by Lizzy Ford
“My twin,” Tiana said.
“Different mothers, same father,” Black Wolf confirmed.
Aveline looked from one to the other. “There’s no chance in hell! My father was an assassin. My mother met him when she escaped from this place, and I was born …”
“Sometime after,” Black Wolf said, enjoying the confusion of the girls.
“She said … Karl was there to spy. But what if …” Aveline shook her head. “Why are we listening to you at all?”
“Because he knows things, whether or not he should.” Unlike Aveline, Tiana started to smile. “You are a Hanover, Aveline.”
“Absolutely not!”
“You are my sister.”
Aveline’s gaze shifted from Black Wolf to Tiana, who smiled.
“I always wanted a sister,” Tiana said. “That must be why Arthur found you.”
Aveline opened her mouth to speak, stopped, and then whirled. “I’m going to kill him, if any of you wish to come!” She held out her arm to Tiana. “No offense, but I will never be a Hanover. Now, turn me into a panther.”
Tiana still smiled, undeterred by Aveline’s vehement refusal to admit their relationship. She touched Aveline, who morphed instantly into her animal form. The panther entered the wall.
Black Wolf waited, sensing the pacing skinwalker in the hall. Aveline’s bond to Tiana kept her here when she would otherwise not stay. Walks With A Limp would feel the same.
Seconds later, a tigress the size of a bear padded into the room. She snapped her teeth at Tiana and went to the hole in the wall. She followed Aveline towards the breach to flush out the man they both hated.
Black Wolf trailed her in his human form. He had never been in the presence of three skinwalkers at once. Had anyone? Their tribe was one of loners, and he could not help being excited by the prospect of hunting with two others.
“Bring him here,” Tiana said as he passed her. “We must do this together.”
He waved her off and entered the darkness.
At last, he was about to meet the Hanover leader spoken about for thousands of miles outside of Lost Vegas.
Chapter Forty-Five
Arthur barreled into the city, accompanied by Marshall and Chases Deer. The streets were vacant, dark and clear, the sky above filled with stars. Urgency lit his blood on fire, along with the energy radiating off the dome at the far end of the city. Every hour it took to travel was one hour less he had to find his sisters and help them.
He reached the dome several hours after leaving Diving Eagle and slowed to a halt. Arthur looked up at the transparent barrier trapping his sister and father within it. Would it allow him to enter?
He dismounted.
“Arthur, wait!” Marshall called.
On slower steeds, he and Chases Deer lagged behind.
Arthur strode through the dome and stopped on the other side. Smoke obscured his vision, and he shuddered once more. The power within the dome was greater than any he had experienced. It crawled through his body and scraped against his skin.
He shook off the strange sensations, preferring to meet whatever threat awaited him without endangering the other two. Arthur ran towards the pyramid, the only structure in the city with electricity or light at all. It glowed eerily inside its globe.
His father’s personal guard, a phalanx of soldiers four deep, came into view too late for him to avoid being spotted. They materialized out of the fog, protecting the entrances to the pyramid.
Arthur slid to a halt in the mud and debated what to do before drawing the only weapons – two knives – he had grabbed from his uncle. A light breeze brushed his neck, and suddenly, Chases Deer was beside him.
He jumped, surprised.
She glared at him, as if daring him to mention her inhuman speed.
“If at all possible, do not let Marshall get hurt,” he said.
She gave a curt nod of her head and drew a pistol with one hand and a sword with another.
Before the soldiers could charge them, Arthur darted forward. Whether it was the poor visibility inside the dome, or the extra charge of energy in his blood, he cut down the first two Shield members with little effort. Chases Deer fired her weapon and slashed at those within reach. Arthur’s instincts – always fast to warn him of danger – kept him one step ahead of every blow headed towards him.
They fought off half a dozen Shield soldiers before Arthur glanced towards the direction in which Marshall stood. The Cruise heir, more thoughtful and less athletic than Arthur, was grappling with one soldier and about to try to face off with a second.
