by Anna Sanders
“Dishonor such as yours cannot go unpunished. I am making an example out of you, Miss Rowan. Just like us Three should have done from the very beginning.”
Winx looked away from him, only to see a disturbing sight along the well-lit wall.
Right beside a decorative pair of swords were two long bones of what used to be wings bordering the center. They were polished and gleamed in the lamplight.
A lump clogged her throat.
Chavez stood near his desk and pointed at the wall. “Like my decoration? I had it brought up not too long after you were inducted. I thought it would promote a certain…compliance. Especially for my slave here.” He pointed to the shackled cryptid. “He is a daevor. Just like you. Only I have not ridden him of his wings just yet. His ability of flight has, so far, aided me quite sufficiently. But soon he will lose them, just like every daevor under my scrutiny. It seems so primitive, demons having wings. Wings are for the righteous. For the lixyns.”
It made sense now.
Chavez was enslaving daevors. Daevors control humans and savages. Therefore…
Winx felt rage overtake her. “You are charged with protecting our races, and look at you! You glorify yourself in tormenting daevors! You willingly poison the beliefs based off of our kind!”
He spun on her. “Poison? I am purifying our races! You with the dark touch are guilty of causing mayhem for centuries! The dark ages, plague, wars, countless murders and rampages, all of it points to you and your kind. We must stop you for good. Only then can we completely keep humankind in our protection. I did what I had to do to get you here, Winx. I reduced myself to unimaginable things. The peaceful Bandits suffered much due to you abandoning your post!”
“So in order to get to me, you had your slave draw savages to Keaton’s family? To my city, and my job? It is your fault that so many lives were torn apart?”
“No. It is your fault. For evading the eradication forces. And for leaving behind the calling we gave you. You should be ashamed.”
“I will never take the blame for you becoming psychotic!” she growled at him.
He laughed mirthlessly. “All of you are the same. Refusing to accept the blame for the destruction you wrought. I am doing the right thing.” He picked up a metal mace from his desk, hefting its weight in his hand. “I have always done the right thing. Right from the beginning, when I was first made a Chancellor. My brothers in The Three have been unaware of this. It is for the best. They are too softhearted for what must be done. Only I can carry it out.”
Winx shrank back against her seat as he approached with the mace. “What are you doing?”
“I must purify you, Winx. It is the only way to be sure that your soul ascends and does not die.”
“Cryptids aren’t in risk of their souls dying! Only humans turn into savages!”
“Then I am doing this for me. Whatever excuse you prefer.”
THE DENSE WOODS WERE NOT a real hamper to Keaton, Stori, or Genevieve as they rushed to find Winx. It only took the team a few stops to track and find her trail once more.
Keaton heard Winx’s awful screams before he could spot her, which made his efforts to get to her all the more frantic. Pushing his body to the limit, he came upon a rise and easily found the hidden cabin that she had been taken to.
Six daevors surrounded the cabin with their wings and horns exposed. Each of them were waiting, arms crossed, at all corners of the opening. As the Bandits and the lixyn advanced, they moved into formation.
“What do we do?” Genevieve asked.
“We take them out!” Stori hissed.
“There are too many of them!” The lixyn shrank back. “I can’t…I can’t do this—”
Her sentence was cut off by a truly horrendous shriek of pain from the cabin. Winx sounded beyond hurt, she sounded terrified as well. None of them had ever seen anything of her but bravery, and occasionally annoyance, so the sobs and screams made each of them freeze in shock.
“Winx!” Keaton shouted her name, not thinking any longer. “Hang on! I’m coming!”
The Bandit propelled himself forward. He blazed with speed toward the waiting guard. There was no stopping him. A ferocity foreign to him pumped his blood, and he unleashed his claws and fangs with energetic swipes and snaps.
Keaton reached them with a crash. The daevors swung uselessly as Keaton ran torrents around them, swipes of his claws ripping their flesh.
