Bonds That Break (The Havoc Chronicles Book 3) (25 page)

I cast my snare and wove the tendrils into a crude shield above us. The roof continued to fall apart and dump debris on us, but my impromptu shield held off the biggest chunks.

I reached down and helped Onaona stand back up. "Are you ok?" The second it came out of my mouth I knew it was a stupid question. Regardless of her injuries, none of us were ok.

Onaona stood up and looked wobbly for a second, but then seemed to get her balance and nodded to me. "I can do this."

I squeezed her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. Or at least the best version I could do while facing potential impending doom.

"We've got to get out of here," I said to Davu. "This is going to get bad in a hurry."

"I know," he said, and I heard the fear in his voice. "I can feel them."

By now the roof had completely collapsed, and my snare was the only thing holding it up. The pressure was tremendous, and I felt my strength starting to fade as I burned my power to keep the roof from collapsing.

"Bust us a way out of here," I said to Davu. "We need to get Julie and Onaona to safety."

We heard screams coming from outside. There were various shouts and the sounds of gunshots. It sounded like a war out there, but it had to be better than being crushed by a falling building.

Debris had piled all over, but Davu made short work of it. He tossed hunks of wall and furniture out of the way as if they weighed nothing. Slowly he cleared a path toward an outer wall. Once there, Davu punched the wall and a hole the size of a car blew out.

Impressive.

That lasted for all of about three seconds before everything above us started to collapse again. I had been moving my makeshift shield with us, but now I had to pull half of the threads out of it to shore up the hole Davu had made so we could get through before it collapsed.

"Go!" I shouted. "Get out of here! I can hold this up."

"What about you?" asked Onaona.

There was no time to argue or even be polite. "Just go! I'll be right behind you."

Onaona and Julie ran through the hole. Davu hesitated and looked back at me.

"Go!"

He nodded and ran outside. Once I was sure they were clear, I leaped forward letting my shield drop behind me.

I barely made it through the hole to the outside before the entire wall collapsed. The once beautiful mansion was now nothing more than a pile of rubble.

A loud scream pulled my attention away from the ruin and back to what was happening outside. My ears hadn't been wrong – it was a warzone.

Two massive creatures roared and rampaged across the Manor House grounds. One of them was long and thin with a double row of spikes running down its back – Thuanar.

The other creature I didn't recognize, but by process of elimination I knew what it was – Pravicus.

My Havoc.

Pravicus was by far the largest Havoc I had seen. He was built like a battering ram the size of two semi-trucks placed side by side. Six thick legs held this massive beast up. The feet were wide and flat like an elephant's and the creature's hide was a mottled green and grey that was thick enough that the bullets being shot at it by Austin and the other guards appeared to have little, if any, effect. The head was disproportionately large, and a wide collar of spiked bone wrapped around and protected the neck.

Two horns wider around than a person and easily six feet long stuck out from the Havoc's forehead. Two smaller ones stuck out on either side of his jaws.

All in all, this creature was built like a tank and clearly made to kill.

Four of the six-wheeled Pinzgauer were arrayed in a semicircle facing the two Havocs. Large mounted guns fired repeatedly at the two Havocs with absolutely no effect. Austin shouted orders and appeared to be in charge of the dozen or so men trying to stop the Havocs. What were they doing there? Against the Havocs, they were worse than useless. They were dead men waiting to happen.

I ran to Austin and waved my arms to get his attention. "Get your men out of here," I yelled over the noise. "You can't stop these things."

Austin glared at me. "My job is to protect this place," he said. "I'm not leaving."

I motioned to the crumbled ruins of the Manor House. "Yes, and you're doing such a wonderful job."

"I don't have time for this," he said and turned back to his men.

I grabbed his shoulder and turned him to face me. "Listen, you need to get your men out of here. Bullets won't stop these creatures any more than they would a Berserker. Staying here is suicide."

Austin didn't even bother to respond. He turned back and continued to direct their suicidal assault on the massive supernatural monsters that couldn't be hurt by their weapons.

I admired bravery, but this was a waste of lives.

