Warrior Innocent

by Wendy Knight

  Scout ran a hand through her hair, wondering how she must look. It was all tangles and knots. "I think so. Ari said they're suffering losses, same as us. We thought it might be better if we worked together. They fight from the ground, protecting the souls, and we fight from the sky, taking back the taken." Scout put her hands together to show him the unity she meant, although he seemed to not notice at all. "Like the Allied forces."

  He blinked at her.

  "Come on. You know about football, but you didn't follow the World Wars?"

  Iros sighed. "We were fighting our own war then, Scout. Ariston thought he could get away with stealing souls during wars. Nobody would notice one more death."

  "Oh dear," Scout breathed. Ariston, you aren't helping me here. "Well, the Allied powers were different countries that worked together to beat the Axis powers. We were strong on our own, but together we won the war. Do you understand?"

  Iros nodded. "I do."

  "They'll use Lil Bit and Charity to communicate between us and them. When they're under attack, we'll ride in to help."

  Iros grinned, stood up, and messed her already messed hair. "And this is why I let you live."

  Scout's eyes shot open as Lil Bit choked on her sandwich. "He's kidding," she coughed.

  Iros's laughter followed him as he walked away.

  "I…think…" Lil Bit choked out as Scout pounded her on the back.

  Scout squinted against the sun as she left the safety of her hut. Immediately, she felt like everyone was staring at her.

  It was all in her head, of course, because there wasn't a soul in sight. She told herself that, but it didn't matter.

  Trey ducked through his doorway, looking beautiful, of course. Black hair messed to perfection. "They've missed you at training."

  Scout smiled. "Good."

  "They're bringing our parents home."

  She nodded. "I know. They'll be safer here."

  Trey ran a hand through his hair and rubbed the back of his neck. "Whatever Kylin said…"

  Scout reached out, took his hand, and curled it around her own. "Don't worry about it."

  Trey sighed, a mix of resignation and relief. "Are you sure you're up to being out here?"

  Scout nodded. "I'm weak. My legs are shaking." She grinned ruefully. "But I'll live."

  "You might need more time to recover. Ariston hasn't attacked for a few days."

  Scout knew that. He'd told her he wouldn't. It was his way of apologizing for nearly killing her in Aptavaras. But that wasn't information she would share with anybody else.

  Even Trey.

  Scout sank to the ground, giving her exhausted body a chance to rest, and Trey sat next to her, pulling her into his lap. She leaned against his chest and listened to his heartbeat. This is truly paradise.

  "One day, the war will be over, and if we survive, we'll have to go home," she said quietly and without meaning to.

  "Maybe. Iros has been here for six hundred years. The war might never end."

  "It will end. It will end soon," Scout whispered.

  Trey held her tighter. "And we'll live through it."

  He didn't ask how she knew, so she told him. "Ariston has his army of souled soul stealers. He's creating more every day. It won't be long now, Trey. They'll come here and attack everything and everyone, and then they'll take his soul, and he'll be free to just walk in."

  "If that's what he wants."

  Scout twisted her head so she could see his face. "What do you mean?"

  "Ariston told you he just wants to die." Trey shrugged. "He seems to have this thing against lying to you."

  Scout sighed and rested her head once again on his chest. "Yeah, but he'll have his revenge first. If Iros would give him his soul, he might back down and just go away, but if he has to take it…"

  She could see the troops below her, waiting to be trained, hoping she would teach them well enough that they would live through the next battle. They were watching her, and she was fairly positive it wasn't in her mind this time—they were suspicious.

  "Kylin has done her best to spread as many rumors as she could. I did my best to dispel them."

  Scout smiled. "I know you did. Ready?"

  "Yup." Trey released her and sat back, then Lil Bit appeared next to her, holding out a hand to pull her to her feet.

  "Don't be afraid," she whispered.

  Scout took her hand, grateful when Lil Bit didn't release it. They walked together down to the training field. Trey led today, mostly because Scout wasn't sure she could yell loud enough that they could hear her, but also because she wasn't entirely sure they would listen to her.

