Fairy Magic (23 page)

This time he was the one to break the silence. “How do you know so much about potions?”

“My gran. She’s good at those kinds of things. And at baking.”

When he didn’t respond, she spoke again. She just couldn’t help herself.

“Gran’s my dad’s mother. She used to be this super adventurous explorer, but then she fell in love with my grandfather and ran away to join his peace-loving, natural-living commune, which I know sounds kind of lame, but the people there are really nice. Well, as long as you don’t ask for their help in fighting monsters or evil villains. At the first word of violence or even something that might possibly lead to violence, they clamp up and won’t even talk to you. It used to drive my dad crazy. He inherited Gran’s sense of adventure. He was always going off on adventures and coming back days or even weeks later stained in monster blood and toting a bag stuffed with magical treasures. Grandfather eventually kicked him out of the commune for ‘corrupting the youth’.

“Then Dad came to San Francisco and joined a monster-fighting mercenary outfit. That’s where he met my mom. They were partners, the best monster hunters in the area. Until he died fighting demons. After that, Mom went looking for him. There was no body, so she was sure he was still alive. My brother and sisters and I stayed with our aunt until Mom finally gave up. Then she threw in her sword and started Fairy Island, a place just like Dad had grown up in. She didn’t want to fight anymore. She just gave up on the world outside that island. She didn’t want any of us to fight. She even threatened to disown me the day I became a monster-hunting mercenary.”

Realizing she’d just babbled on for a few minutes straight, Naomi shut her mouth.

Finally, he spoke. “You’ve been through a lot, and yet it hasn’t dented your spirits. You are strong. And your magic is strong. But you are holding back,” he added quickly. “You think that means you’re in control, but neither magic nor life works in that way. You need to master your magic, but that will only happen when you stop trying to force it.”

“You make it sound so easy.”

“No, it’s not easy, but it is necessary. Trust me. I know all about dealing with unruly magic. I said I will help you, but you have to let me help you.”

“By letting you into my pants?”

“That would be a good start.”

She laughed. “You are unbelievable.”

“I know.”

She didn’t know what to say to that.

“You’re nervous around me.”

“I’m stuck in a tiny cave with a big dragon,” she said. “Forgive me for being a tad unsettled.”

“No, it’s not just now. It’s always,” he said. “You don’t need to be nervous around me.”

“Then stop trying to make me nervous.”

“That’s not what I’m doing.”

“It is,” she told him. “You are used to being in charge. In ruling. In making people do what you want. You have this aura about you that makes people want to obey you without question. Well, I enjoy my free will.”

“Your control over every tiny little thing, you mean.”

“Call it what you will,” she said. “I don’t enjoy having you give me that alpha dragon stare, the look that says you’re at the top of the food chain, so I’d better do what you say or you’ll eat me up.”

He laughed. “Actually, I think you enjoy it very much.”

“No.”

“Magic doesn’t lie, my lady. And yours is shouting your wishes very loudly. You enjoy your control over a tiny sliver of the world, but you’ll enjoy it immensely more when I shatter that control.”

Grr. Dragons. “Can we get out of here yet?” she asked.

“You’re evading.”

“Just answer the question.”

“Valin’s forces have just left the labyrinth. They’re moving fast. So are other nearby soldiers. They are all converging on a single spot.”

“Where?”

“The central square,” he said darkly.

“Where your friends are being held.”

“Yes,” he said. “I think they’re trying to draw us out.”

She touched the wall, her magic opening the fold between realms. “Then let’s not disappoint them.”

“Agreed,” he said as they climbed out. “But we will do it on our terms, not theirs.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Magic Tattoos

NAOMI PEERED OUT of the broken building. The city’s central square waited just past a spindly hedge of blackened bushes. Valin’s soldiers were positioned in pairs at every entrance and exit across the desert of broken stones. A larger group of soldiers stood in the middle, gathering around a water fountain running red with blood. Along the sides of the fountain, tied to the warped statues of beasts, three people glared up at Valin’s army with pure hatred. Emma, Bruce, and Troy.

They looked like they’d been through hell—and lost the battle. Emma’s lip was cut, and her side was oozing blood. Bruce’s outfit was beyond recognition. It looked more like rags than clothing. One of his arms was twisted at a broken angle. Troy’s pale hair was crusted over with dried blood.

