Warrior Everlasting (3 page)

“Trey! Move!” Scout screamed. Another soul stealer flew up from behind, somehow sneaking around them, and reached for Trey. Without even looking, he flattened himself backward as the creature’s hands flew through empty air. The rope holding the demon off Ashra dropped as Trey plunged his scepter into the soul stealer’s face. It screamed, clawing at its empty skull as Trey ripped his scepter free and shoved it between its ribs. Then Torz’s attack joined Trey’s, and the thing exploded.

“From the inside. We have to attack from the inside,” Scout murmured.

“Get on that, would ya?”
Ashra shrieked as she tucked her right wing, and they plummeted sideways through the air to avoid a soul stealer Scout hadn’t even seen. It flew over them with an enraged scream that surely would have deafened the dead. The wing shot out again, igniting in flames, and Ashra surged straight up. Scout lit her scepter again, feeling her already-waning strength begging for mercy. Her arms shook; she hadn’t fully recovered from the two battles the day before.

Lil Bit, if you can still hear me, I need you.

She didn’t hear her little sister’s voice in her head like she had so many times before. She wasn’t sure if Lil Bit had ever really been in her head, or if it had been Scout’s own imagination, but the silence now hurt like a claw to the heart. She gritted her teeth, holding her arms steady. She would have to find her own strength.

Black flames shot from the orb, and Scout jabbed her scepter viciously at the demon’s chest, where a heart should beat.

It danced out of the way, claws swiping viciously across Scout’s cheek, catching in her hair and jerking like it would rip her entire scalp right off. Ashra screamed and reared her head back, her flaming horn jamming into the creature’s temple. The claws released Scout, and she swung her scepter up into the soul stealer’s head. Black flames erupted and it fell, headless, to the ground below, exploding into ash and bone.

“Four more.”
Ashra sounded winded, even in Scout’s head.

Scout looked across the sky to Trey and Torz, who both looked as exhausted and broken as Scout and Ashra. But Ashra didn’t hesitate, galloping across the sky to their side. Scout had no idea what attack they were planning; Ashra had a habit of deciding at the very last second, so when a fine mist escaped from Scout’s orb, she was surprised. It slid through the sky like an assassin, smoothing into place over the creature’s head, attacking Trey’s left. Blinding it.

“You’re a very smart unicorn,” Scout said dizzily, fighting to hold the mist in place.

“You say this like I don’t know it already.”
Ashra’s sarcasm lacked its usual enthusiasm. Instead, she just sounded exhausted.

“I’m here, Scout. You don’t need me, but I’m here. Remember where your strengths lie.”
Scout sobbed. Lil Bit was with her.

She felt her spine straighten, felt Ashra’s wings burn more furiously. And she started to scream.

Her screams dissolved into words, and she railed at the creature before her, whacking it with her scepter. “You might be bigger than us.”
Smash, smash.
“You might be stronger than us.” She slammed her scepter into the blinded creature, somehow still holding on to the attack. “But you will always lose. Do you know why?”

Trey’s scepter plunged into its chest from behind before it ripped back out, leaving a burning hole. The soul stealer clawed at its wound, but it was too late.

“Because we have a reason to live.” Scout panted, watching it fall from the sky. “And you don’t.”

She met Trey’s eyes and he smiled, exhausted, bloody, hurt, but he smiled, his dark eyes crinkling at the corners. Torz tossed his head, and they faced the last three together, giant wings brushing at the tips — just barely — as they flew through the air. Somehow, when Scout’s fiery rope launched from her orb, it matched Trey’s. Both lassoed through the air, sliding over the demon nearest them, and Ashra and Torz flew in opposite directions. The creature snapped into three pieces.

All of this, with no words or thoughts exchanged.

“That was new,” Scout gasped.

“Yes, yes it was,”
Ashra said thoughtfully.

The remaining soul stealers turned away from them and shot through the sky, trying to escape.

“They’re going home to their master! Follow them!” Trey bellowed. Torz leapt into action and Ashra followed. They soared through the sky, hooves galloping on air that somehow propelled them forward.

“We’re losing them!” Trey yelled, and the unicorns redoubled their efforts, foam lathering their necks as their breath came in simultaneous gasps. The creatures in front of them dove into a canyon and disappeared.

