“How much further?” I ask when we stop behind a tree, my chest heaving. “I’m running out of skills here.”
“I see a glow up ahead. Maybe it’s the main camp,” Kaelen gasps, looking over. “Can’t you see?”
I look at the horizon, but things are a little blurry. “I think either I’m exhausted or night blind. Bigger biceps, stronger back, worse vision. Trade offs.”
“We’ll keep going then, try to stay undiscovered for as long as possible,” Kaelen says. “If we can get inside the camp perimeter, they can’t quiz everyone with passwords.”
I nod, and we creep along. I start to see a glow, but before I can get details, a flash of familiar-looking light startles me. “What’s that?”
“Let’s check it out,” Kaelen says. We hurry in the direction of the light, and as we come over a small berm, what I see stops me in my tracks.
There’s a half-dozen guards, with swords and spears ready to kill four men on the ground.
Three blond men . . . and one with black hair.
With very familiar features.
“No!”
Chapter 30
Eve
I don’t even think. Seeing my Guardians down there, enemy troops surrounding them, I just react. And my instincts are telling me that six on two are piss-poor odds. I can’t just go roaring in there, swords a-blazing.
“What are you doing?” I yell, making it up as the words come out of my mouth. Next to me, Kaelen’s got a spear ready, but he’s paused, letting me take the lead. “The camp is being attacked!”
“We heard the alarm,” the soldier with his spear pointed at Cole’s throat says. “These four appeared by magic, and we—”
“I care not for four fairy boy magicians!” I reply, getting closer. “The enemy is attacking the camp, not sending blond diversions!”
“But these men—”
“Are just fairies from the Highlands!” I interrupt, hoping I’m sending enough signals that the guys understand me. “Now get your asses back to the main camp!”
My commanding tone and words distract the six men for a few seconds, and the one with a sword at Jacob’s neck lifts it a few inches before their leader, who has a sword on Tyler, looks at us sharply. “Wait a moment, who are—”
Kaelen’s spear flies through the night, punching a hole through his breastbone and skewering him out the other side as I leap at the nearest enemy, my sword slicing downward into the space between his neck and shoulder. There’s a joint in my armored coat there, and as the blade bites deep, sending my enemy to the ground, I see it’s the same for this poor bastard too.
The other four Chinese warriors, shocked at the quick deaths of their friends by two of their own, hesitate, and my Guardians take advantage. Disarming their captors, Noah uses a spear to knock one man unconscious while Jacob pulls knives from somewhere on himself, one thrown into a throat while another slices the inside of his enemy’s thigh, severing the artery and sending him into shock and death seconds later.
Only one escapes, dropping his sword to run as fast as he can into the darkness, screaming in fear about yellow-haired devils. Jacob goes to pursue, but I hold up a hand. “Jacob, wait!”
He stops, and a moment of surreality descends over us. I never, ever expected to see my Guardians like this in my visions, let alone in their fully Fae forms. They approach us carefully, Tyler scooping up a sword from one of the bodies on the ground, his eyes wary.
“Princess?” he asks, and I nod. “How do we know—”
“You met Jacob when he was caught sneaking out of your sister’s bedroom, and he trained you in everything except that magical heart of yours that is the sweetest, most devoted heart in the three realms,” I interrupt, dropping my sword and approaching him. I take his hands, looking into his eyes. “And I love you, my beautiful, romantic man.”
Tyler’s eyes soften, and I grab him, hugging him tightly before kissing him deeply. Tyler stiffens at first but gives in when he feels my spirit behind it, wrapping his arms around me until a cough interrupts us.
“Uhm, Eve?”
I break my kiss and look down, remembering that while I may be me in spirit, I’m not quite me in body. I turn around, seeing Kaelen looking uncomfortable while the others are smirking.
“Is that a dagger in your trousers or are you just happy to see us?” Jacob quips, and I laugh.
“Turn around, Jacob, and I’ll show you,” I shoot back. “Give you a little payback for the last time you had some fun back there. Don’t worry, I’ll go slow, and we don’t have to make it weird at all.”
