Warrior Innocent

by Wendy Knight

  Iros dragged his flashing gaze away from the group in front of them to smile down at Lil Bit. "Are you sure, love?"

  She nodded and skipped away, stopping in front of the girl with the red-and-black hair. "This is Ari." Lil Bit turned back to Iros. "They're sorcerers. They throw spells of fire. And they're going to help us defeat the soul stealers."

  Scout sucked in a breath, her eyes widening. Next to her, Trey dropped his scepter.

  "Say what now?" Tate asked.

  "I've heard of you." Iros nodded slowly. Scout and Trey, in unison, jerked their heads toward him.

  "You've heard of them? They're…they're sorcerers?" Scout asked. "Sorcerers? With fire spells?"

  The girl with the silver hair and eyes spoke quickly. "Some of us are, yes. But I'm a seer. Like Lil Bit."

  Scout felt like someone had punched her in the throat. Her eyes, which had already been open as wide as possible, nearly fell out of her head. "What?" she asked breathlessly.

  "I'm a—" The girl with the silver eyes stopped, nodding. "Oh. You didn't know."

  Scout turned to Iros, who was watching Lil Bit now with understanding. "Did you know about this?"

  Iros shook his head. "I should have. But no, I didn't catch it."

  The silver-eyed girl spoke again. "It sounds like you've been busy. Finding a name for what she is wasn't on your priority list, understandably. I'm Charity. This is Hunter." She motioned to the very large guy standing next to her.

  "This is my cousin, Shane." Charity motioned to the guy with the blue eyes, and he tossed his hand up, as if answering roll call. Charity barely smiled. "This is Will." Will was older than the rest of them, but he had the same red-and-black hair that Ari had, and the same dangerous brown eyes.

  "Nice to meet you…" Scout said slowly. "I'm Scout?" Realizing she had ended that as a question, she cleared her throat and tried again. "I'm Scout. I'm Lil Bit's sister. This is Trey and Iros." Stepping back to Ashra's side, she laid a hand on her neck. "This is Ashra, Torz, and the mighty Havik." She smiled at their leader, and he dipped his head in thanks. “Oh, and those are Trey’s brothers. They’re okay, too.” Scout grinned playfully as Tate and Liam pretended to be mortally wounded.

  "Unicorns. Didn't see that coming." Hunter crossed his arms over his wide chest and rocked slightly on his heels.

  Lil Bit turned to Iros. "They were attacked by soul stealers today. But they can see them! And their whole colony can, too. They fought them off, Iros. The soul stealers ran away." Her bright brown eyes were much too serious for her young face.

  Ari looked over her shoulder at the rest of her group. "We want to help you. We've found ourselves with a lot of free time lately."

  5

  Trey glanced at Scout to see how she was handling this new information. Her eyes were wide, and she had a death grip on Lil Bit's shoulders. She turned toward him, but slowly, like she was moving underwater. Nothing had to be said. He could see, in her eyes, everything she was feeling. Confusion, awe, hope.

  The knowledge Lil Bit was a seer, and she wasn't the only one, well, that news had nearly knocked them all off their proverbial unicorns.

  "You say you can fight the demons?" Iros asked, voice carefully neutral.

  "Yes." Ari seemed to be the spokesman for the group. The rest nodded in agreement.

  "How many would you say attacked you?"

  Hunter spoke up. Trey was six-foot-two and a football player, but Hunter made him feel small and helpless. He was that big. "We didn't take the time to count them."

  Scout's eyes narrowed, and she raised her chin, ready to fight. But Shane stepped in, throwing a quick glare over his shoulder at Hunter. "What he's trying to say, and failing, is that they were all over the colony, and we were spread out in the fight. If I had to guess, I'd say…fifty? Maybe more?"

  Ari nodded.

  "Was anyone taken?" Iros asked. There was no anger or annoyance in his words, and Scout relaxed imperceptibly.

  "Yes." Will spoke this time, pain clear in his eyes and doubled by his words. "The demons seemed to realize we couldn't follow them into the skies. As soon as they'd grab someone, they'd shoot up out of our reach."

  Scout was already climbing onto Ashra's back, and Iros turned to do the same. Trey didn't need to be told, either. "We'll go after your people."

