Page 1 of Guiding Desire
1
SENLAS
Thelandscapeoutsidethelead vehicle’s windshield was lush, the tiny white cream drop flowers just about to open for the early morning light. The damp of night still lingered, slicking leaves and the sometimes-bumpy road, and banks of fog clinging to the tree branches would only make the damp last longer.
Senlas made a face at the fog. Fog was bad because it made it too easy for things to sneak up on you, and once things had snuck up on you, not being able to see them properly made fighting back a pain. On top of that, wet roads could make you slip in a fight, whether they were framed by cheery flowers or not.
“Can I turn on the radio?” Karmine asked from the driver’s seat.
“How often?”
Karmine sighed. “You mean, how often do I have to ask before you say yes?”
They passed over a series of potholes, which forced Karmine to slow down while Senlas swiveled his eyes left to right, piercing the fog and scanning the depths of the underbrush and wild growth. A withered distance marker ahead told them Argentea was just a little over half an hour out.
“Take a wild fucking guess.”
“If we get attacked—” Karmine started, which set Senlas to growling. “Dude. If we get attacked, we might at least have something fun playing while it’s happening.”
“How often do I have to tell you I do not want to fight a Hunt of Hounds while you turn up the latest fucking tune to high?”
Karmine glanced to his right, the tips of his dark golden hair falling into his eyes. “Could’ve said no.”
“Keep your eyes on the road. I said no twenty-six fucking minutes ago.”
Before Karmine could respond, a noise louder than any radio interrupted them—a bang followed by screeching no human voice box could have produced.
Senlas spun in his seat. “Third vehicle behind us. I see eight of them. Stop, now.”
Eight was not a reason to cut and run, and anyway, their convoy was a scientific and Conduit transport, meaning normal rules didn’t apply. You did not leave Conduits behind, not as a Guardian worth your salt.
Karmine stopped, and the vehicles behind them did as well. Senlas had once done a similar run, only several of the other drivers had been regulars, protectors, and the idiots had crashed into the lead vehicle in a panic.
Not so today.
“I have eyes on the front,” Karmine said and got out as Senlas’s boots hit the brittle pavement.
Senlas turned toward the rear of the convoy just in time to see one of the Wild Hunt’s Hounds burst from the fog and lift the axe he was holding in his right hand, aiming for the third vehicle.
SenlasSeizedthe Hound’s hand rather than the axe, made use of the momentum, and just when the Hound’s muscles would have propelled the weapon forward, SenlasYankedback hard. It was easy, a mental load not unlike simplest addition, a one plus one of destruction.
The Hound howled in pain. The resulting fracture was a nasty one, the hand having been almost snapped off, the skin torn like paper, but since one of the Ferrean Guardians immediately struck out with a fire attack to the Hound’s face—green flames, very flashy—the screams didn’t bother anyone for long.
Senlas made out other attackers, going for at least two cars that he could see, but Taros and Vin were in the second to last vehicle, and Senlas trusted that his team could handle themselves.
He glanced toward the second vehicle, which had two Ferrean Guardians in the front, none below A-class on his insistence. They were standing by but making no move to exit the vehicle, ready to protect the Conduits in the back but not abandoning them. Senlas relaxed a fraction for the simple fact he was working with Guardians who knew what they were doing.
He was about toLifta rock from the side of the road to make some use of that while the attack was still ongoing, despite three Ferrean fire users clearly breaking it up, but a rustling of leaves from somewhere within the fog to his left made Senlas release the rock and dive to the side, relying more on instinct than anything else.
“Oh, fuck this,” Senlas grumbled. A short spear, glass-tipped, was lodged in the side of their lead vehicle, just about where Senlas’s head would have been.
“You good?” Karmine yelled. “Or do I get to turn on the radio whenever I want now?”
“Shut your Hound-fucking mouth,” Senlas said,Pulledthe spear free, andLiftedit in the air, high above eye level, tip pointing downward. It was still barely taxing in terms of mental load, only reach and distance always felt like subtraction to Senlas, like division when he had to keep track of multiple objects.
Two Hounds rushed from the foliage moments later, their yellow eyes narrowed, their purplish-blue skin and black hair slightly damp as if they’d been lying in wait for a while. Senlas could see the length of their sharply tipped ears pierced with many metal rings, supposedly a counter for how many people they had killed. He brought the spear down on the Hound in the front,Grabbedthe second one’s throat, andPushed, a simple act of quick addition.
The spear did its job nicely, going into the Hound just above the collarbone and bringing that one to his knees, but the second Hound barely even stopped.
