With my mini arsenal and Helgi’s preferred crossbow and throwing stars, we made a good team. I rocked out the hand-to-hand while she remained at a distance and picked off our targets one by one. Not that we’d had to get into many scrapes like that—just two or three over the last year.
The most recent had been a month ago when Barret had sent us to retrieve a woman’s child. Her estranged husband and his band of unlawful merry men had kidnapped the boy and were holed up in the wildlands to the west. The forest land had been a public park once—rivers and trees and pretty monuments for humans to look at—but over the decades it had overgrown into something resembling the inside of a particularly horrific dark fairytale. One trip was enough for a lifetime, and Helgi and I had barely escaped with our hides intact. Of course, we’d retrieved the boy and handed him over to Barret to be reunited with his mother. So, it had been worth it for the warm fuzzy feeling. The tiny bag of silver helped a bunch too.
Thank God these coordinates weren’t anywhere near the wildlands. Still, it was an hour drive with compass and map, but we made it with the full moon as a guide and with at least fifteen minutes to spare. We parked Juniper on a dirt track bordered by brush and made our way onto the other side of the rundown street. Rusted vehicles from the time before were piled up neatly here and there as if some giant had used them as playing blocks in a solitary game. They’d been stripped of useful parts a long time ago, but I made a note of having a look just in case.
The place was so far gone that no outlander had bothered to make it home. I’d been this way several times over the years. Passed by, but never ventured in. The whole place had a ghostly vibe to it. How many people had died here in the first war? How many bones would we find? How many apparitions still haunted the dust and rubble now overgrown with moss and fungi?
“Stop pondering,” Helgi huffed. “Let’s get to the checkpoint and find out what we’re here for.”
Barret would probably be waiting for us with the details of the mission. It had to be big if he couldn’t risk writing it down. My stomach quivered in anticipation. Helgi led the way, her large body surprisingly light on its feet as she leapt over bricks and chunks of cement laced with metal rods that protruded from the stone like rusted teeth. Yeah, the war had decimated much of the island. Fire and ash had hung in the air for years, or so the stories said. The world had burned bright for a time.
And all because of a book.
A grimoire, to be precise, found by humans whose whole purpose had been to excavate things. The Dreki had come into our world because of that book. It had opened a gateway and allowed magic to flood our island, bringing with it a whole host of crap. It had called the Dreki to our world and they’d swarmed our skies, led by their dragon queen. Some say the Dreki had been humanity’s saviors at first, helping to fight the awful beasts that the grimoire had resurrected, but others said they’d merely acted to protect their new home. Whatever the reason, once the threat had been eliminated, they’d turned on humanity, forcing them to procreate with them for the purpose of building a new race. Nothing had ever been the same again. The rest was hazy history—warped, retold, written, and erased, and then penned again until no one knew fact from fiction.
Helgi stopped to study the map, and then we skirted a building and came to a halt, because in front of us were several shadowy shapes of hulking male figures.
“Hey! What the fuck?” one of the figures said.
Helgi’s face echoed my confusion.
“Merc dudes?” I strode toward them, shaking my head. “What are you doing here?”
“Could ask you the same thing.” The scale-faced ringleader studied me with moonlit eyes shrouded with suspicion.
“We’re here for a job.”
The Skins traded glances.
“You’re here for a job too, aren’t you?” Helgi surmised. “Barret?”
The merc nodded. “Yeah. He gave us coordinates.”
“Us too.” I began to pace as a queasy feeling lit up inside me. “I don’t like this.”
The crunch of boots on gravel had us all spinning round. Dunstan stood bathed in the silvery rays of the moon.
He fell into a defensive crouch, his fists up and a deer-in-the-headlights expression on his face. “Shit. What the heck?”
The merc growled low in his throat. “Looks like fate has brought us together again, D.”
The merc with the flared nostrils grabbed his boss’s arm. “Wait, stay focused. This feels off.”
