Now they were taking that from her, and she was furious!
“Ceras.” Kyra’s voice broke through the pain as the pulling of the fingernail stopped. “I ask you once again. How did you locate Ardenn all those years ago and secure her freedom?”
Heaving her breaths but refusing to gasp, Ceras cracked open her eyes and glared at the humanoid. “For some reason...” she took a breath, “I don’t expect you to understand.” She cocked her head up at the machine, blew her disheveled red hair from her bloodied face, then smiled.
Kyra arched an elegant brow then she nodded to the other guards, and they resumed pulling Ceras’s fingernail from her finger.
Ceras ground down her teeth, strained against her restraints, and finally screamed.
In a corridor, Vixen skidded to a stop when she heard the scream. Her stomach sank at the sound. “Lyston, where exactly is Ceras?” She hoped—in some way—that the cries she heard were not Ceras’, but she already knew she was wrong.
“Keep going forward. Take a right, and it’s two doors down on the right.”
Nodding, Vixen followed Lyston’s instructions, staying close to the wall as she moved. She didn’t know what she would find when she finally located Ceras, but she guessed it would be awful. As an assassin, both of them had seen gruesome deeds, but Vixen had been out of that field for so long that she now found she loathed the thought of it.
“Vix, wait—who’s that with you?” Lyston’s voice came just as she rounded the corner, and Vixen halted at the sight of the individual who waited in front of the door Lyston had directed her to.
“Lorrek.” Vixen greeted him as he took in the sight of her.
Meanwhile back in the room where Lyston had set up, Aden, Lyston, and Tobias all straightened. “Lorrek?!” They asked at the same time.
Aden had enough. “That’s it. Vixen, I’m coming. Whatever you do, don’t engage him in a fight!” He unsheathed his katanas and moved to leave, but Tobias grabbed him by the shoulder and held him back.
When Aden gave his young charge a stern glare, Tobias smiled in his charming way. “Don’t think you should go, boss—with that prediction and all.” He unsheathed his twin sais. “I’ve got this.”
Aden gave Tobias a look. The younger thief used mischief and confusion, and often Aden had little use for this except for the occasional distraction. To think Tobias intended to take on Lorrek himself—Aden shook his head. “We’ll go together.” But Tobias pushed him back.
“I’ve got this. Don’t worry. Vix is safe with me.” He looked back at Lyston. “Keep Aden busy here. No need to help that prophesy along.” With that, he squeezed between Aden’s shoulder and made his way out the door.
“Tobias.”
The younger man groaned, lifted his eyes to the ceiling, but walked backwards a few steps to Aden. “I know, I know—don’t do anything stupid.”
Aden lifted his brows but then reached into his pocket. Withdrawing his hand, he opened his palm to reveal three smoky pearls. As Tobias delicately took them, he explained, “I found them on the floor when Mel’Nath took us to where they took Ceras and Ardenn. Ceras must have broken her necklace as she tried to get free. Give them to her when you see her. She may have a use for them. Remember, be careful. If you break them, it’ll release the poison inside.”
“And you’re trusting me with this?” Tobias raised his brows but slipped the pearls into a pocket then smirked at Aden. Without a farewell, he turned and jogged to the nearest lift to find Vixen.
Back in the corridor outside the cell where Ceras was being kept, Vixen overheard Tobias’ exchange with Aden. Although she didn’t like the idea of the troublemaker being the one to come to her aid, she preferred some help rather than none, so she decided to stall Lorrek.
She looked him in the eye. “Why do you want to kill me?”
No emotion flickered across his face as he stared down at her.
When he failed to answer, she gathered her breath then pressed her lips together and shook her head. “Don’t you remember anything? Don’t you know who I am?” She searched his eyes for any indication of remembrance, but his soul remained dark. “We worked together. You gave me this vest!” She gestured to the bladed vest she wore then looked back up at his eyes. “I married your cousin, Loroth. We are family!”
Hesitation stirred in Lorrek. He didn’t know what to think of this revelation, but he sensed no lie. Still, he didn’t remember. He couldn’t know for certain because he didn’t remember, and the only way to recall his memories was to kill Vixen.
