Regret (Lady of Toryn Trilogy)

by Charity Santiago

  She paused outside the doorway, leaning up against the wall for a moment and welcoming the feel of the cool steel against her flushed skin. So much had happened, and she’d hardly paused to process any of it.

  Unless Skye had confirmed his death, there would be no way to know if Kou was still alive or not. But the fact remained that he had survived being shot by Drake and falling from the top of Na Michico. His survival was something Ashlyn wouldn’t have believed if she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes.

  Her dad had clearly been held hostage this entire time, helpless to stop Kou from taking more and more Li blood to enable the army to use shift. Perhaps the reason Kou had been searching for her and had brought her back to Toryn in the first place was because her father was growing too weak to supply blood anymore. But she still wasn’t sure why Kou had lied to her, pretending to be her brother. Had he been toying with her? Or was he just trying to figure out if she would join his cause? The unanswered questions and possible answers disgusted her.

  Her thoughts were about to turn to her own mess of a personal life, and the situation with Drake and Vargo, when Aaron suddenly appeared in the doorway.

  “You gonna stand out here all day or what?” he barked. “We got things to talk about!”

  “Like what?” Ashlyn answered testily. “Can’t it wait until we get to the city?”

  “Hmmph.” Grabbing her none too gently by the arm, Aaron stomped into the bridge and lead Ashlyn to the viewing screen. “They’ll be arrivin’ at ‘bout the same time we are,” he told her, pointing.

  Ashlyn pressed her hands up against the glass, heart sinking as she surveyed the lines of ninjas crossing the cliffs below. Kou’s troops were moving towards Toryn, and although their ranks had thinned significantly after the two attacks yesterday, there were still more than enough soldiers to potentially overpower the inexperienced Toryn army.

  “Crap,” she muttered.

  “That’s one way to put it,” Aaron observed.

  “We can’t take my dad to Toryn, not with them so close,” Ashlyn said, glancing over at the pilot. “Can’t you…can’t you just drop me off and take him to Cosmea?”

  “Already talked to Skye about that last night,” Aaron replied. “He said Cosmea’s the first place Devlyn’s gonna look.”

  She bit her lip. He was right, and Kou had been to Cosmea once before so he was already aware of the layout. “Skye thinks we should move my dad somewhere…what, out of the way or something?”

  “Somewhere they’re not gonna think to look for him.”

  “Somewhere like…North Camp?” Ashlyn said, picking the most obscure location that popped into her head. “Do they have healers there?”

  “Sara’s not leavin’ him. He’ll have whatever healin’ there is to be got from her.” Aaron scratched his chin, chewing thoughtfully on his cigarette. “North Camp ain’t such a bad idea, kid. I could take ya both there, keep them from gettin’ anymore of your blood. It ain’t likely they’ll track you there, either.”

  “I can’t leave FLD here to fight alone,” she protested hotly. “You can drop me at the city and head for North Camp. I’m not running away.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Vargo spoke up from behind her.

  She turned to see both Drake and Vargo standing there. Vargo tapped his electro-baton against his thigh, trademark smirk affixed on his lips, looking more like his usual sarcastic self.

  “The Toryn army can use all the help it can get,” Ashlyn said, “but I hate to ask you guys to put your lives on the line. There are gonna be a lot more shift monsters down there than there were last time.”

  They acted as though she hadn’t spoken. “We’ll need to destroy the shift stanes after this is over,” Drake said. “You and your father will be targets, for your blood, for as long as the magic is in existence.”

  “Might as well start with that one,” Vargo said, motioning with his baton to Ashlyn.

  She frowned. “What?”

  “The stane in your armlet,” Vargo said. “It’s shift, right? Let’s get rid of it now, before the battle. You don’t want it getting back into Kou’s hands.”

  She opened her mouth to respond, then closed it. Hmm. She didn’t really feel comfortable giving up shift. It had saved her life in the forest.

  “I’m not sure that’s a good idea just yet,” she said at length. “I had to use it in the forest when I was attacked by some other ninjas, and then again when I was in the cave with Kou. I might have died without it.”

