by Mina Carter
"Catherine!" he shouted, knowing that an angel's touch would blast the creature into oblivion, but there was no answer from the woman he'd been tracking, the one who was supposed to protect them. They were on their own.
"I'm not going to let it kill Zach!" Disregarding Ryland's order not to engage, Thano plunged into the fray. With each blow, the talrak became more solid, and then it split into two creatures.
More shadows moved in the wooded grove, and Ryland realized an army was amassing in the trees...trees! That would do it!
Ryland swore and sprinted toward the grove...and away from the battle. Shutting out the bellows of his teammates and ignoring all his instincts that were screaming at him to rush to their aid and fight, he ruthlessly forced himself not to feel the agony of his teammates as the talraks tore at them, each strike stealing flesh and life force. He reached the trees, and then genuflected before the nearest one. "I thank you for your sacrifice," he said to the tree, forcing his mind to quiet. He wiped his mind of all thoughts of anger and hatred toward the creatures. "My friends are good, and I take lives only in their defense." Offer made, he lunged to his feet and slammed his machete through the trunk the tree, dropping it in one violent stroke.
Ryland split the trunk lengthwise, three blows splintering it into a dozen wooden spears. He grabbed three of them and spun around. Zach was on his back, a vicious, snarling black wolf the size of an elephant pinning him to the earth. The massive creature bared his teeth, its twelve-inch claws deep in Zach's chest. Thano bellowed with fury and slammed his halberd into its side. The creature immediately swelled to twice its size. It turned its slavering head toward Thano, as the second one leapt on Thano's back. It howled its intent to kill him as Apollo shrieked in outrage, spinning around in a fruitless attempt to bite it and yank it away from his rider.
Ryland fisted one of the spears and took aim at the one on Zach. "I ask only for peace for my friends," he shouted, and then hurled the wooden spear that was still soft and flexible, brimming with the pure life of nature. The splintered sapling hit the talrak cleanly in the shoulder. It barely penetrated, and yet the moment it touched, the talrak let out a howl of agony and dissolved.
Bull's-eye.
Apollo let out a shrill squeal, and Ryland spun toward Thano, unleashing a second sapling at the creature on Thano's back. Again, a clean hit, and the talrak disappeared in a wail of agony. Ryland whirled to face the woods, and then hurled another into the darkness. Again and again, he threw saplings, cutting through the darkness with his crude spears. Each time his wooden spear split the darkness, there was a howl of agonized protest as another talrak fell victim to his blow. Seven times he unleashed his offerings, and with the seventh strike, there was a great, shuddering gasp as if the earth itself had exhaled with relief. The dark shadows in the grove vanished. All that remained were the trees, with the soft rays of the setting sun cutting through the foliage.
They were gone.
Ryland dropped the last of the saplings and whirled around, finally able to go to his team. Zach was on his back, gasping for air, and Thano was hunched over Apollo's neck, gripping his shoulder. "Did you get bitten?" he shouted at Thano as he ran toward Zach.
"No. Just clawed."
Ryland let out his breath in relief, but then swore when he saw the lacerations across Zach's chest. They weren't the six-fingered claw marks. They were the pockmarks of the bite of a thousand teeth, a bite designed to poison him, not tear his flesh apart. "Oh, shit." He crouched beside the fallen warrior. "Zach. Open your eyes."
His face was gray and ashen, his cheeks already sunken, his eyes closed. "What the hell were those things?"
"Talrak. Open your eyes, Zach." Ryland gripped his teammate's arm, dreading what he would see when Zach opened his eyes. By all that is merciful on this earth, do not let his eyes be orange. If his eyes were orange, it would be too late. He would have to use the last sapling on his own teammate.
With supreme effort, Zach opened his eyes. They were still brown. Relief shuddered through Ryland, and he grinned. "I knew you were a tough bastard." He looked over at Thano. "If his eyes turn orange, he's in trouble, but they're still brown."
