Return (Lady of Toryn trilogy)

by Charity Santiago

  "The levers on the shelf in my basement- they all perform a different function. But there's a cabinet beneath the levers that has a control panel in it." She lowered her voice. "The password is Susyn- S-U-S-Y-N. Once you put the password in, the display will show you how to activate the storm doors and anti-intruder system."

  "Paranoid much?" Trace said, raising an eyebrow, and Ashlyn grinned, wistfully out of character, remembering her childhood dreams of filling the house her mother had left her with valuable trinkets, flowers and tea-sets and delicate weaponry and the dolls that she'd flung off Na Michico the day of her thirteenth birthday, when her father had let a tourist journalist defeat the five Lords simply for the publicity...

  "Well, someday I'd hoped to hoard all the stanes in the world, you know. In the meantime, I was a little bored. Didn't quite get all the stanes, but at least I know some of my gadgets will come in handy," she said, shrugging. "Guard these kids, Trace. If I don't…" She hesitated, realizing for the first time that she may not be around to give further orders after this battle. "The rest is up to you," she finished lamely.

  The blonde girl smirked, some of her icy demeanor melting away. "You've got FLD behind you," she said, squeezing Ashlyn's shoulder. "I think you're going to be fine. But thank you. We'll see you when it's over." She turned and went back to the milling children, clucking like a mother hen as she ushered them towards Ashlyn's home.

  When Ashlyn turned around, her friends were standing before her, minus Aaron, who apparently hadn't returned from the pagoda yet. Just the sight of her friends, together again, uniting in battle to help her, gave Ashlyn confidence. The clouds had made it so dark she could hardly see their expressions, but the sight of them was comforting all the same.

  "Hello again," she said, grinning. It would have been much, much too awkward to be somber in the face of her doom. After all, her friends were the best warriors in the world. There was no force on the earth strong enough to defeat them- not Lord Angelo, and certainly not some ragtag army of magic-driven beasts.

  The Toryn army, ever at the ready, stood behind them, clustered together in separate groups and looking as though they were ready to be assigned. Ashlyn wondered if her friends had had anything to do with that, but she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

  "Okay," she said firmly. "I want two battalions at the path to Na Michico. That's the most likely point of entry if they come from the northwest. Drake and Sk-" She hesitated, realizing that it was probably better to keep Skye close to her in case she needed some advice, and substituted, "Drake and Aaron, I want you to take the soldiers up there and defend the path. Don't send anyone beyond the walls of the city at any point, and try to make use of the archers as much as possible."

  It seemed like she should say more, give them a specific plan of action, but for some reason she was drawing a complete blank on what else she could say. "You can send runners if you need help," she said finally. "It's possible that they may only attack from the south, but if you should see them, contact me immediately. Don't be afraid to request reinforcements."

  She opened her mouth to assign everyone else to their positions, but suddenly there was a giant BOOM behind her, followed by an intense wave of heat that flattened her like a rice cake. She hit the ground hard, smacking her forehead on the grass, and sprang up immediately, spinning on her heels, the breath torn from her body in a single instant.

  The pagoda was on fire.

  A shadow fell over Ashlyn, blocking the light from the burning temple, and she didn't stop to think- she dropped to her belly, scraping her elbows painfully. She flattened herself to the ground, and edged her hand around to her back to loosen the crystal shuriken. Claws scraped across her back, shrieking on the surface of the shuriken and shredding her shirt as a bear leaped over her, unable to stop his forward motion enough to counter her quick maneuver. Ashlyn jumped up and threw a straight jab, then another, and kept going when the beast roared its anger. She ducked a swipe from the first bear and hit him with an uppercut, then spun in a leg sweep, knocking him to the ground. She followed up the assault with a high-pitched yell, completely focused on casting her magic as fire rolled up in great flames around her opponent.

  Ashlyn spared a glance to her right, recognizing only Restlyn in the midst of dozens of soldiers, sparsely intermixed with the beasts. The brunette was fighting smoothly, her movements flawless and calculated even as she shouted orders to her soldiers. Ashlyn looked to the left and swallowed, seeing only wave upon wave of beasts and Toryn soldiers coming towards her. The monsters were ridiculously outnumbered. This fight should be easy enough.

