by Holly Evans
I’d been expecting to be confronted with a very confused and likely aggressive man. My muscles had tensed in preparation for a fight. Instead, I was presented with something far worse.
The remains of the man were sprawled out over the expensive leather desk chair and half of the desk. Blood dripped down the window pane that covered most of the back wall and gave a full view over the zoo, over what had been the man’s domain. I stood stunned for what felt like an eternity before Logan squeezed my hand and pulled me out of it. The stone sat on a sheaf of papers on the clean side of the desk. The warm orange caught the pale afternoon light and gave the stone a soft glow. He must have held it. He must have tried to unlock his magical potential. The fool.
We approached the desk, careful not to tread in any of the blood or other fluids. I pulled on my gloves and dropped the stone into the leather bag that had been bought specifically for it. Logan went rigid as I secured the bag to my belt.
“When we said distraction, I’d pictured something slightly smaller…” he whispered.
I looked out of the windows. It took a moment for my mind to fully comprehend what I was seeing. It was complete madness down there. Groups of people were running over the manicured lawns with a pack of dire wolves after them. A cluster of harpies circled what I thought was the food area.
The sound of heavy, rapid footsteps came from outside of the office. I guessed there must have been at least four people heading our way.
“We need to go. Now,” Logan said, tugging my hand.
I wasn’t going to argue. We ran out of the room and down the hallway. Shouts came from the office as we leapt over the velvet rope. Someone screamed as we became visible again mid-leap. This was getting worse by the second.
“Call Tyn, tell him to phone Fein and get us out of here!” I shouted as we dodged around a crowd of confused tourists and ran down the stairs.
The men behind us were closing in. I wasn’t a runner, I was an alchemist. Don’t get me wrong, I keep myself fit, but everyone has their weaknesses, and mine was being a not-particularly-fast runner. A pair of men in blood-red uniforms were trying to corral shrieking women away from the doors so they could close them. Logan pulled my hand and picked up the pace. I stumbled and almost dragged us both down to the ground. My heart was pounding my chest. Fuck, we couldn’t afford to get caught. Logan barely missed a beat. He picked me up and threw me over his shoulder before he took off for the door again.
50
It wasn’t the dignified escape I’d been hoping for, but we did make it. Unfortunately, my mental celebration didn’t last all that long. Logan placed me down on the grass, where I tried to recover my balance only to be faced by a pair of dire wolves. The alchemist in me ticked off just how many uses I could make of them. Their blood would do very well in protection workings, and those teeth would make fantastic sharpening powders. Assassins and military magicians were very fond of those powders. They approached slowly. Their dense pale-grey fur didn’t hide the heavy muscles that rippled beneath. We didn’t stand a chance of out-running them and, of course, if we tried, their prey drive would kick in, causing them to hunt us down. By the gods, why couldn’t this have been simple?
Logan had frozen. He held my hand in a death grip as he stared into the dark amber eyes of the wolf closest to us.
“Hunch your shoulders and look away from them!” Tyn shouted as he jogged over to us.
Logan swallowed hard and broke his gaze. I ducked my head and hunched my shoulders some as Tyn had commanded. I watched out the corner of my eye as he calmly walked up to the wolves and ran his hand over their spines with a soft, almost affectionate smile.
“You were challenging her, she felt she had no choice but to put you in your place,” Tyn said to Logan.
He snorted and relaxed into me some.
“Come on, the guards are coming, we need to run. Erin’s waiting for us by the corvid shifter enclosure.”
Once again, we broke into a run. I reminded myself just how much Fein was going to pay me when I handed over that stone. I’d be able to afford my own very nice lab, and perhaps a nice holiday somewhere. Adventures were all very fine and good until you found yourself running for your life.
