Brendan lifted a long pole from the box brow furrowed at the loop of wire at the end. “What is this?”
She sorted through the stash, pocketing some, handing others out. “Before graduation we have a field test. We are released into the city and given a target, then scored on time, style, and technique. This is one of the stashes they leave for us.”
Cade’s eyes widened as she handed him a buckled strip of leather that was lined with razor-sharp spikes. “What exactly are you planning?”
She turned to face them, decked out in weapons and tools arranged so as not to restrict or make noise. “I intend to show my master all that I have learned.”
The building rocked as the windows to their left all exploded in with a wave of fire. As the men around her ducked to avoid the flying glass and flame, she walked to the door.
“What was that?” Brendan shook the glass from his body as he struggled back to his feet. Bricks from the damaged wall rained down to reveal the massive crater in the building next door. He rushed from the warehouse, barely conscious of the weapons in his hands.
The street outside was chaos as people ran in all directions. Everywhere people were fighting as they dodged the burning debris. He found Eylsa near the damaged building engaged in a graceful swirling dance with a well-muscled man. Her blade flashed toward the man’s arm blocked at the last second by his own weapon. Her leg arced up in a high sweep and crashed down hard against the side of his neck, sending him crashing to the ground as she spun to face a new attacker. She grabbed his wrists, planted a foot in the center of his chest, and rolled with his momentum, sending him crashing across the street.
She flipped to her feet and met his gaze with a smile. “Coming?”
Brendan rushed to her side, Darius, Cade, and Trey close behind him. “What is going on?”
A man rushed toward them and she raised an arm without turning her head, sending him off in another direction. “Do you want an explanation or do you want to find Gregor?”
Darius nodded. “What do you need us to do?”
“Just stay close and alive; shouldn’t be too hard for you.” Her arm shot out to her right and a small blade flew from her fingers to lodge in the throat of a sleek brunette who had been raising a crossbow at them. They tensed as an older scarred man stopped just feet away. Eylsa turned to face him. “Wooster.”
He nodded as he eyed the bloody dagger in her fist. “You’ve been slacking. What will teacher say?”
Her predatory grin slipped sideways. “Don’t you worry about me; I’ve always been excellent at catch up!”
In a blink they were rushing head long toward the burning building. Brendan cursed as he raced after them. He shuffled through defensive spells knocking men aside as he went, trying not to worry about his friends. The room inside had been purged of any contents that may have once been there and the remains of the shattered door to the inner hallway hung askew from its hinges. He could hear more fighting beyond it.
His heart leapt as he slid to a halt. The hallway beyond was a riot of bodies. It was so clogged with fighting that he couldn’t see the far end. Wooster tossed aside opponents like they were troublesome pests. Eylsa held the center of a group of men, her lithe body slipping from strike to block, never hesitating even when blood sprayed from her skin. His friends rushed past him to join the fight but his eyes shifted the opposite direction toward the stairs he knew were behind him. This skirmish was meaningless; he needed Gregor. His feet moved before he realized he had made the decision. With a glance back as he made the door, he caught Eylsa’s gaze. Her eyes flashed as her grin grew wider and he nodded.
The stairs were silent and he felt a creeping anxiety crawl across his skin. He laid his palm flat to the door on the next level to feel the hall beyond before he moved on. The level above held several men and he drew a powerful flash stun to his fingertips as he moved to open the door.
“You have nerve, I’ll give you that.”
He spun and his eyes shot up to a man perched on the railing of the floor above. His young, muscled body was still as his sharp predator eyes drank him in. Brendan met his gaze with the strength of his anger. “I have much more than nerve.”
Brendan stepped onto the landing as the man hopped down from the railing and danced down the stairs. “I’ll be the judge of that.” His loose flowing robe slipped from his arms to pool along the stairs as he turned at the top of the rise, bare-chested. “I am Enan.”
Brendan shrugged. “That’s nice.”
A haughty smirk spread across his lips. “I thought you Tribunal boys were all about manners. I gave you my name, now you give me yours.”
He sighed in frustration. “Brendan.”
“Very good. I want you to know something, Brendan of the Tribunal. One, you die here.” He raised an arm as he glanced up dramatically. “This stairway will be your tomb.”
“So you think.”
His gaze dropped. “So I know.”
Brendan rolled his eyes, done with his new friend’s threats. “And two?”
“Eylsa will not die here today. She will fall to us—have no doubt about that—but she will not die. When Gregor finds out you have died in this foolish attempt, he will give her a mate worthy of her talents.” Enan sauntered down the stairs, head tilted cockily to the side. “And just so you know, I am first in line for the position.”
Brendan coughed a laugh. “It is shocking that your wit and charm alone couldn’t win you a mate, but I can see why you would accept the generosity of your daddy.”
Enan’s hands went to his hips as he made the landing head down then glanced up at Brendan across from him. “You know you are going to pay for that.”
Brendan brought his hands up as the man rushed him.
