Wilde's Meadow (Darkness Falls #3) (13 page)

I shouldn’t be separated from the others. Tristan and Dunn aren’t strong enough for this kind of combat. Arland is capable, but he surely can’t maintain his energy for long, cutting off heads and stabbing hearts and stomachs.

We’re trapped.

I stop fighting, standing in the same predicament that, moments ago, Kent found himself in alone.

“Give up?” A tairb steps forward, hands held in front of him. His deep, resonating voice makes the little hairs on the back of my neck stand straight. “Say yes and I will call the others off your friends.”

I lower my sword, concentrating on Arland, on Tristan and Dunn, on Kent and Muriel, on my family, the sun, Brad, then I shudder. I have to come up with a plan because if I don’t give up, I’ll never be able to save them all. “Yes.”

“And here Dughbal believed her to be the strongest of them all.” The being’s nose is long with wide, round nostrils flaring near his thick lips. He turns around and laughs, drawing the attention of all the others, including the tairbs around Arland, Tristan, Dunn, and Kent. The overgrown bully snaps, and the daemons shove my friends and family in my direction. Exactly where I need them to be. “She gave up when she saw the child was surrounded.”

“Should we take her to Dughbal, or should we kill them all?” another asks.

What happened to their orders and loyalty? I glare at the daemon that spoke, clenching my fists.

They eye me, humor lining their faces, and the first tairb steps closer.

“I promised I would allow the others to be free if she surrendered. You would not wish to make a liar out of me, would you, Donali?”

“
Kate, you have to get away. They will kill us all. Do not let him touch you. You know what his blood can do.
”

I keep my gaze on the daemon, afraid if I look at Arland, they’ll somehow know we can communicate, somehow sense I’m not actually giving up, though I still don’t know what to do. Kent isn’t close enough for me to protect him; the tairbs still have him surrounded and away from me.

“You promised nothing but to call your brothers off them. Why don’t you do that and send them to me?” I turn up my chin, proudly displaying my defiance. Let them hurt me. Let them be mad at
me
.

“
Be careful
,” Arland warns.

“
If I release my flames and call to the magic, do you think you can get to Kent
?”

Laughter surrounds me before Arland gets a chance to respond, but the tairb in charge does not appear happy. No, not at all. He paces around me, dragging his fingernail along the collar of my tunic and armor, grazing my skin with a tingling heat.

Poison.

“You are either very brave or very stupid. Which is it?”

“She’s stupid,” a familiar voice calls from behind the gathering of daemons. “A brave woman would have
begged
for her friends to be freed, offering her life in their place.”

Reverent whispers of “Ovarti” circulate around us. The tairbs part, making way for the tallest of them all, the creature who delivered the death threat to my sister, who I thought died in the battle at the cave near the river, but who is very much alive and still as cruel as ever. He must be their leader, not a beast who only does as he’s told. He thinks for himself, and he enjoys the pain he inflicts. He wears his pride in his squared shoulders, in his smug expression, in his hands clasped behind his back.

This beast is very much like Arland, but no ounce of goodness resides inside him.

A shudder tears through me as Ovarti marches through the dying forest, his hooves leaving half-moon indentions in the dirt, and I do look at Arland now. I look at Tristan and his young, worried face, at Dunn and the wrinkles around his watering brown eyes, at Kent who’s cheeks are colorless, afraid, void of hope.

Ovarti pauses next to the boy. “But this woman is not one who would freely offer her life for another, are you, dear?” The daemon shoulders droop, his expression dull and bored. “Would not matter either way. We cannot kill her. That is a pleasure for Dughbal alone, but we can test her bravery on her friends, see if she begs … .”

He smiles and draws a knife from a satchel across his back, boiling my blood, making my fire rage and plead for release.

“Don’t touch him!”

“Oh my. What do we have here?” Ovarti drags the silver blade down his palm. “She is quite protective of this child, isn’t she?”

The others mutter their agreements, nodding their heads and laughing.

“
Get ready, Kate. We have to fight our way out of here. Now
.”

“
But Kent’s too far away still. How will we save him
?”

“Dear? Did you hear me?”