  “Dangerous magic, Ash,” Aaron spoke up. “Shape-shifting ain’t natural.”

  “But it kind of is, for me. I mean, it felt really natural. I wasn’t in pain and I was in total control of myself even when I was in animal form. I think maybe the craziness and the addiction just comes from the…the dishonest part of what Kou’s doing. Injecting with blood because he’s not really a Li, and all that. I feel fine.”

  “You don’t feel addicted?” Vargo asked.

  “Of course not.”

  “Then you won’t mind if we destroy the stane.”

  Ashlyn rolled her eyes. “Be serious, Vargo. I’m telling you that there’s no need to destroy it. That magic could really come in handy for me in the next hour or two.”

  “Or it could snare you even further under its spell,” Drake said. “You agreed that it was necessary to destroy shift, Ashlyn. What has changed?”

  “That was before I used it,” she retorted, and paused, considering her answer. After watching Tag transform in her basement, she had sworn to destroy shift, but that had been…before.

  Was this what the beginnings of addiction felt like?

  She reached over and pulled the stane from her armlet, staring down at the gem with some trepidation. Drake was right, of course. For as long as shift existed, there was always a danger that someone like Kou would try to steal Li blood so they could wield the magic.

  She still remembered her reasons for wanting to destroy it. Those had not changed.

  Reluctantly, she held shift out to Vargo.

  He took the stane and put it on the control table, then raised his baton above his head and widened his stance, ready to smash the glittering gem.

  “Wait!” Ashlyn said, hardly aware that she was saying the word until it had already passed her lips. She took a step forward, but Drake stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

  Vargo brought the baton down hard on the stane, shattering it into a dozen pieces, and she flinched, acutely aware of the sudden loss of power, feeling the broken magic dissipate within her.

  There was a long silence following her exclamation. Ashlyn stood very still, trying to make sense of the conflicted emotions within her.

  “I don’t know if I was addicted,” she said.

  “Better safe than sorry,” Aaron said, moving to the helm. “I ain’t gonna land in the city, we don’t got the time.”

  “We’ll use the rope ladder,” Ashlyn said. She shook her head, trying to clear it. Whatever had happened with the shift magic, addicted or not, she felt very strange now that it was gone.

  As Aaron maneuvered the airship to hover directly over Toryn, Ashlyn briefly considered saying goodbye to her dad, but thought better of it. He was probably still unconscious, and she didn’t have any time to spare.

  She was still wearing her gloves, fortunately, and as she climbed onto the first rung of the violently whipping ladder, she looked down, estimating how much of a jump it would be.

  It was too far down to just let go, but she could slide a bit. Ashlyn kicked her feet off the rung and relaxed her hands. Without letting go completely, she let the ladder slip through her fingers and allowed herself to slide towards the ground. The wind whipped her hair around her face and the palms of her gloves warmed to an almost unbearable heat from the friction, but Ashlyn’s concentration was firmly focused on the ground below, trying to gauge the distance.

  At last she tightened her grip on the ladder, and came to an unceremonious, abrupt halt. The sudden
stop felt like it almost yanked her arms out of her socket, and Ashlyn grimaced as she found the next rung with her feet. Maybe sliding down wasn’t such a great idea after all.

  Climbing down the last two rungs, she stepped off the ladder and looked up to see Drake and Vargo making their way down, much slower and more carefully than she had. Ha. Wimps.

  “Ash!” Restlyn enveloped her in a hug. “Are you okay? Where’s your father?”

  Ashlyn returned the hug and looked around, curious at the empty state of the city streets. “He’s on the ship, still,” she said. “Aaron’s not going to set down. My dad’s gonna be okay, but he needs major medical attention, and it’s too risky to keep him here. Where is Skye?”

  “Right here,” Skye said from her right. He nodded to Vargo as the Spartan stepped off the ladder, followed shortly by Drake.

  The crew began pulling the ladder up, and Ashlyn waved to them, her heart in her throat. They had her dad’s life in their hands, and she was letting them leave without her. But he would be far safer in North Camp, especially considering they had mere moments before Kou’s army attacked.

