Blood of the Infinity War (Afterlife saga Book 8)

by Stephanie Hudson

  I had no clue what he was going to accomplish by doing this but his eyes started to change once more. Only now, where they were once like solid rock, they were now bleeding liquid sand, just as the wall had done before we travelled through it. Then suddenly he thrust the long needle though the wall, as if he had been trained in an ancient version of Hogwarts. I expected him to shout ‘Liquidoso’ or something.

  Just as this happened I finally managed to grasp the arrow’s feathered end. I had been trying to get a good enough grip on it to pull free from the others attached to its bundle, only up until now it had been slipping from my fingers. This, of course, was also when I became the other part of his plan and I was grabbed roughly by the top of the arm and yanked closer to him. I let myself be dragged towards him just as I pulled the arrow up the sleeve of my cloak, so that it was out of view. Once I was close enough he spun me around to face what now looked like some kind of sandstorm vortex that had taken up most of the wall. It looked like a portal into another world or something and I quickly backed up, not wanting to get anywhere near that thing!

  “No! Let me go!” I shouted as I felt him taking steps closer towards it, which in turn made me take forced steps closer as well. Then, just as I was about to turn and stab him with the arrow’s end I held tight in my fist, he reached up with one hand to the slight cut at my neck and pulled it apart making me cry out. I felt the blood start to drip down my neck and he flattened his palm against it, bathing his hand in my blood.

  “Let me go!” I shouted and just as I twisted, he put his bloody hand out in front of me leading the way and pushed us both through the portal. I had no choice but to take a deep breath and close my eyes as I felt the power of the small storm engulf us. It felt like walking through a wind tunnel and I felt the pressure of it push against the skin at my cheeks. Then my world started to spin before I felt myself being thrown forward with enough force that it propelled me through to the other side.

  This time there was nothing to stop me from landing hard and I almost choked on my own cry of pain that shot through my damaged ribs from falling down the stairs.

  “Get up!” he snapped as he followed me through and I gripped the arrow, one I blessed the Gods of war I hadn’t dropped coming through the damn sandstorm. I felt myself snarling at his back as he walked past me before I begrudgingly did as I was told. I got up, trying not to wince as I did, but with this much pain, I had to wonder if I hadn’t fractured a rib or two, as it was getting harder to breathe without it hurting. Which begged the question again, why hadn’t I healed yet?

  Once I found myself on my feet, I looked around to see I was no longer in the desert as I thought I would be, but instead on a ridge of some vast mountain range. What the hell had I gotten myself into now I asked myself? Well whatever it was, it was starting to look even worse when I saw my captor walk towards a group of men with horses. Suddenly my little single arrow wasn’t looking quite as promising as I had hoped. So, with this in mind, I decided to tuck it further up my sleeve and out of sight, knowing that it might just come in handy later.

  “Come girl!” he shouted over to me and I looked back to see the portal was long gone and in its place an impossible escape thanks to the sheer drop over a cliff face. No wonder he wasn’t worried about me being this far away from him, ‘cause let’s face it, where was I going to go? I wanted to scream in utter frustration. I had finally just worked out a plan of getting the four of us out of the palace and back to our own time, when suddenly I found myself once again, plucked from my path and at the hands of another’s mercy.

  The man looked back at me expectantly as if waiting and I looked down finding a rock that would have been better suited to bashing his head in than just sitting there for the rest of eternity doing nothing useful. But instead of giving into this vengeful impulse, I decided not to push his temper and walked over to him, with the hate pulsating from my gaze.

  “I care little for your venom girl, now get on the damn horse,” he threw back at me, matching my attitude for some of his own.

  “I can’t ride, so unless you want your journey to take twice as long, I suggest you think of something else, like letting me go for example,” I told him sarcastically. He rolled his eyes at me before looking over at the horses and the men that had started to mount them.

  “Women,” he muttered after a moment and then walked over to one of the men to issue an order, telling me he was the one in charge at least.

