by Lee Hayton
Sulli wanted to tell them to give in and accept their sister’s hug. There was scant comfort in this world without pushing it aside when it was offered.
“What did you see?” Shandra repeated, and Sulli couldn’t find the energy to even shake his head.
Mal sat down at the table next to her and tried to explain. “The creatures are from another place, a darker place than you’re used to. We used to come across similar things when we grew up in the Davelmiotas.”
“Can’t we fight them off?”
“That’s what we used to do.” Sulli felt the weight of Mal’s gaze upon him but didn’t raise his head.
“We should have stood up to the wretched things,” Io said, his fingers resting on the grip of his sword. “Stopped them encroaching into our territory. If they get a foothold here, they’ll be a damned sight harder to chase off.”
Sulli did look up in time to see the contempt in Io’s face. Rage boiled up in his stomach, pressing up the back of his throat until it seemed he would surely choke, but he gulped and swallowed it down.
Io didn’t know. None of them knew.
“I don’t understand.” Shandra looked at each man in turn. “If we should have fought them off, why did we turn and run?”
“We can go back out there now,” Halv insisted, standing and pulling a blade out of his ankle holster. He thrust it into the air, his balance improved a thousand times from a month before. Io and Chance had taught him well.
Shandra shot back, her voice full of annoyance, “You can’t even see them, Halv. What are you going to fight? The air?”
“If I have to cut through every puff of air in the land, I’ll fight them. I don’t have to be able to see them for my blade to cut through their flesh.” He stopped and turned, his weapon dropping to his side. “Why can’t we see them though? And what’s so special about you lot, that you can?”
Shandra looked over to Mal and gave a shake of her head. He said, “We grew up in the Davelmiotas, so our eyes were educated to see all the things that live there. Even if some creatures are hard to see, you can train your eyes to do it so long as you start very young.”
From the display, Sulli understood that Shandra still hadn’t told the boys about their ability to shift into dragons. Given the history of this district and the Davelmiotas where they grew up, it wasn’t too much of a surprise. Dragons, the pure breeds that was, not shifters, were hated throughout this part of the land.
“Should we mount an attack, for when they arrive at the farmhouse?” Shandra put a hand Sulli’s knee, bending her face down to catch his eye. “What is your plan?”
His plan had been to run far away and hide. Mission accomplished.
“It’s quite obvious he doesn’t have a plan,” Baile said. “I suggest, we draw up a tactical advance on the creatures. They’ve seen us run so they won’t be prepared for us to turn the tables. If we sneak from farmhouse to farmhouse, out of sight, we can then throw everything we’ve got at them.”
“No!” Sulli slammed the palm of his hand flat on the table and stood up, his body shaking again, this time with anger. “You have no idea of what you’re dealing with. Or who you’re dealing with. This isn’t some evenly matched fight where your prowess with a sword will stand you in good stead. If you go out there, the mage behind this madness will slaughter you.”
Memories of Cade Storm flashed through Sulli’s mind, each image worse than the last. He closed his eyes, fighting for control. If he stamped and spat out venom now, his brothers would never understand the seriousness of the situation. Shandra wouldn’t understand.
Cade could kill them all with the snap of his fingers.
“The creatures released in this storm—the monsters—they’ll be caught up in fighting against Wella’s troops. That’s the direction the thunder came from, right?”
Sulli looked around the room, unsure if the silence greeting him was agreement or disbelief.
“They’ll keep coming and coming at the army until it’s destroyed. When they’re under a mage’s control, these… these… things don’t understand exhaustion or being wounded or the concept of death. They’ll keep coming and coming until the man controlling them packs them away in their box again. If you try to fight them, you’ll lose.”
“I think you’re overreacting.” Io stood up, hands curling into loose fists at his side. “We’ve seen these creatures before and they’re not—”
“You haven’t.” Sulli kept his voice low, so those around him would have to stay silent to hear. “What you’ve seen are the free forms of these monsters. This is different. They are enslaved to a master now, and everything about them has changed.”
“There’s no way you can know that.” Baile glared at him. “From a tactical standpoint—”
“If you fight them, you’ll die. That’s the only tactical standpoint you need to get into your head.” Sulli pointed at Baile. “I know what you’re capable of. You’ve got the best brain for planning that I’ve ever seen. I’m not discounting your abilities, but this isn’t a fight that you’re used to, or have any experience in. I do.”
Sulli closed his eyes as the men burst into another round of useless discussion. He loved these dragons like brothers and not one of them had ever let him down.
He’d loved someone else like a brother, too. Once, long ago, that man had betrayed him.
Cade Storm’s face blew into his mind, swelling so large no other thoughts could penetrate. When it drifted back out again, Sulli caught his breath and had to sit down again. He felt as though his brain had been scooped out of his head, then shoved roughly back in, not fitting quite as it should.
Sulli looked at Halv and Ricci, true brothers. One of them full of excitement and confidence enough for three men. The other, sullen and downcast, looking like the clan brothers had broken into his house and stolen his favorite toy.
But they stood shoulder to shoulder, despite their differences. Their love for each other was plain as was the care they showed their sister.
