Fields of Blood (The DeathSpeaker Codex Book 2) (20 page)

“We’ll come back for her. For everyone,” I said. “I promise.”

She swallowed once, nodded and ran for the gate.

The trench was about four feet deep now. Plenty of clearance for crawling through. I tapped Taeral, felt him flinch before he turned to face me. “We have to move,” I said.

He nodded and yanked the shotgun from his back. “Go.”

“You first.” I pointed to Elara. “Don’t touch the fence.”

“Got it.”

She dropped and slid neatly under, scrambling clear to stand on the other side. “Can you pull him through?” I said, indicating Chester’s limp form.

“No problem.”

“Hold on,” Marlon said. “Leave the human. He’ll slow us down.”

I decided not to dignify that with a response.

In less than a minute, Elara and I had Chester on the other side. She hauled him clear of the trench, and I made an angry gesture at Marlon. “Go.”

He took a second to glare at me before he crawled through.

“Taeral,” I said. “Your turn.”

“You go on—”

“Don’t argue. They won’t be able to hit me.” Yet, at least. Thanks to my fun-fulled childhood, I’d accidentally developed a glamour that projected in a slightly different place than I actually was. At long range, it was damned hard for bad guys to shoot me.

But the closer they got, the more likely they’d be to get lucky.

Taeral made a frustrated sound and shimmied under the fence, shotgun first. I was right behind him.

When I stood on the other side, I focused on the spell Taeral had cast in the van. The shield. I held a hand out and said, “
À dionadth
.”

The air rippled and shimmered in front of the fence.

“Nice work,” Taeral grunted as he scooped up Chester. “Now—”

“Yeah, I know. Run.”

C
HAPTER 29

W
e’d been moving for a little over half an hour when I called a halt in a small, wooded clearing well off the main path. For some reason, none of the soldiers had turned up on the trail, even though they probably could’ve caught up. We weren’t going very fast.

I should’ve been relieved, but it worried me.

Taeral settled Chester on the ground and slumped to a seat beside him. Marlon kept going as far as possible away from us across the clearing, and after an apologetic glance, Elara followed him. I couldn’t blame her, really. He might’ve been a bastard, but it was a case of the bastard you know—he was the only one left of her pack right now. And Marlon obviously held some kind of authority in the family. She’d have been used to going along with him, even if she didn’t like it.

Unfortunately, I knew the feeling.

I wedged the flashlight I’d been carrying upright in a patch of brush and crouched at Chester’s opposite side. “Can you heal him?” I said. “Not that I’m saying Marlon is right, but carrying him around isn’t going to improve things much.”

“And there is something that will improve things?” Taeral flashed a tired smirk. “I can heal him. Or you can, if you’d like.”

“Er. I’m not exactly sure how.”

“I’ll show you,” he said. “It’s something you should know.”

The offer surprised me. Taeral was usually indifferent at best when it came to explaining anything about the Fae. If I needed to know something, I’d have to drag it out of him. “All right. Thanks,” I said.

He shifted so he was sitting straighter. “There is much you should know,” he said. “I fear I’ve been a poor teacher, and for that you’ve my apologies.”

I shrugged. “Well, it’s not your job or anything.”

“You are my brother. And since our father is incapable of instructing you in our ways…” He trailed off and stared at some distant point.

“Are you worried about leaving him with Reun?”

Taeral shook himself slightly. “No. Reun’s promise binds him—and even without it, I suspect he would watch over him. Though I fail to understand why the memory of his wife drives him so,” he muttered. “Aeshara was a true lady of the Court.”

I raised an eyebrow. “And that’s a…bad thing?”

“Aye. Unless you consider superiority, jealousy, petty cruelty and underhanded scheming examples of good qualities.”

“Not especially,” I said. “Was Daoin like that?”

Damn. I probably shouldn’t have said that out loud. But Taeral didn’t seem angry or insulted. “He was, to some degree,” he said carefully. “Nobles are expected to act superior, else they’d not be nobles. But he was not cruel or jealous. He’d no need to be.”

“So…what was he like?”

Taeral closed his eyes briefly. “Fierce and proud. A true warrior. Feared by his enemies, loyal to his friends,” he said. “But like Reun, he did have something of an excess of arrogance.”

I couldn’t imagine the frail, cheerfully confused Daoin I knew as a fierce warrior. Or an arrogant noble. “I would’ve liked to meet him,” I said.

“And he’d have been honored to meet you.” Taeral gave a slight smile. “But perhaps we should heal Chester now.”

“Oh. Right.”

“How to explain it, though.” He paused for a moment. “You’ve experienced healing yourself. Are you familiar with the feeling?”

“Yeah,” I said. “It’s like having moonlight inside you.”

“That is…a surprisingly apt description,” Taeral said. “I’d never thought of it that way.”

“Was that a compliment?”

“Perhaps.” One corner of his mouth lifted. “To heal another, you recall the sensation of healing and allow it to flow through you, into them.”

“Um. Okay,” I said slowly. “I’ll try.”

I remembered Daoin healing Reun, and then me, back at the Castle—even though it already felt like that happened forever ago. I put a hand on Chester’s shoulder, the arm he’d used to grab the charged fence, and thought about the moon. The cool, welcoming glow that felt like home.

Blue-white light pulsed around my hand and sunk into Chester.

There was no change in him.

