The Binding (23 page)

She smiles at me taking my hand once again.

“Close your eyes, Lily and see the barrier around us. Mentally peel the branches back, one by one. See them move away from you, leaving you expose d to the world around you.”

I do as
I’m told . It takes me a few tries, but then I watch as the lush branches slowly open. They move reluctantly away from me and I can start to see the valley of lights . T
he night skies open up completely once again. I can feel the breeze on my face and the gentle sway of the branch that I sta nd on. When I open my eyes, we a re back in the open.

I look down at Asi questioningly as she says, “Feel the oak around you, Lily. Feel her anguish, her love for you, and her slow death.”

Again the overwhelming sorrow of the tree hits me and with a quick twitch at my hand Asi says, “Now , will her grief away from you, Lily. Wrap your mind, your spirit in your cocoon now, quickly.”

As
I’ve done before , I concentrate hard, ignoring the oak’s pain. I finally see the lush branches wrap around me protectively and the oak’s pain is cut off from me . And, I know what I must do.
I can’t allow her to suffer any longer.
Without opening my eyes, I say, “Please don’t make me do this.”

Her voice
returns like a soft breeze, “Can you not feel her pain, Lilianethia? Can you not hear her plea?”

Yes,
she’
s right. I can feel the young oak’s anguish and I know what I must do . I don’t think I’m strong enough though. Her soft voice comes back again telling me that I am and to believe. I reach out to the oak and softly whisper to her, soothing her gently, quieting her suffering. I feel a tremor go through me as I feel her own tremor run through her branches, her leaves, her trunk and through her roots. She begins to vibrate as she sings of her final release and she gently lets go. I cry at her passing, but rejoice at her freedom.

I open my eyes and know it’s done.
I’m both fill ed with joy and sadness, but mostly joy. I look down at Asi and see that she has put my hand on her forehead. She now appears to me as the little girl from my dream , her eyes are close d and she has a peaceful smile on her face.

She opens her eyes and after a moment says, “Thank you, Lilianethia. I will leave enough energy for this shell to give you the shelter and protection you need until your departure. As for the oak and me , you have released us from this world. We will leave this oak shell and replant and grow once more in another place ―
somewhere in Velesi, perhaps.”

I quickly kneel down before her again and taking her hand I say, “No. Than k you for everythin g.” I take her into my arms to hug her goodbye. S
he gently whispers her farewell and is gone. I hear her final words in my mind saying, “Trust your betrothed, Lilianethia. He is your destiny.”

After a moment, I finally stand . I will the branch to return me to the circular room. Standing near the pathway is Phoris. The big Sidhe quietly waits for me and I see the tears in his gentle eyes. When I reach him he holds out his arms and I rush into his embrace. For a long while we stand holding each other as we grieve the passing of the young oak and her beautiful dryad.

*

“Tharin, we’ve got company. There’s something going down on the lower floors and it’s coming up the elevators fast ,”
warns Mellis . He gives me a men tal picture of the lobby area.
There are six of Mareck’s ogres near the elevators facing its doors, guns at the ready.
Three are closer to the room and three more are ready with weapons standing close to Mellis.

I look at Mareck pointedly and say, “Looks like your next appointment is here, or are they here for me?”

Cessa moves to my side facing the door. Her hackles are up and I can sense the tension in her. Mareck also stands, turning to Golug and Tonug signaling them into action. Golug gives the signal to the other men in the room and they move into position.

Eyes on the door, she says , “You’re my only appointment for the night, Tharin. No other invitations were sent out for this meeting. This one was private.”

I’m
up and facing the door and Alorn appears at my side in a blink of an eye. Mareck appears next to Cessa, her hand automatically rubbing at the back of the cat’s neck. She has a glint in her eye, a glint I remember too well. Both she and the feline are ready for a fight.

Her eyes still on the door, Mareck says, “Just so you know, Tharin, I wouldn’t have turned you in for any bounty.” She glances over at me and gives me a knowing smile, and then she glances down at Cessa .
“Besides, I don’t think Cessa could remain my friend if I turned you over for a measly twenty million. And, I can’t have that .” Cessa turns her head toward Mareck’s hand and licks it gently. The ogre warrior smiles back at the cat.

