by Alicia Wolfe
One of the witches hurled a blue fireball at us. Nevos jerked the reins, pulling his taron to the side. The fireball whizzed past.
Lyra shot the witch’s mount with her blunderbuss. The great bird dissolved as if hit by acid and fell from the sky. The witch that had shot at us leapt off its back and shifted, becoming what her mount had been. At least she couldn’t shoot at us in this form. But her beak and talons were deadly sharp, I knew all too well.
The Razor Wings were fast, magically so.
“We can’t outrun them,” I said.
Lyra shot another, and another. Tae threw bursts of deadly energy at them. I fired my gun until it was empty, then tossed it to the treetops below. The Razor Wings drew on, closer every second.
“Damn,” said Nevos. “We’re going to have to set down. Lose them in the trees.”
He angled his taron downward, and Lyra and Tae followed suit. My stomach lurched and I pressed my thighs tighter against the dino’s flanks. It was hot and leathery where I could touch it, but the saddle was well-made and comfortable enough. To steady myself, I wrapped my arms around Nevos’s middle. That was the only reason, I swear.
His taron issued a loud caw as we swept beneath a thick limb and through the twisted maze of wood that comprised the forest canopy. Lyra swore behind us, and I heard wood breaking. The spaces between limbs were very narrow. We couldn’t survive here long.
The Razor Wings shrieked in rage above us but didn’t follow us in, at least not for the moment. We didn’t have long before they sucked it up and pursued, though.
Nevos brought his taron to the ground and set it down. Trailing leaves, Lyra came down behind us, then Tae.
“Gods curse it,” Lyra said. “This isn’t how it was supposed to go.”
We all climbed off the mounts and craned our heads upward. I could just barely see the dark shapes of the Razor Wings flashing above.
“We don’t have long,” I said.
Nevos grimaced. “We’ll leave the tarons here and continue on afoot. But first thing’s first.” He held out his palm and Lyra’s blunderbuss flew through the air and landed in it. She gasped.
Nevos lifted it toward her face, then switched it to Tae. Then again to Lyra. They jumped back and coiled themselves for battle.
“What the hell?” said Tae.
“Which one of you is the traitor?”
“You’ve gone mad,” Lyra said. “We’re your most loyal supporters!”
“One of you is,” Nevos agreed.
“You can’t really mean to question us,” Tae said.
“Nevos is right,” I said. “My escape didn’t alert Angela or she would’ve been after me immediately. Something else—someone else—must have tipped her off.”
Overhead the Razor Wings shrieked.
“There’s no time to do this the proper way,” Nevos said. He switched the gun back to point at Tae. “Sorry, my friend.”
“No, wait—”
Nevos fired. Blue light flashed and Tae’s head exploded, then he began to dissolve. But as he did his body changed. I saw a huge belly encased in black leather with skuzzy boots on the end of his legs.
“A biker!” I said, standing over the puddle of dissolved flesh. As before, steam rose from it.
“One of Angela’s,” Lyra said. “She must have switched him out with the real Tae.” Her face was pale and she was hugging herself. To Nevos, she said, her voice small, “How did you know it was him?”
Nevos handed her back the firearm. “I didn’t. It was fifty-fifty.”
Anger flashed across her face, but she shoved the weapon away. “Do you think the real Tae is still alive?”
“Maybe,” Nevos said.
“He could be in one of the other torture rooms,” I said. “Maybe later—”
I fell silent as the shadows of Razor Wings fell over us, even closer now.
“We’ll talk about it when we’re safe,” Nevos said. “Come!”
He took off jogging through the forest. Lyra and I glanced at each other, then followed.
“Poor Tae!” she said, clearly choking down her emotion. “I hope he’s still alive. He better be. He—”
A blast of purple lightning arced through the trees and exploded a trunk right before us. I screamed and threw my hands before my eyes. Pieces of woody shrapnel hit me and sliced my hands and shoulders.
“Fuck!”
