At his appearance, the clouds overhead opened up and the rain started. I wasn’t sure if it was his talent or Margaret’s that had started the storm. All I knew was that it had begun. A distance of two hundred yards separated us from the Seekers. It was the same distance that separated us from a fight we would not be able to back out of.
As soon as the rain started to bounce against the hard-packed dirt, Reaper held up his sword. It was all his people needed. He and Daniel started to run forward. The Seekers waited in eager anticipation for the meeting. They were not expecting, however, for the gunfire that followed after Reaper and Daniel. Bullets buzzed through the air as they ran. River had found her vantage point – her snipers were playing their part. Seekers fell like flies as Daniel and Reaper crossed the space separating them. Some of the Seekers returned fire and I saw our own people start to fall. Groans from the injured and dying filled the air.
Then, in a great roar of noise, the two forces met. The sounds were overwhelming. I had never heard anything quite like it. It was the clash of steel against steel, the yells from the dying and the injured finding company, and blood shattering the stillness of the air. It all joined in to a uniquely disturbing sound.
I watched them fight, the tension circling my stomach. I felt tied to the fight; tied to Daniel’s progress in the ranks of the others. I tried to keep an eye on him but the motion was too massive. He was swallowed by the push and pull of the fight. It was hard letting them fight when all I wanted to do was join them. I could sense the other Watchers facing the same dilemma. The various talents from the Seekers flew across the stage of battle. Reaper and Daniel’s people returned with their own talents. Soon, the fight was complete chaos. Gunshots, talents and steel all joined in on the sounds of the violence. They fought for a few agonizing minutes, and then King and Preacher appeared out of the illusion. They ran to meet the enemies, before they could figure out that there were more of us than just Reaper and Daniel.
Lighting flashed across the battlefield. It danced in an electric way as two opposing forces tried to control the storm. Margaret and Nguyen were facing their own battle, one of weather. River kept up her shooting and the screams blanketed the space between us.
I ignored the sounds of pain and focused on my part. I had more to play in to the equation than just getting to the door. I had to focus on the rock – it was my task to split the Seekers in two. Daniel and Reaper cut a large path through the swarming Nightstalkers and Watchers. Their pace was swift and fierce. Again, the illusion was lowered as Preacher and Jackson began their attack. When Daniel and Reaper reached the middle of the army, their forces slowly began to be swallowed by Seekers, despite the others’ advance. I knew my time had come.
I took a deep breath and focused on the earth below me. The lightning rippling out in great waves, the sky black with the clouds overhead, I raised my hand. It was not difficult to find the ability. It was the same ability that had helped when Daniel had been killed. It was tied to an emotional truth I would never forget. The earth rumbled and shook as I focused. It was a controlled earthquake – controlled by me. It took a moment to build up the proper pressure, the proper forces.
All at once, the ground opened – right in the middle of Marcus’ Seekers. The jagged edges of the forming chasm split his army in two. The rumbling continued as I worked on increasing the distance between one side and the next. As I did, I felt resistance. The chasm stopped widening. The rumbling continued, but my effort to make the rift greater was useless. The chasm was not big enough to cut off the army. Someone was impeding my efforts.
“What is the matter?” the historian asked as I frowned.
“Someone else can control rock,” I said.
“We must stop this person,” the historian replied.
“Yeah…no kidding,” I agreed.
My eyes searched the chaos of the fight for the person who was working against me. It took me a minute, but I finally saw a face I had only seen once before. It was the same man who had covered Alex in rock on our way back to the small cave. He had not changed much. The man was large and wearing the same tank top; he stood near the ramp leading down in to the earth. He held a hooked knife in his hand. He was focused on the rocks below him with admirable intensity. He had his hand outstretched as he worked to keep the ground in one piece.
“There!” I pointed at the man.
The historian raised her rifle, and in the same motion, took aim and fired. The man fell to the ground he had been so focused on, a bullet between his eyes.
