by D. Brumbley
“Time to get dirty. I like it.” Ziem grabbed a few more bits of armor from nearby houses for good measure at the news that they’d be fighting wolves of earth and stone, but the grin on his face was not diminished. “Hey, all you building-block bitches! Come and get some!” He leapt up over most of the Stoneborn closest to him who focused on staying rooted to the ground, and cut into several who had not expected to be the first ones attacked from behind.
Lea looked back the direction that Ziem had darted from, but Aura didn’t come tumbling after. She didn’t know what to think of that, but she dove back into the fight until she could get to Nick. “Candra is safe! The Fireborn are on their way!”
“Good.” It was all he could manage in between wrestling with an Earthborn. Nick’s leg was badly cut, but he had metal bands holding it tightly together and he tried to avoid putting weight on it. Otherwise he was covered in blood. Most of it didn’t look like it came from him, but there were patches that definitely had. The fighting was dying around them, but it was only because it had gone elsewhere. Nick managed to lock the Earthborn in a chokehold for a moment, and his armbands crept off his arms to flow around the man’s neck and crush his windpipe. The man twitched and thrashed at the ground, but after a few moments, he didn’t move any further, and Nick stepped away just enough to drive a blade through his throat. After that he stood and hobbled a single step as he looked at Lea. “Any sign of…”
She shook her head as she launched a blade right into the side of one of the Earthborn, and then with a twist of her hand, she turned it like a screw inside of him. “No. I haven’t seen her…” she looked back for a moment to where Ziem was making his way through, “but Ziem is here, so maybe Zara made it back to Aura’s house. It’s much closer.”
Even in the midst of the chaos, he didn’t want to think about the two of them in the same place, but his first thought wasn’t about Zara’s safety at that remark. It was about Aura’s, if Ziem left her. “Support the Fireborn and take command of the Guard. I’ll go see for myself.” But the last line was more of an excuse than an actual plan of action as he shifted to run on his three good legs towards Aura’s house in the distance.
Lea did as she commanded and took over, hoping that she was right, and hoping that Zara was safe.
* * * * *
When Aura heard someone coming, she looked around the small space that she was confined in to see if there was anything that she could use, but even she couldn’t get out of the compounded metal cage that she was in. Not as a wolf. She growled as she heard the wolf get closer, and the metal beneath her rippled a little with Ironborn power, but that was all she could manage to produce. Even that took away from her pups and made her flinch in pain.
Aura?! She heard Nick’s voice shouting in her mind from a distance, and heard the sound of his paws as he jumped up onto the flattened remains of her front porch.
She went up closer to the wall that he was just outside, surprised to hear his voice. What did that mean? Was Ziem…no. Only a short time had passed. He couldn’t be. Nick?
Ziem’s in the middle of the Stoneborn. I came as soon as I saw him. Who else is in there with you?
No one. Just me and my pups in here. What’s going on? What happened?
Orlando’s been captured. They made it look like Mitch did it to start a fight, but it was Sedovin and Osvald that started the fighting. There’s thousands of them…there’s thousands of us…It was all crashing down around his head, and he couldn’t stop it. He wasn’t strong enough to protect his people.
She felt sick as soon as she heard that Orlando had been taken, and Nick’s pain and panic was enough to make her feel dizzy with pain as well. It ran through the metal that surrounded them, and all the sudden she was overwhelmed with pain and worry about three different men at once. Let me out of here, Nick. I have to help. Please.
No. His answer was final, the command of an Alpha and of a much stronger man than she had once known. He had become a different person in the last few months. They all had. And just his ‘no’ was proof of that. You’re safe. The Fireborn are on their way, as are the Oceanborn. The Forestborn have regrouped and have completely sealed the boundaries. There’s no escape for the traitors. It’s just a matter of time.
I’m sealed in a cage, Nick. All it would take would be one Stoneborn to turn this into a tin can and crush me, or one Earthborn to have the ground below swallow this thing whole. Let me out! She probably should have given his ‘no’ the proper respect an Alpha commanded, but when it came to life and death, she honestly didn’t give a damn.
If any Stoneborn or Earthborn so much as looks at this house the wrong way, I’ll tear their throat out with my teeth.
You know me. You know that I’m capable of taking dozens of them down by myself. Let me out, Nick. I’m not weak. I can help!
Aura, that’s enough. He was trying to speak as the Alpha of her pack, but there was too much history between them for it to be pure authority ringing in his voice. Please. Stay inside. This will be over soon. I’m not going anywhere.
She let out a loud growl that rang through her house and then she laid down on the floor and rested her face on her paws. I must have pissed off the wrong God somewhere for all three of you to be in danger.
He had some comebacks to that statement that he didn’t allow her to hear in his thoughts, but finally he sat down on her porch and watched the ground shake, his eyes watchful for any wolves approaching, reaching out to anyone in range of his mind’s voice to answer and give him some idea of what was going on. But no one answered. Zara…he whispered at last, knowing that if anyone would be able to hear him, she would. But still, there was no answer.
