Boss Fight (Beyond the Aura Book 1)

by Helen Adams

  And it hurt like hell.

  Raz was screaming. Not yelling, not shouting. Screaming. The terrible noise was punctuated by harsh male shouts, and somewhere an animal was roaring. No – not an animal – it was a vaengrjarl, bellowing with incandescent rage.

  Sorry, I thought. Didn’t mean to upset you. Any of you.

  Of course I’d seen my own blood before, but never so much, all at once. It puddled into my hands and spilled through my fingers. So red, like sunlight streaming through rubies, hot as it pulsed over my cupped palms. Instead of pushing it around my body, my heart was pushing it out of my body. Out through the ragged, gaping gash that used to be my stomach.

  But that wasn’t the worst. It wasn’t just my blood that was packing up and moving to Florida. I was holding a grey, quivering length of…

  I wanted to scream like Raz. But all that came out was a shaking, low-pitched chuckle.

  It was my guts. Mina’s bastard golem had sliced me open like a rabbit and now here were my guts.

  I was fucking dying. Leighis was many things, but a healer of the eviscerated it was not. Just when I’d dared to hope – when I’d seen a glimpse of the end – the universe had bitch-slapped me down yet again. But I couldn’t let Mina get away; I’d come so far, fought so many battles, to have my efforts wasted.

  I dropped to my knees, biting back a scream as the movement jarred my inside-outs. Clutching the ropy string of intestine in one hand I scrabbled in the blood-soaked dirt with the other, searching for something – anything – to throw at Mina.

  I struggled to see. The world was turning white. Whatever I did it had to be now.

  My fingers found a hard, jagged shape, a rock. Smeared with blood and earth. I hurled it with as much force as my failing body could muster, watching with intense satisfaction as it struck the back of Mina’s head. She collapsed.

  That was enough for me. Lukas would take care of the dragon golem and the faeries would mop up the others. Mina was out, Alice would be safe, and my cheerleaders could go home.

  I’d be going home, too, but as I toppled sideways an old football chant rang through my mind.

  ‘You’re going home in a fucking ambulance!’

  If this was the afterlife it sucked. I still hurt. Every inch of me hurt, actually – the raw wounds on my legs, my shattered ribs. My twitching guts.

  I couldn’t see a thing. It was as if someone had turned out the lights on the world. My eyes were open – at least I thought they were – but there was no light. Not even a hint.

  Then, suddenly, there was. A blazing ball of white in the void. Was this the start of that famous long tunnel? Would I hear voices telling me not to go into the light… or to run right in?

  Which would be worse?

  The tunnel could do what it liked, so long as the pain stopped.

  I felt soft fur against my torso. Was I about to get eaten in the afterlife? Was this some kind of terrible berserker limbo?

  But the soft furriness was nice. And everywhere it touched, the pain stopped.

  Another touch of fur, this time against my calves.

  And then there were little balls of fur all over me, and I had to squint against the blinding light they emitted. I didn’t hurt, not anymore. Not anywhere.

  If this was what dying was like, I could live with it.

  The balls of light faded and I floated in the dark. Then, little by little, natural illumination filtered back.

  Fading sunlight streamed through the swaying branches of trees in broken scarlet waves. Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight… but the wolves were at the door and the shepherds were under siege.

  I was warm and comfortable. Nothing hurt. No bloody legs, no gaping death wounds. No broken bones. Was this Heaven?

  “She’s awake,” Lukas growled.

  Not Heaven, then.

  “I think… I think I was dead,” I mumbled.

  I sat up, feeling weight against my body. My eyes widened. Lorl was clinging to my shoulder and her fur was silver. I’d never seen that colour on her, and she wasn’t alone; I was covered in wild taufrkyn, all silver, all looking at me with huge, liquid black eyes.

  “What…?” I couldn’t even begin to ask what had happened.

  A presence beside me was Raz, kneeling in the dirt. He gripped my shoulder as if terrified to let me go. Lee loomed into view at my feet.

