Pounding Earth

by ERIN BEDFORD

Gretchen spit at me. Thankfully, it landed at my feet and not on me. Just the sight of it made my stomach roll.

  “Enough.” Orion’s voice boomed through the tent, cutting off whatever curse Gretchen was going to scream at me. “We let you into our camp, and you bring trouble with you?”

  “They’re lying. Whatever they’re saying about me, it’s not true.” She pulled until her arms stretched, snarling like a rabid dog.

  “So, you didn’t tell the men holding their man where they could find him?” Orion arched a brow, and then he turned his head to his son.

  Blake sat up straighter. “You were seen several times going past the east tent, into the restricted area.”

  “There you have it.” Orion clapped his hands together and shrugged. “Or would you like these eyewitnesses to be brought forth?” I made a rude noise, making Orion grin. “Our guests don’t seem to be in a particularly patient mood. I don’t think making them wait any longer will help your cause.”

  Gretchen let out a low growl before hanging her head. “I might have found out in passing about the fire dragon’s movements. And I might have passed it along to some of his fellow fire dragons.” She grinned wickedly, and the urge to punch her was strong.

  “I’ve heard enough.” Orion nodded toward the guards. “Make sure she is moved to the restricted section.” Gretchen gasped and protested, but Orion’s eyes were hard. “If you are going to deal with the murderers and thieves, then you can live with them.”

  Just as he announced her fate, a young blonde woman came rushing through the tent. “Father!” she screamed, her eyes darted around the tent and then landed on Gretchen. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  “Now, Ellie,” Orion held a hand up, trying to soothe the rampaging woman. “You know the rules of our camp. Gretchen has had the same chance as every other member of our camp, and she has broken those rules.”

  Ellie didn’t seem to care about her father’s words or anything that was going on. She stomped over to Gretchen and muttered something to her that made the ex-bitch relax in the guards’ arms. Ellie then turned and glared at her father.

  “I can’t believe you. You know what Gretchen has gone through. How can you expect her to change if you punish her at the first sign of weakness?”

  I’d have interrupted her, telling her exactly what kind of punishment I thought Gretchen deserved but Ellie was on a roll and wasn’t about to let anyone get a word in edgewise.

  “Secondly, didn’t I tell you I would vouch for her?”

  “But you didn’t control her like you swore you would,” Orion reminded Ellie with a chastising frown.

  “You can’t control people.” Ellie growled, her eyes flashing in anger. “You know that as well as anyone.”

  I felt like I was missing something in this conversation. Something had happened between these two, and I was curious to know but not rude enough to ask.

  “Fine,” Orion finally relented. “But this is her last chance.” He held his finger up and then looked to Gretchen. “If you break our trust again, I will not hesitate to throw you out. Regardless of what my daughter says.” To us, he said, “Come, I will take you to where your man is being held, and I will assure you he will be given back to you.”

  I sniffed but didn’t say what I really thought.

  We filed out of the tent and through the village. The little girl from earlier was back to playing with her dolls, my words long forgotten. Her mother, on the other hand, hadn’t and shot me a glare as we passed. Soon, we reached the eastern side of the village a large red tent one even bigger than Orion’s.

  Orion didn’t stop but breezed past the tent, a determined pace to his strides. I laced fingers with Raiden and Jack, my heart beating hard in my chest. I’d finally get to see Firestar again. We’d finally be back together again and without any bloodshed.

  Well, I smiled to myself, not our own blood anyway.

  Stopping in the middle of a clearing, a fire billowing nearby, Orion called out, “Blorder! Get out here!”

  The restricted section was a quieter version of the village, with no children playing or women sitting nearby with a watchful eye. There were men of all kinds and manners sharpening weapons, their eyes on us just as keen as any mother’s on her children, but with far less noble intentions.

  A large man with a bald head came out of one of the tents. The familiar face made my blood boil, and my hand burned with the need to attack. Blorder had been one of Firestar’s best men back before we got back together. Then he found out what I could do, and all bets were off. Bye-bye brotherhood and all that shtick. It was not hard to figure how he ended up here, or the fact that he was the one with Firestar.

