I flung an arm over my face and cried out, but River thrust both hands forward, palms open and facing outward. An arc of light, like a shield, formed, and the thin tendrils vanished in puffs of black smoke as they struck it like rain. The creature, or illusion, or whatever it was, never slowed down. It ran right into the shield-shaped spell trying to get to us, and it, too, puffed into nothing but a much larger black smoke that drifted away to nothing in only a moment.
“Get behind cover,” River muttered, and I scrambled away without hesitating. He could hardly fight an experienced witch, or mage—I wasn't sure what to call Ateris—and protect me at the same time.
I watched Ateris and River from behind a chimneystack. My heart pounded as they fought. One after another, they traded blows as they circled, and dived, and dodged. The air crackled with energy that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, raising goosebumps on my arms. The flickering lights used every color of the rainbow and more, colors for which I had no names and no words to describe.
At first, River and Ateris seemed evenly matched, and though the director was on the attack more than River, with a wider variety of spells, River seemed to be holding his own.
But the color was draining from his face again. One glance at Ateris told me everything. He wasn't fading, wasn't weakening. Not yet. When a hail of shattered bricks flew into River from behind, halfway knocking him off his feet, I knew. It was becoming clear that River was no match for Ateris. He was only delaying the inevitable—the former university director was going to win.
River and I were living on borrowed time, and that time would soon run out.
Chapter 27
I reached my hand out toward River, impotent to help as he hunched over further and further, his golden “shell” flickering each time Ateris hammered him with spells and debris. Every fiber of my soul shouted at me to help, to go to him, to attack Ateris. To do something—anything.
But the last thing River would want was to watch me die in some futile gesture. He would want me to get away, to survive. Surviving without River was no survival at all, but it gave me an idea. If I could get around Ateris, there was a chance I could get to the door I could see in the distance. I could go and get help.
Ateris was easy to slip past. His attention was keenly on River. River caught my eye as I ran along the edge of the roof past Ateris. River saw what I was doing. He thought he was giving himself to save me. Something warm and wet trickled down both my cheeks and dripped from my chin, but I did nothing to stop the tears from coming. I was now directly behind Ateris.
I willed River to understand my motives. I wasn’t running for my life, I was running for his. He had to see my escape. He had to see me live, I told myself, as I put one foot in front of the other as quickly as I could make them move. The door was feet away, only—
I heard something like a windy, popping sound. In the middle of taking a step, every muscle froze. They bunched up, every muscle in my body cramping at once, and yet I couldn't move any of them to relieve the sudden agony. Even my jaw and tongue cramped, and I could only emit a faint moan as I fell to the rooftop.
I was the fly caught in amber. I was the statue capturing a moment in time.
Ateris' laughter was the only sound that reached my ears. All else was preternaturally silent like my ears had been twisted and frozen, too. Was his mocking voice only in my head? Did it matter?
The only thing that mattered in that moment wasn't the pain; it wasn't my terror at facing death. It was the knowledge that I'd failed to make River's sacrifice mean a damn thing, and from his position, River would see me die, too.
Another thought drifted through my pain-ravaged mind, a picture of my mother on hearing of her daughter's death.
At least, Ateris had frozen me while my head had been turned away. At least, I wouldn't have to see my death coming, or witness River's demise as he'd have to watch mine. At least, it would all be over soon.
When Ateris' laughter stopped, all went silent.
Footsteps echoed through the silence, and I sensed Ateris coming for me.
He leaned in until his face was only a foot from mine. He kept one hand out, extended beyond my view, toward River.
His smile was far from pleasant. “Fool, how could you hope to defeat an enemy you know nothing about? All you did was upset my timing. For that, of course, I'm going to have to kill you. I'm going to kill two snakes at once, too, by letting your beau watch while I do it. No, it won't be a quick death. I'm going to knot your muscles harder and harder until they tear. Until they snap your bones. Until the only things you hear are my laughing and your own ligaments popping. Do you know how many years I've worked on this? Generations, really. But you morons, you thought you could save the world. Ha. You won't even save the royal family.”
I suddenly wished he'd shut up and get on with it. Oh, how I wished I could reach up and claw out his eyeballs. I imagined it, I relished it. I growled at him the best I could.
Ateris lost his smile. “Oh, you are a vicious one, aren't you? No matter. Let's begin our little symphony of pain, shall we?”
He stood straight again and stepped back from me. He raised his free hand, index finger extended, and pointed downward slightly. “First, I think I'll snap your knee backward. Doesn't that sound like fun?”
I wished I could move my jaw, so I could grit my teeth, or my eyes to close them, anticipating a pain coming beyond anything I’d ever experienced.
“Al'naquir ni hotas mani—” he began, every word seeming to pulsate with power.
The door behind Ateris flew open, interrupting his spell. The old man spun around, surprised, and at the same time, every knotted muscle in my body went limp at once. Abruptly, my body slumped like a marionette with its strings cut, every muscle suddenly slack, though still screaming at me in pain. Only now, I could scream, too, and I did. I couldn't stop writhing, frantically trying to relieve my tortured muscles.
