The Stepsister Scheme (39 page)

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Authors: Jim C. Hines

BOOK: The Stepsister Scheme
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The huge door the dwarf had broken had smashed the railing and dented the walkway itself, so a stream of water now trickled over the side. Danielle could hear the metal straining under the weight of the other dwarves.
“Watch the enemy, not the scenery, Princess,” Talia snapped. She pointed her knife past Danielle.
A short distance down the walkway, a handful of darklings fidgeted and danced. They appeared to be waiting.
“So, the brave Sleeping Beauty returns.” Stacia stood farther up the walkway, near one of the few lowered bridges. “Shall we begin with you, Princess Talia?
Throw yourself over the—
”
Snow clapped her hands. A pounding sound echoed in Danielle’s ears, blocking out the last of Stacia’s words.
Talia rubbed her ears. “Is there a less obnoxious way to do that?”
Snow grinned and turned back to Stacia. A wave of her hand sent the dwarves of flame and light streaking ahead. Stacia fell back a step, her eyes wide. Perhaps the ghost of Rose was remembering the last time she had seen these creatures.
Stacia recovered quickly. An invisible blow knocked the dwarves back. The figure of light simply stopped, but the dwarf of fire landed on his back. Steam soon shrouded them from view.
“What’s she waiting for?” Talia shouted. The darklings still hadn’t moved.
“Rose knows I can protect us,” said Snow. She began to walk toward Stacia. “She won’t waste any more power on attacks that would only fail.”
As the steam began to dissipate, Snow’s dwarves returned to her side.
Stacia backed away, moving to the foot of the bridge. “Tell me, Daughter, do you still hear your lover’s screams when you sleep? Do you think the anguish of your friends will overpower that memory, as I sear the skin from their bodies?”
Snow took a step, but Talia caught her shoulder. “If you join her on that bridge, she gains a tactical advantage. She knows most of your dwarves can’t fly. Neither can you, for that matter. She can. Go to her, and all she needs to do is shatter the bridge. She transforms into a bird, and you fall to your death.”
“I could fly if I wanted to,” Snow protested. “Probably.” But she stopped walking.
Talia touched Danielle’s arm. “Find another bridge.”
Danielle stepped to the railing. Most of the bridges had already been retracted to the tower. She spotted one lower down, where a group of hunched dwarves led a mule-drawn wagon toward the tower, but it would take far too long to get there. Another, high overhead, was already swinging upward, chains clanking.
Several crowds had gathered to watch the confrontation. Danielle saw a group of goblins on one of the tower platforms, all pointing and staring. A handful of dwarves stood on the walkway below. Danielle couldn’t hear them, but it looked like they were making wagers.
Once again, Snow sent the fire dwarf toward Stacia, and once again Stacia knocked him back.
“Stacia is afraid of water,” Danielle shouted.
Snow grinned and pointed. The water dwarf began to disappear. When Danielle looked closer, she saw that the dwarf was melting through the metal grate, joining the water below. Snow’s brow was wrinkled with concentration. “This would be easier if Stacia were standing
downstream
,” she said.
Thin, scaled vines shot up from the grate. They wrapped around Snow’s leg, yanking her to her knees. The vines looked like a cross between plant and animal. They moved with the speed of angry serpents, but sharp thorns protruded from beneath the scales.
“Snow!” Talia started to grab Snow, and then the darklings charged from behind.
“I’ll slow them down,” Danielle shouted. “You help Snow.”
Danielle stepped away, raising her sword as the darklings ran toward her. She counted four, no, five of the foul creatures. What on earth had possessed her to face the darklings alone? Clearly, she had spent too much time with Talia.
The lead darkling crouched to attack. Danielle tensed.
Blinding light seared her eyes, and the darklings screamed. Snow’s dwarf batted two of them over the railing before they could move. A glowing fist smashed a third against the stone wall. The remaining two fled, sprinting down the walkway like frightened rabbits.
