This was who Milly was bound to.
This was who I was supposed to stop.
A demon—who when he was only just possessing a body—held me down without breaking a sweat. If he came through the veils, physically came through, all his powers would be intact. I had to stop him now. This was the only chance I had.
He threw his head back, laughing, the sound bouncing off the walls. “Oh, please do struggle, I love to play rough.” He jerked me up and then slammed my upper body back into the ground.
Three times he used me like an oversized fly swatter. I curled my head to my chest, to keep my skull from being cracked open wide, but it was the best I could do. Even so, the warm spread of blood trickled down the back of my neck, as he twisted me to the side, catching me off guard, smashing me into a protruding rock.
A soft nicker floated across to me. I turned my head to see Calliope struggling to her feet, one front leg hanging at a bad angle, snapped at the top of her black sock. Her violet eyes gazed at me, her would-be rescuer. Hope flared between her and I, the belief that I would save her as real and solid as the mountain below us.
Fuck, if I couldn’t get him off me, I wasn’t going to be saving anyone.
Orion turned his head to follow my gaze. “Ah, the innocent. They are made to suffer. They are made to be taken, and broken, and used.”
“Not as long as we’re around.” Liam’s hand wrapped around Orion’s neck and yanked him off me.
Orion’s howl was cut short as Liam snapped his neck, the crunch of bone the most heartwarming sound I’d ever heard. With a casual thrust of his arm, Liam tossed the body away from him, and bent over me.
“You okay?”
I reached up, my hand hovering over an ugly burn on his forearms, the skin black and weeping. “I’m fine, but—”
He grabbed my hand and helped me to my feet. “It’s all good. I’ve had worse frying bacon.”
Calliope let out a sharp, blasting neigh, what could only be the equivalent of a scream.
Orion wasn’t done yet. Head flopped to the side, wobbling with each step, he stumbled toward the filly, mumbling under his breath. A spell cloaked in the darkness of the demon’s power, I could feel it gathering around us. The lava bubbled upward, the sulfurous air quickly choking out what oxygen there was.
No time for insults, much as I wanted to hurl one of the Triplets’ epithets at Orion. I pulled a sword free, ran and leapt in the air. As I came down, I used my weight to leverage the bite of the blade, slicing through Orion’s stolen body from his left shoulder, through his torso, and out through the lower right side of his ribs.
He gasped, red swirling eyes turning to me, filled with hatred.
“Yeah, I feel the same about you, bitch.” I kicked his body with my foot, the two halves sliding apart to the ground.
To be sure, I bent, grabbed a still twitching leg and hauled it to the edge of the pit. With a heave, I threw the lower half in, the lava swallowing up the legs in two gulping burps of bubbles.
Liam followed my lead and held up the upper half of the body. Though Orion still gazed at us, he seemed to have lost any ability to actually control the body.
“Any last words?” I smiled at him, feeling pretty damn good. Prophecies fulfilled, we’d killed Orion. I could rest easy; the foal was alive, Eve would be fine.
Life was looking up. Please, gods, let it be.
“This isn’t over.” The words were slurred, hard to hear, and strangely didn’t surprise me. Not from a demon.
“Pitiful last words,” Liam said as he threw what was left of Daniels and Orion into the pit. I blinked as the body slid below, eaten by the lava in seconds.
From the pocket inside my jacket, I pulled out the small brown bag Milly had given me. I opened it and poured the spiked demon stone into my hand.
“Lava should do the trick, don’t you think?” I held it up, the spikes pressing into the flesh of my palm. I rolled it to get a better look at it, wondered if I would ever know if Milly really had been enthralled.
Liam bumped my hand and the demon stone fell, landing with a hiss and a gulp as thick lava swallowed it up.
We stared down, the heat curling up around us, drying the sticky mud on our clothes. Thirty seconds passed and Liam stepped back, but I continued to stare, my throat tightening up.
“Does that seem higher than before?” I pointed at the lava as it freaking well surged upward. We fell back, the blast of heat singeing my eyelashes and eyebrows.
“Okay, time to go.” I ran for Calliope. There was no way to set her leg; she’d have to be carried. “Liam!”
