Warrior's Rise (19 page)
Authors: Brieanna Robertson
Darien shook his head as if to clear his mind, then focused back on Logan’s wound and closed his eyes. “Uh… Stop bleeding, cauterize, and heal completely.”
A platinum, glowing light radiated from Darien’s hand and Logan let out a smothered bellowing growl as, if it was possible, his wound burned even worse than before. He turned a deadly glower to Darien. “Did you have to say
cauterize?”
he roared. Darien flinched, but the pain quickly subsided and the bleeding stopped as the wound closed, leaving only a semi-tender patch of flesh. Logan let his breath out slowly and he braced his elbows on his knees, letting his shoulders sag and his head hang. “I’m too old for this,” he muttered.
Darien shook his head. “I’m sorry, I’m not really sure how to use my healing powers yet. Tiyenen told me I had to be specific when I was healing someone. I didn’t—”
Logan reached out and placed his hand on Darien’s shoulder, giving it a squeeze. He met his eyes. “Darien, thank you for saving my life.” He gave a weak smile. “For, what, the second and third time?”
A wealth of emotion passed through Darien’s blue eyes and he flung his arms around Logan, hugging him hard. Logan was taken aback, but he brought one arm up around him in return. He closed his eyes and relished the warmth Darien’s embrace held. He wasn’t even sure of the last time someone had truly cared about him. Even all of his friends were more bar buddies than real friends. He had been, more or less, flying solo his entire life. Having a wingman was a nice feeling.
“She’ll be back,” Logan said as Darien pulled away. “We have to warn the others.”
“What are we going to do?”
He sighed. “Willow’s people need to learn how to fight or they’re going to be obliterated.” He pointed at Darien’s watch. “What time is it?”
“A little after five. It should be dawn soon.”
Logan nodded. “All right, I don’t know about you, but I don’t know jack about medieval combat, or military strategy.”
Darien shook his head. “That’s not my forte either. Always been more of Doug and Lucy’s.”
Logan blinked and looked at Darien in curiosity as a smidgen of an idea started in his mind. “Wait, what did you just say?”
Darien met his eyes. “Well, Lucy knows more about medieval weapons, combat techniques and anything else that has to do with that era than anyone I’ve ever met. And you’ve heard Doug. He’s always trying to find loop holes in the military actions executed in
Star Wars.”
Logan’s eyes narrowed. “Colt has all those fantasy movies also, doesn’t he? So that I could saturate my brain with the culture and maybe grow a clue.”
Darien chuckled and nodded. “Aki can’t do much by way of combat training, but she is a pretty decent cook. She could provide food for all the men we’re going to have to teach.”
Logan slid Darien a sly smile, knowing that he had caught onto his plan. “You and your friends know more about this stuff than anyone.”
Darien nodded. “We have to hurry. We need to bring them back here before Miss Willow wakes up. If she finds out what we’re doing before we do it, she’ll flip.”
Logan got to his feet. “We don’t have any time to waste. Let’s go.”
Chapter Nineteen
“Crap, Darien, how are we supposed to get back to the camp?” Logan whispered as they slunk through the Oregon Vortex and past the guard station to the parking lot.
“Miss Willow’s car,” Darien replied.
Logan frowned. “How do you propose we get in, Sherlock?”
Darien smirked. “Her trunk lock is busted. All you have to do is stick something pointy in it and jiggle. It’ll come loose.”
Logan watched as Darien expertly popped it with a sturdy stick. “How did you know that?”
“I watched her do that last year when she’d accidentally locked her keys in the car.” Darien jumped in the back of the Jeep and began to crawl over the seats to the front.
“Okay, great, but unless you know where she hides a spare set of keys, we’re still screwed from where I stand,” Logan said as he went in after him.
Darien flopped down into the driver’s seat and fished around down by the pedals. “We’ll hotwire it.”
Logan’s eyes widened. “You’re gonna steal it? Do you even know how to hotwire a car?”
Darien met his eyes as he found the bunch of wires and tugged at them. “Do you?”
