Chapter 20
OKAY, YOU MADE YOUR POINT
There had to be at least thirty revenants running toward us.
Huge, monstrous creatures with sinewy dark limbs, talons, and ravenous maws eager to tear us to shreds.
And standing a few meters away, staff held aloft, was Shalani.
She screamed words into the rising wind, her hair whipping about as the air fizzed and popped.
Ravi stood to her right, and the other guards lined the road on either side. Yudh and Dhoona were closer to the carriages, the last line of defense along with our drohi. But even then, we were severely outnumbered.
The wave of revenants was almost upon us when Shalani slammed the hilt of her staff into the ground. A wave of green energy shot out of the tip and spread around us with a whoosh that made my ears pop.
“A ward!” Bina said. “Fuck, she’s powerful.”
The revenant attacked, hitting the shimmering green shield in force. Shalani let out a bellow, her body bending at the waist as she held the line.
Ravi roared, his form bulging and growing, doubling in size, as he tore out of his clothes, morphing into his rakshasa form.
“Leela, breathe!” Bina punched my shoulder. I sucked in a breath and stared at her through watery eyes before fixing my gaze back on Ravi, who’d been joined by his rakshasa buddy.
The green shimmer pulsed as the revenants slammed into it again and again.
Whoomph.
Whoomph.
How long could Shalani hold them off?
Chaya appeared at our carriage window. Dharma reached for her, and they clasped hands for a moment.
“Stay in the carriage,” Chaya said. “The wards are immensely powerful. You’ll be safe until help arrives.”
She kissed Dharma’s hand, then retreated to join the others.
“What help?” Joe asked. “This troop was meant to be the help. We were meant to be the help.”
“Not against a horde of revenants,” Bina said. “The Tantrik’s ward activation will have been picked up by the mage tower at the royal barracks. They will dispatch a team. It will be here soon.”
“How soon?” Joe asked. “Because I don’t think that ward is going to last.”
He was right; the green shimmer was weakening, the flare after each pulse less vivid. Shalani was on her knees, staff hilt pressed to the ground as she held the ward.
Our guard had their weapons at the ready. The Asuras with their blazing astra would do some damage. Our drohi had elite blades that could send revenants back to their base camp. We had a chance. We could fight.
“Can only a drohi use an elite blade?” My hand went to the hilt of one of my axes.
“Yes,” Bina said. “Something about frequency and resonance. I don’t know.” She glanced down at my hand and frowned. “You are not stepping out of this carriage, Leela.”
Crack!
Someone screamed, and the collective screech of the revenants rent the air.
“No!” Dharma gripped the window frame, and we all pressed forward to look out.
The rakshasa roared as they attacked. Ravi, the huge brown beast and his companion with midnight fur, fought side by side, tearing at revenants. Shalani swung her staff, shooting balls of red energy to force the revenants back and give the guard breathing room.
To the left, the drohi pushed forward, slicing the air with their silver blades to turn revenants to ash, and the two Asura deployed golden arrows that burst into flame on contact with the beasts.
“They’re doing it!” Joe said. “The revenants are thinning.”
Wings of hope fluttered in my chest, my breath coming faster as I scanned the field, gaze darting from ally to ally.
We were winning.
Cutting down the threat.
Dharma let out a soft exhale. “Fucking hell. We’re going to make—”
The carriage rocked as a wave of power hit it, and the next moment, a fresh hoard of revenants appeared on the field, sprinting toward us.
“No!” Bina cried.
“Fuck!”
“The elite will be here soon,” Dharma said, her voice trembling.
A pained roar cut through the sounds of battle, and I searched the field, frantic until I spotted Ravi grappling with a revenant. Another clung to his back, its talons digging into Ravi’s flank.
“Ravi!”
Thanil appeared behind him and ashed the revenant who was clinging to Ravi’s back. Ravi tore out the other revenant’s throat, and Thanil ashed that one too, sending it back to whatever camp it had come from.
The fresh hoard was almost on them. They turned to face it, both bloody and exhausted, and our troop gathered, picking itself up and standing tall, ready to continue the battle.
The revenants surged toward us, more appearing on the field the closer they got.
Dharma bit back a sob. “Where the fuck is backup?”
Ravi growled, a battle cry rousing the others to raise their weapons and bellow in turn. Ready to fight till the death.
Till the death…
Because that’s what would happen if help didn’t arrive soon.
An image flared in my mind. The sigil to call Pakshiraj! I lifted my hand and traced it in the air. My fingers tingled for a moment, then the feeling vanished. I tried again but this time felt nothing. Was it working?
The revenants were almost on us when they came to a standstill. They fell into crouches, their large frames heaving as if it was an effort to hold still.
The whisper of wind was too loud in the silence that followed.
“What’s happening?” Joe said.
The line of revenants parted, and a man stepped through.
“Fuck…” Bina whispered.
He walked toward us, dressed in loose black pants, his chest bare beneath a deeply v-cut sleeveless tunic that left his biceps on display.
A fist crushed my heart, tearing a whimper from my lips as he got closer, as the features I’d loved so dearly grew clearer. Flowing dark locks streaked with golden, fiery eyes, and a mouth that had mapped mine so perfectly.
Araz…My Araz. Except he wasn’t. Not any longer.
My Araz was gone, and now a monster lived inside his body.
He came to a standstill a couple of meters from the road. “Leela, come out of the carriage,” he said. “Come with me and your companions will live.”
Ravi snarled, the muscles of his formidable rakshasa form rippling with tension. “Leela, stay where you are,” he growled.
The primordial evil ignored him, his focus on the carriage that I was in, as if he could see me even though I was hidden in shadow.
“I can kill your companions and take you by force,” he said, tone conversational.
“Your carriage wards are no match for my power. Come with me now, and your people can go free. Defy me, and they will all die. You have two minutes to decide which it will be.”
My stomach hardened.
“Leela, you stay in the carriage!” Keyton called out.
Ravi prowled back and forth between us and them, his massive paws drawing an invisible line in the earth. “You’re not taking her. We will fight until—”
“Until your elite forces arrive?” the primordial evil said, brows flicking up slightly in an expression I recognized as amusement.
“The signal your tantrik sent has been intercepted. No signal can pass my wards. No one is coming to save you.” He crossed his arms and tipped his head to the side, the gesture so Araz that it made my stomach hurt. “You have one minute left, Leela!”
I squeezed my eyes shut, my mind whirring. No signal could pass…Which meant my sigil hadn’t activated either. There was no help coming, which meant that my choice was no real choice at all.
I reached for the carriage door.
“No!” Dharma grabbed my arm. “You can’t…Leela…” But there was conflict in her eyes. She knew just as well as I that this was the only viable option.
I’d be taken whether everyone lived or not. That part was happening regardless of my decision.
I looked at each of them. “If he wanted me dead, he could have killed me in the labyrinth. He could kill me right now. But I think…I think he made Araz a promise to not harm me. He won’t hurt me.
So this, right here, buys us time. I need you guys to live and ascend.
Then come save my ass.” I pushed open the door and stepped out onto the road before they could stop me.
Ravi growled, rushing forward to try to intercept me. The air fizzed, and he froze in place, eyes flying wide. A gust of wind washed over me, and the next moment I was standing in front of the bastard who was wearing the drohi I loved.
“Leela…” He looked down his nose at me, the corner of his mouth lifting. “I told you that your tender heart would get you in trouble, didn’t I?” He smiled, showcasing a dimple. “And I told you I’d come back for you.”
How could he…No…My pulse thudded hard in my throat. “Araz?”
He brought his hand up in front of my face and clicked his fingers.
The world went dark.