Wilde's Fire (Darkness Falls #1) (41 page)

My hair lifts. Goose bumps prick up my arms.

Cadman stares at the sky. “Sir, we must leave,
now
.”

Arland doesn’t look away from Brad. “Get on the horses. Go without me.”

Mom pushes me toward Mirain.

I turn to run to Arland, but Mom wraps her arms around me and holds me tightly.

“No! I’m not leaving you.” I scream, kicking and squirming.

“You must go, Kate,” Arland yells.

I break free of Mom’s grip but run into Cadman.

“We’ll fight. Whatever it is, we’ll fight. I’m not leaving you!”

He carries me to Mirain.

I try to pry his fingers from my arms, but it’s no use. “I have to stay and help Arland.”

Cadman is stronger than I am, and it seems Mirain is working with him. She kneels down, giving him the edge he needs to force me onto her back.

“Ma’am, we cannot fight the bats.”

The squeaking sounds reminded me of bats flooding the navy-blue evening sky, on their way out of their home, looking for food. But something tells me these are no normal bats, and they won’t be searching for bugs to eat. “Arland never mentioned
bats
!”

Cadman glances toward the sky. “There was no need to; we thought them to be extinct.”

More familiar shrieks come from behind us.

Mirain rears and spins in circles.

I cannot see any monsters, but I know they’re here. I growl. “I’m not leaving Arland.”

“Kate, you have to,” Mom says. “He will be okay.”

I narrow my eyes. “How can you say that? If we can’t fight the bats, how is Arland supposed to survive?”

I can’t believe she thinks leaving him is the best idea. She must know he cannot handle an attack like this by himself. Can
we
survive this attack?

Constantly being at war is not the life I would choose for myself. I want so much more, more time discovering who I am, more time learning about animals, more time with my family, more time loving Arland … especially Arland.

Control your emotions, Kate. Fight this. Save Arland. If you don’t
,
he will die
. Brit’s voice penetrates my thoughts, but she’s not here; she can’t be talking to me.

I look around for her, then shake my head at how weird that would be.

“Did you say something?” I ask Mom.

“We need to go. He will be fine, Kate,” Mom says. She’s afraid. Her horse stomps, shakes its tail, and spins around, taking cues from Mom’s nerves.

“No, I refuse to leave.”

Closing my eyes, I take deep breaths and work to calm my emotions … to control my emotions. I have to do this. I cannot wait. I will not leave. I will not allow Arland to be hurt. I think of love. I think of my heart. I think of our future.

Power bubbles in my core, then spreads out over every inch of my body. The flames on me become almost too blinding for me to open my eyes. “Light the air; reveal the monsters to us. Protect us, please,” I ask of the magic.

Sprites burst out of the ground and flood the air, leaving holes in the earth. A patch in the Darkness opens over our heads, revealing six-winged creatures flying in circles. There are at least one hundred coscarthas steadily walking toward the portal, not even attempting to sneak.

Looking up and out at the army of daemons, I fight against the fear trying to regain control of me. I push it down and away from myself.

Brad turns his face toward the sky and looks at the daemons Cadman called bats.

Their wings are the same shape, but their bodies are anything but that of a bat. All black, and at least six feet in length, they have the heads of men; their eyes are tiny slits of orange madness; with human-like arms and legs, and hands with claws—the same sharp, deadly claws as the coscarthas. The winged creatures swoop down at us, like a normal bat would for a bug above the water, but never do more than graze us with their strangely soft wings.

A smile stretches across Brad’s face. It makes no sense he would have this kind of reaction. Maybe he thinks he’s dreaming. Maybe he thinks he’ll wake up and have the opportunity to tell me he loves me all over again.

“Brad, you have to go through the portal or they’ll kill us all,” I yell, trying to pull him out of his daze.

Arland looks back at me, then at the path we rode to get here. Does he really want me to leave without him?

I shake my head.

He smiles, as if to say, “Even with all this around us, I see only you, I worry for you, I love only you.
”
At least, that’s how I feel. I no longer have any fear of these creatures, only fear that I will lose love.

I’ve distracted him. Brad jumps onto Arland, knocking them both to the ground. They exchange repeated blows. One stands. The other pushes him over. Brad jumps up, swings, and falters as he connects with nothing but air. Arland throws a punch, landing his fist against Brad’s nose. Red dust rises around them. Their clothes are covered in dirt and blood. It’s so primitive, yet hard not to watch as important pieces of my two worlds collide.

Mom tugs on my arm. “Kate, if you want to stay, you have to do something.”

Death comes at us from all directions. The coscarthas run toward us, the bats swoop closer. One of the bats kicks me in the back of my head. I don’t understand why they haven’t killed us, but I have to do something before they do.

“
Stop
!”

My voice floats along, carried by the magic. But none of the daemons responds. Everything continues to go on as though the magic isn’t here, as though there were no Light surrounding us, as though my power means nothing.

I’ve always thought Brad had the build to be a good fighter, but never this good. Arland is a great warrior. He has trained for this his entire life. I’ve seen him fight off daemons. I don’t think Brad should be that hard for Arland to take down.

Ignoring the daemons around us, I focus on Brad, on the way he fights, on the way he seems to be able to move inhumanly fast, before Arland can land a punch. Brad seems to hit Arland more powerfully than any human’s fists should.

Two bats swoop down, kicking Arland as they did me. Like they’re trying to help Brad.

If Darkness can taint a Draíochta’s soul through dreams, I imagine it can taint a human soul, too. Brad was sleeping for weeks, giving plenty of opportunities for Darkness to slip into his mind.

“Help Arland,” I beg of the magic.

