“You do realise I only said that because I was mad. The plan is a ridiculous idea that will almost certainly get us all killed.”
His answer was cut off by the faint strains of chanting.
“They are doing the ritual already? Don’t they have to wait until we have sex? I thought that was the point? How long do they think it takes?”
“I don’t know, do you?”
“We’ve only been in here five minutes. I wouldn’t even have gotten my clothes off yet!”
I felt my cheeks go red. I knew absolutely nothing about sex—Zero. I was kinda disappointed that I wasn’t going to find out tonight.
“I guess we’ll have to wait to find out. Here, help me push this bed out of the way.”
I moved to his side and began to push as the sound of the chanting increased. The air filled with the crackling I knew to be magic. I wondered just how far the ritual could go without us doing anything to facilitate it. I guessed we would never find out. The bed moved to reveal hundreds of weapons beneath it. Someone had dug down into the earth below the bed, digging out a hole, and the carpet sagged leaving a hollow for all the weapons to fit.
“Just how many people know that we are fighting?” I asked, pulling a sword from the pile.
“That’s mine,” said a voice.
I looked up to find Basil peeking his head under the tent. I watched as he crawled through and took the sword from my hand.
“Enough,” replied Aspen, handing me a dagger to fill my now empty hand. Another head appeared from under the tent. It was Bryony. She ran towards Aspen and flung herself into his arms. He afforded her the kiss, he’d not given me.
“We don’t have time for this,” said Basil. “The Spades have been spotted. I’ve had Hawthorne stationed on the edge of the village as a lookout, and he’s just given me the signal. They’ll be here within half an hour.”
I dropped the dagger and picked up the bow and quiver of arrows I’d put down earlier.
“Right!” replied Aspen, “You girls take a bow each. Climb the tallest tree you can find and fire at anything that isn’t a Club!”
I was surprised that he wasn’t playing the macho man and demanding Bryony go hide. Although taking one look at her face and the expression of grim determination set upon it, I doubt she would have hidden, even if he had asked her to.
“Go!” he shouted. His words were almost drowned out by the chanting. Bryony ran to him and kissed him for the last time before following me back out of the tent, crawling under the canvas where she had first come through.
The tent backed up to the woods, which afforded us the cover to get away without being seen. I knew the woods well, and so did Bryony. Our knowledge would serve us well, as there was little to no light, now that we had left the clearing. Only slivers of moonlight filtered through the trees. Had it been a summer month, no light would have gotten through at all, but because many of the trees were bare, we were able to pick our way through the thick forest.
“We should probably find a tree to climb soon,” wheezed Bryony. “We will be too far from the village if we go any further.”
“Exactly. I was planning on taking us to the outer edge of the woods. The Spades will be coming from the northeast. That’s where we need to be.”
“I can’t leave Aspen! He told us to stay close.”
“Aspen will be fine. He knows what he is doing. But if Basil’s right about the Spades being here in half an hour, someone needs to protect the outer perimeter. There is no one but us. I don’t know whom else Aspen and Basil have got on board, but judging by the pile of weapons still left, we are the first to get any. It’s down to us, Bryony.”
She looked like she was about to waver for a second before nodding her head slightly.
I set off through the woods as quickly as I could in the darkness of the night. The route I took would take me to a place I knew had a crop of evergreens. The fir trees would be difficult to climb, but they were the only ones that would cover us. Although I didn’t turn my head to look, I could hear that Bryony was following me.
We reached the edge of the trees, the perimeter of our village boundary, not a moment too soon. The light of fiery torches blazed across the skyline, and the thunder of hooves was unmistakeable. The Spades were already here.
I pointed at the thickest tree I could see, signalling for Bryony to climb it, and then took the next one for myself.
