Shattered Souls (Guardians of the Maiden Book 3)

The trolls had them surrounded. Dyna let all of her power free, but it wasn’t enough. She was running and throwing spell after spell, Cassiel and Zev on her heels, his Seraph fire raging through the trolls.

“Look out!” Cassiel shoved her out of the way.

Dyna hit the ground as a massive fist swung past her head and crashed into him. She felt the blow all the way through her bones. It hurled him across the forest, and he crashed into a tree. He didn’t get up. She threw out a ball of Essence with a shriek and blew off the troll’s head.

Pushing on her trembling hands and knees, Dyna ran for him. He was out cold.

“Cassiel?” Dyna shook him and patted his face. “Cassiel!”

Zev keened sharply. A beast had him by the leg. Dyna hit it with another Essence blast, freeing her cousin.

“Wake up!” She zapped Cassiel with a current of Essence and his eyes snapped open. He gasped for air, jerking upright. She threw her arms around him and squeezed him. “Oh, thank the God of Urn.”

Cassiel hissed in pain. “My leg is broken.”

She gasped and moved back to see it was bent at an odd angle. “Oh no, can you heal?”

“Yes, but—”

A swarm of trolls charged for them.

“Get out of here,” Cassiel told her, trying to push off the ground. “Run!”

Didn’t he know? She was done with all the running. Dyna rose to stand in front of him. Her vision filled with bright green light as she faced the trolls.

And it was too late to run.

He shouted for her to leave him, but seeing she wouldn’t, her mate flung his flaming sword in a last desperate attempt, sending it spinning in the air for the beasts. Zev took down another, but they couldn’t stop the swarm.

Dyna knew what spell she had to use. It would take everything she had and there was only one chance to get it right. Her body started to glow as she opened all of her Essence channels. Every part of her body burned and she slowly rose off the ground.

Dyna! Cassiel grabbed her arm with his flaming hand.

At his mental cry meeting her soul, heat flowed through the air. Power pulsed between them, and it flowed in her veins, scorching her from within. It rushed out in a flood and she raised her other arm, palm pointed toward the charging beasts. Green tendrils spiraled over her hand and flowed up her arm. With a scream of fear and rage, a blast of fire burst from her fingers and blasted forth in a sea of raging green—and blue.

It tore through the wall of trolls in a massive wave, and continued through the forest, disintegrating everything it touched. All that was left behind were charred carcasses and the blackened earth. Ash and embers floated past her dimming vision.

Dyna stumbled back. Her Essence sputtered out, and she fell into Cassiel’s waiting arms.

“Lev sheli.” He tilted her chin, looking her over. “Are you all right?”

“Yes,” she panted, her eyes fluttering closed. “That spell…”

Somehow their magic had combined. Light sputtered weakly in her hands. Whatever that spell was, it took nearly every drop of her power.

Whining, Zev limped over to them on a bad leg, blood leaking from his side. He nuzzled her cheek.

“I’m fine.” She brushed his muzzle.

“We need to keep moving,” Cassiel said. Leg, now healed, he stood while still carrying her. He searched the trees. “Wait. Where are the others?”

Zev spun around and snarled. It was their only warning before the bellow of trolls filled the forest. They lumbered out of the trees, more than they had ever encountered before.

Cassiel quickly kissed her, then pushed her in Zev’s direction. “Take her and get her out of here.”

“What? No!” She fought against the wolf pulling at her dress with his teeth.

“Go.” He walked out to meet the beasts, and his body flared to life with vivid flames, outlining his wings.

A troll came from the right, separate from the Horde. And it charged for him.

“Cassiel!”

Galloping hooves raced towards them, and she was flooded with relief. But instead of Rawn, someone else came galloping through the trees on a black horse.

A man layered in leather armor and armed to the teeth, rose on the saddle and launched himself into the air. From the sleeves of his long, dark blue coat, he produced two gleaming knives and slammed them in the troll’s throat. The blades burst out the other side in a gruesome spray of blood. He jerked them out and the head came off with a wet squelch. The troll’s headless body teetered, then flopped down, and the man landed gracefully at its side.

The icy wind tugged at his long frock coat, flaring behind him, and on his back, was the white sigil of a bird’s skull.

A symbol she had seen before.

The man glanced at them over his shoulder at them, dark blond hair falling to his jaw. A black mask covered the lower half of his face, only revealing his deep blue eyes.

Dyna recognized him anyway.This text is property of Nô/velD/rama.Org.

The ground rumbled as another thirty armed men rode out of the woods on horses. The captain of the Skelling Mercenaries mounted his horse and guided it front and center. He drew out the twin blades from his back, revealing their wicked serrated edges, each with a grinning skull for pommels.

“All right men,” Klyde called, looking at the massive Horde. “Go with God!”

“And may he receive me!” the mercenaries shouted in unison.

Dyna watched in amazement as they expertly killed the beasts with swift and precise attacks.

Their captain moved with a wild aggression, his blades taking down troll after troll. He barked commands and his men moved into action. Grappling hooks shot from the harnesses the mercenaries wore, piercing the trees. The iron cables yanked them into the air toward the colossal creatures. Two flew through the air and split limbs and heads with a swipe of their blades.

Cassiel pulled her away from the chaos to a safe distance. Clearly, they weren’t needed.

A troll came roaring at the captain. He shot cabled hooks into a tree and it catapulted him in the air. In a graceful arc, the captain flipped behind the troll as he came down, and his blades crossed at the creature’s neck. The head came off with a wet squelch, falling in the bushes. He landed with perfect balance and straightened from his stance. His sharp blue eyes glanced around at the mass of dead trolls scattered around them. The men carefully walked among the enormous bodies and made sure each was dead by shoving their blades into every skull.

