"Look at Ryker’s injuries," Wyatt instructed, "they probably got ambushed and had to split and now he's waiting for her to rendezvous."
“Jools could be anywhere,” Dev worried, “this park is huge.”
“I’m going to find her,” Wyatt stated, “you meet up with Ryker.”
Dev grabbed him before he could leave.
“We shouldn’t split up.”
“Agreed, but I have to find my sister,” Wyatt insisted as he shook off Dev’s hand and headed back into the woods, “you’ll be with Ryker.”
“I’m not worried about myself!” she exclaimed loudly.
Wyatt turned back to her briefly, brought his finger to his lips, signaling her to be quiet, then took off running to find Jools. Dev watched him disappear, shocked and annoyed he refused to listen to her but fully understanding the need to find his sister. She turned and trained her eye on Ryker, then headed in his direction. Running through the woods, keeping him in her line of sight, Dev was able to reach Ryker fairly quickly, but slowed her approach as she neared, not wanting to startle the warrior.
“Ryker,” she called from the woods behind him.
He spun around with blades in each hand, caught sight of her and relaxed.
“Where’s Wyatt?” Ryker asked as he sheathed his blades
“Where’s Jools?”
“Asked you first.”
“He went looking for Jools,” Dev replied.
“You split apart?” he asked her incredulously.
“Isn’t that precisely what you and Jools did?” she replied defensively.
“Touché,” Ryker relented, knowing it wasn’t Dev’s fault their plans were unravelling.
“I killed Nona Gaston,” Dev offered, swiftly changing the subject.
Ryker shot Dev an admiring smile, fully pleased by that news.
“If Max didn’t want you dead before, he’s certainly going to when he gets wind of that tidbit. She’s the love of his life.”
“Well, she’s dead now,” Dev commented as she cleaned her blade on her pants.
Ryker scanned the horizon, searching for any movement, any signs of life in the darkness. He checked his watch, noting that he and Jools had been apart for seventeen minutes. Not a long time, considering the expanse of the park, but worrisome nonetheless. Spying something moving to his left, Ryker turned just in time to miss having his head sliced open by a sword-wielding Sanctum. The warrior blindly slashed his sword this way and that, thrashing about until Dev flung her blade from some distance and pierced his neck perfectly. He stood still for a moment, then crumpled to the ground. It was only when Dev and Ryker inspected the body that they realized his eyes had been gouged out
“Thanks,” Ryker whispered to Dev as he kicked the body to check for markings.
“Sure thing,” she replied as she retrieved her blade from the downed warrior’s neck.
“That was a sweet shot,” Ryker admired.
Dev smiled.
“It wasn’t half bad, huh?” she replied as she stood and looked around, “do you think we’re safe here?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Ryker replied, “I told Jools I would wait here for her so I’m not leaving this spot until I see her again.”
As if on cue, Jools raced by them in the woods, nearly tripping over the dead Sanctum, leaping at the last second to avoid him. She landed softly and turned back to Dev and Ryker, her face streaked with dirt and blood, her blade between her teeth. She sheathed her weapon and smiled at Ryker.
“Sorry I’m late,” she whispered with a laugh.
“Better late than never,” Ryker replied evenly, trying his best to hide any emotion from his voice.
Paying little attention to Dev, Jools walked up to Ryker and wrapped her arms around him, leaning her head against his chest and closing her eyes.
“I’m happy to see you, too,” she whispered.
Ryker kissed the top of her head and hugged her tightly, never wanting to let her go, understanding that was an impossibility, but desiring it nonetheless.
“Where is Wyatt?” Dev’s voice cut their reunion short.
Jools slipped out of Ryker’s embrace and turned to Dev with a confused look on her face.
“What do you mean ‘where is Wyatt?’, he’s supposed to be with you,” Jools replied.
“He went looking for you,” Dev explained.
“Why would he do a genius thing like that?” Jools asked.
“Because you’re his little sister and he loves you,” Dev replied testily, “and when he didn’t see you with Ryker, he took off.”
“You should have stopped him, Dev,” Jools replied.
