“Do you know what I’m doing to your dear beast?”
I shook my head. No, I didn’t know. I didn’t want to know! “Please! Please stop!”
“I’m boiling his blood. He’s in incredible pain right now.”
“Stop it! Stop it! Please!” I begged. Tears blurred my vision. The pain in my heart was even more than that of my broken wrist. I remembered…I remembered this massive heat from Lady Fana’s glare when I angered her once. Was this what she could have done to me?
Calbraith languidly waved his hand and Dream fell over. Dead.
I gasped in sobs. I had to think! I had to get us out of here!
“Max!” Calbraith called. “What’s your decision? Mind you, I could do this to any one of them.” He gestured to us.
No!
Where was Ermie? Wait! I knew how to get him here regardless of where he was or how far away he was. Why didn’t I think of this sooner?!
I knew his True Name. I’d made him tell it to me when I’d captured him.
I didn’t know how to spell it, but I knew what it sounded like. I imagined it in a special box that no one else could see—in case Calbraith was trying to read my thoughts or something— and I played it in my head, willing him here.
I’m here.
Ehrwnmyr’s angry squeal behind me pierced the air through to my stomach. I felt his heat and the rush of air as he reared. The scent of sweat and brine filled the air. He landed his front feet with an earth-shaking thud. The two red caps released my arms and rushed him. They went flying. In my peripheral vision, I saw Calbraith run. Scooping my weapon with my off hand, pressing my broken wrist to my stomach, I went after him.
Because he was going after Max.
I’m quite sure all hell was breaking loose between my friends and the red caps, and now Ermie was in the mix, but I ran after Calbraith. I caught up quickly, swinging wildly at him with my weapon.
With just a step, he turned and whipped his scourge at me.
Bits of metal slashing across your arm and chin hurt way more than a broken wrist. I dropped my weapon again, but that didn’t stop me. I threw my whole body at him. If I were on him, he’d have to hit himself with the whip to get me.
Having a millennium or so of experience was on his side, though. He stepped away from me with a laugh. I barely kept myself from falling with my own momentum. Max dove at him.
Crack! He struck Max, who staggered and fell to the ground, bloody, bubbling welts across his forehead, cheek, and neck. For a fraction of a second, I saw the blur of the scourge coming at me again.
And then I saw a blur of black kelpie muscle.
There was no graceful sidestep for Calbraith this time. He dove and rolled away from Ermie’s pummeling hooves.
Jump on!
One arm throbbed with pain, the other burned with it, but I didn’t argue. I tried to grip his mane with the scourged hand, yet I couldn’t even close my fingers.
Hurry!
“Here, I’ve got you. Just jump.” As I did so, Max caught my thigh with his uninjured arm and shoved me. Ermie’s fur pulled me the rest of the way.
“You, too!” I said. “We’re not leaving anyone behind!” Including your son, I added to the kelpie.
Ermie grunted an acknowledgement, and his fur helped Max up behind me.
“Get you, all the humans, half-humans, and Stormy out of here safely. That’s a command,” I said softly.
A crack, and another horse scream tore through the air. “Kelpie, tell me, will your bond with the girl force you to leave this one, dumb as it is, to my mercies?” came Calbraith’s voice with the echo effects thing again. We looked at him as he whipped his scourge across Stormy’s neck.
Ermie didn’t even pause. He ran for Calbraith and the red caps holding down his son. The red caps scattered. Calbraith moved quickly enough to avoid Ermie, swinging his scourge again. While part of the blow flayed lines on the kelpie’s haunch, the bulk of them ripped into Stormy’s belly as Ermie forced the red caps away. Stormy flailed his hooves, trying to stand, forcing us farther away from both him and Calbraith. The silver rope was still tight around a back hoof, and he’d rolled onto the rope, pinning himself. White froth bubbled from his mouth, and I could see the whites of his dark eyes. He was terrified. As Dream had been.
Ermie circled back, so fast the world was a blur around me. “What are you doing?”
The rest are outnumbered. What if…what if it is impossible to follow your command in its entirety?
