Her words hit me deep. “Who? Who lied to you?”
She shook her head. “I cannot say… I swore an oath.” Her eyes looked up, red-rimmed and hopeless. “I was trying to do the right thing,” she whispered.
Tory knelt on the ground beside her, grabbing her shoulders. “You didn’t have Nate,” she offered, sobbing back lightly. The Huntress broke down, too, crying hard. And Tory comforted her.
I felt suddenly uncomfortable, and I could tell Carl and Talon did as well. I hadn’t ever seen the Huntress emotional before. It was… jarring. She had always been so cold and practical. I knew that that part of her was still there, but this part was currently unveiled in full force – when I had never known it existed.
I looked up as Tory whispered to her. “I thought you said you would never return here?”
The Huntress nodded. “I meant it. But… I had to—”
The pixies grew suddenly agitated, and Barbie flew right up to me, waving her hands. “Sex later. The Hunt has reached the swamp!”
I jumped to my feet. “What the hell? That fast?”
“They are the Hunt,” she responded in a dry tone. “You must flee. They want the child.”
I felt the boy squirm beneath my palm, but I gave him a gentle, reaffirming squeeze. “That’s not going to happen. He’s going home.” I turned to the rest of the group. “Mount up. Talon, find us a way out of here. Now!”
Everyone jumped into their saddles, the kid choosing to share my horse. I set him in front of me, so I could keep an eye on him. Also, so a stray arrow didn’t hit him in the back before I knew it was coming.
Tory nodded at me, a proud smile on her face.
“We ride,” I snarled, whipping the reins as I heard the first sounds of crashing limbs, and sudden horns from a dozen bugles. Or whatever they used.
Chapter 37
We didn’t bother trying to pace the horses, because the growls, shouts and bellows felt like they were a hair away from swiping our heads off of our shoulders as we galloped. Talon darted down the path, holding up a paw as if to test the air, following some sense of direction even Wylde didn’t understand.
We followed him blindly, and I began to think that this would be a great time for him to betray us all.
I realized that these were Wylde’s thoughts, not mine. But they had merit. I had no reason not to trust Talon, but since when had that gotten me anywhere?
I called out to the pixies in my mind, but flung out my hand like I was rolling a pair of dice. The kid flinched, looking for a threat. I leaned closer to his ear, my beard tickling his neck, making him jerk with an instinctive, but still nervous, giggle.
“What’s your name, kid?” I asked, sensing that the pixies had received my message, and were darting off in pairs, peeling back to race towards us.
“Alex.”
“Okay. Alex, I’m Nate. We’re going to get out of here, but I need you to listen to me. Trust me. Only me. Got it?”
He turned his head, frowning. Then his eyes drifted to my other… friends, and he shivered. “Okay,” he said. Very softly.
“Don’t be afraid. Fear gets you nowhere. The best way to beat fear is through insanity,” I said, chuckling. “No matter how big, strong, and ugly the fear is, and how obvious it is that you don’t stand a chance, you face it. And you fucking laugh. Laughter trumps fear every time.”
The kid nodded doubtfully, grunting as the horse jumped over a pile of rocks.
I glanced up, saw that the pixies were almost upon us, and said, “Trust me, kid. No matter what happens, I won’t ever let you down. Not as long as a breath remains in my body.”
I lifted a hand, and the first two pixies raced my way. I sliced open my palm with a small blade at my hip. The kid watched me, frowning as I held it out to him. Then he slowly took the knife, met my eyes, gave me a nervous smile, and said, “Smile at your fears, right?” I nodded in approval. “Okay.” He drew the blade across his palm, shallow, but enough to draw blood.
And he didn’t avert his eyes from mine as he did. I smiled. “One tough bastard.”
He held out his hand like mine, and the pixies darted through our fingers, wiping their wings in our blood as they flew by. Then they continued past us, right towards the Hunt.
“Bleed for me!” I shouted, startling my friends. I held up my hand, showing them my bloody palm. Alex did the same, waving it back and forth. My tribe obviously didn’t understand why, judging by the looks on their faces, but they did comply. Soon, we were all holding up bloody palms, and a school of pixies descended down on us, splashing and spinning through our blood, laughing, giggling, and singing as they did.
