“How can he think he loves me, Aella?” She moaned, watching him disappear.
There had been real pain on his face as he’d sent his demons to kill Ashra and Trey. Torz was just an added bonus, apparently. Guilty by association. He hadn’t wanted to hurt her. There had been real pain when he’d almost said he loved her, as well.
“You’re the first thing that can soothe his shattered heart, Scout. Did you really think he wouldn’t mistake that for love?”
Scout buried her head in her blankets, feeling Aella’s icy touch stroking her hair until she fell asleep.
Chapter Fifteen
Trey swung his scepter, his attack melding with Torz’s, not winding around each other like Ashra and Scout’s did, but actually seeping together until it was one very powerful attack. These creatures weren’t souled, but there were so many. So many, and many more still coming. The skies as far as Trey could see were black with soul stealers. They would never be able to fight them all off.
Especially with Ashra’s weaker magic. Without Scout, she was just another unicorn. Crazier, braver, more passionate than most. But not more powerful.
He watched as she raced across the sky, her horn ramming through one, two, then three soul stealers, impaling them until they burst into a bloody mess of ash and bone. And Trey thought maybe crazier, braver, more passionate might be enough.
Until he looked up. And saw the darkening skies even as the pale sun rose. Too many. There were too many.
“We can’t fight them, Ashra. We’ve got to run!”
“Run where, exactly? We can’t get out of here, Torz. And even if we could—” Ashra paused in her tirade to rip the head off the demon closest to her, using her razor-sharp teeth. “Even if we could, I’m not leaving without her.”
Torz snorted, frustrated. His horn seemed to feed off his anger, his flames brighter, faster, more powerful than before, and Trey joined him. He put everything into his attacks. His pain, his fear, his complete desperation. And his anger. So much anger.
He counted thirteen demons as they fell from the sky under his and Torz’s onslaught.
“See? Keep that up, boys. We’ll be fine.” Ashra’s voice was far too optimistic for the situation.
If Trey didn’t know better, he’d think she was enjoying this. She wasn’t using her magic, much. She was using her size and her fiery wings and her sharp, sharp hooves. Like she wanted to tear them all apart, up close and personal.
“Ashra has a lot of anger issues,” Trey called to Torz.
“So do you. Let’s use them, shall we?” Torz shot up through the air, big wings pumping, sparks exploding from the feathers, igniting anything that came too close.
Trey swung his scepter down hard, snapping the claw reaching for Torz’s side. The creature screamed, and Trey shot a blast of fire into its open mouth. The head exploded, as did the demon right behind it, and they both fell. Over and over, he threw out attacks and soul stealers fell from the sky, until his arms ached and he was covered in blood — theirs and his and Torz’s. Ashra’s wings were failing as she tipped and swayed in the air, but she didn’t stop fighting.
“Torz! Ashra! We’ve got to run!” Trey screamed to be heard over the shrieks of the Taraxippus.
Ashra’s ear flicking toward him was the only indication she’d heard him. She didn’t pause in her attacks, even as her wings stuttered and she fell lower.
“Ashra, we’re done! Run!” Torz pushed her, hard, and she tumbled through the sky, regaining her balance just before she hit the earth below. Torz raced after her, and they galloped through the air, the screaming demons hard on their heels. “To the canyon, Ashra!”
She didn’t respond but flew lower through the sky, her feet just above the soft ground, wings pumping hard.
Claws reached for Torz, tearing into his flanks. Trey spun on his back, an unspeakable rage overtaking him, and his scepter exploded with a wide, flat wall of fire. The demons closest to them screamed as they burst into flames, and the ones behind them crashed into their inferno and lit up like a bonfire. Dozens fell from the sky. But more flew out and around the fiery wall. Trey did it again, unsure where the attack had come from — it wasn’t one that Iros had taught them. But it took so much energy. So much strength that he just didn’t have anymore. His arms shook as sweat and blood poured from him.
