Discovery at Nerwolix (39 page)

How did you know they would do that?

I lived in Thias’s kingdom for many years. I
was trained to learn not only his defensive strategies but his
offensive strengths as well.

Oh.

Please continue to give me updates from time
to time and I will do the same.

Okay… thanks, Sampson.

Be safe, Fallon.

Clearing my mind, I turn and stifle a
scream. Reid is here, inches from me, his eyes searching mine.

“What’d he say?”

Once my heart calms back to its normal pace,
I recount the conversation. When I’m done, he’s waiting for me to
keep going, offering up a quick, confused shrug.

“That’s it? He didn’t say anything else
about what happened?”

“No, I told you. He said he’d tell me
someday
.”

“Huh…” Reid gnaws on his thumbnail, still
keeping his proximity close to mine. “Well… if he doesn’t want
to…”

“So where’s everyone else?”

He motions over his shoulder. “Jace and
Booker needed a minute. Jace was griping about his shoulder and
Booker’s arm hurts. Damn Vermix got him with the Traxpire.”

“Is he okay?”

“He needs Vilbrees. If Sampson’s bringing
the others here later, maybe he can bring some with him. Or he can
take them back to Zinnollo to rest.”

“I’ll ask him.”

“How are
you
doing?” Reid closes the
little bit of space between us and crosses his arms. “Okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“That uh… that show you did with the
whips…”

“I don’t know what came over me.”

“Where’d you go?” he asks with honesty,
searching for an explanation he never thought he needed. “What
happened?”

“I don’t know. Everything just sort of…
slowed down.”

“You took out like ten. You know that,
right?”

“Did I?”

Reid nods. “There was this moment I was
trying to help you but Tucker kept me back. And we just… watched.
I’ve never seen anything like it. You moved like Sampson. Grace and
speed.”

“
You
move like that.”

“I’ve had years of training,” he gazes at
me, trying to understand something. “You sure you were just a
waitress?”

“I wasn’t a secret-assassin-waitress, if
that’s what you’re thinking.”

“You were
something
.”

“Part Dofinike, remember?”

Reid shakes his head. “No. Something
more.”

“You guys ready yet?” Walker calls. “I’m
getting tired of waiting for the Rogues to finish their coffee
break. There are Vermix that need to be slaughtered! Let’s
go!
”

“Fucking Walker,” Reid shakes his head
again, lowering it. He takes a breath and focuses on me. “Look—I
know you’re a badass. We all do. That doesn’t mean I don’t want you
to still stick by me, okay? And to be honest,” he rubs the back of
his neck, his adorable smirk returning. “I feel a little safer with
you around now.”

“Me?” I laugh. “The powerful Rox needs
me
?”

“Always,” he says without a hint of humor.
His stoic sincerity steals my breath and for a minute I just look
at him. There is something vulnerable in him, something that tells
me I have all the power. That I’ve always had all the power.

Returning, we find the others waiting for
us. Walker seems annoyed, pacing with his arms crossed while Jace
and Booker lean against a tree. Tucker and Warze are standing
rigid, watching us approach.

“And?” Jace asks, massaging his shoulder.
“What did Sampson say?”

After a quick recap of my conversation,
Walker frowns. “That’s it? He didn’t say anything about what
happened?”

“He doesn’t owe you an explanation,” Reid
scowls.

“He said he’d tell me someday…” I shrug.
“I’m not really sure. But he knows they know he’s here. And what’s
happened so far.”

“And you said he’d be bringing Werzo and
Able at some point?”

“And Pratt,” I nod. “Once we have the Vermix
suffocated in the middle of the Hylas.”

“I think the Nerwos are taking care of
that,” Jace laughs. “Should we go see?”

Nodding silently, Warze moves from the area.
He leads us out of the dark forest and toward the south part of the
Hylas, where we hid before Thias unleashed the Ludins. Sweeping up
the slope of the mountain, we climb over the grassy ground, dodging
severed Vermix limbs and a few fallen Nerwos. I still fall a few
times, tripping over an unseen rock or body, my hands flying out to
catch my fall on the dark, sticky ground. It’s difficult because
it’s still hard to see, but the night sky is lit with orange
blasts, helping navigate us as we steer closer, toward the
commotion thundering off the cliff above.

