With a mental push, he ordered it to find his sisters.
Settling back on his rock outcropping, he waited. The human soldiers didn’t advance on his position, which was for the best.
The next human to cross his path wasn’t going to enjoy the outcome.
The first tendril of mist reached Ashayna. The surrounding guards held their ground, but shifted nervously as the blue mist swirled around their boots. She could hear a few whimpered prayers.
Her magic reverberated in harmony with the mist. She gasped, then snapped her teeth together hard enough to creak. A rippling in the magic, like a stone disturbing the surface of a pond, was the only warning before her shields dropped.
Heat caressed her, touching something deep within. She yelped and leapt away from the mist.
It pursued, curling around her ankle to begin a slow ascent up her leg. Swatting at the mist didn’t scatter it as real mist would; instead it clung to her fingers and encircled her wrist. Gooseflesh rose where it touched her arms, yet a strange heat swirled through her blood. A terrified scream locked in her lungs, she backed up until she collided with tent canvas, tangling with ropes and support poles.
The substantial presence of another mind brushed hers…a stranger’s thoughts flooded her mind…his rage, his worry for his sisters…his realization that Ashayna shared his thoughts. The flood of anger changed, shifting rapidly to mild shock and then curiosity.
She was already off balance when a compelling pull rolled over her.
Unable to resist, she looked up in time to see Sorntar turn in a swirl of feathers and blue fire. His talons flexed against his stone perch. Dark eyes searched the shadows where Ashayna stood. Frozen in place, she waited. Any moment he would lock eyes with her. Panicked, Ashayna stumbled around the side of the tent, half running. She succeeded in outpacing the main cloud of thick mist and it disengaged a bit at a time until the few remaining wisps floated to the ground and vanished.
With it, the stranger’s thoughts disappeared. Her arm still felt like something rested upon it. When she would have rubbed it again, the compelling pull of his power distracted her.
“Easy, Ashayna—he’ll not learn of your presence until I wish it.” Marsolwyn gave Ashayna’s shoulder a brief pat. “It’s best if Sorntar remains unaware of your existence for now. That a human will be joining our ranks may cause some…tension, and with his Larnkin awakening, Crown Prince Sorntar is already too dangerous.”
Ashayna rubbed at her arm while she tried to calm her pounding heart. “Can it get any worse?” She allowed deliberate sarcasm to seep into her voice. A few guards looked in her direction. She didn’t care if they thought the pressure had cracked her mind, and she continued to talk to Marsolwyn out loud. “Oh wait—he’s going to burn the whole damn camp to the ground along with every human in it. Sound about right?”
The lupwyn didn’t deny her accusation. Ashayna sobered, her earlier giddy hysteria a cold lump in her stomach.
“I’ll not let it get so far the damage cannot be repaired.” For once, Queen Marsolwyn’s tone held the appropriate level of seriousness.
Ashayna felt ill. But the magic didn’t let her wallow in self-pity for long. Another power rippled along her shields. This wasn’t coming from the crown prince. For a second time in one night, Ashayna witnessed a Gate being born. This one flashed into being faster than the first. Before the thunderous echo faded, dozens of armored lupwyn and phoenix guards spilled out of its broad expanse.
Human soldiers rushed towards the new arrivals. Opposing sides met in a clash of swords. Archers fired arrows at the intruders, but, as with the crown prince, their arrows burned to ashes far short of their targets. More human soldiers pressed in upon the Elementals.
A brief flash of green light from an unknown direction swarmed over a large swath of soldiers. Eyes tearing, Ashayna blinked to clear the white spots blurring her vision. When she could see again, her gaze locked on the soldiers and her stomach tightened with dread.
They lay crumpled on the ground, limbs sprawled at awkward angles. None of them moved. She couldn’t see if their chests still rose and fell, the distance too great.
“Merciful Creator,” Ashayna breathed half to herself, her companions forgotten.
After a brief shocked pause, yelling filled the clearing. Rage and fear sounded in the soldiers’ voices, but training took hold and her father’s soldiers shook off their shock, engaging the enemy once more. All along the line there were more of the green flashes and soldiers continued to fall.
