Page 76 of Shadow's Chosen

Elise tried to shift away as two men grabbed her arms and dragged her up. Elise yelped in pain as one squeezed around one of the wounds on her arm. She was placed beside Pyra, who grabbed a fist of her hair and forced her head up.

"If you weren't such a precious resource to my brother, I would be slitting your throat this very instant," she spat. She turned back to her men. "Bring me the rest. Kill the soldiers."

The men started forward, guns aimed. From the corner of her eye, Elise could see the drogin soldiers falling back, taking shelter behind large crates. Her team and Grayhart's tried to take shelter near the back of the ship. Pyra tugged her back, forcing Elise to look at her.

"I might not be able to kill you, girl," she said. Her lips curled in a wicked smile. "But I can make you suffer. After all," she tilted her head and lifted her other hand, brushing her fingers along Elise's arm. "Where you are going, you won't need any arms or legs." She pressed hard into the cut on Elise's arm, and Elise screamed. Pyra released her without warning, making Elise stumble back into the men ordered to keep her still. Pyra took out a blade from her side and lifted it to Elise's face. "I'll try not to enjoy this too much," she said sweetly. "Hold her down," she ordered the men.

Elise fought as the men roughly brought her down to the ground, one grabbing her ankles and the other shoving her hands above her head. Pyra knelt down at her side and placed the knife against her thigh. She pressed the tip down, cutting her suit. Elise struggled and yelled, but everyone around her was too distracted by the Red Blades’ assault, gunfire sweeping across the warehouse.

Pyra grinned and lifted her knife. She raised her arm up, ready to stab into Elise's thigh, when some dark object flashed by, hitting the side of her hand. Pyra shrieked with rage as blood gushed from her palm, the blade slipping, dropping to the ground along with a couple of her fingers. She drew back as another dark object hit one of her men and his mask split open. The men released her in a panic, and Elise rolled away. As she rose to her knees, she looked up and saw Nezka approaching from the other end of the warehouse, blades already returned to his hands. He started toward her, and Elise cried out as, from somewhere unseen, the vrisha dropped down, blocking his way.

Nezka bared his teeth, and the vrisha growled back. They circled one another; two powerful predators ready to tear each other apart. Elise watched, her heart pounding, realizing what she was feeling was fear. Fear that this was one enemy Nezka might not be able to defeat.

The vrisha whipped out his tail, cutting close to Nezka's throat as he dodged the attack. The alien was fast, if not faster than Nezka. And just as agile. But Nezka didn't falter. They would circle until one would attack and the other dodged. Like tigers or vipers, they struck violently, without mercy. Nezka swerved away from the vrisha's tail once more then lunged forward, catching the alien's leg, slicing apart his scales, leaving a dark gash. The alien shot back and hissed then returned to circling, undisturbed by the mark. The pointed end of the vrisha's tail was as sharp as Nezka's blade and could do just as much if not more damage. Elise struggled to her feet as their fight started to move from one side of the warehouse to the other, keeping back from the gunfire. Some of the drogin soldiers leapt out from their hiding spots to grapple with any of the Red Blades who chased them. Some were able to take a Red Blade down while others were not so lucky as the bursts of red light from the men's guns cut through the soldier's bodies.

Elise turned back to the ship in time to see Vijnn power it on and for her team to direct the others inside as the ship's ramp dropped to the ground. She looked back at Nezka as he brought the vrisha around, their fight continuing over to one wall near the blasted-in door. Elise, thinking her best chance was to help the others into the ship, started forward, but an arm wrapped tight around her throat and dragged her back.

Kicking and clawing at the arm, Elise twisted, trying to free herself, her feet slipping on puddles of blood.

"We're not finished," Pyra hissed in her ear. "When I'm done with you, you'll wish you were dead." Pyra's hold tightened around her, and Elise flung her arm back, trying to hit her face. Panic struck her as her vision began to blur. She was losing consciousness. She could feel her body beginning to slow.

A flash of brilliant light burst over her head, and for a moment, Elise thought something might have popped in her brain, until she caught the sparks of fire along the wall. Another burst of light shot down near the ground close to them, and Elise realized someone was firing off a large weapon. Pyra yelped in surprise as another shot fell close to her head. Her arm loosened for a mere second, but it was all Elise needed. She cut her elbow back, hitting Pyra in the stomach, then dropped down, freeing herself from her grip. Elise rolled forward and quickly jumped back up to her feet, twisting around to face Pyra head-on. The woman snarled at her and was about to charge when another flash of light followed by a spark of fire cut into the ground between them. Elise looked up and saw from the roof entrance above, one of the hunters—the lygin, Silfres—sporting a long, two-handed weapon. Beside him was another of the hunters—the golden woman, Jazlin. With incredible cat-like reflexes, she climbed down one side of the roof, dropping on a stack of equipment. As soon as she was back on her feet, she brought out one of her knives and jumped on a group of men firing at a pair of soldiers.

