As the outline came closer, Abigail recognized Saber’s familiar face with the eye patch. He was wearing battle armor made of dull black steel and chain mail.
Elizabeth tensed at Abigail’s side.
“He’s a friend,” Abigail said, remembering how angry she had been at her mentor for taking her from New Hope against her will. “Well … ‘friend’ is a strong word at the moment.”
“I brought a make up gift.” Saber presented the brown wrapped parcel he carried in his arms. “I fashioned them myself so they can fit in your sheaths.”
Abigail looked sideways at Saber. She was giving him a hard time more than anything else now. She’d already forgiven the shifter in her heart. She just wanted to make him sweat it out a little longer.
“If you take off this bracelet, I can throw him past the Azra walls and into the ocean.” Elizabeth blinked innocent eyes. “I mean, it’s just a thought.”
Saber looked at Elizabeth with alarm. “It’s as though she was on our side now.”
“Who really knows.” Elizabeth shrugged. “I haven’t decided myself.”
“No, it’s fine.” Abigail waved down her sister. “Saber’s heart is in the right place. Plus, had I been faster, I would have been able to block the blow that knocked me out to begin with. Just promise me no more kidnapping.”
“Scout’s honor.” Saber handed Abigail the package. “For you.”
Abigail accepted the present wrapped in simple brown paper with a rough cord instead of a bow.
Feeling the gift was enough for Abigail to already know what was inside. The weight was perfect for two katanas. With eager fingers, Abigail unwrapped the present.
She was correct in her guess—two katanas perfectly mirrored one another. But these weren’t just any katanas, these were mage katanas. Abigail’s mind was already at work as she figured out how Saber had fashioned them. They had started off as mage swords, and Saber had grinded down the blade to form the slightly curved weapons he had trained her with.
The handles had also been refitted. They were narrow, wrapped in white cloth with perfect precision and care. It was clear from the craftsmanship that Saber knew what he was doing.
Abigail let the brown paper packaging drift to the ground. Her thumbs hit the buttons on the hilts of the weapons that brought the dull white glow to the blades. She swung them around, testing their weight.
In the light of the dying sun, the swords left a faint trace of light behind as she arced them through the air.
“They’re perfect.” Abigail turned off the blades and smiled at Saber. “Your apology is accepted. Next time, bring swords and chocolate.”
“Mmm…” Elizabeth smiled mischievously. “I love chocolate.”
The shifter, witch, and warrior shared a chuckle before more shouting from the Azra guards killed their short-lived mirth.
“Are you two going to join the fight?” Saber asked the girls, looking from sister to sister with his one good eye. “I’m sure they can use the help.”
Abigail took a moment to study her sister. “I think we’re still deciding that right now.”
Saber nodded as if he understood the situation.
“As a child, I would judge my parents unfairly, and they ended up dying for me without a second’s hesitation. We’re all capable of making mistakes. If the two of you are lucky enough to have children, you’ll make mistakes with them, as well. But love brings grace, and grace is capable of forgiving broken people for making broken decisions.”
The three sat for a moment in the white noise of shouts and alarm bells still going off in the distance.
“Well”—Saber nodded toward the katanas in Abigail’s hands—“I have vampires to slaughter. Whether I see you two out there or not I’ll respect your decision. Be well.”
Saber turned and left without another word.
“What are we going to do?” Abigail said, barely loud enough for her sister to hear.
“Yes,” Elizabeth said just as quietly. “What are we going to do?”
Chapter 30
Sloan
“You’re crazy.” Sloan looked at Kade first, then to Croft. “And you’re crazier for listening to him. This was going to be hard enough when we planned on being dropped outside by the gargoyles.”
“It’s a better plan.” Kade motioned to his armor still in the bag by Sloan’s feet. “Once you put it over all these muscles I’m carrying, jump on my back. I can outrun any unicorn over a short distance.”
“What? This is getting out of control. I’m not riding you into battle.” Sloan held her helmet in her left hand, her right hand already unzipping Kade’s bag full of armor.
“Come on! It’ll be so much fun! I promise.” Kade leaned in and gave Sloan a kiss on the cheek before making his shift into the golden sabertoothed tiger.
“As much as I have come to hate agreeing with Kade”—Croft looked over at Sloan—“he’s probably right. He’ll be faster in the short sprint to the enemy.”
“In what world are you two coming up with the plans?” Sloan groaned as she secured brown leather straps connected to dull grey armor pieces on Kade’s arms and back. “I can’t believe we’re about to do this.”
After Kade had joined the women on the wall, his plan had been adopted, then evolved into an all-out frontal assault on the New Hope army. The cavalry, along with the shifters, would attack the New Hope army head on while the gargoyle units swooped in to rescue the slaves furthering the track the mage engine traveled on.
The rest of the militia, armed with bows and rifles, stood ready in the wall and would cover their retreat back into Azra. If all went well—and that was a big “if”—they would be in and out of the gates in twenty minutes.
Croft backed away from Sloan toward her cavalry unit readying their unicorns for war. Each Azra guard lifted a lance in his right hand and a shield in his left. Every Azra shifter who was able to turn into an animal stood side by side with their brothers and sisters. Cheetahs, rhinoceroses, lions, and bears stood hungry and ready.