Lyra picked herself up off the ground. Dark figures rushed toward us through the trees. Damn! The Razor Wings had shifted and were pursuing us on foot. I hated being chased by shifters. If one shape didn’t get you, another would. Especially when one was a witch and one a deadly flying creature.
“What are you waiting for?” Nevos said. He’d been just ahead of us and hadn’t been hit by the exploding pieces of tree.
I glared at him, aware that pieces of wood were all over me. “Just taking the air,” I said.
“Well, come on!”
Another tongue of lightning flashed. A tree exploded beside us, but we were prepared this time. We hunkered low, shielding our heads. Then, when the chaos died down, we resumed running through the woods. Lyra turned to blast one of the witches. The witch dissolved into goo and the other witches ran around her.
Lyra tried to fire her blunderbuss again, but the pistol jammed. She slowed, just for a moment, to examine it, but that was all it took. Another bolt of purple lightning flared out. This one didn’t strike a tree but Lyra instead. She screamed, arching her back, and purple electricity coursed up and down her body. I’d turned to throw my knife and saw her eyes bulge and her muscles spasm. Then she crumpled to the ground, smoking and dead.
I started to go to her, but another purple bolt speared out, hitting the ground nearby. I turned and ran. Nevos had stopped to help, and pain showed on his face.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, reaching him.
He looked on the verge of going back for her. I knew that would be suicide. I grabbed his hand and pulled him forward. Reluctantly, he went. My heart twisted for him. He’d lost both his loyal followers in a span of seconds.
We ran and ran, the witches right behind us. My heart pounded like a rabid wolf, and sweat dripped down from my hair to sting my eyes. Branches whipped at me. One scratched my cheek, another my arm.
“I see something,” Nevos said.
He pointed. I strained my eyes to peer through the scrolling limbs of trees, then made out a high stone wall, dark and somehow grim-looking. Towers jutted up from it at odd points.
“A castle!” I said.
“What would a castle be doing out here?”
He didn’t answer. A tree exploded to my left, and I cursed as shrapnel sliced at my arms and legs.
Suddenly, dark shapes materialized in the trees overhead. Eyes flashed, and so did sharp teeth. A weighted net spun through the air, falling right over both me and Nevos. Flailing, we collapsed to the ground, trapped.
The figures disappeared above. Moments later I heard screams and explosions from the direction of the Razor Wings. The same figures that had come after us were making short work of our attackers. Shortly the screams and shouts moved off. The Razor Wings were retreating!
“What the hell?” I said.
I turned to find Nevos’s face pressed up against mine. Our bodies were all tangled up against each other. Every time he breathed, I could feel it. Every time I breathed, he could feel it. Our lips were very close to each other.
“Who are they?” I said, my voice low. That wasn’t by design, either. I’d suddenly developed a hitch in my throat.
“I don’t know,” he said, then fingered the net. He seemed to be analyzing its construction. “I think I know this work, though.” He turned back to me. A lusty vigor lit his eyes. “You seem to have regained your strength.”
“Terror will do that.”
He grabbed the links of the net with both hands. Using all his strength, he pulled them apart. Magical energy flared, washing over him, some sort of defense. He grunted but continued
pulling.
I added my strength, ripping at the same links he was. Together, we pried the netting apart. At last it tore. Gasping, we stood. My limbs shook with exertion and my eyes still burned with sweat.
“Let’s go before they come back,” I said.
“Good—”
Before he could even complete the sentence, a ring of dark green figures emerged from the undergrowth. Jagged spears thrust at us, preventing us from leaving. Wicked wands made of bone shards gleamed with exotic magic. I stared in shock at the faces all around us.
“Goblins!” I said.
Chapter 16
“Let me handle this,” Nevos said.
“That’s right, you’ve dealt with goblins before.”
“Extensively.” To the savage green faces all around us, he said, “Who is your leader?’
A tall figure stepped forward. I recognized her instantly.
“Hela!”
Ignoring me, she cocked her right arm, then launched it at Nevos’s face. She struck him across the jaw. He absorbed the blow, then shook his head and spat.