Arthur finished fighting the soldier in front of him and slapped Chases Deer on the arm as he darted past her. He motioned to Marshall and dashed away from the soldiers closing in around the Native warrior.
Marshall was knocked to the ground within seconds of the second soldier joining the fight against him. Arthur launched himself forward and stabbed the first attacker through the neck before rolling to his feet and slicing the other’s stomach open.
Marshall watched, surprised.
Arthur leaned down and dragged Marshall to his feet.
“Your father teach you to gut a man like an animal?” Marshall asked, voice trembling.
“Part of the Hanover charm,” Arthur said with a quick smile. “This is not civilized warfare, Marshall. If you cannot fight then stay out of the way so I do not have to rescue you again.” Without waiting to see how offended his friend would be by the words, Arthur threw himself back into the fray. He fought his way to Chases Deer’s side once more, pleased to see the damage the warrior had done in his absence.
Her movement was supernatural, blows too fast to follow with the eye while her legs moved so quickly, they were blurred by the motion. She moved with the speed of a hummingbird.
A cry went up from Shield members on the opposite side of the company Arthur and Chases Deer fought. He glanced towards them, expecting reinforcements, when he saw them all pointing upward, toward the sky.
Arthur followed their looks and arms between blows and then stepped away from the fight.
A gaping hole was in the side of the pyramid. Far above the fray, near the top of the dome, was a figure plummeting down towards the ground. Arthur watched for a split second until his instincts told him the figure’s trajectory.
He grabbed Chases Deer’s arm and hauled her away fast enough for them both to stumble and fall. A split second later, a bundle of fur and claws smashed into the ground where they had been standing.
The skinwalker’s bear form was unmistakable. Arthur scrambled away, uncertain if Black Wolf had an ounce of control. He pulled Chases Deer with him.
“The only explanation for a flying bear is that my father threw him,” Arthur said and pointed towards the hole in the side of the pyramid, through which light shone.
The skinwalker stood and shook off the fall with no apparent damage. It faced off against the shocked soldiers around him before his eyes settled on Arthur. The skinwalker’s gaze was crazed with no sign he recognized Arthur at all.
“Very slowly stand up and step back,” Arthur said to Chases Deer.
The fierce warrior did not argue and instead, mirrored his movement as they inched away.
“When I say run, use that speed of yours. Go anywhere away from here.”
The skinwalker appeared to be waiting. Finally, one of the soldiers made a move to flee. Whipping around, Black Wolf tackled the man and tore his head off with one bite.
“Now,” Arthur said.
He and Chases Deer sprinted away. The skinwalker, busy with the other soldiers, ignored them.
Arthur darted around a cart loaded as if the owners had been packing to leave permanently and ducked down. Chases Deer sat beside him. The sounds of the creature tearing into the soldiers soon ceased, when all the men had run or died.
Arthur’s senses tingled a warning. “Give me your pup,” he whispered urgently to Chases Deer.
She pulled the small wolf out of a pouch and handed it to hi
m. “Do we run?”
“Absolutely not.” Arthur lifted the animal. “In fact, do not move, even to breathe.”
The small wolf squirmed in his hands and lifted its head in the direction of the skinwalker.
“Tell him to leave us be,” Arthur whispered to the guide.
The skinwalker circled the cart and bared his teeth when he spotted them. The blood of those he killed soaked his fur. He started forward and then stopped, eyes going to the pup. His growl turned softer, and he ceased baring his teeth. He leaned forward to nudge the tiny pup gently. The wolf yelped at him in complaint, and the skinwalker took a step back and moved away. He disappeared from view, and Arthur heard the scream of his next victim.
“I am sorry I doubted you,” Chases Deer said, accepting her pup back.
Arthur stood and leaned around the cart in time to see the massive bear loping into the interior of the pyramid.
“He cleared our path,” Arthur observed.
“Just in time.”
He glanced at the warrior. She lifted her chin towards the sky, which had begun to lighten.