“You must!” I felt more tears coming to my eyes. We had to escape! If anyone was left behind…
We rushed to my friends, who were surrounded by red caps. Ermie managed to knock several of the monsters away. But some latched onto him with their teeth. He bucked and thrashed to get them off. I couldn’t help but yelp. I knew I couldn’t fall off, but it was still terrifying. And every jostle hurt!
I gasped as I felt Max wrap one arm around me, carefully cradling my wrist. He reached to grip Ermie’s mane with his other hand. “I’ve got you,” he said softly, though he spoke through his own clenched teeth. The arm he was holding me with was more red and bloody than not. And…sizzling, like a chemical burn.
When Ermie had thrown the last red cap, he raced to where Lily was slashing at a grinning circle of the beasts while Sara-Not-Beth carried Livy in her arms. Joe and Chris, both with scratches and tears all over their clothes, flanked the unarmed and broken-armed Jared. Ermie ran another pass around them, picking up additional nasty faerie, allowing the two groups to rejoin, and making a circle of weapons around the injured, as our parents had done last night.
“Where’s Dad?” I asked Ermie. “Why wasn’t he with you?”
Engaged in another fight. With some other cat fey. There was a breach at your home. When I heard your first cry, I tried to bring one of your parents, but I could not.
Oh, God! I hoped my parents were okay! I hadn’t time to think much on it, though, as Max commanded from behind me, “Ermie, bring us back to Calbraith.”
I don’t answer to you.
“No, but it’ll save Heather and her friends.”
“No!” I knew what he was going to do. “We aren’t handing you over, Max!”
“Heather, we’re not winning this battle.”
He is correct. We are not winning. The red caps are toying with us. If he gives the command for them to kill, it will be over in seconds.
“We’re not winning by sacrificing someone either!”
Another scream shot from Stormy. I felt Ehrwnmyr stumble and a bolt of emotional pain escape from his head.
“It does matter to you, doesn’t it, kelpie?” shouted Calbraith. He stood over the tied-down horse, gripping one of the iron blades in his gloved hand. Red blood bubbled and fizzed from the cut across Stormy’s side. “Of course it does. Give me mine, and I’ll give you yours. Otherwise, you know what I can do to him.”
Max moved his good hand to my mouth. “Ermie, please. She hasn’t given you an order to hold me on. Let me slide off!”
I bit down on his fingers. With a pained hiss, he let go. “Ermie, I— No!” Too late. Max was on the ground, limping towards Calbraith
The daoine síth lord smiled.
“The deal is,” Max said, “you call off all your minions and let all of them, Stormy included, get back to the castle. We stay here until sundown, and I follow you as your son.”
“Come closer, away from the kelpie, and we’ll talk,” Calbraith narrowed his eyes.
“No,” I said to Ermie. “Stay near him!”
If you so command, but has he not his own free will?
“Calbraith is going to torture him!”
And all of us, too. I’ve done little to earn your trust, Heather, but I’m asking you to trust me and do nothing. Just for a moment. He danced nervously beneath me. I turned to look behind me at my sister and friends, but he bounced, sending more waves of pain up my arms. Pay attention.
Limping badly, Max walked towards Calbraith. “T
here. I’m away from them. Now, let them go.”
“You’re really in no place to make demands of me. Nevertheless, I’ll be generous this once. You can choose which three get to travel with Heather and her kelpie.”
“That’s not the deal!”
“You’re not making the deal. You’ve insulted me twice already. Push me again and it will be down to two. And you can watch me kill the rest.”
“You already said you would give us Stormy if we didn’t take Max!” I shouted.
“Did I? Well, really, you didn’t give him to me. He came of his own accord.”
“No. Ehrw—” He bounced beneath me and I got a disjointed message of why. He didn’t want this name shared, either. “My kelpie released him from his fur. Max couldn’t have dismounted on his own. And you were addressing the kelpie since you said ‘your son,’ so it counts!”
“A technicality—he answers to you.”
“But I don’t have a son.” Ack, that felt weird to say. “And you know technicalities matter. That’s how you like to get out of your bargains.”
Well-played, Heather.
I was too busy trying to not freak out to truly appreciate the first real and total compliment from Ermie.