* * *
Cade dropped to the floor as the hallway filled with undulating green fire. He had lost sight of everyone in the ensuing chaos and was now trapped at the end of the hall, staring down seven men. As the flames faded above him, he launched himself into a side room.
The door behind him erupted in a shower of splinters as he crashed to the floor, cradling his head. Dust and debris rained down on him and a thousand aches and pains vied for his attention. He blinked the grit out of his eyes as he rolled onto his back and struggled to rein in his racing heart.
Silence stretched out after the blast, broken only by the clatter of falling debris and the muffled sounds of far off fighting. His mind caught on a quiet crunch that didn’t quite fit the organic thumps of falling wall.
They were coming.
He flung out his left hand and sent a ward toward the threshold. He rolled to the wall as the spell ignited and sent two men crashing against the other side of the hall.
He jumped to his feet again, running headlong for the door at the end of the hall. Launching himself over two men dead at the door, he took quick stock of their companions stunned at various intervals along the hallway. They struggled to recover as he rushed past them, dodging with ease. He crashed into the door to the stairs, letting it slam shut behind him.
* * *
Eylsa slowed her breath as she pressed back against the wall and took a mental tally of her wounds. Nothing immediately threatening, but each added its toll. She had taken refuge in a room full of practice equipment and wooden weapons. She heard the door open and slid down along the wall to crouch among the shadows. They paused in the doorway, breath fast and heavy as she crept her way toward them. They entered the room and let the door swing shut, oblivious of anyone else that might be hiding in the darkness.
She glanced around a dummy and rolled her eyes as she watched Trey standing completely open while he pressed a cloth to a deep wound in his arm. He jumped as she stood, his breath racing before he dropped to his knees. “Eylsa!”
She shook her head as she kneeled to inspect his arm. “You are lucky it was me; anyone else would have killed you before you knew they were there.”
He shook as she pulled his coat off. “I know; I’m all h
opeless like that.”
“You all are.” She laid her hand along his bare arm and winced at the warmth of his skin. “The woman who did this to you, what did she look like?”
His eyes blinked but remained half lidded as his head lolled back toward her. “How do you know it was a woman?”
“Small”—she pulled a bag from her boot—“brown eyes, dark skin?”
“It’s just a cut.”
“You really are pathetic to let someone so small get the better of you.” Her voice was scathing and her motions rough as she smeared the cut with a paste from the bag.
His brow furrowed at her tone. “Hey, that small girl was vicious and quicker than…than… What are you putting on that?”
“Don’t change the subject; you should have been able to throw her one handed!” She met his glare as she jerked a strip of cloth tight around the cut.
His gaze hazed as his head slumped back and she slapped him hard across the face. “Trey!”
He dropped to the floor. “What is happening to me?”
“You’re going to be okay, but I need you to stay awake, all right?”
His head rolled to the side to try to get a glimpse of his arm. “Why is my arm so hot? Are you burning me?”
She swatted his hand away as he tried to dislodge the bandage. “Leave it. The salve will burn the poison.”
“P…poison? What poison?”
“Just stay still, you are done for today.”
“No, I’ll be okay, just give me a minute.”
She shuffled through his coat and pulled out his homing device. “To survive against Tasha is quite an accomplishment; you deserve your rest.” She wrapped his hand around the newly set homing device, pressed his thumb, and jerked her hands away as he vanished.
She returned to her feet and stepped back out of the room.
* * *
Darius flung out his hand, sending his attacker through a wall. He had seen Trey fighting a small woman but he had walked away with only a small gash. The girl herself nursed a nasty burn that should keep her far from any more fighting today. His old joints sure wished his reputation for being invincible was warranted as another young man rushed at him, spells flying in an arc that forced him back against the wall. Darius was suddenly hit from the right with a barrage of ice blades.
A tall, well-muscled man slunk from another room. “If it isn’t the famous Darius.”
Darius straightened his back and slipped his hands into his sleeves. “And you would be?”
A conceited grin slipped sideways across the attacker’s face. “About to become a legend.”
A flash of light erupted around him, splitting into multiple bands as he gave a violent scream. His feet lifted before the light vanished and he crumbled to the floor.
Cade was behind him. “Not sure how that makes him a legend.”
“Glad to see you are okay.”
“Glad to be okay.” He waited for the older man to reach his side. “How do we find the others?”
Darius fought the fatigue that wracked his body as they navigated the debris that littered the floor. “Let’s work our way upward; maybe we’ll come upon Gregor as we go.”
* * *
Brendan leapt aside as Enan lashed out at him with a thin, long blade. His muscles complained at the constant abuse, but he couldn’t give in—not yet. Enan’s hungry eyes watched his every step, every move, waiting for the slightest advantage. His thigh burned from a gash but the strike had cost the other man a broken rib and a burned cheek. The angry flesh marred his pretty face quite nicely.
With a grab of Enan’s wrists, he broke the other man’s latest rush. “You can’t keep this up forever!”
Brendan felt the predatory grin split his face. “I’m just getting my second wind, but if you need a break…”
“Must have been your wit that pulled Eylsa from us.”
