by Dianna Love
That did nothing to slow her erratic heartbeat.
Sounds picked up and gained strength.
Something large and noisy ran through the woods making too much racket to be a natural predator.
Branches cracked and the ground shuddered.
Casidhe reached over her shoulder and gripped the hilt of her sword. She yanked. The sword did not move. “Damn. Come on, brat!”
She yanked again and dragged the sword out this time.
With a double-handed grip, she moved forward, turning the blade back and forth to warm up her wrists. She continued slowly toward the noise, which continued to grow louder. Better to face the enemy than have it come at her from behind.
Now it sounded like two coming.
But two of what?
Ah shit. She sorted out the sounds of two threats on her left and one off to her right.
That meant getting caught with one threat at her back.
Palms damp and breath coming in sharp inhales, she clamped her jaw tight and prepared for attack. The only way she'd survived last night had been with the stranger having a sword.
She had chopped off two heads. Three, actually.
But who was counting?
This would be easier without the backpack, but she couldn’t risk taking it off and losing the contents. Her heart hadn’t received her earlier confidence pep talk and urged her to panic.
Crashing sounds sounded like elephants coming through.
She had training.
Not for bright yellow monsters or demons, but she could do this.
Far over to her left, a hideous glowing beast running on all fours burst through thick undergrowth. Horns protruded from each side of its bald head, all of it shining bright yellow. Unholy human eyes stared at her. Black hair grew down its chest. It howled insanely.
What was that thing?
She planted both feet. I can do this. I can do this.
Another beast clawed through a stand of small trees on her right, knocking two over. Tall, bony, and with a bush of white hair standing like a mohawk that ran down his back, it raged and screamed. The only similarity between the two was that distinctive yellow.
She couldn’t fight on both fronts at once.
She didn’t have a choice and the odds were not in her favor.
She hoped Fenella had made it to safety.
The first beast rushed her. She swung back and forth, trying to gash its thick hide. The crazed thing swiped a sharp claw at her. She dodged, slashing and chopping as fast as she could. She made contact.
The beast lost a limb and wailed.
Blaring noises erupted behind her.
She flinched at the idea of being ripped apart from behind, but the now three-legged beast she fought jumped at her again. Swinging her blade on a horizontal arc, she put her shoulder into it.
Her sword slammed the body, jarring her teeth, but the blade buried deep. The beast lurched to the side, yanking her with him. She landed on top of the sprawling body, flinching. She expected the claws to gouge her, but this thing was dead.
Blood gushed from her strike.
Had she hit its heart?
Did it have one?
She leaped up, yanking her blade free and wanting to cheer in victory, but a demon followed this one out of the forest.
Lifting her sword, she swung it shoulder height horizontally. The sharp edge whisked through muscle and bone, lopping off head number four.
She’d have to start putting notches in her sheath at this rate.
Breathing hard, she backed up and bumped into something.
Another yellow being!
She shrieked and brought her sword around in a wide sweep for the kill.
Chapter 17
Daegan bumped into Luigsech from where he’d been protecting her back from an Imortik that looked part wendigo and part demon.
Quinn shouted in his head, Watch your back!
Daegan yanked his sword up in defense, turning to meet a sword coming at him fast. The blades collided, his blocking hers from a vicious wound. His sword had been known to break an opponent’s weapon, but not the sword she held.
It sizzled with energy.
The clash of metal on metal boomed in a loud clang.
Her sword bounced off his.
She still held on and kept her balance in spite of that heavy pack on her back.
They both held mighty weapons, but he had a hundred pounds of muscle on this little warrior.
She stared at him with glowing violet-blue eyes, heaving every breath. “What the hell? Where’d you come from?”
The only reason she hadn’t come close to decapitating him had been due to a mismatch in height.
It had nothing to do with restraint on her part. “Ya show a lack of appreciation when I just saved your life.” He glanced at Quinn to confirm his Maistir had finished off another glowing troll sixty feet away. Satisfied Quinn was safe, Daegan took in Luigsech.
Her eyes blazed with fire and fear. An odd mixture for those unusual blue eyes. She kept breathing as if she’d been running for the past five miles that he and Quinn had been tracking her.
After having given Daegan a slice of her attention and quick berating, she leaned to stare past him.
Daegan turned to follow her line of sight.
Her gaze turned down to take in the no-longer-glowing body he’d slashed in half after Quinn had used kinetics to knock the troll-Imortik off its feet.
She hadn’t lowered her sword an inch. “Or maybe you’re the reason I keep bein’ attacked.”
He couldn’t deny that since she’d struck the truth of it. “Ya clearly expected to defend yourself or ya would not have carried that sword.”
“Well, we can’t all conjure one out of thin air,” she snapped back. “Now what are you doin’ stalkin’ me again?”
Daegan sent Quinn a silent message. Stand back and allow me to deal with this woman.
Quinn nodded, probably thinking that meant Daegan understood her.
Not a bit.
She’d taken off all alone through this forest after Imortiks had attacked her at home last night. She swung that damn sword without looking to see what she attacked and had a penchant for separating heads from bodies.
Daegan didn’t understand anything about her.