Over near Stormy, several cries, not human or equine, cut through the air. The silver cord fell as the two red caps holding it staggered backward, one with an iron blade sticking from its chest. Joe’s blade! He must’ve gone invisible again! The half-kelpie kicked itself to its feet in terror, stumbling.
I apologize that this causes you pain, Heather.
I yelped as he jumped to head off his son, bouncing me around on his back as I tried to keep some balance without use of either of my hands. Ermie herded him back towards my friends. They ran side by side, eye to eye. I felt a buzz of energy between them. Together, they headed towards Calbraith.
“Kill the grounded ones.” There was no emotion in the order Calbraith gave.
“No!” I screamed.
Let me kill the red caps.
“What?” I said, confused.
You made it clear I was not to kill any sentient being ever. Let me kill the red caps and we may have a chance.
My stomach sickened. But what could I do? “Kill the red caps and save my friends,” I whispered.
He tilted his head to look at me, and I saw his sharky teeth glint with a smile. With pleasure.
Blood splashed onto my legs and lap as Ehrwnmyr tore apart the red caps. Stormy continued circling around us. I noticed he kept an eye upon Ehrwnmyr despite his bugging eyes and the foaming at his mouth.
I don’t know how much crunching or screaming happened before most of the red caps backed away, recalculating their strategy.
“Ru-un!” Ehrwnmyr growled at my friends as he herded the pack of red caps away from them.
“What about—” my sister began.
“Sa-afe!” the kelpie grunted.
“We’ll catch up to you,” I shouted. “Go!”
“We’re not leaving you!” said Chris, striking out with his sword as one of the red caps broke from the herd Ehrwnmyr and Son of Storms were making. I heard the crunch and thud as Ermie killed yet another, throwing it aside.
“Get Livy and Jared out of here!” I yelled again as Ermie snatched another offending red cap. With a shake of his head, he snapped its neck and threw it aside. Another wave of adrenaline must have hit, because I flexed my scourged hand and managed to finally grip Ermie’s mane. I didn’t feel quite like I was about to get thrown.
“Joe!” Lily squealed, pointing her knife to where Calbraith was.
Ermie spun around. Joe was on the ground, silver rope shining from around his shoulders. Calbraith pointed his sword at him as Max struggled and kicked at the daoine síth from a chokehold in his other arm.
I sensed the kelpie’s question before he asked. I’d never felt so ill, but I said, “Do whatever you must to save Joe and Max.”
He was upon Calbraith faster than lightning. It was all the daoine síth lord could do to drop the blade and Max to avoid the snapping teeth. Rather than continuing the attack, Ehrwnmyr spun on one hoof and grabbed Max by his shredded shirt, tossing him onto Stormy. It took him a few seconds to get on, gripping the remaining ropes around the horse’s neck to gain his balance. I don’t know if Max was steering or if, somehow, Ermie was communicating with his son, but Stormy wheeled. Max reached out to Joe and yanked him up. With a kick at Calbraith, my kelpie spun again and returned to my friends.
He thundered through the band of attacking red caps, scattering them again, and tossing several.
“Lily!” I held my less-wounded arm out for her, pulling her up and trying not to whimper from the pull on the cuts. Chris followed next with Lily’s help. Sara-Not-Beth handed him an unconscious Livy, then she gave Jared a leg-up onto Stormy while Max pulled him by his good arm. Ehrwnmyr ducked his head under her butt and shoved her onto his son’s back as the red caps charged us again.
We took off to the castle, four each clinging to our fey horses. The red caps followed on our tails. God, I hoped our parents and the other kids were all right!
And that they were prepared for this.
CHAPTER
17
Back inside the castle, but not exactly safe or sound.
It was hard for the four of us to fit on Ermie, but it was even harder for the other four on Stormy, who didn’t have magical stick-to-me fur. Worse, he was staggering with almost every other stride. I could hear Max crooning at him. A few times, Ermie drew us close, licking the horse on the neck or wherever he could reach.
Fortunately, even at injured half-kelpie speed, we outpaced the red caps and reached the front of the castle in moments. The massive front doors were open, and Mum, Dad, Princess Maryan, and Prince Christopher, all looking definitely the worse for wear, waved us in.
