Chapter 44
chaos theory
After a solemn morning meal, they packed up camp and armed themselves in silence, riding behind Takeshi and Natari for hours, until Natari signaled that they were getting close. Annika wanted to run away and hide, but she knew she couldn’t back down and put all of her friends at risk just because she was scared. They all were, to some degree. Even Konstantin seemed on edge. Only a fool would have no fear, knowing what magic the Pazachi druids possessed, and how brainwashed they’d become over time.
They left the horses, deer, and elk far behind and crept up as close to the cave as they dared, lying in stealth on their stomachs. Ohan was lucky to be able to have some large trees and boulders to hide behind. Hilda, Konstantin, Yuri, and Talvi drew their bows and silently released an arrow into the heart of each guard. The four men fell immediately in a pile of grey robes, fur cloaks, and horned helmets.
“That wasn’t so difficult,” Talvi said, looking a little disappointed. “I thought there would be more to it than that.”
“Oh there is,” Justinian said as everyone’s eyes opened wide. Another man dressed like the guards had come out of the cave and discovered the bodies and looked around anxiously before running back inside.
Then all hell broke loose.
The mouth of the cave was now filling with more robed men and women. The elves and nymphs released another round of arrows and three more Pazachi went down. Annika had only managed to hit one in the leg, but an arrow from Sariel found his chest before he could conjure one last spell against her. Cries went up into the air, and the Pazachi fighters began raising their arms, manifesting streams of fire and sharp daggers of ice from their hands before sending them flying towards their assailants. Annika screamed and ducked as a bolt of lightning zoomed past her face and exploded into a boulder not far behind her. The odor of burned canvas told her it had burned a hole right through her backpack, nearly taking off her head. A steady stream of fire, ice daggers, and lightning was slamming against the rocks with relentless force.
“Keep it up!” Nikola shouted as he cast a shield in front of himself and the others so they could advance. “Make them use up their strength!” One of the larger trees burst into flames and made a horrible groaning sound as it came crashing to the forest floor. It sent Finn, Yuri, Konstantin, and Zaven running from its path and into the crossfire. Zaven hunched over and landed on the ground on his hands and knees behind one of the smaller boulders. An array of the ice daggers had hit him in the back. The ground ripped open between them and the mouth of the cave, separating the Pazachi from their attackers. Something steamy hit Annika in the face, along with a pungent odor of sulphur she recognized from the time Vaj had been killed. She saw the bright orange glow of hot lava rising up through the crevice, threatening to spill all over everyone’s feet. Natari lifted her hands, coaxing a soft rain to combat the hot burning ground, rendering it into a steaming mass of rock that Sariel bounded forward over, her sword thirsty for blood. Ohan was beside her in a few short strides, swinging his huge axe over his shoulder, ready to release it any second. The Pazachi were clearly startled to see such a massive fighter, but nevertheless had drawn out swords of their own.
“Gather around me!” Justinian yelled, as he bravely walked forward to join Sariel and Ohan. Talvi, Zaven, Finn, Hilda, and Runa stayed farther back, shooting arrow after arrow while the druids took turns protecting them with their own magical powers. Something strange was happening to the air around Justinian. There was a giant dome of golden light covering him and Sariel, as though it were reflecting the metal of his armor. Konstantin, Yuri, and Annika joined them. She yelped as a woman ran straight for her, but Annika only took a deep breath and blocked her swing, then retaliated with a stab through her belly. It felt familiar, yet so wrong, like cutting through meat, but it was another person. The woman fell to the earth, writhing in pain. Annika froze in disbelief at what she had just done, but before she could get swept away by moral anguish, a man attacked her, hitting her sword so hard that he nearly knocked it out of her hands. He was able to get a few good swings at her, cutting her left arm. Their weapons engaged, she raised a leg and kicked him as hard as she could in the stomach. It knocked the wind out of him until Justinian’s mighty arm swung down, piercing the man through the chest with his broad sword. Another woman tried to tackle Annika, and she grabbed her with one hand, sending her flying over her back. Another man did the same thing, and was met with the same compromising position, on his back, on the wrong end of Annika’s plunging sword. His eyes rolled back into his head as shouts and cries bombarded her ears. She was shaking slightly, trembling with the adrenaline.
