Shadows of Rebellion

by L. M. French

  I wanted to hit him. Hit him, scratch him, punch him until he felt as bad as he made me feel.

  His eyes dropped to the knife in my hand and he smirked. “Put that down before you hurt yourself.”

  My eyes narrowed and my shoulders tensed as he reached for my knife.

  Quickly I flipped my grip on the blade and sliced along his palm. Hissing he seized my wrist and I shot a kick towards his knee. He countered kicking my leg back and me off balance. Jerking my arm around my body he pinned my back to his front and lifted me off my feet.

  Cursing I kick hard nailing his knees and shins with my heel. I felt his growl before I heard it, then pain punched through my neck and I realized the motherfucker had bit me.

  Bit. Me.

  Teeth locked around the nape of my neck, he growled holding me around the waist with one arm while he twisted the knife free of the other. Unable to move my head or shoulders I continued kicking what I could reach.

  Suddenly we were falling before we bounced against the mattress. Bay locked his legs around my thighs and growled again this time lower as I ranted and cursed insulting his parentage and accusing him of vile acts with livestock. If I was to be believed, he was the product of an inbred guana troll with an unfortunate predilection for goats.

  He subdued me with depressing ease, releasing my neck and letting me struggle futility. My movements ceased as my energy waned and the soreness in my neck became apparent. That was gonna hurt later.

  My arms and legs shook from the aftermath and my body relaxed into his beyond any will of my own. I felt his chest rumble against my back and thought he was growling some more until I felt his shoulders shaking. It took a moment to put two and two together.

  He was laughing at me.

  Mortification ate at me. And just when I’d thought my humiliation complete. All. New. Low.

  Tears burned the backs of my eyes, but I pushed them down. Speaking was almost impossible around the thickness in my throat but I managed. “What do you want?”

  “You have a mouth on you, little girl.” He said it like a compliment, good naturedly. His amusement was palpable and contagious, and it warred with the angry embarrassment that still gripped me.

  He rubbed his chin against the top of my head and rocked us gently from side to side. I tried to sit as still as possible, but my body was tucked neatly into his and I found myself rocking with him.

  “Was it Sai?”

  I closed my eyes as the tears returned. I did not like the gentleness in his voice. I didn’t like how his warmth seeped through his shirt and mine, warming skin cooled by the flood. I did not like how the soft leather of his bracers rubbed against my arms and I did not somehow feel utterly safe trapped against him. I told myself all these things as I anticipated the scrape of his stubble against my scalp and the friction of our bodies as we moved.

  His thighs tightened around mine, a reflex to hold us steady while we rocked but my breaths slowed and deepened as my heart raced.

  My experience with attraction was that it was overrated. In fact, my list of references could be counted on one hand. The reality of my sex life was the equivalent of a lukewarm grilled cheese sandwich. Was it good? Not really. But you wouldn’t starve either.

  Bay slid his hands under my arms and twisted me around until I faced him. He held up the Travelers Stone. “Is he alive?”

  I nodded. The stone wouldn’t have worked if the maker were dead.

  He stood dumping me on my feet. “Where?”

  I shook my head. His abrupt shift back to his default setting was welcome and helped me shake off the weird comfy vibes coursing through me. “I don’t know where. He couldn’t tell me.”

  “What did he tell you?” His tone was clipped and cold. I practically had whiplash from his mood swings.

  When I didn’t answer Bay stepped forward menacingly. Thankfully, the bedroom door flopped open simultaneously and I was saved from certain assholery.

  Phin gave the door on the floor a cursory inspection before dismissing it. He eyed the tension between Bay and I. “Ena has agreed to meet.”

  Ena was a witch. Fae or mortal no one knew for certain. She lived in the hills of Aurora’s Pass guarded by Asag and magic. Asag resemble trolls if trolls were five meters tall and built from solid rock. They were also fiercely loyal to their mistress.

  I enjoyed a brief daydream where an Asag pounded Bay into wolf marmalade.