  She saw their looks. She saw the betrayal in their faces, and the suspicion. She heard the whispers. Finally, as they were wrapping up, Scout sighed and turned on them.

  "Uh oh," Liam said, backing up.

  "Listen." Scout made herself as loud and as big as she could. "You want to know what really happened? Fine. The Master of the soul stealers had my parents. And he had my friend's parents. I struck a deal with him—one dance for each set of parents. I took my parents, and I left. And I would do it again for them or any one of you. So think what you want, but know this: When you need me, I'll do whatever it takes."

  Behind her, she heard applause. As she turned, the recruits all started clapping, as well.

  "I'm very proud of you, Scout." Her mom beamed at her, and her dad held out his arms. She threw herself into them, so grateful they were safe, so grateful for their words. She'd lived her whole life waiting to hear those words, and now she practically got to hear them all the time.

  "Scout?" Scout lifted her head from her dad's shoulder. It was Sienna. Her siblings were behind her, and several friends. "We just want you to know—we're grateful for what you did. And we trust you completely."

  Scout smiled. "Thank you."

  Trey raised his hand. "Take a lap and we'll be done for the day. Good job, everyone." Turning to Scout, he winked at her. "You're feisty."

  "Mom! Dad!" Tate and Liam took off at a run, and Scout watched their path. Trey's parents were just coming down the hill toward them. Tate took his mother clear off her feet, twirling her around, and Liam leaped into his dad's arms like a little boy. Trey took off, too. They'd never had a tumultuous relationship with their family, just the unconditional love Scout had heard existed in some parts of the world. She glanced back at her own parents and felt Lil Bit's small hand slip into hers.

  "You have me," she whispered.

  "And you've got me." Scout squeezed her sister's hand gently.

  Iros strode down the hill to join them, smacking Trey on the back as he passed. "Let's get you settled, yes? You'll have to move to a bigger hut, Scout."

  Scout nodded. Couldn't very well fit all four of them in a single room with two twin beds. She met Trey's eyes across the field and could almost read his thoughts. I guess our sleepovers are done, huh?

  In the distance, Kylin watched them. Scout could feel her blue eyes trying to smolder through Scout's soul.

  "Let go of the anger, Kylin," Scout murmured. "Or we all lose."

  Living with his parents again was an adjustment. For one, Trey was farther from Iros's hut, and for another, while his parents had never been overprotective, they did not love the idea of him flying off to war.

  "It's not safe. We just got you back." His mom dabbed at tears, and her bottom lip trembled. Tate and Liam shared exasperated looks with Trey, who could only stare.

  "Mom," Liam finally said, "we've been doing this for six months. We're in the middle of a war—"

  "Then let the adults fight it!" she cried. Trey's dad rubbed her shoulders and nodded.

  "There aren't any adults. Adults were taken, and for the most part, when we saved them, they didn't have the innocence to believe in the magic that would fight this war. They were either captured again or they went back to their lives believing that this is all some super virus. Kids and teens are the warriors now, Mom." Trey lifted his scepter and backed t
oward the door. He really didn't want to leave them like this. What if this was the last time he got to say good-bye? What if he didn't come back?

  "Yeah, and Trey's one of the top riders. They need him, Mom. He saves lives."

  Trey smiled at Tate. It wasn't often his brother backed him up.

  "I mean, not as good as us, but he's okay." Liam grinned recklessly. Trey sighed.

  "Are you coming?" Scout appeared in the doorway behind them. "Iros has called twice now."

  Trey swore. "I can barely hear anything. Mom, I'm sorry. I've gotta go." He held up a hand in good-bye as Tate and Liam gave her synchronized kisses on each cheek, and then they were all rushing out the door. Torz waited nearby with Ashra.

  "Your parents didn't cry and fight you?" Trey asked as he slid his helmet on.

  Scout shook her head. "Nope. They did Lil Bit, though. I think she's still arguing, in fact." She winked, glancing back at her own hut.

  "I didn't want to leave them like that," Trey muttered as he swung up onto Torz's back.