Dev shot her a look that even in the darkness she understood.
“Okay, okay, perhaps that’s expecting a bit much,” Jools relented, “dammit Wyatt!”
“Just find him yourself,” Ryker suggested quietly.
“That’s what you were doing with Max,” Dev stated, “so now do it with Wyatt.”
“Wyatt is too gifted at concealing his energy, I don’t know that I can locate him,” Jools replied to both of them.
“Try,” Dev insisted.
Jools studied Dev for a minute, not appreciating her tone of voice one bit. The girl had some nerve, commanding her like that. But rather than waste any more time, Jools simply tuned Dev out and began feeling around for her brother. A long, piercing whistle broke her concentration and sent Ryker running through the woods in their direction. Dev recognized the sound as well; Wyatt used it to call Ryker when he was in trouble.
“What the?” Jools watched Ryker disappear and Dev take off after him. She checked her supply of arrows and then whipped out her favorite short blade, following them in hot pursuit.
Ryker unsheathed both of his swords as he ran in Wyatt’s direction, prepared to kill anything moving. As he approached a clearing he saw Wyatt surrounded by twenty or so Sanctum, injured but valiantly fighting them off. Ryker burst out of the woods and beheaded two warriors right off the bat, gutted two others and met Wyatt in the center of the circle. Without a word, back-to-back, they laid waste to several more until the numbers of the opposing side had dwindled to so few that Ryker and Wyatt moved apart and started fighting one-on-one.
As soon as they separated, at least forty more warriors led by Max attacked from the North, followed shortly by dozens of New York Sanctum, called to the site by Jools. Watching from the periphery of the clearing, still hidden in the woods, Dev instructed Jools to climb a tree and begin taking down Sanctum with her bow. One by one, methodically, Jools attacked from on high, never missing a shot.
Invigorated by Ryker’s presence, Wyatt forgot his injuries and began killing Sanctum right and left, moving so fast amongst the crowd it was difficult to spot him. On the other side of the clearing, Ryker was doing the same, cutting down Sanctum with an unparalleled ferocity and determination. His swords were dripping with blood, he was covered head-to-toe in filth but Ryker was just getting started. On and on they came, from all corners of the park and similarly, they fell at his feet, their dying breaths muffled by the sounds of their falling brethren.
Dev moved silently among the fighting, killing any warriors in her path, as she made her way towards Max. She saw him the minute he entered the fray and had every intention of killing him with her own bare hands. Anything else would be unsatisfactory.
Jools caught sight of her and started taking down anyone in Dev’s path, helping to lead her straight to Max. The field was littered with the bodies of the dead and for Dev, an eerie quiet had settled over the group, only broken by the staccato sound of steel meeting steel. That deadly sound soothed her, letting her know Wyatt was somewhere out there fighting, otherwise preoccupied and alive. The last thing she wanted him to do was focus on her and leave himself vulnerable to attack.
She crept along, picking up a sword from a fallen warrior, testing its heft on another, killing her easily. Each step Dev took pumped her adrenaline, raised her heartbeat and brought her closer to her
goal of avenging her family's merciless deaths. She could see little besides Max, his head bobbing and weaving through the crowd as he fought alongside his warriors, hellbent on killing any and all New York Sanctum.
"Maxwell Breslin!" she shouted his name.
Max spun around and faced Dev, his expression a mixture of hatred and surprise. Dev wasted no time, coming at him with her sword, landing a heavy blow to his left arm, pulling back and hoping to hit him with her Raven blade, but Max blocked her attack and came at her with several short, quick blows with his own sword. Dev easily defended herself, watching from the corner of her eye for any Sanctum trying to attack her from behind.
“Max!” Ryker called to him from behind.
As he turned, Dev spun and kicked him square in the jaw, sending him flying. Max landed awkwardly, but recovered quickly, fighting Ryker and Dev as three other Sanctum joined him. Jools reloaded her bow and killed two of them in mere seconds, leaving Ryker to handle the fourth and Dev once again able to focus her attention solely on Max.
