“I have to fight.”
I glanced over to Alric and Flarinen, neither were paying attention to anything but their task, and their chanting was louder now. “Let them do what they can.” An idea struck me. “Help me and the others move all of our stuff toward the door.”
The knight looked at the flames once more, before racing down the stairs.
Together we got all of the knights to move everything we could near the door. I made sure to keep Alric’s collection of scary fabric wrapped objects near me. I didn’t really think one of the knights would try to open them. Then again, stranger things had happened.
Alric and Flarinen both raised their voices, and the flames shot down the stairs. The timber they left behind was scorched but not destroyed as it would have been had normal fire been sitting on wood that long.
The flames engulfed both elves. The knights and I all rushed forward, but I stopped and pulled back the nearest knight. One thing I had learned about magic, don’t mess when someone else was spell casting. “Wait, look. They aren’t being burned.”
Sure enough, the flames were advancing around Alric and Flarinen but not touching them. Judging by the looks on both faces, their spell casting was at full force, and although we couldn’t hear them, it was clear they were both yelling the words now. The wind from the magic-fueled flames pulled at their hair and clothing.
The flames grew thicker and swirled faster, completely obscuring the two elves. My grip on the knight I had grabbed was slipping, but it was from my end, not him pulling away. What good was becoming a magic user if I had to watch this happen?
I was trying to search my limited repertoire of spells for something that might work when the flames dropped suddenly, and then vanished.
“We have to get out of here, now.” Flarinen looked exhausted and it almost appeared that he and Alric leaned on each other.
“The fire has stopped, but daybreak isn’t upon is. We can’t go out there.” The knight I was still holding onto, whom I let go once I realized it, spoke up.
Flarinen pointed up.
Crap. While the flames had appeared to only singe the wood, that wasn’t their lingering effect. Unlike real fire, the destruction wasn’t immediate, but the result was the same. The roof and the top part of the loft were crumbling into ash. The singe marks went all the way down the stairs and were creeping toward the front of the building, even in places no flames had reached. It wouldn’t be long before the entire building collapsed.
The three pops behind me were very welcome sounds.
This time, each faery had busted through the door, and all three left holes to mark their passage. Either the sealing spell had weakened, or they had gotten stronger in the last few hours. Neither was a happy scenario.
Alric took my hand. “The fire spell destroyed your sealing spell.”
Nice to know everything I thought popped up on my face. I really needed to work on that.
“We go now.” Garbage looked a bit frazzled, something I never saw on her. “Now!” She went from frazzled to pissed almost immediately, which at least was her more natural condition.
I wasn’t going to argue with her, not after all I’d seen lately. I grabbed my pack and the one that had the obsidian chimera and started for the door.
Alric was near the door, but he didn’t try to stop me. Flarinen did.
“We can’t go out there.” He wasn’t moving.
“You just said we needed to!” I waved my hand in the air above me. The rapidly opening sky above us.
The faeries bounced around in the air, clearly agitated.
“That was before they arrived. Again. How do you know this isn’t a trap? These might not even be faeries.” He flung a hand toward Leaf Grub and missed her by inches.
No one messed with my faeries—ever.
“Crusty Bucket, sing for the nice man.”
Crusty had been flittering about but stayed still to focus on my words. A huge grin hit her face and before I could change my mind, she burst into a rousing and horrifying rendition of the dancing minkies song.
The knight closest to her dropped to his knees and clutched his ears almost immediately.
Considering I’d had to suffer through the elves’ horrible singing for ten harrowing nights, I couldn’t figure out why Crusty’s song was so bad for him.
Although, judging by the rest of the knights, he wasn’t the only one, just the first one to collapse.
“I can vouch that these are her faeries!” Alric yelled over the warbling.
Not to be left out, Garbage and Leaf flew up to where Crusty hovered in the air and joined in. Maybe it was because I hadn’t heard them sing in a while or maybe they were really trying—but their singing was worse than ever. I still wasn’t sure what a minkie was, but at this point if I saw one, I’d probably kill it just to make the girls stop singing about them.
“Enough! Make them stop!” Flarinen yelled as two more knights dropped to their knees.
“Girls, cut it out.” I raised my voice, but they were deliberately not hearing me. “Girls, knock it off or I’ll make sure Harlan never gives you chocolate again!” I’m sure there were worse threats, I couldn’t think of one with my brain being rattled out of my ears.
Garbage stopped first, then Leaf, and then they both grabbed Crusty and covered her mouth.
“Thank you,” I said to all three. I spun to Flarinen. “I’d advise you to make sure your people know of this threat. They listen to me, but treat any of us badly while we’re in your enclave and I’ll let them loose.” I leaned forward as he bent to help his knight up from the ground. “And they can do far worse.”
I hadn’t enjoyed the painful serenade, but it might come in handy. I had no idea how much we would all be at the mercy of the knights and the rest of the elves inside this enclave. One of the reasons I’d agreed to go with Flarinen and his men and not fight back in the first place was to keep my friends safe. Them following us made that a bit more difficult. Moreover, I couldn’t send them off with whatever was lurking around out there hunting them.
