Warrior Rising (Harlequin Nocturne) Read online

  If the gate hadn’t been located so close to the prison, she’d never have made it. She was certain her mind would never survive the journey through the nightmares for any length of time again.

  It had taken her years to recover the first time.

  She glanced at the pair kissing passionately only a few yards away. The slave, a Marceillian priestess, was still dressed in the lavender ceremonial gown that must have once belonged to her ancestors. The Marceils, the slave race of Esria, resembled the humans with their dark hair and tanned skin, though the Marceils were quite a bit shorter. This one had somehow become unenslaved until one of Ilaria’s guards caught her, shearing her hair from her head and stealing the power she’d raised against them.

  The human had surprised them all, refusing to leave the little slave behind.

  Interesting, but of little import. Of far more importance was that at last she was free to pursue revenge and retribution against the one who’d imprisoned her, the one who’d ordered her mother’s death then set himself upon the throne in the queen’s place. The vile, dangerous Caller, King Rith—the only man in Esria capable of calling the dark power for which the stones of Orisis had been created, and enslaving not only the human realm, but Esria as well.

  Never had she known a more dangerous man. If only her mother had seen the truth behind that smile. If only the queen had heeded Ilaria’s warning. She lifted her chilled face, her gaze turning to the vastness of the human heavens and the million points of light. Fifteen hundred years had passed since she’d lifted her arms to the human sky and called down the magic to seal eleven of the twelve gates between the worlds, leaving behind not only the six evil green stones of Orisis, but also the blue draggon stone, the source of much of the queen’s power and the key that opened all the gates. Unable to seal them all, she’d obscured that final gate, one deep in the Banished Lands, hoping no Esri would ever find it. For fifteen centuries, none had until the Esri, Baleris, found his way through. A few months later, the draggon stone passed through the gate, only for a few minutes, but it was enough. The draggon stone was the key that unlocked all the gates. Now all twelve were open and she had no doubt King Rith had sent men to search for the stones.

  Stopping him would be difficult, if not impossible, for she’d left the stones with a human. Now, fifteen centuries later, they could be anywhere in this vast world. She had to get her hands on them before Rith did if she wanted any chance of thwarting him. Which meant she must escape her captors.

  Ilaria glanced again at the couple. The kissing had ended, but they remained huddled together, soft words catching on the chill breeze. Words of love and commitment. She ought to be surprised, perhaps, that a human would fall so completely for a Marceil. Humans tended to fear anything or anyone different than themselves.

  Then again, she’d taken the measure of this particular slave and found her to be a woman of uncommon courage. The man clearly recognized that. Perhaps he was without the fears and prejudices of so many of his race. Perhaps, in fifteen centuries, the humans had changed.

  Regardless, the pair were wasting time.

  “Why did you capture me?” Ilaria asked loudly.

  The male looked up, tucking the Marceil against his side. “We rescued you, Princess.” With a soft oath, he reached beneath his tunic and withdrew a… She didn’t have a word for it. Though language came to her automatically, she needed to touch a human, a non-Sitheen, to learn all the things humans knew.

  Her captor touched the small gray rectangle repeatedly with his thumb, then scowled. “Phone’s dead,” he muttered. “The battery was designed to last, which means the magic probably fried it.”

  He took the Marceil by the hand as he met Ilaria’s gaze. “Let’s get moving and I’ll explain as we walk. If we don’t find shelter soon, we’re going to freeze to death.” He grunted. “I’m going to freeze to death.” He was the only one of the three who wasn’t, from a human standpoint, immortal.

  Without a second glance, the pair started off, leaving Ilaria standing in the snow. Rescued, he’d said. She hurried to catch up. “Why did you rescue me?” she demanded.

  The man glanced back at her. “Were you the one who sealed the gates?”

  She could deny it, but the very fact that he’d gone to such lengths to free her made it clear he already knew the answer.

  “You wish me to seal them again?”

  He nodded. “We have the seven stones.”