“Can we skip the foreplay and move on?” Kaelen asks, picking up a discarded spear. “Before the screaming man comes back with friends?”
We melt into the darkness, moving quickly until we find a small hut that looks abandoned. Going inside, Noah barricades the door while Tyler looks out the tiny window, keeping watch.
“Okay,” Cole says, squatting down. “Fill us in.”
“You too,” Kaelen says, and for the next half-hour, we exchange stories. I explain how I can see Kaelen, but we both understand that others see us as regular people from our visions, although nobody can explain why my Guardians are here in their normal form.
When I hear that Daelera was both a spy for Kaelen and an assassin for Cassina, I turn to Kaelen, my eyes filled with rage.
“We get back, you and I are having a little one-on-one time, and not the good time,” I growl, missing my magic more than ever. “You have the nerve to say I betrayed you while you had a body servant trying to imitate me? Spying on me? I should shove a lightning bolt up your ass and make you sing.”
Kaelen looks like he’s about to argue, but he nods, shamefaced. “You are right. I . . . I needed your cooperation, but deception was not the right way to go about it.”
“Whatever the case, we’re here now,” Cole points out, calming me with a hand on my shoulder. “And we are armed. You say the Dark Rider is here?”
“He’s the leader of the army, the general who declares himself king,” Kaelen says, filling Cole and the others in on the history of the situation. “Eve says that she saw his eyes, that he’s not just influencing Zhang but he is Zhang.”
Noah, who’s listened most, turns toward me. “Are you sure, Princess?”
I nod, looking around. “I know it’s tough. I don’t have my magic, and Kaelen doesn’t either. You guys have . . . well, warrior’s magic only.”
“So what you’re saying is that the odds are against us, we’re hopelessly outnumbered, and only two of us can apparently speak the language?” Jacob asks wryly. “I don’t know about you, but it sounds like fun. When do we get started?”
Kaelen looks at the five of us, utter disbelief on his face. “You’re serious. You really want to do this?”
“Would you prefer to be stuck here?” Cole asks, looking at the hut. “Come on, Kaelen. You might be more wizard than warrior, but I know your reputation. You’ve got steel in your spine.”
Kaelen purses his lips, then nods. “Fine. Then do we have a plan?”
I look at Cole, who studies me for a moment before nodding. “Just maybe, we do.”
Chapter 31
Eve
For once since we’ve landed in ancient China, something goes our way as we approach the main camp. The moon, which has been dancing in and out behind clouds all night, becomes totally covered by heavy, rumbling clouds when we’re about a half-mile away, and as we look over the camp from the shallow hill that’s to the west, rain begins to fall.
“Nice,” Tyler says as he kneels down, looking over the camp. “Just what we need.”
“Are you being serious?” Kaelen asks, looking at him warily. “It’s raining.”
“Just how many battles have you been in, Kaelen?” Jacob asks curiously. “Not fights, not police actions, but battles?”
Kaelen thinks, then looks down, his shame obvious. “One.”
I look at my Guardians, and while I can see them look at each oth
er worriedly, Cole takes the lead, clapping Kaelen on the shoulder. “Then you have one more than many we have fought beside. But the rain is good for us because it means that the camp guards and others will want to stay in their tents. There will be fewer eyes to catch our approach.”
“And we know where we’re going,” Jacob adds. “I mean, that’s quite a tent.”
Of that, there’s no doubt. Nearly as wide as a circus big top, it’s not quite as tall, but the huge canvas structure in the middle of the camp certainly acts like a huge sign saying, Boss lives here.
“You know, this is why I sort of miss the Highland days,” Jacob says, chuckling. “Back then, you want to know what the difference was between the lowest-ranked member of a clan and the clan chieftain when they were on the march?”
“What?” Noah asks, and Jacob grins.
“We’d sleep in the shithole right here,” Jacob says before pointing to a spot about twenty feet away and just as miserable. “The chieftain would sleep in the shithole over there.”
“Wise words,” Kaelen says, his hand tightening on the grip of his spear. “Perhaps ones I should consider when we get back to Solaria. If my own servants can be double-agents, when my rivals can scheme freely within the walls of my own home . . . I’ve certainly been staying in my ivory tower for too long.”
