Chapter 18
Krashe
Lasra could smile like that all she wanted, she wasn’t going to win this round.
I’d sized up the warriors she had with her from the minute they came into view.
None of these were personally trained by me, most served as sentinels or guards, and hadn’t even been part of the attack force on Thunder Rock Village. These were not the best of the best.
The only warrior of any note was Jesrifa, but the female was half my size and while vicious and clever, still no match.
Even if I fought them five to one I knew I would have no issue with any of them, but I was pretty sure that they knew that too, as did the Queen.
But Lasra was arrogant and she’d grown fat and complacent, letting her sycophants fill her ears with lies. That would work in my favor here.
There was nothing I wouldn’t do for Naomi.
She was my mate and my match. She loved me.
The love of my mate was what finally made me feel at peace with my parents and their deaths too.
I understood all of that now. I felt the same way about Naomi as my father had about my mom, he’d died of a broken heart.
I wasn’t going to let anything happen to either of us.
I was strong and, as the Queen had said, undefeated.
I had done nothing but train all my life.
That training I had believed was for the Clan but as it turned out, it had been for Naomi all along.
So that I could be strong enough at this moment to protect her, defeat the Queen’s schemes, and win our freedom once and for all.
So when the viperous bitch held up her hands and raised all ten fingers I just laughed.
“Ten? Sure, I’ll deal with ten of your finest. Not that there are many finest here, are there?
” I hoped fervently that didn’t mean that most of the good-hearted, strong warriors that I had trained had lost their lives at Thunder Rock.
Like some had lost their lives to the revenant when she’d sent Joxra to chase after Naomi and me.
“Ten of my finest against you and your mate!” The Queen laughed, pointing her finger at Naomi behind me, hovering silently in her ‘wheelchair.’ So that was her play, put my mate up for the fight so that her warriors could attack Naomi without breaking any rules.
She wanted to put me on the defensive and divide my attention.
“Alright,” I conceded because to me it didn’t feel like anything had changed.
I already was on the defensive, I would never stray far from Naomi’s side because I didn’t trust the Queen or any of these warriors.
I counted far too many blackened teeth, and those who practiced that horrible habit never did manage to impress me.
I expected the Queen to start calling out the names of warriors for this arena, opponents for me to face.
She did no such thing, but I saw movement as warriors—including Jesrifa—started to gather.
They had already assigned a group to fight me before they ever got here.
So the Queen thought I’d played right into her hand, she had to be underestimating me.
I knew something that even a lorekeeper would be hard-pressed to remember.
Truthfully, the Queen wasn’t even a real lorekeeper.
Lasra had been close friends with my mother when they grew up, she’d assumed the role and claimed she was as well trained at the time.
I was starting to see that this was not true.
No, I’d known that for a long time, but I’d wanted to put my faith in something right, something just. The Clan had been that once, but not anymore.
Not after Lasra had poisoned it more and more with her fabrications and lies.
Mates made each other stronger. That was something my parents had known, the only true mates in the Clan in three generations.
It was something my father would tell me before he’d face off against a revenant in the north, or when I was scared as a youngling when he left for a hunt.
Mates made each other stronger, and now that I had my own mate, I knew this was true.
I knew my body better than anyone, I knew my strengths, I knew my limits. This past week I’d felt the changes, I’d felt the difference. These ten warriors wouldn’t know what hit them when this fight began.
“I want to see it,” the Queen demanded, derailing my violent thoughts as I started to plot out tactics for the fight.
I knew I had never faced any of them on the training grounds, but I could recognize weaknesses just from posture alone.
Those thoughts fled when the Queen pointed and repeated her demand.
“I want to see your sigils glow for that… thing.”
I curled my lip in distaste, not about to put up a show for them.
They didn’t need to see this to start the fight, and denying her this privilege wouldn’t change the outcome either.
I’d only shown it to Joxra and the warriors with him because I sensed that they hadn’t felt quite so hostile toward Naomi after the fight with the revenant.