Thano was gripping his shoulder, his face twisted in pain so great that even a Calydon warrior couldn't hide it. "Well, shit, then, let's have a party. I feel like champagne and line-dancing right now, don't you?"
"Yeah, you'd look cute in a denim skirt and cowboy boots," Ryland said as he turned his attention back to Zach. "Can you walk?" Zach might not have crossed over yet, but Ryland knew that they had only a short window to get him treatment. Since Thano had only been clawed, he had a couple days still. The healing sleep of the Calydons would not save either of them from talrak poison. "We gotta get going." There was only one thing that would counteract talrak venom, and he wasn't going to find it out here.
"Yeah, sure." With a force of will that was impressive, Zach hauled himself to his feet. His jaw was gritted, his face pinched, but he was up. "Want to tell me what's going on, Ry? What were those things, and how did you know how to kill them?"
"Talraks. They're vermin from the nether-realm. They never come out into the light, so I don't know why they were here." Ryland used his machete to make a few more spears, then handed a couple to each of his mates. "Anger and violence feed them. The only way to stop them is with purity."
Thano looked down at the supple sapling in his hand. "Nothing is more pure than nature. There is no evil in vegetation."
"Yeah, but you still have to fight the talrak without malice in your heart." Ryland grinned. "It's a good thing I don't like you guys that much, or I would have been too pissed to be able to calm myself enough to defeat them."
Zach frowned at him. "Without malice? Shit, Ry, that's all you are."
Ryland shook his head as he picked up the last two spears and began heading down the hill. "Malice implies emotion. Violence doesn't. There's a difference." And he knew damn well what that difference was. Emotion was the death knell for a warrior. Cool, calculated violence was the key to victory.
Thano rode up beside him, looking at him thoughtfully, even as he gripped his shoulder. "You feel no humanity toward anyone," he observed. "That's why you could fight them. Because saving us wasn't personal."
"You heartless bastard," Zach said as he limped along beside Ryland, the wound on his chest already beginning to ooze a foul, brown-green viscous substance. "Is that true? You didn't care if we died?"
Ryland looked at him. "I never care, Zach. And I never will."
"You lie," said Thano softly. "You lie like a fucking rug, old man. I heard what you went through to rescue me from the wizard. A man doesn't do that if he doesn't care. You love us. Maybe it's time to admit it. Let's all do a group hug."
"No!" Ryland stopped and faced Thano. The younger warrior's green eyes were glinting with amusement that seemed to ignite a familiar, dark rage inside Ryland "I will never fucking care about anyone again," he snarled. "Not like that. Not like that."
Thano met his gaze in challenge. "Then why did you save me from the wizard? Why do you risk yourself every day for the Order? Why do you mourn Dante every minute of every day? Why have you spent three weeks trekking through the mountains in search of a woman who might or might not be the key to the Order's salvation?"
Ryland stiffened at the mention of their deceased leader, the man who had given him the one thing, the only thing, he'd ever wanted. "I will defend Dante's legacy until the day I die. I owe him. That is all I live for. Dante is the reason for everything I do."
"Dante didn't believe in mindless battle." Zach was breathing heavily now, his lungs straining as the poison flowed through him. "He believed in doing the right thing because he cared about protecting innocents. That was his legacy, not a mindless adherence to the Order and to rules. You don't honor his legacy. You destroy it with words like that, words that support purposeless, mindless violence."
"No," Ryland snapped, unable to keep the anger out of his voice. "I honor
it. Dante knows that. He knows."
"He's dead," Zach said. "He doesn't know anything."
Ryland looked toward the sky, and he knew Zach was wrong. Dante had spoken to him after he'd died. He'd been there when Ryland had been hunting for Thano. Somewhere in this existence, his spirit still lived, his eyes still saw, his legend still existed. But it wasn't enough. Without Dante to protect him, Ryland was losing his tenuous grip on the gift Dante had given him. He would fight for Dante's vision until he took his last breath, and that meant protecting his team. The fact it wasn't personal didn't mean he was any less driven. "We must keep moving. Zach doesn't have much time."
