Warrior Innocent

by Wendy Knight

  “I'm so glad you're practicing the keeping your thoughts to yourself lesson we learned about.” Ashra blew out a puff of air.

  Scout hid a smile as she answered Trey. "No, I don't convince Lil Bit. She does what she wants, as always, and she's too logical to argue with. But I bet if I asked nicely, I could talk your brothers into staying with her when she goes recruiting." Scout nodded, agreeing with herself. "They love her as much as I do. Almost."

  Trey seemed blissfully unaware that she was memorizing his every feature—the way his brown eyes scanned the troops, looking for weaknesses, the way his dark hair managed to look stylishly messy even though he'd just pulled off his helmet.

  “Don't drool on my head, princess.”

  Scout snickered, rearranging her face when Iros scowled over at her. "Are you ready, then?"

  "Yes," Trey said. He was getting as serious as Iros about all of this.

  "No," Scout answered at the same time. "I have to find his brothers."

  Iros pointed his scepter back toward the huts, beyond the training area. "I sent them after Lil Bit. They're on her recruitment team." He raised an eyebrow. His accent was thicker when he was amused or annoyed. She wasn't sure which was the case this time. "Now, can we go?"

  Scout nodded solemnly, glancing at Trey to see if he was amused or annoyed as well.

  He winked at her, grinning.

  She sighed happily. I love that smile.

  “You've mentioned.”

  With one last look at Scout to see if she objected, Iros raised his scepter toward the sky. "Paradesos, ride!"

  Havik reared, his front legs pawing the sky, his horn lit, calling the lightning that tore the air. As one, ten thousand unicorns rose into the sky and flew through the gash, leaving Paradesos behind and entering hell on earth.

  Ever since Scout had left Ariston, he'd sent his soul stealers out with a fury. The ferocity of their attacks had nearly shut the world down. There was no hiding from them—no haven, no walls, nothing that could stop them.

  Except magic and unicorns—something the people of Earth believed didn't exist.

  Returning to Paradesos after a battle was always a mix of elation and sadness. Elation because they had returned home. Sadness because so many of their forces had not. Trey and Torz landed next to Ariston in the clearing. Scout and Ashra followed, and then Trey's friends Cole and Kasen. Not far behind Kasen was Kylin, of course. All of them were covered in blood and ash. Cole held his arm close to his chest, and his fingers were swollen and purple.

  "Did you break it?" Trey asked.

  Cole half-shrugged, since he was trying to move his injured arm as little as possible. "I think so."

  Iros clapped him on the shoulder. "That's good work. Let's get a healer over here!"

  Trey looked up as the blue unicorns emerged from the forest around them. They worked quickly, healing all those who needed it. Cole's arm was soon useable again, which was nice. Kasen had his wounds healed as well.

  Trey knew that, unlike the rest of them, Scout preferred to keep her scars. She leaned her forehead to Ashra's, brushing the long mane away from Ashra's face—as she did after every battle they survived. Lil Bit came barreling down the hill in a full-out sprint, nearly bowling Trey over in a welcome-back hug. She hit Scout next, clinging to her sister in relief. Scout smiled, wiping blood from her cheek. "We survived, Lil."

  Lil Bit nodded and finally let her go. Scout grabbed her hand and followed Lil Bit toward the huts, swinging their arms. Even torn and dirty, Scout was the most beautiful thing Trey had ever seen. Long, honey-blonde hair and a dancer's body. Huge, sea-green eyes. And a smile that brought him to his knees. She stopped, looked over her shoulder, and met his gaze, raising an eyebrow while he just stood there like an idiot. Shaking himself from the trance she put him under, Trey jogged after her.

  Or tried to. Kylin planted herself right in front of him, and when he nearly ran her over, she grabbed his arms and let him catch her.

  Ex-girlfriends.

  "I watched you today," she breathed, her fingers tightening into his biceps. Right into the huge “Forgive me” tattoo he'd gotten for Scout several months ago. "You were amazing. I think Iros will make you second in command soon."

  He raised his eyes to Scout, who was shaking her head as she followed her little sister up the hill toward the huts. "I have no desire to replace Scout. She's Iros's second."

