Star spear sun serpent s.., p.31
Star Spear: Sun Serpent Saga, Volume 2, page 31
Chapter 35
Cal moved to push through the now open doorway but was yanked back. Xoc shook a finger, “No.”
Almost immediately, there was the click of heels on stone. We slunk into the shadows of the tunnel, disappearing from view just as a patrolman in a high collared uniform walked by. He slid to a stop, scratching his beard in bewilderment before the open doorway. This man, unlike the Legionnaires, wasn’t white eyed, just a regular soldier. It would seem Malvat didn’t waste his time possessing the regular guard, only his attack dogs.
I put a hand over my mouth to stifle the laugh that almost bubbled up. The man looked so perplexed. He mentally walked his fingers along the route, muttering to himself as he tried to rationalize its existence.
At my feet, the largest of the cats, the one that had led us to the wall, growled. It was a menacing, deep rumble. The patrolman’s eyes went wide, shaking with instant recognition. He fumbled at his waist to draw his weapon, but he never got to retrieve it.
With a single long leap, the lava cat latched his large jaws on the side of the man’s cheek, knocking him to the ground. A pained, muffled yell slipped from the man, quickly replaced by the wet sound of his jugular being torn apart and the lapping of a tongue. It all happened so fast. That the man was dead before he got a chance to finish his scream. Blood pooled at our feet. I hopped into the hall to avoid stepping in it.
“Good kitty,” Xoc cooed as the largest feline dragged the man back into the tunnel. Xoc pointed to the body, and the remaining cats all pounced on the corpse, tearing off pieces of flesh and swallowing them whole. I could feel the blood draining from my face. For some reason, seeing a man being eaten was so much harder to watch than seeing one torn in half.
“Yep, that’s what you were just whispering sweet nothings to,” Xoc said with a laugh.
Cal shared an amused glance with him. “And she wanted to keep one as a pet.” He moved me to the side, then walked to the end of the hall, making sure there weren’t any surprises ready to jump out at us.
“We probably want to go this way,” Cal pointed down the corridor. “This should lead towards the upper floors.”
Xoc closed his eyes, his brows creasing in concentration. “There are two men around the corner, another in a nearby room…and….” His voice drifted off. “Rei.”
“What?” I said, pulling on the strap across his chest.
Xoc opened his eyes. “Or, I think it’s Rei. It’s hard to tell,” he said, tilting his head to the side and closing his eyes again. “But I think she’s alone. Three floors up.”
“What about Malvat?” Cal said, his eyes narrowing with predatory focus.
“Harder to tell. He has his essence spread over so many people. The strongest signature is on the central terrace.” Xoc pointed behind us. “Just as we planned. That’s where he’d have the best vantage point for the battle.”
“Let’s go. There’s an iron set of shoulders that needs to be relieved of a head,” I said, spinning the butterfly swords in my hands. I wanted his blood so badly I could almost taste the copper tang on my tongue. “You say there are two more around the corner?”
Xoc nodded, “They’re heading this way.”
I licked my lips. An anticipatory buzz vibrated beneath the surface of my skin. The fire sparked within me, ready for a fight. Cal’s golden eyes flashed bright. Had his eyes always flared in response to my own rising power? It seemed so obvious now.
“You two hang back. I’ve got this.”
“Elle…” Cal started, but I didn’t wait to hear whatever bullshit reasoning he was about to hit me with.
I stepped into the adjacent corridor just as two men turned the corner at the end of the hall. “They say she has a massive…”
The guardsman on the right stopped, sticking a hand out to pause his partner. They seemed completely stunned by my sudden appearance.
“She has a massive what? Intellect? I bet it was intellect, wasn’t it? Please don’t stop on my account,” I said sweetly. Then I sprinted towards them, which only seemed to confuse the guards further. They scrambled at their waists for their hilts. I kicked up into a flip, vaulting over them while slicing in a windmill. Each blade rotated, carving into their still shocked expressions.
The first man dropped to his knees. Blood coated the walls in a spray. He howled in pain, staring at the arm that now laid discarded and sliding down the grey stone. He opened his mouth to scream, but I sliced across his throat before he could so much as moan.
