Lex staggered his way up to standing and glanced to his sides. Acarius looked grim, paler than he’d ever seen him. Lytira fidgeted beside Acarius, her hands clasped to her chest and her head bowed as though in prayer.
“We’re under attack!” A far-off voice continued the shout from the darkness behind them.
Lytira’s head snapped up and she grabbed Acarius’ arm. He nodded at her and she spun, running off down the dirt path into what Lex could now see was a small encampment of tents and wooden huts with leafy-branched roofs.
Acarius placed his hand on Lex’s arm. “Stay here,” he said, then ran after Lytira.
People – men, women, and children, none of them looking like soldiers or at all equipped to fight – stumbled out of their shelters into the small circle of light made by a fire at the center of the camp, their eyes wide and startled as the cry continued to go up in the distance. “We’re under attack!”
The people ran away from Lex and the gates, disappearing into the shadows beyond the fire. Only a small portion of the camp nearest him was visible, the rest hidden by the night. Were there more people? What was beyond the darkness? Was there a way to escape?
Lex wanted to run, but… he couldn’t. Acarius had told him to stay here, and though Lex couldn’t guarantee he wouldn’t budge from this spot once the enemy attacked, he knew he wouldn’t run. This was his fight. The farmers had come for him and put all the rest of these people in danger. He would not run away like a coward.
He said a silent prayer that his glimpses would work in his favor this time, like they had at Acarius’ ranch. Lex didn’t quite trust his own fighting skills, but Marcus’ were inside him, somewhere, if only he could find a way to channel them. Don’t fail me, Marcus, he thought, but he knew his brother was long dead. Was he so helpless that his only chance for survival was to steal a dead man’s skills and memories?
He would stay and fight, with or without the glimpses, even if it killed him. And it likely would. But where was Acarius? If the glimpses had shown him anything useful, it was that Acarius could be trusted. If he was going to fight, he’d feel better having someone trustworthy beside him. At least then maybe he’d have a chance.
Or maybe Acarius would die trying to protect him.
No. It was better if Acarius stayed away. Whatever Lex had done or not done, the farmers were after him – not Acarius. Would Acarius save Amelia after Lex was gone? He wished he’d at least had time to make him promise that. Amelia didn’t deserve to be hurt because of Lex, either.
A shout went up from outside the gates and then something slammed into them, shaking the entire fence. The wood creaked.
Is there nothing for us to do but wait for them to break it down? Lex wondered. But maybe these people had no other defenses; maybe the gate was the only entrance or exit and there was no way for them to escape. The thought chilled him. When the gates burst they’d be trapped in here, helpless, like birds in a cage.
The archers gathered around him, all arrows aimed at the gate.
Maharan turned to Lex. “Whatever happens, this is on you,” he growled. “You should never have come here.”
Lex took a deep breath, then stepped forward. “You’re right,” he said. “Now move back and get your people as far from here as you can.”
Maharan stared at him.
A cheer broke out from outside the fence as the wood of the gates splintered and bent inward. One more strike, and the gates would probably give way.
“Get back,” Lex yelled to the archers again. Maharan and the others exchanged confused glances, then fled back into the shadows.
Lex planted himself in the center of the path from the gates to the camp. When the enemy broke in, he wanted to be the first thing they saw. He drew his sword. It felt heavy and awkward in his grasp. Fear edged in as he realized this really could be the end for him. If he didn’t glimpse at the right time, he would have no clue how to fight. They’d kill him in seconds.
Footsteps thundered toward him as Acarius and Lytira rushed up, breathing heavily and followed by several others. The new strangers were dressed the same as the archers, but were all larger and more muscular than any from the first group, and they carried no bows and arrows. One of the men – the one standing nearest Lytira – was huge, almost bear-like, with a massive chest and dark, hairy arms as thick as logs. He nodded at Lex and moved up beside him, facing the gates. Acarius moved up next to Lex’s other side, and Lytira stood beside Acarius. The others moved forward around the three of them and the bear-man, taking positions on both sides.
