Dark Flight (The Shadow Slayers) (30 page)

She nodded and with a flick of his hand, the rope around the man’s neck vanished. Now as for his wings…only time was going to help those. “We’ll follow your lead,” Kara told the man. “And what’s your name?”

He stilled. “You want to know my name, my lady?”

“Well, if you don’t mind my asking?”

The man stood and almost looked embarrassed to be talking to her now. Fighting for his life he was all snarls and fangs, but with just a little kindness, he was practically turning bashful. Wow, when was the last time Brakken let these guys get out?

“My name is Lancelot.” He bowed his head when he said it.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Kara told him, and behind Lancelot, Julian did a major eye roll.

“Ready now?” Julian asked her. “Anything else you like to discuss? Childhood wounds, perhaps, or your feelings on your latest book club selection?”

Now it was Kara’s turn to roll her eyes.

“You are looking for Brakken and Prince Gavine?”

Kara knotted her hands. “Brakken—yes. Let’s hope Gavin isn’t with him, though.”

“If Brakken decided to pass time on the surface, I won’t be able to take you there.” He tossed a glare over his shoulder at Julian and waggled his stumpy wings to illustrate his point.

“He’s not on the surface,” Kara answered.

“How do you know?” Lancelot asked.

“Because,” Julian said, “he was cast from the surface using Death Magic. He won’t be welcome there any longer.”

“You have a Death Magic coven under your control?” the man asked.

“The high priestess of the entire Northwestern Hemisphere takes orders directly from me,” Kara said.

Lancelot’s expression was precious. Kara could almost see him wondering just what kind of people he was dealing with here. When Julian ducked his chin and raised his brows, staring at Kara through narrowed eyes, she said, “What? She does! Sometimes. I asked her to stop putting hot peppers in our spaghetti sauce and she puts them on the side now. Jaxon loves spicy food, so it was a real victory for me.”

Julian put his hands up. “So be it.”

“Just don’t tell her I said that…about the orders thing. She’ll probably cast me from the surface next. Lance—vow of silence, okay?”

Lancelot nodded. “Very well.”

“So, silver-wing, take us to your soon-to-be-no-more master.”

“Gladly.”

Since Lancelot couldn’t fly anymore and Kara wasn’t skilled enough with her new wings to be able to navigate over a long distance while carrying a two-hundred-pound warrior, Julian was stuck carrying the man in his arms. Maybe he shouldn’t have clipped Lancelot’s wings, but it was the fastest method Julian could think of to keep the man from simply flashing away.

“That’s his main compound.” Lancelot pointed to a vast wall of cliff dwellings.

Julian shook his head. “It looks more like a maze than a main compound.”

“You have that right, black-wing. The external dwellings are only on the surface of the mountainside. Once you’re inside, it truly is a maze of sorts.”

“If he took Gavin…” Kara began, and she couldn’t cover the fear in her voice, “where do you think they would have gone?”

Lancelot frowned. “I can’t say. Perhaps the torture chamber? But then Brakken has a knack for making any locale suitable for torture, and he doesn’t make it to the actual room as often as you might think. Although some of my best friends saw the inside, and I never saw them again.”

Kara had once told Julian about posttraumatic stress disorder, and he could hear her now. She would want to sign up all these warriors for therapy. Gavin and Julian could likely provide a better therapy—a quick death for the ones who’d been warped by Brakken’s cruelty and a good riddance to the ones who might be able to readjust to life outside the crazy black-wing’s kingdom.

“Julian?” Kara asked. He still felt something strange and squiggly in his chest when she said his name. He always had, even from the first night in the alley when he’d come upon her with her seductive scent and prideful attitude. “Do you have any gut feelings on this?”

“The torture chamber might be it, but Brakken knows the best way to hurt Gavin is to force Gavin to hurt an innocent or to witness it happening. No other physical punishment could compare.”

Kara gasped. “Oh, no. Don’t say that. Don’t even think it.”

