by S. M. Boyce
“If only we had bait,” the queen muttered.
“Bait?” Victoria asked, voice hushed.
Angelique nodded. “Something the creature couldn’t resist. Something we could use to lure it away from the Rhazdon Artifact.”
With a horrifying pang, Victoria looked over her shoulder at Audrey. Audrey perked up and almost instantly narrowed her eyes, their universal expression for, Stop what you’re thinking right now.
Styx flitted over and landed on Victoria’s shoulder as her plan began to form.
Man, Audrey was going to be pissed.
CHAPTER 25
Perched at the edge of the tunnel, Audrey took a deep breath. She tensed herself to run, absolutely astonished at what she was about to do.
Namely, who she was about to trust.
“Are you sure about this, V?” Audrey asked, without glancing over her shoulder at the horde of wizards who all wanted her dead.
“Were you to die, I would avenge you in a heroic fashion.”
Audrey glared at her friend. “I’m not joking around here.”
Victoria sighed, equally tense. “I know you don’t like the idea of trusting them.” She nodded back at the queen and her four dozen elite soldiers, all of whom knelt as though they were in a race against each other, merely waiting for the starting gun.
“Yeah, that sums it up pretty well.”
“Diesel and Fyrn will also be out there. The sphinx wants you, Audrey, and it’s going to go after you first regardless. Everyone is going to be looking out for you, trying to confuse and overwhelm it.”
“Everyone but you.”
Victoria set a comforting arm on Audrey’s shoulder, and Audrey regretted her outburst almost instantly.
They didn’t need to say anything, but Audrey did anyway. “I’m sorry. I know you have the hardest job. You’re going for the kill.”
“The sphinx will not kill you, Audrey. I’ll make sure of it.”
“What about the wizards back there? They want to.”
“They won’t. They don’t want to go to war with me.”
Audrey nearly blew a raspberry. “Do they know you were a cashier at a grocery store? Scary things, plastic bags.”
Victoria chuckled. “That’s not who I am anymore, is it?”
Audrey smiled. “No, I guess not. You’re a big bad host.”
“As are you, Audrey. The Lochrosians might not want to go to war with me, but they also don’t want this sphinx down here anymore. They’ll stay on task. Don’t worry. I don’t want to lose you, and I wouldn’t ask you to do this without knowing you can pull it off. When you go out there I’m going to do everything in my power to keep you safe, even if you can’t see me.”
“Good, because if I die I’m going to haunt the ever-loving fuck out of you.”
With that, Audrey bolted down the path toward the beast’s inner lair, putting all her trust in the best friend she had followed into the depths of the Earth time and time again.
The sphinx roared from somewhere deep within the cavern, and Audrey set her face in grim determination as it descended upon her. She would likely have to focus all her energy on running, but she would get in as many shots at the massive beast as she could.
After all, she couldn’t let Victoria have all the fun.
***
It was chaos.
Fyrn raced along the edges of the battle as the sphinx snapped at the soldiers surrounding its feet. One eye still swollen shut from Victoria’s attack, the monster kept looking for Audrey in the chaos of wizards and spells blasting at its face.
In its fury, the massive creature did almost nothing but scream. The thundering shrieks shook the walls, dislodging boulders that rolled into the cavern. Its tail and wings thrashed, knocking stalactites to the ground and flattening anything beneath its feet.
Several wizards lay dead, giant gashes in their torsos or whole limbs missing from the rampage. Regardless, the small army soldiered on. With every blow, the creature protected its neck either by tucking its chin toward its chest or blatantly holding up a claw.
Despite their best efforts and several dead soldiers, the sphinx had yet to give even an inch.
Fyrn muttered an ancient spell, one he hadn’t been able to use in decades because it was too powerful, and aimed his staff at the creature’s face. Brilliant red light shot from the crystal in its tip like a supernova exploding through the sky, and it smacked perfectly against the sphinx’s temple.
Eyes squeezed shut, body tensing, back arched, the monster howled in pain. The blood red light of Fyrn’s spell burrowed beneath its skin, and boils festered instantly around its face. Flailing, the creature fell back against the cliff wall. The cavern shook with the thunderous impact.
In its agony, the sphinx lifted one palm to its face and exposed the all-too-vulnerable neck.
This was Victoria’s game now. They had set the stage, but it was up to her to deal the final blow.
CHAPTER 26
Victoria skidded on the ground, ducking a swipe from the monster’s claw by inches. She rolled, checking the sphinx to get a feel for its focus, but it didn’t notice her.
Not far ahead, the thin streams of golden light she had been eyeing for so long were finally within reach. The beams illuminated a single pillar, on which sat the tiniest figurine she had ever seen. The small bear had been carved from a dark stone and had red gemstone eyes that glimmered in the light.