Another impact shook the fence from outside and the wood of the gates splintered yet again, just barely holding together.
Lex glanced around. Besides him and Acarius – who had drawn his own sword – no one had weapons, and Lex didn’t even know how to use his. Lex turned to Acarius. “Why are you here?” he said. “You will all be killed.”
Acarius shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
Beside him, Lytira leaned forward, as though eager to leap at the enemy the moment they broke through.
Outside, a roar of voices went up in unison, like a battle cry. How many were out there? Dozens?
“Please,” Lex said, turning to Acarius. “I don’t want anyone else to be hurt because of me.” Suddenly he realized, If I’m about to die… He grabbed Acarius’ arm. “Amelia,” he said. “If I don’t make it–”
Acarius looked at him, his eyebrows raised slightly. He opened his mouth as if to reply.
With a crash, the gates burst inward.
CHAPTER 10
Men poured in through the broken gates. They were just ordinary men from Dalton and Merik’esh and maybe even some other nearby villages – except today, they were out for blood. No, not just for blood, Lex thought. For me. For revenge for the people I killed and whatever else they think I’ve done. Lex had only a moment to note that the men carried farming tools, rather than swords or spears, before they attacked.
One of the men from Alowen grabbed Lex and shoved him behind them. He and the others formed a line in front of Lex like a wall. The villagers cascaded into them, a giant, human mass of writhing, grunting bodies intent on murdering one another.
Lex wasn’t about to let Acarius, Lytira, and Alowens he didn’t even know fight his battle for him. He shoved between two of the men in the line as they fought off the attackers. Fights exploded all around Lex as Acarius, Lytira and the others engaged the charging villagers. Someone elbowed Lex in the side and shoved him, and Lex stumbled through the mob and out the other side into a pocket of stillness amid the chaos. Bodies of the enemy were dropping all around him, though Lytira and Acarius and the Alowens seemed to be faring well so far.
Lex watched them fight, awed by it. Lytira moved like a leopard on the hunt, swift and lethal, and Acarius wielded his sword like it was part of him. The Alowens who had come to help seemed sturdy as oaks, the villagers’ blows glancing off them. And the man who had reminded Lex of a bear did his initial impression justice – he tore into the enemy with all the ferocity of an angered grizzly, splitting their faces with his fists.
Lex wanted to help, but how? Everyone around him was already fighting, and succeeding at it. He would just get in the way.
From the darkness beyond the tents, Lex heard a whinny. Mare and the other horses had vanished while Lex was in his glimpse. Had they been tied up somewhere? Maybe he could go and find them; he’d seen Mare in a fight and she was –
A burly villager burst out from the rest and hurled himself at Lex, his face contorted in a howl of rage. Lex threw his sword up, knowing he should swing at the man but unable to make himself do it. How do people do this, just slaughter another human? He braced himself to block instead and the villager tackled him, locking his arms around Lex’s shoulders like a cage. Lex barely kept his footing, arms trapped against his body. The man threw his weight sideways, pulling Lex to the ground, then closed his hands across Lex�
�s throat. Lex was still holding the sword, but it wasn't much help with both his arms pressed against his chest.
Lex's world collapsed to the small reality of himself and the man fighting him. He pushed up with his arms, relieving some of the pressure against his throat, but he could barely breathe, much less fight back. His heart raced as his head grew foggy. All this struggling, all this running and fighting and seeking… for it to end like this? Not like this. But any moment, more of the enemy would join in, and he’d be dead for sure.
Panic spiraled upward in Lex and he wrenched one arm loose from the man’s hold on him. The sword was still in his grip but he couldn’t get leverage. He struggled beneath the villager, trying to break free. Glimpse, he told himself. Glimpse!
It didn’t come.
Blackness crept in from the sides of his eyes. I’m dying, he thought. Like in my vision.
The panic sank into numbness.
“Lex!” a voice shouted. Acarius. “Hold on!”
Lex glanced beyond his attacker, toward the sound of the voice. Acarius was fighting two men, slashing at them with his sword… but as one fell, another took his place.