  Kylin shrugged. "Only because Aella refused. She'd rather be running the recon teams. She can't adjust to our modern world and all our troops." Kylin smirked.

  For the thousandth time, Trey reminded himself that Kylin had only become this mean, vindictive person when he'd dated her while being in love with Scout. This was his fault. Digging Kylin's nails off his skin, he set her away from him. "I didn't ask why Iros ranked us the way he did. I trust his leadership, and that's all I need to know. Scout's his second. I'm his third. Aella's out there risking her life because that's her choice. And it works. Isn't Kasen waiting for you?" He shoved past her.

  "Jealous, Trey?" She followed him around, hands on the jutting bones of her hips. The girl needed to eat. His brother was probably right. She was so ornery because her blood sugar was low.

  "No, Kylin. I'm really, really not." He turned his back on her and jogged after Scout.

  She looked up when he fell into step beside her. Lil Bit giggled and skipped away, leaving them behind. "Pesky exes, huh?" Scout fought to keep a straight face.

  Trey rolled his eyes. "Something like that."

  Scout twined her fingers through his. He raised her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. She leaned into him, her forehead against his shoulder. "She's hurting, Trey. I was her, a few months ago. Pretending I hated you because otherwise the pain would kill me."

  "That's the difference, though. You pretended you hated me and kept as far away from me as possible. Why can't she hurt like that?"

  Scout just smiled.

  A few more steps, and she squeezed his hand. "I'm only his second because Ashra has no common sense and we almost die in nearly every battle."

  Trey ran his free knuckles under a rough gash across Scout's cheek, beneath her sea-foam green eyes. "That's not why."

  Scout's smile grew.

  Laughing, Trey kissed her forehead. "I think it helps, though."

  She shoved him, but since he outweighed her by at least sixty-five pounds, she mostly just knocked herself backward, giggling. He saved her from falling on her butt by pulling her against him. Tucked tight against his chest, he could feel her heart pounding, and he could smell the blood and, underneath that, the sweet scent that was Scout. She slid her hand up his chest and leaned up on her toes.

  "I love you," he said against her mouth.

  Her eyes slid closed. "I love you, too."

  Scout's whole body felt like she'd been run over by a heard of unicorns and then beaten by a cloud of soul stealers. She sank into her bed and prayed for quick sleep, but it didn't come. Instead, she tossed and turned, groaning with every move. Her little sister slept like an angel, albeit a crazy one—long, dark hair splayed all over her pillow, one arm thrown over her eyes.

  But she slept with a smile.

  The smile faltered every so often, and Scout knew why. It was the reason she couldn't sleep. Their parents and Trey's, were lost in Aptavaras. Or dead. But Lil Bit said they were still alive, and Scout believed her. Not because it would hurt too much not to, not because she humored a little girl who had just turned twelve without her mother, but because Lil Bit knew things. Things she had no way of knowing.

  If it hadn't been for Lil Bit, they would all be lost. Her belief in magic led Scout to the unicorns. Unicorns had led Scout to Lil Bit. And they would lead Scout and Lil Bit both to their parents.

  Scout believed it.

  That didn't make it any easier to sleep.

  Her parents thought the sun and moon rose and fell on Lil Bit. Scout had been a mistake; Lil Bit had been a miracle. And Scout had been bitter abou
t it.

  Just a bit.

  Until she'd saved them.

  And then she'd lost them.

  Lil Bit mumbled, slid her arm away from her face, and opened her eyes, meeting Scout in the darkness. "We'll find them."

  Scout forced a smile as a tear traced its way from her eye to her temple and soaked her hair. "I know."

  Lil Bit nodded and her eyes fell shut again. Immediately she was asleep with her angelic smile.

  Scout sighed, sat up, punched her pillow into submission, and then stared out the window next to her head. Ashra was out there, somewhere, and awake. Scout could feel her, always, through the bond they shared. The light in Trey's hut was out, but she'd bet her life he was awake and staring out the window, worrying about the same thing she was.

  Maybe she knew that because they had a bond, too.

  She liked to think so.

