Shadow Borne Read online

  The creature's scowl deepened and he took a step closer to the barrier. His eyes lowered to the shimmering panel and he snarled, reaching toward the top rung. Instantly, I moved forward, fear tossed to the dirt and trampled beneath the soles of my boots.

  "I wouldn't do that it I were you." I cautioned, stopping at the border. I stood inches from the Coatyl now. "On second thought..." I crossed my arms and forced a smile. "Go ahead."

  The invitation was silky, mocking and had the intended result. It brought the Coatyl's head up and he leaned forward with an angry, animal sound rumbling in his throat.

  "You were expecting us to be unprotected?" I asked coldly, another small smile playing at the corners of my lips. Dimly, I wondered if the thing could hear my racing heart. A fine, cold mist squirmed across the back of my neck and it was all I could do not to lean over and grip the fence to steady myself.

  The longer I stood across from the creature, the more hyper aware I became of the livid anger emanating from him. If he reached out, raked a claw across my throat, I would be dead. This close to major veins and arteries, the venom in his claws would be deadly. A fine tremor began to tingle through my hands and I clenched the muscles in my arms tight. Immediately, I regretted the action. My head swam and I felt myself begin to sway. On the other side of the fence, my enemy seemed to sense that I was teetering on the edge of weakness. The black irises widened, narrowed, and his lips curled. I sucked in a deep breath, then leaned forward and let it out as a growl fierce enough to give the Coatyl pause.

  The brush of fabric against my right arm told me Claire had moved forward to flank my side. I didn't look at her. Didn't dare take my eyes off the beast crouching in front of me. Crouching? Shit. Was he getting ready to spring? Just then, a scream tore through the air.

  "What the..." I looked beyond the Coatyl and my previously narrow frame of vision and gasped. My hands fell to my sides, numb, and then I did reach out and grab the nearest fence post in an effort to steady myself.

  Claire's hand shot out and captured my fingers in a hard grip. With my right hand, I returned the damp squeeze. With my left, I reached across her and plucked the flask from her hand. One handed, I twisted the top and let the small, threaded gold cap fall to the dusty ground. The alcohol burned a trail that I felt sizzle through each and every nerve ending and I straightened, draining the bottle and letting it join the cap at our feet. New creatures were still filling the clearing and my mind flashed to an earlier conversation, the phrase 'worse than Coatyl' filling my mind with icy cold dread.

  "Aries...what the hell are they?" Claire shouted as a second shrill scream filled the air.

  The tall, pale blue creatures edged into view, squeezing into each and every last available space in the clearing. One of the nymphs shouted "Run!" and I held both arms up, momentarily putting my back to the fence as I roared at my people. "No one runs! Hold your positions!" I was tempted to tack on 'shut up' to those orders. I would have, if I'd thought it would do anything to quell the rising panic among many of the women.

  As it was, the ones who weren't screaming were clustered together, identical looks of frozen disbelief on their pretty faces. "Hold your positions!" I repeated, louder now in case the men hidden behind us hadn't heard me the first time. "They must be Kahn's latest experiment gone wrong. Damn. I figured they'd come for us sooner or later, but did it have to be today?"

  "Well, considering they're teaming up with the Coatyl to kill us all, yes, it had to be today."

  Claire pointed out the obvious and I glanced at her, noting she sounded much calmer than she had a few moments ago.

  Probably the alcohol kicking in. I spared another glance at the half hysterical members of our team and briefly wished we'd thought to bring enough for everyone.

  "If they come through the fence, there's no way we're walking away from this in one piece." she said.

  I swallowed as more of the Life Breathers filed in to take their place among the Coatyl. "Yeah. But we didn't really have a chance before they showed up so..." But wait. I braced myself on the fence, placing both feet on the bottom rung and boosting my body higher in order to better scan the mob before us. "Claire, I think the screams are coming from the Coatyl."

  Instantly, she was perched precariously beside me. "Are you sure?" She frowned, climbing onto the top rail and leaning over in an attempt to see further.

  My hand shot out, fisting around the cloth between her shoulder blades and I yanked her back just in time to prevent her from falling off the fence and into enemy territory.

