The Binding (29 page)

She shakes her head in protest.
“Tharin, I can’t take Cessa from you. Why would you give her to me?”
she asks quietly, searching my face for a clue.

“Let’s just call it the first of your wedding gifts.”
She stares at me without another word. I want to kiss her good bye, but I fight the urge. She’s scared enough as it is, I don’t need to burden her with additional confusion.

“How do I call her?”
she asks lifting her wrist and lightly touching the onyx stone.

“Just picture an image of her in your mind and call her name. She’ll heed your calling. When you learn more about the stone, you’ll be able to call her with just a thought,”
I answer watching her closely.

“How long can she stay with me before she has to leave?”
Good, she’s asking the right questions .

“The most she’s been away from her realm was more than a week and that was under special circumstances.”
She look s up at me curiously, “
B
ut I wouldn’t hold her here for longer than a day or two.”

“Should I call her now?”
she asks.

“I’ve already called her, she’s close by. Don’t worry, she’ll stay close until you or I send her back.”

She drops her arms to her side s and asks, “So you don’t need the stone to call for her then?”

“No, I don’t, but only as long as the stone is close by. The further it’s from me, the weaker my connection with Cessa. Since I love that cat, you had better stay close to me, Lily Michaels.”

“Tolan,”
I call to my brother as my eyes meet Lily’s, “shield us and get us away from here so the Ange doesn’t mark this area.”

Tolan answers, but I don’
t hear what he’s saying as my thoughts are blocked off to all but Lily.

“You’ll have to stay connected. The others will take care of the Ange .
I’m going to send the Demlok back to the UnderRealm, but I ’m going to need your guidance.”

She gives me a confuse d look, “Send it back?”

“You can’t kill a demon, Lily. You can only send it back to where it came from. Without its conjurer here I ’m going to need to hurt it bad enough to break the connection and send it back to the UnderRealm . You’ll have to be my eyes , and whatever you do, try not to focus too long on the Demlok otherwise he’ll track you.”

“How do I do that?”

“See him, but concentrate on the ground before him, or the bleachers behind him. Focus anywhere but directly on him. Everything will happen quickly, so stay focus ed .”

She nods at me and reaches out, but Tolan has lifted the shield around us and we ’re off.
I’m barely able to say goodbye before I’m running alongside my brother. Tolan focuses before us and his eyes are sharp and hard, but I know that he’s worried about lea ving Julia and Lily behind. He wi ll make this as quick as possible, and I agree as I place my hand on Tazo’s hilt.

*

Tharin and the others disappear before me in a flash. I feel Julia come up from behind and take my hand. I look up at her and smile. It was a brave thing she did and I could no t b e more proud of her. She smile s back and quickly looks away, thinking I wouldn’t notice her tears. She di d what she had to do .
I would’ve done the same. She was right, Alorn would be better off with them, and they would stand a better chance with the warrior fighting by their side.

I turn to Phoris and he’s as still as the night is cold. Again, like in the desert, he stands with feet apart , his hands out to his side with fingers spla yed. His head is tilted upward to the sky as he continues to chant softly . Earlier I heard him call the elements to him as he started the spell for the cover. Maybe it’s the night, but I can barely see or feel the dirt dancing around us. I feel the moisture within the cover, it’s more prevalent here than in the desert. The moisture acts as an invisible barrier that with the air causes the dirt to dance around us like a hanging curtain. The leaves from the ground are also floating, but outside of the dirt curtain like a cylinder casing. Although it acts as a shield, we can still see beyond it . Again, I’m amazed at the Sidhe magic. Correction, the will of the Sidhe and the energy they use to create what they need to protect themselves.

Without Tolan or Tharin here to keep our thoughts connected, Julia and I remain standing quietly, waiting for them to reappear. I let Julia’s hand go and slowly walk over to a tree . I search the ground as I go, looking for some kind of weapon. My six months of training with Mr. Li will help me some . B
ut , to be honest, I’m not a fighter like Julia and I have forgotten most of the lessons I learned . I start to think of all the punches and different strikes .
I think about the fighting stances and the sidesteps , and then I finally think of the best defense of all, not being there.
That’s right. One of the first lines of self-defense is not being there. If you ’re approached by an opponent with a knife or gun, run. They can’t cut you or shoot you if you’re not there. Ninety percent of the time an assailant with a gun can’t hit a moving target. That goes for the knife as well. Like the coach in a boxer’s corner says, b ob and weave, bob and weave.

I stop myself from laughing out loud. Now is not the time for irrational ramblings. Sometimes I feel myself slipping from reality, but this just can’t be one of those times. Tolan helped me bring up my defenses and I know that he reinforced the barriers around my mind. Even though he didn’t say he did, I can feel the difference of his energy compare d to my own.
It’s like co mparing a ten—
pound weakling to an experience sumo wrestler. Yet, I feel the fear lying just beneath the surface waiting for my defenses to come crashing down.

It’s
the demon . Its being here that has created this fear within me. Th e first time I saw it, it was too much and I passed out. When I came to, I pretended it was just a hallucination ―
an over active imagination on my part due to everything that happened since I was knocked over by Tharin. The second time was in the desert .
I’m not sure why, but I think it had to do with Tharin being in my head. Something he said to me that shook me out of my grip of fear.
Instantly my fingers go to my lips . I stuck my tongue out at him and he said he would teach me how to use it .
Despite my earlier protests, I find myself smiling and hoping that one day he’ll be able to follow through with his threat .

I jump when I hear Tharin and at the same time Julia put s her hand on my elbow.
“Lily, can you see the Demlok.”

