After the Argents (editing)

Chapter Twenty-Three | Battle

Location: Southern Mountains

Jye saw two men drop the ground, knocked forward by the impact.

Then he saw her drift out of the misting rain.

Pora.

He shuttered at her appearance. Blood painted across her forehead. Streaked down her cheek and neck. Circling her lacerated wrists and dripping her from her fingers. The chain dragging from her left hand. But the worst was her hair. Chopped at her shoulders. Tangled wildly around her face.

"Get away from my family," she growled. Prowling to Jye's side. Amber eyes spitting fire.

Zigo was smart enough to signal his men to back up and hold positions as he surveyed her. Studying her condition, gauging the strength of that fire against the slow loss of blood and the long treck up the mountain.

"I'm impressed you got out."

"Did you think you could hold me?" Hard, cold words.

Words that cut through Jye until he felt like he was bleeding with her. She'd been caught and chained. Locked up and left behind. And he hadn't known. He hadn't come to help her. It broke something in him, knowning what that pain felt like. That desperate kind of loneliness.

He reached for her, gently touching the half healed cut along her cheek and through her ear. Studying her wrists without hurting her further.

"Are you okay?" he whispered. Knowing she wasn't. But needing to ask it anyways.

For the first time her eyes darted to him. Cataloging his broken nose and the thin line of blood running down his chin. Beneath the anger he saw the pain and the acceptance and the fear on her face. She showed it all to him.

"I'm fine. Where is she?"

Jye didn't dare look over his shoulder to where Mouse was hiding.

"Close. Too close." He whispered back.

Together they looked around at the men around them. A little over a dozen of them. A few with small injuries but still game. All of them desperate enough to be dangerous. And all of them were slowly pulling out short batons from their belts. Pushing a button to turn on the crackling sparks at the end.

Lightning threw the clearing into a stark relief every few seconds. Thunder roared in it's wake, the storm right over them. Rain poured down in a cool sheet. Turning pink as it washed away blood and dirt. Pooling around the feet of the two white haired warriors holding their ground on that tiny patch of earth.

There was no one he'd rather be fighting beside. Jye gave Pora a wolf-like smile, offering his hand.

"Care to dance?"

A grin flashed in response. She put her hand in his. And then he threw her.

Pora landed with a boom, her fist hitting the ground and sending cracks away in every direction. Men were thrown off their feet by the shockwave. Zigo was the only one who'd braced himself and was still standing.

She charged the closest men, still struggling to their feet. That chain snapping around her as she spun it through the air. Preparing to strike. Seeing her determination gave him the strength to grasp onto that control and hold on. Not to give into the darkness Zigo had tried to pull out of him. But to fight for himself. For his family.

Jye moved to her back, falling into rhythm. Twisting around her. Matching her move for move. They moved in sync, fluid and powerful. Attack, block, deflect. He threw a man over his shoulder. Pora wrapped the chain around his neck and slammed him down into the dirt. Another swept her legs out and Jye caught her in a dip, spinning her back to her feet. A beautiful, angry dance.