by Lee French
Claire nodded. Hurt, but don’t kill. With luck, everyone would keep their sprites when the Palace fell. That would mean they all could heal whatever happened today. She hoped with all her heart that would be the case. Thinking she’d killed two people by accident had been the worst few hours of her life. Knowing she’d killed many more here on purpose would be even worse.
“Dragons!” she ordered. “Cause mayhem.”
“No killing!” Enion trilled as he led the dragons to the stairwell. They evaded swinging swords on their way and set one man’s hair on fire.
Justin slammed his bat into a Knight’s gut while Khalil parried his sword with the crowbar. Drew summoned mist snakes and sent them to wrestle with men closing from behind. Rondy charged forward with a wordless war cry, unaffected by the floor’s rolling.
Claire surged forward with leaps. Drew and Mutt scrambled to follow her. They reached Avery as he punched the barrel of his shotgun into a man’s face and ducked to avoid a counter-blow. Justin and Khalil stood shoulder to shoulder, fighting the men trying to rush them. Rondy surged past to fight men farther up the hallway. Caius couldn’t affect the floor with precision, it seemed, because the fight took place on stable ground for everyone.
“We need to get to the Thoroughfare,” Claire announced. She flinched as Khalil’s blood spattered across her face from a gash in his arm.
The doorway to the stairs snapped shut and the light died. Men shouted in surprise.
“I guess he heard me.”
“Yes,” Avery said. “This may be a very short incursion.”
Claire remembered her Ordeal. It might not work here, but she’d never know if she didn’t try. She dropped to the floor and slammed her butcher knife into the stone with fervent demand for it to let her through. The floor gave way and she fell to another hallway, this one with lights and the doorway to the stairs open.
Hopping to her feet, Claire ran for the doorway. Before she reached it, the stones pushed together. She glared and gripped her knife to hit the floor again. Drew jumped down through the hole she’d made and Mutt followed him. The door beside her jerked open and a Knight who reminded her of a Viking stepped out in steel chain armor and a red cloak. He raised a thick-headed axe, resting it on his shoulder.
His face twisted into a pained grimace. Though his mouth made Scandinavian sounds, Claire heard him in English. “Why is the Palace trying to kill my head more than usual?” He offered her a hand to get to her feet.
“Long story.”
The door opposite his opened and another Knight in full armor leaped out at Claire. The Viking parried the blow that would’ve hacked into her shoulder.
“Nicholas?” the Viking asked. “What are you doing?” He shoved Claire aside and launched into battle with the other Knight.
Drew and Mutt reached the fight with no way to slip through. Claire pointed behind Drew so he’d see Justin dropping through the hole with Khalil and Avery behind them. As soon as he turned to look, she ran to the sealed doorway. Falling from floor to floor might work, but she could also punch through walls and get to the stairs. Caius might expect that. She had to believe he couldn’t focus on an infinite number of things at once.
She slammed her knife into the wall and yelped as it hit solid stone. Mist flowed around her and cleared with everyone except Rondy standing in the stairwell. Distant shouting, screaming, and roaring drifted up from the ground floor.
“You’re handy,” Avery said.
Drew grinned. “Thanks.”
Justin took the lead running down the stairs. He shoved a man aside at the next landing and kept going. Claire hurried in the middle with Drew, Rondy, and Avery behind her, feeling like all these men had made an agreement to protect her when she wasn’t listening. Though she appreciated the effort, they reminded her how little skill she had and how easily any of these Caius-controlled Knights could defeat her.
If she wound up by herself, she’d be screwed.
Chapter 33
Claire
The stairs collapsed into a slide. Without everything else going on, Claire could’ve enjoyed the ride. They slid in a clump around the central pillar. Khalil tried to jam the claw of his crowbar into a seam in the stones. Before he succeeded, Justin swore from the front.
Only a second later, Claire saw the doorway to the Thoroughfare sealing itself shut and growing spikes. Once again, mist surrounded them. When it cleared, they sat on the other side of the doorway.
The dragons had followed her order and caused mayhem.
