12 Never Back Down (2/2)

”Partners, huh,” he shook his head. ”You must have a screw loose in your head, boy... Fairies and humans can't be partners. They take advantage of us the same way we take advantage of them.”

The guy with his own room at a mental ward back on Mudgard was telling me I had a screw loose for believing in Aura who was trying to save my life by sharing her life force with me. The outrage I'd felt after Luca's disappearance was back. Azuma had no clue what Aura and I had been through.

”Shut up! You know nothing, dude,” I snapped.

I tried to get up, but my body was still too weak. Whatever Aura was doing wasn't enough to put me backto a hundred percent. I stumbled back to one knee.

”It doesn't matter. She'll be dead soon...” Azuma nodded his head toward Aura. ”Then we can begin round two...”

I followed his line of sight and was horrified to find that Aura, with her eyes still half-closed, hadn't noticed the human soldier in grey-tinted leather armor looming over her.

”Shit, Aura, get up!” Again, I tried to stand, and again I fell onto my knee. It was like my legs were jelly.

She hadn't heard me.

”Aura! Open your eyes!” I screamed. ”Get out of there!”

I reached behind me for the dagger I'd hidden in my belt but I found that the handle wasn't there.

My eyes glanced left and right. There. My dagger hilt was lying on the mud by Azuma's feet. It must have fallen during our earlier scuffle.

”Shit,” I hissed.

I gripped my falchion and prepared to throw it at the bastard who was threatening Aura. There was no time for Fool's Insight, I realized. I would have to eyeball it. But could I hit the target from where I was? Maybe if I was Luca. Doubt filled my thoughts. But then the warm feeling from Aura's bracelet made me remember that I couldn't let her die because her death meant I would fail and Luca would never escape the Fayne.

This was not the time for doubt. It was a time for action.

I hurled my falchion at the Magesong soldier who was threatening Aura. It was a distance of ten yards, a doable distance. However, as I watched the downward angle of my twirling blade, I worried it would be a miss. But I really should have believed in myself more. It was a definite hit although it wasn't a bullseye. Instead of piercing the enemy's chest which is where I aimed, the sword hilt struck his thigh. This was another miscalculation, but I figured even a sword hilt would hurt.

The loud yelp of pain that came from the enemy's mouth justified this belief.

My attack caused him to lose his foot in that crucial moment when he swung his sword down on Aura. Obviously, he missed, and it was all my doing. My shot. Yey.

However, I certainly wasn't responsible for the soldier losing his entire upper body in a shower of blood and guts. My throwing arm wasn't that amazing. No, this deathblow resulted from Edo's timely arrival combined with his incredible power to cut a man in two with a single swing of his glaive.

Edo looked livid. You could see it in the way his nostrils flared and in the way his eyes cast a murderous gaze over everything that wasn't Aura. This included me.

I understood why. In the time he was slaughtering enemy soldiers on the southern hillside at my insistence, the clan princess he swore to protect had nearly died. I was pretty certain he would blame me for this and hoped he'd seen my successful attempt to save Aura before he thought of beating me up later.

It was right after Edo covered her in the blood of her ambusher that Aura's eyes opened. She glanced at her clothes once and then sighed. Aura looked up disbelievingly at Edo who shrugged back at her.

She looked exhausted, yet she rose to her feet by leaning on Edo's arm. When her gaze found me, the relief in them mirrored mine. After all, we'd both survived in time for the cavalry to arrive.

”How long are you going to just lie there, Dean?” Luca asked.

He was finally here. Standing over me with a judge-y look. I sometimes suspect that he forgets that I'm the big brother. Not the other way around.

I looked at him from where I sat in the mud. ”What took you so long? Did you stop for drive-thru?”

Luca rolled his eyes before he offered me his hand. ”Hilarious...”

He pulled me up after I took it. Thankfully, my body had recovered enough that I didn't need him to hold me up afterward.

”So... I suppose you have another foolhardy strategy to deal with the guy glaring at us?” Luca nodded toward the man who was standing just a few feet away and was obviously waiting for us to finish catching up.

Azuma cracked his neck. ”Well, shall we begin round two, boys?”

”Hey, Luca,” I raised my hand for a high-five. ”How do you feel about a team-up?”

”Sure,” Luca smacked it back a little harder than I would have liked. ”As long as your reckless plan doesn't get us killed.”

”I think that's the only kind that will work on this guy,” I reasoned.

Luca sighed. ”I knew you'd say that.”

I had a genuine grin plastered on my face now. The Dapper brothers were together again. It was time to kick butt. ”Follow my lead, little brother.”