The Breaker's Promise (YA Urban Fantasy) (Fixed Points Book 2) (27 page)

I did what he said and, as he crumbled off of me, I grabbed the knife and rolled into the river. The water drank me in, cold, dark and encompassing. Arrows shot past me, presumably burying themselves in the riverbed below. I could barely see. Nothing lit the forest but the moonlight, and that light was even dimmer underwater. A searing pain shot up my leg and the water got warmer suddenly. It took me a second to realize what had happened. But reaching for my calf, I found an arrow dug into it. More would come. How long until one of them would pierce my heart or my throat. Or worse, they would stand out there shooting them until I drown in this stream. I was moving. I k new that much, but whether I was going toward my friends or away from them was anybody’s guess. Another arrow clipped my shoulder. I winced, though the pain was nothing in comparison to the burning in my lungs. I couldn’t take this much more. I’d have to pop up for air sooner or later and, when I did that, whichever lucky Breaker was standing there would deal me a death blow.

I needed things to take a fortunate turn. I needed my luck to break somehow.

When water flows up, it all breaks.

Wendy’s words chimed in my ears, like she was telling them to me directly. She hadn’t been talking about the barrier breaking. She had been talking about this moment, telling me what to do. If Renner could make this stream by lifting the water out of the ground, then how hard could it be for me to lift it a little further?

I opened my eyes wide, pulling at the available shade. Then, tugging at the water around me, I threw it up into the air, taking myself with it. First things first, I pushed the water apart far enough to afford me a nice gulp or two of oxygen. More arrows, some on fire, shot passed me, but I was moving faster now, too fast for any of them to hit.

The world was below me now. I was higher than even the Council of Masons, thrust up on their thrones.  Looking down below at the people who hated me, I knew that I couldn’t leave yet. There were people who had risked everything for me, sacrificed all they had to keep me safe. I would not abandon them.

Flora was the easiest, fighting high on a hill; I scooped her up into the flying rapids. Then Renner, who was fighting off a barrage of our enemies. He was bleeding pretty heavily, but hopefully, I could get him where we needed to be in time to fix him up. Owen and Royce were together; fighting together- back to back, down in some valley. I had to swoop right past the Council, but I got them both handily.

It was over now. My people were with me and I was going to fly so fast and so far that these bastards would never get the chance to hurt any of us again. Or at least, that was my intent.

Another pulse, and the water dissipated beneath me. We sputtered, falling, and colliding with the ground hard and fast.

“Is everybody okay?” I coughed, realizing that more than a little water had went down my throat.

They all stood; Renner with Flora’s help. Looking up, I saw the Breakers rushing toward us. They were further than they had been but, out of the river, I had no idea how I was going to get us away.

“Be brave,” Renner said. His voice was haggard and his body beaten.

Suddenly, I remembered the knife Sevie gave me, the one I still had in my hand, and his instructions. “Your brother saved my life,” I told Owen. “And he said you would know what to do with this.”

He looked at the knife, then at the Breaker army, then at me. His eyes narrowed and then got wide, filling with something that hinted at terror and sorrow.

“So that’s what it means,” he said softly.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Yeah, Big Boy. We don’t really have time for you to play coy,” Royce chimed in.

Owen grabbed my hand and threw himself in front of me, bringing the knife close to his throat. “She’ll kill me!” He screamed.

“What are you doing?” I asked, stunned.

“They’ll stop. They’ll give you time if they think you’d kill me. They can’t afford for me to die; not so long as you’re alive.”

He was right. As soon as the words left his mouth, the Council raised their hands, ordering the army to stop.

“This is a temporary solution though,” I said. “How do we get out of this?”

“We don’t,” he said with his back pressed against my chest. “You do.”

“Owen, what-“

“Cresta, I know I said I would never lie to you again, and I know that I said I would never leave, but there’s something you don’t know.” My heart sank as he continued. “The crone told me more than I let on. She said, if things got bad, that I would have to stay for you to survive.”

