Renegade (The Cross-Worlds Coven Series Book 5)

by Phil Stern

  “Hey!” Jenla roughly shook her shoulder. “Stop it! You have to get control...”

  “No!” Springing up, the sheer volume of Caylee’s magical output sent the other sorceress tumbling away. Power flowing throughout her entire body, wild arcs of energy laced down into the yard. “You can’t do this to me!”

  Sprawled back in the grass, Jenla warily studied her. “All right.” Slowly rising, she swiped some dirt from a knee. “Do what?”

  “Get into my head!” Dashing forward, Caylee kicked the half-eaten pail of oats aside. Neighing in surprise, the adult unicorn backed away several steps. “You’re just like the fucking demons! Only worse, you stinking witch!”

  “Hey. Calm down.” Placatingly holding up her hands, Jenla deliberately lowered her voice. “I spoke out of turn.”

  “You think you’re such a fucking expert on me?” Laughing, tears streamed down Caylee’s face. “Well you’re wrong!”

  “Look, let’s just...”

  “I’ve fought demons! I’ve killed them! Just not the one...” Trailing off, Caylee’s earth stone bucked and surged. “Not the one who raped my mind! Who wanted to...” Legs buckling, she once more sank down to both knees. “Just go away, all of you!”

  The next few menlars were a hopeless blur. Caylee’s power rapidly bled off, leaving her weak and even more confused. Fully collapsing into the tall grass, Pend hummed and chirped right into her ear, cuddling for all she was worth. The unicorns protectively stood about, with Tornado nuzzling and licking at her hand. And finally there was Jenla, gently helping her to sit up.

  “Just relax, please!” Jenla hands were now pressed to Caylee’s cheeks. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought any of that up.”

  “Fuck you, and fuck your time line,” she managed to mumble. “I’m not a traitor!”

  “No, you’re not. We were wrong about that. Terribly wrong.” Jenla sighed. “You’re young and very naive, like we all were once. But you aren’t a traitor.”

  “Of course not!” Caylee reflexively hugged Pend, who was now splayed across her legs. “Can’t you see that I tried my very best to...”

  “Yes, now I do.” Straightening up, Jenla glanced at the rising sun. “I get it.”

  “Get what?”

  “If you hadn’t fought as hard as you did, you would have already been taken over.” Nodding slowly, Jenla let out a slow breath. “Which means Tiffany and I would have walked into a trap here. My mission into the past would have only given the demons more victims.”

  “Oh. I never thought of that.” Still sniffling, Caylee looked over at the unicorn whose oats she’d spilt. “But look, just know that I’m so sorry. For all my mistakes. But you should have never...”

  “Relax. It’s okay.” Gently dislodging Pend, Jenla helped the younger enchantress up, then drew her in for a hug. “Now I see that you’re very loyal, and always have been.”

  “Thank you.” Still crying slightly, Caylee’s chin rested on her shoulder. “Thank you for everything.”

  “You’re welcome,” she whispered. “You also have a marvelous future ahead of you. My story may be written, but yours is just beginning.”

  “What do you mean, your story is written?” Drawing back, Caylee was instantly distracted by the sight of a disappointed unicorn poking in the grass for his lost oats. “Oh no! I have to get him some more...”

  Pend suddenly leapt up to race around the unicorn. Facing the far wood line, tail swishing, the tiger cub let out a soft growl. The rooftop tiger reached his princess in three massive leaps, positioning himself to one side and in advance of his charge. Catching the vibe, both Tornado and the other unicorn took covering positions, while the third uni came racing over from the other side of the yard.

  “What’s going on?” Jenla asked, Coven Stick now in her right hand.

  “Visitors.” Pausing, Caylee got some more details from Pend. “The other two tiger are tracking a small group heading through the woods straight for us.”

  *****

  With Tiffany and Sarina having come out to join them, the witches watched four people trek across the expansive lawn. Even at this distance Caylee easily recognized Peck and Molly in front, with Grant and Layla as the second pair behind them. Escorted by a tiger and two unicorns, the young revolutionaries nervously shied away from the powerful animals, often glancing down or at one another.

  All except Peck. The rebel leader had eyes only for Caylee herself, his sure gaze locked on her since emerging from the forest. Setting a strong pace, he easily matched the massive ‘corns to either side.

