Shadow Soul (Narun Book 1)

by M. J. Bavis

  The door banged open. Leo swirled, instinctively pushing me behind him like a child. Jill, Tony and Joe, in that order, spilt inside. Jill’s hands were shaking in front of her.

  “Sebastian is here.”

  Chapter 43

  ‘Damn my leg’ was the first thought coming to me. ‘Should’ve gone five minutes ago,’ was the second.

  “Where?” Leo took a step forward, jaw taut.

  “Downstairs. Jack called it in.” Joe held a phone in his hand.

  Leo collected my lost crutch, passed it to me and moved to pick up a black jacket. “Is he alone?”

  Joe hesitated. A pale Jill took Tony’s hand.

  Not good.

  “Come on, what are you not telling me?” Leo said, agitated and sensing the charge in the room as I had.

  “He has three others with him, as far as we know,” Joe explained. “They don’t know our room, but they know we are here. And there’s something else.”

  “H-he’s got Lana,” Jill blurted, her frame shaking along with her voice.

  No, no, no, no, no, no.

  Leo’s knuckles bulged white from the force of his clenched fists; he appeared taller and stronger.

  “It’s true, sir,” Joe said. “Tony confirmed it—he saw her. Sebastian’s not playing by the rules.”

  If Sebastian had Lana it was because he couldn’t get to me, or Tony or Jill. He was playing dirty. He would find every friend I ever made, down to the janitor I worked with, to get to us.

  “Where are they now?” Leo asked.

  “They’re down at the lobby, talking to the receptionist. It won’t be long until they find us, sir. We have to go,” Joe insisted but remained still.

  I tilted my head towards Tony and Jill enough for Leo to register and waited for him to give the order.

  “Joe, call Jonas. I want him to go with Jill and Tony, get them out of here and take them to a safe house. He’s to stay with them until further notice.”

  In an instant, Joe was on his phone and out of the room.

  “We can’t leave you here.” Tony’s arm circled Jill’s shoulders. She was white as snow.

  “Guys, it’s time to say goodbye.” I looked at my friends’ faces, nostalgic and overwhelmed by how hard it felt to say goodbye.

  Jill rushed over and pulled me in for a hug. “You’ll get her back, right? Please get her back!” She squeezed me hard. “I’m going to miss you!”

  One of the guards, presumably Jonas, entered. Leo and Tony said their goodbyes.

  “We have to go now,” Jonas said with a bass voice. He was the biggest of the three, built more like a bodybuilder than an athlete. He was in his early thirties I guessed, hair shaved an inch shorter than Joe’s. He would keep them safe.

  I pulled Jill into a final hug, promising to do everything we could to get Lana back unharmed. Leo rushing us, I clasped my arms around Tony, fingers digging into his back. I had everything to thank him for. Who knew where I’d be without him. It felt wrong to leave them in such a way, but Jonas’s commands ribbed them out of my grasp, and then they were gone.

  I buried the moment, and the emotions that came with it, for another day.

  Leo handed me a knife and a padded zip-up jacket.

  “I’d rather have my Sais back,” I muttered as I pocketed the simple weapon.

  Leo shot me a pointed look as he tossed one of the duffel bags on his back. Joe confirmed something with Jack, who was the third and youngest-looking guard, on the phone.

  “Where’s Sebastian now?” I demanded as Joe hung up.

  “They’re in the lobby, waiting,” Joe said.

  “They know we know they’re here,” Leo reasoned.

  “What’s their play?”

  “I’m assuming they’ll hurt Lana until we surrender.” Leo’s face was sombre.

  I thought about it logically. Involving Lana was against the rules: both lands had agreed a long time ago that innocent people were left out of our battles. Yet Sebastian was working on a personal vendetta. He knew all my friends; I’d introduced him to them.

  “What’s the plan?”

  “We’re going to get Lana back,” Leo stated plainly. I pictured him cocking a gun and shook my head at the image.

  Lacking the lightness of foot, for obvious reasons, I followed Joe and Leo to the empty corridor. Leo picked me up on top of the stairs and I held onto the sticks. Two floors down Joe got an update: Sebastian and his men were moving to the adjacent parking hall. We picked up the pace.