Pravicus lowered his enormous head and charged at the string of armed Pinzgauers. He bashed one with the initial hit, and hit two more with sideways swings of his head.

In less than ten seconds Pravicus had destroyed half of Austin's forces. I rushed over and managed to pull two men out of harm's way before they could be crushed, but for most of them I was too late.

Davu appeared beside me. "I have taken Julie and Onaona down the mountain to safety. Perhaps, it would be best if you left while the others are too distracted to kill you?"

I reached out and squeezed Davu's shoulder. "I appreciate the thought, but I am not leaving the rest of you to deal with this. I am your best chance of getting out of here alive."

Davu raised an eyebrow at me. "You are our best chance? I admire your confidence. I just wish I shared your optimism."

"Oh, Davu, you haven't seen anything yet," I said and grinned. "That's the trouble. You can't see like I do."

Davu gave me a confused look. "And what is that supposed to mean?" he asked.

"Just make sure you keep Pravicus occupied," I said. "I've got an old score to settle with Thuanar. He's the one that got away."

I flung out my arm and shot a snare toward Thuanar. The cables flew from my fingers and wrapped around his body. He roared in anger and thrashed about, trying to free himself. I tied off several of the cables to trees and other sturdy-looking anchor points.

To the left, Davu was doing his best to keep Pravicus occupied. Yul had joined him, and the two of them were attacking from opposite sides, keeping the massive Havoc off balance. I was glad to see that the surviving soldiers under Austin's command had fled after the initial slaughter. We didn't need any more corpses.

Thuanar glared at me, his eyes bright and malevolent. He knew exactly what I was going to do.

Once I was sure I had him incapacitated, I pulled out my varé. It was time to rebind this Havoc.

I pulled the blade of the varé across my arm. Bright red blood welled up and began flowing out of the wound. I willed it to flow into a pool at my feet.

Something hit me and knocked me flying into a tree. I dropped to the ground, unhurt, but my concentration was at its limit. My connection to the blood was gone, and I could feel the tendrils of the snare slipping from my mental grasp.

With an effort of supreme will, I managed to keep hold of the snare and not let Thuanar go.

I caught movement in my peripheral vision and rolled out of the way of Tez's follow-up varé strike. The blade sliced into the tree behind me, cutting it in half.

"What are you doing?" I yelled. "You almost killed me!"

Tez gave me a crazy-looking grin. "That's the idea, Madison. The council pronounced the sentence, I'm just following through with it."

I wanted to beat him senseless. "Listen, moron, if you haven’t noticed there are two Havocs trying to kill us all. Why don't we bind them first and then you all can talk about killing me afterward?"

Instead of answering, Tez lunged at me with his varé and grazed my shoulder. Hot anger flowed through me. Here I was trying to bind Thuanar and this idiot was trying to kill me.

Tez's lunge brought him in close, and I wrapped my free arm around this sword arm, trapping him so that we were face to face.

I then head butted him in the face as hard as I could.

It was a dirty trick, but one that Rhys had told me worked very well against other Berserkers. The top of my head smashed into his nose with spectacular results. He gasped in pain – not something a Berserker usually felt – and he dropped his varé. While he staggered back I kicked him in the chest, sending him flying back thirty feet.

He roared with rage and charged at me, arms wide open, looking to tackle me. I held my ground and at the last minute stepped to the side, letting him run past me. He screamed in frustration and charged me again. This time I grabbed his arm, twisted my body, and threw him over my back.

He hit the ground hard enough to make a dent in it. His eyes rolled up into his head and he passed out.

Or so I thought.

As soon I turned my attention back to binding Thuanar, I felt a sharp blow to the back of my head. I staggered forward and dropped to one knee. Whatever it was that had hit me wasn't enough to do any serious damage, but it did break my concentration.

I felt the threads of my snare slip from my mental grasp. Thuanar was free again.

I turned around just in time to see Tez throw a second rock at my head. I reached out a hand and caught it easily. A trick like that only worked on a Berserker when they weren't paying attention.

Tez glared at me, clearly frustrated that his efforts at killing me hadn't had quite the results he had been looking for. He picked up his varé and started walking toward me, murderous determination in his eyes.

