“I think I can extrapolate an approximate location of their new compound from these UABs. It won’t be exact, but it’s better than nothing,” Phoenix said as he approached the women. He watched Rana with apologetic eyes, but he didn’t speak.
Rana reached out to Phoenix without looking at him. He wrapped his large hand around her smaller one. Sky could tell that he was regretful. Not about what he said, but how he delivered his message. She knew this because it’s exactly how she would feel if the roles were reversed.
Sky gave Phoenix’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “Let’s go home.”
Eighteen
“Get up, Rana. Your enemy will not wait for you to rub your ass and complain while in battle,” Sky growled. Sweat poured from her head and flowed down the contours of her face.
“You stopped holding back,” Rana whimpered as she stood. She wavered for a moment before she lowered her center of gravity and raised her arms in preparation for another round. Just as Barrow had taught her.
“I am trying to prepare you for reality,” Sky answered, mirroring Rana’s stance.
“I have fought before,” Rana grumbled. She widened her legs like an afterthought, and Sky smiled at how her friend’s movements were becoming instinctive.
“Yes, and with other warriors beside you. You may find yourself alone next time, and I want you to find your krevath—your warriors heart—so you can access the inner strength at will.”
“And what if I don’t have a krevath? I am Elitian, not clan,” Rana groaned, her body tense, prepared for Sky’s attack.
“Every living creation has a krevath. They just need to discover it,” Phoenix stated as he emerged from his hideaway with two containers of water.
Rana lunged at the offered vessel, and Sky chuckled as her friend drained the jug without taking a breath. Sky finished soon after.
“Thank you, Phoenix.” Rana smiled brightly as she wiped a trickle of sweat from her brow.
“Yes, thank you,” Sky added. Since the night they sat under the arbor, Sky had felt sheepish around Phoenix. Maybe it was because her inner self kept calling him hers. Her shadow man. It was unnerving how the declaration felt like truth, when in reality Phoenix was just a man she met mere cycles before.
“The suns are high and the heat will only rise. Maybe it is time for a break. You girls have been at it since the first sunrise.” Phoenix crossed his arms loosely, the muscles on his arms straining against the studded graphene arm bracers.
“YES!” Rana sagged against one of the arbor trees.
“Until the temperature cools,” Sky relented. She smiled warmly at her friend. It was easy sometimes to forget that Rana was from a world of opulence, and fighting under the blaze of two suns was not something she would be accustomed to.
“I discovered the approximate location of the priests’ new temple and am preparing to scout the area.”
“That was fast.” Sky wiped the sweat from her brow and took another drink.
“Yes. We are fortunate that the area is remote enough to warrant having their initiates wear UABs. I cannot decode the full map, but I have narrowed down the location to the western Legir Forest in the areas that border the Erskin, Flamesteel, and Heartclaw clans. The area is large enough that clan patrols wouldn’t be able to fully secure the area. It’s a prime location for a new temple to Ocmus. Would you two care to join me?”
“Yes. Let me change into my armor,” Sky growled. Her skin prickled with a nervous excitement.
“When do I get armor?” Rana bounced excitedly around Sky as they walked back to Phoenix’s home.
“Soon,” Sky answered. She turned share a secretive smile with Phoenix. They had discussed Rana’s lack of protection earlier while Rana was readying for training. It was decided that he would shadow into Erswood and acquire the items Sky had commissioned upon arrival to Kore while Sky kept Rana distracted.
“Check your pack,” Phoenix announced as he held the door-skin to the side.
“What?” Rana gasped before taking off toward the room that the two women shared. Sky had just stepped through the door when she heard Rana’s squeal of excitement.
“I think you have become her favorite friend,” Sky said to Phoenix.
He shook his head and laughed as he followed her inside. Rana burst from their room, clutching the pack to her chest. Her lips were pressed together as though she were trying to suppress another shriek, and the mechanical pupils of her eyes were widened, coloring her eyes an eerily black.
“Did you know?” she asked Sky.
“Yes, I commissioned the armor the cycle after our arrival. It has been ready for a few cycles now, but with our recent relocation, I wasn’t able to retrieve them. Phoenix volunteered to shadow to Erswood and pick it up for me.”