  When Scout and Trey had arrived in Paradesos, there had been four huts, and Iros was the only human, although an immortal one. Now, the whole valley was full of huts, and the number was growing every day, thanks to Lil Bit's recruitment efforts. She'd promised Iros an army.

  She'd brought him one.

  And, barring any more battles the next day, Scout, Trey, Iros, and Aella had a full schedule of training.

  In the hut next to hers, she could hear Iros and Aella. Strategizing, plotting, dissecting any information they had, trying to find a weakness. A way to stop Ariston. After five months of brutal, almost daily, battles and a war that had left the human world nearly empty, they'd only come up with one Achilles heel.

  Scout.

  Scout was Ariston's weakness.

  They just didn't know what to do, exactly, with that information.

  Ariston's soul rested in a horn in the center of Paradesos. Scout could feel that, too.

  That, too, because of a bond. One she did not want, but could not break.

  She sighed and flopped black, swearing quietly when she missed her pillow and smacked her head on the wood of her headboard. Lil Bit's smile grew, and she said, "Language, Scout."

  Snickering, Scout forced her eyes closed. It took several hours of tossing and turning. The first pink rays of the sun fell across the valley when Scout finally found sleep.

  And in sleep, she found Ariston.

  "Hello, Scout." He stood in front of his castle, backed by Soul Stealers and the screams of his collection of souls. His eyes were black, and yet full of pain. He didn't move toward her, just waited.

  As he did every night.

  She sighed, digging her toes into the blue sand of Aptavaras. "What do you want, Ariston?"

  His eyes fell closed, briefly. "You know what I want."

  They played this game every night. It went the same, every night.

  Numbly, Scout took her turn. "And you know what I want."

  At first, when he'd come to her dreams, she'd screamed at him. Then begged. Nothing had helped.

  "Your parents."

  She dipped her head. "Yes."

  "And if I give them to you?"

  Scout jerked her head up. "What?" This wasn't part of the game.

  "They're alive, Scout."

  Of course they're alive. Lil Bit already knew that.

  Scout wasn't sure if that was her voice or Ashra's in her head. Ashra and Lil Bit were the only ones who could fight their way into these dreams and save Scout, night after night.

  But this time, there was no Ashra, so it must have been her own voice she heard.

  "You—you have them?" She hated the way her voice cracked with hope, and terror.

  Ariston shook his head, moving one step closer as if he couldn't help himself. One hand reached for her, but she made no move toward it. "I don't have them. But I've received word they've been spotted." He tipped his head, black, soulless eyes devouring her, reading her, begging her. "If I give them to you, Scout, will you give me what I want?"

  She swallowed hard. "My soul?"

  Ariston laughed once, a mirthless bark. "No, Scout. No, that would just bring the wrath of my brother raining down on my world once again. We've not recovered from the last time you brought him and his army." He raised his hands, and the cracked and damaged castle lit from behind him. "No, I do not want your soul. I only wish for peace."

  Scout blinked several times. "You want me to dance for you?" Dance like the thousand times she’d danced for him before, in his lair. It brought him peace, soothed the demons inside him. Except she’d never really danced for him. It had been for herself, and for the souls he’d trapped in a cage of unicorn bones. A cage she’d broken to set them free, right before he’d sacrificed himself to his own Taraxippus to save her.

  Ariston nodded slowly.

  Tipping her head, Scout watched him, trying to read an unreadable face. He would have been beautiful, if not for the lips tightened with pain and the black, black eyes. "You'll give me my parents…for a dance?"

  "Yes, Scout."

  "And Trey's parents?"

  Ariston scowled. "They must make their own arrangements. I do not wish for him to dance for me."

  It was almost funny, and yet not at all.

  "Scout. It's time to get up."

  Scout could feel Lil Bit's small hands shaking her, but she fought to stay with Ariston. Not yet, Lil Bit! Not yet!

  "Two dances," she gasped as Ariston faded away. "One dance for my parents, and one dance for Trey's—the next night. Two days of peace, Ariston."

  He smiled and opened his mouth, but was gone before Scout could make out his words. Her eyes fought their way open and she sat up, trying to still her shaking hands, trying to figure out what he had said.

  “I wait.”