“If we wait, Diving Eagle will have his army here soon,” Chases Deer.
“They will be massacred,” Arthur said. He started towards the pyramid.
“We’re not going in there, are we?” she called. “Not without support?”
“We are here to stop this war before it starts.” He stopped to swipe weapons from a dismembered soldier. “I thought you hated Diving Eagle’s methods anyway.”
“I would want him by my side in war and nowhere else,” she replied curtly. “Even then, I would not trust him to know when to stop.”
Arthur tossed her a pistol. “You do not believe him to be capable of being a good man? Not at all?”
She joined him, and they trotted towards the pyramid.
“I do not know what kind of man he is or what kind of leader he will become. But I know he is loyal to his people, and he backs his oaths with blood.” She spoke the words reluctantly, as if complimenting the Diné chief caused her personal pain. “I will not marry him. Or you.”
“I read those letters from my father and yours,” Arthur said. “You need not fear marrying me. You are not my kind.”
She stopped cold and raised her gun. “Because I am Native?”
“No.” Arthur ignored her. “Because my lover lies dying in your medical clinic. If I am to marry anyone, it will be him.”
Chases Deer was silent. He continued into the pyramid and towards the elevator that would take them to his family’s apartment. The Native warrior joined him.
“I will convince my father not to marry me off,” she stated.
“Diving Eagle is chief now. If he does not wish to marry you, I imagine he will not feel obligated.”
“Let us pray this is so.”
Arthur glanced at her, surprised by how vehement their rivalry was.
“I’m going with you.”
They both turned to face Marshall.
“This is my city, too,” he said before Arthur could object.
“If you insist,” Arthur said, sensing Marshall’s resolve.
“I cannot trust you Hanover’s to finish this.”
Arthur returned his attention to the elevator. The doors slid open, and he entered. “Perhaps you can marry Marshall, Chases Deer. He will run the city after all. You already have something in common: your hatred for my family.”
She scowled. Marshall did not appear amused either.
Arthur released the breath he held when the doors closed, and the lift whisked them upward.
“What resistance will we face?” Chases Deer asked, reloading her pistol.
“I cannot begin to imagine,” Arthur replied. “Two, maybe three skinwalkers, my father, Tiana, if she is mad.”
Marshall reached over and took one of Chases Deer’s guns.
“Add it to my ransom balance,” he said at her sharp look.
“I will never see my money, will I?” she grumbled.
The doors of the elevator slid open. Arthur stepped out cautiously, paused to listen, and then passed the dead guards to step into the hallway.
“If all those people are up here, why can we not hear them?” Marshall whispered.
Arthur had been wondering the same. The apartment was silent. Quiet was not the normal state of a skinwalker, from what he knew of them. He reached the common living areas. The lightening sky was visible through the hole in the side of the pyramid. The wealth his family had collected over many generations lay in shambles.
They entered the second hallway leading to the private quarters. Arthur’s instincts were as calm as the apartment.
“Marshall, check there. Chases Deer, there.” He pointed to the rooms belonging to Tiana and Matilda.
Arthur opened the door to his father’s room, prepared to pounce, lest his father be lying in wait inside.
“Arthur!” The alarmed note in Marshall’s shout sent both Arthur and Chases Deer scrambling to reach him.
The Native beat Arthur by four strides to the door in whose doorway Marshall stood.
“What is …” Arthur stopped and stared. His breath caught in his throat.
The hole. The one from his dream that swallowed the city. It gaped at the base of the pyramid and had sucked his old room, the side of the pyramid, the smoke trapped in the dome, and one building into it.
Beside it, facing it with her arms extended, was Tiana. The three skinwalkers in their animal forms – panther, bear, tigress – were behind her, standing between her and the form of his father. As Arthur watched, Aveline dived in front of a bolt of lightning meant for Tiana. It knocked the panther to the ground. Aveline leapt to her feet and resumed her protective stance.
