by C. B. Haight
What is happening? he wondered. His brows furrowed as he tried to process the event.
Her eyes were not the only difference. When the glow around her was bearable, everyone witnessed that Collett walked forward with the smooth, fluid strides of a warrior. Her once loose hair no longer flowed in the wind. It was bound in an exotic, complex braid. She had manifested armor that appeared to be made of gold and silver, but even that description did the brilliant, shining attire little justice. Intricate symbols were etched into the breastplate that covered a silvery mail shirt. Pristine bracers protected her forearms, and glistening grieves covered her shins. An aura of light radiated around her, and the metal glinted because of it.
Most impressive of all was the long sword she carried in her capable hand. The shining blade flashed as she spun it threateningly in her practiced grip. As if it was crafted by divine power, the forged steel shone like a ray from the sun that had been plucked from the sky. She gripped the stunning weapon with a firm, steady hand as naturally as if she had been born with it there.
The entire party watched as this stranger with Collett’s face advanced across the empty battlefield.
Niall smiled with grim satisfaction and murmured, “Ah, there you are.”
Black mists enveloped him and snaked across earth, weaving through the tall grasses and covering rocks on the ground. When the darkness touched Cade’s feet, he felt as if icy fingers reached for him. As the frigid fog retreated back to Niall, it revealed a warrior that appeared to be dressed in the devil’s own armor.
Niall completely contrasted Collett. His eerie, black armor blended with the darkness of the night. It also bore symbols engraved in the breastplate, but the carvings pulsed with a light red tint and gave the impression they carried a depraved, sinister meaning. He lifted his arm, and they could all see the massive, red-bladed sword. It too seemed to pulse, much like a heartbeat, as he wielded it in his hands. Cruel intent shone in his evil eyes.
With a battle cry, Collett charged. Impossibly, she leaped the final distance to reach him, and lifting her sword high, she swung down with the full momentum of her maneuver. As the magnificent blades crossed, sparks flew and an unearthly ring reverberated all around them.
The initial blow vibrated down both combatants’ arms, and the long awaited battle between the warriors commenced. Collett blocked and parried, slashed and spun. They danced to a deadly rhythm only they could hear. Their movements were so quick and fluid, it was captivating.
After watching for more than a minute, Cynda, Rederrick, Nate, and Delphene made their way to where Cade helped a weakened, but conscious, Jarrett to his feet.
Rederrick supported Jarrett’s other side, and Cade ordered, “Get Cody.” He nodded in the direction of the unconscious man still lying where Niall, or Bellig, dropped him on the cold earth.
Delphene nodded her wolfish head at him, indicating she would take care of it. She rushed to Cody and easily lifted him in her arms. Cody groaned but otherwise remained unresponsive, so she made her way back to the tree line where the others stood watching the battle unfold.
Collett’s new friends watched in amazement as the swords rang out each time they struck. Collett glided around Bellig and swiped her sword out as she passed, cutting his arm and drawing first blood. Niall whipped around angrily and thrust out hard, but he met only air because she had continued her graceful motion to end where she began.
Jarrett finally gained his feet, though they were still unsteady, and seeing the combat, he began to ask, “What’d I—”
Cade looked to him with mixed emotions of confusion, fear, and worry. “I’m not sure.”
“She remembers,” Cynda said in awe.
Chapter 32
Searching for the each other's weaknesses, the two combatants pulled back and circled one another again.
“You have betrayed your purpose! We are the protectors, not the destroyers!” Collett accused.
“No, I have found my purpose!” he spat back with venom.
“Killing and manipulating the innocent—the very souls you were charged to protect?”
“There is no need for this,” Bellig chided in a placating tone. “Join us, realize your potential. Take your rightful place at my side. We are as gods. We are perfection. We should not be enslaved to mankind. You must know the truth by now.”
“How did you get so lost? How could you forget your promises?” she inquired sadly.
“Lost? I am not lost. I am found! I have shaken the bonds of my enslavement.”
“This must end, one way or another. You know this!”
“Agreed,” he said with an eager expression and began his advance once more.
“I am as you once were, and should still be,” she declared, her voice carrying across the field. Conviction sounded in her tone, confidence showed in her stance.
“You are as I once was, and you will die this night,” he taunted as he struck out at her from the side.
She expertly blocked the impending strike and shifted away from the wicked red blade. “Maybe,” she said, “but not before I take you with me.” Using only her left hand, Collett sliced through the air with a backhanded maneuver. Her enemy twisted away, and she barely grazed his armor with the very tip of her sword.
Quick as a snake, Niall turned the opposite direction and swiped low at her feet with his leg. She jumped over it, and he came in with that wicked blade. She dodged, whirling left, but before she could counter, he threw his elbow back, smashing it into her face.
Collett reeled and tasted blood. “You’re weak,” he taunted as he advanced. She blocked his sword as it came down hard, and he let his weapon scrape against hers, sliding down its length. Niall cleverly struck at her side. Twisting her grip, she stopped him again, and colliding steel sang. “If only you would have listened before, you would be so much more,” he said with disgust.
Collett kicked him hard. Light burst between them, and he stumbled back. She spat blood from her mouth and advanced on him again.
