“You o-okay?” I asked when the summoning was done.
“Dunngo okay,” his voice issued from the spirit trap, tinny and distant but there.
“Let’s g-get out of here,” I said. I grabbed at the rocks and crystal remains of Dunngo, and shoved them as best as I could into my pockets, a difficult task against the river current and the extreme tightness of wet jeans. When I’d saved all that I could of him, I let go of the boulder, and swam with the current for the fallen tree that bridged the river.
I slammed into the trunk like running full speed into a wall. I grasped blindly for hand holds, and managed to keep from going under. I pulled myself to the river’s edge, and clawed and pulled my way up the steep bank to the far end of the grassy ledge on which Kaminari and Sal still fought.
Sal had a nasty cut across his scalp that sheathed his face in a mask of blood, giving him a demonic visage but doing nothing to improve his condition. Kaminari moved somewhat awkwardly, one of her spider legs cracked and unable to fully support her.
Gods. I wanted to just lay my head down on the grass and pass out, whatever that might mean for my future.
“Help Silene!” Dunngo said.
“I don’t know how,” I said. “I don’t have any weapons.” I could maybe use my magic to revive Silene enough to help, but it would be pointless as long as the webbing continued drugging her right back into a stupor, and I didn’t have the strength or tools to remove the webbing.
Sal made several vicious swings at Kaminari, but she managed to dodge every one, and sliced a pretty nasty line across Sal’s thigh.
“Let Dunngo’s spirit go,” the dwarf said. “Use trap on spiderbright.”
“I can’t,” I said. “She’s alive. That’d be dark necromancy.”
“Bah! Arcana words,” Dunngo said. “Use trap.”
“I can’t!” I said again. “It doesn’t work that way. I’d have to destroy you, use your spirit to trap hers.”
“Do it!”
“No!”
Dunngo was silent for several heartbeats as Sal and Kaminari continued their dance. “You arcana,” he said finally. “Do something.”
I moaned like a zombie on NyQuil, and pushed to my feet. My leg still ached, but the cold of the river seemed to have done it some good, or at least the lack of feeling in general was helping to mask the pain. I focused on Silene, who stood like a statue still wrapped in Kaminari’s webbing.
She had defeated Hiromi. She could probably do the same to Kaminari. But I couldn’t even touch the webbing around her or I’d be knocked out, too.
No. Wait. I wouldn’t.
Dawn’s protection amulet. I lifted it from beneath my shirt, confirming I still had it. It wouldn’t give me the strength to break the webbing, but if I could get it in contact with Silene’s skin it would protect her from the web’s effects.
“I love it when a plan comes together,” I muttered.
I limped toward Silene, practically hugging the cliff wall on my left in case I needed its support, and the ferns and vines gave me some cover.
Kaminari maneuvered behind Silene, using the dryad as a shield between herself and Sal—and blocking my way to Silene.
Frak! Seriously! Just one break would be nice.
The jorōgumo laughed at Sal. “Why so loyal to a tree whore, fool? She’s not your clan, you’re just her tool.”
“Youself not talk about Silene like that,” Sal growled. “Or I make youself badhurt before I kill you.”
“Oh my! Bullseye!” Kaminari giggled, then continued in a mocking sing song, “Sasquatch in love. Sasquatch in love. Huff and puff, is he so tough when I give him a little shove?”
She raised one of her spider legs like a psycho wielding a knife and lunged not for Sal but at Silene.
Sal must have anticipated such a move because he flung the fence pole like a spear in the same second that Kaminari moved. She screeched and dodged the pole, then raised her sharply serrated spider leg and plunged it at Silene’s neck again.
Except the distraction gave Sal time to reach Silene. He plowed into her, knocking her out of the way and tumbling to the ground.
Kaminari spun, and covered Sal in webbing before he could recover his feet.
“Use trap!” Dunngo said. “Now!”
“But—”
“Do it!” Dunngo said. “Dunngo beg you! Now!”
“No! I … I’ll try stopping her without it.”
