Aria

Aria drove the head of her arrow through the note she’d written onto a piece of white shirt. They’d torn the shirt into sections of rags. It was the best they could do as all of Daniel’s sketchpads were in the palace and paper wasn’t exactly the easiest thing to come across in the forest unless they made it themselves. Since she had no idea how to do that, they’d sacrificed a shirt.

She’d carefully folded the clothing into something resembling an envelope and written Melinda’s name on it with some coal dust they’d scrounged from one of the nearby caves. She was counting on Ashby and Melinda having made it safely back to the palace. On the cloth, she’d written a simple message: Attack coming to you soon from confirmed Sab. Help comes end of week, A.

She would have said less in the note, in case someone got ahold of it, read it, and later turned to Sabine’s side. However, she had to give Melinda and the others some hope that, if they held their ground, they would have help. If they didn’t have hope, they may fall to Sabine before Aria could ever do anything to help them. She also had to let them know exactly who they would be dealing with.

Beside her, William stabbed an arrow through another piece of cloth. They’d written three identical messages, one each to Melinda, Ashby, and Gideon. Hopefully at least one of the messages would be taken to the rightful addressee, and not taken as a sign of war and destroyed immediately.

Lifting a rock, she filed down the lethal point of the arrowhead. It would not fly as true, but it wouldn’t accidentally kill a bystander on the other side of the wall either. Beside her, William did the same as she prepped the note meant for Gideon.

Aria slipped from the shadows of the home they’d been hiding behind. It was situated about a hundred feet outside of the palace walls. She’d never seen the town so calm before; the stillness unnerved her almost as much as the hundreds of troops spread out across the top of the wall. However, the sight of all those men and women standing guard also heartened her. If the town was empty and the guards were more than tripled on the wall, Ashby and Melinda had definitely made it back with word of what had happened to all of them.

Aria steadied her hand as she aimed her arrow over the wall. With a twang, she released her bowstring and let it fly.

Shouts rose from the wall as the arrow cleared over the top of it. Bows spun in their direction, but she and William had already released the next two arrows and were fading into the shadows when arrows from the wall thudded into the ground where they’d been standing.

Aria pushed back the hood on her cloak and listened as more shouts echoed from the wall, but the drawbridge did not come down and the gates didn’t open. Good. She needed those within the palace to be overly cautious right now, and not looking to charge into a war when they didn’t know what awaited them.

Xavier and Tempest slipped from the shadows to join her and Willian as they gathered their things and left the town.

***

Melinda

“Milady.”

Melinda lifted her head to stare at the young king’s man hovering in the doorway of the meeting room she sat in with the members of The Council. They hadn’t told The Council about Braith, but they all knew an attack was most likely imminent and from whom. There had been no point in trying to hide it. If The Council members ever saw that woman, they would know of her power and be enraged over not being informed about the force of the threat. They may mutiny, and she couldn’t risk that happening.

The look on the man’s face had Melinda rising from her chair. “What is it?” she demanded.

“Someone fired three arrows over the wall,” the man replied.

Ashby rose beside her, his fingers resting on the table as he leaned forward. “Only three?”

“Yes and that is not the weirdest part.”

“What is?” Melinda asked.

The man approached the table with an arrow in hand. He extended it to her. Melinda took the arrow, turning it over in her hands as she studied the blunted end and the piece of cloth stuck to it with her name written on it. Aria. It had to be.

She tugged the cloth free and read the simple note scrawled on it before passing it to Ashby. She stood for a minute, digesting the words on the note. Aria had confirmed it was Sabine who would be coming after them, which meant there really was a chance Braith could rise again. Hope leapt in her chest, but she shoved it back. There was too much to do now to count on Braith rising again in time, or at all.

“You said there were three. Where are the other two arrows?” she asked the man.

“We believed it was an attack. The other two were trampled before we could get to them.”

“Were there notes attached to them too?”

“I believe so, milady.”

She had no doubt the other two notes had been addressed to someone else in this room, most likely Ashby and Gideon, if they both hadn’t also been addressed to her.

“What does it say?” Calista demanded and rose from her seat as Gideon read the message. Her close-cropped black hair emphasized her beautiful features and mocha skin. Her brown eyes pinned Gideon as he handed the cloth over to her.

Gideon turned toward the king’s man. “Have more guards put on the wall. Tell them an attack is coming soon and to be prepared.”

“Yes, sir,” the king’s man said and left the room.

“A?” Saul, another member of The Council, inquired as he stared at the note.

