Return (Lady of Toryn trilogy) (36 page)

Ashlyn
swept the barstool out from beneath Kou, planting one hand on his neck and slamming him back against the wall. The impact shuddered up her arm, but Ashlyn was too furious to acknowledge the pain.

"What the-" Kou choked as her grip tightened, and his hands came up to scrabble uselessly at her wrist. "What are you doing?" he gasped, eyes watering.

"I'm going to look up your sleeve,
Devlyn,"
she spat out. "And if I don't like what I find, you had better pray to Drago for mercy."

"What…the hell…are you talking about?" he sputtered, still trying to pry her hand from his throat.

"Ash," Skye said uneasily, appearing at her side. "Calm down. Tell me what's going on."

"I'll calm down after I have a look at Kou's arms,"
Ashlyn said.

As
she stared at him, Kou's eyes locked with hers- and narrowed. Suddenly he spun, rolling against the wall and twisting her arm along with him. Caught off-guard, Ashlyn was pulled into the turn and slammed against the wall, knocking the breath out of her and wrenching her shoulder nearly out of its socket. She held on for dear life, and Kou's shirt tore in her hands, ripping open at the chest.

Before she could even catch her breath, Kou shrugged out of the shirt, vaulted onto the bar and was halfway across the room, headed for the door.

Tag took the distraction as opportunity to slither downwards, somehow managing to pry one arm free of Ellis's grip. His elbow shot back, connecting solidly with Ellis's nose as the older man tried to grab him again. There was an audible
crunch,
and Ellis recoiled, one hand flying to his face.

"Don't let Tag escape,"
Ashlyn gasped to Skye, brushing past him in a crooked dash for the exit. She couldn't stop to help- Kou was already out the door and running.

Ashlyn
hit the door and sprinted after him, the rain tearing the breath from her lungs and somehow invigorating her at the same time. Kou clattered across the bridge and turned left, heading up towards the mountains. Towards Na Michico.

"
Ash, wait!" she heard Restlyn call from behind her, but Ashlyn didn't look to see if the martial artist was following.

It was too late already, she could see. He had too much of a head start and she was already tired from her run earlier. But she couldn't just let him get away- she had to try.
Ashlyn willed herself to run faster. Her muscles were screaming at her for relief, her legs heavy and clumsy as mythril stumps, but she pushed harder, slipping and sliding in the rain-soaked grass and mud as she trailed further and further behind. Past the temple they went, and up the gravel-strewn path, the same path she'd been running every morning.

In a flash, she realized that she had one chance to catch up with Kou- and no time to deb
ate about whether or not she’d be risking her life. Ashlyn sped up, cresting a small hill and coming into view of the boulders she'd observed earlier. If she could make that jump, clear the dry waterfall, she'd be ahead of Kou. But if she missed…

Ashlyn
skidded to a stop, hesitating for the briefest fraction of an instant before leaping on top of the nearest boulder and using her momentum to propel herself onto the rock closest to the edge.

Her feet slipped on the wet rock, but she managed to catch her balance easily enough. She pushed her wet hair back from her face, gauging the distance of the jump. There wasn't enough room for a running start, but even as she looked down to the drop, which was at least a hundred feet if not more, she thought the gap between the boulders and the second half of the path, just across the waterfall, would be an easy jump.
In theory.

Crouching slightly,
Ashlyn angled towards the corner of the path that was nearest, and launched herself across the gap, arms and legs flailing. Her feet hit the ground first, slipping on the wet moss and loose gravel, and then she tumbled forward, somersaulting ungracefully across the path before smacking into the cliff face.

It wasn't
a great landing.

But she made it.

Ashlyn caught her breath, scrunched up against the rock. Nothing seemed broken, but she was hurting all over- probably from old wounds as much as any new ones she'd inflicted just now. Collecting her feet underneath her, she stood unsteadily, blinking the world into focus just as Kou rounded the path in front of her.

Without thinking,
Ashlyn threw her arm out. She was too short for a truly effective clothesline, but Kou's collarbone connected solidly with her forearm and he hit the dirt much easier than she'd expected. For one breathless moment, she was staring down at him, and her eyes went to his naked arms, noting the snakelike patterns of black that traced along his veins.

Before she'd had a chance to process what to do next, Kou flipped up in a scissor kick, bringing
himself into a crouch before sweeping her legs out from underneath her. Ashlyn fell backwards, against the cliff, narrowly managing to keep her head from cracking against the rock face. She immediately pushed off, aiming a kick at Kou's outstretched hand. The blow landed true and his entire hand snapped back, joints popping audibly.

Kou jumped to his feet, sidestepping to place
Ashlyn between himself and the side of the mountain, and made a dash for the top of Na Michico.

Ashlyn
made a grab for him, but missed, and pounded after him. At this point she was so frantic to stop him from getting away that all thoughts of exhaustion had fled her mind. Kou barely managed to reach the end of the path at the top of the mountain before Ashlyn tackled him from behind, and they went rolling in a tangle of limbs.

Kou managed to roll on top of her, blocking a punch with one hand and landing a solid hit to her chin.
Ashlyn threw as much of her weight to the side as she could, barely managing to get a leg off the ground, but it was enough. She brought her leg up and hooked it over Kou's shoulder, using her lower body to shove him backwards.

He fell back and they both scrambled to their feet, panting heavily.
Ashlyn slipped, realizing for the first time how close they were to the cliff, and took a step sideways, away from the slick, gravel-strewn edge of Na Michico.

It was Kou who punched first.
Ashlyn blocked, shoving his fist aside on a rush of pure adrenaline, then brought her elbow up to catch him across the chin. He backpedaled just before the hit, throwing them both off balance, but Ashlyn fell into the motion and spun in a low kick, one hand against the ground to keep herself from falling. Kou dodged again, and caught her leg in the crook of his right arm. Ashlyn flipped, letting her knee bend as she turned, and spun in a mid-air kick. This time her foot connected with her target, and Kou went down.

