“Oh yeah, we’re just going to ask them to make a detour,” Titus snaps before kicking Kai off his foot. Tired of being uncomfortable, the warrior gets up and tears off the back of Bob’s seat in order to sit facing the others. “Decker will agree that herding an enemy army in a specific direction is difficult even in the best of circumstances. The only thing going in our favor is that Lost and the other womb-born are angry to the point of acting irrationally. It’s possible we could get them to the ruins, but the trip is too long. One of them is going to notice that they’re going in the wrong direction and that will make things worse.”
“He’s right,” the dwarf states with a sigh. Seeing a fallen tree in their path, he draws his axe and knocks the debris out of the way with a blast of wind. “It is also possible that they are too far gone to be diverted at all. Some people gain a sense of hyperawareness when they are fueled by rage. Anyone with heightened senses would probably be like this, which has to cover at least a handful of the womb-born. The plan would fail and all involved will find themselves trampled to death.”
“Especially since Lost is someone with heightened senses!” Bob yells from the front. He spins Titus around and hands him the reins, his frustration with the oxen finally getting the best of him. “Not to mention her mental powers and the bunny. The only thing going for us is that she’s easily distracted. Although, I doubt that’s a problem considering she’s become more and more focused as bad stuff happens to her.”
“That girl was built to never be surprised,” Kai mutters under his breath. Taking a look at the other vampires, he suddenly notices that three people are missing. “Where did Clyde, Chastity, and Mab go? They were just here . . . Unless I’ve been watching illusions this whole time.”
“They stayed long enough to hear about the ruins and then they left after telling me their plan,” Luther explains, bowing in apology to the other Vengeance Hounds. He turns into a raven and creates a phantom bird to fly ahead as a scout. “Follow me to the ruins because I know a short cut. The others have gone ahead through the shadows to redirect the womb-born. If anyone can enhance the oxen then do it now. We aren’t expected to get there first, but we need to reach Kylgirth as a rear guard. The battle is going to be about containment in the hopes of settling the womb-born and coming to an agreement. At the very least, we can lock them away until we figure out what to do with them. Clyde said that you three can get off at the road to Nyte if you want. This really isn’t your battle.”
Stephanie is about to speak when Kai states, “We’ll see what the situation is when we get there. I see no reason to help you if Nyte is safe and we have nothing to gain.”
“Fair enough,” the forest tracker says before taking to the air.
*****
Lightning falls from the cloudless sky and strikes the thatched rooftops of the village, which quickly catch fire. The citizens do their best to put out the flames, but find that their well has been frozen. Seeing no other options, they grab as many of their belongings as they can and evacuate to the east. The caravan of one hundred mortals is barely out of town before an earthquake creates a fissure across the road. Horses rear back and people scream until the mayor points at the far side of town where a rainbow has appeared. Thanking all of the kind and benevolent gods that they can remember, the citizens race down the dirt road while more lightning streaks out of the heavens. Rain begins to batter them, but the ground stays dry enough to avoid turning into mud. Everyone braces themselves as they pass under the colorful arch, which disappears after the last person leaves the town. Only the children cheer as they leave their crumbling homes behind and head for their neighbors, who are at least four days of long travel away.
“Those ungrateful pests,” Xavier mutters as he steps out of an alley. The nobleman points at the well to unfreeze the water and uses it to put out the fires. “I find it ridiculous that we are saving what is basically cattle. This town is not one of our hunting grounds, so I say the womb-born can have it. It is not like there were enough mortals here to feed them all. Please know that I only did this for you.”
“I am thankful for this, dear, and I know how much you hate leaving Nyte,” Nadia whispers as she materializes from a swarm of termites. Joining her husband at the eastern entrance, she listens to the wind and leaves. “The forest is talking to me again. I never get this when I am behind our walls. The womb-born are coming through the trees. No sign of our people or the Dawn Fangs. We merely have to delay this army for at least five minutes. That should not be a problem.”
“It is more a question of why.”
“We promised to help keep this problem a secret.”
