Mundahlia (The Mundahlian Era, #1) (39 page)

Jett

37

“This is why I didn’t want you all to come with me!”

We had just finished a battle after running into some guards before we were able to get to the castle. We’d thought there would only be a few, but we were wrong and had to defend ourselves once the gates opened and a flood of them headed toward us. In the end, we prevailed, but not without bruises and scrapes. Nicolas on the other hand, was hurt—badly. A sliced leg and broken arm that hung limp in the cradle he made with his other hand. It reminded me of the way Rini’s wrist looked and brought an unpleasant memory back into my mind. Nina sustained minor injuries—a cut on the head and arm, but she was still lively and ready for more action. “That’s it?” she’d said after tearing the last guard to shreds. The skin around Vicktor’s right eye was deeply slashed—definitely going to scar. Frederick’s back was nearly all purple from being tossed around like a child’s toy. Ray was crying to himself over a cut on the leg—that wuss. I had a small nick across the back of my hand from when the blade of a sword sliced its way across when I’d tried to shove a guard away. Martin was the only one who seemed to be untouched. That was, of course, thanks to Nicolas, who didn’t let any of the guards even touch a strand of Martin’s hair. Forming a barrier in his grand mundahlian form—a gigantic lion, standing upright with his large human-like fur-covered chest—and letting out a bellowing roar before pouncing on a small group of guards.

“I’ll be fine,” Nicolas said to me. His head was in Martin’s lap. “Just let me rest for a minute. My ancient bones are aching.” He let out a laugh, but we could all tell he was holding back a wince of pain.

I looked around the field. Bodies of the guards were thrown onto the floor like dolls. Dolls that were half mutilated or torn to shreds into a pile of crimson blood. My family and friends were injured. More to add to the long list of ways that I’ve screwed up.

A large group of people were headed toward us. They were running. More guards maybe?

“Okay, guys!” I announced. “There’s more coming. Brace yourselves.”

Martin helped Nicolas to his feet where the old injured lion roared, “Ray stop crying! Nina and Vicktor pick up your weapons!”

I brought my arms up as if I were going to box. I was ready—ready to kill. These figures were not in armor. Instead, they were dressed in dirty frocks that used to be white but were now marked in brown and black smudges. A woman, however—near the front, was dressed in a long emerald gown that she held up in her hands. Her long curly hair and glasses bounced as she ran toward us. It took a while, but when her familiar face rung up memories from the past, I spoke. “M-mom?” I said to myself, then again aloud. The others beside me relaxed from their fighting stance. Her face and that memory—that God-awful memory hit me hard. All at once. As though I had stepped onto a train track just as the train was coming. It was dark—rainy, and frigid that night. I was just a child, and my brother—an infant. We’d made it to land where she let us go. Let me go. Not by choice—by force. It was the last I’d seen of her as she disappeared into the fog a young mother. My mother. I didn’t want her to go. I needed her—I was just a child. But she had to go and told me that one day we’d see each other again.
“This isn’t goodbye,”
I remember her telling me with tears in her eyes. Even though it felt like it
was
indeed goodbye, she was right. She was here a few feet away from me. Older and wrinkled. Almost unrecognizable from when she’d left me my young mother. The Enthiduans with her kept running past us, but she stopped. Frozen in her place—and staring, trying to focus on me. Looking to me as though she’d seen me before and was trying to place it.

“Jett?” she questioned cautiously, taking a few more steps forward. There was an aching in her voice.

“M-momma?” I nearly lost it. Tears of joy stung my eyes and I’m sure her’s did the same.

“Oh!” she exclaimed as though the question on her mind had been answered. “Come here!” she ran to me with arms wide open and took me into a tight hug.

“I’ve missed you,” I said. A warm tear slid from my eye and dropped onto her dress, leaving a dark round mark.

