by Candy Crum
Metal clashed against metal, and Arryn dropped her barrier to rush into battle, hoping someone had brought her weapons. She groaned as she mentally kicked herself for leaving them on board. She hadn't wanted to get them in saltwater again and hadn't even considered the possibility they might run into the Raiders—or any other jerks—when they arrived.
A sandy tornado formed up ahead, and Arryn could see Bast and Cleo working in tandem to control it as it enveloped three men. They screamed as the sand scraped their skin and blinded them.
Running forward, Arryn leapt and planted her feet hard in the back of a man who’d just pulled a sword from its sheath as he prepared to go for Samuel. He lunged forward, stumbling, then Samuel swung his hammer and finished him off.
"Thanks, lassie. Ye look weak. Where's the wee one?"
Arryn righted herself and nodded. "I'm fine and so is Corrine, but we're definitely weak. I'm worried about Mariana. That bastard is strong."
Samuel nodded. "Then let's kill these bastards an' finish it."
Arryn opened her mouth to say something, but a pissed off and soaked snow rabbit darted past her, heading in the direction Snow and Dante had taken Corrine. She snuck a peek and was satisfied that he was okay, and so was Corrine. He just wanted to be near her since he was her familiar.
A scream tore through the air, and Arryn looked over to see Mariana fall into the water. The other Caller pulled a sword from her torso, and Arryn knew if the woman wasn't dead already, she didn’t have long.
"Arryn, go!" Bast yelled as she pulled Arryn's bow from her back and threw it in her direction. Arryn hadn't even noticed the Kemetian carrying it.
"Here," Cleo said as she ran up, handing her the quiver. "They got wet when we were thrown into the water, but they're here, and so are most of the arrows. I owe you a few."
"Thank you," Arryn said before picking her bow up off the ground and grabbing the quiver from Cleo.
"He'll see you coming a mile away," Cleo said. "You're gonna have to confuse him. From what Mariana said, they're not used to physical magic. Overwhelm him with it. Your nature magic is useless here with all the sand, and anything weather-related… Well, he can kick your ass at it. No offense."
Arryn nodded, her eyes flashing black as she turned back toward the Caller, who now focused on all of them. "Why the hell aren't you exhausted by now?" she asked no one in particular. If that had been her, she'd have passed out after using all that magic.
Taking deep breaths to steel herself, Arryn allowed her magic to surround her again. "If this works, I will owe Corrine for giving me the energy boost."
Before Cleo could respond, Arryn allowed her magic to implode around her, transporting her behind the Caller. She pulled an arrow from the quiver, nocked it, and let it fly. Her opponent turned in the water, a blast of wind sending the arrow off-course and into the sea.
A familiar tingle in the air sent shivers down her spine, and she quickly teleported out of the water to another location before he could call a lightning strike that would more than likely kill Mariana. Cleo had said to overwhelm him with her physical magic, but she wasn't sure she had enough energy to continue teleporting all over to try and fail to shoot him. Getting close enough to strike him by hand seemed impossible as well.
When he turned toward the group again, his storm clouds growing as lightning webbed across the sky, she knew he planned to take all of them out—even his own men if he had to.
Looking over, Arryn saw Mariana slowly pulling herself to shore, watching his every move. The woman's life force was fading fast.
Chills raced through the druid and her panic grew as Cleo's words rang through Arryn's mind. Your nature magic is useless here. She realized physical magic wasn't much better. He could counter anything she did with wind.
But she bet he'd never met a mystic before.
A distant coldness wrapped around Arryn as her emotions took hold, her eyes turning white. Vague memories of things Margit had taught her, things she'd seen Zoe do, and stories she'd been told about Julianne raced through her mind. She imagined herself standing several feet in front of the Caller, and as the first bolt of lightning was called, she saw an image of herself appear in a cloud of smoke directly in front of her opponent.
She'd startled him enough that he missed his mark, sand and dirt exploding where the bolt had struck the ground.
