Time Academy

by Kelly N. Jane

We hadn’t gone far when we entered a clearing and found Sabra surrounded by five men. A spear stuck out of her ribs on one side, and a large gash on her other side dripped blood. She did her best to keep circling to avoid the men’s blows, though it was easy to see how she tired further with each round.

  I wrapped my arm around my side and rushed forward with the others. Our presence startled the men and gave Sabra the chance to lunge at the one closest to her. She grabbed hold of his throat and ripped half of it away.

  I’d seen a lot of brutal battles, and that was right up there on the disgusting scale.

  The others squared off with the remaining men, and I hurried to Sabra. She growled at me. I ignored it. She was in pain, and when I caught her gaze, I could see in her eyes that she knew me.

  There wasn’t anything I could do about the gash, but I studied the spear. I wanted to see if I could take it out, or if doing so would cause more damage. The way it was lodged in her side and angled toward her heart meant it was too risky to remove.

  “Hold still, I’m going to try to break it off,” I said.

  She spun and roared in my face, knocking me to my backside and again causing me to screech out from my own injury.

  Fine, if she wants to run with that long stick bouncing around in her side, so be it.

  My attention was redirected to the others when I heard Cordelia scream.

  She was on the ground, pulling Jarren into her lap, and Georgia Anne was in a heap. I couldn’t tell if she was breathing.

  Orsika faced the last raider, her eyes black with rage as she rushed the man. I turned away as she grabbed the sides of his head, though I still heard the cracking of bones and ripping of flesh.

  The battle was over. But, we’d paid a high price.

  26

  I’d carried einherjar over my shoulder before, but in those situations, I’d never cared about how they felt. It was a new experience to worry about Georgia Anne’s head swinging or striking anything as we made our way back to the caves.

  She didn’t appear to have any life-threatening injuries, just a lump on her head that must have knocked her out. Orsika had offered to carry Sabra, and the leopard shifter gave a menacing growl in return. Orsika picked up Jarren’s body instead. Despite the humans’ accepted rules for leaving their dead, it didn’t sit well with the rest of us. Cordelia shuffled beside the dhampir, staring blankly at the ground in silence.

  When we reached the cave, Orsika laid Jarren on a mattress in the first empty room we came to. Cordelia continued toward the common room without a backward glance.

  I decided to keep Georgia Anne with me as I followed down the narrow hallway. Sabra padded behind, growling occasionally when the end of the spear hit the wall. Even so, it felt right to stick together. Besides, I knew I’d need to be quick to assure everyone that the large predatory cat wouldn’t hurt them—at least, that’s what I planned to say. Glancing over my shoulder as Sabra made another muffled rumble, I wasn’t instilled with confidence in the truth of that statement.

  What we found in the gathering room, however changed the situation altogether.

  Standing in the center of the room was Tankerai, surrounded by four raiders. While we’d gone off to fight those outside, others had snuck into the caves.

  My blood boiled at the audacity of the enemy, as well as at my own negligence for not taking better precautions against them. My only solace was in the way all of their eyes widened in fear as Sabra stepped out from behind me.

  Their clubs and axes raised in preparation of an attack. She growled low and steady, but didn’t move closer.

  We stayed at the edge of the room. Cordelia stood beside me, and I glanced at her when her breath hitched. Following her gaze, I found the cause. On the far side of the room, I could see Mihai huddled over Lucia on the floor. They were partially hidden by a cushion.

  I lowered Georgia Anne gently to the floor, never letting my eyes leave the nearest raider. My patience for these brutes was at an end. The pain in my ribs had eased, and I was ready enough to clear the room.

  As I rose again to full height, Orsika moved into position between Cordelia and me.

  “Isn’t this special, so many of you made it back,” Tankerai sneered.

  I moved my gaze to him and noticed the crooked grin on his face. He wasn’t a prisoner as I’d expected, he wasn’t surrounded—he was protected.

  “You led them here?” Confusion had to read all over my face, as hard as I pinched my brows together. “Why?”

