Rise of Souls: A Prophecy of the Sisters Novella (4 page)

She nodded.

“And what of you, Una?” Lia asked. “Do you need a few moments to gather your things?”

Una shook her head, looking down at the infant in her arms. “All that matters is here.” She lifted her eyes to Lia’s and bowed her head. “I am yours to command, my Lady.”

“Very well.” Lia gathered Connall in her arms.

Dimitri crossed the room and knocked softly on the door. He waited for a mimicking knock from the other side, obviously some kind of signal between him and the guard, before opening the door.

“Tristan,” he said to the guard, “two minutes.”

He shut the door and picked up the valise, turning to Lia and Una. “Stay close. We’ll go out the back, take the path at the rear of the island. I don’t want to risk the ferry landings. They may be watched.”

“But the boats…” Una began. “They’re at the landing.”

“Someone will be waiting for us,” Dimitri answered. “It’s all arranged.”

He made his way to the door, knocking again. When the response sounded from the other side, he opened the door. Peering around him, Una was surprised to see not one but four Brothers standing at the ready, hands on the swords at their sides.

“What’s happening?” Dimitri demanded of the first guard as they rushed from the room, two of the Brothers in front, two at their backs.

The guard’s voice was low, and Una strained her ears to pick up his words.

“The boats are readied, but we don’t know how long we can keep the landing clear. The Souls have overrun the island. We’ve managed to evacuate a fair number of the Sisters already, along with most of the children, but…”

The rest of his words were lost to Una as they stepped outside, the cacophony of battle drowning out all else. Brennus squirmed in her arms, scowling and emitting a tiny squall of protest.

“Shhhhh….” Una bounced him the way he liked, trying to soothe him. They stepped off the portico, and Una dropped back next to the two guards at the rear of their party. “Have you seen Brother Fenris?”

“No.” She was answered by the strapping blond on the left. “But then again, we’ve had our hands full. He’s likely fighting with some of the others.”

“I was supposed to meet him,” she said, her voice trailing off. “If you see him, can you tell him that I’m with Lady Amalia? And that…” She paused, trying to gather her thoughts as they hurried across the grassy field behind the main building. “That I’m sorry.”

It was all she could think of to say.

The Brother’s eyes met hers. He nodded. “If I see him, it will be done.”

Her heart seemed to stutter as she took in his words:
If I see him…

As if there was every possibility he would not. As if there was every possibility he and others like him would never be seen again.

“Una, come.” Lia waved her forward, and Una reluctantly stepped away from the guard at the back of the line, moving up next to Lia.

Like the rest of the island, the field was covered in fog. She clutched Brennus to her chest and stayed close to Lia, Dimitri directly in front of them, flanked by guards. She could hear the sounds of battle, close now—too close—though she could not see it playing out. She could hear only the war cries of men, the clatter of swordplay, the faint shrieking of women and children.

And then, somewhere beyond the mist, the crackle of fire.

They had just left the soft grass of the field, stepping onto the rocky path leading to the beach, when a figure appeared suddenly out of the mist. All four guards and Dimitri turned, facing out with swords drawn as they shielded Lia and Una in a circle.

The man who had emerged was slight and shorter than Una. He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. “It’s me! Cyric! I have a message for the Lady and Brother Markov.”

None of the men lowered their weapons.

“Give us your message quickly,” Dimitri said.

“The Sanctuary is ablaze, the Council surrounded by the Guard.” He paused before continuing. “The Brothers await your orders.”

Una waited in the silence, wondering what Dimitri would command, what recourse was still open to them. A second later, she was surprised to hear not Dimitri’s voice, but Lia’s.

“You must go now. Fight among your men.”

Dimitri turned to look at Lia. Una saw the emotion warring on his face. Duty to family versus duty to the island. Love of his wife and sons versus love for his people.

He leaned over Connall and kissed his wife passionately on the mouth. Una wanted to turn away, felt embarrassed in the face of their obvious love for each other, almost ashamed to be witness to such raw feeling.

Pulling away from her, Dimitri touched his lips to each son’s forehead.

