Fury Rising (Fury Unbound Book 1) (32 page)

“Jason, we have to go.
Now.
” I jumped up. “What we’re looking for is within searching distance.” I started for the door, but before I reached it, Terrance spoke up.

“The Thunderstrike?”

Freeze-frame.

I slowly turned around, searching his face, looking for signs that this might be a setup, but saw none. “How did you know?”

His voice was grave when he answered. “Think about it. I work for the Crystal Guardians—the Greenlings.
They
know about the Thunderstrike, so
we
know. Jerako told me first thing after you went to see him. We’ve been after information about the Order of the Black Mist for some time. That’s why I had disappear, Jason. This uprising started far earlier than anybody realizes. The Greenlings suspected, though, and sent us to infiltrate.”

“That makes sense. Jerako hinted that they’ve been watching the group for a while.” I closed my eyes, focusing on the trace. “They’re coming this way. I don’t know how many, but the Thunderstrike is on the move. It’s within five hundred yards.”

“My guess is they’re going to take it out through the secret entrance and set off an aftershock. The quake wasn’t natural, as you know, and while it could set off aftershocks on its own, it doesn’t seem to have done so.” Terrance looked so grim it scared me.

“They’re out to finish the job, I guess.” I stood, preparing myself for a showdown. “We’d better get ready.”

Tam joined me near the door, but Jason wasn’t quite ready to follow me out.

“Are you going to stand with us?” he asked, turning to Terrance.

Terrance shook his head. “I wish we could, but we’ve managed to infiltrate the group. We can’t be seen with you, I’m sorry. I wish we could help, but all our years of work would come to naught if I stayed and they found out I was a spy. Even if you take out Lyon, there are others, and the group is growing worldwide. We have a chance to learn so much about them in our position.”

“Can you at least give us some advice?” I asked.

After a brief pause, he nodded. “The best advice I can give you is this: Lyon’s ego gets the best of him. I’ve seen it trip him up time and again. If you can trigger it—if you can wound his pride—it will throw him off balance. And he’s a powerful magician, but his specialty is fire. He’s weak when it comes to the other elements. He specialized so narrowly that it’s done him a disservice. Now, please leave before he finds you here. We don’t want him associating you with any of our operations.”

With that, Terrance and his men quickly moved to the back and—pressing one of the bricks—they vanished through a hidden panel that slid open in the wall. I wondered which one of them owned this place, but it was too late to ask.

Jason stood there for another beat, then turned. “Let’s get out of here. We can’t jeopardize their operations.” He headed toward the front of the shop, with Tam and me on his heels.

“How far are they, Fury?”

“Not far, but they probably won’t be able to see us yet if we get out of here now. We could hide and ambush them.” I peeked out the door. No one in sight. As I darted toward the opposite wall, I spied an alcove a few yards to the right. “We can hide there.”

“Question: Do we kill Lyon?” Tam asked it as offhandedly as if he had asked, “Do you want eggs for breakfast?”

“If we can. But our primary goal is to retrieve the Thunderstrike. They can still cause a massive amount of trouble, but at least this will prevent the Greenlings from advising Gaia to force another World Shift.”

We reached the alcove. Whatever this place had been, it was about the size of a study booth at the library without a desk or holoscreen. It would barely fit the three of us if we snuggled in together.

“Let me be in front,” I said. “I need to jump clear in case I have to use my whip.” And with that, I slapped my thigh, the whip springing to life in my hands. It tingled in my fingers, singing as it woke to life. The energy was solid as leather, solid as wood, and felt comforting as it thrummed in my hands. With my left hand, I unsheathed my dagger.

As we slipped inside the niche, I was shivering. Again, the thought of going up against actual humans frightened me—there was a fine line between fighting someone who really was a villain—like the Carver—and fighting someone you arbitrarily decided was your enemy.

The Trace grew louder in my head. I quickly used whisper-speak to ask Tam and Jason, “So, should we attack to the front, or after they pass? He’ll be passing right in front of us.”

