Torrents (DROPLETS Trilogy Book 3) (41 page)

     Darkness and water swirled, tugging at my hair and dress in a blinding fury of uncontrollable power. Gathering my feet beneath me, my throat contracted as another song reached my lips. The warrior was coming toward me, his eyes filled with a blood lust I hadn’t seen in a long time. The siren reared and when his blades flashed in the night, I retaliated.

    
Come on, Zale!
I taunted him even as he threw me to the ground again.

     His body slammed into mine, his fists missing my face by mere inches. When I dodged a blow to the right, he cried out when his knuckles hit the rough stone. A well placed kick to his side released me from his hold, and when I scrambled back to my feet, my blades sliced through the air toward him.

     He was fast, but I was too. Skill was on his side, but my new transformation from Morven’s blade had left me with a speed to match any merman’s. Combined with my voice, I was somehow holding on longer than anyone who had ever dared to cross Zale.

     As though he could hear my thoughts, his foot connected with my stomach when I leapt into the air, sending me reeling backward. I gasped, barely keeping the song aloft. With one hand clutching my stomach, I stood once more. A following blow glanced off my chest, then another shot forward, hitting me directly in the throat.

     All song left, thought and feeling collided in a world of pain.

     I was knocked to the ground, my mouth hanging open and nothing pouring forth. Gasping for air, I heaved and struggled to breathe, as the water rushed over my lips.

     The siren was dying away as he came at me again, his blades shimmering like wavering moonlight across an angry ocean, and I knew it would be the end. He was the only one who could stop Morven, stop me. Only the warrior in him would be able to save everyone.

     “Stop him!” Morven yelled, and for the first time a hint of worry rose within his voice. The siren recoiled before attempting to launch forth with a powerful outpour of song, but no sound came out of my mouth.

     For one last moment, I froze uncertain of what I was giving up, afraid of death. I would never see him again, and even as he approached and his blades rose into the air, instinct took over.

     His arm sliced downward and I feigned to the left, the blade caught the back of my dress, tearing through fabric and flesh. I screamed as a new fire scoured from the middle of my back to the bottom of my ribs. My legs trembled beneath me, and for a moment I expected his blades to slash across my flesh again, as I hit the stone roof.

     The puddle beneath my cheek pressed into my eyes and against my lips, but the image of his feet near me was enough to send a shiver through my body. The siren was no longer singing, weaving her tune of destruction, she was afraid and recoiling. I wanted to cry out to him, to tell him to stop—tell him it was only me. But there was no way to make him understand. 

     Unexpectedly, he turned away and left me lying on the ground. Momentarily, the relief swept over me before the fog began to filter into my mind once more. My master wanted me to control him, all I needed was to make him mine.

     Zale paced the roof top, his intent clear as he crouched lower, stepping carefully toward Morven. His back was to me, the muscles in his shoulders taught. Morven’s eyes kindled with blood lust, shining in anger and his mouth twitched as he sized up his opponent.

     The warrior’s hands trembled, giving away his anticipation. He was ready.

     Morven edged along the side of the wall, the castle shores to his back. A tick had taken residence in his jaw, his fingers fumbled with the jacket he wore, the garment fell to the wayside as he straightened to his full height. His shoulders shifted and his eyes rested on the warrior he had created, as his blades came into being along his arms. I couldn’t help but notice how he was missing one along his right arm. Even as the thought came to mind, my shoulder seemed to prick with a fire I couldn’t contain.

     “Marina,” he called, and though I wanted to block it out, I was looking at him. “To me.”

     The pain never ceased, but my mind was controlling all of me in a way I couldn’t understand. Pushing to my feet, I groaned at the aching in my back. I hurried to his side, blades drawn.

     With a quick side step, Zale turned and ran toward the cornering wall. I thought he was going to leap over the edge to his death when he grazed the top with his feet. He darted for three steps along the edge in our direction and soared through the pounding water, his blades coming down upon us.

     And so it began.

     Everything blurred in an instant, movement turned to smoke, dark and clouded, billowing all around us in water and painful slashes, where thought and feeling evaporated into nothing. My dress stuck to my skin, trapping me at times, as I sliced toward Zale’s legs while Morven attempted to reach his chest. Yet, the warrior was relentless, his power and skill keeping us at bay.

     Together we shifted in a group across the roof, our assault on the warrior pushing him back, but never breaking through his defense. Trying a different tactic, I kicked out low, knocking his legs out from under him, Morven’s blades slashed down toward his body, but he deflected the blow and rolled over his back. He retreated a few more steps, edging away from the walls to prevent himself from being trapped.

     When one of Morven’s blades glanced off his arm, he ducked and nearly placed his throat in the direct pathway of my own. He regained his balance and moved with caution. Feigning left and right, Morven and I shifted, as shadows flickering beneath the trees.

     I started to realize a pattern in the way he moved. Waiting for the right moment, I braced myself, getting ready to slide. Shifting his feet, his leg came up to hit Morven in the chest. The blow knocked Morven back a few steps, but I didn’t see what else happened as I was already sliding beneath Zale’s unbalanced body.

     Water sprayed to the sides, and he spun to look in my direction, when Morven grabbed his shoulder from behind and brought his blades down along his arm. His eyes closed in pain, and for the moment, I was frozen in a crouch, hair glued to my shoulders.

     Fire kindled and a grimace ripped his lips apart. Morven’s blades flashed behind his shoulder once more and as they swung toward him, I tried to cry out, but nothing came to my throat. At the last instant, he reached up and grasped Morven’s arm, one of the blades cutting into his hand. The water turned to deep crimson as they struggled. With a groan of mingled pain, he pulled on the arm behind him, flipping the Hyven leader over his shoulder and onto the roof.