I got myself into a good position and pulled out my first arrow. Archery was not a skill I’d ever had to use, so to say this would be a steep learning curve would be an understatement. I was pretty sure I was well hidden which was to my advantage. I fitted the arrow onto the bow and took aim. A Spade fell from his horse, an arrow in his chest. What the…? I’d not even pulled back on the string yet. Then I realised the arrow had come from Bryony in the next tree over. She’d got one with her first arrow. I tried to spot her in the tree, but she was so well hidden, all I could see was the flight of another arrow. This one pierced the arm of a man on foot. I heard him yell out in pain and I could see some of them scouring the woods to find out where the arrow had come from. They mustn’t have seen the trajectory of the arrow as none of them were looking upwards.
I took aim and shot my first arrow. There were a least fifty men, half of which were on horseback, but I still managed to miss completely. I quickly pulled out another arrow and shot again. This time, I took a little time on my aim and managed to fell one from his horse. By now, the spades had figured out they were under attack. A large man at the front on the tallest horse shouted an order. I didn’t hear exactly what it was, but the spades picked up speed and pelted through the woods. I’d shot every arrow I had by the time they had all disappeared into the woods, leaving four or five dead men and a couple of horses that had been left behind. When the sound of hooves had quietened, and I could see no more threat, I quickly climbed down to the ground. I checked the men to see if they were dead. I didn’t want any surprises. I’d just checked the last of them when I felt a pat on my shoulder. I turned abruptly to find Bryony with a grin on her face.
“We got them!”
“We got some of them! We need to go into the village to help the others. Do you have any arrows left?”
“No, I used them all, but look. He has some.”
I looked over to where she was pointing. She was right. One of the men we’d killed, still had a quiver full of arrows. I ran towards the body and began to pull the quiver from his shoulder.
“You won’t be needing that!” a male voice came from over my shoulder, but before I had time to turn, I was pushed to the ground, face first. I felt a foot on my back, pinning me to the ground. The smell of earth filled my nostrils, even though the ground was frozen. A scream told me that Bryony had met the same fate.
Who in Vanatus was it? I’d checked the men. They were all definitely dead. There was no one else around except the two horses. Then it dawned on me. I’d made the mistake of forgetting that Spades were shifters. The horses were Spades and had now shifted back into their human form.
“So it was you shooting at us.” The voice spoke again. “Have you seen this Equi? Two girls. Two little girls killed our men!”
“I see, Quinn,” the man called Equi replied.
“Who are you calling little girls?” I tried to sound angry rather than scared, but the effect was rather lost as I was talking to the ground. The horseman laughed and pulled me roughly to my feet. I turned to face him to give him a piece of my mind, but when I did, I saw he was naked. Completely, from head to toe, clotheless. Shifters couldn’t shift clothes. I’d forgotten about that too. I was aware that my mouth had formed a complete o shape as I took him in. At about six feet, he stood way taller than I did. His chestnut brown hair, or mane, was long and perfectly straight, reaching all the way down to his ass, not that I could see that side of him. I was having enough trouble dealing with the front side of him. His angular, chiselled face sat atop a perfect chest, ripped with perfect musculature. I�
��d never seen a man naked before, but at least one part of him had kept his horse-like proportions. It was the most ridiculous time to blush, but I could feel myself turning red at the sight of him, the way the moonlight cast deep shadows on his skin. He was the most delightful specimen of any animal I’d ever seen. Oh, Monsatsu! What was I thinking? Well, clearly, I wasn’t. I tried to take the surprised look off my face and replace it with something a tad more suitable—indignance, perhaps, or anger.
“Why are you shooting at us?” He still had an expression of amusement, but his tone conveyed anger.
“You are attacking us. Why do you think we killed them?”
“Attacking you?” he roared. “You are the ones attacking us. You killed our men.”
“In defence! It was them or us.” He had hold of my arm, gripping me so tightly that I’d be able to add to my bruise collection. Suddenly, he lessened his grip.
“What are you talking about?” He appeared genuinely confused.
