Regret (Lady of Toryn Trilogy) (4 page)

She dropped into a crouch to
avoid a barrage of tiny shuriken, and flung out her right hand, fingers
splayed, using an
ice
spell to freeze
her assailant into a very statuesque ninja-sicle before he could toss anything
else in her direction. There were soldiers pouring in from outside, and Ashlyn
realized with a sinking feeling that it was much too late to ice over the cave
entrance, and that she was outnumbered. As in really, really,
really
outnumbered.

She took a running start and
launched herself at a small, jutting ledge on the cave wall, and latched on
with just three fingers as she called up the
lightning
stane in her shuriken. Ashlyn dangled precariously,
holding on for dear life as the bolt of electricity split the room, instantly
delivering a not-so-pleasant jolt to the two dozen ninjas milling about in the
shallow pool of water at the center of the cavern. Several of them screamed while
others simply collapsed in a trembling, steaming heap of limbs, and as the
magic died out, Ashlyn dropped back to the floor and delivered an uppercut to
the closest soldier.

Kou chose that moment to come
stumbling out of the corridor, yelling garbled orders, and Ashlyn paused mid-maiming
to look over at the man who was attempting to command his army. The right side
of Kou’s face was already swelled up, and blood was dripping from his split
lower lip. And- hoo boy, he looked
angry
.

Ashlyn took several steps back,
putting some distance between her and the confused ninjas. Her adrenaline was
starting to kick in now, and though she still wasn’t quite at the stage of mindless
invincibility yet, there
was
a plan of
action formulating in her wee ninja brain.

She yanked at the mask, tearing
it so that it fell away, exposing her face. “Still determined to take control
of Toryn,
Devlyn?”
she snapped at
Kou. “Do you honestly think you can defeat the true Elder Heir? I don’t care
how many soldiers you send after me.
I
kicked the crap out of Lord Angelo.
Trouncing you to within an inch of your
life is going to be a
walk in the park!”

The advancing ninjas looked
uncertain, following her gaze to Kou, who was looking puffier and more
aggravated by the second.

“She’s a fraud!” Kou spat,
slurring his words unattractively. “The heir is dead! The Li bloodline has run
its course!”

“Dream on, you
brain-dead blood junkie!”
Ashlyn yelled,
and jumped aside as one particularly brave ninja attempted to stab her,
dispatching him with a single slash to the torso. “I don’t care what you
supposedly envisioned,
I know
I’m
alive and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let you take
my
birthright from me!” She pointed at Kou with the shuriken, eyes
flashing. “I challenge you, Koudai Devlyn Lunai! I challenge you to a duel for
leadership of the sacred pagoda!”

“I will not duel,” Kou growled.

“Challenge is my right, as Elder
Heir. You cannot refuse!”

“
You are not the Elder Heir!”
he roared, and turned to the soldiers.
“What are you waiting for?
Kill her!”

Ashlyn grabbed her sleeve and
yanked, hard, ripping the fabric at the shoulder. She stripped one sleeve off,
and then the other, and held out her arms for inspection. “Do you see any track
marks?” she demanded of the soldiers, who were fast surrounding her. “I have
none. I have injected nothing. I am able to use the
shift
magic because the blood of the Li clan flows in my veins
naturally. I am Ashlyn Li, Elder Heir of Toryn, and Devlyn cannot refuse my
challenge!”

“She cannot use
shift!
She is lying!”

“I am
not!”
Ashlyn snapped, and the words were barely out of her mouth
before Kou fell to his knees, screaming insults at her as his eyes began to
glow green. His cries became more guttural and less coherent as the
shape-shifting began, his lips pulling back from elongating teeth, fur
sprouting from his suddenly clawed hands.

Obviously he was done talking,
and Ashlyn was almost relieved. Kicking his ass would be a welcome reprieve
after having to listen to his lies.

As she struggled to focus, the
shift
stane began to glow in her armlet.
Then she was changing, the shuriken and her sword clattering to the floor as
the beast took hold. It was fast and painless, and it was only after she’d
already shifted that Ashlyn realized, somewhat regretfully, that she would be
naked again upon changing back.