In another breath, another illusion of her appeared, an arrow nocked as the image pulled back. The Caller thrust a hand to the sky, and lightning crashed around him as he tried to strike at something that didn't exist.
The images faded as more appeared. Arryn was pulled from her trance when she heard a weak Mariana scream her name.
Arryn looked over to see the woman's eyes pleading with her to stop. She knew how much magic Arryn had used to heal the injured back on the ship, and she understood that this was dangerous.
Blinking a few times, Arryn shook her head and pulled another arrow from the quiver as her illusions rushed at the Caller. He fought wildly, thrusting with his sword and missing. She could feel his panic rising as she pulled back a real arrow.
This is for all the innocents you took from this world, she sent to him as she loosed the arrow.
It whistled through the air and struck the confused and overwhelmed Caller in the back of the neck. He fell to his knees before falling face-first into the water. The skies almost immediately cleared, and Arryn rushed as quickly as she could manage to Mariana.
She fell to her knees in the water, almost tipping the rest of the way over from weakness. As she placed her shaky hands on Mariana's abdomen, Mariana gently grabbed them.
"No. I'm not sure you won't kill yourself if you use any more magic."
Arryn shook her head lightly, her will to stay awake quickly fading. "I have to. I'm not going to let you die."
Arryn's eyes flashed green as she pushed healing magic through to Mariana, but within a few heartbeats, her eyes fluttered closed as darkness took her.
Chapter Seven
Arryn's eyes slowly opened. She closed them, wishing she was unconscious again. Her entire body ached, and her head felt as though it might split apart at any moment.
"Ugh. I think I might have overdone it," she moaned, trying to roll to her side. She felt the wet sand under her fingers and the memory of trying to heal Mariana before she'd passed out slammed into her. Her eyes shot open, and she searched frantically. "Mariana—is she alive? Did I get to her in time?"
"Shhh." Cathillian leaned forward and ran a gentle hand down her cheek. "She's fine. You bought her enough time for me to get to her. Still in some pain since I had to heal you both, but she'll be just fine."
Arryn sighed heavily in relief and fell back to the sand again. "I'm so glad. How's Corrine? Have Snow and Dante returned with her?"
"She's fine, too. Stop worrying. You need to worry about yourself. You definitely overdid it. The fight with Esmerelda… It might have been a couple weeks ago, but as hard as you've been going over the last year, your body is worn down. You never give yourself time to recover.
"A good night's sleep is plenty for me to recharge, but you? Not even close, but you act like it is. One or two nights, and you're back at it. I don't think you ever fully recovered from the fight, then you spent a lot of energy healing the people we found in the water, and now this." He gave his own heavy sigh. "You can't keep doing this to yourself. There will come a time when you're not so lucky, you know?"
She nodded, keeping her sensitive eyes closed to protect them from the sun. "I know. Trust me, after that one, I know. I was fully confident I was going to kick the asses of four guys. I've taken on far worse odds and come out on top. I looked at them like I was facing down a few scrawny teenagers. I got way too cocky. They were a lot faster and stronger than I expected, and it cost me dearly."
"You've always been overly confident. It's one of the things I love about you. But—" he took a deep breath, "I don't want it to cost you your life, you know? You probably would
have been fine if you'd been taking better care of yourself, but you haven’t been. I haven't said anything because I didn't want to overstep, but I am now, and I'll continue to do so."
She gently grabbed the hand stroking her wet hair. "Thank you. Don't ever be afraid to tell me when I've gone too far. We both know I'd be the first one to tell you that you're acting like a total jackass."
Cathillian laughed. "Of course, you'd be the one to ruin a serious moment."
She shrugged. "You knew that before you annoyed me into a relationship."
"Aye, she'll be just fine."
Arryn smiled and peeked through squinted eyes to see Samuel come to a stop several feet away. "Did ya get 'em all, Sam? Bitch knows this one needed the help."
"Hey!" Cathillian lightly slapped her shoulder. "You're mean."
"Just to you." She tried to wink at him, but it was unsuccessful, given her squinted eyes. She forced herself over onto her stomach and slowly got to her knees. Looking around, she only saw half her group. "Where is everyone?"
