Tenacity (Rise of the Iliri Book 5)

by Auryn Hadley

  "He was good at that," Risk agreed.

  "He gave me a purpose ta live fer and made me feel like I mattered. I stopped trying ta die and started learning ta kill. Within a year I was the best assassin in the CFC."

  Marin nodded at that, simply accepting it as the truth. "What about the girl?"

  Jase sighed and looked back up the pass. "She's my life. She's ever' thing good in the world, all in one place. She smells like hope. Hope and fresh snow."

  "She's my sister," Razor said. "LT's my brother. Marin, our families aren't like yours. We're tied together so closely that it's physically painful to lose one of us."

  "And we love stronger," Risk added. "Humans are always changing your mind, but iliri don't. Once we commit to love, it's for eternity, and the loss of it can't be explained. It hurts so bad."

  Zep nodded. "The closest thing for most people is that love of a child. You're meant to protect them. If one dies, it tears you apart from the inside out. You may have another child, just like we have other brothers, but the loss of one isn't lessened by the love of the other."

  "They say you're just beasts, though." Marin looked at the group of men so willing to openly display their worry and heartache. "Everything I've heard says that you just kill for fun, like a pack of rabid dogs."

  Jase turned his eyes to the human. "Sometimes. Ya ever go hunting?"

  "Yeah?"

  "What does the deer's family think about humans afterwards?" Jase paused to let that sink in. "Humans are our prey, but it does na mean we can na like you."

  "Yeah, but I hunt for food," Marin shot back.

  Jase just raised his head and looked at him. "Then we are na so different."

  Zep sighed drawing their eyes to him. "Go home, Marin. Go back to your unit, your wife, or whatever."

  "Why?" he asked.

  "Because we can't get over the mountains with you. If we're climbing, you'll only slow us down, and that could make us too late to help them. I'm sorry I carved up your leg, but if we don't find them..." Zep wiped at his face. "I can't live without her, and I've known Blaec most of my life. We just want to be left alone and to have you stop killing our people. None of us want to lose anyone else. We're just trying to survive. We don't want to kill you."

  Jase reached over and palmed the back of Zep's neck, nodding as he spoke as if to convince them both. "She'll be ok. She has to be."

  "And Blaec?" Zep asked softly. "Damn it, Cyno, he's the first person who understood me. He let me stay, even after he made the Blades all iliri. He wasn't even pissed when Sal fell for me."

  "Ya took a sword fer her," Jase whispered. "Do na deny him the same."

  "Echo Gap," Marin said suddenly. "Damn it, I shouldn't be doing this, but I can get you through Echo Gap."

  Razor stood, his eyes going wide. "What? How?"

  "Black Widows have some passwords that override our appearance. It's the emergency route back home. They won't even look at your tattoos if we have them."

  "We?" Risk asked.

  "I'll have to ride through with you." He moved to stand beside his horse, checking the girth. "My daughter got sick when she was just over a year old. She was dead within three months. No one should know what that feels like." He let his head drop against the saddle. "Isn't the same when a Widow dies. I don't even know half their names, but you act like these people are your family. I'll get you through Echo Gap. Just don't get me killed for it."

  The Blades moved quickly, scampering onto their mounts, letting the Terran soldier lead the way. The horses fell into a comfortable line, picking their way back down the narrow path into the mountains, cold wind warning of a storm coming. Zep was second in line, just behind Marin.

  "Anyone ever tell you how the iliri feel about life debts?" he asked.

  Marin looked over his shoulder. "No. What constitutes a life debt?"

  Zep shrugged. "This."

  Marin shook his head and shifted in the saddle to see behind him easier. "Because I'll get you through a pass in the mountains? That's a life debt? If we get caught, I'm telling them you forced me."

  Zep waved that away. "It still counts. You know why we're doing it, so you're willing to help. That kinda makes it apply."

  "So, how do the iliri feel about it?" Marin asked.

  "It matters," Risk said, raising his voice so it would carry to the front of the line.

