Chapter 24

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

K ormac had never wanted to run away from a fight before and yet the urge simmered within. A sense of impending doom had him wanting to grab Fionna, toss her on his horse, and ride hard.

Protecting her was only part of the reason. He dreaded what he'd have to do next.

Lomar's crimes could no longer be ignored. Even if they could clear him of the malevolence infesting him, no one would ever be able to forget what he'd done.

Lomar most of all.

Knowing him as he did, Kormac knew the man would hate himself. If suicide weren't considered so dishonorable, Lomar might have resorted to it, only he couldn't. The thing that awaited inside the garrison had subdued his friend. It controlled the body, and it was up to Kormac to make sure those possessed hands didn't cause more death—even if it killed something inside him.

Fionna appeared undaunted as she rifled through the saddle bags, strapping on an extra dagger around her ankle—a very sexy ankle. The ride on horseback had caused her braid to loosen and wisps curled around her face. He watched as she combed and re-twisted the strands. Sensing his regard, she turned and smiled at him, and understanding punched him hard.

Hit hard because when she smiled his heart felt light and happy.

When she talked, he liked to listen.

When she walked, he found himself staring.

When she laughed, he wanted to laugh with her.

When she came on his fingers, he wanted nothing more than to call her his.

He'd never been more focused on a woman. Bringing her to orgasm proved to be the greatest thing ever. Her small cries. The honey she emitted for him. He just wished he could have stopped long enough to claim her. To show her how she made him feel.

Alas, urgency kept them constantly moving, and when they stopped it was briefly and for necessities only. His stallion had been bred for endurance but even he was shocked they'd made it in such short time.

Fionna stretched as if purposely teasing, the lift of her arms above her head baring her midriff. When she bent over to touch her toes, he wished he stood behind to see if her buttocks peeked from her leather skirt.

When she finished, she eyed him. "Aren't you going to get ready?"

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be." He grimaced. "Kind of wish we had longer."

She approached him and grabbed his hands. "You don't have to do this, and before you say Lomar has to be stopped, I agree. I mean, you don't have to because I can do it for you."

He shook his head. "I'm his friend and what's left of him in that shell will appreciate me putting him out of his misery." But who would do the same for him?

As if hearing his thoughts, she murmured, "I'll be there for you afterwards." She rose on tiptoe and kissed him.

His arms wrapped tight around her as he lifted her for a thorough embrace. Not their last, though, because he refused to die today or anytime soon for that matter.

"Let's do this before night falls," he growled against her mouth, knowing they had little time before the sun set and the thing possessing Lomar became stronger.

The garrison proved eerier than the last time he'd entered, as if those weeks of abandonment had been years. Debris littered the inner bailey. The door to the stable creaked back and forth as a cool breeze tugged it.

Fionna paused, eyes closed, hands slightly away from her body. "This place is riddled with dark threads, making it hard for me to see what's within."

"Meaning there's probably something nasty inside." A grim statement.

"I'd say that's fairly certain."

"The question is, is it Lomar or something else?"

"He's here."

"How can you be sure?"

"Because he left a sign." She pointed to the main entrance into the fort where the sigil that remained unidentified had been carved into the wood.

"It might not have been Lomar."

"True, however, there is the same sensation of malevolence in this place as I felt when conversing with him in the cell."

"Lomar or not, whatever infests this fort can't be allowed to remain." He pulled his sword from the scabbard with a metallic ring.

"You do realize we could be outnumbered," she mentioned.

"I'm worth ten men in battle and I'd say you're worth just as many or more with your magic."

Her lips curved. "I hold my own."

"We'll go cautiously. If I deem the situation impossible and give the order to retreat, you go. No arguing. No waiting for me."

"We'll see."

An infuriating reply that led to him dragging her close for a fierce kiss and a whispered, "Don't you dare die on me."

"I wasn't planning to. After all, you promised me a night of pleasure once we found a bed."

All the more reason to live.

They marched for the closed door which suddenly swung open. No one appeared in the entrance and the waning afternoon light didn't penetrate far inside.

"I think we're expected." Fionna waved her hand and flung a ball of light to precede their entrance.

It didn't dispel all the shadows, but they could see enough. The tables and benches from before had been shoved aside, their debris forming a passage that led to a single chair at the far end, and seated in it, Lomar.

His friend's head remained dipped until they'd reached the midpoint of the room. When it lifted, a chill swept Kormac, for the eyes had turned completely black.

The lips twisted as the possessor rasped, "Took you long enough."

"It's time to end this," Kormac stated.

"You're right, it is." Lomar's head tilted. "Thank you for bringing the vessel."

"What vessel?" Fionna asked, fingers lightly moving by her side, preparing magic, but Kormac couldn't have said what kind.