  “Did you kill Kou last night?” she asked Skye as the airship departed.

  The blond shook his head, his dark glasses obscuring his eyes. “No way to know for sure.”

  “I’ve heard that before,” she muttered. “Kou’s troops are on their way. Almost here, in fact.”

  “Ellis and Aik are coordinating the army behind the- well, behind what’s left of the pagoda,” Restlyn said. “Skye and I got everyone else inside. We were going to head back to help the soldiers.”

  Ashlyn looked back, seeing the first of the black cats scaling the city walls. They were already pacing the top, looking for a way down. “There’s no time,” she said. “When will the army be ready?”

  “Thirty seconds, maybe,” Skye said, drawing his sword. “They were distributing weapons when we left them.”

  “Not fast enough,” Vargo snapped.

  Ashlyn reached back and grabbed her sword. Her heart was pounding, but she refused to let her nervousness show. “Are you telling me a Spartan can’t stay alive for thirty seconds until reinforcements arrive?”

  “You challenging me, princess?” He tossed a grin over his shoulder as he faced the walls, baton at the ready.

  “Just wondering if you’re going to turn tail and run,” she retorted, “Not like you’ve ever done that before…on the metro tracks…in Endro.”

  “Hey now,” he complained. “Low blow!”

  “Less talking, more ass-kicking, Spartan!” Ashlyn rushed forward, watching keenly as one of the cats jumped from the top of the wall to the crow’s nest and began bounding down the stairs. Her adrenaline hadn’t quite kicked in yet, but she still knew that being on the offensive was a better idea than waiting for the cats to come to her. She met the panther at the base of the stairs and dove into a roll as the cat jumped at her. Ashlyn came up onto her feet and spun, casting an ice spell on the ground and sending the feline sliding. Vargo was there to intercept where the ice patch ended, cracking his baton down on the panther’s head with one swift movement.

  Ashlyn charged up the stairs, determined to stop the rest of the cats before they reached the ground. From the corner of her eye she saw one cat jump to the ground from the top of the wall- a risky move, considering how high the wall was- but there was nothing she could do about that now. She’d just have to leave it to FLD to deal with that one.

  Three of the cats were already departing the crow’s nest, and one began running towards her when it saw her advancing. Ashlyn jumped up onto the railing and ran up the thin beam like a tightrope, waiting until the cat was almost upon her before she launched herself into a flip, slicing cleanly through the animal’s spine in mid-air. A second cat lunged at her, and Ashlyn danced sideways, deflecting the cat’s claws with her sword. She spun in a roundhouse kick, catching the panther on the side of the head and knocking it over the railing.

  The third cat was hanging back, seemingly wary of jumping into the fray. Ashlyn yanked her knife from its sheath on her thigh and flung it sideways. The cat drew back, snarling, but didn’t move fast enough, and the knife embedded itself in the creature’s shoulder. Ashlyn didn’t give it any time for recovery, dashing towards it and leaping into a flip kick that brought the back of her boot down hard on the cat’s head.

  The black panther collapsed against the staircase, either unconscious or dead, as Ashlyn scrambled to her feet again. She jerked the knife out of the fallen creature’s shoulder, slid it back into its sheath and continued up the stairs. It hadn’t occurred to her before, but if she could get onto the wall, it might be possible for her to hold the cats off for at least a little while with her stanes. She wasn’t sure if the bears were able to climb, but she hadn’t seen any on the walls yet, so it seemed unlikely.

  A loud boom shook the crow’s nest as she entered it, and Ashlyn grabbed the railing for support. The vibration had shaken the entire city. Kou’s army was trying to break down the gates. Ashlyn looked over her shoulder, and breathed a sigh of relief as she saw the Toryn army advancing. Skye and Restlyn were already shouting orders to the troops, readying themselves to intercept any cats that jumped down from the walls and defend themselves if the rest of the monsters did manage to break through the gate.

  She turned back to the wall, and steadied herself before taking a running leap. She jumped up onto the crow’s nest railing and used it to launch herself into the air.