  "There's one hell of a commotion going on back there." I shouted over the ever increasing noise level. At roughly the same moment, the ground began to shake beneath our feet. I didn't have to turn around to know the stampede behind us was hundreds of men rushing forward, out of the trees.

  "What the fuck, Claire! Are you crazy?"

  I did look back then. Clearly, Mark was pissed. I'd never heard him swear like that. But considering we had bigger problems at the moment, I spun around and used one hand to shield my eyes, scanning the scene on the other side of the fence. Something wasn't quite right...or maybe it was. I grinned suddenly.

  "Guys!" I tossed the word over my shoulder and strained for a better view. "I don't think the Life Breathers are here to kill us."

  Mark and Claire stopped shouting at each other long enough to pay attention to their surroundings and grasp the implications of what I'd just said.

  A hand pressed into my lower back and I spun sharply, coming precariously close to toppling off the fence. Mike's drawn face stared back at me.

  "Don't fall." he cautioned, splaying his fingers wide to counterbalance my shifting weight. His other hand came up and framed my left side without actually touching me. My eyes held his for a fleeting moment but finally I nodded, deciding now wasn't the time to snap at him. I took a deep breath and let him help me down from the fence.

  "They've formed a circle around the Coatyl." Mark voiced what I'd already observed, his shrewd eyes skimming over the mass of white and blue figures.

  More screams filled the air in the deepening twilight and now the Coatyl were paying very little attention to us.

  "They're attacking the Coatyl, but I can't see that far back. I don't know how they're doing it." The translucent blue creatures wore no weapons as they moved swiftly around the sides to herd and hem the Coatyl in. They were actively maneuvering their enemy...so, they were intelligent. And terrifying. I wouldn't have believed anything could be more intimidating than the dead white demonic looking creatures gathered before us, but I'd been very wrong. These creatures stood a head taller than the Coatyl's six-foot height range and they were bulky. They possessed two legs and two arms but instead of skin, the sported something shiny and rough looking...scales? Whatever it was, it covered only their faces and bald heads. Their eyes were large black orbs, deep set and expressionless in the scaly blue faces. They had no nose that I could see, and a flat, wide, colorless slash of a mouth in place of lips.

  Each creature looked the same as the next and they were thick through the chest. They were translucent through the torso and I stared, fascinated, at the largest rib cage I'd ever seen. Just then, the creature's flat line of a mouth opened wide and a fine crystalline mist puffed out from between the 'lips'. The hazy burst of breath touched a nearby Coatyl and the pallid demon began to claw at its own throat and gasp. Seconds later, it stopped breathing altogether and fell to the ground. Dead.

  "Whoa." Claire breathed.

  "Life Breathers." I nodded, the pieces clicking fully into place. "Kahn created them to eliminate the Coatyl."

  "After the Coatyl were supposed to have killed us." Mark nodded, satisfaction edging some of the tension from his voice and stance.

  "Except that Aries' plan to recreate the enchantment stopped the Coatyl from carrying out their mission."

  "And now the Life Breathers are taking care of the problem for us." Mark finished. "The Life Breathers are a fail-safe. Kahn must have kn
own he'd never be able to control the Coatyl. So he found a way to eliminate them once they'd outlived their usefulness."

  "Huh." Claire crossed her arms over her chest, watching the battle rage on. "It looks like he was a little premature in taking them out. Not that I'm complaining." she was quick to add.

  Mike winced when one of the Coatyl sent a clawed hand slashing through the torso of a Life Breather but said "It looks like Kahn couldn't control the Life Breathers, either. So, we're good, right?"

  Mark nodded, watching as another Life Breather fell. It didn't take the Coatyl long to figure out their opponents' weak spot was that translucent, apparently thin membrane of the torso. "We should be, anyway. It looks like there are more Life Breathers than there are Coatyl. Regardless." he shrugged, sheathing his onyx and jade handled sword. "We'll sit back and let them kill each other for a while. Then we'll step in and finish off the rest."