Kou was still shifting when
Ashlyn plowed through a small group of soldiers and leapt at him, her own
transformation into a panther as smooth as glass. His face was still almost
human, his body a broad and brawny mass of muscle and fur as she slammed into
him from the side. Despite the force of her attack, Kou barely budged, and
Ashlyn realized belatedly that he was shifting into a bear, and the size
difference between them was considerable.

She snarled and raked her claws
across his shoulder, jumping aside when he delivered a half-hearted swipe in
her direction. He was desperately trying to complete the shift so he could
defend himself. If she had a chance, this was it.

Ashlyn sprang onto his back and
sank her teeth into his neck. Kou roared and tried to shake her off, but she
held on for dear life, digging her claws in for traction. The metallic tang of
blood filled her mouth, and ordinarily it would have been
beyond
gross, but turning into a panther must have given her that
kind of animal instinct too, because for some reason the taste only served to
make her angrier. She let go for just a second to get a better grip, trying to
bite down closer to his head.

But he took that opportunity to
rumble forward, turning his shoulder and rolling, with her beneath him. It
knocked the breath out of her as his crushing weight came down on top of her,
and Ashlyn heard something
snap,
like
dry, brittle twigs. Only when he rolled off and the pain assaulted her senses
did she realize that it was her ribs, undeniably broken and shooting slivers of
agony through her entire midsection. She could hardly breathe, but Ashlyn
scrambled to her feet and backed away, noting two things- the army was now
hanging back, looking both terrified and confused, and her shuriken was just a
few feet away.

The
heal
stane was still in her armlet, right next to
shift,
but she didn’t even know if she
could cast regular magic as a cat, and healing broken bones was a dangerous
thing to do, especially on the fly. If one of the broken ends was anywhere near
her heart, and tried to mend itself…she didn’t even want to think about that
possibility.

Ashlyn breathed shallowly through
her mouth, every inhale/exhale combination a stabbing pain in her chest, and
made a decision. Screw her impending nakedness, magic would be far more useful
against Kou right now than any additional strength that came with the
shift
spell. She padded sideways,
silently, hackles raised as Kou circled, presumably waiting for the right
moment to attack.

When he did, she summoned her
strength and leaped over him, paws dancing across the top of his head, dodging
slashing teeth and claws as her injured ribs screamed bloody murder inside her
head. She came down directly on top of the shuriken, and shifted back into
herself, naked as the day she was born but too desperately adrenaline-driven to
care. She scooped up the shuriken, her sword and her knapsack and ran for the
cave entrance as the bear lumbered after her.

She glanced over her shoulder
just as he was raising a giant paw, prepared to not-so-gently separate her head
from her body. She screamed the spell hoarsely, and the bear snarled and
skidded to a stop, smoke pouring from his suddenly blackened paws. Ashlyn ran
outside, leaves crunching beneath her bare feet, and ducked into a crevice in
the cliff wall as the bear went skidding past. He caught his mistake
immediately and turned, much quicker than she would have expected for such a
large creature. As he charged towards her, Ashlyn hurriedly used the
ice
stane to create a solid wall across
the crevice’s narrow opening, putting a barrier between her and the bear, and
he smashed into it with a force that shook the cliff wall against her back.

His second charge splintered the
ice, hairline cracks spiderwebbing out from the point of impact. Ashlyn quickly
froze over it, thickening her makeshift barrier, but Kou kept coming. The third
time he collided with the ice, he left bloody stains against it. Ashlyn
shivered, then nearly cried out from the pain in her chest. If she could keep
the wall up long enough, Kou would probably injure himself to the point where a
few hits from the
fire
stane might
incapacitate him. But there was no way she could take on the whole army like
this.

The bear hesitated during the
fourth charge, and turned away, as though he’d been distracted by something.
Ashlyn squinted, trying to see through the translucent barrier, and managed to
make out a blur in black, flashing silver in the sunlight as the horse he was
riding danced beneath him.