  3

  Trey leaned against the wide trunk of the tree and watched Lil Bit's new recruits mill nervously in the valley below him. He'd watched Scout dance in that meadow, read her movements like words, and felt her broken heart. He'd seen Iros gather an army of Irwarros in that valley. Brave unicorns who knew they might never return and yet held no fear. He'd watched them come back to that valley, watched the Leerhas heal them, saw the relief and pain war for a place in their eyes—relief because they'd made it back, pain because so many of their brothers and sisters in arms had not.

  And over the last few weeks, he'd watched Lil Bit's promised army gather there. He and Scout, Aella, and sometimes Iros when he could, trained them. His brothers helped out. Lil Bit lent her amazing emotional strength from the sidelines, offering encouragement and a smile when there was fear. They'd sent their first wave of recruits out to battle already, and this group was brand new and frightened. He would have been, too. Just a few days ago, they'd been souls taken by Ariston's Taraxippus. Those below him, wandering nervously, were the ones brave enough to offer themselves to the cause. To fight back against the things that terrified them and haunted their nightmares.

  Lil Bit had promised Iros an army, and here it was.

  Now she was on a mission back to the U.S., searching for those innocent enough to still believe in magic. Had Trey or even Scout gone, they'd probably get laughed at. But somehow, Lil Bit and her tiny white unicorn made them believe.

  Movement across the valley caught his eye, and he smiled. Scout, all in black with a sparkling scepter in her hand, ducked out of her hut, stretching. She hadn't worn makeup or curled her hair in months, and still she was the most beautiful thing Trey had ever seen. He fingered the leather bracelets around his wrist—one for each year he'd loved her. There were nine now, but he'd need a new one soon.

  Scout fit here. This place, this war, it seemed to bring her to life. Her eyes sparkled—sometimes with joy, but other times with a fury and intensity that sent demons screaming. She wasn't big—five-foot-two and a dancer, but she was fierce. Like her little sister.

  Scout raised her head, as if feeling his eyes on her, and smiled. Even now, after all these years, all these battles, all their fights and hatred and forgiveness and love, that smile could stop his heart.

  But the smile fa
ltered, and he followed her sea-green gaze to the huts below hers, where Kylin waited. He couldn't see her face, but he didn't have to. Kylin hated Scout. In battle, they had saved each other more times than he could count, but here in Paradesos, Kylin was out for blood. To say she was hostile would be an understatement.

  Unlike Scout, she wore makeup. Her hair was stylishly cut, and the only time she wore their black battle gear was when they were called to fight. Everyone else in Paradesos wore it always, to be ready when Iros called. But not Kylin. She wore heels and jeans with trendy tears.

  Even then, she couldn't come close to how beautiful Scout was. And sadly, she seemed to realize it, but she couldn't figure out why.

  "It's her soul," Trey said quietly. Next to him, Ashra tossed her head in agreement. She'd been standing so silently he'd forgotten she was there.

  Across the valley, Scout brushed past Kylin and made her way to Trey and Ashra's side. "There are a lot of little ones down there," she said with a frown. Then, leaning up on her toes, she brushed a kiss against Trey's mouth. "Hey."

  He smiled. "Hey."

  She left him to turn to Ashra, rubbing her forehead. They'd been bound by their shared pain, but now their bond was something else altogether. A fierce will to protect each other and those they loved. As Scout was wont to do, she brought peace to Ashra's soul. And everyone around her, if they let her.

  “They are young. But so is Lil Bit, and she is one of our best warriors.”

  Scout nodded, but still gnawed on her lip. "I know, but…"

  "But we'll train them so well they will all live to ripe old ages," Trey said, pulling her against him. She sighed and leaned her head on his chest.

  "I hope so."

  His brothers somehow found their way to the valley below, and he could just hear bits of conversation as they teasingly flirted with any girl close to their age. He'd been annoyed at first, until he'd realized his brothers, who before this war had been about as mature as a five-year-old, were doing it to bring these new warriors comfort and distraction. More than most here, Tate and Liam knew the terror of being taken. They'd spent weeks in Ariston's cage. They'd watched countless souls taken and shredded for the Corruption, to become a combined soul for Ariston's demons.