  “Pack some of the supplies on the horse, the woman cannot ride so will travel in the cart,” he told him and the man slid off his horse without question to do as ordered. I waited and watched as the man in charge stormed off to his own horse to grab something out of a leather pouch hanging at the side of the saddle.

  “Great,” I muttered scathingly as I saw him coming back towards me with a looped length of rope in his hands. Meanwhile two of the other men had been busy making room on the rickety cart that was being pulled by two mules. They moved a few sacks and strapped them to the sides of the horse that I gathered should have been for me.

  “Jeez, rough much!” I snapped as I was grabbed by the arm again and pulled towards the cart before being shoved onto the back of it.

  “Get in and sit down,” he ordered ignoring the way my hand went to my side as I yelped in agony.

  “Alright asshole!” I snapped back and did as I was told, climbing up into the space that had been made for me. Thankfully, I had some of the sacks to sit against and I strangely asked myself what they were filled with. Well, at least I hadn’t come full circle as it didn’t smell like body parts

  “Hands!” he shouted and I froze knowing this was when he could possibly find my arrow. So, I deliberately pretended to fall backwards further into the cart at the same time pulling the arrow free from my sleeve and tucking it in between the sacks. He sighed as if this was all very taxing for him and then grabbed the side before hauling himself up into the cart. I quickly pulled myself forward and scooted over where I had hidden the small weapon so that he wouldn’t see it.

  “Now give me your hands,” he told me, this time dropping some of his attitude and I knew why when he looked to where my cloak had opened on one side. My little bolero top left little to the imagination as all my belly was on show as well as my bust, but this wasn’t what he was looking at. It was my injury and I looked down to see what he saw. I had an angry red mark all along my side and a graze from where the stone had taken some of the skin off my ribs. No wonder it hurt so much.

  “You’re injured,” he said as if shocked. Maybe he thought I had been faking all those painful little sounds I had been making since he took me. I wanted to say, yeah, no shit Sherlock, but refrained. Because one, he wouldn’t know who Sherlock was for quite some time yet and two, well he wasn’t looking at me in asshole mode any more, which might swing in my favour.

  “I fell down some stairs before you took me,” I told him dropping my attitude and trying for something a little softer and labelled ‘damsel in distress’. He didn’t look happy about this and said,

  “He will not be pleased,” he informed me sounding concerned. I frowned at both what he had said and the fact that he was currently tying my hands together, leaving a long length at the end.

  “Who’s he?” I asked as I then watched him throw the long end over the side of the cart before jumping down. He walked around near the waiting mules and grabbed the rope he had thrown before tying it off to a place I couldn’t reach. I didn’t think he would answer me at first as I watched him walk back towards his horse and mount it in one swift action. But he trotted it over to me and grabbed a leather water flask from his saddle and threw it to me.

  “Be sparing with it, for we have far to journey.”

  “But wait, who is not going to be pleased?” I asked again and he looked first to his men and nodded for them to start moving. Once they were out of earshot, telling me they were human, he told me.

  “The King.” I frowned and asked,

  “Wh
at King?” This time instead of looking annoyed with me he pulled back the length of material from the lower half of his face and smirked, showing me just how handsome the rest of him was. Perfect lips set in a perfectly square jaw…damn him!

  “You will find out soon enough, little girl.” I frowned being called this and just before he could ride off as he turned his horse to face the other way, I shouted,

  “My name is Keira!” to which he replied,

  “And Dariush be mine.” Then as he passed he smacked the back of the mule making it pull forward suddenly so that I lost my balance and fell backwards into the piles of sacks. I made an unattractive ‘Umpf’ sound and growled when I heard him laughing.

  At some point, I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew I awakened to the feel of my leg being kicked and the sound of someone growling.