  Ozias stepped up behind Phin and jerked his chin up at Bay. Bay shook his head and Ozias scowled before turning to me. He stared as if he could see my insides and I squirmed.

  Phin cleared his throat. “We have a slight problem.” This got everyone’s attention.

  Instead of Bay he looked at me. “She had a condition.”

  “And?” Bay was impatient, who knew?

  “She wants us to bring the sentinel. Non-negotiable.”

  Bay looked thunderous.

  “I also got word from Zar. Ivory and the wolves are gone.”

  Fury poured off Bay as Phin kept going. “And they eviscerated Antony.”

  Bay grabbed my table lamp and hurtled it at the wall where it exploded. “Dead?”

  “If they can hold his intestines in long enough for him to heal, there’s a chance.” Pike ran a hand down the front of his white t shirt. “Kid has chutzpah and Kojak’s with him now.”

  Kojak was the Daenali’s strongest healer and if Antony could be saved by anyone it would be him. Daenali were all but immortal. The exceptions were beheading and exsanguination. And burning. Rule of thumb if you could burn it to ash, it could die.

  I pulled on a jacket instead of tearing into Bay the way I wanted to do. Emerick and Ozias appeared behind Phin.

  The muscles in Bay’s jaw flexed. “Someone call Lennox, I want those wolves back.”

  Lennox was the Vernon Packs alpha.

  “If he wants to talk to you?” Phin asked.

  Sinister and lethal, Bay bared his teeth. “Then he’ll talk to me. On his knees. He can turn over the wolves or die for them.”

  Emerick nodded and turned away with his phone and Bay turned to me. His eyes dropped to the front of my shirt, gritting his teeth. “Change, Sentinel. Your covered in blood. A pup could track you like that.”

  A quick glance down showed I had forgotten all about the trick with the Travelers stone. Sighing I grabbed a shirt from my drawers and retreated to the bathroom to change.

  We were going to Aurora’s Pass.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Veda

  I stood between Ozias and Emerick on the trail leading into Aurora’s Pass. Dawn was coming, spreading heavenly streaks of pink and orange across the blue sky. I decided to enjoy the view before what was sure to be a hell of a hike.

  Phin had made his announcement and then left me to deal with Bay who’d all but stomped his feet and given me every reason I was going to get them killed in insulting detail. I’d resolved to let him rant thinking he might wear himself out before we left, but he proved to have admirable stamina.

  Ozias eyed the rough trail that disappeared into fossilized rocks and boulders. “Any idea why she asked for you?”

  I shrugged. It was the first question Bay had fired at me. What does a witch as powerful as Ena want with you?

  Not that he’d given me a chance to answer instead launching into the tired litany of my overall lack of useful skills. Apparently, my inability to shift into a big ass man-eating wolf was only one of them.

  Jericho and Phin flanked Bay as he led the way up the trail with me in the middle and Emerick and Ozias bringing up the rear.

  Being the only one in our party who’d navigated Aurora’s pass I’d argued it would be better to let me lead but that had been the equivalent of telling him to ask for directions. Clearly, I’d lost my mind.

  On a happier note, I had a front row seat for wolf marmalade. That was assuming it didn’t come with a side of sentinel preserves. With that in mind I tried to focus my attention on what I could hear. Asag
may have been huge, but they were surprisingly sneaky.

  The first time I had come through the pass I strolled through without care. Incorrectly surmising that my status as emissary had been communicated to the Asag and I would have safe passage. Ena, however, didn’t believe in safe passage. Either you can get there, or you can’t, the how is not her problem. Also, she was a twisted bitch and games amused her.

  As if conjured by my thoughts a boulder shot between Phin and Jericho after narrowly avoiding decapitating Bay. It impacted the ground like a meteor fragmenting into sharp pieces that had the rest of us kissing the ground.

  No one moved when the dust began to clear. I could see the silver tips of Ozias’ hair and I had to squint a little to be sure but..yep, he was grinning like a fool.

  “You’re crazy.” I wasn’t sure he’d hear me but his thumbs up said my message was received. Emerick spat dust from his mouth and Phin was rolled on his back cackling. Expecting a more somber reaction from Bay I was surprised to see him return Phin’s mirth before shooting me a wink.

