B0161NEC9Y (F) (11 page)

“She wants you with them,” Rohnan said as he swung his leg over his mount.

“You don’t have to be a mind reader to catch the obvious,” Sanders said, jumping down.

Daniels joined them, too. The Captain hadn’t gotten down from his horse, though. He looked out toward the distant city with unfocused eyes.

“The sentries aren’t yours,” Shanti said to the Captain. “I don’t know how good their range is. I don’t want to risk moving any closer yet.”

“How many can you sense?” Daniels asked.

“Two. The first two, and just barely.” Shanti matched the Captain’s distant look. “I’m at the very edge of our range, and there is no one in the land who can match us. But those two are strong, and if they have more and they are all merged, they could come close to being able to reach us. Very close.”

“We’re a long way out,” Sanders said, eyeing the men. They all sat rigid in their saddles with clenched jaws and severe expressions. It was all coming to a head. “We can’t do much from here.”

“We need a plan,” Shanti said.

“The Hunter probably expects us to have an army of Shadow at our back.” The Captain sat straight and tall, steady as a rock. His eyes were vicious. “It would make sense for him to put his best men up front.”

Sanders ground his teeth again. Instead of the army of Shadow, they had a team. That team was still a week behind them, at least. If the Graygual took an interest in them, though, they might never get there at all.

The Captain’s knuckles went white on his reins. “The wise thing to do would be to wait.”

“The
wise
thing to do would be to get an idea of what we’re up against.” Shanti fingered the knives on the holster around her upper thigh. “My problem is, I don’t know how to do that. There’s no sneaking in when someone with the
Gift
is watching for me. As soon as I’m in their range, they’ll have me.”

“They’ll have you in more ways than one,” the Captain said, his voice getting harder. “They’ll vastly overpower you with the
Gift.
You might as well just offer yourself to them. It’s you the Hunter wants.”

“And you, now.” Sanders braced his hand on the hilt of his sword. “He must know it was the two of you that made the wave of mind-death. He’ll want you both.”

“Sir…” Daniels’ expression was one of contemplation. “The Hunter has no idea you know what’s going on. He will be expecting you to come home, and then find these foreign Inkna in our sentries’ positions. I think he’ll make allowances for your reaction, don’t you?”

The Captain and Shanti both looked at Daniels. Neither said anything, probably thinking that through.

“He doesn’t know Shanti is here,” Daniels continued. “He knows less than you, actually. Creating a diversion with a large release of power, and a few deaths if we can manage it, may open the way for Shanti to sneak in. And maybe one or two others. The question will be, can she get into the city? And if so, can she hide once she does?”

“That raises a lot more questions,” Sanders said, hating the situation they’d been forced into. “If she gets in, how does she communicate with us? She’d be right under the Hunter’s nose. All he’d have to do is scoop her up.”

S
hanti felt a whirl of nervousness as what Sanders had said sank in. But underneath that there was nothing but fire and determination. Aside from Xandre and his guards, the Hunter thought he was on top of the food chain. He thought his plan to come here and hold Cayan’s people hostage would grant him an easy capture.

Shanti wanted to see the look on his face when she proved him wrong.

“I can communicate with Cayan, after a fashion,” she said, glancing up to meet those burning blue eyes. “I’ll get inside, I’ll figure out what’s going on, and then I’ll find a way to relay news. We’re connected. You’ll feel me the whole time.”

“If you can actually get in,” Sanders said. “If they catch a whiff of you, the jig is up.”

Cayan shook his head in small jerks, his jaw clenching. He didn’t like this—she could feel the uncertainty and possessiveness raging through him—but there was no other choice. He couldn’t go—he’d be spotted immediately—and no one else, not even Rohnan, could sneak in the way she could. She was the person for this job.

“Daniels is right,” she pushed. “The Hunter is blind right now. And he knows we work well when surprised. He’ll expect our hard reaction, but then he’ll expect to capture us. He’ll also expect us to stick together.”

“Not to piss on the parade, but what about the Inkna in the city?” Sanders asked.

“He’ll have the strongest out here,” Cayan said, staring off into the distance. “He needs a strong first line of defense to keep us out. Within the city, he probably only needs to maintain order. We didn’t leave anyone with the
Gift
behind. Keeping order in a city of non-
Gifted
won’t take much.”