XIII
It had been only hours since all-out war had broken out in the Ironborn compound, and Zara was hiding in a small brush area that was right on the bank of the river. After staying there and shivering in fear at the echoes of death still clanging in the distance, she finally heard someone coming. She didn’t look, too afraid that it wouldn’t be Coren, though she desperately hoped it was.
It was a Forestborn scout, dressed in clothing that camouflaged him against the world around them, and as he caught sight of her, the bushes around her clamped in on her arms and legs to hold her in place. A moment’s examination showed her that he was one of those that had beaten her within an inch of her life a few months before, and it was obvious from the way his smile showed his teeth that he remembered her as well. “When will you learn to fear the woods?”
She shook her head violently but she didn’t scream, since the connection between them was like a refreshing gulp of water compared to the massacre going on inside the gates. “Don’t hurt me.”
“Say please.” He stepped up to her and knelt down with one foot in the stream and the other on the grass. “I love it when a whore says please.”
As he reached out towards her, though, Zara could see the stream swell its bank a little, and fingers of water reached up to grasp the Forestborn around the arms and neck. They didn’t restrain him, they were too weak to do that, but they did make him panic and fall to the side to get them off him. As he fell to the grassy shore of the stream, the water came out of its bed and fell over him in a wave. As soon as it splashed up onto his face, he started sputtering and coughing violently, his hands going to his throat as he choked on the water that he couldn’t get out of his windpipe.
Zara broke her way out of the brush and looked out across the water, trying desperately to see Coren, but he was hiding himself well as he tortured the man who had tortured her. She winced as she heard the man struggle to breathe, especially because it was painful for her when anyone she knew, even slightly, died. Somehow, though, after being beaten almost to death, she couldn’t convince herself to ask Coren to let the man live. Enduring the pain of feeling someone die was worth it, just that once.
The man was allowed to gasp for just enough air to keep himself alive as the water actually parted in the stream to show a clear and mudd
y path to where Coren was hiding in the brush. He was no longer dressed in formal robes but actually crouching naked near the ground, which meant he came as a wolf. He beckoned her to him and let the man get another breath, knowing it would be easier for her if there was some distance between her and her would-be torturer when he died.
She stumbled at first but then ran as fast as she could toward Coren, since she needed to be near him. She needed to feel his closeness and his touch just to know that the world wouldn’t shatter around her.
He pulled her in tightly when she got to him, the water having returned to its natural place, splashing around her ankles as she got through the stream to him. Behind her, the man’s choking sounds came to a fevered pitch and then stopped, as she could feel the faint twist in her heart of his death. It was more than counteracted by the presence of her mate, though, and the kiss he planted on her neck. “Are you alright?”
Zara nodded several times as she clung to him. Her fingers dug in so deep that she almost drew blood, but she couldn’t convince herself to be gentle. She actually kissed him as soon as she could after the guard was dead, and the feel of his lips against hers made the connection between them flare enough to help her feel a little better. “I am now that you’re here.”
He savored the moment, but she knew him well enough to be able to feel that he was distracted. He was there for the business of destroying the Ironborn and all their allies. Getting her out was an important part of that, but it was only a part. “Give me an idea of what’s happening in there. The Skyborn can’t tell me anything useful with the dust cloud the Stoneborn and the Earthborn have kicked up all over the compound.”
“When I left, the Forestborn and Ironborn had realized the misunderstanding…I don’t think that Osvald and Sedovin’s packs, as large as they are, can handle this. There’s the Fireborn and the Oceanborn…all that you can hope for out of this is that Nick’s people will be severely disheartened, afraid, and perhaps a thousand less.”
“That’s not good enough.” He growled low in his throat and looked behind him to where she could see a few other Forestborn quite literally melting out of the trees, and he nodded toward the fence in the distance. “Spread the word. I want everyone in play, now.”
Two of them nodded and headed off, but the third stayed, looking defiantly down at Coren. Zara could see Avery’s mark on his dark green jacket, marking him as one of the guards that Coren had purchased and who had beaten her months before. “And what about you, dear Speaker, sir? You going to stay out here and sip from the stream while the rest of us do the work?”
“You worry about your part in this, Captain. And when this is finished, you and I will talk again about work.”
The man bowed mockingly and stepped down past them both. “I look forward to it.”
As soon as the man walked away, she moved her hands to grip on one of Coren’s arms. “Don’t listen to him. You can’t get involved in this. They would love nothing more than to see your face in there.”
“It’s my place, Zara. You know that.” He kissed her deeply and looked her in the eye. “This is going to end today, and it has to be by my hand.”
She kissed him again, so passionately that it was almost as though she was trying to convince him to stay with her kisses and emotion. There aren’t enough loyal to the Council here, Coren. You’ll die in there. You can’t die. You just can’t…just wait, okay? Just wait until we can get more people…
This place has been surrounded for months. He said with another kiss. While the Ironborn Prince has been making himself feel better by talking and treating with his friends, the rest of the world has been waiting for all those who would join him to come out of the woodwork and meet in one place. There are seven packs here, and every one of them has pledged their enmity against the Council. Even Osvald and Sedovin are only acting against them because they think it will put them in our good graces when all is done. They have the hearts of traitors. There are enough Forestborn and Oceanborn in these woods falling on this compound as we speak to drown even the memory of everyone gathered here. Coren said as he kissed her forehead. Do not fear for me, Zara. This is not the first war I have fought. With your prayers, I know the gods will not let it be the last.