I just had to be strong enough to pull her spirit free. Or at least immobilize her long enough to place the protection amulet on Silene.
I lurched at Kaminari while she finished binding Sal in webbing, her back to me as she admired her work. “Now—” she said.
I grabbed her leg, and tried to pull her spirit free of her body. I poured all of my strength into it.
Her spirit bucked wildly against me, her own will powerful in its madness.
I was not strong enough. Not even close. I felt the summoning slipping out of my control.
Kaminari backhanded me, sending me sliding across the muddy grass. She twitched, and recovered faster than should have been possible. She was so full of pain, my attack had been a drop in an ocean.
She turned toward me, a terrifying fury twisting her features. “You—”
Another crashing noise, and Petey tumbled down onto the landing. Kaminari hissed.
Petey pushed to his feet. He looked as bad as Sal had, perhaps worse, his clothing shredded, his body covered in cuts and slashes, but his wounds were already crusted over and well on their way to healing. Pete took in the scene, and spotted me on the ground. His face went red as he looked at Kaminari. “Nobody hurts my family!”
“Pete! No!” I shouted. But he was already running at the jorōgumo. He leaped, transforming into the giant gray-brown wolf mid-air.
Kaminari screamed in frustration and disappeared in a loud Whoomp! as air rushed in to fill the space where she’d stood. Petey flew through the empty space and landed hard, skidding on the moss and wet grass.
Kaminari reappeared with a percussive bang of displaced air, and her spear-like leg plunged through Pete’s side.
Petey howled in pain, and transformed back into his normal self, naked and impaled through his abdomen, pinned to the ground.
“Petey! Oh gods!”
I jerked the spirit trap from around my neck. Damn it! “I’m sorry, Dunngo.”
“No sorry,” he said. “Save Silene.”
I reached out with my will and with my magic, and armed the spirit trap using the spiritual energy within it instead of my own. Using Dunngo’s spirit.
Kaminari tried to pull her leg free of Pete, but he grabbed it, held onto it, keeping it caught in his abdomen and screaming in pain as he was jerked up to his knees. Kaminari hissed, and tried to stab him with her other foreleg, but Pete grasped her leg and wrenched her to the side, throwing her off balance. He pushed unsteadily to his feet, causing Kaminari to shift backward. She tried to spear him again, and again he jerked her to the side, but I could see it was costing him to do so, that he grew weaker by the second. I couldn’t imagine the pain he was in.
I limped toward Pete and Kaminari as they continued to dance in circles, each trying to get the advantage on the other. As I did, I pulled Dawn’s amulet free with my other hand, activated it and tossed it onto Silene, aiming for her cheek. The amulet struck her face, flashed briefly, and bounced onto the grass.
Silene stirred weakly, and blinked groggily at the battle being waged.
Vines tried to climb up one of Kaminari’s spider legs but too few, too slow. The jorōgumo easily ripped free and continued moving.
I gripped the trap in my hand as I drew close to the two combatants. Maybe I didn’t need to use the trap, if I could just summon her soul enough to distract her, let Pete and Silene work together—
Pete stumbled, and fell to his knees. Kaminari gave a triumphant scream, and raised one of her free legs to finish him off.
“NO!” I shouted.
> I lunged in and slapped the trap against Kaminari, and summoned her spirit through it.
There was a flash, and the scream that ripped from Kaminari’s throat sounded like it was disappearing down a long tunnel.
I felt an expansion of spirit, the rush of being larger than myself as I consumed Dunngo’s spirit energy, burned it away to create a vacuum within the trap that pulled in Kaminari’s spirit.
It felt incredible. If I had enough spirit energy, I realized, I could do anything. I could control everything. Everyone.
“I am Tetsuo,” I whispered, and giggled. “I am all.”
Kaminari collapsed, pulling Pete down to the ground with her.
As I stood wavering, floating on the euphoric rush of the spell, Pete managed to pull himself off of Kaminari’s leg and collapse to the grass with a sigh, his eyes fluttering closed.
Kaminari’s spirit screamed in fury from within the spirit trap as her body curled in on itself.