  Zep chuckled. "Yeah, that. When they say that, what they mean is that you changed their life for the better and they owe it to you to do the same in return. You do something that gives them hope - they're pretty big on hope - and they'll die for you. You gave their life meaning, so you own it."

  "All Iliri do this, or just the Black Blades?"

  "All of them," Zep said. "It's instinctual. Once you get past the sharp teeth and strange mating habits, iliri are probably the most loyal creature in the world. More than your damned dog."

  Marin laughed at that. "Dunno, my dog's pretty loyal."

  "Would your dog raise an army and march across the continent to prevent you from being harmed?"

  "Of course not. He's a dog."

  Zep lifted a brow pointedly. "They would. If Sal said she needed to help you because it mattered, every iliri that heard about it would join in to help."

  Marin turned forward again and rode nearly a kilometer in silence. They reached the base of the mountain then turned to follow the foothills. That's when Marin pulled his gelding alongside Zep's mare again.

  "That's why the Emperor wants her, isn't it?" Marin asked softly, looking at the other three men. "He wants to use her to control the iliri?"

  Zep nodded. "But it doesn't work like that. Sal's power comes from her pack. In her case, it's the army. If they lose faith, she loses the strength they give her. The downside is, she's as much their tool as they are hers. She cannot harm her people. She'd die first."

  "Even if her lover was threatened?"

  Zep nodded.

  Jase kneed his mare, pushing up to Marin's other side. "Death does na scare her. The loss of love terrifies her, but death does na. If she had ta choose b'tween killing us - and she knows that her death would do that - or saving her people, we'll all die and be proud ta do it. Our names would be remembered and our stories would be passed down as the mates of the strongest Kaisae in history."

  "I'm the only one that does this by choice," Zep told him. "The rest of them? They can't help it, man. It's their nature."

  "I don't get it." Marin turned to Jase. "You're saying that you love her so much that if she dies, you'd kill yourself?"

  "Nah," Jase said. "I'm saying that we joined our minds together so tightly that our bodies no longer understand where one stops and the other begins. Our hearts beat in rhythm. If hers stops, mine will as well. If her mind drops from the link, mine will follow, because my tie ta her is stronger than anything else."

  "Kinda like being tied to an anchor and dropped in the ocean," Zep said. "The weight of her death on our minds will pull us over. I almost did it to them but, together, they were strong enough to hold me and the anchor above the water until they could get me free from the pull."

  Marin nodded, looking between the two of them. "Wanna know something crazy?" he asked.

  Zep chuckled. "What, that it doesn't sound like a bad deal? A lifetime of happiness to know you'll die together?"

  Marin nodded. "Exactly. It's just kinda hard to accept that all those stories I've heard are crap. I mean, we've been listening to it forever. Every paper has something about the evils of your kind and every gathering talks about how lucky we are to be civilized, but I'm kinda thinking we got it all wrong."

  "There's truth to it," Jase told him. "Yeh, we kill humans and we eat them. We do na torture our food, though, and we're often friends with humans. I eat dogs too, and horses." He patted Raven's neck. "Would na eat my mare. Na even if I was starving. She's my friend."

  "I just want to see my kids again," Marin said softly. "Kinda want them to grow up, get married, have kids of their own, and
shit. I'd really like to see them live in a peaceful world, but I dunno if this war is ever gonna end."

  Zep shrugged. "It will if we stop fighting each other."

  They fell silent, putting as many kilometers behind them as they could until the light began to fade from the cloudy sky. Jase and Risk wanted to press on, but neither Zep nor Marin could see well in the dark and Razor wasn't much better. While the need to hurry pulled at all of them, the reality of their limitations reminded them that they wouldn't help Sal or Blaec if they never made it.

  Jase found a sheltered area nestled deep between two hills where their fire wouldn't be visible. The horses needed a rest anyway, so they decided to make a quick camp and move again at first light. Out of habit, Zep tended to the horses while Jase set out to find food. Razor began collecting wood for a fire and Risk cleared an area for their bed rolls.

  "How can I help?" Marin asked.

  "Willing to pick out feet?" Zep offered a resin pick. "They won't do us any good if one is stone bruised tomorrow."

