The inner courtyard was busy with onlookers, only standing room as if this was a concert. I squinted under the morning sun. It beat down on me, and my skin tingled as if taking in too much sun. SPF1000 would have been great right now. I stood in the center of the courtyard, watching the pyre being built for later today. My hands were lobster red, my vision blurred, when Philip and my family were brought before me. Guards were situated shoulder to shoulder around the perimeter, their backs toward me as if locking everyone in the courtyard.
Emma’s tear-streaked face was pinched and tight. Philip looked past me to only give me a thumbs up, while my mother, father and other siblings huddled together and didn’t cast me one last glance.
Donovan moved in, and his men turned around to now also face me.
“Tonight we dine on the sacrifice from them all.” Donovan, in human form, huffed and a stream of fire lit up the kindling in the pyre until it blazed.
Emma raced forward, taking point. She sent forth a sizzle of lightning, which hit Donovan’s crown, knocking the green stone to the ground. Quickly, she built up a magical barrier around the family. Which Olivia then connected to her right and Mother to the left. The men stood secure in the center behind them. They’d created the Elhaz runic symbol—shaped like a three-pronged Y. It needed me, though, to finish the holy symbol.
Donovan’s fire must have been a signal, as the guards then attacked the humans in the perimeter, including my family from behind. A cry went up, and the soldiers morphed into the beast I’d seen in that drug-induced vision: wyverns.
Instead of fire, they spit poison, and once breathed in, the humans fell to the ground. They either roared out in pain as large boils formed, blisters popping, and skin blackening, or fell unconscious. This didn’t have any incubation time, I noticed, as the reaction was almost instant. The air shimmered with magic, black magic.
When magic and science met, shit always happened.
I backed up, watching the scene unfold before me.
My family fell, too. But instead of crying out, they collapsed and didn’t move. The wyverns must have seen them unfitting, as they then latched onto the bodies, dragging them away.
“No,” I shouted and sought to run after them, but my feet refused to move. Donovan’s iron grip came down hard on my shoulder. Only Philip remained on his knees, coughing, holding his chest.
“You wanted him dead, now is your chance. He abused you, and you can take that power from him.” Donovan lifted his hand off of my shoulder. “You can have your sought-after revenge. Do it, and earn a short stay of execution. Feed him to my wyvern, and bathe in the glory that his death freed you.”
This was crazy. The chaos around me was not something I’d ever planned on. How was it possible to wish for someone’s demise, and then when you came face to face to it, to want to save him? He was all I had left.
My throat tightened, all the while Donovan’s voice in my head pushed me to murder my brother. I could barely separate his voice from my own.
“Allow me to save my brother, and I will serve you,” I cried.
“A vow like that has little meaning when you’re about to die anyway.”
“But a sacrifice is much sweeter when there is no fight left in it. Allow him to live, and I will go freely.”
He seemed to be pondering it over. “You know, it takes a little bit for the fire to take. Instead of one, I will take you both. Guards, prepare the spit, and double the order.”
The wyvern turned on me, and I went to Philip’s side to help him up. He was my dear brother, and today we were not going to die. Reaching into my pocket, fingering the last rune from Lady Hel, I did the only thing I could, “res nullius,” and the portal formed.
“No!” I heard Donovan roar as the portal closed behind us, and we collapsed on a grassy field surrounded by soldiers in gleaming gold outfits. Crap, the Valkyrie had found me.
Out of the frying pan and into the fire of damnation.
TINK
The Valkyrie turned and pointed swords at me. “I’m sorry, my lady, but the Queen of Asgard has stated that if we were to find you, that you were to be taken to be judged. You smell like an abomination.”
“You sniveling fools! We are on the verge of cataclysmic war, and you waste time in dragging me somewhere I can’t help? If I don’t intervene, my brother will die, and this entire world will crumble.” I stared at their stoic faces, and stared at Kara, the lead of the guard. “Listen to me, Kara, as I have never done anything that would place us all in danger. This is, albeit, quite unusual, but please, trust me. He is my brother.”
My voice filled with emotion. At that moment, I remembered the love I had for my family, and Philip was now all that I had left.
“Aye, missus. Come, and you must hurry as the beast now soars, and an army approaches in the distance.”
“I’m sure that little bit there made us enemies of the dragon, Donovan.” Philip coughed. He felt warm to the touch. The fever was beginning.
“What is wrong with him?” I asked.
“The wyvern’s poison is in his system. It won’t be long now. He will die.”
“No, we are going to do everything we can to make it so he doesn’t die. There must be a way.”
“We don’t decide who can live, only Eir can do that, and she has not returned from the castle yet,” Kara said. Her features contorted like she’d fell in a huge pile of horse dung.
“Come, we have only a few minutes respite before the army arrives, and then we must do our job, to take the heroic onward to Valhalla.”
“I nodded my understanding. Valhalla was the hall of the dead, where first Freyja would get her cut from the heroic deceased and then Odin.