“Maybe you don’t recognize me,” he said. “I’m the Left Claw of the Master. A high servant of the Shadow. A general of goblin hordes, deep in the councils of the Great One.”
“Oh, we recognize you,” growled Hela. She didn’t spare me a glance. To her band, she said, “Take them away!”
They laid their clawed hands on us and shoved us through the forest, in the direction of the castle we’d seen. Great, I thought. Out of the frying pan and into the fire. But what the hell was going on? Nevos was a leader of goblins, a friend to all allies of the Shadow. Or at least I’d thought so. And judging by the frown on his face, he had, too.
My gaze landed on objects mounted atop the castle walls: severed human heads on spikes, dozens of them. Flies buzzed about them.
Bile shot to the back of my mouth. I threw a glare at Hela, but she kept her eyes forward.
The goblins along the wall hooted at seeing the raiding party, if that’s what it was, return. The great black gates swung open, and the goblins of Hela’s party ushered us through the portal and into a wide muddy courtyard. Goblins went about their business all around. Most were dressed like Hela’s group—as medieval soldiers. But the armor seemed mismatched and hodgepodge. Almost more like pirates than soldiers.
Some goblins rode giant green lizards, and they came and went from a large building that was obviously a stable for the creatures. Hela’s raiding party hadn’t ridden the lizards, but others did.
Hela brought us toward a long low building with iron grates along the windows and brutish guards at every entrance. It didn’t take much imagination to see that this was some sort of prison or jailhouse. Hela jerked her head at the building, and the four goblins surrounding Nevos shoved him toward it.
“What’s the meaning of this?” he demanded. “You should be bowing to me!”
“We bow to no one,” Hela said. “Go on.”
The four goblins resumed pushing him toward the jailhouse. Nevos’s jaw bulged out, but he didn’t try to fight them. There were too many. His eyes found mine. I was surprised to realize that I was actually worried for him. I nodded at him in encouragement. A small smile tugged at his lips, then the guards hauled him away.
I turned to Hela. “Don’t I get a cell, too?”
“Do you need one? And yes, I recognize you, even without the glamour. Same clothes, same build, same hair. Same treachery.”
I blinked. “So I’m … not under arrest, or whatever?”
She jerked her head again at the members of her band, and for a moment I thought they were about to seize me and drag me to the jailhouse, too, but instead they saluted her with a thump of their fists on their chests, then broke up, each going their separate ways. She’d simply disbanded them. Now it was just her and me alone in the busy courtyard. Nevos was already out of sight in the jailhouse.
Hela fingered one of the tusks jutting from her mouth. “It was you, wasn’t it?” she said. “You struck me on the back of the head and took my sack.” Her gaze darted to the sack in question dangling from my hip. It had been attached to the utility belt.
My cheeks burned. I couldn’t remember ever being caught so badly.
“Oh, er, this?” I said, patting the sack. “I, ah, just found it … lying around.”
She held out her hand, palm up. I sighed, then unhooked the sack and placed it on her palm. She tied it back at her own waist. Damn. A bottomless sack could’ve really come in handy.
“Why did you do it?” she said.
“Why did I do it?” I echoed. I gestured around me, indicating the walls and buildings. “Why did you do it? Who are you? What is all this?” I put some anger into my tone. “You have no right to be interrogating me.”
She took a step toward me, dwarfing me with her large frame, reminding me that, here, she had all the power.
“I can interrogate you all I want,” she said. “And I have some harsh methods by which to do so.”
I swallowed. “Oh. Right. I meant that metaphorically.” I wiped some imaginary dust off her armor. “You look really cool, by the way. Have any more of those breastplates? And I like what you’ve done with your, er, scales. They’re very … shiny.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I’ll ask again, why did you attack me and steal the item?”
I sighed. “I wanted to meet a Fae Lord. I wanted to get in good with him. With them.”
She snorted. “It appears you succeeded. But obviously something went wrong.”