“Think what?” Lancelot asked. “What am I missing, my lady?”

“The females,” Julian answered. “Killing Gavin won’t be enough to appease Brakken’s anger. Especially not now that he was bested by a witch. Can you get us to where he keeps the menagerie?”

“Of course. There is a secret entrance in the side of the mountain there.” He pointed to a cliff dwelling that looked much the same as any of the other stone houses. “Though I wouldn’t say it’s that much of a secret. Many a warrior has lost his life over the years sneaking through that door. I myself was invited by a lady back in 1917. Of course, I didn’t go through with it, which is why I’m still alive and kicking today.”

“If he’s in there, Julian, how do we get him out? How do we get them all out?”

He would do what he could to save Gavin Cross, for Kara and for the fact that the stories of his and Gavin’s former friendship intrigued him. But with the rage Brakken had been in when Julian last saw him, Gavin might already be dead.

“Julian?”

He glanced at Kara. “We don’t need to get them out. We need to get Brakken out. I just need to make sure he doesn’t nick me with an arrow again. Whatever they’re made of, it brings me too close to corporeal for my comfort. And as for you…”

He looked Kara up and down and shook his head. Why was he letting her be a part of this? Damn the Sanctiáre to hell. Without Kara, his existence would be flat and one-dimensional. Maybe it was true that the Aniliáre didn’t know how to love, but Kara had taught him. If he lost her he would have no reason to maintain his tenuous grip on his humanity.

But what if he rescued Gavin Cross and then lost Kara anyway? The two had already “made love”. That’s what Gavin had called it. Regardless of what nonsense Gavin spoke about his and Julian’s past friendship, maybe Julian should be thankful his competition with the man could soon be over thanks to Brakken.

But that would destroy Kara, and putting her through that pain wasn’t something Julian could willingly do. He felt trapped with few options. Kara hadn’t even forgiven him yet for trying to protect her from the scout. His only choice was to keep her close and keep her safe.

They flew low, heading for the cliff dwelling that Brakken’s warrior had pointed out. “You’re lucky I’m here,” Lancelot said. “Once you enter the maze, you won’t be able to find your way out without me.”

“Yes, we’re very lucky,” Julian said dryly. “How did I ever find you? Oh, yes, I plucked you from the sky like low-lying fruit.”

“Thank you, Lance,” Kara told him and flew close enough to shove Julian’s shoulder. When the warrior flashed her a truly dopey smile, Julian had sudden fantasies about removing the smile with four knuckles to the mouth.

When they alighted on the side of the cliff, Julian released the man.

“It’s through here,” Lancelot whispered, crouching low and making his way through the stacked-stone entrance. “There used to be booby traps, but I’m not sure they even work anymore. And if you know what to look for—” He pointed to a stone that stood up just a little higher on the floor than the others, and he carefully avoided that one with his boot.

But with Lancelot’s next step, the walls around them exploded.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Kara simply sat for a moment, trying to understand what had just happened. Empty adobe room. Fallen stones littered the floor. Arrows. Thick, short arrows about three inches long lay scattered about the room. Except for the ones in Kara. She blinked. “Julian?”

Her black-wing was almost transparent, but he gained substance there on the floor, bowing over her. “You…Kara…I’m so sorry. By the time I saw it coming, I couldn’t stop it.”

Her head lolled back, but she caught it. “Don’t be sorry. I’m just glad you went misty. Wish I could do that.” But she hadn’t even had the time or forethought to flash.

She glanced down at her legs to see several spikes sticking from her thighs and calves. But what hurt was her stomach. “Oh, crap.” She had a spike through her abdomen and another just under her ribs.

“You’re going to be all right, love.” Julian squeezed her hand. “We’re just lucky Brakken’s warrior was in the lead.”

“Lance?” She whipped her head around and that’s when she saw him. He looked like a porcupine with half-inch diameter quills protruding from every part of him. “Oh my God. Julian, help him!”