“Innesvalen bitch,” The second man spat, his hand clutching at the gash crossing his cheek.
“Aww is that how you speak to a lady?” I gave the butterfly blades a twirl, sending twin streams of blood in a criss-crossing streak across the man’s already bloody face and chest.
“You’re going to regret doing that.” The remaining guardsman grinned at me like he held every ace in the deck. He held up a hand, causing the swords to fly from my grip.
Fuck. So much for most won’t be able to manipulate metal that small.
The man grabbed the blades from the air, and grinned at me.
“Those don’t belong to you,” I gritted out.
“Neither do you… and yet.” The man’s grin spread wider, causing the blood pooling in the cut on his cheek to spillover. He crooked his finger at me. I tilted my head to the side in confusion. If he thought I was going to come to him like some kind of pet—
A sharp tug yanked at my waist. I let out a noise of surprise. The metal of my throwing knives lifted higher. My feet left the ground, and I kicked into the empty air. With a simple flick of his hand, I drifted towards him. The hilt of the Sun Serpent dagger cut into my back as it was clutched by the web of his magic. I wriggled against the unstoppable pull. I hadn’t expected this.
“I bet you thought you’d sneak in here and cut us down. Stupid woman. Those weapons are useless here. And to think I was angry that I wouldn’t get any action tonight. All that fun happening down on the fields and being forced to stay in the Fort on worthless patrol.” He sucked in a breath, eyes stripping me and making note of each blade strapped to my body. The dagger at my ankle tugged, and my boot lifted into the air, followed by the buckles on my forearms. I gave my left ankle a roll, grateful that I had switched out the metal blades for the obsidian ones on that foot. “But then, here you are, splayed helpless in the air before me. Wrapped up in metal like a pretty little present.”
The man gripped my hips, pushing between my legs and grinding roughly against me. He leaned in, sending foul, hot breath drifting against my neck. I swallowed the rising bile. He continued his exploration, gripping my ass and waving his hand over the dagger strapped to my thigh, forcing my legs wider.
I could feel Cal approaching. The anger that pulsed off of him made the blood in my veins quicken. Holding up a finger, I signaled for him to wait. This moron had no idea he’d just forfeited his life.
“Your first mistake,” I said in a sultry tone that lured him closer. He licked his lips, staring at mine, “is to assume I’m helpless.”
I wrapped my free leg around his throat, pinning his jugular against the hard bone of my other knee, and squeezed. Every muscle in my body contracted, pushing down on the nerve that I knew would knock him out. His eyes fluttered as he scrambled wildly against my legs to get free. Now, barely conscious, the tether he held on the metal I wore released. I leaned into the gravity, using the momentum to arch backwards. My hands landed firmly on the ground. I whipped my legs up, keeping them hitched around the patrolman and throwing him down the hallway behind me.
With a spluttering whimper, he slid straight into Cal’s feet. Flaming rage roiled in his eyes as he looked down at the man. He lifted the man by the sides of his head.
“You’re lucky we have somewhere to be, or I would flay every part of you that just touched her.” With a clean and efficient twist, Cal snapped the man’s neck and unceremoniously dropped the now limp body.
“That was fun,” I said, picking up the discarded butterfly blades and watching Cal prowl down the hall to me.
“No. What that was, was too damn close,” he said, still angry.
“I was completely in control the entire time.”
“You’re lucky you didn’t have metal buckles or knives on the other leg as well.”
“But I didn’t, on purpose, I might add. Come on, my blood is pumping. Let’s go cut something.” I flipped my hair over my shoulder.
“I knew you liked a good fight, but I didn’t realize just how blood thirsty you were,” Cal said to me, his eyes heated. “I can’t decide if it’s turning me on or terrifying me right now.”
“Knowing you, both,” Xoc said, walking past us and turning the corner. While passing me, he extended an arm and produced a thick wooden spear from the space beside him. The polished point was sharpened into a jagged blade, framed on either side by sloping hooks and a bamboo tube sliding along the shaft. It didn’t look like anything I’d seen before. Even in practice, this wasn’t something he’d used.
