Dawnbreaker dd-3

by Jocelynn Drake

  “It’s a way for them to get reinforcements to Machu Picchu,” Stefan said, his hand tightening on my elbow. “We have to destroy it.”

  A bitter laugh escaped me before I could grab it. “You can no more destroy it than you can stop the coming dawn,” I sneered. “It’s the very life of the earth and all the things that grow upon it.”

  “Can we block the opening?” Danaus demanded, drawing my eyes back to his face. He stared at me, his cold blue eyes seeming to glitter in some stray starlight. “At least temporarily block it. Buy us some time.”

  “Maybe. Are they here?” My concentration had been so completely focused on the energy pouring from the earth and the opening that was at the top of Ollantaytambo that I almost forgot that the naturi were on their way there.

  “Not yet, but getting close.”

  Looking over my shoulder, I found Stefan intently listening to our conversation. “How much longer?” I asked him.

  “Bertha and a few others should be here soon,” he replied.

  “Then we have to move now. We won’t have another chance at this,” I said, picking up my pace a bit. My legs were trembling beneath me and it was hard to keep focused on gathering the energy I needed to fight back the earth magic that was desperately attempting to force its way into my body.

  A soft sound of frustration escaping Stefan was my only warning, and it came nowhere close to providing me with enough time to react. Wrapping one strong arm around my waist, he pulled me back so his chest was pressed to my back, and then we were in the air. I envied his ability to fly, to have the freedom to escape the coming dawn whenever he so chose. And under most circumstances I might have said something nice about the feel of the cold air rushing past us. Unfortunately, I wasn’t in the mood. He was being an overbearing ass, and I had enough creatures in my life trying to control me.

  The second my feet touched the ground I tried to shove my elbow into his stomach, but I hadn’t thought about the well of power waiting for me when we reached the top of the mountain. My legs immediately crumpled beneath me, leaving me leaning heavily on Stefan’s arm.

  “It’s worse up here?” he asked.

  “Yes,” I choked out as I struggled to fight back the power that left my knees knocking. I reached out to every living creature I could find. My mind stretched out to the village of Ollantaytambo and its sleeping population. Their energy swirled around me and swam through my body, seeming to cleanse me once again.

  “Why can’t I feel it?”

  “Because you have not traveled in the flow,” I replied, getting my legs beneath me so I could step away from him. It was a lie, but one he would buy for now. I had no idea why I could sense earth magic beyond the fact that I had the ability to manipulate fire. Unfortunately, I had a dark suspicion that my ability to manipulate fire and my ability to sense earth magic had little to do with each other. There was something else that would one day step forward to haunt me on that front, but for now I thought the lie might make everyone a little more comfortable.

  Stefan slowly slid his hand from me, as if expecting me to fall to the ground the second he pulled away.

  “The flow in the earth is how the naturi were able to get me from Spain to Machu Picchu in a single day,” I explained. “It’s the only way they could have done it.”

  I didn’t go on to explain that I now remembered our arrival in Ollantaytambo. I could vaguely recall the sun and my body burning as the naturi raced to find a way to protect their prize before it was reduced to a black pile of ash. I remembered screaming and thinking I had finally descended into Hell. But there was no explaining how I came to be awake during the day, beyond the theory that it was just a side effect of the flow.

  Yet those delightful contemplations were pushed aside. “The naturi are here,” I announced to the cold night air.

  “Are you sure?” Stefan demanded, frowning. Before I could answer, a single gunshot shattered the silence. Hesitantly, the earth seemed to take another breath before a barrage of gunfire from an automatic weapon resounded in the valley below.

  “Yeah, pretty sure,” I said, sarcasm slathered over every syllable. Before the first gunshot rang out into the night, I had felt a disturbance among the humans. They felt uneasiness wash over them, as if something was watching them out in the darkness. Pulling in their energy, I was also attuned to their emotions. I had felt their fear instantly grow to terror when they realized they faced a creature they could not beat.

