Forsaken (Fated Saga Fantasy Series Book 8) (10 page)

“I can’t hide what I am forever, Brother.”

“But it does not have to be today.”

“Maybe they already know…”

Nashua said nothing, but the rage in his gaze led them to believe he’d already thought of this.

“What is this about?” demanded Arnon. What secret had they kept from him?

Kanda said nothing, eyeing her brother, hard.

Arnon stepped closer. “If it’s the reason they’re here I need to know.”

“I just counted five figures,” Cornell shouted.

Kanda and Nashua did not explain and they reformed the defensive line, aiming overhead- a flash. A Boom. Something powerful rent the space between them all, scattering them in all directions.

Eddy pushed Juliska down to the ground, rolling them to take cover behind a downed tree.

If the Grosvenor had been playing with them, testing them, or warning them, it was over. Perhaps it was not a diversion at all, just a test to see if there was any worthy foe in the group.

Arnon jumped to his feet to take stock of everyone… he’d landed just inside the tent entrance and came running out, relieved he didn’t see any major injuries- a hissing dark mass flying toward them.

His arm shot upward, a spell shooting out of his hand hitting the Grosvenor’s head on.

It created a charge of light that crackled over them.

Smoky masses danced and darted in between the light bursts.

They needed to regroup, fast, if they had any hope of surviving this battle.

“To me,” Arnon shouted. “Regroup!”

Slowly, they worked their way back to Arnon in front of the tent.

Eddy pulled Juliska off the ground.

“I’m fine,” she told him.
Feeling rather useless…
she wanted to add, but kept to herself.

“Stay close,” he begged her. “I don’t want you out of my sight.”

While Juliska enjoyed the sentiment, she refused to be a useless tow behind.

“I have to do my job. You have to let me.”

He agreed, but the distress in that choice was obvious by the pained look on his face.

“Help the others. I’ll be fine, Eddy.”

He let her go by the tent and rejoined the others, who had regrouped.

“We need to figure out what’s going on,” said Cornell. “If we just keep playing poor defense we’re not going to make it out alive.”

“Suggestions?” Milo asked everyone.

Kanda eyed her brother pleadingly.

“
No.
That is a last resort.”

“Maybe it’s not your choice,” she argued through clenched teeth.

Juliska wasn’t certain what was going on, but it was clear Nashua was trying to protect his sister. It hit her what she needed to do. Create a diversion so the others could fight. And if they
were
here for Kanda, and whatever she was hiding, perhaps this would give them a chance to protect her as well.

Eddy turned and cast a quick glance at her, almost as if he knew she was about to try something and was begging her not to. But there was no other option. They’d all die. At the least, Kanda might, or she might be taken by the Grosvenor… better to just die in that case; it was a death sentence to be captured. It was a rare thing for someone to return alive after.

Juliska refused to allow this to happen.

Eddy had turned away but she smiled at him, a sense of peace and calmness coming over her. Her decision felt right.  

She turned and strode around to the side of the tent. She’d draw the attention of the Grosvenor and give the others a chance to fight, and not just defend themselves. Her purposeful stride slowed, with each step the fire inside getting hotter. Dark veins rose on her skin, pulsing with fiery bursts.

Her narrowed gaze penetrated the woods, searching out for the smoke-like movements of the Grosvenor.

There were shouts from the front of the tent and a spell that penetrated their defensive line and shot through the tent. She ignored it and focused on her target. A shape darting between the trees… she threw her arms out in front of her, aiming at the next tree over. Flames blasted outward, connecting with her moving target just as the Grosvenor’s frame slid behind the tree.

Bark exploded. The Grosvenor, stunned, stammered backwards. In solid form. A fightable form. A body came up alongside her. It was Arnon Jacoby. He wore a sly grin and wasted no time in attacking.

“Good job,” he shouted back at Juliska as he ran. Nashua was right behind him, both shooting spells at the darkly cloaked form just gathering themselves from the fiery blast. It had singed the edges of their cloak, and plumes of smoke wafted off the dark cloth. A jarring sneer escaped the hood as if the Grosvenor though the whole thing funny. It wasn’t remotely worried that Arnon or Nashua would cause any permanent damage.

More bodies slid up next to Juliska and saw what was happening.

She ignored them, her gaze honing in on her next target. She lit out at it, but missed. The Grosvenor dissolved into the darkness in thick smoky veils. Juliska hissed, shooting off a fiery vortex of flame into any direction she thought she caught their movements. By sheer luck, her fire caught another.

Cornell and Milo ran after that one.

Balloch, Kanda and Eddy came over to her.

“Nicely done, my love.” He grinned in proud satisfaction.

Kanda tossed her a wry smile. “Not good in a battle?”

“I stuck with what I know.”

Kanda gave her a short nod of approval. She, Eddy and Balloch shot off protective spells in attempts to keep their fellow friends safe as they fought the stunned Grosvenor. They were just two, but even stunned they moved and fought with slick precision and speed.

Arnon and Nashua dueled the Grosvenor, but made no progress other than staying alive.

Arnon thought it strange that though the Grosvenor were attacking heavily, they still had not managed to injure one of them seriously. Which meant only one thing: they were not trying to do so. The diversion theory came back to mind.

Arnon’s glance slipped back to Kanda… he didn’t see her. Where had she gone?

He gave a start when a second later a pristine white owl took flight. It seemed an odd sight during the middle of a battle. Was this Kanda’s animal form? An owl?

He scowled. An owl was hardly a creature that could take care of itself in battle.

“Arnon!” Nashua shouted too late.

