Courting Darkness (37 page)

 

I shoved the unicorn horn back in my pocket—no use wasting the energy on creatures we could take care of in other ways. One of the wolves leaped toward Delilah, and she engaged it, tumbling into the snow, grappling it with her front paws. The wolf snarled, its long teeth flashing dangerously near her throat.

Iris didn’t wait—she sent a wave of frost forward toward the rest of the wolves. Even though they were used to the cold, the temperature around us suddenly dropped a good fifty degrees and the wolves slowed.

Shade whispered a charm, and a veil of smoke began to drift out of his fingers, aimed at the troll. It caught several of the wolves in its wake and they yipped, painfully, and backed away, whining.

The troll began to lumber forward, howling as the smoke hit him. Sparks flickered against his skin, and I suddenly recognized the spell. It was far too advanced for my Moon magic, and Morio had no clue on how to use it. Called Sparking Smoke, the cloud carried a bevy of painfully hot sparks forward to engage the enemy.

Smoky moved forward, toward the troll, and the troll roared to life, swatting him hard with the side of his hand. Smoky whirled, his trench flying behind him as he lashed out with both talons and hair, slicing across the troll’s body. The troll screamed again as blood foamed onto the ground, melting the snow.

I turned toward Vishana, who had not moved. Her gaze was fastened on Hyto. But nothing was attacking her at the moment. Delilah let out a loud yowl as she bit the neck of the wolf. From my stance, I could see the vague outline of Arial on the other side, ripping at the wolf’s belly from the astral realm.

A low growl caught me by surprise, and I turned to find that one of the wolves had somehow managed to get behind me. It launched itself at me as I called on the Moon Mother for strength.

The creature caught me between its paws and I hit the ground backward, sprawling in the snow and losing my concentration. Its jaws came snapping toward my face, but before it could bite, Hyto shouted and it stopped, holding me there. Another blink of the eye and the wolf went flying to the side, with one shrill whimper.

I stared up to find Vishana’s hand stretched out. Grasping it, I let her pull me to my feet. I’d barely stammered out a thank-you when another wolf came in from the side. She held out her hand and out of her palm a spear of ice appeared and sailed through the center of the wolf’s forehead. It dropped without a sound.

Smoky grunted. He had fully engaged the troll, leaving long bloody streaks along its belly. Another moment and a length of his hair rose to encircle the creature’s neck. The troll grabbed hold of the strands, yanking on them, but he was no match for an angry dragon, even in human form, and Smoky’s rage seemed to build as he throttled it dead.

“Got you, you bastard!” Shade’s cry made me whirl around. He had just caught another wolf on the wing, his blade deftly slicing its throat. Delilah and Arial had taken down the last wolf and we turned toward Hyto and Asheré.

Hyto nodded to his snow monkey, and the rogue monk held out his staff. A wave of pale mist began to emanate from it, and I found myself backing away and pulling out the horn.

“Poison! I can smell it from here. Poison gas!” I held up the horn and called on the Master of Winds.

As I thrust the horn into the air, a gale sprang up and raced through my body, sending me to my knees. Still I held steady, even though Delilah and Iris went tumbling to the ground. They rolled to the side, though Shade, Vishana, and Smoky managed to keep on their feet.

The winds howled forth from the horn, raging along the crest of the hill toward Hyto and the monk. It caught the cloud of poison in its wake and dispersed it, pushing it back. Hyto just laughed, but Asheré looked to be in trouble as the gas backfired on him, swelling around him. He dropped the staff and clutched at his throat. Hyto stared at him, not moving to help him.

Asheré reached a hand toward his master, but Hyto just let out a snort.

“Weakling. You fool, you never thought of this potential consequence and so you pay the price.” He kicked the gasping monk out of the way with a single swift foot to the stomach and headed toward us, his robes fluttering against the snow. “The poison won’t work on me, girl. I advise you to spare your sister and that pint-sized sprite by sending them away.
Now.
”

My stomach lurched. He was right. They were no match for Hyto. Even with Smoky, Vishana, and Shade, Delilah and Iris weren’t equipped to take him on. I turned to them.