Then he turned to the Brothers, whispering something inaudible before speaking more loudly, his voice commanding.

“Get them to the boats. Do not leave their side until they are on the water.”

“Yes, sir,” the man named Tristan said.

Dimitri stepped out of the circle. “Let’s go,” he said to Cyric.

Una watched Lia try to mask her fear as Dimitri disappeared into the mist. When he was out of sight, she spoke to the guards.

“Take us to the boat, please.”

Tristan and one of the other Brothers led the way down the path. Una stayed close to Lia, trying to block out the sounds of battle. Trying to push aside her feelings of guilt. It did not seem fair that she should be escorted to safety because she was Lia’s lady-in-waiting. What of Deirdre, the sweet, serene Sister who accompanied Una to the scrying pool? And Seanna, the raven-haired spitfire who helped her organize events and celebrations?

What would become of her many friends? Friends who, in the absence of her brother, were the only family she had on the island? She was glad that Gareth was still in Ireland with Brigid, for she would not be able to bear the loss of her brother in addition to everything else falling to ash around her. She wondered if she would ever see him again and then forced herself not to think about it. She must escape the island safely, if only because it would mean that Lia and the babies had escaped as well.

They came to the footpath leading to the water. The waves crashed angrily against the rocky cliffs, but beyond that, she could see nothing. The sea was shrouded in mist, the distant shouts and sounds of battle the only indication there was any world at all beyond the fog.

Una descended the hill quickly and carefully, not wanting to slip with Brennus in her arms. She dared a glance down at him, her heart almost breaking at the sight of his earnest gaze. He looked at her with such trust, as if nothing bad could befall him in her arms.

She felt the weight of it on her shoulders.

Her robe billowed against her legs as she stepped onto the cold sand. She realized with a start that her feet were still bare, her sandals probably sitting where she had left them on the path leading from the back of the island.

Lia stopped suddenly in front of her.

“Lady Amalia?” Una said, moving up to stand by her mistress’s side. “What is it?”

Lia looked out over the beach, her eyes on the boats standing at the ready, a guide at the helm of each one. “Why are there two boats?”

The men shuffled uncomfortably.

Una stood straighter. “Your Lady has asked you a question,” she said firmly.

“It’s Brother Markov,” Tristan said. “He instructed that the babies be separated, one with Sister Una and one with you, my Lady.” He bowed his head in submission, as if this would take the sting out of his words.

“Separated?” Una said. “Why on earth would he issue such an order?”

“I know why.” Lia’s voice was dull and faraway, as if she were already adrift on the sea with only one son. “He wants to ensure their survival.”

And now the truth of it began to dawn on Una. Dimitri was not certain they would all make it out alive. By splitting up his sons, he was increasing the odds that at least one of them would live.

“But…we can’t separate Brennus and Connall,” Una protested.

Lia lifted her chin. “We can and will. My husband is right. The twins represent the only continuation of both our bloodlines. We must prepare for every eventuality.”

“As you wish, my Lady.” Tristan bowed his head, as if it were Lia’s desire that the twins be separated instead of her worst fear, as Una knew it was.

Lia knew well the agony of being without one’s twin.

The sound of battle came nearer, the clang of swords louder. Lia stepped toward Una. “Una…my friend.” Lia’s eyes burned like emerald fire. “There is no other I would trust with the care of my son in such a moment. I will never be able to thank you for your sacrifice and loyalty, now and always.”

Una shook her head, tears springing to her eyes. “Please…don’t. I’ll see you again soon. I will,” she insisted.

Lia smiled. “Yes. In this world or the others.”

Holding Connall, she bent her head to Brennus, still in Una’s arms. Lowering her nose to Brennus’s neck, she inhaled, as if wanting to commit his scent to memory. Then she touched her lips to the soft fuzz that covered his head. Una saw the shine of tears in her eyes but was not surprised that Lia did not allow them to fall.

Finally, she stood straighter, leveling her gaze at the guards. “Take me to the boat.”