Marsolwyn stepped into Ashayna’s field of vision, flanking her almost protectively.
Ashayna might be helpless to stop the spreading violence, but standing within arms’ reach was someone with the power and authority to put a stop to this useless violence.
“Do something! This is your fault. If you hadn’t come here none of this would be happening.”
“Don’t worry, they’re not dead. They’ll just wake up with a headache. And this would have happened one day soon, with or without our arrival. Don’t fool yourself otherwise.”
A change in the pattern of fighting caught Ashayna’s attention, momentarily drawing her gaze away from Marsolwyn. Soldiers were advancing on Sorntar. A burning, spicy scent assaulted her nose. More magic was being summoned.
“I will deal with Sorntar.” Marsolwyn tilted her head in her companions’ direction. “Vinarah, Kandarra, get to Prince Sorntar’s bodyguards. Prevent them from harming the humans. Be quick or we’ll never be able to secure peace. Ashayna, go to Captain Nurrowford. Tell him the Gate going rogue was an accident caused by the nearness of your sword. Convince him this was not an attack.” Marsolwyn ducked under the silver flash of bared swords. Running on all fours, she looked like a dark streak, dodging both soldiers and arrows with ease.
Before Ashayna could react Vinarah darted at the startled guards, and leapt into the air, sailing over their swords. Kandarra followed a moment later, heading in a different direction.
A lieutenant shouted orders to the scattered cavalry, urging them after the escaping captives. While the crowd of officers surrounding Captain Nurrowford thinned, Ashayna used the opportunity to sneak in a private word with him. She had just reached his location when a fearful, lingering howl filled the air.
It rode upon the night breeze. Its haunting melody reminded her of a wolf’s homage to the three moons. First one sang, then a second and third voice joined in, until the eerie song grew to a deafening pitch, fed by six hundred throats. As quickly as it had come, the song died. The chaos of battle stilled. Swords and bows lowered amid the tension gathering like a storm. Soldiers stared out into the surrounding night. A moment later the darkness was banished by hundreds of fiery white lights born out of nothing. They hung in the air, bobbing above the heads of hundreds of armor-clad lupwyns encircling the camp.
The lupwyn army had arrived.
*****
Silence hung in the air, heavy and thick, as the last notes of the lupwyns’ song faded away. Captain Nurrowford stepped into the open, flanked by his senior officers, his attention on the army.
Seizing her chance Ashayna slid up next to him. “Captain, I’ve an important message from Queen Marsolwyn.”
He glanced over his shoulder at her. “Let it be good news, we’ve need of it at the moment.”
“She says it’s a misunderstanding. Their Gate went rogue. Their army believes we just tried to assassinate one of their royals.” Ashayna gestured to where Sorntar perched. “He’s their crown prince.”
Nurrowford’s eyes narrowed in understanding, the color bleaching from his face. “The crown prince thinks we tried to assassinate him?”
Ashayna nodded.
“Bloody gods!” He stared at Ashayna, his jaw taunt. “We don’t have magic. How can they think we’re responsible?”
“The lupwyn queen said I was too close, and the metal of my sword interfered with its magic.” Ashayna squirmed at her half-truths.
“Do you believe thi
s lupwyn is telling the truth?”
“I don’t know why she’d lie.” Ashayna hoped Nurrowford didn’t detect her own lies.
He turned to the nearest officers. “Send word to every commander. Halt the attack. Keep the enemy surrounded, but do not engage.” Captain Nurrowford studied Ashayna, making her uncomfortable. “Let’s hope you’re right.”
A horn blew three quick blasts and the sounds of battle subsided. Both human and elemental soldiers stared balefully at each other, though neither side made further hostile moves.
Captain Nurrowford surveyed the camp, his look encompassing both stilling chaos and encircling lupwyn army. Then in a low whisper, one Ashayna didn’t think she was supposed to hear, he mumbled something suspiciously like ‘lucky to see the dawn.’
A disturbance shifted the enemy ranks. Dozens of lupwyns from further back moved forward. These ones didn’t move with the grace she’d come to expect. At first, she thought they’d sustained injuries. She blinked as understanding dawned. Strapped to their backs were rope-bound bundles.
