We Three Heroes

by Lynette Noni

  Six

  “Bear.”

  “Bear—wake up.”

  “BEAR!”

  “Wha—huh?” Bear shot up in bed, rubbing his eyes and squinting through the light flooding in from the windows.

  “You’ve gotta get up, mate,” Jordan said, rifling through Bear’s wardrobe and throwing clothes onto his bed. “Alex heard back from the Shadow Walkers—she’s fighting the winner of that warrior trial thing today. At noon.”

  “Whaz’tha time now?” Bear asked around a yawn.

  “It’s half past eleven.”

  “Half past eleven?” Bear cried, jumping out of bed. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept so late. “Why didn’t you wake me sooner?”

  “You didn’t get in ’til late and you’ve been working nonstop on that project of yours all week. I figured you could use the extra sleep. Here, catch.”

  Bear snatched the breakfast bar out of the air when Jordan lobbed it his way, turning it over in his hands and unsealing it before biting down on the chewy mixture of fruit and nuts. It wasn’t a glamorous meal, but it would keep him going until they returned from Alex’s attempt at swaying the Shadow Walkers to their cause. This was the last chance she had—they all knew it. Everything was riding on the outcome of her fight against the victor of the vatali targo.

  “Are we all going? And where are we meeting?” Bear asked in between chews, the words distorted from both the food in his mouth and the long-sleeved shirt he was in the middle of pulling over his head.

  “Caspar Lennox said only Alex should go, but she was adamant about wanting us with her.” Jordan winced and added, “He wasn’t… pleased. But he’s gone on ahead to warn the elders that we’re all coming.” He threw a pair of socks to Bear. “We’re meeting in the foyer of the Library in fifteen. You’ve got a few minutes, so calm down.”

  He likely said the last because Bear was now hopping madly around on one leg, shoving the other through a pair of jeans—but not his ‘lucky’ ones, since he wasn’t willing to risk them failing him again. Not today.

  “Seriously, Bear—take a breath before you break your other leg. We’ve got time.”

  Bear knew he was acting almost as crazy as Fitzy, so he listened to Jordan and took a breath. He finished dressing—at a much safer speed—and swallowed the last of his meagre breakfast, chasing it with the bottle of apple juice Jordan tossed his way. He then used the bathroom, cleaned his teeth, put on his shoes and was ready to go, all with a few minutes left to spare.

  “See? I could’ve let you sleep longer,” Jordan said, before choking on a laugh in response to the look Bear shot him. Snickering, he added, “If I’d known you were going to be such a princess about it, I would’ve woken you at dawn.”

  “You’re never up at dawn.”

  Jordan laughed again. “Tell you what. The next time one of our friends has to fight a Shadow Walker to gain the allegiance of a powerful race in order to help save the world, I’ll make sure I get up at dawn just to wake you with enough time to have a proper breakfast. Sound good?”

  Bear shoved a coat at Jordan’s chest—hard—while grumbling under his breath, “Smartass.”

  Jordan grinned as he slid his arms into the sleeves. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

  This time Bear didn’t respond—he just reached for his own coat and followed the still amused Jordan from the room. Together they made their way towards the Tower where they found Alex and D.C. already waiting inside, with Soraya sitting on her haunches a few feet away. A puppy no more, the Shadow Wolf had grown exponentially in under a week. If Bear hadn’t known just how devoted Soraya was to Alex—and therefore, that she wouldn’t harm anyone Alex cared about—he would have been terrified of the nearly chest-high canine. Instead, he petted her on the head as he walked past, earning a waggle of her thick tail and a wolfy grin in response.

  Turning his attention to Alex, Bear saw that she was biting her lip and bouncing from foot to foot, so he moved to her side and wrapped his arm around her, looking at her with concerned eyes. “You doing okay?”

  “Nervous,” she admitted. “I’m fighting Trell again—she’s the female I told you about from last time.”

  “The one who punched you in the face right at the beginning?”

  Alex grimaced. “Yeah. But at least I’m prepared for something like that today. She won’t get the drop on me again.”

