Reluctant Hero (The Dunamis Covenant Book 1) (27 page)

Tor and John had Devlin secure for transport. Even with his many injuries, he was still dangerous. Before they took him from the field, Antonio and Darcy approached with Lucas on their heels. "We cannot let you take our master," Antonio began. By this time, almost all of the dark warriors had gone and only seventy-five light warriors remained in the clearing with Thomas, John, Tor and Thomas' team. All of the others had loaded the injured and deceased light warriors into trucks and left. A few more trucks were inbound to pick up the last of them, and their prisoner.

"You're in no position to stop us, Antonio. You should get going, the three of you, run your clan now. Don't make the same mistakes Devlin did." John turned to go but Lucas called out.

"If you take my father, you will always be looking over your shoulder, Fitzpatrick."

John sighed, "Look, I'm just following orders, but if you want to come after me, I'm fine with that. You'll have to go through a lot of people to get to me, but that's beside the point. If I were you, Lucas, I'd be more worried about them." He nodded at Antonio and Darcy who were still standing a little closer together than Thomas cared for.

"Promise you will not kill my father, Thomas."

"I give you my word; he will not die by my hand." Without warning, a long knife sailed through the air and buried itself in Devlin's chest. Thomas turned to look at who had thrown it, and another one sailed towards him. Before he could get his defenses up, Abby had jumped in front of him, taking the knife right in her chest. She hit the ground in a heap, and Thomas screamed, "Abby, no!" His mind just didn't want to believe what his eyes were showing him. He looked up to see Bartholomew and Malachi following a very smug looking Asaph but before he could react, Lucas had jumped Asaph. Antonio and Darcy took off during the confusion and Thomas just looked at the two evil Paladins and yelled, "I'm gonna kill you!"

"No, you will die, like Devlin just did." Malachi laughed. Then, almost a hundred warriors emerged from the forest.

Tina had never been so scared in her life, but the sounds of battle and the shooting had finally died down, and the trucks seemed to have gone as well. She decided to chance a look outside. There were still several people milling about in a clearing. Many of them were injured, but one seemed to be tied up as well. She wished she could be recording this because she was sure no one would believe her. She only hoped she made it out of here alive. She would give anything to hear her mother's lecture. The fighting had ended, but tensions still looked high. All of a sudden, a knife sailed through the air and killed the man that was tied up. It took everyone by surprise including her. She gasped as another knife came out of nowhere and a girl jumped in front of it to save one of the men. It looked like she was dead, too. Then a whole new group of people came out of the woods.
What does all of this mean? Are any of these people good? What is this battle all about?
What she saw next shocked her.

*****

Thomas looked at the former light warriors that now followed Asa as they attacked. All he wanted to do was get to Abby's side and then kill Malachi and Bartholomew once he knew she would be all right. He didn't have time for this. He felt a surge of power so great in his arms that he could not contain it. He swung his arm as if to push the warriors aside and almost thirty of them went flying. It was just the distraction they needed. The remaining light warriors pounced on the confused attackers. Uncle Pete and Connor stepped up in front of Bartholomew and Malachi, and Thomas ran to his fallen love's side. Trevor was there, using his powers to keep her from losing too much blood. Thomas dropped to his knees and put Abby's head in his lap. "Stay with me, beautiful, stay with me," he pleaded. John, Tor, Jan and Liam had taken up positions around them, and the sky began to grow a little darker.

"Thomas, I'll hold her blood back, but you have to knit her wounds back together."

"I don't know how to do that, Trev, I'm not a doctor." His voice cracked and he could feel the tears running down his cheek while he watched the love of his life dying in his arms.

"Thomas, concentrate," Trevor yelled. "Abby's grandfather told me it can be done by a powerful enough Mage. I'm not strong enough, but you are. I'll talk you through it. You can do this."

