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“They’re moving her at dawn,” Zkovia adds. “So if we want to retrieve her, now is the time.”
Zkovia walks slowly away from the crowd, picking up a gnarled walking cane. He addresses me. “Well, are you coming?”
Ultimately, nobody stays behind. Even Gradius realizes that the dark elves have come a little too close to discovering the tribe. We gather outside the settlement when the moon hangs high, careful not to alert the elves to our presence.
25
ZEPHIRO
“We’ve got your back,” one of the Zvori tells me, patting me on the back. “We’ll get Sierra and our cub back.”
It warms my heart to see the tribe coming through for me like this, and it reminds me why being a part of a tribe is so important. I’ve been separated from one for so long that I forgot how good it feels.
But now is not the time to reflect on that. It’s almost midnight, which is the time that we agreed to begin our attack. A group of Zvori will be with me, and another group on each side of the dark elf territory. Everyone is under specific orders to signal me if they find Sierra first.
The scent of her out here is overwhelming, and I don’t know how I missed my cub’s scent on her this morning. Now it’s all I can smell. Well, that and fear. Lots of fear.
I don’t even want to know what the elves have been doing to her all this time. I just hope she’s still alive. And if anything happened to our cub before I even had a chance to tell her that she was carrying it… I’d be setting out to kill every last dark elf on Protheka.
“Okay, let’s go,” I order the Zvori waiting behind me.
We spread out and barrel forward, exposing ourselves to the elves standing guard. They sent a pack of them out earlier to search the surrounding area, but they weren’t smart enough to know exactly where to look for us. It was funny watching them try, though.
The elves immediately jump down from their posts, calling out for backup and drawing their swords.
I slaughter my way through the elves, wasting no time at all. The faster I can find her, the better. Around me, the tribe helps by doing most of the killing so that I can focus on finding Sierra, but I still relish ripping a few heads off here and there.
“Where is she?” I yell.
I rip a door off its hinges, running inside and killing anyone in my path as I search each and every room. When I find nothing in the first building, I head for the next one.
“Not in there.” Gradius grabs my arm.
I stare holes into him, deciding whether or not to trust him.
“I would never lie to you. I already checked, and I know her scent well from when I came to your cottage. She isn’t in that one. Try another, the rest are still being checked,” he tells me.
I nod my head, running in the opposite direction toward a building that looks pretty promising. It’s the biggest one, and outside, the elves seem to be guarding it pretty heavily. I run as fast as I can, a feeling deep inside of me screaming that this is where she is.
As I get closer, her scent grows stronger. This has to be it. When I approach, a rush of elves runs outside, joining the ones already guarding it. One in particular runs forward, meeting me.
“You’re not getting inside this one.”
“Yes, I am. Move or be killed. Actually, you’re going to get killed either way.”
“The brute of our men are in there. If you go in, you’re dead. I’d turn around now if I were you.”
I use only one hand to snap his neck, no longer willing to hear his chatter. He was clearly just trying to hold me off.
A group of Zvori joins me as I run forward, aiming for the main entrance. Elf after elf tries to stop us, none of them succeeding. You have to give these fuckers credit for trying, even though they know what the result is going to be.
I run through the halls, checking every door I see. This building is like a maze.
“We have to split up if we want to cover more ground. I don’t want them sneaking her out of some back door now that they know we’re in here,” I tell them.
“You’re right. You guys branch off and I’ll stay with Zephiro,” Senrith says.
Senrith and I continue the search, taking the west side of the building. Suddenly, I stop.
