On Wicked Ground (Solsti Prophecy Book 4) (28 page)

Calling on his preternatural speed, he lunged at the nearest one, piercing its belly with his sword…only his sword seemed to slice through a cloud. He met no resistance. No blood spilled, though his aim was true. The creatures cackled.

“Oh no.” Alina dug her fingers into his arm. “They’re not real?”

“Oh, they’re real. Unfortunately.”

“What are they?”

The tallest wraith stepped forward and yanked Alina from his side, seemingly with no effort. Caine’s jaw dropped. How the fuck were the creatures able to hold on to her…when his sword passed right through them?

She kicked and twisted but the thing held her tightly, with her arms behind her back.

“No!” Caine roared. He charged for her, but two more creatures latched on to his arms, extinguishing his fireball as if it were nothing. A bellow started low in his throat and he yanked against their hold. Hell if he’d let them leave so much as a scratch on her. But as hard as he tried, he couldn’t shake them. He glanced down at the red spindly fingers clutching him. They appeared translucent, but somehow their grip was like a vise. Tiny lights flared within their centers, lights that seemed to travel for a scant few inches and then wink out only to be replaced with a new flicker of light that traveled in another direction.

The effect was of a macabre cluster of orange flickers within red bodies. Not of this world and yet, completely capable of restraining them.

“What do you want with us?” Caine snarled.

“That is our question to you, demon,” the tall one intoned. His voice was low and gravelly, like an old boulder forced to move after centuries in one spot.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. You brought us down here.” Caine studied the creature, who he guessed was the leader, more closely.

Besides his height, the creature had two swords strapped to his back and a blade strapped to each thigh. These were visible to Caine because, well, he could see right through the guy.

A warrior? But the clothing that hung off their forms was tattered, and their faces weren’t of the living. Drawn, gaunt lips pulled back over sharp teeth, and dark eyes glowed with red rings.

Not living. Yet very real.

“We were awakened,” the leader hissed. “For the second time in a moon.”

Awakened?
Warnings shot down Caine’s spine. “This is our first visit here.”

Alina’s eyes were huge. “Caine?” Her words were drawn out, as if she were trying to hide another meaning in her cadence. “Remember where we are?”

“In the middle of nowhere, I thought—”

“No.” She shook her head. “There was something Gin said the other day, about when she was here—”

“Quiet, fae!” The leader shook her and she slammed her lips shut with a defiant glare.

Caine knew that look. It was the same look she’d had in the meeting when she hadn’t liked the way Arawn was speaking to her dad. The hair on Caine’s arms stood up as her power built in the air.

“Alina, wait,” Caine growled, and turned to the leader. “Let her go. Take me.” He had no idea what these things were or what they could do to him, but he needed Alina safe. His life was expendable. Hers was not. No doubts and no negotiations.

“No!” Alina yelled. “Let him go. I can be of more use than him.”

“What?” Caine turned incredulous eyes on his little Solsti. “You’re not a trained fighter. We don’t know what these things can—”

A roar so loud his eardrums buzzed filled the cavern. A hot gust of wind blasted through the dark space and two syllables shook the ground beneath them. “Silence!”

The last hissed sound died with the wind, and Caine met Alina’s eyes
. Don’t do something foolish
. He willed her silently, knowing she couldn’t hear his thoughts but wishing like hell she could. Wishing she was his other half, if only to save her by doing so.

The leader’s low rough voice filled the cave. “For centuries, we have been trapped. Hidden. Restless. Very few from above have ever ventured close to us.”

Above?
Caine stared at the thing and his mind flipped through every beast in his vast, image-filled memory.
Centuries-old warriors…underground?

“Recently we were disturbed in a similar way. A force beckoned to us, but when we pursued, it evaded us. Today, you dare us again. But now, there is nowhere for you to run.”

The words fell like static on Caine’s ears as he tried to connect the dots. There was something he was missing…what the hell was it?
Recently disturbed…
His gaze snapped to Alina, who mouthed
Gin.