Fire filled the Thoroughfare, licking up the stone walls and billowing in great flaming geysers. Several men patted their clothing to put flames out. Others crawled as they healed cracked, charred flesh, inching away from four full-sized dragons facing a dozen Knights with swords and metal shields.
Justin scrambled to his feet and brandished his bat. “Drew, can you protect us from fire?”
Drew gulped and cringed away from the flames. “Maybe? I don’t really have fine control over it yet. And the more I use my mist, the less I’ll have when we reach Caius.”
“The fire isn’t Caius’s doing,” Khalil said. “We can use the power of the Palace to protect against it.”
Claire looked around at the Palace’s accidental burn ward and snorted. “Yeah, that’s working really well for all these guys.”
One dragon grabbed a Knight with its jaws and flung him. Another dragon smacked two Knights into each other with a claw, shoving them aside. Enion galloped into sight, head down, and rammed four knights from behind. They slammed into the wall and landed in a tangled heap.
“No killing!” Enion announced with a proud trill. “Give rides.” He pointed for the other dragons and rushed to Claire’s side.
“Hey partner,” Claire said. She tried not to feel sorry for these men. They’d all be fine within a few minutes. Probably. She had to believe they’d all be fine or she’d have to give up to stop all this pain. Climbing onto Enion’s back, she mustered a smile for him. At her gesture, Drew clambered up behind her.
For a moment, everything disappeared while Drew wrapped his arms around her waist and held her close. People loved her and showed it. She had something to fight for besides right and wrong.
Reality crashed back down far too fast for her liking.
Enion slapped aside a Knight and loped down the Thoroughfare without waiting for the others. He burst through the wall of fire and kept going. Surprised men leaped out of the way, proving Caius hadn’t anticipated the group splitting up. Hopefully, it also meant he couldn’t divide his attention. “Where?”
“Just keep going,” Claire said. She had to think. To get someplace in the Thoroughfare, they had to want to arrive there. The problem? If she wanted to reach Caius’s demesne, she came up against Caius’s fervent wish for her not to find it. His will trumped hers. She had to focus on a clever way to wriggle into his backyard.
Cleverness part one formed in her mind. “We have to get to Caius’s demesne!” Claire shouted loud enough for her words to echo and be heard by every Knight. Caius would hear that and expect her to do what any Knight would do.
For cleverness part two, she needed to come up with how to focus on a door when she didn’t know what it looked like. Or did she? The Ordeal portal had been a black, swirling vortex of doom. She didn’t know much about Ancient Roman history, but she did know most people thought black things were bad and white things were good. If he considered the Ordeal a kind of hell, then his own demesne would be a heaven of sorts.
She leaned into Drew, wishing she could just enjoy the moment, and whispered into his ear. “Think really hard about finding a white portal.”
Enion stopped and reared with a surprised squawk.
“Back, foul beast!” Djembe stood shoulder-to-shoulder with five other Knights, all men Claire had seen taking his side before. Two had tossed her into the Ordeal. Another had backed his initial bid to have Claire executed the first time she came here. The rest had glared, glowered, or
sneered at her more than once.
All six men stood behind huge, metal shields resting on the floor. Together, they formed a line blocking passage. Enion blasted fire at them and they ducked. Flames licked at the metal without affecting it.
“You can fool an Ordeal, but you can’t fool me,” Djembe snarled. He raised his sword. “Corrupted witch!”
Drew muttered into Claire’s ear as fog filled the corridor. “Enion and I will keep them distracted for a minute. Run around to the left. We’ll catch up.”
“That’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever said.”
Drew smirked and kissed her cheek. “You brought us to the Palace. Once you get in, you can bring us to the heart. Believe it’ll work and it will, right?”
“Witchcraft!”
She had no time to argue with what sounded like insanity. Claire squeezed his hand, wishing he would come with her, then launched herself off Enion’s back and ran for the wall. Metal clanged on stone so close she held her breath and slid along the wall. When she passed the noise, she pushed off the wall and ran.