The thing stood. "Did you never find it odd how Airiok banned all magic? How for centuries after his reign, women born with the gift were killed?"

"Because he was superstitious," Kormac replied, his attention only partially on the thing speaking with Lomar's mouth. The hairs on his nape lifted, warning of danger in the shadows the light didn't penetrate.

"Oh, he was worried all right, worried that what he'd thought dead and buried would return." The lips twisted into a parody of a smile. "He was right. It just took longer than expected."

"You had something to do with magic being banned," Fionna declared, having shuffled a little closer without seeming to move.

"Not me. I love magic." The possessor cackled. "Need it. Want it." He stared at Fionna. "And here you are, ready to give it to me."

"I thought you wanted me dead?" She pursed her lips.

"That was when I thought you an ordinary witch. But you have the blood of her ancestors running through your veins."

"And who would that relative be?" Kormac couldn't help but be curious as it felt as if they were missing a piece to this mystery.

"Airiok's first wife. She was gifted. So very, very gifted."

Kormac tried to digest the fact that the man who'd actually hunted witches during his reign had been married to one. "What happened to make Airiok hate women with magic so much?"

"Not just women. Although, they tend to be oddly more common which is rather annoying for my purposes. But one must make do."

Kormac didn't understand what the thing babbled, but he did grasp that the monster inhabiting Lomar appeared pleased to have Fionna here and that couldn't be good.

He needed to end this.

Now.

Kormac gave no warning, just lunged for Lomar, ready to run him through, only he never got the chance. Something rattled the stacked furniture and before he'd fully turned, it slammed into him, tackling him with a snarl. The shadows had indeed been hiding reinforcements. Not a dire wolf, or he might have been grievously injured.

The person atop him, gnashing their teeth, appeared out of their mind, their flailing ineffective. The lack of whites in their eyes showed they'd been possessed by the entity in the cave, but unlike Lomar, lacked any finesse, making them easy to kill.

The man who bled out on the floor proved to be the first of many. From the pockets of gloom they shambled and scrambled to get to him, humans who'd been possessed, ranging in age, young and old, including a child who might have been cute but for the vicious snarl on her lips and the knife in her hand.

Victims because he'd not acted sooner.

Kormac barked, "It's a trap." While not all of them were armed, enough held sharp tools to worry.

"Obviously. Do what you can to hold them off. I'm going to try and sever the link the thing has to them." Fionna's expression remained undaunted.

Hold them off? He almost asked her an incredulous, "how?" While he didn't want to slaughter these citizens caught in a curse, he also wasn't about to die for them, nor would he let them touch Fionna.

However, he tried. He did what he could to disarm them. A slash to the thigh to send them to the floor, crawling and easy to avoid. The flat of his blade across forearms and wrists to get them to drop their weapons. For the very persistent, he knocked them in the head, rendering them unconscious. His attempt to not harm, though, failed. The possessed kept coming for him, unheeding of their injuries, Swarming him with sheer numbers, forcing him to start slashing with deadly intent.

He took no pleasure from it. It was his fault they were like this. He should have done something about the threat in the Pass sooner. Should have warned them. Evacuated those close enough to be affected.

"Stop that!" The thing using Lomar's body snapped and drew Kormac's attention. He noticed Fionna glowed from head to toe and that light extended and wrapped around Lomar.

"Now, now, you were the one who claimed to be happy to have me here." She bared her teeth. "You can't uninvite me now."

"Even if you succeed in unleashing this tool, there are others to claim."

"Your days of claiming are done. Once I've finished here, I'm coming for you," she promised.

"Stubborn, just like Laurella. You make this harder than necessary. She, too, fought fate, and because of it, died," the possessor stated.

"You're going to kill me?" Fionna taunted. "Come on then, I'm right here."

The thing in Lomar's body trembled, quivered but didn't move. It snarled, "You think yourself so clever and yet you came here alone. As planned. As predicted."

"I'm not alone," Fionna declared. "I've got the warlord with me and he's mightier than your pathetic army."

"How strong is he?" the thing hissed. "Shall we find out?"

A shudder and groan of stone had Kormac glancing overhead. "What now?" he muttered.

Fionna's lips tightened. "Whatever it is, you have to distract it long enough for me to sever the threads binding Lomar."

Leave her alone with the thing? He didn't want to, but duty screamed he had no choice.

And so he went out into the recently fallen night, a warlord with just a sword against the large, feathered beast cawing in the sky.

"We'll be having fowl for supper," he declared as he beckoned the monster.

It came screeching for him, claws out, beak clacking.

Even better, it landed in the courtyard within reach.

Kormac smiled. With that mistake, he already knew he'd won.