Flarinen nodded and gathered his belongings in silence.
“We go now. Cat waiting.” Crusty flew to the door and popped out. She didn’t use the holes they came in through, but a new one. Not that it mattered at this point. If the mist spellcaster wanted us, the entire top and upper level sides of the building were gone.
A rattling came toward the door. “Taryn? If you’re ready, we’re bringing the wagons close. We’ve got protection on the wagons, but you’ll be at risk until you’re inside. Half of you dive into the first one, half into the second.” Harlan sounded far away but it was only because a horrific wind had also just picked up outside. It sent pieces of the disintegrating building on our heads. As if we needed one more reason to flee.
Everyone in the crumbling smithy looked ready to run. The knights all had their helmets on as well. Not that it had saved their companion yesterday, but it might make them feel better.
“We’re coming out now,” I yelled, then Alric and I shoved open the doors and ran into a gale windstorm. And two oddly altered wagons. Both had their doors open, but the doors and windows were covered in some square brass metal pieces chained together. The reins were drawn through a hole in the back of the driver’s seat, and it was a bit disturbing to see no drivers guiding the horses. A faint chanting could be heard, and I had a feeling Orenda was behind our winds. It was going to be a lot harder for whoever cast that killer mist spell to attack with these gusts.
I didn’t look around, I just ran and dove.
Alric and three of the knights tumbled in after me, and Leaf and Crusty pulled shut the door. A slam told me the rest had made it into the second wagon.
The wagon was designed for three, maybe four, people. Instead we had eight. Harlan was squished up front clutching the reins and peering through a brick-sized hole to try to keep the horses moving the right direction. Orenda, Tag, myself, Alric, and three of the knights made up the rest. We had hal
f of the faeries, Garbage most likely keeping the other half with her in the second wagon to keep an eye on things over there.
“I thought I told you to go back to Beccia,” I said to Harlan.
“We decided that there was no way you two would get through this unharmed. That was confirmed when we passed Kenithworth and saw the troop of syclarions on your trail. We picked up Locksead and came after you. Covey is keeping an eye on him in the next wagon.” Harlan didn’t turn around as he spoke. With his large, furry bulk I wasn’t sure he could turn around, packed in as we all were. Chatalings looked like giant bipedal cats and were not fond of tight quarters.
I closed my eyes. So not only had they not listened to me, and undone what I had sacrificed myself for, they’d picked up the lead con man to join them. Granted, these were his wagons, but he most likely stole them from someone else to begin with.
I gave up on Harlan, and judging by the look on her face, Orenda completely backed him. She looked a lot more ragged than she had ten days ago, but part of it could have been the wind spell. Alric hadn’t taught me weather-changing spells. He said he could manage to cast weaker ones, but it took a natural aptitude he didn’t have and took far more out of the spellcaster than another similar level spell.
“Good idea on the wind spell, by the way.” Alric tried to adjust himself to not sit on a knight’s lap and yet not be sitting on Orenda.
Even though she knew Alric was not Carlon, and she must have an idea how I felt about him, Orenda still blushed and looked down at his compliment.
Granted, he was impressive with his non-glamoured elven self showing, but still. It was annoying. Moreover, it served as a reminder that we were going into a place where everyone looked like Orenda and Alric—and no one looked like me.
“Thank you.” Harlan was peering through his peephole to steer the horses, so he’d missed Orenda’s reaction. “I figured something of the like might be able to counteract the red fog death spell for a brief time. Luckily, our fair Orenda is a talented spellcaster.”
That shook Orenda out of her Alric worship for a bit. I still wasn’t sure what the relationship was between her and Harlan, but something was there. It would be interesting to see how it held up in a new land filled with unknown and powerful elves.
“I’m glad it worked. The spellcaster was behind the yellow house across from the barn. He, or she, hadn’t moved since we arrived, but I felt their power.” Her shudder told me all I needed to know about that. It also said a lot about the difference in magic users. That she could feel the person, yet I knew neither Alric nor I could. I’d assume Flarinen couldn’t either since he seemed to be in magic user denial.
The window curtains were closed, but the odd pieces of metal on them were clanging along as we rolled forward.
“What are those?” I hadn’t had time to really see what they were, but it seemed odd they’d had chunks of metal hanging around.
“Those were my idea,” Tag said with a huge smile.
It had only been ten days since I’d seen him, but he already seemed far more relaxed. And younger. Tag had been one of Locksead’s thieves, but he’d drifted over to our side and seemed to be staying. I still didn’t know more about his past other than he’d come from the south, same as my absentee digging patroness, Qianru, and had been a houseboy for a major household. Someday he’d trust us enough to tell the rest.
“Harlan had all these metal bits hidden away with his stuff, and I figured maybe they would block them from seeing inside the wagons.”
I had a bad feeling about those pieces now.
“Random pieces of metal? Cut into neat little squares?” I held up my hands in a five-inch square pattern and shared a frown with Alric. Harlan had gone on this trip, not to mention the much longer one from Beccia, with sarcophagus pieces, and a lot of them, judging by the noise, on his person?