  The silence had sunk back in again. Without checking, I knew the four humans we had brought with us were dead. The naturi would wipe out anything and everything from their path to us. The humans were simply a warm-up act to the slaughter they anticipated on the top of the mountain at Ollantaytambo.

  A footstep at the edge of the plateau had both Stefan and I ready to spring into action, but we quickly relaxed at the sight of Danaus jogging over, followed by Shelly and Cynnia.

  “How many?” I gruffly demanded.

  “Eight,” the hunter replied, one of his guns already sliding into his hands. I pulled the Browning from the shoulder holster I was wearing, cradling the gun tightly in both hands as I waited for our adversaries to arrive.

  “That’s it?” I sounded strangely disappointed by the number. Of course, after having already battled a horde in London and another army while in Crete, I would have thought an army was waiting to destroy me in Peru.

  “There are more on the way,” he growled, as if to appease me.

  “You and Stefan block the gateway. I’ll take care of the naturi,” I ordered, my eyes darting from the hunter to the nightwalker. Neither one looked particularly pleased with me, but no one argued.

  “What about me?” Shelly asked, drawing my attention back to her and Cynnia for the first time. I had forgotten that I dragged the naturi and the earth witch into the nightmare with me. Maybe I should have left them both back in Savannah playing cards, but now wasn’t the time for contemplating such things.

  “Keep an eye on Cynnia! She’s not to leave the mountaintop unless Danaus or I accompany her.”

  “I’m not leaving here with them, Mira!” Cynnia shouted. “Those naturi most likely belong to Rowe, and I’d rather not see my brother-in-law just yet. Not until at least one of us has a plan.”

  “Do I protect her?” Shelly asked, leading me to pause in the act of turning back toward Danaus and Stefan. My eyes danced from the naturi to the earth witch, my mind a clutter of thoughts, none of which made sense in that moment when a battle was breathing down our necks.

  “Protect each other,” I murmured.

  Cynnia held up her manacled hands and I shook my head at her. “There’s enough energy in the air. I’m sure you’ll figure something out.”

  “Mira!” Danaus shouted, finally drawing my gaze back to Stefan and him. “Where is this gateway that you’ve been talking about? Where’s the opening?”

  “Over there,” Cynnia said, pointing behind them. Spinning on my heel, I followed Cynnia and Shelly to a depression in the ground a few yards away to the west. “This is it,” the naturi confirmed.

  Both Danaus and Stefan looked at me, doubting the veracity of anything told to them by one of the enemy. I nodded. It was the exact spot I would have picked out. The energy was the thickest there. The earth was covered in thick green grass, as if it grew from the richest earth and was watered every day. The rest of the surrounding area was dirt with patches of grass and weeds intermixed with large stones. The gateway was here.

  Drawing in a deep breath, I focused my powers and attempted to create a ball of fire that would hover over the depression. Instead I got twenty balls of angry, crackling fire scattered about the plateau.

  “Whoa,” I murmured. I had meant to say something close to “Holy shit” in old Greek, but my mouth wasn’t working. I stared at the flickering fires the size of basketballs. Not quite my usually cute, baseball-sized beacons of light. Of course, I was tapped into two different power sources, and both were looking for an out
let. The power from the earth had immediately surged into my frame, but it was unable to tear me apart because I was still pulling heavily from the soul energy in the region. I just had to hope that the naturi didn’t decide to wipe out the nearby village before they came to take care of us.

  Danaus threw me a dark gaze, but wisely kept his sarcastic comments to himself. He had been around me enough the past several days to know I hadn’t intended for that to happen. I walked over with him and Stefan but stopped several feet away, not wishing to draw any closer. The gateway was nothing more than an oblong circle about three feet in diameter that was slightly sunken into the ground, marked by the lush green grass that stood out against the surrounding rock and dirt.

  “How do we close the gateway?” Stefan inquired.

  “You don’t,” Cynnia said, taking a half step backward. I followed her lead. Standing so close to the flow sent a feeling creeping over my skin, like thousands of ants marching beneath my clothes.

