Chapter 16 The Lion Warrior
The Lion Warrior
OAK
I know those screams.
I yanked my sword from its sheath as I scanned the plain below. The screams were coming from somewhere down there, perhaps even the forest—
A great burst of pure essence exploded from the edge of the forest, consuming an entire section of the trees. I wasn’t as gifted as some when it came to essence, but I could feel that, even from this distance.
“Bloody gods, what was that?” Radven appeared beside me, a strap of daggers in his hand. We’d been poking through the rubble along the top of the ridge, trying to find our things as the curse spat them back out, and it looked like he’d located some of his weapons stash.
“Whatever it was, I don’t like it.” An entire section of the forest was gone, and the remnants of the huge amount of essence behind the explosion still shimmered in the air above it, but I couldn’t see anything more than that.
I’d known we’d likely encounter trouble when we came back home, but I’d never expected it to arrive so quickly. We’d been gone a long time, and I’d assumed that most of Therador had forgotten about us, assuming us lost forever. “I’m going to go down and have a look.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Rad had taken off his shirt, and now he fastened the strap of daggers across his bare chest. “I’m thinking we’re better off heading the opposite direction.” He turned away, looking down the rocky slope beside us. “Any sign of Alastor yet?”
“No.” That worried me, too. He should have come through by now. Our three loyal servants were here, already helping sort through the rubble, but our brother was nowhere to be seen.
The unraveling of this curse had not gone exactly to plan. Yes, we had been returned to our homeland, mostly in one piece, and yes, I could use essence again, but I still felt wrong, somehow. Like threads of the curse clung to me still.
I should have been ecstatic. Here I was, back in Therador where I belonged.
I’d longed for this place, my home, for the past decade.
I missed the smell of the air, the taste of the wind, the feel of the soil beneath my feet.
It was all here, but it didn’t bring me the joy or the relief I’d been expecting.
Something wasn’t right. I just didn’t know what. We’d assumed, all these years, that banishment itself had been the aim of the wicked curse cast upon us, that trapping us in another world had been the sole intent of the Circle. But what if the curse went deeper than that?
My grip tightened on my sword. I didn’t like to worry. I much preferred to act. Which was another reason to get down off this accursed ridge and investigate the disturbance below. Whatever was down there was an immediate threat, and I could focus on that.
Behind me, Rad had found his old pants, the ones he’d been wearing when the curse originally fell upon us. Despite the fact that they were nearly a decade old and falling apart at the seams, he stripped off the ones he was currently wearing and stepped into his old, familiar pair.
“I don’t know about you,” he said, “but I’ll be happy if I never see a pair of jeans ever again.”
“Hm,” I grunted back, hardly listening. I was looking down at the trees again, wishing I’d been able to find my spyglass. If I squinted, I could now make out a handful of figures moving in the bare patch of forest, but nothing more than that.
And then the screams started again.
This time, recognition struck fast and true.
Marigold.
I’d heard her scream when she collapsed in pain outside our masquerade, and I would never forget the sound.
There was no more time to hesitate, no time to question. I ran.
“Hey!” Rad shouted behind me. He said something else, too, but I was already too far away. Rad could take care of himself. Even Alastor, wherever he was, was capable of handling any situation he encountered. But Marigold… Marigold was vulnerable. Innocent.
Why is she even here? The bridge shouldn’t have pulled her through. She should have been safe, in her own world, without us to put her in danger any longer.
I barreled over a pile of tumbled boulders, sword hilt still clasped in my hand.
In my days as a warrior, before I’d been exiled to another world, I’d never been the fastest, but I’d more than made up for my speed with my strength and endurance.
I was a little older now, and I’d had limited chances to use my skills while living as a billionaire, but I was pleased to see I still maintained many of my physical abilities.
There was another talent I hadn’t used in some time, a side of myself I hadn’t accessed in ten whole years. I hungered to tap into it, to release the beast within me, but it was too dangerous.
Right now, my one and only focus was on getting to Marigold.
When I reached the base of the ridge, I paused at the edge of the plain.
When Falconridge Keep had perched atop that rocky outcropping above me, we’d considered the plain a geographical advantage.
It had allowed us to see anyone or anything who approached our hideaway long before they reached us.
But it hadn’t stopped the Circle, in the end.
And now I was acutely aware of how exposed I would be the moment I stepped clear of the boulders at the bottom of the slope.
“Alastor!” Marigold’s shout carried across the open grass. “Alast—”
I didn’t wait to see what had cut her off. I charged across the plain, not caring if I opened myself to attack. I aimed for that decimated patch of forest.
But I wasn’t fast enough. When I reached the place where the trees had been blown away, there was no one there, though I could see marks and hoof prints on the dusty ground that suggested I’d just missed a small band of people and horses.
A footstep sounded behind me, the soft scuff of a shoe against dry soil. I spun around, bracing to attack—
And found Alastor emerging from the trees.
“Brother, it’s me,” he said, but his own sword was clutched in his hand, the tip wet with blood, and his eyes were darting this way and that, still looking for any lingering threats.
“Marigold,” I said.
I didn’t need to elaborate. Alastor said, “She’s here. I don’t know why, but she came through the portal after me.”
“I heard her screaming.”
My brother’s face was solemn. “She was taken.”
“You saw this happen?”
He didn’t flinch. “They were riding off as I came through the trees. I couldn’t have stopped them. It was too risky, exposing myself.”
