Eighth Wand

by December Quinn

  No. Even injured as this man obviously was, she didn’t think she could outrun him.

  His hand snatched hers, so fast she didn’t even see the movement, and he yanked her into the car. Her head bumped against the doorframe. “Ouch!”

  “I apologize. Drive.”

  He apologized? Okay, whatever. She turned the key in the ignition and pulled out, heading down toward Kristof’s store, keeping her eyes out for any sign of Royd. If she could pick him up along the way…maybe that wasn’t such a good idea.

  In fact…maybe it would be better, considering that this man had obviously been one of their attackers the night before, if she didn’t go to the store at all.

  The very idea broke her heart. She knew, she knew, something bad was happening and Royd was running right into the thick of it. She knew with every painful beat of her bleeding heart that she would not have her day spent in bed with him tomorrow, that she would not be able to introduce him to pizza and beer and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and…and she thought watching The Lord of the Rings with him would be a blast…and she wanted to cook him lasagna and she wanted, oh Gods, she wanted to do so many things.

  But what was more important, when it came down to it? Doing all of those things with him or saving his people?

  She blinked back tears. She could not let this man, this Elden of the Rechiwhatever, get to that wand.

  She turned left, heading away from downtown, hoping he wouldn’t notice. If she even could get an extra twenty minutes, fifteen, that might be enough time for Royd to get the wand back. She only hoped…she hoped he wouldn’t wait to say goodbye.

  But why wouldn’t he? He didn’t know about this man. He thought she was following him in the car. Could she call or something?

  “Where are you going?”

  “To the wand,” she said. “I’m taking you to it.”

  “No, you’re not. The wand is back that way.”

  “The roads here are complicated. We have to go this way first.”

  He was silent for just long enough that she started to think it would work. Then something cold and sharp pressed against her throat. “This is the wrong way. Turn around.”

  She did, ignoring the panic rising in her chest. “How do you know where to go?”

  “Don’t you feel it?” His eyes were haunted, shadowy holes in his face. “It’s calling me. It wants me.”

  “That’s not the wand, it’s a very stupid woman,” Prudence said between gritted teeth.

  “It doesn’t matter. The wand is there. I will have it.”

  “You won’t. Royd will never let you.”

  Elden chuckled. It was a singularly unpleasant sound. “He will when he sees what I have to give him instead.”

  Duh. “Me?”

  “You.” His hand brushed a lock of her hair. She shrank away and he chuckled again. “Don’t fear, little one. I have no intention of harming you. Unless your lover refuses to see sense, of course, and let me have the wand to save your life. Do you think he will?”

  Do NOT let this bastard see you cry. “Maybe. We hardly know each other. I don’t think he’s going to fall for a trick like this, really.”

  “I think you’re wrong.”

  “I can’t help what you think.” She concentrated on the road, refusing to look at him. “Royd knows what his responsibilities are and he knows I’d want him to carry them out.”

  “Oh? I think—look!”

  She did. Royd ran down the street ahead of them, his hair streaming behind him. He looked so beautiful that her breath caught. Did a man like that really care for her so much?

  It didn’t matter, though. Even if he did, he couldn’t let his people die. She couldn’t force him to make that decision. Not when she knew, though neither of them had dared to say it, that he loved her. She couldn’t bear the thought of him having to live with that choice.

  Surreptitiously, she glanced at Elden. He wasn’t wearing his seat belt. Unfortunately, neither was she.

  Kristof’s store was just ahead, the front shuttered up for the night with steel mesh. Steel mesh that Royd wouldn’t be able to get through unless someone helped him.

  Goodbye, Royd…I love you so much…

  She slammed her foot down on the gas pedal as far as it would go and braced herself as she aimed the car at the store.