"I'll do anything to save her. Why did she take the knife meant for me?" His panic was threatening to spiral out of control. He took a deep breath and slowly let it out. He didn't know what would need to be done, but he knew he would need to be calm to do it. "All right, what do I do?"

"Keep one hand on her neck and put one hand by the injury. I am going to remove the knife little by little, and you are going to telekinetically fix the damage as I do."

"Is that even possible?" Thomas looked around.

"Abby's grandfather told me it was, come on, we don't have much time. See if you can slow her heart rate so her blood won't pump as fast."

While Thomas was trying to save Abby, the light warriors were dispatching Asa's men. Connor was dominating his duel with Malachi and began to taunt him. "This time it's to the death, I don't know which one of you threw that knife at my sister, but you're all gonna die for it. And then, I'll track down Asa, and kill him, too." Malachi came at him hard and fast. He knew that Connor had been fighting for several hours so he thought he would have the advantage. He was mistaken. Connor ducked his first swing, parried his second and spun away from his third. He was then in a position to deliver a powerful right handed punch to Malachi's face. The blow staggered him and he wasn't ready for Connor's sword to pierce his heart. Before his corpse even hit the ground, Connor was off to help Pete who was not faring as well.

Bartholomew had Pete almost backed into a corner. His big powerful overhand swings with his over-sized sword were beginning to wear down Pete's already tired defenses. He braced himself for the next strike, but the big man had changed tactics and come in low. Pete was not ready for the move, and the sword almost cut his leg off below the knee. He cried out as he hit the ground and looked up to see the big man bring his sword down for the kill. Pete closed his eyes, but the strike never came. Instead, he heard the sound of metal on metal. Connor had arrived just in time. He began to fight Bartholomew while Pete tried to make a tourniquet for his leg. He knew he was going to lose the leg, he only hoped he wouldn't lose all of his blood with it. Thomas looked over to his left and saw Lucas grappling with Asaph. Gone was the smug look on his face, replaced by fear and a desire to live. Asaph had just killed a man in front of his son. It wasn't looking good for him.

Meanwhile, Thomas began concentrating harder than he had ever concentrated on anything. He tried to block out everything but the sound of Trevor's voice. Everything else had to fade away for him to do this, but he was still aware of what was going on around him. "Thomas!" Trevor yelled. "I need you to concentrate on Abby's wound. Picture her veins, her lung and her muscle tissue. Can you see it?"

"I... I think so."

"Good, I want you to begin to sew closed the damaged vein."

"With what? How will it stay closed?"

"With your mind, little by little, I want you to rebuild the vein wall. The vein has to be closed or Abby will die. Are you there yet?"

"Yes, I can see it." Thomas didn't want to get too excited, but he could see in his mind the damage and how to repair it. His eyes started to gloss over and he began to speak in Greek again. His hand began to glow as Trevor slowly withdrew the knife.

"Okay, now you need to fix the hole in her lung. She needs all the air you can give her." When Thomas didn't reply, Trevor looked up and saw the vacant eyes and the glowing hand. "Thomas?" he said, a note of concern evident in his voice. "Thomas, are you all right?"

Thomas kept repeating the words, "giatrépsei ti̱n pli̱gí̱ ti̱s" over and over while his eyes were vacant, and his hand was on her wound.

"He's fine," John assured him. "I think he's saying 'heal her wound.' Just keep telling him what to do to save my little girl."

Trevor regained his composure and continued. "Do you see the puncture wound in her right lung? You have to seal it, can you do that?"

Thomas didn't respond, instead he took his left hand off her neck and placed it on top of his right hand on her chest. Both hands began to glow brighter and brighter, hotter and hotter until Abby gasped and Thomas passed out.

*****

Connor let out a deep breath when he heard Trevor's triumphant yell. "You did it, Thomas!" Trevor's celebration was cut short when he noticed the blood still seeping from Thomas side where Devlin had stabbed him. He checked for a pulse and it was very weak. "We need to get them both to a hospital, fast!"