  Marin took it and bent over a horse's leg as if he'd done it many times before. "Who cooks?"

  "Risk, usually. Probably want to remind him to make sure yours is done well enough."

  Marin glanced up with a grin. "Rare meat works for me. I'm guessing that's all they eat?"

  "Basically." Zep moved to the next horse, leaving them all to graze loose. "How do the Widows work, anyway?"

  Marin groaned. "Well, they call it a unit, but it's more like a system. If you show promise, they put you into training for elites. There's usually about fifty men in training. When we graduate from that, we move to delta team."

  "How many teams are there?" Zep asked.

  "Like six. Alpha, bravo, charlie, and delta are the main ones. After that, we have the strike force and the fire team. I just got on strike force a few months ago."

  "Sounds complicated," Zep teased.

  "Kinda," Marin agreed. "The two elite teams are really the only groups similar to Conglomerate elites. The four main squads are more like rapid response units. Not much special about them except the cool armor."

  "And you never get close enough to value your brothers more than your country, right?"

  "Exactly." Marin glanced up with a disgruntled look. "Watching you all work together is kinda amazing. Even just setting up camp. They say you talk in your mind, so maybe I'm missing some of it?"

  Zep chuckled. "Yes, we can talk in our minds. No, we can't right now. We sent the maargra ahead because they can just scale the mountains like they're not there. The downside is that we lost our link holder when we did it."

  "Link holder?"

  Zep nodded. "Takes someone with a special skill. They kinda tie our minds together so we can hear thoughts. The strength of the linker determines how far we can reach."

  Marin looked at him, confused. "You supposed to be telling me this?"

  "Doesn't really matter," Zep said. "A weak linker can connect to another and network our minds. There's no way to predict how far we can reach unless you can guarantee that there's no iliri or grauori within two days ride, bare minimum."

  Marin nodded, patting the horse's hip. "So we're more than two days from anyone, I take it?"

  "Yeah." Zep sighed. "Including Sal. Fucking mountains."

  Jase returned with their dinner before the humans finished with the horses. By the time they sat beside the fire, the smell of roasting meat was making mouths water and stomachs growl. Risk served the men by rank, feeding Marin first as their guest, which made Zep grin.

  "You've been promoted from captive to guest," Zep said, gesturing to the food. "Jase is next, then me."

  Risk shrugged. "He offered to help. No one made him do that."

  "I do na have a problem with it," Jase said. "He's a friend."

  Marin glanced up. "I take it that's not a casual title either?"

  "Nope," Razor said. "Means we won't eat you. No one in the Black Blades."

  Marin nodded and bit into the hunk of meat, sighing at the taste. "This is really good. Please tell me it's not a person?"

  Jase laughed. "Nah. Elk fawn. Prolly just weaned."

  "And you just caught it?"

  "Pretty much. I had ta stalk it a bit, but the young ones are easy."

  Razor chuckled. "He makes it sound like no big deal, but I can't get close enough to grab them."

  "You're too impatient," Risk teased. "Or it could be because you smell like a human."

  "Fuck off." Razor tossed a stick across the fire at him. "Least I'm better than Zep."

  "I do smell like a human," Zep said. "Taste like one too."

  Jase smiled wistfully. "She likes it."

  "I'll worry when you start trying to steal a lick."

  "Things are getting complicated in the big tent, I see," Risk laughed.

  Zep shook his head, but Jase nodded. "Zep's still scared of her teeth."

  Razor sat up. "Seriously, bro?"

  "I'm lost," Marin admitted.

  Risk laughed and passed out the next steak. "Zep's scared to let Sal suck his dick."

  "No shit," Marin agreed. "She's got some serious teeth on her."

  Razor shrugged, glancing up at Zep. "But he likes to be bit well enough."

  "Gently," Jase teased. "His skin is fucking sensitive. Makes Sal go crazy. She's got a fetish fer the hair too."

  "Cyno," Zep warned. "I'll start talking about your habits if you don't stop."

  Jase shrugged. "Go ahead. Risk already knows."

  "Um?" Marin looked between them. "Do I want to know how?"

