“Never mind me,” Gritting his teeth, Jarod lowered the beam to his rest on his shoulders. “I can hold on for a bit longer. Just hurry up and help get the rest of the people out.”
Realizing they were quickly running out of time, the Elementals doubled their pace. Desperate to get the last of the survivors out, people flooded through the opening, each one returning with another of the injured. With the increased efforts, it didn’t take long before fewer and fewer people returned with someone in their arms.
“That was the last of them,” Rico said, stopping before Jarod as they watched a young man pull a guy with a badly disfigured leg from the rubble. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
Nodding, Jarod attempted to shift his shoulders free, only to realize the weight would not budge. Determined to not remain a permanent pillar beneath this falling mountain, he tried once again to free himself, only this time, the movement created an avalanche, bringing a cascade of more rocks down upon him and forcing him to one knee. Instantly Jaron, Liam, and Rico rushed to Jarod’s assistance. Taking position upon each side of Jarod, they attempted to pull the load off their companion enough for him to free himself, to no avail.
“I’m stuck,” Jarod half-laughed as the rest of their group continued to struggle to help him. “After fifty years serving the Shadows, I sure as hell never imagined this is the way I would meet my end.”
“Shut up Jarod, you aren’t dying today asshole.” Jaron snapped.
Beside him Maya wept as she pressed her hands to his sweat drenched face. “Please Jarod, pull strength from me.”
“No.”
“Why?” she cried, “Do you hate me so much you are willing to allow yourself to be crushed under tons of rock and debris rather than connect with me again?”
Slowly raising his gaze to meet hers, he smiled, “Quite the opposite, actually. I don’t deserve it… nor do I deserve you.” Pausing, Jarod inhaled a labored breath, forcing air into his confined lungs. “I never have.”
“Please,” Maya cried, squeezing his face, she tried to force him to take what little energy she had, yet he continued to block her efforts. “I can’t lose you. Please…”
“Everyone, help the strangers! Help those who have risked their lives to help us!” A shout rose up in the crowd of Elementals behind them. Within seconds, any able-bodied Elemental, with even the slightest bit of power left, joined what was left of the line, while the rest rushed into the cave with poles and various other items they could possibly use as leverage. Side by side with Jaron and the others, they worked together to try and lift the weight off Jarod. Their effort was tremendous, as complete strangers and people of different races worked together to free the man who had helped save the lives of so many others, yet for all their power and combined effort, it still wasn’t enough.
With each moment that passed that they weren’t able to free him, Jarod’s breathing grew more and more labored. His muscles trembling, Jarod could feel his grip beginning to slip. Not wanting to endanger anyone else when he finally gave way, Jarod turned to Jaron. “It’s no use old friend.” He said, between heaving gasps, “Take Maya and get everyone out of here.”
“No, I won’t leave you.” Maya cried out, shaking her head vigorously. “You can’t make me!”
“Jaron, please…” Jarod exhaled, “I can’t…”
“Everyone clear out!”
The booming voice echoed all around, pulling their attention to the large man with a hard expression standing just on the outside of the mine entrance. Whispers of the name Ivan circulated amongst the Elementals as they all quickly abandoned the Full-bloods and their trapped companion. Narrowing his eyes, the man they called Ivan repeated his request, “I said, move out of the way.”
Turning his attention away from Jarod, Jaron took up a defensive stance in front of him. “If you think for a minute I am abandoning my man to be buried alive, you are sorely mistaken.”
Regarding him carefully, Ivan crossed his large arms across his chest. “Nobody asked you to abandon him, I only asked you to step aside. But if you would rather stand there and let him die for foolish pride, then so be it… Vanterian.”
A low growl emanated from deep within Jaron as he took a step forward. Sensing his rage, Jericho jumped between them, with his hands pressed to his chest he did his best to pacify the angry Full-blood. “Do as he says Jaron, remember what I told you back at Fridricks? Ivan is the most powerful earth Elemental in the nation and he may be his only chance of getting out of this.”