  Crystal blue mist lingered in the air, twisting and weaving in the light evening breeze that swept through the trees. A wild eyed Coatyl saw it and dodged, trying to avoid it but to no avail. Within seconds, he fell, tripping over a dead Life Breather on his way down.

  Soon, I found myself engrossed in the fighting, unconsciously dodging and swaying in time to the battle, flinching whenever another Breather took a hit and went down. The Coatyl had figured out that if they held their breath, they bought themselves a few much needed seconds to escape. To put it plainly, the Breathers were getting their asses handed to them.

  A Coatyl thrust his arm out, slashing toward his opponent. But his intended victim dodged the blow, falling back against the fence as another Breather stepped in and exhaled his death mist into the creature's face.

  The Breather that had hit the fence straightened and in the next instant, our eyes met, locked. Something flickered in the black depths of its eyes and I was shocked to find they weren't expressionless at all, but rather...desperate, hunted. Pleading. I gasped and stood face to face with him–her? I didn't know. And suddenly it didn't matter.

  The Breather opened its mouth and then Claire was beside me, frantically yanking on my arm in an effort to pull me out of the line of fire. I shrugged her off and kept my gaze fixed on the Breather, united with the creature as its mouth opened wide, and then wider still. Impossible.

  Its jaw was...hinged...somehow and my heart thudded as I stared into the large gaping black hole that stretched over nearly half of its face. The Breather's torso expanded and it let out the most horrific, shrill scream I'd ever heard. On and on the ear splitting cry went, echoing through the trees and sending icy chills throughout my entire body. I clapped my hands over my ears and cried out. Beside me, Claire and several others did the same. "Stop!" I screamed, crouching down and pressing my hands harder against my ears.

  Abruptly the eardrum shattering noise ceased. I straightened, ignoring Mark and the others shouting at Claire and me to get away from there. Mark grabbed Claire and swung her up over his shoulder, forcibly removing her from danger. She struggled against him, all the while screaming for me to move.

  I saw both Mike and Aranu moving toward me from opposite ends of the clearing and I leaned over, quickly, breathless as I gripped the fence and shoved my face closer to the creature.

  "Breathe on me." I demanded.

  Chapter Twelve

  Ever After

  The Breather's head snapped up and its eyes locked on mine. Could he–or she–even understand what I'd just said? A flicker of comprehension flashed in the black eyes and then, slowly, its mouth opened.

  I tensed, at first thinking the creature meant to scream again, but instead of opening wider, its mouth pursed and a second later a puff of shimmery, icy, blue mist rushed over my face and lingered in the air like the prettiest smoke I'd ever seen.

  Aranu roared and abruptly, I realized I was holding my breath. The Breather mimicked my posture, gripping the top rail with fingers that looked scaly but otherwise remarkably similar to my own. I was going to have to breathe. Praise all, what had I done? Panic was a gray blur in my peripheral vision and dimly I acknowledged it was either breathe or pass out. Curling my fingers tight around the blue ones on the wood, I parted my lips and inhaled in one swift, half sobbing gasp. Nothing happened.

  Aranu and Mike both came to a skidding halt on either side of me. Each man was breathing hard and Aranu looked like he would gladly murder me on the spot. Mike just looked horrified. Seconds ticked by, then a full minute and I heard Mike let out the breath he'd apparently been holding.

  I was alive. My hands were still locked over the Breathers'. As soon as I let go, the creature reached out, tentative, and I felt the cool, rough fingers slide down the side of my face. It rubbed a lock of my black hair between its fingers and then let it slide across a lightly scaled blue palm.

  "It's not hurting you." Aranu kept his voice calm and even, but from the corner of my eye, I could see his arms were loosely braced at his sides. He was ready for trouble. But I wasn't, at least not from the Breathers.

  "How do you feel right now?" Mike asked, resting one hand on my shoulder and then just as quickly backing off.

  "I feel fine." I said, taking another deep breath and shrugging. I was able to breathe normally and nothing ached, or stung, or burned. "I didn't think the mist would have the same effect on us as it does the Coatyl." I explained quickly. "If Kahn engineered these creatures to take out the Coatyl, then he'd want them to do the job without posing such a threat to himself, right?"