“Owen, no!” I shouted. It all made sense now; what he said about me and Royce, what he said about the future. He was trying to tell me he had to leave. He was trying to make it okay.

“Cresta, I have to. The only way you get out of this is to make another barrier; one that’ll lock them inside. Look at him Renner can’t do that. But you can. You just need time.”

“Time you’re going to give me,” I answered with tears in my eyes. “Owen there’s got to be another way. I can’t do something like this. I don’t even have anything to anchor a new barrier to.”

“Sure you do,” he answered. “Anchor it to the moon.” I looked up. The moon was big…and it was crescent.

“Fine, I’ll make a new barrier. I’ll do it right now, but you’re coming with me.”

“I wish I could, my love,” he answered softly. “More than anything, I wish I could. But there are things you don’t know; about Sevie, about what it means to be the dragon; things I didn’t even know until the crone told me.”

“What did the crone say?!’ I asked frantically, with the blade still in my hand.

“She said if I left you would die. The Council would never stop looking for their champion, for the Dragon, and they’d find us both. But if I stay-“

“Owen, I can’t.” I couldn’t keep the tears out of my eyes.

“Of course you can, Baby,” he answered. “You’re Cresta Karr. You can do anything.” He leaned his head back, so that he was even closer to me. “There’s one more thing, and I need you to really listen, because you won’t want to hear it. We can never see each other again, Cresta.”

“Owen, you-“

“It’s too risky. I’ll be watched. I’ll be trained. And the crone said that” He choked back something; probably tears, though I couldn’t see his face. “The crone said that the next time I see you will be the day I kill you. So I need you to promise me that day will never come. I need you to promise me that you’ll do everything in your power to stay safe.”

“Owen…”

“Promise me, Cresta. A Breaker’s promise.”

“Breaker’s promise,” I said weakly.

“Good,” he said. “I love you. I’ll always love you. Now go!” He threw the knife to the side and pushed me away from him. Before I could react Royce had me by the arm, pulling me away from the now raging Breaker army, pulling me away from Owen, pulling me away from my life.

As soon as Owen was away from me, the Breaker army sprang into action. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t think. All I could see was Owen, smiling at me with tears in his eyes- and the encroaching masses behind him.

“Owen!” My mind knew I shouldn’t go to him, but my body wasn’t listening. I pulled toward him; Breaker barbarians, be damned. But Royce held me tight.

“They ain’t gonna hurt him, Sweetheart; not while you’re alive,” he said, pulling me away. “But that’s contingent on you staying that way. And you won’t do that if you don’t get that barrier up. So get at it.”

The barrier!

As if going through the motions, my mind grabbed at the endless shade around me, provided by the Breakers who wished me dead. It would be their undoing. As Royce pulled me, as Flora pulled an ailing Renner, I pulled at the shade, shaping it into building blocks and stacking those blocks on top of each other.  The Breakers kept coming, with the Council propped up among them. They couldn’t see what I was doing with the shade, and by the time they realized it, they would be trapped…along with Owen.

“Keep going!” Royce yelled at Flora. Renner was bleeding all over the place. His face was pale and sickly looking. In the back of my mind, I wondered how long he was going to last. Shaking my head, I pushed the thought away. There was no time to think about that right now. I needed that barrier up. Like Royce said, I needed to keep going.

Block by block, the barrier took shape; an arch at the top, running down in a circle. It was killing me though, the sheer amount of energy, and the sheer amount of shaping it. Sweat pooled on my forehead, but I gritted my teeth and continued. They were at Owen now, encompassing him. It pulled at my heart, but I knew I couldn’t stop it. There was no turning back now.

I saw the Council members, Chant chief among them, propped up over their subjects. Our eyes met for an instant and, in that moment, it was like he figured out what I was doing.

