A shape materialized ahead of him, hazy at first, until Chrysa appeared and stopped right in front of him. “What do we do now?”
"Now you try to find your brother again." He offered his hand to her and shuddered upon the contact when an electric charge traveled up his arm. Chrysa made a small sound in the back of her throat, and her eyes turned as round as saucers. She had felt it too.
That had never happened to Durgin before, but then he had never tried to connect with someone like her. The foreign energy still swirled around his core when he closed his eyes and became one with Chrysa, saw what she saw. It was as if their minds had merged.
They were back in the starship’s gateway, but soon they took flight. As they soared over the hundreds of pods in the chamber next door, Durgin felt Chrysa's sadness, but the princess didn't look down. She went up the chute they had come from and would have missed the second one if Durgin hadn't tugged her toward it.
"I-I shouldn't go in there," she stammered.
"They must have gone down that way. We need to investigate."
Reluctantly, she heeded Durgin’s words. That second chute led out of the starship and into a cave. Yellow fungi covered part of the walls and ceiling, shimmering against the only source of illumination in the room, a light pen. Next to it, two naked bodies were fused together.
With a resounding snap, Durgin was shoved back into his own head. Chrysa stared at him, out of breath and red-faced.
"Well, at least we know they’re alive.” Durgin smirked.
"I told you I shouldn't have gone there."
He rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on. It's not like you've never seen two people having sex before."
Chrysa crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Of course not. Voyeurism is not my thing."
Durgin raised his hands up as if he was backing down. "My apologies, I didn't mean to offend you." He stepped on the connector and offered his hand to her. "Come on. Let's get your brother." Chrysa hesitated and Durgin let out an impatient sigh. "May I remind you that we have to stop an invasion?"
Grumbling, she joined Durgin on the connector, ignoring his hand. She glared at him instead. "What are you doing?"
"I'm typing in the coordinates to where they are. It's not going to be exact, but I hope it’ll be close enough."
"You hope?"
"Yes." He peered at her through his eyelashes. "Not much different than me believing in one of your hunches, is it?
She narrowed her eyes to slits. "I don't like you very much right now."
Durgin put a hand over his chest and faked a hurt expression. "Ouch. You wound me. Ready?"
"What's going to happen?"
Durgin didn't reply, just pressed a button on the control panel. The vibration under their feet began, and soon they were surrounded by a tight energy wall. When the vibration intensified, Chrysa took a step closer. She grabbed his arm as the light surrounding them turned brighter, almost blinding. The hum all around them was so loud Durgin had to shout over it. "Close your eyes."
Chrysa did as she was told, scrunching her face and biting her lower lip. Durgin kept his eyes open; he would have to endure a little discomfort to make sure the connector worked as it should. He felt his body become boneless, and on instinct, he pulled Chrysa into his arms. She didn't fight him, but she may have let out a scream when their bodies shot upwards into a tunnel of multicolored light. Durgin felt the pressure on his body as if every molecule was fighting to maintain its integrity.
The trip only lasted a few seconds before they landed on the ground with a jerk. Durgin’s knees buckled and he had to work extra hard not to fall on his ass. Chrysa had buried her face against his chest, and his arms had wrapped around her smaller frame. He didn’t even remember doing it. That gateway trip was the most intense he'd experienced in his life; his ears still rang from the pressure, and his eyes took a while to adjust to the sudden gloom.
It turned out he didn't need his sight to know they were in the right place.
"Tandrum's wrath!" Femror yelled from not too far away.
"Oh, hello. Did we arrive at a bad time?" Durgin replied with a smile in Femror’s general direction, even if he couldn’t see shit. He knew the gesture would piss the Draki warrior off, and that gave Durgin endless pleasure.
Chapter 38
They rode nonstop until they left the Valley of Bones behind and the ground changed from soft yellow sand to white, dried-out land. They had finally crossed Moran's border. Samiah wanted to stop because her back ached and her legs were as stiff as a board. Plus, she needed to relieve herself badly, but Malachiax wasn't stopping. He would ride until he fell off his mount and broke his neck. She couldn't imagine what the physical strain was doing to his body. If she ever saw Durgin again, she would punch him in the throat.