  We moved through the lobby, attracting attention like a magnet as we passed. Joe led the way with eyes everywhere. Leo’s focus was split…because of me. I was a liability rather than an asset.

  “How are we going to get her back?” I panted, painfully aware of it. Captivity had murdered my level of fitness.

  “I don’t know.” At least Leo is being honest. “But we need to put an end to this.”

  I read between the lines. Sebastian had a long list of leverage. We’d have to stop him for good.

  The parking hall was five storeys high, oblong with a circling drive in the middle. Air flowed throughout thanks to the open wall design. Lifts and stairs were at the side closest to the hotel; a walk-through tunnel joined the two on floor four, but we took the outside entrance.

  The bottom floor was full of cars and there was no sign of Sebastian as anticipated. He would want more privacy. He would be on floor five.

  Joe paused by the lift. “Jack is waiting on third.”

  The silent communication between the two men was meant to count me out. I eased my grasp on the crutches. As we entered the lift, I was surprised I was even allowed this far.

  The lift stopped on the second floor and the doors chinked open. Joe popped out while Leo held the doors from closing.

  “This is as far as you go. Wait for us by the people carrier.” Leo pointed at the burgundy Renault Scenic, three cars from the lift, sandwiched between a Ford and a Jaguar. “Do not follow. That’s an order. One of us will come for you. If we’re not here in twenty minutes, run. Or hop, more like it.”

  Joe returned from the perimeter check and gave it an all clear. I hobbled towards my designated hideout.

  “Kal, do you promise?” Leo shouted after me.

  I hummed a sound in agreement.

  “You’re not going to say goodbye?”

  “I’ll see you in fifteen. I’m not that lost without you.”

  The chuckle was cut off by the lift doors closing.

  Awkwardly, I lowered myself onto the smooth concrete. I pushed the crutches under the car and leaned against the front wheel, making sure I had a view of the exits. The little round light indicating which floor the lift was on stopped and stayed at three. I pictured Leo and Joe meeting Jack there, exchanging quick protocol and advancing to the stairs. Joe would be at the front, Jack at the back. Their first and foremost job was to protect Leo.

  Noises of traffic carried up from below; I tuned in to the cars on the ground floor.

  I feared for Lana, feeling guilty of thinking ill of her on previous occasions. I’d never made an effort with her and had instead judged her far too quickly. The worst thing was, she wouldn’t have the faintest idea what this all was about. Sebastian might’ve fed her lies or not have said a word. Either way, he would be holding Lana as a shield. His men would aim to take out Joe and Jack, leaving Leo to solve the situation between himself and Sebastian.

  I stopped my fingers from drumming the side of the car; I wanted to hear a pin drop if needed.

  How would Leo get Lana back without surrendering himself again? Leo’s downfall was his obsession to protect me, but in battle, his weakness was also his compassion: he wouldn’t let an innocent person be hurt on account of him.

  “Noooooo!”

  I gasped audibly, feeling my pulse jump. I was up, holding onto the side of the car to restrain myself from running towards Leo’s voice. My head whipped to the left. There was a piercing shriek as a body fell past the open sides
of the parking hall.

  Air emptied out of my lungs. First beat—who was it? Second beat—were they dead?

  I scuttled to the direction where the body had fallen, taking support from car bonnets. My skin crawled like a thousand ants. I leant over the stone edge, refusing to think about the consequences of what I was about to witness.

  My stomach sank.

  “Lana!” The name escaped, echoing freely before my hand knew to clasp my mouth shut. Lana’s delicate yet lifeless body lay in a puddle of velvet blood. For six seconds, I couldn’t tear my eyes off the sight. On the seventh, reason slapped me into action.

  My neck snapped up; three floors above I met Sebastian’s smirk. He threw his body over the ledge, starting to drop down to my level.

  I was an idiot to reveal my location.

  I dove onto the ground, crawling behind the cars. I froze behind a small Kia as Sebastian landed with a thud to where I had stood less than a minute ago.

