“We should have secured the pit first. We waited too long, and they have already dug in,” Kino says, looking to place the blame on someone else when it’s him he should be repulsed by. He wasn’t even in danger, and he tried to run. He allowed his fear to control him, and that, more than anything, proves how weak he is.
“We need a distraction.” Hildi searches the open area around them, her eyes narrowed in concentration as if the skirmish behind her is unimportant. “Watch my back, Wes,” she mumbles before taking off in a sprint. It only takes her a few heartbeats to reach a male hunkered down behind a box used by the kinetics. When he realizes she’s coming for him, he scrambles backward to get away, but he’s no match for her speed and determination.
“Wait, wait!” he cries, but Hildi reaches for his arm anyway in an attempt to haul him to his feet. When I see him slip back into the sand after she gives his arm one quick jerk, I can’t figure out how she’s still holding onto his limb, but he’s no longer connected to it.
“Eww.” She releases the dismembered arm with a shove, but it doesn’t deter her from stalking toward the male trying to hopbackward in the sand. In the place where his arm once was, I see a child-sized limb already growing in its place. Damn, some days I’m more thankful for my gene pool than others.
He cowers. “I won’t hurt you.”
“I know. If I pick you up, are you going to fall apart at the seams?” Hildi questions.
“I can’t help it.” He slows his retreat, seeming winded from hopping on one hand and scooting back on his butt.
“So that’s a yes. How about if I just take a few limbs? You’ll recover, right?” She’s already reaching down for his legs.
“Wait, if you… I’ll be stuck here.” Unfortunately, he finishes much too late, because Hildi already has both of his legs in her grip after ripping them from his body.
“Stuck in the sand is better than dead. Consider yourself lucky I didn’t need your head.” She swipes up the previously abandoned arm and jogs back to Wes.
He’s shaking his head and watching her with an expression of awe—or maybe it’s disgust, because I can’t tell from here. “Shut up! You go try to pick him up, and when he falls apart all over you, you’ll understand why this is easier.”
“I’m not saying anything.” He lifts his arms in surrender.
“You better not, because I have a few extra pieces I can beat you with.” She waves a foot around, and it dangles lifelessly.
Wes snorts so hard I see snot fling from his nose before he manages to rein in the humor and remember this isn’t a joking matter. “What are you going to do with those?” He tries to suppress his chuckles but does a piss-poor job, so he just coughs a few times, probably hoping no one else can hear him.
“I’m going to use them to draw the attention of whatever killed Lynx so we can take them out while they are distracted by this.” Without missing a beat, she turns back to our main group and whistles once, which was unneeded because I’m already paying attention. “Send Ren to me,” she announces a tiny bitlouder, making sure she was heard over the distance. I look over at Briar, knowing I’m meant to relay the message. I could shift to tell the rest of the group, but I have a better chance of protecting Briar in this form. I nuzzle her chest when she looks down.
“What did she say?” she questions perceptively.
Instead of answering, I give her a lingering look before slinking away as fast as I can to dig my snout into Ren’s back. He jerks around as if he might try to retaliate, but I snarl at him in warning. His eyes widen when he realizes it’s me before I give him another push with my nose, telling him to go.
“They called for you,” Jeh says as he makes his way over to us at the front of the group. I should have realized he could hear Hildi too, but I’m used to being the one in control.
After the order is delivered, I make my way back to Briar, who’s still standing in the same spot, but now she has a knife in each hand. I brush up against her leg in hopes of reassuring her, but she doesn’t sheathe the knives.
Ren makes his way to Wes and Hildi, ignoring Kino who seems to have collected himself a little since he’s no longer trying to flee from the group. The new trio takes a few moments to refine Hildi’s plan before putting it into action.
Ren removes his gloves and tucks them into his belt then claps his palms together a few times. Once he seems satisfied, he smacks his right hand on the wall high above his head, followed by the left, before he picks up his feet and scales the twenty-foot wall like a lizard. When he reaches the top, he slows before hauling himself up to the ledge to become the lookout.
Once he’s lying on his stomach, presenting the smallest target he can, he gives Wes and Hildi a thumbs-up. Hildi picks up the bundle of limbs and tosses all three of them past the mouth of the barrier.
The flash of light comes again, but this time I’m better prepared for it, and it doesn’t interrupt my vision for quite solong. Ren makes his way back down the wall with the same efficiency to report. “There are two of them working together. One is an amplifier. I was wondering how someone powerful enough to kill that fast wasn’t with us,” he comments before detailing their location to Wes.
Minutes later, Wes is preparing to open a portal directly into the pit, where Hildi and Ren will kill the two defending the entrance. Wes’s magic is powerful, but it isn’t showy. One second, he’s standing there with his hands at his sides, and the next, there’s a swirling circle in front of the barrier. Trusting him enough for me to walk through it the first time wasn’t easy, but it helped that I could see the other end of the portal only a few yards away. It still isn’t something I want to do. Moving through space like that feels wrong, like you left your organs behind or something.
Hildi is the first one to rush through, her arm already held high to attack, but Ren is right behind her. His ability isn’t exactly the best in combat, since the only thing his magic helps with is keeping hold of his weapon, but he’s crucial as a lookout. Not many people can climb any surface or even hang from the ceiling.
The scream that follows soon after they disappear through the portal doesn’t tell me much other than someone is hurt. A clash breaks out on the other side of the ring. I have no doubt whoever attacked is taking advantage of the distraction we’re providing now and catching their victim by surprise.
I lean up against Briar, worried chaos is going to erupt again, but the fighting is short-lived. There are three more bodies in the sand, and Tank is standing over them unscathed.
He could have easily made it to the elites, but he never once tried. Briar told me about her short stay in the nest and how everyone kept their distance from him, but she didn’t know why any more than I do. Just as I’m thinking I need to keep an eyeon him, Briar steals my attention, running her hand over my neck and back. I only look away long enough to see Hildi’s head and torso pop out of the portal as she motions for the rest of the group to proceed forward, but by the time I look across the ring again, Tank is gone.
On guard, I immediately switch positions until I’m fully behind Briar. The male is fast for his size, and I don’t need him sneaking up behind us.
By the time we reach Wes, there’s sweat dotting his brow, and his face is strained. More than half the elites have used his portal to get past the barrier. When Declan moves as if he’s going to follow the others, I let out a warning growl. Not even a second later, the portal collapses. Wes would have too if Briar hadn’t intervened, slowly easing him to the ground. I know how strong she is, how determined, but I catch a few others looking at her in appreciation as they see her tiny frame take Wes’s much more substantial weight.