  “It’s not that hard to figure. Those like you are destroying life all around us, without care or notice what they leave behind. Jarren doesn’t understand that we can’t survive if we don’t fight back and take what’s ours.”

  “The vampires were created against their will by evil means, and most don’t know any better than to follow their instincts. You kill anyone accidentally left alive before you steal their belongings. What kind of monster does that make you? Those like you are more damaging to humanity than any other being.”

  Orsika stepped closer as she spoke, and all the raiders tightened their grips on their weapons, swinging them between her and Sabra. They clearly weren’t prepared to face us.

  “You don’t contend with the true threat. You hide like cowards in the shadows and attack the weak and helpless. Now you stand before us, quivering in your boots. How do you think you could stop one of us, let alone all three?”

  Tankerai glared, and flicked his glance to Sabra before settling it on me. “I don’t know what you are, but all I’ve seen you do is disappear, and your lion is injured. There’s only one we need to worry about, and with five to one, I’d say we have the upper hand.”

  Orsika chuckled.

  I snapped my gaze to her. Not only was it was an unfamiliar sound, but at the moment, it also seemed out of place.

  “You have no idea what Niasa is capable of, and a little stick isn’t going to stop a leopard. It’s going to take a lot more men than you have here to stop us.”

  Cordelia slid further away from Orsika, and addressed the men in front of us. “I’m going to go help my mother, and watch with pleasure as all of you die.” She kept her eyes on Tankerai as she made her way around the room.

  Once she was safely crouched next to Mihai and Lucia, I rolled my neck in preparation for the short fight ahead. The rumble coming out of Sabra’s chest and the swish of her tail seemed to indicate her readiness, and I knew Orsika needed no prelude.

  A thought came to my mind, and I smiled. I glanced left and right to my friends. “If you’ll indulge me one moment, I’d like to show these fools who I am.”

  Orsika snorted, and a grin crept across her face. Sabra licked her lips, which I took as acceptance.

  Still smiling, I allowed the heat to build up inside my chest. It pulsed against my skin as the energy built up. When my eyes began to glow, it gave my vision a hazy filter, and I knew I was ready. I released the energy, allowing my true Valkyrie essence to flash in front of them. For extra effect, I spread my wings wide and made myself appear bigger, more menacing.

  All five men slid backward, terror written on their faces. There was nowhere for them to go, unless they wanted to try to scramble through the tiny space Mihai had brought us through.

  “Pardon me,” Georgia Anne said as she took up position on the other side of Sabra. “I don’t even know what it is I can do, but y’all aren’t going to leave me out of this party.”

  Orsika smiled at Tankerai. “I think you miscalculated.”

  I helped Cordelia move Lucia onto a cushion after depositing the bodies of the men in a pile outside the cave. It had taken the four of us less than five minutes to dispatch the raiders and Tankerai. Now we were trying to make the older woman as comfortable as possible in her last moments.

  A large amount of blood had pooled where she’d laid on the ground. Her pale complexion had turned ashy, and her breath was labored. Cordelia made no sound, but tears slowly dropped onto her mother’s shoulders as she b
ent over her. Not long afterward, Lucia’s chest stilled, and her haggard breathing silenced.

  Mihai rested his forehead against her body and cried, while Cordelia sat back on her heels. I closed my eyes, mentally picturing Lucia’s spirit rising to move on to the proper afterlife.

  A quiet rumble broke my concentration, and I scanned the room. Over to the side, Sabra rested on a cushion with the spear still sticking out of her side. I hurried over to her. Orsika and Georgia Anne met me there as we all crouched beside her.

  “Now do you want that out?” I asked.

  “You can’t!” Georgia Anne cried. “If you do, she’ll bleed out right quick. She needs a doctor.”

  “She doesn’t want anyone from around here.”

  We all knew Orsika referred to her brothers, and nodded in agreement.

  “Can you get her back?” Orsika asked me. She was the only one who knew I might be able to.

  Georgia Anne and Sabra turned their attention to me, and the plea in their eyes seemed to ask for more than just helping with a wound. We all wanted out of this place. Even if we had to face a horde of demons, it seemed better than being here. Besides, I still needed to go back to find Gus.