“First, we need to get through tonight,” I remind him. “With my Guardians here, there’s no guarantee that our getting killed will just pop us out of the scene. This could very well be real.”
“Let’s hope so,” Tyler says, getting to his feet. “I hate to think I kissed a man as a dream.”
His joke makes us all laugh quietly as we depart from our staging area, dividing into two groups. I move with Cole and Noah while Kaelen, Tyler, and Jacob cover us, Tyler’s bow ready to cover our approach.
The first approach through the perimeter goes more smoothly than I could have hoped. The rain and wind, combined with a feast that probably had plenty of rice wine flowing throughout, has the guards sleepy and barely paying attention. With Noah’s hair covered with a piece of cloth we found in the abandoned hut, the first guard doesn’t even say anything until we’re within five steps.
“Who goes—” he starts, but Noah’s lunge and spear tear out his larynx before he can complete his query. Noah yanks the spear back and the guard pitches forward onto his face in the mud.
We quickly hide the body, waving Kaelen’s group forward as we leapfrog our way through the maze of tents. As we get closer, I start to see something that worries me.
“Stop,” I whisper, bringing Cole up to a halt as I wave to Kaelen. He brings Tyler and Jacob over, his face curious. “We’ve got a problem.”
“What?” Kaelen asks. “We’re nearly there.”
I nod, glancing around the tent we’re huddled behind to observe the Dark Rider’s tent. We are close, fewer than thirty yards away now, and if Tyler had a clear shot, I’d ask him to just snipe away. But the walls of the tent stand like white panels of steel against the onslaught of wind and rain, barely moving as the rest of the camp gets whipped to pieces.
“The tent guards, see them?” I ask, pointing. “Look at their eyes.”
Cole squints, then back at me. “Magic.”
I nod. “I saw it in a guard as he walked this direction. Cole, I don’t know if they’re inhabited by demons or are full demons, but they’ve got power.”
Cole adjusts the grip on his sword, looking at it in the miserable light. “So do we.”
“More than that,” Tyler reminds Cole, pointing to his waist.
Cole stops, then grins, reaching into his belt and pulling something out before handing it to me. “Nearly forgot. Brought you a present, Princess.”
I take my Star Stone dagger in my hand, marveling at how the grip still feels perfect despite my hands being different, and how even with the rain, the only sign I have of the blade’s existence is the way the droplets splatter on the surface. “I missed this little baby.”
“Yeah, well, if we’re going to give the Dark Rider a night he’ll never forget, I figure that’ll be the way,” Jacob whispers. “So, how do we go in?”
“Oh, come on, Jacob. I know you’ve seen Braveheart,” I quip, standing up. “Get ready to charge.”
We wait until the rain grows to near-hurricane intensity before charging, not screaming like berserkers but with the measured run of professionals. I don’t have my connection with my Guardians, but we’ve been together. I keep Cole on my right and Noah on my left as we run toward the side of the tent.
The first guard sees us and screams a cry that should raise the dead, but I hit him with my shoulder first, plowing him off his feet as we penetrate into the tent.
I’d like to say it’s a six-person team working together, but I can’t. Kaelen’s never trained with us, and I’ve only really worked with my Guardians in training, and I’m hobbled without my magic. It’s four and a half plus one as we charge through the tent, hoping we can find the Dark Rider before someone cuts us to ribbons.
The tent’s huge, with multiple chambers in it, and the first one we enter seems to be some sort of dressing chamber. There are women there in various forms of undress, their robes undone and their faces shocked. One of them still for some reason lunges at Kaelen, who cuts her down with a slash of his sword while we plunge ahead.
“This is a fucking madhouse,” Noah growls as the next chamber’s not what we’re looking for either. It looks like a dog kennel or some other indoor animal storage, except the monsters contained inside are like no dogs I’ve ever seen, beasts the size of Newfoundlands with the hunched shoulders and jaws of pit bulls. The Fae seem to handle them easily while I have my hands full cutting down two of them, and I cry out in pain as one scratches me deeply through my armor as I plunge my sword into its stomach.