Then they were past us, looping around the Hunt.
Talon glanced over his shoulder at me, pointing ahead. I saw the familiar golden forest, and groaned. We had nowhere else to go. I saw the massive catnip tree off to our right, but that was a wide-open space and we would be easily surrounded. They would roll over us. The Hunt was in the valley just behind us, likely already racing up the hill. Even at a gallop, we would barely make it inside the golden forest of spidery death before they saw us.
Unless…
I had an idea. Or, maybe Wylde did. It seemed a hybrid of sorts. Him pulling from my knowledge of reading, and me pulling from his knowledge of doing, marrying the two in unholy matrimony. I didn’t question it. “Quick! To me!” I shouted.
Within thirty seconds, we stood in a huddle. “Great plan,” Talon said, sounding nervous for the first time.
“Everyone touch me.”
“I don’t like people touching me,” Talon argued.
“Really? A group hug?” Tory added.
“Fucking do it!” I snapped, making them all flinch as they sensed Wylde, reverting back to their savage forms. I watched as a film seemed to roll over their eyes, and then they obeyed. Even Talon. Their leader had spoken.
They obeyed.
I heard the galloping of hooves near the top of the hill behind us, screaming and hooting in victory. Wylde grumbled uneasily as he learned exactly how I was intending to pull off his plan, but I ignored him. I lashed out with my power, as a wizard, and did something I was very familiar with. The air cracked, screamed, and wailed in protest at my alien power, and we were ripped into a void, nothing at all like I had intended. The world crashed back into existence and I had a dull buzzing in my ears.
I saw blood leaking from the ears of those around me, and gasped. The world sounded muffled, as if covered in a pillow. And everyone looked a little wild around the eyes. The horses were all dead.
I spun in a dazed circle, wondering what the hell had happened. I had just tried to Shadow Walk…
A silver blur danced in the distance, near the golden forest. I shivered, staring at the hill where the Hunt should have been, but saw no one. The silver blur darted closer, but seemed to be struggling, like a butterfly with a ripped wing.
I frowned. The silver thing looked familiar.
Something about a silver girl that loved sex.
I blinked, and the form was suddenly right in front of my face, a silver woman of perfect proportions, utterly nude, and the size of my palm. I blinked as I watched her open her mouth, trying to tell me something. She had scrapes and wounds, and I saw one of her wings looked broken – shredded, actually.
She touched my forehead, and my ears popped. I gasped in agony, grabbing my ears. She shuddered, and then darted to the others around me, repeating the touch with them. They each hissed, snarled, and shouted as hearing returned to them. Alex sat against the tree, muttering under his breath, shaking his head as he rocked back and forth. He fell over when the silver pixie touched his forehead, but I saw he was still breathing, at least.
I was the first to notice the sound.
And was instantly rewarded with hundreds of dying screams and the sound of clanging metal rattling from the golden forest. The naked winged girl appeared in front of me, and I remembered. “Barbie,” I breathed.
She nodded, looking
on the verge of death. “They’re coming. We sent them into the forest…” she trailed off, face haunted. “They followed us. Followed the smell of your blood. It likely wouldn’t have worked if you hadn’t disappeared for so long. But there are so many dead. Them… and us…” She let out a sob. “We did our best, Rider. Forgive me…” I nodded numbly. “They’re coming now. The survivors. He is with them. And he’s not… pleased,” she said in a whisper.
Then she collapsed in the grass at my feet, suddenly a full-sized naked woman with silvery skin. She was covered with scratches and wounds. With the color of her blood matching her skin, her wounds looked more like someone had used a soldering iron to melt silver onto her skin. Trembling with the after effects of trying to Shadow Walk in this world, I scooped her up with a groan, almost unable to support her. My leg started to give out, and I felt Wylde step in, muttering angrily to himself as he drew deeply on the earth.
I felt sudden waves of heat rise up within me from the ground, granting me strength as I carried Barbie to the tree. I set her down against the trunk next to Alex, who was still shaking his head, mumbling in terror as the Wild Hunt burst from the golden forest, a swarm of two dozen of the hardest, deadliest nightmares King Oberon had left. The cream of the crop, most likely.
