I saw she had cut a long slit along the leg of my pants where the roses had burned me. The healing paste had a foul, swampy odor, but the areas where it was sinking in felt cool.
“Thank you,” I said. “It’s helping already.”
I glanced around the campsite. After dinner, most of the demons had retreated to their own huts. Lea and I had discussed heading home for the night, but Andros had insisted we stay. With my leg still hurting, I agreed. I wasn’t sure I was ready to face my parents right now, anyway. Azira and Ourelia had set up soft beds of blankets and rags near the fire for us. Lea was sleeping soundly on the opposite side of the fire, her face so peaceful in the flickering light.
“The herbs will draw the heat away from the burns,” Azira said.
I lifted my shirt over my head and nodded toward the ointment. “May I?”
“Of course,” she said, sliding it toward me before going back to work on my leg.
I dipped my hand into the paste and rubbed it along my side. As soon as my hand touched the burns on my chest, an unexpected energy flowed through me. I pulled away, surprised. The area I had touched tingled, then cooled.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head. “I just had the strangest surge of energy.”
Her eyes grew wide with wonder.
She grabbed my shirt from the ground and wiped the healing ointment from my side. “You’re a healer,” she said.
I shook my head to protest, but when I looked down, I saw that the wounded area was nearly healed while the untouched spots were still red and blistered.
“It has to be the ointment,” I said.
“No. This ointment is very basic,” she said. “It takes days to heal burns this deep. Look.”
She used my shirt to wipe a small section of the paste off my leg. Underneath, the burns were still red and puffy.
“How is this possible?” I asked. “I would have known if I had a gift like this.”
“Not necessarily,” she said. “For one, many of our gifts do not present themselves until we are older. Everyone knows that. And second, you probably haven’t had many injuries in your lifetime, seeing as how you grew up in the king’s city under the protection of the crown.”
I stared down at my side, twisting to get a better view. This was incredible.
I dipped my hand into the paste and rubbed it along the small section of my leg she had treated earlier. Again, the strange energy pulsed through me, cooling the burns as if I had placed ice against my skin.
Azira waited a moment, then removed the paste. The skin underneath was still a little red, but nothing like it had been a moment ago.
She laughed, then covered her mouth as Lea muttered and rolled over.
“You have two gifts,” she said. “Night vision and healing. Although, I would guess neither of these are your primary gift. What else can you do?”
She pushed the ointment toward me again and I worked, placing the paste all along the my right side where the magic of the roses had burned me.
“I can manipulate water,” I said. “I’m especially good with ice. My brother Aerden was my opposite, controlling fire.”
Sadness seeped into my voice. Ice and fire were not rare gifts, but as a team, we were a perfect pair.
“You miss him greatly,” she said. “I have never met twins before.”
“I feel like a part of me has been severed.”
“I understand,” she said, lowering her eyes to the ground.
And I think she did. I could hear it in her voice and see it in her face. Who had she lost? I had been so wrapped up in my own sadness these past ten years, I had failed to see the sadness of so many around me.
She didn’t ask about my other gifts, but I knew I still had one more. It still hadn’t matured to its full power, I didn’t think, but it was much more rare and possibly much more valuable.
I could see visions of the future.
And all these visions had told me so far was that things were going to get a lot worse before they would ever get better.
We Will Save Everyone
When morning came, my wounds were almost completely healed.
“Incredible,” Andros said, staring at my leg. “This is a very useful gift, my friend. We could really use a healer in our camp.”
Lea and I exchanged glances.
We had only briefly talked about what we would do if Andros’s information seemed to be true or interesting. Before we saw the portal ritual, Lea had been convinced going to her father was the right thing to do. I hoped she wasn’t still thinking of talking to him about what we’d seen. Especially now that we could be sure our parents already have some awareness of what’s been going on.
Still, I couldn’t promise anything to Andros without speaking with her. Even if our future was uncertain, she was still technically my promised mate and I owed her that respect.
Andros nodded. “I understand that you will want to discuss this,” he said. “But I’m going to ask you to please not speak with the king about The Resistance. It would put all of us in danger.”
Lea hesitated, but then held her hand out toward Andros. “I give you my word that for now I will not discuss the specifics of what we’ve seen with my father. I promise not to tell anyone of your camp here on the border of the icelands.”
Andros took her hand and bowed his head to her. “Thank you, Princess.”
“What are your intentions with this Resistance Army?” I asked. “What do you hope to accomplish?”
Andros stepped back and clasped his hands behind him. “We want to destroy the Order of Shadows,” he said simply, as if it were an achievable task.
“And how do you plan to go about doing that?” Lea asked. She looked around the small group gathered in the camp. They were hardly an army.