  Who was this man?

  I shook my head and I climbed to my feet, conscious that if another boulder came flying, I didn’t want to be splayed out on the ground like a giant ‘x marks the spot’.

  We’d officially passed the barrier between the human plane and the foundation. It wasn’t alternate or other. It lay under the fabric of known existence coexisting with, but not of, the rest of the world. Few could see past the barrier, less could traverse it. Like the regular world it had terrain, mountains and cliffs, lakes and swamps and all of it could be as beautiful as it was deadly. Like now for instance.

  Everyone was on their feet now, hugging the rock wall and boulders that surrounded us. Jericho angled his body around to see further down the trail. I know what he saw.

  The trail leveled to a smooth floor that cut through the fossilized walls before it bottlenecked into a series of twists and forks that could offer escape or trap you like a mouse. Eventually, if you didn’t run into a dead end, it would spit you out on the other side near a tree line.

  Jericho pulled his head back around and grimaced. “There’s an ugly as fuck troll headed straight for us.”

  “Sounds about right.” It was about what I’d expected. It was either East or West since neither had many diversions. Most living creatures who could cross the barrier had the sense to avoid Aurora’s Pass. It helped with longevity.

  The threat wasn’t that trolls are hard to kill because while they were big, they weren’t great tacticians. But East and West were Ena’s trolls, they guarded her, and she’d make a bloody mess out of anyone who harmed them.

  Bay looked at me. “Agas?”

  I was surprised and it showed. “How did you know?”

  “You’re not the only one whose been here just the only one stupid enough to come back regularly.”

  I ignored the dig; contrary to current events my survival instincts were fine. Sai had rarely asked me for anything outside my normal duties. When he had I never refused. He and Ena had business and I was their messenger since she refused to allow Sai into her home for any reason. Why? No clue. But Sai respected her wishes and sent me as an emissary.

  I’d asked about it once and Sai had said Ena was always worried about the wrong things. Of course, Sai made vague look like a blunt weapon.

  “Any ideas?” The question came from Jericho and was meant for the other guys, but I answered anyway.

  “Bait.”

  HE ARGUED REFUSING to allow me any part that wasn’t purely passive in getting around the Agas. Ultimately, it came down to expediency. Bay and I would go ahead of the others carrying the two backpacks that held the others clothes. The other three would strip and shift so they would be harder to catch when they helped distract the East. We’d outrun West.

  The ground trembled as footsteps grew closer. A quick glance showed West was almost on top of our position. It was now or never.

  “We need to get his attention.” Bay shook his head, and I rolled my eyes. I took a deep breath and before he could stop me, I jumped straight into West’s path. Bay cursed behind me, threats of this, that, or the other. What else was new?

  “Ve-da!” West bellowed, giddy and almost childlike. He’d cheerfully thump me against a tree and think it was a game.

  “Let’s go!” I yelled to Bay.

  Sprinting I slid through the Agas legs as his massive hand tried to scoop me up. With his concentration on me he missed Bay hauling ass around him. I came to my feet and kept running trusting Bay to follow where I led.

  Running was second nature to his wolf and Bay kept pace easily. “You’re going to learn to follow orders or I’m going to blister your ass.” He growled behind me.

  I could hear growls and yips in the distance, Jericho and the others had their hands full leading East away.

  We ducked, weaved and squeezed through paths that were no more than cracks in the walls of the pass. I slid under a formation that crisscrossed the trail while Bay flew over it, anything to stay ahead of West raging behind us.

  Finally, after several minutes of full-tilt, wind beneath your feet, don’t look back running we spilled into a corridor that seemed to dead end. Bay disappeared from my peripheral and I realized he’d put on the brakes having made the same assumption I had years ago. But it was an optical illusion of the rock. Almost to the wall, I twisted grabbing the straps of his pack and pulled him with me through an opening that ran parallel to the wall itself.