“We need to rest. Down, Ashra,” Scout said, although it broke her heart. Those demons were leading her to Lil Bit, and she’d lost them.

“You think I’m some sort of puppy now?”

“Don’t sass me, horse. I’m tired.”

Chapter Three

The unicorns slowly glided to the mossy floor, hesitating outside the mouth of the canyon. The blue rocks rose hundreds of feet straight up, obliterating any view of the azure sun hanging in the sky. Who knew what waited in the gloom beyond? There could be a thousand soul stealers waiting to attack. They would die.

I would never save Lil Bit.

“
Do we go up and around or straight through? We could see more if we went up, but straight through offers us protection… unless there’s a whole bunch of demons in there.”
Torz tossed his head, wide brown eyes searching the darkness.

“We’ll follow them. I don’t think there is an ambush waiting for us on the other side,”
Ashra answered, big eyes narrowed as they searched the darkness.

Trey slid off Torz’s back and walked toward Scout, ripping off the sleeve of his soft, once-black, now-covered-in-blood shirt. He wrapped it around his fist and held his hands up to her.

Exhausted, she let herself fall in an ungraceful heap into his arms.

“You’re bleeding.” He held the cloth to the gash across her cheek, his eyes searching her face as he held her tight against him.

“So are you,” she whispered, her lungs refusing to give her enough air to speak normally. She was locked in his gaze, safe in his arms, and her heart felt like it might beat completely free of her chest. It was like they’d stepped back in time — before the unicorns, before the soul stealers, before the hospital he never visited. Before the accident. To when he had been the love of her life and she never thought he would hurt her.

Holy snowballs.

She let her hands drop from his biceps, away from the black tattoo that was visible now that he’d torn the sleeve off.
Forgive me
. She pushed away from him, pushed him toward Torz. His eyes flashed with pain, confusion, but she turned to Ashra so she couldn’t see it. “You’re both hurt, too. And we have no Leerhas here.”

Ashra blinked at her.
“We’re warriors. We’ll live. You, on the other hand…”

“I will live. My sister needs me.”

“Then might I suggest we not stand out here all night? If I’m right, the only soul stealers we will meet beyond their master’s castle will be the ones with souls, and there are probably only a handful.”
Without explaining herself further, Ashra tromped off toward the mouth of the canyon.

“Wait, you giant bird. At least let me get on so we can fight if you’re wrong.”

“I’m not wrong.”
But Ashra paused, her horn creating the staircase so Scout could climb up without using energy she didn’t have to jump onto Ashra’s back.

She could feel Trey’s eyes on her back as they stepped from the weak sunlight into darkness. She’d hurt him. She hadn’t meant to, but she couldn’t get close to him again. Not like that. It had nearly killed her the first time. “Time. I just need time,” she murmured aloud, but of course he couldn’t hear her.

There were no soul stealers waiting in the canyon to ambush them. They followed a lazy river winding its way through the mountain, sometimes crossing over it or through it because no one had the energy to fly.

“Ashra, explain this theory of yours.” Scout tapped Ashra’s flanks with her heels.

Ashra’s head came up sharply, and she blew an angry breath out. Scout snickered, despite her exhaustion. Ashra detested being treated even remotely like a horse. Except for the whole ride-on-her-back thing, which she only put up with because it made her more powerful.
“The Taraxippus are drawn to souls. There are no souls here, except ours, and we aren’t enough to draw their scent. They’ll be where the souls are.”

“Where the master is keeping the souls trapped, that’s where the Taraxippus are,”
Torz finished for her.

The thought of Lil Bit, and her parents, and Trey’s family, and everyone else Scout had ever known trapped in a cage, tormented by the demons who had ripped their souls from their bodies made Scout sick. She dropped her head in her hands.

“On the bright side, it makes it easier for us,”
Ashra said, exhaustion evident in her voice.
“Only the ones with souls will roam free, and I think we just killed the majority of their forces.”

Scout remembered their red-glowing eyes, the faster-than-her-eye-could-follow movements, the strength, and she shivered. “I hope you’re right.”

They walked for hours, until Ashra’s hooves began to stumble on small rocks and Torz’s mighty head was so low it nearly dragged on the ground.

