The Lady of Toryn Anthology (Lady of Toryn trilogy)

by Charity Santiago

  Ashlyn charged up the stairs, determined to stop the rest of the cats before they reached the ground. From the corner of her eye she saw one cat jump to the ground from the top of the wall- a risky move, considering how high the wall was- but there was nothing she could do about that now. She’d just have to leave it to FLD to deal with that one.

  Three of the cats were already departing the crow’s nest, and one began running towards her when it saw her advancing. Ashlyn jumped up onto the railing and ran up the thin beam like a tightrope, waiting until the cat was almost upon her before she launched herself into a flip, slicing cleanly through the animal’s spine in mid-air. A second cat lunged at her, and Ashlyn danced sideways, deflecting the cat’s claws with her sword. She spun in a roundhouse kick, catching the panther on the side of the head and knocking it over the railing.

  The third cat was hanging back, seemingly wary of jumping into the fray. Ashlyn yanked her knife from its sheath on her thigh and flung it sideways. The cat drew back, snarling, but didn’t move fast enough, and the knife embedded itself in the creature’s shoulder. Ashlyn didn’t give it any time for recovery, dashing towards it and leaping into a flip kick that brought the back of her boot down hard on the cat’s head.

  The black panther collapsed against the staircase, either unconscious or dead, as Ashlyn scrambled to her feet again. She jerked the knife out of the fallen creature’s shoulder, slid it back into its sheath and continued up the stairs. It hadn’t occurred to her before, but if she could get onto the wall, it might be possible for her to hold the cats off for at least a little while with her stanes. She wasn’t sure if the bears were able to climb, but she hadn’t seen any on the walls yet, so it seemed unlikely.

  A loud boom shook the crow’s nest as she entered it, and Ashlyn grabbed the railing for support. The vibration had shaken the entire city. Kou’s army was trying to break down the gates. Ashlyn looked over her shoulder, and breathed a sigh of relief as she saw the Toryn army advancing. Skye and Restlyn were already shouting orders to the troops, readying themselves to intercept any cats that jumped down from the walls and defend themselves if the rest of the monsters did manage to break through the gate.

  She turned back to the wall, and steadied herself before taking a running leap. She jumped up onto the crow’s nest railing and used it to launch herself into the air.

  She landed on top of the wall just as another impact shook the heavy wood slats. Ashlyn lost her grip and slid off the opposite side, but managed to catch herself before she fell off by stabbing the knife into the wall for purchase. Grunting from the effort, she dragged herself back over the edge, taking a moment as she regained her balance to look down at the army outside Toryn.

  There were perhaps forty creatures milling about below, far more than she’d expected after the devastation of the two attacks that she had made with Skye and Drake. Most of them were bears, but there were a few snarling cats who were steadily climbing the wall. Ashlyn blasted one with fire, and smiled in grim satisfaction as the panther fell to the ground. She didn’t typically take pleasure in hurting others, but after watching what they had done to her father, she couldn’t bring herself to feel an ounce of sympathy for these monsters.

  The bears were hurling their bodies at the gates in pairs- a surprisingly organized move- and Ashlyn could see that the already-weakened wooden gates would not hold up much longer. She pondered freezing the gates to add some additional protection, but before she could make a decision, she saw a cat pull itself up onto the wall a few feet away. Several yards down, another cat was nearing the top.

  Ashlyn ran towards the first panther, jumped over a swipe from the big cat and threw a punch that landed in the middle of its bony forehead. Ashlyn’s hand smarted from the impact, but she gritted her teeth and followed up with a crane kick, her foot connecting solidly with the animal’s lower jaw. The cat growled and shook its head before charging. Caught off-guard, Ashlyn managed to collect herself enough to leap up, dancing down the panther’s back and landing on the opposite side. Her last step, with her foot at the base of the cat’s spine, threw the animal off-balance, and it fell off the inside edge of the wall. Ashlyn couldn’t stop to watch its descent, sprinting towards the next panther. When she got close enough, she leaped into a spinning attack, the shuriken in one hand and her sword in the other.

  The cat never had a chance.