  Bear wasn’t so sure. As the winner of the vatali targo, Trell would likely have a number of underhanded moves up her sleeves. But he plastered a smile on his face and said, “You’ve got this, Alex. There’s nothing to be nervous about.”

  The look she sent him made it clear she knew he’d say anything to help her feel better, but regardless, it worked, since she stopped bouncing and settled at his side.

  “Remember, the Shadow Walkers don’t like humans,” she said, looking from Bear to D.C. and Jordan. “Caspar Lennox promised to find you a place to watch that will keep you separate from them, but just… be careful.”

  “Don’t antagonise the prickly race of bigots,” Jordan said cheerfully. “Got it.”

  Alex’s lips twitched but she managed to school her features into something stern as she said, “Don’t make me regret bringing you with me.”

  “You know the funny thing about regrets?” Jordan said, his eyes full of mischief. “You don’t know you’re going to have them until afterwards.”

  Bear groaned, wondering if Jordan was trying to make Alex leave them behind. D.C. must have wondered the same, since she slapped a hand over Jordan’s mouth, stopping him from saying more.

  Alex, however, coughed to cover what sounded suspiciously like a laugh.

  Before Bear could so much as raise an eyebrow at her, she gave his arm still wrapped around her a grateful squeeze before stepping away and saying, “Then let’s go and see just how much of today we’re all going to end up regretting afterwards.”

  Bear followed after her when she strode forwards, with Jordan and D.C. close behind. Moments later, they were all deeper in the Library where Alex opened a doorway to Graevale, straightened her shoulders and led the way through it.

  Bear couldn’t stop staring at Alex.

  She’d won her fight against the Shadow Walker just over an hour ago and was now pacing along the balcony overlooking the cathedral-like building where the match had taken place, waiting for the elders to make their decision.

  Never in his life had Bear witnessed something as incredible as Alex fighting against Trell Roven. While he’d once seen her defend against the invisible, Claimed Jordan, watching her today had been a whole new experience. Alex’s movements had been almost impossible to track, her magical sword aglow with blue flames and sparking every time it struck Trell’s double-bladed staff. With the cursed purple fire surrounding them, Bear had scarcely risked blinking for fear of missing the battle that took place in and around the flaming star.

  When they’d begun shadowing, Bear’s heart had nearly stopped, especially when Alex pulled out the biggest surprise of all by activating her Shadow Ring. It was a gutsy move—and it paid off, since it gave her the advantage she needed to win the fight.

  But just because she’d triumphed over Trell, that didn’t mean the Shadow Walkers were now allying with the humans. All Alex had earned was an audience with the elders, which she’d used to share her tale and beg their aid. How they would respond, no one yet knew. And as the seconds ticked by, Bear and his friends were all becoming edgier and edgier as they waited.

  And waited.

  And waited.

  “Sixty-seven minutes and counting,” Jordan said, checking his ComTCD—again. “What are they doing, having a nap or something?”

  “Maybe they’ve gone off to have some lunch?” D.C. said, fidgeting with her Myrox bracelet and chewing on her bottom lip—both actions she only did when nervous. “Discussing it over a meal—that could work well for us. Food makes everyone happier.”

  “I’m not sure the elders
know the definition of ‘happy’, let alone ‘happier’,” Alex murmured, still pacing. Soraya was lying with her head on the ground, but her eyes were tracking Alex’s movements carefully, alert for any threats to her mistress’s safety. And, perhaps, sanity.

  “Did you get a read on them at all?” Bear asked, standing from the uncomfortable chair fused to the black crystalline surface of the balcony and wincing when his back cracked from the move. “Any idea of which direction they might be leaning?”

  Alex shook her head. “Nothing. Those three would clean up in poker.”

  Bear exchanged looks with Jordan and D.C., the three of them frequently having to overlook some of the stranger things Alex said, presuming them to be Freyan expressions. This time was no different, and instead of asking what poker was and why the elders would be cleaning it up, Bear said, “Well, one way or another, we’ll know soon enough.”

