Page 13 of Of Pixies and Promises (Fae Guardians)

Chapter

Thirteen

N yra’s scream muffled as a hand slapped over her mouth and the shadows around them faded.

They weren’t at the lake anymore, but in a forest with random gunfire peppering the air.

Moonlight shone down, illuminating their environment enough to tell her where they were—near her home and where the humans were raiding.

The vampire Guardian had somehow portaled them through shadows. He let go of her mouth and glanced at Sid, who braced a tree and gathered his breath.

“It takes some getting used to,” Shade explained quietly.

Silver crouched next to Nyra. “While Sid’s gathering his breath, what can you tell me about the humans who were here before?”

They listened intently as Nyra relayed everything she’d observed the last time. When she got to the bit where she exploded the truck, Silver smirked. Her gaze softened when Nyra told how Sid had protected her.

“I always knew he was a good man,” Silver said. “Like many humans, we’re just misinformed.”

Sid joined them after a moment, wiping his mouth. He must have vomited. Even in the moonlight, he still looked green in the face. But he rallied and said gruffly, “They had rifles. Brian said the deposit was too rich for them to ignore. I imagine they brought reinforcements.”

Silver nodded grimly. “There will be more Reapers and weapons. Nero is getting desperate.”

“I’ll get a closer look,” Shade said as shadows ribboned around him, hiding his form.

In seconds he was indistinguishable from the darkness. Must be gone.

“Your tribe,” Sid said to Nyra, worry in his eyes. “That gunfire must mean they’re attacking.”

Fear stabbed Nyra’s heart. “They won’t be able to survive the bullets. And they will all be low in mana supply.”

He swallowed. “I don’t know if I have any power.”

“You won’t need it, Sid,” Silver reminded him. “You can hold metal and still stay connected to the Well. As someone who was not born with powers, the one piece of advice I can give you is that if you feel the urge to release something, do it. Just send that release at them, not us.”

The haunted look in her eyes told Nyra there was more to that story.

He nodded grimly but didn’t look convinced. Still, he turned to Nyra and said, “I don’t suppose I can convince you to stay out of sight?”

Her smile was more a baring of the fangs. “I can hold my own. And besides, the skill to shrink and enlarge at will is handier than you realize. Remember when the blast hit, and I shrunk us?”

He nodded, eyes intently on her as she finished.

“I can use opposing forces to balance each other out or to make a bigger impact. So if I’m small, and punch the enemy as I grow, the force will be tenfold.”

Sid’s eyes lit up with understanding. Something like pride shone back at her before that worry dropped in again. She felt the tug to protect deep in her heart, so she whispered, “I’ll be safe.”

Shade returned and conveyed the location of the humans—and that the pixies were outnumbered and outgunned. Any time one of them grew big, someone fired their gun. All it took was a little bullet to hit the pixie anywhere, and their magic was cut off.

An explosion thundered the ground, shaking the trees. Nyra thought, perhaps, it was from another machine blowing up, but then she felt a strange scream in her bones.

She gasped, “The earth is in pain.”

Shade cupped his mate’s cheek and said, “Darling, if you need to unleash to save yourself, we will worry about consequences later. Understood?”

She gritted her teeth but nodded.

“Good.” Then his shadows stole him again.

“Let’s go,” Silver said, straightening. “Sid?—”

She used some kind of hand gestures to signal to him.

He nodded, signed something back, and the two of them moved like soldiers in the same unit.

It reminded Nyra of watching Moss and his soldiers move in tandem during training exercises.

They really did have a history, but it wasn’t to Silver that Sid looked as he delved into danger.

He shot Nyra a glance and then made a pinching sign with his fingers to her— Shrink. Be safe.

She grinned. Having been at a power source for the past few hours, she was filled to the brim with mana.

Shrinking felt like it barely touched her reserves.

She was dragonfly size in a heartbeat and, following the glow of the fire, she flew into the fray.

Nyra didn’t count on the pain she felt from the forest affecting her judgment, but it was there, begging her to help as she rounded a tree near the clearing.

Scorch marks still existed from the fire she’d caused.

A charred, rusty shell of a vehicle sat in the center.

But the main fight was further down where they’d been collecting their resources.

A glimmer of tarnished pixie wings shone in the brief gunfire.

Nyra glimpsed Moss, his face furious as he materialized behind a human and sliced his throat with a bone knife.

Before the human fell to the ground, he was gone.

That’s what she should be doing. Nyra was about to search for a weapon when her mother’s strained voice stopped her.

“Nyra…”

She whirled and searched the dark forest. She found her mother kneeling on the charred ground, surrounded by a ring of guards. She looked pale… her wings even duller than before.

“Mother.” Nyra flew down to meet her, landing on soft and sure feet.

“Your duty is here, daughter.” Juniper drove her fist into the dirt, gritting her teeth. Power bloomed beneath them. Charred dirt and soil turned, making way for fresh shoots of saplings to grow.

“While they fight,” Juniper said. “We ensure it’s not too late for the gully to recover. If we wait too long, there is nothing to call on. No mana to rise to the surface and fill the saplings with new life.”

“We have to repair the wounds before they are deadly,” Nyra said, understanding.

Her mother gave her a curt nod, then together, surrounded by a guard, they went from broken tree to burned plant to injured wildlife. They used what mana they had to help restore the life the humans had stolen. But no matter how much they tried, it didn’t seem enough.

Saplings would sprout only to wither. Fires were put out, only to catch again further down when the wind blew.

“My connection to the Well fades,” Juniper moaned.

“It’s the metal they’re mining, Mother,” she said. “It must have been disturbed enough to stop the flow. Or maybe it’s their machines and weapons in the same place.”

“It will affect how mana flows in this area,” Juniper confirmed.

“There is a Guardian with us,” Nyra said. “And Sid. He… he made it, Mother. He emerged from the lake a Guardian.”

Hope flared in her mother’s eyes. “You were right. He has a good heart.”

“But how can he—they—help?”

“I don’t know, but…”

“I’ll find him.”

Before her mother could stop her, Nyra launched upward and flew in the direction Sid had disappeared. She was shocked to see so many soldiers scurrying between the trees—both human and fae—fighting.

“An army,” she breathed, her blood draining. “They brought an army.”