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Octavius saw them too. A whole lot of nyks, hundreds of them, all gathered around a scaffold tower. A tower sporting a single, oddly placed, tattered armchair aloft.
“There’s your man. It’s not good.”
Octavius followed Zaine’s line of sight and spotted Saint, strung up on the scaffold, tied by his wrists and ankles and gagged. His head was bowed, suggesting he was unconscious. Streaks of blood stained his neck, shining against pale skin. He’d been bitten.
A growl simmered deep inside Octavius. He’d kill them all. Every last fucking nyk.
“Easy,” Zaine warned. “We need to think this through. There are a whole lot of nyks between us and him. He’s not dust, so that’s good. And when he wakes up, those ropes aren’t going to hold him for long.”
He knew all that, he knew the reasonable thing to do was wait and call the others for backup. “I need to get in there.”
“I know, I hear yah. But also,army of fuckin’ nyks. Let’s not do anything rash.”
“Raiden did this,” Octavius hissed. Fury and adrenaline scorched his every nerve. There weren’t that many nyks. They didn’t even appear to be active; they stood about, waiting. Probably for whatever Raiden had planned. If they were newly turned, then Zaine and Octavius could kill them. Or…
“Do you think we can sneak through?” Octavius asked.
“‘Sneak through’? Sneak through what? The ocean of nyks? What? No. Octavius, no.”
He could do it, just slip inside and sneak his way through. Once he reached Saint, he’d rouse him with some blood, and then every single nyk in this fucking warehouse was dust.
“Octavius? Hey, don’t do it. The others will be on their way soon—”
“Raiden and Mikalis are outsidenow. This is our chance.”
“Our chance to what?Die?”
Octavius gave the window frame a shove. The rotted wood surrounding it shifted. It would give way, he just had to jimmy it out.
“Stop. We’re not doing this. We’re going to wait—”
Octavius gave the window another jerk, and this time, it came away in his hands. He hauled it out and laid it against the wall.
“You know I said we were friends? I lied. If you go in there, I’m going to have to follow you, and I gave Eric my word I wouldn’t do anything stupid. Walking into a warehouse full of nyks is pretty fuckin’ stupid.”
Octavius heaved himself up and through the gap in the wall where the window used to be, then inch by inch, lowered himself down the other side.
The nyks hadn’t moved. They swayed some, murmuring what sounded like a prayer of some kind. These were young nyks, not long turned, but they weren’t rabid. Not yet, at least. They almost seemed to be sleeping with their eyes open, as though caught in a trance.
Octavius snuck between them and glanced back to see Zaine glaring daggers his way but following him through the forest of entranced nyks. They just had to make it to the scaffold, right in the middle of the warehouse, before Raiden showed up to unleash the nyks. Assuming that’s what they were all waiting for.
Kazimir had set fire to the horde of nyks in Eagle Lake. There wasn’t much combustible material here, but perhaps they could lure them to another warehouse that did have flammable items in storage. There would be a way to kill them, but first, they had to free Saint.
“This is impressive.” Raiden’s voice filled the vast space. “Is this all of them?”
“The third barge was delayed,” Mikalis replied. “We should have enough.”
Octavius froze and stood in line among the nyks, hoping to blend in. Behind him, if he was smart, Zaine would freeze too.
“I thought that one was dead.” Raiden narrowed his eyes on Saint, hanging from the poles.
“So did I.” Mikalis jumped onto the platform and regarded Saint’s slumped form. “He never did learn when to yield.”
“Is he safe there? He’s not going to wake up?”
“No, he’s quite safe.” Mikalis stopped at the front edge of the scaffold platform and scanned the crowd of nyks. Octavius willed him to keep his gaze away. He could mentally force him to ignore him, but if he tried, and failed, he’d know Octavius was near. “Well then, Raiden. Good work. It’s time we began.”
Raiden clapped his hands once and laughed. “Finally! I’ve been waiting a long time for this.” He spun and studied the crowd of nyks, his face full of pride.