  Motioning to the soldiers behind her and shouting for them to follow, she was off and running before reality sank in. How the hell was it possible that there were even a few dozen of these creatures? The shift magic was indigenous; no one but a Li could wield its strength!

  She vaulted into the river and came up the other side, lashing out with her shuriken in a series of short leaps that cut down the single monster she came upon. Her attack was halted abruptly when something hit her from behind and pushed, and it took Ashlyn a moment to realize that she was being shoved along by frenzied Toryn, far too quickly to see if the enemy was anywhere near.

  Someone grabbed her hair and yanked, hard, and she yelped as she was hauled back mercilessly, catching herself with her hands behind her, digging in her heels and somehow managing to stay standing even as she was bent over backwards. She struck out with the heel of her fist, catching her assailant in the throat, but lost her balance when he let her go, and fell on the ground, landing with a splash in a huge puddle of rainwater.

  She choked as the breath was knocked from her, and lay there for a split second, trying to get her bearings as a feeling of claustrophobia settled over her.

  A gleam glinted out of the corner of her eye at the same instant that a bear grabbed her by the front of the shirt, pulling her up. The shuriken! Ashlyn twisted sideways- there went her shirt, completely this time- and hit the ground again, narrowly avoiding the snapping jaws of yet another monster. When she snatched up her shuriken, the weight of it was comforting in her hands.

  A bear bent over her, snarling, spittle flying everywhere, and lifted its massive paw, preparing for a lethal swipe. Ashlyn skittered sideways, sending tiny waves of red-tinged water splashing across the ground, and rolled. She didn't know where she was going, but she hit a succession of legs and tripped a fair amount of soldiers in the process.

  She leaped to her feet and turned, grabbing onto the corner of Heaven’s roof with one hand and hauling herself up onto the thin wooden railing that ran the length of the bar. Turning, she narrowed her eyes, struggling to see well enough to take aim in the pouring rain. Water and sweat dripped down her face. She wrinkled her nose, trying to escape the tickling sensation.

  One…

  Ashlyn jumped over a lash-out from one of the monsters, teetering precariously as she found her footing again on the narrow railing, somehow still managing to throw a kick at her assailant and knock him away.

  She couldn't see any creatures beyond a circle of twenty meters.

  Why were they all attacking her?

  Two…

  Grabbing the edge of the roof again, she hung onto it as she swung off the wall. She wrapped her legs around the neck of a monster who was clutching a Toryn man, holding him up loftily as though the poor man were some kind of trophy. Ashlyn clamped her knees as tight as she could and twisted violently, breaking the monster's neck. It was so easy that she almost lost her balance, but still maintained her grip on the roof and stayed upright.

  Three!

  Ashlyn steadied herself and stared out at the flustered army. Winding up, she threw the shuriken carefully, deliberately, and it didn't disappoint her. The gleaming weapon cut through the rain and slashed across the chest of one, two, three, four monsters- the only ones she could see- before curving in a graceful arc back in her direction. Ashlyn reached up to catch it-

  -And
gasped as something smashed into her legs from behind. It happened so quickly there was no way to react, no reflexes to save herself, and Ashlyn's legs flipped out from underneath her, sending her tumbling backwards. She landed on top of the bear who had hit her, and Ashlyn screamed as she felt his sharp fangs sink into her bare shoulder.

  She brought her left foot up in a straight back-kick, almost bending herself completely in half in an effort to land a hit over her shoulder- but her movement was limited and she couldn't connect. The bear's teeth dug deeper into her flesh. Ashlyn swallowed a scream and kicked out desperately, pushing against the wall, sliding them both across the ground a few inches. Not enough to deter her attacker. His massive paw came around to rest heavily on her breastbone, pinning her down even more securely.

