by Jamie Davis
“We’ve got this, boss,” Garraldi said. “Be careful.”
“I will.”
Winnie opened the stairwell door while Maria checked for guards.
She nodded an all clear, then Winnie stepped inside and let the door swing shut behind her.
Inside the battle was muffled. Winnie had never heard such a deafening silence. She listened for sounds of anyone coming down or up the stairs and heard nothing. She looked over the railing to see how far down it went, but the answer was lost in the darkness below.
Winnie started downward.
The stairwell lights flickered, punctuating her tentative steps with a mounting terror: fear of what might be lurking in the dark, fear of the final confrontation, fear of dying alone in front of a laughing madman. Every step led her toward the inevitable.
She passed three doors labeled for sub-basement levels, but still the stairs descended. After the third subbasement level, there were no more doors. Only stairs. She kept walking in silence, amid the flickering lights, sounds of the battle now lost above her.
Winnie reached the bottom and a single reinforced steel door. A sign read Bomb Shelter.
Kane was on the other side of that door. Even with a few feet of steel between them, she could feel his malevolence, his anger, his pitiful hatred.
Bile soured her throat.
She swallowed her vomit, then barely surprised to find it unlocked, she opened the heavy door and stepped into the unknown.
CHAPTER 41
Winnie looked up and down the concrete-lined hallway. Pipes and conduits ran along the walls near the fluorescents that hung every fifteen feet. The lights here didn’t flicker like those in the stairwell. Probably a separate power source.
The hallway continued on for about a hundred feet, ending in another steel door. As she approached, Winnie heard shouting from the other side. She couldn’t make out the words, but the mottled voice sounded like an ugly cousin to Kane.
Winnie steeled herself, drew in enough magic to hurt, and gripped the knob. She turned it slowly, then opened the door and peered through the crack into a larger room, its floors comprised of inlaid tiles in an intricate, circular design. A ball of light about three feet in diameter hovered in the room, absorbing some of the blackness.
Winnie was about to open the door wider when a twisted figure shuffled into view, limping up to the floating sphere.
The hunchback was cloaked in a short black robe, belted at the waist, with red pants and black boots. Like a Red Leg.
Its twisted back was turned so she couldn’t see its face.
But still she could feel Kane’s ice in her soul.
Fell magic had marred his appearance enough to make him a monster.
“She’s winning, you fool. Can’t you see that?” Kane pointed to somewhere out of Winnie’s view. “Those damned rebels and their dragons are causing the chasm to close. I won’t be able to summon anymore aid once it does.”
A deep, rumbling bass sounded from the floating sphere:
“It was as I foretold, Nilrem. You cannot win unless you face and defeat the Fae champion. You possess the most power between you. And I can strengthen you further once you prove your worth and defeat her.”
Kane limped around the black orb. Now Winnie could see his face.
She forced herself not to scream.
“How can I fight her when I cannot find her? The puppet Barber led us to her, for all the good it did. But I cannot return to the surface. The sunlight burns.”
“You do not need to seek her, Nilrem,” said the Fell said. “She has come to you.”
Winnie wasn’t willing to wait for discovery. She opened the door the rest of the way and entered the bunker.
She saw the rest of the room. Chambers opened off to the side—a conference room, a bedroom, a dining area, and a kitchen.
Winnie smiled, though every muscle in her body was dying to run.
“Ahhh,” Kane said. “Finally, the daughter I never wanted has come to die by her father’s hand, in a grave that’s already forgotten.”
Winnie drew Excalibur and made the air whistle. “Missing something?”
He laughed. “The sword will be mine soon enough.”
Kane shuffled along his side of the room while Winnie skirted hers, the floating orb in the middle throwing shadows on them both.
Winnie said, “You can have it when I’m done. Then everyone will know where you’re buried.”
Kane laughed louder, but it quickly turned into a wheezing cough. He collected himself and said, “How is your mother? I left her with a gift to remember me all those years ago—I mean, more than the seed that spoiled into you. I do apologize for all the jars you’ve surely had to open all those years. I never considered how my gift might affect you.”
Winnie smiled. “My mother could tear you in half. Her hands are fine.”
“Well that’s a shame,” Kane said with a dramatic wince. “Now I’ll have to spend extra time restoring a painful reminder of her betrayal, more than the memory of your maggot ridden body.”
Winnie’s skin was on fire.
She wanted to strike him, unleash every ounce of her power. But she knew he was baiting her, wanting her to strike first. Maybe to gauge her power.
Winnie aimed the tip of her sword at Kane. “The Fae have chosen me as their champion. I am the Prophecy’s Daughter. And I am here to end you and banish the Fell and all of its magic from this world forever.”
“The Fae are mistaken,” Kane spat, taking a menacing step forward. “I am the one destined to wield that blade. And now I will take my destiny back.”
Winnie raised Excalibur in a two-handed grip as a stream of black, ropy cords flew from Kane’s outstretched hand.
They wrapped her wrists, binding them to the blade.
Pain rattled her arms like a shock, but she forced the anguish away and focused on her bond to the sword.
The blade flared with a blue flame along its length.
