Riders (39 page)

I’m about to launch myself onto her when I hear my name shouted.

Across the clearing, Sebastian’s seen Riot and me in trouble. Shadow is in a gallop as Bas spins the scales above his head. He launches them. They fly true, whirling, trailing smoke, and nail their target.

Bay topples to the dirt, kicking and thrashing, the scales looping around her neck. She reaches for them in panic, pawing with her claws, but the scales have twisted and locked.

Released from Bay’s claws, Riot leaps away. He accelerates in powerful thrusts, mindless and wild from the attack. I slip my arm from the twisted reins and throw myself off the saddle. I land, stumbling, staggering, my balance off, my arm flaring with an ache that wants to consume me. I taste blood on my tongue as I push against it. Finding my forting, I walk to Bay.

She’s still writhing on her back as I reach her, but she’s hooked one of her claws under the chain. In seconds she’ll untangle them.

She won’t get the chance.

I toss my sword up to reverse my grip. Frenzied howls break out around me, and her beasts look to me with their soulless eyes. They already know it’s over. I bring my sword down and plunge it into her heart.

Bay shudders and stills, her eyes going flat. Her monsters fall to the earth and scream like their hearts have been skewered, too. In seconds, they’re all silent.

That’s four. Four plus one horde.

We’re at better than fifty percent, but it doesn’t feel like it.

Samrael should count for extra. Ronwae, too.

Ra’om, too. Dragons should count for double.

I look up. Soaring above, Ra’om spews a furious burst of fire. I know he’s seen Bay fall.

Kneeling, I unfasten Bastian’s weapon from Bay’s thick neck. Try to. Harder with one hand. I twist and untwist the links of the scales, trying to get five fingers to do the work of ten. How many things will be harder now? Not the time to think about this.

As I try to unlock the scales again, I sense a shift in the battle’s quality. It’s quieter without the snarl of the grizzly beasts. And there’s no more gunfire. The Army force is out of ammunition. Not a surprise. They couldn’t have anticipated a battle against demon hordes in Wyoming.

I’m not mounted, and it’s made me vulnerable to the scorpions. Marcus and Jode converge on me. I reach down and tug on the chain again, to free the scales. Bastian needs his weapon. They untwist, and I pull hard. They finally slide from beneath Bay’s head, but instead of relief, dread hits me.

If Sebastian needs his weapon, he can just call it back.

Why hasn’t he?

As I lift my gaze and look for him, I see Shadow first, halfway across the field.

She’s rearing and shrieking as several scorpions keep her from reaching Sebastian—Bas, who is on his back, pinned beneath one of Ronwae’s massive claws. Bas is completely immobilized. Even if he called his scales, he couldn’t use them.

Samrael stands over him, watching me like he’s been waiting.

Stillness descends over everything. My vision tunnels. Everything fades except that point in the field: Ronwae pinning Bas. Samrael watching me.

They are a hundred paces away, but every detail is clear. Every sound. The strain on Sebastian’s face at the pressure of the scorpion’s claw. Samrael’s satisfied smile. The quiet rattle of Ronwae’s stinger.

I sense Jode and Marcus dismount and join me.

And Daryn. Daryn comes to my side, her gaze fixed on Sebastian.

Ronwae’s multitudes draw around us, keeping us from moving.

None of us is moving.

Only Ra’om moves—a shadow drifting in the sky above.

Samrael lifts my cuff in the air. “I need the other three, Daryn,” he says. His voice is ruthless. “Unlock them and bring them to me. Or I’ll continue to remove them myself.”

“No.” Daryn shakes her head. “And they won’t help you, Samrael. Even if I brought them to you.”

“Will
you
help me?” he asks.

Daryn doesn’t answer.

“I think you will,” Samrael says. He turns to Ronwae, and motions with his hand. “Go ahead.”

The scorpion’s claw moves away from Sebastian, and then the stinger whips down. It strikes Sebastian on the chest. It stays there as the tail muscles flex, and I can almost see the venom moving into him. Then the stinger goes up and Bas sags against the ground.

Daryn is screaming. We’re all yelling. Jode is the only one still in his right mind. He steps in front of us and holds us back. We can’t stop this. It already happened. We can’t stop it.

Then I hear Daryn speak words I never thought she’d say.