  * * * * *

  “It’s working!” Kristof’s excited voice echoed oddly in her ears, but she didn’t need to hear them clearly. She knew what he was saying because it was the same thing she was thinking, the same words ringing joyously in her very soul. It’s working, it’s working, oh by the Goddess, it’s real and it’s working…

  Faces so beautiful they made her throat ache floated in front of her, clearly visible through the hole in front of her. “Hole” was the best word she could come up with. It didn’t really describe it well, but it did. There was a hole in front of her, but it was a hole in the air, a hole in…well, in the fabric of the world.

  And through it was another world, a world the likes of which she’d never seen, never even dreamed she would see, where the sun shone gold on trees so tall and green that her eyes hurt. Where the blooms of flowers were brighter than anything could ever be and the songs of the birds made her want to weep.

  And the faces…unreal.

  Tears flowed down her face, dripping from her chin to her robe, and she made no move to stop them. The incantation was working, it was real and her spirit cried out in triumph. The power, the sheer, pure power of it, it was amazing! She was high, she wanted to dance and scream and—the world could be hers! She could have anything she wanted!

  “Yes!” she shouted, holding the wand tighter in her fist. “Yes! Come to me! I call you, I command you! I command all things! Letitrendera!”

  Behind her, Kristof and Ravenancia’s voices rose as one, agony and ecstasy mixed in their screams. Kym screamed too, throwing her head back while the golden light changed and…darkened… That wasn’t right.

  “No, no!” But it was too late. The glittering world in front of her disappeared, replaced by something else, something swirling and black and gray, and before she could think of what the proper word was to end the incantation or think of what she’d done wrong, something huge and gnarled and distorted leapt out of the hole.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Kym tried to leap out of the way, her throat sore from screaming, but before she could even move, the entire building shook and the sound of shattering glass and buckling metal wiped out everything else.

  The beast-thing roared, looming over her in the shifting air full of dust and chaos. She managed to roll away just before a wooden club slammed to the concrete ground, cracking it.

  The room echoed with screams and noise. Was that Kristof and Ravenancia? Her eyes stung and itched from dust and she couldn’t see.

  The club thudded next to her again. The beast smelled of sulfur and rotten sewage. It filled her nose, filled her mind with horror. How could this be a faerie? A beautiful, innocent, winged lady? What had she done?

  Ceiling tiles crumpled and fell around her, on her. She ducked her head as best as she could, still trying to crawl away through the murky air. Light, dim but still visible, came from her left. She headed toward it unthinkingly, just trying to get away from the hulking black shape trying to hit her with the club.

  It struck again and this time it did not miss. Pain shot up her legs as bones in her calf shattered under the assault. Stars of pain danced in front of her eyes. Her fingers scrabbled at the smooth floor, trying to find purchase, trying to pull herself away as she fought not to pass out.

  Whatever she’d brought here, it planned to kill her.

  The windshield shattered. Beside her, Elden’s voice, already shouting, turned into a scream as glass exploded toward them. Prudence already had her head down and her arms crossed over her face; she too screamed as the skin lacerated. The steering wheel hit her chest hard, knocking the wind out of her and cutting off her scream, while her knees slamme
d into the underside of the dash.

  Elden was not so lucky—or unlucky, depending on how you looked at it. The dashboard did not stop him. He flew forward through the gaping, jagged hole where the windshield had been and over the crumpled and steaming hood of Prudence’s car.

  Her vision went red, then black, fading as she struggled to keep her eyes open and move. She was alive, and if she could get out of the car, she might be able to…to help, to see Royd again…

  “Prudence!” It sounded like him, but she’d never heard him like this. The panic in his voice made her hair stand on end. “Prudence, oh Mistress, please, Prudence…”

  It was him. She’d know those hands on her anywhere, gentle but firm, pulling her from the car. She wanted to tell him not to move her in case there were spinal injuries, but it felt too good to have him touch her.

  His lips, warm and soft against her skin, moved as he kept whispering, praying or casting a spell or whatever he was doing, in the Fae language that sent shivers through her body. “Prudence, please don’t—”

  Another sound cut him off, a roar that sent terror shivering through Pru’s body. She’d never heard a sound so unearthly, a sound that made her blood run cold like that before. Her neck protested when she tried to turn her head and Royd’s body stiffened next to hers.

