Sewn & Scarred (The Fated Creations Trilogy #3)

Chapter Eighty-FourEvaline

Chapter Eighty-Four

Evaline

“ I need you all to be brave, and to stay down here,” I whispered as I herded them into the same corner they’d huddled in before I found them. “We have to wait here for help to come. Someone with special magic is going to take you all to safety.”

They sat down in the corner, pulled their knees up to their chests, worried eyes looking up to me for guidance.

I didn’t know if it was the fear or the faith all children seemed to have in the fantastical and mystical, but they didn’t question the magic. Only listened.

“But while we wait, I’m going upstairs to make sure no one can come to hurt you.”

Megin grasped my hand, shaking her head. “How will you protect us? Girls aren’t allowed to fight,” she whispered, her bright eyes widening.

I swallowed the anger that filled my chest. Not at her, but at what she’d said. That she knew that to be true, that in Kembertus it was .

“No,” I said, my voice soft but stern. “Girls are allowed to fight. We are allowed to protect ourselves and everyone we love.”

I handed her the torch to maintain their light, then looked over all of them.

“And I love you all, so I will protect you. But I need you to promise not to come upstairs, no matter what happens. Wait for me, or Maddox, to come get you. I promise we will come back.”

They nodded, and I stood, backing up toward the door. Giving them one last look before I left them, but still, I saw the terror on their faces. Guilt washed over me at the realization that Amy had likely just promised the same, but that she hadn’t come back. That she was likely dead.

“I know it’s scary,” I whispered. “But everything will be okay.”

With that, I turned and sprinted up the stairs.

I locked a shield of air over the room.

I’d broken the door so it could no longer shut, but at least my shield was impenetrable.

I closed the door at the top of the basement stairs quietly, then turned to stand in the living room of the home.

I couldn’t keep a shield over myself without hindering my ability to hear what was going on around me, and I needed all of my senses to protect them.

And the most important one crawled out now.

My magic seeped into the air, stretched out. It went through the cracks of the walls of the home, stretched out into land around it, as far as it could go, scouting for Vasi.

There were none in the vicinity, and I sent word down the bond.

Any luck?

Maddox’s response was quick. Not on the street, I’m circling the kingdom to look for them at the walls.

I took a deep breath. Okay, we’ll be here.

You better be. He sent back, and then I moved my attention back to my magic, as it sensed a shift.

Movement. My magic leaped toward it, and a sick feeling shuddered down my magic until it hit me, straight in the gut. It was the same feeling I had each and every time I used my magic to sense a Vasi. A feeling that was somehow ingrained into my blood, coursing through my veins. One of remorse, and regret.

The Vasi got closer, there was more than one now, and I knew they heard me.

I took another deep breath and walked to the front door.

I wanted the Vasi to think I hid in here alone, so that they wouldn’t search for the children.

My hand closed around the knob, and I wrenched it open.

The Vasi appeared just outside the front gate as I walked out onto the front porch, and I let the door click shut softly behind me.

The man who stood in the middle smiled.

“There you are, Sorceress.”

I nodded, walking down the front steps of the home. Past the chairs I once sat at with Jacqueline, where I passed her the money I’d stolen. It seemed like a lifetime ago.

“Here I am,” I said matter-of-factly, walking to stand in the center of the property, mere paces from the gate they stood outside of.

There were four of them, and for a brief moment, my magic stretched out to feel for more, but couldn’t find any.

Find Sage, Maddox. The children are in the basement , I said to him down the bond, and felt his flash of fear back.

Evaline, he warned, but I could hear the shake of his voice even down the bond. Hold them, I’ll come now.

“You’re ready to give yourself up?” The same Vasi spoke again, but I was sending another message to Maddox.

No, get Sage. Save the children. My tone left no room for retorts or misunderstandings.

And he didn’t respond with any reminders of sacrifice or unnecessary risks. He knew this was different, they were different.

I love you, was all he said.

I widened my stance and shook my head.

“Unfortunately, I’m not giving up,” I said to the Vasi. “Any chance you’ll let me go?”

He cocked his head, a wicked smile growing on his face.

“I think you know the answer to that.”

Without another moment’s hesitation, he hurdled the front gate, and came straight for me, as the others moved in to follow his lead.

