Sword up, I jumped from behind the stone. Meryl was free. A flash of green filled the clearing with the ozone odor of an essence strike. Powell spun, tripping back on her heels, and fell flat on her back. Meryl extended two fingers like a gun barrel and blew on them. “That’ll teach her to turn her back on me.”
I wrapped my arms around her. “Sorry I didn’t get here sooner.”
She hugged me back, her orange mop of hair pressing into my shoulder. “You need to work on your sprinting.”
I kissed the top of her head.
Powell was out cold. Meryl chanted lines of essence in the air that dropped on Powell and twined around her. Meryl nodded as she examined her work. “One good binding deserves another.”
Powell’s eyes fluttered open. She sat up and screamed as the binding spell cinched, sending shock waves through her.
“Oh, shut up, Winny,” Meryl said. She gathered the ribbons of the spell in her fingers and twisted them into a knot, tugged at them to make sure the spell held.
A sharp point pierced the skin at the base of my skull. I froze.
“Do not move, please. I can easily sever your spinal cord before you even realize it.” Viten. We had run out of time. He was close, his breath on my ear, a smooth honey voice that did not sound the least bit nervous. I never heard him coming.
Powell struggled into a seated position, letting out growls of pain. “Liddell!”
“Surprised and happy to see you, m’love,” he said. “Will someone do the honors and release her?”
I had my sword and the spear. Viten made the mistake of closing the distance between us, which made me more dangerous to him. He probably had sensed he had two druids to deal with, not knowing one of them had no abilities.
“Do it,” I said. As long as they didn’t bind Meryl again, I wasn’t worried. Yet. Meryl looked like she was going to argue. With a shake of her head, she released the spell. Powell jumped up and locked her arm around Meryl’s neck, pressing a knife to her neck. It was the Breton dagger from the Guildhouse. The real one.
“Let us go, and no one gets hurt,” I said.
“I don’t think I can do that,” Viten said.
He scratched the tip of his sword along my neck as he circled around me, and I met Liddell Viten—con artist and murderer—face-to-face. He stood a foot shorter than me with the pale complexion all kobolds had. His features were smoother than average, which made glamours that much easier to use. For a dead guy, he didn’t look any the worse for wear. He wore fine clothing, archaic in a vaguely Teutonic court style, but made from an expensive-looking material. Being Dead seemed to agree with him.
He compressed his already-thin lips together until they disappeared. “Drop your weapons, please.”
At least he was polite. “No,” I said.
Laughter danced in Meryl’s eyes, and she tossed me a sending. Go for his sword when I move. She didn’t give me a chance to think about it. She activated her body shield at full strength. Its sudden appearance tipped the dagger away from her neck. With impressive speed, Meryl dropped back on her hands and let loose with a flying round kick, knocking Powell off her feet. Distracted, Viten turned toward them, and I parried his sword out of his hand with the spear. Meryl stomped on Powell’s arm and grabbed the dagger. It was over in seconds.
With smooth grace, Viten leaped out of reach. He brought his own body shield on, weak in comparison to Meryl’s, but his fingers were charged with the unnatural essence of TirNaNog.
Meryl prodded Powell. “Tell him why I knew you weren’t going to stab me with the dagger.”
Powell glared up at her. “It’s a soul blade, Liddell.”
Meryl kept her eye on Powell. “If you used it to kill me, the souls would have released and wrecked your little plan to get him out of here. You always assumed that you knew more than I did, Winny. You were a lousy boss, by the way.”
The strange mix of surprise and tenderness that crossed Viten’s face fascinated me in a revolting kind of way. He met Powell’s eyes with an intensity that could only be interpreted as love. The realization that this woman had killed two people to create a soul blade for him so that he could kill yet another person to get out of TirNaNog touched him just as if she had just told him she made his favorite dinner.
Powell flashed a fervent smile. “Kill her, Liddell. She can’t hurt me.”
