by Aya Walksfar
I held a finger against his pulse. “That’s because he isn’t dead. He’s been hit with some kind of defense spell and it knocked him out. I felt the tingle of magic when I touched him.” I glanced around at the bodies. “I’d bet they were all hit with defensive spells. Quieter and quicker to take them out of the action that way.”
Worried eyes searched my face. “Will they come out of it?”
I cast my mind back, trying to recall what Matriarch Belora had told me about defense spells. “If a defense spell doesn’t kill you outright, you will most likely recover. There’s nothing we can do for any of them right now. Let’s check the rest of the house.”
Though several werepanthers had died, of those who still lived none faced any immediate danger of bleeding out. We proceeded through the mansion. At the end of the long first floor corridor, I swung open the final door. A young werepanther faced the door, swaying on her feet. A long knife drooped in her hand.
“Be at peace, Yolinda.” Ri stepped around me. “What happened here?”
“I awoke to the sounds of fighting and woke up the others.” She gave a limp wave toward the three, young females lying unconscious on the floor. “I had strapped on my knife when men burst through the door. A panther was with them and it snarled. One of the men ordered it out of the room. I leaped at the men, but they were fast, so fast.” Her eyes widened at the memory then her lip curled in disgust. “I apologize, Heir. I don’t recall anything else, except someone sneaking behind me and hitting me in the head.”
Ri checked out the knot on the back of Yolinda’s head. “Are you dizzy? Seeing two of anything?”
“No, just got a splitting headache.”
“The lump is already dissipating. When your head clears, and when Amanda and the other two awaken, I want the three of you to render aid to the injured. Elder Coahoma said you have some experience in nursing?”
“Yes, ma’am. I completed nursing school before I returned to the village.”
“Good, just don’t let anyone go upstairs. Got that?”
She shot Ri a puzzled look, but answered, “Yes, ma’am. I’ll do my best.”
Ri gave a brisk downward jerk of her head. “That’s good enough for me. Avoid getting into any physical fights over it, though. Many of the injured and the unconscious are Guards. Tell them they will answer to me if they disobey the order. I’ll be back after Alexis and I scout the village and find out what happened to the patrols.”
Yolinda blinked several times then slowly bowed her head. “Yes, ma’am.”
When we stepped out of the kitchen door and into the blackness of the night, I quirked a brow at Ri. “Why didn’t you mention what happened to Elder Coahoma?”
A grim look settled over her face. “Because Yolinda would have run to her. It’s in our blood to protect our queen.”
The first guard lay in a heap at the base of a tree a few feet from the kitchen door. His throat had been ripped out. By the time we circled the perimeter, we had located all five of the guards’ bodies. Throats ripped out, hearts torn from their chests.
Ri looked up from where she knelt next to the last guard. She closed the woman’s staring eyes. “This is Elana. I never got around to introducing the two of you.” Tears glinted in her eyes. She climbed slowly to her feet. “Why would anyone rip out their hearts? If they wanted to be sure of the kill, it would have been easier to shred the heart with a knife while it was still in the body.”
“Pale Blood Magic. Remember what Serena said? Internal organs are used in Pale Blood Magic.” I placed a hand on her shoulder and gave a light squeeze. “Come on, we need to check each of the five houses in the village.”
Blood splashed the interior of the small, single-story houses. Furniture had been overturned and busted. Panthers, both Shifted and human, sprawled in death. Out of twenty-five residents, we accounted for nineteen bodies. None of the hearts were missing.
Halted outside of the last house, I threw my head back and gazed up at a patch of sky. Dawn crept stealthily over the trees, rendering the black sky a dark gray. “Where are the other six?”
Ri stepped up beside me. “Four of the missing are teenagers. I am hoping their elders told them to run and hide and that they’ll return once it’s full daylight. The other two...” She shrugged. “I think one of them was a woman who called herself Fire. She had really red hair.”
I jerked my head around and stared at her. “About this tall? Good figure, big breasts?”
Brows gathered, Ri nodded. “Yeah, why? You know her?”