Winnie twisted her wrists and with a flick of the tip, she sliced through the inky cords linking her to Kane. They loosened and fell, turning to mist before hitting the floor.
“Is that the best you can do?” Winnie eyed her sword with a smile. “I don’t think she likes you.”
“Maybe when you’re dead she’ll give me a chance.”
Kane thrusted out with his palms.
Winnie didn’t think. She just dodged as the swirling ball of red and yellow flames flew toward her.
It sailed over her head, detonating inside the dining area, and setting the furniture ablaze. Winnie rolled back to her feet, preparing herself for the next attack while planning her own.
Kane narrowed his eyes at the burning wreckage of what used to be his kitchen. Winnie launched her attack.
She pulled her hand away from Excalibur and held it, palm out.
A white bolt of energy soared toward Kane’s head.
Kane turned and swatted the bolt with the back of his hand.
Winnie didn’t expect such a casual reaction, nor was she expecting such an immediate response. She barely avoided the chain of forked, blue electricity that came flying right back her way.
Still, it grazed her, sending shockwaves of burning electrical energy through her right side. The combatants continued to circle each other, with Winnie now limping.
“You’re taking after me already.”
“I’m nothing like you, Kane.”
“We can never help what we are.”
His hands shot out, thumbs joined, fingers splayed toward Winnie.
Eight pure black bolts of energy sprung from his fingers and drove into her chest.
Her shield absorbed most of the power, but some leaked through.
She winced at the stabbing pain in her side.
Looking down, she saw a bloody wound on her shirt.
Then she felt the trickle of blood at her waist.
Resisting the urge to double over, Winnie gritted her teeth and growled at Kane, p
ointing Excalibur at the monster he’d become.
Blue flames on the blade left for Kane’s face.
His right palm shot upward and the flames washed against his extended hand, deflecting harmlessly up to the concrete ceiling far above.
Kane laughed and raised his other hand, sending another bolt of forked blue lighting at Winnie.
She countered with Excalibur. The blade drew some of the energy, but not all. Again, the stinging numbness shocked her body.
The pain was greater. Her defenses were weakening, her limp more pronounced. She was practically dragging her right leg as she and Kane continued to circle each other.
More bolts from his outstretched fingers.
Winnie winced and grunted as the rods struck home.
Fresh wounds bloomed on her chest and stomach. Her shirt turned crimson in three places.
“Isn’t it time to surrender?” Kane asked, his voice now sickly sweet. “Excalibur can never serve a new master while its former master survives, so of course you’ll have to die. But I can promise you a quick death. Wouldn’t that be nice?”
Winnie forced her eyes open and sent another attack at Kane through the sword.
The attack slammed Kane back against the wall.
It took him a moment to rise from the tiled floor. A trickle of blood spilled from his mouth. He spit blood on the floor and pushed himself to his knees.
Winnie capitalized on the break in action to replenish her energy, drawing as much as she could hold, feeding her body rather than the shield because she’d be dead if she didn’t.
But the bolts kept coming, ebony charges chased more of the forked blue lighting. She swung Excalibur, blocking the attacks while looking for openings to send her own return volleys.
But it wasn’t any use.
Kane’s attacks slowly penetrated her defenses, the assaults coming with growing power and greater frequency, leaving Winnie dazed and crying from the flurry, hating herself for her weakness.
And now Kane was laughing—that same guffaw she’d heard from Danny’s mouth before. It was oddly energizing.
Winnie scrambled up from her knees, raised her hand, and sent a blast of white Fae heat at Kane.
He ducked the shot entirely, but the interruption still hurt.
Winnie used it to stand, but only barely. She could smell the blood and her own burned hair. She wouldn’t survive another round of attacks.
She stumbled forward in an awkward charge, trying the only thing she could think of—a final swipe of Excalibur, slashing at his head.
Kane laughed harder, batting the blade aside with the back of a clawed hand.
The effort carried Winnie forward. She lost her balance and fell to the floor.
But somehow she held Excalibur.
She landed hard on the tiles and cried out in anguish.
The struggle now wasn’t to stand, it was to hold onto consciousness.
Her cheek rested on the smooth, cold tiles.
She stared across the floor at Kane’s boots coming her way.
He kicked Winnie hard and sent her onto her back.
She struggled for breath. The kick had driven the wind from her lungs and now she lay there, staring up at the ceiling, gasping for air like a fish on land.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Kane said, leering down at her. “Did that hurt?”
Winnie couldn’t give up but she had nothing left.
No strength, no magic, barely any will.
Kane raised his hands to send a final blast of Fell energy into her bloody chest when the room started to shake, hard enough to send Kane to the floor.
“What the hell was that?” Kane cried out, the worry clear in his voice.
A tickle of awareness at the back of her mind told Winnie what it was.
CHAPTER 42
As soon as Winnie left, Elaine started working to turn the park into a makeshift aid station. Even if they were winning the fight, there would be casualties in battle. She had the techs and the security squad spread out, searching nearby buildings and homes for anything they could use.
Morgan was still seated next to Victor and the pair of fallen chimeras. Elaine came over and helped her to stand while two members of the security squad retrieved Victor’s body.