“Eve!”
“Go! I’m okay!” I gasp, looking down and seeing blood start to seep through the padded jacket. It hurts like hell, literally, with an itching burn that makes me wonder if these dogs were poisonous. No matter now. We pelt on, plunging through the doorway into a central chamber, and I see him. He’s surrounded by a half-dozen of his generals, discussing their plans for how they’ll crush Sichuan under their boot heels. “You!”
It’s the Dark Rider, his armor different, but his face looks the same, his false face set aside and his blond curls falling over his shoulders. He looks up, not recognizing me but smiling as he sees the others. “Well, well, five Fae and . . . oh, my.”
His face splits in a grin as he sees me for who I really am and he recognizes my unique halfling status. There’s no time for other words as the Dark Rider’s generals, all shedding their human forms to emerge as full-fledged demons, attack.
The Dark Rider stands back, watching with amusement as my Guardians and Kaelen attack. Jacob and Cole are immediately effective, Cole’s huge sword slicing two demons in half before they can even get close. Tyler unleashes a flurry of arrows at the Dark Rider, but two more demons seem to emerge from nowhere and take the shafts in their chests, screaming in pain as the enchanted heads penetrate their bodies to perforate their vital organs.
One demon approaches me, and I swing my blade, a shock reverberating up my arm as the steel blade hits him in the collarbone . . . and shatters. The demon grins and steps forward, grabbing me around the neck and lifting me before I remember that my sword is a regular Chinese steel sword . . . but on my belt is something much more useful.
My Star Stone dagger drives upward, and I barely feel anything as it stabs into the demon’s body, his eyes flaring for an instant before snuffing out forever. He dissolves, and I drop to one knee, coughing and hacking out some spit before getting to my feet.
“Stop!”
I freeze, turning to see the Dark Rider. He’s got Kaelen around the neck, holding him from behind. I curse, realizing my mistake. Kaelen’s weapons were the same as mine, and he doesn’t have his magic either. Instead, he’s just a man fighting demons, and that’s
a losing proposition.
“Let him go,” I growl. “He’s of no use to you.”
“On the contrary, I’d say he’s very useful to me,” the Dark Rider says as he scratches Kaelen. Kaelen hisses, trying to struggle, but the Dark Rider ignores him as he licks the blood from the wound, his eyes flaring as he does. “You . . . oh, my sweet daughter.”
“If you think I’m going to go all Luke Skywalker–Vader on your ass, you’re wrong. I’m going to stop you,” I growl. “Now let him go.”
“I don’t think so. Although it seems you’ve chased me into the past, that doesn’t really mean much to one such as me. But I’ll tell you what, my little Princess. Come get me.”
An explosion of dark magical energy sends me flying backward, pain filling my body, and I swear I can even feel my hair hurt. I struggle to my knees before groaning, bending down.
“Eve, are you okay?” Jacob asks, and I nod. “Wounded?”
“I . . . I got a chair leg in my balls,” I gasp. “Fuck!”
“Yeah, I know how that feels,” Jacob says, helping me up. “So, what now?”
I look toward where the Dark Rider stood, but he’s gone, along with Kaelen. Instead, green flames grow in the tent around us, and where they stood is a dark hole, tinged in green power.
“Looks like an invitation,” I hiss as the portal pulses. “And I, for one, am not going to be impolite.”
“We’re with you,” Cole says, laying a hand on my shoulder. Noah and Tyler soon follow, and I feel the love and strength of my Guardians fill me again. I look to my left and right, seeing the faces of the men I love with all my heart. “Shall we?”
“Together,” I reply, linking arms with them. “And one thing. After what just happened, you guys can’t call me Princess anymore. It’ll remind me of him too much.”
“So, what should we call you?” Tyler asks, and I look into his eyes, smiling warmly.
“How about Beloved first . . . and when we get back, we can work out the details on the whole Husband and Wife thing. Not sure how that works in Fae law.”
Guardians of Moonlight: A Reverse Harem Fantasy Romance (Guardians of the Fae Book 3) Page 19