“What’s the tube for?” I asked, looking to Cal for an answer.
Xoc spun the spear, the long rod sliding with ease through the tube and back to a ready position in a fraction of a second. It was so fast the entire movement happened in a blur. My eyes barely had time to register it. Adding speed with his size and that reach, enemies would fall long before they ever made it within striking distance.
Cal pulled on my shoulder, slowing me down to put space between us and Xoc. “The Ironwood Yari is an ancient Oerish weapon. Most in the Wood prefer a closer form of combat, but Master Rith was particularly fond of this one. That…” He pointed to the spear spinning in the palm of the giant draken. “...heirloom was his gift to Xoc before we left for Innesvale. They say the ironwood absorbs the blood of those it slays, making the wood stronger, and that spear has seen hundreds of battles.”
A door opened to his left. Without slowing or even looking, he struck it out, spearing the yari directly through the center of the man who emerged. The guard dropped to the ground, Xoc’s pace never faltering.
“And you call me blood thirsty,” I muttered.
We ascended the stairs of the tower at the north end of the building. A large window was cut into the wall of the stairwell, giving me my first real look at the main battle. Smoke billowed up from the Dead Lands. The lava fields were littered with wreckage. The din of battle drifting on the wind, carried with it the wails and battle cries of the men below.
The sound of running feet echoed up the staircase.
“I think they’ve found your trail of carnage.” Cal laughed at me.
“My trail?” I placed my hand on my chest in disbelief. I’d dismembered a few men. That was barely a head count compared to the demonstration Xoc had given of exactly what that fancy spear of his could do. “I’m not the one who impaled every man who entered the hallway.” We exited onto the third floor, the pounding of feet growing closer.
“Ten,” Xoc said. He tossed the wooden spear to Cal, who effortlessly snatched it from the air.
“My turn,” he said, giving me a peck on the cheek. “Can’t let the two of you have all the fun. ”
“True, your ego would never survive it,” Xoc chuckled low, tilting his chin towards the door. “Five seconds.”
In exactly five seconds, ten armed guards tumbled from the stairwell. Cal spun, slicing them down one by one. Bodies carpeted the hallway. Seeing his hands flex around the slide, the muscles of his arms and shoulders shifting beneath his scales, gracefully applying all of that strength into every single movement, was enough to make my entire body feel tight. He made the entire fight look effortless as if thrusting a wooden spear through a man’s heart was second nature to him.
When he was done, he wiped at the blood streaked across his brow with the back of his hand. Sweat clung to his neck, making the tendrils of his hair curl. I wanted to wrap my fingers in that hair. Cal flashed me a smug look that said he knew exactly what I was thinking. Goddess slay me, this man was unfairly sexy.
Flinging out the spear, the hooked end snared under my arm. Fuck, that thing was fast. With a hard yank, Cal threw me to the wall. The point pinned my shoulder in place. Slowly Cal descended on me, the tube along the shaft sliding him closer to me with ease. He pulled the spear free, replacing the weapon with his palm and gliding it up to my throat.
“There’s something wrong with us.” I bit down on my lower lip. I was dying to taste him.
“Funny, I was just about to say the same thing,” Xoc remarked, pushing past us. “If you two are done panting all over each other, Rei is at the end of the hall.”
I closed my eyes, shaking away the wave of lust. “Is she still alone?”
“Yes.”
“Are you ready? We won’t have much time. We can’t allow her to disappear, or Malvat appearing when we aren’t ready for him,” Cal said, all playfulness gone. His hand caressed down my jaw. “And don’t stray too far from me. If he does show, I need to be able to get to you.”
I nodded, taking a deep breath.
“Elle…” His voice was tight, choked by emotion. My eyes flashed up to meet his. Flames flickered into their reflection. The edges of his brows drew together in what could almost be misconstrued as pain. “I love you.”
Fuck, we were really doing this. Tight anxiety closed around my chest as I lifted my lips to his. This was going to work. I refused to let that be the last time I ever heard those words.