Gin. Mathias. Caine’s breath rushed out in a sharp exhale as the Hunter’s last mission debriefing rushed back to him. Gin had been taken prisoner. Mathias and Ria had worked to rescue her, but not before Gin had used her fire power.

Gin had been held captive near here and, upon escape, the three of them had reported shrieks and wailing voices pursuing them. Unable to be substantiated, the noises were relegated to a side note in their journey. But they had run from this same valley.

A valley where an army had been slaughtered centuries ago, and its dead were said to lie in wait to take revenge.

The crumbling white tower of Ravenbane loomed in his mind. Holy shit.

He hadn’t given much thought to the old rumors when Arawn had dispatched their little group here. But now…

Caine eyed the red-hued leader and decided to go with the old stories. At the very least, it could work in their favor to play the warrior-honor card. “We did not intend to disturb you, warrior.”

“Your words are meaningless, demon.” The tall one released Alina only to hand her off to a comrade next to him. She squirmed and tried to elbow him, but her arm passed through him.

The leader paced, or rather, floated, in the center of the enormous group of undead warriors. There were ten thousand, if the rumor was true. “No one leaves us. We are greatly displeased that the last disturbance went unpunished.”

“Whatever retribution you seek, take it with me,” Caine said. “Disturbing you was not our intent.”

The leader whirled on him, mouth stretching in a wide
O
. “And what did you think would happen when you tore up the earth?” He jabbed a finger into Caine’s chest. “Ripping it wide and then pushing it back together, as if that will repair the damage you did?”

“I did that.” Alina’s voice carried strong and clear across the space.

“You, fae? You claim responsibility?” the leader snarled.

“I do.” Her chin jutted and the tough-girl attitude shone in her eyes.

“Alina, no—” Caine’s shout was strangled as he tried to get free and the guards’ hands went around his neck.

“The price is death. You will join us in our eternal restlessness, female.” The leader drew back his hand, and the tiny glimmers in his palm converged to a point. His arm started a forward trajectory—

“No goddamn way,” Alina hissed. Rocks and clumps of dirt rained down from above. All across the cavern, debris fell onto the warriors. Fell
through
them, since they weren’t corporeal. Her familiar energy signature filled the space.

Everyone froze.

The leader’s palm was raised, his expression incredulous as he stared at Alina. “Can it be…after all these years? No one but us can move the ground except for…the Solsti?” He drew the word out with exaggerated slowness.

She nodded, eyes flashing.

The leader extinguished whatever was going on in his hand. “Solsti. It is true.” And in one swift motion, he knelt at her feet.

Caine’s jaw dropped in blatant shock as the entire group did the same. The air in the cavern swished with the downward movement of thousands of crimson nebulous forms. The guards who had been holding him released him and dropped to mimic their leader’s action.

Caine ran to scoop Alina in his arms. “Holy gods.” He clutched her tightly, needing to feel her warmth. “Are you okay?”

She flung her arms around his neck and buried her face in his chest. “Yes. You?”

Relief sluiced through his veins. That was too close. He narrowed his eyes. “I’m fine. And don’t you dare go trying to save me anymore.”

“It looks like I just did.” She pulled back and smirked. “And I’ll do it again if I need to.”

“Goddamn it, woman. You make it hard to protect you if you run straight into danger.” And if he wasn’t there to save her? He wouldn’t even consider that possibility. He had the fleeting thought that Arawn was right to order the sisters to stay put.

She shook her head. “Danger found us.”

He cast a glance to the mass of bodies encircling them. Every head bowed and every knee bent. He’d thought the last thing he expected was an army of undead fighters. But no.
This
was the last thing he could have ever dreamed. That this same army would bow to a Solsti. He ran a hand through his hair. “Hell, the old stories don’t mention these guys showing allegiance to anyone.”

The leader cleared his throat. Caine was past being surprised and let the oddity of an undead warrior needing to clear his throat slide by.

“If I may speak, my lady?” he asked, keeping his dead, darkened gaze on the ground.