“Oh, I don’t have to kill you to hurt you, Winny,” said Meryl. She shoved Powell toward Viten. I don’t know who was more surprised, me or Powell. Meryl twirled the knife and smiled. “I’ve already killed you once, Viten. Let’s make a wager. I bet that I can kill you with this knife before you can get a shot off. Consider this before you decide: I will only die, but you, my friend, will be obliterated by the souls in the knife. That’s how this thing works against the Dead.”
“She’s lying,” Powell snarled.
Meryl arched an eyebrow. “You think? I’m willing to stake my life on it.”
Powell drew herself, haughty and assured. “Then I will kill you, Meryl.”
“You took me by surprise, Winny. I will win one-on-one with you,” she said.
Powell looked smug. “I’ve already died once for Liddell. I’ll do it again. The Guild will protect my soul stone as long as it thinks it can arrest me. I’ll come back here next Samhain and destroy you.”
I pulled Powell’s soul stone from my pocket. “Would that be this stone?”
Powell let out a growl of anger from deep in her throat. Viten lifted his hands, charging them with the pale essence of TirNaNog.
“It’s over, Viten. Step away.”
Viten set his jaw with smug assurance. “Kill her,” he said.
Meryl and I exchanged glances. “What?” I asked.
“I said kill her.” Viten pulled Powell into a tight embrace, nuzzling the side of her head and murmuring in her ear. “I have missed you every day, m’love, dreamed of you every night. Not having you at my side has been a torment. Every minute spent here is a minute I wished you could see this place.”
Meryl rolled her eyes. “I think I’m going to be ill.”
She looked stunned when I tossed the stone to Viten. “We don’t have time for this. The fairy ring is surrounded by cops and Guild agents. She’ll be detained as soon as she crosses the veil.”
Powell clutched at Viten’s coat. “The knife, love, get the knife.”
He smiled down at her and caressed her face. “We have no need of it. I appreciate what you’ve done, m’love. I do. I truly do. But you’ve accomplished more than you realized. I have some power here. Here is where I wish to stay. It’s beautiful, Rhonwen. It’s glorious. I don’t want to go back. You mean everything to me. I want you to stay. Here. Always. With me.”
She stared up at him, tears in her eyes. “Yes, love. Yes.”
They kissed with the pent-up passion of ten years apart. White essence burst in Viten’s hand followed by a loud crackling. With a sharp gasp, Powell pulled her lips away from his. She struggled for breath, her chest heaving as the dust of her soul stone poured through Viten’s fingers. Her mouth broke into an ecstatic smile, then her eyes rolled in her head. Viten caught her as she went limp and lowered her to the ground. He cradled her across his chest, smoothing her hair back from her face, a repulsive, satisfied smile on his lips. He kissed her again. “Tomorrow, m’love, tomorrow you will wake up here, and we will spend eternity together.”
Meryl’s jaw dropped. “Wow. Was that the most romantic and sick thing you’ve ever seen or what?”
33
Viten rocked Powell’s body. I leaned down and ripped the silver-branch brooch from her coat. The colors leached out of her skin and clothes as she lost her physical substance, then she faded out into the air. Stricken, Viten clutched at her disappearing form until his empty hands groped at nothing. Somewhere in Boston, her dead body would turn up. He lifted red-rimmed eyes toward me. “You could have given me a few more moments.”
I slipped the brooch into my back pocket. “
You’ve got eternity, right? Get out of my sight before I shove this spear through your chest.”
He rose with an imperious look and stooped for his sword. I stepped on it. “You won’t be needing that.”
Viten tried to stare me down. Like I said, that doesn’t work much with me. “Someday, sir, you will find yourself here. I will be waiting.”
“Thanks. Be sure to tell your funeral director I like Guinness,” I said.
Viten sauntered down the trail.
I picked up the sword and made a few swipes with it. It had a fine edge, the grip a little small, but a decent balance. I held the pommel toward Meryl. “For those times when an essence shock to the head is not enough.”
She tested its balance, then batted her eyes at me. “How thoughtful of you. Too bad you didn’t take his sword belt, too.”