Finally.
She snatched it off the pedestal, and the ground beneath her shook. At first she thought perhaps it was a trap, one she had triggered when she moved the Rhazdon Artifact, but then she realized the thundering earthquake was coming from behind her.
They were footsteps.
The sphinx bared its teeth as it charged her, boils covering its once-smooth face and one eye swollen shut.
God, this thing was ugly.
Victoria barely had time to roll out of the way. It bit into the rock behind her, its massive jaws crunching through the stone as though it were paper.
Victoria scrambled to her feet and stuffed the Rhazdon Artifact in her pocket. Audrey and Fyrn nursed an injured Diesel. She waved them on, urging them to get to higher ground, but Audrey ran toward her.
The sphinx’s massive wings stretched out as it growled, ready to pounce on her, and the wings crashed into the walls around it. Boulders fell from the cave walls high above, smashing against the ground. Every impact threw Victoria off balance, and it was all she could do to stay on her feet.
Audrey skidded to a halt, trying to dodge the rocks as they fell. To her horror, Victoria saw one falling directly for Audrey, which she didn’t seem to see. Over the thundering crash of the cave-in, she couldn’t yell for her friend’s attention.
No. No!
In a last-minute move inspired by panic and desperation, Victoria threw her shield at Audrey. The flat face of the magical shield hit Audrey hard enough to knock her out of range even as the sphinx’s paw landed hard on Victoria’s leg. The claw dug into her and searing pain ripped up her thigh. She couldn’t suppress the scream that erupted from her chest.
The rocks began to pile up, and she hoped against hope that her shield had saved Audrey. All the Rhazdon Artifacts in the world would mean nothing if even one of them cost her the life of someone she loved.
***
Audrey’s arms were about to give out. Hips on the ground, she heaved upward in a pathetic attempt at a pushup while she tried to stand. At first she thought maybe her legs were crushed, trapped beneath one of the boulders., but then she realized she was pinned beneath Victoria’s shield.
Audrey lifted the shield as best she could, since her muscles weren’t as accustomed to the heavy thing as Victoria’s. When she finally wrestled free of it, she scanned the rubble. The alcove that had held the pedestal was now filled with stones. Audrey couldn’t even see the rays of light anymore.
“Victoria!” Audrey began to scrape at the massive pile of rocks, as if that would do anything. N
ot a single one moved.
A warm hand rested on her shoulder, and she spun to find Fyrn. Behind him the queen’s army nursed their wounds, and one of their medics was healing Diesel. He sucked in a sharp breath as the gaping hole in his shoulder closed.
“Fyrn, we have to help,” Audrey said, trying again to dig through the rocks.
“This is still the sphinx’s cave, Audrey. There’s not a thing we can do to get through the rock until she kills it.”
“You’re going to give up, just like that?”
The old wizard chuckled. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m probably more stubborn than you are.”
Audrey sniffled in gratitude, utterly unwilling to admit she had been close to tears. “Nowhere close.”
Utterly exhausted from the battle, Audrey knew she didn’t have the energy left for any more of her Atlantean attacks. Instead, she resumed digging while he aimed spell after spell at the wall. A moment later Diesel joined them, and the trio did what they could.
***
On the other side of the wall, Victoria wrestled for her life.
The sphinx batted her around like a plaything, but thanks to her healing ability she was nearly back to peak health. It snarled, tail curling like a cat’s.
As the final twinge of her latest injury faded, she cleared her mind and summoned her shield to her. She waited for the familiar weight in her palm, and smiled gratefully when it came.
The creature growled, the low click in the back of its throat almost a purr as it crouched for another attack. Shield now in hand, she lifted it seconds before the monster pounced. Claws scraped across the metal shield, not even denting the magical metal.
Thwarted, the sphinx paced around the alcove, barely large enough to fit. It ducked its head several times as it sized her up, the one good eye roaming Victoria’s body as it no doubt searched for weaknesses.
Adrenaline poured through every vein in Victoria’s body. Despite her exhaustion from the ordeal in Lochrose, she was ready for this. She would fight till her last breath if she had to, in order to kill this thing.
The sphinx would die tonight.
She dismissed her shield and instead summoned a sword. Apparently sensing a vulnerability, the creature lunged and bit at her head. Victoria ducked the fatal blow and dug her sword deep into its ankle. The creature teetered, limping as blood gushed from the wound.
They danced like this for what felt like ages. With every swing of her blade, Victoria’s shoulders slouched a little more. With every roar from the monster, her ears rang a little louder. With every scrape of claws along the rock, fatigue ate a little more into Victoria’s brain.
She was nearing her limit.