Ashra hit the canyon, tucking her wings to fit through the narrow opening. Her feet crashed over the ground, splitting it with every step, and Torz followed close behind. Trey dug deep, searching for one last attack, one last effort, and his scepter erupted, shooting the fire and stopping the demons at the canyon mouth.
“I bought us some time, but they’ll come over the top.” He panted, turning to face the front again. Ashra’s mighty steps were faltering, and Torz stumbled twice, nearly pitching Trey over his head.
“We’ve got to hide. Torz, ideas would be good right now.”
“I came up with the canyon idea. It’s your turn.”
She didn’t have an answer for that, apparently, because she said nothing and kept running, veering around the sharp turns in the canyon.
Trey risked a glance over his shoulder. Not far behind them now, the soul stealers were coming up the canyon walls. They would be trapped soon. Trey had a horrible memory of Iros and Havik, surrounded by dozens and dozens of soul stealers, falling through the sky as the demons tore at the mighty leaders. If they couldn’t fight these things off, what hope did Trey, Torz, and a rider-less Ashra have?
“None. That’s why we’re running,” Torz muttered, and even in Trey’s head, he sounded exhausted. They had reached the end of their resources. No more magic, no more strength. The mighty unicorns were going to fall.
And then Ashra veered sharply around a corner as the canyon fell behind them and in front of them loomed…
Nothing.
She raced over the edge and dropped like a dead weight out of sight. Trey was barely aware that he was screaming as Torz followed her. The weightlessness as they fell through the sky only lasted seconds before Torz’s great wings snapped out and caught them, and he veered sharply, turning straight into the face of the cliff.
And a very small cave.
Trey ducked low over Torz’s back as they flew inside, barely room for the giant unicorn to fit. Torz’s hooves clattered on the rock as he skidded to a stop in the complete blackness.
Ashra’s horn lit, a dull, weak glow — the only magic she had left, and Trey could see that the cave was much larger inside, thankfully.
Torz raised his bloody, lathered head. “Nice call on the hidden cave.”
Ashra snorted. “We’re just lucky Ariston modeled Aptavaras after Paradesos. Or we’d be dead right now. I think. I don’t know. Maybe I was about to get my second wind.” And she collapsed to the ground, her legs giving out completely.
Trey slid off Torz’s back and stumbled over to her. He hadn’t been running, yet his entire body felt like he’d been on his feet for hours.
Torz, too, fell ungracefully to the ground, breathing hard. “I’m alive, human. Just tired. We need to rest. Regain our magic. I hope Scout can hold Ariston off until we can make it back.”
Trey sat with a thunk, letting himself fall back against Torz, thankful for his warmth, his strength.
“I’m grateful for your strength as well, Trey,” Torz said, laying his big head on the ground next to Trey’s outstretched body.
Ashra watched them in exhaustion for several minutes, the pain emanating from her in waves. And then slowly, so slowly, she inched closer until she could rest her head next to Torz with her wings stretched over Trey.
“I miss my human,” she whispered.
Chapter Sixteen
It was soon apparent that while Ariston tried to avoid her as much as possible, he also seemed to have a plan to exhaust her so that if Ashra did happen to survive, Scout would be too tired to escape. Three days passed with Scout dancing three or four times each day. Ariston fed her very little — just enough to
keep her alive, Scout guessed. It worked out well though, because Scout didn’t feel like eating. Three days, three nights of constant, overwhelming, paralyzing fear. When Ariston came to her the fourth morning, Scout refused to get up. “Why should I dance for you?” She growled when he nudged her with his scepter.
He wouldn’t look at her. “You aren’t dancing for me.”
She thrust her arm toward the souls, who were quiet. Fewer hands reached desperately through the bone cage. Fewer arms lay motionless at the bottom, although there were still many. “They don’t need me to dance right now.”
Ariston opened his mouth to respond, but Scout would never hear it. An explosion shook the room, shook the entire castle. A sound like thunder, only amplified a thousand times, reverberated off the walls. Scout screamed as the glass behind her shattered, and pieces of the giant cage fell to the floor. From far above where Scout could see, chunks of ceiling or wall rained down on them. Ariston threw himself over her. Scout felt him get hit, over and over, his body flinching under the force.