The zoo was absolute chaos. Keepers’ bodies were strewn between the now-empty enclosures. The winged beings had all taken flight. Corvid shifters were circling overhead. The sound was deafening and triggered my primal instinct to run. Agonised screams cut through cries for help and shrill whinnies from the kelpies that galloped past us. We pressed ourselves against a rough brick wall, giving the large horses room to pass. Their glistening black coats smelled of the ocean, and I wished they could return there. I watched as some poor fool was taken in by the kelpie’s spell. He smiled dumbly at the large horse and stroked its broad neck, causing it to nudge the man towards itself. The man grinned as though he’d been granted his dream and jumped on its back. The horse took off at a breakneck speed and dove into the ornamental lake that had previously had sedate row boats on it. The man didn’t stand a chance.
Tyn led the way through the mayhem. He cut through the clusters of lost and terrified tourists and wound his way between the now-broken enclosures. I focused on where I was putting my feet and tried to cut out the sounds of anguish and death around us. They had brought it on themselves. Large lumps of brick and stone clustered around the edges of the narrow pathway. Blood and intestines pooled in a small hollow where the corner of the crocotta enclosure had once been. I struggled to feel much sympathy for the victims. They had been a part of the zoo, of the horror that had been inflicted on those beings. We turned a corner to find Erin kicking a large man in the stomach, causing him to double over. She took advantage of his new position and slammed him in the back of the neck driving him to the ground. She saw us and a chill ran through me as I saw the sharp grin on her face. Gone was the sweet young woman I’d grown fond of. I remembered her words about nymphs being far more than people think.
“Come on, Kit, we’re almost there,” Logan said.
I hadn’t realised that I’d stopped. Something had made my thoughts fuzzy and called to some deeper part of my mind. I frowned, looking around for what it could possibly be, then the words became clear. The soothing song of the mermaids became crisp, drowning out the dull thud of another enclosure wall crumbling barely ten feet away. I was vaguely aware of a stranger barging past me as they fled towards safety, or the hope of safety at least. Everything felt distant as though I were underwater.
Logan was caught up in their song, too. His body had gone tense, and he stood looking at the small dirty pool with me. A large crack ran through the heavy glass of their enclosure, enough for their song to escape out into the air. I shook my head and swallowed down my fear as the song took on a sharper edge, the tone shifted from a soothing serenade to something darker. Something murderous.
Logan remained rooted to the spot, and the guards were closing in.
“Come on! We need to move!” Erin shouted.
I dug my fingernails deep into Logan’s palm and yanked on his arm, trying to drag him away. He frowned at me before his eyes cleared and he finally came back to us.
“Fuck. Sorry,” he said.
The guards began scrambling over the rubble of drake enclosure, and once again we broke into a run. We stayed close together with Tyn leading.
“Fein’s sent us a transport out of here, we just need to get through the front gate!” Tyn said.
“I never want to step foot in a zoo again,” Erin said.
I squeezed her hand and almost collided with Tyn. He had stopped dead, with the gate to freedom within sight. There was a slight problem. A group of six or so guards stood between us and our escape.
The four guards behind us had made it over the rubble and were closing in, leaving us trapped. The guards in their dark beige uniforms pulled out thick black sticks in unison. The movement added a creepiness to the proceedings. The black sticks began to crackle with pale blue and white electricity
.
“Are those lightning sticks?” I asked, shocked.
They were illegal in every city that I knew of. As the name suggests, they threw lightning at whatever the user aimed at. The jolt was enough to kill someone if they weren’t very careful. If they were careful, the victim would only get heavy burns. I stepped back and desperately looked around for an escape route. We were out-numbered and had no weapons on hand.
The smell of ozone filled the air where the guards closed in. Malice filled their faces. They were going to relish the pain they inflicted. I had no doubt they’d inflicted plenty of pain on the inhabitants of the zoo before we’d gotten there. I watched them closely, looking for weaknesses in their movements. I wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
A deafening roar came from overhead. Everyone stopped to look up. Gods be with me, a drake had decided to join in the fun. The deep green dragon was as tall as I was at the shoulder with a wingspan bigger than my entire flat. It dove down to the ground in front of us. I had no idea how to fight a drake, but I wasn’t going to roll over and die like that. Its scales showed no signs of cracks, and I couldn’t see any easy ins where I could harm it.
