Storm Season (30 page)

The leader stepped forward, turning his back to the forest spirit as he glared out at the crowd. “Stop him!” he shouted, pointing at Jasper, the amethysts on the back of his hand flashing as lightning forked across the sky. “Bring him to me!”

The crowd in front of Jasper rippled as initiates and Storm Quellers alike realized what was happening behind them. Jasper managed to force his way through two more rows of people before he encountered real resistance, then hands started grabbing at his arms and robe, trying to hold him back. Jasper whirled and ducked, dodging as many as he could and jerking away from those he couldn’t avoid. His cloak tore as he struggled, but he ignored it just as he ignored the rain pounding down on his shoulders and the lightning flashing overhead.

The commotion grew as Jasper wriggled through, breaking free of initiate after initiate and using the fact that there were so many of them to his advantage. It wasn’t easy, but he got through the last line of initiates before hands took hold of both his biceps and he found himself staring into a terrifyingly familiar face. He didn’t need to look down to know that there was a single amethyst embedded in the back of each of the man’s hands. The tattoos on his face and the snarl that had haunted his nightmares since waking up on the forest floor were enough.

“You,” the man spat, stepping forward so he was standing chest-to-chest with Jasper. “I should have killed you instead of trusting that the storms would do it for me.” He reached up and curled his hand around Jasper’s neck, squeezing hard enough that it cut off Jasper’s air. “He’s ours and nothing you do will change that!”

His smirk was the last thing Jasper saw as his vision started to gray out.

T
HE
pressure eased a second later and Jasper gasped desperately for breath, his whole body sagging in his captors’ arms. He blinked to clear the gray spots from his vision, but when they faded, he almost wished he hadn’t. The man was still in front of him, still smirking, only rather than choking him, he was using a fistful of Jasper’s robe to pull him up and forward. The people holding his arms loosened their grips as he was hauled forward, but the man’s grip on his robe was tight enough that he doubted he’d be able to break free, even if he had the strength to try.

He could still hear a commotion behind him—initiates regaining their footing, he guessed, and maybe a few of them turning on Darius and Carla if they’d been stupid enough to follow him—but he didn’t turn to look. He could barely tear his gaze away from the snarling face of the man holding him, and when he did, it went straight to Tobias.

The creature was still inspecting him, sniffing and tasting and making Tobias squirm despite the commotion in the crowd, and it looked pleased. Its ears twitched as it circled him with predatory steps, one hand stroking over his chest and lingering on his shoulder as it walked behind the tree. When it emerged on the other side, it stroked across his collarbone and up his throat, its fingers lingering on his chin as it lifted Tobias’s head and turned it back and forth. Then it sniffed again, leaning in so close that it might have been biting Tobias… or kissing him.

The creature’s tongue darted out again to lick along the curve of Tobias’s jaw, and Jasper saw red. Adrenaline filled him with renewed vigor, and he pushed forward, pulling his arms free of the men holding them and forcing the one in front of him to take a few steps back. Their bodies collided, but Jasper barreled forward. He had to get to Tobias.

The man stumbled, pulling Jasper down with him, and rolled when he hit the ground, forcing Jasper onto his back. “Do you really think you can defeat me?” he asked as he straddled Jasper’s waist and used the hand tangled in his robe to pin him to the ground. “You’re an idiot,” he said as he leaned in to put his lips close to Jasper’s ear. “You don’t stand a chance.”

The man’s hold on Jasper’s robe loosened a little as he straightened so he was sitting on Jasper again instead of leaning over him. Jasper grinned desperately. “Maybe not, but I’m still going to try.” He drew his knees up toward his chest and hit his opponent squarely in the back, knocking him off balance, then pushed him and used their momentum to roll them both to the side.

The man fought back, rolling until they hit the legs of the Storm Quellers standing around them. Jasper landed on top of his antagonist, but tattooed hands pushed at him, toppling him over and forcing both men to roll in the other direction. Jasper grabbed the man’s duster, holding onto it as tightly as he could so that he wouldn’t be dislodged if the man decided to suddenly let go of his cloak. He gained the advantage again, and landed a vicious blow to his opponent’s jaw, using the duster to jerk him into the punch. For a moment, he thought he’d won.

The feeling of victory was short-lived. Someone’s foot connected with his spine, and as he fell, they rolled again. This time Jasper landed on his back, with the tattooed man grinning maniacally down at him. “He’s brainwashed you,” the man said as he spat blood. “You actually think that leech is worth this? He’s what’s keeping us trapped! He’s why these storms are here!” Thunder crashed overhead, emphasizing his words, and Jasper flinched as the rain started to fall harder.

“He’s not responsible for anything.” Jasper snarled as he blinked water out of his eyes. “He can’t control the weather.”

“He’s part of the problem. Him and everyone like him. The storms are our punishment for letting people like him live.” The man pressed his free hand against Jasper’s throat again, pushing down with enough pressure that his vision began to gray around the edges once more. “The right sacrifice will stop the storms.”

Jasper blinked furiously to clear his vision. “The storms are natural,” he said, the words barely a whisper as he gasped for breath. “Nothing will stop them.”

The man laughed, sounding delighted as he pressed down harder on Jasper’s neck. “You’re wrong.” The grin that spread on his face sent chills down Jasper’s spine. “Soon, the sacrifice will begin, and when the storms stop, I’m going to kill you.”

“They won’t.” Jasper pushed against the man with both hands, but gravity was on his opponent’s side at the moment, and Jasper couldn’t budge him.