“Yes, you may,” Alina said, with not an ounce of fear or hesitation. Caine had to hand it to her—either she truly had banished her fear, or she was doing a hell of a job hiding it.

“I am called Zhaber and I speak for all of us. Forgive us for our earlier actions. We did not recognize you. It has been so long since the Solsti last walked the realms we had begun to think they were never coming back.”

Alina’s eyes narrowed. “Wait. You were alive the last time the Solsti existed?”

He nodded. “Yes. We were known as the Makara demons. Our people, down to the last man, were all slain in battle thousands of years ago. A battle won by the Karishi demon clan. They no longer exist, and as our loss carried the shame of our species end, we remained both unable to move to the afterlife and unable to seek revenge on those who defeated us.”

“I’m sorry,” Alina said. “But what does that have to do with me?”

“Before the battle that resulted in our demise, the Solsti worked to defeat a monster named Saykon who strove to dominate all the realms.”

Caine nodded. “That part of the story is well known today.”

“Saykon took all our young.” Zhaber’s tone turned harsh, adding a coldness to the gravel of his voice. “He had studied our species, determined they would make excellent warriors, and he sought to hone them into his mercenaries. To break their minds, so he could maintain a military state with him as the dictator. He’d also planned a breeding program, to keep a constant pipeline of soldiers from the strongest of the Makara. Every single juvenile, hundreds in total. Gone in a night.” He paused. “When the Solsti defeated him, all our young were returned to us. Most were able to recover from Saykon’s training and torture. For that, we swore allegiance to them as long as we had power in our bodies.”

Alina sucked in a breath, wonder on her face. “I’ve grown up hearing the story of the Solsti and Saykon, but never this part.”

“And also the stories of the battle of Ravenbane and the dead warriors trapped here,” added Caine. “But it’s just stories passed down.” He shook his head. “No one ever mentioned a connection to the Solsti or what happened to your young.”

“There is no one left to tell our history,” the leader mused. “So we have become an old tale of a long-dead people. Nothing more.”

“That ends now.” Alina squared her shoulders. “You may not be alive, but you can still claim honor and redemption. There’s a new threat on her way. You can help me and my sisters fight her.”

Caine stared at her, awed. This tiny female who had surprised him at every turn continued to blast holes in his perception of her. More than an orphan, more than a thief, even more than a powerful legend…her heart was noble and true just as her body was tempting and luscious. In that moment his thoughts converged with utter clarity. He would protect her to the death, and love her until she was too sated to move. There could be no other woman for him.

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY
-T
WO

A
LINA
’
S
VEINS
BUZZED
WITH
POWER
. She had successfully used her ability to do her bidding. And somehow went from falling into the earth to holding an army at her command. She felt no fear of these warriors. In a way, she sympathized with their plight. Though their paths were not the same, she understood being trapped underground. She understood losing years of one’s existence.

And as odd as this was, it also felt completely right. She sensed no malice from the fighters. Steadfast loyalty radiated from their wavering forms—a strange contrast—but one she didn’t doubt.

The leader bowed his head and placed a hand over his heart. “Consider us prepared.” And with a whoosh of red swirls, the thousands of undead rose up and rushed around the cavern before converging at one end. Their myriad bodies formed a crimson circle that glowed brightly and shrank, then disappeared.

Alina stared, jaw unhinged. “Um…”

“Guess they aren’t much for idle chit-chat.” Caine caressed her back and she leaned into his muscular chest, absorbing the delicious scent of him. He always gave off waves of lethal strength but now she felt equal to him. Her fingertips still tingled with the traces of her power. She was glad to have him with her as they’d tumbled down, but she felt more than prepared to carry out her secret plan to ensure his safety.

“Guess not. Now, let’s find a way out of here.” She looked around the dark space and was only able to make out a cluster of glow-worms on the ground near her feet.

Caine’s hand stilled on her lower back. “First, how about you tell me what the hell you were doing before these Makara demons knew what you were?”

She looked at him blankly.

“When you spouted off that this is all your doing? And then gave everyone a dirt shower?” A glimmer of concern sliced through the anger in his eyes.