  A tense silence settled upon them all again, with D.C. continuing to fidget and Jordan obsessively checking the time. Alex paced back and forth, blood dripping from her battle-wounded hand despite it being fisted around a wad of material. Soraya, conversely, fell into a light doze—to the envy of the rest of them.

  Just as restless as his friends, Bear strode forward until he was leaning against the balustrade, looking down at the Shadow Walkers lingering on the ground floor of the Obscuria building. His gaze travelled upwards to those filling the balconies jutting out all the way to the top of the spired cathedral. He couldn’t see across to where the elders were situated adjacently from where he stood—no doubt a strategic move on their part—but he knew they were there, so close and yet so far away.

  When another hour passed with no update, Bear wasn’t only feeling restless and edgy, he was now also bored. On top of that, the juice Jordan had given him for breakfast had long since made its way through his body, and he was in desperate need of a bathroom break.

  Just as he was considering how much longer his bladder would last, the female Shadow Walker Alex had introduced as Shirez Ganare appeared from within a cloud of darkness. D.C. and Jordan both jumped up from their seats, and Alex stopped pacing and turned so sharply on her heel that she had to catch herself from tripping.

  “Well, finally,” Jordan said.

  “Have the elders made their decision?” D.C. asked, as if to cover for Jordan’s less than polite exclamation.

  Shirez merely blinked her black eyes at the both of them in clear dismissal before looking at Alex and saying, “The elders are now considering your appeal.”

  “Now?” Alex repeated. “What the hell have they been doing for the last two hours?”

  “The elders’ business is their own,” Shirez stated blandly. “It is not my job to question them—nor is it yours, human.” The last was said as a clear warning, enough that even Jordan knew better than to argue.

  “Fine,” Alex bit out. “I guess we’ll just keep waiting.”

  Shirez nodded, seemingly apathetic to the entire situation. Bear would have believed the performance if not for Alex having shared earlier that Shirez was the one who had advocated to the elders on the humans’ behalf, as well as visited Alex in the middle of the night to tell her about the noon fight and warn her about which weapon Trell favoured. While the Shadow Walker was hardly rolling out the welcome mat, she was perhaps somewhat less human-hating than the rest of her race.

  … But only somewhat.

  Just as the shadows began gathering around her once more, Bear had the presence of mind to call out, “Wait!”

  When she arched an impatient eyebrow at him, he said, “Any chance you can point me towards the… uh… facilities?”

  Somehow managing to sigh, purse her lips and roll her eyes all at once, Shirez stepped forward and latched a mottled-grey hand around Bear’s forearm, giving him no warning before the shadows surrounded them and she tugged him after her.

  Bear had never walked through the shadows before—and he wasn’t sure he ever wanted to again, not when it felt as if he was treading through sludge. He had no idea how the Shadow Walkers moved so quickly—how Alex had moved so quickly when she’d activated her ring. But it only lasted scant seconds before the gritty feeling faded and Bear found himself in a darkened corridor with Shirez at his side.

  “We are underneath the Obscuria,” she told him, pointing her finger further into the darkness. “See to your needs in the room on the left, then follow this hallway back until you reach the staircase. It will lead you up to the ground floor, and from there, either myself or another will return you to your friends.”

  “Thank you,” Bear said, grateful despite the unexpected shadow-travel. He would have been just as happy to walk both ways.

  She offered a stiff nod and disappeared in another burst of shadows.

  Not wanting to linger in the bowels of the eerie cathedral, Bear was quick to go about his business and step back out into the corridor, moving swiftly along the darkened path. When he was barely feet away from the base of the narrow staircase, he saw a figure striding down it, so he paused at the bottom to allow him or her past. It was only when the figure reached the lowest steps and was suddenly in front of Bear that he realised it wasn’t a Shadow Walker, but a human.

  And it was someone he knew.

  “Well, if it isn’t my son’s best friend. Barnold Ronnigan, isn’t it?”

  Bear had to fist his hands by his sides to keep from physically launching himself at Marcus Sparker, an urge that was nearly impossible to ignore when he saw the smug look on the man’s face.

