“I am all for going out to slaughter, probably more so than the rest of you,” I said. “But they have taken down seven of us; are you ready to face them when we are missing two of our brethren?”
“We have always been the strongest of us, and you know it.”
“Oh, I am certain of that, but what remains of the palitons is also the strongest oftheirfighters.”
“If I get close enough, I can sow death throughout their camp.”
Before, there were too many palitons for him to do that, and despite our time on Earth, we still weren’t at full strength. However, our power was increasing daily, and he could kill some of them without getting too close. But what if he chose Bale?
My hand clenched on the hilt of the sword she’d run through me. I planned to make her pay for that in the most delicious of ways, but I didn’t plan for her demise.
I couldn’t tell Death that. He wouldn’t care that she was my Chosen; it wouldn’t matter to him if destroying her meant destroying me. We didn’t work that way. We didn’t care for each other. I wouldn’t care if his Chosen was the enemy either; I’d gladly kill her, and him, if it meant getting to the varcolac.
We only remained together now because there was strength in numbers. If we’d separated after leaving Hell, they’d probably all be dead. Well, Death would probably still be alive. I wasn’t sure how to kill him, or if he could die, considering he could decapitate himself.
Rising, I rested the tip of my new blade on the rock while I studied my fellow horseman. “You could only kill so many of them that way, and once they realized what was happening, they would come for us.”
“I’d kill the strongest of them first. And let them come for me; they won’t survive a dance with Death.”
I despised when he talked about himself in such a way, but it was a habit of his. “Do you think you’re powerful enough to take down the golden angel?”
Death bared his teeth at me. “I do not fear the angel.”
“I didn’t say you feared him. I asked if you’re powerful enough to take him down.”
We both knew he wasn’t, but unlike Pride, who would never admit such a thing, Death was no fool. “No, I cannot take him down yet. But when I’m stronger, I will try.”
“While he lives, anything you kill, he could bring back to life.”
“He is an angel; he wouldn’t interfere in life and death matters in such a way.”
“Maybe, maybe not. They say he saved the varcolac’s Chosen, but even if that’s only a rumor and he doesn’t bring any of them back, he would go after you, and neither of us is strong enough to fight him off.”
Death glowered at me before stalking into the shadows of the main cavern. His bony feet clicked against the rocky floor as he walked. His horse started to follow him but stopped when Death came back toward me.
“They must be destroyed,” he hissed.
“And they will be.”Or at least most of them will.“But we must be smart about it. We can’t go and attack them just because they are nearby.”
Although, I would see her and find a way to get close. I’d known it was only a matter of time before she arrived in this area. The Chosen bond didn’t have much time to strengthen before she skewered me, but it had started to form with that kiss, and it would draw her here just as it had allowed me to enter her dreams.
“Where are Pride and War?” I asked.
“They went to feed.”
“It’s daytime.”
“They had some other needs to fulfill too and went to visit the tree nymphs.”
“The tree nymphs,” I murmured, not because I was interested in them but because they resided in the nearby calamut forest.
If the palitons learned of the forest, they would probably go there after a battle. They would seek the respite that being beneath the protective boughs of the calamuts would offer them. No one battled around the calamut trees. Not even the horsemen dared such a thing.
“That’s where they’ll go,” Death said. “They’ll go to the forest.”
No shit.I would never claim my fellow horsemen were brimming with intelligence.
“They will,” I agreed. “But there’s nothing we can do to them there. The calamuts will kill us if we try.”