“I am going to kill you and then I am going to parade your dead body throughout the Academies, as we celebrate the end of your rotten, short life,” Max sneered through bloodstained teeth.
“Not if I kill you first,” Dev replied as she feigned an attack with her sword and went inside to cut him with her short blade, hitting him near his ribs.
Max recoiled, touching his side, coming away with blood on his hands. The red infuriated him and he came at her with a blind aggression, fiercely batting down any moves she made with her sword, cutting Dev’s side and knocking away the blade she held in her left hand. Dev quickly replaced that weapon with her Raven blade only to have Max slash her arm and cause her to drop the blade. She stepped back and blocked his onslaught of blows with her sword, hoping he would soon tire and she could go on the offensive. But he kept coming, repeatedly, until she tripped over a body and lost her balance. Max saw his opportunity and went in for the kill.
“Don’t do it, Max,” Wyatt hissed as he grabbed Max from behind and held a knife to his throat, “everyone’s dead. It’s just you and us.”
Max paused and listened to the strange silence, knowing he was trapped, cursing his bad luck. He relaxed against Wyatt, his body language suggesting an acknowledgment of his fate, that the gig was up.
“I wouldn’t dream of it, chap,” Max stated with a laugh, winked at Dev and then with astonishing speed and incredible force, brought his Raven blade backwards and up, gutting Wyatt where he stood.
Wyatt released him instantly and Max took off, deep into the park, escaping into the night. Wyatt fell to his knees and tried frantically to hold together the gaping wound in his belly. His mouth immediately filled with blood and his ears rang with the noise around him, but all he could see was the horror in Dev’s eyes. He sank back on his knees, unable to hold his weight upright any longer, his head suddenly very heavy. Wyatt felt strong arms around him and knew they were Ryker’s. He was gently placed on his back but choked on the blood filling his mouth and rolled to his side to avoid suffocating.
There was screaming, lots of screaming but it sounded so very far away and it wasn’t Dev, so Wyatt tuned it out. He closed his eyes and thought of how foolish he was to come up behind Max like that, never thinking once to disarm the warrior. He thought how angry Dev would be with him after he promised he wouldn’t try to save her from Max. He smiled to himself, thinking of her. His mouth filled again with blood but this time he simply let his lips part and the blood flow down the side of his face. He was too tired to do much else.
Ryker and Jools were yelling at her, but Dev didn’t hear a word they said, she was in shock. One minute Wyatt had a knife to Max’s throat, the next he was cut open from his waist to chest, dying in front of her. She could not get her head around the reality of the situation and believed if she just closed her eyes, all would be fine.
But when she opened them, Ryker and Jools were still yelling and Wyatt was lying on the ground across from her, his eyes closed, bleeding to death.
"DEV!" Ryker grabbed her shoulders and shook her hard, so hard she swore her brain rattled.
Dev grabbed his arms and looked him in the eye.
"I'm here," she assured him quietly, "I'm here."
“Okay,” Ryker replied sadly, “you see to Wyatt and I’ll handle Jools.”
"You get in there and you fix my brother. Don't you dare let him die. You fix him now!” Jools raged at Dev, pushing her and crying, until Ryker grabbed her from behind and moved her away from where Wyatt lay still and silent.
Dev inched towards Wyatt on her hands and knees, running her hands over his foot, his leg, the holster at his hip, his arm, his neck, his cheek, his hair, making sure it was really him, lying there bleeding. Tears streamed down her face as she lay down next to him so they were face-to-face. She moved his shirt a little to inspect his wound but stopped, knowing there was little she could do to save him.
At least not here.
Dev ran her fingers through his hair and Wyatt opened his eyes. She wiped the blood from the side of his mouth and smiled.
"I'm dying," he whispered.
"You are not," she tearfully disagreed as she caressed his cheek and kissed him.
“You can’t save me this time.”
Dev said nothing, she simply cried.
"Are you mad at me?" he asked.
"No," she insisted.
“I wasn’t trying to be a hero,” Wyatt smiled, “I just wasn’t going to let him kill you.”
“I know,” Dev replied.
“But I would do it again.”