Samiah recognized the rock formation ahead and tears prickled her eyes. Or maybe it was just the sand. Nonetheless, she knew the portal lay just on the other side of those mountains. She had let herself hope they would be able to make it after all when her mount let out a shriek and his forelegs gave out. Samiah was thrown off her saddle, the momentum propelling her forward like a cannon ball. She brought her arms up right before she hit the coarse ground hard, rolling a few times before she came to a stop. A sharp pain shot up her arm causing Samiah to let out a hoarse scream. Panting, she tried to move, but the attempt only served to double the pain.
She heard the sound of hooves on the solid ground fast approaching until they stopped abruptly. An animal whined before a pair of worn leather boots came into her line of vision. Samiah didn't need to look up to know Gary stood next to her, not Malachiax.
He rolled her body over, eliciting another cry from her. Tears filled her eyes and rolled down her cheeks in fat rivulets.
"I think your arm is broken," Gary said.
Breathing hard, Samiah replied through clenched teeth, "Just fucking great. What happened to my mount?"
Gary looked out in the distance. "It's dead."
"Dead? How can an H5 just die like that? I thought they were super-special animals." Samiah discovered that talking was keeping her distracted from the pain.
"Maybe that particular specimen couldn't handle the nonstop hard ride. Can you sit up?"
Samiah wanted to say no, but she couldn't just lie there and not move. "I-I think so. And Malachiax?"
The sound of another set of hooves approached. Samiah and Gary looked in that direction to see Malachiax running back to them. She let out a shaky breath, but that one wasn't pain related. She was relieved. Malachiax had fought off the compulsion. He had come back for her.
He jumped off the horse before it had even stopped and made a dash in their direction.
"Sami. Are you okay?" He crouched by her side and touched her cheek, tenderness and worry etched on his face. The manic glint in his eyes was gone.
"My horse is dead, and I broke my arm. You got free from the compulsion. How?"
Malachiax nodded. "When I heard you scream and saw you on the ground, something snapped in my brain. My love for you won in the end. I'm so, so sorry I couldn't do it sooner. Will you ever forgive me?”
The swirling guilt in Malachiax's eyes made Samiah’s heart shatter into tiny pieces. "There's nothing to forgive. It wasn't your fault."
"We need to bind your arm, but there's nothing we can do for the broken bone until we get to a healer's center," Gary interrupted them, holding a piece of cloth in his hand.
Right, we don’t have time for sentimentalism.
Malachiax took the cloth from Gary and made quick work of her useless limb, looping it around her arm and tying it behind her neck, creating an improvised sling. When he offered pills for the pain, she refused. Mal gave her a look that said, "Now you know how I feel."
He helped get her onto his mount before he sat behind her. Samiah's gaze dropped to her arm, and then she glanced at Gary’s stump. What a sore bunch we are, she thought with a grimace. If we can finish our mission without anyone else losing or breaking a
ny body parts, it will be great.
To avoid losing another mount or both to exhaustion, they maintained a much slower pace. The sense of urgency still lingered over their heads, though, much sharper than before.
Mercifully, they reached their final destination without any more incidents. They stopped at the edge of the cliff and looked down at what was left of their camp. Charred ruins. Samiah’s gut twisted painfully when she spotted the dark fissure on the ground, the chasm Malachiax had created when they were trying to escape. He stiffened behind her, and she suspected his gaze was also fixed on that spot. Using her good hand, she squeezed his and leaned against his solid chest. She could say nothing that would alleviate his guilt, though, and it broke her heart that she couldn’t help her mate more.
Samiah let her gaze travel down the valley until it landed on the gaping hole on the side of the mountain. No one could tell at first glance that the cave was actually a portal to a hellish dimension. The valley was eerily quiet; no wraiths were lurking nearby. She didn't know if the Myserians that had made it through the portal were only the first wave or if they were too late. The three of them took another dose of Razor’s Blood, which Samiah noticed didn’t affect them as much as it had in the beginning. Maybe their bodies were getting used to it.