“Proceed!” He screamed, his eyes widening. “Proceed.” But it was too late. The barrier was complete, save for a small square in the center. Chant raised his hand and made a sharp come hither motion. I thought he was communicating with one of his people at first, maybe whoever was holding up that ridiculously lavish golden throne. But then I saw the shade. It shot out from his hand like a bullet, burning through the sky, through the hole in the barrier toward me.

“No!” I heard a voice, Flora’s voice. And then I saw her. She jumped in front of me just in time for the shade to scoop her up and yank her backward. She went soaring through the air, flying like she had been launched from a slingshot. She went through the barrier instants before it closed, sealing the Breakers off from us.

“Flora!” I yelled.

“It’s too late,” Renner coughed. He was propped against a tree, barely able to stand. “Anchor it, Cresta. Use the moon!”

I looked to Royce, who nodded his approval, however hesitant it was. I grit my teeth and looked up into the sky. I had never anchored anything before. All the shade I used was tied to me, but I could tell now, by the way my head pounded every time a Breaker hit against the barrier, that I wasn’t a viable option this time. Luckily, it turned out I didn’t need to know much. I looked to the moon, and it helped me. I offered it the barrier, and it reached out and took it, promising me without words that it would hold the barrier as long as it could.

And they said the crescent moon was bad luck.

“It’s done,” I said, wiping a trickle of blood from my nose.

“Good,” Royce answered, pulling Renner to his feet and slinging his arm over his neck. “We need to move. I have to get my uncle some help.”

“Okay,” I muttered, but I was still looking at the barrier, at the Breaker masses pressing against it. Owen was somewhere in that crowd. I couldn’t help but think about the games from back at Weatherby, playing at war like the Bloodmoon and the Dragon. And here we were; real war, and really on different sides of it.

“Cresta!” Royce shouted. “Time doesn’t wait for the bleeding, Sweetheart. We gotta make dust.”

I turned back to him. Renner was in bad shape. I couldn’t waste any more time lamenting, no matter how well deserved it was.

I chanced one more look at the barrier. Owen said I could never see him again, and I promised that I would comply; that I would give him up forever to make sure I was safe. It was a Breaker’s promise; one that could never be broken.

“Well screw that,” I muttered. “I’ve never been much of a Breaker anyway.” With tears in my eyes, I whispered, “I’ll see you soon, Baby.”

We walked for what seemed like hours; through the endless woods, with only the crescent moon shining down to light our way. Renner was a heaping mess. When he passed out, Royce actually carried him like a baby. When I suggested that we stop and rest, Royce blurted out. “No time, Sweetheart. He ain’t dying on my watch.”

And just when I thought that either Renner would die or that Royce’s back would snap like a twig under his carried weight, we came across the cabin. It was just as Royce had described; which was to say it was small, had a red door with a crescent moon shape etched onto it, and it looked like no one had lived here in decades.

Royce rushed up the steps, newfound energy bursting in him. Kicking the door open, he yelled. “We need help!”

I ran in behind him to find two familiar faces coming to the aid. Echo and Dahlia rushed to Renner. ”Fate’s hand, how did this happen?!” Dahlia gasped. Then, setting herself, she commanded “Lay him on the table!”

“What’s going on?” I muttered. “What-Why are you here?”

“Calm her down or get her out of here!” Dahlia yelled, cutting Renner’s shirt open with a large kitchen knife.

“Come with me, darling,” Echo said softly, guiding out of the living area and down a long hall.

“Why are you here?” I asked as he brought me into a bedroom.  It was large but empty, save for a twin size bed covered in oddly out of place Star Wars sheets.

“Because, no matter what happens, I’ll always be here for you, Cresta.” He sat me on the bed and my buried my face in his chest. “I don’t care who or what you are. I’m always on your side.”

And just like that, all the things I had been bottling up, all the stuff I had been trying to keep under the surface for so long came bubbling up. Tears poured out of my eyes. I was bawling; wailing like a kid wrapped in her father’s arms.