"There's more," I interrupted. "I think I know where Ellie is."
"How?"
"I can sense areas where there is magic but no threat. I think those areas are Nesmyr that are being held captive. The sensation is the same as it was at the facility when I could locate Nesmyr that weren't using their power. There is one area that feels small. It's not as strong as the other areas so I think it might be Ellie because she's so young."
"I don't think it's safe to risk going in there. Even if we manage to get past the Zhulik guarding her, it will most likely alert the other ones to our presence. They'll all come after us."
"We have to try," I argued. "We took this job to rescue her. If we know where she's at then we at least have to try. We can come back for the others another time. I feel bad leaving them but we didn't take a job to rescue them. If they're important to anyone then they'll be someone else's job."
"One job is not worth having fifteen Zhulik come after us. We need to go back to headquarters and alert the council of what we found. We'll get a group of Lovac and come back when we have a chance of surviving."
"Ellie might be dead by that time. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if that happens."
"There's a lot of things that you're going to do that will have you thinking that but you'll learn to live with them eventually."
"This isn't one of them," I said, walking towards the cave entrance. "I'm going in with or without you. Besides, the sun will be coming up soon so if any of the other Zhulik come after us we'll make a run for it. Once we make it outside we'll be safe in the sunlight."
"But Ellie won’t. She’s a Nesmyr. We have to get here out before the sun rises or she’ll burn. We don’t have that much time."
"Then we better hurry." I would not give up that easily.
I was entering the cave now and glanced back to see Felix's reaction. He looked very torn. He still wanted to get Lovac back-up but he didn't want me to do this alone. I saw a look in his eyes that showed he had come up with an idea. He caught my eye and gave me a half smile just before he started to run after me. It only took me a second to figure out that he was planning on tackling me and forcing me back to the headquarters.
I was surprised he hadn't considered what my power might do. It kicked into full attack mode and just as he reached for me, I ducked and kicked his legs out from underneath him. He landed on the hard ground with a thud and a groan.
"You should've known better than to try that. Doing anything to me against my will is considered a threat. When you threaten me, my power kicks in. Next time I won't be so nice. Now are you going to come with me or wait in the car?"
He sat up quickly and grabbed my hand, yanking me to the ground on top of him. "I don’t want you to get hurt," he said into my ear. The pleading in his voice was almost enough to make me change my mind, but I had to put mine and Felix’s feelings aside.
"She’s only a girl, Felix. Can you imagine what they’ve done to her or are planning to do to her? We have to get her out."
He sat up with his arms still wrapped around me and looked deeply into my eyes. I hoped he would see how badly I needed to this. A defeated look washed over his face and he sighed. He stood up, bringing me to my feet as well. He had decided to trust me with both of our lives.
"Don't mess this up," he told me, bringing my hand to his lips for a gentle kiss. "I still have a few good years left to live and I would like to enjoy them." I knew he was more concerned with my life than his own and I hoped he would be able to spend those years with me. Somehow.
"Just stay quiet and follow my lead."
Chapter 21
I had never thought of myself as a leader before but in that moment, I felt like I was born for it. I led us through a maze of caves, carefully tuning into my power to make sure we avoided the wrong groups of Zhulik. The group where I was hoping to find Ellie was deep in the cave and we had to pass at least four other groups of Zhulik undetected.
The Zhulik were in small caverns that led off of the main pathway, so we wouldn't be walking too close to them but it was still terrifying to move past each path that led to where I knew they were at. Each time we passed one of them I held my breath and felt like they would come running after us at any moment.
I didn't say a word to Felix when we were near them. I didn't want him to panic more than he already was. I would just slow down and move extra slow and he would follow my example. I'm sure he caught on but he didn't show any reaction.
We had already passed about ten paths that lead off of the main one into different parts of the cave and I wondered if the cave stretched farther than my sensing power could. For all I knew, these paths could be miles long and there could be swarms of Zhulik hiding in their depths. I gulped at the thought and sweat beaded on my forehead. That was not the kind of thinking I needed.
I felt like we were going to have to walk for miles before we got to where we wanted to be but we finally reached what I thought was the right path. I paused in front of it and glanced at Felix to indicate that this was the path we wanted.
Before we continued, I heard voices moving towards us. Felix grabbed my arm and pulled me into a nearby crevice in the rock wall. We were squished together but out of sight for the most part.
The voices got louder and we saw two Zhulik dragging away a third one. I immediately knew the third Zhulik was Colin, who looked exactly like Colette but with shorter hair and red eyes. He was thrashing in the arms of the other Zhulik and shouting.
"You promised me my reward! I brought you the girl, now give me my power," he said, spitting into the air.
"You'll get your reward at dusk at the ceremony, with everyone else. That is, if she deems you worthy," one of the other Zhulik said.
I glanced at Felix but he just shrugged. He had no idea what the Zhulik were yelling about either.
After the Zhulik disappeared down the tunnel, we quietly moved down the path they had just come from. I concentrated on my power and felt a cluster of three Zhulik less than a mile off of the path. Near them was a faint tingle of non-threatening magic, indicating a Nesmyr. Since Colin had just come from this path, I was almost positive it had to be Ellie.