With her goal fixed in her mind, she ran through an empty stretch of hall. She didn’t hear anyone behind her until something hit the back of her left leg so hard it cracked and buckled. The impact made her scream and sent her crashing onto her side. She rolled onto her belly and slid forward, scraping her face across the floor. At least she kept her grip on the knife.
As she raised her head with a whimper, a heavy boot slammed into her side and flipped her onto her back, sending an explosion of agony through her. Djembe dropped his knee into her gut and only missed slicing through her neck with his sword because she curled against the agony. Her knee felt broken in half and her insides hurt so much she wanted to throw up.
“I should’ve killed you the first time I saw you,” Djembe sneered.
If he wanted to talk while she healed, Claire had every reason to indulge him. She bit back a groan and forced herself to meet his angry gaze. For the sake of appearances, she tried to match his hate. But knowing what she knew, she couldn’t hate him anymore. The only thing she could muster for him was pity. Caius poisoned his mind, used him, and would leave him to live with the consequences.
She gritted her teeth and asked, “Why didn’t you?”
“Tradition,” he spat. “Then Justin had to stick his nose in. I don’t know how you twisted his mind, but it didn’t work on me and it never will.”
“Ruuuuuuuuuun!” Mutt screamed as he soared through the air and landed on Djembe. The dog knocked the Knight off balance. While Claire watched, dumbstruck by the dog’s unexpected heroics, Mutt latched his jaws around Djembe’s sword arm. “Uff!” the dog shouted.
Claire snapped out of her shock and lurched to her feet. Her knee still hurt but she used it anyway. She had a job to do.
“Allied with ur-phasms?” Djembe roared.
She didn’t look back. She couldn’t look back. If she reached the doorway soon enough, she could focus her will and bring Drew to her side, which would bring Mutt. Knights killed ur-phasms. It was a big part of their job. Going back to try to save Mutt wouldn’t work because Djembe had her beat on size, strength, skill, and experience.
Mutt whimpered in pain.
Doorway. White portal to Caius’s heaven. She repeated the thoughts in her head as she limped down the Thoroughfare, holding her still aching belly. With every agonizing step, she healed a tiny bit more. She gradually sped to a skipping lope.
Behind her, Djembe screamed her name. The hate and rage he poured into it made her flinch.
In the distance, she heard Drew shout Mutt’s name with anguish.
Tears blurred her eyes. Mutt had been such a craven waste of space, then he rescued her. The stupid dog had given her time, something she desperately needed. Her knee strengthening with every passing second, she clamped down on everything else to focus on the damned portal.
There it was.
A swirling, pulsing portal of bright white covered the wall ahead, filling the corridor with a warm glow. Golden sparkles glittered in front of it. Silvery butterflies shimmered with tiny rainbow wings as they flitted from one side to the other. Flowery musk filled the air.
Claire wanted to barf at the gross display. Iulia had mentioned Caius’s ego, and this drove home how highly he thought of himself. She put on a burst of speed to run through Caius’s monument to his own godly magnificence.
“No!” Djembe shouted from far too close behind her.
The portal shrank. Claire redoubled her efforts to imagine it there and dove through before it could snap shut.
Djembe followed.
Chapter 34
Justin
Enion plunged through a wall of fire, taking Claire and Drew down the Thoroughfare and leaving a hole open long enough for Mutt to charge after them. Justin wanted to follow them too. Fifteen angry Knights currently prevented him from going anywhere. He stood in the shadow of a dragon, using his baseball bat like a sword to fight these men. Khalil did the same with his crowbar. Avery climbed onto a dragon’s back and let it fight for him. He blasted into the crowd with his shotgun. His target took the slug in the chest and fell, knocking another man down.
Enion galloped into the mess with only Claire on his back. For some reason, she wore a silver breastplate and battle skirt reminiscent of Caius’s with a flowing white cape. She carried a long spear with silver-white energy crackling along its length and used it to impale a man. Enion snatched another in his jaws, crunched him and flung him aside.