“Yes, yes, yes,” Harlan said without turning around. “You know what they are. Yes, I shouldn’t have brought them, yes, I feel bad. But look how handy they were.”
The three knights with us had been mostly trying to ignore the extreme attack on their personal space. One of them had more curiosity than I was sure was allowed for them. “What are they, sir?”
Harlan didn’t even have to turn around for me to know that the young knight was now going to be his favorite. Asking about something he knew of, as well as calling him sir? He’d probably find a way to adopt the knight before the week was out.
“Well, you see—”
“They are artifacts of little value.” Alric cut Harlan off. “Refuse from a dig that Harlan likes to keep with him for sentimental reasons.”
Harlan kept quiet, but I noticed a new hunch to his shoulders.
I agreed with Alric. The less people knew about our finds, at least until we knew for sure who was on our side, the better. That there might be a very high-level traitor or traitors within the elven enclave made things worse. We’d need to pull those sarcophagus pieces off the wagons the minute we got through this passageway.
“For the city of my people, you can only enter at the start of day, and only through the right passage,” Orenda said so demurely, I had to look twice to see it was her. Even Harlan glanced over his shoulder. “I presume it is the same with your enclave, good knight?”
Not good. She was going from high lord worship to knight worship. Her tribe might not even have knights.
“Yes.” It was the overly curious one who answered. He ignored the glares the other two shot at him. “We appear to be heading the correct direction, but I would need to see the exact path.”
Which wouldn’t happen unless Harlan gave up the reins. This knight seemed like the others, younger than most, but still one of them. What if that stockpile of Dark weapons and spell books had been meant for one of Flarinen’s men? We still had no idea what had happened to the people—knights and spies, it appeared—who had been living in the village. What would happen if we deliberately entered the passage incorrectly?
“I can lead him in,” Alric said with a nod to the knight.
There was a tightness around Alric’s eyes that made me think he was reaching the same conclusions I was. Most likely whoever laid down those weapons was not part of this group, but we couldn’t take the chance.
“Oh, very good,” Orenda said. “In my city, a missed attempt sets off some horrific spells.”
Alric made his way, with much rearranging of the entire wagon full of people, to the front and took the reins from an annoyed Harlan. “Same here. It’s not something we want to leave to chance.”
The horses began to slow down. Now, I had no idea if our rebel magic user was thwarted by the wagons and sarcophagus pieces, or if they were injured, unconscious, or just waiting until the last minute to zap us.
“Why are we slowing?” Harlan might have released the reins, but he was still right next to Alric.
“It’s not time yet,” Alric’s voice was low, but it was most likely because of the way he had to contort himself to see through the opening and the awkward way of holding the reins. “We have to go on the exact path, but also at the correct moment. If I time it wrong, we have to wait until tomorrow.”
I wanted to grab Harlan to make him stop bugging the nice man who was going to save us from the flesh-eating mist. But I was squished up against two knights now and movement was impossible.
“You have to make sure that the sunrise is precisely—”
“I know.” Alric cut the knight off with enough annoyance to silence the entire wagon.
Everyone stayed silent, even when Alric brought us to a complete halt. We’d been close enough to dawn when this started that this wait seemed unnaturally long, then Alric shouted some elvish words, slapped the reins the best he could with their odd positions, and we jerked forward.
I heard the wagon behind us do the same, but I hoped they were as fast as Alric. Who was I kidding, most likely Locksead was driving. We’d be lucky if he didn’t pass us.
Everyone tumbled
into everyone else, and I think the knight I fell into was more embarrassed about where our bodies ended up than I was. It was nice to know that they were all as well built as they looked.
Alric’s yells to the horses took on a frantic pace and I was afraid the poor wagon was going to fall apart at the seams. The clangs of the metal on the windows were so loud I think they heard them in Beccia. I began to wonder if we were even going to make it.
The horses ran even faster. A jolt slammed into my body and I passed out.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Judging by the way I was still being flung about, or would be if I wasn’t pinned in by the two knights, I hadn’t been out for more than a moment or two. The wagon was starting to slow down, but the groans from all those around me told me I wasn’t the only one who’d lost consciousness. Alric was still hunched at the front but was slowing the horses, and his yelling had changed to murmurings.
“Was that supposed to happen? Or did we miss the path?” It felt like I was speaking at the far end of a long narrow tube. All of my nerves hurt and my ears were ringing.
“That shouldn’t have happened, and no we didn’t miss the path.” Alric slowed the horses to a stop. “But whoever tried to come in with us didn’t make it and caused that jolt.” He pushed his way to the door before we could ask questions.
We looked ridiculous I’m sure, as we all fell out after him, too anxious to get out of the vehicle to care how that happened.
The second wagon was coming to a halt, the horse looking a bit wild around the eyes but seemingly happy it was over. If one could tell what a horse was thinking, anyway. Alric patted the horse and then continued to the second wagon. The door opened as we walked by, and as much as I wanted to see Covey, I wanted to see what Alric was looking at more.
The back of the wagon was singed in an odd, smoking pattern. I peered closer but pulled back when I heard a gasp coming from the others.
The Sapphire Manticore (The Lost Ancients Book 4) Page 8