by T. A. White
"We're out of time," she said, already moving to the newborn.
One thing she hadn't considered before this was how to get the newborn out of this place once it was born. It hadn't even found its legs yet and she doubted its wings would be strong enough to carry it to safety.
It was an oversight. A huge one.
Her mind raced as she tried to think of a solution.
Maybe if the mother flew off, she could hide the foal in the trees and then draw-off the hunting party. If they thought the Kyren were gone they might not look too hard for any left behind.
The foal was struggling to its feet as Eva considered her options, its legs wobbly as it gamboled about the grove awkwardly. His mother was a shadow at his side, nudging him anytime he faltered.
A rustle in the trees had Eva and the Kyren freezing.
A small nose poked out of the bushes, followed by a familiar reddish-gold head and ears. The fire fox looked quizzical as he took in the three of them.
He disappeared back into the bushes when he noticed Eva looking at him.
“I know you’re there,” Eva called, careful not to speak too loudly in case the enemy was close. “You might as well come out.”
The fox’s head appeared again. Seeing her eyes on him, he stepped out. His three tails waved around him. With the greenery of the forest surrounding him, he looked like something out of a storybook.
“I thought I told you to stay with Caden,” she said, resigned. She should have known the fox would do what it wanted.
You know this creature? the mare asked.
Eva nodded. “You could say that.” To the fox, she said, “You’re here now. There’s no pretending you aren’t. You might as well do what you can to help.”
She had a feeling chasing him away wouldn’t do a lick of good. He’d just come back and the shouting would likely draw their enemies right to them.
“We need to get you two out of here,” Eva told the mare.
How? The mare asked.
Eva shook her head. She didn’t know. No ideas were forth coming and all the while desperation and the feeling of a noose closing around her neck filled her.
The fire fox sat at Eva’s feet and tilted its head.
She bent down and petted the surprisingly soft fur there.
He tilted his head again, rising on his back paws, his tongue swiping across her cheeks and cleaning away the tears she hadn’t realized she’d shed. It was all too much. Laurell’s death, walking away from Caden, the delivery. Now this. She didn’t know what to do.
The fox bit her chin, his teeth unexpectedly sharp, jarring her out of her self-pity.
“Ouch.”
The fire fox dropped to all four paws and padded to the Kyren mare. Eva rose to her feet. He was right. She could feel pity for herself when she was dead. Right now, she had two Kyren to see to safety.
She opened her mouth to speak then closed it when she noted the intent expression on the Kyren and fire fox’s faces. They stood nose to nose, almost touching, the mare’s neck outstretched. It almost looked like they were conversing, and there was the faintest buzzing sensation in Eva’s mind.
The fox leapt into the air, fire sparking under his feet as he raced across it. He disappeared abruptly.
The mare raised her head and looked at Eva. We won’t forget this, human.
Eva's lips parted to ask what she meant when a bright light flared, the fox racing toward them, mist boiling from above the cenote as it chased him.
Eva’s eyes widened at the sight of the mist bearing down on them like an avalanche and sucked in her breath to shout.
Pressure built in her head.
I couldn’t get us home by myself. The mist was too far out of reach and I was too weak to call it to me, let alone navigate it while carrying my young. If we ever meet again, I owe you and your fox much, the Kyren whispered.
Eva spun toward her even as the mare’s wings flared, the tips striking her. The pressure building in her head burst. Darkness reined as she collapsed to the ground in a faint.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Caden sunk his blade into a man's back, piercing his heart instantly. The man didn't even have time to realize what was happening before he was already dead.
Caden lowered him gently to the ground, not because he felt remorse for what he'd done, but rather he didn't want the sound announcing his death to the others in the cenote.
Caden moved through the trees, killing everything in his way.
It didn't take long for their quarry to be on to him, and soon Caden became the hunted. All according to plan.
There was the creak of wood and then spikes burst from the ground, skewering the ones chasing him. Caden raced to the next trap, letting the enemy see him and give chase as he led them right over the hasty pit he'd dug, rough pointed spears at the bottom.
Several fell, their screams echoing through the trees as they were impaled.
Those who survived were more wary, less inclined to chase blindly. They stepped over the next trap but missed the one lurking in the trees. Several paid for that oversight with their lives.
Caden caught his breath as he leaned against a tree, out of view for now.
He wasn't killing enough. Too many were escaping the traps that had been dug and set in haste. He was going to lose this battle. It was only a matter of time.
He pushed off the tree, blinking back sweat. Guess he'd just have to take as many of the bastards with him as he could. Every second he delayed gave Eva more of a chance.
*
Eva blinked dazedly up at the leaves, the sun playing hide-and-seek behind them, the gray walls of the cenote stretching up to the cloudy sky above. She sat up with a groan, raising a hand to her head.
What happened?
She remembered the Kyren and the voice in her head right before the mother and foal had disappeared into the mist.
She twisted, studying the grove only to find it empty except for her. She didn't know how, but the mare had managed to take her offspring and leave.
"You couldn't have taken me too?" Eva grumbled, pushing herself to her feet.