“Is the mother queen angry with me?” I asked. I couldn’t say it hadn’t been bothering me. It was worse than anything I’d ever done in betraying her trust. And the assassins who Leif killed to help us escape. I’d been too busy to feel guilty, but now, surrounded by these heavenly warriors, I recognized it for what it was—shame. Freyja had done so much for me, and I’d turned my back on her and all of Asgard to go after my heart’s desire, and I was no better off than before.
“You have sinned against the crown,” Kara quipped. “Punishment awaits.”
That could be anything. And in the long line of things, there were more pressing matters. I glanced up at the sky and saw Donovan flying, searching the distance for us.
“We are not safe here. We must leave,” I cried.
“If you wish, you may, but running will not make the threat of death any less. Death comes for you today, Abele. You should only ask if it will be an honorable one.”
My knees trembled. The presence of fear didn’t make this upcoming battle any less challenging. This was a moment for me to catch my breath, to steel myself. I’d had over five hundred years of training. I wasn’t some simpering woman.
Being back here, I’d forgotten that.
And with my back against the wall, I would have my revenge, but not of Philip, but of Donovan. I would wear him as a pair of boots.
I wiped the tears from my face, steeling myself again to the onslaught of pain, and memories of my family’s demise. No, they would be the gasoline on this burning fire.
“Blades,” I ordered from Kara, who arched an eyebrow.
“You’re going back in there?”
“I’m done with running, and that dragon owes me something.”
“And what about the wyvern?”
“Hand me your vial of mana; it will ensure that I have enough to get close to him.” I stretched out my hand and waited for one of the Valkyrie to hand me one of their vials. They rarely traveled without them. The longer they stayed away from Asgard, the more of the blue stuff they consumed, I’d noticed over the years. It never helped me heal, but it supercharged my magic.
Kara placed it in my hand.
“May the gods be for you.”
“Screw the gods. I choose me.”
With a blade in each hand, I wal
ked back toward the castle leaving it all behind. This was a one-way trip. No worries about Leif, as he wasn’t in the keep; my remaining family member was with heavenly care, and that left only me.
“No day like the present to bring a little bit of Hel.”
I ran my hand over my outfit, ripping the dress away, and instead a black leather catsuit appeared, highlighted with ice-blue accents. Modern day, flexible, and perfect for killing. They wanted to make me into a killing machine, and now that was what I would be.
I would watch them all die and there would be no respite.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
TINK
I wasn’t foolish enough to walk through the front gate; that would mean instant death. No, the way I’d headed into the woods on that fateful night would be the way for me to enter again. With the courtyard being so busy, the dungeon would be an easy entrance. Finding my footing along the grassy knolls, I eased toward the dark tunnel.
The more magic I used for the smaller of things, the more the magic would lessen, but I also couldn’t see in the dark. Snapping my fingers, a spark flew from my fingertips providing dim illumination. I eased down the damp corridor, listening to everything and anything, readying my blade in my right hand.
I didn’t see him, or even hear him, but I did feel something watching me. When I turned, I came face-to-face with the two-legged winged reptile. It had the body of a snake, the head of a lizard, and centipede-like legs. I didn’t know what it was, but I knew that it didn’t have good intentions. No question about it.
And those serrated teeth. Could it be the cat lady?
This thing wasn’t trying to capture me to turn me over, but to kill me for other things. Her intention flashed in my mind. Just like holding a giant shoe, I smashed against its snapping jaws. It dodged my daggers, and I didn’t wish to get too close.
“Hel, let me see,” I prayed, and my eyes adjusted to the darkness. “Shit.” The room was filled with these things. Fire, fire would be the only way to kill them. I glanced around the room, hoping to find something that could act as a source for the fire, something to spill. Nothing. But the floor was filled with animal feces, dried and fresh. Nothing made fire like dung, and this stuff was old enough to work.
Picking up a couple of pieces, I yelled the incantation, “Blaues Feuer,” and my hands burned with blue fire. The dried manure acted as a source to keep the fire going without draining my mana.
Concentrating on the floor, and following the excrement that hadn’t been cleaned up, the floor strewn with hay burned. Fire danced on the floor, and up the walls, toward the ceiling. I closed my eyes and heard the creatures scream and hiss out in pain. The fire was all around me, but it didn’t burn me. It was magical, blue flames that cleansed.
I stuffed a couple more pellets into my pocket. Who knew if I would need them? It was better to have a weapon than to go without. When I opened my eyes, the charred creatures were silent, and I moved toward the gated stairwell that led to the upper level of the dungeon, and ultimately to the inner sanctum of the castle.
This was too easy, and I knew it, but something pulled me. This was my road back, and nothing made sense. It was a labyrinth of death of my own making. Whatever came my way, I killed. Every. Single. Thing. It didn’t matter what it was. If they appeared human, I paused only a minute before the magic around them shimmered to reveal the truth.
It was all about making my way through the belly and bowels of death to come out on the other side covered in only the gods knew what. Finally back in the courtyard, I screamed Donovan’s name.
“Pretty little girl, have we come to play dress up, as I grow hungry.”
“No, we will fight now.”
“Then you will die.”
“It doesn’t matter. You’ve already killed me.”
Donovan landed, and the enormous dragon flapped his wings and blew fire at me. I jumped to the left, rolling over the corpses that lay there. The neon stone on his head glowed.
