13. Kiar

Chapter 13

Kiar

I dove toward the other naga, intercepting her just as she reached Sun. Her coils were nearly around him before he realized that she was there.

Fury shot through me. I saw nothing but red as I wrapped around her.

“You dare touch what doesn’t belong to you?!” I snarled in her ear, and I cracked her neck, letting her limp body fall, barely registering the surge of power her death gave me.

Sun glanced at me with wide eyes but did not linger as he ducked the swoop of a nightwing, the owl-like creature screeching.

I jumped up, catching the thing by the claws and throwing it down onto the beaten earth beneath us.

Sun beheaded the creature without hesitancy, his bloodstone weapon going through bone and sinew like it was butter.

“I did not realize that I was bought and sold to you without my knowledge,” he remarked, and I was impressed to note that he wasn’t even breathless. Perhaps I did not need to worry about him as much as I did. Perhaps, he truly was my equal.

“You may as well have been,” I said, “because I will not allow anyone but our tethered partners to touch you.”

A shriek suddenly tore through the air and as one, we looked up. Immediately I knew that now was the time to prove my word because the shape of the large bat above us, though familiar, did not belong to Bracken.

“Get behind me!” I shouted, moving myself to block Sun’s body as General Kovit swooped toward us.

Sun gasped–finally recognizing the noc for who he was. The head of the noc army, the being who had tortured Sun for information on the moonstone’s whereabouts. The very stone now held in Sun’s flimsy pocket.

He spread his wings out, blotting out the sun, and let out a screeching laugh. My gaze darted around the field, seeking out Bracken.

He was in the distance, overcome by nocs, and I knew that we were on our own.

Behind me, Sun remained silent, but I could feel the tension radiating off of him.

“Are you surprised to see me?” the general asked with a wicked grin. “Did you think your foolish lie would have gotten rid of me for good? Oh no, little noc killer, you will not stop me from getting the stone or burning Black Lantern prison to the ground with all of your little friends locked within its walls.”

Behind me, Sun gasped at the threat to his comrades.

“I won’t allow it!” he shouted and with absolute precision and breakneck speed, he threw a sharpened shard of bloodstone directly at Kovit.

It would have hit him directly between the eyes, but he pulled in his wings as soon as Sun moved and dropped several feet before righting himself, laughing.

“You weaklings can do nothing to stop me from taking what is mine !”

With that, Kovit swooped towards us without warning, ignoring me to reach for Sun.

Before I could react, Kovit stopped in midair, a look of horror crossing his face. He looked as though he had seen a ghost.

That was not far from the truth. I glanced in the direction he stared and realized that Hadi had arrived. Clearly vengeance mattered more to him than subterfuge. I could not say that I blamed him.

“What’s the matter General?” Hadi asked, smirking. “Aren’t you happy to see your beloved king back from the killing blow you so kindly bestowed upon me?”

Kovit drew in a ragged breath, as though unable to believe it was real.

“Yes,” Hadi snarled, “I am alive and well despite your best efforts, as are my only truly loyal followers.”

“But–but how?” he demanded.

Behind Hadi, Clem fluttered, still uneven on his healing wing. He was glowing once again and just as promised, had come to our rescue. He lowered now, as though he could possibly be ignored as he dropped next to Sun, grabbing him by the arms, clearly intent on running with him.

Suddenly, Hadi was forgotten, or at least deemed less important than losing the stone right from under him. Kovit shot toward them. I threw myself in the way but there was no need because Hadi got to him first.

He hit General Kovit mid-air, all of his limbs wrapping around the mutinous bastard.

They fell together, hitting the ground with a crash. By the time they landed, Hadi was already wrapping the giant bat in his sticky web while he screamed bloody murder, flailing against his overwhelming strength.

It was funny. General Kovit had seemed like such a monstrous beast in that torture chamber but against Hadi, he was weak. I was reminded why he was my king. There was a reason that no one had questioned his presence on the throne for so long.

“Come.” A small hand grabbed my arm, and I looked down to see Clem, his warning glow still strong.

“The rest will wake up soon.”

Sure enough, there was movement. I could see the earth shifting from the sleeping crawler nocs beneath us. Soon, the valley would be overrun while we still tried to escape.

“Quickly,” I agreed and swooped down, lifting Sun into one arm and Clem into the other.

I moved fast, whipping across the open valley, eager to get back under the shadow of the trees.

About halfway there, a shadow covered us and I looked up to see Bracken, beaten and bloody, but grinning.

“Where is Hadi?” he asked.

“Fighting Kovit.”

His eyes widened and he looked back.

“I don’t think they’re fighting anymore,” he laughed.

Slowing, I turned to look back.

Kovit was nothing but a lump wrapped in white webbing and Hadi was bent over him, feasting on his blood.

It was a huge win. A victory that the humans would have rejoiced in. We were doing them favors now, fighting on their side in a way. I had no idea what to think of that, but a common enemy did not make us friends...

Sun’s palm suddenly pressed to my chest, feeling my heartbeat. When I looked at him, he was watching Hadi feed with a troubled expression on his face, and I had the feeling that he had done it subconsciously to steady himself by connecting with me.

My heart, under his palm squeezed uncomfortably at the realization that the stone in Sun’s pocket was the only reason that he was still alive. Hadi would try to feed on him once our tether was broken.

The problem was, I no longer believed that the tether had much, if anything, to do with the way Sun made me feel. And now I completely understood the worry on Sun’s face. I wasn’t sure what would happen at Tsuki’s temple once the tether was broken.

“Get Hadi,” I ordered Bracken. “Before the whole noc army is upon him.”

No sooner did the words leave my mouth when suddenly the ground beneath us shook and began to crack, soon, countless crawler nocs would be released from its depths.

“Hadi!” I shouted, but he ignored me.

Against one bat noc, he was fine, but under an army of giant millipede and centipede nocs, I wasn’t so sure we would all get out of this alive.

Without thinking, I turned around, determined to get Hadi out of here even if I had to carry him myself. Bracken was already swooping in his direction.

He reached Hadi first, just as the shaking earth dislodged him from Kovit’s still struggling form.

Hadi tried to swat Bracken’s huge form away, reaching for Kovit as he began to roll and wriggle.

“No!” Hadi shouted in frustration. “I must finish him!”

I understood the desperation in his voice all too well. Hadi would have no peace until those who had betrayed him were dead. I happened to feel the same way.

Suddenly, Kovit’s arm ripped through the layers of Hadi’s web. The moment it did, he tore completely free.