“Thank you,” Rana whispered to Phoenix. “I…I have never received such a precious and useful gift.”
“Why don’t you open the package?” Phoenix asked, shifting uncomfortably at the sight of Rana’s tear streaked cheeks.
“Okay.” Rana gently laid the armor down on the fur chair as if the bundle contained the most valuable items in the galaxy and slowly unfurled the packaging. She picked up the jacket. It was black like Sky’s armor except for the intricate stitching of silver ore thinned to be used as both decorative thread and to strengthen the material. The effect made the jacket look as if it were crafted from the night sky.
Rana raised a brow when she lifted the back sheath, designed to snap onto the shoulders of the jacket for extra reinforcement, but the expression was erased when she lifted the arm bracers. Engraved on the leather that covered the graphene interior was the crest of Rana’s people decorated in muted shades of blue to match the ore thread. A pair of graphene-reinforced leather breeches, two calf high boots, a thigh sheath for Rana’s dagger, and a utility belt with room for a blazer holster rounded out her attire.
“It’s perfect,” Rana whispered. She dropped the armor and threw her arms around Sky. “Thank you!”
“Alright, alright.” Sky pushed Rana away with fake exasperation. “Let’s get changed. We don’t want to be left behind.”
Phoenix shadowed them into the deep reaches of the Legir Forest. The distance and lack of useable trails made that part of the woods difficult to reach by the neighboring clans. Those same reasons made this area perfect for a secret temple.
Sky and Rana flowed through the underbrush. Neither woman made a sound as they scanned the area for anything unusual. Sky was so focused on her task that she startled when Rana silently stepped beside her, almost melting from the shadows like a true warrior of the people. Her hair was wrapped in a headscarf that matched her new armor and hid her naturally white hair. Sky was concerned that Rana’s pale skin would be a hindrance, but she blended well with the shadows.
To her right, Sky could hardly make out the shadowy form of Phoenix. He motioned with his hands that he was going to shadow ahead and Sky gave him a nod in understanding. A breath later, Phoenix returned and grabbed both women’s hands, taking them further into the dark forest and stopping at random points to explore.
They had traveled this way a few times before they stumbled upon a dead body. The man’s eyes were glazed over, staring at the thick foliage above. His face was swollen from repeated abuse, but Sky could make out the tattoo marking him as a priest of Ocmus. Her stomach flipped, and it wasn’t from the slight smell of decay that enveloped her.
“Looks like he was gutted,” Phoenix stated from his crouched position. “This was done in violence.”
“Do you think he’s an initiate?” Rana whispered through the hand covering her mouth.
“I don’t think so,” Phoenix answered. “He’s older for one and…”
His statement was broken by a scream. Sky turned toward where she guessed the shout originated. It was hard to tell when sound echoed easily through the wood, but the cry sounded close. Phoenix rose and stood next to her.
Another wail broke the silence and Sky moved. She si
lently weaved through the trees until they came upon a clearing. In the middle was a small group of mud huts similar to Phoenix’s, but where his was beautifully crafted, these were shoddy from quick construction. In the middle of the ramshackle village was a series of mud pillars with a matching altar in the center, in front of a statue of Ocmus. The statue was stone and the smooth, almost glistening surface stood apart from its surroundings.
They watched from the safety of Phoenix’s shadows while men wearing the armor of the Bludrun clan stacked corpses of men and women on top of a pyre. Rana sucked in a shocked breath and grasped Sky’s arm in a death grip when Beast emerged from one of the huts, dragging a priest by the hair. Sky swallowed an aggravated sigh. She resolved to make sure Rana learned how to control her emotions.
In Sky’s peripheral vision, Phoenix pulled his ocular scanner from his bag and placed it over his eye. She wanted to ask him what was being said but knew he’d record it like he did the meeting with Eltanin. Till then, she kept her eyes trained on her betrothed.