The guards tried a new tactic, setting in around him and making his maneuverability difficult. Soon he was surrounded on all sides, and his speed meant nothing. The men began to punch and kick him into the ground, ganging up on him entirely.
Stori started to go after him. “Keaton!”
“Wait! You’ll both die!” Genevieve yelled at her, trying to pull her back.
“That’s my cousin in there!”
Stori’s body soon became an identical blur as she began to attack the group from the outside. The daevors were startled enough out of Keaton’s ass-whooping to stop her onslaught. Keaton got to his feet, a little wobbly but mostly whole. He attacked one of the guards, punching his face and bringing him to the ground.
Stori kept evading any swings the men tossed her way for a while. But soon, she was caught by a strong arm and clotheslined to the ground. Stori made a choking sound and tried to suck in air, but she had no time to recuperate. One daevor picked her up by the arms, securing her tightly. Another began to assault the front of her body with punches and slaps.
With one glance, Evy saw that Keaton was graced with the same treatment. And the remaining two daevors were headed her way.
Genevieve was unsure of what to do. Seeing her companions fearlessly run into the thick of battle had her completely on-edge. But they needed her help. And now, as the men headed toward her, she was in danger as well.
Genevieve’s necessity to protect her compatriots as well as herself overwhelmed her. The incessant need of a lixyn to help the living was born into her.
Pulling the gun from inside her robes, she did her best to push her anxiety aside and flew above the fray before the first daevor reached her.
Evy ignored everything but the guards below, sticking with the task.
First, Genevieve aimed her pistol at the two daevors still after her, now flying to meet her midair. She kept her arm as steady as possible this time, even as dread filled her from head to foot, and shot.
The bullet made its home easily into the stomach of her first assailant. He grunted in shocked pain and fell to the ground.
Genevieve shot again, hitting the next one in his upper chest. He too fell without further issue. That left the men who were still making giant bruises on the Bandits. Evy flew closer, trying to aim accurately, then began to shoot at them with muttered curses.
The Bandits tried hard not to be annoyed at the spray of gunshots raining down from overhead. Deep down, each of them knew that the lixyn princess was doing her best to help. But since they weren’t able to dodge the live ammunition, friendly fire was too high a possibility. The guards eventually tried to use them as shields while the princess continued to aim and fire.
“Be careful!” Stori hollered in a panic.
Two more daevors flew at Genevieve, leaving Keaton and Stori on the ground still immobile in capture by their attackers.
The daevors either didn’t understand how guns work or didn’t care. Either way, coming toward the princess made it easier for Evy to shoot them. They soon joined the other fallen soldiers on the ground, one even looked to have been wounded fatally.
The two daevors left were squirming in discomfort. Genevieve flew to the ground, landing with her weapon still pointed in their direction. They backed away, keeping Keaton and Stori in their reverse head and arm locks.
“You have a choice,” Genevieve growled. “Let them go and leave so that we can save Winx, or be shot. Believe me. I will hit you.”
“Your threats don’t scare us.” The guard holding Keaton had a deep voice. “Who are you, co
mpared to our master within?”
Genevieve gave a wicked smile. “Who am I? I’m a high-born.”
She shot and hit his exposed leg.
As Keaton’s foe crumpled from pain, the Bandit was able to get free. He brought his claws down hard and slashed the daevor’s throat. After that, with a burst of velocity, he freed Stori the same way. Both daevors gurgled and held their throats, down for the count.
“Are you all right?” Genevieve asked, putting her pistol away.
“Not so much,” Stori answered. She hurried over to meet the lixyn. “I’m sorry I doubted your shot. You’re really rather good.”
Evy wasted no time healing Stori. But Keaton was already headed away from them. “Wait! Let me heal you first!”
Keaton ignored her.
He walked straight up to the cabin door and attempted to kick it in. It did not budge. He kicked again, the thud from the impact piercing the night air in a loud bang.
“WHAT WAS THAT?” CHAVEZ DEMANDED, ceasing with his purification of the daevor slackened before him. The bangs on the door echoed throughout the one-room space, making the walls shake.