I slid my belt off. “You’re just trying to get my pants off again.”
She snorted. “Trying? You’re a guy. A simple ‘take your pants off’ works.” She coiled the belt around her hips, looping it around the steel buckle to form a frog to slide the sword through. She tested the draw a couple of times, then rested her hand on the pommel. “I’m good.”
I don’t know what it is, but a woman with a sword works for me. Always. Granted, the pumpkin orange hair is unusual, but with Meryl, it completes the package. And the boots. The boots work, too. Meryl walked to the opposite side of the clearing, where the path took up again.
“This is the way to the henge?” I asked.
“You didn’t come in this way?”
I shook my head. “I sort of teleported.”
She chuckled. “ ‘Sort of’? Okay.”
Pink essence burst in my face. I was so on edge, I fell back with the spear up and my sword ready. Joe hovered away in outright panic. “What the hell is going on?”
I’d been trying to get Murdock not to overreact when Joe shows up, and here I was startling like a newbie in the Weird. I relaxed like nothing happened. “Hey, buddy. Fancy meeting you here.”
“Me? You’re in Anwwn, then I felt you teleport, and you’re surprised?” I couldn’t even begin to pronounce the Cornish word he used for teleport.
We made our way up the path. “Long story, Joe. How the hell did you get here?”
He flew a random pattern beside us that he used when he was on guard. His hand clutched the empty air at his side, which meant he was ready to pull his glamoured sword. “Flits always get into Anwwn on Samhain. Well, not always, but before, when the world made sense, and we could visit our dead friends proper every year. Except the Way finally opens and everybody’s running this way and that trying to get out and people not where they’re supposed to be. I almost wish I stayed home tonight and went to a bar. Hi, Meryl.”
“Hey, Joe.” She grinned, like they had some mild secret they weren’t sharing. I haven’t figured out what she thinks of Joe. He doesn’t come around much when she’s with me, but they each seemed amused at the other’s existence.
He twirled in front of us. “Are you guys Dead?”
“No, dead tired, though. You never mentioned teleporting is tiring,” I said.
Joe shook his finger. “And that’s another thing. What the hell is that? All of sudden, I felt you in this horrible rush of nothing, then I go and look and here you are.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “You’re really not Dead, right?”
I shook my head. I held the spear out to look at it. “I have it on good authority that this buppy is called a sliver of the Wheel.”
Joe’s eyes bulged. “Where did you get that?”
I shrugged. “A fairy queen. It’s the traditional method if I remember correctly.”
Joe pounded his fists against his forehead. “I’m either too drunk or not drunk enough.”
“Story of my life lately,” Meryl said.
The sunlight dimmed as we hurried down the trail. A bank of clouds moved in, charcoal and thick, materializing in the sky with an unnatural speed. “I thought it didn’t rain here,” I said.
Joe checked the sky. “Sure it does. Usually at night, though, and it always smells like fresh.”
“Fresh what?” asked Meryl.
He dropped his eyebrows at her. “Fresh like fresh. It’s not a difficult concept.”
“Well, it wasn’t night a minute ago, and those clouds don’t look happy,” I said.
Joe fluttered up to get a closer look through the break in the tree canopy. “Something’s not right.” He flew higher until we couldn’t see him above the trees. When he popped back in our faces, his face was troubled. “I don’t like it. I can’t see behind us. There’s a nothing like nothing. It’s just . . . nothing.” He looked over at me, his eyebrows shooting up. “Oh! It’s like the nothing in . . .”
“I got it, Joe. Let’s just get out of here,” I interrupted. I knew what he was going to say. Joe had talked about nothing like that once before with me. It was what he called the darkness in my head.
We moved faster, concentrating on the path. After several tense minutes in the unchanging forest, the trail ended at the broad expanse of the grassy plain. Joe stopped so abruptly, I bumped him into an aerial stumble.
