Page 61 of Custodian

Diana was striding forward as soon as she heard her old liege’s name. Autumn had caused Verity to be killed? Diana was going to enjoy this. Autumn was vain enough that one quick taunt about her age had her simmering with rage. A few more prods and Diana figured the earth warden would make a fatal mistake.

“You know, Verity never did like you,” Diana pointed out.

“That man?! Verity was a fool!” Autumn screamed. “We showed him what Emmanuel had become – all that power and potential. And you know what he said?”

“‘No man, beast, or spirit should wield so much power.’”Diana intoned, in a decent mimicry of her old liege. She shrugged, “Verity was always saying cryptic, dramatic shit like that.”

Autumn looked offended, “Are you making fun of me? You bitch!”

“Bitch?” Diana pouted, “Ouch, lady. I know a dog who would take exception to that.”

Sure enough, Autumn charged, hands raised high in the air. Diana felt the ground rumble beneath her feet, but she kept her eyes locked firmly on her target. Autumn’s blonde hair contrasted sharply with her now black eyes and as she continued her approach, Diana could see her own reflection mirrored in the dark depths. As creepy as it was, it also saved her life, because she caught a slight movement behind her from within the dark irises. Diana ducked to her left, coming to her feet in a roll and hacking at the thick, black roots that were trying to strangle her. Unfortunately, for every root she cut off, another grew in its place.

“It’s like the friggin’ hydra!” she cursed, feeling a sting across her cheek.

Diana dabbed at the area and it came away bloody; one of the roots had cut her.

“Enough of this bullshit.” Diana hurled one of her scythes at Autumn, only to have the woman block it with a mound of dirt. Undeterred, Diana threw her second one, this time making it a bit further and nicking Autumn’s arm.

The woman cried as if it was a mortal wound and Diana shook her head, “By the Goddess, you are an insult to women everywhere. It barely even touched you!”

Suddenly, Autumn gasped, eyes going wide, and Diana watched in fascination as the woman pitched forward, blood gurgling from her mouth. She fell face-down on the earth, which gave a great heave, and Diana saw a scythe sticking out of her back.

“Ryker!”

Her Captain shrugged at her, placed a booted foot on Autumn’s back as he yanked his blade free; “Why should you get to have all the fun?”

***

Dex knew his brother would be fine. They had fought in hundreds of battles and wars and knew what to expect. Diana would likewise be fine, having seen her share of battleground bloodshed too. But he was worried about how some of the others would fare. Axel, Lark, and Beyden in particular were quite young and Dex knew they had never fought in any type of war. Although, they were skilled fighters and admirable men. A quick glance at the men in question had Dex breathing a sigh of relief; their jaws were clenched, eyes hard and glittering with determination as they fought their foes. They would hold up, Dex knew. They may not have liked what they were forced to do, but they would do their duty, and cut down any threat in their path. Max had chosen her Order well.

Hot, searing pain licked at his chest, and Dex realised he needed to be more worried about his own battles. Looking around, he saw an unknown fire warden smirking, black eyes shiny with glee. And standing next to her? The man on the top of Dex’s Kill List. Stefan looked to be playing with a young chaden, forcing water down the man’s throat. Although the chadens had proven to be immune to chade powers, just as Dex had been back at the prison, they were still vulnerable to the powers of wardens and also to steel. Dex had seen many of his cadets fall victim to enemy scythes already.

Striding forward, Dex swiped his hand to the left, and the unknown fire warden along with his two paladins went flying off the cliff. Dex spared them a glance as they landed in the churning water far below. He watched dispassionately as a huge shark immediately descended upon the three men, dragging them under within seconds. Looking up, he saw Fawn, Warden of Beast, also watching the show. She gave him a jaunty wave and a grin, even as she blew a kiss to the hungry shark down below. Dex shook his head and wondered why he always found himself surrounded by vicious women.

But his moment of humour was gone in seconds, replaced with a cold fury as he saw Stefan finish drowning the young man. “Stefan!” He yelled.

Stefan looked up, a flash of fear passing over his features as he took in Dex and the huge sword he carried. “Well, if it isn’t the freak who planted the mutant seed in my lover.”

Stefan threw his hands out, forcing water from beneath the ground to rise up in a torrent. But Dex simply let himself turn to mist, the water passing harmlessly through him. He kept moving swiftly toward the warden, not bothering to plant his feet back on the ground. Being a chaden came with some mighty fine perks. Dex slashed at him with his sword, catching Stefan on the arm. Stefan cried out, clutching the rather minor wound and Dex knew he was not facing a warrior. The man clearly had no real training in martial arts, likely believing his paladins would always be around to save him. But a quick glance behind the warden and Dex saw a very pissed-off Ryker cutting the Order of Neptune down one by one. Stefan turned just in time to see Trent – Beyden’s traitorous friend – take a scythe to the gut.

Thinking Ryker had the right idea, Dex pushed a gust of wind at Stefan, knocking him off his feet. Once he was on the ground and on his back where he belonged, Dex placed his booted foot on the man’s chest. He then pressed the tip of his famous sword against the coward’s belly; “Cali says hi,” he said, before slowly forcing the sword past skin and muscle.

It took some time – wounds to the gut always killed slowly – but Dex had the satisfaction of seeing the life leave the eyes of his lover’s tormentor. Satisfaction rolled through him and he glanced up, only to scream;

“Darius!”

***

Lark was immediately separated from his Order when the chaos took over, but he wasn’t too worried because he could feel them all through the link. Several hisses drew his attention and he found three hungry-looking chades heading his way. He pulled outbothhis scythes and cut through the wretched creatures like a hot knife through butter. He couldn’t help whistling at how easy and natural it felt to fight using two weapons. The night before, Ryker had presented the entire Order with new scythes. But they weren’t to replace they ones they already had. No, they were to add to them. Ryker had been the only paladin to fight with twin blades in their entire history. But no more. Now the Order of Aurora did so too.

“You think two blades will save you?”

Lark closed his eyes briefly, his body reacting to the voice even as his brain commanded it not to. His father stood smirking in front of him, an already bloodied scythe in his hand. Terran, his father’s liege, was standing next to him and Lark felt his chances of getting out of there alive were pretty much zero. But then he saw a flash of dark green and his sexy ranger round-house kicked Terran fair in the chest. Terran fell to the ground with a snarl. Ivy gave Lark a nod and a wicked grin as she took up a defensive stance. Lark laughed despite the circumstances; his woman lived for this kind of shit.

Trusting Ivy to handle Terran, Lark gave his full attention to his father. Just in time too, because Isaac came at him like a freight train. Lark raised both blades, blocking the unbelievably strong blow. He gritted his teeth against the vibrations singing up his arms and kicked out, forcing his father back a step.

“Pussy!” Isaac spat, “You were always such a pussy. Tried my best to toughen you up but it didn’t do any good. Look at you – still so weak!”

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