"This has to be it for the night," Pyra said, "We need to sleep. We can keep going as soon as we wake up in the morning."
Lynx gave a defeated sigh and started to lift his hand toward the woman. He heard the rustling sound again and he noticed that the other warriors seemed to be looking around like they heard it, too. It fell silent again and Lynx reached toward the woman. Just as he started to touch her, he could see the first spiked leg of a Covra coming around the edge of the front doorway to the building beside them. Before he could say anything, his palm touched the woman's arm and he disappeared into the vision of her last moments.
The woman was walking away from him and he could see the shadow of a Covra behind her. It was another moment, one like he had had dozens of times since he started looking into these moments, when he wanted so badly to be able to call out to the person, to warn her of what was coming.
Suddenly, almost as if she could hear the screaming in his head, the woman whirled around and confronted the creature. Her eyes flashed as she swung her arm around, bringing a blade up around her and driving it deeply into the eye of the creature. The Covra let out a horrific sound that was between a hiss and a scream, and reared back, pulling its pointed legs up as if ready to strike, and then suddenly collapsing and dissolving into a slick pool of vibrant green blood that seemed to soak down into the ground almost instantly. From one side another of the creatures approached the woman and she shouted. It stumbled back at the sound of her voice and instead of running, she advanced toward it, continuing to yell as she slashed at the creature with her blade. She caught that one in the eye as well, and Lynx watched it recoil and dissolve just as the first.
He was beginning to feel hope when he heard a scratching sound from behind the woman. She turned, glancing over her shoulder, and in an instant before she could even react, a Covra buried its leg into her, locking her in place.
As the vision disappeared around him, Lynx felt himself knocked to the ground. For a moment he had a sense of panic that the Covra had gotten to him again, but he could feel the weight of something massive on top of him and knew that another of the warriors had tackled him to the ground. He heard shouts and felt the weight lifted away from him so that he could roll over and look up to get his bearings about what was happening around him.
The small group of warriors that had come along with him seemed locked in a battle. Three Covra hissed and scurried around them while Ty and an older warrior named Vax growled and rushed toward the other warriors. Lynx knew that they had been infected and that they needed to get rid of the Covra that were there so that they could get these two back to the house for treatment.
"It is their eyes!" Lynx yelled and noticed that the Covra recoiled as if they could understand what he was saying, "Get them in the eyes!"
"Lynx, Bannack, go after the Covra," Pyra commanded, "Ero, Gyyx, Ciyrs, help me."
The warriors split off to follow their orders without question. Out of the corner of his eye Lynx could see Pyra pull off his shirt and the other men follow suit. They tore the garments into long strips and wound them around their hands, tightening the fabric so that it was taut between their grip. Pyra surged forward toward Ty, slamming his shoulder into his belly to flatten him onto the ground. The sudden movement took the infected warrior off guard, causing him to pause for a moment as he tried to catch his breath and get his bearings.
Pyra took advantage of this momentary pause to flip Ty over onto his stomach and use the strips of fabric from his shirt to bind Ty's wrists together. Ero and Gyyx copied his movements on Vax, looping the fabric around his wrists to bind them together and then pulling them back as Pyra did with Ty to attach them to his ankles.
As they did this, Lynx and Bannack advanced toward the Covra. For the first few steps, the creatures seemed to be retreating, then they paused in the still, angry silence of the night air and started rushing toward the two warriors, their hissing sound seeming to rattle through their bodies as they came toward them with their gruesome legs creating deep rivets in the ground and gouges in the side of the building.
Lynx pulled back his blade and brought it over his head with all of the force that he could gather. The Covra in front of him tried to move out of his way, but was blocked by the one standing beside him. The tip of Lynx's blade dug deeply into the creature's eye and he watched it split before the Covra pulled away from him, stumbled back, and dissolved into the ground just as the ones in his vision had. Beside him, Bannack mimicked his action, destroying the Covra in front of him. The final one started scrambling up the wall of the building, and Lynx jumped onto a barrel positioned beside one of the windows and leapt up so that he crossed the path of the Covra, planting a kick in the middle of its body before it could disappear onto the roof. Its body tumbled to the ground beside Bannack, who immediately turned and drove his blade down into the bulbous, gleaming eye.
Chapter Nine
"Bannack, you need to slow down."
Loralia held the compact as steady as she could as she rushed across the compound, struggling to decipher the words that Bannack was yelling at her through the glass.
"We figured out that they can only be killed through their eyes," he repeated.
"Their eyes?"
"Yes. Lynx thought that all along, but we spent all night…never mind. I'll explain it all later."
"Are the rest of the men alright?"
"Ciyrs is healing Ty and Vax right now. I think that he got to them in time and that they will be fine. Right now we need to figure out how to get rid of the rest of the Covra. We destroyed those three, but there have to be more. We can't risk them coming out and infecting more of us. If one of them got Ciyrs, there would be nothing that anyone could do."
