Shadow Borne Page 20

  Well, I sighed and closed my eyes, let the pain and regret wash over my skin. When I opened them again, I was clearer, stronger–determined, and yes, maybe a bit resigned, too.

  With a final deep breath, fists clenched at my sides, I started to scream.

  "Mark? Claire? Guys, answer me! I'm over here!"

  There was no answer. But then, I knew there wouldn't be. I sucked in another lungful of air, felt the smoke burn a little as it went down.

  "Hey! Claire! I think I see you! Claire, thank the stars, it's you!" I shouted, forcing my voice to remain steady as I projected the sound through the mist and the smoke. "Oh, no, are you okay?" I yelled to the air.

  The smoke was getting thicker now. Wrapping my sleeve over my fingers, I clapped a hand over my mouth. And that's when I felt it, when it hit me. Ice slithered across my senses. He was closing in on me. So close...

  I planted my boots deeper into the soil and forced myself to hold still when every instinct I possessed reared up and screamed at me to run. My hand shook as I brought it away from my mouth and down to my side. I would not run. Besides, it was much too late for that now. With one final deep breath, I threw the dice.

  "Come on, Claire, we have to get away from here! Run!"

  I wasn't at all surprised when cold, hard fingers clamped over my upper arm. The man who stepped out of the shadows was dark and beautiful. I'd never before seen his face but the jewel green eyes were familiar. Kahn...

  So this was Mark's father. I could easily see the family resemblance. His eyes narrowed and a chilling smile crept over his face when I winced in response to his ever-tightening grip. No, I decided, he wasn't like Mark at all. Only the unusual color of his eyes connected him to Claire's husband. And thank the stars above, that nothing else of this man lived on in Mark. Our Warrior of the Ruins was strong and compassionate and warm. The man who bared his teeth at me in a terrifying mockery of a smile was...evil. That was the only word for it.

  "Where is she?"

  His voice was smooth and polished, cold and menacing like the rest of him. I gasped when he twisted my arm, but laughed and my lips curved, surprised to feel triumphant after all. I was probably going to die. At the very least, I was about to get hurt.

  "She's not here."

  Still holding me fast, his other hand shot up and he backhanded me.

  "And you're a fool." I added.

  "Am I, now?" he growled, losing some of his polished sheen.

  "Get away from her!" Something flew at him from behind.

  The impact knocked him off balance and his weight almost brought me to the ground. At the last second, I twisted one leg around his and ducked under his arm. His hand slipped away from my arm and I shoved his shoulder. The distraction and my quick maneuvering bought me the few precious seconds needed to get free of his grasp. I spun around quickly to see my rescuer.

  "Claire!" I grabbed her now frozen form and yanked her out of the way of Kahn's fist just in time.

  She shook her head then and seemed to snap out of it. The 'I can't believe I just did that' look was still pasted to her face, but when her eyes met mine, she was at least coherent.

  A second later, Mark darted out of the mist and rushed Kahn before the wizard had the chance to attack us again.

  "That's him, isn't it?" Claire jumped back and gasped as Mark viciously plowed his fist into the wizard's jaw. "Kahn."

  I nodded before realizing she couldn't see me. "That's him." I said.

  "I heard you screaming but we couldn't find you until we saw the darkest shadow begin to move. We followed it to you."

  "Kahn's shadow." I nodded, my eyes riveted to Mark and Kahn as they circled each other.

  "No." Claire whispered and my head snapped up at the raw fear in her voice. She was staring fixedly at a point behind me. "His."

  I whirled and came face to face with a solid black wall. The startled cry that formed never made it past my lips. The blackness wasn't a wall.

  Lahuel. The war demon had moved lightning quick, surrounding me in a matter of seconds. His pitch dark shadow hand was surprising solid and strong as it wrapped around my throat. Instinctively, my hands shot up to grip his arm and even though it looked like my fingers should have simply passed through that arm, they didn't.

  It didn't even feel like he was applying pressure and yet my throat was steadily closing. My lungs were on fire, burning, and my head began to swim. Dimly, I heard Claire shouting but couldn't make out the words.