  As its body fell to the ground below, Ashlyn crouched on top of the wall, trying to keep her balance as the bears continued their assault on the city gates. Amidst the writhing bodies below, she saw Kou- unshifted and in human form. How were the shift monsters not attacking him? Did he have that much control over his army, even when they were in animal form?

  The wall shook again beneath her, and there was the sound of splintering wood. The bears had broken the gates.

  Clearly she wasn’t going to do any more good up here. She stood and ran back towards the crow’s nest.

  Hopping from the wall into the crow’s nest was much easier than jumping up had been, and Ashlyn sprinted down the stairs, trying to take stock of what was going on below her as she ran. The Toryn army greatly outnumbered the shift monsters, but she knew not to count on numbers as a match for experience. She saw the flash of Skye’s sword in the front lines, and tried to pick out some of the other members of FLD from the masses, but couldn’t find anyone else.

  At the bottom of the stairs, a Toryn soldier was trying to cut down a bear with his katana. Ashlyn took the opportunity to use the railing as a vault, landing on the bear’s back and driving her sword deep into its neck. The big animal shuddered and roared, but fell to the ground beneath her. Ashlyn nodded to the soldier and rushed towards the next creature she saw. She wanted to find Kou, but it would be almost impossible to pick him out from everyone here, and the next best thing would be to rid Toryn of as many of these monsters as she could.

  “Princess!” Vargo appeared beside her. Blood spattered the side of his face, and the sleeve of his jacket was torn, but he grinned at her, clearly in his element in the midst of battle.

  “Spartan!” she shot back, ridiculously happy to see him. She ducked under his arm as he swung his baton at the bear behind her, turning as she did and sending an ice spell straight up the bear’s nose, freezing its muzzle. The creature howled and fell backwards, pawing at its muzzle in agony.

  A flash of black hair in the sunlight caught her eye, and Ashlyn straightened up, trying to peer through the crowds, aware that her Toryn soldiers were all wearing head coverings. She glimpsed Kou, fighting his way through the throngs of soldiers- and moving away from her. Where was he going? Ashlyn shoved past two soldiers and ran after him. She leaped over a fallen bear and detoured around a pair of soldiers battling a panther, frowning as she realized that Kou seemed to be headed for her house. What could he possibly want from there? Maybe Tag was still in the basement? Was Kou trying to pull off a rescue?

  Kou shoved the door to her house so hard that it almost fell off its tracks, and disappeared inside. Ashlyn hesitated, wondering if she should take somebody in with her, and Vargo ran into her from behind.

  “What the hell are you doing?” he demanded. “Party’s out here.”

  “Kou’s in my house,” she explained breathlessly, and glanced back. To her extreme delight, there didn’t seem to be many monsters left. Could Toryn be winning? This might be our chance to destroy the shift army once and for all, she thought, and motioned to Vargo to follow her. “We’ve got to catch him before he escapes.”

  She entered the house cautiously, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness inside. The door leading to the basement was wide open, so Ashlyn tiptoed over to it, careful not to make a sound. The distinctive sound of a squeaking metal gate reached her ears. She’d been right- Kou was trying to free Tag.

  Ashlyn crept down the stairs, knife and shuriken at the ready. It was perfectly dark downstairs, and she paused, wondering if maybe she and Vargo shouldn’t wait for Skye.

  Something
grazed against her legs, like a cord of some kind, and abruptly her knees were pulled together before something hard smacked against her calf.

  “Look out!” Ashlyn cried, losing her balance and tumbling down the stairs. The weapons skittered out of her hands as she landed, and she smacked her head hard against the stone floor, dizzying her for a moment. The lights came on immediately, and Kou stood above her, a second bola in his hand. He snatched the knife from its sheath on her thigh, but stumbled forward when Vargo hit him in the back with the baton. He recovered quickly, diving out of the way before Vargo could land a second blow.

  Her head swimming, Ashlyn fumbled clumsily with the bola around her legs, trying to untangle the leather cord that had her restrained. Kou was swinging the second bola above his head now, preparing to use it as a close combat weapon. He and Vargo circled each other like two wild animals waiting to pounce. In the corner, Ashlyn saw Tag fumbling with his armlet. He glanced at her, and his eyes suddenly began to glow green.

