“What should we do?” I asked, voice lower than a whisper.
Nikon grabbed my hand. “The only thing we can.”
“We fight.” It wasn’t a question, but I didn’t want it to be a statement either. With warriors waiting for us, we’d be hard pressed. That didn’t account for the other warriors who’d return after they realized we weren’t where Ahnum led them.
“Can you fight, Dorian?” Nikon asked.
“I used to be able to hold my own.” Dad’s voice was shaky.
“Take this. Cass, ready your weapons. We’ll have the element of surprise. They’re standing around, talking.” Nikon’s words gave me a spark of hope.
Husani said, “I’ll help protect Dorian and Edita. We’ll make it out of this.”
“I think I can get Edita out if you help protect us, Nikon,” Apaesia said.
“Consider it done.”
I untwisted my cane and readied my fighting sticks. Nikon grabbed my right arm and ushered me forward. The voices carried out to us, becoming loud enough that I knew they weren’t far off. Nikon gave my arm a squeeze, before letting go.
Less than a moment later, men and women screamed. Someone pushed past me. Apaesia? The sound of fighting grew, the scent of fresh air mixed with the tang of metal and sweat.
The buzz of someone charging me came sooner than I expected. I whipped my fighting sticks up to block them. The jolt down my arm when the hit connected throbbed up to my shoulder. My stick should have broken but didn’t.
My attacker swore, probably not expecting me to have blocked her in the first place. I swiped toward her but was hit back. I lunged forward with my second stick and bashed it on the side of her torso.
She screamed but kept coming at me. Rain pebbled down, the first water in ages, light at first but quickly turning hard. The ground was slick beneath my feet. I didn’t stand a chance if this fight went on for much longer, so I aimed for where I expected her head to be. It took a couple tries, before a solid thwack slammed into her.
The buzzing lessened, but didn’t release entirely, as she hit the ground. Someone else was coming at me. Two people, according to the feeling slamming through me from my weapons.
As I blocked them, I yelled, “We have to get out of here.”
“Coming your way.” Nikon’s voice was farther away than I expected.
I did what I could against my two attackers, worrying in the back of my mind about what happened to my father. Where did he go? I hoped he was close, not injured, and that Apaesia was making it out with Mom.
A blade got through my defenses and scratched my side. I shoved it away before it could do more damage, and kept up my assault. The noise of fighting came closer. That had to be Nikon. Most of the warriors would have gone after him, as he was the biggest threat.
As I spun to block an attack from behind me, Apaesia cried out. She was close. I darted to the side, toward her.
“I’m fine.” But her words were panted out, labored with more than just carrying my mom.
I didn’t believe Apaesia for a moment, but there wasn’t time to do more than fight against those we had to get past. Someone was coming at me, from the tingle in my weapon. I lunged forward, my amant dress ripping up my leg.
My weapon crashed down on someone, pounding into them with unexpected force. The stick was adding its strength to my own, something it’d never done before. It was odd, but I’d take any help I could get.
“Dad,” I called out. “Where are you?” Too late, I realized I should have called him by his name, and not his relation to me.
“Behind you,” he wheezed.
He wasn’t far off. I needed him closer, but at least I wouldn’t accidentally bash him.
The fighting continued for far longer than I wanted. I needed us to get out of here. I had a feeling time was running out. The main fight where I expected Nikon to be came closer.
“They’ve got an enhanced neczar,” Nikon yelled.
No way we’d get away from the creature that’d been created and trained with magic. “What do we do?”
There was an explosion, deafening, and a strong pulse that threw me backward. I landed with a pained umpf. Everything hurt. I couldn’t move, until I realized I was just stunned. I shook myself out, the sounds around me muted.
Nikon must have had another of those bombs he’d used in the fight to kidnap the Reding and Vading. Would it stall the warriors and neczar? Doubtful. As my hearing slowly came into focus, I struggled to my feet. Nothing felt injured, just rattled.
Nikon grabbed my arm and pulled me to the side. “Run.”
I did as he directed, hoping that my father, mother, Husani, and Apaesia were with us. We needed to get out of here, but how? The remaining warriors were chasing after us, their footsteps echoing.
The ground became rougher faster than I expected. The rain was harsh, washing the fighting off us. It needed to keep up so it would knock the enhanced neczar chasing after us off our scent. That would cover our tracks, leaving us some freedom.
The footsteps behind us finally came to a stop.
“I’m sorry,” Dad said. “I can’t go on.”
Nikon let go of me.
“You have to. They’re going to catch us if you don’t.” Panic colored my words as I turned toward him.
He gasped for breath. “I’m sorry. I was locked up so long, there’s no strength left in these old bones.”
“You can’t give up. Not now. We’re so close.” I would carry him if it was possible. “Please do this. For me.”
“I’ll try.”
“I can carry you,” Husani said.
“But then you won’t be able to fight.” The despair in my dad’s voice made me shiver. What must he have been through?
I put my sticks together and reached out to where he’d last been, hoping to find Nikon. All I got was empty space. “Nikon?”
“He’s gone,” Apaesia said, voice strained.
“He’ll be back.” He wouldn’t leave us—unless he’d been taken when she wasn’t watching. What happened to him? The panic knotted and twisted in my stomach, leaving me grasping for an answer neither of us had.
Apaesia breathed so loudly, it was a wonder all the warriors weren’t on us.
“How badly are you injured?” I asked.
“Not bad. A cut on my left arm. It’s making it harder to carry Edita.”
Perfect. Me—a blind woman—and four others who needed to get away from here as soon as possible. Husani might have an idea what to do, but I wouldn’t go anywhere without Nikon. Where was he?
“We should keep going. Husani, help protect us please. Dad, give me your arm. We’ll pull each other along.”
I reached out, and this time found someone. My dad’s arm was thin and bony, so different than Nikon’s, which I was used to holding. Dad’s weakness made my heart sting. If only I’d known where they were sooner. Not that we were in the clear now.
We’d only gone a few steps forward, when Nikon said from close by, “Sorry. Had to check. But we have to run. The neczar is coming for us.”