He just needed Quinn a safe distance away while he attempted to talk to her without having to raise his sword again.
When she continued to stare in silence, Daegan ignored her demand of why he was here. “Ya sure are hell on a head.” He hadn’t meant to sound impressed, but ... damn, he was.
She lowered her sword, but kept it at ready. “Says the man who just cut off a head,” she challenged with an eyebrow cocked at the Imortik behind him.
“I never said decapitation ’twas not good use of a sword, but ya would have cut off mine had ya stood another foot taller.”
“I can remove your head just fine from here if I’d wanted to, buster,” she countered, too smug for her own good. Her arms trembled, likely from adrenaline overload. “Why are you followin’ me, intruder-with-no-name?”
“I made it clear last night ya were to go nowhere without me until I found Cavan.”
“And I made it clear I don’t take orders from you. Besides, looks like you found your friend.” She angled her head in Quinn’s direction.
“He is a friend, but not the one captured,” Daegan cleared up.
“Does he have a name or is he another nobody like you?” she snapped.
Had Quinn coughed to catch his attention?
Daegan turned a glare on his Maistir, who showed no expression as he stood quietly. Except his eyes. Quinn found something amusing.
Sighing, Daegan returned to the woman who had escaped him more times than he wished to count. She was harder to keep in one place than a flea on a dog’s back. “His name is Quinn. Ya may call me Drake. We know ya are Casidhe Luigsech. I still must find Cavan. Every second ya waste, our friend is bein’ tortured.”
&n
bsp; Guilt spread across her face. “You can’t know that and it’s not my fault he got captured. Had you not brought him with you to stalk me, he might be just fine.”
Daegan silently admitted her point. “I did not accuse ya of such, but ya are my only connection to Cavan. Did ya meet him this mornin’?”
“No. He never showed.”
“Are ya not worried he may harm your friend, Fenella, and make her endure his anger at ya leavin’?”
“How do you know Fenella?” She lifted her sword a little higher while her gaze darted between him and Quinn.
“Put your sword down, woman. I do not know Fenella, only that she works at the same place as ya. We are no threat to your friend, but ya must know Cavan is if ya cross him.” Daegan stabbed his sword in the ground in a show of peace. He hoped she didn’t take advantage of the move to prove she could reach his neck with her blade.
She pointed her sword at the Imortik bodies. “First, what are these creatures?”
Quinn stepped forward, speaking as he walked. “They are known as Imortiks. They take over bodies of human and supernatural beings. They can be killed ... sometimes.”
“What do you mean by sometimes?” She pinned Quinn with a suspicious look. “Looks as though we killed them last night and today.”
Quinn expanded, “It depends on the power level of the bein’ whose body the Imortik takes over and if they have completed their immersion into the new body. Once they’ve had time to fully bond with the power in a supernatural body, or if they manage to take over a very powerful being, killin’ the Imortik becomes questionable.” He kept his arms slack at his sides in a nonthreatening way, but Quinn had kinetic power as well as mind lock.
“What are you two?” She kept dividing her attention between Quinn and Daegan.
“’Tis a good question for ya,” Daegan countered.
She shifted her shoulders in an attempted shrug. “I’m just me. Nothing special.”
Daegan snorted at that lie. “I will not waste time pursuin’ the truth with someone so loosely associated with it.”
It took her a minute to realize he’d insulted her. She bared her teeth. “You’re not winnin’ any points with that attitude, Drake.” She waved her sword at him for emphasis.
He lifted a hand. “Put that bloody sword down or sheath it before ya fall and cut yourself.”
She stepped back, mouth open, then snapped it shut. Her face flushed red and she yelled, “Arm yourself.”
“What?”
She attacked.
His sword flew to his hand. He moved to block her strike.
“I’m sick to death—” Clang. “—of your arrogant attitude.” She swung back and forth, attacking with surprising skill.
Quinn crossed his arms. He sent mind-to-mind, Do you want any help?
Of course not, Daegan groused silently. This woman is a constant battle, but she needs to realize she cannot defeat me.
Battling to stop her and not kill her, he shouted, “Are ya mad?”
Luigsech never slowed. “Damn right, I’m mad. Who do you ... think you are to insult me?” Clang, clang, clang. She spun away, chest heaving and mouth pinched in a tight line. “Why should I give you any help? You’re in my way and I have my own—” She attacked again. Clang. Dodge. Clang. “—issues with Cavan.”
She blinked.
Daegan moved so fast she stumbled forward with the momentum of her swing.
Spinning around with her blasted sword up, she seethed, staring at the spot he’d left empty. She didn’t ask how he’d moved so quickly.
Neither would Daegan admit he’d teleported just to end the fight. “Enough! ’Tis time to talk.”
“First you insult my skill with a sword, then you want to talk?”
Quinn sent a comment to Daegan only. She’d make a helluva Belador warrior.
Daegan shot him a hard glare. Shaking his head, he got down to why he’d tracked her to this point. “Ya waste valuable time. Why did ya leave without meetin’ with Cavan?”
When she wouldn’t give in, Daegan stabbed his sword in the ground once more and shot her a glare of warning. “I will not lift my sword again. If ya wound me this time, ya will be attackin’ an unarmed man.” He crossed his arms, waiting.
