As Samara grabbed her sword, she saw at least a dozen black-clad attackers, wearing the same clothes as the ones in the mountains. They were coming quickly from behind a large rock formation from the east. One of them lay dead a few yards away from Rufus, a bullet wound in his head.
"Who are these guys?" Samara hissed to her friends.
Leela shook her head, frowning at the oncoming attackers while she tightened her grip around the hilt of her sword.
Samara looked down and saw Kit was still asleep. She kicked at the girl's foot to wake her up. Good thing she hadn't been asleep long or she probably would have slept through this fight too.
"Huh? Wha—?" Kit asked sleepily.
"Get your sword," Samara said as the attackers surrounded the campsite. Kit's eyes widened as she realized what was happening. She jumped into action, holding her sword in shaking hands.
The four stood back to back, facing their attackers as they circled them. Rufus had his gun ready, looking as if he was trying to decide if he should just start shooting now.
"What do we do?" Kit asked, sounding worried.
"Try not to die," Rufus replied, dread in his voice. "I don't have a lot of bullets left. There's too many of them."
Leela searched the area, looking for something they could use to get the upper hand. Her ice-blue eyes landed on the campfire that was starting to die out.
"Use the fire," she muttered.
"What?" Samara asked.
"We can use the fire." Leela repeated and sheathed her sword. Her hands glowed orange as she used magic to pull the flames from the logs. As she pulled, the fire grew.
Samara understood then. She put her sword away so her hands were free too. Pulling the already ignited flames would take less energy than conjuring them themselves. The two worked together, dragging the flames out of the fire and combining it with their own magic until there was a whirling belt of flames swirling around the four of them. The circular wall of fire formed a barrier between them and their attackers, who had stopped advancing toward them at the sight of the growing flames and the heat kissing their faces.
They had never attempted anything like this—Samara smiled at Leela. So much for hiding their magic. But they didn't have a choice now, did they?
Rufus tried not to gape at the girls' power. Sweat beaded on his forehead from the heat of the fire wall. He wiped it away. Kit shielded her face with the crook of her arm.
"On the count of three," Leela mumbled. "One, two—"
"THREE." They pushed the flames outward, the fire bursting around them like an explosion. Some of the attackers had already started to flee, but they didn't make it very far before the fire pulsed, sending the flames rushing out like a bomb and hitting several of the black-clad fighters. They fell to the ground.
Those that didn't get hit began to scatter, giving the companions a chance to spread out. Samara and Leela quickly drew their swords again. Rufus and Kit were ready to attack now too.
The attackers on fire dropped to the ground, rolling around while screaming, trying to put the flames out. Those that weren't injured turned around and continued their attack. Samara rushed out to meet one head on, swords clanging together in the dark. Why did they always attack them at night? She wanted to sleep. She wanted to see who she was fighting. Luckily they had the light of the moon tonight.
While she was fighting, Samara became distracted trying to keep an eye on Kit. The girl was doing well with her long knife but for how long?
Samara made sure to stay close by her in case she needed help.
The four of them danced around with the attackers that hadn't been burned. The sound of metal clanging on metal along with the screams of those who had been seared by the fire echoed through the night.
Coyotes howled in the distance.
Leela was the first to strike one down with her sword. She plunged the blade through their chest and then kicked them to the ground, freeing her sword.
Rufus was being attacked by two at once. He fought one with his sword one-handed while readying his gun with the other. He shot the second one point blank in the face. While the first one was distracted by the second's fall, Rufus plunged his sword into their gut.
At the same time, Samara slashed the point of her sword over her attacker's throat. Blood poured from his neck. He dropped his sword and clutched at the wound. As the enemy fell dead at her feet, Samara looked to see where Kit was. She was being backed into a boulder, her eyes wide with fear as she swung her small blade, barely defending herself.
Kit would be killed if Samara didn't do something. She summoned a ball of fire and threw it at Kit's attacker, hitting them in the back of the head. They screamed in pain and dropped to their knees. Before Kit could be responsible for the death of someone, Samara jumped in and stabbed the attacker in the back of the neck.
Kit looked disappointed but Samara said, "Trust me, you don't want that on your conscience if it doesn't have to be."
"Look out!" Kit cried, leaping forward to save Samara from being stabbed in the back.
Samara whipped around and she and Kit fought off the new enemy together.
One by one, the attackers fell. They were as weak and inexperienced as the first batch. Someone was definitely sending them to their deaths without empathy. It had to be Cyril. He was on to them. Testing them. Using these weak humans for his own pleasure.
The smell of burning flesh and hair was heavy in the air from those that had been burned. Some were still barely alive, moaning in pain.
