Warrior Everlasting

by Knight, Wendy

  “Scout? Ya gotta move faster. We can’t hold these things off forever!” Trey bellowed.

  Scout risked a glance over her shoulder. He was bloody and bruised and looked like a war god. Holy snowballs, that boy was beautiful.

  Ashra shrieked, furious, frustrated, and in pain. Not a safe combination. And somehow, they still had to get across the room to Aella.

  “Ashra, you’re not gonna like this, but I have an idea.”

  “The way you say that, I think no one but the demons will like your idea.”

  “And Aella. She’ll like it.” Scout bit her lip. “I think.”

  “You’re gonna get down and run across the room like you think you’re as fast as I am and can outrun the Taraxippus, aren’t you?” Ashra slammed a bit more forcefully into the bones, and the entire cage shook.

  Scout pretended Ashra was furious at the cage and not her.

  “Not as fast as you. Just faster than them.”

  She slid off Ashra’s back and it felt wrong, so wrong to leave her unicorn, especially after fighting so hard to get back to her in the first place, but Scout held tight to her scepter and spun as soon as she landed, running for Aella’s cage. The room was a mass of souls and blood and ash, like a dirty cloud, but the cloud was moving so quickly. Souls, apparently, did not fly. But they ran without a fear of falling, so quickly across the ground and out the door.

  Souls, though, could not run through walls or people. Several crashed into Scout as she slid across the room, swinging her scepter like a sword, and they fell to the ground even though all Scout felt was a blast of ice cold air. They dodged Torz’s hooves instinctively, and there was a bottleneck at the archway leading out.

  “Hurry, hurry or the soul stealers will get there first,” Scout murmured. And then felt stupid. Whirling and running backward, she yelled at Ashra. “Help them out, will you? They need a bigger hole, and you’re only using your big feet.”

  Ashra snorted, her head coming around in outrage. She scowled at Scout for two whole seconds before turning on the wall, shooting a thick rope of fire that smashed through the black material and doubled the size of the already-torn hole.

  The souls poured through and Scout spun again.

  Right into the claws of a soul stealer. Its talons dug into her shoulder, into her stomach.

  She screamed even as she transferred her scepter to her left hand and swung it down as hard as she was able. It crashed into the wrist bone of the hand in her stomach and broke the hand clean off.

  The creature shrieked and jerked, but the claws in her shoulder just tore more, reaching for her soul. Would it really be so easy for them? After all this time, so close to saving her sister, they were going to kill her anyway because she wasn’t smart enough to stay on her unicorn?

  A blast of fire brushed past her cheek, the sparks burning her before they died, and smashed into the demon’s chest. It screamed as the flames ate it from the inside out, and the claw let go.

  Her soul was free, and she felt it settle with relief back into place. She risked a glance over her shoulder as she leaped forward. Trey, surrounded by Taraxippus, gave her the briefest smile before he turned on the closest threat with a roar.

  Thank you, Trey. Somehow, fighting for his life, he was still watching her. Protecting her while she ran off on her own crazy ideas.

  Scout slid to a stop in front of Aella’s cage. “Get back!” she yelled, and Aella pushed herself as far back into the corner as she could. It didn’t give Scout much room, and she couldn’t use the magic in her scepter to blow a hole, which, in hindsight, would have been good to think of before she’d left Ashra clear across the room. Instead, she swung it, channeling every baseball experience she’d ever had in her life, using everything she had in her.

  The cage exploded.

  It rained bones down around them. Scout felt the sharp edges slicing her skin, and she threw herself over Aella to protect her. They sliced Scout’s skin, but they would tear Aella’s entire soul to pieces.

  “I’m fine, Scout. Get back to Ashra and get out of here! I’ll follow you!”

  Scout rolled to her feet, mentally agreeing with Ashra that if they lived through this, sleeping for the rest of forever sounded awesome, and dodged demons and souls and Torz’s feet on her way back to her unicorn. She almost made it.

  Almost.