Danielle turned back to Snow, who had already used her knife to cut most of the vines from her legs. The thorns had tattered her pants, but the white skin beneath was untouched.
Talia snorted and stepped back. “Maybe we’ll just watch. Let us know if you need any help.”
Snow pointed toward Stacia. Like the vines had done, the dwarf of water reached up from the walkway to seize Stacia’s legs.
Stacia screamed. The dwarf climbed up, lifting Stacia over her head to throw her from the walkway.
“She can fly, remember?” Talia snapped. “That’s not going to do us any good.”
Snow barely even blinked. The dwarf turned around and walked to the end of the bridge, preparing to smash Stacia’s body against the cavern wall.
Stacia plunged her hands into the dwarf’s back.
Snow gasped and staggered backward. Talia dropped her knife and caught Snow’s arms.
Danielle watched as the sparkling water of the dwarf grew cloudy and still. Frost spread across her body, and her movement slowed. Stacia twisted free and dropped to her feet, keeping one hand sunk into the dwarf’s frozen back. The dwarf tried to reach her, but Stacia thrust her hand deeper. Soon even the dwarf’s fingers had frozen stiff.
Stacia stepped back, pulling her hand free and clutching it against her chest. Another group of darklings swarmed forward, hoisting the dwarf up and pushing her over the railing. She tumbled down and shattered on the rocks by the lakeshore.
Snow jumped at the impact, then drew a deep breath. “That stung.”
The dwarf of wind began to blow. Danielle’s hair snapped back, and she grabbed the railing to keep from stumbling. Snow wasn’t directing her wind at Stacia, but at the tower. “What are you doing?”
“The seventh dwarf has found Armand,” Snow shouted. “Be ready.”
Talia looked around. “Ready for what?”
The stone dwarf put one foot on the railing and leaped. The wind rushed with her, nearly sucking Danielle over the edge in its wake. She stared open-mouthed as the flailing statue flew like an arrow to slam into the side of the tower. The dwarf slid downward, landing on one of the platforms. The goblins on the platform drew weapons.
The fight was a short one. Danielle turned away, remembering poor Diglet guarding the hedge into Fairytown. It wasn’t long before the bridge began to creak away from the tower.
“Looks like it’s going to land one level below us,” Talia said.
Metal squealed as if in pain, and then the bridge was swinging downward, fast enough to smash right through the walkway. But the Duchess’ builders knew what they were doing. The walkway held, though Danielle could feel the impact in her legs even from one level away. Water splashed out of the grate below.
“Snow!” Talia shouted.
Stacia had used Snow’s distraction with the bridge to launch another attack. Thorned vines now circled Snow’s arms, dragging her down to the grate, where another reached for her neck. The dwarf of fire reached out to seize two of the vines. When he opened his hands a moment later, black ash sprinkled the water. He grabbed two more, and Snow was free once again.
Talia climbed over the railing. She lowered herself until she hung from the edge of the walkway. There, she swung her legs back and forth and jumped down to the bridge.
“You’re next, Princess,” Talia shouted.
Danielle moved toward Snow. “Are you sure you can stop her?”
Snow glanced back. Her eyes were bloodshot, and proximity to the flames had reddened her skin. She was crying, but her voice was hard as stone. “She’s better prepared this time, and she knows what the dwarves can do, but I’m not leaving until she’s destroyed. Go with Talia. I won’t let her hurt you. I won’t let her hurt anyone else.”
She turned away, and the dwarves of darkness and light began to charge toward Stacia. At the same time, wind buffeted Stacia toward the edge of the bridge.
Snow’s shoulders shook. “I’m sorry for what she did to you and Armand.”
Danielle stepped back from the railing and grabbed Snow’s arm. “Don’t you dare do anything stupid. We’ll be back soon with Armand, and I am not going home without you. Do you understand me?”
Snow knelt and used her knife to slice away a vine that had snagged her leg. “Go on. Before she destroys that bridge to stop you from crossing.”
