Street Fair (23 page)

In the skies above the field, Orlaith's next blast was answered by a green burst of fire from the walls. She didn't fall as it hit her, but the bright flames taking the form of wings at her back flickered. Another blast followed, as another of the missing wights, this one draped in a rotting beige sheet, cast at the Queen from the top of the walls.

Another salvo of arrows rained down from the castle walls. This time, where they struck, there were screams—some of them cut short. Amongst those screaming in pain were Megan's two faerie guardians. Justin held firm, but both of the giant faeries were staggering and quickly deflating.

The radiating light faded out before it reached Megan and the back ranks, but she was in enough of a panic without its help. Her song stopped, and Megan tried frantically to locate her father. She finally spotted him, thrown from his wolf as it fled in raw animal fear, leaving the King fallen on the ground before the dragon.

She lost sight of him again as the renewed front rank of the skeleton army began to advance.

Chapter 33: Under Fire

"My Lady, the music." Justin's voice cut through Megan's growing panic. Before he could say any more, the advancing ranks of the enemy army reached them. Justin went on the offensive, blocking an initial attack from a skeletal infantryman, then sweeping his sword low.

The instant the Claiomh Solais struck a skeleton, the sword flared brighter, and flames washed over the target. The enemy did not so much burn up, as simply seem to lose all animating force, collapsing in a pile of bones. He destroyed five within seconds, giving them a little more room. "Help them rally," he added.

Megan caught on, with the main threats being the cold iron arrowheads. She began to sing, not trying to layer on the rains this time, just calling up the best sweeping winds she could—at least without drawing on the song full of F#s—and directing the windstorm towards the walls.

The next salvo of arrows launched, and most flew backwards, or fell short, some even striking the other army's own ranks. Some of the archers and others on the walls were carried backwards. Despite the winds, those who still stood were already readying more arrows, having been given no other command.

Megan glanced back towards the dragon, quickly going from panicked to exulting to see the effect her bardic magics could have even on this scale. Where she'd struggled with the song before, flush with a momentary victory, and not needing to so tightly control the winds this time, she just sang louder. Justin was still killing skeletons in front of her. While one of her former fae guardians lay still, the other had pulled a couple of arrows out of himself and, despite terrible burns on a shoulder and a leg, was reinflating himself back to giant size, before stepping on another skeleton trying to reach her.

Confident that her watchers would hold, Megan's eyes moved back to the fight with the dragon. She saw her father surrounded by skeletal warriors, and the dragon was raising a claw. Cassia was the nearest fae to him, but Megan wasn't sure if the satyress would reach Riocard in time to do him any good.

Riocard kicked back to his feet, narrowly avoiding attacks where he'd lain. His hands came together, then swept outward. Skeletons flew away from him in all directions, and when they struck the ground, they shattered into thousands of frozen pieces.

Free of the immediate assault, he noticed his sword lying on the ground. As he held out a hand, the sword flew back into his grip, even as the dragon stepped down. Cassia was still whirling and turning, her sword shattering bone and knocking opponents aside as she fought towards Riocard again, still not quite reaching him.

The undead dragon's foot came down, and Riocard held his free hand up. Instead of smashing her father, as Megan briefly expected, the foot stopped as soon as it hit the King's hand, like he'd caught it. He held like that for a moment, before Cassia reached him, and her sword-sweep hit the dragon's leg at the ankle. The foot shattered, and cracks ran up the massive legbones.

The pair fought a retreat away from the dragon before skeletal reinforcements caught up. As they did, others moved to reinforce them, including Cassia's cats and Riocard's wolf—the latter getting a glance from the King as if it had sorely disappointed him. Even so, as it reached him on the run, knocking aside more of the undead, Riocard swung back onto the creature's back, facing off with the dragon. Two of his original vanguard caught back up as well, moving to defend Riocard's flanks.

The din of battle picked up elsewhere as well. Inwar and his chariot were under full siege, but the general was still shouting orders, gesturing with his sword, and cutting down everything that came into reach. Others among the demoralized Seelie ranks, and even some of the Unseelie, responded to his call, cutting off their retreats or getting back into the fight, forming up to hold the ground they'd taken. Others moved forward from the back ranks to try to fight their way to Inwar, reinforcing the ranks and replacing the fallen. Throughout it all, Orlaith remained in the skies, engaging in a battle of sorcery with the wight on the walls.

Inwar shouted again, voice echoing out over the battlefield, and the next surge of reinforcements came. Orlaith wasn't alone in the air for long, as massive swarms of pixies and sprites blanketed the skies. They swept just above the field in a bright carpet of color, and where they passed, skeletons were tossed aside. Megan stopped the winds, trying to not disrupt the tiny fae, and started back into the fear-dispelling march instead, helping to restore morale to the shaken ranks.

The charge picked up again, Inwar rallying troops to him in a renewed push for the gates. With most of the field still in chaos, more and more of the fae moved to support Inwar's efforts, moving to engage the skeletons with the iron weapons, holding the gates against all comers.

Though the enemy archers shot down some of the tiny fliers, most of them reached the walls. Dozens of the skeletal bowmen were swept off of the walls in the charge, though those who approached the spellcaster atop the walls were met with flashes of greenish light, before being tossed away without reaching him or his immediate support.

Megan spotted a dark shape trailing the glimmers of pixies: Ashling and the Count circled about the field, gaining altitude, then diving. The winged fae dealt with many of the archers and finally attempted to sweep over the walls and enter the castle—but from the way they stopped in the air, they might as well have hit a glass wall. Some veered away in time, others hit the field hard. In the end, though, only a single dark figure made it through—and a few moments after he had flown right past the glimmers, the Count circled back around, trying to get back among those pixies that had dropped onto the city wall.

