Definitely Apollite and not human.
“Hey!” Urian flashed his own fangs at the boy to let him know whose side he was on.
Tears flowed from the child’s eyes as he realized Urian was an Apollite and not a human out to harm him. “Please help! My mata and sister are trapped because my mata’s blind and my sister won’t leave her!”
Glancing around, Urian saw that the boy wasn’t safe either. Not in the cruel sea of madness that surrounded them. The humans were brutal and those fighting them weren’t a bit better. “All right.” He pushed him toward some brush. “Stay low. I’ll be right back.”
The boy ran like a rabbit while Urian rushed into the building. Even over the roar of the fire, he heard the girl weeping and pleading with her mother as she tried to save her. He headed for them.
Covering his mouth and nose with part of his chalmys, he picked through the burning building, dodging embers and falling planks as best he could. He’d always been afraid of fire. It was another thing that could easily kill them.
The smoke burned his eyes while he stayed low and felt his way along the floor until he found the girl next to her mother, who was barely conscious and wounded terribly. It was obvious the humans had taken their time abusing her.
And the moment Urian touched the woman, she screamed and began swinging wildly at him.
“Shh, you’re safe. I’ve got you.” He unpinned his fibula and removed his cloak, grateful to the gods that Sarraxyn had made his armor flameproof. Strangely enough, it managed to even keep his body cool in the oppressive heat of the place.
“He’s an Apollite, Mata. He’s got fangs like us.”
The woman broke down into horrendous sobs as she clung to him unexpectedly.
“I’m going to wrap you in my cloak and teleport you both out. All right?”
She nodded weakly.
Urian quickly covered her naked body and then flashed them from the burning building to where the boy should be waiting for his return, hopefully well hidden, under cover so that no one had discovered him and hurt him while he was gone.
As soon as the three of them were outside, the boy ran over to them from his hiding place in the hedges. The girl grabbed on to her brother and held him tight. “Geras! I thought you dead!”
The boy answered with a scream.
His heart hammering at the alert, Urian turned to see what had him alarmed.
A human was running toward the children. He set the woman down with his powers and barely caught the armor-clad man before he could reach them. Urian manifested a sword and pulled his shield from where he’d left it. The shield flew through the fire and fighting to ricochet to his arm and fasten itself into place.
Knocking the human back, Urian sliced the human’s arm with his short sword, then turned and caught him with the edge of the shield. In one smooth move, he turned and came around again to slice through the human’s throat with his kopis.
The human let out a gurgled cry as he staggered back and fell to the ground to die.
After double-checking to ensure that the man was dead, Urian fastened his shield to his back and returned to the mother and children. Since the woman was blind and had been through enough trauma for one night, he made sure to explain to her what he was doing before he touched her. “I’m taking the three of you to a place where you’ll be safe and the humans can’t reach you. Do you trust me?”
“Aye,” their mother breathed, clutching his cloak tighter to her ravaged body.
“My name’s Urian.”
“Xanthia. My children are Geras and Nephele.”
Disgusted with what had been done to them and wanting blood for it, Urian knew he had to stay focused on the task at hand. “Bear with me, good Xanthia. Now brace yourself. I’m about to wrap my arms around you to pick you up. Nothing more.” He carefully embraced her naked and bruised body and tried not to think about what had been done to her. The ruthless violence the poor woman had needlessly suffered. Damn the humans for this, and the pathetic Apollites who’d thought they could live in peace with such animals. “If you’re ready?”
She nodded.
Urian tried to be as gentle as he could as he lifted her.
The moment his arms tightened around her, she choked on a sob and almost fought against his hold.
“I’m not going to hurt you.”
“I know,” she breathed.