“Barret sent me here on a job,” Dunstan blurted. “Is this a setup?”
It was something all right, and my sixth sense was screaming run.
Two more figures approached, spilling out from between a couple of houses up ahead. More males—wiry and mean-looking. They faltered at the sight of us, and then continued in their approach.
“Where’s Barret?” they asked in unison. The tones of their voices melded together until they sounded like one person speaking.
On closer inspection, it was more than their voices that were identical. Looked like we had us some twins. And then a final figure emerged from a building to our left. Huge, hulking with fiery red hair pulled back from his face in a cue.
“Um, Anya, close your mouth,” Helgi whispered.
Shit.
“Barret asked you all to come here too?” the man asked.
His voice was smoke and embers. I studied him as he stepped into a ray of moonlight. The sharp planes of his face and the straight ridge of his nose were perfection. Where was his deformity? Maybe hidden beneath his clothes? Damn, what was wrong with me?
“It looks like Barret brought us all here,” one of the mercs said.
A tingle of apprehension slid up my spine.
Helgi gripped my arm. “Anya, I think we should go.”
And then the air was filled with an angry buzzing sound.
The unmistakable sound of sentinels.
Chapter Three
“What are sentinels doing this far out?” the merc ringleader asked me.
I gave him an incredulous look. “How the heck would I know?”
They came into view. Seven ... no, eight of them—flat silver discs floating above us, lit up by a green strip of light across the rim which was the scanner part that collated data. Wait. Eight of them and eight of us, at least there had been before the big guy had shown up. My stomach turned, and I took a step back into the shadow of the nearest building.
“Anya? They’re just scouting,” Helgi pointed out, but she didn’t sound too sure.
Yeah, just scouting? Then why was my gut screaming at me to run? I took another step toward the building and ducked into the broken open doorway, bracing myself against the jagged, crumbling brick. The whole thing was a death trap ready to collapse, but right now, in here felt safer than out there.
“Helgi.” I waved her toward me.
Helgi’s brow furrowed, but she came. I pulled her into a crouch.
“What are you doing?” the merc asked. He was probably going for an amused, light tone, but his words came out too sharp to pass as unconcerned.
The redheaded guy just stood there, indifferent, almost as if he was waiting for something to happen. What was he waiting for? The sentinels finally reached the group, hovering overhead in a mass and then spreading out. One hung over Dunstan, three above the mercs, two above the twins, and one over the redhead. The eighth one hovered uncertainly. The green strip of light switched to red.
Red for danger.
My pulse thudded in my throat and one word tore from my mouth. “Run!”
The dark-haired merc with the scales locked gazes with me for a moment, horrific comprehension dawning on his face. His lips moved in a curse and then a red light swept over him. He threw back his head as his body convulsed, and then he fell to the ground. The others followed suit a moment later. Seven Skins on the ground. Unmoving. One sentinel split from the group, rising with its lights flashing red as it scanned the terrain.
It was searchi
ng for us.
“It won’t see us in here, right?” Helgi’s tone was tight.
“I don’t know. I don’t know enough about them.”
“Are they dead?”
It took me a second to realize she was talking about the Skins lying on the ground, and not the sentinels.
“No. I don’t think so. Why would they want to kill Skins?”
“Dunstan said sentinel activity had increased, and look what they’ve done.”
It made no sense. The sentinels had always been about watching, collecting information, and being a general nuisance. They were part of the terrain. Until now. The sentinels drifted closer, so close that if I’d jumped out of my hiding place, I’d have been directly under them. My breath stuck in my throat and my muscles screamed for action. I needed to run.
A low rumble lit the night. A beast come to devour us? No. Not a beast, the engine of some kind of vehicle.
Helgi and I traded shocked looks. There were very few vehicles in the Outlands. Skins traveled using mainly mules, horses, or sturdy walking boots. Juniper was one of a handful of motors around. Vehicles were tech, and not many could work tech, so vehicles usually meant Draco City.