  “I can try. It’s not something I’ve ever done on purpose, but I might be able to make a portal. Though, I can’t guarantee it’ll be safe.”

  The last thing I wanted was to make a mistake in where we ended up. Sabra’s bleeding wasn’t profuse, but it was steady. We were on a time limit, and I didn’t know how long that was, so I’d need to get us back to Breasal on the first attempt.

  “We should go outside, find a spot where it’s clear so you aren’t so confined,” Georgia Anne said.

  For someone who’d appeared scatterbrained when I’d dealt with her in class, she amazed me as she accepted all the changes to her life in stride. I rose to my feet and thought through what it might take.

  “There’s a clearing not far from here. I can show you,” Mihai said behind us, his sniffles indicating he hadn’t pulled himself together quite yet.

  “You should stay in here where it’s safer,” Orsika told him.

  Cordelia huffed and raised a brow before she lifted her eyes to meet Orsika’s. “Is it? My mother and my husband are dead. It’s better if we go someplace new. There are other camps like ours that will take us in. We’ll help you find the clearing together, and then leave from there.”

  Orsika nodded.

  I stared at the ceiling for a couple moments and took a deep breath. “Gather as many supplies as you can carry for your journey, and then we’ll go.”

  After they had packed up some dried meats, cheeses, and water skins Cordelia and Mihai showed us to the clearing and we said our goodbyes. As they turned to leave, Orsika stopped them.

  “I’m coming with you,” she said.

  “What?” Georgia Anne cried at the same time that Sabra growled.

  I gaped at her like a fool. Why would she want to stay?

  “My family created those monsters, and I’m the only one capable of killing them. My plan has always been to come back and help . . . It’s the agreement I made with Vivie when she brought me to Breasal. Now that I’m here, I can’t leave everyone again. I’ll keep working on my skills while I train more dhampir.”

  “This is madness, you can’t stay. You’re not a Mystic yet. Come back and finish your training first.” Georgia Anne rubbed Orsika’s upper arm as she spoke.

  It was a gesture I wouldn’t have expected Orsika to tolerate, but her eyes softened as she listened.

  “I can feel the powers I’ve learned still with me. They’re faint, but I’ll work at them. When you make it back, find Vivie for me and let her know where I am. Perhaps one day, she and I can work together and finish my training. You’re all strong and capable, I know you’ll go back and find your purpose. But this is where I’m supposed to be . . . where I’ve always been meant to be.”

  We watched Orsika leave with Cordelia and Mihai. A single tear escaped as I tried to choke down the lump that had formed in my throat. My heart pinched. I was tired of losing friendships easier than I could make them.

  We waited for the three to get far enough away that they wouldn’t accidentally get sucked into any portal I was able to create. Then I blew out a strong exhale when there wasn’t any more use in staring into the empty forest.

  “So, what do you have to do?” Georgia Anne asked.

  Sabra stared at me, waiting for an answer as well.

  “When I’d go between Valhalla and Midgard, I’d fly as fast as I could to break the barrier, but I don’t know how to form a portal like we crossed through from Breasal.”

  Any suggestions they had would have been gladly accepted, but they only stared at me in anticipation.

  Then I remembered the other time I’d seen a portal, when Toril had been sucked up into that black vortex with Jemma. I didn’t want to accidentally create one of those, but I wondered if I flew in a circle fast enough, if the effect might be something similar.

  “I have an idea. When I manipulate the greenery, I make a mental image, and the plants respond to create that design. So maybe if I picture the courtyard, it will help ensure we end up there and not somewhere else.”

  Sabra snorted, then licked her side and gave a low growl. She eased onto her haunches in the dirt, and Georgia Anne crouched down beside her to rub her back.

  Whatever I was going to do, I was running out of time.

  “I’ll need to use my wings, so I’m going to transform.”

  “I’ll try not to,” Georgia Anne said with a snort. “I don’t know what’ll happen if I get all fiery again.”