  “Playing hide and seek?” his voice echoed. A car bonnet dented under his boots, quickly followed by another. He was nearing, and then he was a car past me. All he needed was the right angle and he would see me.

  I uncovered the knife Leo had given me from my pocket and army-crawled between two cars, keeping an eye on Sebastian’s boots from under the car. I pulled myself up to one knee and threw the knife.

  A faint groan parted Sebastian’s lips as the knife pierced the skin on his knee cap. Swiftly, he pulled it out and turned to me.

  I took support from the bonnet to pick myself up.

  “You think a little nick will stop me?” He lifted a corner of his mouth.

  “No. That was payback for my leg.”

  With a scoff, Sebastian tossed the knife back to me. “Simply out of interest, I’ll let you take your best shot.”

  I holstered the knife; he would only use it against me. Sebastian beckoned me with his hand.

  Oh, I’ll give him a fight.

  I powered up from the car bumper and jumped towards Sebastian, my fist itching to rearrange his face. He dodged my punch, but I grabbed a hold of his neck and climbed on his back, one leg wrapped around his waist. Arm around his neck, I held on with the sheer force of my pent-up anger toward him, pulling against his larynx.

  The air was knocked out of me as Sebastian slammed me against a pillar—once, twice, three times. The fourth time, he angled himself so the edge of the pillar hit my broken leg. My hold loosened at the sudden bolt of pain; Sebastian bent down and flipped me onto my back. Refusing my body’s plea for a few seconds of rest, I rolled onto my side and jabbed at the wound on his knee. His knee gave out enough to put him off-balance, giving me time to scramble half-up and smash against him, falling on top of him.

  But Sebastian didn’t have the disadvantage of a cast.

  He pinned my bad leg under his and rolled over, leaving me trapped underneath him. I cracked his nose with a right hook, but he blocked my left hand and locked his hands around my wrists. Blood dripped from his broken nose to my chest.

  “Hey!”

  The familiar voice came from behind me. I craned my neck enough to detect Leo’s outline at the same spot where Sebastian had landed a while ago.

  Sebastian muttered expletives under his breath and wiped the blood off his face. I used the distraction to jolt my hip up, rolling to freedom as Leo’s boot made contact with Sebastian’s chest.

  I pushed myself upright as Leo and Sebastian, both born fighters, stared each other down and attacked. The balance of call and response was equal to the eye.

  I had underestimated Leo—he was fast, and he was sharp.

  It was only when I saw a glimmer of a triple-bladed dagger in Sebastian’s hand that I snapped out of voyeurism.

  I dug out the knife again and threw it towards Sebastian’s neck. As hoped, Sebastian leaned back enough to duck while Leo ran up the concrete pillar, kicked into Sebastian’s right shoulder, and landed with a roll on the floor. Simultaneously, he picked up the dropped dagger.

  Sebastian was quick to recover. He curled a lip at me and re-tracked to get the knife I had thrown.

  “Go,” Leo ordered with a tone hard to disobey, standing as a shield in the space between me and Sebastian.

  I limped towards the door for the stairs.

  “I should’ve killed you when I had the chance!” Sebastian spat and for a brief second, I wondered if it was meant for me or Leo.

  Blades clashed against each other as I neared the door. I shoved it open with my body weight—and flew flat on my back in a sloppy arch. Large hands, with a symbol tattooed on the inside of the left palm, took hold of my jacket and yanked me up in the air until my feet dangled. A man I didn’t recognise pressed me against the wall.

  The next three things seemed to merge into one: Leo losing his focus because of me, Sebastian nicking Leo on his shoulder, missing his neck by inches, and my feeble body being thrown down the stairs.

  The cast cracked in several places. My cheek felt moist against the landing. Then things went dark.

  Chapter 44

  Snippets of sights protruded into my consciousness: stairwell, cars, drops of blood on my legs, sudden daylight.

  Next came the sounds: police sirens, chatter, a car door banging shut, and an engine forced to its max.