Samara looked up and noticed they were now being surrounded by something new: predators that smelled blood and heard the cries of dying men. The eyes of coyotes reflected in the moon's light. They waited at a safe distance, hoping to snag an easy meal.
There were only a few attackers left.
Samara swung her sword, knocking aside her enemy's blade. "Who are you?"
They didn't respond. Their eyes stared at her, looking glazed.
Sweat rolled from Samara's forehead to her eyebrows. Her breaths were coming heavily. Sweat trickled down her back. Her energy was depleting—the trick with the fire had taken too much out of her. She was becoming sloppy.
The enemy's blade sliced a gash into Samara's arm, crossing over her old scab. She grit her teeth, raising her sword to throw another attack. The enemy blocked. Then punched her in the face. Samara fell backwards, feeling warm blood trickle down her lip. Her sword was kicked from her hands. She dodged just in time before her attacker brought down a knife they had yanked from their boot.
Samara fell to the ground and rolled to the side, tasting a mouthful of dirt mixed with blood.
Her attacker descended and pinned her to the earth, ready to stab her in the throat. Samara grabbed the closest thing to her—a large rock—and used it to smash in the side of her attacker's head. A woman's voice screamed in pain. She dropped her knife. The woman wrapped her hands around Samara's neck and began strangling her instead.
The weight of the woman was too much in her weakened state, Samara couldn't knock her off. The hands around her neck squeezed tighter and tighter, choking her. Grasping around her blindly, Samara found the rock and used it again, bashing it against the woman's head. She shrieked. The hands pushed harder into Samara's throat. Samara bashed her with the rock again. Again. Again. Until finally, the woman's hands went limp and she fell to the side, off of Samara.
Samara gasped, finally able to breathe again. Gasping and coughing, Samara rolled up onto her knees. She spat blood. Her whole body was shaking as she looked at the mangled mess of what used to be the woman's face. That had been too close. Samara had almost blacked out.
Still coughing and catching her breath, Samara looked at the bloody mess of the woman's face and head. Though she was dead, wide green eyes stared back Samara through the blood. Samara's eyes watered with tears.
No longer able to look at what she had done, Samara turned away, closing her eyes swallowing vomit that threatened to spew from her mouth. She had brutally killed that woman. She knew she'd had no other choice, but it was too much. She didn't like this feeling; she wasn't a killer.
Another scream made her look up. Her heart dropped. Kit had just thrust her sword into the gut of an attacker.
"No," she whispered. Samara's eyes overflowed then. Hot tears rolled down her cheeks. She was thankful Kit was able to defend herself but her heart was breaking; Kit would have to feel this pain and conflict of killing someone too.
Kit stared at the dead body on the ground, her hands shaking. She threw the sword down on the dirt.
Samara jumped up and ran to Kit, grabbing her by the arm. "Are you okay?"
Kit nodded, eyes wide. "I think so."
"You were only defending yourself," Samara reassured her, hugging her tightly. Kit buried her face into Samara's shirt. Samara looked up to see Rufus and Leela finishing off their attackers. Several dead bodies lay scattered around them.
Suddenly a painful groan caught Samara's attention. She and Kit looked to where it had come from. One of the attacker's was lying on the ground near them, his clothes singed and his body severely burned.
Samara made sure Kit would be okay and then grabbed her sword. She went back and knelt beside the man. His mask had mostly been burned off, revealing a young man who couldn't have been much older than she was.
He looked up at her, his skin blistering where it wasn't melting off the side of his face.
"Mercy," he gasped. "Kill me."
"Tell me who you are first. Who sent you?"
Rufus and Leela came up behind them. The man hesitated, then figuring he was dead anyway and wouldn't have to face any repercussions, he stuttered, "S-Saigon."
Saigon. The name echoed in Samara's head. She looked up at Leela, who clenched her fists tightly.
"I knew he couldn't be trusted," Leela hissed.
"Why would Saigon send you to kill us?" Samara said.
"Not ... kill...." Tears fell from the man's eyes. He gasped, struggling to breathe. He was suffocating.
"Then what?" Samara demanded.
"Kill ... me. Please...."
Bang!
Rufus shot the man in the head, ending his pain. Samara jumped to her feet and turned on him.
"I wasn't finished asking him questions!"
"The man was suffering, Samara. Bad guy or not, no one deserves that kind of pain."
Samara grit her teeth, enraged. "Are any others alive?" She looked around at the fallen, hoping to find another one she could question. Why would Saigon send these guys?
Samara and Leela went from body to body to see if anyone else was still alive.
"They're all dead," Leela said.
"Well that's just great," Samara said glaring at Rufus.
