Renegades (Hotbloods #3)

Focusing on the blades that glinted on the ground, I drew my fingers inward, feeling the vibration of the magnetic force as the knives came hurtling back to me. I moved my hands to the left and right, trying to navigate them through the clusters of coldbloods, and ended up taking out two more holograms in the process.

“Navan, get out of the way!” I yelled, suddenly realizing he had shifted position. One of my knives was heading his way. I tried to stall it, but it was too late—it was moving too fast.

Navan looked puzzled for a moment, then spotted the deadly projectile racing toward him. He ducked just in time, the edge of the knife catching him on the apple of his cheek before shooting past him on its way back to my hands.

“Maybe warn me sooner next time!” Navan panted, returning to his full height.

“Sorry!” I flushed, grasping each knife as it returned to me and placing it back in its slot on the bandolier.

All around me, the sky had darkened with Brisha’s coldbloods, their wings flapping majestically as they clashed with the holograms. Although my knives could fly an impressive distance, I couldn’t, giving me a clear disadvantage when it came to point-scoring. I watched one of the coldbloods, a female named Vizeria, slashing away with a curved saber, taking out hologram after hologram as she rocketed through the air, twisting like a whirling dervish, unrelenting and terrifying.

Navan jogged up beside me, distracting my attention from the formidable air force. He turned his samurai blade with a flourish, taking off the head of an attacker who had sprinted up behind him before settling behind a fallen spire with me.

“How’s it going?” he asked, his eyes peering over the lip of the makeshift shield.

“Okay,” I replied, flinging two knives through the abdomens of two enemies. They flickered and fell, and Navan whistled, raising an impressed eyebrow.

“Your knife skills are getting better and better. You just need a bit more practice with those gloves,” he said, nodding to the offending articles, which had left the deep cut on the side of his face.

“I’m getting there,” I promised, taking out another two enemies. “Come on, we need to take out more of these tools. Otherwise, this game is never going to end!”

We picked our way over the rubble, firing at any holograms that crossed our path, though most of them were distracted by the aerial forces above us. I grimaced, realizing I was probably holding Navan back from his full potential, since he seemed eager to stick by me instead of taking to the skies. If I had a set of wings, I knew with practice I could be as formidable as the rest of them. I felt it in my bones.

Just then, my boot caught on a piece of twisted metal, and I stumbled forward, my knees crashing to the ground. As I doubled over, I felt the bite of the blade edges from the bandolier nipping at the vest, though it kept them from piercing my skin. A split second later, Navan gripped my arm and hauled me up, narrowly avoiding a stray arrowhead that shot past, just above his shoulder.

“You okay?” he shouted over the noise.

“Yeah, don’t worry.” I laughed tightly, not wanting him to see how frustrated I was. Hearing the telltale flurry of air behind me, I dove to one side, twisting in midair before landing heavily on my back. I grasped at two of my throwing knives, sending them hurtling through the body of an enemy, only to catch the arm of one of my own teammates, who had been trying to creep up behind the enemy to take him out.

With a sinking feeling, I watched as the coldblood’s vest turned red, his eyes growing stony as he looked down and saw that he was out. Whether you got hit by a holographic or a real weapon, the result was the same: game over.

“Sorry!” I shouted as he angrily grasped at his cut, then turned and stalked away toward the base square, where all “dead” soldiers had to return. I hurried to my feet, knowing there would be more holograms coming for us, especially as the trainee numbers seemed to be dwindling. To my surprise, all around us trainees were landing, their faces angry, their vests glowing a vibrant red.

I stood there, frozen, trying to take stock of what was going on. A moment later, Navan shoved me roughly to the ground as he took out a team of three spiraling enemies, who were shooting down from the skies. I hadn’t even heard them coming or seen them in my periphery. All I could think about was the coldblood I’d accidentally taken out and the rookie mistakes I was making.

Focus, Riley. Get your head back in the game, I told myself furiously as I jumped back up, sending out the rest of my throwing knives in quick succession. The little pep talk seemed to have worked, as my weapons splayed out across the battlefield, taking out enemies, the holograms flickering and sparking before disappearing from the simulation.

Realizing I had no more knives on my bandolier, I pushed the buttons on my gloves once more, feeling the powerful vibration of the magnetic force as it struggled to reach out to the blades I had thrown. To my horror, I realized nothing was happening. A few of the knives wriggled a little, but none of them seemed to want to return.

“They’re not coming back!” I shouted, panicking.

“You’ve thrown them too far,” Navan said as he hauled a huge block of stone in front of us, ducking down beside me. “You’re going to have to fight hand-to-hand,” he added, with a grimace that didn’t exactly fill me with confidence. How was I supposed to take on coldbloods in hand-to-hand combat?

A holographic arm suddenly slipped around my throat. I made a small sound of shock that caused Navan to turn sharply, wielding his sword, but there was no way he could slash the attacker away without risking hurting me. Thinking fast, I remembered what I knew of Aksavdo, the Vysanthean martial art. I placed one hand over the enemy’s arm and pulled, putting some space between us, before dropping to the ground, causing my assailant to roll to the floor. Navan plunged his sword straight through the figure, forcing it to disappear with a dull fizz.

As I caught my breath and looked around, I realized that Navan and I were now the only two left on the battlefield, with a limited number of enemies still coming at us in waves. For the most part, Navan was doing the grunt work, slashing this way and that with his katana, but I raised my fists and struck at anyone who came too close. I knew I was holding him back, but there was nothing else I could do. We were still too far away from where my knives had fallen, and per the rules, Navan wasn’t allowed to fetch them for me, which left nothing but my limited knowledge of Aksavdo to get me through.