“Cade Storm will call off his creatures soon, I have no doubt of it.” Sulli wanted to stand and take a commanding posture, but his muscles felt limp from exhaustion. “Wella will regroup. She’ll come back through the district, scooping up any fit men and women that her previous trawls have left behind. The whole endeavor will repeat itself until there is no one left.”
“There’s almost no one left right now.” Shandra threw a worried look his way. “If the farms lose any more workers, we won’t be able to produce the crops needed to support the army, let alone the entire community of our district.”
“We must take out Cade Storm if we’re to have any hope of stopping this carnage.” As the words came out of his mouth, Sulli felt a measure of relief. At least he’d said the thing that needed to be said.
A thunderclap shattered the sky above them, a noise so monstrous, Sulli felt his nose begin to bleed. He wiped the smear away with his thumb as a blast of warm air hit them—every timber in the farmhouse creaking in protest.
As the silence settled, Sulli sensed the change in the atmosphere. He didn’t need to look out the barricaded windows to see what had happened. “Cade’s recalled his beasts.”
The room breathed a collective sigh of relief while Sulli shivered.
“For now.”
Chapter Three
Shandra lay in bed, alone, and watched the patterns formed by clouds and moonlight chase each other across her ceiling. She’d insisted on her solitude to earn a good night’s sleep after the excitement of the day. However, instead of dreaming, she lay awake, thoughts racing in and out of her mind.
Sulli’s adamant statement that they must kill Cade Storm, or else face an unending cycle of war, rang true. Doubt didn’t form part of Shandra’s unease. The problem was to kill the mage, she’d have to leave the farm.
After all the battles she’d fought lately, literally and figuratively, the last thing Shandra wanted was to travel to war, with the possibility of never coming home. T
o take the clan brothers and herself away to a fight on foreign soil encapsulated everything she’d tried to avoid.
If she did this now, what use had all those trials been? She needed to stay on the farm, protecting her brothers and working the land.
But she couldn’t send her harem off to fight a battle while she sheltered safely at home. They were one, joined together. Even Wella, for all her faults, didn’t countenance letting the men of her harem lead the fighting. She would travel to the front line to lead them into battle. Shandra must do the same as well.
Unless she ignored Sulli’s warning and everyone stayed on the farm together.
A knock on the door startled Shandra out of her circling thoughts, and she tiptoed over to answer. Her first thought was Ricci or Halv were having trouble sleeping, but it was Mal who stood outside her door.
Shandra curled her hands around the back of his head and pulled him down to kiss her. After a day of hard work, Mal’s lips tasted of salt, while his mouth was sweet. He kicked the door shut behind him, waiting for her signal before lifting her astride him and carrying her to bed.
The first time they’d lain together, Shandra had been petrified she’d do something wrong. Mal had gently caressed different parts of her body and encouraged her to do the same to him. An experiment that he cut short, leaving her wanting more.
The second time, Shandra had been eager, her touch too hard, her need too great. When she’d tossed Mal onto his back and sat astride him, she’d climaxed just from the touch of his hard member against her secret flesh.
Like nursery tales of old, on the third time, they got it right, although not so right they couldn’t experiment for an eternity more.
Now, Mal laid a trail of kisses down Shandra’s sternum until he reached her belly button, circling it with his tongue. While she ran her toes along the back of his leg, tickling into the spot he liked behind his knee, Mal worked his way back up her chest until he took one of her hardened buds in his soft mouth.
She slid her finger along his back, reaching around to run her thumb across his nipples. Then she threw him on his back and laid her own trail of kisses down Mal’s chest until she reached his manhood and took him into her mouth.
After a minute, Mal touched her on the arm, switching positions so she was beneath him and using his tongue to set her on fire. She dug her fingers into his hair as the warm sensations moved through her entire body, twitching nerves until she was helpless in her desire.
When he entered her, Mal grabbed her hair into his fist and gently tugged. A kink she’d discovered by accident, then begged for him to do again.
As he plunged into her soft folds, Shandra dug her fingers into his back, the reason she now kept her nails trimmed short. His lunges grew more eager, her muscles easing him deeper inside. Nerve endings fired off in quick bursts, the sensations chasing all over her body as she arched to meet his thrust.
When she came, it was like jolts of electricity setting everything in her body ablaze.
Once certain she’d taken her pleasure, Mal pounded into her, harder, faster, earning his own reward.
Shandra lay back, panting, her skin glistening with a light sweat from their workout and waited for Mal to talk. Soon, she curled into his side as he placed his arm around her. Sleep no longer seemed an impossibility as her body relaxed, spent.
“I trust Sulli, even if I have no experience of what he’s talking about this time.” Mal’s voice was hushed in respect of the late hour, but not so quiet she wouldn’t hear every word.
“The thought of leaving the farm behind to go to the front line of a war scares me,” Shandra admitted. “No matter how much I trust my skills in a fight, every battle has its losers. My mother, father, and brother were skilled also, and yet none of them returned.”
“From what Sulli told us, we wouldn’t be taking on the entire front line.”
“No,” Shandra said with a shiver. “Just the man responsible for the carnage. How do we manage to fight a man like that and win?”
