Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 145341 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 727(@200wpm)___ 581(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145341 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 727(@200wpm)___ 581(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Vasilisa took her time, firing when she had the kill shot and moving instantly. Her enemies were Lycan, and they had the ability to read the ground just as she did. They had to hurry, whereas she didn’t. Lycans in the search party would know two members of the royal family were under attack, and they would come running.
She targeted the lead car first, the one that would be able to get away first and allow the two behind it to do the same. There were three men in it and she hit each one between the eyes. Then she targeted the second car. It also had three men in it. All fired at her and around the ground where she had been when she’d taken the last shot.
One had his foot out the door on the road side in order to better feel where she was. She shot him in the calf and then switched targets to take out one of the two men trying to spray the ground with automatic weapons. Immediately, she rolled down into a small depression she hadn’t realized was there before. It was odd that it was suddenly available to her. Bullets sounded like an angry swarm of bees as they flew over her. She waited until the spray of bullets moved to a different section of ground before she cautiously lifted her head, tilting so her gaze was fixed on the shooters while she was still hidden.
Before she fired at her target, she looked around, marking where she would roll or scoot as soon as she pulled the trigger. This time, the earth had provided several options. On either side were depressions with shorter bushes in front of them. Behind her was something similar. It looked like a ditch with a rock partially blocking the front of it and more bushes on the other side. The earth was definitely helping her out. She took her time, found both targets, took a breath and squeezed the trigger, twice, a quick one-two tap, and then she rolled to her left to find the depression in the soil.
She kept her head down as a barrage of automatic fire was sprayed over the entire area where she had been. She’d taken out the six men in the first two vehicles. She knew all six Lycans. She’d been to their homes. Laughed with them over the antics of young Lycans. She had provided care for one of their mothers when she fell and broke her hip and then got a terrible infection. A year later, she’d stayed with him while his mother was dying. It was difficult to believe these men would conspire to kill her entire family.
She recognized the two remaining men in the last vehicle. They were older than the six she’d already killed. They were her father’s age. Her father’s friends. One of them had worked on self-defense training with all of her siblings and with her. He had sat at their dinner table. Both men had. They had served as Andros’ advisers after their parents had been murdered. The betrayal of the two of them hurt nearly as much as her aunt’s had.
I am with you, my lady. These men are corrupt and they seek power. They are part of the reason you have felt the dark whisper of conspiracy for some time. It has overshadowed your ability to help keep the gate closed securely and shut down any portals demons have to cause their mischief in your land. You have no choice, Vasilisa. The land will no longer whisper to these Lycans. It has closed itself off to them.
Vasilisa wiped the sweat from her forehead. Dragonseeker. Her man. He had influenced the land in her favor. Hopefully, he was doing the same with her brother.
The sound of gunfire was loud, drowning out the natural sounds of the night. In the distance, beyond the cars, lights lit up areas here and there. She took a deep breath and let it out.
Have you found the child, Siv? Is she alive?
Mother Earth has indicated she is alive. Each Dragonseeker has taken one of the boreholes or wellbores to inspect. I am going to my third one. I believe I feel her. She feels small and vulnerable. Radiating fear and thirst.
I can do this on my own. Find her for us, Siv. I need you to find her. Please let her be alive.
Vasilisa needed the positivity of the little girl being alive after all the betrayal and deceit. She needed it for Lada and Andros. She needed it for herself. She thought that little girl represented redemption for every Lycan desperately searching for her. The fact that the conspiracy to murder the royals had spread and no one had known shook everyone. These were people they all knew—were friends with. The idea that any Lycan had kidnapped a little girl and thrown her down a borehole to die of starvation, if she didn’t die on impact or drown in the sludge, was abhorrent to all Lycans.