“Good shot,” Serenity said to the historian.
“Fair,” the historian said.
I refocused on the task at hand. The ground started moving again. The rift spread until one side could not longer reach the other. The screams of panic as Watchers feel in to the void filled the air around the other screams of the dying. Thunder lashed across in renewed vigor as the rumbling of the ground stopped. I had no doubt that the thunder was Nguyen’s doing. He was angry. I smiled at the thought.
As I smiled, hail started to fall from the sky. I looked up and saw a funnel cloud form in the clouds. The funnel was on our side of the fighting. It snaked downward until it touched the earth. My heart stopped beating when the funnel started throwing Watchers and Nightstalkers alike in to the air. I could feel Margaret fighting for control of the tornado. She fought with everything she had. The funnel continued its path of destruction. Then…it broke apart, and a new wave of lightning surrounded the area. Margaret had won the fight to control the tornado.
Next to me, there was a rush of movement. Margaret and King joined the fight. A moment later Moira, Sara and Shawn joined them. Following closely behind them was Alex and the Nightstalkers. They attacked the Seekers on my side of the rift. The Nightstalkers that Alex led were eager to get lost in the violence. They ran ahead of the others. Their sharp teeth dripped acidic drool in their wake, and their red eyes were bright from the excitement of coming death. Alex and Anna ran together. They met the Seekers in curious synchronicity, as if they had rehearsed their attack. No other Nightstalkers could match their ferocity.
Sara and Shawn used their gift to jump around the rift, attacking soldiers wherever they were needed and rearranging our troops to maximize damage. All of the Saints were fighting.
Everyone but me.
Before I could move, to rally my group, I felt the gentle tug of a strong, familiar mind. It was not difficult to recognize Marcus’ mind. I had encountered it enough. I allowed for the pull, curious, despite knowing he was probably just trying to mess with my head. A vision rose in front of my mind – a vision of him. He was standing at the top of the tower, in a large circular room. He was wearing a white shirt and blue jeans. He was casual, perfectly calm despite the battle raging at his doorstep. He smiled at me, his lips pulling over his teeth in a particularly feline way. He was taunting me. He thought our attack on his fortress a mild joke, something to entertain him between dawn and dusk. He had no doubt we would fail. His smile was as telling as the words he spoke.
“Clare, I’ve been waiting for you…Finally, we begin forever…”
His yellow eyes glowed with passion and a secret promise to share all his mysteries with me. I ignored the vision and the strange pull I felt at his smile and his words and focused on the reality in front of me. People were dying so that I could get to him. It was time to move. It was time to end this forever.
“Ready?” I asked the others.
They nodded in grim determination. I held out my hands to them and all fifteen grabbed my arms and hands – whatever they could reach, and I pulled them in to the darkness in between. I set us down on the stairs in front of the heavy metal doors. There were Seekers on the steps, men and woman who were doing their best to protect their leader’s door from our attack.
A man spun as we landed and thrust his sword directly at my face. I dodged the sword and punched him in the face, before he could recover from his missed attack. He moved to swipe at me again, but I pul
led my sword out and cut him from the shoulder to the hip. He fell off my sword and on to the white stairs. The others were having similar battles around me. One enemy down, I looked for the next that would cause me problems. That was when I noticed Spider.
Spider was close to the steps. He held a dagger in each hand. He was fighting a Seeker for all he was worth. Next to him were Sprint and Ethan. They looked fierce with the weapons they were carrying; they looked even fiercer as they worked in tandem to take the Seeker down. Sprint stabbed the woman in the leg as Ethan and Spider moved in for the kill. It did not take them long to finish her. I eyed them in shock – what were they doing here? More to the point, how had they learned to fight so fiercely? They should have been at the camp with the others. The reason behind their refusal to see me off was clear. They had snuck in to the fight.
