The guard shrank back, grasping at his belt. Whatever he was looking for – a weapon, manacles – did not appear. He must have lost it in the fight.
Loviva shifted, faster than Moon could react, and in a moment she was holding a predator in her arms, her dagger in nowhere near the right position.
The jaguar shouldered her back, and Moon lost sight of the guard as she sprawled back against the carriage top.
She jumped into invisibility as she gathered herself into a kneeling position at the far end of the carriage.
She and the jaguar eyed each other in a tense stalemate. Each had advantages, but the danger of the setting meant neither could afford a risk that might send them over the side.
Loviva half-shifted. "What's your plan, Fade? Do you even know what you're here for?"
Moon did not speak. Invisibility had little use for a chatty person. It was a valid question though. Could she trick Loviva into falling from the carriage? If she tackled her, would the jaguar strength withstand the blow, or would they both fall, perhaps giving the carriage a chance at escape?
The guard burst up from the driver's bench, sending a clawed hand at Loviva's haunch. She snarled and batted at him. He ducked out of sight.
Moon stretched across the distance to slash at Loviva's other side. Loviva's half-human hand whipped out at her, almost latching onto her wrist before Moon wrenched away and retreated to the far side of the carriage again.
The guard appeared over the side again, but Loviva had moved far enough away, and he could not leave the bench without giving the horses free rein.
Loviva pulled something out of her belt.
Shit, a spell, thought Moon. The young guard must have thought the same, for he ducked out of sight.
Moon charged Loviva, blinking into existence for maximum shock value. It had the intended effect, for Loviva's arm went wide, and the object bounced off the corner of the carriage rooftop, instead of the center.
It still exploded. They both fell over, and it was lucky, for otherwise Moon wasn't sure she'd have been able to hold on when the horses spooked.
The guard was cursing. Moon had thought they were going fast before, but now the horses had no regard for their burden. The carriage bumped and swung wildly.
The gardens! She realized as they clattered over topiary and gravel paths. Without her realizing it, they'd come to the tower.
The explosion had ripped a hole in the corner of the carriage, but it was awkwardly placed and small. Loviva looked at the approaching tower, one hand gripping the ironwork decoration that bordered the top of the carriage. She repeated her previous motion, grabbing an object from a satchel at her belt and casting it at the top of the carriage.
Moon swung her lower half off the carriage so her feet were on the driver's bench, and ducked as the explosion went off.
Beside her, the guard worked the wood and leather of the carriage hitch.
She peeked over the top of the carriage. The second explosion had made a sizeable hole, and Loviva grinned with those odd teeth. The sun rose behind Moon, putting Loviva in sharp relief.
The woman put her legs into the hole she'd made into the carriage.
"Ha!" said the guard as he freed the pins from the harness. The horses bolted, still bound together but free to make their escape.
The carriage did not roll to a peaceful stop like Moon hoped. Instead, it careened forward, straight for a row of bushes.
"Jump!" she shouted over the wind rushing by.
The guard had had the same realization as her. The carriage crashed into the bushes and tipped wildly. The guard shifted and sprang from the bench. Moon had no such option, and she jumped in human form.
She landed and rolled over gravel and over thorny plants. The world spun by in a kaleidoscope. She scraped her hands, tore her clothes, and bruised what felt like every bone in her body.
She staggered to her feet. The world spun still, but she saw Loviva had been flung from the carriage, and the young guard was rising shakily in cat form.
The carriage, however, skidded onward, now on its side. It shattered itself against the stone sides of the tower, wheels and walls separating as it dissolved into a pile of kindling.
Loviva had got her feet under her, and was charging toward the wreckage. A deeply foolish move, thought Moon, when the guard and every sorcerer in the tower was likely en route to help.
The young guard was following, which Moon thought meant she ought to follow, too. But before she could, a massive explosion burst from the ruins of the carriage.
Far away as she was, Moon was flung backward. She hit the gravel path again, and tumbled head over heels. Her ears rang and her vision blurred. Seconds later she was doused in a wave of dust that came from the tower, and a horrible, grating sound.
~*~
Before her, the dust obscured her vision and view of the gardens and surrounding area. She could not see Loviva or the young guard. They'd been closer to the blast, and she wondered if they'd been killed. Above the dust cloud, she could still see the tower.
For a moment of time, nothing changed at all, and Moon was left confused by what had happened.
Then she saw the top of the tower sway.
Moon shook her head. Maybe her brain was still scrambled from the explosion.
But there was no mistaking it when the tower leaned to the right, reaching toward the earth like a woman gracefully kneeling.
Moon gaped as its speed increased, and the tower raced toward the ground.
She had the presence of mind to clap her hands to her ears just before the great tower of Carnate met the ground.
The impact threw her off her feet again, and another wave of dust billowed over her.
~*~
Renat had staggered back when an explosion had ripped across the palace gardens, but he'd regained his feet quickly. Behind him, the few Arrowhead with him swayed with the force. The Demon's Breath had been taken care of once reinforcements from the guard had arrived. The Great Eye knew where those damn sorcerers were.
He'd sent most of his crew away with the wounded, but there was still Moon, and the matter of the carriage, to see to.
They were leaping and bounding forward again when the tower began to sway.
"Oh!"
"The tower! The tower!"
Cries rang out from his crew. The sight froze him in his tracks as well, as the tower succumbed to its wound and fell.
He shifted back to panther form to brace himself for the impact. It rocked the ground, collapsing nearby buildings and throwing his crew to their knees.
The snow leopard streaked past him, shifting wildly into human form.