Felix looked at me for confirmation and I turned to him and nodded. I took a deep breath to prepare myself and we slowly crept closer to the Zhulik. I had never practiced being stealthy but it seemed like I had a natural ability at it and I wondered if all Lovac were like that. I glanced at Felix and decided we must be. We were both walking completely silently and I didn't think the best hearing in the world could detect us.
The tingling in my body was getting stronger with every step we took and it got to the point where it was almost unbearable. I had to pause to get control of my power before it took over too soon. Felix gave me a concerned look but kept his mouth shut. My body was twitching with the desire to fight but we had to try to get a peek at the situation before we went in there and attacked.
I had been holding onto my stake the whole time we had been in here and I took a good look at. It was the first time I was going to use it and I only hoped it would serve me well enough to keep me alive.
Once I had the twitching under control we moved forward again, slower this time. The path curved slightly ahead of us and we slowly peeked our heads around the corner to make sure we didn't come face to face with a Zhulik. What we saw was the entrance to a small cavern and the glow of a lantern that cast shadows all over the walls. I could only see one Zhulik from our position but the shadows indicated that there were three total. I could also see the front of what looked like a cage. Inside, I could just make out the ends of someone's long blonde hair. It had to be Ellie.
Felix and I pulled our heads back around the corner before we could be spotted, to mime out our plan. We didn't want to risk talking and being detected before we even had time to make a plan. I indicated to Felix that he go after the closest guard and once he had that taken care of to get Ellie free. I would go after the other two Zhulik.
H
e seemed to understand and didn't look happy that I would be going after more of the Zhulik. I knew he wanted to argue but we didn't have the time. We both knew my power was stronger in this situation and I would have more advantage in the fight.
I readied myself to start attacking but before I could, Felix grabbed my hands. He looked me in the eyes with such a serious look that I couldn't move. Then he kissed me. It was slow and gentle but it was enough to express his concern for our lives. My breath caught in my throat and I tried not to cry. We pulled away and I gently ran my fingers down his cheek.
I took a shaky breath to try to calm my nerves before I felt like I was ready for the fight. We gave each other one last look of longing before we bolted around the corner and into my very first battle.
Chapter 22
The Zhulik hadn't been expecting us so we had a slight advantage but it only lasted a second. I landed one hard hit on the Zhulik I was facing before he went into full attack mode. I wasn't expecting how powerful his attacks would be and even though I managed to dodge most of them he was a lot faster than a Lovac. He was even faster than my power at one point and was able to throw me into the wall. The hit was so hard that my vision blurred and my head spun.
He was immediately back in front of me and I had no time to recover before he opened his mouth to reveal his sharp fangs and lunged at my neck. The smell of blood on his breath was strong and I snapped out of my daze just in time to thrust my hand upward to fend off his face and drive my stake through his heart. It had been tough to get the stake through all of his flesh and bones but my desire to live increased my strength in that second and he froze.
Everything had happened in slow motion up to this point. The start of the fight, me being thrown against the wall, his fangs almost ripping my throat out. Now I was suddenly covered in blood splatters and the body of the Zhulik was replaced by a pool of blood and organs. No one had explained to me that Zhulik literally exploded after being staked.
I was in such shock that I almost forgot what I was supposed to do next. The sound of Felix grunting my name made me look around. He was still struggling with his Zhulik but the Zhulik was bleeding in a few places and I had no doubt it would be dead soon. I looked around to find the final Zhulik and saw him approaching Ellie's cage. He had completely ignored us, thinking his comrades could easily take us down.
I didn't know if he planned to kill Ellie or was just trying to get her out of there and into another cage somewhere with more Zhulik to guard her. I wanted to interrogate the Zhulik about why they were keeping Nesmyr captive, but I knew I wouldn't have the time. Ellie's life was more important than my curiosity. I ran toward the Zhulik and jumped on his back to try to bring him to the ground. It didn't work.
This Zhulik was a lot stronger and bigger than the other one. He barely paused to shake me off of his back and kept moving. I went after him again, this time with my stake. I couldn't reach his heart from behind him but I managed to dig it into his side. He howled in pain and finally faced me.
I wasn't sure if that was good or bad. He wasn't going after Ellie anymore but I didn't want this beast of a man going after me either. My power still made me an excellent fighter but I physically was not fast enough to dodge everything the Zhulik threw at me.
The few punches that did make it past me were so powerful they made my eyes water and knocked the air out of me. But I landed a lot more of my punches on him than he did on me. However, mine didn't seem to be affecting him as much as his punches were affecting me.
My stake was still stuck in his side and I kept maneuvering around his punches to try to get close enough to get it back. I felt like an idiot for letting it slip from my hands and I knew that I would only be able to kill him if I got it back. A few good punches and dodges later I was finally able to tear my stake out of him. Blood came sputtering out of the wound and he howled in pain again. If he didn't weaken from blood loss soon I didn't think anything could stop him.