“I’ll do it!” she yells. “I’ll give them you!”

Samrael smiles. “I thought so.” On the ground by his feet, Bas is gasping for breath. “Better hurry.”

As Daryn comes to stand in front of Marcus, thoughts crash through my mind.

What are we doing?

How can we do this?

How can we not?

“Give me your arm,” Daryn says. Her eyes are distant. She’s somewhere else. She’s trying to get through a situation where every possible outcome is terrible.

Marcus’s face is tight with anger as he extends his arm.

Daryn reaches out and frames the cuff with her hands. Her eyes drift almost closed. Soft, warm light builds within her palms. Gold, like her. And the cuff around Marcus’s wrist loosens. It dissolves into pale ashes. Into a small tornado, circling Marcus’s arm.

There is no wonder or awe on Daryn’s face as she steps back, the ashes moving with her. Only focus. A focus that’s
beyond
. She brings her hands together and the ashes consolidate, until Marcus’s cuff is re-formed and pressed between her palms. She slips it over her wrist. Then she moves to Jode and begins again.

Under her guidance, her control, his cuff becomes a brilliant circle of light, and then transforms back into the cuff, resting in the palm of her hand.

I don’t feel surprise as I watch her. The barriers of what’s possible broke down when I first folded in with Riot. And I always knew there was something more to her. The feeling that’s building inside me is dread.

I’m so sorry
.

What did she mean? What does she
know
?

Daryn slips Jode’s cuff over her wrist. It rests next to Marcus’s.

Only Sebastian’s cuff is left now.

She glances at me, and walks away. As she strides to Sebastian and Samrael, I tell myself it wasn’t good-bye I just saw in her eyes.

She reaches them and kneels at Bas’s side. Ronwae has backed off. There’s no need to restrain Bas anymore. Even from where I stand, I can see that he’s starting to convulse from the poison.

Daryn runs her hands over his forehead and it seems to steady him. Samrael stands close as she takes Bas’s cuff, but his eyes are on me. He knows what it does to me, seeing him so close to her.

When Daryn has Sebastian’s cuff, she stands and Samrael hands her mine.

She has them all now. All four.

“Do it,” he says. He tips his head to Sebastian. “Quickly, if you hope to help him.”

Daryn takes the four cuffs into her open palms. Each of them loosens and dissolves, transforming into dust. Into light and shadow and fire. They hover above her palms, turning in circles. But then they meld together and form a sphere. A small marbled globe, floating above her open hands.

Daryn steps back and the sphere expands, reaching her height and then larger. Twice her height. It turns in front of her, a world spinning above the trampled grass. A small universe of fire and water, ice and steel. Every element. Every star and every ocean. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.

Miraculous.

It’s the only word.

Samrael comes to Daryn’s side and gazes at it with a look of triumph. “Now cede it to me,” he says.

Daryn shakes her head, and tenses. Then I hear the distant howl of wind as a point of pure darkness appears on the sphere.

Samrael is focused on it, like he’s the one feeding it, building it.

He is.

I know he’s tainting it. I know how it feels to be tainted by the Kindred.

As the darkness expands, I see that it’s a tunnel.

A
porthole
.

And through it, mountains appear. They’re the same jagged Wyoming peaks, but they’re cloaked in ice and it’s night there. The ground is a smooth sheet of ice and the trees are coated with frost.

The wind howls louder and pushes at my back. It scatters leaves and rustles the trees around the clearing.

It’s the pull of that place. An evil, leeching hunger. The kind I’ve seen in Ra’om’s eyes.

Daryn staggers away from the porthole, but Samrael steps closer. He stands before it, gazing at the frozen world inside. His dark clothes whip with the force of the wind. He’s mesmerized by what he sees. A refuge. A kingdom. An empire made of the same malevolent hunger that exists inside him. That feeds him.

I don’t see Sebastian until he’s running.

Running with effort. Like every step is a struggle.

But Samrael has his back turned and he’s not expecting the collision.

Sebastian slams into him and they catapult forward.

They pitch into the porthole—and are instantly sucked inside.

Vanished.

Gone.

I loose sight of them and the passage pinholes shut. The sphere unravels in a violent tumble of elements, disappearing in a swirl at Daryn’s hands.