  “Orion,” Blorder answered, nodding in respect. Then his eyes landed on my men and me, and that look of respect changed to disgust. “You!”

  I couldn’t help the smug grin on my lips. “Good to see you too.”

  His eyes went to my swollen stomach, and the grimace on his face increased. “I see you got what you wanted.”

  “Yeah.” I placed my hand on my stomach, my grin never faltering for a moment. “I guess I did.” I tapped my finger on my chin. “Except I’m still missing something, and I think you” - I pointed my finger at him - “are the one who has it, now don’t you?”

  His eye twitched, but he didn’t confirm or deny it. Instead, he turned his attention to Orion. “Is this how we are to be treated? It’s bad enough that you make us stay out here away from the rest of the village, but now we are to be accused of such treacheries?”

  “Knock it off,” Orion snapped, glancing back at me and then back to Blorder. “This woman believes you have her mate, Firestar. Do you?”

  Blorder opened his mouth, and I knew he was going to deny it.

  Orion seemed to as well because he added, “If you lie to me, you and your men will be chased out, and then where will you go?”

  Growling and stomping his foot, Blorder then snapped his fingers. Another man came forward. “Bring him.”

  I waited, my hands sweating and my pulse racing. I tried to seem calm on the outside, but inside, I was freaking out, wanting for nothing more than to see Firestar and afraid that it was all a trick.

  When they brought him out, I was done holding back. His face was beaten and bloodied, his eye so swollen that it distorted his features. Firestar stumbled forward, barely conscious enough to move, let alone walk. The men holding him tossed him to the ground before us, and I rushed forward, pulling his head into my lap.

  “Firestar,” I murmured, urging him to look at me. “It’s me. I found you.”

  “Maya,” he croaked, his hand reaching up weakly. Before he could get another word out, he had a coughing fit, blood trickling from his mouth.

  “What did you do to him?” I growled, glaring up at Blorder.

  “Only what he deserved.” His eyes filled with glee and I couldn’t hold it back any longer. He had to die.

  This time, it started from my chest, the icy numbness. It spread across my chest the more I stared at him. My gaze turned cold, and I reached my hand out toward him. Before I could touch him, Orion grabbed my wrist. I turned my eyes on him, accusation written all over my face.

  “You can’t kill him,” Orion told me, not taking his hand off mine.

  “He took Firestar,” I reminded him, glancing down to where Firestar lay in my arms. “He could have killed him, and this is not the first time. He deserves to die.”

  “He might.” Orion nodded. “But not here, not in my camp. He is under my protection, and I cannot have you killing him.”

  I stared up at him, a curse on my tongue. Before I could argue further, a commotion sounded in the distance, followed by footsteps pounding through the woods. Fire dragons burst through the trees, and Lord Amun stood at the front of them.

  The cavalry had arrived.

  14

  Lord Amun was just as large and intimating as his son. At least, to most. To me, he was an angel sent down from heaven
, and based on the rage on the lord of the South’s face, an avenging angel.

  Amun’s soldiers burst through the trees that lined the camp, tan colored armor encasing them, swords and fire in their hands. They charged at the outcasts who had been hanging around outside of their tents. They barely had time to grab their own weapons before Amun’s men surrounded them. A man to my left threw a fireball at one of the soldiers near him. The soldier dodged it before unleashing one of his own, lighting the guy up.

  There were various kinds of dragons, none more than the other, but all of them just as ready to fight at the sign of a royal army. Several other men were stupid enough to try their luck with the armored soldiers, but soon found themselves flat on their backs. They were lucky that was all they were doing. For what they did to Firestar, I’d have made sure it hurt a hell of a lot more.

  Unfortunately for the unaligned men, they were outnumbered and outpowered. Lord Amun’s men had them surrounded and incapacitated before you could say jerk chicken. I was more than thankful for their arrival. I might have kicked ass before, but with Firestar in my arms now, I feared that if I started killing, I wouldn’t stop.