Another Seeker moved to attack them. I moved forward without thought. I had swung my sword before the man could come to grips with the idea that I was nearby. His head flew in a long arc and hit another Seeker in the back of the neck. The Seeker was thrown off balance and the Saint who had been fighting him took the opportunity to kill him. The Saint nodded in appreciation and moved to his next target. I moved over to Spider, Ethan and Sprint.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked them.
“Helping,” Spider said.
“The hell you say?!” I said.
“Behind you!” Sprint yelled.
I felt the Seeker behind me. I felt the rush of movement as they moved to stab me in the back. I shifted the small measure of distance it took to throw the Seeker off balance, deflected the thrust and then stabbed the Seeker in the heart. My eyes never left the kids.
“How did you get here?” I asked.
“Shawn owed me big,” Spider said. “I won’t tell you why, but let’s just say he knew better than to argue with me.”
“You can’t be here,” I said.
Spider raised an eyebrow at me.
“Doll, I’m not leaving. Accept that.”
I scowled at him then decided the fight was not the place for arguments. We were surrounded by enemies. We had a mission.
“You’re with me,” I said to them. “You stay where I can see you! And if I tell you to run, you run! Understand?”
Ethan, Spider and Sprint all grinned wickedly in response. I was not in the mood for their grins. I wanted them to be safe – I felt Eli behind me having a similar reaction. Though he had stepped out of their lives, it was difficult for him to step out of his role of protector. He didn’t agree with their choice to step in to the war, but he didn’t say anything. He was wise enough to know his argument would not set well with them. It would just be another distraction.
I ushered them up the stairs, which had been cleared by my group during our conversation. The historian held the door open for me as Serenity and Eli held off the other Seekers trying to make their way to us. The others were already inside. I moved through the door, the kids on my heels.
The inside of the tower was quiet. When Serenity and Eli stepped in after us, locking the door from our side, all of the sound cut off. The battle was only a dim roar in the background. The first room was large with tall ceilings. My house could have easily fit inside. The floors were white marble, mirroring the color of the exterior. Rich tapestries and large, ornamental columns were the only decorations in the large space. Large, shut doors were along the edge of the walls. The space had been built to impress, to give the viewer as sense of space and time. It was working. The space, the quiet – it was intimidating.
Directly in front of me was a large set of stairs that only led one way: up. It was the only way left to go.
I gripped my sword with more purpose and headed for the stairs. But the space was not as deserted as I had thought. The second I started to step forward, Seekers moved out from the doors I had ignored as unimportant. They all wore cloaks and held swords in their hands. From the way they moved, I figured they were not typical soldiers. They were better trained – their talents were stronger. They were the ones he depended on as his last line of defense. We would have to fight them all – fifteen against two hundred, at least – to get to Marcus.
I looked behind me to the others. They were grim, but determined. Odds would not deter them. I nodded at their readiness and looked at the Seekers staring us down.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” I asked the Seekers. “An invitation?”
The Seekers moved forward silently, their bodies graceful and perfect. I didn’t wait for them to get close. I raised my hand and let lose with fire. Water came from somewhere in the group. I only managed to burn five, before the water extinguished my flame. More talents rose up to face me. Vines wrapped around the Seekers, tripping them up, creating impediments to their attacks. Fiona was doing her best to help. Waves of darkness followed her talent. The Seekers were wrapped up in the darkness. The people around me did their best to meet talent with talent with me. I ignored the talents on focused on the physical. My skill with the sword was one thing that could not be talented away.
I dodged a sword strike to my head and returned with a strike of my own. I felt my sword cut in to flesh. I moved on to the next. And the next…Each person I met was a little different; each fight was a new struggle to keep my life. My people fought with me. Spider, Ethan and Sprint stayed close. Their help was formidable. Most of the Seekers did not look at them twice. It was a mistake – one that cost many of the Seekers their lives.