  "But he could have just as easily instructed his scientists to work with these guys only using special safety equipment, suits and breathing masks. There was no guarantee whatever is in its breath wouldn't be toxic to you, too."

  "True." I agreed readily enough. I couldn't argue that my actions had been safe. But it had been my choice to make, not Mike's or Aranu's or anyone else's to criticize.

  "Don't mind me over here, I'm still recovering from the ten heart attacks I just had." Claire gasped from behind Aranu.

  Of course that didn't mean they wouldn't.

  "Mark, did you see that? The venom didn't kill her."

  "I saw it."

  I glanced over Claire's shoulder and saw Mark steadily watching the Life Breather across from me. "That was foolish, by the way, Aries." he said absently.

  "Behind you!" Claire shouted.

  I whirled in time to see a flash of white come up on the Breather who was still at the fence, watching us as intently as we were watching him, the battle momentarily, foolishly, forgotten. But now everyone seemed to explode into activity.

  Mark rushed forward and thrust his sword into the Coatyl closest to the Life Breather. At the same moment, Aranu threw himself forward and to the left, gripping the Breather by the shoulders and hauling him to the side and out of the immediate line of fire. A second Coatyl broke away from the writhing crowd and ran at us; I whipped a fresh arrow from the leather-bound quiver, slipped it into place and sent it flying. It wasn't a kill shot, only making it into the creature's shoulder, and shallowly at that, but it stopped him from reaching us.

  The Breather shook itself free of Aranu and turned, exhaling into the now slowed down, snarling Coatyl's face. Watching the creature writhe and then fall, an idea took shape. Well, not so much an idea as the blunt edge of conscience. I winced as, in the distance, a Breather's torso was ripped open.

  "Mark." I raised my eyes to his and he lifted a brow. "We could stay back here safe behind the fence...or the illusion of it...but it's not right."

  "No, it's not." he agreed, green eyes cutting to the violence raging mere feet away from where we stood relatively safe and as far as the Coatyl knew, untouchable. "But just because the Life Breather's venom didn't hurt you, because this particular Breather didn't hurt you, doesn't mean the others won't try and attack us some other way. They may not realize we're trying to help."

  "I can't stand here and watch them die."

  Long moments passed where he regarded me in silence but finally he nodded and motio
ned to the men closest to us. "We're going in, guys. Everyone go quickly and tell a group of ten, then instruct them to do the same. We don't want to announce our intentions. Not that the Coatyl won't know when we all jump the fence in about three minutes, but we don't want to them going into a frenzy before we're on the other side with them."

  "Right, sir." one of his men replied. "What's the plan?"

  "Protect the Life Breathers. Everybody find a blue guy to pair up with and then shadow him." Mark instructed without wasting any more time. "This is very important men–and women," he added as if just now noticing the group of nymphs that had gathered around us. "The Life Breathers' lung and stomach areas are their weak spots. We have to guard their fronts and give them an opportunity to breathe their toxins onto the Coatyl. Make sure everyone knows the gases are only harmful to the Coatyl."

  "Got it."

  "One more thing, Raun, double up around the perimeter. I need at least a two to one ratio. No one escapes."

  Raun and the rest of the soldiers nodded and moved swiftly into the crowd to carry out Mark's bidding.

  Claire briefly touched her fingertips to my forearm. "Be safe." she said, wide-eyed.

  I nodded and tried for a confident smile, knowing the gesture was a complete fail; my face felt stiff and frozen. Safe? I spun around and took up my previous place at the fence. The same Breather that had touched my hair moved to stand across from me. With a small sigh, I inclined my head toward my unlikely ally. I'd be anything but safe, but I would try to be careful.

  "Hold on." I murmured to the Breather. "We're coming over to help you." The creature shifted its weight from one foot to the other. It's nervous. Once again I was struck by the level of comprehension it displayed. "Soon. It won't be long now." I forced my lips into another awkward smile and tried for reassuring. Despite the language gap, the Breather seemed to have no trouble understanding what I was saying.