“Er. Maybe I did it wrong,” I said. “Do you want to—”

Suddenly, Chester’s eyes snapped open. He gasped and bolted upright, then scrambled away and stood, pulling one of his modified guns. “Don’t even think about it, alien scum,” he half-slurred as he backed away. “My organs’re staying right where they are.”

“Whoa. Chester, it’s us,” I said. “Not aliens. Remember?”

He blinked once, then lowered the gun and rubbed a temple. “What the hell happened?” he said, looking around slowly. “Where are we?”

“Probably not far enough away from the compound, and you got fried,” I said. “They electrified the fence. Knocked you out when you grabbed it.”

Frowning, he stowed the weapon and patted himself down. “Well, guess I’m all in one piece,” he said. “Head’s a little fuzzy, though. I just…wait a minute. I was knocked out?”

“Stone cold.”

“Then how’d I get here?”

“Long story,” I said. “Short version, we went under the fence and Taeral carried you.”

A strange look spread on his face. He seemed about to say something, but he must’ve changed his mind, because he sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Anybody else make it out?” he said.

“Elara. And Marlon, unfortunately.”

“So they’ve got those kids now.” Chester staggered a few steps forward and sat on the ground, head bowed. “Shouldn’t have charged in there like that,” he said. “I might as well’ve marched them over and turned ’em in at the front gate.”

“Hey,” I said. “Rushing into it was my idea.”

“Maybe, but I should’ve known better.” He lifted his head, and there was misery in his gaze. “We have to get them back. All of them.”

“We will.”

“How are we going to do that?”

Elara’s voice made my breath catch. I kept forgetting how quiet werewolves could be when they wanted to. “I don’t know yet,” I admitted. “But—”

“We go back to my place, like I said.” Chester rose with a determined expression. “I’ve got grenades, plastic explosives, you name it. They might be aliens, but they die just like people. So we load up and wipe ’em right off the goddamned map. Blow those bastards back across the galaxy.”

“But my family’s in there,” Elara half-whispered. “We can’t just blow everything up.”

“We’ll figure it out,” I said, hoping I sounded more confident than I felt. Because I had no idea how this was going to work. There were just too many of them, and they were too well protected.

But I’d promised to go back.

I stood and grabbed the flashlight. “We should definitely go to Chester’s for now,” I said. “Whatever we do, we’re going to need more tools than we have. I think…” My brow furrowed as I passed the light across the clearing. “Where’s Marlon?”

“He’s over there.” Elara turned and gestured—then froze in mid-point as she realized he wasn’t. “Marlon?” she called, moving quickly across the clearing. “Where are you?”

Something rustled in the trees just ahead of her. Elara paced back rapidly and grabbed for her gun.

Marlon stepped out with a scowl. “Had to take a piss,” he said.

“Whatever. Just warn me next time, will you?” Elara said, slumping with relief.

I expected him to snap back at her, but he just shook his head and moved toward the rest of us. “Oh, good. Your little pet’s awake,” he said. “Think we could move it faster now?”

“You want to dial it back some, tough guy.” I stared at him until he looked away. “By the way, we’re still headed to Chester’s. In case you’re wondering.”

“Yeah, I heard,” he said sullenly. “So let’s go.”

I didn’t show it, but I was surprised he hadn’t argued about our destination, after the fit he pitched at the compound. But I guessed he was probably thinking of something else to complain about.

This was going to be a long damned hike.

C
HAPTER 30

I
t’d taken us about two hours to get from Chester’s to the bunker, and another two from there to the compound. But the route had been up and over, and since Chester knew pretty much every inch of the mountain, he had a more direct way back.

Along the way, we tried and failed to come up with a plan that resembled having any chance of success. Glamour disguises might get us in, but there were so many to rescue, we’d never get them back out—and some of them were humans. Couldn’t risk them freaking out and alerting the bad guys because someone was trying to cast spells on them. Killing the soldiers one at a time was out too, since they obviously moved in groups.

Marlon stayed out of the discussion. That seemed to be fine with everyone.

When the roof of Chester’s barn came into view, the moon had set and the first blush of dawn stained the horizon. “At least we can grab something to eat now,” Chester said. “Clear the mind, so we can focus.”

“Fantastic,” Taeral grunted. “I don’t suppose you have any whiskey?”

Chester laughed. “A man after my own heart,” he said, and then lowered his voice. “By the way…thanks. For getting me out of there. I mean, they were trying to kill you. You could’ve left me behind.”

“Aye, we could. But we’d not have even considered that,” Taeral said. “Well. Most of us would not have.”

“Think I can guess the exception,” Chester muttered, glancing back at Marlon.

“You’d be correct there.”

We got to ground level and started around the barn. Halfway there, Elara caught up to us and grabbed my arm, stopping the whole group. “Wait. Something is…not right,” she said.

“What is it?”

“Do you smell that? No, you wouldn’t. You’re not a were.” She looked over her shoulder. “Marlon, do you?”

His gaze cut away briefly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“That scent. Could be a person. People, even,” she said. “And I think car exhaust, too.”

Marlon shook his head. “There’s nothing there,” he said, pushing through to the front. “Come on. Let’s get this over with.”

He strode rapidly away, across the junk-strewn property toward the camper.

“Marlon, wait!” Elara ran after him.

Damn. It looked like we were going, too.

We rushed across the yard, dodging rusted vehicle carcasses and random piles of scrap. Marlon had already vanished around the front of the camper, and Elara was close behind.