  “I told you to wake her up, not kick her like a fucking dog!” I heard the one I now knew was called Dariush say angrily and I opened my eyes to see the guy that must have been kicking me being dragged backwards off the cart.

  “Time to get up, Princess,” he said sounding agitated. Then he grabbed the length of rope from near where I lay that he must have released from the other side first. I watched as he wrapped it around his hand like a lead and tugged on it a few times to try and get me moving.

  “Okay, okay,” I grumbled, first stretching my stiff limbs and rubbing my eyes before taking in my surroundings. I waited for him to turn his back before I reached down and slipped the arrow back up the wide sleeve of my cloak. I quickly stood before the rope became too taut and I ended up being dragged from the stupid cart.

  I gingerly climbed down, surprised that he allowed me enough space to do this. Which is why I found myself asking the question, what had changed with him from how he had treated me in the beginning? Also without knowing I put a hand to my neck to touch the small cut that he had put there.

  “I didn’t cut you deep,” he said and my head snapped up to find him watching me in an almost guilty way. Then he looked to my injuries and I knew that seeing me so bruised and broken had affected him. Now if I could just understand why, then that would be half the questions I had floating around my head answered. Maybe he had simply realised how breakable I was after all. Either way, something in him had changed and it was why he was growling at the other men as they came closer to the cart. They backed away a little and it was only when I was off it completely that they quickly started to unload the sacks they had been trying to get to.

  I looked around and was shocked to find it didn’t look too different from the sight that had met me at the beginning of this journey. The mountain range still surrounded us but other than it being darker, the landscape hadn’t really changed. It was surprisingly green up here, which was strange considering we were surrounded by the vast desert that could be seen for miles.

  I had not slept the whole journey, but I had to admit, I watched the sun get higher in the sky before falling asleep as it lowered again. The rocky mountain path had seemed endless and after spending hours running every escape scenario in my mind, in the end, the large open space had made each one impossible. It wasn’t the getting loose aspect of my plan I had a problem with thanks to the sharp edge on my arrow, but more the running for my life without looking like a zit on a supermodel.

  So here I was, unable to make my move too soon for fear I would screw up my only chance. Of course, thanks to the cryptic musings of my new guardian/captor Dariush, I had not only kept my mind busy trying to think of new interesting, but unrealistic ways of escaping, but I had also been wracking my brain wondering who could be after me now?

  I mean I wasn’t stupid as I knew a royal figure like Draven didn’t get where he was without creating his fair share of enemies. Pertinax was evidence enough of that little supernatural megalomaniac ploy to take over the world. So once again I was right back where I had started and being placed on the damn chessboard as a sodding pawn! I will tell ya, I was getting tired of this macho man bullshit! Which was why I asked,

  “So, who wants to use me this time?” Dariush looked taken aback by my brazen question, giving me a quizzical glance over his shoulder as he led me off from the rest.

  “The Parthian King has many enemies, some of which still remain in the shadows lying in wait and remain unknown until the time is right to strike and take control of his empire,” he told me and I frowned before snapping,

  “Oh yes and how very mighty of them to use a woman to accomplish their ambitious goal in conquering lands that aren’t theirs to own!” Hearing this he started to laugh, which wasn’t the reaction I was hoping for.

  “You are mistaken if you think the reason for your capture is to use you to bargain with the King in giving up the city and I know not of which place you come from but here, in my world, wars are never fought with women,” he said sounding amused that I would think so and this time my frown was for a different reason.

  “Then why take me at all, what could this King possibly gain from it other than to use me as a blackmailing tool?” I asked moving quicker so that I could catch up to him. He looked down at me side on and said,

  “I don’t know why but at a guess, I would say he must like collecting small, pretty things… although if you ask me, I would also warn him that he might be better continuing his collecting of coin, for gold doesn’t speak and ask annoying questions.” This was finished with a smirk when he heard me growl at him in annoyance. Seriously, he was freaking joking with me now?!