  She landed on top of the wall just as another impact shook the heavy wood slats. Ashlyn lost her grip and slid off the opposite side, but managed to catch herself before she fell off by stabbing the knife into the wall for purchase. Grunting from the effort, she dragged herself back over the edge, taking a moment as she regained her balance to look down at the army outside Toryn.

  There were perhaps forty creatures milling about below, far more than she’d expected after the devastation of the two attacks that she had made with Skye and Drake. Most of them were bears, but there were a few snarling cats who were steadily climbing the wall. Ashlyn blasted one with fire, and smiled in grim satisfaction as the panther fell to the ground. She didn’t typically take pleasure in hurting others, but after watching what they had done to her father, she couldn’t bring herself to feel an ounce of sympathy for these monsters.

  The bears were hurling their bodies at the gates in pairs- a surprisingly organized move- and Ashlyn could see that the already-weakened wooden gates would not hold up much longer. She pondered freezing the gates to add some additional protection, but before she could make a decision, she saw a cat pull itself up onto the wall a few feet away. Several yards down, another cat was nearing the top.

  Ashlyn ran towards the first panther, jumped over a swipe from the big cat and threw a punch that landed in the middle of its bony forehead. Ashlyn’s hand smarted from the impact, but she gritted her teeth and followed up with a crane kick, her foot connecting solidly with the animal’s lower jaw. The cat growled and shook its head before charging. Caught off-guard, Ashlyn managed to collect herself enough to leap up, dancing down the panther’s back and landing on the opposite side. Her last step, with her foot at the base of the cat’s spine, threw the animal off-balance, and it fell off the inside edge of the wall. Ashlyn couldn’t stop to watch its descent, sprinting towards the next panther. When she got close enough, she leaped into a spinning attack, the shuriken in one hand and her sword in the other.

  The cat never had a chance.

  As its body fell to the ground below, Ashlyn crouched on top of the wall, trying to keep her balance as the bears continued their assault on the city gates. Amidst the writhing bodies below, she saw Kou- unshifted and in human form. How were the shift monsters not attacking him? Did he have that much control over his army, even when they were in animal form?

  The wall shook again beneath her, and there was the sound of splintering wood. The bears had broken the gates.

  Clearly she wasn’t go
ing to do any more good up here. She stood and ran back towards the crow’s nest.

  Hopping from the wall into the crow’s nest was much easier than jumping up had been, and Ashlyn sprinted down the stairs, trying to take stock of what was going on below her as she ran. The Toryn army greatly outnumbered the shift monsters, but she knew not to count on numbers as a match for experience. She saw the flash of Skye’s sword in the front lines, and tried to pick out some of the other members of FLD from the masses, but couldn’t find anyone else.

  At the bottom of the stairs, a Toryn soldier was trying to cut down a bear with his katana. Ashlyn took the opportunity to use the railing as a vault, landing on the bear’s back and driving her sword deep into its neck. The big animal shuddered and roared, but fell to the ground beneath her. Ashlyn nodded to the soldier and rushed towards the next creature she saw. She wanted to find Kou, but it would be almost impossible to pick him out from everyone here, and the next best thing would be to rid Toryn of as many of these monsters as she could.

  “Princess!” Vargo appeared beside her. Blood spattered the side of his face, and the sleeve of his jacket was torn, but he grinned at her, clearly in his element in the midst of battle.

  “Spartan!” she shot back, ridiculously happy to see him. She ducked under his arm as he swung his baton at the bear behind her, turning as she did and sending an ice spell straight up the bear’s nose, freezing its muzzle. The creature howled and fell backwards, pawing at its muzzle in agony.

  A flash of black hair in the sunlight caught her eye, and Ashlyn straightened up, trying to peer through the crowds, aware that her Toryn soldiers were all wearing head coverings. She glimpsed Kou, fighting his way through the throngs of soldiers- and moving away from her. Where was he going? Ashlyn shoved past two soldiers and ran after him. She leaped over a fallen bear and detoured around a pair of soldiers battling a panther, frowning as she realized that Kou seemed to be headed for her house. What could he possibly want from there? Maybe Tag was still in the basement? Was Kou trying to pull off a rescue?