“Rear attack would give us an advantage,” Tam said.

“But only if they don’t notice us. If they see us here, we’re stuck. I say go in as soon as they get close enough,” Jason countered.

“That makes sense. I don’t want to be lodged in here if there are enough of them to surround us. Front attack it is, then.” And with that, we fell silent, waiting.

It wasn’t long before we heard the sound of voices echoing down the passage. I tried to place how many people were speaking, but only managed to distinguish three separate voices. Of course, that didn’t mean there weren’t more. I wanted to peek out, but they weren’t close enough yet to engage and the danger that they would see us, too great. It was times like this where I really missed Queet being around.

And then, the Trace began to flash in my mind, a beacon on high alert. I glanced over my shoulder at Tam and Jason, giving them a warning nod toward the corridor. As I tensed, the voices came closer. I tried to pick out what they were saying.

“What do you mean, you’re having second thoughts?” The irritation came through the man’s voice. “You really think you have a choice at this point? We agreed on a course of action, and we’re sticking to it.”

“I just think… I heard there were a number of people hurt in the Trips.”

“Lowlifes, riffraff, and crazies. Just baggage and the city is better off without them. Now shut up or I’ll send you to Weaver.”

There was a muffled protest, then silence again.

I froze, waiting. They weren’t quite close enough. Another few yards. I held my breath and tensed, then, trusting Tam and Jason to be at my back, I leaped out of the alcove, landing in front of three men and two bog-dogs.

“What—?” The center man was tall, with wavy blond hair. He was wearing a long indigo robe, but his eyes struck me the most. They were cruel—glittering, brilliant blue, icy cold with no hint of compassion behind them.

The bog-dogs immediately bristled and one lunged forward. Without a second thought, I brought my whip down against its side. The creatures were deadly predators, and they were so feral that he must have had them under a charm in order to keep them at his side.

The bog-dog, four feet high at the shoulder, met my whip without blinking as it sliced into its skin. Tam and Jason were in the fray now, Tam taking on one of Lyon’s buddies while Jason tackled the other bog-dog.

The bog-dog lunged for my throat and I flipped over its head, grateful for every second I had poured into training at the gym. As I landed, I realized I was in front of Lyon, who was holding the disk. I glanced at it, calculating my chances for a snatch-and-run. My split second of hesitation cost me. He brought up one hand and sent flames pouring out of his fingertips toward me. I began to dodge to the side, only to find myself being launched through the air as the bog-dog turned and bowled into me from behind.

As I landed a few feet away, I realized that the bog-dog had unwittingly saved me from the flames. I leaped to my feet and charged toward Lyon, cracking my whip around to catch his wrist. It put a stop to another bout of flames coming my way as I yanked hard, throwing him off balance.

Jason shouted, and I glanced over to see him slicing into his bog-dog with his blade. As the dog fell to the floor, he raised his hand and called out in a loud voice. The next moment, a vortex of air came swirling down the hall at Lyon. I pulled my whip back and dodged again, turning to see Tam bringing down one of Lyon’s compatriots.

Lyon shouted as the vortex hit him, sweeping him off his feet. He dropped the Thunderstrike as he tried to keep himself from falling. I dashed toward it. The bog-dog I had been fighting was racing toward me and I slapped my whip back on my thigh and snatched up the disk in my right hand as I turned to meet the creature with my dagger, driving it deep into the skull of the bog-dog.

I managed to hit it directly on the head, and the creature staggered back. At that moment, Tam appeared from behind, thrusting his sword deep into the back of the bog-dog. Confident he could finish it off, I turned just in time to see Lyon getting to his feet, the look on his face terrifying. He was full-on cracker-cat and crazy-eyed, and he raised his hands, aiming them toward me. This time, a ball of fire began to form between his fingers as a wicked grin spread across his face.

“Oh crap,” I whispered, backing away. There was nothing to hide behind, nothing to protect me, and while I worked with fire, that didn’t make me immune to it. He was too far away for me to attack with my dagger, and I couldn’t let the Thunderstrike get away.