“We’ll go for the eyes and the stomach,” I said to Logan.
He gave a nod of understanding.
“I’ll take its back legs and try to limit its movements,” Tyn said.
“I’m quick, I’ll keep it focused on me while you attack,” Erin said.
It landed with a heavy thud and glared at the guards. They fired their cursed lightning sticks at it, apparently unaware that its scales would protect it from any such attack. The drake roared and bit the head off the closest guard. I don’t know if the guards behind us were ignoring the drake or if they really did have that bad an aim as the lightning shot just past me and hit the wall to my left, leaving a black mark.
We couldn’t take on everything at once. Fuck. Then the drake did something entirely unexpected. It lowered its wing over us and pulled us to its side where we were safe from the lightning attacks.
Tyn grinned at us. “It knows we freed it.”
He reached out and ran his fingers over the drake’s side with a reverent smile. He was crazy. The Cait Sidhe had lost his mind. We remained pressed against the drake as it roared and snapped at the guards around us. We couldn’t see what exactly was going on, as it kept its wing over us, acting as a shield. Once it lifted its wing, I saw that the guards had all been disposed of. All that remained were a few broken limbs and blood splatters. Tyn stroked the drake’s side once more and said something in a language I didn’t understand.
Erin gave it a small bow before she turned to Logan and me and said, “Come on, we need to get out while we can.”
I wasn’t going to argue, the gate was right there. I took Logan’s hand once more and sprinted as fast as I could straight to the large iron gate. Erin and Tyn were right there next to me. We’d made it out to the car park.
“Where’s this rescue team?” Logan asked.
“Kaitlyn, it’s so good to see you again,” a male voice called out.
I looked up to see the knowledge merchant ship and Liam overhead. I grinned and relief washed over me. I didn’t think I’d ever been quite so happy to see an air elemental before.
“Stand still,” Liam commanded.
A pair of crocotta stalked out of the gates at that precise moment. Their large red deer bodies stood in contrast to the thick hyena heads that watched us intently. They were intelligent and skilled killers. Every instinct screamed at me to run. I stood deathly still and hoped that Liam and the other elementals were as skilled as I remembered.
51
Small pockets of air formed underneath our feet and we rose at a sedate pace up towards the ship. The crocotta saw their prey getting away and bounded towards us, black lips pulled back to reveal sharp yellowed teeth. One of them latched onto my calf and tugged hard. The air beneath my feet thinned, and I fell down a foot. I kicked out with my other foot and unsheathed my silver kris blade.
“Kit!” Logan shouted.
The second crocotta circled around us. I was still some five feet in the air with the first crocotta hanging onto my calf. The sturdy boots were offering some protection, but I could still feel the blood running down my leg. I slashed at the creature’s face, which only caused it to clamp down harder. The second crocotta leapt at me, almost managed to latch onto my arm. I twisted away at the last second and focused my efforts on the original that was sinking its teeth deeper into my leg.
It was my life or its. I plunged my knife into its eye. It cried out in agony and released me. The air elementals wasted no time in doubling up on the air cushion, and I shot up to the ship, where Logan pulled me into his arms.
“Oh, Kit,” he whispered as he pressed his face against my neck.
I grinned at him.
“All in a day’s work,” I said with bravado I didn’t feel.
“We thought we’d lost you, and that would be a real shame,” Liam said with a broad smile.
Erin squeezed my hand, and Tyn gestured to the cabin.
“We should sit down so they can depart before more trouble finds us,” he said gently.
I nodded and hobbled into the cabin with Erin and Liam following close behind. Logan kept his arm tightly around my waist and kept himself between me and Liam. I didn’t remember him being that territorial before. Maybe it was the stress of the day. It had been one hell of a day.