Alorn and I
glance at each other after hearing the larger bounty amount. I don’t know if I believe her about the bounty , as it’s widely known that ogres are greedy no matter how many riches they already possess , but I do believe her about Cessa. Whatever is happening outside it’s not part of Mareck’s plan. We hear the gunshots and guttural screaming from behind the door.

“Mellis ?
”
I call out to my cousin. No response.

Suddenly, the doors burst open and Mellis is thrown across the room like a baseball . A round his neck a blinking brown collar. St anding at the door is a wizard.
Wors e , he’s a teenager .
He’s wearing a long black coat, Matrix sty le. Dark sun glasses, dark clothes and his boots are also black with silver studs. I guess this is what he thinks looks badass in a fight. Very dramatic, but it doesn’t hide the fact that this wizard is young, just newly coming into his powers. Except for the very experienced, every wizard travels with a bodyguard. They need someone to cover their backs while they work their spells. This one has five assassins. He may be new to the game, but the female assassin closest to him, also dress ed in black, is all pro. I recognize her in an instant. She’s the leader of the quintet and a deadly one. The blinking collar around Mellis’ neck belongs to her , and her name is Lado.

The instant the doors flew open, both Alorn and I are on the move. All Sidhe have natural speed and accuracy, honed for battle we are a force to be reckoned with. Alorn leaps up into the air and catches Mellis who is out cold. The instant they land , he uses his Shadika knife to break the collar, before it’s able to slowly strangle Mellis to death. The blade is one of the few weapon s that can remove an assassin choke collar, especially one that has been imbued with a wizard’s spell.

Mareck’s remaining men in the room start firing instantly, aiming toward the door but hitting nothing. Their bullets ricochet off of an invisible force that surrounds the wizard as he chants softly. Lado spins into the room with whirling blades taking out the nearest of Mareck’s men .
With a flash of her hand , she shoots out a blinking brown collar at Mareck whose aim with a gun is not as accurate as if she had a blade in her hand. Just as fast, Cessa springs into the air catching the collar snapping it in two with her massive fangs. Mareck , not missing a beat , continues shooting at the remaining assassins. Golug has an automatic and shoots in a frantic spray after the nimble assassins, actually hitting one . Tonug covers Mareck’s back with a G
lock, but like his boss, always a shot too late to hit any of the moving targets.

Alorn propels himself forward cutting between Golug and Tonug. He hits Mareck from behind taking her down seconds before the wizard’s bolt of lightning shoots past where she once stood. Golug and Tonug dive in opposite direction s , but the wizard isn’t finished . Red floating balls shoot from his hands and speed toward the ogres stopping just above them. Both spheres start spinning as a shower of tiny pointed daggers rain on them. The ogr es escape a painful death as a shield suddenly appears around them, prev enting the mini daggers from ta king them out.
The two ogres have their arms up trying to cover their faces , but once they realize they ’re still a live, they look at each other and turn to Mellis.

Mellis, seeming to have recovered from his ordeal with the choke collar, is up in an instant and moves forward to stand next to Alorn. Mareck, in frustration, throws her gun aside and heads toward the far wall. Located above a mantle is a glass case with a sword in it. She hits the glass case with the back of her fist and it shatters into pieces, the sword falling into her waiting hand. She turns back to the two remaining assassins who have come to a stop. The smaller of the two stands facing her, the larger one facing Golug and Tonug. Cessa, with blood on her mouth from one of the dead assassin s , moves in close to Mareck’s side eyeing their opponent with fangs showing and ears pulled back.

Mellis and Alorn face off with the wizard. To prevent the wizard from casting another spell, they have to remove an element that’s needed. Mellis puts up a shield around Alorn and himself, while Alorn begins to pull the air from around the wizard.

I track Lado’s movements and leap forward as she cuts down another of Mareck’s men. We come face to face in a standoff. We slowly circle each other and I end up with my back to what’s happening at the front entrance. In warfare , trust in your allies is a strong weapon. I had to trust that the ogres and my cousins would handle things with the remaining assassins and wizard while I deal with Lado.