She lowered her blade to the ground. “I didn’t see Cavan, because he never showed up.”
“Then where were you going just now?” Quinn asked.
She gave Quinn a long look. “I was not on my way to meet with Cavan, if that’s what you’re thinkin’.”
“Answer the question,” Daegan ordered. “You’re playin’ games with someone’s life.”
Her jaw dropped. “What is it with you blamin’ me for what Cavan did? I told you he was comin’ to the centre this mornin’. He didn’t. Clearly he lied to me. Am I worried about Fenella? Yes, dammit. So if we’re placin’ blame, you’re puttin’ her life in danger until I find her. What gives you the right to keep bustin’ into my world all the time?”
Daegan took a step toward her and dropped his voice. “When I saw ya talkin’ to Cavan before he captured my friend, ’tis what.”
Quinn cleared his throat. “Do you think Cavan has Fenella?”
Daegan shifted to him, realizing Quinn had a point. When he turned back to the woman, her face fell.
“To be honest, I don’t know.” She squatted to wipe her blade off on the troll body, wrinkled her nose, then stood. She slid the blade into a hidden compartment between her back and the lopsided backpack.
“So now you’re bein’ honest?” Daegan couldn’t help himself. He should have found Tristan last night, and might have, if not for her dancing around his questions.
Using both hands to push wild auburn locks that had escaped her long braid off her face, she glared at him. “I’m also pretty damn tired of you callin’ me a liar.”
Daegan leaned closer to her and growled, “Then stop avoidin’ the truth.”
She closed the distance to him, nose to chin. “I am tellin’ the truth, buster!”
Quinn cleared his throat. “Perhaps we should continue moving away from this spot in case we’re close to a rift. We all have questions and this may not be the best place to talk.” He sent a silent message to Daegan. Maybe if we get her to another spot away from these bodies and try befriending her, she’ll be more willing to talk.
It would surprise me based on what I have seen of her, but I am willin’ to try anythin’ to find Cavan.
I agree.
She stepped back. “What rift?” Her gaze jumped everywhere as if searching for a hole releasing Imortiks.
Staring up at the tall trees, Daegan begged for patience. He lowered his head. “Quinn, would ya lead her away from here? Head north while I deal with these bodies, then I’ll catch up to ya.”
“What are you goin’ to do?” She eyed him suspiciously.
Bloody woman! Asking questions when she should be giving answers. “Do not expect me to explain my every action to ya.” Dipping his head down he glowered at her. “Get movin’.”
After a moment of silent debate and muttering to herself, she snapped, “Let’s get somethin’ clear. Do not expect me to explain my every action to you either. I’m not movin’ because you told me, but because I’d like to talk to your friend, who sounds far more reasonable than you.”
She turned to Quinn. “Lead the way.”
With a look of surprise at her order, Quinn turned and waited for her to fall into step with him.
As they walked, she asked, “Where are these Imortiks coming from?”
Daegan could still feel the heat of her body from when she stood so close to him. He had an urge to call her back, to keep her within sight where he’d know she was safe.
Why? Quinn could protect her.
The venom had to be muddling his thoughts.
Quinn kept his voice at a level that allowed Daegan to pinpoint their placement as he explained, “Imortiks were created by majik from the original grimoire created thousands of years ago by
two beings. That same majik was used to imprison Imortiks behind what is called a death wall, but the grimoire was intact at the time. After the death wall was sealed, the grimoire was split into three volumes to be hidden by three different groups. Someone has evidently gotten their hands on one volume and activated majik from that text to create a rift, allowing Imortiks to escape.”
Luigsech’s voice went up an octave. “Who has that volume?”
Daegan watched as Quinn lifted a drooping branch out of the way for her to pass beneath, replying, “We don’t know. We also have no idea where all three were originally hidden. What we do know is that these Imortiks can take over all human bodies and those of supernatural beings.”
“Wait. All supernatural beins’?”
Quinn’s voice faded. “Yes.”
Daegan had to listen closely to catch her words. “That’s ... crazy. That rift has to be closed before more of those yellow things escape.”
Quinn had excellent negotiation skills and might manage to build a bridge with Luigsech.
When the two of them sounded far enough away, Daegan pointed a finger to torch the scattered bodies. Fires erupted on two corpses. A layer of flames three fingers tall sprouted on the others.
What the ... ?
Daegan tried it again and actually extinguished one. He glanced around. Quinn had Luigsech far enough away and Daegan heard no other approaching threats.
He called up his dragon.
Ruadh clawed, trying to break free.
Daegan’s body shuddered. A frigid chill filled his chest.
“Come on, Ruadh,” he whispered in a pained voice. His body twisted slowly. Much too slowly.
Sweat ran down Daegan’s face and back in rivers.
His head warped, trying to change shape.
The Imortik venom burned and clawed his insides along the tendrils snaking through his arms and legs.
His dragon pushed power hard through their half-shifted human form. Daegan clamped his jaws to keep from shouting from the force of the agonizingly slow change. He had not experienced this level of difficulty in shifting since his first time as a young boy.