  Scout smiled over Ashra's head, lifting her helmet. "Just make sure you come back to make it better."

  "I'll do my best." He snapped his helmet back up and leaned far over Torz's back, brushing a kiss across her soft lips. It sizzled all the way to his toes, and for the eight-thousandth time, he was amazed at her effect on him. Still, after all this time.

  Blushing, she smiled. "See that you do."

  "For Paradesos!" Iros bellowed in the distance.

  "Have I mentioned that your new homes are very inconvenient?" Ashra growled in her head as they rose into the air. "I feel like I'm missing everything."

  "A little harder to sprint to our deaths first from this point, huh?" Scout laughed softly.

  Ashra shot forward, her hooves racing across the sky and through the split in the sky, passing the other unicorns until she made it to Havik's side.

  "I guess not!' Trey heard Scout squeal as they faded in the distance.

  As the sky lit with lightning and the warriors poured through, Scout turned, Ashra dancing backward. "Remember, don't directly engage. Guerilla warfare! Duck and weave! Use the attacks we've taught you! Work with the sorcerers, not alongside them."

  There was a battle cry from behind them, and Iros grinned over at her.

  "Duck and weave? So we're boxers now?" Trey teased.

  Her blush showed through the bars of her helmet. "I think it has relevance here."

  16

  Instead of leading the Irwarros and their riders directly into battle, Scout and Ashra swung wide, down into the streets of Hong Kong. The devastation there was as bad as New York City, with bodies lying in the streets and very few alive to help them. But the huge skyscrapers and towering, tightly packed buildings were perfect for this new plan. Scout checked behind her to see many unicorns darting between buildings and up alleys. At the city center, Ari and her forces stood, protecting the humans who still lived. She smiled, turning forward again and releasing her scepter. "Ready?"

  "Ready." Ashra pumped her wings hard, and they surged up, slipping between buildings, remaining in the cover of rooftops and shadows until they were right underneath the flock of soul stealers. Many had souls in their claws and were fighting to escape, while others were trying to hold off the Irwarros.

  "Them. Let's go after them." Ashra's black horn lit, sparking, and she motioned toward the demons with the souls.

  "Good idea." Scout pointed her scepter as Ashra lit another attack, and Scout's magic joined hers, twisting together, becoming stronger and more lethal. They hit the soul stealers, and as the demons screamed and burned, the souls fell.

  "Maybe not a good idea!" Scout cried as Ashra started to drop from the sky to go after them.

  "We're on it!" Tate yelled as he and Liam swooped below them with their own small group, catching the falling souls and disappearing down to the streets far below, into Ari's protective circle.

  "Nice." Ashra surged back up, dodging around the corner of a skyscraper. They came out strong on the other side, fire already slithering through the darkness toward more soul stealers trying to escape with souls.

  Further ahead, Iros and Havik exploded from the alley with all the fury of a lightning storm, straight into the demons. Havik's sharp hooves and horn tore through the soul stealers as easily as shredding paper, and his fiery wings lit everything around him on fire. Iros's scepter burned as he swung, magic more powerful than Scout could ever hope to have firing from the black orb, obliterating everything around them.

  It was magnificent.

  Ashra, too, seemed to have been caught in the moment, and she'd paused in the air. Both snapped back to attention at the same time, letting lose their own fiery attack, helping Iros in his fight. More souls dropped from skeletal hands, and Tate and Liam again dove after them.

  The demons didn't know which way to go. If they went up, unicorns attacked from the darkness of clouds. If they went forward, sideways, backward, or down, they were met with Irwarros exploding from the shadows of buildings, from rooftops, from alleys. In the city streets, Ari's forces threw spells of colorful fire. There was no escape. And when they sought to attack, the Irwarros would disappear into the shadows.

  Never, in all the battles Scout had fought, had their victory been so overwhelming. Very few soul stealers escaped. Not one soul was taken. They returned to Paradesos with only one casualty.

  Take that, Ariston.

  For every death, there was a funeral pyre. This night was no different. After the warriors had returned and been healed, they came to the pond together and mourned the loss of one of their own. When Iros had told them the pond was made from the tears of the unicorns, he hadn't been lying.

