The Rival (58 page)

Adrian didn't see anything.  The sky looked the same all around him.

"What is it?" Coulter asked.  "A Shadowlands?"

"I don't think so," Scavenger said.

"What?  What do you see?" Adrian asked.

"Follow my finger," Scavenger said.  "And you'll see a teeny tiny light blinking."

A light, in this sunlight?  Adrian didn't think so.  But he crouched, and followed the angle of Scavenger's finger.  Then he saw it.  A flash, like a sword in sunlight, only smaller.  Much smaller.  It disappeared, and then repeated, like a little warning sign.

He squinted, but couldn't see it any clearer.  No wonder Coulter had thought it the entrance to a Shadowlands.  It looked like one, only much smaller.  Adrian still remembered the flashing lights against the darkness from the night he lost his own freedom, the night his life changed.

Shadowlands' lights flickered like this, but they formed a circle.  This was a single light, so bright that it flashed in the daylight.

"What is it?" he asked.

Scavenger raised a hand and shielded his eyes.  "A Wisp, I think."

"Why would a Wisp just float in the middle of nowhere?  It makes no sense  — "

"Shhh," Adrian said.  Coulter sometimes treated Scavenger as the Fey would, with no respect at all.  That training, that magick was the only thing that made a being worthwhile, went in early and stuck.  Coulter never treated Adrian with disrespect, but at times, Adrian even felt the contempt.  Full and rich and strong. 

"He sees something, doesn't he?" Adrian said to Scavenger.

Scavenger nodded.  "That's my guess."

Coulter finally understood.  "Gift?" he said, his voice tinged with panic.

Adrian tightened his grip on Coulter's arm. "Either the Wisp is standing guard, waiting for more Fey to come, or the Wisp is standing guard, watching for Islanders."

"Either way, we're in trouble," Scavenger said softly.

"No," Coulter said.  "
Gift's
in trouble."  He swallowed, wrenched his arm free, and sat down.  Adrian frowned at him.  What an odd thing to do in the middle of a crisis.

"Give me a moment," Coulter said.

He tilted his head back and squinted, as he had been doing the night before Gift arrived.  Suddenly Adrian understood.  He was looking for the lines, the ones he had shown them before.  He was seeing where the magick was.

"There's only one right now," he said.  "And Gift.  But there was another Wisp not long ago."

"He went for reinforcements," Scavenger said.

"That's my guess," Coulter said.  He glanced at Adrian.  "They want Gift."

"I know," Adrian said.

"They can't have him.  It will hurt us all."

"I know that too," Adrian said.

Coulter's thin lips pursed.  "Then forgive me," he said and turned back toward the tiny light.

Before Adrian could ask what Coulter meant, a beam of light shot from Coulter's body.  It was bright yellow, almost blinding in its intensity.  Adrian had seen the boy shoot light before.  He had been wrapped inside that light when they escaped Shadowlands.  But he had never seen Coulter just aim light outward.

The beam looked rigid and tangible, like a pole leading from Coulter's body into the sky.  The beam zoomed forward, ever increasing in length until it hit the blinking light.  Adrian thought he heard a faint sound, like a scream, and then a puff of black smoke floated toward the sun.

Coulter's light disappeared.

Coulter buried his face in his hands.

"There's no time for remorse," Scavenger said.  He put his hands under Coulter's arms and tried to lift him.  The sight would have been comical  — the short square Fey trying to lift an Islander twice his size —  if it weren't for Scavenger's panic. 

The panic was infectious.  This time the Fey wouldn't capture them.  This time, they would kill the three men, no questions asked.  Adrian wasn't certain if Coulter had the power to fight off an army of Fey.

"He's right," Adrian said.  "Get up.  We have to get to Gift first."

That reached Coulter.  He pushed himself to his feet, staggered a moment, then stepped forward.  Scavenger got out of his way, and Adrian stepped in where Scavenger had been.  Adrian took one of Coulter's elbows.  Coulter's face was raw.  He had never used his powers like this.  He had always used them to help, not to kill.

"It was a woman," he said.  "She had been with Rugad for years.  She was a Wisp, and she was worried she wasn't up to the task of guarding a Black Prince."

"She wasn't," Scavenger said.  "She should have sensed you a long ways off.  Now let's move."

