Savages stampeding on their heels spurred her to move faster than comfortable up the steep incline. Many of the others cast nervous glances over their shoulders. A few soldiers urged the civilians to move faster. Now way could they stop and give the kids a break.
They’d almost reached the dragon caves, but if the savages continued at their current pace, they’d probably overtake them before all of them made it to the caves. If they couldn’t make the caves, she’d have to try to find another escape route. But then how would Mia find them?
Besides, Mia specifically told her to go to the dragon caves. There might be an important reason for that. Jackson had always followed Elijah’s orders pretty blindly in Ryleigh’s opinion. If Mia really had taken Elijah’s place, a thought Ryleigh really couldn’t fathom at the moment, her instructions might be based on some knowledge only she possessed.
And where was Mia? She hadn’t returned to the group as far as Ryleigh knew. Neither had Darius, so she had to assume he was still protecting Mia. She refused to accept any other possibility.
“Here. Let me take him.” Noah pried the boy from her neck and lifted him into his arms. He grabbed Ryleigh’s arm and helped her climb over the edge of a slick rock formation. The higher they climbed, the more snow and ice coated the land.
“Is my entire army with us?” Though the group had stayed together, it was hard to keep track of who had escaped with them.
“Yes.” Noah climbed over the rocks behind her. “Our job is to protect the queen.” He waggled his eyebrows and shot her a grin. “Where you go, we go.”
She laughed and shook her head. His boyish charm seemed out of place under the circumstances but was a welcome distraction nonetheless.
Snorts and grunts from behind them sobered her quickly. “They sound awfully close.”
“I don’t think they’re as close as it seems. Most of your army is ahead of us, seeing to the safety of the women and children, but a line of Cymmeran Guardsmen escaped and are bringing up the rear. The savages will have to fight their way through that line before they can get to any innocent civilians. I haven’t heard any indication of a battle.”
“No, me neither.” Ryleigh climbed over the trunk of a fallen tree and scrambled onto a narrow ledge. She stood and stretched, her back sore from carrying the child, the gash in her side throbbing, then sat with her feet dangling over the edge and pulled the boy into her lap.
Better for Noah to have his hands free if they fell under attack. At least he had a weapon. And two working hands.
“Do you know how many we were able to get out?” She smoothed the little boy’s hair out of his face.
Noah knelt and checked him, avoiding Ryleigh’s gaze.
Several Cymmeran civilians dotted the mountainside below her, but most of those who’d escaped had gone before her and were now a little higher up the mountain than she’d made it. Her injuries and carrying the child had slowed her. “Noah?”
He frowned. “What happened to your hand?”
“A savage got me with a flail.” The constant throbbing in her hand was nothing compared to the agony in her side, but sharing that would serve no purpose.
He ran his fingers over the worst of the bruising. Soft light surrounded her hand, easing the stiffness, reducing the swelling.
She flinched at his touch, not because it hurt, but because it stirred feelings and memories of Jackson.
“I’m not very good at healing. Ranger taught me a little when…uh…”
Jackson.
What would happen to him when he returned to the castle? If he returned. If Chayce showed up so soon after the Death Dealers had left, he must have been absolutely certain they wouldn’t return. How had Chayce even known they’d gone? The last thing she needed right now was the possibility of another traitor in their midst.
She snatched her hand from Noah’s. “I asked how many got out.”
He took the child from her, climbed to his feet, slumped against a rock wall at their back, and finally met her gaze. “I don’t have anywhere near an exact count, but Tristan estimated less than a hundred.”
“A hun—how could that be?” It couldn’t be possible fewer than a hundred people had managed to escape. “What happened to the rest?”
“We don’t know. We saved as many as we could. Most of those we were able to evacuate had been in the castle.” He studied her, a touch of sadness in his big, brown eyes. He shook his head, and a lock of hair that had grown longer and shaggier than she’d ever seen it dropped across his face, hiding his expression in shadow. He’d always been too sensitive, even when they were still human. “The Guards were behind us. Savages were pouring in through portals from every direction. We stayed as long as we could, Ryleigh, but you have to understand, our allegiance is to you. We had to leave soon after you, make sure we could catch up to you, to protect those who were able to get out.”