One of the Grosvenor blasted Arnon sending him flying backwards. He landed on the ground, his breath stripped away, but was grateful at least, not wrapped around a tree broken in two.

Balloch came to his aid, helping him up. Everything hurt, felt like he’d had a full on body punch. But he insisted he was fine. Balloch and Arnon could not get back to Eddy, so they stayed back to back, shooting off spells to block the one’s coming at them.

Milo and Cornell had been split up, and were shooting off spells, darting behind trees and stumps, slowing working their way back toward the tent, and Eddy, who was the last one guarding their Firemancer; the only one who’d done any amount of damage so far. But the Grosvenor had caught on to her fiery vortex and were avoiding her now.

Nashua was shooting off spells and shouting for his sister but there was no reply.

Arnon feared for a minute that the owl had just been a coincidence. Perhaps Kanda had been snatched by the Grosvenor. The attack would have stopped though, wouldn’t it?

Juliska continued to look for the dark silhouettes of the Grosvenor. They flitted around so fast they were impossible to attack with any precision. She and her fellow quest members were fighting for their lives, but the Grosvenor were just playing… like this was a game. And once they got bored, she and her friends would all be dead.

What was the point of all this? Just having a little fun?

The Grosvenor rarely came into the open unless they had a reason. Although it had been a few years since they’d attacked. Perhaps this was just a
friendly
reminder that they were still around, in case anyone was thinking they’d up and vanished.

Juliska shot off another spew of flame and missed one of them by an inch.

“Damn it!” she groaned, just as Arnon and Nashua made it to her.

Not long after Milo, Balloch and Cornell were back. All out of breath and tiring. With a host of dark veils swirling in a circle about twenty feet away. Rounding them up. Herding them together… for what?

“I think all nine are here,” breathed out Eddy. All nine Grosvenor against the eight of them, and one of them still missing. Kanda…

“I’m out of ideas,” said Juliska. “I don’t know what else I can try. They’re too fast.”

Eddy patted her arm in comfort. “Just stay focused.” He did the same.

With a rush of movement, half the smoke-like forms burst upward into the air.

Spells rained down over them all. They huddled, palms over their heads, once again on the defensive end. More came at them from the ground. Cornell fell backward, hitting his head hard, but he remained conscious and pulled himself back up. There was a nasty gash on the side of his head but he shouted for everyone to stay focused on the fight. Juliska shot off flame to ward off the Grosvenor from coming closer. Eddy fought with his back to her, fending off spells from behind her.

Arnon and Nashua forged a barrier over them, spells ricocheting off, or fizzling upon contact. Balloch and Milo aimed anywhere and everywhere they could.

They were surrounded by an enemy that did not tire, with a magical supply of energy that would eventually run out. There were magical belts and reserves inside the tent, if it came to it. The attack had started so quickly they’d been caught off guard.

Something Arnon took full responsibility for.

It was his job to keep these people safe and he was failing miserably.

Arnon jerked his head to the side when a spark of gleaming white ran by. Out of the woods trotted a coyote. Definitely not a normal coyote. It had an ethereal quality about it, almost looked like it was glowing. And no normal animal in their right mind would come near this much noise and movement.

“We’re fighting an enemy we cannot win,” said an out of breath Balloch Flummer.

They all wore the same look; they would be defeated. They could not win. There was only one outcome.

“Kanda!” Nashua scolded harshly.

“Oh enough already,” she retorted back just as hotly.

Arnon cast his gaze to her. She was standing just where the coyote had been a second before. He shot her a questioning gaze. Her return was not nearly as friendly or wry as it had been before. It was purposely focused.

“I flew into the sky and got a good view,” she explained.

So she was the owl,
thought Arnon. 

“All nine of the Grosvenor are here. We cannot win. Are only hope is to escape,” she warned gravely. “We may have to abandon the camp.”

“Maybe that’s what they want,” thought Arnon. “For us to flee so they can take all our research.”

“Makes sense,” said Cornell. “Also makes this entire month a waste of time if we lose all the research.”

“It’s not worth our lives,” decided Milo.

They all agreed.

Flee, it was.

Cornell looked like he had a plan forming, however, before he could say anything another barrage of spells pummeled them.

Juliska found herself shoved inside the tent. She was sure it was Eddy who did it. Like she’d be any safer in here versus out there.

Her gaze caught a candle’s flame.

“A vision. Please…” she begged the fiery tendrils. But nothing came.

A voice startled her and she spun around.

“Yours is the blood I’m looking for,” the voice stated evenly.

She let out a rush of air, but saw no one.

“Juliska Blackwell…” the voice taunted her. It seemed to come from all around and nowhere all at the same time.

Outside, the group was split apart again. Each fighting for their lives in a furious assault. Kanda flicked her head, eyeing her brother… she was warning him, not asking his permission. She shot off three jets of magic and flicked her head to the opposite side.

“Cornell,” she shouted. He could tell by her tone that she had a plan. Kanda used both palms to defend herself and Cornell, as he shot off a quick round of spells and dove to the ground in a roll, coming up quick to his feet just a few feet from her.

“I made a portal to take you home. You can’t miss it.” She pointed with her head in the direction. “You’ll have to fight your way there… but I’ll make sure they don’t have the chance to follow.”

“What’s your plan?” he wanted to know.

“Distract them for as long as I can. Just get everyone out of here.
I’ll be fine,
” she stated firmly.

He looked like he wanted to question but instead, agreed, and set into telling everyone to retreat and follow him.

Inside the tent, Juliska heard Cornell shouting, but had to ignore him. She had her fiery hands at the ready to attack… but the voice went silent. She spun in circles. Was it safe to leave the tent now? Cornell was still shouting for retreat.