  She could feel the blood loss now- her vision was snapping with sparks and her entire body was shaking. Out of sheer desperation, Ashlyn grasped the arm across her chest, digging her fingernails under the stane lodged within his armband. She didn't know if it was possible to remove a stane during a spell-casting, or even if it would shape-shift him back into human form if she was successful, but it was her only option. Her fingernails splintered under the frantic pressure, but at last the gem popped out of its slot, sliding smoothly into Ashlyn's hand.

  Beneath her, the beast roared and began to spasm.

  She gritted her teeth and hauled herself up, bracing her arms and legs against the floor and forcing her body up in a sort of crab-walk position. Unable to support itself, the bear stayed on the ground, and it released its hold on her shoulder. Ashlyn could hardly believe that such a simple trick worked, but she wasn't going to ask questions- and she rolled to the side, grabbing the shuriken and climbing to her feet, only to drop to the ground again as what looked like a giant black cat leaped straight at her.

  Not waiting to see if the cat was going to chase her, she sprang up, vaulted over the railing and ran as fast as she could- which admittedly wasn't very fast, considering she was, in her desperation, fighting her way through throngs of soldiers towards the pagoda.

  Her head was still spinning from blood loss and the awful pain. Ducking behind the sparse shelter of a tree beside the stairs leading to the bell tower and pagoda platform, she tried to push the shift stane into her pocket, but her shorts were too tight and her hands were shaking, both from blood loss and the intense cold. Ashlyn deliberated for a split second- she couldn't just leave it lying around if her ultimate goal was to destroy the magic. Putting it into the single empty slot in her armband went against her better judgment, but there was no other option.

  She angled it into the slender metal band and then turned her attention to her shoulder, which was still bleeding profusely. Cursing under her breath, Ashlyn took a deep breath and shivered, trying to center herself for a curing spell. She didn't have much time, and that scared her. Heal was helpful in the fact that it could turn a life-threatening injury to a mere flesh wound, and could almost completely heal anything lesser, but battles were won and lost depending on the enemy's perseverance. If injuries couldn't be treated immediately and the spell-caster didn't have time to call for magic, even small wounds could mean defeat.

  A low growl penetrated her consciousness, and Ashlyn looked up, focusing on the panther-like creature that was stalking towards her. She lifted the shuriken and gasped, dropping her arm as slivers of agony shot through her shoulder. Taking the weapon in her right hand, Ashlyn struck a defensive position. Her flippant conversation with Skye on the airship came to mind now-

  What happens if your left side is incapacitated somehow?

  Then I fight with my right.

  -And she realized suddenly how rash she'd been, training so determinedly left-handed, working towards hair-splitting accuracy and strength, that she'd almost completely neglected her right side. There was no way she could make a decent throw with her right arm, and there was almost no possibility of the inexperienced, terrified Toryn soldiers offering any assistance.

  The panther leaped sooner than she'd anticipated. Ashlyn dropped nimbly into a crouch, bringing the shuriken up to slice at the cat's belly. She rolled aside and swallowed a wince as leaves, mud and dead grass bit into her open shoulder wound. Steadying herself, she stood again and faced the creature warily.

  Then a shot rang out, and the cat screamed- a primal, rasping sound- before it slumped forward onto the grass.

  Ashlyn stared, unbelieving, as her teeth began to chatter from the cold.

  One bullet? One bullet had killed it?

  Drake walked up to Ashlyn quickly, sliding his fingers around the wrist of the hand that clutched the shuriken. "I believe that the cats are the weakest of our adversaries," he said, reading her mind as usual. He swiftly pulled the fully-charged heal stane out of her shuriken and swapped it with the drained heal in his revolver. "I've seen only two of them. The bears are much more powerful." He narrowed his eyes, casting the magic without so much as a tremor in his fingers, which were still clasped around Ashlyn's wrist.

  She remembered that he'd been skilled with magic, more so even than Aaron, but that his unpredictable temper had proved to be something of a drawback in battle. Right now, though, he seemed calm and collected. Strange, that they were surrounded by death, flames and carnage, but Drake was like a lighthouse in the midst of the storm- unmoved.