She pushed his hair off his face. “It’s all right, Noah. I understand.”
He watched the others climbing ahead of them, his features lined with regret.
“Everyone has their role.” As Mia had not so gently reminded her. “You couldn’t send women and children into the mountains alone with no protection. Most didn’t even have time to grab weapons.”
His expression softened. “Come on. We have to go.”
She turned away from the pain in his eyes and resumed her climb. Still no sign of Mia and Darius. She probably shouldn’t have let Mia go. Or she should have gone with her. Of course, then the Queen’s Army would have been forced to stay, and the civilians they’d managed to save would have been sitting ducks as they tried to flee alone. At least she’d been able to offer them a direction. Whether or not it would turn out to be safe, she had no clue.
She worked to blank her mind and concentrate on the climb. The muscles in her back screamed as she pulled herself up and over another rocky ledge. A sharp rock gouged her injured side, and she bit back a cry.
This would have been so much easier if she could have taken Nahara or Kalayah and flown out. Of course, she couldn’t fit a hundred people on the back of one hound, no matter how big, or one dragon.
She opened and closed her hand, the stiffness interfering with her grip.
Cymmera was a barren land, icy, cold, and though trees still stood, they never bloomed. Underbrush had dried up and blown away centuries ago, soon after Jackson’s mother, Queen Dara, had died. Although ice and snow covering everything was amazingly beautiful, it made scaling the mountain extremely difficult, and her arms and legs were protesting.
She stood and brushed snow and dirt from the front of her sweatshirt and jeans. She reached for her sword before she remembered it had been lost in the battle with Chayce. She wouldn't have thought the empty scabbard hanging at her side would make her feel so naked, so defenseless. She should have kept the flail with her when she’d fled the throne room, couldn’t even remember where she’d lost it. Perhaps the span of peace had made her complacent. She should have paid more attention to Jackson’s warnings about remaining alert.
The first clashes of metal on metal reached her.
“Go, Ryleigh.” Noah gripped the back of her sweatshirt and propelled her onto the platform at the base of the dragon caves, then followed with the boy. “You have to decide where to go. There’s not much time.”
An inhuman scream punctuated his assessment.
Her people entered the cave, then huddled by the entrance, pushing the children behind them, trying to shelter them. Fear emanated from the group. They stared at her, waiting for her orders. Waiting for her to do something to save them.
The caves plunged deep into the mountainside, leading to a labyrinth of tunnels. They might be safe there for a little while, especially if the dragons returned, but Chayce knew every inch of the mountain maze, and he could certainly send his savages to cut them off and slaughter them. She started toward Tristan. “Tristan?”
He fell into step beside her.
“Yes.”
“Put together a team and search the area around the backside of the caves.”
“Got it.” He jogged ahead of her.
“Ryleigh!” The fear in Mia’s cry stopped her short.
Nahara, one of Jackson’s giant hounds, flew toward her. Though she belonged to Jackson, Ryleigh had become closer and closer to her since she’d taken up riding her with Jackson while he flew on Nika.
The giant hound landed gracefully on the small platform and dropped to the ground with a whimper. Blood caked the cream colored fur on her left flank.
“Get Kiara!” Mia slid from Nahara and reached up.
Ryleigh yelled for someone to find the healer as she ran toward Mia. “Are you hurt? What happened?”
“No, not me. The pup.” She carefully pulled a small, black pup from Nahara’s back, then ran toward Ryleigh, cradling the puppy close to her. The back end of an arrow protruded from his side. Blood coated Mia’s arms and the front of her shirt.