  Lorl let out a commanding croak that I’d never heard before. The wild flock took wing, the airflow from their wings fanning my skin. We watched as they streamed away into the woods. Lorl and Ques nestled into my arms.

  “You’re an idiot,” Raz said, tearing his eyes from the departing flock. “And your hair…”

  I offered him a tired, crazy grin. “But I’m not a dead idiot. And right now I don’t give a shit about my hair. Is anyone going to tell me what’s going on?”

  I remembered the feeling of my guts hanging out. I touched my tattered T-shirt, sliding a hand over my belly, still unable to believe that I was whole and intact. But there was no blood. No pain. Not even a scar. Next to that, the state of my hair was of zero concern.

  There weren’t even any wounds. Plenty of tacky blood and ripped clothes, but no wounds.

  “Daphne, your hair’s changing colour –”

  “Of course it is, I’m covered in mud and blood.” I started looking around for Alice.

  “I mean like a taufrkyn!”

  I grabbed a few strands and peered at them. They were covered in battlefield muck, but they were also…

  …changing colour. Orange to yellow to lavender to grey.

  “And your eyebrows, too!”

  “Anyone who makes a comment about collar and cuffs gets their nose broken,” I rasped, shaky.

  I had no idea what this meant. I couldn’t fit it into my understanding of the world. There’d be time for questions later – and a hat? – but right now I wasn’t dead, I wasn’t hurting, and I was fucking well going to find my friend.

  I kissed the top of Lorl’s furry head. She trilled with pleasure and pressed her nose against my throat. Her fur rippled with colours, overwhelming the silver with grass green, blue, and lavender. Satisfied that I was alive and well, she cheeped and took off into the trees, Ques flitting after her. I figured that – for a while, at least – I could put up with a few bugs in my bed.

  I stood under my own power and moved straight into Raz’s arms. I buried my face into the side of his neck, the stink of sweat and blood filling my nose. I didn’t care. I breathed deep and held on tight.

  Lee looked as if he wanted to say something. I didn’t want to hear and I think he knew that, because he moved to flank Alice instead. She stood with her hands clasped in front of her, almost a prayer, the emotions on her face moving too fast for me to identify.

  Raz let me go and I went to her. She seemed physically fine – no obvious wounds, clothes only a little dishevelled – but whatever was playing out inside her mind was tearing her down. What the hell had Mina forced her to see?

  “You’re safe now, Alice.” I didn’t dare touch her. “Let me take you home?”

  She took a single faltering step. Her eyes swam with unshed tears.

  “What… what are you?”

  “I’m your friend.” It was the simplest answer I could give.

  She smiled. It was tiny and tremulous, but it was there.

  Then she burst into tears.

  I took one last look at the ruined battle site before we left. The earth was churned and wet with blood, the trees and shrubs devastated – uprooted, torn, broken. Lukas had incinerated his opponent until nothing remained except glassy earth and a black, greasy smear.

  Golem parts littered the ground. Chunks of flesh mixed with ragged flaps of silk. Splintered branches tangled with shattered lengths of bone. In time they’d turn to mush, but right now it was a scene of destruction that made my stomach clench. There was no way that this could be explained to the police, so we had to be far away before they got here. Mina’s hex would kee
p them away for a while, but without her conscious mind in control the spell would soon wear off.

  I thought: - I survived this.

  Then I thought: - No I didn’t. My guts got ripped out and I died. Didn’t I?

  Warmth against my skin. Soft fur. Bright light.

  Raz touched my arm. I turned to look up into his face.

  “What happened to me?” I whispered.

  “Later.”

  There were too many other things to sort out right now. I was OK with ‘later’.

  Before the faeries left, Queen Daisy sought us out, hovering in the air in front of me.

  “You’re not dead, then.”

  “Apparently not. What happened with your Clan?”

  The faerie queen tapped the side of her tiny, tiny nose. “Let’s just say that I invited a few queens over for dinner.” She rolled in the air, wings flapping with vigour.

  “Your Gloaming saved my life. I owe Chant a debt.”

  Daisy’s grin was feral and not at all reassuring.