Jarrett had just pulled on pants from his pack when Bellig hit Collett in the face. Cade tried to surge forward. Leaving the shirt, Jarrett jumped on him, and they struggled. Feeling more animal than man, Cade growled, and a whine escaped his muzzle. “Stop, Cade. Think about what you’re doing,” Jarrett demanded.
Irritation, fear, and bewilderment emanated from his brother, but Jarrett knew his twin could not stand against the being he’d known as Niall. He had felt the power himself and couldn’t allow Cade to get himself killed.
“I won’t stand back and do nothing while my wife battles that devil!” Cade countered as he pushed Jarrett away.
“What will you do? That is not your Collett out there! She knows him. She called him by a different name even. Look at her, Cade. Really look! She looks like Joan of Arc or an avenging angel. She cleared the battlefield of every demon and leech in less than five seconds. What could you possible do that she can’t—bleed on him?”
He was looking. Cade saw what Jarrett saw, but she was still his wife, his everything. Even if he died tonight, he couldn’t leave her alone in this.
“Trust me when I tell you that you can’t take him. I’ve never experienced that kind of pain in my life,” Jarrett admitted while rubbing his chest. “There are forces here we don’t understand. I should be dead right now, but he arrogantly prolonged my suffering for his own pleasure.”
The ring of swords pulled their attention back to the intense conflict between dark and light. Collett blocked blow after blow. Bellig forced her back step after step using brute strength, but she danced around him, making up for her weakness with creativity and finesse.
She twirled and spun, leaped and thrust, cleverly keeping his sword at bay while striking at him an equal number of times. Bellig thrust out with his red blade, and she narrowly avoided it by flipping backward. He swung his weapon in wide arcs as he pursued her athletic feats.
Despite her returned powers, Collett was at a disadvantage. Not only ha
d Bellig always been stronger, but he also knew her—he’d taught her. He anticipated her every move. She struggled to keep up with him.
Collett’s sweat-dampened hair stuck to her head, and her breathing grew more labored. Her arms ached while he was rested. She had fought with demons from his portals while he sat back and watched. The repeated blocks and parries against his strikes were costing her. Every time their swords connected, he weakened her further. She had to outmaneuver him, but she couldn’t find an opening.
She risked a desperate glance back to Cade and the others. Collett knew they needed to get to safety in case she couldn’t win the battle. The distraction cost her. Niall slashed his razor sharp blade across her belly. She jumped back, barely avoiding the killing blow, but her reaction was still too slow. His enhanced blade cut through her armor and grazed her skin.
Stinging pain traveled through her, but she couldn’t give up. Grunting, she kicked out and made contact with his thigh. He only stumbled back a few steps, and he advanced again with an arrogant smile.
Seeing the strike, Cade refused to stand idle any longer. Together, they would be stronger than she was alone. “Get them out of here!” he barked fiercely to no one specific as he charged toward Collett.
Feeling the same way, despite his earlier speech, Jarrett called forth the wolf once more. With a glance back to make sure Delphene was helping the others escape, he followed his twin to what he was sure would be their death. The brothers charged furiously toward the constantly clashing blades. As he drew near, Cade felt adrenaline surge through him and used it to increase his momentum.
When he reached the border of the conflict, Cade rebounded off of a strong magical barrier. His muscles jerked as he yelped in pain and fell back into Jarrett, who would have hit the invisible wall a second later if Cade hadn’t crashed into him.
Cade felt as if he’d been electrocuted. His muscles twinged, but he stubbornly got to his feet. He tried to reach her from a different angle and found himself repelled once more. He howled and charged again.
She heard him growling and yelping in his efforts, but she couldn’t help them. She cringed inwardly at the sounds but forced herself to focus. Her heart raced as she accepted the outcome that suddenly flashed into her mind. She knew if she deviated from the path before her Cade and Jarrett would die.
The brothers were not prepared to face Bellig. They weren’t strong enough, not yet. Her old mentor had grown in power over the centuries, and he was even stronger than she realized. He sent waves of malevolent emotions at her and attacked her from every direction.
She had been undefeated in battle for centuries, but he’d had a millennium. She saw no gap in his defenses. Up, down, and to the side, he met her each time, and their swords sparked as they clashed.
She tried to retreat back and gain ground, but he made an attempt to disarm her with a circling motion. She barely managed to counter it. Collett spun and tried to come at him as she had before, but he anticipated the strike and went the opposite way, stopping her before she could come around. She shot him with her white fire. He jerked as it hit him in the shoulder, but he continued to press in on her.
She was losing. Cade could see it. It tore at him to see her struggle while he watched helplessly. She was so close! He tried penetrating the barrier for a fourth time and fell to his knees when the shock radiated through him. Every muscle in his body twitched at this point, but he refused to give in.
Jarrett grabbed him and pulled him to his feet. He jerked Cade around to face him. “Why did you marry her?” he demanded, referring to their previous conversation.
“I love her!” he pledged with his heart breaking.