  Betraying nothing, the blonde sorceress stood to the left of her three Coven-mates, next to Jenla. Pend and another royal guard tiger were on her other side, anchoring the line. Tornado was positioned on the far right flank, beside Sarina.

  “That’s close enough.” Holding up her hand, Tiffany took a step forward. “Who are you?”

  “She knows who we are.” Molly nodded dismissively in Caylee’s direction. “Don’t you, luv?”

  “Well I don’t. Luv.” Magically scanning the four locals, Tiffany discovered no obvious weapons. “So if you don’t mind...”

  “My name is Peck. This is Molly, Grant, and Layla.” Also advancing another few feet, he ignored a warning rumble from the nearest unicorn. “Hello, Caylee. Fancy meeting you here.”

  The youngest enchantress said nothing, merely folding her arms. Peck matched her gaze, a self-satisfied smile slowly covering his features.

  “Look, we’re in no mood for nonsense.” Wincing, Sarina put a steadying hand on Tornado’s side. Upon waking that morning, she’d found that her broken ribs were even more sore than yesterday. “Tell us what you want and then leave.”

  “Just to talk.” Peck spread out his arms, palms up. “No harm in that, now is there?”

  Nervously shifting from foot to foot, Grant almost stumbled away from the tiger poised to his left. Layla also seemed unduly afraid of their magical protectors, a tear now brimming in one eye.

  Remembering how kind these two had been to her, Caylee suddenly felt a strong stab of guilt. “Relax. No one’s going to hurt you.”

  “If you behave yourselves, that is,” Jenla added.

  “So all your stories were true, I see. Unicorns, tigers, the whole lot.” Idly picking up a stone at this feet, Peck casually tossed it from one palm to the other. “And this would be the Coven, I take it?”

  “Of course,” Caylee confirmed. “Why, did you think I was lying?”

  “I did.” Possessively taking Peck’s arm, Molly now casually leaned into him. “He’s a softie, though, as you well know.” Beaming, the Donlon girl bestowed a quick kiss on his cheek.

  “All right, then.” Pulling off a black glove, Tiffany pointedly nodded back the way they came. “So if there’s nothing else...”

  “Well, well, Molly. Look at you!” Unduly annoyed, Caylee let out an irritated sigh. “A crying wreck yesterday. Today, right as rain.”

  “Yesterday, you had us all fooled.” Smirking, Molly again squeezed Peck’s arm. “Today, we all see you for what you really are!”

  “Really? And what’s that?”

  “A cheap, magical slut that runs...”

  “Enough!” Sarina’s earth stone let out a warning pulse. “State your business or go. Now!”

  By now the sun was fully up, the wind beginning to slack. Bored, Pend swiped at some bugs in the grass. One of the unicorns swished his tail all about, while an adult tiger began washing his face.

  “What’s the rush?” Molly shrugged. “Looks to me like your all just hanging about.”

  “As opposed to what?” Tiffany softly replied. “Selling drugs? Bombing buildings?”

  “Running prostitutes?” Jenla added. “Quite the little enterprise you have going here.”

  “We do all right,” Peck acknowledged. “Caylee here certainly seemed to think so.”

  “What!” she exploded, taking a step towards him. “I didn’t know about any of that stuff! You
know that!”

  “Caylee, please.” Tiffany briefly glanced in her direction. “They’re just trying to bait you.”

  “Tell the truth is what we’re trying to do!” Layla now chimed in. “Caylee knew everything!”

  “I did not!”

  “By the stone, Caylee. They’re just provoking you.” Painfully grabbing at her side once more, Sarina grimaced. “Don’t fall for it.”

  “All right, luv, we get it.” Peck now held up a placating hand. “But you should have warned us to cover for you in front of your friends here.”

  “These aren’t my friends, they’re my Coven-mates!” Caylee yelled, nearly stamping down on Pend’s outstretched paw. “And for the record, I don’t need you to cover for me about anything!”

  “Lying slut, you is!” Leaning around Peck’s shoulder, Molly laughed. “You knew all about the bomb yesterday! We all talked about it!”

  “That we did, luv.” Sadly shaking his head, Peck patted Molly’s hand on his bicep. “Thought it was a great idea, you did. Show all them lords and lids a thing or two, you said.”