Zara let out a strangled whimper as she hugged him even tighter and kissed him yet again. I…I will pray for you. I will beg the gods to hear me and protect you. I need you too much for them to deny me.
Stay out here, and stay safe. There will be four Oceanborn guards left to watch over you. He kissed her one last time and then pulled away slightly to shift, becoming a magnificent black and white wolf with blue eyes so deep she could drown in them. She had, often enough. In a few days, Zara, you will sit behind me where you always belonged in the Council chamber. And this coming Fulness, we will start the family we have wanted for too long. I love you. I’ll be back soon.
She shifted quickly so that she could run up to him and give him a kiss as well, since she was a firm believer in the power of the wolf, and it being their true form. She would pray to the gods in no other way except her wolf, and she knew that it would bring him fortune. The only way she would ever be whole again would be if one of the men she loved was dead. She would pray for victory. Whose, she didn’t honestly know. I love you.
* * * * *
Somehow, in the midst of the fighting, Ziem and Lea managed to stay more or less together, after finding out quickly that her extremely disciplined fighting style meshed well with his wild abandon, on and off the battlefield. While she was meeting her enemies with well-shaped weapons forged from every available piece of scrap metal, he was laying about himself with fists that were cased in solid iron boxing gloves, shattering every bone of every wolf he came in contact with.
The tide of the battle was turning very slightly all around them, as the Ironborn rallied behind the two of them and met the Stoneborn head on, and there was fear in every grey eye that they saw.
“You know,” he shouted over the chaos at one point, when the Stoneborn began falling back to try and regroup, “you’re kinda handy to have around!”
Lea took both swords she had recently formed and beheaded a Stoneborn before she looked back to acknowledge that he had spoken. “Do you think you could mention that to your friends? I’d love to have a mate eventually!”
“I’ll see what I can do!” He put his knee through a Stoneborn face, but another managed to slam him in his ribs with a stone the size of a watermelon. It dented the breastplate he wore, but didn’t cause too much damage to him, and the dent worked itself out as Ziem growled at the woman who’d heaved it at him. “Better be glad you did that to me and not my car, asshole!”
The fight continued for what seemed like forever, and Ziem could admit that he was beginning to tire, but there came a point when things around them began to quiet. The battle with the Earthborn was mostly being fought on the other side of the compound, and the sounds of that fight were dulled by the dust cloud that had risen over everything. But more than quiet, it was another kind of noise that hadn’t been present before. Several of the Stoneborn staggered back, a group of a few hundred that had been cornered by the almost thousand Ironborn that were left in that part of the compound. There were bodies everywhere, some half-buried in the ground or lying in pieces that Lea and the others had chopped them into, but there was something else on the ground that hadn’t been there before. Water.
It moved toward them as though the compound itself had been flooded, running up over the tops of their feet and mixing to become a pinkish brown color with the mingled blood of their friends and enemies. It rose slowly, and everyone nearby was looking around for the source, for the Oceanborn that had to be nearby. The Stoneborn especially were fearful, many of them covering their mouths and noses as they panicked at the sight of the water, but when the splashes finally came, it was the Ironborn who were attacked.
It was only a matter of moments of confusion before Lea was pulled down onto her back. It was as though some
one tied a string between her ankles and pulled her legs out from under her. As she scrambled to get back up, unsuccessfully, she looked around for the source. Most of the Oceanborn that she met in her life weren’t strong enough to bring so much water into a dry place, or up from the ground, if that was the source. A group of them, sure, but she couldn’t even see a group. That would be noticeable.
Instead of fighting it, she buried both of her swords in the ground and then held onto them for support as the water continued to rush in around them. A ripple shook through the ground as she felt the metal around them answer her power, and some of the houses started to ring with the vibration. It would catch the attention of the others, she hoped.
Several of the Ironborn banded together around her and pooled their power in the houses still standing nearby. Between them, a few of the walls began melting off the homes and circling around them, making a thick shield around them against the attack of whoever was out there. But water was a hard thing to keep out, and it kept on rising around them. Some of the Stoneborn had renewed their assault, recognizing an ally when they saw one, and the fight was no longer as one-sided as it had been.
Ziem was not one of those taking shelter, but he also wasn’t one of the principal targets of the water’s attack, and so he fell in with the others pressing what advantage they had left against the Stoneborn. They pressed until a large wall of the water rose up near them, leaving all of them in its shadow for a moment before it fell, knocking Ziem and every Stoneborn around him off their feet and into a tumble of iron and stone and blood-stained water.
Lea recognized that they needed to focus more on staying together than trying to keep the water out, so she collapsed her part of the wall into several links of a chain that, despite the chill of the water, found each other like opposing magnets and hooked together. Others around her did the same and whipped together thick chains that got longer and longer to try and grab some of their flailing friends and bring them back.
