Shadow Warrior: The Nightwatch Academy book 3

by Cassidy, Debbie

  I gulped in air and then coughed as the mist entered my lungs, stinging strangely. Devon dropped his hands from his ears and wiped at his bloody nose. I gave him a hand up.

  “Fuck, that was bad,” he said.

  Aidan shook his head as if trying to dismiss the residue of the sound, and then another noise filtered through the mist, a clicking, chittering sound. A chill enveloped me.

  “Guys. I think we should move. Now.”

  To our far left, someone let out a bloodcurdling scream.

  “Fuck!”

  “Watch out!”

  “Run!” cadets cried.

  Our team stood frozen for a split second, and then we ran. Fuck, what was up ahead, we had something behind that we needed to get away from. Something that was, from the sound of it, tearing into a cadet.

  One down already.

  Dammit, Henrich. I knew he wanted only the best, but could we really afford to lose men like this?

  Something red floated up ahead. Several red things. “Guys, flags.” I picked up speed.

  “Justice, watch out!” Lloyd called.

  Brady hit me from the side, taking me down just as something huge and hairy sailed over our heads.

  Was that a … no. Hell no. Legs … Way too many legs. I wanted to be sick.

  The spider spun and ejected gray shit at us. I rolled, taking Brady with me, and then we were on our feet, weapons slashing and stabbing. But the fucking five-foot monstrosity wasn’t working solo. He’d brought friends.

  More hairy beasts with too many legs and gray webbing.

  “Motherfucker.” Carlo fell back on his ass, covered in gray shit—webbing that was still attached to an eight-legged freak. I rolled and came up in front of him, swiping down with my blade to sever the thick, sticky threads. They parted beneath my blade easily. Fomorian steel rocked.

  I reached out to help Carlo up.

  “Thanks, twinkle toes.”

  “Don’t ment—”

  Something hit my back, cutting off my words. The next couple of seconds seemed to pass in slow motion. Carlo’s eyes grew round, and then I was being pulled up into the air, away from him, evading his grip by a mere inch. Webbing. It had to be on my back, which meant I was headed for one of those thing’s mouths. Backward.

  Fuck, no.

  “Indie!”

  Brady?

  He was running at me, full pelt, but he wasn’t gonna make it. I twisted mid-air, just as the spider’s mandibles loomed, and stabbed it in the face.

  The squeal it emitted made my teeth ache. I pulled my sword out and stabbed it again, and then I was free. Brady stumbled back with me in his arms just as the hairy creature began to shudder and shake. Its body began to pulse as if there was something inside, wanting out.

  Wait a motherfucking minute. “Get back, it’s gonna blow.”

  I grabbed Brady’s hand and ran with him, away from the sound of flesh tearing and the multitude of tiny screeches as the spider’s offspring broke free. Nope, did not want or need to see that shit, but still, I was turning to look over my shoulder. To watch the mummy spider’s body be engulfed by her babies. To watch as they started to feast.

  “Move out,” Lloyd called.

  “I’m going to be sick,” Carlo said as he came abreast of me and Brady. “I hate bugs.”

  “You’re not the only one,” Brady said.

  I looked up at him. His face was too pale, his eyes red-rimmed, and perspiration dotted his brow.

  “You okay?”

  He nodded. “The mist in this sector fucks with my lungs.”

  “Mine too.”

  His grip on my hand tightened in a reassuring squeeze.

  “Well, we just survived killer beast spiders,” Carlo said. “What ne—” He broke off, and his pace slowed, but then he veered to the left.

  “Carlo?” Lloyd called out.

  The smell hit me.

  Blood.

  Fresh.

  Carlo had come to a standstill, staring at the ground where dark shapes lay, unmoving, silent.

  Cadets.

  Dead.

  But not mauled. Not torn like the creatures of the mist would do. I stepped closer and then crouched to study the cadet closest to me. His eyes were open as if he’d just lain down to rest, but a neat red line ran across his throat, and the ground beneath him was dark with blood.

  Someone had slit his throat.

  Twenty-Five

  “Someone cut their throats.” Devon finished examining the last cadet. “This isn’t the work of a mist creature.”