He released her foot,
but somehow found the strength to actually shove her away in mid-air, sending Ashlyn spinning. She landed awkwardly in a heap. Her forearms and elbows hit the ground hard, but there was no ground to catch her feet, and suddenly gravity was dragging her backwards as her legs continued their descent.

Realizing that she was falling off the edge,
Ashlyn began to scream. Her mind shrieked at her to find something, anything to grab onto, but her hands clawed uselessly at the ground, looking for and unable to find any kind of purchase.

S
uddenly strong, graceful hands closed over her left wrist, and Ashlyn was brought to an abrupt halt before she started sliding again. Half-crazed with fear, she saw brown boots skidding on the gravel as their owner struggled to hold her weight, and beyond, Kou climbing to his feet.

"
Restlyn, look out!" she cried as the slender martial artist fought to keep them both from going over the edge. Ashlyn scrabbled at the cliff face with her feet, trying to find something to push herself up with, but there was no time before Kou was upon them.

He stood above her for a moment, and their eyes met.

A gunshot rang out.

Kou gasped, staggering forward, bumping into
Restlyn and costing her even more precious ground, and Ashlyn yelped as she twisted in mid-air, legs flailing above the wild blue ocean beneath her. "Restlyn!" she screeched, but there was only time for a single breath before Kou's body plummeted past her, the
whoosh
of cold air from his passing sending Ashlyn into another twist.

Horrified,
Ashlyn watched as Kou continued his free fall, his dark form getting smaller and smaller as he neared the ocean, and finally disappeared into the water below.

She hardly noticed as she was pulled to safety,
Drake's added strength making it possible for Restlyn to brace herself enough to lift Ashlyn out of danger.

"Are you okay?"
Restlyn asked breathlessly, touching Ashlyn's shoulder with cold hands.

Still totally dumbstruck,
Ashlyn looked at her friend, seeing that she wasn't the only one truly terrified by the prospect of falling to her death. The older girl's face was streaked with tears, wild strands of hair escaping from her tight bun to whip around her face in the wind.

Kou was gone,
Ashlyn realized with a start. The man she'd believed was her brother had, in fact, been a traitor all along.

She
climbed to her feet, slowly, wincing at the new bumps and bruises she'd gotten from the battle.

“Do you know if they got Tag?” she asked, glancing at Drake. “Did you see?”

The gunslinger nodded. His red eyes stood out in the grayness, looking more vibrant than ever. “Skye was able to subdue him almost immediately.”

“Good.” Ashlyn turned, glancing down at the water one last time. Kou was gone, but Tag had to know something.

Chapter 16

The Choice

Tag’s left arm was covered in snaking black veins, twisting like lightning bolts up the skin of his forearm. His right arm was completely free of marks, and Ashlyn remembered that day that he’d rolled up his sleeve in front of her, just before transforming into the bear. Obviously he’d known that the track marks would cause some questions, and had deliberately kept them hidden from her.

“Why don’t they look like regular track marks?” she asked Sara, who was standing beside her at the base of her basement stairc
ase, staring at the sullen ninja through the cage bars. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“It looks…almost like an infection,” Sara answered, folding her arms across her chest uncomfortably as Tag glared at her. “If I had to wager a guess, I’d say that the injected blood is being contaminated somehow. I’d have to examine him and run some more tests to find out for certain.”

Ashlyn pushed off the wall and walked slowly around the cage, trying to think what to do. So far, Tag had refused to give up any kind of relevant information. She’d questioned him for hours, even resorting to threats when he hadn’t responded, and now it was nightfall and she was no closer to knowing why Kou had brought her here or what his plans had been.

She was reminded of the conversation she’d had with Skye on the airship just days earlier, when he was questioning Kou, but was unwilling to resort to the brutal interrogation methods Ashlyn had suggested.

She was Lady of Toryn now, and it was up to her to decide how Tag would be dealt with. But Ashlyn was realizing just how complicated leadership really was. Would she lose the respect of FLD if she tortured Tag for information? Would she lose respect for herself?

She glanced at Skye, the only other person in the room besides Sara. He raised an eyebro
w, clearly intending to let her figure this out herself.

Sighing, she smoothed a hand over her hair. “Upstairs,” she said, shaking her head. “We’re done with him, for now.”

They climbed the stairs to the front room, where the rest of FLD were waiting for them. Ashlyn wondered numbly if the room had grown colder or if the emptiness inside her heart was seeping through to her skin.

Folding her arms across her chest, she glanced around the room, noting the
expressions on her friends’ faces. For a moment she recalled how she’d felt eight years ago during the battle with Lord Angelo, waiting for Skye to tell her what to do next and hoping that he would know just how to fix what was wrong. At that time, Skye had been a few years younger than she was now. How scared had he been of making the wrong decision? How overwhelmed had he felt, with the future of the Free Lands resting on his shoulders?

As a bratty sixteen-year old, she hadn’t bothered to respect what Skye was doing. She’d just been along for the ride, happy t
o go with the flow if it meant some kind of adventure. But now, for the first time in her life, she was realizing what being a hero was all about.

She would have to find her father alone- it would be nearly impossible for more than one person to sneak into whatever camp he’d made for himself, and pulling FLD from Toryn would leave the city unprotected, without any real leadership. She couldn’t bring herself to abandon her people again.

Unfortunately, there was no way her friends would let her leave alone. And basic common sense told Ashlyn that she needed a backup plan anyway- some way to make sure that FLD followed through if she failed. Sneaking out without telling anyone where she was going was totally out of the question.