"Do you know how to lure them to you?" Loralia asked.
"No. They just show up. Do you remember anything else that your grandfather used to say about the Covra? Anything about when they would come or how you could get them to come out?"
Loralia scoured her mind, trying to recall everything that her grandfather had said, every story that he had told about the creatures and how enemies defeated them. The ground pounded beneath her feet as she ran toward the forest.
"Silence," she said, suddenly remembering one of the stories as she dropped down onto the ground and moved aside a section of moss to reveal the hole leading down into her mirror realm.
"Silence?" Bannack asked.
"Yes. One of the stories that my grandfather used to tell was about how the greatest enemies of the Covra had a power that would weaken the creatures and was the only thing that could reverse their greatest defense, and that silence was their comfort and their joy."
"What was the greatest defense?"
"He never said."
Bannack didn't respond and Loralia dropped down through the hole into the home that she had had her entire life before she met Bannack and agreed to go above ground to be his mate.
"Locking them," Bannack said a moment later, sounding as if he was speaking more to himself than to her.
"Locking?" she asked.
Loralia listened while Bannack told him about the warriors visiting the prison that they had thought belonged to the Klimnu but they discovered actually belonged to the Covra, and how they found out about the kingdom that the Covra had locked. He detailed the Light Ones and how they appeared to be frozen in place in the same breath that they had been drawing when the Covra attacked them. As she listened, Loralia tried to understand what he was telling her, and what she might be able to do to help him. She had gone to the mirror realm to surround herself in what was familiar, hoping that it would help her to think clearly. She could feel that her mate was frightened and upset, and she wanted to do anything that she could to help him.
She moved deeper into the caverns, exploring the chambers and venturing into areas that she hadn't visited in quite some time. Suddenly she saw something that made her heart pound faster and a smile come to her lips for the first time since the day that Bannack left.
"Do you remember what I told you about the compact?" she asked, looking into the mirror at him.
Bannack nodded.
"Whatever reflects in your mirror, reflects in mine."
"Yes. And do you remember what happens when something reflects in my bottom mirror from the top?"
"It becomes real."
Loralia nodded and looked back across the cavern.
Bannack crouched down behind the barrel he had pulled into the middle of the street and glanced over at Lynx who sat beside him. The others had remained in the buildings on either side of the street, poised beside the windows and doors to watch what was happening, but staying out of sight.
"Are you sure that this is going to work?" Lynx whispered.
"It has to," Bannack answered. "In order for it to, though, you have to believe that it will. Loralia can only make this happen if you completely believe that it is going to work the way that she intends it to. If you don't, it won't exist, do you understand?" Lynx nodded and Bannack nodded back at him, "Good. Now we have to be completely silent."
The two warriors fell silent and Bannack glanced down at the compact in his hand. Loralia's face gazed up at him from the glass, her beautiful lavender eyes calm and focused. Nervousness flooded through Bannack, but he knew that he had to steady himself so that he could do his part of Loralia's plan properly. After several minutes of waiting, he heard the rustling sound that told him the Covra were approaching. The sound seemed louder and deeper than it had before and Bannack knew that meant there were more of the creatures this time as if they had sent more to seek revenge on those who had destroyed three of their number just hours before.
"They're coming," Bannack mouthed to Loralia, not making a sound.
Loralia nodded. Bannack lifted up slightly so that he could look over the barrel and watch the Covra approaching.
"Patient," Loralia mouthed to him.
Bannack watched until they were close enough that they would be able to see him clearly and then stood, pulling Lynx up with him so that they were standing in the middle of the street, open to the swarm of creatures approaching. He could feel Lynx tense beside him, but Bannack stood steady. Lynx adjusted his grip on the blade beside him. It was meant as both a ruse and a backup plan just in case Loralia's idea fell through. They waited for a few more tense seconds, the time seeming to drag past as they allowed the creatures to get dangerously closer. Bannack's heart pounded in his chest and his head felt like it was swimming. If this didn't work, the entirety of the group could be killed, many by each other's hands.
In an instant, the plan mobilized around him. The Covra climbing along the outside walls of the buildings got close to the windows and doors, and the warriors inside started to shout. As they yelled, the creatures paused and started to retreat from the sound. They started moving backwards back down the street, but several of the warriors streamed out of the building and made a line across the street, blocking them with a wall of sound. The creatures turned and started scurrying more quickly toward Bannack and Lynx, unable to go anywhere else.
"Are you ready?" Bannack asked, looking down at Loralia.
"Just hold your compact so that the bottom mirror is straight upright and the top mirror is tilted toward it. Go!"
Bannack turned the compact in his hand and held it as Loralia instructed. There was a moment when nothing happened and he felt his stomach turn, but he closed his eyes and forced himself to believe with every bit of his existence that she would create exactly what she intended to. His eyes still closed, Bannack suddenly heard the hissing, screeching sound of the Covra dying. He opened his eyes and found himself staring at a massive slab of brown and grey rock.