“He’ll regenerate. We can leave him here. No doubt Brakken’s men will find him and care for him.”

“Or kill him!” Her outburst made the pain in her stomach double.

“That is not our problem.”

“He showed us the secret entrance, remember? We owe him.”

She tried to sit up and failed. “And now that he can’t show us through the maze, I’ll have to rely on the closest flash-point I’ve visited before.”

“Do you have anything in mind?”

“Well, I can flash us to the room where Rachel had her baby.”

“That’s perfect! Why didn’t we go straight there in the first place?”

“Because it felt very isolated. Just Rachel and her friend Darrinda—and poor Darrinda wasn’t even conscious. I don’t think that’s where he’s holding the ‘menagerie’.” Every time she heard or had to stoop to saying that word, she wanted to tear another of Brakken’s fingernails off with a pair of rusty pliers.

“It will give us a place to start.”

Kara had too much to get done to lie here on the dirt floor. She needed to push the pain out of her mind, but it was too intense. And if this was how she felt, what kind of serious damage had Lancelot sustained? “Take him to the island, Julian. Please. Do it now, while I take care of these toothpicks.”

His dark eyes flashed. “I’m not leaving you to take an enemy to a healer.”

“He’s not an enemy. He’s helping us and I gave him my word. If you don’t want to do it—I will.”

When she made to stand, he took her by the shoulders and laid her gently back down. “No. I’ll take him. Just as soon as I remove these spikes from your skin so you can begin to heal.”

When he reached down and pulled the first one from her calf, she clamped her teeth together so she wouldn’t scream. The pain made clammy sweat seep out across her forehead and back.

“I can do it,” she told him. She didn’t want him to see her like this. She wasn’t sure she could get them all out without a tear or two.

“No,” he said. “I want to help.”

“Then please get him to the island, and make sure you explain how he helped us. I don’t want him euthanized like a stray dog. Promise me.”

“Fine.” Julian shook his head and went to kneel over Lancelot’s still form. Quicker than Kara could track, he pulled one arrow after another out of the man. The wounds didn’t even bleed, and Kara doubted that was a good sign because to her it meant his heart had completely stopped beating.

“Quills or no,” Julian told her, “if anyone comes to investigate, you flash to the island. Now it’s
your
turn to promise
me
.”

“You got it. But I’d be shocked if Brakken had many more warriors here. The scouts told Gavin they estimated Brakken had about seventy-five silver-wings in all, and it looked like he had every available man at the battlefield.”

“Scouts have been known to be wrong. He wouldn’t leave his females completely unprotected.” Julian picked up Lancelot. “I’ll be back in a few minutes, and if those spikes are still in you, I’m taking them out.”

She tried to smile, but she was sure it was pretty weak. “Hurry. And tell them I claimed Lancelot for my harem if they have a problem with it. It worked with Jaxon.”

Julian’s whole brow wrinkled when his eyebrows shot up. “You do want this man to still have his head attached by the time I get there, yes? I’ll tell them I claimed him for my servant if they have a problem with it.”

“Jealous chauvinist,” Kara grumbled.

“Collector of stray pets,” he fired back.

“Hey, you were one of those pets, if you remember.”

Julian shrugged. “Good point. See you soon.”

And then he flashed, and Kara got to work on the next wooden spike in the flesh beside her knee. “Oh, shit!” she panted when she pulled the second one out.

“Jeez, I thought that black-wing would never leave. Need help?” said a voice just outside the door.

She jumped, preparing to flash to the island, until she saw his face. “Dane? What in the hell are you doing here?”

“I, uh…sort of put a distress tracking spell on you after you got out of the shower. Sorry. It’s been going ape-shit all day, but this time I thought it might be for real.”

Wow, if Dane had been here at the same time as Julian, his ability to veil himself rivaled even Gavin’s. But Kara felt too faint to be impressed, or even properly creeped out. She needed to get these spikes out of her or she was in trouble.