“We have known for days you were going to attack us. Just so you know, we are ready for you. We have a hundred armed men in our village, waiting for you. You’ll never beat us.” Ok, it was a slight exaggeration. I didn’t know how many men Aspen had managed to round up, but I doubted it was more than ten. Suddenly, this whole plan was beginning to sound pathetic.
“Who told you that?”
“A man came to our village. He said you were gearing up to attack us. We’ve been preparing ever since.” Ok, I was exaggerating again, but I couldn’t think clearly with him being all naked in front of me. I wished he’d put on some clothes. He looked as confused as I felt. He ran his hand through his hair in desperation. I couldn’t help but wonder if it felt as silky as it looked.
“We were coming here to ask for help. We never planned to attack.”
“That’s not true!” shouted Bryony. I looked around the Spade to see Bryony still being held by the man called Equi. He was as equally naked and beautiful as the man next to me. “You came with weapons. I saw them. You all had weapons!”
“We had weapons because we were on our way to the Heartlands. The Hearts are refusing to sell us technology and refusing to pay us for things we have already sold to them. We were going to get the money they owe us. We only have weapons as a precaution. We would be foolish to go into the Heartlands unarmed after what they did to your Club soldiers.”
“Oh!” My mouth had formed that ‘o’ shape again, but this time it was because of the realisation of what I’d done. I’d killed some innocent men.
“I’m sorry...I...”
“If what you say is true, we have no time for crying. We need to warn our men that your village is going to attack. How long does it take to get through the woods to your village?”
“Walking? About ten minutes, maybe a little longer in the dark if you don’t follow a pathway through.”
“We need to get through quickly. Can you guide us?”
“Yes, but...shouldn’t you get dressed first?” I said, indicating one of the dead Spades clothes. I could only imagine what the villagers would think if Bryony and I turned up with two naked men.
“No time. Hop on.” There was a sickening crunch of bones, and his features began to elongate. He dropped onto all fours and lengthened out. I saw that Equi was doing the same. They were turning back into horses!
When they had finished transforming, I didn’t hesitate to jump on Quinn’s back. I grabbed hold of his mane just as he took off into the woods. The trees flew by at a dizzying speed, and I could feel my dress flowing behind me. I held tighter, scared that I’d hit a tree branch and be knocked unconscious. I only hoped his shifter senses were better than my Club ones. I knew the pathways around these woods, but we were galloping so quickly that before long, I was completely lost.
“Go right!” I heard Bryony shout as she flew past on Equi’s back. We followed, keeping pace until we were all in the clearing. We were too late. The village green was carnage. The sound of screams filled the air as both villagers and Spades alike, ran past me whether chasing or being chased I don’t know. I could see the bodies of both suits scattered all over the ground.
“Oh, Monsatsu!” I breathed to myself. What have we done?
“Stop!” I shouted, but no one heard over the cacophony of screams and shouting. I looked around, panic filling me, and then I saw it—the village bell. The same one that had rang out the night the strange man came to our village. I pulled lightly on the Spade’s mane to get him to walk to the right. He seemed to understand, as he twisted his body rightwards and began to move. I could feel his muscles working beneath me as he once again took off at a gallop. I was ready and held on tightly. When we got to the bell, I pulled back on his mane to get him to stop. I jumped off and rang the bell as loudly as I could. The clanging resounded out across the clearing, stopping everyone from what they were doing. When I was sure I’d got everyone’s attention, I ran up onto the stage where I had danced just hours previously.
“Stop!” I shouted out. “We are not at war. We were wrong. The Spades came to ask for our help, not to attack us. Stop the fighting!”
I watched as people from both sides dropped their weapons. Slowly at first, but when the Spades saw Quinn join me on stage in his horse form, they followed suit. The fighting stopped. I stroked Quinn’s back and mane in celebration until I remembered that he wasn’t just a horse, but a man too. I quickly dropped my hand in embarrassment.
“My baby!”
