It was time she took charge. “There’s nothing we can do about him right now. Let’s see if the rogues are here in the park.”
Mike twisted around to face her. “So what are we looking for exactly? What will these people look like?”
She pointed at her eyes. “They’ll have eyes roughly the color of mine. Their hair will be dark and shot through with silver, even the younger ones. And before you ask, I dye mine to hide the gray.”
Something she hated doing, but she and her father both thought it was necessary. With so many Kalith living in and around Ridgewick, someone would be bound to notice a lot of young people all having salt-and-pepper hair even in their teens.
“The last time we saw them, they were dressed in dark tunics over trousers. That may have changed by now, but for sure they’ll be carrying swords like mine.”
She knew her duty and would see it carried out. Regardless, revealing her own people’s existence to these men felt like a betrayal of everything she stood for. The knowledge that she might also have to execute the rogues made her sick at heart. Even if they did return home, it would be to face probable execution at the hands of the Sworn Guardians and their Blademates. There was no happy ending in sight for any of them.
Eli squeezed her hand. The small gesture meant a lot even if she was still mad at him for announcing his decision to leave the country without talking to her about it first. Yet another item on their agenda that would have to be dealt with eventually.
But one thing at a time.
Doc started driving again, going slowly to give them all time to study their surroundings for any sign of the enemy. When Safara rolled her window down in order to hear better, the three men immediately followed suit. They were just turning down the last loop off the main road when a scream rang out. Doc hit the brakes as they all strained to determine which direction it had come from.
Mike leaned his head out of his window. “Anybody see anything?”
Eli did the same. “No.”
Safara spotted movement in the woods off to the left. “There. Someone just ducked into those trees. I barely caught a glimpse of him, so I can’t tell for sure. I’ll go see. The rest of you keep hunting.”
Eli was out the door and heading around to her side of the vehicle before she even had her seat belt unfastened. She looked at Mike. “Okay, let me rephrase that. Eli and I will check him out while you and Doc drive on ahead. We’ll text you if we spot anything, and you do the same.”
“Got it.”
She and Eli started off across the clearing at a slow trot. They’d only gotten halfway when they heard terrified voices in counterpoint to dark laughter and taunts. They slowed to listen to triangulate the source of the sounds. Finally, Eli pointed into the distance. “There.”
She drew both her service revolver and her sword. They kept moving forward, but more slowly while Eli called in their backup. Once they knew Mike and Doc were on their way, they picked up speed. By then they could clearly see two of the rogues and make out at least some of what was being said, none of it good. Tiel had cornered two adults, who had three young children huddled behind them.
The woman was pleading with him, her voice thick with tears and fear. “Please, mister, let my children go. They didn’t do anything to you.”
The Kalith jabbed the tip of his sword at the husband, slicing the man’s arm open. From a distance, it was hard to tell how badly he was hurt as blood dripped down his arm.
Tiel kept waving his sword around in front of the couple. “Who wants to bleed next?”
Eli bellowed in fury. “Tiel, you worthless coward, I ran you off once, and I’ll do it again.”
His efforts to draw the rogue’s attention away from the innocent campers worked, but only in part. Tiel charged right for them, but his companion remained to keep the humans from escaping. Eli lowered his weapon. “I don’t have a clear shot.”
He shoved his gun back into its holster and drew his broadsword. “I’ll deal with your cousin. You see what you can do about the other guy.”
She wished they could shoot the rogue, but the bastard was now using the children as human shields. At that point, Tiel and Eli came together with a clash of swords. To make matters worse, six more rogues were now headed right toward them. Several were sporting bandages, marking them as the same bunch they’d faced outside the cave. Good. It was time to end their rampage.
Where were Mike and Doc? Not that either of them would be of much use once she and Eli were surrounded by the enemy. Even if they had swords, they wouldn’t know how to use them, and they couldn’t risk using their guns for fear of hitting one of their own.
The sound of squealing tires was followed by several car doors opening, too many for it to be Mike and Doc. When she risked a glance back toward the road, her heart skipped a beat and then started beating far too fast when a tall man dressed all in black jumped out of the driver’s door of the blue pickup truck that had been following them earlier. He calmly held up what looked like a sniper rifle and took aim. It was impossible to tell exactly who he had in his sights. She prayed it was one of the rogues.
At the same time, a group of four men had just piled out of a large van. Before the other man could pull the trigger, they had him surrounded. After they subdued their prisoner and tossed him into the bed of his truck, they drew swords and headed straight toward her and Eli at a dead run. Dear God, they were Paladins! Well, at least two of them were. The others carried Kalith swords even though they were dressed in human clothing.
She called out to Eli, “We’ve got company. Not sure if they’re actually on our side, but they’re definitely not on Tiel’s.”
The other rogues were nearly upon them. She prayed the humans would survive long enough for them or the Paladins to rescue them. Then a single shot rang out. The rogue behind the children dropped to the ground as Mike and Doc stepped into sight and herded the family back out of danger.
Good. None of them needed to see the bloodbath that was coming.
The rogues spread out to surround her and Eli. Two challenged her directly, one male and the other female. She had no choice but to take them both on, too busy trying to avoid being cut to pieces to keep track of the four newcomers.