  “By the Mistress…” He shifted, taking his lips away from her, and she managed to turn her head enough to see a hulking, unnatural creature raising what looked like a club over its head.

  “What is it? Royd, do you know what—” Her throat felt dry as dust, but he heard her anyway.

  “It’s a goblin.” She wished she could look at him again. The fear and awe in his voice made her yearn for the security just seeing his face would bring her. “Fallen Fae. They were banished centuries ago to live in the darkness… They’re beasts, forsaken by the Mistress of all.”

  “Can we…can you beat it?”

  He swallowed, the hard movements of his throat visible in the dim light from the street outside. “I don’t know.”

  Something ran past, out the hole Prudence made in the front of the shop. It was Kristof, his pale face even whiter than usual. Prudence thought she could still hear Kym screaming in the room. Nice.

  “Royd, you have to go,” she said. “Get the wand and go.”

  “I can’t leave you.” His arms tightened around her. From off to their right came the crash of rubble and another scream.

  “You have to. I’ll be fine. I don’t think… I don’t think anything’s broken.” Not true. She strongly suspected at least one or two ribs were cracked and she wasn’t too sure about her left knee, but she was fairly certain the wounds weren’t fatal. The store alarm rang in her ears. The police would be here soon.

  Oh God…the police. “Royd, you have to go, you have to kill it or send it back or whatever now, the police will be here soon, they’ll want to arrest you, you can’t—”

  “I will help.”

  Prudence lifted her gaze and saw Elden, barely standing, loosely holding his knife in one bloody hand. His breath came in ragged, painful gasps. “The goblin cannot stay in this world.”

  “You care, Rachanyi?”

  “I care about many things, Radeuan.” He gestured toward Prudence with the knife. “Your woman would have died to protect you. A race which holds such courage deserves to live.”

  Royd watched him for a moment, his eyes unreadable, before he nodded. “Then I’m glad to have your help.” He kissed Prudence again. She closed her eyes, trying to commit the feel of his lips on hers to her memory. “I’ll be back.”

  Royd thought he remembered this warrior from battles in the past. Of course, he remembered him from the night before. Of course, he remembered giving the Rachanyi the wound on his shoulder, now all but obscured by cuts from broken glass. So the absolutely unreal sensation of now advancing on a goblin with his enemy by his side only sharpened his senses. The man might be willing to help him defeat the goblin, but when that was done, would the Rachanyi—Elden, Royd thought his name was—turn on him and try to steal the wand?

  Speaking of which, he saw it glowing in the corner as the two men picked their way through the rubble and broken furniture into the empty space where one woman tried to hide from the goblin.

  The other, the fair one Royd remembered from Prudence’s bedroom and the forest, lay unmoving on the floor, her body broken and bloody, but with life still clinging to it. He didn’t want to look. Poor, foolish human. Thinking magic and the Fae were toys to be played with. He hoped she wouldn’t pay for that lesson with her life.

  Meanwhile, the other woman—Royd guessed she was “Ravenancia”—shoved her bulk behind a dresser while the goblin advanced on her with heavy steps, its club raised in the air. Black streaks ran down her face from her eyes, turning her face into an eerie mask.

  Beside him, Elden drew his sword. “If I help you defeat it, you will help me find a place in your lands,” he said.

  “I make no promises,” Royd replied, pulling his own sword from its sheath and holding it in front of him. “But I will see.”

  They paused, their chests moving in unison as they gathered their strength, and plunged forward.

  Royd managed to catch the goblin across the back of the leg. Greenish, foul-smelling blood jetted from the wound, but the goblin’s skin was too thick for Royd to do what he’d wanted to do with the blow. The goblin’s tendons were intact, the beast still able to stand.

  And to hit. It wheeled around, swinging one large, clawed hand and catching Royd in the chest. It felt like being hit with a tree. He gasped and fell back, somehow managing to keep his balance, as Elden stepped forward and chopped his sword down on the goblin’s arm.

