cave. “I’m not leaving and missing out on this performance. One way or another, I’m somebody’s captive. What do I care who wins?”
“You should have a care since I’m the only one that needs you alive,” I grumbled, looking back at the Huntresses.
“We want him alive,” Alaina corrected me with an evil grin. “He’s got years of torment waiting for him.”
Clenching my teeth, I let her words slip away from me as I focused on the coming battle. Overhead, I could feel the clouds moving in and the wind picking up. A low rumble of thunder rolled in from the distance, warning them to walk away now, when they still had the chance.
“It doesn’t have to be this way, Nyx,” Jasmine said. “We weren’t sent after you. We’re prepared to let you walk away.”
“No, you’re not,” I corrected before dropping my short sword. As I expected, their eyes followed the blade into the soft ground, allowing me to palm one of the smaller knives from my side and throw it directly at Alaina before she could draw her first arrow. The naturi screamed as the blade found its mark in her right shoulder. She would be unable to use her bow for at least several minutes as the muscles in her shoulder healed.
Wyllow charged around Jasmine, both blades drawn and ready to decapitate me. I reached down for the hilt of the blade I had dropped into the earth, but I could not pull it free. It was as if the earth around the metal had turned to stone, holding it locked in place. I barely dodged Wyllow’s first slashing blow, and blocked the second with the blade I had palmed in my left hand.
Out of the corner of my eye I could see Jasmine standing in the same place, whispering a spell. The trees were beginning to sway and it felt as if the earth was growing softer under my feet. I knew this tactic. She was going to pull me down into the earth and bury me alive. It was the quickest and easiest way to dispatch her opponent.
“Don’t push me, Jasmine!” I called as I blocked another series of slashes from Wyllow.
“You’re the one that has forced my hand,” she warned, throwing her empty arms out wide. “You were an excellent tutor, Dark One, but your nights are over at long last.”
Gritting my teeth, I finally succeeded in pushing Wyllow away from me and slogged forward a couple of steps as the earth seemed to turn to mush beneath me. I was now sinking down to my ankles in the growing mire. Wyllow rushed me again, both her swords swinging, in hopes of slicing me into two neat chunks. Falling to my knees, I bent backward so I slid beneath the swords. She overextended herself, leaving her stomach exposed. She knew her mistake in an instant and tried to twist out of the way, but it was too late as I slammed one knife into her midsection. The female naturi staggered away from me, pulling the blade from her abdomen while cursing me. I tried to regain my feet but the earth closed in around my calves, holding me in place so I was trapped in a kneeling position.
“Back away, Alaina!” I snarled, throwing out my arm toward Rowe. The other sister had been sneaking around the battle, drawing close to my scarred companion while I was distracted with Wyllow and Jasmine. A bolt of lightning streaked from the sky and pounded the ground between Alaina and Rowe, causing her to jump back.
“Watch your aim, please,” Rowe said calmly. He was standing behind me, so I couldn’t see him, but I had no doubt there was a smirk twisting his lips.
“A little help wouldn’t be unheard of since I am trying to prolong your life,” I bit out between clenched teeth as I struggled to pull to my feet. The earth fought me, sucking at my limbs like so much quicksand, leaving me vulnerable.
“You’ve planned this battle poorly. You’re focused on the wrong one,” Rowe advised.
And he was right. I was allowing Alaina and Wyllow to wear me down and distract me when Jasmine was the oldest, strongest, and the unspoken leader of the three. She was the one who was going to slowly bury me while her two sisters chipped away at my defenses. In the end they would leave me alive long enough to see them depart with Rowe, then I would die with the taste of failure on my tongue.
Focusing my powers before Alaina could strike at me, I called the lightning. One bolt slammed to the ground between Alaina and me, forcing her to jump backward, buying me a little time. The second struck at Jasmine, who leapt to a thick grove of trees. The old growth reached out its limbs and wound them together, creating a protective canopy over her. It would take several lightning strikes to finally break through the barrier, something that would leave me open to attack by her sisters, who were once again drawing close.