“He’s right. Get out of the way. Now.”

“We aren’t leaving you.” Iris held firmly to her wand.

“This isn’t a question of loyalty. It’s a question of self-preservation. Move, now. And if things go wrong, run as hard as you can and hope to hell you can reach the barrow before Hyto does.” Pale as night, I turned away.

Delilah took Iris’s hand. I could feel her watching me but didn’t turn around. “Come on, Iris. Let’s move back a little. She’s right.”

Hyto stopped about twenty yards from us, and there was a sudden shifting as he began to transform. Out of a cloud of mist and snow, a white dragon—twice as large as Smoky—rose up before us. He looked like Smoky, only his skin was more white than opalescent, and his horns were far longer; the mane on his back whipped back and forth. He crouched on all fours, staring at us, and split the air with a violent chuckle.

Terror struck me through and I stood rooted to the ground. I’d thought Smoky huge when he was in dragon form, but now I realized he was still young—he wasn’t nearly the stature of his father.

Holy crap. This wasn’t going to end well. I could feel it in my bones.

Vishana turned to me. “Back away. Now. Let us have room.”

I realized she and Smoky were getting ready to change. Shade grabbed my hand and moved to drag me out of the way, but before he could, there was a rustle in the woods behind us. I heard Delilah let out a long cry. Iris, too.

Turning, I saw someone rushing forward. Someone I recognized.

There, in full battle armor, with sword held high, raced Georgio. St. George, come to battle the dragon. He stared up at Hyto, his eyes wide with wonder and anger.

“You will not pass, serpent! You will not pass! Leave the winsome Lady Camille alone.”

“No! Shade, help him.” I pushed Shade away from me and simultaneously yanked the unicorn horn out of my pocket, aiming it at Hyto. The winds had not worked, but he was on the ground now.

Hyto was eyeing St. George with the look of a kid eyeing a Popsicle. His long neck coiled and—

There was a roar as the ground began to shake and the snow fell from the branches of the trees to land with a plop on the ground. A low rumble filled the area as an earthquake echoed through the valley. The ground shifted in tortuous bends, like the waves off the ocean whipped up by a gale.

Below us, on the slope, I could hear the roar of an avalanche, and I prayed no one else had been coming up the mountain. Hyto shifted from side to side, dancing as nimbly as a dragon could dance, to keep his balance as the ground rocked back and forth.

Shade raced forward, grabbing Georgio before he could take on the dragon of his dreams, and practically flew with him to where Delilah and Iris waited. I glanced back, making sure that Georgio was safe. He seemed to have fainted, which was probably for the best. The last thing we needed was his interference.

I turned back to find Smoky and Vishana holding hands. Then mother nodded to son and they began to transform. As I scrambled out of the way—I knew better than to be in the way of three angry dragons—they rose up.

Vishana was as large as Hyto—even larger. But her skin shimmered with silver and her eyes were steely and hard. She flattened several trees and bushes as she backed up to get her bearings.

Smoky was smaller than both, by far, but when I saw him from this vantage point, it seemed incredible that I’d ever been astride his back.

Hyto dipped and coiled, his neck winding as he rolled his head back, and then a hailstorm came roiling by, chilling the air and dropping the temperature further still. The pellets of ice spread out over the area, catching Smoky and his mother and moving beyond in my direction. Before I could cloak up, the stinging ice bullets began to lodge into my skin and I gritted my teeth, turning away so that they hit against my back. The cloak of the Black Beast absorbed much of their impact, but the reverb was like being hit over and over by thumbnail-sized BBs.

Vishana let out a low roar as she sprang into the sky, followed by Smoky. They circled overhead, and I had the distinct feeling they were challenging Hyto. He gave one long look in my direction, then joined them. As I watched, they spiraled in a circle.

