Chapter 33

33

If you want to die, threaten an animal’s mate.

~ Ranger Sergeant Mlokar

The mercenaries pinning Kaylina against the wall didn’t understand the ramifications of the new roar, didn’t know the difference between the taybarri and the beast.

“If we kill her, the attacks might stop,” one said.

“I don’t know. Didn’t Fozrik say this place has been cursed for centuries? She’s just a girl.”

“Yeah, but she’s linked to it. Look at her hand. She’s a freak .” The knife bit deeper.

Kaylina tried to summon a few shreds of magical power, enough to stretch from her hand to his, to bite into his palm and fingers, like stinging nettle, so that he would?—

“Shit.” The man swore and jerked his hand back, fumbling his knife. “What was that?”

The beast appeared in the doorway to the dining hall, another great roar reverberating from the stone walls. With his clothes in shreds and his boots and sword missing, he threw his arms wide, muscles flexing under his auburn fur.

Blue eyes savage, the beast snarled, “My mate!”

Cursing vehemently, the men released Kaylina and leaped back. They jerked their swords defensively toward the beast. His powerful muscles rippled under his short fur as he surged into the dining hall.

The mercenaries reacted quickly but not quickly enough. When the beast charged them, he evaded their sword slashes, ducking or dancing away, then leaping in behind the attacks. He knocked both blades to the floor, the weapons clattering against stone. When the beast sprang upon Kaylina’s attackers, his claws tore through armor and into flesh. His jaws sank even deeper.

The men’s screams assailed her ears, making her wince, but with her arm throbbing with pain and blood saturating her sleeve, she couldn’t feel sympathy for them.

A severed hand flopped down at her feet, and her stomach churned again. This battle was too much for her—too much for anyone —to have to endure. Muscles weak and drained of energy, she slumped against the wall for support.

The beast finished the mercenaries and spun toward her, his gaze raking her up and down.

“Thank you, but there are more enemies,” she hurried to say, afraid his mating instincts would make him forget that.

Kaylina had to convey that there weren’t only more enemies but a lot more enemies. Since Vlerion was no longer defending the wall, the troops would have an easier time getting over.

The beast snarled. An acknowledgment? Instead of leaping on her, he sprang toward the doorway.

A clang came from the kitchen, where a battle still raged, more mercenaries trying to overcome the ranger guarding the pantry entrance. When the beast roared, the ranger spun toward him, his eyes as wide with fear as those of the mercenaries he faced.

“Outside.” Kaylina ignored the pain in her arm and put a hand on the beast’s muscled back.

Even though the kitchen held numerous enemies, she worried he would mistake friends for foes, attacking anyone who came within reach of his deadly claws.

The mercenaries looked at his powerful form, at the blood dripping from his fangs, and they turned and fled down the ladder and back into the catacombs.

The beast crouched, as if to spring at the ranger.

“ Outside ,” Kaylina said more firmly, willing her flagging power to influence him.

She also tried to share an image of all the mercenaries and soldiers storming over the wall, but doubt swept into her. Her ability to control the beast was never as great as others believed.

And he snarled, as if he resented it, until she added an image of the men out there pinning her against a wall. She emphasized that they were from the same side as the guys who’d just done that to her.

The beast spun toward her. His eyes were wild and savage, with no hint of humanity in them, but she glimpsed understanding in them. He lifted a claw to her face and touched her cheek before racing outside.

Kaylina wanted to slump against the wall again, but dozens of men had made it into the courtyard, and both gates had been battered down. As powerful as the beast was, he couldn’t beat all of them alone.

“We need to help him,” Kaylina told the ranger. “That’s Vlerion.”

The man looked toward the trapdoor in the destroyed pantry, the way clear now that the mercenaries had fled, and hesitated for a long second. But then he nodded to Kaylina, lifted his sword, and walked out ahead of her.

“I hope we survive for your bravery to be rewarded,” she told him as they entered the chaos.

Vines were visible along the top of the wall, grabbing people and keeping them away, but there were far fewer now. The sentinel’s power was waning as much as hers.

“You’re the brave one for standing face to face with that .” The ranger pointed his sword at the beast, who was already tearing into men who’d leaped down from the wall. Despite his wariness, the man rushed to engage with others who were trying to attack the beast from behind.