Grimly, I said, “Yeah, I know her. She drugged me last night.”
By the time we returned to the mansion, Yolinda had just finished helping the last of the awakening fighters. Several sat, backs propped against the walls, heads hanging as they fought off the effects of the defense spells. Others had shifted to panther form to speed healing from a multitude of wounds.
Amanda Silver strutted in from the kitchen. She stopped in front of Ri and crossed her arms. “I don’t see Elder Coahoma with you. Where is she? Those three won’t tell me anything.And why in Caine’s Hells shouldn’t I go upstairs?” Flinging her arm sideways, she pointed a stiff finger at Yolinda and the other two young women from her room. “They’ve been guarding the stairs like some great treasure lay in the upstairs hall.”
Ri sighed, but held the other young woman’s gaze. “Queen Coahoma is dead.”
“Dead!” Amanda screeched. Heads whipped up to stare at the two women.
“Yes, dead.” Ri strode past Amanda until she reached the front of the room. She held her hands up and the murmuring voices hushed. “Early this morning, as all of you are aware, our village was attacked. What you may not know is that Queen Coahoma was murdered in her bed. A spell was placed around her body. No one is to go near the Elder’s room until we have disabled the spell.”
She waited patiently as the voices swelled then ebbed and the faces turned toward her. “As Heir to Queen Coahoma, I promise you that this—our People will be avenged.”
Ri swallowed hard before continuing. “The perimeter Guards all had their throats as well as their hearts ripped out. Lieutenant Herald had her heart torn out, as well. Nineteen of our twenty-five villagers died of massive injuries, but none of their hearts were taken. We are missing four teenagers and two adults. One of the adults is a woman named Fire. She is wanted for treason.”
One male stood, face deathly pale. “When do we go after our enemies?”
Ri lifted her chin. “As soon as everyone gets ready, we’ll hit the encampment.”
“What about our dead?” A voice called out.
A hard look settled on Ri’s face. “We’ll worry about our dead as soon as we kill the ones who murdered them.”
****
Dawn had morphed into full daylight by the time I lay on one side of Ri while Sven lay on the other, studying the encampment in the valley below. After watching for a while, Ri tipped her head back in a sign to retreat. We squirmed backward until we could stand without being spotted then jogged to where the rest of the people gathered.
I glanced at the four teenagers--three boys and a girl--and hoped they wouldn’t die in the coming fight. The other missing adult, Missy, had herded the teens to safety, in spite of their vigorous protests. Now the kids wanted to prove themselves.
“Don’t forget what I told you,” Ri said quietly as the panthers crowded around her. “In and out. Fast. Do the damage then disengage and hit some place else. Got it?”
Everyone nodded.
“Good. Go.” She pivoted and headed toward the path that led straight into the encampment.
Sword gripped tight, I jogged next to her. Neither Sven nor I had been able to dissuade Ri from leading the frontal assault team--the most dangerous position. Now, Sven ran close to Ri’s left side. Amanda Silver stayed behind Sven a pace or two. Two tawny panthers trotted next to me while Yolinda grinned from the other side of them. Excitement shone in the young woman’s eyes.
I glan
ced away. Somehow, her look gave me the shivers. I swallowed down the feeling that something was wrong; something right in front of me. Attributing my rising anxiety to how few of the werepanthers had any actual fighting experience, I concentrated on what lay ahead. Goddess, I hated taking newbies into bloodlettings like this one promised to become.
We cleared the forest shadows and jogged into the bright morning sun that beat down on the clearing. No perimeter guards. I grimaced at such lackadaisical troop discipline. Few people even glanced up from their cooking fires before Ri let out a panther scream and ran a sword through the closest enemy.
The panthers beside me charged into the people that relaxed on logs around the campfire. Before they could toss their plates aside and leap to their feet, the animals sprung and landed on their targets’ chests. Between one heartbeat and the next, blood sprayed as the cats ripped out the enemies’ throats.
