Standing at the edge of the cliff, Max thought the view was spectacular. In every direction, as far as the eye could see, deep blue ocean met the dawning horizon in a magical display of colours. She watched as the sun crested, the orange orb still muted enough so she could track its movement as it slowly rose, illuminating the day yet to come. Unfortunately, the view to her right was not as picturesque. Hundreds of bodies lined up in front of the fancy mansion on the edge of the cliff. Some were clothed sensibly with sturdy boots and held weapons, but most wore tattered rags, sported claws instead of blades, and were sickly, deathly pale. The only thing they all had in common?
Their eyes were all black as pitch.
“It’s not. You were made for me.”
His lips brushed hers, once, twice, and a third time. The kiss was soft and sweet as if they had all the time in the world. Max was still a little out of breath when he pulled back, despite the leisurely pace. She stood up on her toes so she could wrap her arms around Ryker’s neck, smiling and shaking her head; “How does the man who called me a liar and told me I looked like shit, always know the exact right thing to say now?” she asked, absently playing with the hair on his nape.
Ryker grinned, “I’m complicated.”
“Hmm,” was her only response. She was feeling much better but nerves still rattled in her empty stomach. She had been too nervous to eat anything before they left the house.
“You got this, baby,” Ryker dipped his head once more, adding the gift of passion to his earlier gift of love and comfort.
Max felt her head spin, chuckling when she heard dozens upon dozens of clearing throats. Breaking free from her man’s grip, she looked around to find her entire entourage grinning at them salaciously.
“Perverts.” She made sure the mental retort was not just reserved for her Order. Instead, she pushed it out into the minds of the couple of hundred people lined up behind her.
Laughter filled the clearing, lifting Max’s spirits and leaving her humbled at the sheer number of souls willing to sacrifice themselves for something greater than themselves. Each and every person behind her, whether they be warden, paladin, or chaden, understood what they were fighting for today. It wasn’t just for their right to survive and live freely – although that was an enormous goal as well. It was for the balance of the world itself, for nature was now at a crossroads. If they were not successful that day, the precarious balance between nature’s guardians and nature’s defectors would tip in the wrong direction. If Emmanuel were to win, Max knew he would move on from here, consuming every natural resource in his wake, until nothing was left but that cold, black abyss he had tried to lock her into.
“Max!” Garrett greeted her, “How well you look this morning.”
Even though he was still a fair distance away, Max was able to hear him clearly and knew everyone else could too. Still, she decided not to enable the nice psychopath and just as she had done with his son two nights ago, she ignored him.
“What? Nothing to say? You’re not even going to try to stop this? That’s not very queenly,” Garrett said in mock disapproval.
“Nothing I say will change anything. You have no intention of letting us walk away. You want this too much – this pain, this violence … this death.” She informed him, knowing she spoke the truth and knowing every other person in the clearing could hear it too. “Besides, I’m no queen. I’m a Goddess. And we don’t fuck around.”
So saying, she released a vibrant spear of energy directly at Garrett’s black heart.
***
“Holy shit!” were the only words Mordecai could get out of his mouth as he watched Max’s power shoot toward Garrett with the force of a tsunami. But right before it was about to make contact, a geyser of dirt spewed from the ground, shielding Garrett and dispersing the energy, harmlessly. Well, maybe not harmlessly, Mordecai thought, seeing the toll it seemed to take on Autumn. It looked like she had used up nearly all of her own vitality in order to stop Max’s energy missile. He caught a fleeting glimpse of Autumn’s three paladins converging on her before they were swallowed from view by a mass of charging bodies.
Mordecai didn’t even pretend Garrett wasn’t his target as he slashed his way through the throngs of chades to get to the traitor. He didn’t bother with a blade, instead using his abilities to tear and rend the scarred minds of the ex-wardens. He felt his four paladins at his sides and back and knew they fought with scythes to protect him with their lives. He sincerely hoped it wouldn’t come to that, but in that moment, he felt willing to do almost anything to see Garrett dead and buried.
Within seconds, he had a path cleared and was gratified to see Garrett looking a little shocked by all the brutality going on around him. His old friend looked different with the black eyes and Mordecai didn’t feel even a hint of regret for what he was about to do.
“Garrett!” He shouted. Garrett and Autumn turned as one, their faces morphing into pleasure when they saw him approach.
“Mordecai! Isn’t it wonderful. Just like we planned,” Autumn simpered, and Mordecai wondered if she had always been so butt-arse crazy.
He noticed Garrett’s four paladins and Autumn’s three paladins fanning out around him and spoke telepathically to his Order; “Can you guys handle the paladins if I take the psychotic wardens?”