“Now you’re trying to be a hero,” Dev laughed through her tears, caressing his cheek and rubbing his neck, just wanting to touch him while she was still able.
“I’m so tired, Dev,” Wyatt remarked nervously.
She knew he was losing his fight, that the life was draining out of him. He grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing her fingers as tears ran down his face. Then he closed his eyes and quieted.
“I love you, Dev.”
Dev pulled him into her arms and held him close, wanting to comfort him any way possible.
“I love you, too, Wyatt,” she whispered to him, “desperately. So I need you to open your eyes. I need you to look at me and show me you’re going to fight to be with me, that you are not giving up. Please. You promised me I would not lose you. You promised you would fight this fight with me. I cannot do it alone.”
She waited for him to respond, hoping in the midst of his pain and agony, he heard her, that her words cut through and reached him.
She sat up and looked down at him, believing he had a ounce of fight left in him and she was going to will it to the surface. Dev pushed his hair off his forehead, caressed his beautiful face and kissed him softly, hoping her touch would spark something within him, remind him she was waiting. Her fingers trailed down to his wrist and she felt for his pulse, feeling a slight, slow beat.
“I’m still here,” Wyatt opened his eyes and stated weakly.
It was all she needed to hear.
“Do not go anywhere,” she commanded with a hopeful smile.
She stood up and started searching the bodies of fallen Sanctum, stealing shirts and jackets off warriors, belts from waistbands and laces from boots.
“What are you doing?” Ryker asked as he watched her move across the field of the dead.
“I’m going to dress his wound,” Dev looked up at Ryker as she unlaced a pair of boots, “and then I’m going to heal him.”
“Nothing out here is clean,” Ryker observed, studying Dev’s movements, wondering if she was thinking clearly.
Dev tossed the shirts and jackets she collected to Ryker and moved to the next body, her collection of laces and belts draped around her neck. She knew he was looking at her as if she was crazy, but she didn’t have time to explain herself.
“Dev,” Ryker started to say something to her but she stopped him.
“Don’t,” sh
e stood up and looked him in the eyes, “just don’t do it, Ryker. I’m not crazy, I promise. I am fully aware that Wyatt is lying twenty feet away with a massive hole in his chest. I understand that he has lost an insane amount of blood, that his pulse is weak and he can barely maintain consciousness. But he is still here and as long as there is an iota of life in him, I am going to do everything in my power to help him.”
Dev looked back towards Wyatt, not wanting Ryker to see the tears in her eyes. She watched Jools crying over Wyatt’s body, holding his hand and beating on his chest.
“You need to get her,” Dev turned to Ryker, “she’s not helping.”
“Her brother is dying, Dev. She’s upset.”
“He is not dying!” Dev insisted ferociously.
Ryker immediately regretted his choice of words.
“Please get her away from him,” Dev pleaded with Ryker, unable to watch Jools a minute longer, “take her back to the Academy, medicate her, do whatever you must to calm her. Then tell Sam and Josiah to come.”
Ryker handed Dev the clothing she collected and pulled her into his embrace, kissing her forehead affectionately.
“Sure thing,” he replied as he headed towards Jools, then turned back to Dev with a request of his own, “take care of my boy.”
Dev smiled at him through her tears, then watched him approach Jools, pick her up and carry her away just as Dev requested.
“I hate you, Dev!” Jools thrashed against Ryker’s embrace, “I swear, I hate you!”
The younger, distraught Clayworth protested loudly as she and Ryker disappeared into the woods, her threats echoing off the trees, tormenting Dev until Jools could no longer be heard and Dev was left with just Wyatt and the quiet.
She returned to his side, studying him for a moment, so still and lifeless. Dev leaned close and kissed Wyatt softly, her tears falling on his face as she checked his pulse and listened for his breath. She leaned against his chest for a moment, feeling so very sad and alone, momentarily uncertain of herself and what she was doing. Wyatt reached for her, draping his arm around her while she cried.
“Dev,” he whispered, “please don’t.”
Dev sat up quickly and wiped her eyes, not wanting him to see her break down.
Book One: The Girl (The Sanctum) Page 33