  I watched her rush forward, felt her hands close over the Lahuel's, where they wrapped around my throat. She was trying, without success, to pry his fingers off of me.

  "Somebody help us!" she screamed, close enough to my ear that I understood every word.

  There would be no help. Mark was fighting Kahn. No one else was close enough to hear. And even if they did, what were they going to do? I thought miserably as I watched the Lahuel's free hand slowly come up. He pointed it at Claire's shoulder, and then he was touching her. Just one ink black finger but the instant it made contact with her body, she screamed and doubled over in pain.

  I exhaled then, the last of my breath slipping from my lips in a defeated sigh and with it, a small, shimmering burst of silver and gold light. The demon recoiled at the light, and through my half-closed eyes, I watched as his black shadow form quivered and lightened. The places where my light touched his shadow seemed to sparkle before they faded away. Light to dark...

  I sucked in what meager air I was able. His black, empty shadow eye sockets seemed to gleam with a rich, oily darkness and the pressure on my throat increased until I saw stars behind my eyelids. Eyes closed, I blocked out everything else, the Lahuel, Claire's shrieking, thoughts of my family and friends and my home, the fervent wish to live...all of it was tamped down. I focused solely on the light. Pictured it. In my mind it was a deep, burning, vibrant red. It was powerful. It was life.

  In my mind's' eye, I watched my lips purse and saw the fine red, glittering mist escape in a powerful torrent, felt the Lahuel's fear as the crystalline mist enveloped him. Light to dark.

  The pressure on my throat was gone. My eyes flew open and my hands went automatically to my neck. I was alive. The Lahuel writhed in front of me as shimmers of red and silver light tore through the shadows that made up his body. The black hole that had been his mouth opened in a silent scream and he dissolved in a final burst.

  Oxygen rushed into my lungs, spearing through my body and awakening the starved tissues.

  "Oh..." Claire breathed, climbing to her feet and leaning against my gasping form.

  All the remained of the Lahuel was a pile of gray ash at our feet. A second later, the wind kicked up and carried the demon's remains away, scattered it through the night. Abruptly, the smoke cleared and with it, the mist that surrounded us evaporated into the night. The demon's spell was broken.

  "Are you okay?" I wheezed, rubbing at my throat and wincing.

  "I think so." Claire finally nodded.

  But there was no time to rest. At the same time, we became aware of the battle that still raged on, just behind us.

  With the smoke gone, we were all able to see each other. Hundreds of warriors stood scattered around the meadow. A few were injured and just about everyone looked dazed. I didn't spot Aranu or Mike in the crowd. Comprehension returned swift and sure, with all eyes trained on the two men locked in combat at the center of the meadow. Although, maybe combat was a strong word...

  Like the Life Breathers a few hours ago, Mark was getting his ass handed to him. Claire rushed forward and a well-meaning soldier grabbed her and held on tight.

  "You can't go to him."

  "Like fucking hell I can't!" she raged, rounding on the man who held her captive. "Let go!"

  "He wouldn't want you getting hurt." the soldier protested and then grunted as Claire's foot made contact with his kneecap.

  Mark fell to his knees and Kahn stalked around him, blue lightning crackling and sizzling from the tips of his fingers
.

  "Let her go." I ordered the soldier who held Claire. "She's right. He's going to get killed out there."

  "But he wouldn't want–"

  "Screw his male pride. I'm sure he'd rather be embarrassed than dead and there's no sense in the whole damn army standing here useless, watching him die." I shook my head and as soon as he'd released Claire, I turned to face the crowd of soldiers and Breathers. I shouted a single, hoarse word.

  "Fight!"

  Claire and I rushed forward and the rest of the men followed, weapons drawn.

  Kahn definitely saw what hit him–but he never had a chance.

  In a matter of minutes, the wizard had fallen under our onslaught and just like that, Kahn's long running reign of terror came to an end.

