Demon Slave (33 page)

“
My job is to keep you
safe, not let you run out into battle to get yourself
killed.”

“
Despite what you think,
I’m not helpless.”

Marik sighed. “I know you’re not helpless,
but you don’t need to fight. These aren’t your people.”

She strapped a quiver on her back and pulled
out a decent looking bow. “After so long, the Cyrellians are more
my people than the Faieara. Ava is family, and Cyrus is my dearest
friend. Those rebels would hurt them both if they could.” Rummaging
through the rows of blades, she mumbled under her breath, “Dagger,
dagger.”

Marik held something out in front of her.
She plucked the holster from him and pulled the knife out to study
it. Sharp. Good hold. The sheath included straps to wrap around her
thigh.

“
Perfect.” She gazed up at
him in apprehension.

“
Stay near me and only use
the bow if possible.” Marik snatched two heavy
broadswords.

“
Fine, let’s
go.”

The great hall was nearly empty now. Rex was
waiting for them by the exit. “Cyrus went on ahead.”

Marching down the hall, Marik handed him a
sword and muttered, “Don’t let anyone near her.”

* * *

Marik’s nerves were like sandpaper against
stone. His instincts were screaming to drag Nadua in the opposite
direction. But the people she considered important were in danger
and he didn’t want her leaving here with the kind of guilt that
plagued him.

As they traveled toward the exit, guards
allowed them to pass, shutting and re-barring heavy gates behind
them. They traveled through three such barriers before reaching the
mouth of the cave. He hadn’t noticed the cave was so fortified
before.

Beyond the exit was a roaring frenzy of
bodies and steel.

Rex grunted. “They all look the same to me.
How can we tell them apart?”

Marik squinted through the melee, searching
for a familiar face, but he hadn’t exactly spent a lot of time
getting to know any of them.

“
It’s easy.” Nadua elbowed
her way past them. “Whoever comes after me is our enemy.” Then she
loaded her bow and let her arrow fly. One less rebel.

Magnificent.

* * *

Between the hundreds of azure bodies and
endless white hills wove strips of red, increasing by the second.
Battle cries mixed in the air alongside screams of agony.

Eye on her next target, Nadua sent another
arrow into the fray. Then three more, all perfect shots.

Next to her, Marik cheered, “That’s my
girl.”

A corner of her mouth turned up.

Five men were climbing the hill toward them.
Two wielded axes, and the other three gripped the hilts of their
swords. The scowls on their faces were aimed at her, but they
continued to give threatening glances at the demons beside her. The
intelligence in their eyes showed they realized they would need to
get past the demons before they could touch her.

Marik unsheathed his sword and rushed to
meet them, calling back at Rex, “Stay with her in case they get by
me.”

Rex had his steel ready.

Marik launched himself at the closest foe,
slicing a red stripe across his chest. The next was on his heels,
swinging his ax overhead. With unmitigated power, he knocked the
weapon out of the way and the tip of his blade slipped through the
thick flesh of the Cyrellian’s throat.

Nadua would have loved to watch him rip the
group of rebels apart, but a second group came at them from the
side. Rex engaged the two in front, their blades clanging with
heavy grunts.

Another slipped past, wildly swinging his
sword. Nadua ducked and dodged, giving herself time to drop the bow
and unsheathe her sword. Their metal clashed. The Cyrellian rebel
had power in his swing, but she could tell he wasn’t the greatest
swordsman. She easily danced away from his every attempt.

Down the slope, sounds of battle grew
thunderous. More rebels poured out from behind the trees. She was
sure her group was outnumbered.

Finding her opening in the man’s poor
fighting style, Nadua dodged again and then sliced cleanly through
his neck. His head flopped to the side and he fell to the snow.

Rex was down to one foe. The others lay
motionless on the ground. As the Cyrellian whirled his blade
forward, Rex’s arm whipped out to stop it in midair, then drove his
broadsword up through the man’s stomach. Bloody metal punched
through his back. A gurgling sound left the man before he dropped.
Rex kicked the lifeless body away before returning to Nadua.