Logan raised an eyebrow. “Well… yeah, but—”
Darien shrugged. “Great. You tell me what to do and I’ll do it. That way, if we get caught, your butt is covered and you won’t end up violating your probation, or whatever.”
Logan couldn’t help but chuckle at the situation he currently found himself in. He and his eighteen-year-old half-brother, who he’d just discovered that he had, were stealing a woman’s car on their way back to recruit a bunch of kids to help train an army of fairies to fight a war. It didn’t get any weirder than this.
He quickly instructed Darien on how to hotwire the car and soon they were speeding back towards camp, racing the sunrise and breaking more traffic laws than he even wanted to think about. The sun was just rising when they barreled into the kids’ cabin.
Their less than stealthy entrance woke Aki up immediately and she sat up with a start, blinking at them with bleary eyes. She frowned and groped for her glasses. “Darien?” she mumbled. She shoved her glasses on and gasped when she saw Logan. “You’re all right!” she exclaimed. She made to leap out of bed, but must have forgotten that she was in the top bunk, because she toppled over the edge and landed in an ungraceful heap on the floor.
Darien’s eyes widened. “Aki!” he cried as he flew to her side. “Are you all right? What are you doing?”
Colt sat up, his hair sticking out in every possible direction. “Wha’sss goin’ on?” he slurred.
Aki pushed herself into a standing position and pointed at Logan.
“Counselor Logan!” Lucy’s voice shouted suddenly. She flew out of her bed and ran to him, throwing her arms around his waist.
Logan grunted because his midsection was still slightly sore, but he didn’t push her away.
“Oh my gosh! When we heard that Miss Willow went somewhere with you, and Darien I thought you’d had to go to the hospital! I was so worried!” She pulled away from Logan and looked over at Darien. “Darien—”
He reached out and pulled her into his arms, holding her close. “I’m fine, Lucy. We’re fine.”
“What’s going on?” Doug muttered, joining the conversation.
“Look, we don’t have a lot of time,” Logan said. “Lucy, you know your dragon warrior legend? And the Avari fairies?”
She moved out of Darien’s embrace and nodded.
“It’s all real.” There, that oughta do it.
Lucy, as well as all of the others, stared and blinked.
Logan waved his hands. “Hello? Did I stutter? It’s all real! Willow’s a fairy queen and I was poisoned by an evil heinous wench, and then I was just stabbed! And we have to train an army because they’re going to all be slaughtered!”
Colt raised an eyebrow. “Run that by us again?”
Logan huffed and tried to centralize his rambling, incoherent thoughts. “The Avari fairy legend is real!” he tried again. “Willow is a fairy queen and there’s a portal that can transport us into her realm. That war between the Avari and the Supporo is still going on, and that evil woman who poisoned me is going to try and attack Willow’s people, except they don’t know squat about combat! That’s why we need your help!”
“You were poisoned?” Doug questioned. “I thought you had an allergic reaction.”
“Is this like a role playing game?” Aki asked.
Logan let out a frustrated growl. They didn’t have time for this! He focused his attention on Lucy. “Lucy, you need to listen to me. Darien and I are brothers.”
Her eyes widened and she looked up at Darien.
He nodded. “We just found out.”
“And we have a shot at winning this war if we train these people right because we are both…” He struggled for the name. It was eluding him, as always. He waved his hand. “We’re Alpha Beta Kappas.”
Darien frowned.
Colt blinked, then frowned. “You’re going to win a war because you and Darien are frat boys?”
Logan shook his head. “No. Um… Venti Chais.”
Colt’s frown deepened. “You’re a large, caffeinated beverage?”
“Alveda d’Kai!” Darien shouted. “Dang, Logan, get it right, would you?”
Lucy gasped. “Alveda d’Kai? You and Logan?”
Colt snorted. “Gimme a break. Come on, what kind of game are we playing?”
Logan heaved a sigh. “Darien, do you still have that mark on your back, or has it faded?”
Darien turned to his friends and lifted his shirt. A collective gasp came from everyone and Lucy shrieked.