Beast was a magnificent specimen of man. He was the tallest man she had ever seen, although Deviant might come close. His muscles were thick and cut so that every movement looked as if sinewy ropes crawled over his skin. His thick hair the color of a dancing fire brushed his shoulders, the sides pulled back in a series of tight braids with carved bone beads woven throughout the strands.
Unlike other clan warriors, Beast didn’t wear a graphene jacket with reinforced armor. He wore minimal pieces covering a few vital points on his body but leaving his chest and back exposed. Rumor was that Beast kept his torso bare to distract his opponent into focusing on a clean kill instead of watching Beast’s movements. No one had lasted long enough to deliver a crucial strike in battle, and if the mostly smooth skin of his chest was any indication, not many were able to get close enough to draw blood. Despite his victories, Sky thought it was ridiculous to leave so much exposed.
Beast lifted the priest by his neck with one arm. The priest pulled at the massive hand wrapped around his throat as his toes brushed the ground. Beast leaned forward and growled something before plunging his blade into the man’s stomach and slicing upward until his entrails poured out of the wound. Beast lifted the priest higher and roared. His warriors lifted their bloody swords and joined their elder in his victory cry.
Rana gagged. Sky pulled Rana into her shoulder with one arm, blocking the view of the viscera dangling below the corpse. Sky felt a twinge of guilt for exposing Rana to such violence but dismissed the emotion. War was an ugly thing, and if Rana wanted to become a warrior she would need to grow thicker skin.
Sky felt Phoenix tense next to her and turned her attention back to the clearing. Beast was staring directly at them, his dark brown eyes narrowed as he scanned the forest around Sky. He tossed the dead priest to the ground and marched toward their hiding place. Sky pressed Rana’s face tighter against her chest and reached her other hand out to Phoenix. As if he were reading Sky’s mind, his hand met hers and their fingers intertwined. He gave Sky a reassuring squeeze as Beast came to a stop at the edge of the clearing.
Time crawled to a halt as Beast watched the shadows. He stayed until Thorne and a woman with a thick, snake-like braid of blonde hair flowing over one shoulder and a body covered in meaty scars approached him.
“We must leave,” Thorne stated. “I received word from my warriors that they have arrived at Bludhaven with a cargo hold full from Erebus.”
“What’s the ratio?” Beast’s deep voice exploded from him even though it seemed he was speaking normally.
“3 to 1, women. We were able to get more since the clans on our sister moon have not yet grown suspicious, but the number we took will surely alert the Erebus counsel.”
“Elder,” the woman’s raspy voice interrupted Thorne’s report.
“Yes, Ivy.”
“Why are you watching this patch of forest when we have much to do? The Elitian will return in a few cycles, and we still haven’t selected which warriors to deploy with him,” Ivy said. Her voice sounded almost bored, but as she perused Beast, her calculating eyes lingered on Beast’s impressive muscles.
“I thought I heard something, but it seems I was wrong,” Beast replied, but his eyes narrowed at the shadows as if he didn’t quite believe it.
“Are you worried about the shadow warrior?” Ivy scoffed.
“He is real,” Thorne grumbled. “I saw him emerge from the darkness and kill my men. His skill is greater than any warrior, except maybe Sky. She was a formidable opponent.”
Beast roared and grabbed Thorne by his hair. He pulled the dark strands hard, forcing Thorne to expose his neck to his elder. Beast pressed a dagger pulled from his thigh sheath into shallow dip in Thorne’s neck, pushing hard enough for a few beads of blood to form. “You will not say my betrothed’s name nor put it in a sentence with another man’s. Not until we have completed our union. Not until she is mine.” He threw Thorne to the ground and wiped the dagger on his pants.
“Yes, elder,” Thorne rasped.
“Yes, Thorne, don’t forget it is your fault that Beast’s betrothed has disappeared along with her Elitian,” Ivy sneered before she turned a smug look to Beast. “Who knows if you will find her by Va’letu? You may have to perform the union rights with her spoiled cousin.”
Beasts face twisted in disgust. “I have only ever wanted Sky, and I refuse to allow her to escape me this time.”
“Do you worry that she is too damaged?” Ivy asked softy. Beast turned to face the woman. She stumbled back from his stormy glare.