“And by now, I’m sure everyone is laying low.” Daniels rubbed the growth on his chin. “They’ll be complacent. Troublemakers would’ve been subdued or killed by now…”

“Do you dig up graves with that dispassion, too, Daniels?” Sanders growled. “That is your city you’re talking about.”

Cayan swung a foot over his mount and gracefully jumped to the ground. He came around the horse with burning eyes directed at Shanti. “I don’t like this.”

“This is the only way, Cayan,” she said. “You must see that.”

“I do. Doesn’t mean I like it.” His big hand gripped her upper arm. He pulled her to the other side of his horse, mostly out of view of everyone else. Once there, his gaze roamed her face before settling on her eyes. “This is the
only
way,
mesasha,”
he said quietly. “But you
will
come back to me, do you hear me? You will not go in there and give yourself to the Hunter to protect my people. That is not the best way. Sacrificing yourself will just mean
all
of our deaths in the long run.”

“I know, Cayan,” she whispered, falling into that blue oasis. “That is the last resort.”

His jaw clenched. He shook her a little. Pain bled through his gaze. “No. You get eyes in there, and you come back.
I will accept no other plan.” He shook her harder, his emotion threatening to break free. “I will not lose you, Shanti, do you understand me?”

As he stared down at her, Shanti felt his fire and rage and war. Muscles flexed down his body, raw strength tempered with a terrible grace. His
Gift
swirled around them, crouched and ready, currently emulating a
Warring Gift
ready to unleash destructive force with only one result. Death.

The Hunter had no idea of what he’d called up by taking Cayan’s city. Maybe none of them did.

“I love you,
mesasha.
And I will marry you. This is the city where we will join our peoples and raise our children. So you
will
come back to me safe, and we
will
destroy the Hunter while keeping our home intact. Together.”

Yet another terrible time to tell him the truth about her duty. He wasn’t making honesty easy.

“Okay,” she said. Then, feeling like that was maybe an anticlimax when on the precipice of perhaps saying goodbye forever, she threw it all on the table. “I love you. Don’t make me regret it.”

A ghost of a smile brushed his lips as his thumb ran over her chin. “I told you I’d get my way in the end.”

“You are ruining this moment.”

His lips quirked, threatening to unleash his dimples. He gave her a hard, bruising kiss. A kiss of war, and triumph. A kiss of returning.

She really hoped the kiss wasn’t out of place.

A
s the light retreated from the ground, allowing darkness to consume the day, Shanti waited in the shelter of a cluster of trees. Leilius, Ruisa, and Gracas squatted just behind her. Leilius was as still as death, waiting. Ruisa was fidgeting madly as worry poured from her. Gracas had a crooked grin. They’d all be going behind enemy lines to see what could be done from inside the city.

The trees rustled. Rohnan crawled through. His hair had been pulled back and dirt smeared on his head and face.

“You look terrible,” Shanti said, turning back to the silent night.

“I wanted to look more your level.” Rohnan stopped just beside her, peering out through the branches as she was. “Are we bird watching?”

Shanti rolled her eyes and sat back on her haunches. “Just because we can’t see anything at present, doesn’t mean there is nothing to see.”

“Whatever eases your mind.” Rohnan sat back, too. “The Captain is almost ready.”

Shanti looked at the others. Only Gracas was excited, but that was because he was too young and full of energy to realize he should be scared. “My asking you to go is just that,
asking.
If you don’t think you are ready for this, you should stay behind. You’ll be safer left here.”

“And ridiculed? No way!” Gracas said in exuberance.

“I chose to go on this journey with you because I wanted to defend my home,” Ruisa said in a somber tone. “And now my home is under attack. So I will defend it.”

Gracas’ face screwed up. “That makes no sense. Do you want to stay or go?”

“Stay, idiot.” Ruisa elbowed him. Gracas’ mouth snapped shut. He rubbed the offending spot.

“Leilius?” Shanti asked, ignoring the other two.

His eyes darted to her. “I’m terrified, S’am. But I’m the best trained for this. You know, besides you and Romon.”

“Romon?” Rohnan asked in confusion.

“You can tell how wound up he is by how badly he chews up titles and names.” Shanti put her hand on Leilius’ shoulder, hating to put him in this position.