  She realized that Tag was going to transform right now, and she twisted, looking around for her weapons. Her sword was all the way on the other side of the room, but the shuriken was pretty close- maybe close enough for her to crawl to.

  Tag began to scream as he shifted, the same primal howl that she had heard that first time, in this same basement. Trying to ignore the throbbing ache in her head and sudden nausea, Ashlyn rolled over on her stomach and inched towards the shuriken.

  Kou swung the bola at Vargo, and the Spartan ducked forward, striking cleanly at the base of the Toryn man’s skull with the baton. Kou dropped into a somersault, putting some distance between himself and the red-haired man. Vargo advanced, trying to maintain his aggressive advantage, but Kou managed to swing the bola again and wrap the cord around Vargo’s baton. Kou jerked hard, yanking the baton out of Vargo’s hands and smashing it against the wall behind him.

  Ashlyn reached the shuriken and snatched it up, rolling onto her back again and trying to use the blades to saw through the bola cord. The cord was wrapped so tightly around her legs that it was hard to find an angle where she could cut the cord and not herself, but she managed to get through one strand, although the bola still didn’t budge.

  A shadow fell over her, and Ashlyn looked up to see Tag looming above her, saliva dripping from his muzzle. Her legs were still trapped. She had no way to escape.

  Tag snarled and raised up on his hind legs briefly, intending to come down and crush her with his front paws. Ashlyn quickly rolled out of the way, moving until she hit the opposite wall, and then scrambled into a sitting position. Please, please, please! She sawed at the bola cord, willing something to give so she could free her legs.

  The Tag-beast lumbered towards her, and Ashlyn knew there was no way she was going to cut the cord in time. She readied herself to throw the shuriken, racking her brain for all the different possible angles for a death blow.

  Vargo suddenly leaped in front of her and launched himself at Tag- completely unarmed and barely half the size of the shift monster, Ashlyn realized in horror. Vargo and Tag tumbled backwards, with Vargo ending up on top and raining punches down on the surprised creature.

  She flexed the muscles in her legs on sheer adrenaline and desperation, forcing her calves apart just enough to slide one of the shuriken’s blades beneath the cord. Glancing up, she saw Kou coming for her. Crap! The cord gave at the last moment, and she rolled aside as the bola in Kou’s hands smashed into the wall where her head had been.

  She spun and leaped up, using her momentum to spin into a butterfly kick, one hand on the floor as she drove at Kou with her legs. He leaped backwards, but Ashlyn followed the move with a twist kick, spinning forward twice in a complete five hundred and forty degree rotation, her legs lashing out with the motion. The second kick connected, and Kou fell to the floor, dropping the knife. Ashlyn turned, ready to throw the shuriken at Tag, but Kou’s bola wrapped around her weapon, yanking it out of her hands.

  She turned again, but Kou was already moving up the stairs, and just then Vargo screamed behind her. Ashlyn froze, unsure of what to do. Vargo screamed again.

  She spun and ran towards Tag, scooping up her knife from the floor as she did. The beast was on top of Vargo, ripping and tearing, and the cries coming from Vargo were turning into terrifyingly weak gurgles. Ashlyn drove her knife into the bear’s fur, as close to his head as she could get. Tag shuddered and rose up on his hind legs, knocking her backwards. Ashlyn managed to catch herself with one hand and rushed forward again, stabbing blindly into the mass of fur. Tag batted her aside with one paw, sending her crashing into the wall.

  If he’d decided to attack again, she might not have been able to fend him off, but for whatever reason, Tag decided to run, dashing up the stairs after Kou.

  The room was spinning around her, but Ashlyn fell forward, clambering across the floor on her hands and knees to Vargo. The sight was horrifying. He was gasping for air and sobbing openly, blood bubbling from his mouth as he coughed. His arms and stomach were shredded so badly that Ashlyn couldn’t tell what was clothing and what was flesh.

  Why had she switched out the heal stane from her armlet? Why had she let Kou take her shuriken? Ashlyn silently cursed her stupidity.