  She shivered fiercely, wondered how he knew about the shift magic. "H-h-how did you-"

  "Skye." He didn't even let her finish before he traded the glowing green orbs back again and dropped her wrist. "You're covered in mud. We'll have to open it up again after the battle."

  Ashlyn looked at her shoulder, wrinkling her nose at the thought that he had healed new skin over the icky bits of grass and leaves. But the double-ring of bite marks was only scabbed over, not fully healed, and even though the dozens of red-rimmed puncture wounds still hurt like hell, she figured that she could probably fight just as well now that they weren't bleeding.

  Something struck her from behind suddenly, and Ashlyn stumbled forward, grunting (rather unattractively) as she felt something warm sluice down the back of her neck.

  "Crap," she said, realizing that the something warm was her own frigging blood.

  Drake turned, his face expressionless.

  "I can't catch a break," Ashlyn said stupidly, and fell to her knees.

  As much as she tried to stay awake, the weightlessness was overpowering. In seconds she was gone, spiraling into infinity like a dying star, and with the loss of consciousness came an image of her father, standing before her in his ceremonial kimono, an expression of disappointment on his tanned face.

  I knew you couldn't do it, Ashlyn, he said, and his voice was like Kou's, gentle and effortless. I knew you'd never make a leader.

  Great. Even in her dreams he was the same stupid jerk.

  Yeah, let me out of your freaking mind trap and I'll show you how much of a frigging leader I can be, she thought furiously at him.

  What was it that was supposed to wake you up?

  She took a breath- nothing.

  She blinked.

  Well, she hadn't really expected that to work.

  She jumped up and down, screaming at the top of her lungs, but it was as though she were moving through sludge, and her scream echoed like no more than a stage whisper, bouncing off her imaginary walls like one of the ping pong balls in the arcade at Silverbell Theme Park.

  Her father simply stared at her, unmoving, a rock, a steel wall that she could beat her fists against and never witness a weakness. It was the way she remembered him before her mother had died, before Lord Angelo had stolen everything from her, before she'd gone on that stupid stane quest. Before everything.

  Suddenly he moved, grasping her arm in a vice-like grip that sent shards of pain up into her shoulder. Ashlyn yelped. "Let go of me, you stupid-"

  "Save me," he said, and his voice was no longer Kou's, no longer smooth and sweet. It was the same ragged tone of the man she remembered from eight years
ago. Ashlyn stared into his eyes, as dark as hers but without the indigo tinge, and her breath was gone in a moment.

  "Dad?" she said, uncertainly.

  "Save me," he repeated, his gaze piercing her straight through her soul.

  His face suddenly went up in flames, scalding her eyes. Ashlyn yanked back-

  -And woke up, tears tickling her temples.

  She sat up slowly, her entire head aching.

  Smoke drifted skyward in thin wisps from the pagoda. It was so dark that Ashlyn could still see the smoldering beams inside the holy temple, the flames that didn't quite want to be put out. The path to the pagoda and the bell tower was clear of soldiers, clear even of the beasts who had attacked.

  "Is it over?" she said softly, hardly daring to believe that she'd missed so much.

  "It never began," Drake said from beside her. She looked up and saw him standing over her, to the north- sheltering her from the worst of the drizzle.

  "What do you mean?" she muttered, groaning as she climbed to her feet. Her hand came away from the back of her head sticky, but it was old blood.

  "If that was their army, then we have been sadly misled," the gunslinger told her, making no move to help her stand. "That was barely a scouting party, much less a full-blown attack on the city."

  "Well, they beat me up pretty good," Ashlyn said wryly. She felt like she'd been through half a dozen battles. "It felt like they were after me and no one else."

  Drake stared at the pagoda, a muscle in his jaw working. "They attacked no one unprovoked- except for you," he said finally. "You may be right."

  He turned and, without hesitation, unbuckled his cloak, removing it from his shoulders and swinging it around onto hers. He didn't buckle it at the throat, releasing it only when Ashlyn reached up to touch his hand.

  "Your cousin is in your father's home," he intoned. "Aaron was forced to leave him when the attack began. The healer has done her best, but it may be too late to treat the worst of his wounds."