One lupwyn, shrouded from muzzle to tail-tip in black and gold plate armor, advanced ahead of the army. Prowling up and down the line, the newcomer scented the breeze. He let out one short, coughing bark. Ashayna jumped. Nearby, several soldiers shifted nervously.
An answering bark came from near where Crown Prince Sorntar sat burning upon his rocky perch. Squinting, Ashayna could just make out Queen Marsolwyn, half hidden in shadow outside of Sorntar’s bright circle of fiery light. Even over such a distance, Ashayna thought she could feel heat radiating off him. The night breeze’s contrasting chill raised hair on the back of Ashayna’s neck. She grunted at her own folly. Just her imagination—besides, the distance was too great. Her eyes lingered, common sense not enough to force her gaze away.
“Is our prisoner sitting with the…burning…phoenix?”
“Yes. Queen Marsolwyn went to reason with him.”
Captain Nurrowford arched a brow, pulling the scars along one side of his face taut. “Think you could keep me informed in the future?”
“Yes, sir.” Heat bloomed along Ashayna’s cheeks, grateful he believed her.
The lupwyn leader stood with his forepaws braced against a lump half hidden in tall grass. She squinted. It was one of the bundles she’d seen strapped to their backs. The newcomer bit through both rope and cloth, and then gave the bundle a shove with his muzzle. The bundle flailed. An arm emerged from the shrouding cloak, trying to ward off the beast.
The lupwyn planted his forepaws on the soldier’s hauberk, snarling and snapping at the cloth-wrapped human. One of the white mage lights drifted closer to both lupwyn and victim. The hauberk’s motif of three black leaves contrasted against its silver background.
“Father!” The word escaped before she could stop it. All along, she’d known this was a possibility, yet her heart still pounded with panic.
“Easy, Ash.” Captain Nurrowford rested a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll do what I can to get us all out of this alive, including your father.” His hand squeezed firmly once, then let go. Without another word he moved forward.
She followed the outline of Nurrowford’s broad shoulders as she desperately tried to keep her mind blank. Worry would invite disaster into her heart. It would weaken her to the point of uselessness.
All along the lupwyn army’s front lines, more bundles were unwrapped, revealing more of her father’s men. They looked scared, disheveled…but whole. For now.
The scent of magic wafted on the breeze. Ashayna turned to where Queen Marsolwyn stood next to Crown Prince Sorntar.
“I did not mean to bring blood upon this ground. For that I beg forgiveness.” Queen Marsolwyn’s mental voice echoed louder than Ashayna remembered. Several soldiers jumped. A few looked around baffled, while others made signs against evil. Apparently, their unique method of speech could be used upon a crowd. Ashayna didn’t want to learn what else magic could do. Instinct or something else must have guided the soldiers, because rank after rank, they faced the lupwyn queen.
Marsolwyn continued. “There is an old tradition among the elemental races, dating back from a time of chaos before we learned to live in harmony. We used it to settle grievances between two warring peoples. Each side would choose a champion. Those two opponents fought in a duel to show their willingness to sacrifice their freedom for peace. The victor was free to return to his people, but the loser forfeited his freedom and put himself in his enemy’s keeping. By the laws of this tradition, both sides must come to a peaceful agreement or anger the gods.” Marsolwyn paused, her ears flicking forward in Ashayna’s direction. “So I ask, which one of your followers is brave enough to pay the price of peace?”
Ashayna focused her thoughts for a private word with Marsolwyn. “I can’t cross swords with one of your kind. My magic flares if I’m in danger. Your mate plans to answer the challenge for your people, doesn’t he? By his look, he’ll take this beyond a bloodless duel. My magic will react accordingly. For the sake of my family, no human must ever know of my magic. It would not be only me who suffers for it. Besides, Captain Nurrowford will never allow me to answer this challenge.”
“Don’t worry over your magic reacting to danger to you. I’ve talked with Sorntar. He’ll answer the challenge before my mate does. As for you not being able to answer the challenge—they can’t stop you if they can’t see you. Kandarra will bring you her mage-cloak so you can approach Sorntar’s location undetected. Once you reach him, he’ll prevent anyone from interrupting the duel.”
