Sepia Blue- Nameless: A Sepia Blue Novel- Book 4 by Orlando Sanchez (best self help books to read .txt) 📗

Tekt headed for the building across the street.

TWENTY-THREE

Fighting one person is difficult. If that person is skilled and trained with a weapon, you can find yourself on the wrong end of a blade in a hurry.

Fighting a creature with four arms, while each arm is holding a blade, is a recipe for a quick death. Fighting three of these creatures with one sword was as close to suicidal as I have ever gotten.

Add twenty very large, very hungry Dreadwolves to the equation, and the chances drop from slim to none.

“What are you doing?” Calisto yelled. “I told you to stay inside the Keep!”

“And do what? Watch you die? Not happening.”

“Where is Mercy?” Calisto asked, sending a large boulder across the field and crushing a group of Dreadwolves that were unlucky enough to be in her sights.

“She’s repairing the wards,” I said. “What’s the plan? Do we push?”

“Are you mad?” Calisto asked, blocking one sword slash and evading another. “We fall back to the Keep with our guests who brought this upon us. Behind you—down!”

I ducked under a blade swipe designed to shorten me by a head and parried a thrust intent on skewering me. I rolled to the side and slashed at a Dreadwolf intent on making me a snack while kicking one of the quad-arms in the knee. It roared in pain as it swung two arms down at me.

“What are these things?”

“Chamai,” Calisto said, retreating as she called out to the other two fighters. “If you two want to live, I’d suggest falling back now.”

Another roar filled the Park.

It wasn’t a collective roar. This sound wasn’t the chorus of behemoths or the howl of Dreadwolves. This was the sound of one, singular creature deciding it was time to see what all the commotion was about and perhaps obliterate everything in sight.

For a brief moment, all fighting stopped. The Dreadwolves looked around and at one another. The Chamai reflexively vanished from sight, and the Park grew silent.

Calisto raised both arms and formed an enormous semicircular stone wall around us.

“That’s not going to stop them for long,” I said, looking at the wall, impressed. “Those Chamai will break through that once they get started again.”

“I don’t need it to stop them for long,” Calisto said, running back to the ward circle. “Just long enough”—she glanced at the woman who had been tampering earlier with the wards—“to fix the damage.”

“What kind of monster scares the rest of the monsters?” I asked as we ran back to the Keep. “What made that sound?”

“Mercy,” Calisto said, ignoring me for the moment, “get those two into the Keep. Sepia and I will work on the wards.”

Ursados padded over to her side. She whispered something into his ear, and he bounded off deeper into the Park.

“Do you have enough time?” Mercy asked, her voice tight with fear. “That sounded like a—”

“I know what it sounded like. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t know,” Calisto said, looking back in the direction of the Unholy. “Let’s not waste anymore of it.”

“The last time one of them roamed the Park was during the war.”

“Mercy,” Calisto said, “the safest place for any of us is in the Keep. Activate the fail safes. Now.”

“We would be more useful out here,” the female of the pair said. “We can help you hold off whatever is headed our way.”

“It’s clear you two are Regional and skilled,” Calisto said. “What are your names?”

“I’m Pira,” the woman said. “This is Destin, my second.”

Calisto gave her short nod.

“Who is responsible for this? Was this Rafael?”

“I’m not at liberty to divulge—” Pira began.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Calisto said, cutting her off. “You may be skilled, but nothing in your Regional training has prepared you for what may be headed our way. Do you wish to end your lives tonight?”

Silence from the pair.

“Good answer,” Calisto said after a few seconds. “Get inside with Mercy; you can help there while I undo your tampering with the wards.”

“I still think—” Pira started again, oblivious to the danger Calisto posed.

“Don’t start now,” Calisto snapped. “If you had been thinking, you wouldn’t have undone a crucial part of the security system keeping this place intact. You wouldn’t have confronted not one, but three Chamai, in addition to several packs of Dreadwolves without a squad of Regional Agents. You’ll excuse me if I don’t take your thoughts into consideration at the moment.” She glanced at Mercy. “Take them inside.”

Mercy motioned to the two Agents and pointed to the Keep. I had them pegged as Regional black ops, judging from the combat gear and level of fighting ability. What didn’t make sense is why they would be in the Park at night and on their own.

They headed off into the Keep in silence.

“Why would Regional send Agents into the Park?” I asked. “At night?”

“Not now,” Calisto said, crouching down to examine the ward circle. “We need to reinforce these wards. Remember what I said about not drawing on the power of the Jade Demon?”

“Of course,” I said, hearing the fear in her voice. “You just told me that about ten minutes ago.”

“If that sound is what I think it is,” Calisto said, “we will need the power of the Jade Demon tonight, if we want to live to see the sunrise.”

The next moment, a deep bass tone filled the Park. It was answered by the ultra scary roar. Calisto moved faster. Mercy and the Regional Agents had entered the Keep, leaving me and Calisto alone—well, alone if you didn’t count a Park full of Unholy.

The feeling of death surrounded us as another roar, this one louder and deeper, resonated through the Park, joined by the howls of Dreadwolves and guttural sounds of other Unholy.

“Normally, I’m not concerned about my imminent death,” I said, “but I’m getting a serious death vibe here. What is making that sound, and why will we need the power of the Jade Demon?”

“During the war,” Calisto began without looking up from the wards, “the