  “I did not know you were going to blow up that building yesterday!” Caylee fired back. “And you know it!”

  As if embarrassed, the four Donlon natives looked away. Molly whispered something in Peck’s ear, eliciting a soft chuckle and eye roll in Caylee’s direction. Fists clenched at her side, the young sorceress remained silent.

  “Look, I think the show’s over here,” Jenla finally said.

  “Indeed. Was there anything else?” Tiffany pleasantly asked. “Before you all go?”

  “Yeah, because we were actually about to leave!” Arms folded, Caylee’s smoldering gaze bore into Peck and Molly. “For good, I hope!”

  “Leaving?” As if they had all the time in the world, Peck made a great show of considering what she’d just said. “I thought you said you couldn’t leave Donlon. That you were trapped here or something.”

  “What’s it to you?” Jenla nodded back at the woods. “It’s really high time you all just moseyed back the way you came.”

  “Actually, Caylee said a lot of things.” Layla spoke up for the first time. “That is, when she wasn’t snogging Peck here!”

  “Snogging?” Eyes flashing, the blonde sorceress drew herself up. “First of all, that’s a really stupid expression...”

  “Night and day she wanted it. More and more and more.” Peck shrugged. “I mean, when a girl’s that desperate, what are you supposed to do?”

  “Desperate?” Despite herself, Caylee felt her breath quicken a touch. “Hey, you know that’s not true!”

  “We saved you! In the harbor!” Now Grant’s finger pointed straight at her. “And you just skip out on us yesterday, like it was nothing?”

  Groaning, Tiffany looked up at the sky. “Caylee, they’re just trying to...”

  “Damn traitor, she is,” Molly muttered.

  “Traitor?” Accused for the second time that morning, Caylee felt her face become flushed. “I did everything I could to help...”

  “Bullocks!” Grant exploded. “Molly’s right. You’re just a traitorous slut, you is!”

  Angrily pawing the ground, Tornado actually lowered his head. Blowing out her cheeks in juvenile irritation, Pend paced over to sit down right in front of Caylee, glaring up at the four locals. One of the tigers came over to sprawl beside her, though the royal guard clearly didn’t consider the four Donlon youths much of a threat.

  “What’s going on here?” Sarina asked, eyes also beginning to glow a soft green. “Are you deliberately trying to delay us?”

  “We were a family, Caylee.” Ignoring everyone else, Peck’s attention was completely on her. “What happened?”

  “What happened!” The young enchantress angrily stepped around Pend to stand right before him. “What happened was that you...”

  At that point pandemonium broke out. Darting around Peck, Molly grabbed at something on her waist. Without hesitation her arm then swung up to slash down at Caylee’s neck.

  Jenla darted forward to intervene, but Peck dove into her midriff. Layla and Grant also lunged to the attack, aiming at Tiffany and Sarina. The Donlon gang all had small, sharpened stone knives in hand, which had apparently been hidden within their large metal belt buckles.

  But Molly’s blade never made it to her intended target. Even as Caylee desperately threw herself backwards, Pend reared up to sink sharp teeth deep directly into the attacker’s thigh.

  Though still young, the hundred-pound tiger cub had deadly instincts. Puncturing Molly’s skin in a dozen places, Pend planted all four paws and wrenched her head sharply to one side. The Donlon girl was violently yanked down, leg partially ripped clean off. Blood obscenely spurted all about from her pierced femoral artery.

  Still, Molly wasn’t quite done. Screaming in pain, tumbling down on top of the cub, Molly’s knife swing reoriented mid-strike to plunge at Pend’s back. A touch slow off the mark, the protective tiger stationed beside his princess wouldn’t be in time to intercede.

  Instantly regaining her fighting balance, Caylee’s magically-shielded hand flashed out to grab the deadly weapon. Twisting and turning the blade within the falling Molly’s grasp, the knife tip still managed to score a glancing wound within the cub’s soft fur. Jumping down on top of them both, the sorceress bodily rolled the dying human off the squirming tiger, then quickly leapt to her feet once again.

  Which only cleared the way for Pend’s assigned protectors. A roaring tiger nearly knocked Caylee over in his eagerness to plant lethal fangs into the rebel’s neck. With a huge paw planted on Molly’s back, the magical cat almost effortlessly ripped her head right off.

