United We Stand, Divided We Fall
Part 27 of the Robyn Series
As she had done on that day she stood, her arms hugging her body as she gazed out over the lake. She could remember everything that had happened as though it had happened yesterday. She could remember Boris' scream as Lily had pulled his arm from his body. She could still feel her mother's pleasure as she'd prepared herself to land that fatal final blow, her rage as she'd been interrupted. She could remember her own anger burning as she'd dived into the lake, the icy cold water threatening to take her breath away. She remembered her thoughts being focussed only on finding her mother, focussed on vengeance.
Revenge for her friends, revenge for her family, revenge for her.
But her mother was gone. There had been no sign. She'd wanted to scream as they'd grabbed her, pulling her to the surface. She'd wanted to fight them but her lungs had started to constrict, demanding she breathe. As they'd broken the surface her lungs had been gratified with the oxygen they craved. She'd felt the arms of one of the men that had dived in to get her holding her tightly as he dragged her to the shore. They'd fallen around her, collapsing as they'd reached the shore.
She remembered feeling Langford's desperation as he did everything he could for his leader, his emotion breaking his voice as Boris had closed his eyes. His shouts as he tried to get his friend to wake up, his frantic movements as he'd tried to resuscitate him. She could remember seeing Boris' spirit standing over his body, his eyes wide as he saw himself lying motionless. Fear, disbelief and pain radiated from him as he'd turned imperceptibly slowly to look at her. He'd looked again at his body, jumping back as the helicopter rescue team arrived and pushed Langford out of the way so they could do their work. His eyes found hers again as they seemed to ask her what was happening.
He couldn't understand.
"You shouldn't be out here," Langford's voice broke through her reminiscences as he came to stand behind her. "Especially not after what..." He paused; on some of the pebbles at his feet he could still see traces of blood. Boris' blood.
He could vividly remember the exact spot Boris had fallen. His position as he'd tended to him. He could still hear Lily's laughter, cut off by a scream as she was thrown by an invisible force into the lake. He'd not heard the roar of the rotor blades as the air ambulance arrived; he'd only been able to hear his own internal rhythm as he'd carried out chest compressions. He'd felt himself being pushed away, his mind screaming at him that they couldn't do this, they couldn't stop him helping his friend. He could remember being held back by his men as he'd tried to carry on what he'd started. In his loss of control his grip on his emotions had cracked and he'd felt tears sting his eyes as he'd shouted incoherently.
He couldn't lose his friend.
"It's all my fault." Robyn sighed, holding herself tighter. Images from Langford's mind drifting into hers.
Langford's head shot up, "Your fault? None of what happened here is your fault. How could anything Lily does be your fault?"
"I didn't sense her. If I'd sensed her I could have warned Boris, I could have stopped her."
"I don't know how your ability works but I'm pretty sure that you can't sense everybody all of the time. You can't blame yourself for one mistake."
Robyn lowered her head, "But it wasn't just one mistake was it? I let Morgan go and he kills the priest. You found the body of the man that was helping him; your team is still looking for his head. How many more people are going to die as a direct result of my actions?"
"I don't know." There was no answer he could give her. ""I should tell you that Olaf is coming back, he's on his way here. He's convinced himself that you're responsible for the priest's death. Boris protected you last time and I will try my best to do the same but I'm not him. Either way I can't say for certain that you won't get any backlash this time, he's determined to take you down. I'd prepare myself to ride a storm if I were you."
Taking a deep breath as she raised her head, Robyn turned it to face Langford, her body following behind. "I'm ready."