They looked to have spent days in there, and I idly wondered how long I had been gone. Barbie had said that we disappeared for so long. But the sun was still up, and the fight couldn’t have taken that long. Even the army of spiders in those cursed trees couldn’t have held off the Wild Hunt for too long.
“Wheeee!” Talon suddenly yowled, racing up into the tree and disappearing from view. I blinked, looking up, remembering where we were. The catnip tree.
Motherfucker.
“I told you we should have let him finish mating last time…” Carl grumbled from my side. My friends made a line before me, and I knelt close to Barbie, calling upon Wylde for help.
“Wake her. Give her strength. She must look after Alex,” I pleaded out loud. Alex didn’t seem to hear, and Barbie was fast asleep. I felt my hand reach up to her face, caressing her cheeks, and her eyes snapped open. She gasped as if I had just saved her from drowning. I slowly leaned closer, combing the fingers of both hands into the hair behind her neck, cupping her face as I stared deeply into her eyes, letting her see my soul. My heart.
And I placed a kiss on her lips.
A long, drawn out, passionate embrace, even nibbling her lip as the sounds of death approached on galloping hooves behind us. I let her see my heart through touch.
Because Barbie fed on affection, and my committed, genuine, loving kiss was the equivalent of an adrenaline shot. Not because it was like sex, but because it was pure love. She had risked her life for me, and I loved her for it. And I let her know that with my kiss.
She blinked back at me lazily as I pulled away. She licked her lips with a purr, smiling up at me. “No one will harm him,” she promised. And then she climbed to her feet to stand before Alex, many of her wounds looking significantly better. Since I was still crouching where I had kissed her, this gave me an excellent view of her posterior, to make sure those wounds were also healed. I decided they were, and flinched as twin curved silver daggers suddenly appeared in her palms inches away from my leering eyes. She laughed lightly, appreciating my attention. The blades ran parallel to her forearms up to her elbow, and three more smaller blades protruded from the hilt and out between each of her knuckles.
Like brass knuckles with razor-blade bracers, but silver. Groovy.
I called upon Wylde. He grumbled in approval of my plan as the sounds of the Hunt pounded up the hill towards our tree, towards my row of friends. The Hunt couldn’t see me hiding behind them. I scanned the area, assessing the potential with the sharp, calculating mind of Wylde assessing a battlefield.
I nodded, and began to army-crawl to my chosen spot. As I did so, I felt my body shifting, changing, adapting, uniting with the world around me.
“Distract them as long as possible,” I whispered, and my friends all heard, even though they didn’t look. Carl’s ear holes cocked, tracking my location, but he didn’t move his head.
It was time for Art Class.
Art of War, that is.
Chapter 38
I remained perfectly motionless as the horde of savages slowed, approaching the base of the tree with revenge in their eyes. Each was lacerated, ribbons of flesh hanging from faces, puncture wounds and slashes in their arms, legs, and sides.
The majority of them were goblins, but I saw an ogre or two. Maybe a troll. I really wasn’t sure which was which, since what I thought I had known of the Fae had been so, so wrong.
One of the goblins had a collection of dead pixies tied to a string on his belt. I barely restrained my growl, wondering what had happened to Ebony. Barbie saw the carcasses of her friends, carried as a collection of trophies, and snarled, sliding her bladed forearms together in a soft whisking sound.
King Oberon stepped out from behind the giant ogre troll. Whatever. His right-hand goblin, Kaba, stalked at his side, clutching two blades and snarling at the line of my friends. Who snarled right back. King Oberon looked haggard, face pale, and furious. Scratched, but not seriously wounded. But right now, through his anger, he also looked victorious.
“Kill them. Find Wylde. Kill him, too. The child is mine,” he growled, staring directly at Barbie.
Still, I didn’t move.
But Tory did.
She flung out her hands like throwing two softballs, and a sudden wave of mist rolled over the army, catching up maybe half of them. They instantly went on a killing spree, bashing the brains of their fellow Hunters.