He led the way, a short warrior wearing too many weapons.  Adrian propelled Coulter forward.  What he didn't tell Coulter was that there would probably be a lot of bodies before this was over.  This death would only be Coulter's first.

The road turned slightly, and dipped down into a field.  At the bottom of the dip, Gift sat, his head in his hands.  His posture was similar to what Coulter's had been only moments before.  Leen knelt beside him, her hands fluttering around him, as if she didn't know what to do.

Coulter was in no shape to take charge of this, and Gift wouldn't listen to Scavenger.  It was up to Adrian.

He let go of Coulter's arm and stopped in front of Leen.  She had to look up at him.

"What happened?" he asked, afraid that the Fey had already been here, that they had cast some sort of spell that he had never heard about.

"He's had a Vision," Scavenger said.  "Wipe off the drool, boy.  It doesn't become you."

Gift raised his left hand and wiped the side of his mouth.

"Several Visions," Leen said.  "They scared him."

"Several?"  Scavenger sounded surprised, and even a little frightened.

"It doesn't matter," Adrian said, not caring about the details of Fey magick at the moment.  "You had a Wisp above you, guarding you.  The Fey know where you are.  We have to get you out of here."

Leen and Gift both looked up.  Adrian did too.  The puff of smoke was dissipating.  It looked like a small black cloud against the clear blue sky.

"You killed it?" Gift said to Coulter.

Coulter's eyes were red.  His mouth trembled.  "I had no choice."

"Seems like you have no choice a lot lately.  Are you sure that was one of the Black King's Wisps?  Or was it my father?"

Adrian was about to speak, but Coulter drew himself together.  "It was a woman named Cinder," he said and for a moment, his voice didn't shake.  "Wind is dead.  You know that.  And your stepmother too.  Don't blame me for what happened to them."

"How are you so certain?  Were you Linked with them too?"

"One touch with your great-grandfather was more than enough, Gift," Coulter said.  "You may not understand how much of a threat he is, but I do."

"If you really did understand," Scavenger said, "you'd be leaving now."

"That's right."  Adrian finally took the opportunity to jump in.  "We have to get you hidden, Gift.  They know where you are."

"Please," Leen said.  She clearly knew she was no match for the Black King's soldiers.

Gift looked at all of them, met their gazes, and didn't back down.  "I'm going to the palace."

"That's suicide," Coulter said.  "Sebastian is probably long gone."

"If he is, that's your fault," Gift said. 

Adrian physically stepped between them.  He crouched beside Gift, deciding to treat him as a boy who had lost everything instead of a man with more power than Adrian would ever have.

"Gift," he said.  "We can argue this after we get you out of here.  But they'll be back any moment.  They left the Wisp to guard you and track you.  They will know where you are  — "

"He's not worth arguing over," Scavenger said.  He shoved his way in, grabbed Gift by the hair, and pulled his head back.  Then he put a knife to his throat.

Leen pulled her own knife.

Adrian reached forward.

"Stop," Scavenger said.  "Another move from anyone, including you, Mr. Magick, and I'll slice this boy's throat."

"You wouldn't," Coulter said.

"I would," Scavenger said with such calmness that fear came into Coulter's face.  "The Black King is here for his great-grandchildren.  What'll he do when he gets them? He'll make them into him.  Although Gift and his sister will be better than the Black King because they have more power.  Only they don't know how to use it yet.  I can solve this once and for all.  I can kill this boy.  And if I can get to the girl, I'll take away the Black King's reason for being here."

"But it won't stop anything, it won't change anything," Adrian said, trying to keep the panic he felt from creeping into his voice.  It had been his mistake to bring Scavenger along.  He knew the little Red Cap was impulsive and possibly crazy.  He knew it, and yet he always thought that even though Scavenger had committed murder once, he would never do so again.  Not with the provocation gone.  "The Black King will still be here.  He'll still have Blue Isle."

"But he'll have no reason to go on," Scavenger said.  His grip on Gift was firm.  Gift was moving.  But he didn't look frightened.  His entire body was slack as if he were relaxing before sleep.  Only his right hand was moving.  Slowly.  "If there's no one who can rule in the Black Family, there's no one who can conquer Leut.  And if no one can rule, then your people have a chance to fight.  If they kill the Black King  — "

"You're crazy," Leen said.  The tip of her knife was in Scavenger's back.