  She held her hands out toward the gateway, as if warming her hands by a fire. I had no doubt that she could feel the energy pouring out, enticing her, but so far she was behaving herself. “You can only block it so the naturi can’t use it,” she explained.

  “Take some of the large stones off the ruins and pile them over the opening. Make a pyramid or something. I don’t care,” I shouted. I grabbed Cynnia by the shoulder and pulled her away from the opening. I didn’t need to worry about her and an abundant source of power, even if the iron manacles were supposed to dampen her ability to use magic. I truly doubted that the iron completely blocked the ability, particularly with this much energy floating around in the air.

  “And the naturi won’t tear it down?” Danaus demanded, the sarcasm finally slipping out.

  “I’m sure they will, but I’m hoping it won’t be before the new moon,” I growled at the hunter. “You’ll just have to get some of the Themis boys down here to protect it during the day.”

  Danaus opened his mouth to argue, but I was saved from having to listen when a naturi dart shot through the air. He jerked his head back just in time to avoid the poison-tipped mini-arrow.

  Three naturi with wrist crossbows crested the plateau first, shooting their bolts in hopes of paralyzing their victims before finally delivering the killing blow. I dodged two arrows aimed for my heart and unloaded the Browning into the three before they had a chance to launch the next phase of their attack.

  The naturi were a mess, but still breathing. My aim was pathetic—I had to learn to shoot. Dropping the empty gun on the ground with a hollow thud, I pulled the short sword from the sheath and ran to their side. In a few quick slashes their heads were rolling from their bodies and I was splashed in a fresh coating of blood.

  A whimper drew my attention from the edge of the plateau. Cynnia stood behind Shelly, peering out over the witch’s shoulder. Her wide green eyes shimmered in the firelight. For a moment something within me felt at peace. She was finally seeing me as the monster I truly was, as the nightmare her people had painted me for countless centuries. Washed in the blood of her people, blade in one hand and fire flickering around me, I was the Fire Starter.

  “Watch out!” Shelly cried.

  Ducking down as I turned, I managed to block a sword aimed to enter my back. We exchanged a series of blows that I narrowly escaped. I had finally met my match in a swordsman, but that wasn’t my greatest concern. My big problem was that the sword fight gave the naturi time to gain purchase on the plateau. One attempted to slip by me and head for Danaus and Stefan. While blocking one blow, I pulled a knife from my waist and threw it at the second naturi. The knife found her back, but I got a long cut across my stomach as I failed to block my adversary’s next move.

  “You can’t win this time, nightwalker,” the naturi taunted, coming at me with another flurry of blows that I barely managed to block.

  I wanted to make some witty comment, but as I tried to take a step backward to avoid another blow, my right foot became stuck. Unable to look down, I tugged at it, to find that something had wrapped around both of my ankles. I was trapped where I stood. An earth clan naturi had arrived at the party.

  “I’ve got it, Mira!” called Shelly from behind me.

  “No! Stay with Cynnia!” I shouted back, trying to keep my focus on the bastard in front of me who was trying to cut my heart out.

  “Cynnia?” he whispered.

  I didn’t question the distraction. With a quick stab, I plunged the short sword into his heart, catching him by surprise. He dropped to his knees before me, and I relieved him of his head.

  “Mira!” Danaus shouted. I turned to find him struggling with a naturi. He had the creature by the wrists, fighting to keep the dagger from being plunged into his chest while another naturi approached from behind. We were being overwhelmed.

  “I’ve got it!” Cynnia shouted, to my surprise. There was no warning, no chance to stop her. A bolt of lightning crashed from what had been a clear sky only a few moments earlier and instantly incinerated the naturi sneaking up behind Danaus. It surprised the naturi who was struggling with the hunter. He broke off and tried to take a few steps away, but didn’t get far. A second bolt of lightning struck, burning the naturi to a crisp in an instant.

  I turned to find Cynnia on her hands and knees, struggling to breathe. I ran over and knelt beside her, with Shelly on the other side.