I turned on one heel, breaking into a full-fledged run. Luckily, I could blur myself and speed up. I headed toward the nearest intersection where we had met Terrance. If I could get to the center, it would act as a crossroads and I could shift over.

Lyon was moving after me, and I realized he was keeping pace. Double crap. There was something about him that seemed familiar and as I ran, it hit me—
he
was a Theosian, too.

“Fury!” Tam’s voice echoed behind me.

I didn’t have time to look back. Instead, I just kept running, trying to veer from side to side. I was coming to the intersection and as I skidded into the center, I brought my hands overhead, the disk between them.

Lyon let out a shout, sending a ball of flame directly at me. As the world began to fade and I shifted to the Crossroads, I realized the ground was shaking beneath my feet. The Thunderstrike must have been set to trigger off a quake and somehow, my actions had activated it. I tried to stop my shift, but it was too late. As the fireball engulfed the area where I had been standing, everything blurred, and the Thunderstrike and I landed on the Crossroads.

I blinked, shaking as I landed on my knees. I dropped the disk in front of me, staring at it in horror. I had no idea how bad the quake was that I had inadvertently triggered and could only hope that somehow, by shifting over, I might have negated some of the impact.

Then I remembered Tam and Jason were stuck back there with a power-crazed magician and at least one of his toadies, in the middle of an earthquake, and the panic really did hit.

As I slowly pushed myself to my feet and retrieved the disk, I prayed that Hecate was paying attention. She always knew when I shifted to the Crossroads, and I hoped this was one of the times when she’d come checking on me, given she knew what I had set out to do.

I looked around. The Crossroads were active tonight. The spirits were running wild—I could feel them swirling past. Wondering if it had anything to do with the quake, I decided to wait for a bit before heading back. For one thing, if I crossed over right now, I’d wind up back in the Tunnels and I had no desire to face Lyon again. I wasn’t sure I could hold onto the Thunderstrike if he tried to get it back.

I headed over to one of the rocks by the side of the Crossroads to wait. As I sat there, a familiar tap on the shoulder made me jump.

“Hey, Fury.”

“Queet! Oh thank gods you showed up. Did Jason find you?”
I knew there hadn’t been enough time for Jason and Tam to get out of the Tunnels, but I couldn’t think of any other way he could have known.

“No, actually. Hecate just contacted me and told me to meet you here. She’s on the way.”

Breathing a sign of relief, I leaned forward, my shoulders slumping as I rested my elbows on my knees as I examined the disk. It wasn’t large—only about the size of a small dinner plate, but the damage it could do was stupefying. This disk had been used as a weapon of mass destruction during the Weather Wars, and now, at this moment, I was the only one standing between a reenactment of the disaster and the world.

“Queet, can you…never mind. You can’t.”
I wanted him to go check on Jason and Tam, but he couldn’t get into the Tunnels. Worry eating at me, I cautiously turned the disk over, looking for whatever had activated the quake, but it was smooth, with red lights running along the edge, and I couldn’t figure out how Lyon had managed to program it.

“They’ll be okay, Fury. They’re strong and resourceful.”

“How did you know what I was thinking?”

“I know how you feel about them—both of them.”

“Oh.”

I tried to believe he was right. Tam and Jason were both strong, it was true. And Lyon only had one henchman left with him when I had shifted out. The bog-dogs were dead. Surely, they would manage to survive.

“They have to,” I whispered to myself.

The faint drone of a funeral march reached my ears. I shifted, struggling to see who was approaching. It wasn’t Hecate—she didn’t go in for processions, really.

Another moment, and a funeral parade came through. I had seen them before, out on the Crossroads. They trailed past, ignoring me, a group of mourners whom I knew were spirits carrying a ghostly coffin to the center of the juncture. They were dressed in veils, wearing colorful clothes, and they sang and danced as they followed the coffin. Once in the middle of the Crossroads, they set it down at the center and placed a handful of coins on the lid, then stood back to wait.