And then came the flames, belching from Smoky’s stomach, to scorch along Hyto’s side. Hyto raised his head and let out a terrible shriek as the blast blackened the skin. I could hear Smoky’s laughter from where I cowered, waiting.

Hyto whipped around, his tail slamming against Smoky, sending my love reeling back head over heels through the air. I gasped as he fell, through the sky, plummeting down toward the ground. But shortly before he reached the tops of the tallest firs, he pulled up short and went shooting back toward the pair of circling dragons.

Vishana charged forward, aiming directly for Hyto, her neck waving from one side to the other. As Hyto swung to meet her, she skidded in the air, whirling around, so that her tail whipped into his face. Knocked back, Hyto went spinning. He caught himself and turned in time to catch her before she could rake his side with her claws. She managed to catch one of his wings, and I saw a smear of red against the white, droplets raining down like snowflakes.

Smoky joined the fray, another belch of fire scorching Hyto’s other side. Hyto returned fire and Smoky dodged the first ball of exploding flames, but the second caught him by surprise and he careened away.

The next moment, Vishana swooped over the top of Hyto, her claws trailing down and catching him along his back. He screamed, his call sending another avalanche down the slope of the mountain.

“Fuck!”

Delilah’s scream caught my attention and I whirled. She was fighting Asheré, who had apparently recovered enough to grab his staff and make his way over to them. They were fighting hand-to-hand, and for a wounded monk, he was doing pretty good. Shade launched himself out of the bushes, but before he could reach them, Delilah raised Lysanthra and brought it whistling down on the rogue monk. It pierced his shoulder and drove through the bone—I could hear the splintering from where I stood.

Asheré shouted, grabbing his arm, and Iris took that moment to whisper some charm. As we watched, the monk began to shift, and I realized he was turning inside out—Iris had her powers back, all right. As his flesh split, his organs spilling to the ground, I stared at her, and she grinned and gave me a thumbs-up. A gruesome high-five before collapsing with obvious exhaustion. But it was a high-five, nonetheless, because we no longer had our mad monk to cope with.

I turned back to watch the fireworks going on in the sky. Hyto had taken a couple of direct hits and dove into a cloud bank. Where was he? Could Smoky and Vishana have dispatched him? But then I heard something behind me, and a shadow fell across me from the back. Frowning, I turned. There, barreling down out of the clouds, talons out, was Hyto, dive-bombing me.

“Motherfucking pus-bucket!” First came the anger. When would the fucking creep leave me alone? But then fear settled over the fury and I began to run, slogging through the snow. I could hear Delilah and Iris screaming, and from the side, I saw Shade heading my way.

Vishana and Smoky had flown a wide circle, searching for him, and only now were winging back, combing the thick blanket of clouds into which Hyto had vanished. I could tell by the way they were circling.

“Going somewhere?” The rough voice echoed with laughter as Hyto’s talons came sweeping down to close around my waist. I screamed again, shrilly as I could to catch Smoky’s attention, and struggled, pushing against the talons grasping me tight.

Hyto let out a loud bellow. “This time, you won’t get away. And this time, my pretty little bitch, you’re going to die. Slowly, painfully, one limb at a time.”

As he launched us off the ground, I stopped trying to get him to let go. We were in the air, sailing up above the ground. As I looked down, Shade stood there, looking helpless. He’d just reached where I’d been. Delilah and Iris were struggling forward and Asheré was a bloody blot on the ground.

I held on for dear life, clutching Hyto’s leg, wondering what the fuck was going to happen now. If Smoky or Vishana attacked us, Hyto could easily cut me in half. But even as I tried to figure out a way out of this mess, I noticed that Shade had vanished. I knew he couldn’t transform into his dragon shape during the day, but he’d gone into the shadows. Maybe there was something he could do from there to help.

“Are you ready for me, wench? I told you,
you belong to me
. That collar around your neck proves it. And now you’re my means to an end. I know my son. And I know my wife.” Hyto’s voice rumbled down to me, and we spiraled higher into the sky as the snow began to fall in earnest.