“I’ll do it.” The voice was not Liam’s. I looked up at the lip of the overhang, a grey-skinned ogre staring down at us. “You don’t really have a choice, Tracker. You’re going to have to trust me.”
From behind him came a voice I did recognize. Dox.
“Rylee, just let him help!”
Liam scooped up the foal. “I’ll carry her as far as I can.” She rested her chin on his shoulder, trust shining through the threads I still held onto. Keeping pace with Liam, we ran for the stairs, bolting up them as the lava spilled over the lip of the pit, eating up the ground where we’d stood only moments before.
The grey ogre didn’t ask, just took Calliope from Liam’s arms, and she didn’t fight either of them. Fatigue washed through her and I finally let her threads go. I didn’t need to feel that; I was tired enough as it was without her adding to it.
The grey-skinned ogre spoke to Liam. “We have to move fast, and you may have to carry the Tracker.”
Across from us stood ogres in every color possible. Like a bag of skittles, see the fucking rainbow that would like to taste you after roasting you on a spit. This couldn’t be good, yet they weren’t trying to kill us.
“The Roc—” I started to ask, and Grey boy cut me off.
“Time for answers later. We have to move our asses if we’re going to all get out of here alive.”
Dox ran to my side, the distinct imprints of teeth all over his neck and shoulders. At least he’d had some fun. “Rylee, you… .”
I shoved him to get him going. “We couldn’t wait.”
We took off, running blind down the mountain in the dark, night having fallen fully as we’d fought Orion. The ground around us shook, and a blasting spurt of lava erupted out the side of the mountain, three hundred feet to the left of us.
The ogres covered the ground in leaps in bounds, literally jumping and letting gravity taking them further down the mountain with each stride, snow flying up around their feet as they landed. An explosion behind us spurred me on. Out of the frying pan we were, and into the big-ass fire.
A crackling sizzle reached my ears, but I didn’t turn around.
“It’s hot on our heels, get your fat, monkey sucking asses moving!” Dev shouted, and the ogres seemed to find a new gear. Liam didn’t scoop me up, but Tin did, snagging me around the waist and throwing me on his back. I clutched around his neck with my arms, and stood on the thick edge of his belt.
Then I looked behind us, sucking in a sharp, horrified breath. The entire top of the mountain was crumbling inward as the lava burst up and out. Brilliant red and orange geysers of liquid death shot into the starless sky followed by massive billows of black smoke illuminated by the lava that spilled down the mountain toward us. With each passing second the lava drew closer, eating up everything in its path.
“We aren’t going to make it,” I yelled, hoping that their mages had some way to help us.
Two of them turned around long enough to toss a spell, that to my eyes, did nothing.
“They pushed the gases in the other direction,” Tin said. My understanding of volcanoes wasn’t at its peak, but I did recall something about a flow of gas and rock that outpaced even the lava. I looked back, and all I saw was the red flow of death. I suppose that was better than the alternative of choking to death on fumes and then being consumed by the lava.
Grey boy glanced over his
shoulder. “Head for the lake.”
As one, the ogres turned, angling toward the lake that surrounded the base of the mountain. Though it had taken us hours to climb Mt. Hood, riding ogre-back on the downhill took mere minutes. We were out of the snow now, but the ground was sloppy and wet, thick with ash, and a red ogre to the right of us lost his footing, tumbled and fell.
The lava caught him, swallowed him in one gulping wave, leaving behind his hand reaching up for a second, the fingers blackening before the lava even touched them.
I swallowed hard, heart pounding, my adrenaline racing and there wasn’t a damn thing I, or anyone else, could do.
The sharp incline leveled out and the gang of ogres thundered into the forest. Like a living thing, the lava flowed ever onward, devouring everything in its path. This was what Orion did, with a few words? With a gesture and a single spell when his host’s body had a broken neck? Son of a fucking bitch, he was as bad as all the prophesies made him out to be.
Maybe worse.
Thank the gods he was done.