She could see that Sariel was reveling in the bloodbath, covered with red spatters and an insane grin as she slashed and stabbed and blocked and repeated. Annika had been in a cat fight or two, but she’d never killed anyone. Now she’d taken two lives in less time than it took her to lace up her shoes. But there wasn’t time to examine her thoughts on the matter. Under Justinian’s strange light, it was almost too easy as the Pazachi came at them. But as mysteriously as it had appeared, the light faded, and Justinian looked exhausted. There was chaos around them once again, along with the mud and steam, fire, lightning, rain and blood. Another man was running straight for Annika, larger than any of her other assailants. He winced and fell to his knees, only two feet away from her. She could see a blue-tipped arrow in his side. The wolves had taken down a few of the fallen Pazachi fighters and were ripping one of them apart. Intestines and internal organs were being dragged across the dirty snow, and Annika felt sick as she turned away from the gory sight. She heard a familiar voice shout in horrible pain and saw Finn struggling with one of the armed men. The end of the man’s sword had been sunken deep into his shoulder as his bow lay useless on the ground beside him. Zaven kicked the man upside the head and Konstantin grabbed him by his hair, slicing open his neck and gulping thirstily from the gushing wound.
“I will guard Finn,” he snarled to Zaven, his mouth still on the man’s neck. “You go help the others.” A woman screeched in horror at the sight of a vampire gulping mouthfuls of blood. She cast a multitude of icy daggers at him, to which he only made a flourish of his sword, stopping them all with moves too quick for the human eye to see, but Annika saw it clear as day. The woman was shot down by Hilda as a man charged at Konstantin next. He threw the body he’d been feeding on to the ground and ran so quickly that Annika was startled to see the man go flying backward, and then the vampire appeared right in front of him. He was so fast, she barely saw him slice the man’s neck before he began to swallow the elusive red elixir he’d gone months without. There was nothing romantic and swoony about his technique. He was as vicious and violent as either of his wolves. Hilda had come to aid Finn, pulling the sword out of his shoulder before applying pressure to the terrible wound. His blood was spurting onto the snowy leaves while he writhed in pain, but Konstantin held his ground beside them. His mouth and chin were dripping with deep, bright red blood, and his sword was ready for more.
Zaven now stood beside Talvi, dodging swings from three men. The combat was too close for them to draw their bows, but Talvi delivered an uppercut that sent one of them reeling back into the other. He reached down to his boot and grabbed his black-handled knife, jamming it into the man’s gut and twisting without a shred of mercy. Zaven took the dying man’s sword and ran after the third one. Slowly but surely, they were defeating the Pazachi, for all their magical capabilities couldn’t make up for the fact that they were only human.
Justinian found himself face to face with a man and a woman guarding the cave’s entrance, dressed in purple robes, not like the others who were lying dead or dying on the ground.
Zagora and Draganos! But which one do I choose? Annika heard in the paladin’s mind. They were both of equal distance to him. Zagora lifted her arm and a ball of fire grew under her hand. Draganos lifted his hand and blue and white sparks of electricity began to amass in hi
s palm. Annika knew even if Justinian killed one, the other would send him to the afterworld. Justinian raised his sword and sliced through Zagora’s neck, sending her head rolling across the leaves before she could release her ball of fire at him or anyone else. He turned around to face his fate like an honorable knight, but was shocked to see Draganos gasping for air as he fell backwards onto the ground with his arm outstretched. His heart had been pierced by a blue-tipped arrow. Talvi lowered his bow, wearing a relieved expression, but it immediately transformed as he screamed in horror,
“Yuri, look out!”
Annika saw Yuri turn around towards her brother just in time to get hit in the chest by a bright white lightning bolt. It had come from Draganos’ hand; as he breathed his last taste of life, he’d taken Yuri’s with him. The tall elf dropped her weapon and hit the muddy earth hard, landing in an awkward heap as everyone rushed over to her. Hilda ripped open her jacket, putting her head against Yuri’s chest as Konstantin knelt beside her in disbelief.
“Her heart has stopped!” Hilda cried, pushing at Yuri’s chest and trying to resuscitate her friend. Yuri’s open eyes stared at nothing as her head wobbled in reaction to Hilda’s lifesaving efforts.
“Even I cannot bring back the dead,” Justinian said with tears in his eyes. A horrible sound came out of Talvi, as he crawled to his twin sister’s side.
“Why did it have to be now?” he screamed into her unhearing ears. “Why did you have to get the curse of that damned prophecy?” Hilda looked up at him as she kept pushing at Yuri’s chest.
“What prophecy?”
“The one that our parents received when we were born,” he sobbed. “No one outside the family besides Sariel was ever told the last part…”
“What other part are you talking about?” Hilda choked, looking at her mother in disbelief.
