Bound by Darkness (Bound By Series)

44. Friends

Chapter 44

Friends

MORIA

“Thank you so much,” a young boy said as he bounded down the dirt mound to the underground passage.

He was the last person in the camp. At least, the half I had cleared.

Running back to the stones at the front of the Hideaway, I surveyed the area below. Here, I had an excellent aerial view of the camp and the flickering ward. It was already breaking a few stones in front of me as rebels poured in through the slight rip.

Swords gleamed in the winter air, their cries of joy at funneling into the camp burning a hole through my heart.

My hands clenched at my sides as I watched one after another push their way through.

I knew I needed to leave. I knew I needed to find Thalia, but a part of me wanted to prove I wasn’t a coward anymore. That I could fight, even if my legs were shaking beneath me.

A few rebels swiveled their heads to me, a frightening gleam in their eyes as they turned in one massive form. They were heading right toward me.

I wasn’t a coward .

I wasn’t a coward.

I wasn’t?—

A strong hand wrapped around my arm, tugging me from my stance as my legs kicked up dirt. My head drifted up to meet Fin.

“Were you trying to get yourself killed?” He asked, his hands rough around my wrist.

My hand yanked from his like jam.

A bit of surprise etched onto his face as I ran beside him, rubbing the feeling away from my wrist. “Do not touch me,” I snapped, my heart beating rapidly against my chest.

I knew he was Thalia’s friend, but not one male had ever shown me pure kindness in my life. I hated all their touches.

Whether he knew it or not, his face softened as he sent me a nod. “Noted,” was all he said as he fell in line beside me.

“Have you seen Thalia?” I asked, glancing between the rows of tents. I couldn’t leave without her.

Rebels poured from the opening in waves as they headed toward us.

“No.” He said, a bit of desperation on his tongue. “She was right beside me and then vanished.”

My feet stopped. “What do you mean… vanished?”

“I don’t know!” he half-screamed. “She was right beside me and then she wasn’t. I’ve looked in every tent where I lost her, and nothing.”

“She… she couldn’t have vanished,” I said. “Thalia! Thalia!”

No answer.

My eyes widened as I furiously pried back the flaps.

He did the same as we checked tent after tent, the rebels hot on our tail.

Every single time, they were empty, and every single time, a piece of my heart broke. I could not leave her after being reunited. Not after everything I’d done to find her again .

Tears pricked my eyes as I glanced at him, the same worried expression etched into his brows.

“Anything?” I exasperated, a sob clinging to the back of my throat.

He shook his head and it was worse than any vial of black mineral. “What… what of Iyanna and Naexi? Do you think… think she went for them?”

“I checked. Naexi is guarding Iyanna in her tent. She fell unconscious from the amount of casting she’d used to buy everyone time.”

A large gust of wind blew through, kicking up dirt as I clenched my hands together to keep them from trembling.

I refused to let him see me as weak. I wasn’t that person anymore. Was I?

“We’ll find her,” he stated.

But I wasn’t sure we would as the rebels were less than ten stones from where we stood.

Glancing to the side, he seemed to notice them too as he pulled another dagger from his side. He tossed it to me, the hilt landing in my hand. “Here. For protection.”

“I… I can protect myself,” I muttered, but I silently sent a thank you to the heavens for the weapon.

“I bet. You have some serious strength,” he said with a smile as he flanked my side, dagger in hand as he watched the rebels descend upon the camp like waves of ebony.

A few were faster than the rest, their legs pumping as they met us where we stood. An army of death awaited?—

Fin struck first, a dagger flying from his hand as it sunk into the eye of a rebel, his body crumbling against dead grass.

His comrades didn’t even glance his way as they continued to descend. A rebel appeared from my right—a stupid ambush I saw coming as my dagger jerked upward through his chin, blood splattering the hilt .

A whistle echoed. “Nice one!” Fin yelled, his blade striking through flesh.

“Are you seriously”—my blade twisted through the heart of another—“complimenting my kills in the heat of battle?”

A grunt sounded as he kicked a body from his blade, wet blood steaming on the metal. “It keeps the fear away,” he yelled back.

Strike after strike.

There were even more descending upon the camp and hope began to sink into the ground. They were roaring down the hill like black flames, coating the empty streets in mass evil. How long could we keep this up?

He seemed equally as skilled as me, but we both seemed out of shape, our breath clouding in front of us. It’d been years since I’d trained, my endurance a pile of wilting leaves.

Darkness shrouded my heart and I felt it then—that same power I’d used on the mountainside after Ellia’s death. I didn’t understand it, why their needles and injections didn’t work on me, but if it helped us to escape?—

The blade dropped as I raised both hands toward the descending tide of black.

“What are you doing?” Fin yelled, his strikes closer.

“Improvising!”

“Make it quick then,” he said as he grunted, a warbled cry dying on the lips of a rebel as his blade ate her heart.

I blew out a breath as I reached inward, feeling for that power resting below. It was a sickness Draven had gifted me through his torture.

My torture would help these people.

Blue sparks erupted from my fingertips as it rippled up my spine like chords of lightning. My heart sped quickly, every inch of muscle feeling more alive than I’d ever experienced.

“Holy shit! This was improvising?” Fin’s voice shouted from behind.

I ignored his voice as I sent blue raining through the rebels, sparks charging the air as it met flesh.

They disintegrated into ash and bone.

Rebels around them paused, their eyes widening as they turned to me, a few looking at the piles of soot. A wicked grin crossed my lips as I rose my hands again?—

I coughed, blood splattering the ground in front. Another rasping cough left my throat as I fell to my knees, clutching the space above my heart. It was racing rapidly as my nails dug into cold earth. Why was it so hard to breathe?

“Moria!”

Another splatter of red bubbled from me as I wheezed, that power I’d used dissipating. It was taking my strength, everything with it as the shuffling of boots filled my ears.

It wasn’t enough. I had nothing left to give as my vision blurred, the sounds of blades cracking around me hellish.

“Moria!” Fin shouted as a hand rested on my shoulder. His eyes were wide. “We have to leave, now!”

I wiped red from my lips as I pressed my knee into the ground to stand. My body faltered as I crumpled to the earth.

Blades cracked above me as he shoved two rebels to the side, their bodies falling into piles of red.

Strong hands reached under my arms as he hauled me up a second after, my body leaning against his. My legs weren’t moving. I couldn’t feel anything.

A grunt left his lips as he fought off an attacker, kicking their dead flesh to the ground with a thud. “Come on,” he spat more to himself.

His arm swept under mine as he lifted me into his arms, cradling me as he broke into a sprint, rebels high on his tail. “I know—” He huffed. “I know you hate Fae males, but we have to move. ”

My head lulled against his chest, more blood spewing from my lips. I didn’t have the fight to argue as he bolted down the empty streets, evading rebels as their harrowing shouts pierced the midday faelight.

My head bounced against flesh as he darted into a nearby tent, enveloping us in darkness as he shoved the flaps closed. He set me against the ground, another rupture of blood spewing from my cracked lips.

He stood by the entrance, his shallow breaths filling the space.

Another cough left my lips. “You should… leave. Go find Thalia.”

His eyes lingered on the crack, dagger in hand. “And deal with her wrath if I left you? I’d rather fight the Mother herself,” he whispered, his lips curling upward slightly.

Shouts sounded outside. The rebels would find us any second.

“We’ll get captured,” I rasped.

Shouts echoed outside the tent flaps. They were checking each tent, footsteps growing closer.

“So be it,” he muttered. “I’m tired of running away.”

The tent flap rippled as I heaved once more.