  West hit the wall at full speed but being too big for the opening he bounced, kicking up plumes of dust but leaving us none the worse for wear.

  “Veda fast!” hollered West. He seemed pleased with the chase we’d given him.

  I wiped grit from my eyes and didn’t think too hard about West’s words. I was fast. Faster than I’d ever been when I’d done this dance with West. This had been almost comically easy.

  “This a part of your brilliant plan, Sentinel?” Bay gestured to our tight quarters.

  It’s possible he had no idea how much faster I was than normal and for that I was grateful. I did not need an inquisitive Bay on my hands. The current drama was more exposure than was healthy for me. For now, he wasn’t asking questions and I was grateful.

  Instead, I pointed up and grinned. “I hope wolves can climb.”

  He looked straight up and saw what I already knew was there. The chimney went all the way to the top and a clear blue sky showed overhead. The walls were craggy instead of smooth and barely three feet apart. We could climb them no problem.

  Looking back at me he smirked. “After you.”

  We climbed in silence. It was an ascent I’d made countless times before at the behest of my king. Never had it taken so long as it did with Bay three feet below me as if my incompetence alone would increase my gravitational pull.

  Finally, after slipping once and damn near sitting on Bay’s face (that’s why you never tailgate) we reached the top of the fissure. I didn’t bother standing instead I opted to scoot out of the way and inspect my scraped palms while Bay levered himself out. He took in my seated position and correctly interpreted my lack of urgency as the ‘all clear’. I finished clearing debris from my hands and then stood.

  I gestured toward the rough path a few feet away. “It’s a steep but traversable. It’ll bring us within feet of the tree line.”

  He nodded but still didn’t speak remaining silent in favor of staring at me thoughtfully. Knowing not to swat at hornets, I let sleeping dogs lie and resumed our game of following the leader.

  The sun was rising higher in the sky and the heat was beginning to bake everything under it. I was grateful when we reached a canopied clearing nearing the center of the forest. I’d given the others specific instructions to the same spot. Their route should’ve been easier and more direct than ours. I say should ‘cause, really they’re men. Following directions.

  Being a supernatural entity did not fix that flaw.

  We’d taken two steps
into the clearing when Jericho trooped into view. Stark naked.

  I slapped a hand across my eyes hard enough to knock some goddamn sense into myself. Jericho laughed, a full belly laugh that echoed around us and probably shook every one of the muscles tightly packed in his abdomen. Yes, nudity turned me into a pre-adolescent prude. Jesus.

  And now I was talking to a martyr from another pantheon.

  “Clothes, please.” He teased from what sounded like a bare half foot away. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I jumped.

  “Easy, Sentinel. His clothes are in your pack.” Bay’s’ voice filled my ears as he slid the pack off my shoulders. I had to lower my arm and thus my hand to let him have it.

  I heard clothes rustling and then a zipper.

  “You can open your eyes now.” Was it me or did he sound amused?

  I opened one eye a fraction and was relieved to find no more naked men. I gingerly lifted my other lid and then blinked a little to make sure there was no lasting damage. Bay watched me perform my systems check with no little fascination.

  The man that considered me a lower life form than a cockroach was fascinated with my neurosis.

  “What?” I was not defensive. I wasn’t.

  “Have you always been scared of naked people?” He asked. “Or is it just naked men?”

  If he laughed at me I was going to push him into a tree. That was no small threat. Trees in this forest had poison in their sap. It attacked the brain while breaking down the body.

  Literally.

  Man Eating trees. The burn of the poison gave way to a feeling of euphoria and was extremely addictive. Once it hit your skin you were screwed. While you went crazy to have more, eating it and lavishing it on your skin like oil, it worked its insidious magic. Deteriorating skin, muscle, and bones breaking you down to basic nutrients that would in turn feed the trees.

  Nature was a nasty business.

  I’d given them the same warning, don’t touch the fucking trees when we’d split up. They’d looked skeptical but had agreed.

  Ozias, Emerick and Phin strolled into view all blessedly clothed, saving me from answering Bay’s totally intrusive question. Ass.