Her scream dragged me back into the present. I silenced her, and blinked as I took in the scene around me.
“Pete.” I limped to my brother, and checked on him first, my movements sluggish and heavy. He was breathing steadily, his waer regenerative powers already closing the ragged wound.
I went next to Silene and Sal. Using one of Kaminari’s claws, I managed to cut most of the webbing away from them before collapsing onto my butt on the wet grass, utterly wiped out, my entire body shaking uncontrollably now. I felt strangely hollow.
Silene slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position, leaned back against the cliff wall, and took a deep breath as her hand dug into the thick green grass. Her bent arm snapped and straightened into a normal angle. She screamed, then shuddered.
After a second, Silene looked down at Sal, still unmoving and covered in wounds that leaked blood. She blinked slowly like she’d had way too much to drink, then she shook herself.
“No. Oh Bright, no, please no.” She put a hand on Sal’s chest, and closed her eyes. She opened them after a second, and said, “Please. By all the Bright, please, I have to have enough left.” She closed her eyes again, and her hand dug deeper into the grass.
Sal’s eyes snapped open, and he took a deep, shuddering breath, his back arching. Then he eased back down.
Silene swooned, and slumped over Sal.
“Ouch,” Sal grunted.
Silene stirred, and lifted her head weakly. “Saljchuh,” she said, and touched Sal’s face. “I—” she stopped, and shook her head. “That was so like a sasquatch to just go charging in. But a few heartbeats more, and you would have been dead. What were you—”
Sal growled softly, and Silene stopped. Sal covered Silene’s hand with one of his own. “Iself’s heart beats for youself only. And always.”
Silene stared at him for a second, and Sal blushed.
Then Silene kissed him.
36
It’s the End of the World as We Know It
Challa, Garl, and several more of the stronger Silver brightbloods lowered ropes and pulled us back up to the road. Sal was the last to be lifted. Antler Head caught us up on events as the brightbloods struggled to lift Sal’s enormous weight, and Vee worried over Pete.
“The Silver drove off the Shadows,” Antlers said.
“How many of our brightblood fell?” Silene asked.
“At least five. And Don Faun and several others are gravely injured. But the Shadows lost many more.”
Silene turned away, grief and anger warring across her features.
“Damn,” I said. “I guess Don got his fight. What about Barry?”
Vee snorted. “He was found behind the campground office, bound up in webbing. He blamed the whole fight on Kaminari, said this made things ‘even Stephen,’ and left.”
I can’t lie and say I was completely relieved that Barry had escaped unharmed and free to still haunt my life.
“And,” Vee said, and hesitated before continuing, “Heather disappeared again.”
I just sighed. I’d hoped she would stick around, that the plight of the brightbloods would move her to do the right thing. But it seemed she was still more concerned with herself.
Sal reached the top of the cliff, and pulled himself up over the edge. As he did, Silene turned to me. “Come to my tree, and I will do what I can for your wounds.”
“No thank you,” I said. “I promised Dawn I would make it to her show. I need to hurry.”
“I understand,” Silene said. “Love is important.” She looked at Sal as he stepped onto the path, and smiled. “I understand that in new ways.”
I turned to Sal as he joined us, and held out my hand. “Looks like our business is concluded, Sal.”
He pulled me into a quick hug, my damp clothes smearing the dried blood on his skin, then he pushed me back, almost knocking me off of my feet. I did my best not to shout out in pain as I put sudden weight on my injured leg, and instead gave Sal a smile through gritted teeth.
Sal grunted. “Youself true at finding love. And a good friend to the brightbloods.”
“Uh, thanks,” I said, feeling the weight of the spirit trap around my neck, and looked away. I didn’t exactly feel like a shining knight. “I guess I can finally update my matchmaker website, anyway.”
Speaking of dates—
I pulled my phone out of my pocket. It was dead. Cell phones didn’t play well with water, apparently.
If Dawn had tried to call or text me to ask where I was, I had no way of checking now.
I looked at my Pac-Man watch. It, too, was dead. I stared at it a second, feeling a deep sense of loss.