“Please. Seven pampered paladins against us four? Are you trying to insult us?” Tobias asked.
Mordecai spared his knight an eye-roll, confident his men would come out the victors. Tobias was right; he doubted Garrett and Autumn’s paladins had the same discipline as his knights. He was wondering how he was going to divide his own attention between the two very powerful wardens when Diana stepped up beside him.
“Max says I should take the crone,” Diana told him, idly twirling a curl around her finger.
Mordecai saw Autumn stiffen in insult and he sent Diana an appreciative wink. He knew she had spoken loudly on purpose in order to gain the attention – and the anger – of Autumn. He wanted to ask if Diana was sure but then remembered what she said about Max. If his daughter wanted Diana to take on Autumn, then that was enough for him. Autumn stalked closer to the black-haired paladin of death even as Garrett made his way to Mordecai.
“You couldn’t beat me before. What makes you think you can beat me now?” Garrett sneered at him.
Mordecai felt himself smile, “You were able to block me before using your powers as a Life Warden. My element wasn’t able to penetrate your defenses because you were using your aura as a shield. No doubt, it’s been what you’ve been doing all along to hide your true self from all of us.”
Garrett shrugged, looking unconcerned. “So you figured out my secret. It doesn’t matter. It still applies. My shields of Life will still hold.”
Mordecai tsked, “But they won’t anymore, Garrett. Have you looked in the mirror lately? Your eyes are black. You’re infected. You’re sick. And you know what my element can do with sickness …”
In the end, Mordecai took no pleasure in wringing the life from Garrett’s body. He watched in silence as his domain wound dark tendrils around Garrett’s body before burrowing directly into the source of his infection – his eyes. Garrett screamed and writhed, his arms and legs kicking uselessly against the ground as Death ripped open every old wound the warden had. Black fluid leaked from his eyes, nose, and ears, and the last thing Mordecai heard as he turned away was Garrett choking on his own blackened pus.
***
Diana was doing a pretty good job of removing heads, when Max’s voice sounded inside her own; “Go and help Mordecai.”
“What?” Diana asked, shocked. She looked up to see the death warden talking pleasantly with Garrett and Autumn as his Order taunted the couple’s corrupted knights.
“I want you to go and kill Autumn before she has a chance to cut Mordecai down from behind. Mention Verity; Autumn hated him. It was her idea to kill him all those years ago.”
Diana was striding forward as soon as she heard her old liege’s name. Autumn had caused Verity to be killed? Diana was going to enjoy this. Autumn was vain enough that one quick taunt about her age had her simmering with rage. A few more prods and Diana figured the earth warden would make a fatal mistake.
“You know, Verity never did like you,” Diana pointed out.
“That man?! Verity was a fool!” Autumn screamed. “We showed him what Emmanuel had become – all that power and potential. And you know what he said?”
“‘No man, beast, or spirit should wield so much power.’” Diana intoned, in a decent mimicry of her old liege. She shrugged, “Verity was always saying cryptic, dramatic shit like that.”
Autumn looked offended, “Are you making fun of me? You bitch!”
“Bitch?” Diana pouted, “Ouch, lady. I know a dog who would take exception to that.”
Sure enough, Autumn charged, hands raised high in the air. Diana felt the ground rumble beneath her feet, but she kept her eyes locked firmly on her target. Autumn’s blonde hair contrasted sharply with her now black eyes and as she continued her approach, Diana could see her own reflection mirrored in the dark depths. As creepy as it was, it also saved her life, because she caught a slight movement behind her from within the dark irises. Diana ducked to her left, coming to her feet in a roll and hacking at the thick, black roots that were trying to strangle her. Unfortunately, for every root she cut off, another grew in its place.
“It’s like the friggin’ hydra!” she cursed, feeling a sting across her cheek.
Diana dabbed at the area and it came away bloody; one of the roots had cut her.
“Enough of this bullshit.” Diana hurled one of her scythes at Autumn, only to have the woman block it with a mound of dirt. Undeterred, Diana threw her second one, this time making it a bit further and nicking Autumn’s arm.
The woman cried as if it was a mortal wound and Diana shook her head, “By the Goddess, you are an insult to women everywhere. It barely even touched you!”
Suddenly, Autumn gasped, eyes going wide, and Diana watched in fascination as the woman pitched forward, blood gurgling from her mouth. She fell face-down on the earth, which gave a great heave, and Diana saw a scythe sticking out of her back.
“Ryker!”
