Page 11 of Urzra

Chapter Eight

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COWERING ON THE INSIDE, Bria already missed the peace and quiet of her life and she hadn’t even left the island yet.Urzra had taken charge and she’d let him, so far.Her mind had been in disarray as she’d packed some belongings and food before leaving her house.Now she was sitting on a speedboat that had probably cost a small fortune and was about to fight for her life.

This time, Deumos and his cronies stopped a safe distance away.She reached towards them with her power as Urzra got the motor running, but she couldn’t quite ensnare them.Her father’s eyes were locked on her and he was sneering in contempt.Clearly, he’d figured out she’d forced him and his men to leave her house.

Urzra started reversing the boat and Deumos raised his rifle.Bria ducked when a shot rang out.The knight muttered something beneath his breath, then they surged backwards.He spun the wheel and zoomed away from the other boats.A second shot was fired and Bria hissed in pain.

“Bria?”the warrior said in alarm, turning to face her.

“I’m okay,” she said, glancing at her left bicep to see it had been grazed.“It’s just a flesh wound,” she told him.

Deumos fired off another few rounds, but Urzra gunned it and cleared the pier.He aimed the boat towards the mainland far in the distance.Bria watched the soldiers sprint to the other boats and examine them.“Bye, bye, psycho,” she muttered mockingly, lifting her hand to wave.Deumos glared at her, but he didn’t bother to shoot at them again.They were already out of range of their bullets.

“Tell me something, female,” her huge companion said.His tone was conversational, but she could sense his surprise and unease.

“What do you want to know?”she said, checking her injury to see it was healing quickly.

“Why did I feel your pain when you were shot just now?”Urzra asked.

Bria wasn’t surprised to hear his question, since she’d experienced the same thing when he’d been badly wounded.“I’m guessing it’s for the same reason why I felt you being bitten by the shark last night,” she replied.

Urzra turned to give her an incredulous look.“You felt my torment?”

“How else do you think I found you out in the ocean in the middle of the night?”she retorted.“I saw the gold comet fall, then I felt like I’d just been bitten by a shark a short while later.I headed to the beach and sensed you, then borrowed the boat to go to your rescue.”

“Why did you save me from death, Bria Janke?”he asked, expression and tone intense.

“I just had to,” she said with a helpless shrug.“I could tell your soul was white, so I figured you probably wouldn’t hurt me.I don’t know why we can feel each other’s pain, though.”

“Fate must be behind this,” he mused, turning back to watch the ocean ahead.“I’ve never heard of knights and cambions having any sort of connection before,” he said.“But we have a link.It’s obvious we should be working together against our foes.”

Bria made a noncommittal noise and took out the map she’d snagged along with her e-reader and charger.“It’ll take a while to reach land,” she said.“Do you think more of your foes will be waiting for us there?They had walky-talkies with them.”

“I hope not,” Urzra said.“The information in my head is telling me they should be out of range of their squad, if Rahab’s base is in Manhattan.We should be able to escape from them once we reach the mainland and sprint for a couple of hours.”