My vision was clear. I’d need to be like Jaz, and bring it down.
I should never have thought that. Every time I moved left, he did, too. He knew all of my moves before I could even make it clear how I wished to attack. He struck out, his attack meeting me, his target. I crumbled to the ground, the blue vial rolling away.
“Is that what you’ve used to be so strong?” He stomped down on the blue vial, shattering it. “I’m in your head, little girl. You can’t surprise me.”
How could I defeat him now?
He flapped his wings, rose into the sky, and squawked. “Oh, now it gets fun; an army has come to fight me.” He dropped back down to the ground. “Hands down,” he ordered, and my hands complied against my will. “Turn around and head to the battlefield. For now, you will fight for me, dearest vampire, and I’m your one true master.”
I turned on my heel, again unwillingly, and marched forward.
Soldiers, those once human, teetered and tottered out, an army of undead moved around me, and wyvern took to the air. And together, we headed toward the gate that opened to the battlefield.
With each step, my muscles ached. It felt like needles stabbed me in my feet, my muscles cramped. It was akin to marching like a tin soldier, wound up, and only metaphorically released. Donovan’s invisible push compelled me forward, despite my silent scream and order for my body to comply, to submit.
Right now, my body wasn’t my own. I had no agency. More akin to a puppet on a string, he forced my movements, and my muscle memory would respond. After five hundred years of fighting, it was going to be a deadly weapon. I wasn’t in control.
Still, my gaze fell across the field, and I saw that of my beloved Leif, astride a white horse, also surrounded by what looked like an army of malformed vampires, corpses, and snarling wolves at least three times larger than any wild wolf I’d ever seen.
Now things were starting to get interesting.
LEIF
From Leif’s perch on the hill, with the castle growing ever closer, he watched the gate open and recognized right away the woman leading the army. Tink in her black leather catsuit was a sight to behold. Even more, he smelled her blood in the air.
She was injured.
“Whatever you do, you are not to attack the woman in black, the one who leads them,” Leif ordered.
Erich glanced into the distance and nodded. “The same for you men. Time to make minced meat out of the rest.” Erich then turned toward him. “I can see you are itching to be out there, but we wait. You heard Mother’s orders.”
They watched the two sides clash. The wolves in their fury swiping at the vampires, while the older vampires ganged up on the wyverns. In the middle of that fray, Tink also fought, lessening their numbers.
“You’re going to have to take her down. She is too good,” Erich announced.
“And do what? True love’s kiss?” Leif chuckled at that. It was unnatural to even think so.
“Fight her. It will at least ensure that she doesn’t die by mistake.”
“Is that something you would recommend one do with their beloved?”
“I don’t know, as I have yet to meet this mystery woman you keep telling me about.”
With that news, Erich angled his horse to the right flank, near the old trees, where crows already waited to feast, too.
Leif saw the Valkyrie also in the trees watching from above. They seemed to enjoy their view of the show.
Leif jumped down off of his horse. He would be a part of the fray to save her. Spotting Tink, he moved forward, quickly freeing his pathway of opponents, until he spun her around and came face to face with her shiny blades. She struck out, her hands faster than he’d ever seen. Her blades were made of silver, poisonous to his kind. That made this skirmish that much more interesting.
He focused in on her. “Fight back, Tink.”
In her glazed-over gaze, he could see her following the orders in her head. She kicked out, knocking him back. Left kick, right kick, blade slashing through the
air. This wasn’t the fighting of a warrior from the 1500s, but of a badass assassin from the twenty-first century.
It was a dance of hits and misses, and while the battle happened around them, he did his darndest to keep her free of harm.
“Think of me, Tink.”
“You must die, vampire,” she spat back, and slashed through the air again. This time, not letting up as he stepped further and further back to keep from getting pierced.
“Coward, too, are you, vampire. I will peel your skin off of you.”
“You really have a thing for skin. Do you remember when we first met?” Again she sliced through the air. “What about the time in the hotel, do you remember me, Tink? Come back to me, love,” he whispered and still blocked her kicks and punches.
“Once we get back home, we are going to make something special happen, just you and me. We’ve missed out on too much time. Time is something we have now. This is our second chance.”
She shook her head. “No, you are the enemy. You must die.”
“This is the chance for love to bloom.”
“You should have had that happen. Not wait until now.”
“I was a fool, but now, now, I know it to be true. I love you, and if I must die, then do it already.” He lowered his hands and watched her rapidly blink. Only then to shake her head. “No, love is for fools.” She proceeded to raise the blade to her throat and slash, as the dragon, her master, had ordered.
An unearthly scream erupted across the field, and then he spotted the winged warriors, the Valkyrie walking through the dead, while one in white came and placed her hand on those who seemed to be barely moving.
Eir. Lady Hel said that killing her was the only way to make it all better. He raced toward her, and she was calm, peaceful, and life.
“What is it you wish, dear Leif, as you are granted one lone wish by capturing me here.” She smiled as if not seeing the dark thoughts whirling within him. He could feel them coming out to suffocate him. “Do you wish to be human again?”
A Dragon’s Witch Page 17