“I don’t know.” Mal shifted his position and Shandra waited until he’d settled before snuggling closer to him again. “Sulli wouldn’t lead us into an unwinnable battle though.” He gave a soft laugh. “It wouldn’t be logical.”
Shandra giggled at the small joke. Sulli was the king of emotionless reasoning, a trait that sometimes got on her nerves. It just made Mal’s point stronger.
“If you want a true harem, you must bond with the other members,” Mal said, his voice even softer. “Perhaps it is time to broach the subject with Sulli.”
“On the eve of going into battle?” Shandra’s throat clutched at the very thought.
“To make us stronger as we head off to fight together. There are things about each of us that you’ll never know until we’ve all shared everything there is to share.”
Although she knew Mal was correct and already had those feelings for Sulli, Shandra shook her head. “Now is not the time.”
If it hadn’t been for the events of today, she might soon have gotten to the point where she could talk it over with Sulli. Now, it seemed almost distasteful to her, like she’d be stealing something from him rather than joining together as one.
“Just don’t leave it until the middle of an actual battle and you should be fine.” Mal’s teasing voice chased Shandra into sleep.
“But,” Halv’s lower lip wobbled as he spoke, his voice husky, “we should come along with you to the Davelmiotas. If there’s a fight, we should be standing shoulder to shoulder.”
Shandra suppressed a sigh and gave Halv’s shoulder a shake. “You need to look after the farm. Otherwise, there’ll be nothing left here for us to return to. It’ll be a struggle with just you and Ricci. To take you along as well might mean we come back to a ruin.”
She didn’t believe the words but Shandra tried to sell them as hard as she could. Her mother had taught her the land always endured. That was the best thing about farming. “You can leave a house for decades and come back to a ruin. Leave land alone for the same time, and it’s still ready to plant again.”
But Halv was too young to remember much of what their mother had said.
“If it’s because you think I’d hold you back, I can promise you I’ve been practicing. Io says I’m nearly as good as him now, and he’s the best there’s ever been.”
“Your sword skills have come on in leaps and bounds,” Shandra agreed, “but that’s not the reason I’m leaving you behind. Believe me, Halv. If we didn’t have a home and farm here to look after, I’d be happy to stand shoulder to shoulder with you in battle.”
Over my dead body.
“And what happens if you don’t return?” Ricci’s voice was sharp.
“I’ll try not to let that happen.”
“Everyone else from this family who went off to war never returned. That means you do expect us to run this farm alone. A few months ago, you were willing to face off with Wella in the town square to make sure that didn’t happen.”
“Things have changed in the past few months. What happened yesterday, didn’t that scare you?”
Ricci scoffed as though invisible monsters out of an exploding cloud were nothing to be feared. It was the wrong thing for her to say though. Halv’s face turned even paler, and he clutched at Shandra’s hands until her fingers screamed in pain.
“Please don’t go. If you stay here, we can defend the farm against anything that comes. We know every inch of this ground and that gives us an enormous advantage. Just ask Baile.”
“Baile is coming along with us,” Shandra reminded him. “If traveling away to the Davelmiotas wasn’t the best option, then we’d stay here. But I trust what Sulli tells us and he says we need to go to this mage’s home ground in order to have a fighting chance.”
“Even though Wella is already there with her army.” Halv stamped his foot, tears shimmering in his eyes. “If the mage can be defeated up in those ranges, then why not tell her how to vanquish the enemy. She’ll be able to s
end a dozen bigger men and women in to do the job. Send a messenger boy. Nobody needs to leave here.”
“That won’t work, Halv. Please. Let me say goodbye to you without any more discussion. Your job now is to look after the farm with your brother until we return home.”
Io popped his head into the kitchen, then withdrew a step when he saw they were still talking. “The horse is ready. We’ve borrowed steeds from the other farms in the area to carry all of us.”
Shandra nodded, her throat so tight she could barely swallow. “Goodbye, Halv. Goodbye, Ricci. I love you both and will see you again as soon as I can.”
She turned, even as Halv began another round of pleading. Better to get out of there and let her brothers become used to the idea of her absence. They couldn’t do anything to dissuade her either way.
As they rode down the trail to join the main thoroughfare, Shandra turned Starburst to look back at the farm. Ricci and Halv stood in the yard, watching after her, and she waved.
“I’ll come back, I promise,” Shandra whispered, hoping it wasn’t a lie.
Chapter Four
Sulli jumped down from his horse and let it move to the water to drink. He followed along behind it, choosing a place upriver to sweep a handful up to his own mouth. It was cool and clean, a brace for his empty stomach. To keep the packs slung on the horses light, they hadn’t brought much food, just enough for one hearty meal each day.
He’d already eaten that, and it was a long time till the next one.
Foolish. Sulli swilled a mouthful of water around and spat it out on the bank next to him. This wasn’t time to grieve over hunger when the man who scared him most in the world might be waiting around the next bend.
They’d already reached the field where the explosion they’d seen had occurred. Not much was left behind, except for blue-tinged charcoal where plants, animals, and humans used to be.