The metal beast careened into view and came to a screeching halt on the other side of the street. They called them vans. I’d seen enough propaganda about Draco City to recognize the technology and creature comforts. The doors flew open and four males jumped out—tall, broad, and perfect.
Dragon Bloods.
Their clothes were dark, blending into the night, and their golden hair was covered with black woolen caps. Another van parked up, and more Dragon Bloods jumped out, but this time, a front door opened and a man stepped out of the passenger side. Unlike the others, his hair wasn’t covered. It flowed glorious and golden down his back, while his piercing blue eyes scanned the night.
“We’re missing two,” he snapped.
“We were promised eight Skins,” one of his minions said. “We have seven, so ...”
The golden-haired guy shot his subordinate a searing look saturated with disgust. “I can count, you fool. There were nine heat signatures on the data pad. It looks like we have an extra.” He pulled something from his pocket, some kind of device. “Fan out and search the perimeter. They couldn’t have gone far. Now, how do you get these damned sentinels to scan inside the buildings?”
The black-suited figures dispersed into the night, boots slapping against concrete in an ominous patter.
Shit, shit, shit. The stone must be blocking our body heat somehow, but if the sentinels scanned deeper, then we were screwed. The sentinels flashed red, then switched to orange. They rose higher and then fanned out, mimicking the Dragon Bloods searching on foot.
“It was Barret,” Helgi said. “He sold us out.”
She had to be right, but the question remained as to why. We’d ponder it at our leisure once we got our arses out of here.
I yanked Helgi toward the back of the ruined house. “They’re going to find us if we stay. We need to make a run for it.”
We ducked out a yawning gap in the back wall and burst into a sprint. A quarter of a mile in front of us was cover. Trees and bracken and hopefully a few hidey-holes where we could wait the Draco out. They’d assume we’d escaped and leave.
“There! There they are.” Boots thudded behind us.
Shit, double shit.
Helgi let out a cry and dropped like a stone. My legs kept pumping a moment longer, finally skidding to a halt when my brain’s desperate command filtered through. Helgi was down, her body silent and still. A sentinel hovered over her and then zoomed my way. Dark figures ran across the flat ground, aiming for me. They’d seen me. There was no way they were letting me go. I was a witness to whatever they were doing. Only one thing left to do.
Stand and fight.
My ankle burned and then the heat of adrenaline surged through my veins. Jezebel was in my hand in a blink. The sentinel zoomed nearer and my feet left the ground as I launched my body toward it. The air whistled and then Jezebel smashed into metal with a crunch, knocking the sentinel to the ground.
The Dragon Bloods’ perfect faces froze in shock. My grin was wide and crazy. “Yeah. Come and get it, fuckers.”
“What are you waiting for?” their leader shouted. “Take her down, you fools.”
One against eight, nine if you counted the leader. Odds were not in my favor, but if I was going down, I’d be taking as many of them with me as possible. It was time to dance. Jezebel whizzed and cut through the air—a scream here, a bellow there. Two down. Just getting warmed up, people. Something stung the side of my neck, warm and cold at the same time.
What?
What the ...
My grip on Jezebel slackened, my knees gave way, and the ground rose up to meet my face.
* * *
The hum of an engine, the chatter of excited voices, an acrid scent, and strange pressure around my throat all accompanied my transition from unconsciousness to waking.
“Anya, thank fuck you’re awake.”
Helgi’s face crowded my vision for a moment and then moved back to reveal an enclosed space lit by artificial light. We were moving. This must be the back of the van.
My attention was immediately drawn to the largest figure in the enclosed space with us. The red-haired guy had his back to the wall, head down and arms braced on his raised knees. His profile was strong, softened only by a tendril of hair that had escaped from his cue and brushed his cheek. My gaze snapped to the two mercs slumped against the opposite wall, their faces like thunder, and my eyes settled on the silver around their necks—collars. My hand went to my throat and made contact with smooth metal. Panic squeezed my lungs for a sharp beat as I fumbled for the clasp only to find none.