Blue flames shoot from my chest, changing into a warm, golden color the closer they get to Arland. They swirl around his body, brighter, stronger than ever before.

He jumps to his feet.

Brad cannot touch Arland, but continues to try to hit him, to kick him, to knock him over, but Brad’s efforts are worthless.

Arland has magical protection …
my
magical protection.

The coscarthas stop their advance.

The bats swoop away from us.

The daemons seem to be waiting for something.

“Please, take Brad home, heal his angry soul, and allow him to find happiness. Close the portal behind him, too,” I ask, adding the last part with hope that no one or nothing can ever get through the portal again.

Nothing happens.

“Go home, Brad, or the only woman you ever loved will be killed.” Arland repeats the line Brad said out of anger, before his memories were temporarily erased.

He catches my gaze. “I already told her I was going to stay here and watch her suffer.”

The sweet smile on the face of the boy I’ve always thought was my friend doesn’t fit the anger, the rage, I know he’s feeling inside. I don’t recognize this new person standing in front of me at all.

“Sir, we have to leave him,” Cadman says.

Arland looks at me.

I nod.

I don’t want to watch Arland and Brad fight anymore. I’ve done my part. I’ve tried to get him home. He’s his own responsibility now, even though leaving Brad ensures my visions will come true. Maybe that’s a future we cannot escape. Maybe what I saw was a warning. One we could do nothing about.

Arland leaves Brad staring up at the sky, and jumps on Bowen.

“You should have left me,” Arland says, taking his place next to me.

“I will never leave you.”

He grabs my hand.

Relief floods my soul.

Blood flows from his nose. Dirt covers his body. Yet, I see him smiling at me. I breathe for what feels like the first time since we got here.

We’re all protected and joined as one force.

Concentrating on the power in my core, I will the magic to move from me into Mom and Cadman.

Everyone ignites in flames. Mom, Cadman, and Arland whisper incantations at the daemons.

I don’t recognize their words, but I understand their meaning: they’re trying to make the daemons go away without more fighting.

Two words come to mind. I don’t know what they mean or what they’ll do, but I shout them anyway. “Logh dó!”

A smile lights Mom’s face.

Arland laughs so hard he nearly falls from Bowen.

Cadman watches Brad.

A tornado of sprites explodes from around Brad’s feet, illuminating the dry earth and the side of the mountain where the rippling portal is located. They swirl around Brad, picking him up and hurtling him toward home.

A bat drops from the sky, like a hawk for its prey, and grabs Brad from the sprites’ control. The daemon carries Brad, screaming and writhing to get away, and takes him fifteen feet in the air. Another bat joins the one carrying Brad, flapping enormous black wings and blocking our view of him.

I can’t leave Brad now. It’s impossible for me to move. I know he’s been bad to me, but I cannot allow them take him.

“Protect him,” I cry out to the magic.

Sprites fly up to Brad, but more bats swoop in. Forming a circle around him, the flying daemons prevent the magic from entering.

Sprites try to get through, but their Light fades once inside the circle. They fall to the ground, dead.

“Why isn’t it working?”

My question receives no response. Everyone stares at the sky, watching, whispering, begging that this doesn’t end badly.

“I’m sorry, Kate. I never meant to hurt you.” Brad screams as another bat approaches, with claws stuck out like knives.

They spin him around in the air to face us.

They want
me
to see this?

Panic spreads through me like poison.

Fear makes everything in front of me swirl.

Terror brings my heart to a skidding halt.

Tears spill over my eyes. My emotions have spiraled out of control.

“Stop them,” I scream at the magic, pointing toward the bats.

Sprites swarm around the daemons, but they’re far too powerful for even the most ancient of magic to stop.

Brad watches, eyes wide with fear and full of tears, as the bat jabs a claw through his chest. Blood flows and spills to the dry earth, immediately soaking into the ground, leaving the dirt stained red.

His head sags. His body falls slack.

“No,” I cry.

The bats fly off with Brad in their grasp, bobbing in the air as they go.

I’m too shocked, too scared, too upset to send any more magic after them. My memories of Brad—good and bad—loop through my mind as I watch the bats fly off with his body, out of the light, away from the portal, away from us, away from his home.

Away from me.

Dead.

I remember sleeping in his arms in the tent the morning before we came here. The smile in his eyes when he saw me watching him while we swam. His fingers running through my hair when he tried to calm me. Him howling
I love you
when he was drinking. Him holding my hand at concerts, putting stars on my ceiling in my bedroom. I remember him punching me, yelling at me, wanting to kill me … .

Arland squeezes my hand I forgot he was holding. “We have to go, Kate.”

“I was mad, Arland, but I didn’t want him to die. Why? Why did they kill only Brad?”

He looks around. “We have to go.”

The shrieking of the coscarthas breaks into my brain, over the memories, over the pain. Taking another deep breath, I realize I have to save Arland, my mom, and Cadman. I cannot allow them to be killed, too.

“Kill the daemons.” I command the magic with as much strength and control as I can muster.

Sprites fly into the clearing where the coscarthas are trying to hide from the Light. The magic wastes no time, stabbing through the mangled creatures and creating a path for us to pass through.

“Can you ride?” Arland’s voice is muffled.

Do I need to answer his question? I close my eyes.

Brad was murdered.

Worse yet, I’m afraid he wanted to die.

The way he smiled at the bats, but then he said he was sorry. Why did he apologize?

Arland shakes my shoulder. “Kate! Can you ride?” he asks, louder.

I blink tears from my eyes. “Yes.”

“Stay close,” he says, kicking his heels into Bowen’s belly.

Following behind him, I turn and watch the war between the coscarthas and the sprites go on as we race back to base.