Her head pounded. She reached up, her hand coming away wet with blood. She must have hit her head when she fainted.
The rustle of branches sent her heart lurching seconds before Caden stumbled through them, covered in blood, his face white with pain.
"Caden," she gasped, rushing to his side.
Blood poured from beneath the hand he clasped to his belly. He sank to his knees and Eva caught him as he toppled to his side, lowering him gently to the ground.
"What are you doing here? You were supposed to get clear." Her hands fluttered over him as she checked on the injuries. An arrow was lodged in his leg, another in his shoulder.
The wound that concerned her most was the stomach wound that Caden had his hand clamped over.
"I was never going to leave you," he said through gritted teeth.
He let her move his hand, a small groan leaving him. She made a pained sound at the sight of the wound. It'd pierced his abdomen, and blood slid from it in thick rivulets. She'd been around enough injured animals to know a mortal wound when she saw it.
There was knowledge in his eyes when she looked back at him with a lost expression.
"I'm not getting out of this one." He raised one hand to her cheek, a soft smile transforming his face. "Worth it though."
She took his hand and shook her head. It wasn't. It really wasn't.
"I bought you as much time as I could. You need to go," he said. "They're right behind me."
She shook her head again, emotion stealing her voice and leaving her mute.
"Yes—you need to survive," he said. "I sent Jason and Kent for Darius. Head for the city. They'll meet you."
"I'm not leaving you behind," she argued.
Fallon had survived a blade to the chest. The Trateri healers could help Caden. She only needed to get him to them.
He closed his eyes as a rusty laugh e
scaped him. "No choice."
"There's always a choice," she told him fiercely.
"Fool," he whispered as his head fell back. His hand went slack in hers.
"Caden." She shook him, his head lolled, his body boneless. "Caden, come on. We have to go."
He didn't answer. She put her fingers to his neck, checking for his pulse. She found none.
Grief was a wild thing in her breast.
She hugged him to her, shocked at how abruptly this powerful man had slipped from this world. Tears stung her face as grief tore a hole in her. It shouldn't have felt this consuming, not after their short time together. Her chest heaved as she fought to catch her breath.
A great yawning chasm opened, consuming her from the inside out. Numbness soaked through even as tears continued to trickle down her cheeks.
Movement in the trees announced their presence.
Vincent led them, but he wasn’t the leader. The man behind him was, his features strong and blunt, his body muscular. Cruelty was stamped on his face as he took in Eva, sitting with Caden's head still cradled on her lap.
The authority with which he carried himself meant he could only be one person—Pierce. The ringleader.
He was the man Darius and Caden had been hunting all this time. The man in the shadows, forcing others to do his bidding.
Power lay over him like a mantle. Dark. Possessive.
Eva’s instincts whispered that he didn’t control the power. Instead, it had chosen him, but should he fall it would move on, like a parasite looking for a new host.
His power filled her with a sense of alien wrongness, making her want to flee.
"This is where he ran off to, then," Pierce said.
Eva didn't answer, her words locked inside. Truthfully, she was barely aware of their presence as she struggled to come to terms with Caden's death.
Even in her shock, she could tell the leader was from the Highlands, the men at his side too. Darius would be happy his trap bore fruit, she thought numbly.
"Where are the winged horses?" Pierce asked.
Eva didn't answer, looking down at the still form in her arms. The smallest of breaths stirred his chest.
Hope pushed back the numbness.
He wasn't dead. Not yet.
"Caden," she whispered, brushing her fingers across his cheek.
"Finish him and bring the girl," Pierce said, frustration coloring his tone. "Maybe we'll get more out of her with a little incentive."
That had Eva scrambling to her feet, the sword Caden had let fall clutched in her hands. "You won't touch him."
Her voice felt like it belonged to someone else. Raw. Fierce. Powerful.
Pierce smiled in amusement. "What are you going to do with that? You can barely hold it up."
True enough. The sword shook in her hands, partly because of the weight, partly from the fatigue dragging at her limbs. She was tired and it showed.
"There are many more of us than there are you," he said, his voice oddly coaxing.
The sound of it wrapped around her. Whispering, whispering, whispering. All the while compelling, working on her will as the man stood there and watched her with eyes confident of his victory.
He was like her, she realized. Caden had been right. He was myein. Only he used his voice to bend someone's will instead of communicating with them.
Men stepped from the trees all around him, their eyes locked on Eva. A few chuckled, the sight of her clutching the sword not even the barest of threats.
"You're not a warrior," Pierce said, still using that voice on her. "What can you do with that?"
He was right. She wasn't a warrior. That was Caden's domain and he'd already fought as hard as he could.
"You're right. There's nothing I can do with this." The smile that crossed her lips wasn't kind. It wasn't nice, and it had little in common with the person she strove to be. It was vicious, hateful. More suited to a mythological than a girl who loved horses.
The sword clattered to her feet.
Her talents lay elsewhere. People kept telling her she was a Caller. It was time she called something to her to see if they were right.
The leashes she kept shackled around her heart fell away. An immense toll rolled out from her. Silent, but with the echo of a thunderous bell. Its knell was filled with her need and desperation.