Ashayna flicked a glance at the phoenix. Sorntar looked just as irate as he had earlier. “How’s fighting him any better? He looks like he wants blood, too. It’ll be my blood if he finds out my Larnkin was responsible for his hasty arrival.”
“Ah, Sorntar is a gentle one. His Larnkin merely has him out of sorts.”
Out of sorts? Ashayna snorted, gaining a nearby soldier’s attention. She scowled and ignored his quizzical look. “Fine. So I should fear his Larnkin. It can’t be pleased with mine.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t worry.” The thread of laughter in her voice did little to ease her mind. “His Larnkin is the least of your concerns, little human.”
Sorntar watched the nervous shifting and scented an underlying odor of panic as the humans faced a much larger army poised to attack. The subtlest gesture—a flick of an ear, the raising of a tail, even just a bunching of muscles in the lupwyn king’s flanks—and lupwyn warriors would surge forward. The king, Ryanth, looked to be moments away from doing something. Sorntar sighed. It wouldn’t be avoiding bloodshed—Ryanth’s ears swung forward too eagerly at the mention of duel. Marsolwyn was right— her mate wasn’t in any kind of mindset for a challenge. He’d kill the poor human with the first swipe of his claws.
Sorntar stretched his wings; blue fire hissed and flared in the wind. A number of humans looked back in his direction, the terror on their faces easy to read despite the darkness surrounding them. “Humans, I claim Right of Challenge. One of your numbers nearly caused my death.” A cruel note, residual darkness from his Larnkin’s anger, echoed in his voice. It surprised Sorntar, but added a note of danger. The closest humans moved away a few paces. He smiled.
King Ryanth snarled at him. Sorntar tilted his head in Marsolwyn’s direction, acknowledging where his ‘decision’ to answer the challenge had originated. Before the lupwyn could respond, Sorntar threw one of his twin blades out before him. The sword flew end over end in a graceful burning arc and landed with its blade partly buried in soft loam. He speared the closest human with a determined look. “One of you, take up my sword and fight. If you give me even a bit of challenge, I may go easy on you.”
There were a great many whispers and much shuffling about as orders were issued and relayed, but no one stepped forward. Marsolwyn’s plan was flawed. These humans were too fearful. None of them would answer the challenge, not willingly as was required.
Frustration stirred in his gut. This wasn’t where he
wanted to be, what he wanted to be doing, or—more to the point, what his Larnkin wanted him to be doing. Both he and his Larnkin wanted to solve the mystery of the mind he’d touched. Whoever she was, her mind had been strong, and her determination to be free of him so powerful she’d gained her freedom. To the best of his knowledge, the only mage prisoners were his sisters and Marsolwyn. If not a prisoner, who was the other woman he found so interesting? Was it she who had interfered with the Gate—nearly killing him?
Once the challenge was over, he’d hunt down the woman who stirred his Larnkin’s interest.
He sank back down on his perch to wait.
A tall, slim figure moved between human soldiers, being careful to squeeze through or weave around obstacles. As he came closer, Sorntar saw why. A mage-cloak offered protection against human eyes, but his passage would only go unnoticed if he avoided running into anyone. To Sorntar’s disappointment, the cloak also prevented him from learning much about this person.
The evening breeze carried the newcomer’s scent—pleasant, with a hint of saltiness, feminine. A female? Here? Sorntar didn’t think humans permitted their women folk to learn fighting skills. By her ease of movement, a young, confident opponent faced him.
Within him, his Larnkin stirred, its emotions a mix of confusion, wanting, and sleepy pleasure.
It was her—the woman who had touched his mind earlier. It had to be.
A dozen paces distant, she unclasped the cloak and let it pool around her feet. A ripple of surprise—and something else—slid through Sorntar’s Larnkin. Eagerness? Despite never meeting her before, he sensed a familiarity within her.
She moved with grace, her long strides covering the distance quickly. A pace away from the sword, she stopped and tucked her braid down the back of her leather vest. The movement drew his eyes to her gentle curves, that slight softness an alluring contrast to her otherwise toned body. She was reaching for the sword, the first tongues of flame licking at her fingers, when another human ran forward, bellowing threats and curses.
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