I had made it to the center of the room, when the world changed in to chaos. A large man walked in to the room from the stairs. He was not wearing the cloak, and his eyes were a mixture of red and black. He stepped down the stairs with cool confidence. The ground quaked with his steps. The Seekers gave him a wide berth. One of my group – a girl I had talked to only twice – moved to him. She directed her sword directly at his heart. He made no move to stop her. The sword touched his chest then bent backward. I felt my mouth drop open at the sight. The silver sword had no effect on him. He had a talent that made him impenetrable to silver. The man smiled at the girl, reached out, and grabbed her by the neck. He squeezed hard. Her cry was cut short as he broke her neck. The light went out of her eyes. The man grunted in satisfaction then threw her against the wall.
His red-black eyes focused on Spider, Ethan and Sprint, who were all staring at him in shock. The man’s eyes were strangely excited at the idea of killing children. He could not ignore their presence. The kids were frozen in fear. They wanted to fight him, but they didn’t know how. I moved to them, to protect them from the man. I wasn’t the only one. Eli stepped in front of them, his hands empty. Fighting the man with swords was useless. It would take hand-to-hand. Before I could attack, Eli started sparring with the man.
The man was as hard as steel; Eli’s hits meant little. It didn’t take Eli long to realize he was outmatched. I could see it on his face. Two men stepped in front of me as Eli struggled against his opponent. I was forced back as the pair circled me, searching for a weakness. I focused on them, instead of Eli, trusting Eli to win the fight. It was a frustrating, deadly mistake. As I killed the first man, the other searching to take advantage of the distraction of the kill, the man Eli had been fighting finally got tired of the fight. He blocked a kick from Eli, grabbed Eli as he had the girl and started to squeeze. Eli hit the man’s elbows as hard as he could. The man dropped him. Eli hit the floor hard, gasping for breath. The man grabbed a sword from one of the other Seekers. He didn’t hesitate. He didn’t even blink. He shoved the sword directly in to Eli’s chest.
Eli looked shocked. He tried to pull the sword out, so his body could do what it did best, but the man wasn’t having it. He kicked away Eli’s struggling hands and kicked him in the face. He kicked him one last time, and Eli stopped struggling. He was silent. The large man grunted in satisfaction again. He left the sword in Eli’s chest and moved toward the kids. He moved to finish what he had started. Eli did not try to stop him.
“No!” Spider yelled at the sight of Eli’s motionless body.
Spider, Ethan and Sprint dropped down around Eli, tears in their eyes. Eli had abandoned them, but the emotions of love were not so easily lost – not as easily as the kids had thought.
Dark anger swirled my senses. I spun out of the way of the man I had been fighting and cut him with a swift slash. He fell to the ground, dead before he hit the floor. I moved with a quick march to the man who had killed Eli. He was focused on the kids. His hand reached out to grab Spider.
“Hey!” I called, reaching the man. “Pick on someone your own size.”
The man turned away from Spider and focused on me. His eyes were strangely aware of who I was. He didn’t seem to care what that knowledge meant. The anger boiled over to the point that I couldn’t contain it. It was the closest to losing control since the change.
He moved to intercept me, trusting in his talent more than he should have. I felt my hand bond with the sword. At the same moment, my necklace glowed with warmth. The man didn’t know who he was dealing with. He didn’t know the weight of my anger. Confident in his ability, the man stretched out his hands grab my throat. I stabbed him in the heart. My sword did not bend back when it touched his chest. It went straight through, like a hot knife in to butter. He looked startled at the feel of the blade against his heart. His eyes told me that my sword was doing the impossible. His knees buckled, and he fell forward.
The world slowed down as I turned to look at Eli. My group kept up their fierce fighting. The number of Seekers in the room had gone down – their bodies covered the white floor. My people remained mostly intact. They were putting up a hell of a fight. I knelt down next to Spider, who was holding Eli’s hand. Eli was unmoving. His eyes stared at the ceiling. Spider’s eyes told a different story – sorrow.
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