A flash of pink flew past me, and it took a few seconds for me to realise it was Sandy. I watched as she dropped to her knees beside a body on the ground. With a start, I realised the body belonged to Mali. His body was covered with blood. There was no doubt in my mind that he was dead. A bittersweet feeling engulfed me, and without thinking, I placed my arms back on Quinn for support. When I felt hot skin beneath my hand, I realised that he’d changed back to his human form. But when he put his arms around me to comfort me, I didn’t care. I didn’t care that I was standing in the centre of the village green surrounded by the bodies of villagers and being held by a naked man. The emotion was crippling although the tears didn’t come. I’d cried myself out over Mali too many times in the past to do it now.
“Sandy!” I heard Quinn say. I could feel the reverberation of his voice in his chest. How could he be so warm when the air around us was frigid?
“Quinn!” I heard her shout back. They knew each other?
“And Callabus, I should have known.” Quinn said, but he spoke only to me then. “Do you know these two people?”
I looked towards Sandy. Standing next to her was the man from Randish, the one who had been staying with Basil and his family.
“Sandy has been dating our village leader. The man next to her is from Randish. It was he that told us you were going to attack.”
“I’ll bet he did. I’m sorry to tell you this, but Callabus isn’t from Randish. He’s from S’dell just over the border.”
“He’s a Spade.”
“He is, indeed, a Spade. He’s my brother. Sandy is our mother.”
“What?” I looked from Sandy to Quinn. There was no family resemblance at all. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know, but I think I can guess. Correct me if I’m wrong, Mother. A few months ago, my mother here began an affair with one of your villagers. A tiny little man if memory serves. I found out and threatened to tell Father. She begged me not to, told me she would finish it, but she didn’t. In the end, the man himself told my father. I think he was sick of being an affair partner and wanted her all to himself, although that is just conjecture. My father left her and took his money with him. I think this annoyed my mother somewhat. I suspect she enjoyed having both partners, one for the money and one to play with. Callabus and I went to live with Father and Mother here just disappeared. Callabus became very angry with the situation, and he too disappeared a few days later. He told me he was going to find Mother and bring her back.”
“He came here and told
us that the Spades were going to attack. Why would he do that?”
“I don’t know. But I’d bet money is involved somewhere. Why don’t you tell us, Callabus?”
“I don’t know what you are talking about. I know nothing,” Callabus replied, but he looked scared, as if he’d been caught in a wrongdoing.
“Leave the boy alone. It has nothing to do with him.” Sandy stood up, leaving Mali’s body where it was and walked towards us. She looked formidable the way she moved. I found myself inching back, so I was slightly behind Quinn, his muscular back shielding me from this woman who seemed to have grown in stature.
“Your father was always a miser,” Sandy sneered, still walking towards us. I noticed Callabus had not moved from the spot his mother had just vacated. “I should have known that he’d take all our money when I left him. It was half mine. I’m not going to lie to you...”
“That’d be a first!” I heard Quinn hiss under his breath. I could see he was shivering in the cold although he had a slick sheen of sweat covering his bare back. I stifled the urge to put my arms around him to warm him up.
“I wanted it all. I wanted my money, but I wanted power too. Mali held that power. When he spoilt it all and told your father, I was so angry. I don’t know why he didn’t wait until I had emptied the bank accounts. Your father didn’t need it. He hated spending money. He would have kept the lot squirreled away in a bank until we both dropped dead of old age if I’d have let him. I tried to be with Mali, but the idiot had less magic than I thought. I told him I was going to leave him, but he assured me that he’d find a way to get more magic, be more powerful. The problem was he’d have to kill two of the villagers to do it. He’d already planned to marry off that little leech behind you, or bond or whatever these idiots call it. He had to get rid of the annoying rat. She was so annoying, always telling him that she loved him.”
I was gonna kill her! I moved out from behind Quinn, but he put his hand out to hold me back.
“It really was pathetic. We used to laugh at you and how ridiculously pathetic you were.”
Six of Clubs (War and Suits Book 5) Page 10