  “I’ll remember that. Never fear.”

  I refused to leave without Baby, and I finally found her after digging around in the dirt. I wiped off the muck; a proper clean would have to wait until later. I kissed the hilt and slung her over my shoulder.

  Lukas was a bruised and bloodied mess. His clothes were still immaculate (where did they go when he changed?), but the body underneath had taken a beating. It had to hurt like hell, but he didn’t let a scrap of pain show on his face.

  He stood apart from us but I felt his eyes on me everywhere I turned. He hadn’t spoken since I woke up, hadn’t asked how I felt, and like my weird hair I didn’t know how to take that; a few hours ago we’d kissed, and now he wasn’t even talking?

  But Lukas had fought for me. He’d bled. He’d taken our struggle to find Alice as a personal obligation, and I could never forget that. Being shot with a wand might have had something to do with it, but he’d followed my battle plan and been there when I needed him.

  And he’d suffered.

  “It’s not as bad as it looks,” he growled before I could speak. “Your concern is unnecessary.”

  “When someone helps you it’s human to be concerned when they get hurt. Human to thank them, too.”

  “I don’t want your thanks!” His eyes blazed green as he closed the gap between us. “I want…”

  He grabbed me, his hands clenching painfully on my upper arms. Lee lunged for him; Raz caught his shoulders and yanked him back.

  “Easy,” I heard him mutter. “Let her handle it.”

  Lukas ignored them, solid green lamps burning into mine. But I refused to let him intimidate me. The emotion in his eyes was obscured by that emerald light and I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, how he was feeling.

  “Marry me,” he said.

  The world shimmered. I thought my knees were going to buckle but, miraculously, they held. As proposals went, this sucked.

  “Please take your hands off me.”

  “Yes or no!”

  “My answer is no! Now let me go!”

  “You could be a princess, you fool! You could be safe from all – this!” He released me, using both hands to gesture at the destruction around us.

  “I’m a berserker!” I yelled. All of my pent-up emotions, my barely-contained fears, pushed against their restraints. “We’re never safe. I’m not turning my back on duty just because you want to bundle me in fucking bubble wrap!”

  “Listen –”

  “No,” I snarled. “This is over. Thanks for your help, I’m sorry you got injured, but don’t you dare think that you can tell me what to do!”

  That ferocious light never left his eyes. He turned and strode away.

  “Hey!” I called after him, feeling stupid. Way to ruin a verbal smack down. “What about Mina’s wand?”

  He stopped but didn’t turn. “I will take care of it.” He took two more paces and vanished.

  I gawped. Teleported? Invisible? All I knew was that he was gone, and maybe this time he wouldn’t come back. I should be relieved. I wasn’t.

  Mina was still unconscious. Raz slung the petite woman over his shoulder. She was a mess, her face black and swollen from where I’d beaten her with Baby’s hilt, and there was a big lump on her skull from the rock.

  Mel was waiting for us when we got back to the van, leaning against the side. I didn’t see any other vehicles. I wasn’t going to ask how she’d got here.

  “Lukas?” she asked.

  “Gone.”

  I didn’t feel like explaining. From the way she searched my face, I could tell that she understood.

  “Alright. Come back to the safe house. I’ve called Mama Denique.”

  I thought longingly of soft beds and hot showers.

  “Sounds good to me.”

  Raz slung Mina in the back of the van. He wasn’t gentle.

  EPILOGUE

  Raz dumped Mina on the sofa. Lee made coffee while I raided the kitchen to prepare tray after tray of food.

  Raz had brought more leighis and while the food was cooking I started patching people up. I didn’t need any; there wasn’t a scratch on me. My clothes were rancid with dried blood, but that’s all it was. I nipped up to the ladies’ dressing room and changed into clean clothes, silently mourning the loss of yet another metal T-shirt.

  I ate with thoughtless, mechanical motions, all the while keeping an eye on both Mina and Alice. My friend ate with tiny bird-like movements, eyes scanning the room. They kept returning to Mina. Checking that she was still out cold.