Sheathing his blades, the captain pulled down his mask, revealing a rugged face shadowed in thick stubble.

“That was a close one, lass,” Klyde said in a mischievous brogue Azure accent.

Dyna managed a relieved smile. “Thank you, Captain. It seems I am indebted to you again.”

When Lord Jophiel said sell swords lived on Troll Bridge, she hadn’t expected to run into Klyde. But she was a little relieved not to find a complete stranger.

Another man approached. Beneath his brown curls was a black eye patch, a jagged scar following it down his cheek. His brow was set sternly over his visible gray-blue eye. He pulled down his facemask as well and Dyna recognized him as the one who had accompanied Klyde in the Port of Azure.

“You…” Cassiel stared at them. “I remember you from the city. You’re the ones my uncle spoke of?”

“Aye. I’m Klyde, Captain of the Skelling Mercenaries.” He nodded to the man with the eyepatch on his right. “This is Eagon, my lieutenant.”

“And you chose now to finally make an appearance?”

“You have no place to complain when you dare to come here,” Eagon said, his voice thick and sharp. His coat hung open, giving her a glimpse of the two crossing belts on his chest containing a series of sharp throwing stars.

The rest of the mercenaries come to stand behind them. They were all rugged, with faint scars on their face and hands. These men were not at all surprised to see them nor did they react to Cassiel’s wings.

Klyde’s gaze leveled on him. “Per arrangement between us and the lord of your mountain, Celestials are to stay out of our territory, and we agreed to stay out of yours.”

“You are currently looking at the new Lord and Lady of Hermon Ridge,” Cassiel said shortly.

“Pleasure to meet you.” Klyde gave him a stiff smile and dipped his chin in a nod. “Well, Lord, you have entered here without our consent and disturbed the land with your noise and your foreign scents. Because of it, the trolls are out hunting instead of hibernating as they should be at this time of year. The danger was something you chose to risk. Be grateful we came out here at all.”

“We’re immensely grateful, Captain,” Dyna cut in, giving Cassiel a look to be nice.

“But there are only three of you.” Klyde frowned. “I was told there would be five.”

Dyna gasped and wildly searched the clearing. “Lucenna and Rawn, they’re gone. And Fair? Where is Fair?”

They had gotten separated during the chaos.

Zev sniffed the ground, whining. They followed him to the bluff’s edge and horror went through her to see the footprints and hoof prints on the muddied ground. The river below rushed out into the forest.

Cassiel cursed. “They must have fallen over.”

“Then the river carried them away,” Klyde said. “Pray to the God of Urn they survived the fall and haven’t frozen to death. Better we find him before dark.” He gave a hand signal, and the men mounted their horses.

“Wait,” Dyna said at Zev’s bark. He limped ahead for another set of smaller tracks. “Lucenna was chased off this way.”

Klyde muttered something tightly under his breath, rubbing his face. “Eagon, take half to search for the elf. Olyver and the rest will escort these three back to town. I will go after the woman.”

Cassiel crossed his arms. “We are not going anywhere with them.”

“We’re coming with you,” Dyna said.

Klyde removed a pack from his horse’s saddle and slung it over his shoulder before handing Cassiel the reins. “I mean no offense, but you will only get in the way. We know the land and how to move through it unseen. Bringing you along will either end with your death or mine. As for your friend, she’s headed straight for a troll den, and the chances of finding her alive decreases by the minute. That part of the Bridge is so dangerous, the only one to ever make it out of there is me.”

Dyna felt torn, but the captain was right. For all their experience, they weren’t equipped for this.

“Then take Zev. He can help track her.”

Klyde frowned at the blood leaking from the deep gash on the wolf’s hind leg. Dyna ripped off a strip from the hem of her dress and tried it around the wound.

“With that injury, he would only be bait.” Klyde nodded at Eagon. The lieutenant ordered the men to move out and they rode to the south. “Trust me when I say the best thing you can do for your friends is to wait in my town.”

Dyna searched his eyes, trying to perceive anything behind his amiable face. “If I’m being honest, I don’t know if I can trust you, Captain. But at the moment, you seem to be our only option. Lucenna, on the other hand, may attack you first before giving you a chance to speak. If she allows you to get a word in, tell her I said sage. She will know what it means.”

Klyde raised his eyebrows. “Very well. I give you my word I will bring her back. Leave us to do what we do best.”

“And what’s that?” Cassiel asked.

The captain shot a grin over his shoulder as he turned away. “Killing trolls.” Then he vanished into the trees.

The remaining mercenaries eyed them stoically.

Only a stocky man with a crop of orange curls gave them a warm smile. “I’m Olyver. Don’t worry about your companions. They will be found soon.” He motioned north. “Skelling Rise is this way. Come along then, it’s a fair jaunt to town.”

Dyna’s gaze rose to the overcast sky, noticing the icy rain had changed to flurries.

“It’s not sticking to the ground,” Cassiel said, reading her thoughts. “We still have time.”

She nodded and pushed aside the unsettling feeling. He helped her mount Klyde’s horse. Once she was seated, he slipped on his enchanted coat and climbed up behind her. Dyna’s body immediately sank into his divine heat, not realizing how cold she’d been. His arms came around her as he took the reins.

Sage? Cassiel’s voice slipped in her mind. Does it have some hidden meaning?

She smiled a secret smile. Something like that.

With a prod of his heels, the horse cantered into the thicket of evergreens and spruces, and they followed the mercenaries home.