Page 40 of Lies That Bleed
I followed, keeping as silent as I could.
There were two soldiers in plain clothes leaning against the barn and scanning the woods. One held a bow in his hands, and the other a long broadsword. Neither had creatures with them, which meant they were either in the woods, or creatureless, which I doubted. I couldn’t tell who these guys were. One looked like he could be Luskin, but without him speaking I wouldn’t know.
Both men suddenly peered up to the sky, and I followed their gaze to see Onyx flying circles above, drawing their attention.
Kohen pulled the pipe to his lips and leapt from the cover of the trees, shooting darts and hitting bothmen in the neck before they even realized what was happening.
They both reached up and grabbed the darts at the same time, trying to yank them out, but then fell to the ground before they could.
“Holy crap, Kohen,” I breathed. “Are they dead?”
He narrowed his gaze. “They should be. They stole your creature, Aisling.”
I sighed. He was right. I glanced at the men to see they were still breathing, and I was reminded of Meera bragging about being able to make poisons and sleeping tinctures. Had Kohen gotten them from her?
My gaze fell to the men’s boots. They could be Fleet-issued… it was hard to tell in the darkness and they were covered in dirt.
“Behind you,” Kohen said suddenly and I spun, bending low to pull the dagger from my boot as I did. A wolf creature was already halfway in the air, pouncing at me. I reached up with my blade and met it, stabbing it right through the heart. Shock coursed through me as the animal twitched on the end of my blade and then slid off of it, dead, on the ground.
I turned to Kohen with wide eyes to see that he had just taken out a coyote creature. They’d attacked at the same time. They must belong to the two men. My heart raced, palms sweaty, as I looked down at the evidence of what we’d done. I’d never harmed another person’s creature before.
“They were coming to kill us,” Kohen told me.
I nodded numbly. One gift I had was the ability to compartmentalize trauma. I stuffed this event into my little black box inside and wiped my blade on the grass. The men would wake up and find their bonded dead…
“It’s called self-defense, Aisling,” Kohen said, and I cleared my throat, nodding again.
“Let’s go inside. I feel her.” I tapped my chest.
Kohen didn’t seem fazed about gutting the coyote creature, and it made me wonder what he’d done in his life to survive. It reminded me of what he’d said in The Wilds, about doing anything to survive. It was both scary and commendable. He opened the door and slipped inside and I followed him.
“Hey! Who are you?” someone with a Marble Shores accent asked, and I looked up to see a man running at us with a sword in his hand.
Kohen froze, slipping his hand into mine. “Whoa, chill, bro. I was just trying to find some place to be alone with my girl.”
The way he so easily slipped into character told me he’d lied often over the years to do things like this. But why was the man’s accent from Marble Shores? Why would my own people be involved in this? My mind spun.
The man slowed, lowering his sword, and seeming less alarmed.
“Parker! Cane!” The man approached us, calling outside to his buddies.
When the man got close enough, Kohen dropped my hand and exploded forward, cracking the side of his temple with the butt of a dagger and knocking him out cold. He must be creatureless, because no animal jumped out to defend him.
I felt it then, a kick to the chest like my heart had just woken up after being asleep my entire life.
Liana.
I leapt over the fallen man’s body, weaving in and out of crates and hay bales that were stacked up inside of the giant barn.
“Liana!” I screamed frantically. I could feel her now. She was in pain, weak. Kohen’s footsteps sounded behind me, and then I turned the corner and found her. I gasped when I saw what had become of my creature. She was tiny, only about ten pounds if I were guessing, and twelve inches long, bare of feathers. A baby bird. They had her pinned to the ground with a glowing golden net. Some strong magic had been infused into the net and I reached out to grasp it and try to pry it off of her when Kohen yanked me backward.
“That looks protective in nature. It could kill you.”
“We need to get it off her!” I growled. I wasn’t mad at Kohen. I was mad at whoever did this to her. This was powerful creature magic.
“Stand back. Let me try something,” Kohen said. I frowned, taking a step back, and he knelt before thenet holding Liana. She stared up at him with wise purple eyes, unafraid but clearly in pain.
“Onyx, help me,” Kohen whispered, and then opened his palms.