     I was a swirling fury as I leapt to my feet, the fog taking control, I fought to keep the master alive. He was struggling to stand once more as Zale brought his arms up. Without thought or feeling, I leapt onto his back, my legs wrapping around his waist and blades ready to slice into the back of his neck, then everything slowed.

     I saw each drop of rain as it fell before us, each breath an eternity.

     Morven regained his feet, his back hunched as he sidled away. One of my hands held the warrior’s head steady, while the other raised into the air preparing for the plunge. His arm shot as if from nowhere, and wrapped around my wrist. I drew back, tightening the grip I had on him around his waist with my legs.

     We were waging the same battle we had before. He was hesitating, wanting to hurt me, but afraid to go too far. And I was under Morven’s control, my orders resounding in my mind. I was meant to bring him under my power, to fight him with all I had.

    
Break him,
Morven’s command streaked across my mind, and I tried to clear my eyes but the fog threatened to take hold.

     I tightened my grip around the warrior’s waist, my legs pushing with all their strength, even as his wounded hand withheld my wrist. Struggling, he inhaled sharply, and I concentrated all my strength keeping my hand from moving forward when a flash caught my attention.

     It was Morven, limping off to the side, one arm bracing his leg. He sidled up to a deep puddle and after he bent over, I didn’t have to see what was in his hand when he straightened. His eyes gleamed as they met mine. There was something maniacal about them, my stomach dropped. His lips curled back in blood lust, if my hand had been free it would have shaken with uncontrollable fear.

     My chest heaving against Zale’s back, I tried to voice some form of sound, but there was nothing.

     Morven raised the dagger toward his shoulder and that’s when I knew Zale saw it. He stopped moving, the grip on my arm suddenly stilled. There was only one way out of this for him, he wasn’t going to like it, and I cringed to think of what might happen. My orders kept me pinned to his back, but if he could cast me aside, he would be safe.

     Gathering all the power I could behind my scratched throat, I leaned in next to his ear.

    
Do it.
It came out in a garbled rasp, but a tune all the same.

     Morven cocked the dagger backward as Zale braced our engaged bodies. The gleaming blade soared forward, he leapt backward falling toward the roof until my back shattered into the stone. His body collapsed on mine, and when my head snapped backward a crack exploded, sending a shooting pain across my skull.

     Everything went black, the fog disappearing. When sight regathered, I had to blink the stars from my eyes to see what was really happening before me.

     Zale and Morven were moving in a sort of dance around one another. Their bodies dodging and diving in the most violent way I had ever seen. Blades flashed. At times they came to a stalemate, with their arms locked and feet scrambling through the puddles to gain ground.

     Morven grunted, breaking free of Zale’s hold and sliced his blades along the warrior’s chest. The shirt tore, revealing a gaping wound and I wanted to cry out to him. He recovered, hooking his foot around Morven’s leg to throw the Hyven leader off balance. With a grunt, Morven escaped, and stumbled backward only to connect another blow beneath Zale’s arms and slice at his leg.

     The warrior gasped, and in a whirlwind the battle continued as it had before. I could hardly see which arms belonged to whom. They were smoke, dancing and unfurling in the midst of one another. Muscles strained and rippled in the torrential rain, their feet slipped across the stones scattering shards of icy water about the roof.

     Their cries and grunts pulled on me, one on my heart, the other on my mind. I was torn and couldn’t move, even if I wanted to.

     A shattering blow connected with the side of Zale’s head. Before he had time to recover, Morven kicked him in the chest, knocking him to the ground, his head snapping back. I winced as he tried to regain his footing and was kicked down once more.

     Rushing water gushed over my master’s chest as he strode forward. The dark gray in his eyes deepened with a mix of horrifying hatred and yearning, as he honed in on the warrior, gradually regaining his balance. I had never seen Zale move so slowly. As he crawled to his hands and knees, his gaze met mine.

     Through the rain, the mask was gone, replaced by the man I knew so well. My heart thundered, trying to break free of my chest, and before I knew what was happening, my fingers were straining across the jagged roof to where the dagger lay.

     I crawled on my belly, the water pushing down through my dress with a vice of frozen ice. Breath lost, I fingered the hilt until it fell into my palm. I struggled to look through the rain, my hands shaking.

     Zale had regained his footing, holding Morven at bay, his arms seeming to struggle beneath the exhaustion of his muscles. He was getting pushed back near the wall and when the backs of his heels touched the stone, he grimaced. Morven continued to advance.

     Everything slowed down to one breath, one drop of rain coursing down the side of my nose and over my chin.

     I saw it all. The way his eyes left Morven and met mine. He was no longer the warrior, he was the man I had met on the island. Desperation raged with fear and I fell into his gaze, before it shifted to the dagger and back again. I knew what had to be done.

     Hating myself, even as my legs pulled my body to my aching knees, the dagger rose on its own to my shoulder. There was one chance, one try. I was no longer the siren, no longer a mermaid; simply Lissie, forever bound to the warrior.

     Holding the dagger exactly as he taught me, I watched his gaze for the right moment. His eyes never left Morven, and still, he nodded. The dagger soared from my grasp, leaving my fingers in empty abandonment as I hated its target.

     The blade sliced through the air, its intent to hit Patrick directly in the chest, when everything suddenly changed.

     The warrior darted beneath Morven’s arm, spinning around until his back was to me. Their positions switched, the blade clipped Morven’s shoulder, slicing through the thick, dark fabric covering his chest and ripping across the skin beneath.

      When my master turned to me in surprise, it was all the warrior needed. With a guttural cry he sprinted forward, his arms wrapping around Morven’s chest as he tackled him.

     The back of the Hyven leader’s waist hit the stone wall and together they tumbled over the edge of the castle into blank nothingness.