“We’ll see,” the man said, his smile growing. “Right about—”

A horrific scream drowned out the man’s words, so loud that it took Jasper a moment to realize he wasn’t hearing it with his ears, but with his mind. Tobias’s voice was piercing into all of them from a distance. The man holding Jasper down let go, pressing his palms to his ears and wincing in pain as he tried futilely to block out the sound and the agony that accompanied it. As Jasper’s vision cleared, he could see that everyone around him was doubled over, their hands pressed to their ears and their own moans of agony adding to the noise only Jasper knew was just in their heads.

Stunned, he pushed the man off him and scrambled to his feet, fighting against the urge to double over, block his ears, and curl up. Tobias was in pain, and when Jasper looked up, he saw why. The creature had both hands pressed to Tobias’s temples, doing what, Jasper didn’t know, but it was obviously hurting him. That knowledge alone let Jasper fight against the agony that had overtaken everyone else to stagger forward one excruciating step at a time.

The Storm Quellers crumpled to the ground at the slightest touch, leaving a clear path for Jasper to stumble along as he tried to get to Tobias and the creature. A few of the Storm Quellers grabbed at his cloak, but he pushed them away easily. Their hands covered their ears as they tumbled to the ground and hit it with soft noises that were lost in the mental sounds of Tobias’s screams. Everyone was moaning, but the only sound Jasper cared about wasn’t a sound at all, but an echoing of feeling inside his skull, nearly driving him to his knees with pain even as it urged him forward.

He tripped when he reached the podium, landing on all fours near the incapacitated leader of the Storm Quellers, and muttered a curse under his breath as he tried to regain his footing. The leader smirked when Jasper staggered again, looking pleased despite the hands pressed to his ears and the pain showing in his eyes. This was what he wanted, that much was clear to Jasper, and he used the knowledge to force his legs to move. They wouldn’t win. Not now. Not when he was so close.

Jasper lurched to his feet, grabbed the knife from his boot as he straightened, and covered the remaining distance in a few swift steps. The creature had its back to him, its hands still pressed to Tobias’s temples, and Jasper shoved at it. The knife slid into its back easily, stopping only when the hilt hit rough skin. Jasper pulled it out and stabbed again, pushing harder this time, and the creature let out an inhuman scream as it tumbled to the ground and rolled into the underbrush.

Silence fell over the clearing and for a moment, Jasper couldn’t move. He stared at Tobias, unable to process what had just happened, unable to think in the echoing silence. Then Tobias slumped, sagging against the ropes that held him tied to the tree, and the hold over Jasper was broken. “I gotcha,” he said, taking Tobias by the shoulder and pushing him upright. “I’m getting you out of here.”

He had managed to cut through one layer of the rope binding Tobias when suddenly it felt as though the ground was jerked out from under him, a powerful blow from the side sending him sprawling. The knife flew from his hand, disappearing into the storm and darkness, and the rain pelted down mercilessly as he looked up into the slitted eyes of the creature he’d knocked away from Tobias.

It growled as it leaned in, sniffing at him, and for a moment, Jasper thought it was going to try the same thing on him as it had tried on Tobias. It even went so far as to put one hand up to his temple before it growled again, claws extending from the tips of its fingers and prickling against the flesh of Jasper’s skull. He twisted his head away, his eyes squeezed shut, and kicked his legs upward, trying to dislodge the creature. It didn’t fall like he’d hoped, but it shifted, giving Jasper just enough room to roll and push the creature away.

He made it to his feet just as it charged again, growling in concert with the thunder rumbling overhead. It slashed out, slicing through the material of Jasper’s robe, its claws scraping against his skin. He dodged, alert for both his knife and the creature, but it was too dark and the creature too fast. It closed the distance between them again and again, and the tatters of his robe provided no protection as its claws tore and slashed.

Jasper scrambled away, scooping up a fallen branch and swinging it wildly as the creature closed in again. He missed, and swung again, swiping madly at the creature he could barely see make out in the rain and hail. It dodged every one of his desperate blows, moving gracefully over the muddy ground. The roots and fallen branches that kept tripping Jasper proved no obstacle for it, as it stepped over them easily.

The storm grew stronger, pounding them with rain and hail big enough to bruise. Jasper raised one arm to shield his face as he continued to swing, near blind now as the storm clouds blocked the moon. The forest spirit was reduced to a light shape barely visible against the trees, while everything and everyone else faded away completely, washed out by the torrential downpour. Even Tobias, struggling nearby and screaming Jasper’s name into his skull, was impossible to distinguish from the tree he was tied to.

The creature, by contrast, appeared to be in its element, and came at him unerringly, lunging forward almost faster than Jasper’s eye could follow and slashing at him before darting out again, always evading Jasper’s wild swings and easily keeping its footing on the treacherous ground. The creature grew bolder as the fight went on. It stayed close to Jasper longer as Jasper lost energy, and drove Jasper back toward the trees as he futilely tried to avoid its sharp claws. He was almost out of the clearing when he fell, sprawling on his back in the mud. The stick he’d been swinging flew away and the creature lunged, grabbing Jasper by the shoulders and shoving him against the nearest tree.

The growl that left its throat was low and menacing, and it sent a shiver down Jasper’s spine even as he waited for the inevitable sensation of claws raking across his throat. He was beaten, defeated by the very creature he’d come to save Tobias from, and the worst of it was that Tobias would be next. He couldn’t even do the one thing he’d promised.

As he closed his eyes, unable to watch the claws swinging toward his throat, lightning cracked overhead, hitting the tree Jasper was pressed against. Another crack echoed through the clearing, followed by the horrible sound of splintering wood. Jasper opened his eyes and looked up just in time to see the smoldering remains of a huge branch hurtling toward him.

Then everything went dark.

L
IGHT
returned slowly, in soft bursts full of gentle words and soft touches that did little to ease his agonizing pain. Jasper was never sure where he was during those periods, or who was with him, but the voices were familiar and comforting and they all urged him to do the same thing: sleep. So he did.