  "He went berserk," Risk said. "I was kinda the only person around. Had to talk him through it."

  "I got a question," Razor said, leaning forward. "Your shit still work if you're in maast and Sal's not around?"

  "Yeh," Jase said. "My partner prolly would na live through it, but still gets hard as a rock."

  "And Zep would know if you..." Razor made a stroking gesture.

  "Sal too," Jase confirmed. "Even now. I can still feel her."

  The entire group paused as a hush fell over them. Zep stared at the fire, but Marin watched them all, looking from one to the other. The concern of the Iliri was almost palpable.

  "She scared?" he asked.

  "A little," Zep told him. "Mostly she's pissed, and planning on taking out the Terran army. She's exhausted, too, which doesn't help her mood."

  "She's worried about Blaec," Jase said softly. "She can na figure out how ta get him free."

  Zep sighed and looked across the fire. "They're also chained. Collars around their necks, staked out like dogs. She thinks Blaec's handling it ok, but it bothers her."

  "Yeah," Risk agreed. "It's kinda the worst feeling ever. You know that eventually you'll give in. You can only go so long without sleeping and eating before you'll start doing anything they ask."

  "Least she's pissed," Jase said. "If she can stay angry, she will na lose control."

  "What would happen if she did?" Marin asked.

  Zep just shook his head. "Dunno. She has powers we've never even heard of, and she's making up more as she needs them. We have no idea what she could do if she got desperate."

  "That's why Kaisaes have cessivi," Jase explained. "She feels our emotions, and we keep her going. Keep her from exploding from the pressure. We can na be separated, so it makes her stronger. If she hurts, we can comfort her. If she's scared, we can reassure her. If she's pissed, we can encourage her."

  "So you're like her personal support group." Marin nodded, accepting that. "So what do you get back?"

  "Her," Zep answered. "Completely and totally, without reservations. We get the most amazing woman the world has ever known."

  "She loves us because we exist, na because of what we can give her." Jase glanced to the east, following the tug of Sal on his heart. "She loves us, Marin, and we can feel it. There are na any words ta describe it."

  "But it matters." Marin nodded. "I understand, guys. Not what I expected, but I think I kinda get it."


  Chapter 22

  Sal awoke in the middle of a large bustling camp. The collar around her neck was secured to a post in the middle of a large open area. To her left, Blaec lay in the mud, still unconscious. It was cold. A fine mist drifted in the air, making everything damp. Sal's wool shirt was soaked, and her skin felt like ice beneath it. She pressed her palms to her ears, trying to warm the thin skin with her own body heat.

  Blaec?

  Her only response was silence. She groaned and sat up, the stench of human waste assaulting her senses, making her sneeze. With a groan, she crawled back to the post and rested her body against it, not even caring that she was covered in mud.

  "Like a dog on a chain," a man teased, walking past.

  Sal's ear flicked in his direction, but she didn't bother looking. Humans always thought a snide remark made them sound so tough, but she'd long ago gotten over any pain their words caused. This man wasn't willing to give up. He tossed a small rock at her and laughed.

  "Fetch, bitch!"

  Her eyes tracked the stone by force of instinct, then she slowly turned to the man who threw it. Just outside the reach of her tether was the last thing she expected. Lieutenant Foyt Emen, the second officer of Star Fall, glared at her. When she pinned her ears, he smiled and scratched at his face, his hand twisted slightly. It was the Conglomerate's signal for "eyes on." He'd just risked his cover to give her the warning. Sal snarled at him.

  "Come closer, Ace. I'll show you what it means to play with an iliri."

  Emen laughed and kept going, only his face and the one gesture giving her any indication that he wasn't a true Terran soldier. Watching him leave, she sighed and rested her head against the large wood post. More footsteps approached, but Sal was too tired to care.

  "Oh, you're awake," Captain Vitus, the leader of the Black Widow Company, said as he walked up. "Ready to start talking?"

  She yawned, making a display of her mouthful of sharp teeth, and stretched. "Not really. A hot coffee would help speed things along."

  "Yeah. So, where's Anglia headed next?"