I put up a wall of fire between myself and them and pulled out a sword and a dagger.

They leaped right through the fire, which I’d expected.

The one in the middle made it to me first, and I swung my sword up to block his outstretched hand. He hissed as the blade nicked his palm, but only took a step back.

The other three closed in around me, forming a small square with me inside, spinning between them.

“You know you can’t hold us off forever, Evaline,” the woman behind me snarled, but I only kept my blades up, and continued to turn.

Sent a prayer to the Gods.

One of the Vasi struck out a hand to reach for me, but I slashed my sword out to stab into his chest as he left it open for an attack.

He growled, and his hand closed over my throat, but the man beside him backhanded the Vasi holding me, forcing his hand to release.

“We need her alive, you idiot.”

I took the moment of distraction to grow the roots of a tree just off the Orphanage’s property. Deep below the land, the roots grew until they were just beneath where the Vasi stood, underneath the grass they stood on. Then I made them rise, pierce through the dirt, up until they were at the level of their hearts.

The two Vasi behind me tried to screech for them to watch out, but it was too late. My roots had already punched through their chests, leaving their hearts to patter onto the grass and roll to my feet.

I leaped into the space their fallen, dead, bodies now created for me and spun to face the other two Vasi.

“Why do you have to make everything so difficult?” the woman snarled. “You know you’ll come with us eventually, why can’t you accept your fate? The more you fight, the more Vasi you kill, the more Vasier will want you to suffer.”

I scoffed. “Why? Because you think he cares about you all?” I shook my head. “Vasier cares for no one, nothing, except his own revenge,” I said, backing up a few steps toward the front gate which now stood behind me. “Why else would he waste so many Vasi lives on this useless war, anyway? The fight between the Vasi and the Kova began because of his revenge. If you think he’s not willing to go to any length—risk any Vasi loss—for what he wants, then he has you manipulated far stronger than you can admit to yourselves.”

They both narrowed their eyes at me, and for a moment I regretted saying something to make them angrier. I’d only been trying to reason with them, but I should’ve known it was futile.

Vasier did have them well manipulated.

But I had only a moment to regret it because then, they both lunged.

I tried to fight them off, but they moved too fast, and were too close to me, to mount any real defense.

In a second, my blades were on the ground and their hands were locked on each of my arms.

I let fire crawl up my skin, but they only gritted their teeth and held on.

Roots sprung from the ground, curled around their ankles to keep them from running off with me, and I reinforced the shield protecting the children. Using all this magic at once was a lot, and I felt it start to slip from my grasp. To tire, and withdraw into my veins.

I tried to make new roots spring from the ground, to get their hearts. Tried to shift my Fire into pillars, tried to do anything that would save me.

But before I had to, I heard footsteps behind me, heard the squelch of hands through their chests, and felt their grip fall from my arms.

I leaped away from them and turned around to see Maddox and Dean standing behind the Vasi, their hands both buried in a chest, and Sage, standing between them.

The Vasi fell, dead, and Maddox and Dean tossed their hearts.

Maddox reached for me. “Are you okay?” His eyes shone with concern.

I nodded, and turned to Sage. “Wards?”

She nodded. “They’re done. We were testing the wards when Maddox found us.”

“Good,” I breathed and then pulled Sage into the house. “I need you to help me get the children out, and back to Rominia.”

We ran to the basement, and I let go of the shield at the same time that I announced our arrival.

When we turned the corner the children flinched away from the door, but when they saw me, confirmed it with their own eyes, they ran toward us.

“Do you all trust me?” I asked them as they grasped onto me. They nodded, and I smiled. “Good, because we’re going to get you to safety.” I nodded to Sage. “This is my friend Sage. Like me, she has special magic. Remember when my eyes were lit up when I first got here? That’s because I’m a Sorceress. A good Sorceress, who wants to help you. And so is Sage. So we’re going to use Sage’s special magic to jump through a puddle, and when we land, we’ll be somewhere safe. Is that okay?” I asked, and they all looked to each other.

“I know it’s scary,” I said. “But I promised that I would come back, and I did. And now, I promise that you’ll be safe once we get there.”

There was movement upstairs, a crash, and I knew without having to sweep out my magic, that more Vasi had just arrived.