“How do you know he can be trusted?” Jaron asked, keeping his narrowed gaze locked on the stone faced Elemental.
“What choice do you have Jaron?”
Glancing back over his shoulder at Jarod, he could see the exhaustion beginning to take its toll. Knowing his brother wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer, and with no other foreseeable options, Jaron reluctantly relented. “Rico, grab Maya and everyone get out of the way.”
“No!” Maya screamed, fighting against Rico as he wrapped his arms around her and carried her out past Ivan. Silently the others followed them out, with Jaron alone remaining at his brother’s side. “Do whatever it is you are going to do, but I will not abandon him.”
With a curt nod, Ivan unfolded his thick arms. “Fine, but I will not be responsible if you are injured.”
Concentration furrowed the wrinkled brow of Ivan as he moved forward, past Jaron to stand before Jarod. “Your strength is admirable Vanterian,” he said staring down at the back of Jarod’s hooded head. “Would you care for some assistance?”
“If it wouldn’t be too much of a bother.” Jarod huffed, causing Ivan to raise a wrinkled brow in amusement.
“Then let’s do this.”
Inhaling deeply, Ivan closed his eyes and pressed both hands together. With sharp, crisp movements he pushed both hands in front of him palms up and slowly began to lift them. Strain creased his features the higher he raised his palms, but with each inch his hands raised, Jarod could feel the weight begin to ease from his shoulders. Motivated by the idea of actually getting free of this predicament, Jarod rallied his own strength, pushing up as the weight lifted until he was once again standing on both feet.
Once he had raised the entrance to a satisfactory height, Ivan moved forward and pressed his weathered hands to the edge of the rocky surface just above the wooden beam. “Don’t let go just yet,” he commanded locking his stern gaze on Jarod’s hooded face. Concentrating, Ivan used his Elemental gift to begin to reshape the cracked, rough surface of the mine’s walls. All around them the rocks shifted and fissures closed, healing the damaged and cracked walls, until it once again formed a strong solid structure.
With the walls finally returned to their prior stability, Ivan dropped his hands and calmly regarded Jarod. “It is done.”
Cautiously Jarod lowered his arms until he was confident the walls were indeed stable, then happily tossed the beam aside. Grimacing he rolled his shoulders and stretched his arms, trying to work some of the stiffness from his joints.
“Jarod!” Maya’s cries warned him of her presence only seconds before she leapt into his aching arms. “I thought I was going to lose you.” She cried, pressing her face into his chest. “I am tired of this stupid distance between us. I am sorry for what happened back at the camp. I swear I wasn’t trying to control you, I just wanted to help. And I don’t care if you’re still mad at me, I refuse keep playing this stupid game with you when I know and you know we are meant to be together!”
Taking a second to enjoy the feel of her in his arms for the first time in weeks, Jarod ignored the stares of everyone watching them and wrapped his arms around her. Closing his eyes, he ran a hand down her hair as he leaned down to whisper in her ear. “I know you only wanted to help.” Heaving a heavy breath, Jarod allowed the weeks of tension to leave his body. “By the stars I missed you. I’m sorry for being such an asshole.”
Unable to help herself, Maya chuckled slightly between sobs.
“As much as I do enjoy young love,” Ivan spoke, pulling their attention back to him as Jaron and the others joined Jarod’s side. “I am afraid we have a few things we need to discuss.” Setting Maya slowly back on the ground, Jarod pushed her behind him, narrowing his gaze at the bulky Elemental. Moving to his brother’s side, Jaron and the others watched as Ivan’s own men formed a wall between them and their means of escape. “First of all, I wish to offer my sincerest gratitude to all of you for risking your lives to save so many of my people.”
“And I you for saving my companion.” Jaron answered cautiously. “However, I have a feeling this doesn’t change your intentions with us. Am I correct?”
“In that you are correct.” Ivan responded, his stoic expression remaining unchanged as the Full-bloods shifted their stance. “But before you prepare to fight, allow me to explain what it is I am here to do.” Pausing, Ivan waited until Jaron nodded his agreement before he continued. “I was sent here, by my Captain, to escort you and your group the rest of the way to the capital.”