Elise turned back to Pyra, who glared at her from the wall of flames between them. Letting out a furious growl, she leapt over the flames toward Elise. Elise jumped back and dodged her first attack. Though the woman was missing part of her hand, she was relentless, striking fast and hard. She forced Elise back, trying to pin here against a wall, but Elise wasn't going to let the bitch get a hold of her again. She swerved to the side and made her movements fluid and quick, remembering what Nezka had taught her. As Pyra came at her again, Elise blocked her attempt at a blow to the head then slid to one side and struck the side of her face. Pyra took the hit and slammed her foot into Elise’s stomach, making her fly back. Elise rolled on the ground, feeling the wind knock out of her. She lay on her side, feeling something sharp dig into her hip. When she sat up, she found a shard of metal from the broken door underneath her. She grasped it in hand just as Pyra came for her again. As the woman went to kick her down, Elise stabbed the sharp metal into the exposed underside of Pyra's leg.

Pyra fell to one knee with a yowl. She went to grab at Elise’s throat but found she couldn't with her severed hand. Elise shoved her arm away and pushed off to tackle her to the ground. As Pyra's back hit the floor, Elise brought her fist down, smashing it into her face. Pyra went limp, her eyes rolling back, head dropping to the side.

Realizing Pyra wasn't going to get back up, Elise slid off her and rose to her feet. She looked down at the woman then lifted her head up in time to see the ship roaring to life. It floated up several feet then turned slowly toward the side of the warehouse where Nezka and the vrisha still fought. Nezka was bleeding now from several places, and the vrisha was attempting to back him into a corner. A burst of blue fire shot out from the ship's front, firing toward them.

"No!" Elise cried out.

Fire exploded along one side, causing stacks of shelves to come crashing down with Nezka and the vrisha between them. Elise cried out again and started forward, but Bruce and Reese blocked her way.

"Elise, we have to go!" Reese screamed in her ear over the roar of the engine. They tugged her toward the ship which still hovered close enough to the ground that they could climb onto the ramp. Pyra's men lay around them as did a few of the drogin soldiers. From back at the opposite end of the warehouse Elise caught Jazlin taking out the last group of Red Blades. As Elise made it around to the ship's backside she saw from the entrance the rest of her team helping the Grayhart men and women, along with Lo and the other surviving drogin, into seats. Elise halted beside the ramp as Bruce and Reese climbed aboard.

Heart dropping to her stomach, Elise turned back, searching frantically. She found herself stepping farther away from the ship as she searched the rubble of shelves and growing flames. Her eyes traveled downward, and she froze as she found Nezka freeing himself from underneath a collapsed shelf. Letting out a small breath of relief, she ran to him, making it over to him as he righted himself. She grasped his arm, and he tensed in surprise then quickly pulled her close.

"I believe you now," she said against him. Elise pulled back a little to look up at him. "Take us home."

Nezka dropped his forehead to hers then grabbed her firmly and led her back to the ship. Jazlin was there now. She gave Elise a tight frown before looking to Nezka.

"There are more coming. Me and Silfres saw them approaching from above," she said. "Someone must have called on reinforcements from the gates. Silfres has volunteered to stay behind to keep them at bay. We need to go."

Nezka signaled for her to get on the ship. Jazlin did so reluctantly. Elise tugged at Nezka's arm, pulling at him to follow her up the ramp. As he moved to enter the ship with her, he stopped suddenly and look back across to the pile of broken shelves. Elise followed his gaze and saw the vrisha climbing out from underneath. The alien freed himself and came at them, only to be tugged back suddenly, as if something still caught at him. He looked back and saw his tail caught under the rubble. The scene might have been amusing at some other time but now only brought on a wave of panic. Any second, he would tug himself loose and come for them.

Nezka looked back at Elise and, in a split moment, kissed her hard on the mouth then forced one of his blades into her hand.

"Be free," he said.

Before she could open her mouth, he took hold of her waist and threw her back into the ship entrance. Elise landed on her side, Nezka's blade nearly slipping from her hand as she slid against someone’s feet. She let out a shout of surprise and climbed back to her feet, lunging forward. Before she could run down the ramp, someone had a hold of her.

"Nezka!" she screamed. She saw him outside the ship. The vrisha had freed himself and was now coming for him. She saw nothing more as the ship turned slightly to one side and began to rise. The ramp lifted up, and the door started to close. Elise struggled against whoever kept hold of her, calling out. But before she could rip herself free, the ship jolted upward and flew out of the warehouse. Whoever had her let her go, and she scrambled over to the front window of the pilot's seat.

Down below, the warehouse grew smaller as smoke billowed from the top and fire licked the sides. Elise turned to Vijnn. "We have to go back. Turn back," she snapped.

"No," Vijnn replied in a firm but sad tone. "We can't go back."

"We have to return for him, we have to—"

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