"You've been out for about two hours. I healed you while Echo led the twins to Corrine and the other familiars. Samuel helped Mariana and what was left of her crew get the living Raiders bound and thrown in the boats. She wanted to stick around, but they needed to locate the Raider ship to take it back home."
"Hmm. I was wondering why I didn't see another ship," Arryn said, looking around the now calm beach.
"There are many coves around here for them to hide a ship in. They do that when coming to port, so if their ship is found, they aren't, and vice versa."
She nodded. "I see." Her eyes darted to his. "Wait a minute. I was out for two hours? You left me lying here, half in the water, for two hours?"
He laughed. "Yes, I did! And before you continue to get angry about it, I had a good reason." He paused and she quirked an eyebrow at him, silently urging him to continue. He chuckled again. "After healing the survivors in the water, none of us had much left. I didn't have much to give you anyway, not after healing Mariana. I healed you and realized you were healing faster than usual while lying in the water. I thought it might be because of those lessons I taught you a while back, so I left you here and helped the others. You were never in danger or uncomfortable."
"Mmhmm. Next time you're injured, I'll chuck you in a tree. When anyone asks, I'll just say, 'Oh, it's fine. He loves it there. He's close to nature. He'll heal just fine.'"
His head fell back as he let loose with a loud bark of laughter.
"I don't think ye'll win this one, lad," Samuel said.
Arryn pointed at the rearick. "That's a smart man. All right, well, everyone is safe and sound. Mariana is alive and back on her ship, where she's strongest. I was told this place has food. Let's go find it because I'm starving. I need food and sleep."
Cathillian and Samuel helped her to her feet. She felt wobbly and drunk, but she was able to walk on her own. Their horses stood on the bank, their coats glistening in the sun. Maia had sand all over her damp coat, and Arryn imagined it was from rolling around on the ground and in the water.
Wet and sandy herself, Arryn allowed Cathillian to help her onto Maia's back before riding toward town. It didn't take long to get there, and Arryn was happy to see the rest of her crew.
Bast, Cleo, and Corrine sat just outside the town with Snow, Dante, and the rabbit huddled around them. She smiled when she saw them. Corrine's dark skin looked a little pale, but otherwise, she seemed perfectly fine.
Arryn carefully slid off Maia's back and walked over to Corrine, who stood on shaky legs to give her a hug. "I'm glad you're okay," the druid said. "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have managed like I did."
Corrine squeezed her tight enough that her body shook, and Arryn could feel how weak she was. "You needed me. I knew I could help."
Smiling, Arryn looked down at her. "Well, you've certainly gotten stronger. You pushed an incredible amount of healing power through me. It was hot enough to take my breath away."
"I told you I'm strong enough to fight with you. I took that guy down all by myself."
"Yeah, we'll discuss that part later. For now, we need food and rest," Arryn said, placing her hands on Corrine's shoulders and turning her toward town.
"So, you came through here before?" Cathillian asked the twins. "What place had good food?"
Cleo shrugged. "There are a couple places. We ate at one, and they had good food. It's a little… adult, but the barkeep keeps people in line." She pointed down the street. "The tamer one's down that way, but it looks kind of busy."
Arryn hadn't seen so many people wandering around since her time in Arcadia. The city in the Valley was much larger, but there were hundreds of people walking about.
She saw merchants of every kind lined up on the streets, selling fruit, vegetables, bolts of cloth, bags and containers, weapons, clothing, and more. The inn Bast and Cleo pointed out had people pouring in as several exited. They'd never get service before the exhaustion took her and Corrine.
"Is anythin' down there?" Samuel asked. "Seems ta be pretty calm."
"Yeah. That's where the other one is. It wouldn't hurt to walk around and see if we can find something else," Bast said.
Arryn and Corrine groaned. "Speak for yourself," Arryn said.
Corrine's head flopped back. "I'm a druid. Nudity does not bother me, especially female nudity. In case ya haven't noticed, I'm a girl. I know what it all looks like. Feed me before I punch something."