"What was that?" Vincent asked, his eyes scouring the clearing.
"What was what?" Pierce asked.
"Didn't you hear that?"
There was scoffing and derisive laughter from the rest.
Eva watched them, one part of her focused on the here and now. The other was far away, spinning across the land, her mind threatening to fracture as thousands of lights illuminated behind her eyelids. Threads upon threads of life, some conscious, some not. Predatory, prey. Peaceful, violent.
It all rushed into her, almost too much to contain.
She gathered the threads of all those pretty lights and sent her need down the line. For one eternal moment in time, she got the sense, if she wanted to, she could force those threads to bow to her will. She could become a monster worse than anything the Broken Lands had seen in centuries.
Then she let them go, her emotions flowing out of her like a water-filled bladder that had been punctured. Her pain, her sorrow, her desperate will to survive. All of them, until she was an empty shell of herself.
It swept out of her like an avalanche, furious and fast, gone almost before she knew it had started.
She sank to the ground next to Caden, summoning the last of her strength to curl protectively over him.
"She can't even stand she's so scared," laughed one of the men.
Pierce’s gaze was suspicious. She might not be able to stand, but there was strength in her glare, heat in her eyes.
She wasn't beaten yet.
Seconds passed where nothing happened.
Insects were the first to answer her call. Their buzzing preceded them as a dark mass descended upon the cenote.
Curses filled the air as the men slapped and beat at their flesh in a mad dance, trying to avoid being eaten one painfully small bite at a time.
Eva watched, she and Caden untouched, as the men lit a torch, waving the fire at the swarm. It did the trick, driving off the majority of the bugs. The rest settled on the branches around them, their multifaceted eyes fixed on the Highlanders.
"Have you ever seen anything like that?" Vincent asked in a hushed whisper.
Pierce’s gaze fell on Eva, suspicion in his face. "What was that?"
Her lips curled.
There was no time for an answer, as birds and all manner of other creatures fell on the men. Prey and predator alike filled the clearing, fighting side-by-side—sworn enemies who set aside the laws of nature as they focused on ripping apart the two-legged interlopers instead of each other.
Rabbits and squirrels scurried next to minks and wolverines. A shiver cat prowled the branches above, dropping onto her unsuspecting victim while a trihorn boar burst through the underbrush to charge at another. Screams filled the air.
The men fought valiantly but were overwhelmed as the animals attacked. Eventually the animals were driven-off, but not before several of her enemy had fallen to their claws.
Only Pierce and a few of his best fighters remained.
"You're doing this," Pierce swore, pointing his sword at her.
"Kill her!" Vincent urged. The Lowlander didn’t look so smug with claw marks oozing blood all over his body.
Pierce cocked his head, greed and plans taking shape. "Not yet. She can be of use to us now that Meredith is dead."
An inferno blazed to life in the depths of Eva's mind. Different than the rest. Powerful. With the force of a thousand suns behind it.
"You should have listened to your friend," Eva whispered.
It was the only warning he got as a shadow descended, the sun eclipsed by massive wings. A Kyren the color of moonlight landed on Pierce, the trajectory of his dive containing a s
peed and force greater than anything—except perhaps a golden eagle.
The Kyren savaged his victim, tearing him apart in seconds. Vincent and the rest stared dumbly, unaware of two other Kyren as they dropped out of the sky.
The enemy's end was violent and brief. Much quicker than they deserved.
That hint of darkness she’d seen shadowing Pierce, faded. Something told Eva it wasn’t entirely gone, simply hiding for now. A presence brushed against her as it fled, its whisper promising they’d see each other again.
She made a despairing sound at the thought, forcing its sentience away from hers, rejecting its wrongness with all her being.
The white Kyren, the one she'd seen in her dreams after her encounter with the water sprites, raised his head. His coat was marred by streaks of blood. Ribbons of flesh hung from his mouth and his legs and hooves were covered in red.
None of that detracted from his unearthly beauty.
She'd never been so grateful for a sight in her life.
He approached slowly, his ears tilted forward as he regarded her. Little sister, it appears we owe you a great debt. What boon would you ask of us?
A broken sound emerged from Eva, half-laugh half sob. "Save him."
It was a useless request. She knew it as soon as it left her mouth, but it was all she wanted. She'd give up everything to keep Caden here in this world.
Hesitation read through the Kyren's posture before there was a weary sigh in her mind. Is saving him what you truly wish?
The Kyren's wise and gentle eyes held hers. As if in a dream, she felt herself nod.
Very well then. If that is your will.
Eva was slow to move out of the way as the Kyren padded over to her, his passage strangely silent.
He bent, his sharp horns dipping toward Caden.
A pained groan left Caden as one of the horns entered the wound. She started to protest, only to fall silent again as she struggled to grasp what she was seeing.
A bright light shown from the Kyren, swelling until Eva could barely see. She shielded her eyes as the blazing light nearly seared her pupils.
When it was extinguished, she blinked dark spots out of her vision. Caden came into focus, his wound healed, his breathing no longer labored or silent. His complexion was so much better, the sickly white gone as his color returned.