Wincing as her wound stung, Kaylina loaded her sling. At least the man had stabbed her in the left arm instead of the right.

Shouts and roars came from outside the rear gate. Kaylina fired at a mercenary when he was glancing back and caught him above the ear. She spotted another ranger riding a taybarri through the courtyard, slashing at enemies, and wondered where Targon had gone. Did he have any idea how to survive this? By now, he had to have run out of arrows.

As if summoned by her thoughts, Targon ran around the back corner of the castle and into view. Blood ran from gashes on his head and hands, but he was still fighting, using his sword now that his quiver hung empty. He charged up to two men as they leaped down from the wall.

More roars came from beyond the courtyard walls—were there taybarri out there now too?

“In here, Sergeant!” Targon yelled through the broken gate as he battled the two men.

Kaylina was confused until Sergeant Zhani and several other rangers rode into the courtyard. Their mounts bit mercenaries as they slashed with their swords, taking people down from their elevated positions.

Relief swept into Kaylina. These had to be rangers from headquarters that Targon had summoned when he’d fired those flares. They’d managed to fight their way through the army to come help. And more taybarri roars in the streets promised some were out there fighting.

The beast also roared, furious about something. He hefted one of his opponents over his head with his strong arms and threw the man—the body—in front of Zhani’s taybarri. Growling, he faced the newly arrived rangers, and fear overrode Kaylina’s relief. If the beast was unable to tell friend from foe and killed their own allies…

Again, he roared at one of the taybarri. It bolted toward the far side of the courtyard, carrying away its startled rider.

“Control him,” Targon barked at Kaylina as more rangers—more taybarri —hesitated to run into the courtyard. They were fearless against the soldiers, but the beast was another matter.

Even though he was utterly terrifying, Kaylina put away her sling and ran toward him. She had to guide him, to ensure he was the protector of people—at least those sworn to their side—that Vlerion had promised he could be with her help.

When he saw her, he threw his arms wide, flung his head back, and roared. Hopefully, more with frustration with all these men swarming around him than with her.

“Only attack those who attack you, my mate.” Kaylina stepped close and touched his furred chest, though she couldn’t help but eye those flexing paws—the sharp claws slashing through the air.

She envisioned the mercenaries in green uniforms and attempted to share the image with him. In this state, he might be closer to an animal than a man, and more able to receive her silent communications.

When the beast spun away, roaring again, she feared she didn’t have the energy—the power —left to influence him. But he avoided a ranger and sprang toward two mercenaries with blunderbusses jumping down from the wall. They were raising their weapons and had meant to shoot him in the back. But when he ran toward them, pure snarling, deadly power, they hesitated. His muscled legs carrying him swiftly, the beast reached them before they could recover. He bowled into both, sending their weapons flying.

Levitke lunged in front of Kaylina, startling her. Jaws snapped, and the taybarri caught an arrow that had been flying toward her, launched from an unknown archer’s bow. Levitke broke it in two and spat it out.

“Thank you,” Kaylina rasped, feeling foolish for standing in the middle of the chaotic courtyard. Maybe she could direct the beast from a doorway. “Extra cookies for you later.”

Kaylina hoped there would be a later.

Levitke roared, then rushed toward steps leading up to the wall where the archer crouched. He saw the taybarri coming and jumped off on the other side.

“Control him without exposing yourself.” Targon ran in from the side—he must have seen the close call—and pushed Kaylina against the keep wall, no gentleness in his touch. “Stay out of the way so you don’t get trampled or killed.”

Before she could issue a retort that would not have been reverent, he whirled away to engage more attackers that were trying to get at the beast’s back. The troops understood that he was Lord Vlerion, that he was who they’d all been ordered to kill.

Kaylina kept her link with the beast, feeling attached to him by her magic, and guided him whenever he turned toward a ranger without any recognition in his fierce eyes. Several times, she whispered a, No , in his mind, sharing with him the green-uniformed men again, and he whirled away, attacking the mercenaries.

Sweat beaded on her brow, as if she were fighting herself. The effort of using her magic drained her as much as sparring in the arena with Sergeant Zhani.

Bodies soon lay all over the courtyard. More than one ranger had been wounded, and the awareness that they were still outnumbered overwhelmed her again.