A big man surged to his feet and charged at Ri. I leapt in front of him and slapped his long knife from his hands with the blade of my short sword. As his momentum carried him past me, I swung my sword in a downward arc. His head splatted to the ground, but his body stumbled into Ri before it too crashed down.
A man darted from a nearby tent and tackled Amanda Silver. Her sword flew from her hand as he rolled her then sprang to his feet. He scooped Amanda off the ground as I yelled and raced toward him.
A panther dashed past me. It leapt, but the man whirled and flung his hands outward. A ball of dark energy smashed into the panther’s chest. It screamed as fire consumed it.
The man raced into the woods. Amanda hung over his shoulder as if knocked out, or dead.
Goddess, damn him! Some kind of magic user—sorcerer? Warlock? Didn’t matter. I was going to kill him.
I couldn’t call fire for fear of hitting Amanda. Jamming my sword in its sheath, I put on a burst of speed. I hoped his burden slowed him down enough for me to catch up.
A slender tan panther raced past. I yelled, “He throws fireballs.”
Either the panther didn’t hear or didn’t care. It sped into the shadowed forest. Before long I could hear neither the man running nor the panther’s fast flying footsteps. I stopped and leaned against a tree, sides heaving as my breath rasped in and out. Finally, breath caught enough that I didn’t feel like puking, I closed my eyes and softly chanted. As I opened my eyes, I hoped the new spell I had diligently practiced would work.
A faint blue shimmered on the ground like a bunch of small water droplets. “It worked!” I pumped a victory fist in the air then hurried along the trail.
A mile into the forest, the trail stopped at the prone form of the panther that had raced past me. I knelt. A knife hilt protruded from the panther’s side. Yellow eyes opened in narrow slits and watched me. Mouth gaping, the animal panted in short, shallow breaths.
Slowly, I knelt and stroked the animal’s shoulder. “I'm not a healer. I don’t know how to help you.”
“You’re not a healer, but I am.” Yolinda dropped to her knees.
“How did you find us?”
“A first year newbie could’ve found you. You left a trail as wide as Interstate 5.” Yolinda placed her hands on the panther’s ribs. “When I say go, pull the knife out. Do it quickly, but don’t deviate from the path it traveled going in or you’ll slice the heart and he’ll die.”
“Oh, simple as eating pie. No pressure here.” I firmly grasped the hilt.
“Go.”
I pulled the knife straight back. As soon as the tip cleared the panther’s hide, blood gushed from the wound. Yolinda placed her hands flat over the wound. “Tear your shirt so you can make a pad out of part of it.”
I jerked the tee shirt off and ripped it. Handing the makeshift pad to the healer, I waited for further instructions.
Yolinda slapped the pad on the wound and pressed. “Here, hold this in place.”
Leaning over, I placed my hands where instructed. Yolinda slung her side pack off and rummaged through it. She withdrew a stainless steel suture needle and suture thread. “Okay, when I say go, yank the pad off.”
I jerked my chin in an abbreviated nod.
“Go.” As soon as the pad cleared the wound, blood gushed. The healer began quickly sewing. As she sutured the wound closed the bleeding slowed then stopped. Yolinda sank back against her heels. “Damn, I didn’t know if I was going to get it closed in time.”
“Now what?”
She pointed her chin at the path back to the encampment. “You go see if the fighting is over. If it is, have someone come back here with a stretcher. He is in no shape to try to walk out of here and he’s too damn big for me to carry, even if it wouldn’t tear open the wound. Which it would.”
“I’ll be back as soon as I can.” I climbed to my feet and hit the dirt trail at a fast run.
Breath sawing in and out of my lungs, I stumbled into the encampment. The fighting had ended. At the center of the camp Ri stood in front of two bound captives, one sported a full head of bright red hair--Fire.
Hurrying over, I gasped, “Ri, there’s a wounded panther back in the forest. Yolinda got the knife out, but he’s in bad shape. I left her with him while I came to get help.”
Fire threw her head back and roared with laughter. Ri swung to face her. “What's so funny, Traitor?”
She wagged her head side to side in mirth. “You might as well not worry about your panther. He’s dead.”