  I felt helpless. I wanted to comfort Alice but I didn’t know what to say or what to do. So I watched and waited until Denique arrived.

  She steamed into the house like an iceberg caught in a fast current. Today’s outfit was an eye-watering orange dress, a necklace of purple beads and a headdress made from…

  “Is that an eagle?”

  She waved a proud, podgy hand in the stuffed bird’s general direction. “Marvellous, isn’t he? I bought him off the Net.”

  Of course she had. And Kisha – fat-bellied little Kisha, who looked adorable – perched on the neck of that eagle as if she was riding him into battle.

  “Daphne?” My friend shrank behind me, eyes fixed on the Way healer.

  “It’s OK.” I squeezed her hand in mine. “This is Denique. I trust her. She’ll make you feel better.”

  “Bring them both into the dining room,” Denique commanded, eying both women. “This is going to take a while.”

  I went to make fresh coffee. Raz followed and swept me into another fierce hug. When he let me go his eyes were wet.

  “Getting clingy in your old age?” I rasped.

  “Your…” He cleared his throat. “You didn’t have a pulse.”

  “What happened?”

  “Lorl went nuts. She screamed and… and barrelled into you. I think she summoned the wild flock.”

  “What… what did they do?”

  “They spread their wings and covered you. The humming was… it was ethereal.” He smiled, radiant and full of hope. “That’s when they turned silver.”

  “Then I woke up?”

  “Took a while. But yeah. You woke up. No wounds, no blood, nothing.”

  I eased my fingers into Lorl’s fur. The fuzzbutt hummed with pleasure, flushing intense lavender. I loved her so hard it hurt.

  We’d had no idea that taufrkyn could heal like this. There was no mention of it ever happening in Harpy’s Bestiary.

  “D’you think it’s happened before?”

  “No way to know. Berserkers don’t keep written records, beyond the Bestiary.”

  “Maybe it’s time that changed.”

  When Lee left I wasn’t sorry to see him go.

  “I’ve got a report to write,” he explained, but he lingered. As if he wanted to say something else. His eyes didn’t move from my face.

  “Off you go,” I sneered. He could fall into a pit as far as I was concerned. “Don’
t let me stop you.”

  “Still don’t trust me?”

  Light exploded behind my eyes. I clamped my mouth shut so hard that my teeth creaked.

  “I’ll be back soon,” he said, stepping away from my rage. “My CO will want a long talk. You died…” He stopped, still searching my face. “If taufrkyn can heal a fallen soldier, my CO will definitely want to talk.”

  “You’re one of us now,” I said. Had I just seen a genuine flash of emotion? “Berserkers stick together. Now fuck off.”

  When Alice joined us – hours later – I knew that some serious magic had been worked. Her eyes had regained their vivacious sparkle, and her smile as she saw me reflected the vitality that Mina had tried to take from her. I drew her into a gentle hug.

  “It’s damned good to have you back,” I said. I felt a puff of air as Lorl settled on top of my head, peacock tail trailing down my back.

  “When will the hallucinations stop?” Alice asked, staring at a point above me.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Um, there’s a flying squirrel thing on your head. And it’s blowing raspberries at me…” k12

  THE END

  Daphne’s story continues in FAERIE LIGHTS

  For more news, information and updates, you can visit www.helenadams.co (yes, that really is .co).

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Helen has lived in Basingstoke all her life, and has seen it change and grow over several decades. When she was a child her mother took her to the local mobile library; at the age of 11, the librarian – seeing in her a voracious reading appetite (or more likely just wanting to appease the weird kid) – gave her adult tokens. A whole new vista of reading was now open to her. And what did she read, at that tender age? Jilly Cooper and Stephen King. Which really does explain an awful lot.

  When not writing or reading or… gasp… working, Helen likes to crochet and knit. She likes kicking back with a cup of coffee and a boxset or three, and she doesn’t just fangirl, she obsesses. Occasionally she makes felt plushies of her favourite characters. She’s kept many pets over the years, including dogs, rats, birds and fish. She has a weakness for pastries and pasties and will fight you for a custard cream.