“As your prisoners?”
Jarod’s low voice pulled Ivan’s attention to him. Calmly he regarded the hooded figure and his petite female before returning his attention back to Jaron. “No, I was instructed to not engage you, but to bring all of you as our guests.”
“Once we get to the capital, will we be allowed to see our queen?”
“Unfortunately, I am unable to answer that. All I can tell you is that my Captain is a man of honor… a man I would gladly lay my life down for. So if he tells me that you will be treated as guests, I trust you will be treated as such.”
Furrowing his brow, Jaron turned to Jarod. “What do you think?”
“What’s there to say?” Jarod said gruffly, “We need to go to the capital and he is going to take us. Either way whatever was to happen once we got there was already an unknown variable, at least this way we know we get inside the castle.” Pushing back his hood, Jarod stretched to his full height, “I personally would love a tour of the castle.”
To his credit, Ivan’s stoic expression didn’t falter as Jarod’s black gaze fell upon him, though some mumbling rose from the group of men gathered behind him.
“Then I guess we shall come with you as your ‘guests.’ ” Jaron answered, his gaze remaining fixed on Ivan. “On the condition that we get to speak with your captain when we get there.”
“Of course.”
“And me? Am I to come with you also?” Jericho asked, coming to stand next to Jaron.
At the sound of the Wanderer’s voice, Ivan’s stoic features faltered, “You are to return back to your people… for now.” Narrowing his eyes, Ivan glared at Jericho, “Consider yourself lucky Marko is being lenient, if I had it my way you would be banished from our land for your traitorous behavior.”
Shirking back from the anger radiating off Ivan, Jericho turned to Jaron and extended a hand. “Then I guess this is where we say goodbye.”
“Thank you for your help.” Jaron said, taking his hand in a firm grasp. “I hope this does not cause you too many problems.”
“Me too.” Jericho replied, smiling weakly. Releasing Jaron’s hand, Jericho approached Maya. “And farewell to you, my dear. It was a pleasure meeting you.” He said smiling as she came from behind Jarod. Picking up her hand and placing it in his, he placed a kiss on top of it as he cautiously glanced up at Jarod. “I hope you find the path you are looking for.”
“Thank you.” She said smiling, “And good luck.”
Nodding Jericho released her hand and leaned in pretending to kiss her on the cheek, but instead whispered in her ear. “You can only be punished for a crime once.” Confused, Maya pulled away, only to get a wink and nod from Jericho. Before she could ask him what his strange words meant, he vanished before her very eyes.
“Well now that the riff-raff is gone, shall we proceed to the castle?”
Regarding Maya and each of the others for a moment, Jaron studied each of their gazes as they fell upon him for direction. Praying he wasn’t leading them all to their doom he turned his attention back to Ivan. “Lead the way.”
Chapter 12
Blood. It dripped like morning dew from the tall blades of grass and soaked the ground beneath her feet. Everywhere she turned, everywhere she looked, the vile liquid coated every inch of the valley surrounding her. Even the stream, usually so crystal clear you could see each pebble that filled its shallow bed, now flowed with a liquid, so thick and so dark that even the sun’s rays could not penetrate its crimson depths. Panicked, Citera took off running as fast as she could toward the path leading back to Oasis. She ran as though her life depended on it, desperately wanting to escape the putrid smell that filled her nostrils with each labored breath, but no matter how fast she ran, or how hard she exerted herself, the entrance to the path remained just beyond her reach.
After running for what felt like forever and realizing she was no closer to the path than she had been when she started, Citera halted to catch her breath and take a better look around. Determined to find some way of escaping the nightmarish landscape, she continued her survey until she spotted something laying on the ground several feet away, concealed beneath the tall grass. Curious, she ignored her initial instinct to turn away, and found herself instead walking toward the object as if her feet had suddenly developed a mind of their own.