More and more guards and mercenaries flowed through the broken gates, and a cannon fired out front. Commanders shouted to their men to keep up the fight, to wear them down.

Kaylina worried it would work, especially when the beams stopped lancing out to halt the climbers. And the vines disappeared from the top of the wall. She sent a silent question to the sentinel.

A weak sense of fatigue came from it, immense fatigue. It had done all it could.

A cannonball slammed into the wall, causing a section to crumble and exposing the keep. The next attack might tear down the castle itself. Then it would be razed, as Prince Enrikon had threatened. Prince Enrikon, who was hiding blocks away instead of leading his men in his battle and risking his life alongside theirs.

Disdain and anger simmered within Kaylina, but she couldn’t summon any more power. She could barely stay on her feet and leaned heavily against the wall for support. At least her link with the beast didn’t take a lot of energy. She could see a green tendril of magic tethering her to him, and she could continue guiding him.

But for how long? A taybarri cried out, and a ranger went down. A soft rain started falling, as clangs and booms echoed all around her, and she couldn’t help but see their demise in it. She wondered if the catacombs access point was open, if they could flee that way.

She opened her mouth to call to Targon, to suggest they try, but she paused, sensing someone nearby, someone with power. Someone familiar.

Kaylina looked toward the nearest tower, one at the back corner of the keep that faced the rear gate and the river. As Targon had stood on another rooftop before, the new arrival perched there now. Her father, green-and-gray hair damp about his shoulders, gazed down at the battle.

How had he sneaked in and gotten up there? Kaylina had no idea, but when their eyes met, she silently asked if he could help. No, if he would help. He had the power. But did he care what befell Vlerion? Or even her?

He was gazing thoughtfully at the beast, and then his gaze followed the tendril linking him to her.

You have battled well together, Arsanti spoke calmly into her mind.

Yes, but there are too many. Won’t you help your daughter? Your experiment ? Kaylina couldn’t help but sneer at that last word.

His eyebrows twitched. The preserve must be protected.

Yeah, and if we die here tonight, we can’t do it.

We?

She pointed at the beast. We’re a team. We’re mates.

Yes. I do see that. Arsanti spread his arms, and power flowed from him.

It didn’t attack the assailants but instead wrapped around the castle and entered the sentinel’s tower through its window. His power infused the plant, as hers had done earlier, but he was a full-blooded Daygarii and had much more to share.

Kaylina sensed the sentinel perk up, refreshed as druid magic filled its limbs and leaves, granting it fresh energy. Within seconds, purple beams lanced out again, striking soldiers and mercenaries in the courtyard. One arced over the wall to blow up a cannon. Vines again grew from the wall, snatching climbers and blocking the gate and the gap from the earlier strike.

A tattered cheer went up from the rangers as they realized the sentinel wasn’t attacking them and was instead evening the odds. Arsanti gazed down at Kaylina, then pointed at her, and a surge of power infused her, the same as he’d given to the sentinel.

It was like a jolt from the strongest cup of coffee, sending refreshing energy through her. Sensing the beast starting to grow weary, she attempted to siphon some into him. He could put it to use far more than she.

A snort of amusement sounded in her mind. Her father.

Allow me, he said.

Power flowed from him and into the beast, who roared with appreciation for the rejuvenating vigor. He sprang to take down three more opponents.

“We can’t get out!” a mercenary near the gate yelled, the vines blocking the way. “We’re outnumbered!”

“No retreat!” someone outside bellowed.

A beam lanced from the sentinel’s tower and struck in the area that the order had come from. A man screamed in pain. Kaylina hoped the sentinel had taken out the officer in charge. If those in command died or were too wounded to give orders, the army might back off.

A boom sounded, and a cannonball soared straight for the tower. The sentinel blew it up with another beam, but tremendous irritation emanated from it. Then the ground shook.

Another earthquake.

For the first time, Kaylina was paying attention to the sentinel when it happened and realized the epicenter was at its tower. In its pot . It had to be responsible. Had it been all along? For every earthquake that had shaken the city?

Kaylina didn’t know, but this one rocked the ground more than any of the others had. Pieces of the wall crumbled, giving a view of the army outside and the buildings around. As stone fell —a nearby house collapsed completely—with chunks landing on people, the army looked around in fear. For the first time, men broke ranks and fled for safety.