  “Yeah well I also have claws and teeth so you might want to warn him about those things as well!” I returned making him look down at me again, focusing on my clenched fists.

  “Consider it known,” he told me nodding and I could have sworn I saw a glimmer of respect in his unusual green eyes. He looked very much of Persian decent, with his warm bronze skin tone and slight slant and almond shape to his eyes. Dark stubble covered the lower half of his face that framed his full lips, lips that were currently flat as his features hardened. I looked to where he was aiming his annoyance to see a band of men coming towards us on horseback. I watched him place a hand at the hilt of his sword as if readying himself for trouble.

  “Get behind me,” he ordered and looking at the four men all armoured and coming at us at speed, I couldn’t say it was a bad idea.

  “Yep, sure thing,” I said with a high pitched lilt to my voice. I did as I was told and he let go of the rope that he had twisted around one hand. Then he looked behind him at his own men to see them falling back.

  “No questions needed as to how they knew we would be here,” he said before snarling at them and then spat at the ground in his anger at being betrayed. The men swiftly approached and Dariush quickly directed his menacing snarl.

  “We come for the girl,” one of the men said who was dressed like someone in charge as he pulled off his rounded helmet. I didn’t recognise the armour as being one of Draven’s men, so I knew that something wasn’t right here.

  “Scythians, I think you find yourselves too far across the border, for I recall seeing the heads of your brothers upon pikes at the Ctesiphon city gates,” Dariush said confidently and their reaction to this was to draw their weapons. Well that explained who the rotting corpses were down in Ranka’s Hell’s kitchen.

  “You foolish dog fucker! Fight as you may, for we will take the girl bathed in your blood if we have to!” The one in charge said before raising his arm and charging his horse forwards to fight. Dariush didn’t look the least bit concerned as he whipped back his cloak, showcasing a body strapped with weapons. He threw one knife to one of the men charging him before pulling his large sword free. And just as it was about to clash with the other man’s sword, I noticed his eyes changing once more. This time instead of sandstone like before, they morphed into black speckled granite and I watched the flow of power branch off down his cheeks out of sight. Then the unbelievable happened in mere seconds. The true source of his power was unleashed as it shot from his hand an
d seeped into his weapon, creating a deadly granite blade.

  He swung his gleaming black weapon around onehandedly and the second it hit the other man’s sword, it created a rippling affect. The power shifted as if transferring the opposing breakable material to his enemy’s sword before smashing through it like glass. Clear shards exploded outwards and with his free hand he caught them with an invisible force, before using them as small projectile weapons. He shot them forward with a flick of his wrist.

  The solider soon found himself writhing on the floor in agony with a face full of large glass splinters. Not surprisingly, the other three men tried to stop their own horses from continuing on into the fight after seeing their leader going down by an impossible force. However, Dariush wasn’t planning on letting any of them leave alive, so after cutting down the next two in three swift moves, he ended up making chase. He started running and then grabbed onto one of their fleeing horses from the side before swinging himself up on its back. Once there he took control of the reins so that he could catch the last one currently running for his life.

  I was watching this all play out when I was suddenly grabbed from behind.

  “AH! Get off me!” I shouted trying to twist in his hold and fight against him. I just managed to get free and I turned to face him to find that he had his own weapon. I noticed it was the man that had kicked me awake moments before.

  “More will come and I will not die here on this mountain or leave without my promised gold!” He spat out his words as he held his blade towards me as if he was getting ready to strike any minute. Then I heard the rumbling behind him as if many horses were now charging towards us. He took this opportunity and sliced out at me, missing me by less than an inch. I jumped back just in time but fell on the rocky ground. I screamed in pain and felt one of the sharp rocks hit the side of my head, along with my injured side. But I didn’t have time to fully register the hurt as the man jumped on top of me. He tried to grab the length of rope as I kicked out against him and when I caught him hard in the leg, he decided to get his own back by kicking me in the damaged side of my ribs.