"Why are you mad at me?" Rufus asked.
"You could have let me ask him a few more questions before you shot him."
"What's the big deal? Are you afraid your boyfriend is up to something?" Rufus said.
Samara seethed, throwing her hands in the air. "I don't know, that's what I was trying to find out."
"All right, both of you calm down," Leela said, stepping in between them. It was odd to Samara, being the one told to calm down. Usually it was she in the middle of two people fighting trying to be the peacekeeper. "He said it was Saigon ... none of us knows anything about him, do we?" Leela continued.
"Roslyn said we could trust him," Samara said. "Obviously not."
"You're the only one of us that's met him ... what was he like?"
"I barely knew him. He said a few words, that's it."
"What kind of dragon is he?" Leela asked.
"Red."
Leela sighed, shaking her head. "They're some of the worsts...."
"You think he's working for Cyril?" Rufus said.
Leela gestured to the bodies. "If he sent these guys, more than likely." A pack of coyotes was now dragging away one of the bodies.
"Are we just gonna let them do that?" Kit asked, pointing.
Leela shrugged. "What else are we going to do? Bury them all? Let the dogs eat."
"Seems kind of cold, but okay," Kit said, lip curled in disgust.
Samara turned away, crossing her arms over her chest, contemplating everything. If Saigon had sent them ... what about Danteous?
"The man said they didn't intend to kill us. So, like I guessed before, he's testing our strengths," Leela said.
"And weaknesses," Rufus said.
"Well how'd we do then?" Samara yelled into the night. She turned on her heels, searching the area for a sign of Saigon. He had to be watching right now if he was testing them.
"Shh!" Rufus came up behind her and covered her mouth. "You want to wake up the entire planet?"
"I don't care! I need to know what's going on." Samara struggled out of Rufus' grip. She grabbed a large stick from the ground and ignited the top of it with a ball of fire, using it as a torch.
"Where are you going?" Rufus called after her.
"To find them ... make them talk."
"You can't go by yourself," Leela said running to catch up with her.
"What are we supposed to do?" Rufus called back.
"Guard the camp!" Leela called back.
"Sure, leave the ones that can't use magic to guard the camp ... makes sense." Rufus folded his arms.
"Samara." Leela made her stop, grabbing her by the shoulder. "You're not thinking clearly right now. You need to calm down and focus. Do you really think they're going to come out and face us, even if they are listening and watching?"
"I don't know, Leela. I don't know what to think or what to do right now." Samara couldn't stop the tears from burning her eyes and despite biting her tongue, they started falling down her cheeks again, stinging the cut on her lip. "I trusted him again. How could I be so stupid?"
Leela gave her a look of pity. "You know, I sort of trusted him for a while there too."
Samara sighed, her adrenaline starting to wane. She could feel the sting on her face, the bruising on her neck. It hurt to talk. Her arm hurt the most though. Blood soaked the sleeve of her shirt, sticky against her skin. The cut was deeper than the last time.
"Come on, let's go get you cleaned up—you look like shit."
Samara laughed softly, sniffling. They headed back toward the camp together.
"Oh and by the way," Leela said loudly into the night, "if you are watching...." She raised her middle finger in the air.
When they returned, Samara apologized to Rufus. "You were right to end his suffering, I was being irrational."
"Thanks. I'm sorry too."
"For what?"
"I don't know, it just seemed like the right thing to say," Rufus said.
They decided to move on and find a different place to camp that night rather than sleeping around all the bodies. Not to mention, the coyotes were still hovering. Other scavengers were arriving as well. Glowing eyes watched as they got busy, tending their wounds and packing up camp.
Leela tended Samara's arm first, closing the wound with butterfly bandages after pouring disinfectant over it. Her eye was bruising and her lip was swollen where she had been hit. Blood had dried around her lips, leaving crusted specs of it on her chin.
"They got you good, huh?" Leela said, eyeing the bruising around Samara's neck.
"Yeah," Samara sighed, her voice now hoarse. She used a sterile wipe to clean the blood off her face.
Rufus had a cut on his thigh that needed closing up too.
"Man, I could use a smoke right now," Rufus growled as Leela cleaned the cut.
"Sorry," Leela said, grimacing along with him.
Kit had a few scrapes on her knees and a bruise on her arm, but other than that she was in good shape. Leela had a small cut under her eye and a scraped up knee.
Once they were all patched up, they moved on and found a new place to camp under a lone tree.
Samara twisted the dragon claw on its chain, thinking of all the things Danteous had said when he gave it to her. The promises he had made just before they made love. She wished she could see him, talk to him.
What if he wasn't betraying them?
What if he was being betrayed by Saigon?
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