The New Rangers

Chapter Twenty

Deva slipped carefully out of the stairwell and moved to Logan's side where she dropped to her knees beside him. She pressed her fingers to his throat, holding her breath while she waited to find the beat of his pulse.

After a moment she breathed a sigh of relief when she felt the steady beat of his pulse beneath her fingers.

Now she needed to find Holly and the man they followed up here. She left Logan where he lay on the floor and moved to a set of heavy velvet curtains that hung between two pillars several steps from the door meant to muffle the footfals of anyone coming from the stairs and keep the echo down, though at the moment the music from the ball drowned out everything.

Slowly, she grasped one of the curtains and pulled it so they seperated and she could see beyond them. She spotted Holly crouched behind a pillar beyond that, two men squatted down behind the rail of the balustrade, staring down into the ballroom. They were both armed with crossbows.

She slipped carefully out from behind the curtains, cautiously moving closer to Holly until she could drop down behind her, praying she didn't startle her friend.

At the last second Holly shifted slightly and spotted Deva as she came up behind her. She whipped around, bringing her smaller saxe knife up, nearly sticking Deva with it. She realized who it was at the last second and pulled back. Holly sent her a glare before turning back to watch the men.

A small gasp was Deva's only warning before Holly tackled her to the floor. "Ow, Holly!"

There was a loud thunk followed by the whoosh of the crossbow bolt as it passed above them. Holly rolled quickly away from Deva and came to her feet, facing the two men, leaving behind a winded Deva on the floor.

"Stop, King's Rangers!" Holly shouted.

One of the men laughed. "King's Rangers my arse, you're girls!"

Holly cursed beneath her breath and threw her knife, the man released a startled cry of pain and staggered back, stumbled and went over the rail with a scream of terror. Holly danced neatly out of the way as the second man fired at her. Left with only her large knife and knowing it was inadequate for an accurate throw she would need to find a way to disarm the man rather quickly before he managed to reload.

A grin danced across her features, she bent and yanked off one of her boots and threw it with all her strength. Her aim was true and the boot smacked the man square in the forehead while he was attempting to reload his crossbow as quickly as he could, knocking him out cold.

Holly turned to Deva with a bright smile. "That was great!"

"Oh yes, great. I guess at least you didn't attempt to set anyone on fire. Let's go check on Logan. By the way, you need to lose some weight, you weigh a lot, I swear you crushed me when you landed on me."

"Hey, I saved your life, a little thanks would be nice! It's your fault anyway, if you hadn't come out here they wouldn't have spotted you!" Holly cried out indignantly.

Deva arched a brow at her. "Logan?" she reminded her.

Holly paled slightly and ran past Deva.

"Logan, how could I forget!"

Deva chuckled as she watched her go. "And you don't like him more than a friend. Sure." She rose and followed Holly through the curtains. Holly dropped to her knees, patting his cheeks and begging him to wake up. Deva shook her head with a grin.

Logan groaned and his eyelids fluttered open. "Stop badgering me already. I'm awake all right?"

"Thank goodness!"