Arryn snorted, and Cathillian outright laughed. He nudged Arryn's shoulder. "That's definitely your kid. I could almost swear you birthed her yourself."
Snow rubbed her face on Arryn's arm and she turned. The big cat's crystalline blue eyes stared into hers as she pushed sympathy through the bond. She knew Arryn needed the help and wanted her to accept it. The tiger lowered herself to the ground, and Arryn climbed on as gasps filled the air.
"Relax," Cleo said in a loud, annoyed tone. "No one get your pants in a bunch. They're tame. Just don't fuck with the girls on their backs, and you'll keep your heads."
Arryn chuckled, hearing the dark sense of humor and sarcasm in Cleo's voice. She looked over to see Cathillian help Corrine onto Dante's back.
"Okay," Arryn said. "Now we can go down the less busy streets."
Echo called as she circled around, ever the guardian in the skies. "She says everything seems calm," Cathillian reported.
They made their way through the crowd, which wasn't difficult with two white tigers that were as large as a lot of the horses around. People parted and talked about the beautiful beasts as they passed. A few children burst away from their parents and through the loiterers to risk a pet.
Arryn smiled when Snow and Dante lovingly chuffed at the kids before they were snatched up by their mothers. Soon, the crowd thinned, and they were able to travel freely to the opposite end of the long street, where they found a few stores and another inn and restaurant.
"Here we go!" Arryn said, her stomach growling as she smelled the food from outside. She looked back at the twins. "I smell beef. I'm sure this is the place you described as being rough around the edges, but I'm risking it."
She slid off Snow and made her way inside with her friends. As they crossed the threshold, Arryn quickly realized the establishment was exactly as described. It was less than family-oriented. Barely dressed women served drinks, and a drunk man stumbled down the steps as he buttoned his pants, a scantily clad woman not far behind him.
"Well, this is just wonderful," Arryn said.
"Mmhmm. Yes, it is," Cathillian said, his eyes wandering around the room.
Arryn smiled and shook her head. "If you want to keep those eyes, I'd suggest keeping them on something safe."
"Please," Corrine said with a yawn. "There's not a single nipple anywhere. Let's just get some food and go to sleep."
Arryn wanted to laugh because she'd never heard Corrine be so blunt and forceful before. She knew the girl was exhausted, and that was fueling her lack
of filter.
"I'm with her," Bast said. "Besides, like we said before, the barkeep keeps it tame downstairs. It's the shit that happens upstairs we want to avoid."
"Ye don't speak fer everybody, lass," Samuel mumbled, and Cathillian chuckled.
Arryn nodded and walked up to the bar. "Hello. My friends and I need a few rooms that haven't been…occupied recently. And food. Lots of food."
The bartender stacked a glass he’d just dried, and looked up, giving Arryn a gentle smile. She had never seen skin as dark as his. The darkness softened his features and made him look like he'd never seen a blemish in his life, though she doubted that to be true, especially in his profession. She imagined a lot of assholes came through, and he was stunning.
"No worries, ma'am. This place is bigger than it looks. Regular rooms are downstairs. We can get you set up and comfortable, and I can have someone bring your food to you." He pointed behind her, and she turned to see a passed-out Corrine in Cathillian's arms. The large cats laid on either side of the door just inside. "She doesn't look like she'd make it through a meal anyway."
Arryn nodded. "Neither one of us will, but we need to try." Turning back to face him, she caught him staring at someone. "Everything okay?"
"Mm. Yes," he said, obviously concentrating on something. He nodded his head in the direction he stared in. "Be careful of that one over there in all black sitting with his friend. He's been eyeballing you since you walked in."
An audible sigh escaped her. "No offense, but in a place like this, I'm not surprised."
His eyes met hers. "None taken. This is my place. I realize it doesn't look like much, but I make sure it stays safe. The women who work here do so by choice. The rules are, they pick. The patrons can look, but they don't touch unless they're invited to buy. I don't take kindly to people taking or touching things or people without permission."