I glared at the woman and wondered what I had ever seen in her, even if it had just been lust talking. “Yolinda stabilized him and is with him now.”
She burst into another gale of laughter. “Yolinda stabilized him so she could take his living heart, you idiots.”
I whirled and bolted headlong into the forest. A deep red-brown panther passed me. Before I rounded the last bend in the trail, a cat screamed. My heart thundered as I raced around the bend. The body of the wounded panther lay mutilated on the ground. The stark white of broken ribs shone through his tan coat. The cavity where his heart should have been lay empty.
The living panther who had reached him first threw its head back and screamed again then collapsed next to the dead. I stood silent witness, vowing to find Yolinda and when I did that traitor would beg for death.
****
While Ri and her People cleaned up the encampment, I headed back to the mansion. I had refused the guard Ri offered and had warned the young werepanther to watch her own back.
Though I hated to leave, I needed to break the magic that held the Elder’s body untouchable before overwrought panthers decided to storm the bedroom.
The lights in the bedroom still burned from when we had discovered the Elder, but now the mid-morning sun spilled through the window across from the bed. The sunlight flooded the room and threw the blood into gory relief. I edged closer. The blood glistened bright red as if it had just been spilled. A frown pinched my face. It had been hours since the Elder had been murdered. The blood should have dried by now.
Eyes closed, I bared my senses. Wrongness hovered over the bed. Opening my eyes, I stepped cautiously toward the bed, hands held out in front like a blind person in a strange room. Within a few feet of the bed, my hands encountered a slimy wall. Instinctively, I knew I could push through the invisible barrier and reach the Elder.
Something tugged me toward the Elder’s staring gaze. I had already begun leaning toward the bed, when Matriarch Belora’s voice echoed in my mind.
Whenever you are faced with a trap made of magic, remember that the easiest route is always the most deadly.
Shocked back to my senses, I stumbled half a step away then sidled around to the far side of the bed. Here the invisible wall stood less than a foot from the puffy down comforter that hung nearly to the floor.
If the easiest route presented the most dangerous choice, then the most difficult route should be the safest. What presented the most difficult route to the elder?
The hardest thing you will face is defending against another’s magic, Ma
triarch Belora had said. The best defense is not to slash your way through, but to disarm the magic; to render it harmless, so you can then burn the remnants.
How do you disarm something you can’t even see?
My attention wandered around the room. A sturdy rocking chair sat in one corner. I stalked over and snatched it up. With a great heave, I threw it against the magical shield. As soon as the rocking chair hit the invisible barrier, bloodred lightning sizzled over a dome-like structure and wrapped around the chair. The intensity of the lightning grew until thick streaks of red speared the chair. Suddenly, the wood burst into flames. Before the hot embers could fall to the bed they turned into a gray powder and then disappeared altogether.
Feet pounding up the stairs snapped my focus to the door just before it banged open. I dashed around the bed as the Elder’s closest friend stood frozen in the doorway. A keening sound ripped from the older panther’s throat as she flung herself toward the bed.
I leapt across the space that separated us and slammed into the grief-stricken woman. We smashed into the floor. Arms and legs wrapped around her, I rolled us farther from the bed. She wacked an elbow into my ribs. My grip loosened.
The woman lunged to her feet, eyes crazed, lips twisted into a snarl as she faced me. “Magic User, what have you done to my friend and my Queen?”
I jumped to my feet and crouched in a fighting stance between the woman and the bed. “I didn’t do anything to Queen Coahoma, but someone set a trap around that bed.”
“Get out of my way, Magic User, and I might let you live for a few more hours.” She crept toward me.
“Listen to me. It’s a trap! The Elder wouldn’t want you to sacrifice your life for nothing!”
“Don’t tell me what my friend would want!” She snarled, spit flying from her lips. With a lunge, she lashed out with a fist.
It connected against the side of my face and snapped my head around. I stumbled, and at the last instance, regained my balance. “Would you give the Elder’s enemies more cause to rejoice?”
“I will kill them all!” Growling, she flew at me striking and kicking.
