Of Gaea (38 page)

Her eyes shifted up to Ari. “You will rot in
hell.”

“You first.” Ari released the arrow and watched it strike
the asphalt on the other side. The arrow splattered black blood
around it when it embedded into the road.

Bathin slumped forward and fell to the ground. Her body
discolored instantly to gray then black then flaked like ash. It
was done.

Ari hurried to Sasha.
His eyes were closed and his head was bleeding.
His breathing was rapid, like he was having a nightmare. He
twitched and moaned in pain.

“Sasha.
Sasha, you’re okay.” Ari bit her lip as her voice cracked
and cleared her throat. Ari reached out and took his hand in hers
and lent him some of her strength. “Sasha, it’s okay. You did a
great job.”

He relaxed and his eyes fluttered. His face scrunched up
and his nose wrinkled. Then his eyes opened. It was the most
beautiful sight. He pushed himself slowly up and looked at her
carefully and confusedly.

“Sasha?
It’s Ari.” Had she been too late? Had she managed to erase
him in the second Ari had hesitated?

“I know that. But why are you here? Where’s
Bathin?”

Ari lunged and wrapped her arms around him. She couldn’t
stop the tears. She just sobbed into him.

“Ari, it’s okay.
Whatever it is it is okay. It’s done.” He wrapped
his arms around her and let her cry. He didn’t say anything until
she had stopped and was more or less just sniffling. “We still need
to find Leonidas and we have about an hour and a half left before
the sun sets.”

“Right.” Ari sniffed and then as an afterthought kissed the
wound on his head. “All better.”

He smiled. “It feels better.”

Ari watched the wound close as he stood. “Of course it
does. I kissed it.” She pulled off his sword. “Take this heavy ass
thing.”

He buckled the belt and Ari saw his eyes fall on the bloody
arrow and the almost nonexistent body. He didn’t say anything but
she saw him frown and try to put the pieces together.

Ari took his hand and drew him away.
“I was there.” She pointed to
the roof. “And I heard her tell you that the only thing you would
remember is her and how much you want to please her. I shot the
first from up there. The second from the air on the way down, and
the third point blank.”

“That’s not what I was frowning about.” He reached over and
pulled an arrow out of the quiver and handed it to her. “There’s a
reason Da only wants these used for emergencies.”

Ari studied the Script spiraling down the shaft as Sasha
walked a few feet away into the neighbor’s yard and picked up the
sheath of the cane then walked down the street some more. He was
probably searching for the blade.

It was Gaea Script but a much older form than what Leonidas
had taught her.
Holding the arrow Ari could almost see herself sitting on a
stump humming and whittling the shaft. The realization came at
once.

“These were hers. The original Gaea. From her first form,
from the beginning. She made these. This is by her hand.” Ari
snatched up the other two loosed arrows from the pile of ash and
chased after him. She didn’t bother with the blackened one. “Sasha.
Answer me.”

“You didn’t ask a question.” He picked up the blade from a
flower bed and put it back in the cane.

“You know what I’m talking about.”
She huffed.

“I do, but I don’t know if what you say is true.
I
do
know the arrows
have the oldest recorded form of Gaea Script on them if that
helps.”

Ari shoved the arrows back into the quiver. “Come on. If
you’re done frustrating me, we have to find Leonidas. I know how to
do it.”

He smiled mischievously and nodded without speaking. Ari
was afraid to ask him what that smile meant.

Ari took his hand and dragged him to the backyard of her
house.
“Or
at least you told me how to do it.”

“Told you
what?”

She let him go once they were within the white picket
fence.
Her
circle still rested where she had left it. All the items seemed
completely untouched.

She stepped into the circle and stretched lazily.
Energy swirled in
the circle and embraced her like an old friend. Ari felt refreshed
and renewed.

“Ari,” Sasha stepped forward but did not enter the
circle.
“I
told you what? And why are we out in the open in your
backyard?”

Ari turned to him. “You told me, that Leonidas could
pinpoint my location no matter where in the world I was at,
right?”

Sasha nodded and spoke slowly. “It’s one of the strengths
of being a guardian. You still haven’t answered the backyard
question.”

“They can’t enter the picket fence. There’s too much of me,
just from this circle. We are, for the moment, completely
safe.”

He looked
skeptical but nodded.

Ari continued.
“If Leonidas is linked so closely with me that he
can find me wherever I am, whenever he wants, I should be able to
use that same link and find him.”

Sasha pursed his lips a moment. A face, she had never seen
before, but his face of frustration would mean leaving his guard
down. For him to pinch the bridge of his nose and close his eyes
would leave him way too exposed. At least in his mind.

“Okay,” he said finally, “it’s the best theory we have to
go on so far. What do you need?”

She shook her head. “Nothing.” She turned to the unlit
candle and set it to flame with a thought. Fire walked hand in hand
with sight. And she needed to see. Ari took a deep breath, exhaled
slowly and thought of what she wanted.

She wanted to see Leonidas.
Not necessarily from his point of view.
From above or next to him as long as she could tell to where find
him the viewpoint didn’t matter.

Ari hadn’t anticipated the rush of cold or the sudden
pain.
It
took a minute before she realized the pain was his. The only idea
she had on the cold was the darkness of the Tainted around
him.