Xoc produced a thin syringe. The sharp end of the needle shone in the torchlight, a small bead of liquid clinging to the tip. “Let’s just get this done. Save the ‘I love yous’ for after.”
Chapter 36
The chamber she was kept in was surprisingly spacious. It was decorated in lavish fabrics and ornate wall coverings. Deep maroon drapes hung by the window. A velvet spread was mussed up on the bed as if whoever used this bed had just risen. It was more fit for a royal guest than a prison. Above a fireplace was a large hanging portrait of a tall handsome man with sculpted features and carefully styled corn-silk hair. Malvat. That’s when it hit me. These rooms weren’t just opulent they were royal.
This was Malvat’s personal room.
Anger boiled within me. I tried to convince myself that the display he put on at the palace was all for show. That it was just something to rile me, but he was keeping her here. I could only think of one reason for that. My heart ached for my friend.
The telltale purple glow of her tattoos cut through the darkness. Rei stood motionless, her hands gripping the railing of the terrace before her. The glowing, molten light from the lava fields below made her tawny skin look nearly red. Through some stroke of luck, she hadn’t noticed the door opening. My nervousness eased some. That was the first hurdle.
Xoc crept around the edge of the room with silent steps. It was impressive how quiet the giant could be. Cal and I approached from the other side.
Exiting the shadowy chamber, red light spilled onto the side of Xoc’s features. The needle glowed in his extended hand. The syringe was only inches from her neck.
I held my breath. One second. It was all he needed. One second, and she would drop to the ground unconscious.
Xoc stretched, a bead of liquid clinging to the tip of the needle. Just as his fingers should have latched on to her throat, she stepped away. Rei turned, not towards him, but towards me. Despite the shadows that hid me, her white eyes cut through the darkness, latching me in their vice-like grip.
How had she known we were here? Xoc froze, assessing the situation.
“I’ve been waiting for you, little mouse,” she said in a velvety purr that sounded nothing like her carefree lilt. Hearing his words from her lips turned my stomach.
A low growl rumbled beside me. This was entirely different from the purrs and yips of the lava cats. Xoc’s focus shifted to the sound, his brows knitting together in confusion. Cal stiffened against my back. Whether he realized he was doing it or not, he pressed closer to me.
An inky black wolf padded across the room. Shadows bled from its fur, dripping and pooling beneath his steps like ethereal blood. It snarled, green eyes glowing with menace. Rei raked her nails through its misty form as the phantom beast circled around her.
Cal grabbed my hand pulling me behind him at the same time a harsh wind gusted over the balcony. The wolf’s form shifted in the breeze, solidifying just as quickly as it vanished. She hadn’t acknowledged Xoc yet. There was still a chance. He was so close to her. Deciding that the risk of the vanishing wolf was worth it, Xoc lunged.
A wall of shadow slammed between them. His large form buckled against the railing, one of his wings bending awkwardly in the wrong direction. The syringe flew from his hand, tumbling end over end through the air.
Cal reached out, halting the needle in the air with his magic. For a second, I thought maybe… just maybe this was it, until a dark, iron-scaled hand wrapped around the glass.
Malvat.
He looked at the vial, studying it. His long claws tapping against the surface. He was shirtless. Iron plates protruded like blades from his arms and shoulders, each surrounded by brown, glittering scales. Dark tendrils curled along his neck until they disappeared beneath where his brown scales shifted into a color so dark I didn’t think you could even classify it as black. They seemed to obliterate every ray of light, giving back only nothingness.
The syringe twirled between his fingers, but those grotesque eyes stayed trained on me while he spoke. “Smart, Xoc. I suppose this was how you planned to get her out of here.” He prowled closer, not like a predator. He was something more, a creature in the night that feasted on the predators. The ink of his eyes bled down into his cheeks, even more black now than they had been at the ball. Pure evil resided in their depths, and the ice of his glare was focused solely on me. I would do anything to keep that focus on me, despite the way Cal kept pace with him to ensure that he remained between us.