"Freas!" the guard shouted into the fog of dust. She whirled to face Renat. She was bloodied from battle now, and unsteady on her feet. "Where is the carriage?" she called to him in a tone of desperation.
He spread helpless human hands to show he, too, had no idea how such an impossible event had occurred.
Then Moon emerged from the haze. Dust coated her skin and matted her hair.
Renat sprinted forward to catch her. Her legs wobbled like a newborn bird.
"Renat..." She spoke weakly. "The carriage...hit the tower..."
He couldn't make sense of what she meant. How could a carriage have brought down the tower?
"The weapon exploded," he guessed. "The weapon took down the tower."
The guard had heard their conversation. Her dark skin turned ashen. "It's not a weapon..."
"Renat! Please!"
His crew waited beyond the edge of the gardens. Renat gave the guard a last look. "Be careful," he said. She looked lost as he turned away, nudging Moon into motion.
"Hurry, Moon, hurry..."
She obliged stiffly. They met the crew at the edge of the gardens and the pack of them crossed the road.
Renat cast a final look over his shoulder. The blank space of sky was more stunning than the ruins of the tower stretched across the space.
Then he turned his b
ack on the sight and into the protective arms of the city.
Cleo & Mattias
Mattias' eyes opened.
In front of him, the world skewed at an old angle. He lay on his side, he realized, slowly connecting to his crumpled limbs. Dust coated his long eyelashes.
Without bothering to move, he shifted to human form to brush the dust from his eyes. Then he sat himself up on one hand and looked around. His back protested. He felt like he'd been whipped by a cane, but a hundred of them, all at once.
In front of him he could make out the gardens and beyond that, the buildings of Carnate. A scree of haze blocked his vision and his head rang.
An explosion, he remembered. He'd been in panther form. He'd have to make a sacrifice to the gods of luck that he had been in his nimble, stronger form.
Twisting around, he saw he'd been thrown behind a row of bushes, no longer green under the coating of tan and gray dust.
A strange sound broke through the full booming in his head. His gaze went up to the tower.
Cracks ripped across the stone surface. The top of the tower swayed. Then it fell away from him.
He jumped to his feet, throwing up a hand to protect himself from the shower of stones breaking free.
The crash of the tower sent him back on his butt. He ducked his head to his knees as another wave of dust rolled over him.
The silence of it awed him. Not the deafening crash, but the knowledge that the tower housed hundreds, and he'd heard none of their sounds.
I should help, he thought dizzily. I should help, someone should send for Amadou—
"Freas!"
The voice came to him as if from the far end of the tunnel, and even when he could hear it, his brain took a second to understand the meaning.
Cleo.
~*~
She charged toward him, the only real thing in a day that had gone so deeply awry she still couldn't process even though the proof of the broken tower continued to reveal itself to her as the dust settled.
In the haze, he looked like a mirage her hope had conjured.
Then she was there, pulling him to his feet. "Freas, thank the Great Eye!"
It was good she was there, for his brain was not processing well enough to help anyone.
"You're bleeding," he said dully as she pulled his arm over her shoulder.
In addition to a variety of scrapes and cuts, a saber had slashed across her chest. She'd bled heavily but was still moving, and so she hadn't examined it yet.
"I'm fine. We have to run."
"Run? The tower fell the other way."
The sentence sounded foolish on his lips.
"No, Freas. We need to run."
Understanding penetrated his thick skull. Mattias blanched.
"Do you have a way to call the sorcerers?"
"I called. They never came. Come on."
Reinforcements had saved them, though it was Renat Defour who had ensured so many lived. Looking at the tower, she now no longer knew what would have been the preferable outcome.
She pushed at Mattias, and he began to move sluggishly.
Electricity crackled through the air, setting Mattias' scalp itching. The feeling collected, drawing inward toward the tower. She froze in place, Mattias slumped against her.
The dust had begun to thicken and take form, though it quickly became clear it was not the dust at all, but some thing. At the center of the dense mass, a flaming, beating heart lit up the shape, from gold at the edges to a deep, blazing red at the center.
The pressure of magic deepened, like when he took the smoke form of pure djinn magic. But Mattias' could not tell what emotion emanated from the being in front of them.
Cleo’s fingers clutched at the leather stitching of his breastplate. She spoke in a whisper.
"The demon."
About the Author
Cecelia Isaac is a Minnesota-based fantasy author. Her books include urban fantasy series St. Paul Grimoire, fantasy romance series A Djinn Romance, and a standalone high fantasy novel Turquoiseblood.
She is also the co-founder of F-BOM, a bimonthly book subscription box featuring indie women authors of science fiction and fantasy.
Stay in touch with Cecelia to hear about new releases! Find her at CeceliaIsaac.com, or on Twitter as @CeceliaIsaac.
~*~
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Turquoiseblood
When the dangerous rogue dragon Anya crash lands in an isolated mountain village during a snowstorm, Kiri saves her life. Anya awakens seemingly cured of her madness and in thanks offers to show Kiri the country outside her village.
What starts as a simple pact quickly becomes something more as Kiri becomes embroiled in the intrigue of the royal court and the hunt for a murderer.
Meanwhile, 200 years in the past, Pristina fights to stop a rising civil war.
Get your copy on Amazon today!
Also By Cecelia Isaac
Dolvinian Universe
Turquoiseblood
A Djinn Romance
Fall of the Tower
St. Paul Grimoire
Volume One
Short Stories
Twin Cities Speculations: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction
F-BOM: Feminist Book of the Month
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