Winx was nearing a faint once again from the beating she was enduring. She could feel each blow coarse through her very bones. In the throes of agony, she was unable to continue with her human façade, and her horns and tail grew. She could feel the stubs of her wings press through her back, just healed over cartilage. She hung her head down, hoping to be ignored for whatever the new disturbance was.
“Damn. It seems your friends have found us. Where is the guard? Tipping, set the guard on them.”
“The guard is dead, sir,” Tipping said without emotion.
“Impossible! They were mightily outnumbered!”
“They have killed the guard, sir,” he said again without inflection.
“Very well. Tipping? Go to the door and end whoever that is. In quick fashion, if you do not mind.”
The shackled daevor shuffled towards the door. He reached for the locks and lifted each one. The pounding stopped for a moment.
Tipping turned the handle but did not have time to do as his master bade him. The door flew in, knocking the slave back hard and onto the floor.
“Curse you, you filthy Bandit!” Esteban shouted in anger when his slave did not get up. He stepped away from Winx to face off with Keaton. “Leave at once!”
“Let her go.” The fury mounted in Keaton to the point that he could actually feel the testosterone overtake his veins, pumping into his system in a fuel.
Once Tipping was out of commission, his hold over Bo was released. The savage hissed hungrily and took a staggering step toward the breathing flesh before him. Even though Winx was nearing a faint, she felt the change in the air when the savage returned to himself. She opened one eye and mentally called to him.
Stop.
Since there was no interference from a daevor already in his head, the beast listened. Winx focused with all of her might on the killer.
He stood by, awaiting further instruction. Nobody noticed the change in command over Bo, not even Chavez.
“Esteban!” Genevieve was right behind Keaton. Following her was a lax, yet completely healed Stori. “What are you doing here?”
“Your highness,” Esteban said through clenched teeth.
One look at her cool reception, and at Winx tied to the medieval woodwork in the middle of the room, told Genevieve all that she needed to know.
“You are the one behind all of this?” She walked further into the room. “But this is your jurisdiction! What could possibly make you jeopardize your future as a chancellor with… all of this?”
“I was charged with protecting the interests of Edina and the Order, your grace. This so-called ‘soldier’ was overdue to report to the eradication forces in my area. Overdue by two whole years, and nothing was done about it! Therefore, I am allowed to subject her to any punishment I see fit. I repeat. Any punishment. I made it clear when the other Chancellors and I drew up the directive!”
“I do not think that I have to tell you that this is wrong. You are abusing your power, sir.” Evy looked at the slave on the floor, who was starting to stand up. In the wake of a new authority standing in the doorway, he did nothing to help his master.
“This is the kind of insipid leniency I speak of! You!” He turned on Winx, who was giving him a look so full of hatred that she seethed with it. “You were to come to me! You were to be in my squad! You abandoned me, and nobody did anything about it! I will have my revenge on you, you common slag!”
He lifted the mace again, ready to resume his strikes.
Keaton rushed at him, using his speed to charge Esteban into his desk. The blow sent the two men flying beyond it and into the wall. The bones of Winx’s wings fell as if in slow motion onto them both, but they were thrown off when Chavez stood fluidly and tossed Keaton away from him.
Keaton landed on his feet and came back, punching Esteban in the face. He got a few good hits in, upper cutting the lixyn’s chin.
Esteban blocked Keaton’s next blow and sprouted his wings, using their might to shove Keaton back across the room and into Tipping.
The two fell hard, and Keaton prepared to pounce again. Stori came up to her cousin’s side in order to help him, but they were both cut off when Bo attacked instead.
Go. Winx mentally willed the savage. Kill.
Bo reared his head and launched himself at the nearby lixyn.
Chavez screamed when the beast bit deeply into his forearm and pulled at his skin. It came out in strings, and blood splashed the floorboards. But it was not enough to take out the powerful foe. He brought his fist back and punched the savage in his nose, forcing the fiend backwards, temporarily losing his balance.