  Claire and I each took up a side and pulled Mark to his feet. He groaned and clung to Claire. I backed up a step but remained close, just in case. He was bruised and I counted at least three lacerations where blood seeped and he didn't seem too steady on his feet. But, from what I could see anyway, his wounds looked to be mostly superficial, although I was sure he would feel like absolute hell by morning. I winced at the blue black lump on his temple.

  "I love you." he squeezed Claire one last time before letting her go to address the large group gathered around him. If the rest of the warriors had been expecting a rousing, patriotic speech, they would have been wrong. Still, nobody was disappointed. Mark simply glanced at the bedraggled, worn-but-still-fierce group and said, "Thank you. All of you."

  One arm snaked around Claire's waist and the other clenched into a fist that was thrust high into the air. "Today we are victorious!" he roared.

  Weapons were raised to the sky and deafening shouts rang through the crowd, filling the meadow to bursting with a swell of vibrant energy.

  When the noise finally died down, several long minutes later, our much lighter at heart group passed through a grove of trees where fat green gemstones hung like glittering fruit, past the black gates at the end of Kahn's Meadow, and into what had once been the realm of the dark wizard.

  I pressed a little closer to the soldier beside me as we all filed into the wide open space. It wasn't what I'd been expecting at all and if the collective sharp intake of breath around me was anything to go on, I wasn't alone in that thought.

  In direct contrast to the lush beauty of the meadow, this place was a barren wasteland. Everything here was dead. The ground was cracked and dry and dusty. No grass or plants of any kind grew here. Pools of lava boiled to our left, a thin gurgling river of red that snaked through the dead land to disappear around a towering onyx and pearl castle. Craggy mountains rose behind and to either side of the dark palace and the moon cast no real light here, only picked up and reflected the undertones of the river so that the world seemed to take on a faint red tinge.

  Claire and I, the other nymphs, the Breathers, and the majority of the soldiers waited close by the gate as the castle and the surrounding grounds was checked for survivors, or prisoners. Mike had caught up to our group just before we'd reached the gates and he waited with us now, in silence. I'd caught a brief glimpse of Aranu as Claire and I had taken up our posts to wait, but now he was nowhere in sight. It was probably just as well. Much like earlier, his eyes hadn't lingered on mine.

  Within the hour, Mark and the others returned.

  "It's empty." he confirmed, holding out a hand to Claire.

  "What do you want us to do?" a soldier questioned with a backward glance at the towering structure.

  Mark didn't look back as he gave the final order.

  "Burn it to the ground."

  ***

  “Are you sorry?” Claire asked on the way back.

  Mark glanced down at her and frowned slightly. “Sorry?”

  “That, you know, we helped you.” she said quietly, mindful of the soldiers around us.

  “Am I that transparent?” He turned his head and smiled.

  “Yeah.” Claire shrugged.

  “No.” Mark finally said. “Above all else, I'm thankful to be alive, with you, on our way home to our children. But...”

  “But?” Claire prompted.

  I followed along at Mark's other side, silent but curious to hear his response.

  “I'm confused. Disappointed in a way. Bob was adamant that I was the only one who could defeat Kahn. So why couldn't I beat him?”

  Claire walked in silence for long moments before she spoke again. “But you did, Mark. You did beat him.”

  “I meant–”

  “I know what you meant.” she interrupted. “But I think you're looking at this in the wrong light. I remember that day, you know, when Bob and Marta told you Kahn was your father. And they never said you could beat him in some macho hand to hand test of skill.”

  “Thanks dear.” Mark muttered.

  Claire smiled, ignoring his grumbling. “As I was saying, what they said was you're the key to his downfall.” She turned her radiant expression on him. “Don't you get it, Mark? You made all of this possible. You formed the largest army ever, in the entire recorded history of Terlain. These men and women all fought under your command. You did defeat him. And so did we. Together. You see?”

  “Yeah,” he said, slowly. “Yeah, I think I do.” A wide grin spread across his face. “But I can hardly believe it's finally, really over.”

  “Well, almost.” I spoke up for the first time. “There's still the matter of what we're going to do about the Breathers.”

