changeling chronicles 03 - faerie realm (29 page)

“He wanted revenge on humans, and he’ll have it. You’ve already lost.” She coughed again. More blood spurted. Magic flared from my blade, igniting the wound in her chest. Her body burst apart in a shower of green light, imprinting itself on my eyelids.

What the—?

A frightened noise from behind me. Several children screamed. Underneath my feet, the platform had begun to slide.

“Shit. Shit. Vance, get us out of here.” I turned to the cage. He looked back at me, unseeing. “She’s dead. She can’t control you.”

He shook his head. The scales on his hands didn’t recede, but the alien light in his eyes dimmed to light grey. Something fell to the floor. A thorn.

Fury flashed in his eyes. Vance swiped out, sending the pieces of the breaking cage over the edge of the platform until he was free. He reached the children, and Anabel ran to him.

“Come here,” he said. “I’ll get us away.”

Crap. I knew what using his ability on that level would cost him. “I’ll stay,” I said quickly. “I need to take this talisman.”

The Lady’s sword lay discarded where she’d dropped it. I didn’t want to keep the damn thing myself, but I wouldn’t leave it behind.

I expected Vance to argue, but he nodded, figuring transporting both me
and
two super-powered swords might finish him off. Still, my heart twisted as Vance and the children disappeared, leaving me alone.

The sword in my hand glowed blue, though not as bright. I leaned over the second sword, the talisman, the life-drinker. Its luminous green glow persisted, though muted. My hand hesitated above the hilt. It was mine, but I didn’t want it. One super-powered talisman was enough.

The platform shook. My hand brushed the blade. It didn’t hurt, so I quickly scooped it up. Now the Lady had gone, this place would probably fall apart. I needed to get out of—

A roar sounded. Not an enraged shifter’s roar, but like an industrial machine mixed with a sudden thunderclap. I twisted around, gripping both swords, and looked down.

My feet locked into place. A spasm of fear shook my entire body, turning my bones to juice and my skin to gooseflesh. Underneath the clouds below, a vast shape moved. The size of a house, dark as pitch, with wings wide as the cage which once held it captive.

The dragon had woken up.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

A bone-shaking tremor rattled the swords in my hands, and the ground itself seemed to shrink underneath my feet. Magic pulsed through me, reminding me of its presence, and I jumped from the platform to the bridge. It wobbled. Crap. Worse, I’d moved closer to the rising shape of the monster. Clouds cleared enough to reveal a huge, scaly body, ending in a forked tail. It rose higher, cutting through the air, until the undercurrent threatened to sweep me off the bridge. I ran, but fear had shaken off my superhuman speed. Maybe even a Sidhe couldn’t outrace a dragon god.

I kept running. The bridge came to an end where I’d found it, on the Ley Line beside the giant pit. The air shimmered, and I burst through the illusion onto solid ground.

Right in front of the oncoming dragon rising from the pit.

Oh. God.

Now I got why shifters could stand up to fear-spells and faerie mind tricks. This was fear incarnate—primeval, deadly, and merciless. We were all going to die. And probably everyone else in the whole city, too, until the dragon got bored and went to sleep again.

Didn’t help that I had no freaking clue who put it to sleep in the first place. Maybe waving my sword at it would work. Actually, I had two. I raised both swords into the air, one wrought in green light, the other in blue. Summer and Winter. The combined strength of Faerie must be able to stand up to—

Air buffeted me, knocking me flat onto my back. I managed to keep my grip on both swords, but the impact jolted through my shoulders. Ouch. Looking up at the sky, I was greeted by the sight of the beast flying on towards the town without turning back.

I’d stood there, glowing with the power of both Summer and Winter, and the creature had swatted me aside like a fly. It didn’t care.

“Dick,” I said, getting to my feet. Ow. I was pretty sure I’d dislocated at least one shoulder. Now my shock had worn off a little, I was kind of insulted.

A burst of fire flared up at the sky. Not high enough to reach the dragon, but enough to draw its attention. I’d bet Drake was behind it.

The creature, however, didn’t turn back. Crap. Maybe it wasn’t going to kill everyone. Perhaps it liked the freedom.