Through the door charged a unicorn with a sword-wielding man on its back. Opal! She thrust her head toward the startled old wizard, and her spiraled horn sliced through Ateris with ease. The horn went all the way through him, skewering him completely like a rabbit on a spit.
Opal tossed her head and flung Ateris like a ragdoll from her horn. He struck the wall beside the door, which had swung shut behind her. James leapt from Opal's back as I crumpled, and before Ateris could even roll over, he put his sword to the mage's neck. “Move not a finger, or die.” I only half-heard him over my own screams of pain.
River appeared beside me, leaning into my field of view. I clenched my eyes tightly and tried desperately to stop my screaming. A light pressure on my belly warmed me as River laid his hand there.
From that gentle touch, the warmth began to spread, and wherever it did, my agonized and knotted muscles went slack, their pain soothed and then dissipated. I felt the world spin as relief flooded through me, and then it all went black.
When I opened my eyes, I saw the sun was still in about the same spot it had been. Good, I hadn't passed out for long. The second thing I saw was River's worried face hovering over mine.
"Glad to have you back," he said, pulling me up into a sitting position.
Opal and Kaida stood over him, peering down at me with clear concern until they saw that I was okay. James stood nearby, splitting his attention between the others and Ateris, who sat against the wall and had James's sword up against his throat.
Opal said, “Me too, glad you're okay. You had me worried.” She was wearing James’ jacket, buttoned all the way down.
“How did you know where we were?” I murmured.
“James and I saw you and River chasing Kaida up a street. Obviously, something was really wrong. But we were too far away to catch up on foot, not right away.”
James said over his shoulder, “That's when Opal…”
As his voice faded, words failing him, Opal smiled. “That's when I scared the prince into needing a new pair of britches by turning into a
unicorn. I just run faster with four legs than two. He took it in stride, though.”
James shook his head. “Yeah, it was a surprise. Let's put it that way.”
Opal smirked at him, then helped me to my feet. I gingerly tested my limbs one at a time, but they seemed okay.
She turned her attention back to James. “Grab the pendant.”
James leaned down and reached out his left hand, keeping the tip of his sword against the mage's neck with his right, and fished around under his collar. Then, a grin spread across his face, and when he stood up, he held up his hand for all to see. In it, he held my pendant.
Opal grabbed the offered pendant. “Thank goodness it's safe.”
She glared at our new prisoner. “Where are the other two, traitor?”
But Ateris only smiled, his eyes sparkling. “I might tell you if you let me free. It's a one-time offer, and your time is running out. Decide.”
“I don’t think you are really in a position to bargain for your life,” I said. “I’m surprised you still have one, thanks to Opal. You are bleeding internally. There is no way you will survive the wound she inflicted. I would say it is your time that is running out.”
The way he smiled at me chilled me to the bone. He didn’t look like a man facing death. He looked like a man who knew he’d won.
A loud pop rent the air, and a woman appeared beside Ateris, knocking James to the floor with the force of it. Before we had time to do anything, a hazy bubble formed around us glowing the same vile green as Ateris' magic had.
I tried to push through the bubble, testing it, but it felt hard as iron. The woman laughed.
In her raised hand, she held a glowing stick embedded with gemstones. She pointed it at Ateris' side, and the holes in his shirt and in his side both vanished.
Opal moved into a crouch beside James, who struggled to his feet with a snarl.
The woman pointed the wand at Opal, and the shifter floated up from the roof, drifted through the iron-hard bubble, and with her feet kicking in the air in a futile attempt to get away, she was drawn nearer to the woman like a fish hooked on a fishing reel.
When Opal was closer, the woman merely reached out and ripped the pendant from her grasp. “I'll take this.”
“You can't have that,” Opal yelled.
I tried the bubble again, but it remained impenetrable. “River, can you do anything about this?”
He closed his eyes, and for a moment, they shone brightly through the thin flesh of his eyelids, but as the light faded, he shook his head.
So this woman was a witch, the same type of witch as River’s mother.
The woman grinned, peering into Opal's helpless eyes. “Oh ho, what's this? Ateris, you left out one rather pertinent detail.”
She reached for Opal's neck as Opal hung motionlessly in the air. She fidgeted around the unicorn's collar, then jerked her hand away clenched in a fist. In her fist hung the pendant Opal had worn around her neck.
“Oh, you sneaky little devil,” she said. “Just for that…” The woman twisted her fingers into an intricate pattern for just a heartbeat, and immediately, Opal fell onto the roof and began screaming, writhing in pain that was still all too fresh and familiar in my memory.
River beat on the bubble that surrounded us, trying to get to Opal. He threw himself into it again and again, but it was useless.
Ateris climbed to his feet to stand beside the woman, and they both looked down at Opal. I bared my teeth at the two and slammed my fist into the bubble. The rage I felt was savage, startling even myself.
The woman looked at me and smiled viciously. “Fools. I now have all four ruby pendants. I have the first and second keys, and you have nothing. Remember the pain I can cause you. Do not try to interfere and stay away from the third key. When I go get the third, you'd better hope I do not find you there trying to stop me, because the next time, I promise you, I won't stop at mere pain.”
She grinned at us like a predator at its prey. Then waved her wand, and she and Ateris simply vanished as if into thin air.