Still, driven by the taste of blood and the urging of Winx, the savage attacked again. Esteban grabbed the savage by his neck and tossed him into the wall. There was a snapping sound, and the savage lay, legs without use but still awake, in a pile of raging, snapping teeth.
Genevieve shot her gun.
One hit flew square into Esteban’s neck. The next hit his shin. Another grazed his ear. Blood freely poured from the gunshot wounds.
He gurgled and stepped backwards. His hand glowed, and he pressed it to the hole, healing almost instantaneously. He casually disregarded his other injuries in light of his neck.
Genevieve’s gun clicked. She was out of bullets.
Sensing their advantage, the two Bandits raced to stop Esteban from escaping. But he had already risen too far above the reach of their claws.
“This is not over,” he wheezed, beginning to fly upwards. “Winx Rowan will belong to me. And I will use the rest of her bones to decorate my quarters. And you,” he pointed to the Bandits. “Say goodbye to your family for good.”
“No!” Stori shrieked.
With a swift movement, he burst himself through a skylight in the ceiling. There was a crash from his body tearing the opening wider, debris fell about the cabin, and the Chancellor was gone.
Keaton stared over at Tipping, prepared to race in his direction in case he wanted to follow his master. But Tipping remained where he was, seemingly with no inclination to follow Chavez.
Genevieve and Stori hurried over to Winx. She was weak, with only one eye open now, but she was still conscious.
“Whose idea was it to split up?” she groaned.
“I think it was mine,” Evy confessed.
“Let’s not ever do that again.”
“Agreed.”
They untied Winx, trying to ignore the rope burns on her flesh and the blood seeping slowly down from her scalp and nose. The bruising was bad already. Once they released her, she slipped dangerously to the ground and hit hard. The girls tried to get her to sit upright, but Winx was determined to try to get to her feet.
“No!” she growled. “I have to finish this.”
“It’s over, Winx!” Stori held her as tight as she could. “He is gone! There is no following him n
ow!”
“She doesn’t mean that,” Keaton answered, understanding when he saw Winx’s eyes on the savage. After realizing that Tipping was going nowhere, he walked over to them. He pushed his cousin out of the way and helped Winx to her feet. “Go. Do what you have to do.”
Winx gave him as much of a look of appreciation that he could ever get from her.
She jerkily walked over to Chavez’ fallen desk, where her shovel lay beside it on the floor. She picked it up and headed to the left corner of the room.
Bo lay there, one of his legs broken. He tried to drag himself toward Winx, rage and hunger transforming him into something more awful than she ever could. With her foot, she kicked him onto his back. His hands clawed at her, but he could not get a good grip on her shoe.
Taking the blunt part of the tool, Winx pressed the shovel to the savage’s neck. He choked and sputtered, but he still flailed in ravenous frenzy.
“This time? You stay dead.”
Winx pressed her foot against the blade, held the handle with both hands, then viciously kicked down hard repeatedly. There was a disgusting squishing sound that made the room full cringe, and the savage was no more.
CHAPTER 19
DAVIE WAS ONE OF THE sentries on duty for the Bandit camp that night. He had more experience sitting than guarding, but it didn’t matter; nothing had happened at the camp for many moons now. He was more than content with trying to beat his high score on Tetris, ignoring the crisp breeze that tousled his ratty hair.
Honestly, what was the point of the job? He would much rather be at the camp itself having a bitter brew and trying to coax one of the ladies out of their skirts. Instead, he was at least a mile and a half away from the warmth and kindness of his friends.
His fingers had gone stiff with cold hours ago, but still his gloved hands pressed the directional pad with vigor.
He didn’t have to be there anyway. The itinerant in him had brought him to the bandit holding about a year ago, but what was honestly making him stay? The need for companionship? He’d never had a need for that before. Animals usually didn’t, which was why he’d never understood the real meaning of a pack.