The children screamed and held onto me tighter.

“Yes!” They all said in their own ways, and I turned to Sage.

She nodded, moving behind the children where there was more space.

“Do you think we can all go at once?” I asked her. There were more than she preferred to portal, and I didn’t want them to go alone, knew they might not feel safe if I didn’t hand-deliver them to safety. But knew that I couldn’t leave any here, alone, while Maddox and Dean fought off however many Vasi were upstairs.

Sage nodded, the portal opening below her.

“Yes, they’re smaller, it shouldn’t take as much of a toll,” she said, then reached for one of the little ones.

There were only two children small enough that they hadn’t learned to walk yet. And another who was too small to walk well on her own yet. Sage carried one of the babies, and I reached for the other and the next smallest, and turned to the kids.

“I need everyone to hold onto Sage, okay?” I asked, as another crash sounded upstairs.

You need to go, Maddox said down the bond.

I felt my heart hammer in my chest and walked toward Sage. The children did as they were told, all grabbing onto her as I stood behind her and placed the hands of both children I carried onto her shoulders, before tilting to tighten my own around her arm.

“Listen to me,” I said, and my voice was stern. “It is important that everyone is touching Sage. If not, this will not work. Is everyone touching Sage?”

They all agreed, and I took a breath.

“When I count to three, we all take a step into that puddle, okay?”

They nodded and called out, and I counted.

“One…two…three.” We took a step, I prayed to the Gods everyone was holding on, and when we landed on the ballroom floor outside of the manor in Rominia, I took an immediate count.

The children were already gasping, turning to look out at the surroundings, but I breathed a sigh of relief when I counted all their little heads.

“Let’s go inside,” I said, and Sage and I led them all up the patio steps and through the doors. Before we went inside I looked out over the sea but there was only the endless, empty, horizon of the water.

Inside I called for Rasa and thanked the Gods when she was within hearing range of us and not enclosed in a Rominium room.

She ran to us, eyes wide as she saw all the children.

“Oh, Gods,” she breathed. “Kembertus is that ravaged?” She placed a hand on her heart but then helped us lead the children into one of the sitting rooms so they could sit on the couches and chaises and relax.

“It’s bad, Rasa,” I told her as we shuffled them down the hallways. “There are so many in Kembertus, and the death toll from humans alone,” I whispered, just as we turned the corner for the sitting room and nudged the children toward the seating.

I lowered the older child from my arms as she was throwing her weight around so that I would let her stand.

I looked up to the children and saw Priscilla running over to take her hand and help her walk to the seats.

“Thank you, Priscilla,” I said, smiling at her.

I stood to face Rasa, adjusting the baby that still sat in my arms.

“These are children from the Kembertus Orphanage. They were alone in their home, and there are so many Vasi,” I rushed out. “We have to get back to help, will you watch over them?” I asked, nodding to the children.

She nodded fiercely. “Of course,” she said, reaching to take the baby in my arms, and then the one in Sage’s. “They’ll be safe here.”

“Send someone to get Aurora and Jacqueline, the children know them and will be comfortable with them.”

She nodded. “I will, don’t worry.”

I turned to the children. “This is Rasa, she is Maddox’s mother. She will keep you safe here, and Aurora and Jacqueline will be here soon, okay?”

Their eyes grew and they sat straighter as I said names that they were familiar with, of women they were raised around.

“I’ll be back, but it might not be right away. But here, you’ll be safe.”

They nodded, and a few ran to give Sage and I hugs before we left.

I turned to Sage as we walked away. “We need to go get more Kova to bring.”

She nodded and mid-stride, opened a portal. We took hands and stepped through it, and were at the door of the training center.

I yelled for help, said we needed Kova in Kembertus urgently to fight, and that there was a massive loss of human life, and six Kova ran over, ready to help.

I didn’t know any of their names, but they listened as Sage explained the portaling, and she portaled myself and three others out, and told the rest she’d be right back.

When I stepped out of the portal, I ran out of the front door of the Orphanage, saw Dean and Maddox in battle against several Vasi, and all at once, the Kova I’d come with and I ran forward, into the thick of it.

You’re safe, Maddox said down the bond, even though he didn’t look away from his battle to confirm it with his eyes.

Yes, I said down the bond. And more help is coming.