  The claws got her in the back this time. Trey and Torz had been forced through the hole, or maybe they’d left willingly to protect the escaping souls, but they couldn’t see her, and Ashra was still attacking the remainder of the cage. There was no hope. Another demon reared up in front of her, and then another and another until they surrounded her. She swung her scepter at their hands, trying to fight them off, but she was already so weak.

  “Ashra!” Scout screamed. She couldn’t see her unicorn, but she felt the heat from Ashra’s horn as it slammed into the soul stealer at her back. She wasn’t strong enough without Scout, and it took two more hits before the thing let go. By then the rest were reaching for her.

  Ashra’s mighty hooves shook the floor as she raced across the room to Scout’s side, fiery wings igniting everything they touched. But she wasn’t fast enough. Scout slumped to the ground, unable to hold herself up any longer. The demons reached, claws glistening in the dim light.

  Aella rose up from the floor, right in front of Scout, right in front of the claws, blocking them, taking the tears herself. “Ashra, get her out of here!” Aella screamed, and Scout could already see the holes in her friend’s perfect soul. They were tearing her apart.

  Ashra grabbed the back of Scout’s shirt with her teeth, dragging her to her feet, flinging her backward. Scout flew through the air like a rag doll, howling and trying desperately to reach Aella, or her scepter, or anything, but her arms wouldn’t move. Nothing would move. She collapsed sideways across Ashra’s back, her feet burning on Ashra’s wings.

  “Save her, Ashra. Save her.”

  Ashra turned, dancing backward, fighting to hold Scout on her back as fire erupted from her horn, hitting the demons one after another. But she wasn’t strong enough.

  “Ashra get her out of here now!” Aella screamed, a shriek of pain and fear and desperation.

  “No, Ashra. No. Please,” Scout begged. “Save her.”

  Scout would never know what Ashra would have done, if she would have stayed to fight or if she would have done as Aella demanded, but Ariston’s sudden appearance and his black flames took away all Ashra’s options. He raised a hand, and fire exploded from his palm, racing across the room, straight at Ashra.

  Except that his own creatures, attacking Aella, got in the way. It obliterated two of them, but there were more, so many more, and he raised his hand again, and then the other hand. Ashra had no choice.

  She turned and ran.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Scout wanted to cry. She needed to cry. She wanted to scream and throw herself from Ashra’s back and kill Ariston with her bare hands, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t even open her mouth, and her eyes fought to stay open as blood poured from her wounds, staining Ashra’s back, Ashra’s wings. Staining everything while Aella screamed behind them.

  And then the screaming stopped.

  Scout felt the tears soak her cheeks as Ashra fought off the creatures in her way, fighting their way across the giant entryway, fighting their way out the door as demons fell on them from all sides. It was as if it was all from a distance. She was aware that they joined Torz, but each step was a fight. Each step was another demon.

  It took years, or maybe minutes, or maybe hours until Scout could even raise her head. They were out of the castle, and it was merely a crumbled ruin behind them. Ashra couldn’t fly because Scout was laying across her wings, so they raced across the soft ground, dodging souls who were lying in the way.

  Lying.

  Scout looked behind them, but this time focusing on the ground and not the castle. It was littered with souls lying still, not running, not fighting, jus
t lying on the ground. The soul stealers were picking them up like Scout and Lil Bit used to pick up fallen crab apples on the lawn.

  “Ashra.” Her voice croaked, even in her own mind. “The souls.”

  “We can’t save them, Scout. If they aren’t willing to fight for themselves, no one else can fight for them. I can’t pick them up. I can’t stand over them and defend them if they aren’t willing to try. They’ve given up, and only they can save themselves now.”

  Scout watched, thinking that the farther they got from the castle, the more souls there would be who had given up. But it was the opposite. The farther they got, the fewer there were, until there were only souls still fleeing, running faster even than Ashra, stopping to help each other along. She didn’t understand, but it healed her heart, just a bit anyway.

  Torz waited for them in the mouth of the canyon. The soul stealers attacked from above, but only one could get through at a time because the opening was so thin.

  “He’ll send his forces to attack Iros soon. I don’t think we’ll have to fight them off for much longer.”