“I have hunted and killed the bastards who stole her innocence from me. Her virtue has been avenged, and I will heal her heart when she births another son. A son with my blood flowing through his veins.”
Sky wanted to growl. She wanted to jump from the shadows and claw Beast’s eyes and then remove his manhood with her bare hands so he would never be inclined so say such things about her again, but instead she had to focus on Phoenix, who had started to move toward Beast. She pulled Phoenix against her, letting go of Rana, and wrapped her arm around his waist. He vibrated with anger. Her hands accidentally slipped under his shirt, and she tried to ignore the way his skin felt like silk yet hard as stone against her fingers. Power surged between them, and Phoenix stopped moving. His gaze lowered to hers, and behind the raw anger was a frenzied desire that twisted Sky’s stomach.
She kept Phoenix’s gaze as Beast and his warriors lit the pyre and smashed the statue until it was an unrecognizable pile of rocks. Her breath became shallow as Phoenix closed the gap between them until they were close enough to share air. Phoenix’s hands bit painfully into her hips as Sky’s hands roamed the skin at his waist.
She was possessed and completely at the mercy of the energy that connected them. Worry faded over the inappropriate timing of their almost carnal sharing of power.
Sky licked her lips, and when Phoenix’s gaze followed her tongue, her heart raced. Sensation overwhelmed her. Fire burned where his hands gripped her. Something like electricity bounced in the sliver of air between them, and every now and then sparks shot down low in her belly. A foreign emotion blossomed in her chest, and when the warmth began to spread, Sky stepped away until their connection was broken.
She shook from the separation and from the confusing fear of the affection that had burrowed deep in her chest. Phoenix’s chest rose with every deep breath as he took a step away and then another, his eyes wild and bewildered.
The wind shifted, bringing with it the stench of burning flesh. Sky resisted the urge to cover her face and instead gave her back to Phoenix to check on Rana. A heaving sound echoed through the silent woods as Rana doubled over and expelled the contents of her stomach on the ground. Sky rubbed Rana’s back as she gagged until she was empty.
Rana stood, her cheeks wet with tears and her eyes wide with fear. An overbearing sadness pressed down on Sky at the state of her friend. She wrapped Rana in a tight hug and turned to Phoenix.
>
“Take us home.”
Nineteen
Phoenix released the women as they melted from the shadows in the clearing he called home. Without a glance, he left them standing in the waning light of the second sunset. Sky watched his departure until the hide doubling as the front door stopped swaying after his entry.
Rana sat on the bench and stared up into the darkening sky. Her shoulders drew down as she worried the leather strap of her thigh sheath with her hands. Everything about her screamed that she was on edge. Sky stared at her friend and wondered how a pair of mechanical eyes could look so haunted.
“Rana.” Sky stood, blocking Rana’s view of the scant sprinkle of stars that had just started to materialize.
“How can you be so calm?” Rana’s voice cracked. Her face twisted with despair as she continued, her voice growing steadier the more she spoke. “How can you be so composed when Beast murdered those men and women? Sky, he gutted innocent women, and then minutes later he’s threatening to slice his general’s throat because Thorne had the audacity to say your name. That man talks as if he owns you. How can you be so calm?”
“I am not calm,” Sky sighed. “I have learned from necessity to hide my emotions until I have a moment to analyze them. Right now, I am a twisting vortex of fear, anxiety, anger, and…”
“Love?” Rana smiled sadly.
“No,” Sky quickly answered.
“Then how do you deal with everything? I’m not sure I can do this.”
“Well, I first look at the facts. Beast thinks I am his property. I know I am not and never will be. Beast annihilated the last known stronghold of the Priests of Ocmus because they hurt me, and in his rage, he killed innocent women. Women who may or may not have had the strength to survive on their own. There’s nothing I can do about what has already been done, but I can honor them with my actions and continue to survive. Beast can think or say whatever he damn well pleases, but that doesn’t change the fact that I am my own woman with my own destiny—one he doesn’t share. I have hope in that. Hope dispels all my fear and anger.”
As We Rise: Savage (As We Rise Saga Book 2) Page 11