“Ah, Prince Tharin,” she greets as she sinks low in a fighting stance. “I’ve dreamt of the day I would face you again.”

I pull out the Shadika hilt from my coat and the sword blade extends out to it s full length. I call her Tazo, after the wife of the Sidhe warrior from the Far East . Tazo is a parting gift from one prince to another . H
er blade is like no other ―
made of a rare metal only found in the Far East and as far as I know, Tazo is the only one in existence. Her blade is slender and blood red in color that’s so deep and rich , it looks almost black. The blood color can be seen in the reflection of light at certain angles. Lado’s eyes widen with greed as they lock onto Tazo. She looks at it as if she can almost feel the blade in her own hands once she has taken it from me. The assassin is well trained and deadly.
But, I’m better.

“The last time we met, Lado,” I reply calmly, “I remember you running off with your pretty tail between your legs. I spared your life then, you may not be so lucky this time.”

Remembering our last encounter, the assassin’s face turns ugly with rage. “Don’t be so sure of yourself, Prince. It’s you who won’t be so lucky!” She yells as she lunges forward, her blades starti ng low and then sweeping upward , aiming to slice me up the middle.
I easily side step her, twisting forward , avoiding the swing of her blade. I know she ’ll spin out bringing her second blade low in a backward thrust and when she does, I parry it to the side spinning to match her momentum . Following through quickly, I land a n elbow to the back of her head. She recovers fast with a low spinout to the back of m y heels. I leap up with a back spin kick to her temple , sending her stumbling sideways , losing her balance.

She turns in a fury, this time moving forward with a little more caution. In a sudden move, she throws one o f her blades at me , which I easily evade. I t spirals pas t me coming to a stop at the far wall buried d eep to t he hilt, an obvious distraction.
As soon as the blade left her hand, with rapid speed she throws two kwolics . Kwolics are small round spinning blades that keep spinning and cutting until coming out the other end of their target .
Fortunately for me, Tazo is n o ordinary Shadika blade, she has been hone to move and react as an extension of myself . I bring Tazo over my head to circle me like a shield deflecting the kwolics, the contact of metal on metal rings throughout the room.

Behind me,
I feel a disruption in the air as Alorn continues to pull it from around the wizard. An experience d wizard would have taken out Alorn first . I nstead , he’s focusing on Mellis , who is attacking the wizard’s shield with an automatic he picked from one of the dead ogres. The young wizard’s mistake is being afraid of being hit by the bullets, which with more experience he could have deflect ed easily. However , his arrogance , frustration and fear , along with his inexperience, are losing the battle for him.
I glance over at Mellis as he pull s up on the automatic as the shield goes down . T
he wizard falls to his knees, hands at this throat trying to suck in air. Without hesitation, Mellis zips over to face the young wizard and places one hard blow to his temple with the butt of the gun . The boy crumbles to the floor like a rag doll. He’s out cold, and my cousins’ focus now moves to the other two assassins in the room. Golug is down, bleeding from a chest wound , and Tonug let s his rage work against him. He goes down with the assassin’s next attack.

Mareck is down, as well, but Cessa stands between her and the second assassin. He leaps into the air and Cessa follows suit with claws and fangs out reaching for her opponent. The assassin is quick and twists in a reverse move in midair and he thrusts his blade out toward Cessa ’s open flank. Big mistake. Cessa is not only an experience d fighter, but s he’s no ordinary cat. S
he’s of the Malainisi. The instant the assassin makes the reverse move, Cessa is twisting to compensate . A s the blade comes at her, her tail strikes out like a snake and whips at the assassin ’
s inner wrist. He cries out in pain before the numbness quickly shoots up his arm, his blade falling harmlessly to the floor. Stun ned by the strike, the assassin waits for a fatal blow . H
e’s spared , however, when his partner throws a kwolic cutting Cessa just below the ruff of her neck. Her roar shakes the suite as she changes her focus on her second opponent. Taking advantage of her distraction , the first assassin spins into a hard roundhouse kick catching Cessa at the temple, sending her flying across the room. She hits her head on a sideboard as she continues to slide coming to a stop only when her body hits the far wall.