Valin marched into the square with another man, both wearing the same thin, shining scaled armor. Both walking as though they owned the world. A pack of hounds surrounded them, snapping their jaws at one another.

Valin stopped in front of his prisoners. “The great rebellion.” He laughed at them. “You’re not so great now, are you?”

Every soldier in the square echoed his laugh.

Emma glared up at Valin. “Makani will kill you,” she hissed.

“He wasn’t looking up to the task the last time I saw him.” Valin turned to his soldiers. “I guess he didn’t like the kiss of my blade.”

For a second time, their voices rose in an eerie chorus of synchronized laughter.

“And yet he escaped.” Emma’s eyes shone with fierce delight. “He will rain down fire upon you.”

“You put far too much faith in your dragon prince,” Valin spat. “He fled my camp with his tail tucked between his legs. And now he hides from me like a sniveling coward.”

“He will come. He always comes when his own are at stake.” Emma smirked at him. “As Brant learned.”

Valin’s fist swung out, punching her in the face.

Beside Naomi, Makani clenched his fists. He began to rise, as though he had every intention of storming into the square.

Naomi caught his hand. “Do you have a plan?”

“To massacre the lot of them,” he growled.

Naomi’s gaze swept the courtyard. “There are at least two hundred of them. How much magic do you have?”

“Not enough.”

“We need a plan. A real plan, Makani,” she added quickly, cutting off his response.

“I’m listening.”

“I’m thinking.” She looked across the square. Valin’s gloating over the rebels had drawn his soldiers’ attention. But was it enough?

Emma looked up, her nose dripping blood. “Makani destroyed Brant.” She nodded at Bruce. “How did he do it again?”

A hard smile cracked the vampire’s lips. “Makani tore him limb from limb.”

“And then he burned the pieces,” Emma said, smirking at Valin. “To ashes. Didn’t you get the jar?”

Valin roared. Magic exploded from his hand. It smacked into Emma, knocking her head against the statue she was tied to. Her eyes rolled back, but she focused them into a glare powered by pure willpower. She didn’t look like she had much more than that left in her.

“Oh, I forgot.” She shot Valin a vicious smile. “Brant was your brother. You two were Bael’s bitches of the second circle. Until you crossed our prince.”

“Your prince is Dragon Born. An abomination.” The word cracked off his tongue, burning the air with hate.

“Like you have any right to judge,” Emma said. “You serve a demon.”

“Bael is a god.”

“From where I’m standing, he just looks like a pathetic little boy too scared to fight his own battles. Like all demons. Cowards.” Emma spat at his feet.

“I am fast losing patience with you, woman.” Steel sang as he drew his sword. He pressed the blade to her neck. “Perhaps I will kill you now, just to shut you up.”

“Go ahead and try, you demon whore.”

Anger gleamed in his eyes. For a moment, he looked like he really was going to kill her, then he stepped back.

“No, not yet. I want you to see your beloved abomination die first.” He sheathed his sword. “I killed many abominations during my days on earth.”

“What does he mean?” Naomi asked Makani.

“Valin and his brother Brant were co-chairs of the Magic Council in the late 17
th
century. They headed the hunt of the era for the Dragon Born mages. Personally. They took great pleasure in executing them.”

“That’s awful.”

Wait, late 17
th
century. Naomi tried to remember her history. “The Salem Witch trials, a hunt wrapped inside a deception. The whole thing was a hunt for Dragon Born mages.”

“Valin and Brant brought the hunt down here when they died,” Makani said.

Naomi watched the warlord prance back and forth in front of his troops, riling them up. “Valin is arrogant. He thinks killing you is his holy duty.”

“Yes, coupled with his unholy desire for revenge.”

“I have an idea,” Naomi said. “You need to go out there and challenge Valin to a duel.”

His eyebrows drew together. “I thought you didn’t want me to storm out there.”

“I don’t want you to storm out there, attacking everyone in sight. I want you to walk out there like a civilized person and challenge Valin to a bloody fight to the death.”

“Why?”

“I’m turning you into a magic bomb.”

He gave her a granite look. “You want to blow me up?”