"Maybe," Scavenger said.  "But maybe I have a good point.  If the Black King fails to get his great-grandchildren, he loses.  Even if he conquers Blue Isle."

"Let him go, Scavenger," Coulter said.  "We'll get him out of here.  We'll keep him away from the Black King."

"Will you?" Scavenger asked.  "Because if you can't, we may as well kill him here.  Now.  Otherwise he'll be the death of us all."

"No," Gift said.  His voice sounded strained against the knife.  "Only you."

His right hand slid between his back and Scavenger's front with alarming speed.  And, judging from the expression on Scavenger's face, Gift connected.  Scavenger went white and gagged.  Gift pushed the knife away with his left hand and turned, still keeping his grip on Scavenger's privates.  He shoved the small Fey onto the ground and put a knee on his chest, finally letting go of Scavenger's groin.

Leen took Scavenger's knife.

"Never, ever touch me again, you little piece of filth," Gift said.

Scavenger growled and flailed at Gift.  Adrian caught one of Scavenger's arms.  Coulter caught the other.

"He's not filth," Adrian said.  "He's Fey just like you.  And he may have just saved your life, if you listen to him."

Gift spat on the ground beside Scavenger, and then stood.  "He tried to kill me."

"He was showing you in the only way he thought you'd listen why it's so important that you stay away from your great-grandfather."

"My great-grandfather murdered my family."

"And he already touched your mind once," Coulter said.  "We don't know what kind of tricks he has.  Maybe he can manipulate your thoughts."

"If he can do that, I can do that," Gift said.

"You're eighteen," Adrian said.  "He's got several generations on you, and that's several generations of practice.  It's not something I'd want to risk, if I were you."

"You're the prize, boy," Scavenger said.  He was still flat on his back in the dirt.  "Don't you get it?  If you walk into that city, you walk right into his hands."

"Listen to him," Coulter said.  "Where you need to be is out here, fighting him."

Gift took a long look at Coulter.  "But what about Sebastian?"

"He's got your sister.  You warned her.  Have some faith in her," Coulter said.

"She obviously loves him," Adrian said.  "She almost killed you over him."

"What can I do?" Gift asked.  "The Islanders won't follow me.  And I can't attack my great-grandfather."

"You can't," Scavenger said.  "But some of us can.  It may be against the rules for Fey to attack Black Blood, but I've already broken rules.  I don't care.  I can kill him  —  without your official permission, of course."

Gift was finally relenting.  "Why should I trust you?  You just tried to kill me."

Scavenger shrugged as best he could with both his arms pinned.  "I still might.  It seems like the best option."

"You can't trust him," Leen said.  "You can't trust any of them."

Coulter was standing very still.  Adrian wanted to shout that Gift could trust Coulter, that Coulter had been there for Gift from the beginning, but Adrian said nothing.  If Gift was too stubborn to figure that out on his own, well, then, Adrian couldn't convince him of it.

"We don't have much time," Adrian said.  "They'll be back."

Leen looked at Gift. Gift was still staring at Scavenger.

"You know my great-grandfather, don't you?" he asked.

"Not personally," Scavenger said. "But I've been around him enough."

"Could he sway me?"

"Boy, he's swayed smarter and better people than you."

"Then why didn't he sway you?"

"Because I was a Red Cap.  'Filth' as you so nicely put it."

"You tried to kill me."  Gift's voice rose in self-defense.

"I won't hold it against you," Scavenger said.  "But I still might kill you, if I think it's best for all of us."

Leen was still holding her knife.  "You don't have the right to kill him," she said.

"I can do whatever I want," Scavenger said.

"No."  Coulter's voice had power.  It shook the area with its strength.  "No, you can't. You won't touch Gift.  I protect him.  He's safe."

"No, he's not," Adrian said.  "They'll be here any moment and this whole debate is moot."

"I want to know," Gift said, as if no one except Scavenger had spoken.  "I want to know if you think I can win a battle against my great-grandfather."

"It would be tricky," Scavenger said.  "You can't fight him directly.  But if he never touches you, if he never corrupts you, you win.  And then when he dies, you get the Fey anyway."

"Unless my sister does."

"You're older."

"But she'd have the Isle behind her."