  “Orion!” Lord Amun’s voice boomed through the clearing as he stalked across the camp, his wings still burning behind him. “I have let your people trespass on our lands, and this is how you repay me? You house those who would do my son harm?”

  I wished I had that kind of presence, to be able to put fear in the eyes of my enemies just from the sound of my voice. The only thing I was able to do on that massive scale was clear a room from eating too many burrito supremes. Bianca and Ryan could attest to that.

  Orion didn’t freeze in place like the other men, but he did lose a bit of his commanding aura. It seemed like the unaligned leader wasn’t as confident in his position of power as he wanted us to believe. His son started forward as if he were going to defend his father, but Orion waved him off.

  “Now, hold a moment, Amun.” Orion stepped forward, his hands up in front of him. “We have no knowledge of your son being taken until his mate contacted us.” He gestured back toward where I sat with Firestar still clutched in my arms. “As you can see, we have returned your son and were in the process of punishing those who broke our laws.”

  “What laws?” Blorder growled, crossing his arms over his chest. “The only rules you gave us were to stay on our side of the woods. Other than that, we could do as we wish.”

  Orion glowered at Blorder, making him snap his mouth shut tight. He then turned back to Lord Amun. “We do our best to give everyone the freedom to rule themselves. Isn’t that the reason they come here to begin with?”

  “You don’t punish those who commit treason?” Lord Amun snarled, his eyes locking onto Blorder who shrank back.

  “Technically, it’s not treason here.” Even Orion knew that was the wrong thing to say, because he quickly tried to add, “But we were in the process of taking care of it.”

  “No, you weren’t,” I snapped, shooting dagger at him with my eyes. “You were going to let them go with a hand slap.”

  Lord Amun looked from me to Orion a frown on his lips. “Is this true?”

  Shoulders hunched, Orion started to fumble for a response, but then he seemed to think better of himself. His shoulders straightened, and he stared down Lord Amun. “This is our camp, not yours. We will decide how we punish our citizens.”

  Stomping toward us, Lord Amun stopped before Orion and Blorder, who at least had the decency to try to shrink into himself. “You forget yourself, Orion. These people are not yours. You may call yourself the unaligned, but as long as you live in Waesigar, you belong to someone. And these men,” - he jerked a finger toward Blorder, who paled and stiffened - “have committed treason not only for deserting their posts, but for the capture and torture of their future lord, for which the punishment is death.” His eyes were hot as molten lava as he stared down the quaking ex-guard.

  I wanted to stand up and cheer. If I had some pom-poms, I would have shaken them for all they were worth. I’d always liked Lord Amun. He wasn’t so much of a hothead like his son, probably because of his age, but when he did lose it, it was for good reason.

  This was a very good reason.

  Blorder stared at his ex-lord and sovereign and then turned his gaze to Orion. When Orion didn’t immediately stand up for him, Blorder lost his confidence. Falling to his knees in front of Lord Amun, Blorder begged like the worm he was.

  “Please, my lord! We were only thinking of our people. Your son withheld something from us that would have made us more powerful than all of the other regions. Do you not think that too deserves to be punished?” Blorder waited before Lord Amun, his shoulders shaking but his gaze firm.

  Lord Amun glared down at Blorder for a moment and then crossed his arms over his chest. “What is this thing that he has withheld? That you think is worth dying for?”

  Before Blorder could open his mouth to answer, I beat him to it. “Me.” Lord Amun’s head snapped to me. “Firestar was protecting me from his men. The men who wanted to rape me for my powers or more precisely the powers I could give them.”

  Just the thought of it made me sick to my stomach. Sure, Lady Nariko had offered to pay me for my services, but Blorder and his men wanted to take me. I had no doubt that they would have enjoyed every second of it, and the moment I wasn’t of any use to them, they would have killed me. Or worse.

  Staring down at me, his brow furrowed, Lord Amun seemed horrified and curious by my words. “I’m not sure I follow you.”

  “Let me explain then.” Jack pushed his way forward until he stood at my back, his shins pressing against me. “Lady Maya can increase the powers of those she mates with.” He held his hand out in front of him, ice building up in his palm, lengthening and shaping into the form of his warhammer.