The one positive was that the lightning strike at Jasmine had broken her concentration on the earth. With a grunt, I finally regained my footing, though the ground remained soft like soggy marshland.
Frowning, I resheathed my sword and unsnapped a slender strap on my left side. Grasping the leather handle, I flicked my wrist, allowing the long whip to unfurl before me. It came as no surprise when the three sisters instantly went still, their eyes growing wide as they locked on the new weapon.
“It doesn’t need to come to this, Nyx.” Jasmine took a step back. “Rowe isn’t worth protecting. We don’t want to hurt you. You’re free to go, I promise you.”
“Rowe is worth more than you will ever understand,” I said in a low, even voice. I flicked my wrist again, causing the whip to crack like a snap of thunder, warning them.
Wyllow didn’t listen. She charged me first, bringing with her the long arms of the trees that surrounded us, hoping to entangle me and the whip. Widening my stance, I swung the whip around, slicing through the tree limbs that drew close, raining down debris on Wyllow before she could reach me. She pushed on, determined to slice through me, but she didn’t have a chance. In a flash, I brought the whip down, slashing it across the hands holding her two swords. She screamed, dropping her blades as she pulled her hands in against her stomach.
“Don’t turn your back on her!” Jasmine screamed, but it was too late. Wyllow saw the whip coming around for another strike and she naturally turned her back to me, hoping it would take the brunt of the strike. It was what I had been waiting for. The ends of the whip slashed through the thick buckskin shirt and cut grooves in her back.
A sickening scream rose up from Wyllow as she collapsed to the ground, writhing in agony far worse than would be imagined for a simple wound caused by a whip. Desperate to avenge her wounded and dying sister, Alaina charged me next. I swiveled my hips, turning my body to face her as the whip struck out like a venomous cobra. The earth clan naturi managed to stomach three strikes before she finally turned her side toward me, allowing me to rake the whip across her back. She fell to the ground, screaming in pain while Wyllow became horribly silent.
Jasmine took another step backward, shaking her head as tears slipped down her tanned cheeks. Both her hands were balled into fists and trembling before her as she stared at her sisters as they died. For a moment I considered sparing her. I thought about sending her back to her father with a message that I would not allow Aurora to win the fight that she started.
“Mercy is for the weak,” Rowe whispered.
Sucking in a deep breath through my nose, I lifted my arm and twirled the whip above my head for a second before flicking it out toward Jasmine. I knew that no matter what I did, she was smart enough not to turn her back on me. I didn’t need her to. The whip wrapped tightly around her neck, choking her. Grabbing the whip with my right hand, I gave it a swift jerk, breaking her neck. She collapsed facedown in the dirt.
I released the whip with my right hand and pulled the sword that had been stuck in the earth free. With my teeth clenched, I walked over to where Jasmine lay. Pulling the whip free, I quickly decapitated her, ensuring that she was truly dead, before placing the sword back in its sheath.
I turned back toward the cave and found Rowe standing over Alaina as she writhed on her side, gasping for air as if her throat was closing in. Hatred was splashed across his face as he watched her, and for a moment I had to wonder how far that hatred extended. Did it include all of our kind? Or just those who were hunting him?
“I don’t understand,” he admitted when Alaina gave her last shuddering gasp and went completely still at his feet. Her green eyes stared wide at the forest, blind forever. “What did you do?”
I finished coiling up the whip as I joined him next to Alaina. Kneeling down, I turned her over onto her stomach and pulled open one of the large tears in the back of her shirt, revealing the tattoo of the tree that graced the back of every naturi. It was a symbol of our tie to the earth, one we were all born with. Rowe bent close to examine her back and then fell to both his knees in surprise, tearing open her shirt so her entire back was exposed. There were five slash marks through the tree, cutting deep within her flesh.
His narrowed gaze snapped back up to my face. “I still don’t understand. These wounds aren’t deep enough