“First, we will gather as much information about them as we can. Once we know how they work, what magic they are using and what weaknesses they may have, we will start to develop a plan of attack,” he said. “We will continue to recruit those who would join us and fight with us. And, eventually, we will start a war against these humans. We will not stop until they are dead and the portals are destroyed.”
“And what about the demons on the other side?” I asked, thinking of Aerden. “Do you hope to develop a plan for rescuing them?”
“If they can be rescued,” Andros said. “We don’t have enough information about what’s going on once the demons are pulled through to know if they can be saved.”
“But if they can be saved—”
“Then we will save everyone,” Andros said. “And I hope you’ll be there by my side. As future rulers of the kingdom, your commitment to The Resistance would mean more than you can know.”
Lea nodded, then raised an eyebrow toward me.
I bowed to Andros. “Thank you for your hospitality last night,” I said. “And for trusting us with what you have learned so far. We have a lot to discuss.”
Andros stepped toward me. “I’m truly sorry for the loss of your brother, but if you join us, I promise I will do everything in my power to help you either save him or avenge his memory,” he said. “You have my word.”
I placed my hand on his shoulder. “Thank you, my friend.”
Lea and I gathered our weapons and started toward the road.
Andros called out, stopping us at the edge of the village. “Be careful on the way home,” he said. “The witch last night saw your face.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“It means she’ll be looking for you,” he said.
A chill ran up my spine. Looking for me?
“And what do I do if she finds me?” I asked him.
He raised an eyebrow and the left side of his mouth curled into a smile. “Run.”
This Wound Carried Poison
It was a long trip home. Once we got closer to the castle, we decided to walk instead of fly, hoping that by not using any magic, the guards at the g
ate would not be able to track our path back to the camp.
At this point, I wouldn’t have been surprised if the king had instructed some of his personal sentinels to follow us.
I wanted to discuss our plans, but I was scared to hear what Lea would have to say. I knew she wouldn’t want to openly betray her father by joining The Resistance. And how could I join without openly betraying her in the process?
But I wanted to join them.
I wanted to see the end of the Order of Shadows.
“Just say it.” After miles of walking in silence, Lea finally stopped and turned to me. “I know what you’re thinking. I can feel the anger and worry coming off you. Let’s just get it out in the open.”
I took a deep breath. How could I convince her to want what I wanted?
“I want to join them,” I said. “They’re my best hope of finding my brother.”
“They are a disorganized group of rebels,” Lea said. “They may call themselves an army, but other than Andros, there’s not a warrior among them that I saw. What hope do they ever have of defeating those witches?”
“More than I have defeating them on my own,” I said.
Lea pressed her lips together, fuming. “You would risk everything we have to go after a group of human witches you know nothing about? You would risk your life? Our future?” Her voice softened. “Our love?”
I closed my eyes and turned to look at the king’s city rising up in the distance, still several miles away. “What would you have me do, Lea? Are you going to tell me to just forget him? To let him go and move on? You know I can’t do that,” I said. “Especially after what we’ve seen. This group, the Order of Shadows, they are taking demons all the time. Fathers, brothers, sisters. Gone in the blink of an eye. As the leader of our people, would you be able to turn your back on this?”
“I’m not the leader yet,” she said. “And neither are you. It’s my father’s job to make those kinds of decisions. He’s very wise and very careful. For whatever reason, he’s decided not to fight. Maybe he knows just how dangerous they really are. Maybe he knows something Andros doesn’t know. Until we’ve spoken with him, we won’t know the true reasons for his actions.”
“So you still want to tell him?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said. “If he’s gone to such great lengths to hide this from us, then he may not even listen to what we have to say. Or he may get angry that we went looking for answers on our own.”
“Do you think we’d have any hope of changing his mind?” I asked. I shook my head. “If he already knows the truth, he’s not going to suddenly stand and fight. He’s done nothing to help us find answers about Aerden, and I don’t think telling him what we know is going to change that.”
“Maybe not,” she said. “But I feel like I need to at least give him a chance to tell his side of the story.”
I took another deep breath. It was hard to know which path to take. There was no doubt the king’s army would be much more effective against the Order of Shadows, but why had the king refused to fight?
“Let’s just let it sit for a while,” she said, moving closer to my side. When she put her hand in mine, I tensed. “Maybe after we’ve put some time and distance between us and what we witnessed last night, we’ll have a better picture of what we want to do. I don’t want to lose you, but I also don’t want to betray my father. We’d lose everything, Denaer. He would never forgive us if we joined a rebel’s army.”
“I know,” I said. I pulled my hand away. “But every day that goes by is another day Aerden may be in danger. What if he is still alive on the other side? What if he’s being tortured? What if—”
Something moved at the corner of my vision. A streak of orange and white flying through the air toward me.
I turned and placed myself in front of Lea as a creature pounced on top of me. I cried out as its claws ripped through my side.
“Run,” I shouted to Lea, but she didn’t run. She raised her bow toward the beast.