Tin leapt over a downed log, and my feet slid off his belt, leaving me dangling from his back. All thoughts of Orion fled as I fought to hang onto the bounding ogre, the vision of what had happened to the red ogre who’d gone down seared in my mind. That would be a seriously bad way to end this salvage.
“Tracker, if you fall, I can’t stop,” Tin puffed out.
“Got it,” I barked out. Shit, I was sliding; there was nothing I could hang onto, his slick bare skin giving me no traction whatsoever.
There was nothing for it. I either fell from his back in a heap, or I leapt and had a chance at keeping my feet under me. As I slid down his back, I pushed to the side and hit the ground running.
In seconds, the lava was at my heels, kissing the backs of my boots, heat rolling up and around me, stealing the air I needed. Liam dropped back to my side, grabbed my hand and jerked me forward as a gulp of lava rolled ahead of the rest of it.
We burst through the bush into the parking lot where Dox’s truck sat waiting for us. But the trail ran parallel to the edge of the flow of the lava; the truck was going to be toasted. The lake it was.
With the searing heat behind us, the multi-hued Gang of ogres dove into the lake, swimming out into the open water. I caught sight of Calliope being floated between Dox and the grey boy.
And then I dove in, the icy water sluicing over my head. I floated for a minute under the water, looking back the way we’d come. The lava hit the shoreline, flowing into the lake, lighting it up from inside.
A pair of red swirling eyes hardened in the lava, as the water cooled the deadly flow.
“We are not done yet, Tracker. I will have your soul yet. Yours, and the souls of all you love.”
I kicked myself to the surface, anger searing my synapsis. “And that’s your mistake, Orion. You can threaten me, but threaten those I love and you will regret it beyond the grave.”
The ogres were in high spirits, having no problem with the winter-chilled, glacier-fed lake. I, on the other hand, was freezing. My eyes drooped with each breath I took, fatigue dragging me down.
While the ogres splashed and played, exultant from having outrun the lava, I swam to Dox, each movement of my arms and legs causing shivers of cold-induced pain to ripple through me. Liam kept pace with me, seemingly as unaffected as the ogres by the cold. Before I could speak, Dox slung an arm around my waist and gave me a hard squeeze.
“Thank you, Rylee.”
I looked up at him. Even through my wet clothes and the water, I could feel his body heat, which I was intensely grateful for. “Thanks for what?”
“I would never have come back without you needing to be here for a salvage, and I would have missed out on this. On the fight, and seeing the triplets again. On Sas. For the first time, I finally belong, I’m finally home. I don’t know if you can understand what that means to me.” He grinned down at me, a new light in his eyes. I understood what it was to want to belong, to finally find that place. I glanced at Liam over my shoulder. Yeah, I really did understand. I gave Dox a nod.
“I’m happy for you. And glad you came too. Our asses would have been fried up there without your help.”
Teeth chattering as a wash of cold water thick with ash swirled between us, I pointed at the shoreline. “But we have to get me and Calli out of this lake, or it won’t matter that we dodged the hot sauce.”
He nodded, gave a holler, and the triplets swam over to us, helped to get us across to the far side. Ash floated down around us, coating the lake’s surface. It stuck to my face and neck, and as we stepped out of the water it clung to every piece of us.
As much as I wanted to complain, I didn’t. We’d survived something that should have taken us out. Would have died without the help we’d received. Which still made no sense, but I wasn’t going to remind them that they were on the hunt for us.
The triplets got a fire going within minutes and I crouched beside it, peeling out of my jacket. Calliope lay beside me, her legs tucked under her and as close to the fire as she could get. The firelight flickered and danced against her white coat. I ran a hand over her back, and she turned to look at me, gold nubbin catching the light.
Thank you, for saving me.
I smiled and gave her a tired nod. “Just try to avoid Rocs in the future.”
She bobbed her head. I will do my best.
Crouched beside her, I stared out at the lake, all of the ogres still hanging out in the water except for Dox and the triplets.
“What happened?” I turned my face up to Dox, who stood over me.
“You mean after you left without us?” He growled.
Lop laughed, slapping his hands on his thighs. “That was fucking wicked awesome, woman. If you were an ogre, I’d be banging the hell out of you.” His brothers were nodding in agreement.