Her Captain shrugged at her, placed a booted foot on Autumn’s back as he yanked his blade free; “Why should you get to have all the fun?”
***
Dex knew his brother would be fine. They had fought in hundreds of battles and wars and knew what to expect. Diana would likewise be fine, having seen her share of battleground bloodshed too. But he was worried about how some of the others would fare. Axel, Lark, and Beyden in particular were quite young and Dex knew they had never fought in any type of war. Although, they were skilled fighters and admirable men. A quick glance at the men in question had Dex breathing a sigh of relief; their jaws were clenched, eyes hard and glittering with determination as they fought their foes. They would hold up, Dex knew. They may not have liked what they were forced to do, but they would do their duty, and cut down any threat in their path. Max had chosen her Order well.
Hot, searing pain licked at his chest, and Dex realised he needed to be more worried about his own battles. Looking around, he saw an unknown fire warden smirking, black eyes shiny with glee. And standing next to her? The man on the top of Dex’s Kill List. Stefan looked to be playing with a young chaden, forcing water down the man’s throat. Although the chadens had proven to be immune to chade powers, just as Dex had been back at the prison, they were still vulnerable to the powers of wardens and also to steel. Dex had seen many of his cadets fall victim to enemy scythes already.
Striding forward, Dex swiped his hand to the left, and the unknown fire warden along with his two paladins went flying off the cliff. Dex spared them a glance as they landed in the churning water far below. He watched dispassionately as a huge shark immediately descended upon the three men, dragging them under within seconds. Looking up, he saw Fawn, Warden of Beast, also watching the show. She gave him a jaunty wave and a grin, even as she blew a kiss to the hungry shark down below. Dex shook his head and wondered why he always found himself surrounded by vicious women.
But his moment of humour was gone in seconds, replaced with a cold fury as he saw Stefan finish drowning the young man. “Stefan!” He yelled.
Stefan looked up, a flash of fear passing over his features as he took in Dex and the huge sword he carried. “Well, if it isn’t the freak who planted the mutant seed in my lover.”
Stefan threw his hands out, forcing water from beneath the ground to rise up in a torrent. But Dex simply let himself turn to mist, the water passing harmlessly through him. He kept moving swiftly toward the warden, not bothering to plant his feet back on the ground. Being a chaden came with some mighty fine perks. Dex slashed at him with his sword, catching Stefan on the arm. Stefan cried out, clutching the rather minor wound and Dex knew he was not facing a warrior. The man clearly had no real training in martial arts, likely believing his paladins would always be around to save him. But a quick glance behind the warden and Dex saw a very pissed-off Ryker cutting the Order of Neptune down one by one. Stefan turned just in time to see Trent – Beyden’s traitorous friend – take a scythe to the gut.
Thinking Ryker had the right idea, Dex pushed a gust of wind at Stefan, knocking him off his feet. Once he was on the ground and on his back where he belonged, Dex placed his booted foot on the man’s chest. He then pressed the tip of his famous sword against the coward’s belly; “Cali says hi,” he said, before slowly forcing the sword past skin and muscle.
It took some time – wounds to the gut always killed slowly – but Dex had the satisfaction of seeing the life leave the eyes of his lover’s tormentor. Satisfaction rolled through him and he glanced up, only to scream;
“Darius!”
***
Lark was immediately separated from his Order when the chaos took over, but he wasn’t too worried because he could feel them all through the link. Several hisses drew his attention and he found three hungry-looking chades heading his way. He pulled out both his scythes and cut through the wretched creatures like a hot knife through butter. He couldn’t help whistling at how easy and natural it felt to fight using two weapons. The night before, Ryker had presented the entire Order with new scythes. But they weren’t to replace they ones they already had. No, they were to add to them. Ryker had been the only paladin to fight with twin blades in their entire history. But no more. Now the Order of Aurora did so too.
“You think two blades will save you?”
Lark closed his eyes briefly, his body reacting to the voice even as his brain commanded it not to. His father stood smirking in front of him, an already bloodied scythe in his hand. Terran, his father’s liege, was standing next to him and Lark felt his chances of getting out of there alive were pretty much zero. But then he saw a flash of dark green and his sexy ranger round-house kicked Terran fair in the chest. Terran fell to the ground with a snarl. Ivy gave Lark a nod and a wicked grin as she took up a defensive stance. Lark laughed despite the circumstances; his woman lived for this kind of shit.
Trusting Ivy to handle Terran, Lark gave his full attention to his father. Just in time too, because Isaac came at him like a freight train. Lark raised both blades, blocking the unbelievably strong blow. He gritted his teeth against the vibrations singing up his arms and kicked out, forcing his father back a step.