Lorrek shook his head—uncertainty darkening his eyes. In a soft voice, he confessed, “I don’t remember.”
“I’ll help you remember.” Vixen reached up to cup his face with her hand, but her eyes widened when her hand passed through him. She looked at her hand then at his face, startled.
The fear in her eyes reignited Lorrek’s determination, and he stepped toward her, towering over her. She stepped back, hands already unsheathing several blades—not that Lorrek was concerned about them. He stared into her soul. “I may remember nothing of my past, but I do know magic, and I know only the one who took my memories can retrieve them for me once more.”
“Even if that means killing me?” Vixen lowered her stance, ready to fight. “You will regret it.”
Suddenly, Lorrek stepped back and straightened then cocked his head to regard Vixen. A smirk spread across his features. “Well then, I suppose I could simply take you alive to King Roskelem and let him do with you what he will.”
Vixen narrowed her eyes. She had no desire to be in the presence of King Roskelem. “Well,” she stated in a dry voice, “if that’s the case, I would much rather you kill me now.” Lorrek stepped forward, but Vixen retreated to keep her distance. “However! If we must duel, and if you are to kill me, it will only happen after I free the assassin, Ceras.” She pointed to the door. “And I would very much appreciate your help.”
Lorrek looked at the door then back at Vixen. His mind was made up. “I do not negotiate with my targets.” He conjured a fiery orb by opening his hand and shot it at her.
Vixen dove out of the way, ducked, and rolled back to her feet then flung two blades at him, only to watch helplessly as they passed harmlessly through him and embedded themselves in the far wall behind him. “That won’t work.” She looked down at her hands only to find she had unsheathed more blades instinctively. She noticed Theran’s handblade on her wrist had already scaled the black gauntlet over her hand, but she had no idea why the actual blade had yet to emerge. “Maybe it knows I’m not paying attention to it.” Before she could focus on it, she realized Lorrek had shot another orb at her, and she threw herself to the side.
Rolling into a low position with her hand balancing her on the floor—poised to spring into action—Vixen watched as the blade from the bracelet finally emerged. She looked up at Lorrek with a confident smirk—only for that smirk to falter when she realized she would have to use the handblade on the man she had once considered her family.
The handblade was different from all other metal; she had witnessed its ability to absorb elements, and because Lorrek was not solid but only present in magic, she did not want to find out what the handblade would do to him.
She reached behind her back for the dagger she had hidden there—the only weapon Lorrek said could kill him. Pushing off the floor with a shout, she lunged at Lorrek as he stood casually with another orb in his hand.
He didn’t shift, or move, or even attempt to dodge her.
At the last moment—while careful to keep her handblade away from Lorrek—she twisted and used the dagger to cut Lorrek’s hand which held the orb. Crashing onto the floor close to the wall, she rolled to her feet, spun around, but stayed low to watch what the dagger may have done.
Lorrek still didn’t move.
He stared at his hand. The fiery orb extinguished in a puff of smoke when the first drops of blood came from the split skin.
He frowned and closed hi
s fist, feeling the wound. That was strange. He had no solid body. How could a blade manage to cut him? He looked over his shoulder at Vixen, who stayed in a crouched position, watching him. In her hand he noticed a blade he had not seen before, but before he had the chance to study the weapon, footsteps skidded around the corner.
“Vix!” Tobias shouted as he noted her cornered position behind Lorrek. Seeing the confident way Lorrek stood, Tobias narrowed his eyes and balanced one of his sais in his hands. “Oh, no you don’t!” He flung it at Lorrek’s back as he stood over Vixen.
“Tobias, no!” Vixen widened her eyes as she knew the blade would go straight through Lorrek and hit her instead.
Without taking his eyes off her, Lorrek lifted his injured hand toward Tobias, and the blade halted in mid-air.
Tobias’ throat ran dry as he watched an invisible force take and twist the sai back around to him, and then he looked past the weapon to Lorrek and found the sorcerer staring straight at him.