  “Where’s Scout?” Trey bellowed.

  Scout tried to raise her hand, but failed. Miserably. It was possible she moved one whole finger, though.

  “She’s here, but her soul… we need to heal her. Quickly.”

  My soul? What’s wrong with my soul? Scout wondered hazily as Trey hauled her off Ashra’s back. I think it’s still a good soul. I haven’t checked it in a while. And she had the insane urge to laugh.

  Trey cradled her in his arms as fire erupted around them, and Scout was absently aware that Torz and Ashra were both fighting without riders.

  “It’s okay, baby. Just hold on. I didn’t fight so hard to get you back in my arms just to lose you now.”

  She forced her eyes to focus, to see his face, the worry creasing his forehead as he carried her to the ground and laid her on the soft grass. But then her eyes closed again and refused to open.

  “Torz?” Trey’s voice cracked and his entire body shook as he pulled her closer to him.

  She could feel the erratic, desperate beat of his heart against her shoulder.

  “Torz, what do I do? How do I help her?”

  “You can’t. I can heal her wounds but only she can fight for her soul.”

  “She watched Aella die.” Ashra’s voice was hushed.

  Scout didn’t hear the screams anymore, and the rotten smell was fading.

  “Aella saved her, and then Ariston came. I tried to fight his creatures, but I couldn’t fight him.”

  Torz was quiet for several long seconds. “She did not make it?”

  Scout could hear, even in her only half-aware state, the deep pain in Torz’s voice.

  “No. I’m sorry.”

  There was nothing to say to that. Scout drifted in and out of being aware of anything, mostly focusing on Trey’s strong, trembling arms as an anchor to this life.

  When Torz spoke again, Scout nearly passed right out. “It is as I said. Ariston is sending his Taraxippus after his brother. They can’t be bothered with mere souls any longer.”

  She heard the beat of his hooves, slow, like he was pacing.

  “He will bother with hers. He is in love with her.”

  Trey’s arms tightened protectively, or jealously, or both, around her, but Scout didn’t care about Ariston. She didn’t care about her wounds or her soul. She cared about Lil Bit. Where was Lil Bit? Why hadn’t she found them yet? She forced her eyes open through sheer will. Trey was staring at the sky, watching the demons retreat, no doubt.

  Ashra watched Scout, finally nodding once before coming toward her with that bright horn, ready to heal. Everything else was outside her line of vision and she wanted to scream in frustration. Instead, she let her eyes drift close. Too much effort to keep them open.

  “He can’t have her. She’s mine.” Trey hissed.

  Scout wanted to smile, if her heart wasn’t breaking. Where was her sister? Her parents? Trey’s family?

  “We all know she’s yours. You’ve made that abundantly clear. Now move out of the way so I can heal her.”

  Scout felt the warm light from Ashra’s horn, mending the broken skin, healing the tears first in her stomach and then in her shoulder and finally her back. She suddenly didn’t feel like her life force was escaping.

  Like Aella’s. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. Aella had saved her. And Scout had left her to die.

  “Will she be okay, Trey?”

  Scout’s heart stopped.

  Lil Bit.

  She was here. Lil Bit was here! After all this time, fighting, praying, not daring to hope and feeling like her heart shattered every time it beat, Lil Bit was here. If it were possible, Scout could feel her heart mending just like her skin. Lil Bit was healing Scout’s broken heart, and suddenly it was beating again, strong and furious and ready to fight. Scout’s eyes flew open and she reached for the translucent little shadow standing uncertainly behind Trey.

  “I’ve missed you, little sister.”

  Lil Bit smiled, a smile like sunshine and rainbows and hope and everything good in the world, and reached for Scout, too. But Scout couldn’t hold Lil Bit. She couldn’t even touch her. Instead, Scout’s weak hand pushed her away, and the heart she’d thought was so strong cracked once more. Her arm fell back to her side. Her eyes fell shut. “Lil Bit. I’m sorry.”

  She prayed Lil Bit could hear her.

  Ashra’s voice was somber when she spoke. “Yes, Scout will be okay. We just need her to grab hold of her soul and pull it back in.”