After several long seconds the screaming stopped and a chilling quiet settled over the street. Finally it broke with the sound of Loralia laughing.
"We might not be able to communicate with our thoughts, my love, but how many of the other warriors can do that?"
Bannack could hear the other warriors cheering and shouting, but it took a few moments before he was able to get his thoughts together enough to walk around the stone slab toward the cheering. When he did he saw the green blood of the Covra soaking into the dirt of the road, dripping from the rock spikes protruding from the front of the slab.
"What is that?" he asked.
"The floor of one of the caverns," Loralia told him, "I used to play on them when I was younger. I remembered how sharp they were."
"You are incredible."
"No, darling, you are."
"What, now? Is this thing just going to stay here?"
"If you think that it is part of settlement now, then it is. If not, when you close the compact, it will disappear."
"Then it will stay, forever a reminder of what destroyed the Covra."
Suddenly Loralia's eyes grew dark.
"This isn't the end, Bannack," she said solemnly.
The words hit him and the sound of the celebrating warriors seemed to fade.
"What do you mean?"
"I can still feel them. They're angry, Bannack. There's more to come. You need to save the Light Ones or very soon they will be lost forever."
(To be continued in Part II…)
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Chapter One
Layla could only remember running. She was barefoot and the ground beneath her feet was cold and damp, sticks and rocks occasionally digging into the soft flesh and low brush clawing at her as if trying to stop her. Everything around her was hazy. The color seemed to have washed out of the world and left behind only shades of brown and rust and grey. She felt like she was running through water, moving slowly no matter how hard she fought to go faster.
Chilling air whipped at her face and she felt the first few stinging raindrops of a storm cut at her skin. She didn't know where she was going or how she had gotten there, and as she ran, the trees seemed to blur and blend into one another, making it impossible for her to orient herself.
She knew they were coming after her. She could feel and hear their heavy footsteps even in the thick, muting air and feel their presence getting closer. They seemed to be everywhere even though she couldn't see them as she ran. The oppressive feeling of them was getting more intense, but she had to keep running. She didn't know where she was running, but her feet wouldn't stop. Her mind and her fear wouldn't let them.
She thought she could be getting away. She might have a chance to get out of the woods and find her way back home – only, she couldn't remember what home was or where she may be able to find it. All she could do was run.
A cold, sharp breath invaded her lungs as she turned around a massive tree. The hard, choking pressure of a hand on her neck cut off the breath and she felt the ground beneath her feet disappear as the hand lifted her up. There was a moment of consuming terror and then the world around her turned to streaks of black and grey. Then there was nothing.
What could have been hours or days later, Layla became aware again. She kept her eyes closed as consciousness slowly rose through her body and she felt every inch become awake and present. Her muscles ached with the type of depth that came from intense exhaustion and long exposure to cold. The air around her, however, felt warm and damp. She was lying on her back and could feel something hard beneath her like a slab of stone. A tingling sensation flowed through her body and she tried to move her arms, only to find that they were lashed to the stone beneath her with rough lengths of rope. She tried to move her legs, but they were also secured to the stone beneath her.
Sh
e kept her eyes closed, terrified of what she may see if she opened them, and tried to remember what happened before she was running through the woods. No matter how hard she thought about it, however, Layla couldn't come up with anything except running. Her feet still felt chilled and stung from the forest floor, but she had no sense of how much time had passed since whatever had grabbed her and lifted her away.
Taking a long breath to steel herself, she let her eyes slowly slide open. As her eyelids opened and she lifted her head, the first thing she saw was the horizon. It glowed a vibrant shade of green as what looked like a deeply purple sun melted out of sight. She looked above her and saw a low grey ceiling as if she was in a small room. Confusion joined the fear that pumped through her as she tried to process what could be happening to her.
Suddenly she was aware of a presence in the space with her. She could feel someone near her, but she couldn't turn her head enough to look. She wanted to speak, but couldn't bring any sounds forward. The feeling of the presence shifted and she felt someone walking around from behind her head to pause at her side. She looked up at him and felt her breath catch in her throat. The man standing beside her was startlingly beautiful and she felt so immediately drawn to him she briefly forgot her fear. He gazed down at her with eyes the color of honey. The flicker of a torch above his head and the glow from the sinking sun showed streaks of bright, clear blue through the shimmering, melting color.
The man gazed down at her and ran the backs of his fingers along her cheek. Not exactly sure why she was doing it, Layla tilted her face slightly into the touch. She started to open her mouth to speak, but he shook his head, bringing a finger to his lips to quiet her. Without a word, he backed away from her and disappeared back around her head. A second later, the feeling of his presence in the space with her was gone. She lifted her head and saw that the sun was nearly down. Straining to see as much of it as she could, she watched as the purple dissolved into the vibrant green, blending into a single line of color before the sky went dark.
The Alien's Mystery (Uoria Mates IV Book 7) Page 61