“Captain Sloan.” Croft looked over to Sloan as she placed a helmet of silver-and-gold on her head. The symbol of a phoenix crested its brow. “If you would say a few words.”
“I’m not a captain anymore,” Sloan responded, pulling the last strap tight over Kade’s back. “That part of me died in New Hope.”
“You’re right.” Croft mounted her white unicorn, accepting a shield and drawing her wand that mirrored a lance with yellow magic as she formed the weapon. “You’re not a captain of New Hope anymore. What do you say to being a major in the Azra army?”
Everyone in the courtyard quieted to hear Sloan’s response.
Sloan took her time in responding. She wasn’t going to be peer pressured into a decision she didn’t fully stand behind; she wouldn’t say yes for the sake of saying yes.
“I say that I stand with you and the people of Azra until our enemy is defeated or the last breath in my lungs is spent killing as many of our enemy as I can.”
RAAA!
A massive cheer broke across the courtyard.
Kade pawed the ground, then nudged Sloan to go on.
Sloan understood she needed to say more. All eyes were on her now. Word had spread of the battle that had taken place the night before, how Sloan had led a small number of warriors against the much larger New Hope army and had prevailed.
“Our first objective is to create a distraction for Cherub and her unit to free the slaves being used to lay the track,” Sloan shouted in the light of the moon and stars against the torches. “But while we do it, I say we take their fighting spirit while we’re at it.”
RAAA!
“I say we break them now!”
RAAA!
“I say we make those who live through the night—if any of them live at all—remember forever the day they marched on Azra.”
RAAA!
“Let history remember for the end of time what happened here. How the last free city in the Outland scr
eamed in one voice: ENOUGH!”
The roars of approval were deafening. They were ready now. No more needed to be said.
Kade winked at her and motioned with his head for her to jump on his back.
“You’re ridiculous.” Sloan clipped on her helmet. There was a space for her eyes to see, and her mouth was covered by dark mesh that masked the area but allowed her to breath easily. She mounted Kade, accepting a lance and a shield brought to her.
If she was being completely honest with herself, Kade’s muscular frame felt good between her legs. Although she was lower to the ground than she would have been on the back of a unicorn, her feet didn’t touch the ground. But there was something different, some sense of safety she felt on Kade’s back.
His frame was solid with muscle as he inched forward, and he practically vibrated with anticipation as the gates opened.
“Hey, how come we didn’t get armor?” Saber and Sasha joined the line of shifters and unicorns behind Kade.
“Open the gates!” Croft ordered.
Immediately, soldiers ran to obey, lifting first the giant crossbeam off the inside of the gate. Others then used a pulley system in the gatehouse to slowly open the massive wooden-and-steel doors to Azra.
The doors slowly swung outward. The distant thrum of the mage engine, the grunts of the army could be heard, now that the cheers from the Azra army were silenced.
“Follow me,” Sloan gave the command as Kade began to slowly trot forward.
The mile that separated the New Hope army from the walls of Azra seemed like the shortest Sloan had ever traveled. Her senses were on overdrive as she sought to pick up every single detail before the forces clashed.
It was dark, but her eyes still saw enough in the light the night sky provided. Slaves maneuvered heavy mage-powered machines to even the ground, while another slave force-pulled along yet another machine that laid wooden pieces and metal bars across them, forming the track.
Next to them, the New Hope vampire army dressed in their black-and-greys prepared for the assault. What worried Sloan the most was that the enemy army didn’t look terrified as they bore down on them.
Sloan leaned down and shouted in Kade’s ear, “Let’s get there quickly!”
Kade’s golden-haired pointed ears twitched as he heard her words, and the shifter doubled his speed, increasing his trot to a run and a moment later, to a full-out sprint.
Sloan braced the lance under the armpit of her right shoulder. She gripped the large square shield in her left hand tightly around the leather straps. Holding on to both weapons while balancing on Kade’s back was a skillset all its own. With no reins to hold, Sloan hunched low and used her legs to hold Kade’s sides.
Yards from their target and closing fast, Sloan realized why the army wasn’t panicking. The New Hope vampire soldiers had formed three lines of rifles: the first line of soldiers had lain down onto their stomachs, the second line knelt just behind them, and the last line stood. All in all, over a hundred rifles were pointed at Sloan and the charging Azra guards.
It was too late to stop now. All Sloan could do was to protect the man she loved with her shield and body. She would be able to heal quickly, whereas he could possibly die in the oncoming volley.
Sloan maneuvered the shield in front of Kade. She did her best to lie on his back as flat as possible to also take advantage of the cover.
BLAM!
Chapter 31
Jack
“Free your mind,” Amber coached Jack as he placed his hands on his father’s shoulders. “Nothing else matters now besides you channeling your power over magic. Feel the force flow from you, to your hands, and into your father.”
Jack visualized the wound on his father’s leg, the bite the brown wolf had inflicted when they were engaged in their struggle.
A sudden wave of heat coursed over Jack’s body as he concentrated harder than he ever had before. The strain was nothing like he had ever felt, like the very life force itself was being taken from him and sent through his hands to his father.