She thought she might never stop screaming.
But the sound slowly faded. The shaking stopped. The castle stopped falling apart around them. Slowly, Ariston pushed himself off her, but his body was broken. She could see that by the way he hunched awkwardly. “You’re hurt!” she cried.
“Please,” he gasped, moving away from her. “Please don’t pretend you care.” He raised his orb at the sky, where the soul stealers still moaned in terror. “Bring me a soul!”
Scout froze. No, he couldn’t possibly mean…
One of the demons shrieked, an almost giddy sound, and swooped toward the floor, its claws outstretched. It grabbed one of the hands lying still on the ground and pulled. The hand resisted, at first, its fingers fighting back weakly, but then it gave in and allowed itself to be dragged through the bones. Except the bones tore it, shredded it, and it started to scream. It screamed and screamed in utter agony until suddenly, it stopped. No more screaming. The demon held the pieces of a soul in its claws, carrying it like it was nothing more than a pile of rags to where Ariston waited.
Scout held her fist against her mouth, so tight she felt her teeth splitting her lip. It was the only way to keep from screaming herself. This couldn’t be happening. That had been a person. A body — someone on earth had just died, right in front of her—
Ariston laid his scepter against the shredded remains, and a light flared so brightly Scout thought she was blinded. She shielded her eyes with her free hand, unwilling to remove her fist from her mouth, and when she could see again, the soul was gone, and Ariston stood, whole and healed. He had saved her life. But he had taken another’s life to do it.
And suddenly she remembered her first moments here — collapsing from pain and waking up whole, and she hadn’t understood why. Now she knew. And it felt like her own soul had suddenly gone through the sharp points of the unicorn bones.
She was as much of a monster as he was.
She wished for Ashra, who would tell her how stupid that thought was. She wished for Ashra to tell her she hadn’t had a choice, she’d been unconscious, she hadn’t understood. She wished for Ashra’s voice so hard in her head that it felt like her brain might split. But Ashra wasn’t there. She didn’t even know if Ashra was still alive. She sank to the floor next to Aella’s cage, pulled her knees up to her chest, and sobbed. She felt Aella’s icy fingers, comforting in their coldness.
“War has brought itself to our doors. We must continue the Corruption. Take all the souls you can.” Ariston didn’t look at her. “Scout, come with me.”
“What? No! What are you going to do?”
“Build an army.” He finally met her eyes, his black gaze sad and ashamed. “Do you want to watch?”
She looked at the cage, mouth opening slowly in horror. He was going to tear apart the souls so that he could build new, evil spirits for his Taraxippus. “No! Ariston, please! Your demons can’t even get out—”
He sighed, nodding at Aella. “Would you like to tell her what that was that just shook my castle nearly to pieces?” Without waiting for an answer, he strode over to the cage, studying the hands reaching through the bars, or the ones who had given up at the bottom. “There is enough for a few of you…” he muttered.
Scout froze, dragging her horrified eyes from Ariston to stare at her friend. Aella’s face shone with a fierce hope. “It was Iros. Iros is coming.”
“But my sister…” she whispered, and she thought she’d already been overcome with horror but now it was enough to drive her to her knees. “He’ll never make it in time.”
“He can’t reach us, Scout. I’m keeping them safe, don’t worry. I’m strong, just like you. Keep fighting, big sister. It’s almost time.”
****
“So, being stuck in a cave with you two is tons of fun and all, but I’ve had enough. It’s time to go.” Ashra paced the very small space, her wings attempting to unfurl.
But there wasn’t enough room, just like there hadn’t been enough room for the past however many days they’d been hiding.Trey had lost count.
He expected Torz to argue. Torz was the cautious one, the levelheaded one when Ashra and Trey had been overcome with desperation and fear. Torz had kept them there, hidden, waiting until they were healed. Torz had been the one constantly reassuring them that Ariston wouldn’t hurt Scout. That she was safe. But this time, Torz didn’t argue.