“Where are you, Leonidas?”
she murmured and for a moment she felt his
eyes lock with hers. Then felt like she got socked in the face. Her
head snapped back and she took a few steps back. She could feel the
stickiness of blood running from her nose.

“Ari!”
Sasha moved around the circle to look at her. “Are you
okay?”

She wiped at the blood angrily. “I think he hit me. I
really do think he broke the connection on purpose.”

“You saw
him?”

“Yeah, but I
didn’t get much further than that before he sucker punched me.”

“You sure it
was him?”

“He was looking at me when he did it.” Ari
grumbled.

“He obviously
doesn’t want you saving him then.”

“Well he’s got another thing coming. Gaea said I needed him
for something so he’s just going to have to deal.” Ari wiped off
the rest of the blood and refocused, but nothing came. She put more
thought behind it and still nothing. She sighed. “He’s blocked me
somehow. I can’t see him anymore.”

“It was a good try. We’ll just have to try something
else.”

“We don’t have time for that. Give me the cane.”

Sasha held it
up and out but didn’t cross into the circle.

Ari laughed as she took it from him.
“A. The circle won’t hurt you.
B. There’s more than one way to skin a deer.”

“I take no chances.”
His fingers brushed over hers. “Just find
him.”

Ari turned to the east where the fans laid.
“He has to
breathe.” She touched the cane to the ground and felt everything
amplify.

Sasha choked a
cough.

Ari glanced at him but his back was to her.
His shoulders were
shaking with what could only be mirth. She couldn’t help the
grin.

“In and out.
Where does his breath fall?” She focused on the
heartbeat of air. Thousands of heartbeats rang in her ears.
“Leonidas. Where does his breath fall?”

The air swirled again and a hundred breathes shared the air
with Leonidas. Not only Tainted but Pure and Faithful. Even as she
flowed with the air some breaths stopped suddenly and some labored
and rattled to a stop. Death had claimed them. The fighting had
already started. And now she knew where.

Ari let the image go and turned to Sasha. “They’re in the
clearing. There’s Tainted and Pure and people that feel like you
and Nasya so I can only assume they’re Faithful to
Gaea.”

“Da must have called the Guild in.
There is a Sparta in Wisconsin,
Tennessee, New Jersey, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Missouri,
and Ohio. Of course there’s one in Mexico, Canada, Greece. It’s not
called Sparta in Japan or India but it still has the
heart.”

“There are some people there that aren’t Faithful but
aren’t Pure or Tainted either. I don’t know what they’re doing.
It’s only a matter of time before it bleeds into town. We need to
contain it there. No more innocent deaths.”

“What do you
suggest?”

Ari stepped out of the circle towards the woods.
“NASYA!”

She appeared instantly but not in the human façade. The
Kirin stood at Ari’s side. She tossed her head and stamped her
foot.

Ari understood completely.
She needed to be sure. She needed no
doubts about what she was about to do. A single doubt could be her
undoing.

“We’re going in, and we’re getting him out. You‘ve got my
back. That’s all I need. Let’s try to be stealthy about this. We
don’t need any attention.”

Sasha sighed. “That’s the best you can come up
with?”

Ari bristled. “The air isn’t really the best intelligence
source. Do you want to know how many Tainted are up there?
Thirteen. How many Pure? Twenty five. Spartans? Ten. Undeclared?
Fifteen. Those are only the breathing bodies. I can’t tell you how
many have died or what the terrain is covered with. That’s not how
I saw it. We have to look first. We can’t really formulate a good
plan without knowing what exactly needs done.”

Nasya
snorted.

“We’ll stay hidden in the trees and take a look.” Sasha
grabbed her arm before she could move. “If I have even the
slightest doubt that you’ll not make it out okay, you’re not going
in there.”

Ari smiled at him. “Have a little faith.”

He let go and Nasya dipped into the trees first, with Sasha
and Ari right on her heels. Ari prayed they made it in
time.

T
he forest was
quiet. Not
even their running stirred any of its creatures. It was a
clear sign that something was wrong. A sure sign that a larger
predator was afoot.

Ari didn’t immediately run.
She walked at slowly first through the
familiar trees and let her senses wake up to the woods. She walked
until her hearing sharpened and her eyes could cut through the
darkness. She let Gaea embrace her.

Nasya made no sound as she ran ahead.
No leaves or branches crunched
under her hooves nor did any trees rustle with the breeze of her
gallop. She was virtually invisible.

Ari didn’t make a sound either when she finally ran after
her.
She
knew instinctively when to jump or duck. She knew where every
creature dwelled and waited for the night to end. It was her
connection to Gaea and something she had learned in the forests
with Nasya. The longer she was part of the world, the more she
would feel and see.

Sasha wasn’t as quiet.
He wasn’t noisy either, but Ari could hear
his footfall and his breathing. She could hear the hard leather
that wrapped the hilt of his sword creak as his hand wrapped around
it.

Movement in a tree had her firing an arrow before she could
think twice about it. No scream came from her target but something
heavier than a forest animal hit the ground. Nasya reached whatever
it was first and stomped her hooves nervously.