He started walking again, picking up the trail Catherine had left behind. They were only an hour or so behind her. They had time to catch up to her and still get Zach the help he needed. Both were critical to Dante's legacy, and Ryland would not rest until they were both accomplished. "Let's go."
There was a pause, and then Thano and Zach began to follow him. For a moment, no one spoke. Then Thano's voice broke the silence. "You said talraks are from the nether-realm."
"They are." Ryland paused to touch the dirt. The faint hint of death was there, and he nodded with satisfaction. Catherine would not escape him tonight.
"The nether-realm is the region between true darkness and earth," Thano observed. "It's pure darkness and evil."
"Sure is." Ryland shaded his eyes and saw they were approaching a valley. At the far end was a faint glow. Light? A village? Faint memories stirred in his mind, and he realized he knew that village. That was where he would find what he needed to heal Zach and Thano.
"So," Thano continued, his voice deceptively casual. "How do you know about a creature that lives in the nether-realm and doesn't ever come to the surface?"
Ryland looked over his shoulder at the warrior he'd spent so long searching for, the one member of his team that somehow seemed to ease the grip of darkness that was always hovering so closely. That's why he'd wanted Thano along. Not for his fighting. For the relief he gave him. "You really want to know?"
Thano grunted in annoyance. "No, it's just that you're so fun to chat with that I like to make up reasons for light-hearted conversation with you." He raised his brows. "Just in case I was unclear, that was a subtle use of sarcasm which actually meant, 'fuck yeah, I want to know.'"
Ryland met his gaze. "Because I was born there."
Thano's eyebrows shot up. "Born where? In the nether-realm?"
"What? You thought I was born in heaven with all the good guys? Easy mistake to make." Ryland kept walking. "And that was sarcasm as well, which meant 'you're annoying as hell with all the damn questions.'"
"But that means you’re a demon, or some sort of cursed beast. That's all there is down there."
Ryland looked over his shoulder. "You think I'm a demon?"
Thano's forehead furrowed. "Shit, no, Ry. You're a lot of things, but you're not a demon."
Zach looked over at him. "Are you?"
Ryland didn't answer.
Chapter Two
SHE NEEDED LIGHT. Fast. Now.
Her heart pounding, blackness flickering at the edges of her vision, Catherine Taylor clawed her way up the steep cliff, her mind screaming in desperate protest as the shadows of sunset began to lengthen. She lost her grip and slithered down twenty feet, the rock slicing the tips of her fingers as she tried to hang on.
She finally came to a stop on a narrow ledge barely wide enough for her feet. She jammed her hand into a crevice in the cliff and twisted it, locking it in the gap. She rested her cheek against the cold rock, trying to catch her breath. All of her muscles were shaking, her chest was aching, and her head was pounding. As for the cold? It had long ago penetrated all the way to the marrow of her bones, and the shivering had been taking its toll on her for hours.
Maybe she should just wait here and weather the night on the cliff, instead of risking her life for a last gleam of sunlight before the day vanished. Surely on this isolated stretch of the Northern Cascades, there was no one around she could murder during her sleep, right? It would be safe—
A faint roar caught her attention, a shout that sounded almost like her name. Instinctively, she jerked her head around and looked over her shoulder, searching through the fading light to see what had made the noise.
Movement caught her eye on a distant cliff, and agonizing disbelief coursed through her when she saw the three men who'd been following her. They were still on her trail? As much as she wanted to look away and resume her frantic pursuit of sunlight, once again she was mesmerized by the sight of the largest warrior as he stood tall and hurled a spear at the talrak she'd snuck past earlier.
As always, he was shrouded in a black aura that spoke of violence and darkness so thick that she could almost touch it, even from a distance. But there was something in the way he held himself that spoke of more, that reflected honor, courage, and bravery. Things that she had long since given up on. Who was he? Who were they?
She studied them, trying to make them out, but she couldn't discern their faces at all. Just three men and a huge black horse, appearing to regroup following the attack. What did they want from her? Why were they following her? She no longer believed it was a coincidence that the men were traveling the exact path she was. She'd tested it once, taking a nonsensical detour down a dead end.