  She nearly stumbled with surprise. They had them all, the six stones of Orisis and her own draggon stone. Astonishing, considering the number of human lifetimes that had passed. Hope bloomed within her. Stopping Rith might not be so difficult after all.

  “You’ll return the stones to me, of course.”

  He met her gaze, something hard entering his eyes. “We need your help, Princess, but you’ll forgive us if we have a hard time trusting the Esri. Any Esri. When we’re certain you mean to seal the gates, we’ll let you have the stones to do it. Until then, they’ll remain hidden.”

  Her jaw compressed, anger sparking inside her. The only reason the humans had the stones was because she’d given them to them. They were hers, not theirs.

  But the gleam of steel she glimpsed in the man’s eyes told her that no show of temper was likely to get her what she wanted.

  Trust. She was going to have to win his trust. Which would take time she might not have.

  With effort, she quieted her angry tongue. “Where are we?”

  “I wish I knew. If I had to guess, I’d say northern Europe. Maybe Canada. It’s damn cold, wherever it is.”

  “If you don’t know where we are, I assume that means the stones are a distance away?”

  “They’re with my friends back in D.C. And the one thing I’m sure of is we’re not anywhere near D.C.”

  “What is Dee Cee?”

  “Washington, D.C. In the U.S.” He glanced at her and grimaced. “Hell, you don’t have any idea what I’m talking about, do you?”

  “I do not.”

  “It doesn’t matter. That’s where we’re going.”

  She could ask for nothing more. “If I’m not your prisoner, then untie me, human. Walking with my hands behind my back is tedious.”

  “It’s Charlie, not human, and this is Tarrys.” His voice softened, filling with a soft wonder as he glanced at the Marceil. “My soon-to-be wife.” He turned back to Ilaria, his expression hardening again. “As I’m sure you’ve noticed, I have a death mark or two.”

  “You fear I’ll take your life.” Esri, linked as they were, knew at once when one of their own had been killed, and by whose hand. Through the magic of their world, the killer acquired a death mark that all Esri could sense and follow. And upon which every Esri had long ago been ordered to act.

  No mere human would acquire such a mark. Only a Sitheen.

  “It crossed my mind,” Charlie said. “It’s a compulsion, isn’t it? To kill those with a death mark?”

  “A compulsion? No. It was a law enacted eons ago. A law I’ve broken more than once and have no qualms about breaking again. I don’t take life unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

  “Admirable.” But the way he said the word told her he doubted her sincerity.

  “Is Dee Cee where the unsealed gate came through?”

  “Yes.”

  “How many full moons will it take us to reach it?”

  A hint of amusement crinkled the corners of the human’s—Charlie’s—eyes. “Once I get a hold of my brother, we should be back there in a day. Two at the most.”

  Ilaria frowned. “How can you know that if you don’t know where we are? I’ve been in the human realm, Charlie. I have some sense of its vastness.”

  “Things have changed since you were here last, Princess. With a little cash, we can get anywhere in the world in a couple of days now.”

  She stared at him, startled. “Humans have acquired magic.”

  Charlie’s smile flashed white in the moonlight. “Not magic. Te
chnology, though it may seem the same to you.”

  She pondered that, finding the thought exhilarating. For too long she’d been trapped in a forest glade devoid of newness, devoid of stimulation of any kind but for the conversation of the men who’d been imprisoned with her. A new and exciting human world was exactly what her mind craved.

  The snow grew thicker, the walking more difficult. In the distance, the glow of light told her they’d stumbled upon other humans. And she was still tied. Her excitement turned back to annoyance. “If you want my help, human, and I believe you do or you’d not have risked the Forest of Nightmares to free me, then you must trust me. Release me from these bonds.”

  Charlie’s gaze cut to her. “Will you help us? Will you seal all of the gates this time and leave the stones with us as you did before?”

  The keen intelligence in his eyes warned her that he’d hear the lie in her words if she wasn’t careful. So she answered with the truth.

  “If what you say is true, I will help you.” And she would, though not in the way he meant. Not in the way he wanted.