In the gray twilight of the overcast sky, clouds of blue and mauve did a slow churn, heavy with the threat of rain. Miles distant, a smudge of gray essence marked the position of the stone circle. A mass of people pressed toward it from every direction, hundreds, maybe thousands, of the Dead. The air vibrated with a riot of species signatures. The Dead moved in a vast ring that contracted as they advanced on the stone circle. In the gap between their front line and the end of the portal entrance, a company of riders burned with a brighter essence. They weren’t locals. I recognized the essences of living people. “That’s got to be Bergin Vize down there.”
Meryl shaded her eyes to see what I was talking about. “What the hell is he doing here?”
“He’s going after Tara,” I said.
Joe snickered. “Not if they get caught.”
At a glance, the massive crowd looked like it was making for the stone circle. Joe had pointed out what wasn’t immediately obvious. The crowd was closing in on Vize, not the henge. “The Dead are chasing them.”
Joe flew slow arcs in front of us. “Yep. Lots of people like it here, but lots don’t. If a Dead person kills a live person in Anwwn, they get to change places.”
Meryl looked intently across the plain. “Yeah. I was supposed to be Viten’s Get Out of Jail Free card.”
A mile off, the edge of the crowd nearest us shifted and broke from the rest. It was pretty clear where they were heading. I stopped. “How do they know if someone’s alive, Joe?”
He laughed and looped in the air. “Living essence lights up like a Beltane fire here. The chase is fun.”
Meryl stopped, too, realization sweeping over her face. “Everyone’s essence?”
Joe hovered between us with a puzzled look. “Of course. They never catch flits, though. Well, almost never.”
“But you can get away, right?” I asked.
Joe fluttered to the ground and shrugged. “Depends on how good you are at fighting and running. They ignore you only if you have the blessing of Anwwn to be here.”
Meryl and I looked at each other again. “I missed the queue for a blessing, did you?” she asked.
The frayed edge of the crowd had become a wedge pointed right at us. “We’ve been spotted.”
“What do you . . . Oh!” Joe said, jumping back into the air. He finally got it.
Meryl unpinned the serpent brooch from her jacket. “Let’s dump the silver branches, Grey. We’ll fade back.”
I gestured with the spear. “I don’t think leaving this lying around is the smartest idea.”
Joe peered at the spear. “I’ll take it back if it will let me.”
“That only solves one problem.” I held my arm up. The silver filigree from the spear wound around it in a branching vine pattern. I pushed at it with my body shield. It became colder but didn’t move.
“It’s bonded to me.”
Meryl blanched. “Your entire arm is a silver branch?”
Smiling weakly, I held my arm up. “Technically, I think just the forearm, but it’s all kind of connected.”
Meryl whirled toward the open plain. The crowd was within a half mile. I came up behind her and hugged her close against my chest. “Go, Meryl. I’ll avoid them as long as I can and make my way to the henge.”
Joe flew toward us, his face upset. “You won’t have much time if you don’t go back direct-like. Samhain is almost over. I can feel the portals closing.”
Meryl broke my embrace and reattached the serpent brooch to her jacket. “Come on. I’ll shield you, and we’ll run for it.”
I shook my head. “It’s got to be five miles to the henge, Meryl. I know you’re strong, but even you can’t maintain a shield for both of us that long. Besides, the moment we set foot in it, that mob is going to turn into a mosh pit with us in the center. I came to get you out, and you’re getting out. Go. Please. I’ll be fine.”
She had that look in her eyes, the one that says she won’t take no for an answer. “I’ll believe that when I hear a better plan.”
“I’ve never seen such a storm here. It’s almost like Anwwn itself is angry,” said Joe. The forest behind us had gone dark. The clouds deepened from dark gray to black, streaks of rain rippling like curtains in the distance. A strange darkness was behind it, a negation of space that felt devoid of essence. I shivered at the familiarity of it. It felt like nothing. Joe was right. It felt like the thing in my head. Lightning flickered, followed by a long roll of thunder.
Unfallen Dead Page 26