They'd followed it, turning precisely where she had.
Not only were they clearly pursuing her, but they were also unerring in their ability to track her. She had been careful to leave no footprints, and yet they knew every step she took. How? They would be near by nightfall. Too near. She would hunt them if she slept, and she knew, without a doubt, that the first man she would target would be the tall one, the one who called to her so intensely.
She could not let herself kill him. Them. Anyone. "Dammit!" With a burst of frustrated adrenaline, Catherine dug the toes of her boots into the crevices on the cliff and started to climb again. In order to reach the last vestiges of sunlight drifting across the land, she had to get out of the shadows cast by the mountain she was on, for at least a few minutes. "Come on!" she urged herself, forcing her weary body higher.
Gritting her jaw, she willed herself upward, but when she got to the top, her path was blocked by a smooth ledge projecting out two feet past her head. "Are you kidding?" She stared up at the underside of the ledge, knowing that she didn't have the strength or skill to pull herself over it. The rocky edge was cast in a warm orange glow, a tease from the setting sun that was so close, but so out of reach.
Frantically, Catherine looked around. A small outcropping provided a good handhold, enough to support her. Willing strength into her trembling fingers, she gripped the cliff with one hand, and then leaned out toward the edge of the rock with her other hand, stretching toward the orange glow. A little farther. Almost there—
Finally, her fingers broke the plane of the setting sun. The warm rays kissed her skin and Catherine felt her whole body shudder with relief as the light touched her. Knowing she had only a few minutes until the rays drifted out of reach, she immediately closed her eyes and concentrated on the waning light.
She focused her mind on the brilliant, glowing particles dancing around the tips of her fingers and invited them into her body. The light responded at once to her command, flowing almost violently into her. She drank it in voraciously, spreading the light through her, sucking in every last bit she could. The air nearby began to darken as she pulled the brightness from it, but she didn't stop her harvest. More, more, more. She needed enough to last the night. "Come in, light," she whispered. "Replenish me."
And it came. Fiercely, like a tsunami of glowing beauty bending to her will. The brightness spread through her, gifting her with more time, with reserves that would protect her from the need that burned within her. Her hand began to glow a bright white as the light filled her. It began to creep along her arm, toward her heart—
The sun moved, cutting off the light before the glow had
reached her heart. "No!" She stretched farther, trying to touch the rays, but she had no more distance to give. Frustrated, she gave up, swinging back toward the cliff and again grabbing hold, trapping herself once more in her spot in the shade. She closed her eyes, forcing the light toward her heart, her most vulnerable place, trying to shore herself up as much as possible.
It wasn't enough to keep the world safe while she slept, but if she stayed awake, she might make it through the night without doing more damage. It had to be enough. She had no more time to spend in pursuit of light.
She had to keep going.
Time was running out.
* * *
The night was decaying.
The sudden rush of death nearly knocked Ryland on his ass. He held up his hand, stopping his team as he searched the mountainside for more talraks, but there were no trees and no patches of darkness. Just the beautiful golden rays of a sunset that was too perfect to be wasted on someone as bitter and cynical as him.
Scanning with methodical precision, Ryland surveyed each section of land ahead of them, systematically dissecting the mountains until... "There!" He pointed to a patch of black mist surrounding a distant outcropping. It was at the very top of a wide mountain whose bulk had long since cast it in the afternoon shadows.
The dark cloud around the top of the mountain was unnatural, almost as if it were a void that had been sucked out of the sky. Then, as he watched, a small figure inched its way down from the cloud.
His body went on instant alert, and adrenaline rushed through him. It was Catherine. The woman he'd been tracking. He knew it without a doubt, even though he'd never actually seen her in person. She was miles away, but his preternatural vision easily picked up the curve of her hips, the litheness of her body as she worked her way down the steep decline. She was moving cautiously, a woman who was stretched beyond her limits, not a hardened climber with years of experience.