  Not unless mist creatures carried blades. No. My mind was whirring. “First, the traps in the forest that Henrich said he hadn’t planted and now this.”

  “The fomorians are here,” Lloyd said.

  I nodded. “Fuck the trial. We need to get to the fortress and warn the knights, and we need to take the shortest route.”

  “We head east,” Brady said.

  “We can’t just leave them here,” Devon said.

  “They’re dead,” Lloyd snapped. “And if we don’t get back to the fortress, more might die. We can’t let anything slow us down. Move out.”

  He was right.

  “If we leave them here, the fucking creatures will have them for lunch,” Aidan growled.

  It was the first time I’d seen him lose his shit.

  The ground several meters away began to seethe. It was moving and churning.

  “Something’s coming,” Carlo warned.

  Devon crouched to pick up a dead cadet, and the ground that had been moving exploded to expel a wormlike creature with an anus mouth filled with teeth.

  Aidan grabbed his brother’s arm.

  There was no more discussion as we turned and ran.

  Five minutes, ten. The mist was too thick, filling my lungs and slowing me down. Howls and screeches surrounded us. The monsters of the mist were out in force. It was only a matter of time before they found us. There was no time to stop and fight. The fomorians were here. They’d killed our cadets. We needed the knights, we needed our hounds.

  Dark shapes appeared up ahead, and my body tensed, but then the mist shifted a little, and I caught sight of armor and a raised arm.

  “Hey!” Lloyd called out to the three cadets as they headed our way. “We need to head back to the fortress.”

  But the cadets were picking up speed, and more shapes appeared behind them. Huge misshapen shapes.

  Wild mist hounds.

  Fuck, this was the last thing we needed.

  I drew my blade, and the click of the others drawing their weapons accompanied me.

  “Hold,” Brady ordered. “Hold.”

  “Now!” Lloyd cried.

  We rushed forward, slipping between the fleeing cadets and heading straight at the feral hounds. There were three of them and six of us. But the hounds were fast, with mouths filled with teeth and powerful jaws. They attacked hard, and we took them on two on one. Carlo and I teamed up, jabbing and stabbing and swiping until the hound was a mass of wounds, bleeding out while we tried to get the stab that would shut it down.

  “Die, already,” Carlo ordered.

  It rounded on him as if offended by his words, and its neck was exposed, open to receive the full brunt of my blade.

  Its roar died to a whine, and then it hit the ground with a thud.

  Carlo backed up, daggers pointed down. “Clear.”

  Around us, the other hounds had met their demise too.

  Lloyd strode over to the cadets who’d been running from the beasts. “Cadets fight,” he snapped.

  “Fuck you, Faraday,” a chestnut-haired cadet said. “We weren’t running from the hounds; we were running with them. There’s some green shit in the mist. It took two of our guys, and it was coming for us. It killed several hounds when it touched them. We need to go. Now.”

  “We have to go back to the fortress,” Lloyd said.

  “Nah, not that way. That shit is that way.”

  Green mist? Was this a ne

w test dreamed up by Henrich? “We can’t afford to go the long route.”

  “Then you’re on your own,” chestnut-haired dude said. “We’re out.” He waved an arm, and his team followed as he jogged off into the mist.

  “What do you think?” Lloyd asked Brady.

  “We keep going,” Brady said. “If we see this green mist, we avoid it.”

  We set off again, faster this time. Shit, I was feeling the burn. My lungs ached to cough.

  “Justice, you okay?” Carlo asked.

  Brady slipped an arm around my waist. “Feeling it too, babe.”

  Fuck, I could barely breathe now. Shit.

  Brady’s grip on me tightened, and then he staggered.

  “Brady?” Oh, fuck … Oh, damn. My breathlessness wasn’t mine, it was an echo of his. As soon as the realization hit, the tightness in my chest eased. I still felt yuck, but nowhere near as bad as I had a minute ago.

  Brady straightened, leaning on me.

  “Babe …” I scanned his face. He looked bad. “We need to get him out of the mist.”