Frak. “Does anyone know what time it is?”
“A quarter to eight,” Vee replied.
Double frak. Dawn’s show began in fifteen minutes, and I was an hour and a half’s drive away. The show would be long done before I could even get there.
I made a decision before I could chicken out. “Silene, there is something you can do for me, actually. I need to take the fairy paths.”
*Don’t do it!* Alynon said. *I do not wish to be stuck within a freak. Well, more of a freak.*
His concern was valid. The stories of arcana who had dared to travel the fairy roads—or Fey Way system—sounded like urban myths: tales of emerging with additional limbs, missing organs, or lost senses, and most often of being driven mad.
The fairy roads were remnants of a time when the Other Realm and our world were closer, when spirits and energy passed more freely between them. Whether some part of the Other Realm had been merged with our world, or the fabric of our space and time had been warped in an attempt to reconcile with the chaos of the Other Realm, nobody knew for sure. Only the results were known. No protection spell had been found to guarantee safe travel for humans; but the brightbloods, being of both worlds like the Ways themselves, were able to travel them safely. Usually.
Silene frowned. “I must caution you, Finn, the ways are not safe for humans.”
“I know. But I have a Fey spirit within me. Perhaps that will protect me.”
Silene shook her head. “Changelings are not immune to the Ways’ changes.”
“I know. But I’m not a Fey spirit leasing a human body while its human spirit is away. I have spirits from both worlds in me, same as a brightblood.”
Silene’s eyebrows raised. “I had not considered that. You truly are a cousin to us.”
*I am no diluted offspring of some Elder Spirit! I—*
Chill out! I’m no brightblood, either. But that doesn’t make what I said any less true. As much as I’d wanted to deny it the past three months. “Look, if something does happen, I’m sure I can find a way to reverse it, even if it costs some time and serious mana. But one thing I’ll never be able to undo is letting Dawn down if I miss her show.”
Silene looked toward the woods, her brow furrowing in thought.
*There shall be other shows,* Alynon said.
Not as important. And not when she’ll have to get up there and face the reali
ty that she can’t play guitar, maybe ever again—which is my fault.
*’Tis a difficulty to be sure, but you do not owe—*
She’s made a real effort to meet me halfway, to support me. I must show her I will do the same.
*She also doesn’t want you taking stupid risks.*
It is a risk, I replied, but it is not a stupid one, not as far as I’m concerned.
*Fa! You are not trying to punish yourself, are you? For what happened with Dunngo?*
I sighed. No. That, I will have to atone for for the rest of my life.
“If you are certain,” Silene said at last, and from her voice I thought she might be acceding as much from exhaustion as anything. “I feel such a danger is a poor reward to offer for all you have done, but Farquhar can guide you, he knows the Ways well.” She motioned Antler Head over.
“Thank you,” I said.
Silene nodded. “Farquhar also may see you swiftly to a healer should your journey prove … damaging. I wish you luck, Gramaraye. And again, I thank you.”
“I wish you and your brightbloods luck, in whatever you do from here,” I said. “And, if there’s anything I can do to help make sure your dead are properly cared for, let me know.”
“That means a great deal,” Silene said. “Farewell.” With a wave of her hand, she and Sal half-walked, half-stumbled in the direction of her tree.
I walked across the gravel road to where Pete and Vee sat on the mossy hillside, waiting for me. The brightbloods had applied some kind of poultice to Pete’s wounds, and between that and his waer healing ability, he appeared out of danger. Vee had a number of cuts and bruises as well, healing just as quickly. And on the ground beside her, her giant squirrel tail lay, apparently ripped from her.
“Are … you okay?” I asked, looking at the tail.
“Yes,” Vee said. “I will grow another in time.”
“Oh. Uh, Pete, how you feeling, buddy?”
“Tired,” Pete said. “And hungry.”
I smiled. “I’m shocked.”
A faun walked up, his attention on Pete and Vee. “Pardon, cousins, but I just wanted to thank you for fighting by our side. It will be remembered.”
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