Who are you kidding?
The broken remains of the iron cage were scattered on the hill. No freaking way could I put the thing back together. And whether I had one badass sword or two, I sure as hell couldn’t send a beast that size to sleep.

I raised both swords to the sky again, running forwards. I’d need to draw its attention in another way. Poking a sleeping dragon was unwise. Blasting an enraged dragon in flight was suicide.

“Get over here!” I screamed, waving my arms idiotically. Magic jolted up from my palm, through my new blade, arching into the clouds. I ran forward until the smoke cleared.

The battlefield had dissolved into total chaos. People ran every which way, shifters now reverted back into human form. Mages hurled attacks up at the sky, but nothing could touch the dragon.

Except me.

My legs burned. I put on a burst of speed and pelted along the grass, behind the giant shape in the sky. Then I jumped, firing a blast of magic directly underneath its wing.

For an instant, the beast was outlined in dazzling blue, its body jerking at the hit. Then those huge wings wheeled around, and its eyes locked onto a new target.

Vance stood apart from the mages on a raised hill. The air above his head crackled with energy, and I knew the idiot would throw himself between me and the beast without a second’s thought. A mage couldn’t kill it. I wasn’t sure even I could. That magical blast was the best I could do and had barely tickled the beast.

My other hand vibrated. The second blade. Life-drinker…

Don’t,
a voice in my head told me.

The dragon plummeted, wings outstretched, aiming for Vance.

I shot magic through my left hand this time, directly into Velkas’s blade. I could only hope this one worked the same as mine. It ought to, since I’d claimed the magic from the Lady.

Life-drinker.

“Get over here, you scaly bastard,” I screamed. The rumble of thunder rose, currents of air disturbed by its wingbeats. Vance stood with his hands braced, and I knew it took every ounce of power he possessed to keep on his feet.

“Over here!” I screamed again, sending a bolt of magic through both swords at once.

The twin attacks smacked into the dragon’s scaly hide, and it flew at me with its jaws agape. Vance turned and saw me, shouting my name. I backed away, wielding both swords. The one in my left hand I barely understood. It could drain life… but this creature was beyond life. Too powerful for a human to defeat, or even a Sidhe lord.

No iron cage remained, and I couldn’t conjure up one out of nowhere. I had one option.

I kept backing away, the glow from my swords entrapping the dragon. The light reflected in its huge eyes, mesmerising. All of its attention was fixed on me. My feet touched the edge of the pit where it overlapped with the Ley Line. The dragon grew closer. Closer. I backed onto the bridge, which remained where I’d left it.

I took a deep breath, and passed over into the faerie realm.

The dragon’s enraged roar reverberated through my head.

I stood rigid on the Grey Vale’s path, hands clenched around the sword.
Please. Please let this work.

With the veil almost transparent, the dragon had seen exactly where its prey had disappeared to. I held the sword high, and called every piece of magic I could conjure.

Blue light flared up, piercing the canopy. Spirits appeared all around me, the two realms mingling, and over the humming of magic, the roaring grew louder.
Yes. Come here.

The dragon’s huge form appeared as a dot in the sky through interlocking branches, moving closer by the second. It was a god, drawn to power, and magic radiated off me like a beacon.

My body stood locked in place, the sword held high. I didn’t even need to look behind me to know Faerie was changing, shaping itself to my thoughts. The realm recognised me as Sidhe, a bearer of powerful magic. Avakis had built a castle.

I’d build a dungeon.

I stepped back once, and again, my faerie enhanced speed kicking in. The dragon’s form grew bigger. In seconds, it’d crash through the canopy and go for my neck. I needed to time this right.

I closed my eyes, and imagined.

Underneath my feet, earth became stone. The walls of trees either side turned to solid walls of the strongest substance I could imagine—iron, or the closest this realm got to it. Ash, like the pure core of an ancient tree.

A crash jolted through me. My eyes opened.

The dragon’s body smacked against the ceiling that had materialised above it. I moved, backing away along the floor. The beast’s huge head shook to the side.

“Can you speak?”

