Carpathian 23 - Dark Storm

and yet, with Dax’s help, the abilities
     seemed to come almost instinctively.
    She continued to grow the wall of vegetation, spreading it out in a semicircle around
     the back half of the village to form a natural funnel, with that opening in its center.
     The rest of the camp filed through the opening in short order.
    All right, Riley. That’s enough. It is time for you to leave.
    Are you sure the wall will hold? She could feel the attackers drawing nearer. There were so many.
    I am sure. Let go of the earth and come back into yourself.
    Her hands still in the soil, Riley pulled her consciousness back into herself. It
     was just as disorienting leaving so many minds as it had been extending out into them.
     When she was fully back in her own body, she slipped her hands free and staggered
     to her feet. Her arms and legs felt like she had just run up a mountain, and her head
     was pounding.
    She stood for a moment to catch her balance and stretch her back. The camp was deserted.
     Only her tent and the big tent at the center were still standing. Everything else
     had been packed up and carried away.
    She turned to face the living wall behind her. It was a sight to behold, dense and
     impenetrable, already covered in moss, leaves, and little flowers of every color.
     The wall had grown so quickly, the ash hadn’t had time to cover it yet. Gary and Jubal
     had climbed the two large trees on either side of the center opening, and they had
     each taken a perch high up in the branches.
    Ben emerged from her tent, carrying her backpack. He moved with calm efficiency.
    “Time to go, Riley.” He gestured for her to precede him toward the opening in the
     wall. Evil was on the wind and getting closer, and they were the last ones left in
     the camp.
    As they approached the opening, Riley could see the tips of rifles and blowguns poking
     through the wall of foliage. Everyone who had preceded her through the wall had taken
     up defensive positions on the other side. Now, she understood the plan. This evacuated
     camp ground was to be a killing ground, plain and simple. She turned sideways to get
     through the small opening. Ben followed close enough behind that he bumped against
     her with every step.
    Slipping one shoulder down she ducked through the last few inches of the tunnel and
     emerged on the other side of the wall. She stepped clear of the opening to let Ben
     pass, then laid her hand on the wall and willed the branches to grow and intertwine
     to close the opening. Through the barrier, she could hear the sound of marching feet,
     growing louder as their attackers neared the encampment’s perimeter, and it gave her
     pause. Dax clearly wanted her on this side of the wall, safe and tucked away. Lord
     knows, she didn’t belong out there in the fight. But she had skills that could help.
     She wasn’t sure where she belonged.
    “You belong exactly where you are.”
    His voice sounded in her ears this time, rather than her mind. She spun around and
     found him standing less than ten feet away. The sun hadn’t yet set, and he stood there
     in the muted light of the ash-filled sky. Tall, strong, otherworldly. Sparkles of
     red-gold light flashed around him like fireflies as the dust from his scales rained
     down from his rising. Riley couldn’t take her eyes from him.
    With a few long strides, he closed the distance between them. “Right now you are here
     with me. I wouldn’t want you anywhere else.” The man’s presence was enough to make
     her forget where she was. He bent his head toward hers, his lips hovering close. Energy
     crawled from the tips of her toes and traveled up her body, warming and swirling.
     For a moment, she thought he was going to kiss her right there, and she couldn’t think,
     couldn’t move. She could only stand there, staring at him in anticipation.
    His head tilted to one side, and he pressed his lips to her cheek. The contact was
     intimate, soft. With him standing so close it was impossible not to feel the strength
     of his big frame. The combination of strength and tenderness shifted something down
     deep, and Riley almost wrapped her arms around his neck.
    She needed him. Her heart was thudding like a drum. She wanted to cry for the villagers
     who had lost everything because she hadn’t been strong enough or fast enough to keep
     Mitro imprisoned.
    “Had you kept the volcano sealed, we would never have met,” he reminded gently, his
     thumb tipping her chin up while