When we reach it, we find ourselves
overlooking a long valley where the Nerwos and Vermix are going
head to head. Traxpires fire up and down the mountainside while the
Nerwos fly through the air, using all four limbs as weapons,
cutting through the bulk of Dofinikes.

It’s almost too much to watch.

Before, when the invasion started yesterday,
the fighting was from afar, shooting Brulily darts and firing guns
and constantly moving through the trees. But here, right now,
there’s nothing to hide. It’s in the open field and it’s hand to
hand—talon to knife—and the ground is quickly covering with both
body types.

“Jesus,” Jace whispers. “How many are
there?”

“Which?” Tucker follows his gaze.

“Both,” Booker mutters.

“At least it’s pretty evenly matched,” I
scan the open field, following the Nerwos as they bring the
fighting North.

“If all goes well,” Reid nods, “Sampson
could be right. They could be gone by morning.”

“Which is when?” Jace asks.

“A few hours. I think.”

“Then what’s the plan, Rox?” Walker crosses
his arms. “We just going to stand around and watch?”

“We could unleash our secret weapon,” Jace
nudges me.

“I don’t think so,” Reid threads his fingers
in mine. “We all go in together. And we all
stick
together.
Got it?”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Walker
rushes forward and snatches a Traxpire off a Dofinike corpse. He
takes off down the hill, into the bloody battle, quickly
disappearing into the commotion below.

“Does he ever listen?” Reid looks to the
Rogues. “Really?”

Tucker shrugs.

“Remember, we stick together,” Reid eyes
each of us, “as a
group
. We follow Warze and the Nerwos and
move the Vermix north. We’re always moving north. Okay,” he focuses
on me. “Let’s go.”

With hands cemented, Reid and I rush after
Warze who is blazing down the valley. Before he even gets to it, he
collides into a rushing stampede of Vermix like a detonated bomb,
sending them flying back into the chaotic riot. Jace, Tucker and
Booker keep with us, behind the shelter of Warze’s mountainous
form, already firing into the thunderous battle. Orange blasts
shoot through the dark night air, rippling over the scene like
fireworks and illuminating the bloody battlefield.

We’re carving through the thriving chaos
behind Warze, unloading our Traxpires and shooting down all nearby
Vermix. Most don’t see us. They’re too busy battling the Nerwos who
have evened the playing odds with their arrival. It’s not fifty
Vermix to just one Zingfinold or human anymore. It’s finally one on
one and right now, the Vermix don’t seem like such an unbeatable
threat.

“Boss!” Tucker calls. “On your left!”

Reid turns, firing his Traxpire in the face
of an oncoming Dofinike and I do the same, blasting into one as he
races over, aiming to strike down Booker and I. Warze bulldozes
through another pile as Nerwos fly past us, slicing through the
thick soup of hardened green torsos and snouts. One by one they
fall, but the Vermix are persistent, pushing back until their necks
rip open or they’re punctured through their stomachs and heads.

And then they fall backwards, yellow eyes
rolling up, a last look of surprise glazed over.

I almost don’t want to watch.

It’s too bloody. It’s all too bloody. But I
can’t stop. It’s all around me. It’s everywhere I look. Reid and
Walker and the Rogues and Warze and I—we’re all here, in the middle
of this field, watching both Vermix and Nerwo go down around us.
Before we were in the trees, jumping around through the camouflage,
silent predators with a quick exit. But not here. Out here, we’re
out in the open, just like on Larupip. Just like on Harrizel.

“Fallon!” Reid yells, pointing his Traxpire
over my head and firing. The Vermix falls but there’s another one
behind it and Reid takes him out as well, always keeping his hand
cemented in mine as Warze rushes forward, clearing a path.

Ehan and Norhra move past, slicing through
the buzz with a group of Nerwos behind them, carving and
incapacitating like graceful mercenaries. I glance back and find
the valley littered with broken pieces of Dofinikes, all lying
still, yellow eyes open and blank. Only Nerwos move behind us and
they’re running over the bodies, rushing to join with the army that
races forward, moving the Vermix north. A few Nerwos lie amongst
the fallen Dofinikes but it’s not nearly as many. There’s maybe
thirty or forty total spread across the reddening field but that’s
it. Most are up here, bulldozing into the Vermix and sending them
north.

