gotten.

  The earth above their heads trembled as the warriors landed on the ground, and he felt the vibrations as they began hammering at the earth, tearing up the dirt as they fought to open the tunnel.

  Zach lunged forward and swung his sai through the dirt, moving at top speed as he helped the vines dig through it. Rhiannon stood right behind him, her hands pressed against his back as she commanded the vines. Electricity seemed to hum through him from her touch, galvanizing him. His sai whipped through the earth, ruthlessly clawing a tunnel, working side by side with the massive tropical vines. The dirt sprayed through the air past them, and he had to close his eyes against it. He felt Rhiannon bury her face against his back, and she coughed, no doubt sucking in the dirt contaminating their air.

  He kept his mouth shut and fought not to breathe as he cleared the earth. Faster, and faster, desperation rising as the noise behind them grew louder. Each chunk of dirt they cleared went behind them, refilling the tunnel as fast as they dug it, leaving the two of them in a very small, mobile crater beneath the earth. They’d made it twenty yards now. Thirty. Forty.

  “I think we’re past the river,” Rhiannon said, then gagged from the dirt.

  “We have to go up,” he told her, tucking his head to try to get enough clear air to talk. The air was so thick with damp soil that it was almost impossible to breathe, or even talk. “Tell your vines to go up. José‘s warriors are almost breaking through in back. We need to be able to run.”

  Energy hummed through him, and the vines changed trajectories instantly, tearing ruthlessly through the earth as they headed up. Zach fought beside them, his head turned as the dirt poured down upon their heads. The dirt was in his mouth, caking his eyes, filling his nose, lining his throat. Rhiannon was tucked up behind him, pulling at his shirt, and he hoped she was using the cotton as a filter to enable her to breathe.

  The air was so thick now, thick with wet, damp dirt, almost up to their hips. Despite his efforts not to breathe, it felt like the dirt was filling his lungs, suffocating him. The vines were spewing it behind them, filling the tunnel they had just been through, but it wasn’t fast enough to combat the tons of dirt falling down upon them.

  Rhiannon suddenly let go of his shirt and collapsed.

  He spun around. She was on the ground, not moving. Not breathing. Fear tore through him as he scooped her up, digging her out of the earth. Jesus. She was suffocating! He used his shoulders to try to block the falling dirt, frantically trying to clear the dirt from her mouth and nose, but it was falling faster than he could clear it—

  And then he realized that the vines had gone still. They were laying in quiet lines around them, no longer commanded by her. Without Rhiannon to direct them, they had simply become plants again. The dirt was cascading down around them, their tunnel collapsing.

  Jesus. She was going to die. Right then. Right there. In his arms. “No!” The anguish ripped through him, a grief more virulent than anything he’d felt since the day he’d held his dead wife in his arms. Something seemed to break inside him, a dam that had held him in check for so long. Heat exploded through him, a violent, wild fire beyond his control, just like the one that had killed his daughter.

  He couldn’t hold it back. He had a split second of horrified realization that he was going to turn into a ball of fire and incinerate Rhiannon just like he’d killed his child, and then he dropped her between his feet, and thrust his palms upward toward the sky. His skin ignited, and he thrust all the fire upward, slamming it into the dirt coffin above their heads. With a furious boom, the earth exploded upward, showering thousands of tons of dirt into the night. The fireball tore up into the night, an inferno of flame a hundred meters wide streaking though the sky, ripping every last bit of flame from Zach’s body.

  Flaming dirt showered down upon them, pouring from the sky.

  He fell to his knees, his body shaking violently as sweat poured off him and nausea churned in his belly. Beneath him, Rhiannon lay still, her face streaked with dirt, her eyes closed. “Rhiannon,” he rasped, scooping her up in his arms. He had to get her out of there. He had to get her to clean air. He had to get her away from the others.

  He stumbled to his feet and looked around, trying to see through the flaming embers cascading around him. They were in the bottom of a massive crater at least a hundred yards wide. Swearing, he started to run, but the loose, scorched earth slid under his feet, robbing him of traction. He fell to his knees, and then lurched back to his feet.

  He could hear shouts in the distance, and he knew they were coming. He had to get out. He had to go. He fought across the slippery dirt, going down on his knees repeatedly and struggling back up. The solid earth was fifty yards away now. Thirty. He was almost there.

  The shouts were louder now.

  Rhiannon still wasn’t breathing. She was limp in his arms, flaming embers sizzling on her skin as they landed on her.

  Swearing, he pulled her tighter against his chest, trying to shield her from the carnage as he fought toward the edge. His body was screaming with the agony of the fiery explosion, and his muscles were trembling. It hurt to breathe. His eyes felt like they’d been stabbed with a red-hot knife, and the pain of keeping them open was almost unbearable. His skin was charred and half-melted, severely damaged by his own fire. And still he fought, keeping his attention focused on the firm ground at the edge of the crater.