Kaylina expected to hear the prince with his megaphone again, ordering everyone to stay until someone got Vlerion. But no bellows came from that direction. It was unlikely, but she hoped Enrikon’s building collapsed, and rubble crushed him.

A tremendous cracking of rock came from the direction of the harbor. Thunderous snap after snap, it kept going, as cacophonous as a landslide. Distant screams also came from that direction. Kaylina didn’t understand what was happening until the sentinel shared an image with her, along with a sense of smugness.

The edge of the plateau on which the royal castle perched was crumbling, sloughing down into the harbor.

Kaylina gripped the wall for support as the vision played out in her mind. If not for all the noise coming from that direction, she might have thought it an image of a hypothetical future, but the screams and tremendous snapping of rock promised she was witnessing the present.

Mouth dry, Kaylina struggled to swallow. The entire plateau didn’t go down, and only the front section of the royal castle and courtyard crumbled into the harbor, but it was still devastating. Nobody caught in the fall could have survived.

With a jolt, Kaylina realized the queen, if she’d remained in that tower, watching Stillguard Castle, would have been caught. The queen and the advisors who’d stood with her.

“By the wrath of all the gods combined,” Kaylina whispered, looking toward the tower.

That smugness came to her again, the sentinel proud that it had put her father’s power to such effective use.

Kaylina rubbed her face with trembling hands, far more sick than smug at all the carnage, but, as she had noted often, the sentinel felt nothing but disdain for humans. And since they’d been attacking it, she didn’t even know if she could blame it for its response.

As the last tremors from the earthquake subsided, Kaylina looked up toward the tower where her father had perched, but he was gone. A hawk flew nearby, and she briefly thought it might be Arsanti, but she’d never heard of magic that suggested the druids were able to turn into birds or animals.

“Doesn’t mean it’s not possible,” she whispered.

It would explain how he’d gotten onto the tower to help. Or had he simply come to watch her and see if she had developed enough power to guard his preserve?

“Protect him!” Targon barked.

Kaylina spun, fear for Vlerion igniting anew. He’d collapsed and was turning back into a man.

She didn’t know if someone had thrown a potion, or he’d run out of energy on his own, especially after Arsanti had left. The power that had been flowing into the beast had left along with him.

Sling in hand, as if that would be enough to help, Kaylina ran toward Vlerion. Fortunately, several rangers and taybarri were running toward him too and formed a ring around him. He wasn’t moving. His shredded clothes were loose on his body, and blood seeped from numerous wounds, but his chest rose and fell with breathing. The curse magic had simply worn off.

Kaylina and the rangers stood ready, but, in the aftermath of the great earthquake, silence crept over the city. The enemies in the courtyard who weren’t already dead or too injured to continue slunk to a gap in the wall that wasn’t blocked by vines. They slipped through, a few sending long looks toward Vlerion before leaving. Kaylina had no idea what they were thinking. That he’d done what he said he would do? That he was a monster and a threat to all? That a beast couldn’t rule the kingdom? Who knew?

Through the gaps, Kaylina couldn’t see much of the surrounding area, but what she could see was soon empty of people. Once the enemies from the courtyard dispersed, nothing stirred out there. Rubble remained, and a cannon half blown to pieces lay on its side, but stillness settled around the castle.

At her feet, Vlerion stirred. Kaylina dropped to her knees beside him and touched his chest.

Never before had she seen him wake so quickly after the curse wore off, but maybe the power her father had infused him with had helped. Whatever the reason, she wouldn’t complain. When his blue eyes opened, the savagery of the beast gone and a hint of pain in them, she turned her touch into a hug, though she was careful not to brush any of his injuries.

Less careful, he returned the hug, pulling her down and crushing her against his chest.

“We did it,” she whispered, referring to how the beast had let her guide him, more than anything else.

Targon, blood dripping from his sword as he stood nearby, snorted. “That earthquake did it.” After a pause, he added, “Unless you’re going to tell me that you made that happen.”

“Not me.” Kaylina looked toward the sentinel’s tower.

“The plant did it? Did it do all of them?”

“I think it might have.”

Vlerion, arms still around her, turned his head to look in that direction.

“Do you tell it to?” he asked quietly.