“I see what it is now—love,” Jarrett said, putting something in Cade’s hand. Cade looked down to his clawed, beastly grip to find the green gem Jarrett always wore with a broken gold chain hanging from it. These last weeks, Jarrett watched Cade risk everything for Collett, himself, and their friends, and he finally understood selfless love. “It requires sacrifice and courage.”
He’d tried the boundary twice himself and felt the rippling energy attack his body. The magic that created it was strong, but Jarrett believed that with the amulet combined with the power of Cade’s love for Collett, his brother could pass through. “It was our mother’s, given to Rowena. Now I give it to you. It can only help one of us. Don’t stop till you're through! It’s only a buffer to ease the shock,” Jarrett explained.
Cade looked back up to his brother, surprised, and nodded once in gratitude.
“Go!” Jarrett ordered, but Cade was already moving.
Gripping the gem tightly in his hand and using all of his strength, Cade ran full force toward his wife. He felt the magical sting as he encountered the barrier. For a couple of seconds, he couldn’t break through, but his desperation to reach the woman he loved and the enchanted amulet helped him defy the pain and conquer the mystical wall. Growling violently, he pushed through. Cade howled in satisfaction and rushed to save Collett.
They both heard Cade. Collett hesitated, and Bellig grinned. He swiped down at her with his red blade again and taunted callously, “Determined, isn’t he? Let’s be rid of him.” He began lifting his hand as he had done with Jarrett, and feeling the cold brush by her, Collett recognized his intentions.
Everything around her cleared. Having her memories restored, Collett understood her purpose. She knew the time had come to finish this.
With regret in her eyes, she glanced at Cade charging toward them, and within a single beat of the heart, she conveyed her plan and her love.
He ran faster. “No,” he growled, "Collett!”
Resolved, Collett focused on her opponent, charged, and cried out, “You will not take him!” Her actions drew his full attention back to her.
The distraction worked as she knew it would. In the distant past, they had once fought side by side. In recent centuries, they had been at war against each other. The history they shared gave her enough insight to defeat him, but Collett understood the price required to accomplish her goal.
She used his arrogance against him. He had accurately predicted her in battle enough times for Collett to understand he could guess how she would react to a threat against Cade. As she charged, he thrust up high. She could have spun away, but it would have defeated her purpose. With their combined momentum, Bellig’s red blade of death impaled Collett through her chest.
Time practically stopped for Cade, who was so close, yet still too far. He watched in horror as the wicked sword slid effortlessly into the woman he loved. Collett’s body curled around the invasive steel. Cade cried out in agony, fear, and grief, “Collett!” He froze briefly, and his breath caught in his throat.
Her eyes widened at the sensation of the blade invading her body. She choked as pain erupted in her chest. Bellig grinned with satisfaction, but his grin was short lived as a strange awareness traveled through him.
Collett had out maneuvered him. He looked down, stunned to find the pommel of her weapon protruding from his middle, right beneath his ribs. He watched in horror as the ancient symbol on its hilt pulsed with light.
Lifting his chin, he locked onto her iridescent blue eyes—eyes that had always captivated him. His mind flashed back to a time, centuries before, when he still saw innocence in their depths—a time when he believed she could love him.
“Who are we?” Collett asked him. He found her youthful virtue and vibrance endearing.
“Silly child, I am Strength, you are Victory,” he answered, smiling.
She laughed. “No, I mean what are we?”
“Ah, well then, we are the guardians, my dear.”
“You are to teach me then? Teach me what it is to be a guardian?”
“I will teach you all you need and more.”
The memory faded, and he could again see her as she was now. She stood as a fierce warrior before him, unafraid of her impending death. Blood trickled from her mouth, past her soft, pink lips, as she tried to speak.
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Collett uttered her words with a gurgling whisper only he could hear, “I am…” she tried. Then, more forcefully, she said, “I am the Guardian Victory! A protector of all that is good and a beacon of hope. You will not have them!” As she finished, Collett used the very last bit of her strength to drive her blade deeper into him with a twisting motion, tearing and shredding his insides as she did.
Surprised, horror covered Niall’s features. He gasped.
She grimaced.
He tried to breathe, but his breath would not come.
She closed her eyes and felt a light breeze on her face.
Desperate to free himself, Bellig stumbled back, pulling away from the burning blade embedded in his body. His backward movement violently ripped his own sword from her chest. He roared in pain, anger, and defeat.
Without so much as a whimper, Collett crumpled to the cold earth. Horrified, Bellig continued to backpedal. Suddenly, a heavy, black mist appeared and enveloped him. It carried him away before Cade arrived to fall beside his beloved Collett.
Raw emotion consumed Cade completely. He felt his heart shattering. His body reacted without any thought, and he changed into a man. With despair and grief clawing at him, he gently scooped her limp form into his arms. Pulling her close and rocking her, he cried, “No, no, no. NO!” He reached down and covered the wound with his human hand, much like Cynda did with Jeffery. “Please,” he begged, “you can’t go.”
Collett tried to look at him, but she was too weak. A white space was pulling her in, and an airy feeling crept over her. Her hands felt so light it was as if they were no longer there. She wanted to tell him it was alright because it didn’t hurt, but the words would not come out, or even form on her lips. She tried desperately to tell him she loved him, but her lips would not obey.