“The citizens are gone, so there are no witnesses.”
“Mortals are such slow creatures. They need time to properly escape.”
The two nobles stop talking when they see Lost step out of the forest and hundreds of womb-born remain lurking in the shadows. Before they can react, the girl points at Xavier and tries to psychically attack him. The unrefined assault is easily fended off by his own mental powers and a quick spell that wraps him in a confusion barrier. It still leaves the ancient vampire with a nosebleed, which he casually cleans with a silk handkerchief. He is about to retaliate when Eighty steps out of the crowd and puts his hand to the ground. Grass sprouts from the dirt road and swiftly turns into sharp blades that project out in a failed attempt to impale the fleet-footed nobleman. The boy is confused when he tries to do the same to Nadia, but the plants refuse to obey his commands. Instead, they wilt away from the beautiful woman who has bent down to whisper soothing words to them.
“Forcing nature to do your bidding will never be more powerful than polite words and compliments,” the crimson-haired orc coyly declares. Taking a seat on the well, she waves to Lost and sighs when the girl bares her fangs. “I have no idea what has gotten into you. We allowed you to stay in our home, gave you a room, and I even let you humiliate my loyal bodyguard. He’s still wearing one of the bows. How about you come back to Nyte with us and talk?”
“You’re not my father!” Lost screams over the distance. She takes one step forward, but stops when the rest of her army attempts to follow. “These are the ones who decided to work with Archillious the Destroyer. The famous Lord and Lady of Nyte are nothing more than horrible monsters who wish to kill us all. We might outnumber them, but we shouldn’t get too close. They haven’t lived this long without being smart and powerful. Should we go around them? That’s not retreating, is it?”
“But we were going to crush them at Nyte anyway,” Eighty points out before having the oaks fire acorns at the nobles. A wall of flame erupts from the ground to burn the projectiles, the terrifying power causing many of the womb-born to cower. “One of them has magic. Our kind aren’t supposed to have magic. That means he’s really an old-world, but it’s daylight. He’s a bigger freak than the rest of us.”
“I heard that,” Xavier growls through gritted teeth. He grows his nail and aims it at the boy, but it is shoved back into his finger when he tries to fire it. “My hiring of Archillious was only to capture you, Lost. Whatever else he wants is not my concern. In fact, I have no interest in utter destruction. I prefer to rule over the living and undead than corpses. That being said, I will defend my home with all of my power. That means your assault on Nyte will be the last thing you do.”
“You can’t stop us, former fake father,” Lost replies with a grin. Raising her arm sends the flying womb-born into the air and those with elemental powers develop charges at the tips of their fingers. “Drive them back or kill them. This isn’t going to be the real battle. Even without their leaders, the people of Nyte will be a challenge. They have at least four other powerful vampires there, but they’ll be weaker if the Lord and Lady are dead. In other words, your Princess General wants you to kill them now.”
Dozens of attacks soar towards the village while the fliers draw their weapons and gain enough height for a powerful group dive. Their targets easily dodge and deflect the blasts until they vani
sh and reappear at the far end of town. With a low rumble that gives the womb-born pause, every building jumps off its weakened foundations. Fences rocket out of the earth as the structures collide and merge into a massive creature, the wooden stakes connecting to become splintery fingers. The golem reaches for the stone well and pulls it out of the ground to use as a club, which it swings at the flying Dawn Fangs. Knocking the slower enemies out of the sky, the creature opens its mouth to spew a stream of furniture. The elemental womb-born try to destroy everything, but the smaller pieces come through the defensive barrage and smash into the nearby forest. The trees that are too damaged to stay up are swiftly controlled by Eighty, who sends them rolling towards Nadia’s creation. An earth-quivering stomp shatters the thick trunks, but cracks run up to the golem’s knee. Seeing the damage, the flying enemies dive at the weak point and crash through in the hopes of knocking the giant over. Instead, five of them are snared by bedsheets that reconnect to the severed limb and pull it back into place while trapping the Dawn Fangs inside.