“I’m coming!” Acarius yelled between strikes at the enemy.
But Lex knew it would be too late. He was beginning to float, his mind disconnecting from his body. Lex looked up at the man crushing him. His eyes were wide and wild, burning with fury. What did I do to make him hate me this much? Lex wondered. Inside him, the darkness stirred, whispering. He stared into the man’s eyes.
The man’s glare shifted from anger to hesitation and then to fear. His hands loosened from Lex’s throat and Lex gasped, feeling the air rush inward and push the blackness away. Reality snapped in, the pressure on his throat and the warm sword in his hand and the pain of the man’s knee in his ribs all flooding in at once. The man closed his hands around Lex’s throat once more, but he seemed to have grown weak from the exertion – he was choking Lex half-heartedly.
Lex elbowed the man’s arm away and shoved upward, twisting himself free. He scrambled to his feet, new energy burning in his stomach.
The man crouched in front of him, shaking, face turned up toward Lex with a look of terror.
Lex raised his sword.
The man began to beg. “Please,” he gasped. “I have a daughter, a baby girl, born last week. Please, I’m sorry. Just let me go.”
Flickers of a tiny hand wrapped in his own blurred across Lex’s anger, dissolving it. This man had a family, a daughter waiting for him to come home. I can’t do it, Lex thought. He lowered his sword.
The man’s face shifted into a sneer as Lex saw something move beside him.
Lex spun, but the villager behind him was already swinging a sharpened shovel toward Lex’s head. Lex threw up his sword to block.
The man dropped to the ground. Behind him stood Acarius, arms still upraised from striking the villager in the head with his sword hilt. He gave Lex a brief nod, then turned back toward another attacker.
Lex spun back to the villager he’d spared, ready to retract his mercy. But he had dissolved into the chaos around them.
Lex was surrounded by fighting. Acarius had two villagers on him and Lytira was holding her own against another, while the few Alowens who’d come to help were each taking two or three men on their own. They spread out in a line across the narrow dirt path, blocking the attackers from making it to the camp beyond… for now. It looked like a bizarre game, the attacking villagers crowding around, waiting to slide in and fight whenever one of their own fell. The Daltoners and Altans weren't skilled fighters but they were driven by fury… and there were dozens of them, against only a handful of the others.
Lex stared, wondering how an entire village militia could have come after him and he again managed to be the only one not being attacked. But it was short-lived. A cluster of men caught sight of him.
“There he is!” they shouted. They shoved toward him through the crowd, gathering any men who weren’t already fighting.
Lex turned toward them and shifted his right leg back, centering his weight. He raised his sword.
The men charged toward Lex just as a feral shriek of pain cut through the air.
Lex spun toward the sound. Two large villagers had Lytira pinned against the wooden gate, a third drawing back his large shovel to strike.
“Lytira!” Acarius yelled from the other side of the path. He shoved away from the men he was fighting and raced toward her.
Lex moved toward Lytira also, the men on his heels. He was still several steps away when a large villager swung a spade at Acarius from behind.
Acarius crumpled.
Lytira snarled in rage.
Lex ran toward Acarius, but the men reached Lex first. “No!” Lex yelled. “Acarius!” He hit the ground with a thud, pain shooting through his ribs, as the weight of several men collapsed onto him.
His sword clattered to the ground, out of reach. The men pressed Lex to the ground and pulled his arms behind his back. His cheek dug into the hard ground. One of the men jabbed a knee into his back, and a bolt of pain cut through his shoulders as they pulled his arms further backward.
“Tie his wrists,” someone called out, but Lex’s attention was on Acarius, crumpled on the ground a few feet away. He wasn't moving.
The memory of Jana’s lifeless blue eyes staring across the ground at him from the glimpse surfaced. Lex blinked it back.
Lytira let out a wordless howl of anger nearby, but her shout stopped short.
Lex couldn't see her. Had they knocked her out, too? Lex’s thoughts raced. Glimpse! he willed himself again, but nothing happened.
