Chapter Fifteen
"I'm not staying here, Ty," I said, following Ty to the door to the meeting hall.
"Yes, you are. You and the other women are going to stay here where you'll be safe while we go take care of the Klimnu."
"If it wasn't for us you would have no idea how they were getting into the compound."
"And we appreciate that, Samira, but the Klimnu are vicious, horrible creatures. I am not letting my mate be in harm's way. I'll be back soon enough and we'll go home, together, and start our life."
I loved the way that sounded, but I hated that after everything we did to help them, the warriors were just going to leave us women behind so that we could sit around and be worried about them, feeling useless.
"Ty," I started to protest again, but he shook his head.
"No, Samira. You aren't coming with me. You have to stay here and look after Zuri and Eden. We know what we're doing."
He kissed me a final time and joined the warriors standing at the door. They all looked so powerful standing there. Their bodies had changed with the coming war, giving off even more of the intense, animalistic impression that already made them so intimidating. Pyra opened the door and they marched out, slamming the door behind them. The meeting hall fell silent. All of the other women were sitting along one of the benches, but I couldn't sit. I paced around in front of them for a few minutes, tormented by the thought of Ty and the other men marching off into such incredible danger and us just sitting here.
I knew that they had planned out their attack carefully. It was designed perfectly, but I was still terrified for them. It was not enough for me to sit and wait and hope that what they had come up with would actually work. Finally I stalked across the room to one of the wall sconces that held torches and pulled one down.
"What are you doing?" Zuri asked, standing up.
She had a bandage covering the wound on her chest, the sweet smell of the healing potion Ciyrs had finally perfected seeping through it toward me.
"I can't just sit here. That's my mate out there, and my new home. We started this for them, and I'm not going to let them finish it alone."
I started toward the door and heard footsteps coming after me.
"I'm coming with you."
I turned around and saw Eliana close behind me. I knew of the incredible power that she shared with her mate and that it could be an intense force against the Klimnu. I nodded and looked back at the other women.
"Zuri and Eden, neither of you can come in your conditions. Leia, I'm trusting you to take care of them and make sure that the potion is ready for when the warriors come back. Eden can help you apply it. Stay connected with your mates as much as possible, but don't let them know you're worried. You don't want to distract them. If anything happens, Eliana will connect with Eden."
Eliana grabbed another torch and we rushed out of the meeting hall in the direction of the cliffs. She knew the land better than I did and I let her lead. The darkness had built around the planet and the feeling of impending battle hung heavy over the compound. I ducked my head and continued to run. The fear dissipated as we reached the cliff. I knew that I had faced my own share of battles before and I had come out alive even though then I had little to live for. Now I had everything to live for and I was either going to save it, or die trying.
We climbed the cliff carefully and headed through the chamber into the tunnel. Now that we knew that the transporter was somewhere in the middle, we stayed as close to each other as possible. We didn't want to risk one of us transporting and the other one not. The steepness of the tunnel and the haste in my motivation made my steps fast and for a moment I felt like I was falling. I regained my control and we pushed our way through the tight passage, me guiding her since she had not been with us during the first trip down to the chamber.
"When you start to feel moving air," I whispered to her, "blow out your torch. We don’t want to call attention to ourselves."
"Are you sure that the way they planned it out is going to work?" she asked.
"I have to be," I said.
A few more steps and I felt the movement of air against my cheek. We simultaneously blew out our torches, reaching down to hold hands so that we could stay together in the darkness.
"Be very careful where you step," I told her, "Remember that what looks like water is actually the sky. You don't want to fall into it. Stay on the branches."
We continued forward and suddenly saw flickers of light ahead of us. I pressed myself to the wall of the tunnel and glanced around the corner at the underground forest. Just as Pyra had expected, the entire chamber crawled with slimy, skeletal creatures. Some climbed on the trees, others dangled from the vines, and still others lounged between the branches that looked like roots traversing the ground. One stood on a particularly large branch, releasing small illuminated balls onto the ground so that they floated through the space and filled it with a soft light.
"How much longer?" Eliana whispered.
I brought a finger to my lips to quiet her. There was a slight cracking sound and a few of the Klimnu looked up toward the ceiling. There was another slight sound, and then another. Suddenly the entire space filled with loud, soul-shaking screams as the Denynso warriors dropped down through the holes they had found and enlarged earlier in the day.