I can’t believe this is working.

But the Vermix must understand the Nerwos’
intention because the far left side of Reuzkimpart’s army veers
toward the tree-line on the west. Suddenly, the majority flank
left, past the Nerwos who are still trying to push them north.

“They’re escaping into the forest!” Jace
calls.

“No,” Warze shakes his head, cracking a
Dofinike by his neck and tossing him to the ground. “No
escape.”

“But—”

Darts fly from the hanging Yulu curtains,
raining down as Vermix tumble to the ground, unable to make it past
the first few trunks. Zingfinolds drop to the base and snatch
Vermix in their ascension. Screams disappear into the trees as the
rest of the Dofinikes halt and back away from the Eckles, heading
up the mountain again.

“Holy—” Jace starts to curse.

“They’re blocked,” Reid pants.

“The Zingfinolds have the west covered,”
Norhra appears, following Reid’s stare. “Their only option is
north.”

Reid nods. “What about the tunnel?”

“What tunnel?” she frowns.

The rest of the Nerwos push forward, herding
the Vermix north as the Zingfinolds cut off their escape into the
forest.

“In the Hylas,” Reid motions ahead, “the
tunnel that runs through the mountains. Connects the north and
south terrains.”

“You are speaking of Nhazual’s Pass,” she
follows his focus. “We have it guarded as a precaution. If the
Vermix know about it, it will be no use to them.”

“That where you’re planning on drawing
them?” Jace asks.

Norhra shakes her head. “We want them
cornered in the northern part of the Hylas. King Thias does not
want them too close to the kingdom, so technically they will still
be in the southern terrain. The Zingfinolds can deal with them
there.”

“Are you planning on bringing the king any
prisoners?”

“We do not believe in prisoners. We shall
either leave the Vermix dead or for King Hozfin,” she motions to
the north again. “Once they are surrounded, it will no longer be
our cause. We will hand them back over to you and return home.”

“Just like that?” Jace asks.

Norhra looks between me, Reid and the Rogue
Commander. “What other reason is there to stay? We have to protect
our Gift. Once this threat is no longer viable, we will leave.”

“And stay out of this war?” he frowns.

“It is not our war, human. It is yours.”

“My name is Jace.”

“It is not our war,
Jace
. This
concerns you and the Dofinikes.”

“How can you say that? They’re not here,
coming after
us
. If they wanted us, they’d be attacking
Earth—”

“And that is something you must prepare
for.”

“But they’re after
your
Gift.
Obviously this war involves you.”

“Today. And once they realize obtaining our
Gift is impossible, it will no longer concern us. And we will go
back to peace.”

“I hope you don’t believe that, Norhra,”
Reid says. “The Vermix won’t stop. This is their first attempt.
They’ll keep coming back for the Floating Ruby until they get
it.”

“Then each of them will die.”

Ehan rushes toward us, pointing to the
moving battle ahead. “We have them on the run toward the northern
Hylas. Some have fled, but the majority are still fighting.”

“How close are they to the suffocation
point?” Reid asks.

“Maybe a mile or so. It should only be a
little while until they are completely confined. It will be no
later than sun-up.”

“And Norhra said at that point, you’ll
leave.”

“This is correct. Once they are surrounded
in the northern part of the Hylas Mountains, we will hand the
Vermix over to the Zingfinolds. King Hozfin can do with them as he
wishes.”

“But currently the Nerwos hold two sides of
their confinement,” I say.

“We will wait for the Zingfinolds to
surround them. That or kill every last one of them. The Vermix will
not escape—I promise you that.”

Fallon—it is Qippert.
His voice
startles me, pulling me out of the moment. Closing my eyes, I clear
everything and concentrate.
Sampson wanted to come but he thinks
it is wiser to stay with King Hozfin now. Where is your location? I
will be bringing Able and Werzo with me.

Qippert—we’re in the middle somewhere, in
the valley nearing the tip of the Hylas. We’re here with Ehan and
Norhra.

A pause.

Alright, do not move. We will be there
momentarily.

Opening my eyes, I look at Reid. “Qippert’s
coming. And Able and Werzo.”