Drake!

In the next heartbeat, a wall of
flame erupted on the other side of the ice, and her makeshift barrier melted
instantly, splattering on the ground and smacking her with a wave of muddy
water and dead leaves. Ashlyn was immediately drenched, and sputtered, at once
pissed off and grateful for FLD’s sudden appearance.

Skye stepped in front of the
crevice, hand outstretched. “I…uh,” he said eloquently, diverting his eyes when
he realized her state of undress. He ducked smoothly under the swing of a
katana, his own sword making short work of the other man.

Her teeth were chattering so hard
she could barely speak. “Sh- sh- your
shirt
,”
she managed to get out, shivering violently and wincing every time the tremors
racked her broken ribs.

The blond swordsman gave her an
exasperated look as he fought off another soldier. The army was obviously much
more willing to fight non-Toryns (or at least people who weren’t claiming to be
the Elder Heir), but it was poor timing for bravery when anyone challenged Skye
Damien.

A soldier fell right in front of
her, and Ashlyn tamped down her disgust and crouched to pull off his torn,
blood-stained tunic, wrapping it around herself and tying it loosely with the
green leather belt. She tried to pull his boots off, but the pain in her chest
had her gasping before she could even get a good grip.

“Drake!” Skye called, cutting
down two soldiers with one cleave, then stepping back to block another one who
tried to duck into the crevice with Ashlyn. He flung the soldier backward,
simultaneously using a
lightning
stane
to electrocute the ninja before the man even hit the ground.

The pounding of hooves signaled
Drake’s arrival, and Ashlyn looked up mutely, seeing the vampire riding one
horse and leading another.

Skye turned to her, yanked her
out of the crevice and picked her up to hand her off to Drake. Ashlyn bit back
a cry of pain as she he scrambled into Drake’s lap on top of the horse. She
held on tightly to her shuriken and knapsack, wrapping her other arm around the
vampire to keep herself from falling off.

“I’ll lead them off,” Skye said,
vaulting up onto his own horse. He yanked the reins, and the horse turned away
just as the cliff behind the army began to shake from the power of Skye’s
earth
stane. “Get her out of here!” the blond
yelled over his shoulder.

Ashlyn was too busy sobbing into
Drake’s shoulder to protest, and the agony began anew when Drake spurred his
horse forward and they galloped away, weaving among the tents as they headed
for the forest.

It occurred to her later that
under any other circumstances, straddling Drake’s lap on horseback with her
chest pressed against his and her legs wrapped around his waist,
especially
considering her lack of
decent clothing, would have been both mortifying and titillating- like a
horribly wonderful nightmare come true. But at that moment, outside of the
extreme pain and as the world began to spin, all she was thinking was,
Please don’t let me throw up all over Drake Lockhart.
I promise, Drago, if you help me out right now I will never ask for anything
again.

Chapter 3

Free Will

When Ashlyn finally opened her
eyes, she expected to be exhausted. After a moment, though, she blinked. She
wasn’t tired at all. Her ribs weren’t hurting, either.

She inhaled tentatively, testing
her limits. No pain.

Drake’s face entered her line of
vision as he crouched beside her. “How do you feel?” he asked gently, his
fingers resting briefly against her forehead.

“I feel…fine,” Ashlyn said,
perplexed. “Can I get up?”

He offered his hand, and she took
it, using her other hand to brace herself as she sat upright. Ashlyn looked
down, and put a hand to her chest. There were no bandages beneath her tunic.

“You fixed my ribs with
heal?
” Ashlyn said, looking up at Drake
in disbelief. He nodded, and Ashlyn’s jaw dropped.

“Are you serious? Do you know how
hard it is to fix broken bones with magic? It’s almost impossible. The magic
doesn’t pick and choose. It makes a whole big calcified mess. People are
killed. They
die horrible agonizing
deaths
from it.” She paused, and took another blessedly painless breath,
hardly able to believe it.