Julia
pulls me forward and I silently say a “thank you”
to whatever Sidhe g ods there are that Tharin can’t read minds. Julia walks me to the opening between two trees and then walks back to stand at Phoris’ side. I can see s he’s alert, watching everything around her, taking her promise to Tolan seriously. S
he’s in her element, but this time it’s not like being on the lookout for Chris or Frank, but for Sidhe assassins.

I take a deep breath and turn to face the black emptiness.

*

We end up on the top of the concession stand, facing Harlu who is now accompanied by the remaining members of the Ange ; Fien, Janlu and Morlo. Morlo is considered dangerous because he has no restraint, no morals and kills not because he has to, but because he likes it. Morlo is an o rc .

Kin to the Sidhe and once the most beautiful of all Sidhe, they became warped and twisted with hate and greed during the Great War of the Clans. It was then that King Kalinest, for their betrayal , exiled them from the rest of the Sidhe Clans, he also stripped their ability to hear the songs of Mother Earth. The separation was too much for the traitorous Sidhe and they became bitter . T
heir hatred for their own kin twisted them from the inside out . Since then, the o rcs have held the Sidhe responsible for their fate, forgetting their own betrayal that caused the exile in the first place. Once their numbers were in the thousands, but through the centuries of war with the c lans their numbers have dwindled to only a few hundred . Most of their kind are to the north in the l and of our birth.

Morlo is also a known assassin of t he Ange, a master at the double—
edge d claws . His face is twisted with a deep scar that runs from his hairline to under his chin on the left side of his face. A gift from Mellis the las t time they met. His eyes lock onto Mellis and Mellis smiles back at him. I can feel Mellis tense with eager anticipation in meeting with Morlo once again. Mellis and the o rc have a score to settle.

“Tolan,”
I call, “you’ll have to take care of Harlu for me, b rother.”

“With pleasure,”
he replies.

I nod
toward Alorn who gives me a nod back, a hard look on his face. He will have to take care of Janlu and Fien on his own . I don’t have any doubt that he’s up to the task , though my cousin will have his hands full. I make a silent promise that I’ll take care of the Demlok as soon as possible to aid him against the two assassins.

“Lily, can you see the Demlok ?
”
I call, hoping that s he’s where she can see the entire field and stay within Phoris’ shield.

It’s
a second before she answers, a bit distracted, “Yes, Tharin. It’s still dow n the field, close to the score board. It looks like it ’
s hurt, and Tharin , it looks really pissed off!”

Good. The angrier it is , the more careless and reckless it will be. Tazo won’t be a ble to kill the Demlok, but she’ll cause enough damage to it that it’ll wish it never left the UnderRealm.

I pull Tazo out and she wakes at my bidding, as if eager to begin the fight.

*

I stand at the e dge of the shield watching an unbelievable scene. The blaze from the vehicle explosion lights up the field area and I can see everything clearly.

Tharin and the others are standing on top of the concession stand while Harlu and the Ange stand in the middle of the bleachers. At the far end of the field opposite the concession stand and below the large score board is the Demlok.

Each of them has some type of weapon , but none of them have guns. I make a mental note to ask why that is when this is over and we make it through the porta l alive. Tolan holds what look s like thin silver chains wrapped around his hand s , with the long ends falling to the ground. Alorn has two short curved blades in each of his hand s . He holds them w ith the point of the blades facing behind him. Mellis has what looks like a small silver baton . He gives it a slight twist and two long spears spring from each end. He holds the middle of the weapon and twists again, giving him two short speared staff s . As for Tharin, he only has one weapon, a black sword that seems to appear from nowhere. From where I’m standing the blade of his sword looks to have a rusty tinge to it. I can also feel a pulsating vibe from the blade as if it’s alive. I look closer and I’m not sure if it’s a reflection off the blazing vehicles, but Tharin’s sword looks to be on fire.

I look closely at the Ange and again my eyes a re on the one with my face. He’
s tall and young, maybe my age, again I can’t tell. For all I know all of them, including Tharin, could be centuries old.
Harlu carries a sword that seems to be the opposite of that of Tharin’s. Instead of dark and reddish, the blade is made of ivory and the hilt looks as if it’s made of ivory, as well. Although I can’t feel anything from the blade, I imagine it to be cold to the touch.

I look at the others and recognize the two who were with Harlu in the desert. The one that seemed to be second-in-command is also carrying two blades, but his are more like the katanas at Mr. Li’s studio that he uses for déc or. The third elf from the des ert doesn’t seem to be carrying anything, but as I look closely I see that he does have something in his hand . He’s too far away for me to make out what it is .

The last one is new.
He’s shorter than the others , but I think that’s because he seems hunch ed over a little. E
ither that or he has really bad posture .
He’s lanky, lean and muscular . E
ven though the cold here is biting, he’s the only one not wearing long sleeves.
His bare arms are tight ropes of muscle that are tattooed and scarred, but none are as scary or nasty looking as the scar running down the left side of his face. A face so full of hate that I almost take a step back from its intensity . I look at his hands and see they’
re gloved with large steel spikes that are as long as Alorn’s blades. From what I can tell, he and Mellis are having a stare down “Lily, I’m going to go straight for the Demlok. I need you to stay in focus and not get emotionally involved with what you’ll see,”
says Tharin in a calm voice.

“What? Are you serious, how am I going to do that?”
I respond.

“Stay calm. Remember, we’re connected. If you get overly emotional, it can mean a matter of life and death. I need you to stay focus ed , so that I can stay focus ed . Do you understand?”