She turned toward Marik who was marching to
rejoin them, five bodies piled at his back. Nadua gave him a
relieved smile that faded as the ground began to rumble.

For a fraction of a second, all fighting
stopped in silent wonder. With a terrible screeching sound, thick
shafts of ice sprouted from beneath the field. Nadua stepped
forward, scanning for the Kaiylemi.

Without warning, the ground at her feet
shifted, throwing her off balance. Falling to her hands and knees,
she tried to right herself, as a solid circle of land began to lift
her in the air. Nadua snatched her bow before it fell off the newly
created edge.

Soon she was looking over the entire
battlefield, on an unsteady pillar. Marik’s angry bellow grew
dimmer the higher she went.

Nadua pulled to her feet. Using her arrow as
her line of sight and rolling her gaze over the onslaught, she
sneered under her breath, “Where are you, you bastard?”

A Kaiylemi had to be close enough to see
everything—that was the only way he could work his magic—and they
were always guarded. Following the edge of the forest, she noticed
a small assembly of stationary soldiers, watching but not
participating.

The pillar started to sway to one side. It
was still growing. She stowed her bow and arrow and reached for her
dagger. Leaning over the edge, a thick gulp stuck in her
throat.

* * *

Marik and Rex struggled to keep the swarm of
Cyrellians away from the shaft of ice that held Nadua.

The horde was relentless, and worked as if
they were of one mind. They aimed to hack at its base and bring her
down. The fall would kill her.

Marik felt the Edge overtake him, and
invited the surge of strength it brought.

Their Cyrellian allies rushed to help,
slaughtering rebels as they went. Marik spotted Cyrus fighting to
hold the enemy back. His technique was masterful and, for the first
time, Marik was glad Cyrus cared so much for his mate.

When the pillar tilted, Marik let out a
pained cry as fear spiked through him. Then he saw Nadua edge to
the sloping side, and his heart nearly stopped. She was going to
try to slide down.

She stabbed her dagger into the ice, and
proceeded to make a swift and purposeful descent. Her feet, one in
front of the other, led the way as the small blade cut a line down
the face.

Marik yelled to Rex and Cyrus, “Make
room!”

Their jaws dropped when they spotted her.
Then they came together to push back the crowd and open a space for
her.

“
Marik!” she called,
landing with a soft thud. Her bow was at the ready and she
dispatched two rebels in seconds. She turned to him and pointed in
the distance. “The Kaiylemi is there, beyond the trees. We need him
taken out if we are to win this.”

Marik looked over the carnage. Spikes of ice
were sprouting up, taking out Cyrus’ people.”

“
All this is done by only
one?”

She nodded. “I believe so.”

“
Rex, stay with
Nadua.”

“
No, take Rex with you.
You’ll be crossing the entire battlefield.” Her voice was high with
panic.

“
He stays with
you.”

“
I’ll be fine without
him.”

“
I’ll go with Marik,” Cyrus
offered.

Nadua glanced between the two of them.
Swallowing hard, she nodded. But before letting them go, she threw
her arms around Marik and brought him down for a fierce kiss.
“Don’t die, okay?”

Marik grunted. “You, either.” He shot Rex a
look that promised pain if he let anything happen to her. Then he
and Cyrus started down the hill at a brisk pace, carving their way
through the melee.

The fallen bodies were so many that Marik
couldn’t keep from stepping on them. As for the ones that were
still moving, Marik was unable to differentiate between Cyrus’
people and the rebels, so whoever was bold enough to make a move at
him died. There seemed no steel left on his sword, only deep red
liquid that dripped a trail beside him.

Cyrus was gathering a following. Some of his
men must have deduced they were trying to cross and were helping to
make a path. Ice shards sprang up around them, but there was a
detectable grinding sound before they sprouted and Marik was able
to dodge out of the way.

An ax wielder ran for him, swinging
brazenly. Baring his fangs, Marik shoved his sword through the
man’s right eye. The other eye rolled to the sky. Marik took his
blade back, and continued on his way.

The soldiers at the edge of the forest
noticed their approach and braced for battle. In an instant, all
ice manipulation ceased. Two hefty Cyrellians came forward to block
them, while the others moved deeper into the forest.