The beast roared. Okay, then. I’d take that as a no.

“I’m gonna have to leave you here until you can promise not to hurt any more humans.”

Not that there were any humans here anymore. I’d take no chances.

The dragon roared, stirring a current of air that smacked right off the shield I’d conjured half-consciously.

“Sorry, mate,” I said. “If you can promise you won’t harm humans, I’ll let you go. Here, promises have special significance.”

The dragon roared. Its pale grey eyes locked onto me, and a spasm of fear shook my body. The blue-tinted blade glowed bright and angry, feeding on my fear.

“Don’t fuck with me.” To my own surprise, my voice came out calm. “You threaten my friends, you’ll get no mercy. I created this place. I can dream up a worse prison.”

This god had crossed realms once already, and I couldn’t risk it happening again.

Huge grey-black eyes stared into mine. Instead of fear, power rolled through me, through the twin blades in my hands. Summer and Winter. I’d felt this once before, when I’d read the words of the Invocation.

Here, in Faerie, I could create a castle out of nowhere. My words had power, and so did my thoughts. I opened my mouth.

The language I spoke felt foreign and familiar at once. The air sang with magic, and threads of green and blue streamed from each sword, moulding together, swirling around the beast’s magnificent head. Word after word, each infused with power strong enough to rattle the ground under my feet, to raise the ceiling and touch the stars. The faeries hadn’t been screwing around when they’d made their language. This time, it didn’t feel like the words were tearing loose from my lungs. More like a choir had started to sing, and my own mouth had opened to join in the chorus.

I continued to speak, words of magic so ancient even the Grey Vale shaped itself around them.

The dragon’s eyelids dropped. Its head fell, slowly, to rest on its front claw, its huge body relaxing.

Holy crap.

All words halted. My trembling hands dropped to my sides. The beast lay quite still, asleep.

I did that.

I waited a minute. The beast didn’t move. Neither did I. My legs unlocked slowly and I stumbled back. A stone clattered loose. The beast didn’t stir, not at all.

Shock rang through my body, and only the whisper of the spirits behind me reminded me where I was. I couldn’t stay here. Time would slip away. Whatever the lure of the magic in my hands, I didn’t belong here.

I belonged at home. With Vance.

Closing my eyes, I exhaled, and willed myself to leave Faerie.

Being without a body shook away some of the symptoms of shock, but not all of them. I didn’t know for sure, but I was fairly sure I’d spoken an Invocation.

And I didn’t die.

I drifted, opening my eyes.

“Ivy Lane,” said a familiar voice. A transparent figure floated beside me.

“Sorry, Frank,” I said to the necromancer. “I did warn you.”

“Yes,” he said through clenched teeth, “you did. What abomination did you bring through the veil this time?”

“A god,” I said. “Or close enough. I locked it up in Faerie.”

His eyes popped out. Probably because I spoke so casually. After what I’d been through today already, Calder could stride past and I’d give him the middle finger. I was done. I just wanted to go home.

“So you did,” growled the half-transparent necromancer. “You’d better have. The whole of Death is stirred up. You’ve unleashed a hell of a problem, Ivy Lane.”

“I don’t create problems, I solve them. Well,” I amended. “Maybe a bit of both. Can I go?”

“You may, but you’ll tell Lord Evander exactly what you did. It’s time the living necromancers accept what they’re up against.”

“I look forward to it,” I said. They couldn’t do anything more to hurt me. Every time I went up against Faerie, it made me stronger. Putting a giant god to sleep pretty much ensured I’d never be scared of a living person again. Lord Evander could suck it. “The veil will go back to normal, right? Nothing’s going to sneak through the gates.”

“If you can leave the veil alone for five minutes,” said Frank.

“Can’t make any promises.” And I wouldn’t. I’d seen too recently the power words could have, especially in Faerie.

Death faded, and seconds later, I landed on the grassy hill overlooking the pit. I wobbled. My body ached like I’d gone one-to-one against a shifter at full power, and my shoulders burned, reminding me of how heavy the two swords were. I shook my head, which throbbed. I needed a healing spell and a nap. I needed…