Hotbloods 6: Allies

He pushed a strand of hair behind my ear. “There’s nothing to worry about. We have a secret weapon, more powerful than anything the rebels could prepare for. It’s going to be okay, I promise.”

I gazed up into his eyes, saying nothing. I knew he was trying to put me at ease, but it was too late for that. Every cell in my body felt uneasy about the battle we were heading into. A lot was resting on Stone’s shoulders. I’d seen what he could do with a small swarm of pirates, but even he didn’t know how far his powers would be able to stretch—it wasn’t as though he’d held off an entire army before. We were heading into war with a weapon we hadn’t tested… That never ended well.

Have faith in him. If the coldbloods feared the ambaka, then Navan’s right—we have a force Orion and Ezra won’t be expecting, I told myself, determined to stay positive.





Fifteen minutes later, we arrived in an eerily familiar spot. It looked like a forest clearing in the Siberian woodland, but I knew there were secrets lurking beneath the otherwise ordinary exterior. This was the spot Mort had brought us to before, when we’d first entered the rebel base what seemed like forever ago.

The invisibility shield lay just ahead of us; I couldn’t see it, but I could sense the shimmer of it. Trying to create a picture of the camp in my head, I remembered the alchemy lab, with its chimneys belching that awful, rust-red smoke, tucked away near the back of the base. If we were going to strike the camp, we needed to get Orion out into the open air. If he hid away in his bunker, alongside Ezra and the rest of his henchmen, it could end up being more of a siege than a battle—we’d never get them out of there.

“Call everyone into the cockpit,” I commanded Bashrik, who urged the others to gather. As soon as they were all in the room, I opened the comms channel to the rest of the Fed. “What’s your status?”

The transmission crackled. “The shield-bearers are set to raise the barrier in thirty minutes,” Agent Phocida replied.

“Yep, thirty minutes,” Lauren’s voice agreed, followed by those of Angie, Ronad, and Xiphio.

“Cuttin’ it fine, ain’t ye?” Stone interjected, his brow furrowed.

I turned to him, confused. “What do you mean?”

“Well, if I’m gonna put up my part o’ the shield here, ye realize it’s gonna sap me of me prime juice. I’m tough as old nuts, me, but when my bit o’ the barrier goes up, I should warn ye—I might lose a bit o’ the power in me ambaka eye. Ye might not have long to take out all the rebels ye can, though I’ll do me best.”

I nodded, realizing he was right. Yes, we had his freezing powers, but we also needed him to be the last piece in the barrier puzzle. He had assured us that this quantity of nudus, spread across the five pure-hearted bearers, would work to build a viable shield, but I just wished one of us could take his place and relieve him of some of the strain. I could only imagine what juggling both must take out of a person; I just hoped Stone could do it for long enough that we could take out Orion and his henchmen, at the very least.

“In that case, we need to really pinpoint our strike,” I said. “We should focus on Orion and Ezra. If we can get rid of the ringleaders, the rest might crumble.”

“Yeah, we should try and draw Orion to the edge of the rebel base,” Navan agreed, turning to his brother. “What weapons do we have on the ship?”

“We’ve got a few crates of explosives, and we can always call in the lycans, merevins, and Rexombra to strike wherever we want them to strike,” he replied. “I say we hit the alchemy lab, which should send a bunch of rebels running outside the invisibility dome.”

I nodded. “It should draw Orion out, too. If he thinks the elixir is being compromised, he’ll run to defend that first.”

Stone wandered over to the window and pressed his forehead to the glass. We were still in stealth mode, our ship invisible to the rebel sensors, but we could see out. “Plant a load o’ bombs near this lab ye speak of. That’ll send ‘em into a right panic. Orion’ll be jumpin’ all over himself to save his precious samples. If that nifty little book is in there, he’ll jump to save it, too.”

I spoke into my comm device, which linked up to everyone else. “Did you hear that? We’re going to set bombs outside the alchemy lab to draw as many rebels out into the open as possible. Fire on those who escape. We’ll give further instruction as it comes to us. Copy?”

“Copy that, Captain Idrax,” Agent Phocida responded. “Merevins standing by.”

“Copy that,” Commander Mahlo repeated. “Lycan fleet standing by.”

“Copy that, Warrior Idrax,” Anai chimed in. “Rexombran squadron standing by, ready to fire.”

I turned to the rest of my somewhat meager-looking team. There were only twelve of us, but I knew our small number could work to our advantage. After all, the sensors might pick up a large swarm of people approaching the dome. With a smaller squad, we could make our way around the dome undetected, slipping under the shield without causing any disturbance. Now, all we had to do was get into the best position.

I went around the room, quickly instructing the lycans and the merevins to form a perimeter, marking out the general points of entry. They would act as beacons to the descending fleets, where the soldiers could be dropped off when I called for them. Once they had their orders, they left the ship, hurrying across the forest clearing until they reached the shimmering exterior of the invisibility dome.

I turned to the others. “I want everyone to take a few bombs each and plant them around the outside of the alchemy lab. Plant several outside the main bunker, too, if you can reach it without being detected,” I said, flashing Navan a knowing look. I didn’t want him taking any unnecessary risks. “It might be a good idea to hit the towers that are keeping up the invisibility dome, but they might be too deep into the center of the base.”

“Remind me why we ain’t usin’ those invisibility suits again?” Stone mused.

“Commander Mahlo informed me that changes have been made to the barrier since the last time I was here. Back then, we could’ve snuck in with suits on, but now it carries an electromagnetic pulse that makes them useless. Believe me, I wish we could use them,” I replied hurriedly.

“Won’t they see us coming?” one of the merevin agents asked anxiously.

I sighed, wanting to get on with the job at hand. “No, they won’t. In order to install the electromagnetic pulse around the bottom of the barrier, they’ve had to compromise on visibility. Commander Mahlo has informed me that the lower section of the dome will be fuzzy, unlike the transparent upper half, so we shouldn’t be seen with the new camo markings they’ve put on our suits. Now, does everyone know what they’re doing?”

A ripple of agreement ran through the final four of us, and we moved toward the back of the ship, where the crates were kept. The lycans and the merevins had already taken guns and blades, and a few bombs between them, but there were still plenty to go around. I delved in and took four of the bombs, turning them over in my hands before strapping them to a belt across my chest. By the looks of it, the mechanisms were similar to the ones I’d used on Vysanthe—a simple push-the-button-and-run kind of thing.

Picking out a bandolier of knives to strap across the opposite side of my chest, and two guns in matching holsters, I got myself geared up for a fight, while the others did the same. Navan picked up a large, curved saber, sliding it into a scabbard that was fitted to his back, before strapping two handguns to his thighs. Bashrik, meanwhile, went for three pistols—two on his thighs, one hanging at his waist—and a larger gun, dangling from his back, while Stone selected two handguns. He picked up a retractable staff, too, extending it and whirling it around in the air, the way I’d seen Lauren do it. I realized, in that moment, that he must have been the one who’d taught her to fight like that.

“Everyone ready?” I asked, feeling a clench of nerves.

“Aye, ready to blow this base to smithereens!” Stone grinned.

“Ready on your command,” Bashrik added.