  “We missed you at our New Years’ Eve Gala a few weeks ago—you and Alexandra. And Jordan, of course, though his absence was expected given that he was… indisposed.”

  A haze of red flared across Bear’s vision. His hands were now balled so tightly that his nails were piercing the skin of his palms—the pain being the only thing helping to ground him.

  “If by that you mean his own parents offered him up as a puppet to a psychopath, then you’re right,” Bear said through his teeth. “He was indisposed.”

  A muscle ticked in Marcus’s jaw, but he didn’t try to defend against Bear’s accusation. There was nothing he could say, anyway. Not after what he’d done. Not after he’d called Jordan home for the weekend and allowed Aven to Claim him. Not after everything that had happened since.

  “I must say, I’m surprised to see you here,” Marcus said instead, his icy eyes boring into Bear’s. As much as Bear knew it irked Jordan, the resemblance between father and son was uncanny—even if Marcus was much more refined than Jordan would ever want to be. The man was perfectly tailored, from his pristine suit to his polished shoes. There wasn’t a strand of his blond hair out of place.

  “Not as surprised as I am to see you,” Bear said, looking at the narrow stairs and wondering whether he should just push the man aside and bound up them.

  “You—and your friends,” Marcus said, as if Bear hadn’t spoken. “And, of course, my son.”

  “You don’t get to call him that,” Bear snapped, his gaze moving back to Marcus. “You lost all rights to call him that after what you did.”

  “You are young, Barnold,” Marcus said, a warning in his tone—and in his hard expression. “Don’t speak about matters of which you don’t understand.”

  Bear laughed, but it held no amusement. It was a dark sound, one he’d never heard leave him before. “Don’t patronise me, Marcus. We both know there’s no excuse for what you did. Your actions were unforgivable.”

  “Fortunately for me, I don’t care for your forgiveness.”

  “You’d better hope you don’t care for Jordan’s, either, because you’re never going to get it.”

  Marcus jerked in a barely-there flinch—something that would have surprised Bear had he not known that the Sparker patriarch was a world-class actor. Nothing he said or did could be believed. Nothing.

  “Why are you here, Marcus?”

  Bear knew he wouldn’t be able to trust the answer, but he still had to ask.
>
  “I’m sure you’ll discover the reason soon enough,” Marcus said smoothly, all traces of emotion—fake or otherwise—gone as he brushed invisible lint from his jacket. “I’m more intrigued by why you’re here, Barnold.” His eyes met Bear’s, a smirk on his face as he added, “Alexandra’s last-ditch effort to rally the mortal races hangs by a thread, does it not? Pity she won her fight only to lose the battle. After everything she went through…” He cocked his head to the side. “And you, too, it would seem. How’s the leg? All better?”

  Bear inhaled sharply, his heart picking up speed as realisation swept over him—but too late.

  Much too late.

  In his anger, he’d forgotten. Forgotten who Marcus was—and what he could do. Forgotten that he was a gifted mind reader who could pluck information and steal secrets without so much as lifting a finger.

  “It seems Alexandra has failed to sway all of the mortal races—hardly unexpected, really. But—what’s that?” Marcus’s eyes widened as he stared deeper at Bear—into Bear. “Well, well, well. Alexandra certainly has been busy, hasn’t she? Travelling to the past. How… fascinating.”

  No, Bear thought, panicking. He lunged forward, intent not on escaping but on seizing Marcus; on keeping him from sharing the details he’d just pulled from Bear’s defenceless mind.

  If Marcus reported back to Aven about Alex’s visit to Ancient Meya… Bear didn’t know what would happen. He was sure Alex hadn’t shared everything, that she was keeping secrets about her time in the past, but she wouldn’t do so unless she had a good reason. And now—now one poorly timed bathroom visit was at risk of jeopardising her secrecy.

  Just as Bear was a whisper away from reaching Marcus and taking him down, with his plan being to knock him out and then call for backup from his friends, Marcus moved. One second he was in front of Bear, the next he whirled with a speed and agility that caught Bear by surprise, until he had Bear slammed face-first up against the black wall at the base of the staircase.