It felt so good to be surrounded by magic again. I hadn’t realised just how much I revelled in the sensation of having magic around me at all times. The air felt lighter, the colours brighter, and my entire body felt more alive. It was as though I’d been drowning and finally broke the surface and was able to breathe again. I hoped I never needed to step foot in a magic-free zone again.
Much to my surprise, Liam and Tyn hugged when we got into the cabin. I didn’t think I’d seen the Cait Sidhe voluntarily make that much physical contact with someone before.
“How’ve you been?” Liam asked.
Tyn gave a small shrug and a smile before he took the seat closest to the window.
“Not bad, you?”
Liam grinned. “Business has been good.”
Tyn’s smile widened, but he didn’t say anything. Erin sat next to Tyn, and Logan helped me and sat next to her. Liam sat opposite us and stretched his arms along the back of the seats. I rolled my eyes. The dominance display was a little much.
“We should look at your leg, Kit,” Logan said.
Creases had formed around his eyes where he looked at me with concern. I was coming down from the adrenaline rush, exhaustion filling every fibre of my being.
“Let me,” Liam said as he leaned forward and reached out for my mangled boot.
“It’s fine, I can do it,” Logan said with a slight growl.
Erin held up her hand.
“I spent some time working with a healer. I’ll patch her up,” she said firmly.
I didn’t miss the amusement that filled Tyn’s expression as Erin stared the guys down, daring them to argue with her.
Liam reached behind his seat and handed Erin a large red box, a full life magician healing kit. Erin placed it on her lap and gently helped me tug my boot off.
“They were my favourite boots,” I said with a frown.
They’d been with me through many adventures. I’d miss those boots.
Erin’s touch was gentle and efficient as she cut away my jeans and inspected the bite. The crocotta’s teeth had sunk deeper into my muscle than I’d realised. My pale skin was painted red with blood. The pain was beginning to cut through the fog in my mind when Erin began applying the vivid green paste. A cooling sensation spread over my leg, and I smiled. The wound would be healed by the time we reached Prague. Magic was a wonderful thing.
52
I couldn’t fight off the exhaustion for very long. It had been such a long day. I closed my eyes for one brief moment. The next thing I knew, Erin was waking
me up from a deep and dreamless sleep.
“We’re home,” she said with a bright smile.
I frowned. “What about Logan?”
“I’m working for Fein, remember?” Logan said as he helped me stand.
“You’re staying here in Prague tonight?” I asked.
Tyn looked between me and Logan and smirked. I glared at him.
“Why do I get the impression that someone’s withholding information?” I asked.
Tyn shook his head. “I’m innocent.”
“Bullshit you are,” I muttered to myself.
He gave me an amused smile and walked past me out onto the deck, where the crew greeted him with smiles and friendly jokes.
Liam and the crew formed their air cushions and helped us down to the ground, where one of Fein’s cars was waiting for us. I regretted not taking my good boot off as I walked the short distance to the car. I felt like an idiot with one leg bare from the knee down, and the other clad in jeans and a boot.
“I’m sure the driver doesn’t mind,” Erin said with a smile and a nudge.
I laughed.
“I loved those boots,” I said.
“Think of it as a new adventure,” she said.
I laughed again and climbed into the back of the car. My hand reflexively went to the leather bag with the stone in it. I hadn’t dared touch it while on the airship for fear of the knowledge merchants asking questions. They seemed to work closely with Fein, but they were what they were.
Tyn had led us through the complicated hallways of Fein’s home to his desk. The elf greeted us with a large grin, which faltered for a brief second when Tyn rubbed his thumb over the elf’s inner wrist as he walked past him. Fein’s gaze followed Tyn as he walked across the office and shifted into his cat form before he took up his usual spot on the elf’s desk. I didn’t miss the way Fein relaxed as he watched his Cait Sidhe. Logan rubbed his thumb over my hip, drawing my attention to him.