“Not as much as I missed you!” She cried into my chest. “You’ve grown so much! You’re a man now.” She looked over my shoulder to the rest, “You brought the whole crew. Well, some of it.” She gasped suddenly and threw her head over her shoulder to the castle. “You must go get the girl!” she said pointing. “I thought she was behind this group, but I guess she stayed behind. Oh, I’m such an idiot!” She looked to me. “Son, you need to go get her
now
, I don’t know how long the children and Kincade will be gone.”

I wanted to talk to her more. I needed to. But she was right. Rini needed to be saved, now. I’d already gotten half of what I came for, now I just needed the other. I did this. I needed to fix it. “Okay, but you’re coming with us this time. I am
not
leaving you behind and losing you again!”

“Jett, I can’t,” she begged. “He’ll kill us all.”

“Then at least we’d die together. There’s no use in being his anymore. He betrayed you by going against his promise and placing a bounty on our heads and killing Zuni.” She sniffled, remembering my brother. “I’m not letting him keep you anymore!”

She didn’t say a thing, but instead distracted herself by touching my hair, mumbling things to herself.

An idea popped into my head. I looked back at my injured family. “Mom?” I asked.

“Yes, my little Jett?” she was smoothing my hair out now. Typical motherly duties. “Well, I guess now you’re my big Jett, now.”

“I need you to take them back. Louis is waiting on a dock at the docks. We parked our cars by the shore. Take the SUV and leave me the truck. I’ll get Rini and take her home. I need to do this. It’s my fault she’s here.”

Mom looked to them, then back at me and nodded. One safe, another to go.

Once everyone left—some trying to persuade me to let them stay, others not even giving it a second thought—I made my way over to the castle to get my girl back.

Empty. I searched the halls and rooms, nothing. I spotted a broken window and walked over. The body of a girl laid impaled on a fountain below. It took a while to notice her. Willa. Bane’s favorite suck-up sister that was more of his minion. I hadn’t seen her since she was an infant, growing up alongside us. She was a snooty little girl. Had a man killed just because he wouldn’t give her what she wanted without paying for it. Serves her right.

The moon was now lighting the scenery from up above when I set foot out of the castle and looked to the docks in the distance. Then, I saw her. For the first time since I’d lost her from my possession, there she was. Dashing for the shore in a button-up shirt. Disheveled hair and dirt-stained skin. She was running—a tiny peach dot—to the docks. My heart thumped violently in my chest at the sight of her. “Rini!” I called. She couldn’t hear me. She was yards away from me now. I bolted toward her. Feeling my breath fall out of place and sweat beginning to form as I ran for her. My collectable. My girlfriend. The girl I wanted to feel under my arms again. To take in her delicious scent and kiss her sweet lips. Just a few more steps. “Ri-”An hard, heavy object struck me and I went flying to a tree. I was thrown against it—my sides, scraping against the bark—and the air was knocked out of me. I watched as Rini hopped onto one of the three ferries left—and head for her world. “No!” I tried to say, but couldn’t. I couldn’t talk. My throat ached and my body was bruising even more.
So close.
I got to my feet and searched for the offender. There he was. Bane. He’d thrown a boulder at me and was watching from a few feet away. Grinning, as if he enjoyed it.

“Well, well, well. What brings
you
back to these parts?”

“You know
damn
well why I’m here!” I spoke through my teeth. “Why’d you take her?!”

“If I’m correct, I saw you run her off. So I assumed she was...
free
for the taking.”

“You set it up!” I yelled. “You planned it all out. You messed everything up.”

“Did I really?” he scoffed. “Yeah,” he said, taking a moment to look around to make sure it was just us two. “I guess I did.”

“You’re an asshole!”

“No need for name calling, Jethro. Family shouldn’t talk to each other in such a way.”

“We are
not
family,” I said, hands clenched. “Now move so I can get to Rini.”

“Ah Rini, where do I begin with
that
burst of sunshine. You know, she and I seemed to have gotten quite close these past few—
hours
,” he laughed. “Quite close—skin close.”

“Shut up!”