“When the twins were born,” Sariel began, “Dragana’s great-grandmother told Ambrose and Althea that when they turned three-hundred, they would both fall in love. That’s when they would split apart, and the first twin born would die shortly after this birthday, ruling the Underworld with her lover. Yuri was marked for an early death all along.” Annika glanced over to Konstantin, and then to Finn, who ran to his sister’s side before falling on his hands and knees. He felt sick, and guilty, and shocked all at once. It was just too much for him. There were wails and sobs around them, disbelief that the elves and Sariel could ever have kept such a secret, and shock that Yuri was dead. Annika remembered her last tarot card from Yuri’s birthday party…Pesha had said that death would strike someone close to her. Striking the twin sister of her husband was someone very close to her indeed. Talvi curled up next to his sister, cradling her head in his hands, as he tried to talk sense into her limp body.
“I tried so hard, Yuri,” he pleaded with her vacant eyes. “I tried so hard not to love anyone more than you.”
“Stop doing that. It is of no use,” Konstantin said quietly to Hilda, who ceased her futile attempts at bringing Yuri back to life. The vampire sat beside the brothers and gathered Yuri in his arms, unconcerned with the last light of the sunset hitting his skin. The fresh blood of two men had made him strong, but the loss of Yuri had made him too weak to stand. He held her against his chest and bowed his head in silent anguish while the others stood nearby. Konstantin hadn’t revealed much about himself to anyone, but now he bore his soul in front of them all.
“Come back to me Yuri, my love,” he said as he looked down at her. “Come away from the light. Come back to me.” His shoulders shook violently as he cried in silence, sending red rivers of fresh tears down his bloody chin. They collected and dripped to her face, some landing on her cheeks and some landing onto her parted lips. He bit his tongue and bent down to kiss her passionately one last time, making sure to make it count.
Finn gasped. At first Annika and Hilda thought it was from the injury in his shoulder, but then they saw what he was seeing. Yuri’s limp hand had lifted from its place on the ground and was slowly reaching up Konstantin’s body as she kissed him back. He lifted his mouth away from hers and Annika saw past his long blond hair that Yuri’s eyes were still open, but she was looking around in a drugged daze. The vampire bit his wrist and pressed it to her mouth, while slowly sinking his teeth into an old wound on her neck. At first, Talvi jumped forward as though to stop this, but the memory of a conversation he’d shared with Yuri stopped him. They had agreed to let each other choose who they loved, and now it was Talvi’s turn to honor that agreement.
Konstantin rocked back and forth ever so slightly, and Annika realized that they were exchanging blood. He took Yuri’s elven blood into his body and transformed it, giving her all his vampiric qualities. He took one last mouthful before pulling away, letting her nurse from his wrist for a moment longer. He wiped his red tear-stained face as she took her first few breaths as a vampire. She blinked her eyes, which had changed from dark brown to a deep shade of purple.
“What happened?” she whispered faintly. “Why am I so thirsty?”
There were more sobs and cries from the group as everyone gathered even closer around her.
“You died! You died and you came back, Yuri!” Runa wailed. Talvi was overwhelmed and at a loss for words. He hadn’t cared much for vampires at all, until this very moment.
“Konstantin brought you back from the dead!” Runa went on, helping him to raise her friend to a sitting position. Yuri seemed confused, but she had noticed that all the bite wounds on her own arms were completely gone. She looked up at Konstantin, and he gazed at her softly.
“Did you know that I kept every letter you ever sent me?” he asked, and a smile spread across both of their faces. “I have them all with me in my saddlebag. I read them every chance I get.”
“I kept yours too,” Yuri said, still looking delirious. “I read them every day.”
“My love for you must have brought you back from the dead. Nothing else could have done such a thing,” he murmured. This time he kissed her so passionately that the others respectfully turned around, towards the menacing cave. A teenage girl was kneeling over Draganos and his decapitated wife, with Talvi’s arrow still in the chest that she was crouched over. Loud wails came from behind her long brown hair.
“Which one of you did this?” she shrieked hysterically, covered in their blood. “Which one of you murdered my mother and father?” Hilda and Justinian helped Finn up to his feet while Takeshi and Natari led them over to the girl with his sword still in his hand. She didn’t try to run away from them, although she fought with Talvi bitterly as he caught her thin arms.
“You’ll be our little tour guide,” he said, immune to her attempts at escape. “If you’re the daughter of Draganos and Zagora, then you definitely know what we’re here for.”