  No, the gates would not be sealed this time. The stones would never again be left in human hands. She would not make that mistake twice.

  Chapter 2

  Harrison rested his hand on the cold roof of the police cruiser, one of a dozen cars they’d parked in the grass of Dupont Circle Park. The fire ring blazed brightly in the falling snow, lighting the huge, chalice-shaped, marble fountain it circled.

  It was almost midnight.

  His hand went to his head, adjusting the riot helmet Jack had procured for them on short notice. All the Sitheen were now armed with helmets and bulletproof vests, hand shields and flame throwers, like some kind of bizarre urban army straight out of a sci-fi flick. Sadly, other than the movie part, that was exactly what they were.

  If he’d owned an old-fashioned suit of armor, he’d have put it on. If the Marceils coming through that gate were half the archers Tarrys had been, the arrows would find any hole, any weakness. And Larsen’s vision would still come true.

  Next time, if there was a next time, they were meeting the invasion with complete head-to-toe body armor.

  He prayed they got another chance. What if they didn’t? What if they all died tonight? Who would be left to fight this war? Odds were, there were other Sitheen scattered around the world, but would they figure out what was going on before it was too late? Would they be able to stop the invasion when he and his friends had failed, or would the Esri hunt them down, one after another, and kill them before they ever had a chance?

  A cold fist closed around his heart at the fear that his kids would meet that same fate. Sam and Stephie had been with him the first time he encountered an Esri. He’d taken them to see a matinee of The Lion King at the Kennedy Center then watched in horror as everyone in the theater turned into a zombie and started toward them as if to tear them limb from limb. All three of them would have died that day, he knew that now, if Larsen hadn’t foreseen their deaths and come to warn them. If not for hers and Jack’s intervention, they would have died.

  He’d told Gwen, his ex-wife, to get the kids out of D.C. and keep them there until this was over. He was pretty sure she’d taken them and gone to stay with one of her cousins in Pennsylvania, but he’d told her not to tell him. There was no telling what an Esri could do and it was safer for the kids if he didn’t know.

  But he called every couple of days to make sure they were all right, never losing hope that Stephie would recover from whatever that Esri bastard, Baleris, had done to her.

  They had to win tonight. Who would protect his kids if they failed?

  Six Sitheen and Kade circled the fountain, waiting for the night’s coming invasion. Jack had convinced Larsen to wait in the car, out of harm’s way, with Kade’s human soon-to-be wife, Autumn, and the retirees of the group, Aunt Myrtle and Norm. Norm had joined them only recently. A Sitheen and retired firefighter, he’d been the one to oversee the fire ring tonight.

  Larsen had argued vehemently to be part of the fight, but though she was a warrior at heart, her battleground of training had been the courtroom. Harrison grunted. He’d never been a soldier himself, but he’d always been an athlete and he was a damned sight stronger than the Esri. In the past months, he’d procured the services of a fight coach to teach him the finer points of hand-to-hand combat. And that’s exactly what this was likely to come down to. Unless the arrows hit their mark.

  Or unless fate finally smiled on them and the fire circle worked. The plan was simple. The only way to kill an Esri was to set him on fire and sing the death chant. At the first sign of invasion, the Sitheen would start chanting. If any of the Esri tried to breach the wall of flame, they’d die.

  In all probability, they wouldn’t be so foolish, resulting in a standoff, the best possible scenario. This might be war, but they’d learned from Kade and a couple of others that not all Esri meant the humans harm. If they could keep them on their own side of the gate, all the better. If not, they’d try to capture them. If that failed, they’d do whatever they must to stop them.

  They had no choice. The freedom of the entire human race was at stake.

  He took another look around, satisfied that all the non-Sitheen cops and firefighters had pushed back to the other side of the street circling the park. Even though they wore bands of holly—a natural protection against enchantment—they were potentially vulnerable to Esri control. Nearby roads had all been closed. Harrison had to wonder what the locals thought was going on. The cops, too, for that matter. Only a handful at the top knew the truth. The last thing anyone wanted was panic.