Horrified, Justin missed the block against his opponent’s swing and hissed as the sword sliced up his thumb, wrist, and arm. The bat fell out of his hand and clattered on the floor. Left with no weapon, he ducked and scraped a foot out to corral the bat. To his relief, the dragon behind him stuck its face in the Knight’s and blew fire at him. The burning knight staggered back.
“Claire!” he called out as loud as he could. “What are you doing?” Keeping his hand and arm close, he kicked the bat into reach.
Claire ignored him and skewered another man.
As much as Justin abhorred Claire’s actions, he could at least take advantage of the respite she gave him. He snatched up the bat and clambered onto the dragon’s back. “Claire! Where’s Drew?”
It had seemed like Enion understood not to kill anyone, yet he roasted men mercilessly, not easing up like the rest of the dragons when they caught fire. Claire continued to ignore him. As they paused to kill more of his friends and colleagues, Justin noticed something about the horns on Claire’s dragon seemed different. Enion, he thought, had six horns pointing back from his head. This dragon had only four.
“That’s not Claire, it must be…” His eyes widened with realization. “Iulia!”
Her head snapped around. “What?” Iulia shook a man off the end of her spear. Her dragon caught him in its mouth before he hit the ground and crunched him.
Justin blanched. He knew that man. David had three teenage kids and protected half of New Hampshire. “Stop killing them! They’re not in their right minds. We only need to get to Caius, not murder everyone in the Palace!”
Iulia’s lip curled. “Fine. Leeloo, no killing.”
Water splashed down from the ceiling in a wave, extinguishing all the fires. Elder Yun rose on a pillar of stone under his feet. He smacked the butt of his staff on the stone, filling the hallway with a thunderous crack. “Everyone stop fighting,” he growled, his breathy, wheezing voice sharp in the sudden silence.
“Why should I?” Iulia’s dragon turned and lunged at the old man.
Elder Yun smacked his staff on the dragon’s head so hard it yelped and shied away. “Because I told you to, young lady.” Either the elder hadn’t heard Justin addressing her, or he chose to ignore it.
Iulia sneered, but she remained quiet and held back her spear.
Elder Yun nodded his satisfaction and his pillar moved him through the growing crowd of Knights. “Justin, Khalil, John. Boys. What are you doing?”
Elder Yun raised a sparse eyebrow and pointed his staff at Iulia. “Your job is to defend the Palace from witches like her.”
“No, it’s not.” Justin sighed. He didn’t know if Kurt had taught him something different from other Knights or Caius had made them all forget the mission. “My job is to destroy harmful ghosts, preferably before they can ruin lives. That’s always been the job. The Palace is just the place we use to hide from reality when it’s too unpleasant. I guess that’s why I don’t spend much time here. Reality is pretty good to me.”
Elder Yun’s weathered, spotted face crinkled in a disgusted scowl. “We aren’t hiding here,” he snapped.
“Then why don’t you ever leave? Because if you did, you’d have to face death? You know it’ll come for you here eventually, don’t you?”
“Choose, Justin.” Elder Yun swung his staff until it pointed at Iulia again. “Enough of this foolishness. Either you stand with that witch, or you stand with your brothers.”
Iulia sneered at him. “Do not speak of me as if I’m the slime beneath your shoe.”
Though his face twitched to show he’d heard Iulia, Elder Yun ignored her.
Justin saw that Khalil and Avery each sat astride a dragon and seemed as ready for a run as possible. He patted his dragon’s neck, hoping it would take that as a signal. “I’ve made my choices.”
The dragon launched into a run, proving smarter than Justin expected. The other three dragons carried their riders in his wake. Behind them, Justin heard the men devolve into a cacophony of angry shouting.
Elder Yun’s voice rang out. “Kill the traitors!”
“Justin,” Avery yelled, “we need a plan!”
“I’m thinking!”
“Stop thinking and start doing,” Iulia snapped.
Justin scowled back at her as they sped down the Thoroughfare. In the distance, he saw a throng of men running after them. “I don’t see you coming up with a brilliant idea!”