  “Um, guys,” Carlo said. “Green mist incoming.”

  It was approaching from the right, and it was coming in fast. We were probably less than thirty minutes away from the fortress, but with Brady struggling like this, there was no way we’d make it.

  “Go.” Brady pushed me away. “Run. I’m right behind you.”

  “Like fuck.” I slipped back under his arm, taking his weight.

  “Dammit, Justice,” Brady said.

  “Yeah, you can bawl me out later.” I picked up the pace, taking him with me. Carlo ran around to Brady’s other side and took his weight from there. Together, we managed to keep a good pace.

  “It’s getting closer,” Aidan called out.

  “It’s picking up speed.” Devon confirmed my suspicion.

  What kind of mist did that?

  Green tendrils snaked out in front of us, cutting us off, and then they slammed into us, shoving us backward.

  Physical contact.

  What the fuck?

  It was around us now, swirling and cutting us off. Tightening around us.

  “Huddle,” Lloyd ordered.

  We fell together, back to back, weapons out. Brady panted, his head drooping, and my heart sank. I needed to get him out of here. I didn’t know why, but the sector three mist was fucking him up. Bad.

  Figures stepped out of the green, naked and covered in gray mud. Fomorians. My gaze scanned the faces, all eyes and smeared features, and snagged on one set of peepers.

  I knew those eyes.

  It was the fomorian that had saved me in the mist all those weeks ago, the one I’d seen arguing with another fomorian the day Harmon had been taken.

  “You!” I pointed my blade at him. “What is this? I thought you didn’t want to hurt anyone.”

  But his gaze slid from me to fix on Brady. In fact, all of them were looking at Brady.

  I turned my head to follow their gaze, and ice filled my veins because Brady was glowing, his body wreathed in green. It clung to him like ethereal moss.

  “What the fuck?” Carlo said. “What are you doing to him?”

  The violet-eyed guy looked like he was about to pass out or jump with joy. His expression was awe, gratitude, and excitement all mixed together.

  “It’s him,” violet eyes said. “Take him.”

  The other clay-covered figures moved forward, raising wicked-looking axes.

  “Back the fuck off.” I stepped in front of Brady, allowing Carlo to take his weight. The other guys tightened formation on instinct.

  “What is it?” Lloyd asked me. “What is he saying?”

  “They want Brady.”

  “Because of the green shit?” Devon asked.

  “I don’t know.” I locked gazes with violet eyes. “What are you doing to him? Why do you want him?”

  Violet eyes finally looked at me, and his eyes widened. “You are with them. You are one of them.”

  “Yes, and you’re not taking anyone.”

  “I am sorry,” he said. “But we must. Your friend is our salvation. We will not harm him, but if he remains here, in the mist, he will die. Look at him.”

  Brady was blinking hard, teeth gritted as if he was trying to keep conscious.

  “I can get him out of the mist.”

  “Maybe, but he belongs with us. We do not want to hurt you. But we will do what we must to protect our salvation. His blood is power.”

  What the fuck was he talking about? More of them appeared from the green fog. Too many for us to take on.

  I needed to do something, to stall, to think. “How do you know? How can you be sure it’s him you want?”

  “We used the blood of a fomori-touched and created a beacon. The beacon guides us to salvation. It marks your friend as the one.”

  The blood of a fomori-touched. Harmon’s blood? “You took Harmon?” Anger surged through me. “You hurt him?”

  He blinked at me slowly. “We returned him unharmed.”

  “Unharmed. You fucked him up, you bastard. He’s something else now.”

  “We meant no harm. We do not wish to hurt you.”

  “Is that why you killed a bunch of cadets?” My lip curled in a sneer.

  He stared blankly at me, and then panic colored his features. “Not us. Never us. We must go. Move aside.”

  My mate chose that moment to hit the ground on his knees. Oh, shit. Even if we wanted to run, we couldn’t, not with Brady in this state. Panic fisted my heart and squeezed my throat. We needed an advantage, we needed my shadows. I called to them now, willing them to come to me. There was a ripple over my skin, a tingle in my fingertips, but it was as if there was an obstruction. Something blocking my connection. Not the mist. They’d come to me in the mist before. It had to be something to do with this green shit.