“Aria,” Melinda replied. “She’s letting us know they’re gathering troops on the other side and to hold the wall until they’re ready to make a move to help us.”

“Then we will do just that,” Calista said firmly.

“Why has Braith not returned here, and why didn’t he send the note?” Saul demanded, his gray eyes surveying her.

“We all know Aria is far better with a bow and arrow than Braith, so of course she sent the notes,” Gideon lied with ease as he strolled around the table. “We have to make sure we are completely ready for this threat. We must go out and be with the residents now, assure them we have this under control and that we will win this fight. If they’re fearful, it will make them weak and in turn make us all weak. We will bolster their confidence!”

Melinda stared after him as he exited the room with those words floating almost cheerfully behind him.

“What about the other two arrows? What if those notes said something more?” Adam, another member of The Council, inquired.

“There is nothing we can do about that, but there is something we can do about this,” Melinda replied. “Gideon is right. We have to get out and assure everyone that this threat will be handled. Let’s go.”

Ashby slipped his arm through hers and led her out of the room. Gideon was at the end of the hall waiting for them. “If Braith was awake, she would have signed it B, or he would have written the note,” Gideon said when they joined him.

“I know,” Melinda replied, “but Aria has warned us, and we will be prepared. I have a feeling Jack will be there for this battle. He is liked enough that everyone will follow him.”

“He hasn’t been here in over a year,” Gideon reminded her.

“He’ll return and prove he’ll fight for them. It will mean something to them,” Ashby said.

“I hope you’re right,” Gideon said and turned away. “None of us will survive if you’re wrong.”

***

Daniel

They had about ten more miles to cover when the sun dipped behind the trees. Daniel stopped to wipe the sweat from his brow, cursing the short days even as his fingers itched to paint the pinks, reds, and oranges spreading across the blue sky and illuminating the mountains.

It would be best to take a break now, drink some water, and hunt for their dinner while there was still enough daylight left to do so. They continued on for a half a mile before coming across a set of caves and slipping inside. Daniel rushed through the twisting tunnels winding deeper into the earth, until he was sure they were far enough away from the outside that it would be safe to build a fire.

Timber worked on gathering the wood while Max went out to hunt for their dinner. Daniel ignored the grumbling of his belly as he set up two sticks beside the firewood to hold the spit and started a small fire. Max returned with a rabbit and sat to skin it. The meat wouldn’t go far between the three of them, but it was something, and he’d definitely done with far less in his lifetime.

When he was done preparing the rabbit, Max stuck another stick through it and set it over the fire. “We should make it to Jack tonight,” Max said as he turned the spit.

“I hope so,” Timber muttered as he eyed the rabbit with a ravenous gleam in his eyes.

The scent of the cooking rabbit caused Daniel’s stomach to rumble again as he hungrily watched its meat brown. Finally, Max deemed the rabbit done and pulled it from the flames. They split the meat between them, giving Timber a slightly larger portion. When he was done eating, Daniel licked the juices from his fingers before rising.

He studied the walls surrounding them; this hadn’t been one of the caves they’d resided in over the years. He was sure he’d probably been inside here a time or two, but he’d designed no traps or gates within these tunnels and it wasn’t as secure as some of the other caves. The sooner they were out of here, the happier he would be.

When Max and Timber finished eating and rose to their feet, Daniel kicked the fire out before leading the way back through the dark tunnels to the night that had descended while they’d been eating.

Stepping out of the cave, he tilted his head to the sky as the first star blinked to life. The smallest crinkle of a leaf whipped his head around as a young woman darted around a tree and raced toward them with the ease of someone who knew these woods well. Her eyes widened when she spotted them and ran over the weapons they carried, marking them as most likely human instead of vampire. She didn’t slow her frantic rush toward them.

She all but barreled into Max, knocking him back a step as she lowered her shoulder and sprinted into the cave. “They’re coming!” she panted over her shoulder at them.

“Who?” Max demanded as she fled down the tunnel.

“Vampires.”

Daniel barely heard the word before the woman vanished into the cave. He tore his attention away from her to search the woods, but he didn’t see or hear anything unusual out there. Then, the scent of pine reached him and a stick cracked loudly. She was right, something was coming, and judging by the scent and sound, there were more than a few somethings. They couldn’t risk making a stand against numbers that could more than double their own.

Daniel didn’t wait to see what would emerge from the forest. He turned and fled into the cave behind the woman. From up ahead, he heard her curse and the clattering of sticks as she ran into the remains of their fire.