Rage built inside me. “You didn’t even try to stop them? She’s only in danger because of us! She shouldn’t even be here!”
“That’s right—she shouldn’t be here.” Alastor’s voice, like his expression, was hard and emotionless. “I don’t know why she decided to jump through after me. But if she’s in danger now, it’s because of her own reckless choice.”
That was cold, even coming from Alastor. I was grateful he was alive, but that didn’t temper my disgust for his callousness.
“How can you be so heartless?” I demanded. “After everything she’s done for us?”
“My priority lies with my kingdom,” he says. “Now and ever. No woman, no matter what she’s done for us, will change that. I’m not heartless, I’m pragmatic. I couldn’t have stopped them, not on my own. Getting myself killed or worse wouldn’t have helped anyone, least of all her.”
“I never thought I’d see the day when you downplayed your own abilities,” I said. “I’ve seen you take down two dozen men on your own.”
“This wasn’t two dozen men.” Alastor’s eyes darkened. “This was Laitha.”
The back of my neck went cold.
I should have seen this coming. I only knew of ten people who were powerful enough to wield the essence I’d felt here at the edge of these woods, and they were the same ten people who’d cursed my brothers and me.
The Circle of the Hidden Stars. And Laitha was one of the most dangerous of them all.
“We have to go after her,” I said, spinning around and scanning the forest on all sides.
“Which way did they go?” I didn’t wait for Alastor to answer.
It had been a while since I’d needed to use my tracking skills, but I hadn’t forgotten them.
And Laitha and her goons had made no effort to hide their tracks.
“Wait,” Alastor said. “We can’t just go charging after them. She left two of her acolytes to search the forest. I dispatched of one behind a tree over there. The other went the opposite direction and will probably circle around toward the ridge. We’ll need to stop her before she can report back.”
“I’m not leaving Marigold in Laitha’s clutches!”
“We need a plan,” Alastor said. “We don’t even know if Laitha knows we’ve returned. We can use that to our advantage, but only if we don’t do something foolish.” He looked past me. “Where’s Rad?”
“Up on the ridge,” I said, stalking around the decimated area, studying the tracks.
Marigold’s prints were distinctive, given she was wearing shoes from her home-world.
She was lying on the ground right here. And there—she tried to run, but she was ridden down by someone on horseback.
They must have dragged her up onto the horse.
“Actually, Rad is not on the ridge,” came Radven’s voice from over my shoulder. “He’s right here.”
I hadn’t heard him approach, but Rad had always been the stealthiest of us. He sauntered out of the trees, looking perfectly at ease, but I knew he had at least a dozen daggers within a second’s reach, including that strap now hidden under his shirt.
“What did I miss?” he said, looking around. “Is the party already over?”
“Marigold’s here, in Therador,” I said. “And Laitha has her.”
Rad whistled. “I knew that girl was the sort to find trouble. She’s too curious for her own good.” A dagger suddenly appeared in his hand, probably from somewhere up his sleeve. “Does that mean Laitha already knows we’re here?”
“We don’t know,” Alastor responded. “One of her acolytes is still here somewhere, and if we don’t find her—”
Rad’s wrist jerked, sending his dagger spinning through the air with deadly speed past my shoulder and into the trees beyond.
There was a soft thunk of the blade hitting flesh, and by the time I turned around its intended target—a young woman wearing the mark of Laitha—was sinking to the ground, blood blooming from her chest.
“Took care of that problem,” Rad said, sauntering over to the woman. She tried to spit at him, but all that came up was bile and blood.
Rad knelt down next to her, gently closing her eyes and whispering a prayer over her body. He had probably killed more people than Alastor and myself combined, but he always made sure he sent their souls to the afterlife with the proper respect.
When he rose and turned back to us, a touch more serious than he’d been before, he said, “So Laitha doesn’t know about us yet. Just Marigold.”
“She screamed Alastor’s name,” I said, suddenly remembering. I turned toward Alastor. “Marigold. I heard her call for you.”
It stung that she’d called out for him, not me, even though the reason was clear—she’d known he was nearby.
I could only imagine how scared she must have been, how terrified when she’d realized that my brother wasn’t coming to help her.
It didn’t matter how logical his arguments were, or that, by necessity, his truest loyalty lay elsewhere.
Right now, I could have killed my brother for letting Marigold suffer.
“So we need to assume that Laitha will be expecting us,” Alastor said. “We need to plan for—”
“Damn your plans!” I roared. “Every moment we stand here talking is another moment Marigold is in Laitha’s clutches. The two of you can stand around and make up all the plans you want. I’m going after her. Now.”
And despite the risks, there was only one option for tracking them down quickly and facing a powerful sorceress like Laitha.
I had to shift.
My brothers must have seen the look in my eyes, because both started to protest at the same time. But it was too late. I was already reaching inside, tapping into the beast within, and—
Nothing.
I almost stumbled. Shifting had always been so easy for me, practically second nature. It had been a long time, yes, but this wasn’t something I could just forget how to do.
Bearing down, I tried again. I could feel the beast inside me—he was still there—but I couldn’t reach him. It was like there was a cage around him, keeping us apart.
I looked over at my brothers, and my horror must have been plain on my face because Alastor said, “What is it?”
“I can’t shift.” Even uttering it out loud hurt. “Something’s wrong.”
I’d felt it from the moment we came through the portal. Something was different, off, but I hadn’t had proof until now.
“We’re still cursed.”