“What happened? Where’s Nika and Darius?” No way would Darius have let Mia go alone if they were under attack. And Nika was not only overly protective of all his pups, guarding them and helping Nahara care for them, he was overly protective of his humans as well. He would have died defending Mia.
“Darius stayed behind with Nika to fight so we could get away.” She dropped to her knees and started to lay the puppy gently on the cold ground.
“Wait.” Ryleigh stripped off her sweatshirt, brushed some of the snow away, and spread her shirt on the ground. A chill prickled her bare arms for a second, but she quickly regulated her temperature. She wouldn’t be cold in the T-shirt, but it wouldn’t offer much protection if they had to climb higher. “Put him here.”
The arrow had entered the puppy’s side at an angle and come out his back. “He seems to be breathing okay.”
“Yes.” Mia lifted her gaze. Tears streaked down her cheeks. “When Nahara was flying away, he jumped up onto my chest. I got startled and leaned backward. If he hadn’t jumped just then, the arrow would have gone straight through my heart.” Her hand shook as she tangled her fingers in the puppy’s mane.
Ryleigh ran her fingers along his side, then up and over his back. When she didn’t find any evidence the arrow had hit the pup’s wing, she gently spread the silver-flecked, black wing open.
“Do you think he’ll be all right?” Mia clasped her hands together and rocked back and forth, her teeth chattering.
“I don’t know, but it didn’t go through the wing, so I think that’s good.”
Tatiana Storm rushed to their side. “We’re trying to find Kiara.” She ran a hand over the pup’s head. “It’s a bit chaotic at the moment. We’re not even sure who got out and who didn’t.”
“I saw Kiara leave the kitchen ahead of me.”
Tatiana nodded. “Okay, good. What happened?”
Mia relayed the tale again.
Running her fingers around the edge of the hole, Tatiana studied the wound. “Hounds are very intuitive. Some even say precognitive. It’s one of the reasons so many Cymmerans keep them as pets. They make extremely efficient guardians.” She pulled a knife from her boot and cut the head from the arrow, then slid the rest free. “And they never hesitate to defend their owners, even at risk to themselves.”
“But I don’t understand. This pup isn’t mine.”
“He is now.” Tatiana placed a hand over Mia’s and frowned. “You’re cold. Your lips are blue, and your hands are like ice. Are you having trouble regulating your temperature?”
“No. Well, not really too much.” She shifted the pup so his head lay in her lap as she stroked his silky ears. “Elijah said it would be hard for a little while.”
“Have you seen Elijah? No one seems to know if he got out.”
Mia lowered her head, cradled the pup against her, and sobbed.
“He—” The words caught in Ryleigh’s throat, finally emerging in a hoarse whisper. “He didn’t.”
Tatiana tilted her head and pinned her with a glare. “Excuse me?”
Ryleigh sucked in a deep breath and tried again. “He didn’t. Get out, I mean. He was killed in the throne room.”
She jumped up. “You left him? We have to go back.” She started back toward the cave opening. “He can be saved if—”
“No.” Mia laid the pup on the sweatshirt, rose, ran after Tatiana, and grabbed her arm. “He burst into flames. He couldn’t be saved. He knew it was going to happen and has been training me to take his place.”
Tears shimmered in Tatiana’s huge green eyes. She wiped the pup’s blood from her hands onto her jeans, then used her wrist to push back some of the blond strands that had escaped the long braid that always hung down her back. “You’re sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“Very well.” Not one tear fell as Tatiana nodded and turned away. “I’ll go find Kiara.”
Ryleigh couldn’t help a spark of admiration.
“There’s no time.” Noah strode toward them. “Come on. We have to get out of here. The Guardsmen can’t hold them back any longer. Lucas is getting everyone together, but he wants to know what you want to do, head farther up the mountain or go into the caves?” He spotted the pup lying on the ground. “Ah, man.” He lifted him into his arms, careful to avoid the wound in his side. “Go.” He gestured toward the cave entrance where the crowd gathered, all glancing between Ryleigh and the nearing battle sounds.