The Klimnu scrambled, caught completely off guard by the warriors using their own tactic against them. Following Pyra's instructions, they clung to the trees, wrapping their muscled arms through the hanging vines to keep them from falling into the reflection of the sky. None of us knew what would happen if someone was to fall. It seemed that it would be like shooting directly up into the sky, and none of the warriors wanted to test the theory.
Chaos ensued quickly. I watched the Klimu thrash at the warriors, biting and clawing at them, and crawling up onto each other so that they could better access the men staying close to the trees. I watched as three of the warriors wrapped both arms in the vines and used their powerful upper bodies to pull themselves up so that they were suspended between two trees, enabling them to kick at the Klimnu that approached. The hard hits sent the creatures flying backwards. One skidded across the branches and slipped into the sky, disappearing completely. I heard nothing and there was a moment of intense realization among to warriors.
Suddenly Eliana surged forward. I saw her run toward a Klimnu climbing up the side of a tree toward Pyra and grab it by its neck. The disgusting creature's scream reverberated through the space and I nearly gagged on the scent of burning flesh and ash. In only a few seconds, the Klimnu she held disintegrated into a pile of ash. Inspired by her courage, I left my place in the tunnel and started forward. Before I could even step off of the small section of land in front of the tunnel and onto one of the branches, though, one of the Klimnu dropped down in front of me.
His eyes rolled as he licked his lips and clicked his long claws together. I saw his fangs dripping with saliva and felt my stomach flip. He reached for me, and I let out a scream. I knew that Ty would recognize it immediately.
"Samira!" I heard him yell.
"Ty," I screamed back, "Get me."
I felt the tug in my belly and let go of my control of my body. My feet left the ground and as I rose above the creature who had been threatening me, I planted a kick in the middle of his face, tossing him back into the sky. I continued to kick as I flew toward Ty, managing to knock a few more of the creatures out of their paths toward the warriors. When I reached Ty, he pulled me against him and instructed me to hold onto one of the hanging vines. He pointed out a branch that started just a couple of feet beneath us.
"Jump onto that branch. Keep holding onto the vine for stability, and just swing onto it. Stay there."
I did as he asked, closing my eyes as I held tightly to the vine and jumped. I hit the branch and immediately tangled a vine around my legs to hold me more securely in place. The smell of burning flesh had gotten nearly overwhelming and all around me I could hear the screams of the Klimnu and the men as they clashed. Ty used his mind to lift the creatures and toss them out of the way, Ero ran with such incredible speed that he was able to run from branch to branch across the sky without sinking, Pyra literally snapped and tore the creatures to pieces with his bare hands.
"Jem, no!"
Ty's sudden, tormented scream brought a lull to the battle. I looked around and realized that there were only a few Klimnu left. A warrior stood far out on one of the branches, locked in a struggle with one of the larger of the creatures. Two more had abandoned their previous goals and were now creeping toward the warrior, determined to take a Denynso life. Jem turned to land a solid punch in the middle of one of the creature's faces and knock him off balance. He started to fall, and then grabbed onto Jem's shirt to regain his balance. I looked up and could see Ty struggling to pick him up.
Jem rose a few feet off of the branch, but the Klimnu tugged at him. Pyra rushed down the tree toward them, but Jem held up a hand.
"Stop, Pyra. Don't come out here. You're what they want. Remember, they are trying to get to Criea. If they kill our leader, they weaken our defenses and they can get to the king. There's only one way to stop them, and that is to eliminate them."
Jem thrashed for a few moments, nearly working his way back down to the branch. The creatures tugged him.
"Let me pick you up!" Ty screamed.
"No! Put me down. I'll be fine. These are the last of their kind here and there is something about me that they don't know."
One of the creatures scoffed and reached out a hand to claw Jem's face.
"And what is that?" he asked mockingly.
Jem smiled up at all of the warriors.
"I've always wanted to fly."
The warrior wrapped his arms around the three Klimnu and launched himself backwards off of the branch, disappearing into the darkness of the sky. Eliana screamed and I heard Ty cry out the warrior's name. He disentangled himself from the vine and started down the tree toward where Jem had fallen. I reached out and grabbed him by his shirt.
"Stop, Ty."
"I let him die! He was right there."
"Stop. He did what he wanted to do. It's alright. He's among the stars now."