Chapter 36 Bash
Bash
“Xeni!” I bellow as I scramble forward to his broken form.
The guards realize what they’ve done as Zadeus continues to gasp, but as the first draws his sword from his High Commander’s torso, the steady drip of his life force becomes a gush. The other two swords follow, pulling back with a wet slide.
Zadeus stands there for a few heartbeats, propped up by nothing but stubborn will as blood runs down his torso. Then his eyes roll back, face slackening into something vacant, and his body collapses.
For a long, frozen moment, the guards only stare at the fallen High Commander. Their weapons are still raised, faces blank with shock, as if the impossible has happened and they don’t know how to unsee it.
“Come on, princess,” I beg as I toss Xeni’s arm over my shoulder, but he’s barely conscious. Sweat coats every inch of his skin, and he’s feverish and trembling as I drag him toward the others.
“What do we do?” Sakane whispers as we huddle.
A dozen guards stare at their leader as he takes his last breath, then their eyes move up to us as one.
“They killed the High Commander,” one of them snarls.
We step back until we hit the wall.
There’s nowhere left to run.
“I think I’ll take the pretty one for myself,” another taunts.
“They’re all pretty. I bet the blue one fights more than the big ones, though.” He lunges for Ego but freezes, and for a moment, I can’t comprehend what I’m seeing.
His face goes slack and blood sprays from his neck before his body thuds to the ground, head separated in a clean swipe.
A monster like nothing I’ve ever seen before steps from the shadows beyond him.
Shoulder-length gold-spun curls line his head, and his skin shimmers with the same metallic glow.
He’s enormous.
His gilded eyes move over our group as he flings the blood from his sword, then turns with a sweep. He cuts through the neck of the second guard that flanked the first, then focuses on us again.
“Can you fight?” he asks in a thundering voice, his gaze dropping to Xeni groaning in my arms.
Ego recovers first.
“Fuck yes, I can.”
She pulls a knife off her belt and launches it toward the one at the front. His hands fly to his neck as he gurgles a shout, the hilt protruding from his skin with the blade stuck deep. The squelch of it being ripped from his throat breaks the standoff, and the guards charge.
I twist, shielding Xeni with my body as Cato sprints into the mix with a roar, joined by our new anonymous savior. Sakane sneaks around the outside, using the shadows and chaos to jump in and jab through calves and arms before disappearing again.
I wait, tense and ready to protect my mate, but in mere minutes, the anarchy disappears and is replaced by stifling silence. Xeni groans, and I glance down to find his eye fluttering open.
“Hey, princess,” I whisper.
He tries to sit, but shivers with the effort, so I grip him tighter until I’m sure he’s stable. His gaze sweeps the tunnel, clocking the bodies that litter the ground before fixating on his father’s bloody back.
“What…” he mumbles in a slur.
“We must hurry,” the golden monster commands as he steps closer. He’s half a head over Cato’s six-foot-two frame, with a square jaw and strong nose framed on a stony face.
“Come.”
He turns and walks away as if there’s no question we’ll follow, and a shared glance with the others confirms we have no other option. Xeni is barely able to get on his feet, and the rest of us are exhausted.
Once these bodies are discovered, the demand for our heads will only get worse.
Cato nods at me, and Ego and Sakane fall in line as I support Xeni. The monster leads us into another tunnel before unlocking a door that’s nearly invisible in the shadows.
He holds it open as we enter, and I glance around at what appears to be an old control facility with a long, thin beam of moonlight pouring through a high grate. An archway splits the far wall, though it’s too dark beyond for me to see anything.
Our panting breaths are the only sound as the monster turns toward us, barely more than a phantom in the dim light.
Xeni leans against a table, pushing his hair from his sweat-damp skin with shaky hands as he breaks the silence.
“Who are you?” Xeni demands.
The air seems to be sucked from the room in a sudden vacuum that makes my ears pop. He steps forward, and my gaze sweeps over his ethereal appearance.
Copper skin shimmers in the faint moonlight, reflecting it in a scattered spectrum that dances across the walls like captured starlight.
Hair like spun gold cascades over his shoulders in fat, gleaming spirals, framing horns thicker than my wrists.
They curl back and around his ears like a ram, ending in points beside the hinge of his jaw.
When he opens his mouth, small fangs flash beneath his lip.
I hook my arm around Xeni’s waist and pull him against me protectively. The monster stares for a long, unblinking moment, golden eyes moving over each of us in turn, and no one dares to breathe louder than necessary.
Finally, he tilts his head, the motion regal.
“You may call me Sovran.”
He offers nothing else, and I glance at the others to find them as frozen as me. Sovran doesn’t appear to be an immediate danger, though. He returns to the door to listen, completely ignoring us.
“Are you alright?” I whisper in Xeni’s ear, smoothing his hair back as his head thunks onto my shoulder.
He twists to look at me, and I swipe the blood from his face. Exhaustion carves dark rings above his cheeks, and his body is heavy even as he sets his jaw.
“I’m fine,” he insists.
“Liar.”
He offers me a fluttering smile as I clean him, keeping most of my attention on the stranger at the door.