  ***

  In the end, we let them all go. Not everyone was one hundred percent in favor of that, even if no one was bold enough to challenge Mark about it. And so freely they left us at the northern most edge of Grandview, bound for their home in the ice and snow. And maybe letting them go would turn out to be a mistake, but I didn't think so. The Life Breathers were as much victims of Kahn's dark magic as the rest of us and who were we to decide their fate, anyway?

  No, I was certain we hadn't made a mistake in wishing them well and seeing them on their way. Just the opposite; to my way of thinking, we'd forged a friendship with a new and powerful, if unexpected, ally.

  The artificial shimmer had worn off and the fence that separated our town's border from the forest looked plain now, ordinary.

  “Do you think the Matrons will show up and recast the enchantment around the fences?” Claire asked as we jumped over the hip high barrier.

  “Who knows?” I shrugged and we moved further down the path that would take us back to town. We slowed our pace and men filed around and passed us on the trail. “We don't need it anymore, so...”

  “Yeah.” she nodded. “That's going to take some getting used to. “Not that I'm not glad.” She grinned.

  “For sure.” I smiled back, until a flash of tan and blue caught my eye. Aranu walked past, but he didn't follow the others on the path toward town. Instead, he veered off to the right, heading toward the beach and the falls.

  “Go.”

  My gaze swiveled back to Claire and I opened my mouth but no words came.

  “Go on.” she repeated, touching a hand to my arm. “Go talk to him and I'll see you at home.”

  Home. Tears sprang to my eyes but remained unshed. My throat burned and I nodded, reaching out and snagging Claire into a fierce hug. Her hair was cool where it brushed my face and her strength propped me up, steadying me for the next step I was about to take. Family.

  My arms tightened around her before I let her go and stepped back. “What if he tells me to go to hell?”

  “Then we'll get drunk tonight. It'll be fine. Go.”

  “Okay.” I nodded and watched as she ran to catch up with Mark, turning once at the bend in the path to wave and give me a thumbs up sign.

  I wasn't at all sure it would 'be okay' as Claire put it, but there were some things I needed to say to Aranu. So I turned and followed the trail he'd taken, the one that led to the path I knew by heart...

  ***

  “Hey.” I said to Aranu's back a few minutes later.
At the water's edge, he tensed but didn't turn around.

  “Okay.” I nodded even though he wasn't looking at me. “I know you don't want me here.” I forced myself to continue when it was tempting to take the easy way out and turn around, go back the way I came.

  “I know that at the moment, I'm not your favorite person. Hell, you probably hate me and I guess I don't blame you.” Much. “But there's something you should know about earlier, what I said...” I took a deep breath, feeling like it was me who stood at the edge of the falls.

  “I didn't mean it.” I said. “Any of it. Well, except for the part about wanting you to leave. I meant that. But not because of all the reasons I gave you at the time. So, the thing is, I...I love you.” I paused and sighed when he kept his back to me. “I haven't loved Mike Roberts in a very long time, if I ever really did. I don't know.” I frowned, folding my arms over my chest and pacing idly up and down, staring at the bright silvery moon overhead. “I haven't had time to sort all of that out. He was a good friend once and maybe he will be again, someday. But he doesn't hold a candle to you.” I finished, coming to a stop at the edge of path, where I'd started. It was hopeless but at least I could leave here with the knowledge that I'd tried.

  “Okay. So, I just came here to tell you that. I'll go now.” I murmured, turning and making my way down the path. Well, I sighed, at the end of the day, Aranu may hate me, but I'd done what was necessarily back in that clearing. What I'd had to do in order to survive and make sure everyone else did, too. My lips curved wryly. Somehow it always came, full circle, back to that. Wasn't that the life I'd signed up for?

  I was about a quarter mile away from my cabin when I heard leaves rustling behind me.

  “Aries. Wait.”

  I froze and slowly turned around. “Aranu.”

  His eyes held mine and for once today he wasn't aloof or cold.

  He continued his steady progress, not stopping until the toes of his boots nudged mine on the path.