I look from Arland to Ovarti to Kent to Tristan and Dunn. Five feet stands between me and Arland, six or seven between me, Tristan and Dunn, but Kent, he’s at least eleven feet away. I’m still holding my sword. If I catch the tairbs off guard, I might be able to run for him, but then what?

“See, she is so filled with fear, she cannot hear me.”

I stare at him, long and hard, then lunge forward, all calculations and logic and fear and whatever else cast aside, flames pouring from me and devouring everything in my path, but Ovarti is ready for me.

He wanted me to react.

He smacks his bleeding palm to Kent’s forehead and drives the knife into his heart.

“
No
.” I lift my sword and whip it through every tairb I pass, straining my muscles as the metal rips through flesh. Screams escape me. My gaze never leaves Ovarti and his cold expression, his joyous laughter, his moment of celebration. Just as I reach him, Kent falls to his knees, hands pressed to his chest, blood dripping from his face where his skin deteriorates, and then he collapses forward.

My steps slow, and Ovarti rushes back into the Darkness.

Wake up, magic. Heal Kent. Please. Please, heal him.

I glance back; Arland, Tristan, and Dunn have returned to fighting. The tairb’s numbers are significantly less. I don’t know if I killed them, if the others did, or if Dughbal magically removed them from here, but I don’t care as long as the rest die quickly.

Kneeling beside Kent, I press my shaking fingertips to his neck and check for a pulse. “C-can you hear me?”

He wheezes, blood gurgling in his throat. “Protect her. Get my sister away.”

Tears blind me, and my heartbeat thrums in my ears, drowning out the rest of the world while I helplessly watch Kent’s life flowing out of him. “You’re going to be okay.”

It’s a lie, a horrible, horrible lie, but what else can I say?

“No.” Kent grabs hold of my wrist and closes his fingers around it. “Take her away.”

“Away … ?”

“To safety … .” Gurgles rise from his throat.

I fall on the dead grass next to him and brush my palm against his distant eyes, closing his lids so I don’t have to see his lifelessness.

My chest burns. A pressure tighter than anything I’ve ever felt before pushes on me, making breathing impossible. What will I tell his sister? Did I do my best to save him? How did the daemons surround us so quickly? It’s as though they expected us, and maybe they did, but why couldn’t we fight harder? Why was I so afraid to use magic? I should have just barreled through here on Mirain’s back and scooped up Kent like cowboys rescue people in old Western movies.

Glimpses of color flash at the edges of my vision. Golds, blues, reds, pinks, all different magics fighting in the war. Sprites rip through tairbs, uselessly rest on Kent, soar around my body and mingle with my fire, zip to Arland and then to Tristan or Dunn. The magic needs direction, but who am I to direct it when I keep failing?

Somewhere in the distance, metal thumps through flesh and men grunt with the exertion of battle, but I can’t force my legs to work, my lungs to expand, my blood to stop drowning out my thoughts.

A tairb falls next to me. His rank, hot breath warms my arm, and he laughs. “You will never win.”

The daemon wipes his hand over his bleeding face, then reaches out, as if he’s going to touch me.

“Get up, Kate. Get away from him!”

I’m unable to move. Should my fate be the same as Kent’s?

“Get up!” Arland grabs me under the arm and lifts me to my feet just before the beast can touch me. He narrows his eyes, his teeth clenched. He’s angry with me. “You are meant to fight, to protect, to save this place, not to give up. Now, there are ten daemons remaining. Will you help me kill them?”

A quick look around reveals the tairbs falling back. They creep in the same direction Ovarti went into the Darkness.

Cowards.

They wouldn’t know bravery if it slapped them in the face.

”You need to remember this: maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but more lives will be lost. Be strong. Keep your faith. This is not the time to cry. This is the time to fight.”

I should have fought sooner. I could have prevented this. My opportunity to end the war presented itself at the stream, yet I was afraid. Kent and Muriel stayed with us so they wouldn’t get hurt. He trusted in me. And I’ve failed him. My mistake was his end. There may not be any recovering from this.

He was just a boy, Arland’s “competition.”

Muriel will be heartbroken. The thoughts send shooting pains into
my
heart. I need to be stronger. My grief won’t help anyone. My anger will though. And I’m sick of people I love being hurt and killed. I ball my fists. I’m ready to fight.
Now
.