  "Lil Bit, stay here." Scout looked helplessly to Ari, who nodded in understanding.

  "We'll protect her with our lives."

  Lil Bit raised an eyebrow, hands planted on her hips. "I don't need someone to protect me. I fly all over the world alone, you know."

  Scout leaned low so only Lil Bit could hear her. "I know. But that girl doesn't look like she would appreciate me telling you to protect her."

  Lil Bit rolled her eyes, a small smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

  Scout sat up, nodding gratefully to Ari as Ashra snapped out her big wings. Three pumps, and they were rising into the sky, following Havik and Iros through the fading light.

  Torz's horn lit, and Trey could feel the armor molding around him. Razor sharp spikes snapped protectively around Torz's face and neck. The other unicorns did the same.

  When they'd left Paradesos, they'd been expecting to find a battle. Now they had to chase it down.

  The soul stealers moved fast. They were disappearing through the gate to Aptavarus when Trey finally caught sight of them. "Are we going in, Iros?" Trey asked. Ironically, it was a question he'd asked Iros many times since his parents had been lost. The answer was always no. It was too dangerous.

  But this time, Iros hesitated, frowning under his helmet. Havik was the one to answer. “If we move fast enough, we can save those souls before the rest of the demons come to join the fight.”

  Reluctantly, Iros agreed. The unicorns put on a burst of speed, and Trey ducked low over Torz's back, trying to create as little wind resistance as he could. Scout, who weighed about half what Trey did, also ducked low, her long hair blowing out behind her.

  As always, Trey wondered if they would all escape alive. Would he get to hold Scout again? Play football with his brothers? Learn from Iros? That fear seemed to be an integrated part of war.

  “It is and always will be.”

  Torz, as always, felt his fear. Trey sorta wished Torz'd had a more uplifting response.

  Torz nickered softly, one ear flicking back.

  The gates to Aptavarus were blue metal, so dark they were almost black. Despite the massive attack Iros had led into Ariston's lair a few months ago, the gates didn't show any wear at all. Immaculate, which, knowing Ariston, wasn't surprising at all.

  A tense hush fell over the group as they flew through the gates. Everything in Aptavaras was blue. Different hues of blue, but still blue. Even when the pale-blue sun was up, its light was so weak it could not disperse the twilight. However, the moon watched over the land as they entered, and shadows seemed to reach for the unicorns, twisting and clawing.

  Trey scanned the ground below them until his eyes watered, searching for any sign of his parents. Next to him, Scout did the same. He knew his brothers behind him were too.

  Please. Please, please, please.

  But there was nothing. If his parents were still alive, they weren't waiting at the gates as he'd hoped.

  Scout still searched, leaning far over Ashra's neck. Tears soaked her cheeks as the hope faded from her eyes.

  "Hey." He wished he could reach out, brush the tears from her cheeks. "We'll find them. They're still out there somewhere."

  "It's been months. There's no food here that won't steal their souls. There's no water to drink." She closed her eyes, fighting the pain. She'd never been one of those girls that cried over everything. That she was crying now devastated him.

  “They're souls. They don't need to eat or drink. Their bodies are being well taken care of. We will find them,” Torz said.

  Scout opened her eyes, swallowed hard, and smiled. Trey watched in awe as she straightened her spine and raised her chin. Fire re
placed tears and her eyes sparkled dangerously.

  "Let's go save those souls."

  Ashra's wings lit, fire exploding around them, and she surged ahead, leading the way. She was the smallest Irwarro, but the fastest. Even Havik, with all his strength and mighty power, couldn't keep up with her.

  She had a tendency to barrel her way straight into the fight, instead of starting from the outer edges, as any sane warrior would. Havik and Torz exchanged long-suffering glances as Iros nodded knowingly to Trey. They sped up, trying to keep pace with the racing unicorn in front of them.

  Scout raised her scepter over her head, leading the charge. Bright magic exploded from the orb, tangled with the power from Ashra's horn. It hit the first several soul stealers, burning them from the inside out. Their long claws reached for Ashra, for Scout, for anything that might stop the pain, but there wasn't time. They folded in on themselves like a dying spider, ash and blood raining from their rotten bones.

