Page 20 of Lost and Stolen Gods
The battle was over, and the rain stopped. Umbra and her guards gathered with the black and silver clad warriors, too far from the carriage for us to eavesdrop on their conversation.
Savior dude had raked back his wet hair, revealing a hard profile. All angles and sharp edges. He turned his head to look at the carriage, our gazes clashed, and his mouth turned down in distaste.
“What is his problem?” Remi said.
“Maybe he has a thing against humans,” Priti suggested.
“Oh definitely,” Dharma said.
Whatever his deal, he’d saved me, and I was grateful for that.
Movement off road caught my eye. “It’s Cor. He made it.”
The rakshasa plodded toward Umbra, head down,axe held loosely at his side. There was no sign of Eesha. My heart sank.
“The beasts got him, didn’t they?” the guy with the black eye said.
“Looks like,” Dharma replied.
Cor joined the gathered party where one of the guards placed his hand on his shoulder saying something that had him shaking his head and covering his face with his free hand.
Umbra looked over at our carriage with a frown before breaking away from the group and striding over.
We quickly backed away from the door as she pulled it open and ran her gaze over us. She was taking a headcount. “Good. You all made it.”
I had to know. “What were those things?”
“Thosethingswere revenants. And they’re part of the reason you’re here.”
“What?”
Her smile was mirthless. “You’re going to help us to fight them.”
The horses were dead.
The carriages were now useless, and so we were forced to travel on foot.
Umbra’s statement had left us with questions, butshe’d shut them down, stating that we would be briefed once we reach Prashikshan domain.
Wherever that was.
We trudged up the road with an escort of black and silver clad warriors and green and gold clad guards. The colors obviously meant something. The guards had fought the revenants, but nowhere near as effectively as the ones in the black uniforms. Those guys had glowing swords that turned the revenants to ash.
They had to be some kind of elite team.
“How are we supposed to fight those things?” Black-eye boy whispered to his companion, a willowy woman with a teary expression.
“I want to go home,” she said. “I just want to go home.”
“We have power,” Priti said to them. “You saw what Leela did, right? It must be untapped inside us all. It’s why they brought us here. It has to be.”
“I don’t want to fight,” the teary woman said. “I want to go home.”
“Well, you fucking can’t,” the woman behind her snapped with a scowl. “So stop being a baby.”
“Leave her alone, Eve,” Black-eye boy said. “She’s scared.”
“And you think I’m not? We’re all fucking scared, but none of us are being little bitches about it. Don’t you think I’d love to have a mental breakdown right now?”