  The rhythmic tone of his cell phone startled him, sending his heart into a quick pound. A glance at the number told him nothing, except it wasn’t his brother’s phone. He swallowed back his disappointment, hesitated, then answered.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, big bro. Mission accomplished.”

  “Charlie.” Harrison closed his eyes, tipping his head back. Thank you, God. “It’s Charlie!” he yelled.

  He wasn’t the only one who’d been praying for this phone call. A chorus of cheers erupted around the circle.

  “Where are you?”

  “Iceland.”

  “Iceland. Did you get the princess?”

  “Of course. I’ll fill you in when you get here. Fly to Reykjavik and call this number and I’ll tell you where to meet us.”

  “What about Tarrys?”

  “She’s with me. I could knock your front teeth out for letting her come, but I won’t. I never would have made it without her.”

  “I didn’t let her come. She was going with or without my consent. She just wanted to make sure someone knew she wasn’t coming right back.”

  “Well, she’s with me permanently now.” A soft note that Harrison didn’t think he’d ever heard before entered his brother’s voice. “She just agreed to be my wife.”

  Harrison’s jaw dropped.

  “‘Congratulations’ would be the appropriate response,” Charlie drawled after the silence stretched too long.

  “Right.” Hell. “It’s nearly midnight and we’ve got the gate circled in fire. Call me back in a couple of hours and I’ll let you know when I’ll be there.” He cleared his throat. “Charlie… Larsen had a vision about the gate tonight. If you don’t hear from me, you’ll have to find your own way back.”

  Silence. “You’re doing something different, I hope, to change the outcome?”

  “Of course. But we won’t know if it’s enough until it’s over. Glad you’re back, brother.”

  “Be careful, Harrison.” Charlie’s triumphant tone had turned worried. He was the only true soldier of the group, and Harrison knew it must be killing him to be too far away to help with this fight. “I’ll wait for your call.”

  Harrison hung up the phone.

  “Did he get the princess?” Jack called.

  “He did.” And he thought he was marrying Tarrys. No way in hell. Tarrys
was cute enough, in a little-to-no-hair kind of way. But she wasn’t human. Not to mention the fact that Charlie had never paid her any real attention even though Tarrys had been obviously smitten with him from the start. Just how badly had she enchanted him? And Charlie had damn well better be enchanted, because if he thought he was bringing an immortal into the family…

  Dammit. Harrison shoved the phone back in his pocket. All he wanted was his world back to normal. Was that too much to ask? An immortal sister-in-law was not the way to accomplish that.

  “Where are they?” Jack asked.

  “Iceland. He has Tarrys with him, too.”

  “It’s about time something went right.”

  “So, what’s the deal with Larsen’s vision?” one of the new recruits called. “I thought the Esri were coming early.”

  Harrison stilled, his gaze slamming into Jack’s. “When Larsen said there was no fire…”

  “We assumed…” Jack grimaced. “It’s almost midnight.”

  Ah, hell.

  As if on cue, the fire went out as if it had never been. No, they weren’t coming early, they just had someone who could put out the fire.

  “Call Norm,” one of the recruits called.

  “Esri!” another yelled.

  Chaos erupted as dark forms leaped from the fountain. Harrison’s pulse began to pound as a dozen short archers in gray slaves’ robes began firing arrows in every direction. Marceils. Just as Larsen had foreseen.

  “Stay down!” Jack’s voice rang over the park.

  Harrison ducked behind the car he was using as a shield. Moments later, the taller Esri began to leap out of the gate dressed in dark hooded cloaks that all but hid their extreme paleness. The Sitheen had hoped the fire would turn the invasion into a standoff. Now it was clear they were in for a full-scale battle.

  Gunshots rang through the park as a couple of the humans attempted to take down the Marceils. The immortal slaves wouldn’t stay down, but a gunshot seemed to take minutes for them to heal, rather than seconds, as it did the Esri.