The battle had for the most part died down, and the few remaining attackers were now in full speed retreat. The only fighting still going on was between himself and Bartholomew. By this time, Liam had made it over to Pete and helped him bandage his leg. "We've got another one that needs immediate medical attention here," he called out. "We need to get him to the hospital soon, if we want to save his leg." He could hear a few more trucks off in the distance.

Connor was starting to tire, but there was no way that this man that had twice tried to kill his sister was going to get away with it. He lunged forward, but Bartholomew blocked it and countered with a backhanded slash. Connor rolled out of the way and countered with three quick thrusts which the big warrior parried with ease. Bartholomew then went for a powerful overhand strike which Connor evaded with little effort. Then, he went back on the attack, unleashing a flurry of strikes so quick he had Bartholomew on his heels. Bartholomew tried to go low again as he had with Pete, but Connor was ready. He blocked the attack and brought his knee up into his enemy's face. The blow staggered his opponent, and Connor followed up with a roundhouse kick to his face. He followed up with a disarming slash of his sword arm. Bartholomew back-flipped to get some distance between him and Conner. Blood streamed from his nose and he cradled his injured arm. He knew he was beaten, but he was going to take Connor with him. He charged hoping to tackle him, but Connor was too quick, he dodged his foe and unleashed a swing that caught Bartholomew right in the throat. The big man dropped to his knees with a surprised look on his face, gurgled up some blood, and falling face first to the ground, breathed his last.

When Bartholomew's body hit the ground, Thomas began to regain consciousness. He tried to sit up, but everything hurt. Trevor was still fussing over him and Abby. Connor was still unsure if she was going to be all right and didn't think he could handle losing his sister. As if the drama wasn't enough, Trevor stood up and exclaimed, "We're being watched, from a cave, that way." He pointed in Tina's direction and Jan shifted into a falcon with another Shifter, and flew towards the person watching them.

What now
? Connor wondered, the fatigue form battle beginning to hit him.

*****

The more Tina watched, the less she believed her eyes.
How did that man throw all of those guys without touching them? That's not possible
. She was freaking out while she watched the people that were being attacked drive off their attackers. There were two duels going on that looked pretty personal and one of them was over pretty fast. She watched in horror when the big man slashed the other. It looked like the other man almost lost his leg. The man that won the other duel saved him and while they were fighting, there was a light so bright she had to shield her eyes.
Where had that light come from? Did it come from the same man that threw all those people? His hands are still glowing.
Then, the girl who took the knife to the chest sat up for a brief moment, and they both collapsed. Tina turned her attention back to the last remaining fighters. Their battle looked so personal. The ending was abrupt with the larger man falling. Her fear ratcheted up a notch when one of the people pointed in her direction. Two guys turned into birds and began flying away, her way. She barely had time to think about how it was possible for people to turn into animals when two men were grabbing her arms. She screamed and struggled while they brought her over to the rest of the group.

*****

By the time Jan brought Tina to the clearing, she was crying and babbling inconsolably. She was mumbling about swords and animals and light. The young lady was terrified. She stood before John trembling and holding back tears. Jan looked at John and asked, "So, what do we do with this one?"

"She's seen a lot, dad," Liam said to John with a solemn nod.

"That she has, son," he replied while rubbing around the bullet wound in his shoulder.

Thomas was a little more conscious now, and he didn't like where the conversation was heading when Jan said, "I hate to say it, but we're not ready to be exposed."

"No," Thomas started to surprised looks from the rest of the group. "And the fact that you're even considering it shows how far the Council of Light has fallen."

"But she's seen us! She can expose us, Thomas." Jan argued.

"I won't, I didn't see anything, I promise." Tina cried. She was already shaking before the realization of what they were talking about hit her. "Please, I was just in the cave doing some research on the Native American drawings for my paper. I didn't do anything wrong." She was sobbing and babbling, and Thomas couldn't take it anymore.