As she continued to move closer, Citera began to gag as the smell of decaying flesh drifted her way on a slight breeze. Realizing now what the object in the valley was, Citera’s heart clenched. Please, no. Please don’t be him, she prayed. Placing her hand over her mouth, she allowed the tears to flow freely as she recalled last seeing Dirik’s unconscious body laying amidst the circle of attackers.
Had they really killed him and just left him to rot out here? And if so, why was she still alive? Needing to know the answer, while at the same time fearing what she would find, Citera forced her feet to continue moving forward. But as she moved closer to what she had originally thought was a lone body, Citera froze and gasped.
Overcome with a mixture of relief and horror, she stared out across the field at a scene worse than any nightmare she could have ever imagined. Scattered around the valley floor, were the decomposing bodies of the Black Guard soldiers. With vital organs spilling from open cavities and necks twisted in unnatural directions, they would have been nearly unrecognizable had it not been for the tattered remains of their distinctive uniforms. Petrified, Citera continued to stare in disbelief at the writhing bodies, teeming with maggots and swarming flies that greedily made a meal out of the rotting flesh. Doing her best to suppress the urge to vomit, Citera pulled the front of her shirt up over her nose and mouth to try and mute the pungent smell as another breeze blew through the valley. However, just when she thought she had it all under control, a centipede crawled from the gaping mouth of one of the men and she lost it. Disgusted, she spun around to flee, but only made it a few feet before she tripped over something and went crashing to the ground.
With a frustrated grunt, she pulled her legs off of whatever she had tripped over and placed her hands underneath her in an attempt to push herself back to her feet. But when her hands landed in something sticky and wet, Citera once again froze. Slowly rising to her knees, she brought her trembling hands around in front of her to find they were both covered in blood. Tears streaming down her cheeks, she wiped her hands frantically on her skirt, which did little good since it, along with her shirt, were also coated in the blackened liquid.
Now in a frenzied state, Citera looked over her shoulder to see what had caused her to stumble and screamed. There laying on the ground only inches away was the body of the captain… at least what was left of him. Torn and mutilated far worse than the rest, had it not been for her dagger still protruding out of the bottom of his bashed in skull, she would not have even realized it was him.
Triggered by the sight of his mutilated corpse, Citera was suddenly overwhelmed with images of her stabbing, ba
shing, and mutilating each of the Shadows’ men. Desperate to escape the onslaught of death and gore that flooded her mind, she scrambled to her feet and ran as hard as she could. But no matter how far or hard she ran, she could not escape the horrific scenes that tormented her. Unable to take it any longer, Citera collapsed to her hands and knees, as the contents of her stomach escaped her. There she remained, doubled over and retching until she had nothing left inside to come up, and even then she dry heaved until her body was so exhausted it couldn’t do it anymore. Too weak to stand, Citera remained hunched over, tears streaming down her cheeks as one paralyzing thought weighed down on her heavily.
“I killed them.” She gasped, as once again the image of her shoving the knife into the skull of the captain taunted her. “I did this to them.”
“No child, you didn’t.” A familiar voice said, pulling her from her self-loathing. “I did.”
“K?” Raising her head, Citera’s sobs became uncontrollable at the sight of the Immortal queen standing before her in her natural, white-haired form. With a soft smile, K knelt before her, her crystal blue gaze locking with hers as the tears continued to flow freely down her cheeks.
“Now, now dear.” K soothed, gently wiping the tears away with her thumbs. “There’s no need for all this. You have done nothing wrong.” Hesitating K surveyed the field of death, then with a heavy sigh rose to her feet, pulling Citera along with her. “These were evil men and deserved every bit of the punishment they received… although I had hoped you wouldn’t be able to recall any of it.” Wiping away the last of the tears, K stepped back and opened her arms to Citera. “But just like you, our Link is stronger than even I could have imagined.”
Without pause, Citera rushed into K’s waiting embrace. “I can remember killing them…”
Forsaken (The Shadow Chronicles Book 3) Page 27