  Trey and Scout walked silently, Lil Bit not far behind with both sets of parents. Trey's mother had cried, saying it could have been any of her boys lying there, and he'd had no answer to that. It was the same for any war and any parent, he assumed.

  Words were spoken by those who knew the fallen. Iros, as always, talked about the boy's bravery and sacrifice. Scout cried silently, clutching Trey's hand like it was a lifeline. More than anyone, Scout took these deaths personally—if she had just trained them better, if she had fought harder, maybe they would have lived.

  Also, Trey would be willing to bet, true of any war. He thought again about this choice he had made—and about Scout's. She said this was her home, and he knew if they survived this war, she wouldn't go back. There would be more things to fight, more battles to survive. He wondered why on earth anyone would willingly agree to that kind of life.

  And yet, he agreed with her. If they were given the choice of walking away or staying to fight, he would stay. Paradesos, with Torz, was where he belonged.

  As the last embers faded away and only a handful of them still stood there to watch, someone spoke. "Iros, how do I become as powerful as you?"

  It was a boy Trey didn't know. As far as Trey could remember, he'd never come to training. He'd seen him in battle a few times, but never caught his name. The boy nodded toward Trey and Scout. "They've been here since the beginning and they're not even close to what you can do."

  Scout frowned. "We haven't been here from the beginning. We've been here for a few months."

  Iros sighed. "To be as powerful as me, you live as the only immortal in a nearly thousand-year war, knowing that the fate of every battle and the entire world rests on your shoulders. Know if you don't train hard enough or work hard enough, if you ever let your guard down or, heaven forbid, sleep through the night, hundreds of lives will be lost—not just your friends, but innocents. And know that not only will they be lost, they will be held captive until they're torn to shreds to create a soul for a demon who will be nearly impossible to stop."

  The quiet murmurings around the fire stopped, and not even the birds dared make noise. Scout held her breath next to Trey.

  Lil Bit left Scout's side and went to Iros, taking his hand in her very small one. "And knowing that one day, you won't be
alone anymore, and that the weight is no longer entirely on your shoulders."

  Scout lifted a fist to her mouth to hide her tears. Trey watched Lil Bit in silence. She was an old soul. Charity had said she was a seer, but even that gift couldn't give her the wisdom she had at such a young age. Trey was trying to figure out where she'd gotten her knowledge when Scout lowered her hand and spoke. "It's knowing you will never fight alone again."

  Ah. That was where. Scout would never see it, but Lil Bit got her compassion and her innate ability to bring peace to a chaotic, painful world from her sister.

  Some of the darkness left Iros's face, and he smiled. It wasn't a grin, but a quiet thank-you-for-shattering-my-demons kind of smile.

  No one spoke a word again until they started on their way back. Iros, Aella, Lil Bit, Scout, and Trey were the only ones left, and they walked in silence through the forest. It wasn't until they reached the valley that Scout said, "Iros, how did you come to be here?"

  Iros blinked at her, and Aella smiled. "Haven't thought about that for a while, have we?" she said quietly.

  Rubbing the back of his neck, Iros nodded. "Not for a very long time."

  He paused mid-step, and Scout and Lil Bit sank to the ground, tugging Trey down with them. Iros followed, leaning back on his hands, and Aella sat next to him. Tate and Liam did too, anxious to hear this story.

  "We were raised here, born into it. Our parents were foot soldiers in the Greek army. Before they were wed, my mother heard that my father had been wounded in battle. She rode her fastest horse to the battlefield, which was empty save for the dead and dying. She found my father and begged the gods to save him."

  Aella smiled. "The gods didn't come, though."

  Iros nodded, his eyes sparkling as he remembered the story. "No, the unicorns did."

  Goosebumps rose on Trey's arms.

  "We were raised together, Aella, Ariston, Eleni, and I. We were trained together, we played together, we mourned together. We watched as Paradesos became smaller and smaller, with fewer and fewer riders joining our ranks."