The feeling was terrifying. When Jack didn’t think he could take it any longer, he opened his eyes. His father was looking down at his own leg with a smile on his face. The area where the wound had shown through his skin a moment before was closed now and covered by a thin layer of scabbing.
“How do you feel?” Marcus looked up from his wound and searched his son’s eyes. “Are you all right?”
“I feel…” Jack licked his lips looking for the right word to use. “I feel … empty, tired.”
“Now you understand why it’s useful to do as much as we can to heal them outside of magic before we employ that tactic?” Amber looked over to Jack with a knowing smile. “It’s heavy price to pay, but one that, if you master it, it will become easier over time. Rest now. I’ll do what I can for the rest of the pack.”
Amber spent the remaining day and into the night tending the wounds inflicted on Marcus’s pack. True to her word, she employed traditional medicine first and only used her magic ability to heal wounds that were the most vicious.
Marcus and his wolves who were feeling up to the task scavenged for food, and in this way the day passed into night once more.
“What did I miss?” Aareth stepped out of Amber’s house as the sun dipped past the horizon. He stretched and yawned, showing all of his teeth. “I had the craziest dream that we were being healed by some sorceress in Term and—”
Aareth looked over from Jack to Amber with wide eyes. His pause was short-lived as more memories came back. “And I was torn up from our fight with the same pack that’s just hanging around us now, and Marcus showed up at the door naked and now there’s another chick lying in the house, and I’m pretty sure she’s naked but she had a blanket over her. Yeah, I think that’s it.”
“AHHH!” Kimberly shook herself free from the stone sleep that had covered her skin, healing her wounds.
Everyone, including Marcus, jumped as the large gargoyle shook free from the stone layer that had encompassed her during the day.
“I am reborn more powerful than ever and twice as deadly! Come, you savages of the Outland, and feast your eyes on greatness!” Kimberly rolled her shoulders. The muscles on her back and arms rippled. Her wing was in working order, and no sign of the wounds she had received before were part of her skin. “I’m ready! To battle, beast people, and Jack and Amber! To battle!”
Everyone looked around at one another, trying to figure out if Kimberly was trying to be funny or if she was serious. Aareth who knew her best decided to speak up.
“Oh, she’s serious, people.” Aareth nodded toward everyone with a look that said he meant every word. “This is probably the morning mantra she goes through every day.”
“It’s good to see you, as well.” Kimberly strutted around the group, testing her limbs. “I’m glad your death day has not come.”
“Thanks.” Aareth looked to Jack, then Amber. “But I think I owe my life to something more than traditional healing.”
“You have to say thank you to Amber for that.” Jack pointed to the sorceress. “She’s mastered the art of healing in a way I didn’t know was possible.”
“Thank you.” Aareth looked over to Amber with a wide grin on his lips. “It seems I’d be in the ground without you.”
“You’re welcome.” Amber stood up from a position next to a werewolf who she had finished healing. “Now try to keep yourself alive. I know I make healing look easy, but I could sleep for a month right now.”
“So what’s the plan?” Kimberly looked around to Jack and the others gathered in the clearing. “I think we have a war to get to.”
Jack let out a big breath. It pushed past his lips and into the cool night air. This was only the first obstacle that needed to be resolved. Yes, he had found his father, but now the woman he loved was in danger’s path.
Abigail was as much, maybe even more, of a warrior than he was. She would be in the middle of the fight as soon as it started. The
problem now was, it was at least two days back to joining the fight at Azra’s gates.
“We’d better get going soon, then.” Aareth stretched and began taking off his clothing in front of everyone. “We have a long run back to Azra.”
“Maybe not as long as you think.” Marcus looked over to Amber with a raised eyebrow. “Traveling through portals is not a skill that I was able to master while I was still a wizard, but something tells me that you may be able to open a portal near Azra.”
All eyes turned to Amber as they waited for her answer.
“You’re lucky I’m the giving type.” Amber shook her head, trying to summon the strength for a task as large as the one Marcus had requested. “I can open a portal back for you, but I think you forget what I’m all about. Healing, not killing, remember?”
“You’ve seen what the vampire soldiers can do,” Jack pleaded with her. “There’s an army descending on Azra now, full of these monsters. The last reports were they’re ten thousand strong. We’re going to fight, but you have to understand that we’re fighting so this all comes to an end. We’re fighting now so that others won’t have to fight this same fight in the future.”
“There will always be these fights in the future,” Amber said quietly. “As long as greed and power exist, so will death at their hands.”
The way Amber spoke, the sadness in her eyes, the expression on her face told Jack all he needed to know. Amber had lost someone long ago. Someone who had meant more to her than he could imagine.
“There’s a woman I love who’s waiting for me.” Jack took a step forward, catching Amber’s eye. “I’m going to get back to her, no matter if you help us or not, but I can do it so much faster with your help. You can save us days of traveling. Please help us.”
“We’ve all lost loved ones,” Aareth said more to the sky than to anyone in the gathered circle, “but maybe Jack doesn’t have to lose someone, again.”
The Complete Vampire Project Series: (Books 1 - 5) Page 78