  Once he got there, he could run. He could get away. He could stand without falling.

  Ten yards away.

  Then five.

  Shadows loomed behind him, and he smelled the dark, rancid odor of sweat. The warriors were close.

  With a last effort, he threw Rhiannon over the rim of the crater. She rolled out of sight, and then he clawed his way up the last of the loose, burning dirt, his hands sinking into the blackened earth as he fought for purchase.

  His hands finally closed around the top edge, around solid ground, and he grabbed hold, hauling himself over the rim. He landed on his shoulder, and rolled away from the edge to drag his legs out of the pit.

  Rhiannon lay on the ground before him, inert.

  Zach lunged to his feet, risking a glance over his shoulder as he picked her up. Swarming around the rim of the crater were more than three dozen huge warriors, each moving with the grace and speed of predators in their prime. Jesus.

  A new burst of adrenaline galvanized him, and he spun toward them, holding ou
t his palm to summon a fireball…but nothing came. Jesus. His body was completely drained internally. The fireball had taken it all. Shit!

  He spun around and broke for freedom, forcing his beleaguered body to run, willing his muscles to work as they’d never worked before. Rhiannon bounced against his chest, but he held her tight, ducking his head against the branches lashing at him. He knew he couldn’t keep it up, not for long, not with the state of his body. Desperately, he scanned their surroundings, searching for something, for anything, he could use to save them or escape.

  But there was nothing but jungle. Plants that Rhiannon could use to destroy everything sat useless while she lay unconscious in his arms. He tried again to summon a fireball, but there was nothing, nothing, inside him. Where the fuck had it gone? Why hadn’t that explosion changed things? Where the fuck was his fire?

  Ahead of him, he heard the quiet lap of water. Another river. Water wasn’t what he needed right now. He needed heat. He needed fire. He needed—

  Something moved above his head, a black shape sweeping past him. Even as he ducked, he called out his sai with a crack and a flash of black light. The gleaming steel appeared in his hand as he shifted Rhiannon to free his right arm. He looked up as he ran. Something was circling above his head. Something large and black. What the hell was it?

  Too late, his instincts screamed a warning. He jerked his gaze back to the ground just as a massive warrior stepped out of the jungle less than twenty feet in front of him…a warrior who appeared to be entirely made of flames.

  Zach hurled his sai at the exact moment that the other male flung a fireball. His weapon hit the fire and melted instantly, and then a second fireball exploded at his feet.

  The earth opened up beneath him. He tried to stop, but he was too close, and he fell, catapulting into the crater that had just been created. He cradled Rhiannon in his arms, using his body to protect her as he tried to right himself to get his feet beneath him. He almost managed it, landing on his hip and tumbling sideways as they hit the dirt.

  With Rhiannon still anchored in his arms, he leapt to his feet as he called out his other sai with a crack and a flash of black light. He spun toward the direction where José had been, just as the flaming warrior walked to the edge of the pit. He was tall and broad-shouldered, wearing only black pants and boots. His bare chest was emblazoned with ancient symbols that Zach recognized as fire and fury. His dark hair was long and loose, whipping about his face in the wind. His eyes were black and his face triumphant as he gazed down at Zach and Rhiannon.

  Zach stiffened as he stared up at the man who had brutalized Rhiannon. Anger and hatred burned through him, along with a merciless need to destroy him. “You’re not a god,” he snarled. “You’re just another Calydon who knows how to play with fire.”

  José smiled, his dark lips stretching across gleaming white teeth. “I am a god,” he said. “Feel free to underestimate me. I enjoy it.” His voice was like pure evil, rolling across Zach’s skin like the sharp teeth of a shark, a thousand rows of pain and torture at his command.

  Zach gripped his sai, and then tensed when the rim of the pit darkened as all the other warriors that had been pursuing him rimmed the edge of the pit. Shoulder to shoulder they stood, a vertical wall of Calydons, headed by their leader.

  There wasn’t even an inch of clear space around the rim. Son of a bitch. They were trapped.

  ***

  Zach whirled around, fisting his sai as he frantically searched for an opening. Forty-to-one usually wouldn’t be a problem if he had fire, but without it? They weren’t the best odds even against regular Calydons, but these warriors were different. They were bigger. More muscular. Stronger. And their eyes were flecked with glowing red light…the red of a rogue’s eyes. Not full rogue, but enough. Jesus.

  Forty rogues? And a fire Calydon?

  Son of a bitch. There weren’t many situations where he’d been in trouble, but right now, if he had a mayday button back to his team, he’d be punching that sucker until the damn thing shattered.

  But he had no mayday button.

  He just had himself, and Rhiannon and Thano’s lives depended on his ability to get them out of this situation.

  José walked to the very edge of the rim and looked down at them. His eyes were not red at all. In his hand was a twelve-foot wrought iron staff with a dragon’s head on the top. Was that the staff that would save Thano’s life?