He held up an honor coin. "When I'm done with you, I'm going to take back what you stole from me. My honor."

"I didn't steal anything from you," I said. "It was a fair fight. You lost."

Behind Tez I saw Thuanar approaching. His long sinuous form seemed to glide along the ground, moving at a surprisingly fast speed.

"Look out!" I yelled. "Thuanar!"

On hearing my warning, Tez's scowl deepened. "You think you can tr–"

Thuanar shot out his neck and bit down on Tez. His massive jaws lined with foot long teeth were too much even for a Berserker to withstand.

I watched in horror as Tez was cut in half. I turned away, too disgusted to watch. By the time I turned back a second later, there was nothing left of him. A glint of metal showed the Honor coin on the ground.

Thuanar seemed to be grinning at me.

I pulled out my varé ready to attack once again when flashes of Tez's memories pummeled my brain as I absorbed his powers:

– Tez as a small boy watching his mother grind grain in a stone bowl.

– Tez as a young man holding a stone knife and fighting against a tribe of larger men.

– A glowing Tez standing on top of a pyramid and eating the heart of an enemy warrior while hundreds of onlookers cheered.

I opened my mouth and screamed as these images assaulted my brain.

But this wasn't all. Because Tez had died, his Binder died too. Memories from Kamiko came next.

– Standing on top of a high mountain as a little girl overlooking the ocean.

– Holding a teapot and pouring tea for an older man.

– Bowing in respect as she met Tez for the first time.

I gasped and tried to catch my breath as the assault on my mind ended. I took a deep breath and lay still for a moment.

Something was wrong.

Why hadn't Thuanar attacked me while I was incapacitated? He had been close enough to come kill me while I was writhing on the ground. 

I sat up and searched for the Havoc. I found him a second later, teaming up with Pravicus against Davu and Yul.

The two Berserkers fought valiantly, but they were outmatched and quickly giving ground. Davu appeared to have a long gash down his right arm and held it limply at his side. Yul seemed to be faring better, but was covered in dozens of cuts and scratches.

Shakily, I got to my feet. I was still a bit woozy from the pounding my brain just took, but I couldn’t leave Davu and Yul to fight the two Havocs on their own.

A tremendous crashing noise pulled my attention back to the ruins of the Manor House. I wanted to cheer as Miguel burst out of the wreckage. This was exactly the help that we needed to take on the two Havocs.

I was less thrilled – although glad they weren't dead – when Josiah and Arthur followed behind him. While we could use all the help we could get, I sure hoped they would focus on stopping the Havocs and not killing me.

Behind them came the remaining Binders – Sunee, Nakai, Evette, Dagmar, and Jacinda. They looked battered and worn, their clothing torn and covered in filth.

I ran to the Binders. "You need to get away from here," I said. "Six Berserkers taking on two Havocs is going to get messy."

Not waiting for an answer, I ran over to Miguel, Josiah, and Arthur. "I'll cast a snare to slow them down. You three run around and attack on the far side to keep them off balance."

Miguel ran off immediately, but Josiah and Arthur looked at Sunee and Nakai as if waiting for orders.

I didn't have time for this. I ran over to Davu and Yul. "Can you two distract Pravicus? I'm going to try again to bind Thuanar. If we can get him bound, we should have a chance of stopping Pravicus together."

"I've heard that plan somewhere before," said Davu. He gave me a wink. "Do not worry. We will keep Pravicus busy."

By now Miguel had reached the other side of the Havocs and was attacking Thuanar. He jumped onto Thuanar's back and grabbed his horns, twisting hard.

Thuanar twisted and thrashed in fury as Miguel wrenched the monster's head in an awkward position. It was Havoc fighting 101, control the head and you control the Havoc.

Only it didn’t quite work out as he had hoped. Instead of fighting to keep his feet on the ground, Thuanar twisted in the same direction Miguel was twisting his head. He rolled to his back and whipped his tail toward Miguel, catching him in the side with the double row of spikes.

Miguel let out a scream as the spikes punched through his ribs. The force from the blow knocked him flying through the air and into a tree.