  “Justice?” Lloyd swung his blade as a deterrent as the fomorians closed in. “I assume they won’t take no for an answer.”

  “They want Brady.” My words were clipped. My gaze fixed on violet eyes.

  He was in charge. He was the leader. I needed to keep him in my sights.

  “Like hell,” Carlo said. He stepped forward, daggers whirling so fast they were silver blurs. “You want him? You’re going to have to go through us.”

  Violet eyes sighed and closed his eyes. Was that acquiescence? Was he backing down?

  The green lashed out from behind violet eyes and hit Carlo in the face. There was a sharp crack.

  A sound I knew.

  A sound I’d heard before.

  My scream reverberated inside my head, trapped, ineffectual as my friend fell to the ground.

  He lay still, neck at an odd angle, daggers still clutched in his hands.

  Dead.

  There was no healing from a severed spinal cord. Not even for a nightblood.

  Carlo was dead.

  The guys’ exclamations, their bellows of rage surrounded me, fueling my rage, hot and red and lethal.

  A scream tore from my throat as I raised my blade, ready to attack.

  “No!” Brady’s command was like an invisible tether that rooted my boots to the ground and tugged on the spot below my weave tether.

  “Brady …” I couldn’t turn to look at him. Couldn’t take my eyes off the enemy.

  “I’ll go with you,” Brady said. “Don’t harm the others. Please.”

  “No.” I did look at Brady now. “What are you doing?”

  “Fuck this,” Devon spat. “Fucking fight us like men, not with your green fog.”

  “No,” Brady said again. “Stop. All of you.” He looked at Carlo’s still body. “No more death.”

  “Brady, you don’t have to do this,” Lloyd said. But there was defeat in his tone.

  Anger licked at my chest. “No way.”

  Brady’s jaw was clenched. His eyes were red-rimmed and puffy from the effects of the mist, but his lips curled in a wry smile.

  “A good knight knows when to retreat to live to fight another day.” His gaze was penetrating as he slowly brought himself to his feet. His massive frame swayed with the effort of staying upright. He fixed his attention on violet eyes. “Your word you won’t harm them.”

  Violet eyes nodded.

  My insides quivered, and my arms ached from holding the blade aloft, from being frozen as my mate, the man I loved, walked toward me. This was happening, and no matter how I turned it over, there was no other way.

  My mind knew it, but my heart refused to accept it.

  Brady kissed my cheek, bringing the green sheen that cloaked him with him. “Be strong. What we have is unbreakable. You will find me.”

  My chest lurched with his words, and as he pulled away, I scanned his face, seeing his plan there, knowing the meaning. This wasn’t goodbye. This was see you fucking soon.

  “You will not be harmed,” violet eyes said.

  “Fuck you.” I spat the words at him. “Fuck you and your salvation.”

  He looked almost sad, but then Brady was walking toward them, each step an effort. I made to go after him, but Lloyd grabbed hold of me, wrapping his arms around my torso to prevent me from running after the man I loved.

  A scream was building inside me. “Please …” I locked gazes with violet eyes. “Please, don’t do this. I need him.”

  “Salvation will benefit us all,” violet eyes said, and then the green fog was churning around them.

  It swirled up Brady’s legs and up his body.

  “Brady …”

  He looked over his shoulder, his eyes filled with stars, and then he was gone.

  A wave of sorrow hit me. Brady’s sorrow, and then it began to fade until I was nothing. Until I was numb.

  “Justice?” Lloyd said.

  He still had his arms around me. He was holding me, but Brady was gone. He was holding me while Carlo lay dead.

  “Let go.” My tone was sharp. A command.

  Lloyd released me immediately.

  The green fog was gone, and the mist was as clear as it was going to get. I crouched by Carlo’s body and reached out to run my fingertips down his cheek. My funny, witty friend.

  Gone.

  My veins were ice as I lifted him over my shoulder. My body was an automaton as I began to run toward the fortress.

  They’d taken Brady.

  They’d killed Carlo.

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