Malachiax veered his mount toward the downward path. Once they reached the valley below, they circled around the camp, as going through it wasn't an option, even if it was the most direct path. When they reached the entrance of the cave, Malachiax dismounted and helped Samiah do the same. She bit her lower lip and tried to hide from Malachiax how much pain she was in. He didn’t notice her grimace, for he had already turned to retrieve the box containing the Spheres of Sharra. He paused for a second and stared at the box in his hands, frozen.
"What is it, Mal?"
He looked up and shook his head. "Nothing."
Samiah narrowed her eyes at him. She knew her mate too well to read the lie in his gaze. He finally unlatched the box and a warm glow emanated from inside, illuminating his entire face. Samiah and Gary moved closer to have a better look at the objects of power Lord Droom had hoarded and was willing to kill his own kin to keep. The spheres, made out of clear glass, would fit in the palm of one's hands. Inside each one, some type of contained energy swirled and changed colors. Malachiax retrieved one and stared at it intently.
"I have no idea what we are supposed to do with them."
"The Draki king said they had to make a great sacrifice the last time they closed the portal," Samiah replied, also mesmerized by them. Her hand hovered over the globes, as if an invisible force pulled her toward them. She finally wrapped her fingers around one sphere and retrieved it from the box.
"Yes, but how do the Spheres of Sharra fit into this?" Malachiax asked.
"They don't."
They all turned to look at the newcomer, none other than the Draki king who was accompanied by at least fifty of his Draki warriors.
"What?" Samiah asked, then instinctively hid the sphere in her hand behind her back.
"Did you really think my son would disobey a direct order from me and risk his life to help a bunch of Arcadian troublemakers? I thought you were smarter than that." The king tsked and shook his head.
Samiah's head was spinning. She should have checked Femror’s aura for any signs of duplicity. Damn it! She couldn’t believe she had made that stupid mistake.
"Are you saying Femror was working for you the entire time?" Malachiax put his sphere back in the box and shut the lid.
"Naturally." The king grinned.
"What do you want with the spheres?" Malachiax stepped in front of Samiah and she realized he was stalling, buying them time. He wanted her and Gary to run, but run where?
Suddenly, the sphere in her hands began to warm. Samiah felt tendrils of energy sneak around her wrist as her arm became numb. What is going on? She swallowed hard and sent a warning to Malachiax. “Something is happening to my sphere,” she said through the bond.
Mal’s shoulders became more tense, the only indication he had heard her message.
"I want back what was stolen from us many millennia ago," the king replied.
"Your sacrifice. What exactly did the planet take from you?" Samiah asked.
The king made a dismissive gesture with his hand. "That's none of your concern. Now hand over the spheres and no one gets hurt."
"No." Malachiax held the box tighter against his chest. "I'm not giving you anything. The Spheres of Sharra were separated for a reason. No one should have complete access to their powers."
"Do you even know what the spheres do, boy? What they are capable of?"
"People are willing to betray and kill for them. I think I get the gist."
"You realize you are surrounded and outnumbered. I really don't wish to spill your blood or your mate’s, but I will if you resist."
As if on cue, the archers in the group pointed their arrows at them. Samiah’s gift flared up and she saw that Malachiax was getting ready to unleash his powers on the Draki. But the flame in his core didn’t shine as bright. The hard trip across the desert had taken a toll on him. She knew he wasn’t strong enough to inflict any damage.
The archers’ bowstrings drew tighter; any sudden movement on their part and the Draki would let those arrows loose.
A ripple went through the air between them and the warriors, diverting their attention. There was a bright flash before Lochiana, Femror, Durgin, and Chrysa appeared in front of them.
The sudden apparition spooked one of the Draki and he let his arrow loose. Samiah watched in terror as the sharp tip of the weapon cut through the air. She let out a scream and raised the sphere as raw power crackled through her limbs. Time seemed to halt, and Samiah was able to see everything happen in slow motion. The arrow was headed straight for Chrysa, and Samiah knew the tip would find its mark right in the middle of the princess’s chest. Durgin flexed his legs and prepared to jump in front of her; he would take the hit and most likely perish. Samiah couldn’t let that happen.