Danielle wanted to argue, but Snow was right. She turned back and climbed out over the railing, trying not to look at the rocky shore far below.
She landed hard, the weight of her son throwing off her balance. Talia caught her by the arm while she recovered.
“You’re definitely heavier than you used to be,” Talia said. Before Danielle could respond, a shadow dropped from the walkway overhead. For an instant, Danielle thought it was another darkling. But the figure grew, thinning as it stretched out to cover the bridge in darkness.
“Snow sent one of her dwarves to cover us,” Talia said.
They were halfway across when the scream of twisting metal made them stop. Behind them, Stacia had changed tactics. The writhing vines had given up their assault on Snow. Instead, they twined around the walkway itself, tearing away the segment where Snow stood. A long section hung at an angle. Water spilled down to the cavern below.
Danielle pointed to where Snow lay flat, clinging to the broken walkway. Her hair flew as wind helped her to climb back up. Fire assailed the vines.
“She needs help.” Talia took a step back.
Danielle wanted to follow. “We’ll never get to her in time. Snow said she could beat Stacia and Rose. We have to trust her.”
Talia shook her head. “Maybe you haven’t noticed, but Snow’s not entirely clearheaded when it comes to her mother.”
Snow pulled herself up, and a gust of wind helped her leap to the undamaged part of the walkway. Instantly, more vines shot from the water, dragging her to her knees and pinning her in place.
“I’m going,” said Talia.
“Wait.” Already Snow’s dwarves had come to help her break free, while the dwarf of light flew at Stacia. Stacia cringed back, covering her eyes.
“She needs help!” Talia shouted.
“I know.” Danielle looked up. This whole place was nothing but an enormous cave. She closed her eyes.
Please help my friend.
“What are you calling?” Talia asked.
Danielle blinked. “How did you know—?”
“You bite your tongue when you do your silent summoning routine with the animals. Do you really think rats will be able to fight Stacia’s magic?”
“Not rats.” With a grim smile, Danielle pointed to the top of the cavern, where hundreds of black shapes fluttered toward Stacia. Soon a cloud of bats surrounded her, so thick Danielle could see nothing of Stacia herself.
“Come on,” said Danielle. “Let’s go raid the tower.”
 
Snow’s stone dwarf was waiting for them at the other side of the bridge. She stood on a broad platform of wood and metal that circled about a third of the tower. Huge sheets of thick oak had been worn smooth by decades of pacing guards. A lacework of silver metal threaded between the boards like the roots of a willow tree, securing it to the tower. The whole thing appeared delicate and flimsy, yet it supported the dwarf’s weight with no sign of strain.
Two goblins cowered behind the dwarf. Well, two and a half, really. The dwarf hadn’t been gentle.
The two survivors huddled together, their yellow eyes huge. A pile of cards sat forgotten between them. Neither one made any effort to raise the crossbows in their laps.
Talia smiled and scooped up both crossbows.
“We’re here to see the Duchess and her guests,” Danielle said, matching Talia’s smile. “She should be expecting us.”
Talia turned around. Stacia had managed to drive most of the bats back, but the delay had given Snow and her dwarves the upper hand. Stacia had already retreated halfway across the bridge. “Go,” Talia said, nudging the stone statue. “Help her.”
As the dwarf of stone ran to help Snow, Talia handed one crossbow to Danielle. She put her foot in the stirrup of the other, drawing back the heavy string, then raised it to her shoulder. Sighting carefully, she pulled the trigger.
The crossbow bolt rustled Stacia’s gown as it flew past. Talia flung the crossbow over the edge of the platform in disgust. “Shoddy goblin garbage.”
Talia yanked the other crossbow from Danielle’s hand and turned to the goblins. “I’m pretty sure I can hit a closer target, though.”
The goblins glanced at one another. Moving in unison, they stepped out of the way, clearing a path to the arched door behind.
Danielle drew her sword, eliciting panicked squeaks from both goblins. “Don’t worry,” she said. “Nobody’s going to hurt you.”

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