  "How many?" Tate yelled.

  "Sixteen. We got this!" Liam responded.

  Sixteen was nothing. They'd been in battles where the unicorns were outnumbered a thousand to one, and survived. As long as none of the demons had souls, they could do this.

  "Can you see Ari's people?" Scout called as she and Ashra swung away from the herd, sweeping low. Trey had seen this attack often, as had Torz, and no words were needed as they flew up, above the Taraxippus.

  "Not yet." Iros swung his scepter, sending a wave of devastating fire into the herd. Havik's horn lit, fire black and consuming, pushing Iros's attack harder and wider.

  Four more demons fell.

  "There!" Tate pointed. The Taraxippus held the souls in the center of the herd, surrounded by three demons on each side. They would have to fight their way through without blowing up or burning any of those they were trying to rescue.

  Below them, Scout's scepter sparked, fire burning straight up. Ashra's magic twisted around it, and Trey and Torz attacked as well. Their attacks collided, exploding and sending a thick, burning cloud outward. Nine demons were caught in the flames, shrieking as they tried to put the fire out. Five failed. The other four survived, but it was clear that they were slow and in pain.

  Iros and Havik's next attack took them out easily.

  "Tate, Liam! Be ready!" Iros shouted. Trey's brothers ducked low, diving toward the ground below.

  “Incoming!” Ashra shrieked. She and Scout flew free of the falling ash. Deep gashes marred Ashra's armor, proving she'd gotten too close to the soul stealer's claws, but so far, Trey could see no blood on either of them.

  He raised his eyes to the north. A monstrous black cloud flew toward them. The screams nearly deafened them all, and the smell was like a thousand rotting corpses.

  Suddenly he didn't like their odds so much.

  "Get the souls and get out of here!" Iros yelled.

  Nodding, Trey and Torz spun back toward the fight. Ashra shot up through the sky, wings pumping hard. Once she was clear of the demons, she and Scout sent a black shroud over the rest of the group. Without hesitation, Torz and Havik flew inside.

  The soul stealers couldn't see. They screamed and clawed at the air, but they were blind. Trey ducked under one as he and Torz fought their way to the demon holding the souls. "Almost there—" He reached with his scepter, leaning dangerously far over Torz's back.

  A soul stealer found them, its claws clamping hard into Trey's armor from behind him. It dragged him backward as his hands thrashed uselessly, and his feet sought to keep him on Torz's back, but he was helpless to fight it. Torz screamed, and Trey knew claws must have found their way to his flesh.

  Iros bellowed, appearing from the darkness right in front of them. Trey fell backward, tumbling off Torz's back, as Iros swung his black, black scepter. It connected with a sickening crack, and suddenly Torz was free. Iros spun his scepter and flames exploded from the orb, blasting the now armless soul stealer.

  Torz twisted in midair and tucked his wings, dropping through the night sky. Havik's wing shot out, under Trey so he landed and rolled, slowing his tumbled progress as he fell. By the time he was free-falling again, Torz was under him, wings out and ready to fly.

  "Nice catch," Trey said breathlessly.

  "Thanks."

  With a mighty yell, Iros plunged his scepter into the soul stealer holding the souls. It screamed and twisted and fought to get away, but it was stuck fast. Trey and Torz swooped up, and Trey swung his scepter like an ax over his head, smashing into the Soul Stealer's arms. They shattered, and the souls fell free.

  "Guys! We've gotta go! Get out of there!" Scout screamed from beyond the cloud.

  Oh, right. The cloud of demons were after them. Trey had completely forgotten.

  Tate and Liam caught the falling souls. Trey and Iros dropped out of the cloud as Scout and Ashra both started yelling. "Go go go go!"

  They went.

  Flying hard, Ashra leading the way, they shot toward the gates and the free night sky beyond. If they could get that far, Havik could split the air and they'd be free.

  If, though.

  The screams were deafening, and the smell overpowering. The powerful hooves of the unicorns cracked the air around them as they raced for the gates, and then freedom.

  Trey risked a look over his shoulder, and immediately wished he hadn't. The soul stealers were so close. Havik pulled up, spinning in the air, and fell to the back of their herd, pushing Tate and Liam's unicorns ahead of him. Ashra followed Havik, Scout's scepter throwing fire at anything it could reach, trying to slow the demons' progress.