  I sat still as a statue as I watched Lord Amun and Orion’s reactions. We were taking a chance by telling them what we could really do. So far, we had kept it under wraps, with only rumors of what I could do circulating the regions. To finally set the record straight could help us … or bite us in the ass.

  “That’s remarkable.” Orion’s eyes widened as he stared down at Jack’s hammer. “And to think your men have as much power as you.” He shook his head and wiped a hand over his face. “I greatly apologize. You could have decimated us if you wanted to, and you didn’t.”

  The fact that Orion didn’t even mention the fact that I could give him or his own son powers added points to his scorecard. Ones that he needed desperately if he expected me to forgive and forget his other transgressions.

  Now, there was only Lord Amun to worry about. I blinked up at him, worried about what I would find on his face. Would he be afraid? In awe like Orion? Or greedy like Lady Nariko?

  The thoughtful look on his face made me nervous. What was he thinking?

  “And does my son have this power as well?” His gaze softened and settled on Firestar who had passed out. I nodded. Lord Amun glanced behind me to Raiden. “And you too?”

  Raiden didn’t hesitate to whip his trident out, spinning it in the air like the show-off he was. He struck a cocky pose with a grin on his face. I shook my head, unable to hold back the grin even in our grim situation.

  “Well,” Lord Amun huffed, “it’s obvious what has happened here. Lady Maya and the others are true mates. Which means …” His gaze turned hard again as it landed on Blorder. “That taking her by force would have been a complete waste of time, as well as a death sentence for you and your men.”

  I let out a shaky breath, my pulse slowing. Thank God. I had feared Lord Amun would have agreed with Blorder and that I would have to hurt my father-in-law. I didn’t know if what he said was true. All I knew about my abilities was that I did the deed with them, and they got powers. Why it happened now and not when I had mated with Firestar the first time I couldn’t even begin to guess. Maybe I hadn’t been old enough? Who knew?

  All that mattered was that Lord Amun saw w
hat really was going on, and Blorder would get what was coming to him. Him and his band of power-hungry men.

  “Now.” Lord Amun tugged on the belt of his pants and then waved a few of his soldiers who surrounded the area forward. “If you would be so kind as to surrender my men over to me, I would be glad to escort them back to their families before they are tried and punished. I will also be taking my son, his mate, and the rest of her company with us as well.” He paused and placed his hands on his hips, a brow raised. “Unless you have a problem with that?”

  Orion shook his head and waved a hand. “No, no. Please take them. I’m not looking to pick a fight.” He then turned his tired and worn face to me. “I can’t apologize enough, Lady Maya. Please, if you need anything in the future, do not hesitate to call on us.”

  I inclined my head. I might just have to take him up on that offer … after I took care of Firestar.

  Several of Lord Amun’s men came forward and knelt beside me. I allowed them to take Firestar from my arms and lay him on a makeshift stretcher. As they carried him out of the camp and into the trees they had burst through not long before, I found Jack and Raiden. Leaning back into them, I sighed.

  “Will he be okay?” My words were so soft I almost didn’t think they heard me.

  “The damage didn’t look too bad. I’m sure he will be fine,” Raiden murmured in my ear, his hand squeezing my shoulder in reassurance.

  I had a hard time believing him only because I had seen how much pain Firestar had been in. It didn’t help that all around us, the men of Blorder’s camp were dragged out of their tents and forced into the trees. There were less of them than the first time I’d been threatened by them. It seemed Blorder had lost some of his supporters when he left the south. A blessing but still, I wouldn’t feel safe until they were judged.

  “Let’s be on our way,” Jack announced, offering me his arm. “We might have won this battle, but we still have a war to fight and a kingdom to rescue.”

  I took his arm with a grim smile. “Yeah, I’m ready to go.” I glanced over my shoulder to tell Aeis to come on, the twins having followed Firestar out, but she was in deep discussion with Blake. She threw her head back and laughed as Blake gave her a lecherous grin.