Chapter Five
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DEUMOS AND HIS TEAM had spent the night on the furthest tip of Long Island, waiting in vain for the latest Knight of Order to appear.
They’d been about to give up when they spotted a boat approaching.
“It’s one of our enemies,” Deumos said, using binoculars to zoom in on the muscular male.
“It’s Urzra,” he said, recognizing the warrior.
The knight was alone, which meant he hadn’t found his cambion yet. The soldier’s mind raced as he tried to come up with a plan to capture him.
“Hide,” he said, motioning for them to take cover before they were spotted. “Wait until he gets to shore, then shoot him in the legs so he can’t run away,” he ordered.
“The boat is slowing down,” one of his guards said before they could race to find cover.
Deumos turned to see Urzra’s boat come to a stop.
“He’s sensed us,” he said with a scowl. He’d forgotten their enemies were getting stronger with each one that arrived.
It was an anomaly that not even Xathan could explain.
They assumed it had something to do with the males bonding with the cambions.
Shouldering his rifle, he aimed and fired a shot just as a wave lifted the boat up.
The bullet hit the boat and the knight looked straight at him in recognition.
Urzra snarled, then set his vessel into motion, heading back the way he’d come.
Deumos sprinted for the boat they’d found last night.
They’d prepared it just in case something like this happened.
His entourage spilled into the vessel with him as he tried to get it started.
“He’s getting away,” a soldier said, shielding his eyes with his hand to peer at their quarry.
“Our boat is bigger and faster than his,” Deumos said, confident that they would catch up to him. “He must have spent the night on an island,” he figured. “We’ll catch up to him when he reaches it, if not before.”
“Why don’t we shoot holes in his boat and make it sink?” another guard suggested, holding his rifle ready.
“Rahab will skin us alive if we accidentally kill Urzra,” Deumos said. “He wants us to capture the knights, not sink them at sea.”
Wilting beneath the sarcastic response, his guard lowered his rifle and squeezed onto a seat next to one of his squad members.
Deumos finally got the motor started, but Urzra had a fifteen-minute headstart on them by now.
“Check your maps,” he ordered. “Find the island he’s heading towards.
” Xathan had issued them all with maps of Long Island and the surrounding area, since they’d had to expand their search for their offspring.
His guards took their maps out and opened them. “I can see a small island in the direction we’re heading,” a soldier reported. “He must have spent the night there.”
“He’ll be trapped on that island,” another guard said craftily. “It should be easy enough to capture him.”
Deumos listened to their chatter as he remained focused on his task. He slowly gained ground and eventually saw the smaller boat in the distance. “We’re gaining on him,” he gloated. His boat was already going as fast as it could, but he tried to will it to go even faster.
Lifting the binoculars to his eyes periodically, he finally saw land ahead after they’d been speeding across the ocean for twenty minutes.
Urzra would reach it a few minutes before him, but his guard was right.
Where exactly did the knight think he was going to go?
They could sense his presence and would be able to find him no matter where he tried to hide.
Forty minutes later, Urzra ran his boat up onto a small beach and took off running. Deumos cut the motor and beached his boat five minutes later. Urzra was out of range, but he’d left a trail for them to follow. “Stay alert for an ambush,” he said as he sprinted after their quarry.
Following the footprints, the signs the knight had left faded after a few hundred feet.
Deumos halted and used the binoculars to peer around.
He could see isolated homes spread all over the place.
While the island looked tiny on the map, it was larger in real life.
“It’ll take a couple of days to search this entire island,” he muttered.
“We’ll find Urzra faster if we split up,” a soldier suggested.
Deumos cut a look at him, then reluctantly nodded.
“You two, head in that direction,” he ordered, pointing to the right.
“You two, stick with me,” he added. Two guards peeled off and loped towards the nearest property.
They had two walky-talkies in their team, so they could keep in touch with each other.
With two of his men in tow, Deumos raced over to the nearest house.
It was empty, so they moved on. He had a feeling his enemy was somewhere close even if he couldn’t sense him yet.
Right after he had that thought, he sensed someone on his radar.
It wasn’t the knight or a human. His gray-green eyes that were tinged with red widened in realization.
“My spawn is here,” he said with a vicious grin of triumph.
“That idiot led me straight to her,” he crowed.
He took his walky-talky out and switched it to the channel normal soldiers used instead of Rahab’s private channel.
“I’ve found my cambion,” he said. “The knight is probably with her. Head back to me so we can come up with a plan.”
The soldiers reached him a short while later. Deumos had backed away until he couldn’t sense his progeny anymore. Studying the distant house through the binoculars, he couldn’t make out much, thanks to the trees that were blocking the way.
“Is Urzra with the female?” a soldier asked.
“I didn’t sense him, but he’s probably in her house,” Deumos figured. “Fate keeps putting the knights and our offspring together. Urzra thought the cambion would be safe here. Instead, he’s just ensured she’ll fall beneath my thrall,” he said with a smirk.
“What’s the plan?” another guard asked.
“Urzra doesn’t have a gun, so he’s outclassed,” Deumos said.
“We’ll approach the house from all four sides to trap them.
I’ll threaten to burn it down if they don’t come out and surrender.
” He didn’t have anything to burn the house down with, but he was confident he could get a fire started easily enough.
He allocated guards to approach the front and sides of the house and kept the final male with him.
Two minutes later, they sprinted towards the building.
Crashing through the trees, Deumos sensed Urzra was with the female, just as he’d figured.
His grin of victory widened. He was about to nab a paired knight and cambion.
It was doubtful they’d bonded yet, since they’d only met either last night or this morning.
Rahab would be pleased when they returned with this bounty.
Sensing his team closing in, Deumos halted a short distance from the house. “Urzra!” he called out. “I know you’re in there with my offspring! Surrender peacefully, or I’ll burn this building to the ground!”
No answer came from within, just as he’d expected.
A curtain in a room near the back door shifted slightly.
He sensed the cambion watching him. Hoping she didn’t have a deadly talent, he loped towards a shed.
Just as he’d hoped, he found jerrycans full of fuel inside it.
Grabbing hold of one, he carried it outside and held it up.
“You’ve got one minute to come out!” he warned them.
Counting down in his head, he started towards the house when he reached sixty seconds.
His guards held their weapons ready, aiming their guns at the doors and windows. Complete silence came from within. If the knight and cambion were talking, they were whispering too quietly for their voices to carry.
Deumos reached the back door and made a show of getting ready to pour the fuel onto the door. Then magic blasted outwards, ensnaring him and his men. All five soldiers froze and their minds became fuzzy.