“You’ve never controlled that many at once, have you?” I ask.
He glances away and pulls his lips tight. “No. Father could handle a crowd with little effort, but I… I’m not as strong as him.”
“Don’t you even think about apologizing, and never compare yourself to him. You’re the only reason we’re standing here right now. You’re better than him by leagues.”
“Your mate is right, you know.”
Both our heads snap up to watch Sovran approach, and I hug Xeni a little tighter.
Sovran chuckles, deep and melodic. “Do not worry, human. I am no threat to you.”
“You knew my father?” Xeni asks.
“Indeed,” Sovran says, but doesn’t expand on his answer.
Xeni is cautious as he stands tall, and I keep my hand on his hip as he steadies himself. “That doesn’t exactly give me confidence in your intentions.”
Sovran’s face remains somber as he dips his chin in acknowledgment. “Trust me when I say Zadeus was no friend of mine. A common enemy, as it turns out.”
“He’s not an enemy anymore,” Xeni counters.
A flicker of something that looks like sadness crosses Sovran’s expression, but a determined hum leaves the back of his throat. “That he isn’t. By the Fates’ will.”
“By my will,” Xeni retorts with a touch of anger. “If the Fates wanted him dead, he would’ve been ash in the wind long ago.”
“Perhaps,” Sovran concedes.
I take Xeni’s hand as his temper grows. Now isn’t the time for arguments, especially with the person who just saved us. He glances over his shoulder at me, faint ruby streaks still painted over his skin.
I pass him a water bottle to drink and use another to wet my hands. Xeni scowls as I clean him, no better than a spoiled child who doesn’t want his bath.
“Are you done being a mother hen?” he demands, though his tone is soft.
“For now.” I swipe my thumb over his cheek again.
Arms folded over his chest, Sovran watches us with mild amusement.
Xeni sits taller and turns to him. “You never answered my question. Who are you?”
Sovran tilts his head in that assessing way he has. “A friend.”
“How did you know we needed help?” Ego asks.
Sovran’s golden eyes flick over to her. “You are a very loud bunch.”
Xeni’s suspicion comes in bounds as his gaze roams Sovran’s expansive frame. His leather pants are in good condition, although his white linen shirt is splattered with a fresh spray of blood. He’s out of place in the filthy darkness, though I can’t imagine anywhere he’d blend in.
After a long stretch, Xeni leans closer. “I’ve been a medic for twenty years and studied every species. I’ve never seen or read about someone who looks like you.”
“That doesn’t surprise me,” Sovran says.
“Talk about vague answers,” Sakane mumbles.
Sovran’s eyes move to him for a moment before he huffs an impatient breath. “I am the only one of my kind on this plane.”
My brows bunch as I consider this. “How did that happen?”
His jaw tenses in the smallest show of irritation, the muscle kicking before loosening again. “Bad timing, one could say.”
“Bad timing,” Xeni mutters as he drags his palm over his face. “Okay, let’s try this… what is your kind? Can we start there?”
Sovran glances up at the small grate above, tilting his ear toward the moonlit opening. He doesn’t seem to be in a rush, staring at the dark sky outside before meeting Xeni’s gaze.
“My people are called the Lythienne,” he finally says as he glances between me and Xeni with a slight shake of his head. “You won’t find us referenced in any written history here.”
“But you’ve been here since the fall of the veil?” I ask.
He stares at me for a long moment, golden eyes unreadable. “More or less.”
My eyes flick toward the others. They’re all as bewildered as I am, frozen in collective what-the-hell.
Ego finally breaks the silence. “Not to break up this… whatever the fuck this is, but if we’re going to get out of the city before daybreak, we need to figure out another route. If they’re patrolling the direction we were headed, we don’t stand a chance.”
She glances around the dark room, narrowing her eyes into the pitch-black corners like they personally offended her. “Is there another way out of here?”
“There are ways to escape the city, yes,” Sovran says, calm as a statue.
Ego’s cheek dimples with irritation as she purses her lips. “Wow. You literally just answer exactly what’s asked, don’t you? No more, no less. Like a magic eight-ball with abs.”
Sovran’s brow lifts a fraction. Barely, but it’s there.
Ego throws her hands up. “Okay, let’s try this a different way. We were planning on using an old culvert on the eastern wall, but if this path isn’t safe, I don’t know another way. So spill. Alternative routes. Now. Use your words.”
Cato snorts. “You’re gonna need a bigger stick to poke the sphinx here.”
Ego shoots him a look. “I’ve got plenty of sticks, thank you. And I’m not afraid to use them.”
She turns back to Sovran, planting her hands on her hips. “Come on, Goldilocks. Give us something we can actually use before the sun comes up and turns us into target practice.”
Sovran’s eyes roll up toward the sky again like he’s thinking, and I fight not to twitch in the deafening silence. He nods to himself and glances at the door we entered.
“The culvert is no longer passable,” he says. “It is not safe. There is another path we must take.”
“We?” Xeni asks.
Sovran’s brow ticks up another notch. “Yes,” he says simply, then turns his back to us and points towards a doorway on the far wall. “There is a working bathroom through there. Clean up and get some rest. We leave in an hour.”