Hearing her friends calling for help, Lost tries to mind jack the golem, but finds that she cannot control constructs. With a whimper of frustration, she scratches her head and looks around for anything she can use as a weapon. The largest trees have already been hurled by Eighty and none of the boulders are shiny enough for her to consider them. She attempts a telekinetic shove that she hopes nobody sees because it fails completely. Watching more of her people get smacked to the ground and struck by another rain of abandoned belongings, Lost launches herself and enhances the strength of her arms. The bunny rockets into the golem’s approaching hand with enough force to deflect the blow and clear a path for its owner. Rearing back with both fists, the silver-haired girl aims for the monster’s chest and punches two massive holes in the merged buildings. The construct flails at the Dawn Fang that is clinging to an open door at the edge of the massive injury, but every blow that comes close to Lost is knocked away by the fast-moving rabbit. Climbing onto the creature’s shoulder, the girl uses her nail to scratch a target into a window shutter on its cheek. She delivers a kick without enhancing her muscles, which breaks her foot and dents the golem. Angry about getting hurt, she backhands the creature and sends its head sailing into the forest. Lost sends her bunny into the stumbling body and has it fly through the internal walls until the giant begins to implode. Remembering to strengthen her legs first, the Dawn Fang delivers a single stomp that sends a flood of wreckage in every direction. The captured womb-born clamber out of the destruction while the rest of the army applauds their Princess General’s victory.
“That was fun,” Lost says as she limps back to her friends.
*****
The womb-born army stops at a fork in their path, which has been created by large cliffs reaching up to the clouds. Lost walks to the entrance of each road and sniffs at the air in search of a familiar scent. For a brief moment, she catches something, but a change in the wind makes her think that it is coming from behind her forces. The difficult decision causes the girl to sigh and kick at a few rocks that blast into the craggy cliffs. She considers sending fliers to the top as scouts, but the purple fog makes her fear that Archillious is waiting with one of his poisonous traps. The thought of the Utukku being nearby sends a shiver down her spine, which is mimicked by the rest of the womb-born. Lost becomes distracted by the comical reaction and tries to get her friends to imitate her movements. Starting with raising her arms and jumping, it is not long before she gets the entire army to do backflips in perfect unison. When the idea of having them dance pops into her head, she strikes a pose and is immediately smacked in the back of the head by her bunny. She bows her head in apology while the animal angrily wiggles its ears and twitches its tail.
With a mopey sigh, Lost is about to wave for Eighty to join her when she notices a pair of socks in the path to her right. Her face turns red with a swirling combination of anger and fear, but she bites her tongue to stop the potential outburst. Letting out a slow breath, the Princess General points to the left and swiftly marches away from the terrifying garments. Worried that there are more socks lurking nearby, she increases her speed to the point where she is on the verge of jogging. The other womb-born are surprised at how quickly they are moving and the slower members begin to fall behind. Those who call for help find that their voices do not echo like they expect, which forces them to run after their friends. After thirty minutes of traveling, the path narrows to the point where they have to travel in pairs and struggle to avoid getting scratched on the rough walls. Everyone is thankful when they step out of the valley and onto an open plain, which allows the army to spread out. Having lost the chance to feed off the village, many of the vampires are hungry and on the verge of pouncing on one of their companions for a quick snack. Hearing faint voices talk about feasting on friends, Lost whistles to stop the army and points at a nearby herd of deer. With a chorus of growls, the womb-born rush towards the animals and attack with a primal ferocity.
“Don’t forget to eat the meat too!” Lost shouts to her soldiers. Taking a seat next to a bush, she plucks off a few crimson berries and pops them into her mouth. “These are sour, but I think I like them. We should pack up more food in case the journey is longer than I realized. Been running around so much that I don’t know exactly where we are. Although, we must be close if Xavier and Nadia turned up. What do you think, Assistant Admiral?”
“Wouldn’t that rank work better for a navy?” Eighty politely asks. Receiving a blank stare from his leader, he clears his throat and takes a few berries for himself. “I think we should find a village to raid. Deer blood is good and the meat will give us energy, but there’s nothing like mortal to give us strength. If we do it right then nobody will know we were here. After all, drain enough and the bodies crumble to dust.”