  “Is she all right?” Danaus called, heading toward us.

  “I’ll take care of her. You just get it covered!” I shouted, waving him off. Eight naturi, my ass! There might have only been eight naturi in the immediate area, but they’d taken the time to awaken the surrounding wild life on their way to Ollantaytambo.

  Behind where I squatted, I could hear a mix of grunting and the crunch of heavy stones being dropped on one another. The pile was building, but they needed more time to finish. I also needed Cynnia back on her feet if she was going to be able to help defend our position. However, at the moment she was on her hands and knees, heaving up her guts. Shelly stood silently by, holding Cynnia’s hair out of her face while rubbing one hand gently up and down her back.

  “Are you hurt?” I demanded when Cynnia finally drew in a cleansing breath, wiping her mouth with the back of her dirty sleeve.

  “I—I killed them,” she replied in a shattered voice. “I killed my own people.”

  I knew that it was a sad commentary on my own existence that my first thought was to tell her to get used to it, but I wisely kept my mouth shut for a moment. Nightwalkers made a common practice of killing their own kind. So did humans. But not every race was quite so heavy into genocide as we were.

  “You saved Danaus’s life and I thank you,” I murmured, causing her to finally look up at me. “Were you hurt casting that spell?”

  “Yes,” she hissed, as if suddenly noticing what had to be searing pain. We looked down to find that her wrists were burned and blistered where her manacles touched her flesh. The iron hindered their spell casting, but apparently it didn’t necessarily stop it under the right conditions. A good thing to remember.

  I looked up in time to see more naturi reaching the top of the plateau. Our brief rest was over and I needed to get back to the business of defending my compatriots. “Keep your head down and keep each other alive. Danaus and Stefan are almost done,” I said, hoping that I was telling the truth.

  I wobbled as I pushed back to my feet. Exhaustion chewed at my limbs and weighed on my shoulders. I was still pulling soul energy from the village and a little from Shelly in an effort to keep the earth magic from entering my body, but it was becoming a losing battle. The fireballs I was maintaining around the plateau to light the battle had grown in size. They crackled and snapped, as if they had developed souls of their own and were angry.

  Danaus? Are you almost done? I asked, mentally reaching out to the one companion that I had grown to depend on in more ways than I cared to count.

  Soon.

  I may need your help.


  It was time to let the earth magic in. I was tired of fighting it, and at the moment, it was more powerful and more plentiful than the soul magic I was desperately clinging to. Waving my hand, the large balls of fire hit the ground and rolled to the main path up to the ruins. As they traveled down the path, glomming onto whatever creature they passed, I found myself humming “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” as if the balls of fire had become my broomsticks to command. My head fell back and I stared up at the canopy of stars reappearing now that Cynnia had stopped casting her weather spells. Laughter welled up in my chest as I listened to the naturi scream. It almost made up for the night of torture I faced at their hands centuries ago. It almost made up for the fact that I knew I would be destroyed tomorrow night by either the naturi or Jabari. Almost, but not quite.

  I turned to find that the mountain of stones the two men built had a base more than ten feet wide and was more than eight feet high. Only Stefan could now pile rocks on the top, since he could take to the air.

  “Are there any naturi in the area?” I called, a waver threading its way through my voice as I fought to contain the energy writhing within my body, searching for an outlet. I had thought to extinguish all but two of the fire balls that Danaus and Stefan were working by, but the flickering flames were the only way I could keep the power from the earth appeased. Otherwise, it would eventually tear me to shreds.

  Danaus shook his head as he wiped his brow with the back of his hand, breathing heavily from the exertion. I was willing to take a wild guess that he had tried to keep up with Stefan. Yes, Danaus was fast and half bori, but Stefan was a nightwalker that was nearly an Ancient.

  Do you need me? he asked, taking a step toward me even before I answered, but I shook my head, waving him off. I had to find another way to control the power or it would destroy me. I couldn’t rely on Danaus or Jabari always being around to save my ass when I found myself in a situation I couldn’t control.