The beast’s teeth and claws caught her time and time again. The claws ripped off her sleeves and tore a gash in her abdomen. A trail of blood down her temple nearly obscured her vision several times. With each passing second, her defenses got worse.
To her horror, Victoria was losing.
“You are mine,” the monster hissed.
“I like being single,” she said, her voice rough and crackly. “I think we should just stay friends.”
It frowned and chomped at her head, and she barely rolled out of the way in time. Through sheer will, she managed to keep her sword in her hand.
Panting, aching, her energy fading fast, Victoria stared at the creature. It coiled as if about to land its death strike, and Victoria wondered if this was how she would die.
Bloody.
Beaten.
Alone.
Like King Bornt.
Luak’s doing, no doubt. He had battered Fairhaven into submission and enslaved its ruler out of spite. Luak was at the center of all of this. All the pain, all the hatred, and all the death.
The hate and rage for everything Luak had done lit a fire within her she had thought could shine no brighter.
Her parents hadn’t died for her to end up as a sphinx’s dinner. Fairhaven would never succumb to a monster like Luak. Innocent humans and Oricerans alike would no longer die simply because Luak wanted something from them.
And she, Victoria Brie, would not die today.
The coiled sphinx attacked with all the ferocity of a lion, and Victoria was ready. She aimed her sword at the monster’s exposed neck and, wounded as it was, the sphinx never saw it coming.
The blade dug in all the way to the hilt, and the monster gurgled as blood pooled in its mouth. It fell to the ground with a crash, and Victoria barely got out of the way.
Even in its death throes the creature tried to rip into her, but its claws retracted involuntarily. Slowly, agonizingly, the life faded from its eyes.
It could no longer hurt anyone.
Exhausted and not quite thinking straight, Victoria lifted the little figurine and studied it. All this blood, all this danger for something so small. She held it to her exposed abdomen, grateful this was over.
As the sphinx’s head slumped to the ground and it finally died, an excruciating pain tore through her body. Tears burned in her eyes. She fell to her knees, unable to stem the scream that burst from her. Her body convulsed, and she fell backward as the world rumbled around her. It was as though the rocks in the ceiling above were tumbling toward her, and she welcomed death if it would only stop this pain.
***
Two hands lifted her into a soft and warm lap. Victoria tried to open her eyes, but everything hurt.
Why do I hurt so much? She shouldn’t hurt at all, not with the Rhazdon Artifact in her arm. It could heal her.
“Victoria?” an echoing voice asked.
Shit, had the sphinx learned her name?
Her pain-addled mind took a moment to remember that the sphinx was dead. Someone else was calling her. She struggled to open her eyes, but she couldn’t. She rested her head against whoever held her and let the darkness take her.
CHAPTER 27
Victoria had no idea how long she slept, but she loved every minute of it.
When she finally woke, she was in an ornate bed similar to the queen’s. Though her room was smaller, the round design reminded her very much of the room she had snuck into not that long ago.
She sat up, scanning the room for clues as the sheer golden blanket fell down her torso. Two chairs flanked a massive window overlooking the golden Lochrose City courtyard. A green gown had been draped over one chair, while pants and a white shirt reposed, neatly folded, in the seat of the other.
Her head ached, and she willed her magic to cure it. The flow of energy from her Rhazdon Artifact obeyed, and the pain slowly ebbed.
“Now you’ve done it,” Shiloh said, suddenly standing behind her.
Victoria only jumped a little, and she was too tired to care about his attitude. “What did I do?”
“We have company,” he said with a nod to the window. “Forever.”
Victoria followed his gaze to find an elvish woman standing by the window. Her hand rested against the pane, and the faint outline of the city beyond was visible through the ghostly silhouette of her wiry frame.
“It’s been so long,” the light elf said softly.
“What’s your name?” Victoria stood, noting that she was dressed in a nightgown. Since she had a Rhazdon ghost to tend to, she chose not to question who had changed her clothes just then.
The elf spun on her heel and smiled warmly, caringly. “Elle. I’m so glad you found me. That dumb cat licked my Artifact for centuries. Licked it, Victoria! I wanted to kill it!”
For a terrifying instant the elf’s sweet face twisted in a horrifyingly distorted expression rife with anger and rage. Exaggerated wrinkles covered her temples and cheeks, and jagged teeth protruded suddenly from her mouth. Her eyes went blood-red, and she grew a foot taller.
As quickly as she had gone evil, the little elf was sweet and small again. “We’re going to be great friends!”
Victoria froze, shocked and not quite sure how to respond to the outburst. “Uh huh.”
The elf giggled and disappeared into
thin air. With a bored sigh, Shiloh did the same.
Victoria absently scratched her chest as she stared out the window. Her finger touched a sensitive area, and she glanced down at a few black swirls of a tattoo she had never gotten.