Oberon growled, sending a blast of power straight at her. The Huntress dove in front of it, taking the brunt of the blow, knocking her into the tree beside Alex and Barbie. Tory whipped her head to the side, shocked to see the Huntress do as she had done. Then another blast flew at her, knocking her into the ground. She groaned, and didn’t get up. The Huntress was also dazed, unable to move as she blinked at our attackers very slowly, lips moving wordlessly.
Still, I didn’t move.
Oberon began to walk laterally in front of my crew, chuckling as he held out his hands, spinning in a slow, triumphant circle. Kaba followed close on his heels, snarling at my friends, a last line of defense for his king. A personal bodyguard. Judging by the way he stalked, those copper blades in his hands weren’t just a token. He had earned them. I should have noticed that earlier. I had considered him a secretary, of sorts. Now I had to worry about both of them.
“You’ve led us on a merry chase, Temple!” Oberon shouted. “But the butcher is here. You’ve failed. We’ve waited so long to Invite another Manling to play, but you were a stunning disappointment. Come out and watch your friends die. At least have some dignity.”
Still, I didn’t move.
Oberon waited until a silent count of three, face morphing into anger as he took a few more steps, trying to get a look at Alex behind my friends. Carl and Wulfra were focused entirely on the horde of monsters. Barbie, on the other hand, stood in a ready stance, slowly pacing to remain between Alex and Oberon.
Oberon pointed as he took another step. “You, child, must die. As much as it pains me to admit. I thought to have chosen Master Temple well, assuming he could save you before I was forced to fulfill my duty.” He let out a regretful sigh. “But he failed you. And when duty calls, even I must overlook my feelings. I owed the Queens a favor, and a man cannot refuse a favor owed.”
Alex finally leaned out from behind Barbie’s exquisite ass to face Oberon for the first time. And then he burst out laughing. Full body heaves, with knee slaps and everything.
Oberon took a threatening step forward, spittle flying from his mouth, right beside a weathered log.
I jumped to my feet, wrapped my arm around his neck, and jabbed a dagger half an inch into his throat. He tensed, suddenly motionless, and Kaba shrieked in terror.
“Drop
your blades, Kaba, and step over there,” I rasped.
He did, watching as bark, leaves, and catnip pods rolled off my form.
The other Hunters shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, and for the first time, my friends saw me. I hadn’t just covered myself in the disguise. I had been the disguise, becoming the log.
“How?” Oberon whispered, and I could tell he genuinely had no idea how we had gotten to this point.
“Always appear where your enemy doesn’t expect you. At a time of your choosing, at a location of your choosing. And never be forced into a fight,” I said, paraphrasing some lessons I had learned from Sun Tzu. Wylde had added some things to it, but overall, it had resulted in the same decision, just with less grunting and hand gestures.
“You couldn’t have known I would stand here, in this exact spot,” he argued, incredulous.
“You were led. And now, you have lost. Due to overconfidence.”
“And how was I led?” he asked.
I smiled. “I had her hide your view of the kid. Always rotating just enough to block a good sight of him. Until the end.”
“I could have gone the other way, rather than walking this way.”
I nodded. “But you didn’t. Look, we can analyze this all we want, but guess what, Obie? I’ve got my stick in your throat.” He grew silent after that.
The terrain had been rougher, uneven, and full of debris in the other direction. This had been the direction I would have walked in his shoes, the better to strut victoriously through. Because I knew Oberon. This was a big moment. To best the Manling his brother spoke so highly of.
Pan thought so highly of me that he led me into this trap, betting I could claw my way out.
Pan – Mallory – and I would have words. Soon.
“It seems we are at an impasse,” Oberon said, careful of my blade in his throat. “You must make a decision, Manling. Kill or beg forgiveness. Do you dare kill a King of the Fae? Could your mortal mind even imagine the consequences? My people would storm the gates of your world like a tidal wave, rolling through like a plague, burning, pillaging, raping…” he held out his hands slowly, displaying his world. “Until it is like this. Clean. Precise. Honest. Or Darwinism, as you Manlings say.” He paused, letting that sink in. “Just know that the moment I die, my soldiers will be upon you, and you will have no more leverage. So, it seems you must beg, tiny Manling,” he finished, lowering his hands. “I win.”
Wild Side: A Nate Temple Supernatural Thriller Book 7 (The Temple Chronicles) Page 21