They had seen her bravery when she’d distracted the beast and had noted that she’d dragged one of them out of the path of danger. I found it very telling that none of them were here when they were each very good warriors, better than the rabble I was facing.
“No,” I said simply, and I turned my head away from the Queen.
I didn’t turn fully, but I wanted a last look at Naomi sitting in her strange wheelchair.
It wasn’t so strange looking by now, already a familiar sight.
I could admit how incredibly useful and just good it was that a vehicle like that existed and still functioned.
It was far less worrisome to have her in this fight with me when I knew she could fly away.
Kiwi had also returned from his first, furious flight when he noticed the approaching Naga.
He had landed on the backrest of her seat, far more careful with his claws when it came to her.
He was posturing, wings spread, chest puffed, and his spine arched.
Smoke curled from his nostrils, ready to start a fire.
My brethren would thoroughly underestimate this particular Sleara, just like I had when I first met him.
“Stay behind me, stick with Kiwi too,” I spoke the words directly over the Queen as she made another angry demand to see my sigils. She could get lost, she was already trying to exact her pound of flesh from me, she wasn’t getting what belonged to Naomi.
“I meant it earlier, Krashe. I love you. Stay safe, beat their fucking asses.” I grinned at Naomi’s fighting words, my tail sliding up her body to cup her face in a quick caress.
Such a warrior my mate, always ready for a fight, and always ready to back me up in whatever way she could.
It didn’t matter that she was soft and small, or that she couldn’t walk, she had the heart of a warrior; my heart.
When I turned back to the Queen, I jerked my chin horn at her, another insult.
“Let us get started, I have other places to be,” I said, and grinned when that made the Queen’s eyes go wide in surprise.
It felt amazing to finally say what I was thinking instead of playing the politician, always maneuvering and playing with words.
She knew then and there that she’d lost any power over me she thought she had and in her eyes, I saw a hint of fear. Things were starting to unravel around her, and I was certain that this might just be a very good thing for the Clan.
When it was obvious that she had no quick reply to my insult, I feinted forward, swinging my sword.
That was all it took for battle to erupt.
Jesrifa led the charge, her dual blades spinning as she threw herself at me.
I blocked, slashed, spun, and punched. I even grappled one of the ten hapless warriors with my tail, choking him out of the fight in seconds.
While I fought, I continued to be extremely aware of Naomi’s position right behind me. Mentally, I’d drawn a line in the dirt that I never crossed; I let my opponents come to me instead. I knew that if I got further away from her, she’d be open to an attack and that I couldn’t let happen.
In a fight, every minute counted, and muscles quickly became fatigued from swinging heavy weapons, dodging, and attacking.
I took chances, catching a blow with my armguard instead of my sword just so I could stab that blade into the gut of another.
Blood soaked the ground, half their number dead or disabled.
Not one warrior rushed from the sidelines to pull them to safety, to offer them aid after they’d been knocked out.
I should have realized sooner how much honor had been lost among my warriors. I’d focused far too much on my officers, on those I had trained myself. I had been focused on the younglings and their hunger, but the problems in Bitter Storm ran much deeper than that.
At least those on the sidelines hadn’t tried to interfere with the fight. My greatest worry was those at Naomi’s back. They hadn’t gotten close yet, keeping a careful, almost fearful distance. But would that last?
When I curled my body away from a spear strike, shoulder skimming over the ground, I brought my sword up in defense and saw too late the second spear from the other side.
The second spear struck home, and the sight of the first of my blood finally falling made the crowd scream and cheer.
I rose with a roar, cutting through both spear shafts with my blade and throwing myself onto the one that struck true.
He was dead with a wrench of my tail around his neck but when I rolled to avoid Jesrifa I saw that the other male was laid out too, a throwing knife sticking out of his chest.
Only the female warrior remained of my ten, she was dripping blood from several cuts along her body, but none of them were disabling. She had to be growing sluggish from the loss of blood, but her fervor put her beyond any such concerns.