“Yeah. We sought out some allies that turned out not to be so friendly.” I figured it was better to tell her these things than for her to wring the information out of me. I’d had enough torture for the night. “So what now? You going to kill me?”
She jutted her chin toward the gate, which was still open. “You can go. I don’t care why you did what you did. You saved my life aboard the zeppelin. I owe you. But after this, we’re even.”
I started to take a step toward the gates, then stopped myself. I glanced toward the jailhouse. Nevos was in there somewhere, and he needed me. More than that, I needed him. And not for that reason. You have a dirty mind. No, he knew all about the knob and what Angela wanted it for. I needed to know that if I wanted to stop her.
I shuffled my feet and made myself look scared, which wasn’t a huge leap. “There are monsters out there,” I said.
“Well, duh.”
“And I’m alone and virtually unarmed. If you send me out there by myself, it’s basically a death sentence. I thought you owed me one.”
“Don’t tell me what I owe you, Jade.”
“Oh. Right. So I guess sending me off to die totally fulfills your warrior code of honor or whatever, huh?”
She stared at me. A flock of bats flew overhead, eclipsing the moon, then flew on. I waited, impatient but trying to hide it.
“Fine,” she said at last. “You can stay. At least for a time. I’ll take you to the keep and give you a room. But I’ve got to hurry. My masters will be very interested in learning who I picked up in the forest.”
“So your kind really served him in the Fae Lands?” I said as she led the way to the great stone keep dripping in moss and covered in lichen. Ornamental spikes jutted from it, and the whole thing gave off a sinister aura.
“Many of us, yes,” she said.
“But your people don’t.”
“No.”
She wasn’t being very forthcoming. I’d have to try a different tack. “Maybe we could have drinks when you get off shift. You can tell me about it.”
She didn’t say anything for a minute, then shrugged. “Maybe.”
That would have to do.
A large group of goblins drew my attention. They were shouting and hooting at something, but I couldn’t tell what. Then I realized they were arranged in a circle and that there was something in the circle. Coming closer, I saw a deep pit with smooth walls and floor. Doors had been carved into the walls. Two huge mon
sters I wasn’t familiar with, both sporting horns and tails, circled each other in the pit, occasionally launching themselves at each other. Blood flew and the goblins laughed or cursed, some exchanging money.
“A gladiator pit,” I said.
“My people have always had such sport,” Hela said, drawing me away and aiming me back toward the keep.
I shook my head. “It’s barbaric.”
“We’re goblins. ‘Barbaric’ is a good thing to us. Your soft, civilized ways disgust us.”
She brought me to the keep and showed me to a room on the second floor. The goblins quartering there seemed very interested in me, but Hela swore at them and told them to leave me alone.
“As soon as I can spare some troops, I’ll have them escort you to the edge of Shadowpark,” Hela said. “That’s the best I can do.”
“That’s fine,” I said. Of course I had no intention of leaving the castle until I had what I needed—a way to stop Angela.
The room was small and bare, but as soon as Hela was gone I gleefully threw myself on the bed. I was totally wiped out, and my eyes closed almost immediately. When I awoke I felt refreshed and my belly rumbled.
I asked some of the locals where I could get sustenance, but they just grunted at me. Luckily Hela was just getting off her shift, and she found me and brought me to a group of goblins roasting venison over a fire near one of the other keeps; there were several. She thrust a flagon of ale into my hand, and I slurped it while I ate. The meat was juicy and crunchy, and the ale washed it down just right.
“I love waking up to booze,” I said.
Hela said nothing. Overhead clouds slithered through the nighttime sky. It was always night in Shadowpark, but it made me wonder just how long I’d been in this crazy place. Davril, Ruby and my other friends were surely worried about me. I had to get out of here, fast. But first things first.
I pulled Hela away from the others and pointed to the jailhouse. “Is Nevos still alive?”
She bit into a hunk of bloody venison. “For now.” She grinned around her bite. Blood trickled over her green chin. “My superiors were very happy with me for finding him.”