“The Dragon Bloods must have put them on us while we were knocked out,” Helgi said.
“Do you know why they grabbed us? What they want?”
Helgi shook her head, her face somber. “I only woke up a few minutes ago.”
I locked gazes with scale face. “Hey, merc, any idea what the fuck is going on?”
He shook his head. “And the name’s Bran. Trust me, we won’t be held hostage for much longer.” His dark eyes flashed wickedly. “I don’t take kindly to being attacked and shackled, and when I get free those Dragon Bloods will be getting intimately acquainted with the edge of my steel.”
“You’d do well to keep your head down,” Big Red said evenly.
“Yeah?” Bran said. “And why the fuck should we?”
Big Red lifted his chin and my breath caught in my throat. I’d seen many faces—strong, handsome, feral, you name it—but there was something hypnotically compelling about this one, as if fire burned in the amber depths of his eyes. Wait, there was no as if. Fire was actually burning in his eyes. But then he blinked and the flames winked out. Had I just imagined that? But Helgi’s fingers digging into my thigh told me I hadn’t.
“That thing about your neck,” Big Red said, tapping his own collar. “It’s not just for decoration.”
Bran’s eye twitched and he swallowed. “So, what is it?”
He blinked. “I don’t know. But I wager it’s something to keep us in check.”
The vehicle jolted, sending us sliding about for a moment before leveling out. We needed to get the heck out of here. There were no windows. The walls were padded and smeared with brown stuff, which on first glance looked like shit, but on closer inspection was more likely dried blood. My scalp pricked. What the fuck was going on? A crackle cut through the silence and then a masculine voice laced with a superior air filled our prison.
“We are approaching our destination. When the vehicle stops, remain seated with your backs to the wall. Do not try anything. The collar around your neck is laced with remote explosives. You won’t get far.”
They’d blow off our heads? Well, that confirmed Big Red’s assessment. But they couldn’t do this. The Outlands were free territory.
Helgi grab
bed my hand and squeezed. “Shut it down, Anya.”
Dammit, my panic must have shown on my face. Breathe and rein it in. “I’m fine, just thinking.”
She nodded. “Yeah, me too.”
Fucked-up situations called for fucked-up measures. Time to assess and formulate a plan, that’s what Dad always said. Shit, Dad. I needed to get back to him. What would he think if he got back to find me gone? Dammit, we should never have taken the job with Barret. When we got out of this mess, he was gonna have to answer to Jezebel.
Okay, focus. What advantage did I have? Jezebel was gone and so were the twins that usually hugged my hips. But the pressure in my boot told me they’d failed to find my secret mini daggers. So, I had two weapons. But the collar at my neck meant that if I attempted to use them, then they could kill me with the flick of a switch.
Dammit.
There was nothing else to do but wait till they opened the doors. Once we knew where we were, then we could figure out an escape plan. There had to be a way out of this.
The vehicle came to a halt. Doors slammed and then boot falls ran along the side of the van. The door was flung open and sunlight blinded me and the buzz of a multitude of voices assaulted my ears. It had been nighttime when they’d grabbed us, so where were we and how long had we been unconscious?
The shock on the merc’s face told me he was wondering the same thing.
“File out. Don’t try anything,” a brisk male voice commanded.
We did as instructed, and with the black barrels of their guns, they ushered us toward a huge pen. At least fifty grimy faces stared back at us from the crisscrossed cage—more Skins like us. Some looked as if they’d been here for days, and beyond it all, surrounding us, was the splendor of monolith buildings built by Dreki and taken over by Dragon Bloods. Black granite and white marble etched with pretty designs. Glass and chrome and people, so many bloody people.
Dragon Trial: Dragon Guard Series book 1 Page 4