Liam slowly stood, every line of his body tense. Lop held up his hands. “Easy wolf, I said IF. She’s too fucking puny for my taste. But that took balls, to head into hostile territory without help. Ogres like a good, strong woman. None of this pansy ass, ‘I broke my nail’ shit.”
Liam relaxed, then snorted. “No, it takes a stubbornness that one day is going to get her hurt. But if I ever get tired of her, I’ll let you know.”
My jaw dropped and the triplets fell over themselves laughing. Even Calliope let out a soft nicker.
“It wasn’t that funny,” I grumbled, but I bit the inside of my cheek. Not for one second did I think Liam would ever get tired of me. Gods, I hoped not.
Dox dropped to a crouch beside me. “You killed the Roc, that’s why they were willing to help.”
Dev crawled toward the fire, stretched out on his belly. “Yup, you did what no ogre has been able to. You got rid of the big bitch of a bird. The ogres are in your debt.”
“What they say is true.”
I turned to see the rest of the ogres emerging from the lake, water glistening on their many-colored hides. They were surreal, the lava still erupting on the mountain behind them, the dark night above, and the reflection of the lake. The scene was damn near poetic.
Grey boy crouched beside me and held out his hand. “I am Sla, and I speak for all the ogres, all the Gangs. You are welcome here, Tracker. And we will stand with you when the time comes.”
I swallowed hard, and set my hand in his. “Just for killing the Roc?”
He smiled down at me. “Killing the Roc was the sign that you are the one who will lead us into battle.”
Oh, no. Not this shit again. “Nope, sorry, that isn’t going to happen; we threw him into the pit.” I tossed a twig into the fire, to illustrate my words.
Sla shook his head. “It is not so easy to kill a demon. If it was, there would be none left. You took away the body he possessed, nothing more.”
“How do you know all this? Are demons a past time hobby for you?” I lifted an eyebrow at him. Dox groaned softly, but Sla didn’t seem to mind my attitude.
He flopped t
o the ground and stretched out lengthwise as if he, and all the other ogres, hadn’t tried to kill us just a few hours past.
“We have prophecies too, though you will not find them in any ogre-skinned book.” His eyes flicked up to mine and I gave him a nod. No point in denying it. He shrugged. “If an ogre is stupid enough to be skinned alive, they deserve it.”
The ogres around us gave a resounding rumble of agreement.
“More to the point, you are the sign that the final battle is coming. When the Roc dies and the lava flows, the battle is nigh.” He eyed me up. “I’d hoped you’d be a bit more intimidating, though. The triplets speak true, you are rather puny to be a hero.”
I really didn’t like the direction of this conversation. “Orion isn’t coming back. There is not going to be a gods-be-damned battle. And I am no one’s hero.”
Dox put a hand on my shoulder. “You have their loyalty, whether you want it or not.”
I shook his hand off and stood. I didn’t know what to say, how to stop them from believing these prophecies. Or to get them to see that it was over, that Orion was done. So I walked away from the group to the edge of the firelight, where Liam caught up to me. “Hey. We’re alive, they aren’t trying to kill us, and we have Calliope. Don’t throw a fit because they want to believe in something that scares you.”
I could have slapped him. For telling me the truth and for pointing out that I was afraid. I didn’t do fear well, never had.
“You aren’t the one being set up as some gods-be-damned savior of the world. I’m nobody, just a Tracker. That’s it. There is nothing more to me. I don’t have any special powers; I don’t have any magic. Hell, if we’d been a little longer crossing the veil at the castle, I would have died. I am not cut out to be in any prophecy. If it comes down to me and Orion, he will win!”
Note to self: when anger is flowing, try to recall that you might be a lot louder than you realize. Like as in yelling at the top of your lungs.
All the ogres stared at us in the sudden silence after my outburst. I closed my eyes, shame flooding me. Liam stepped back, his face shuttered from any emotion. “I’m going to go and find a vehicle. Try to stay out of trouble while I’m gone.”
Blind Salvage: A Rylee Adamson Novel (Book 5) Page 15