Lorrek pondered the situation. This Tobias boy had almost killed Vixen with his stupidity, and Lorrek would not allow that to happen—not when Vixen contained the key for him regaining his memory. A fire stirred in his eyes as he fixed his eyes on the young thief. With a calm voice, he spoke, “She is my kill.” With that, he flexed his hand and shot the sai back at the boy.
But Tobias had trained with his weapons since his youth and twisted in time to dodge the flying sai, and snatched it out of the air by the handle and kept spinning with the momentum to throw it back at Lorrek. As he came around to face Lorrek once more, a huge fiery orb blasted him in the chest, sending him flying down the corridor.
“Tobias!” Vixen pulled her arm back to throw Lorrek’s dagger at his back, but he vanished from sight before she could release it. She hesitated and darted her eyes here and there, waiting for him to reappear, but when he didn’t, she sheathed the weapon once again—noted how her handblade had resumed the bracelet form—and raced to Tobias, dropping to her knees beside him.
“Vixen?” Aden’s alarmed voice sounded in her ear. “What is it? What has happened?”
Vixen shook her head. “Tobias is wounded. Get help now!” Then she focused on her friend.
He winced and squirmed and held his hand over his bloodied and burnt abdomen. Grinding his teeth and making a fist, he squeezed his eyes shut as he wheezed in a breath.
Vixen reached for the wound but stopped short of touching it. Thirty-six ways of mending abdomen wounds flashed through her mind as part of her training as an assassin, but this was beyond her ability to heal. She swallowed and looked at his face, placing a hand on his shoulder and pushing him carefully onto his back. “Relax. Sit still. Stay calm. Help is coming.”
And then she did what she always did when faced with an emergency, except that usually she made contact with Loroth or Lorrek. With neither one of them an option now, she hoped she could still be heard in the magic realm and called for the only other magic user she had any connection with. “Papa!”
Praying her father would appear at any moment, Vixen focused on Tobias and took his hand in hers. She didn’t know what to say—didn’t know what to do. A knot in her chest tightened, and she wanted to cry, but she refused to do that in front of him. Tobias was like a little brother to her. She needed to be strong for him, so she gifted him with a small smile. “Just hold on. You know how much I hate it when you disobey me.” She tried to give him a hard look, and he laughed then coughed.
He gave her a crooked smile. “Guess I was stupid...”
“No, no, Tobias.” Vixen shook her head and swallowed the lump in her throat. “You were very brave.”
“Stupid.” He insisted but still smiled—a pained smile. “But maybe a little brave.” He stiffened with pain and gasped for breath.
“Tobias.” Aden’s stern voice came over the comm, and Tobias winced.
“I hear ya, boss.”
“Hang on. I’m on my way.”
“And Lyston?” Vixen interjected.
“I’m here,” Lyston joined in but clicked his tongue as if disappointed.
“He had to stay back to keep security distracted and grant us the access we need to get Tobias to help,” Aden explained.
Tobias tried to chuckle but grimaced and dipped his chin down as he struggled to breathe. Vixen gripped his hand to act as his anchor, and once the pain subsided, he leaned his head back against the floor. “No need to worry, Ade. Had worse.”
“Vix?”
Vixen shook her head at Aden’s unspoken question. “It’s bad, Aden.” Looking back at the wound, she reflected on how Tobias had survived being shot by arrows, stabbed, tossed off balconies, and numerous broken bones, but this was different.
A scream from the cell where Ceras was being held yanked Vixen’s attention over her shoulder to the door, and she glared—unknowingly tightening her grip on Tobias’ hand.
“Vix...Vix...” His pained voice drew her gaze back to him, and she realized what she was doing to his hand.
“Oh, sorry.” She loosened her grip but still glanced back over her shoulder then back at Tobias and slumped her shoulders, bowing her head helplessly.
Tobias shifted, gasping sharply when he moved, but finally he reached into his pocket and pulled out the pearls Aden had given him and held them out for Vixen to see. He nodded to the door. “Go—Ceras is in trouble.”