  Spinning about, magical defenses fully raised, Caylee instantly took in the situation. Grant had taken a run at Sarina, winding up skewered on Tornado’s horn for his trouble. With an almost indifferent flip of his massive head, the unicorn sent the Donlon youth flying off, gushing massive amounts of blood.

  But Sarina was down and obviously in a bad way. Apparently the already-battered sorceress had been inadvertently knocked aside by Tornado as she instinctively stepped forward to combat Grant. Sprawled in the grass, fighting for breath, her face was a mask of pain.

  Tiffany had merely sent Layla staggering backwards with a blast of magical energy. Using a tad more restraint than Tornado, the female uni grabbed the Donlon girl by the collar from behind. Rearing high into the air, the powerful equine flipped Layla up and then down against the ground. A sickening crunch of smashed bones accompanied this punishing landing. Screaming in agony, Layla could only roll around, clutching at an obviously broken hip and leg.

  However, Jenla was in trouble. Grappling with Peck, the brunette sorceress was covered in blood. Clearly, his small knife had done some major damage before she could fully defend herself. Not letting up, Caylee’s former lover drove Jenla down to one knee with a sharp punch to the face.

  Yet even as Peck’s knife flashed down for the kill, Tiffany’s hand firmly caught his wrist. Pulling him off and back, the experienced combat sorceress neatly stripped the knife while landing blows to his stomach, face, and ribs. Avoiding his weak roundhouse right in response, Tiffany then planted a staggering sidekick right into Peck’s chest. Crunching down into the grass several feet off, battered and bloodied, Tornado barreled in to end it.

  “Hold!” Tiffany commanded while simultaneously making the hand signal for equine restraint. Still, it was close. Massive unicorn bulk skidding to a halt mere feet away, deadly horn unerringly oriented on the groaning youth’s chest, Tornado obviously wanted to finish things.

  “If he moves, kill him!” she instructed while already moving towards the gasping Sarina. “Caylee, see to Jenla.”

  Rushing over, the young sorceress took the wounded girl’s head in her lap. Blood still flowed from a huge, ragged gash on Jenla’s neck. Clearly she was in very bad shape. Pressing her palm against the wound, blood squeezed out between Caylee’s fingers.

  “Jenla
, hold on!” Desperately trying to remember some basic first aid spells, Caylee sent some comforting magic pulsing into her skin. “We’ll get you out of here!”

  Shuddering, the wounded girl barely shook her head. “No,” she mumbled. “I don’t think so.”

  “Jenla, don’t say that...”

  “I’m done for.” Already quite weak, her hand came up to grab Caylee’s forearm. “I know when death is coming. I’ve seen plenty of it in my time, trust me.”

  Indeed, Caylee’s efforts had done nothing to staunch the blood, which continued to soak the ground. “No!” Taking Jenla by the shoulders, she resisted an urge to shake her. “You hold on! Tiffany will be able to...”

  “Tell Tiffany, thank you.” Eyes lolling about, she was already drifting away. “And you Caylee, I’m sorry. I was so wrong about you.”

  “No!” Bursting into tears, the teenager openly sobbed. “No! Don’t go! I can’t...I mean...”

  “You’re a good, strong sorceress.” Briefly rallying, Jenla’s earth stone let out a tiny surge. “We need you. The Coven needs you.”

  “Stay!” Desperately planting blood-soaked hands on her neck once more, Caylee tried to pump the life back into her. “Please!”

  “You forget. I’ve seen almost all my friends die.” Shaking and shivering, Jenla’s head lolled back. “Girls who can now live! In this time line...”

  “No!” Grabbing her as tightly as she could, head pressed to Jenla’s chest, Caylee was only vaguely aware of Tiffany now standing beside them. “We need you!”

  “No, my job is done,” she barely breathed. “My time is gone. You must live...for us...” Wheezing and coughing, Jenla’s eyes drifted shut. With a final shudder, she lay still.

  For some time Caylee just sat there, clutching the other girl as tightly as she could. Sunlight now warming her shoulders, the grass waving slightly from the occasional gust. Layla bawled and cursed, though Peck remained stoically silent. After some time Pend came to carefully sniff her leg, with Tiffany’s hand finally coming to rest on a shoulder.