Lex grunted as a knee dug into his back again, then someone yanked against Lex’s hands, tightening something around his wrists. What do I do? Lex thought, starting to panic. He fought against his restraints but they wouldn’t budge.
The men yanked Lex upward by his shoulders and shoved him to his feet.
Something dark stirred in Lex, beckoning.
A man stepped in front of him, the man he had spared. The others circled around. The man leaned into Lex’s face. “We have you now, demon,” he said. His breath smelled like rotting meat.
Within Lex’s chest the dark thing stretched, as though waking from a long sleep.
More men came from the sides, shoving a bleeding Lytira to her knees beside Lex.
Lytira glared at the men silently.
“Here you are, princess,” one of the men sneered. He dumped Acarius’ limp body into the center of the circle.
The dark thing in Lex yawned and rose, spreading through his veins. It was eager, ready… just waiting to be set free. A thread of fear slipped through and Lex hesitated. What was this thing inside him, begging to be unleashed? He was suddenly afraid of himself.
The dark thing collapsed inward, shrinking.
No, Lex thought. Come back! Whatever that darkness was, it was powerful. It might have been his only way out of this. He grasped for it, but it was gone.
Lex now had a man on either side of him gripping his restrained arms, and at least twenty other men standing around, watching him. He glanced down at Acarius' body and felt a swell of relief – his chest was rising and falling. He was alive.
Lex looked over at Lytira. Her eyes were alert, watching the villagers. She looked calm, so Lex forced himself to breathe. She must have a plan.
A group of men shoved through the circle, dragging something behind them – the large man who stood beside Lex before the gates burst open. It took four men to move him and his body sagged like a flour sack as they dragged him through the dirt. Blood ran from his head down the side of his face.
“Baram,” Lytira whispered.
Lex glanced at her. For the first time since Lex had met her, she looked afraid.
More men came behind them, dragging the bodies of the other Alowens who had fought to protect Lex. They were all unconscious… or maybe worse.
Ba
ram stirred. He didn’t move from the ground, but his eyes opened and flicked around as though getting his bearings. When his gaze fell on Lytira, he stopped.
Lex watched as a silent conversation passed between them.
Lytira tensed, her muscles coiling inward as though readying for something, but Baram gave a sharp shake of his head. “No,” he grunted. “Don’t.”
“Shut up,” one of the villagers said, and kicked Baram in the ribs.
Baram grunted, but his eyes never left Lytira. She watched him for a moment then sank back, the tension slipping out of her body.
What had she been planning to do? And why did Baram stop her?
Lex had only a moment to wonder before someone grabbed him and shoved him to his knees. They yanked his head backward by the hair, exposing his neck.
“No!” Lytira shouted from behind him.
Lex could see only the dark sky above him and a bit of movement in his peripheral. He could feel men’s hands still pressing down on his shoulders and whoever held his hair expelled harsh breaths against his neck. Lex shivered.
Behind him he heard scuffling. Was Lytira fighting to get free?
A shout. A thump.
“Leave her alone,” Baram’s deep voice growled.
Lex strained against the men holding him, but the firm grip on his hair still pulled his head backward and men still held both his arms. His movements only made his captors grip him tighter.
With his neck exposed and unable to see what was happening around him, he felt suddenly very vulnerable. Glimpse, Lex commanded himself.
Nothing happened.
The dark whisper surfaced deep within again, and Lex strained for it. It was just out of reach.
A man moved in front of Lex, holding a knife level with Lex's throat.
How many times can a person be on the brink of death in one day? Lex thought, but still fear crept in as the knife pressed into his skin.
“What the– “ the man said. The knife clanked to the ground at the same time the men let go of Lex’s arms and head.
Lex dropped his head for a moment, grateful for the relief in his strained neck. He scanned for the knife, hoping to cut his wrist restraints before the men could stop him. He halted. The ground was alive, fresh green vines as thick as a man’s wrist springing upward from the dirt in all directions.
The Edge of Nothing_The Lex Chronicles_Book 1 Page 15