I pushed against the soft coat of the orange-striped beast as it bared sharp white teeth in a horrible hiss.
Lea’s arrow sliced through the air toward us, but before she hit her target, a second creature jumped out of nowhere, pushing her toward the ground. Lea managed to shift before her body touched the ground. The beast passed through Lea’s smoke, then skidded against the dirt and grass, disoriented.
I managed to push the first beast off of me, but the pain in my side kept me from being able to focus enough to shift into smoke. I reached for the axe I now carried with me everywhere. Aerden’s axe. It had been his favorite weapon and wearing it had helped me to feel closer to him. I was grateful I had it with me now.
Lea and I moved toward each other, pressing our backs together, weapons ready.
The two orange beasts looked almost identical except that one was adorned with black stripes while the other had white stripes that ran the length of its body. I’d never seen anything like them before in all my travels.
“What are these things?” I asked.
“I’m not sure,” Lea answered. “I’ve never seen them before.”
We moved together as the beasts circled around us, their teeth dripping with saliva as they growled at us.
There was only one explanation as to who had sent these beasts after us. The cloaked witch who had seen my face during the ritual last night. She must have sent them to find me.
Blood flowed from the wound in my side. That was the second time in two days that I had been injured, but I already knew that this was much worse than the burns I sustained during last night’s ritual. This wound carried poison through my body. I felt it seeping into me, weakening my magic and flushing me with fever.
I stumbled and clutched at my side, feeling weak.
“Are you okay?” Lea asked, her voice panicked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I think it poisoned me.”
I coughed and fell to my knees, barely able to hold the axe up any longer.
Lea kept her bow raised, pointing it between the two beasts as they circled.
Anger tightened my chest. Andros had warned me that I was in danger and yet we had stopped in the middle of a field to argue. How could we have been so careless? How could I be so weak and useless?
If I made it through this, I would dedicate myself to training. I would become a warrior so great no beast could overcome me this easily.
If I made it through.
I placed my hand against the bleeding wound, then closed my eyes. I took several deep breaths, trying to reconnect with the healing power I had discovered last night. It took several tries, but eventually, the familiar tingle of the cool healing power flowed from my hand. It wasn’t enough to completely stop whatever poison was already in my system, but it was enough to dull the pain and allow me to gather my strength.
I stood and the two beasts came together, surprise in their black eyes.
I tensed, prepared for them to strike. Only they didn’t. Instead, they did the one thing I never could have expected.
They shifted.
No One Compared To Our Mistress
The bodies of the beasts straightened inside a cloud of dark smoke.
I watched in shock. There were similarities of a demon’s shifting, but it was incredibly different at the same time. There was a swirl of smoke and shadow, but their bodies never completely disappeared. It happened so quickly, I couldn’t make complete sense of it.
Were they part demon?
But when their new forms appeared, I had my answer.
They were human. Witches from the Order of Shadows. I was sure of it.
And they were twins.
I choked down a lump in my throat. What cruelty was this? Sending human twins here to destroy me as punishment for what I had seen? Whoever had sent them must have recognized me somehow. They must have known my connection to Aerden.
The realization of it gave me new strength. New rage.
I narrowed my
eyes. “Who are you?” I demanded. “Did the emerald prima send you?”
“The emerald prima?” The girl on the left had long hair that was so blond, it was almost white. Her face and form were completely identical to the girl on her right. The only difference between them was the color of their hair. “The prima who saw you at the ritual last night is no one compared to our mistress.”
The auburn-haired girl at her side smiled. “We have a message for you,” she said. “For both of you.”
“Priestess Winter says to stop looking for your brother,” the white-haired witch said. “He belongs to the Order of Shadows now and there is nothing you can do. He is bound to another with an unbreakable magic. Let him go or you will suffer the same fate.”
“What magic?” I asked. “Who is Priestess Winter?”
“It’s better if you learn to stop asking questions,” she said. “Out of respect for the position of both your families, your life will be spared today, but if we have to come looking for you again, it will not end quite so favorably.”
I glared at the two witches. “How dare you come here to threaten me,” I said, standing up as straight as the pain would allow. “Aerden was more than just a brother to me. He was my twin. As twins, you should understand what that means. I won’t stop searching for him, and if you come after me again, it will be you who suffers an unfavorable end.”
The girl with white hair smiled and laughed, then took a few steps toward me. She lifted her hand and a bright white light formed on the tips of her fingers. With an effortless wave of her hand, our weapons fell to the ground, clanging against each other in the grass.
“Your words are strong and I have no doubt your love for your brother is even stronger,” she said, moving close enough to me that I could feel her warmth. “But you have no idea the power you are up against, demon. Let this go.”
With that, the twins shifted back to their beastly forms, running into the distance as quickly as they had come.
A Demon's Wrath: Part II (Peachville High Demons) Page 4