Within a few moments, Megan started to see the skeletons on the city wall drop their weapons and stumble into each other. Only a few fell off the walls, but in the meantime, the dropped and scattered pixies and sprites started to rise and rally

Inwar's charge stalled near the gates, but his efforts forced the enemy hand. The wight on dragonback shifted his attention from his direct battle with Riocard's company to guiding the forces holding the main entrance to the city.

Just as it appeared that the fae were gaining ground again, the red light built up, and surged out from the city again. The fallen dead rose once more, and the fae ranks wavered, though they held better than the previous time. The pixies and sprites scattered, multiple groups splitting off from the main body. The injured undead dragon began to heal, going back on the offensive against Riocard and his group.

Amidst this, the Count apparently found Ashling again. The pixie pulled herself back onto the crow, narrowly avoiding an attack, and leaving the wall behind, heading towards Riocard.

Seeing the pixie coming, Riocard gestured, a spiky wall of ice rising between himself and the dragon. The Count landed on his shoulder. Riocard shouted something, then Cassia shouted back. He responded, and, reluctantly, the satyress turned, smashing her way through the battlefield and heading back towards Megan and the back ranks, with Maxwell, Jude, and the pixie and crow close behind, leaving Riocard and his wolf-riders to face off with the tactician wight and his dragon.

Megan was then somewhat distracted, if not almost mesmerized, by the sorcerous battle on the walls. Orlaith erected a fiery barrier against the wight's next assault, and turned her attention on the forces below. Fire rained from the skies upon the ranks of undead nearest the gates. While the cold iron weapons were unharmed by the fae magic, the same couldn't be said for the weapon bearers. However, despite the power of the spells, the flames wouldn't pass beyond the open gateway, seeming to strike the same invisible, impenetrable barrier that the sprites and pixies had hit.

The wight on the walls seemed, in turn, to be taking advantage of this spare moment to ready something complex. His hands were spread wide, each glowing with green fire, sparks arcing back and forth over his head. There was a hitch in Megan's breath as she watched the sheer force of the charging energy.

And then something shattered the top of the parapet right in front of the wight, a puff of shards of stone filling the air. Not only did the wight's spell fizzle, but when the dust cleared, he'd been knocked to his knees by the impact. Orlaith's next strike kept him there, his own magical shields flickering under the assault.

Megan glanced back to see Lani standing atop the frame of a trebuchet, holding tight to a stack of papers, doubtless full of scribbled mathematical calculations taking wind speed into account, while looking like she might break into a victory dance. The artillery crew, however, just loaded another stone.

Justin drew Megan's attention back to closer matters with a shout of "Incoming!" Indeed, a dozen skeletons were rushing their position, spears lowered. Megan's song faltered a moment as she looked at the oncoming rush, and was still looking when Cassia's sword shattered one of their skulls from behind. Cassia and Justin engaged the skirmishing party as Megan gathered her wits and picked up the inspiring melody again, just as the Count, Ashling astride, rocketed right past Megan.

When the two fighters had cleared the field in front of her, and Justin was catching his breath, Megan finally paused again and looked expectantly to Cassia.

“Hey,” Cassia said.

“Where did Ashling go?” Megan asked.

“She's getting Lani. You're all needed, Ric says.” She was cut off before she could explain further by another assault group.

A few more broken bones later—all of these fortunately belonging to skeletons—Lani was there.

“Nice shot,” Megan said.

“Aw, that's nothing,” Lani said. “You should see the next one.”

“No time,” Cassia said.

Ashling settled onto Megan's shoulder to shout into her ear, "They're making a show of hitting the gates as a distraction. We need to go!"

“Huh? Go where? What even happened with you?”

“A dramatic roller coaster of emotional arcs—not to mention the physical arc off the Count's back; it should be recreated for Universal Studios. I'll happily tell you more about my complex experience of personal growth and how it should be franchised later, but it boils down to a couple of things. One is that that glimmer or no glimmer, the same trick that opens your window opens belts and bandoliers. More pressing is that there are some
amazing
wards against faeries covering all the inner wall trellises. So you're up!”

"So, just me, Lani, and Justin against whatever's in there?" Megan asked, feeling like that mostly meant Justin versus whatever O'Neill had planned, at the moment.

"Caw!"

"The Count says he should go,” Ashling translated. “I'll keep an eye on your dad. He'll need the help.”

“The boys are going too,” Cassia said.

“Okay, so they're
not
faeries!” Megan realized too late that she might sound overexcited about having that matter addressed.

“Yeah. They're mixed. Part actual leopard,” said Cassia, as if it were self-evident. Then she frowned again. “But if anything happens to them...”

“I believe,” said Justin, “that as Megan's champion, I would be responsible for taking any thrashings merited, but, to be honest, if anything were to happen to the cats, I would probably not be in a position capable of standing to take said thrashing.”

“Heh. Good point,” said Cassia. “Be good, boys.”

Chapter 34: Princess of Power

"There's way too much fighting up there, we'd never get through." Lani said.

"Which is precisely why Riocard is buying you time." Ashling answered cheerfully. "Ready for cookies?"

Megan and Lani both looked at the pixie, trying to parse the question without success. Finally, Ashling sighed. "You're not going in that way."

"I believe I understand," Justin said after a few more moments of thought. "This is the city of the dead, but also holds the King's stone. There's gates for kings, quiet doors for undertakers."

"So, there's just one exhaust port, hardly worth mentioning?" Lani asked.

"Oh, it will be guarded," Cassia said. "They're not going to be that dumb about it. But posting too many guards there would tell people where the hidden door is. We're going to get you to it."