Brendan gave a push and felt a rush of satisfaction as Enan’s foot slipped off the landing. “Must be.”
Enan spun and tried to pull Brendan toward the edge of the stairs but Brendan released his grip and rolled back against the hallway door. Blade high, Enan leapt forward, his face a triumphant mask. Brendan brought a wave of energy up into his palm and struck out as Enan slashed the blade down to slice the top of his shoulder.
Brendan yelled with the force of the power that flowed up through his arm to crash into Enan’s body. He held the spell, hand flat to the other man’s chest until he felt the heart stop.
A wash of fatigue crashed over him as he released the flow and allowed Enan’s body to slump to the floor. With a deep breath, he jerked the blade out of his shoulder and flung it from him.
* * *
“Hello Eylsa.”
“Hello Gregor.”
She stepped into the room latching the door behind her as he turned from the window he stood before. “You impress me.” He sauntered toward her, hands clasped behind his back.
She circled around but kept her eyes toward him. “It was not my intention.”
He cocked his head and smiled. “Was it not?”
“I want amnesty, for all of them. Freedom to live their lives without restraint, without your shadow stalking them.”
He stopped and reversed direction as they circled the room. “And what would I get in return were I to grant this amnesty?”
“Your life.”
A dark laugh shook his body. “That isn’t enough.”
“I’m listening.”
“You know what I want.”
“I will never grant that.”
He spread his hands wide. “Is it really so much to ask? Only one, your first? The life of one child in exchange for the lives and freedoms of all of your friends?”
“It is.”
His head tilted upward, cocked as if listening for something. “Where is our dear Brendan anyway? Should he not be in on this discussion?”
“I know his mind.”
Gregor’s smile spread. “Do you now? Not a week ago his mind was beyond your comprehension. Did my tender attentions bring about this marvelous epiphany? Seems like such an act should be rewarded.”
“I never sought this.”
“Life always tests us how it sees fit.”
She dropped her head. “You always told us that one of our number would try for your life.”
“They always do.”
She loosened her belt and dropped the collected weapons aside. “I would hate to disappoint.”
The older man spun in a whirl of fabric and flame, sending a ball of burning robe toward her. She ducked aside, her hand an arc as she sent a barrage of glass shards torn from the window racing toward him. No sooner had her direction changed than Gregor leapt forward with a heavy swing of his arm. She hastily flipped backward, landing both feet in the center of his chest. He rolled with the momentum and his hand sent a wave of burning ice across the floor, nearly knocking her down. Her palms slammed to the floor and splintered the icy coating, leaving a needly carpet beneath their feet.
Gregor hopped from the floor to a chair perched on his hands and toes. Eylsa jumped onto a desk and crawled forward toward the edge. Her nerves were alive as she and Gregor stared at each other across the room, every sense attuned. She could almost feel Gregor thinking as the spikes melted from the floor.
“Where are your new friends? They could help you turn the strength to your side.” He climbed down from the chair and shrugged as he rose to his full height.
“I have no need of them for that.” She remained on her perch as she shifted to keep him in sight.
“We will see, won’t we?”
She leapt from the top of the desk as his hand shot out and sent the furniture spinning through the air. She danced around the floating obstacles, inching her way closer to Gregor as she went. She dropped to the floor as a large stuffed armchair bounced off her shoulder.
On her stomach, she glared up at the man standing over her, his arms raised. Her hands balled into fists and drained
the power from the spell swirling around the room. Furniture and debris rained around them, releasing a cacophony of clattering and crashes.
She rose from the floor on her hands and drew her legs under her. Crouched low, she crawled toward him and melted the boards beneath his feet. He jerked and struggled as he sank into the wood past his ankles. He fell forward and tried to pull himself free. The floor solidified as she reached him.
His face brightened. “You always were amazing.”
A spark glistened from her eyes as she watched him. “I still am.” Tenderly she placed her fingers along his cheek and pressed her forehead to his, voice a hot breathy whisper. “I pity you.”
Searing liquid pain shot through him from her fingertips, boiling the blood in his veins. His muscles tensed and jerked, unable to contain the energy that burned through them. His lips curled in an oddly proud expression as the spark behind his eyes faded.
* * *
Cade kneeled beside Brendan and helped him to sit up against the wall. His body was a myriad of pain from cuts and fatigue. The building around them still rocked with battle.
“You look like you’ve been having fun.”
Brendan’s half-lidded eyes shifted to Darius, who stood on the stairs behind Cade. “Ran into my fan club, if you can believe it.” His forehead wrinkled. “Where’s Trey?”
Cade pulled Brendan to his feet and threw an arm over his shoulders. “Haven’t seen him.”
Brendan’s head dropped in resignation but Darius responded before he could speak. “Eylsa either. No sign of Gregor.”
“I don’t know how much more of this I can take.” Brendan’s knees gave out and nearly toppled Cade and himself to the floor. “We have to find them.”
Cade nodded. “All right, we’ll find them, but first I think we should send you back.”
An Assassin's Redemption: A New Adult Urban Fantasy Romance Novel Page 24