The guards split off, two with Lia and two with Una. They made their way across the sand to the waiting boats. Guides were already at the helms, oars in hand. Una recognized them from the island, from all the daily interactions that forced Altus’s inhabitants into contact. The interactions that made them a family, even when they did not know one another well.

The woman in Lia’s boat was a fixture on the island and had been for as long as Una could remember. Una had heard her tell good-natured stories about the young women training under her tutelage. It was no wonder they had chosen her to see Lia to safety.

The guide in the other boat was a fellow resident of the Sanctuary. Una had long admired her long strawberry-blond curls and quick smile. To be given the responsibility of escorting Lia and Una off the island meant that she was an experienced guide, but she must have risen to a position of even greater trust to reside under the same roof as the Lady of Altus.

Whoever had chosen the guides had chosen them well.

Lia moved to the boat manned by the older Sister. Una hurried to the other. She was preparing to step into the boat when a clatter broke out behind her.

Turning, she was horrified to see six men burst through the fog from the direction of the pathway. For a moment, she could only stare, still holding Brennus, trying to comprehend what she was seeing.

The six men approached the boats, swords in hand. The Brothers Dimitri had sent with her and Lia turned to face them.

“What is it? Did Brother—” one of them started.

He was not allowed to finish the question, for one of the approaching men strode toward him without hesitation, raising his sword and cutting him down without a word.

Una stood, frozen, as the men began to fight and the truth seeped into her shock-addled brain.

The Souls. The Souls had found them.

She watched in horror, unable to look away as the Souls raised their swords against Dimitri’s security detail. The Brothers fought back, the clang of metal almost deafening, drowning out even the crash of water against rock only feet away.

“Una!” Lia cried from the other boat. “Get in the boat! Now!”

She registered the words, but they did not quite make sense, did not cohere into an actionable order. She could only stand there, water swirling over her feet and around her legs as she realized that somehow the numbers of Dimitri’s guards had dwindled. Now there were only two.

Two to the Souls’ six.

The Brothers were outmatched in number and strength, fury and skill. Like everyone on the island, they had grown complacent since the closing of the Gate. Una tried to remember, her mind strangely numb to what was going on around her, when she had last seen them practice outdoors with the foil or saber—when Fenris had last mentioned the exercises that had once been part of daily life on the island.

She could not recall, but surely it had been some time.

Brennus squirmed in her arms, letting out a cry of protest as the second-to-last Brother fell at the hands of two of the attacking Souls. Una looked down at the baby, her mind slowly clearing. And now she heard Lia, screaming at her from the other boat, already moving away from shore, her guide rowing fervently.

“Get in the boat
right now
, Una.” Lia’s voice carried across the water. “I am your Lady, and I am ordering you to get in the boat for the good of the island, the security of our legacy.
Do it now.
”

Una stepped into the boat. The vessel rocked to one side with her weight. She clutched Brennus so tightly that he cried out in protest, and she loosened her grip as she turned to the guide.

“Get us away from here! Hurry!”

The guide used the oars to push off the ocean’s sandy bottom. For a moment, the boat wouldn’t move. It simply swayed, ever so slightly, with the ebb and flow of the waves. Then, all at once, it broke loose. The boat seemed to lift, and Una almost fell over with the sudden sense of weightlessness.

She turned to look at Lia, farther out on the water, wanting her to know that they had done it. They had ensured the survival of Lia’s sons.

The boat jerked as something stopped its forward motion. Una looked back and found herself gazing into the cold brown eyes of one of the Souls, one of Samael’s Guard.

He clamped a hand down on the arm that held Brennus and tried to shake the baby loose from her grip, seemingly unaware of the ebb and flow of the water, the current swirling around his knees.

She had heard of the Guard, had heard tales of the mark around their necks, a mark that signified their position as one of Samael’s elite.

Still, she was unprepared for the terror that swept over her as the serpent tattooed around the man’s neck came to life, hissing and striking out at her. She moved her body as much as she could, trying to shield the baby, to hold him as far as possible from the muscled, flinty-eyed Soul.

But his grip was like a vise, unmoving and unshakable, on her arm.