The bubble holding us popped, leaving us free to go. Opal’s screams were silenced. She sat up, her face pale and drawn. James rushed to her side and pulled her into a hug. She clung to him, whimpering. I‘d never seen Opal so wretched, so pathetic. She’d always been so strong.
“I can’t believe this,” she cried. “We’ve lost our chance to get Jet back. We’ll never find him.”
“You can’t get rid of me that easily.”
Opal jerked her head up as Jet came round the chimneypot hand in hand with Kaida.
She jumped to her feet, almost knocking James over in the process and flung herself at her brother.
We’d done what we came for. We’d found Jet, but I knew that in finding him, this was only the beginning of our journey.
Chapter 28
The queen's expression as I sat at the small table within her chambers was regal, patient, calm. Everything I wasn't feeling at that moment. James stood behind her, leaning against a stone wall, but his eyes were mostly on Opal. The queen's eyes were mostly on him watching Opal, despite the gravity of the discussion.
Kaida, sitting opposite the queen, had closed her eyes as Jet rubbed her shoulders from behind, and River sat on floor pillows with his back against a wooden chest, his arms around me as I leaned against him.
The mood was somber, to say the least.
A table had been laid out with food, but so far, no one had touched it.
“What are your plans now?” The queen asked, finally tearing her eyes away from her son.
Kaida replied first. “I've been away from my people for too long. I haven't done anything to help them stop the growing evil, and I've been responsible for our biggest setback.”
Opal let out a long, deep breath. “What are you saying? You quit?”
“I'm suggesting that I might help my people and my friends best by heading home. And we have Jet back, regardless of what it cost us. I'd pay that price again, too.”
Jet had not yet stopped looking at his hands, at Kaida, anywhere but at the other people in the room. He looked… sad. He muttered something about going with Kaida.
Opal looked at her brother in shock, but we were all saved from her blowing up by James clearing his throat.
When he had everyone's attention, he said, “Opal will, of course, go for the key. If we keep that out of Ateris’ hands, then we win. I've talked to the queen about this,”—Linara nodded, confirming what he had said—“and we agree that I should go with Opal. Our bloodline is responsible for pushing us to the brink of defeat, and our bloodline should aid in turning the tide of this shadow war.”
Linara stood rather suddenly, brushing herself off despite a conspicuous lack of crumbs needing removal. “Thank you for your time. Unless anyone objects to James attending to this matter personally, with any of you who will go as well, I have other duties still needing my attention.”
She looked around, but my reaction was the same as the others, and moments later, the queen left the room. Her own chambers.
Opal got to her feet and glared at Jet. “We came all this way for you,” She said, prodding him in the chest. “We risked life and limb to save your ass, and now, you are telling me you are going home?”
Jet stammered. “Opal, I...”
“He’s coming home because of me,” Kaida said.
Opal barely looked in her direction. “I understand quite well why he’s going home. You’re no better than he is. In fact, you are worse. He’s doing it because he’s in love with you. You are doing it because of some misplaced sense of loyalty. What about loyalty to us? What happens if we fail? Your precious village and all your dragon friends will succumb to the darkness just as we all will.”
River struggled to detangle himself from me and climbed to his feet. "You have to come with us to the land of the Miranin. Both of you.”
"Why?" Kaida's tone didn't sound like a challenge, more like she was exhausted by the very idea.
“For one," River replied," My mother is there, and I want you to meet her. For a second, you’re as involved in this as we are."
Kaida let out a long breath. “That is fine for you, and Freya, and Opal, and James. But I can’t abandon my people.”
“Are you going to force Jet to choose between his sister and you? Would you force Opal to choose, as well?”
“It's not that simple—”
“It is that simple.” River, at last on his feet, straightened his tunic. “What makes it even simpler is this. Jet is honor-bound as a Guardian to see to the last key's safety. He is sworn to its protection, and through it, the world's—and that includes every dragon in your village, Kaida. You want to help us? Help Jet, and don't force him to choose between his honor and his heart.”
“Oh…” she managed to mutter, but the room became otherwise abruptly silent. He sure hadn't bothered to wear a velvet glove as he smashed her argument.
“I can make my own mind up,” Jet said, but quietly as though he wasn’t exactly sure if he wanted to.
Kaida stared River in the eyes for a moment, but soon enough, she averted her gaze. “Point taken. Grudgingly. I can't do that to Jet, not if I really do care for him. So instead, it is I who must choose between my heart and my duty.”
I waited for her to say more, but Kaida didn't elaborate.
It was James who at last asked, “So, are you coming with all of us, or are you going home with or without Jet?”
At last, Kaida broke the silence by turning and heading for the door. Over her shoulder, she said, “I hear the Southern Kingdom is much warmer than our lands. The thermals should be outstanding. At least, it'll be an easy flight to get to the last key.”
I felt my breath leave my body at last. I hadn't realized I'd been holding it. So, it was settled. “To the Southern Kingdom, then.”
“To the Southern Kingdom,” the others repeated as one, and hearing them say it drove it home to me. This was real. We had finished our duty in the West Kingdom, but I wouldn't be going home, yet.
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