“Help me and Tris,” Elaine said. “Wounded troops will be pouring in soon. Come. I promise, Victor will be tended to.”
The troopers carried his body to a nearby sleeping bag unrolled on the ground. Then they laid him down and covered his body with a sheet.
Morgan wiped at her tears. “What do you need me to do?”
“Help organize any materials the security team finds nearby, so that we’re ready for the wounded. It won’t be long.”
Morgan organized supplies while Elaine drew in power from around her and set to work moving the chimeras from the park. She used a wall of force to bulldoze fallen bodies to one side, clearing plenty of room for mattresses, sleeping bags, and even two collapsible tents.
The wounded trickled to the rear, some on the their own and others carried in by their comrades.
Elaine cared for a soldier with a nasty bite in his thigh. She used a garden hose from a nearby home to wash the wound, then she wrapped it in torn sheets from a bed and bath store across the street.
She was finishing up when Seelie flew over. “Danny is starting to wake up.”
“Is he still acting strange?” Elaine asked.
“I’m not sure. But he wants to know why he’s tied up, and I think he’s mad. I’m supposed to ask you if we should untie him.”
“No. I’ll be right there as soon as I can get a break here. Do what you can to keep him calm in the meantime.”
Elaine started towards the next injured trooper, a pretty blond with a nasty gash across her back. She had opened her mouth, but didn’t even manage to greet the girl before a terrible racket came from the chasm.
It was deep and rumbling, a wave of feeling as much as a sound.
The Earth itself was shaking.
“What is that?” asked a nearby Duster, improvising a sling.
“I don’t know, but I’m going to the front. They might need another chanter.”
The ground rolled underfoot, making Elaine wobble.
Morgan was standing nearby, pointing at the sky, terrified.
Elaine followed her gaze. Her hand involuntarily went to cover her mouth.
The dragons flying over the chasm were all trumpeting as one, the massive sound echoing through the city and shaking the ground. But each time they did, a dozen or more would rain from the sky.
“Morgan, Tris!” Elaine called. “Stay here. Something is wrong. I’m going to the chasm.”
Morgan nodded. Tris started to ask a question but Elaine didn’t wait to hear it. She was already running.
Another massive roar. Again the Earth spasmed, nearly spilling Elaine to the ground. She steadied herself on a lamppost for a moment until the tremors passed, then resumed her sprint.
She skidded to a stop as the street opened onto a broad avenue across from the massive Red Leg headquarters. The chasm had narrowed and was now closing under the assault.
Dragons continued to rain from the sky.
At first Elaine thought the great creatures were dead, but then she saw one nearby twitching a wing, its chest still heaving with regular breath. They weren’t dead, just getting near to it.
What could have done this to them?
Elaine could see nothing to cause it.
This almost seemed like attempted suicide.
Then she realized: the dragons had somehow severed their connection to the magic. Each time they did, it flowed together then disappeared into the ground under the giant granite building across the avenue.
Elaine wondered what could possibly make the dragons do what they were doing, until she realized what was happening.
“Winnie,” Elaine whispered.
The clamor coursed through her yet again, rattling the planet and sending more dragons plum
meting down to the ground.
Elaine’s concern for Winnie overwhelmed her.
She ran across the avenue shouting, heading up the broad marble steps without looking back.
CHAPTER 43
Winnie’s grimace of pain turned into a euphoric smile.
The change confused Kane as he looked down on her broken body, preparing to finish her off.
Winnie looked up at his confusion, pressed upward with a hand, and sent a wall of force slamming into the monster’s chest.
Kane flew backwards to crash into the bunker wall.
Winnie levered herself up onto one elbow, feeling the dragons’ power coursing through her. It traveled down the blade, through her arm, and into her chest, energizing Winnie in a way she’d never felt before.
This was pure Fae magic and she could barely contain it.
Her wounds were now a distant memory, nagging at the corner of her mind, but no longer keeping her from doing what had to be done. She looked down at her ravaged body—she wasn’t healing, but Winnie was so full of power that her wounds barely mattered.
Kane groaned from across the room, slowly starting to rise.
Winnie pushed herself to standing and limped across the floor.
As he stood she gripped Kane by the neck with her free hand, using the power coursing through her to lift him from his feet and press him back against the wall.
She prepared to finish him when a voice in her mind whispered, “Not yet. You need him still.”
“What? Brigid?”
“Yes, Winnie. Only the combined power of the Fae and Fell can close the door between our worlds. You must use his power and yours together.”
Kane was frantically waving a hand at his side, trying to manipulate a spell into place. So she focused on his limbs and felt the bones in both arms shatter under her magical blow.
Kane’s mouth opened in a high-pitched scream.
And then it changed to pain-wracked sobs.
He looked into her eyes, grunting through the pain. “Kill me. Just do it.”
“I’m not going to kill you,” Winnie said, shaking her head. “But only because I need you. I understand now what the Fae needed a human to do for them—they needed someone who could use both Fae and Fell magic to seal the gateway that allowed the Fell to invade this world millennia ago. That was what the dragons and the talisman, Excalibur, were created for, to provide the child of prophecy with enough power to close the gateway.”