Escaping.

With his men holding their backs, Cyrus
lunged for the soldier on the right. Marik took the one on the
left. Sparks flared as metal bit into metal. Marik ducked a wide
swing and, going to his knee, countered with a thrust into the
man’s shin. His assailant screamed but didn’t falter, and brought
his blade down on Marik. A loud clang sounded as Marik blocked it
just before the sharp edge became intimate with his skull.

* * *

Nadua cried out. Marik was on one knee, with
a rebel trying to drive his sword into him. But she had her own
problems to worry about. A large group of rebels were fighting
their way toward them, and she was running low on arrows. Rex was
amazing at keeping them from her, but he couldn’t go on
forever.

At least the Kaiylemi had stopped his
assault, but the damage left behind was substantial.

At the crest of the hill, edisdon riders
appeared from the north. A lead weight settled in the pit of her
stomach. More rebels? They were doomed.

Nadua sucked in a harsh breath as a familiar
figure stood out from the pack. “Ava?”

Atop her edisdon, she was dressed in a
soldier’s tunic and metal breastplate. She looked like a warrior.
Pride flooded though Nadua at the sight.

Then, like some sort of mythical creature, a
small gray craft rose up from behind them, hovering ominously.

The rebels took one look and began a furious
retreat. Only a few stayed to fight, hollering curses at their
departing brothers. They were soon silenced.

Nadua scoured the field for Marik. He and
Cyrus were caught between the forest and the escaping rebels, still
fighting. From her distance, she couldn’t tell if the blood
drenching their clothes belonged to them or not. Bolting down the
hill, Nadua raced across the field toward them, dodging corpses as
she went.

She didn’t notice a bloodied hand reaching
up from the ground till it was too late. It wrapped firmly around
her ankle and the packed terrain rushed at her, knocking the air
from her lungs with a painful grunt. She glanced back and saw angry
eyes glaring at her from a deeply slashed face.

Rex placed a heavy foot on the aggressor’s
back. Both let out a sneering growl, and the hatred wafting from
the Cyrellian made her stomach roll. Blade aimed straight down, Rex
slid it easily through the rebel’s neck.

Nadua kicked his gnarled hand away.
“Thanks.”

Rex pulled her to her feet and gave a
masculine grunt in reply.

To Nadua’s relief, Marik was already headed
their way. The field was now full of cheers and victory cries as
the last of the rebels either perished or fled. Nadua leapt at
Marik, clutching him tight in a cage of arms and legs. He held her
just as tightly.

Brushing his blood soaked hair away from his
face, she asked, “Are you hurt?”

“
Now that I have you in my
arms, you could cut off my leg and I wouldn’t notice.”

“
I would notice when we’re
falling over.”

His smile was exuberant.

To their left, a throat cleared. “My
Queen.”

“
Wren!” Nadua jumped down
from Marik. “Ava!”

Ava came forward, throwing herself into
Nadua. “I thought you were dead!” Her voice cracked and cool
fingers duck into her back.

“
No,” she cooed. “I’m fine.
I missed you, though.”

“
I missed you too.” Ava
sniffed. They clung to each other for a long while. Neither wanting
to let go. “You’ll never believe what I did.”

Behind her, Wren had a wide grin.

Nadua’s gaze drifted to the large army
waiting on the hill. “What did you do?”

Ava backed away and bounced in place. “I
claimed my title as queen! My aunts were in shock, one nearly
fainted, but it is done.”

“
You did?” Nadua looked to
Wren. “How is this possible?”

“
She spoke like a queen and
took what was hers. Plus, she has the weight of the army behind
her. As you did.”

“
But wait!” Ava cried. “Now
you can come back and be queen again. I won’t mind.” Ava’s
expression fell when she registered the look on Nadua’s
face.

Nadua swallowed hard. “I can’t come back
with you, Ava,” she said softly, glancing toward Marik, who was now
in an excited discussion with a strange new black-haired demon. Rex
was standing a few yards away, quietly watching them. Nadua turned
back to Ava. “It’s time for me to go. Do you remember what I told
you?”