  Lastly, I became aware of the pain pulsating throughout my body as if I’d been caught in a spinner filled with rocks. Hairline fractures on my ribs and fingers, bruises, concussion—nothing that wouldn’t heal. No internal bleeding, but the leg needed re-casting.

  The vehicle carrying me eased into a steady speed and I wished nothing more than to sleep the pain away.

  But there was something pressing I had to recall. My eyelids lifted, and I stared out the windscreen without taking anything in. Someone shuffled.

  “You’re cut,” I said to Leo—the man behind the wheel—my voice sounding foreign.

  “You’re alive,” he retorted wryly. “Are you okay?”

  I met Leo’s intent eyes lazily, nodded, and reached over to inspect the cut near his neck.

  I winced more than he did. “You need stitches.” His wound was clean-cut but deep.

  “And you need the full works. There’s a clinic a few miles from here. They don’t ask questions.” Leo let his anxious gaze rest on me a little too long.

  We drove through the edge of town, passing a wealthy housing estate—family homes with large, well-kept gardens, a few people jogged by, a dog ran loose. It was still light, but the sun was considering going down to rest.

  “Quite a fall you took,” he continued in a clipped tone. “Are you sure you don’t need the hospital right away? How do you feel?”

  “Achy.” I straightened up, sucking in the pain. “What happened?”

  “You fell down the stairs.”

  “I know that. And I didn’t fall. I was pushed.”

  “Thrown like a rag doll, more like it,” Leo corrected, displeased.

  I exhaled slowly, temporarily easing the pain in my ribs. “What happened after? Where’s Sebastian?”

  Leo drew a breath. “Joe and Jack showed up once they had taken care of Sebastian’s men. With their help, taking out Sebastian and the other guy was easy.”

  “Where are they now? Is Sebastian dead?”

  “He’s under arrest, both of them are. My guards will take them back to Narun.”

  I checked the wing mirror. Nobody was following. “Shouldn’t they be with you?” If there was ever a need for his guards, it was today.

  “No,” he said curtly. “We need to lay low for a while.” He stretched his arms out. “It’s easier to hide if it’s just the two of us. It was my decision.”

  I bet that decision didn’t go down well: the Prince travelling without protection during one of the most crucial times in Narun’s history, unprotected and known.

  “I’ll keep you safe, don’t worry,” Leo added, hesitant of my silence.

  “I’m not worried about me.” Suddenly, I recalled where I had
seen the symbol tattooed on my attacker’s hand. “He was a Hunter, that guy, wasn’t he? He was after you.”

  Leo shrugged.

  I pressed gently under my ribcage to relieve some of the pressure. “That means Sebastian has already gotten the word out. They know who you are.” We were too late. I was too late. The damage is done.

  “Looks that way.” Leo kept his eyes on the road.

  “You do realise everyone is going to be after you.”

  “Yup.”

  “And that’s all you’re going to say?”

  “Uh-hu.”

  “Leo!” I smacked the seat with a loose fist. My fractured fingers didn’t thank me. “I don’t wanna be responsible for getting you caught a second time!”

  “I’ve no intention of getting caught.”

  I cradled my hand against my chest, breathing out the spasms of pain. “You need your guards,” I said slowly. “We need to get you to Narun, ASAP, under protection.”

  Leo was quiet for a moment, but I doubted he would actually change his mind.

  “It’s too risky. The main harbours will be scouted. Planes and trains, too. We’ll be safest by car, on our own. Besides, it’s better if we let things cool before returning.”

  Yeah, that’s going to happen—never.

  “What exactly are you suggesting, then?”

  Leo joined the motorway; the worst of the post-work traffic had passed.

  “Getting better, hiding, being on the run, and then using a less obvious way of getting back home.”

  “Why don’t we send for the Guard and ship you back? That would make more sense.” I rasped as a stab of pain jolted me again.

  “Draws too much attention. I don’t want to put any more lives on the line.”

  I sucked in my bottom lip, assessing what was left of the cast. “You’d be safer without me. I’m a hindrance, a very slow one,” I muttered, and Leo scoffed. “They don’t want me, they want you, Leo. You need to get back home! I’m sure that’s what the King, your father, would want.”