  Live fire was coming out of the dragon’s mouth, and smoke was drifting up into the air, forming the image of a winged dragon above their heads. Zach realized that the smoke dragon was what had distracted him right before José had appeared. Son of a bitch. It had been a decoy that had worked on him. He’d been taken by a decoy? God, his team would laugh their asses off at him for being such a fool.

  In José‘s right hand was a sword with a gleaming blade. “Give her to me.”

  Zach tightened his arms around Rhiannon, a thousand ideas whirling frantically through his mind as he tried to figure out how the hell to get them out of there. “Never.”

  “She’s dying.” José bit out the words. “I’m her soul mate. I can bring her into my healing sleep and save her. If you keep her, she will die. You are useless to save her.”

  Zach looked down at Rhiannon, and his heart seemed to stop when he saw that her skin was turning gray, and her lips had become a ghostly shade of blue. “Shit!” He dropped to his knees and frantically wiped the dirt from her face, trying to clear her nose and mouth. “Come on, babe—”

  “She’s dying!” José shouted. “I can save her!”

  “No!” Son of a bitch. He couldn’t turn her over to him. That would be the ultimate betrayal. He bent low over her and pressed his mouth to hers, trying to breathe air into her lungs, but it was blocked. There was too much dirt in her throat and lungs. He pressed his fingers to her pulse…and felt nothing. Anguish tore through him, and then he felt one tiny, faint heartbeat. Jesus. She was still alive, but barely. Did she have one minute left? Two? Could he really make that choice for her, to let her die when she could be saved?

  He pulled back to look at her and brushed the stray wisps of her hair back from her face. He knew she would choose death over being subjected to José again…but he couldn’t let her die. He bent low over her, whispering into her ear a promise that only she could hear. “I will come for you,” he whispered vehemently. “You stay alive, and I will come for you.” He brushed his finger over her amulet that was hidden beneath her shirt, and tears suddenly burned in his throat. “I swear to God, Rhiannon, I will not let you become his victim again. I will do whatever it takes to free you. Just do not die.”

  She didn’t move.

  Tears burned in his eyes as he set her gently on the ground and then stood up. He took two steps back, and sheathed his sai. “Save her,” he said grimly.

  At the flick of José‘s fingers, two warriors leapt down into the pit. One put his sword to Zach’s throat while the other picked up Rhiannon. Every muscle in his body tensed as he watched the warrior cradle Rhiannon against his body, but he didn’t move. He had made the choice to give her a chance to live, and he would not stand in her way.

  He watched grimly, his attention riveted on her limp body as the warrior leapt back to the rim. Fierce, dark anger burned through him as he watched the warrior transfer her to José. When the fire Calydon’s arms closed around Rhiannon, Zach felt like he heard her soul scream in anguish and terror. I swear I won’t let him hurt you again, Rhiannon. Stay alive for me. I will not fail you.

  Not like he’d failed his wife and his daughter. He would not fail again.

  His brands burned with helpless anger as he watched José trail his fingers along Rhiannon’s slack jaw, as if he were basking in the triumph of having reclaimed his woman. “Save her,” he shouted. “Fucking save her now!”

  José‘s hand closed around the cord that held Rhiannon’s amulet, and then he ripped it from her neck. Zach felt like he’d been sucker-punched when he saw Jos�
� hurl it into the dark jungle, stripping Rhiannon of her only way to defend herself against him. When she awoke, she would be utterly trapped by José‘s will once again, as she had been for a decade. Sweet Jesus. What had he done?

  Then José waved his hand at his team. “Kill him,” he snapped. “He fucked my woman and has to die.” Then he whirled around, and vanished into the night in a swirl of black smoke and fire.

  Zach had only a split second to call out his sai before they attacked.

  Chapter 19

  Jordyn leapt up as the earth shook violently and a resounding boom shook the night. The flames in the campfire fluttered, and two of their torches fell over. “What was that?”

  “I have no idea, but I’m thinking that it’s not good.” Eric was already on his feet, swords out as he leapt in front of her. With a crack and a flash of black light, the rest of the team was armed and on the perimeter of the campfire, ready as they searched the night, trying to figure out what had just happened.

  Rohan sprinted into the circle from the dark part of the woods, his swords exploding into his hands in a crack and a flash of black light. “What is it?” he directed his question at Eric, as if he were Rohan’s second in command.

  “I don’t know.” Eric was circling the campfire, staring out into the jungle that surrounded them.

  Movement behind him caught Jordyn’s eye. “The sky looks lighter over to the north,” she said, trying to shade her eyes from the glow from their torches.

  Eric looked where she was pointing. “It looks like dawn over there. What the hell?”

  Together, they sprinted past the torches and into the dark jungle. Without the glare of the torches, Jordyn could see that the entire sky was lit in bright orange. “Oh, my God,” she whispered. “The night is on fire.” It looked like a billion flashes of light were cascading through the night sky, floating down over the jungle about ten miles to the west.