“No, I’m just going to use these.” She brushed her finger across his tattoos. “There’s magic in these tattoos. I’m going to need you to stand in the middle of all those soldiers in that square for a few minutes.”

“Minutes? Valin will have his people shoot me long before that.”

“No, he won’t. He’s arrogant and wants to win this little feud of yours. He wants to prove he’s stronger than you. You just have to keep him fighting. I need a few minutes to cast the spell.”

“What will this spell do?”

“It won’t hurt you,” she assured him. “I’m just going to weave Fairy Dust into the magic of your tattoos. They’re like storage containers for magic. I can connect to them, filling them with my magic. Then when they’re full, a wave of magic will burst out, knocking the soldiers out.”

“You’ve done this before?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Used ancient magic tattoos to knock out a demon army? No, I haven’t gotten around to checking that one off my todo list yet.”

“How do you know this will work?”

“How did you know it would work the first time you fought a demon’s warlord?”

“It didn’t work the first time I fought a demon’s warlord,” he told her. “I got my ass kicked.”

“Oh.” The word popped off her lips. “Well, do you have any better ideas?”

“No.”

“Think of it this way.” She shot him an encouraging smile. “If the spell doesn’t work, we’ll be no worse off than before, right?”

He laughed. “You’re insane.”

“At least I’m in good company,” she said, smiling.

“This is not the time for crazy ideas.”

“We’re in hell, and the clock is ticking down to your friends’ execution. This is precisely the time for crazy ideas,” she told him. “Crazy ideas are the only chance we’ve got. You said I need to trust you. Well, you need to trust me. Reading people is what I do, and I’ve got Valin all figured out. He will accept your challenge.” She waved him forward. “Now, go. Before Valin gets bored and decides to kill your friends.”

Makani stepped out into the square. “Valin,” he declared loudly, and all eyes in the square turned on him. “You have something that belongs to me.” He indicated his friends.

Bruce and Troy smiled. Emma’s eyes twinkled like Christmas had come early.

“I challenge you, Valin, warlord of Bael,” Makani said, his voice booming across the square, shaking the stones. “A duel to the death. If I win, my friends go free.”

The warlord sneered at him. “And why should I accept such a challenge when I can just have my entire army open fire, killing you where you stand?”

“Yes, you could do that.” A slow, wicked smile twisted his lips. “And prove before your entire army what we both know to be true: that you are a coward.”

Valin flung off his cape. “I accept your pitiful challenge.”

The other man in red armor took his cape without a word, not even to warn his commander of the stupidity of fighting Makani. He must have been Valin’s second, the person who stood to benefit the most if Valin died.

The warlord stalked toward Makani, his sword raised. Naomi began chanting the words of the spell to pour magic into Makani’s tattoos. Harsh and loud over the quiet hum of her chants, the square sang with clashing blades.

“You were foolish to come here,” Valin said. “You are walking into your death.”

“No,” Makani said. “I’m walking into yours.” He knocked the sword from Valin’s hand, sending it flying across the square.

“We’ll see.”

Magic blasted out of Valin’s hand, flinging Makani into the air. Stones crumbled as his back slammed hard against a building.

Valin strode forward, picking up his sword as he closed in on Makani. “Dragons aren’t so tough after all,” he taunted.

The soldiers roared with laughter and cheers.

“Most powerful mages, ha!” Valin spat at Makani. “The Dragon Born are weak.”

Makani sprang out of the rubble. “At least I don’t have to stand around with my hands open, waiting for magic handouts from a demon.”

“Bael rewards those who serve him and punishes those who don’t. I’m going to have fun with your new fairy friend when this is all over. She looks feisty.”

The soldiers laughed. Naomi gritted her teeth. If she weren’t so busy right now, she would have smacked the stupid warlord herself. But she kept chanting, even over her rising anger. The magic was starting to work. She could feel it.

“How many people have died because of you?” Valin shouted across the square. “How many will still die because you don’t know when you’ve lost? Abomination,” he snarled at Makani. “You can’t save the fairy. Just like you couldn’t save your own beloved fairy either. She is dead. Because of you.”

Valin was nearly upon him. Makani didn’t look concerned about that at all. He lifted his hands in front of him, palms up. Magic flared up on his hands. A blast of wind shot of him, flinging Valin away.