  "Get them out of here!" Iros shouted to Trey.

  Change of plans, then. Torz would open the sky.

  They burst free of the gates. Iros and Scout weren't far behind, still attacking the massive cloud of demons, trying to give everyone else enough time to break free. Torz shrieked, lightning cracking from his horn. It split the sky, and as the air rushed forward to crash together again, Tate, Liam, and Trey escaped through.

  Scout and Iros did not.

  6

  Several feet in front of them, Trey, his brothers, and the taken souls escaped through the split in the air. Thunder shook the skies, nearly knocking Ashra off-balance as the doorway closed. Scout breathed silently in relief.

  Trey was safe.

  “We, however, are still supposed to be fighting for our lives. Care to help out with that?” Ashra's voice in her head snapped Scout back to attention, and she swung her scepter up.

  "Sure, why not?"

  Ashra snorted.

  "I thought they'd slow down once we passed the gate. We really must have offended my brother if he sent all his forces against us." Iros blasted the nearest demons, setting them afire.

  "I've seen Ariston's forces. This isn't all of them," Scout murmured, but only so Ashra could hear. No need to make Iros feel bad.

  They fought hard for an eternity, or maybe only minutes. Scout could feel her well of magic running dangerously low, and Ashra's wings faltered in the sky. Scout was on the verge of panic when the sky tore behind them.

  The Irwarros poured through it. Hundreds and hundreds came to their rescue, Trey leading the way.

  Scout smiled. She should have known he'd come back for her.

  The soul stealers never did like a fair fight. At the site of the sheer numbers coming after them, the majority fled back through the gates, screeching. The rest were easily defeated. Iros grinned over at her. "Did I ever mention how glad I am that we met?"

  Laughing, Scout shook her head. "No. No you haven't."

  Trey and Torz appeared at their side. "I took the souls back to our new friends. Lil Bit is home. Everyone is safe."

  "Thank you, Trey." Iros tipped his head in thanks. "Let's join Lil Bit, shall we?"

  With a powerful shriek, Havik tore the sky. Any Irwarro could do it, but none could do it so well. Gratefully, Scout leaned low over Ashra's neck, patting against the armor. "We did good."

  Ashra tossed her head in ag
reement.

  Paradesos spread below them, and Scout's heart sang. Home.

  Sometimes she forgot she didn't actually belong here. She belonged in Montana. She was going to be a scientist. She had a 4.0 average, and she loved to dance. She had plans for the future.

  Despite all that, Paradesos was where her soul belonged. She knew that.

  They landed in the valley below their huts, and blue unicorns descended on the herd, looking for injuries. Scout had a few, not enough to need healing. She slid off Ashra's back, then turned and tipped her head to Ashra's forehead. "Thank you," she said quietly.

  “Thank you.”

  With one last pat, Scout left her and walked with Trey toward their huts. He was quiet, too, maybe from sheer exhaustion. She loved their companionable silences and thought maybe she could even hear their hearts beating together as his thumb slowly slid back and forth across her hand in his. She felt his pulse jump, ever so slightly, and smiled.

  "Stay with me tonight?" Trey asked when they arrived at her door. Lil Bit was inside, drawing. Like she hadn't just recruited a bunch of mythical sorcerers into their folds and scared her big sister to death.

  Scout leaned her head against Trey's broad chest. "What about Lil Bit?"

  Trey kissed the top of her head, his hands stroking slowly up and down her back. "She doesn't need an adult chaperone, does she?"

  "No," Lil Bit called without looking up. "I don't."

  But Scout remembered too many nights, before the war, that Lil Bit would come climb into bed with her, shaking with fear. She remembered too many times that Lil Bit would see the monsters around them and need her sister, and Scout was determined to be there. No matter what.

  Trey seemed to read her mind and let her go. "I guess my brothers probably need me, too."

  "We don't," Liam said as he and Tate walked by. "We're only two years younger than you, Trey."

  Scout shook her head. "And not even close to mature enough to be left on your own."

  Liam rolled his eyes at her, but playfully. "It's a good thing you're pretty, Scout."