“I don’t need that slip-up to tell,” Rohnan said softly, his eyes on the younger man. “But he looks calm and sure. You found a great thing in him that is now starting to bud.”

“I’m sitting right here, you know.” Leilius frowned, his eyes darting away.

“I can give you three the gift of courage,” Shanti said, sensing Cayan’s readiness. It was about time. “But this is not a battle, and if you have no fear, you might do something stupid. Something stupid might not just get you killed, it might get all of us found out, and your whole city killed. So I leave the choice up to you.”

“The gift of courage?” Ruisa asked, her hands shaking as she fidgeted.

“Give it to her,” Rohnan said, gesturing at Ruisa. “She’s not like the boys. Fear will make her hesitate.”

“I don’t need it, S’am,” Gracas’ said, his eyes widening for no reason Shanti could fathom. “I know what I’m up against. I can do it.”

“I’m okay. Fear is good sometimes.” Leilius slowly wiped a bug off his face. Rohnan was right—if Shanti couldn’t read his extreme apprehension, she’d think Leilius had done this a million times.

Focusing on Ruisa, Shanti envisioned stripping her of all her fear, then she injected a shot of courage into the girl. Almost immediately, Ruisa’s body straightened up and the lines of worry were erased from her face.

She looked down at her steady hands with wide eyes. “Wow.”

“It’s cool, huh?” Gracas grinned again. “You can run right at ten guys with swords when you feel like that.”

“Hopefully not.” Shanti turned back, looking out at nothing. She could feel Cayan gearing up for something, readying his men. He didn’t need the
Gift
to inspire courage, he just needed a few moments of speech.

“Ready?” Shanti asked.

Horses sounded away to the left, hooves beating the ground as they charged. A roll of thunder rumbled along the ground, Cayan unleashing his substantial
Gift.
Screams filled the air a moment later.

“Let’s go!” Shanti took off at a jog. She led the others around the perimeter of the closest Inkna’s range, waiting for the signal from Cayan. In another dozen footsteps, a blast of urgency pushed through her head.
Here we go.

She turned toward the city, speeding up. They wouldn’t have long. As soon as the Inkna had any relief from Cayan’s barrage, they’d scan the sides. Shanti had to be through their net and to the city by then.

“Hurry,” she urged, putting on a burst of speed. The others kept up easily, younger and harder to tire. Thank the Elders for giving her young people to train.

They passed within sight of one of the Inkna’s perches. The man was leaning over his wooden crow’s nest, looking away from them. No doubt trying to catch a glimpse of Cayan.

She shut down her shields, just in case, and ran as quietly as she was able. They cut through some branches, using the trees as cover, passing another perch. Then another. Rumbles of
Gift
still blanketed the area. Based on the rigidity of the Inkna she passed, they were working together to fight it. Cayan wouldn’t have long. He was mighty, but he was up against too many who were pretty damn good.

“Almost there,” she said, panting, her words lost to the sound of their breathing and footsteps. The city’s side gates loomed ahead of them. Closed, as expected. There was a lone guard at the top, facing toward Cayan’s assault. It was a Graygual, thank the Elders.

Pain from Cayan trickled down her sternum. The Inkna were getting through his defenses.

“Cut it off, Cayan!” she mumbled, passing the gate behind thick growth. She stopped at a stretch of forbidding stone wall, taller than two men standing one on top of each other. Focusing on feeling relieved so Cayan would know she had made it, she pushed the others into cover.

“How are we supposed to get over that?” Gracas said, his head tilted up to see the top of the wall.

“Walk right through.” Leilius rolled his eyes. He panted for a moment to catch his breath before saying, “In all seriousness, though, S’tam. S’am, I mean. I’m not very good at climbing these walls. I mean, I’ve done it a few times because you made me, and then a few times to practice when you were gone, but I skidded down the other side really often. It hurt. I sprained my ankle once.”

“There are compost piles on the other side,” Ruisa whispered, looking at the wall. “It’ll be a soft landing. Mostly.”

“How do you know?” Gracas demanded.

“I’ve snuck out a time or two.”

“Quiet now,” Shanti said, inching her
Gift
over the wall. If she met an Inkna, all this would be for nothing.