I close my eyes.

“You are growing angry.”

“I am.”

“Do not allow your anger to blind you.” Arland calls the horses to us. “We need to go.”

I mount Mirain and then we head into the Darkness again, following a trail of stampeding, scared, beasts. Angry anticipation bubbles inside me. I have to make this right. I have to kill those who steal every good thing from us.

Dunn and Tristan ride next to Arland and me. Holes line their armor. Blood and dirt cover their faces.

“What should we do differently, sir?” Dunn asks.

“I have a feeling Kate will handle this battle easily.”

Arland glances at me but doesn’t smile, doesn’t show any kind of happiness or pride at all. It’s like he’s checking to make sure I’m okay. I don’t need to be checked on. I need to end this war.

“You stated there are ten daemons?” I ask.

“Yes.”

“Dunn, get Kent and take him back to camp.” Clicking my cheek, I kick my feet into Mirain’s sides and gallop her through the forest. She doesn’t try to stop me, and Arland follows right behind. I’m going to take care of this. No one else needs to come. Just me and Arland. Us together. I’m mad, and I have every right to be. Flames burst from my core, illuminating all the death around us. Trees. Plants. Animals. So many things lay ruined on the forest floor.

The rapid pounding of hooves comes from ahead of us, mingled with screeching. The monsters know we’re coming and they’ve brought friends, but I don’t care. I want them to think I’m scared and that they can beat me. Then I want to strike each of them through the heart.

Mirain stops on top of a ridge. Arland arrives next to me. We climb from our animals, then stand next to each other. Drawing our swords, we meet eyes.

“You ready to show them the meaning of bravery?” he asks, the muscles in his jaw tight. He’s bracing for what lies ahead of us, preparing for what I intend to be a quick battle.

No one else is around to get hurt.

The daemons run toward us, rumbling the earth. Ten sets of red eyes blaze through the darkness, while only the screams of the coscarthas indicate their approach.

“Show them we’re powerful, Arland.”

Arland’s blue flames radiate, rushing down his arms and onto his sword.

I raise my claymore then run to the beasts, muscles screaming out with excitement. One of the tairbs lowers his head, and like a bull ready to fight, he charges. I run faster, harder, pushing my body to its limits, then drive my blade through his skull.

Burn him
.

Crimson magic explodes from the ground and covers his combination of man skin and bristly fur with flames. Nerves shake his body, then he lies still.

Dead.

Arland chops off the head of a coscartha, spins then drives his sword into the belly of another. Four more creep closer to him, but sprites swirl around the monsters, holding them in place.

I smile. He has this under control.

Two more mangled creatures rush me. One lunges forward, and I drop to my knees, avoiding a swipe by his claws.

Returning to my feet, I call more magic to me, focusing on my rage, on Kent, on Encardia, and on Light.

Kill them
.

Thousands of red sprites burst from a nearby pine, then drive into the chest of a coscartha. I strike through the heart of the other monster, thrusting all my hatred into it.

I look around, trying to find the remaining tairbs, especially Ovarti. He’s leaning against the trunk of a tree, legs crossed at his ankles, arms crossed over his chest. His red, beady eyes bore through me.

“My friends have gone.”

“And you said
I
was afraid.”

A tight smile spreads across Ovarti’s face. “You may win this battle, but there is no way your small army can defeat us.”

He turns and runs away, probably hoping to get word to Dughbal.

I can’t let him escape, not after what he did to Kent.

Stop him. Trap that daemon. Make his end
miserable
.

A swarm of colorful sprites rushes past me. Green leaves, blue drops of water, reds as dark as blood, pinks, whites, so many different representations of nature, of life.

Thunderous growls bounce off the trees, and a white light flashes in the distance.

Arland steps beside me. “We did it.”

“Kent is still gone.” No one is around, no one who looks up to me and shouldn’t see me cry. I allow tears to soak my cheeks. My lungs deflate, and my stomach turns, salty fluids filling my mouth. The smell of burning death overpowers my nose, and I turn and throw up.

Rubbing my back, Arland huffs. “You have never been so angry, Kate. You charged in here fast. Too fast. Next time, we need to be more careful.”