  She felt an icy touch on her cheek, and the breath of an angel. “Scout, I need you to fight.”

  Her parents, though, hadn’t made a sound. Did that mean they weren’t here at all? They might have kept fleeing if it was only Scout’s safety they were concerned over, just like at the hospital, but they would never leave Lil Bit. A sick dread overcame her. Where were her parents? Had they given up? Had the demons—

  “No, Scout, they’re coming. Trey, your family is coming. They’re helping the others.”

  “Liam? Tate? My — my parents?”

  Trey’s voice broke again and Scout realized he was dangerously close to falling apart completely. He’d been through so much. Fought so hard. His forehead leaned against hers then, and his hands shook as he brushed her hair away from her face. “I need you, Scout. Please come back to me.”

  “They’re fine, Trey. We’ll get them back to their bodies, and they’ll be back to growing bigger than you in no time.” Lil Bit’s voice held the hint of a smile.

  I need you, Scout. Trey needed her. Lil Bit was back. Her parents were coming. She had Ashra. I left Aella to die.

  How could she face that?

  “You realize that Aella did what she did so you would survive, and you’re giving up is making a mockery of her sacrifice. Pull it together, Scout, and serve her memory. Stop being a baby.” Ashra, always with the tough love. “Torz’s rider needs you. I need you. Get. Up.”

  They needed her. Aella didn’t die so Scout could fail miserably. She grabbed her soul, and she pulled. And then she sat up.

  “Scout!” Lil Bit squealed, throwing her translucent arms around Scout’s shoulders. Scout couldn’t grab her. She couldn’t feel her except for the icy cold. But she formed an embrace around her tiny sister, and she sobbed, because Lil Bit was here in her arms. They would take her back to her body, and they would be a family again, and Lil Bit would save the world, and Scout could go back to being just her big sister, and nothing more.

  ****

  Torz had been right, to an extent, but so had Ashra. The majority of Ariston’s forces went after Iros and left the souls hiding in the canyon alone. The souls, and Scout, Trey, Ashra, and Torz. But Trey knew Ariston needed Scout. So when the newly souled Taraxippus appeared on the horizon, red eyes glowing, he was not surprised. He watched them silently, not ready to tell Scout she had to fight again. Not ready to take her away from her little sister. They w
andered, these demons that haunted his nightmares even when he wasn’t sleeping. Maybe they didn’t know where to look. Maybe they weren’t in a hurry to fight. Maybe they would get tired and go away.

  He doubted it.

  “Lil Bit?” Scout lay next to her sister’s soul, staring at the blue sky, pretending she could hold Lil Bit’s hand.

  “Yeah, Scout?”

  “I missed you.”

  “I missed you, too.”

  “Lil Bit?”

  Lil Bit smiled, a soft giggle escaping before she answered. “Yeah, Scout?”

  “You are so grounded.”

  His heart ached. He had Scout back. Lil Bit was safe — as safe as could be expected. But his brothers. His parents. Where were they? Had they been caught again? He paced the mouth of the canyon, watching, waiting, not even sure he was looking in the right direction. Either way, that was how he saw the demons first.

  “We’ve got company.” He glanced at Torz over his shoulder but didn’t speak aloud.

  Torz’s head came up sharply, and he scanned the horizon. Then he snorted at Ashra, gaining her much-annoyed attention.

  “Are you serious? He can’t even give me time to eat before he attacks again?” She snapped off the blue grass and chomped loudly, horn shooting annoyed sparks.

  “You’ve got a few minutes. Eat quickly, Ashra.” Torz sounded amused, if that was even possible in all this horror.

  Scout sat up, raising a hand still covered in blood to her eyes. The hand started to shake as she turned to her sister with panicked eyes. “Lil, we have to fight. I need you to hide somewhere safe.”

  “We’ll take care of her, Scout.”

  Scout’s hand dropped, and she whirled, half-crawling on her knees.

  Trey’s eyes seemed, as always, to have to tear themselves away from her to look elsewhere, so he was slower at realizing it than she was.

  They were back.