Daryn clutches her hands close and bows her head. Her breath is ragged and her back shakes.

Spent.

She’s spent by what she’s just done.

What has she done?

“
Sebastian,
” Jode says with an exhale.

Then a deafening roar pulls my attention up.

Ra’om is ripping down the sky, coming right at us.

C
HAPTER
58

I swing into Riot’s saddle and tear toward Daryn. It’s a short distance, but Riot struggles. His gait is lopsided and he’s grunting with every stride. Dismounting, I reach Daryn in three strides.

“
Gideon,
” she says, tears brimming in her eyes. “It was supposed to be me! I didn’t know Bas would do that! It was supposed to be
me
!”

“We’ll get him back.” Sebastian’s scales are looped around my left arm. They give me hope that he’s still alive. “We’ll get him.”

Ra’om sweeps down from the sky, strafing the cabins and trees with fire. Ronwae and her scorpions attack with no fear of death. They were moments away from attaining what they wanted. Failure has driven them mad, but I’m no different.

Vengeance beats through me like a pulse. I’m blinded by it. I
know
I am. All I want to see is the destruction of the Kindred who are left. All I want to do is join Jode and Marcus in demolishing Ronwae’s scorpions.

Ra’om dives on us from above. Daryn and I lunge away, and Riot bolts. The dragon’s huge talons gouge the dirt where we’d just stood. He climbs into the sky, pumping his massive wings, his long tail stretched out behind him.

“He won’t stop,” Daryn says. Her tears are gone. Now there’s only fierce determination. In her hand is a small globe, alive with colors swirling inside it. I know it’s our cuffs, formed together. Our way back to Sebastian. “I have to get this somewhere safe.”

“And
you,
Daryn,” I add, because now I know. It’s not only the key. It’s the keeper.

Riot comes back to us, bobbing his head. His breathing has become short and raspy. Shadow is with him and she’s distraught, her movements jerky and her eyes wild. I know she’s searching for Bas.

“I’ll take her.” Daryn grabs Shadow’s reins. She steps into the stirrup and mounts the black mare. Shadow dances anxiously, but Daryn is firm and Shadow settles under her confidence.

“Daryn, wait,” I say, before she leaves. I take Riot’s reins. He jerks his head up, his amber eyes glowing with defiance. He wants to stay with me, but I can’t let him. Not with blood hissing from the gashes on his thigh.
“Go, Riot.”

Daryn rides, and my horse goes with her, the fire rising over his legs.

Then I’m alone, surrounded by war.

Ready.

I see that Jode and Marcus have taken Ronwae down together. The red scorpion has no stinger. It’s been severed, along with both claws. Jode is pumping arrow after arrow into her body as she shrieks. After what Ronwae did to Sebastian, it’s not ruthless enough for me.

In the sky, Ra’om is easily contending with the two F-22s that have finally arrived. He twists and dives through the air, more agile than the planes. A perfect aerial predator.

I watch him as he sails down, blowing fire over the cabins, and I try to find his weakness. His eyes … his nostrils … the underside of his body … his joints …

You’re mistaken, Gideon. I’m protected there, too.

“You’re lying,” I reply, watching him high above. “But that’s okay. I’ll find a better way to kill you.”

He tucks his wings and plunges. In just seconds, he pulls up in the clearing in front of me with a thud that shakes the earth.

Ra’om unfolds himself, drawing up to his full size. There’s a challenge in his red eyes. Pride, in his erect posture and the curve of his long neck.

You should have accepted my offer when you had the chance.

I walk toward him. “You’re nothing without Samrael. He was stronger than you. What have you ever done but hide? You just show up for the glory. But there is no glory now, is there?”

Ra’om unfurls his neck and lifts his head high as he shuts his eyes. Fire tumbles from his mouth, rolling into the sky like a glowing orange wave. The sound of his anger penetrates through me, shredding across the woods and shaking the mountains.

I keep walking. “You know what I think, Ra’om? Samrael was never going to take you with him. He thought you were weak. He told me so.”

No. He’s my kin! Samrael is waiting for me. I’ll join him and when I do, I’ll take you with me. You’ll bow to me, Gideon. I will break you. You will be mine.

Pride, I think, as I keep approaching him. That’s his weakness.