A rumbled filled the air, followed by the sound of another building collapsing. The hole gaped wider, swallowing half a ward this time.
“Look!” Chases Deer pointed.
Two wards over, outside the dome, a mix of Natives and his uncle’s men were making their way towards the pyramid, oblivious to the danger. Arthur’s attention returned to Tiana. She was struggling to contain the hole.
“Warn Simon and Diving Eagle,” Arthur said, backpedaling quickly.
“And you?” Marshall called.
“I’m going to Tiana.”
Arthur sprinted through the apartment and to the elevator. He did not wait for them but descended and sent the lift back up before bolting to the nearest entrance. He stopped in his tracks when he reached it. The hole was racing towards this direction. Whirling, Arthur ran as fast as he could to one of the other entrances, refusing to think about the certain death following him.
He left the pyramid and snaked through the nearby ward to reach Tiana and Aveline. The intensity of energy increased as he grew nearer. Another building collapsed, and then two. Arthur broke free of them just as the building behind him began to implode. He darted into the street, behind his father. Two of the skinwalkers were down while Aveline was on her feet, waiting for the next strike. Arthur’s eyes lingered on the half-sister he had never known about. He drew his knife and approached slowly and stealthily behind his father, whose focus was on the four challengers. Edwin’s arms were up. Invisible power pulsed away, towards Tiana and the skinwalkers, rippling the air as it did so.
“They’re warned.” Chases Deer was at his side.
“Holy …” Arthur hissed. “Can you not do that? I swear my heart leapt from my body!”
Her eyes were on the expanding hole. “Diving Eagle insisted on continuing this way. I will watch for him.”
“Go. Get out of this mess.” Arthur motioned her away and crept forward once more. When he was within several feet, he gripped his knife more tightly and lifted onto his tiptoes, preparing to attack. He took a deep breath and sprang forward, shoving the knife into his father’s side.
Edwin stumbled. His hands dropped, releasing the hold on the others, and he whirled. Arthur raised the knife to stab his father again but felt himself flung upw
ard and over, towards the hole. The ground and sky flipped over and over in his view.
Before he could be dropped into the next world, he smacked into an invisible wall. Arthur shook his head, dizzy from the journey. He was upside down, dangling helplessly above the blackness.
Arthur, the voice in his head was Tiana’s. He twisted until he could see her. Bloodied and pale, Tiana stood at the edge of the hole, one hand lifted towards him to keep him from falling.
A roar and a shout sounded, drawing both of their attentions.
The tigress skinwalker had managed to break the hold Edwin had on them and tackled him. She shredded the Hanover leader’s shoulder before he flung her off with magic towards a building. Tiana’s focus left the hole completely as she stopped the skinwalker from smashing into the building. Arthur was brought down gently, as was the skinwalker.
A flash of lightning sizzled by Aveline and slammed into Tiana’s side, splattering blood around her.
She went down with a gasp.
Fear raced through him. Arthur dropped the last four feet to the ground and rushed to his sister’s side. Aveline and Black Wolf took up defensive positions, absorbing the power flung towards Tiana.
“Tiana!” Arthur exclaimed, gathering his sister’s small body into his arms.
Her eyes opened, revealing the black depths belonging to her real mother.
He smiled.
She blinked and pushed at him. Arthur helped her sit, ignoring the buildings falling on either side of the street as the hole widened.
“You came,” she murmured. “I wanted you to stay safe, outside the city.”
“I belong here, with you and Aveline,” he replied firmly. “We will face him together.”
Tiana wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. “I do not know if I can save you.”
Aveline drew near and nudged Tiana’s arm.
“We belong here together,” Arthur said. He looped an arm around Aveline’s neck and pulled her in for a quick hug. “All of us.” The large cat purred then wiggled free to face the threat.
Arthur stood, helping Tiana up as well.
The three of them faced their father, who, for once, did not appear as if he were in control of anything. Black Wolf’s massive frame appeared in front of them. He growled before turning away to confront the Hanover leader.