“So are you!” Vixen glared at him, but he chuckled weakly.
“I’m not going anywhere.” He gave her a small smile. “So go...” Another scream tore through the air, and he pushed Vixen away. “Go!”
Having fallen back on her hands, Vixen stared at him and wondered when Tobias had grown up. He was always the troublemaker and the jokester of their band of thieves. Somehow early on, Kilroth had assumed the role of guardian for him, but when Kilroth was preoccupied, Aden and Vixen shared that role. Often they spoke of how annoying he was and how much trouble he caused, and Tobias always accepted it with a laugh and another prank. They could never deny his worth as a thief because his distractions often worked in his favor.
Now Vixen felt awful for the time they had belittled him. She wanted to tell him so much—how proud she was of him, and how he really was a great man, but Ceras’s scream tore at her conscience, and she knew she had to act.
Pressing her lips together into a determined line, Vixen pushed herself to her feet. “Don’t move.” She glared down at him, and he smirked up at her through the pain.
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” He nodded, and she took the pearls from his hands, placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezed then turned to leave. “Hey, Vix?” His voice—now softer and weak—caused her to look back at him, and he gave her another small smile. “Missed you, you know. Missed working with you.”
“I’m glad I came back.” She smiled back at him.
He nodded then jutted his chin toward the door and rested his head back down on the floor. His eyes stared in a daze at the bright ceiling. “Save Ceras.”
Reluctant to leave him but knowing it was what he wanted, Vixen took a deep breath, clutched the pearls in her hands, and hurried to the door. Recalling what Aden had said about Lyston, she brought her hand to her ear. “Lyston, the door—open it!”
“On it.”
After a moment the door unlocked with a click then slid open, but Vixen stayed in the threshold with one hand gripping a pearl. “Ceras, your pearls!” Pinching a pearl until it broke in her hand, Vixen threw it into the room and hastened back. “Lyston, the door. Shut it now!” It shut in her face, and Vixen heard coughing and gasping sounds then pounding on the door.
Hoping Ceras’s immune system was still strong against her own poison, Vixen cast Tobias a glance to find him utterly still on the floor except for the shallow breathing of his chest—still alive.
Finally, the sounds behind the door stopped, and Vixen allowed herself to exhale. “All right, Ly, open it.”
It opened at her command, and Kyra stood there, completely unaffected by t
he poison. At her feet were the bodies of the guards who had been in the room and had clawed at the door when the poison filled the air.
When Vixen saw Kyra, she stepped back into a fighting stance.
The humanoid cocked her head, examining the threat. Kyra narrowed her eyes when she determined Vixen was the only potential danger in the corridor. “It was unwise of you to interrupt my interrogation.”
“Vix.” Tobias’ pained whisper caught her attention, and although the last thing Vixen wanted to do was take her eyes off Kyra, she risked a look at her friend, who slid one of his sais across the floor to her then gave her a weak smile. “I know you don’t need it...” He grimaced but still tried to smile. “But do me the honors, would ya?”
Nodding, Vixen maneuvered in the hall in such a way as to retrieve the sai without turning her back on the humanoid, who had now ventured further into the hall. “Ceras...” Vixen narrowed her eyes at the machine. “Is she still alive?”
“She continues to function, yes.”
“Good.” Vixen smirked then fixed her eyes on the humanoid, looking for any weakness. As much as she enjoyed a good fight, she didn’t feel that she had time for a lengthy one. Tobias was barely alive, and she had no way of knowing Ceras’ true condition.
Lowering her stance, Vixen swirled Tobias’ sai, and in that moment she realized her handblade had activated again into the gauntlet form. When she noticed this, the sword slid out of the bracelet form. Looking at both her weapons, Vixen smiled and glanced at Kyra to see how she would defend herself.
The humanoid watched, unimpressed. “A simple blade will not deactivate me.”
Vixen cocked a brow then held up her gauntleted hand with the dark bladed sword on the back of her hand. “This is no simple sword.” She dove at Kyra.
The Chronicles of Lorrek Box Set Page 63