  More blood, but Elden had the same problem with the skin, and worse. From his position, bent over, Royd saw the goblin reach for Elden with its other hand and leapt, his sword thrust out before him.

  The black-eyed woman’s constant wail grew louder still, mingling with the goblin’s roar as Royd’s blade sank into its side. Elden fell back as the beast caught him with one meaty fist, his back hitting the wall. Royd saw him tumble and pulled his sword back, ramming the tip again into the goblin, hoping to pierce its heart.

  He was off, his timing just a second too late. The blade caught the thing’s stomach and got stuck on bone. The gobbling roared and lunged.

  “Royd!” Eldon shouted, but it was too late. The goblin, falling over, caught Royd in one enormous hairy arm and threw him down as the goblin fell. His sharp teeth sank into Royd’s arm. The pain was too profound for words, too intense to shout. The beast shook its head; muscles snapped. Blackness clouded his vision. The rancid scent of the beast filled his nostrils as its blood soaked into his clothing.

  Prudence screamed, her voice echoing through the room, louder than any others. Royd wanted to reassure her, but couldn’t find the words in English. Everything seemed to be fleeing his head in the face of his agony.

  Elden shouted something, his body a blur in the foggy corners of Royd’s eyes. Finally the goblin’s mouth went slack. Elden stood above him, his sword buried in the goblin’s neck. The goblin’s breath was still hot on Royd’s skin, but it could no longer move, its horrible red eyes dulling as it died.

  “Help me,” Elden gasped. Royd started to say he couldn’t when he realized Elden wasn’t speaking to him, but to the black-eyed woman. She scuttled over, still sobbing, and helped Elden push the beast away from Royd.

  Royd struggled to sit up. His useless right arm was slick with his own blood. More blood seeped from the claw marks in his chest. Pain made him dizzy. “Prudence? Prudence!”

  Metal clattered to his left. Just barely through the still dusty air, he saw her limping toward him, her head down.

  Elden looked at Royd’s face. “I’ll help her,” he said and headed off.

  Ravenancia backed away, her eyes white in the dark circles around them. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, looking from Royd to the goblin to the wreckage of the stor
e, and back to Royd. “I didn’t know…I’m sorry…”

  “You’re a foolish woman,” Royd managed. “And your recklessness nearly got you killed. Stay away from magics you don’t understand.”

  “But I…the Universe…”

  “The Universe doesn’t care about you. It doesn’t want to help you and it is stronger than you.”

  “Kym!” Ravenancia’s wild eyes focused on a spot on the floor behind him. “Kym, oh Kym…”

  But Royd stopped watching her, because suddenly Prudence was in front of him, her lovely face wet with tears and contorted with pain and he realized this was the end.

  She didn’t know where to touch him. His chest was marked by huge tears, the tattoo damaged and formless. His arm…she couldn’t even look at it.

  So she reached for his face, holding his cheeks in her palms, ignoring the fierce stabs of agony coming from her chest and knees. “Royd,” she managed to say, but she couldn’t say anything else. He couldn’t live if he didn’t get help soon, not with all the blood he was losing and she couldn’t take him to a hospital. He wasn’t human. She didn’t know if they would be able to tell or not, or what to do, and her head started to ache. Hot tears poured down her cheeks, blurring her vision. He had to leave, he had to go now. Go back to his world and leave her and she would never see him again.

  “Prudence,” he whispered. “Kiss me.”

  She leaned forward to press her lips to his. Her chest felt like it would explode with pain, and not just from her ribs. No, this isn’t right…we had two more days…we were supposed to have two more days…

  She’d only meant for it to be a brief kiss, but he didn’t let her pull away and it turned into something more, something desperate and lonely and full of need. Her fingers tightened and slid back into his hair, helping him sit up, pulling him closer. Their tongues entwined, sending sparks shooting through her every nerve ending.

  For those few moments, the pain receded. Instead there was only Royd, only Royd and the feverish need of her body…the need of her soul.