“I agree. The creatures have broken up into groups, spread out over Aptavaras. We can handle groups.”
“Good. Glad you agree because I was going, one way or another.” Ashra snorted, tossing her head, and Torz rolled his eyes.
Trey was on his feet in an instant, wrapping his cloak tight around him. He leaped on Torz’s back, and they fought with Ashra over who would get out of the cave first. She won, of course, because she was smaller than Torz, and faster. Her big wings spread out as she leaped from the small opening, holding her in the air. Torz followed, tossing his head in pure joy at being free of the small space.
They cleared the cliff and soared through the sky, stretching their wings and their legs and their necks. As far as Trey could see, there were no demons. The sky was free of their darkness. He breathed a much needed sigh of relief.
And the air exploded around them.
Torz just had enough time to wrap Trey securely with his tail as they tumbled, end over end, through the air. Torz fought to regain his balance, but the air kept shaking with a sound so loud Trey thought his eardrums might split. They fell through the sky like fluffy rocks as Torz swore vehemently in Trey’s head, using all the words Trey had accidentally taught him over the last several weeks. And then the sound faded; the air stopped shaking; and Torz’s wings snapped out, catching them, steadying them.
They landed on the opposite side of the chasm, and Ashra spun in circles, reminding Trey absently of a giant dog chasing its tail. “Our cave is gone.” She panted.
Trey looked over his shoulder, across the expanse of nothingness. It was true. The entire cliff they’d been hiding in had fallen into the river several thousand feet below.
There was no way they could have escaped that.
He looked wide-eyed at Ashra. “Nice timing getting sick of us when you did.”
She nickered, but it was a nervous sound. “What was that?” she asked.
Trey could feel Torz underneath him, his entire body trembling. At first Trey thought it was fear — they’d almost died, after all. Again. How many times could his big unicorn take near-death experiences? Trey’s entire body felt like food someone would eat if they didn’t have any teeth. But then he heard Torz speak, just one short sentence. And it changed everything.
“Havik is coming.”
Chapter Seventeen
“Please, Ariston. Please don’t do this. Let Iros come. Let him free the souls.” Let him save my sister, because I failed.
“You told Aella that Iros was merely a friend.”
Ariston strode awa
y from her, but Scout sprang after him, always chasing after him, always begging him. She was so, so tired of begging.
He paused just beyond the door to the throne room. “And yet, I’ve had her here with me for six hundred years and he has never come.”
He turned to face her now, and she nearly ran into him. Her hands came up against the hard planes of his chest to catch herself.
There was no heartbeat.
He stared down at her for several seconds before he spoke again, his hands holding hers against him. His voice was soft. “Tell me, Scout. If you’re merely a rider in Iros’s army, why did he come for you after mere days, but left his betrothed here for centuries?”
It was dark in this room, despite the many windows. Much darker than the throne room.
“Because he promised me he’d help me save my sister. He keeps his promises.”
Ariston didn’t release her. He tipped his head to the side just a bit, as if pondering her statement. “He promised Aella he’d find her. As my creatures pulled her soul away and he caught her lifeless body in his arms, he screamed into the wind that he would find her and that I would pay for my sins.”
She opened her mouth to respond, to argue, even though she had no idea how to argue with that. She knew that Iros loved Aella, and she would tell Ariston that, but Ariston shook his head.
His voice was infinitely sad as his ice-cold fingers released her wrist to brush her cheek. “Is it possible, Scout, that I am not the only one in love with you?”
The world exploded again, shaking the castle, shaking them apart. Ariston again threw himself over her to protect her as bones clattered through the doorway and pieces of the castle fell around them. “My brother will shake this place to the ground, and you will not survive if he keeps this up,” Ariston said through gritted teeth. His hands held her protectively against his chest until the shaking stopped, and then he pushed away from her, striding into the throne room. “Move faster!” he yelled, and the souls started to scream. He whirled, grabbing her arm. “Come. We must get you out of here. Away from the horror.”
Warrior Everlasting Page 10