  “About that, try to keep yourself calm until I get this figured out. I’d rather not deal with whatever that is until later.”

  She flicked her brows and shrugged. Apparently, she wasn’t convinced it was something within her control—neither was I.

  I steadied myself, glanced around the clearing once more, and switched to my ethereal form. It was so comforting to feel my wings open that I let out a long sigh.

  Sabra let out a noise that sounded like a purr. I turned to her, and she nodded at me. It was good to know she could see me.

  All right then, time to put my plan into action.

  I flapped and rose into the air, then began to circle the clearing. Gaining speed as I went, I alternated strong flaps with a moment of gliding. The air blew in my face, and curls dislodged from my tie.

  Faster and faster, I pushed myself.

  The dirt rose up around Sabra and Georgia Anne until I could barely see them anymore. I could just make out their forms huddled together. Georgia Anne had wrapped her arms around Sabra’s neck to brace against the swirling tornado I’d created. After another couple laps, I began to tire, though nothing but a dust storm had formed.

  Tears stung the backs of my eyes as I accepted my failure. It wasn’t going to work, and I didn’t have any other ideas.

  The momentum I’d created in the air continued as I landed next to the others inside the middle of the dirt-filled funnel.

  How did I travel to Gus’s ripple? What made that happen? I reached up and touched my medallion as I tried to think.

  Suddenly, the air pressure increased all around us. I struggled to breathe, and bent over, in the process, bracing my hand on Georgia Anne’s shoulder. Just as it felt like the pressure would turn my body inside out, it disappeared.

  I fell from the sudden release, and heard both of the other girls cry out at the same time. Disoriented, I scanned all around me.

  We lay on the cobbled stones of the courtyard in Breasal.

  We were back.

  27

  Georgia Anne tackled me in a tight hug, which I returned. Tears leaked from my squeezed eyelids, but I didn’t care. When we released each other, we turned our attention to Sabra.

  She lay still on her back, in her human form, with her eyes closed.

  Georgia Anne and I immediately scrambled over to her. I was about to shake
her shoulders, when a wide smile split her face.

  “I had my doubts about you,” she said with a laugh. “Let’s get this annoying stick out of my side now.”

  “I don’t know if there are healers here. Maybe we should just break it off?” I said.

  The thought didn’t appeal to me, but I hadn’t gotten us back just to lose her now.

  “Usually, if I’m injured when I shift, my change speeds up the healing process. I couldn’t do that in the cave, because I was stuck in the form I left in. Obviously, that’s no longer an issue. Help me pull this thing out, and I’ll shift again. I think being here will make my body work how I’m used to. If not, Georgia Anne can use some of her skills to help me.” She winked at our friend.

  “What skills? I don’t want y’all relyin’ on me!”

  “You’re a hunter, right? You have to have dressed out an animal before. Just sew instead of cut.” She chuckled, but neither Georgia Anne or I found her advice funny.

  “It doesn’t work that way,” Georgia Anne finally said. Her lips curled to show her distaste. “Besides, I try to avoid helpin’ with that part.”

  “Maybe we should go to Gus’s room. There are herbs and things in there from the infirmary that we can use.” I hoped it sounded like I was trying to help Sabra; the truth was that being back made my need to check on Gus too intense to wait any longer.

  “Yeah, it’s all about helping me.” Sabra shook her head with a slight curve to her lip.

  “Even if it is a ploy for her to see him, it isn’t a bad idea,” Georgia Anne added.

  Apparently, the art of subtlety still eluded me.

  “I’m taking this out, then we can go. I don’t want to have it knocking into the corridor walls.” Sabra grabbed the shaft of the spear and sucked in a large breath.

  I wrapped my hand around it also, as did Georgia Anne. If Sabra wanted it out, we’d help make it happen in one jerk.

  She held her breath and nodded. We all yanked at the same time and sent the offending weapon skittering across the stones. Sabra immediately put pressure against the wound as blood seeped through her fingers, then Georgia Anne and I fell to our backsides as we were bumped by the leopard who appeared in front of us.