“Pussy!” Isaac spat, “You were always such a pussy. Tried my best to toughen you up but it didn’t do any good. Look at you – still so weak!”
Lark shook his head, “I’m not the one who’s weak. Beating on a child who is less than half your size? Let’s see how you do now with a man.”
The battle was fast and furious and after barely a minute, Lark was littered with bruises and bleeding cuts. But his plan to draw his father in so he could observe his moves had worked. Lark knew exactly what Isaac’s tactics were and he was now easily able to predict his moves. It took him two pathetically easy strikes before he felt the hot spray of carotid blood against his face. His father was dead before he even hit the ground.
***
Beyden suddenly cried out as the most gut-wrenching agony flared through his leg. Looking down, he saw a chade with its claws buried all the way to the bone in his ankle. Blinded by pain, he did the worst thing a soldier could do in battle; he dropped his weapons. A large shadow fell over his shoulder from behind, and he fleetingly thought that it must be death peering over him and preparing to haul his useless butt to the underworld. But the shadow turned into Darius and the air paladin jumped in front of him, cutting off his attacker’s head and turning it into nothing more than foul-smelling air.
The relief Beyden was hoping for when the claws were removed didn’t come, however, and he risked a glance down. He promptly fell on his arse, clutching his calf muscle. His foot and ankle were completely macerated.
“Bey!” Darius cried out, swiftly removing his shirt and wrapping it around Beyden’s ankle.
Beyden gritted his teeth against the pain, his eyes widening in horror as he saw a black-eyed paladin rise up behind Darius. Darius must have seen the warning on Beyden’s face because he quickly turned and lashed out with both scythes. Unfortunately, he was too late and Beyden screamed as Darius took a deep lash to the abdomen.
***
Axel charged past Lark and Ivy, who were handling themselves just fine, if all that blood was anything to go by. He kicked over the headless body of the piece of shit Terran and kept right on going. Axel was on a mission to rid the world of an evil arsehole. Not a chade or an infected paladin, but a psychopathic arsehole. Axel had spotted Ignatius among the dozens of other evil souls and he wanted nothing more than to take a little vengeance on behalf of his liege and friends. His progress was slowed a little when he spotted a chade rising to sink deadly claws into the back of Nikolai’s skull. Launching one of his scythes with all his strength, he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the offender disintegrate in a puff of smoke.
Nikolai gave him a thankful salute as he flashed by and Axel returned it. Seeing his original target up ahead, he cried out when he saw twin ropes of fire lash out; one from Ignatius and one from his grandmother, Cinder. Axel pumped his legs faster, but he knew he was already too late – both fire wardens cried out simultaneously as their weapons hit their targets. Cinder collapsed to the ground, nothing but a smoking mess of charcoal, just as Ignatius went up in flames. His body burned long enough that Axel could hear his screams getting quieter as he drew nearer. By the time he reached the scene, all was silent.
“No!”
Axel turned, hearing the devastated cry from Blu. He was just about to go to him, when pain sliced through his leg. Looking down he saw a small throwing knife lodged deep in his thigh. Gritting his teeth, he yanked it out and looked around for its owner. Marco’s hate-filled eyes met his and Axel knew he would have a serious fight on his hands. With his brother and grandmother dead, the man was now beyond pissed.
“Want this back?” Axel asked, holding up the knife.
Marco screamed and ran at him, aiming a kick directly at Axel’s injured leg. Axel dodged the blow but still cringed when all his weight fell on the wounded limb. The knife had gone deep into the muscle and obviously done some damage. Marco punched him, causing Axel to drop one of his weapons. Axel didn’t mind. Although he loved fighting with the two blades, he was more than able to fight with just one. The two danced around each other a little, exchanging blows, until Axel got in a lucky shot, slicing Marco deeply behind the knee. His adversary cried out, falling down, and Axel raised his scythe, prepared to deliver the killing blow.
But just before his blade could pierce Marco’s heart, Axel caught the man’s sob. Looking up, he was surprised to see that Marco’s eyes had returned to their normal brown-colour and were no longer black. Axel reviled the man in front of him but he couldn’t kill in cold blood. Shaking his head, he turned away, only to have his kindness repaid with a knife to the back. At least, it should have been had not Knox seen what was happening and commanded the air to block the killing wound. The chaden warrior, then flicked his wrist and Axel heard Marco’s neck snap.
“Much appreciated,” Axel slapped Knox on the shoulder.
Knox smiled at him and gave him a thumbs-up before he jumped back into the fray, his identical sons at his back.