Reaching Retribution(99)

I take another step further. Liam ducks to avoid Dravin’s arm. While down, he punches Dravin in the gut. When Dravin doubles over, Liam stands up and nods at me. Dravin looks over his shoulder at the same moment as I swing my sword around and using all the force I can muster, I sweep the blade through his neck. Dravin attempts to move, but it’s too late. My sword pushes through flesh and bone and makes a clean cut all the way through. His eyes widen and mouth opens as his head rolls off his shoulders and bounces on the ground. His body falls to its knees before it lies down and blood begins pooling onto the grass beneath. Panting, Liam looks up at me and nods. We did it.

Without knowing it, Jedrek saved my life and helped us stop Dravin.

One down…how many more to go?

I turn around and look at the clearing where Ryanne and Zahtri are supposed to be. Zahtri is moving toward Ryanne…who is lying unmoving beneath a tree. The wood is splintered at the base which tells me Ryanne was forcefully thrown into it.

Without giving me any advance notice, my invisibility takes over. Seeing that, Liam turns and looks in her direction. She’s supposed to be doing this on her own, but she really could use some help.

“There’s nothing we can do Colton. I want to help her too, but we can’t,” Liam tells me.

“She’s unconscious, Liam!” I can’t just let her get killed while she’s unconscious. I can’t lose her like that.

Hearing another scream to my right, I turn and see Emma brandishing a medieval spiked flail against a few Gadramicks. She’s having too much fun with her conjuring power. It wasn’t her who screamed though. It was Natalie. She’s fighting next to James, but James is busy with two Gadramicks and Natalie is trying to fight a man much larger than her. Liam tenses beside me and attempts to make his way over to her, but there are too many people in between us.

I scan the clearing. Larkin should be back by now. He wouldn’t skip out on something like this. He wants to avenge Kyril’s death. I see him transporting back and forth a few feet behind us. He’s moving between two larger groups of Gadramicks. He’s going to get himself killed at his rate.

“Larkin!” I call.

Larkin’s eye move away from the men he’s fighting and connect with mine even though I’m invisible. I blink and suddenly he’s in front of me. Again, he doesn’t speak.

“Can you go help Natalie?” I ask him. Liam points across the field to his soulmate. Larkin’s eye move in that direction and he disappears. I look back over there and watch as Larkin appears behind the man. I don’t keep watching to see what happens. When Liam relaxes beside me, it’s safe to assume that Natalie is okay. I look around the clearing again looking for anyone that needs help.

I seriously hope this is almost over. I’m not sure we can handle much more. Seeing Tom, Vincent, Colin, and Chris fighting in the middle of the field, I start to make my way over to them. Liam moves to the right to try and get to his soulmate. Lucky. As I take a few steps forward, I glance back across the clearing in Ryanne’s direction. She and Zahtri have disappeared. Where did they go? Damn it. Why am I always losing her?

With renewed vigor and my invisibility, I push through everyone. I wipe the bloodied sword on my black pants and push it back into the sheath. I don’t want to kill any more people tonight. Too much blood has already been shed. Too many lives have already been lost.

Throwing a punch to the side, I knock an unsuspecting man to the ground and continue moving forward. Tom and his group are now only a few feet ahead of me. No one attempts to touch me as I progress the last few feet.

“Tom, did you see where Ryanne went?” I ask as I stop beside him.

“No,” he answers even though he can’t see me, “but she disappeared before Zahtri got to her. I’m hoping her magic kicked in and helped her. She was unconscious last time I saw and Zahtri disappeared shortly afterwards.” He reaches out and punches the man in front of him. “He’s probably searching for her.”

Ryanne is gone, and Zahtri is searching for her. I suppress my groan and focus on the fight around me. The sooner this is over, the better. The sooner I know what happened, the better. I see Liam fighting alongside Natalie. With Dravin gone and Zahtri missing, the Gadramicks have no one to follow. I can see a few of them looking around confused. Everyone they looked up to is gone.

I try to push my invisibility away. It is helpful, but right now I want these guys to see me. I want them to see my face as I fight them. I want them to see the person they are fighting and see my anger for what is going on. I’m tired of seeing death, and I want this all to end.