Ermie slowed, nipping at Stormy, driving him in first. The half-kelpie stumbled on the steps but made it inside. Ermie turned just at the stairs and shook. Off. Get inside.
We didn’t go flying, but I felt all his fur immediately release us. Chris and Lily caught Livy, who was totally unresponsive. Chris hefted her in his arms and ran inside.
I didn’t dismount.
“I’m not leaving you out here!”
Foolish child! He hopped and shook. With my broken wrist and him not holding me on, I lost my balance. His fur managed to catch me somewhat, so the fall wasn’t hard. Get inside.
“Heather, come on!” Lily called.
“Heather! Ermie!” Mum shouted.
I ignored her, looking to where the pack of red caps was approaching.
I will hold them off. They will try to break inside. Go!
“No. Not without you!”
Stubborn, foolish girl! He turned, grabbed me by the back of my shirt, and tossed me towards my parents.
“Nooo!” I screamed as Dad caught me in his arms, pulling me inside. Ermie would be killed! Tortured! Blood ran down all four of his legs, gashes bubbling from iron poisoning.
“Ermie! I’ve got it covered,” Mum said. “Look!”
At the edge of the driveway’s cul de sac, the red caps had stopped and begun lining the edge, drooling and frothing in fury or hunger. Or both. Many had blood smeared over their faces or hands. Whose blood? My friends’? Ermie’s? Theirs?
“Get in here! That’s an order!” Mum finally commanded.
Rearing and snorting at the staring fey monsters, Ermie turned and ran up the stairs to join us. Dad hefted me in his arms as Mum laid several lines of salt across the stairs and the doorway. She held up a small pin, stared at the red caps—no sign of Calbraith yet—and stuck it into the salt. “You shall not breach this threshold,” she stated.
There was a crackle, and I felt the hum of her magick.
Prince Christopher helped Mum close the heavy oak doors and set the wooden bar across them.
“Oh, Heather! Baby!” Dad said when he finally got a good look at me.
“Heather! Heather!” Rowa
n was bouncing beside my dad.
Isis danced around all of us, howling and barking until Dad told her to sit and be quiet. She positioned herself between us and where the two horses had run to, growling at Ermie and Stormy.
“Mum! Quick, help!” Lily called. “It’s Livy! I can’t get her to respond!”
Mum rushed over to them, cussing. “She’s in shock. Marie! Get me the compresses! Now! We have to get all the red-cap poison out of her.”
I wriggled in my dad’s arms, so he put me down. We rushed to Mum’s side. Beside me, Rowan keened a soft whine. “Go help Mrs. McInnis, Rowan,” I whispered to him.
Still whining, he shook his head violently and stood as close to me as humanly possible without touching.
“Back off, all of you!” Mum growled, adjusting Livy on the floor and wincing as she moved Livy’s legs.
“Is she breathing?” Sara-Not-Beth asked.
Mum leaned her head by Livy’s mouth and stared at her chest. I noticed a nasty scratch, like a giant cat’s claw, across Mum’s temple and a blood streak through her auburn-dyed hair, staining the grey at her temples. I remembered what Ermie had said about the breach at the castle, but I hadn’t a chance to ask. Mum was frowning as she pressed her fingers to Livy’s neck for a pulse.
The look on her face said enough. “Michael. Chest compressions. Now! The rest of you, back up.” Our group had crowded around her again.
“C’mon, Rowan.” I nudged his trainer with my boot till he moved with me. With the throbbing of my left wrist, the burning of the scourge marks on my right side, the general all-round pain of having been shoved to my knees, and then riding that hard, well, that was about all the contact I could muster.
Dad, bloody claw marks running up both his arms, knelt at Livy’s side and started counting as he bore his weight down on her chest.
A doleful, pained equine cry from across the castle’s great hall drew my attention away from Livy. Stormy was on the floor, Max kneeling by his side and Ermie standing over him. Bloody froth pooled beneath Stormy’s head. I saw Mickey McInnis leaning over him, frowning and reaching into the vet satchel that Dr. Caroline had given him years ago.
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