All these people, yet not even a fraction of the kingdom she was responsible for, looked to her for answers.
She pitched her voice low so only Tatiana, Mia, and Noah would hear. “If we continue up the mountain, we are sure to lose at least a few, probably children, as the terrain becomes harsher and steeper. If Chayce is smart, he’ll assume we’ll take them into the caves. There’s probably an ambush waiting.”
Though most Cymmeran women, and even the older children, were well trained in battle, few of them were armed. A confrontation in the tunnels with Chayce's beasts would certainly end in a massacre.
“There may be another way.” Mia lifted her sweatshirt and pulled a book from the waistband of her jeans. She opened it and flipped through the brittle pages. “This is what I went back for. Elijah foresaw the attack on the castle. He knew some would escape.”
Noah glanced down the mountain. “There’s no time—”
“I only need a few seconds.” She ran her finger along a page. “Elijah found an uncharted realm just…beneath, for lack of a better word, Cymmera. He said it’s closest to Cymmera right here, at the base of the dragon caves. It’s extremely unlikely Chayce, or anyone else, would know about it. If I can open a portal, we can hide everyone there.”
Tatiana shook her head. “That’s crazy. We have no way to know what lies in wait in an uncharted realm.”
Grunts, snorts, and clashing swords echoed up the mountainside.
Noah shrugged. “We know what waits here.”
Ryleigh asked, “Did Elijah suggest you try it?”
“He didn’t say whether we should go there or not, simply offered it as a viable option if we got into trouble.”
“Well, we are definitely in trouble, and Elijah didn’t say anything simply. If he mentioned it, he had good reason.” She was going to have to make a choice, and she didn’t have time to weigh her options. “Okay. Tatiana and Noah, start moving everyone around the cave and toward the back side of the mountain, and take Nahara and the pups with you, then wait for me to signal. If Mia can open the portal, we’ll enter the new realm. If not, we’ll head up the mountain.”
They followed her orders immediately, without question.
She wasn’t quite sure how to feel about that, grateful or scared. “You know what I find weird?”
“Seriously?” Mia stared at her and lifted a brow.
“Okay, aside from the…well, pretty much everything. Chayce entered the throne room alone with his savages. Where was Thaddeus?”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought too.” When they’d confronted Chayce last, Thaddeus had been practically glued to his hip. If Thaddeus was lying in wait somewhere, they were all dead. Or worse. “Could he know about the new realm?”
Mia shifted. “I suppose anything is possible, but Elijah was very specific about one thing when he passed his knowledge on to me. No matter what I see, no matter what I think I might know, only relay the information that’s absolutely needed at any given time. Mistakes in this business can be costly.” A shiver tore through her.
“All right.” For now. “See what you can do.”
Mia stared at the book for what seemed like forever, then closed her eyes.
Savages poured onto the platform. The tempo of their grunts and snorts increased as they surged closer.
With a gut-wrenching scream, a Cymmeran Guardsman plunged over the cliff and tumbled down the mountain.
A portal opened, barely an opening at all.
The stench of decay accompanied the savages surging forward.
Not yet big enough for the smallest child, the portal kicked up wicked hot wind, howling louder with each inch the portal grew.
Her soldiers pulled back.
“Come on, Mia.”
“I’m trying.”
Another Cymmeran soldier fell.
Ryleigh started toward him. She had to try to heal him.
A savage fell on him before she even got close. He grinned, a mouthful of crooked, rotted teeth covered in blood.
She raised her voice above the howling wind. “Now, Mia.”
Mia raised her arms above her head, her entire body trembling with the strain of trying to tear the portal open.
The portal wavered, then jerked open a little more.
The Queen’s Army lined the edge of the plateau, weapons ready.
Tatiana stood with them.
Three savages scaled the rocks and lurched onto the platform where her soldiers stood.
Tristan and Jimmy sent them flying back over the edge.
Battle for Cymmera Page 5