“It’s real!” she cried. “Oh my gosh! The legend is real!”
Logan rolled his eyes. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. Now, we don’t have much time and we need your help!” He fixed everyone with a mischievous look. “Does everyone want to take part in something better than a role playing game?”
There was one second of silence and then the room exploded into activity as all of the kids started to get dressed and get their things together.
Lucy looked from Darien to Logan and back again. She smiled up at Darien with nothing short of adoration in her eyes. “I should have known,” she murmured. “You’re both too strong to be human.”
Darien grinned and tucked back some of her wild, blonde hair. He leaned down and whispered something in her ear that made her gasp again and press close as she gazed up at him in wonderment.
Logan smiled to himself. No doubt he’d just told her he was part Avari also. As if she needed even more reasons to worship him. He clapped his hands. “Come on, guys, we need to get a move on. We have an armory to plunder. Colt, let me see your collection of DVDs, would you?”
Colt slung a bag onto his bed and Logan rummaged through it.
The Princess Bride,
all three
Lord of the Rings…
He passed on
Harry Potter
because the entire premise was based around magic, which was something none of them actually had.
Willow…
He frowned. Willow? He picked that one up and studied it. It was about a dwarf… He preferred his Willow, but he snatched the movie anyway. He picked up a movie called
Labyrinth…
Whoa! David Bowie in purple spandex! Yeah, he was going to pass on that one.
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Timeline,
he grabbed anything that would help him out with strategy. He even grabbed
300
since that was probably the kind of odds all of them were going to have.
He handed his selection of movies to Darien, along with the portable DVD player, then headed out of the cabin.
“Where are you going?” Darien called. “We have to go get the weapons out of the shed.”
Logan nodded. “I know. I’ll be right back.” He smirked. “I’m going to go get my gun.”
* * * *
Willow’s heart was racing and, though she tried to remain calm, panic was quickly making her mind turn fuzzy. Where were Logan and Darien? She’d fallen asleep next to Logan, enjoying the feeling of being close to someone warm and strong, but he’d been gone when she’d awakened. And now she couldn’t find him… Or Darien…And she and Tiyenen had just found a circle of Cyrcinus’ dead warriors lying on the forest floor close to where the portal to the human world was, along with a discarded bow, quiver of arrows and a sword. There was a bloody dagger lying in the middle of the clearing, but no body near it.
“Whoever did this was amazing,” Tiyenen mused as he crouched over the troop of dead men. “They’re, like, laid out in a pattern, like they fell where they stood. Whoever took them down had to have been incredibly fast.”
Willow spun. “I don’t care, T!” she cried. “How they’re dead doesn’t matter to me! I just want to know where my men are!”
Tiyenen rose and arched an eyebrow. “You think one of them could have done this?”
She couldn’t be sure. Was it possible for someone to be able to shoot with that kind of precision? When they had no prior training? With a bow and arrow, no less? And where had Cyrcinus gone? Her guards didn’t travel all by their lonesome. She was always in the middle of everything.
Rustling in the trees just beyond drew Willow’s attention to the forest and she held her breath for a few seconds, then let it out in a rush as she saw Logan break into the clearing. “Oh my gosh!” she cried. She flew to him and threw her arms around his waist. “You gave me a heart attack!” He staggered back, but wrapped his arm around her and chuckled. She looked up at him. “Where were you? I—” She felt the color drain from her face as she noticed that Logan’s shirt was covered in dried blood. “What happened?”
He rolled his eyes. “I got stabbed.”
Her heart stuttered. “You what?” She shook her head. “My dream…”
He shook his head and quickly brought his hand up to frame her face. “I’m fine. I should be dead… I should be dead twice, but Darien’s fine target practice and his healing abilities saved my sorry butt…again.”
Her eyes widened. “
Darien
did this?” She pointed to the fallen men.
He nodded. “Cyrcinus was here, looking for the village.” He met her eyes. “She’ll be back. We had to get help. We need to train your men, Willow.”