Since she’d admitted she’d asked it to shoot the prince, she couldn’t blame him for thinking that a possibility. But she’d seen something they couldn’t yet be aware of—the destruction of the front of that plateau and the royal castle, and she didn’t want to be held accountable for that.

“No,” she said. “Someone fired a cannon right at its tower, and that pissed it off.”

Targon grunted. “It would have been nice if it had gotten that pissed off before .” He scowled around the courtyard. “I’ve lost men here, and the guards and the mercenaries… hundreds must have died.”

Kaylina opened her mouth, intending to explain that her father had arrived and given the sentinel power, but if nobody had seen him, did she want to share that? He wouldn’t want credit for helping human beings. She had no doubt he’d only acted to help her , to make sure his experiment lived and could do the duty he’d created her for. Besides, would the rangers even believe that someone had appeared and disappeared here, somehow getting past all the combatants?

“Sometimes, you have to get shot at a few times before you get really disgruntled,” was what Kaylina finally said.

“I get disgruntled as soon as someone attacks me.” Targon must have decided Vlerion was safe, for he stepped away and called, “Sergeant Zhani, Corporal Zintner, find all our injured. Jingus, ride back and, if the streets are safe enough, get the doctor.”

“Yes, my lord,” came their replies.

Vlerion sighed, looking like he also expected to be assigned a duty. A hand to his gashed ribs, he grimaced as he pushed himself into a sitting position. Kaylina leaned back so he could do so, but she also touched his chest.

“You’re too injured to do anything else tonight,” she told him.

“I am not.”

“Look, your head is bleeding. What if someone cracked you in that spot with a sling round? You’d pass out again.”

“There’s only one person here with a sling,” Vlerion said.

“Yeah, and I’ll use it on you if you try to get up.”

Targon looked back at them. “Sometimes, she vexes me like a thorn under my nail, and sometimes I like her.”

Vlerion nodded. “I’ve experienced similar feelings.”

Kaylina squinted at him. “I may use my sling on you even if you don’t get up.”

“She’s quite the shrew, isn’t she?” Targon said. “At least she’s got nice tits.”

Just when she started to think he wasn’t a total asshole…

“Are you sure it’s me you’d like to pelt with your sling?” Vlerion gave Targon a dark look but appeared too weary for growling or truly forbidding glares.

Kaylina started to answer that she had fantasies involving deadlier weapons for Targon, but a ranger leaned into the courtyard and yelled, “Captain, you’ve got to see this.”

He pointed in the direction of the harbor and the royal castle—what remained of it. Kaylina had little doubt about what this was.

“Bring a spyglass if you’ve got one, my lord,” the ranger added.

“Jankarr’s got my spyglass,” Targon grumbled as he headed for the gate. “Someone find him.”

Kaylina wondered where Jankarr had gone—apparently not to report on the prince’s whereabouts to Targon. She reached out to the sentinel.

Do you know where the ranger Jankarr went? she asked it, sharing an image of him.

A sense of indifference came from the sentinel. What did it care for a random human?

Kaylina formed an image of a huge pot of honey-water fertilizer in her mind. The kitchen and pantry were in bad shape, but she could hopefully find intact jars of honey to fulfill the promise. The bribe.

A vision of the Sluice and Pick building came to mind again. She thought the sentinel was confused about who she wanted an update on, but it would be good to know if the prince was still there, so she didn’t ask it to stop. As it had before, the vision closed in on the rooftop of the building. The prince and two of his bodyguards lay amid puddles of blood.

That shocked her until she saw a man in ranger blacks. Jankarr. But he also lay on the rooftop, blood leaking from wounds. Damn, those looked like fatal wounds, but his eyes were open, and he looked at a man pointing a sword at him and speaking. It was one of the prince’s bodyguards, and there were two men in Kingdom Guard uniforms too. They all had swords out and were pointing back and forth from Jankarr to the prince. With his throat slit, Enrikon had to be dead. But Jankarr…

“We have to go,” Kaylina blurted, surging to her feet.

“What?” Vlerion blinked. “You threatened me if I got up.”

“I know, but we might already be too late.” She whistled for Levitke and Crenoch, then repeated, “We have to go. Trust me.”

Vlerion pushed himself to his feet, his face grim. “I do.”