  “Ashlyn,” Vargo gasped, and his hand clutched blindly for hers. She took it, trying to think of what to do.

  “I’ve got to get help,” she told him. “You’ve gotta wait here, okay?”

  “No!” His hand clamped down even harder on her fingers. “Don’t leave me. Don’t…hell.” He coughed wetly, hacking up blood. “Don’t you…don’t you dare leave me here alone.”

  Ashlyn’s eyes fell on his armlet, revealed now that his sleeves had been torn off. The armlet was smeared with blood, but she could still see flecks of green from the heal stane beneath.

  “Hang on,” she said, scrabbling with her free hand for the stane. “Just stay still.” The gem popped out of the armlet, and Ashlyn closed her eyes, praying as hard as she could for Drago’s guidance as the stane began to glow in her hand.

  Chapter 7

  If Not For You

  “Ashlyn.”

  She bolted upright, teetering in her chair, face numb from being smushed up against a book. “What?” Her sleep-blurred gaze fell on Drake standing in the doorway.

  He stepped into the room, moving further into the lamplight, and she noticed that his hair was wet. Hers was still slightly damp from her bath the night before, and Ashlyn ran a hand over her hair self-consciously, remembering that it was still jagged and unkempt from Skye’s hurried chop job back in the forest. Before that, it had hung nearly to her waist, but now the longest strands of her ponytail barely reached her shoulders.

  “How is he?” she asked Drake. The vampire had been working through the night, trying to heal Vargo’s injuries.

  Despite her lack of skill with heal and her trepidation over using it on injuries so extensive, Ashlyn had done her best to fix the worst of his wounds, starting with his midsection, which was torn open and gushing blood. She’d managed to knit his stomach together, staunching the worst of the blood flow as Vargo drifted in and out of consciousness.

  The battle outside had ended quickly, with the Toryn army emerging triumphant and only a few of the shift monsters escaping- Kou and Tag included. Drake had found Ashlyn shortly after, and begun ministrations of his own on Vargo, but as he had tersely explained to Ashlyn, the other man’s injuries were so severe, and his insides such a mess, that Drake’s main goal was simply to keep him alive. Healing Vargo completely was out of the question.

  “He’ll make it,” Drake answered, and sank into the chair opposite her.

  Ashlyn felt a rush of relief and gratitude- for Drake and for Vargo, who had undeniably saved her life. “Is he awake?”

  Drake shook his head. “He’ll be asleep for at least another hour. He lost a great deal of blood. He did…request your presence several times last night. I think perhaps you should see him when he wakes.” He shif
ted in his chair, leaning forward and looking curiously at the book that lay open in front of Ashlyn.

  “Oh.” She shrugged, lifting the book so he could see its title. “I didn’t think I’d be able to sleep…guess I was wrong about that…so I came here to do some research on Toryn customs. I’m still looking to see what the rules are for the Elder Heir selecting a successor.”

  The vampire’s eyebrows knitted. “Still running from your destiny?”

  No, just trying to take my mind off Vargo. “Not really,” she said. “I think I’m pretty much resigned to it now. But I don’t want a situation like this- this war- to start all over again if something should happen to me down the line. I’ll need to choose someone I trust to take over if I happen to die in, I don’t know, a freak accident or something. I was thinking Skye, but I’m…well, I’m having a hard time finding anything about non-Toryns assuming leadership.” She wiped at her cheek with one hand, smiling humorlessly. “It’d probably help some if I didn’t fall asleep while reading. It’s like grade school all over again.”

  Drake smiled back at her, and something in his expression was almost tender. “You’re entitled to some rest, Ashlyn.”

  “You’re one to talk. When was the last time you slept?” She knew the answer to that already. He’d lain beside her in the cave, holding her as she slept. The memory brought a blush to her cheeks.

  “You were talking in your sleep,” Drake said, ignoring her question completely.

  “Was I? I was dreaming.” She yawned, stretching her hands above her head. “I keep thinking about this painting I saw in the Eastern City mansion. It’s been years since I even looked at it, but for some reason I can’t get it out of my head.”