She didn’t know what kind of power allowed her to move faster than the others, but she knew what she must do. She ran toward her friends and knocked the arrow off its course, the impact jarring her broken arm. The pain should have been unimaginable, but she felt nothing but a faint throb. With a loud whoosh, time returned to normal and Samiah discovered all eyes were on her.
Chapter 39
Lochiana’s scream was still lodged in her throat when Samiah appeared out of nowhere and knocked the arrow aimed at Chrysa off its course. There was a moment of stunned silence before Lochiana asked, “For all the Sacred Powers, how did you move so fast?”
Her friend was still breathing hard and staring wide-eyed at the arrow that now lay on the dirt. Lochiana noticed Samiah had one sphere in her hand while her other arm hung from a sling. A band of energy seemed to have leaked out of the sphere and wrapped around her wrist.
“You can wield the Sacred Powers of Arcadia,” the Draki king said in awe.
“What?” Samiah turned toward him.
“Legend says only the worthy are able to use the Spheres of Sharra,” Femror replied.
Samiah narrowed her eyes in his direction, her face twisting in sudden anger. “You! You betrayed us!”
She took a menacing step toward Femror, and Lochiana thought she was going to unleash whatever power she had control of on the warrior. Lochiana felt a surge of protectiveness take over, despite the fact that she was still embarrassed by what had transpired in the cave between them. They hadn’t had much time to talk about it before Durgin and Chrysa caught them butt naked. What stopped Lochiana in her tracks was the guilt-stricken expression on Femror’s face as he glanced at the Draki king.
“What is she talking about?” She stared at the warrior.
“Femror was working for his father the entire time. The spheres have nothing to do with closing the portal,” Samiah replied.
Lochiana’s stomach bottomed out, and she felt a sharp
pain in her chest, as if someone had twisted a sharp knife through her heart. “Is that true?” she whispered, almost begging him to deny it.
“Yes,” he said through clenched teeth, avoiding her gaze.
“How could you?” She couldn’t hide the hurt in her voice.
He turned to her then, his eyes flashing an emotion Lochiana couldn’t understand. The pull she felt toward him was stronger than ever, but her mind rebelled against it. She could not have fallen for another duplicitous male.
“Because when it comes to absolute power, everything is fair game,” a new voice boomed out in the valley. They all looked up to find Lord Droom there with his army of Nox Elite soldiers.
Lochiana was robbed of air as her heart twisted sharply in her chest for other reasons than heartache. Fear was now controlling her emotions. She flared her nostrils while her hands balled into fists by her side. Femror moved and put himself in front of her as a shield. She snorted and glared at his back, but stood frozen to the spot.
“I’m a bit disappointed, Malachiax,” Lord Droom continued. “I’ve always thought you would be the one noble enough to wield the spheres for me. I never once considered that your low-born, forked-tongue mate would be the one with that kind of power.”
Samiah shifted back until she was side by side with her mate. The Draki warriors immediately turned their attention to the newest threat, their archers aiming their arrows in Lord Droom’s direction. He regarded them as if they were nothing more than pesky little bugs. He snapped his fingers and more black-clad soldiers stormed the valley, effectively surrounding them. They were outnumbered.
The Draki king wasn’t a fool, having noticed that too. Still, he squared his shoulders and raised his chin in defiance. “I will not let you take the Spheres of Sharra.”
“Let me?” Lord Droom threw his head back and laughed. “Do you think I’m afraid of a bunch of insignificant lizards?”
Lord Droom’s insult elicited hisses and growls from the Draki warriors. Lochiana noticed the tension in Femror’s shoulders and that his knees had bent slightly. He was prepared to engage. Lochiana wanted to stop him, which was a foolish notion. He was a warrior; that what he had been trained to do. Besides, he had betrayed her. Why did she care so much about him?
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