But he was definitely slowing down and I was beginning to think I was finally going to be able to kill him when he slammed me to the ground. I had tried to dodge the attack but he was too fast and he seemed to be able to sense where I was going to move next. I was instantly pinned to the ground with the Zhulik looming above me. I saw his fangs and in a flash he was heading towards my neck.
I managed to kick my knee up just in time and throw him off of me before he could rip out my throat. I scrambled to sit up and jumped at his chest, stake in hand. I fumbled a little bit and missed his heart the first time I stabbed him but he was so weak from blood loss and pain that he didn't fight back too hard when I pulled my stake out and tried again.
This time I hit his heart and I was soon sitting in a pile of blood and guts. I sat in the puddle and stared at the wall while I caught my breath. I had completely forgotten about Felix and I hoped he had managed to kill his own Zhulik and get Ellie out of her cage. I couldn't hear any noises coming from behind me where Felix and Ellie should be so I worriedly turned around to check.
They were both there, alive and well. Felix had gotten Ellie out of the cage and she stood next him. He was covered in blood splatters and it looked like a few drops had managed to get on Ellie, too. They were both staring at me with wide eyes.
Before I asked them why they were staring at me like that I looked around the room. There were three puddles of Zhulik remains and blood splatters everywhere. I looked down at myself and saw some of the insides of the Zhulik I had just killed laying in my lap. I shot up so quickly that I nearly fell over and started brushing the guts off of me. Felix was by my side then, helping to keep me standing. Once all of the guts were off of me I looked up at Felix.
He smiled at me gently and said, "You were amazing. Now we need to get out of here in case some of the other Zhulik heard us and come to investigate. Can you walk okay?"
I opened my mouth to talk, to say that I would be fine but what came out were not words. When I opened my mouth a bit of Zhulik blood ran down my face and into my mouth. I shoved Felix away and threw up once I realized what it was.
"Avery, calm down," Felix said as he rubbed my back. "The sooner we get out of here the sooner you can take a shower and get all of this gunk off of you. Right now you have to focus on something other than what you're covered in."
I spat out the last of the bile in my mouth and took a few deep breaths before I straightened up. "You're right," I said, shakily. "Let's get out of here."
I took a few steps and felt a little wobbly and I wasn't sure if I would make it out of the caves before passing out. I was tired from the fight and the headache from being near so many Zhulik was draining my remaining energy. Seeing the horrified look on the face of the young girl in front of me made me push my discomfort out of my mind and urged me to get her out of here safely.
"Are you Ellie?" I asked her when I was standing in front of her.
She glanced at Felix as if asking him if it was okay to talk to me and I saw him nod out of the corner of my eye. I had no doubt that this girl was afraid of me after watching me brutally kill two Zhulik.
"Yes," she said quietly, not making any eye contact with me.
"We're here to take you back to your family. In order to do that, we have to sneak out of these caves very quietly. Do you think you can stay as quiet as possible while we move?"
"Yes ma'am," she said, still staring at the ground.
"You don't have to be afraid of me either," I told her. I was a little bit offended that she was so frightened of me. "I promise I won't hurt you. I'm only here for the Zhulik."
"I know. You're just very intimidating."
My eyebrows went up in surprise at that. I had never once been considered intimidating before but I guess I had gained some muscle in the past two weeks. Having just killed two Zhulik and being covered in their blood from head to toe probably helped with that image too. And I could only imagine how wild and crazy my hair looked.
I didn't have any response for being intimidating so I just s
aid we needed to start moving. The sooner we were out of the caves, the better. The walk back into the fresh air would take a little time too, since it was all up hill. I quietly groaned at the thought of it. Felix could see me struggling to walk and put one of his arms under mine to help support me.
We left the little cavern that we were in and slowly crept back up the smaller path to where the main path was. I tried to tune into my senses to locate where the other Zhulik were but my mind was so tired that I could only get small bursts of my power at a time. I didn't think any of the Zhulik were coming after us but I wasn't completely positive. I didn't want Felix to worrying though, so I didn't let him know what was going on.
We made it back to the surface without running into any other Zhulik. While the sun was starting to rise, we still had time to make it back to the car before Ellie would be in danger of burning. Whether or not I would make it there before passing out was a different problem.
None of us spoke on the walk back. Felix and I were too tired and Ellie looked like she was in shock. I knew we needed to get some information out of her about what had happened to her down there but now wasn't the time.
When we walked through the clearing to where Colin's house was, Ellie froze for a minute. She stood just inside the trees, staring at the house. Tears welled up in her eyes. I untangled myself from Felix as he went to start the car and I gently put my hand on Ellie's shoulder, making her jump slightly.
"Are you going to be okay?" I asked. I felt stupid for asking that the second it left my mouth. Of course she wasn't going to be okay. At least not for a while. She just learned her uncle was a Zhulik and he kidnapped her and had her locked in a cage surrounded by more Zhulik.
Ellie didn't say anything. She just forced her tears back and gave me a small nod before walking to the car. She looked at the ground the whole way and didn't glance back at the house once. She got in the car without saying another word and I pulled Felix away from the car to talk to him in private.
Avenging Amethyst (Immortal Eyes) Page 14