“We need to rest,” Trey said. “The grass here is soft and at least in the canyon, we’re not easy targets.”

Scout slid off Ashra’s back and wandered to the trees, pulling off blue apples and bringing them back to the unicorns to purify. Trey cupped water in his scepter and watched as the fire from Torz’s horn burned away the evil in it that wanted his soul. They ate in silence, staring into the darkness.

“Scout, can I — can I talk to you?” Trey didn’t look at her, instead picking at a tear in his black pants. His breath came out in puffs of frozen air.

Scout’s fingers were numb. They needed to make a fire, but it would make them an easy target.

“Ariston already knows where we are. He found our cave easily enough with no fire,”
Ashra muttered.

Torz’s horn lit up, and a fire formed at Scout’s feet, warming her completely icy toes. She held her numb fingers out and almost groaned out loud at the delicious warmth.

“Scout?” Trey asked, still not looking at her.

“Yeah. Of course.” She heaved herself to her feet and held out a hand to pull him up.

He took it and did not let go.

“Will you guys be okay without us?” she asked, only half-teasing. The unicorns needed them. Not as much as they needed the unicorns, but still.

“I think we’ll manage.”
Ashra’s tail wisped, waving them away.

They walked in silence for several minutes until they were hopefully far enough away that Ashra and Torz couldn’t hear them. Because that would be awkward. Scout was positive she could feel every single cell on Trey’s hand, and she didn’t want to let go. Traitorous, torturous heart.

Trey stopped, pulling her to a stop with him. She could feel his eyes searching her face in the darkness, but she couldn’t bring herself to look at him. So he tipped her chin up with his fingers, forcing her to meet his gaze. “I thought you forgave me.”

In his voice was a year’s worth of pain and regret and guilt, made worse because he’d hoped it was over, and she’d led him to believe that it was not.

She hurried to reassure him. “I did forgive you, Trey. I’m over it.”

His lips tightened, and he shook his head. “No, you aren’t. You think I didn’t notice how you pushed me away back there?”

She dropped her head, leaning against his shoulder. “Trey…”

His hands tangled in her curls, hesitating. And then he stroked her back, rubbing at the knots. The Leerhas had healed the injury from the accident, but the past two days had done a number on her muscles.

“I can’t. I can’t love you again — not yet.”

His hands stopped, and she felt his heart pound next to her head.

“But I thought you forgave me.” His voice cracked.

She lifted her head, half-hoping he could see how much it hurt her, too. “Trey, for one thing, you still have Kylin.” He opened his mouth to object, but she held up a hand, keeping her voice gentle. Despite how it might seem, she did not want to hurt him. “But more than that, I did forgive you, but I didn’t forget. I almost didn’t survive last time you left me, Trey. I can’t put myself through that again.”

“But I won’t—”

She cut him off. “I know you won’t mean to, Trey. But what if it happens? What if you have to leave me? What if you die?”

Trey jerked away like she’d slapped him. “You’re refusing to be with me because I might die?”

Belatedly, she realized that speaking honestly might not have been her best choice. “I didn’t mean—”

“That’s the most — I don’t even — What happened to you, Scout? When did your heart become so hard?” Trey flung his arms around the way he always had when he was upset.

Don’t. Don’t you remember how adorable he’s always been when he’s upset.
“What happened to me? I got my heart broken, Trey! And I don’t want it to happen again.”

He turned on her. “You said you forgave me!” he bellowed.

“I did forgive you! That doesn’t mean I have to be in love with you!” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Scout would have given anything to take them back. They weren’t true. She’d never stopped loving him. But she was so scared…

She watched as he sucked in a breath like she’d punched him in the stomach. His face was pale in the barely-there moonlight.

“I see,” he said quietly. He turned toward camp, walking away from her for several feet before he paused. Without looking at her, he said, “Kylin told me she hoped I died with you. And I agreed with her. If you were going to die, I wanted to die with you. Anyway, I think that means she and I aren’t together anymore.”

****

Trey felt like Scout had ripped his heart out with that wicked little curve on her scepter. The one she was so fond of tearing soul stealers apart with. It was worse this time. The first time she’d told him she hated him, he’d been expecting it. He’d deserved it. This time, he thought… he thought forgiveness meant she could love him again. He was wrong, apparently. How stupid of him.