“It’s true. Now I can see why you’re quite attracted to her. Nice full breasts and a gorgeous figure.” He used his hands to mime the figure of an hourglass to symbolize Rini’s body shape. “If she could just lose the attitude she’d make the perfect wife. Don’t you think? Perhaps I can work a few kinks out of her over time.”

“You will not lay a hand on her! She is
mine!
”

“
Ha!”
he scoffed.
“I’ve already laid more than a hand on her you filthy flea-infested mutt!” I could picture him forcing himself on Rini. It made me feel worse than I already felt. But anger soon overpowered it. He was touching
my
girlfriend. He was touching something that belonged to
me
. My hands curled into fists and I’d heard enough.

I grabbed a nearby rock and flung it at him. He dodged it. “The hell?” he said looking at where it fell. It gave me enough time to reach for another and strike him clear in the head. “Thats it!” His clothes shredded to the ground and I came face to face with him in his mundahlian form. I wasted no time changing into mine.

Bane tackled me down and I pummeled onto a protruding root back-first. “Get off!” I roared, my voice—a mixture of a snarl and words. I shoved him off and sent him crashing to a tree.

I didn’t waste time as I broke for the village. Heading to the dock to leave Mundahlia for good. Rini was on her way home and I had gotten my mother back. I needed nothing more of this hellish nightmare of land.

Bane caught me by the fur on my neck and tossed me through a small building. Debris fell alongside me into the dark structure. I had gone through the old man’s diner we’d stopped by earlier. Thankfully, he and his wife had gone home. I got to my feet and dashed over the counter trying to find a weapon. My sharp claws that I’d used to tear apart the guards wouldn’t help me against Bane.

A tiny bell at the front rung when the door opened—someone stepped in. The floor shook with his massive steps causing a few glasses to rattle on the counter. He was breathing heavy. Huffing and sniffing the air—for me. I found a dirty cast-iron pan in a large plastic tub of used dishes beneath the counter. As I tried to slide it out quietly, the metal hit against a tower of dishes, clinking and threatening to topple over.
Shit!

In an instant, Bane leapt over the counter. I yanked the pan out, bringing along the other dishes crashing to the floor, and struck him over the face. He went down. A mass of orange and black stripes.
Enough!
I struck him over the face again.

“No! Stop!” he begged. “Stop it, I’m not—” Silence announced itself once I’d bashed the pan once more.

I stood over him as he laid crinkling into himself on the kitchen floor, and tossed the bloody pan aside and headed out of the door. He was still alive but walking on the thin line of life and death. I didn’t care—all I cared about was getting to her. I saw the two remaining ferries at the dock. Waiting for me to go home. I hurried my way across the field to the dock and untied one of the vessels. Just as I was about to step into it, I felt hands wrap around my shoulders and yank me out.

Bane stood before me—an upright tiger, laughing as though nothing had happened at all. I kicked him away and got to my feet. “-the hell?!” I said. “You’re supposed to be bleeding in the diner!”

“Or so you thought,” he laughed.

We stood facing each other, cautious of what the other would do. I moved in first and socked him in the face. My hand hit bone and for a second, my fingers stayed jammed in place. He shoved me down and tried to kick, but I rolled to my side and pushed myself up. He charged at me, but I got a hold of him and tossed him through a hollow stone structure by the ferries. The boat house. Inside, he stayed on the floor cupping his sides. I was tired of this—I needed to end him. I went for a kick but he got my leg mid-air and pulled me down. I rose to my feet and shoved him up against the wall of the structure. A large crack slithered up the building and a few dust particles fell from the ceiling.

“Let me go!” he ordered in a roar.

“What’s the matter, pussy?!” I said through a snarl, “You need to stop this bullshit!”

“Make me!”

I slammed him against the wall again. This time, the structure rumbled. We both looked up at the ceiling above us as the cracks traveled upwards and the ceiling broke loose. That was all I saw before the roof caved in on us.