“Or so you’ve told me,” Lost says while snapping her fingers to draw her army back. She does not wait for them to finish dividing the uncooked venison before she starts walking in the direction of Nyte. “That kind of slaughter will bring us bad attention. I know I agreed to making a statement earlier, but I’ve been thinking that we might want to be more careful. We need to destroy our enemies without creating more. It’s become obvious that they’re scared of our power. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have come to stop us in person. I vote that we stick to hunting animals until Nyte is destroyed. Since I’m the Princess General, that one vote is all I need to get my way. If you want to disagree then I’ll consider it, but know that bunny is on my side.”
Eighty carefully eyes the floating rabbit, which waves a rear leg at him. “You make a good point, but leaving large groups of dead animals is a bigger sign. Locals might use them for food too, so they’ll notice by the time their next meal comes up. At least with a destroyed village, it would take a long time for other mortals to realize. What about orc bandits? Nobody cares if we devour them. The males don’t taste very good, but they can give us a lot of strength. The grass tells me that there is a camp to the east. It won’t take us too far off course. I leave this decision entirely up to you.”
“Orc makes my tummy feel all icky.”
“There could be females and they would be yours.”
“Have you ever attacked armed mortals and overrun them?”
“No, we usually have a small fight with minor injuries.”
“Then, I have to refuse the request because we have no time for healing.”
Fearing that she has hurt Eighty’s feelings, Lost gives him a tight hug and politely offers her wrist in case he is hungry. The blue-haired boy is on the verge of refusing out of a sense of humility, but his rumbling stomach betrays him. His fangs sink into her skin while the Princess General continues marching, her arm held high in order to carry the feeding vampire. Once her friend is done, she lets him down and takes a raw deer leg from a nearby halfling. Neatly devouring the meat, Lost sighs with contentment and throws the bone far into the distance. The other womb-born follow her example and begin hurling their f
inished meals. It is not long before they make a contest out of it and the pieces go flying with more precision. Nobody is sure of the spontaneous contest’s rules, but they laugh and feel like they are having a type of fun that has been missing from their lives for the last year.
Lost calls for them to stop when she sees a stag’s skull shatter against an invisible barrier that they are heading towards. She stares ahead to see through the illusion, but all she reveals is a rainbow shimmer. Other Dawn Fangs try to do the same and a few peel the spell far enough away to find that there is a hidden building. Frustrated that she cannot break the spell, Lost stomps her foot and considers sending her bunny as a scout. She is stopped when a blast of light rises from the barrier and assumes the shape of a sun. A bulbous eye appears in the center of the churning orb, which releases another beam that sweeps across the landscape. Birds take to the sky whenever they are struck by the magic and distant roars of pain erupt from far away. Fearing that it is an attack by the Duragians, Lost claps her hands and runs in the opposite direction with her revitalized army only a few steps behind. A brave flier is about to leave the ground and charge the masked building, but she is abruptly controlled by her leader. Those who attempt to do anything more than run are psychically slapped and made to feel an intense wave of primal fear. By the time they have left the danger behind, all of the womb-born are so panicked that they refuse to slow down.
Flickering movements drive Lost to stay away from the trees, some of which have socks hanging from their branches. Struggling to maintain her self-control, she closes her eyes and tries to direct herself by using the eyes of her followers. The result is a barrage of images that merge into a disorienting mess and cause her to stumble. Caught by Eighty, Lost blushes about her mistake and decides to run backwards to distract herself from what could be up ahead. Instead, she notices a looming cloud of purple that is distinctly shaped like Archillious and stepping over the distant hills. Fearing that the mortal has found a way to become a Dawn Fang and has gained the power to transform, the girl whirls around and sprints as fast as she can. Sending her army orders to fire at the potential threat, she only stops running when she hears a chorus of explosions and feels a wave of heat strike her back.
Lost (War of Nytefall Book 2) Page 25
