I just wanted to get out of there. Myste would be fine. She was a tough woman. You didn't rise to the top of the Order of the Shadow without having some sort of courage.
I dragged myself back to the Musk estate, seeing things in the darkness that I had not taken note of during the day. The lights strung through the trees and across buildings and stalls made things look peculiar. They cast odd shadows.
The stink of sulfur stayed with me as I trudged my way through the streets. There was too much at stake, too much to risk to make enemies of the people of the town.
Hunter had clandestinely strung power through our midst without us noticing. He'd managed to obliterate Myste's shadows. He had managed to take out the EMP node that we didn't even know existed just outside of town. He'd even managed to find a way to make sure he could be heard in every street and every home in new Denver.
That sort of calculation took a mind far more cunning than I'd given him credit for. For the first time, I worried we couldn't beat him. I'd underestimated him, and in so doing, put the entire town at risk.
Again.
I wanted desperately to be the person the town needed me to be, but while no one had mentioned our failure to see his work, I knew we'd failed. The Lady of the Lake had insisted I wasn't alone, that I'd have help, but that help was not enough when the townsfolk fought among themselves.
We were left with a ravaged town and distrusting citizens. I imagined the envoys had hightailed it for their own cities if they had managed to get past the nymph Queen's assault.
It was a mess.
But all of that could wait for tomorrow. I was beyond spent. I was despondent. I had no idea how I was going to fix things or even if they could be fixed. Maybe I wasn't even the person to try.
I'd let myself feel bloated by pride. I'd let the possession of Excalibur and the words of the Lady give me a false sense of destiny.
I should've known better. There was no way I could win against Hunter if I couldn't even get the town to work as a team. How could we build an army out of these people if they couldn't trust one another? How could I be a leader when I had no idea what Hunter was doing?
I fell into bed without turning off the light. The glow of streetlights outside crept in the window, magnifying the illumination and I sighed.
The best I could do was pull the pillow over my face and fall asleep to the stink of sulfur and the sound of the hum of Excalibur.
-10-
When I woke, the lights were still burning but the smell of sulfur and the strange sense of us being watched was gone. I woke in the same position I fell asleep in. I wasn't even aware of dreaming. Excalibur was still in my hand and I rolled over, laying it on the floor before I stretched.
Every part of my body ached. From my calves when I pointed my toes, to the cords in my neck when I arched my head back. But it felt good to move.
I rolled back onto my back and stared at the light above me. It gave off a high-pitched hum that I'd never been aware of before. The nymph queen said it hurt. Was this the cost of electricity? Was it going to be a constant high-pitched hum deep in our ears that did damage without us knowing it?
My grandmother had lived during a time when technology like this was common place. There was a brief period when the EMP had been overrun by dissidents when I'd been a kid, but we never had electricity. The wealthy in New Denver certainly enjoyed the technology, some now even remembered it, I was sure.
Whatever I thought of it, the light had made it easier for me to find my way back home. I didn't stumble up the stairs to feel my way to my bedroom if I'd been too lazy to find a gas lamp, and I didn't need to light a gas lamp just to put it out moments later.
It occurred to me that the only thing I did hear was the subtle hum of the lights as they burned above me. There was no other sound in the house.
Strange. The estate should be filled with people. We were still trying to re-settle some of the widows who had lost their homes in the fire Hunter had set.
I made my way down the stairs after taking a quick wash and dressing in clean clothes. I figured a little time might change things, and afterward, I checked every room in the wing.
Empty.
Something was off, and my neck prickled with nerves.
Each bedroom was neat, with cots put up. Every article of clothing was folded neatly on beds in stacks.
Whatever had happened, people had time to fold their clothes.
The usual bustle that happened in the estate, of lugging water, mucking animals, building fences and hammering weapons should be clattering in the air.
There was no activity in the entire wing.
I couldn't even find Lance, and he often had a sort of sixth sense about me waking. More than once he'd met me at the top of the stairs and we'd gone down to breakfast together.
I made my way down the stairs and through the house, taking note of the fact that everything was clean and tidy. But there wasn't a single person about.
A sound from the kitchen area caught my attention. A gentle humming that had nothing to do with that of electricity but of a happy and contented woman singing to herself.
I followed the sound to see the cook bustling about in the kitchen. Several unbaked pies sat on the table. She was pulling open the oven door. Steam rushed out with the smell of cinnamon.
She must've heard me and paused with the door to the oven half open.
She pushed it closed and faced me.
"I've been able to make three pies already," she said with a glint of happiness in her eye. "And I made a big breakfast in half the time this morning. Lord, how I missed this."
I realized that she wasn't using the wood stove, but the unused relic that took electricity that hunkered in the corner.
"What kind of pie?" I said.
She smiled broadly. "Blueberry and apple." She waved a dishrag toward the table where a pie rested with at least two wedges missing. "More apple there. Seems to be a favorite."
She bustled her way over to the larder and pulled out some butter and a basket of eggs.
"Would you like some breakfast?" she said. "You're welcome to eat pie, but you might want some protein with it."
She didn't wait for me to answer but turned around and hefted a cast-iron frying pan off the sideboard. She carried it to the electric stove and placed it on the closest element. With a flick of her wrist, she turned the knob that coincided with the element she wanted.
"I'm surprised it works at all, but it made swift work of breakfast this morning. I'm not sure how long all of this technology is going to be available, so I'm making use of it while I can."
I sat down at the table, and watched her work. She seemed happy. She even seemed more efficient. Could power really be so bad? Maybe Myste had been wrong. Maybe technology wasn't so evil.
I thought of Marlin and his music player and the way the young boy had looked so excited when the sound of music filled his ears.
I ate my breakfast of scrambled eggs and a huge slice of apple pie with a large mug of tea filled with cream to the point that it was white. I savored every bite.
The cook watched me with a subtle smile on her face. I knew she took great pride in me being able to enjoy a meal that she had put together in half the time. And it was perfect. It wasn't overcooked or underdone.
She'd been right about the pie. The crust was flaky and golden brown. It was the best pie I had ever eaten.
"Where is everyone?" I said around the last morsel of pastry. "You said you cooked breakfast already. "
She jerked her chin in the direction of the front of the house.
"They're gone, but they'll be back by dinner."
She scraped up crumbs from the table into her palm with a cloth as she spoke. "I must admit I was feeling a little nervous about preparing a meal for so many, but the stove makes things so much easier."
She beamed at me.
"They're coming back?"
"Eventually," she said. "Why don't you go join them?"
Join them I did.
While the estate itself was empty except for me and the cook, the town itself wasn't. It only took a five minute walk before I saw what was happening all around me.
Everyone was working on cleanup of some sort. On the outskirts, where Colton Musk's estate lay, a dozen men with the aid of several nymphs, were hoisting a sort of netting into the trees. It crackled with energy but I knew it wasn't electricity. Rather, some sort of magic.
And as I walked, I found everyone doing the same thing. Man, woman, child and nymphs alike were boosting the defenses. Everything from digging holes and trenches to putting up man traps. Marlin was energizing various items that looked like things people might use to grab hold of in defense.
It was heartening to see, and I wished I had gotten up earlier to help.
When I found Lance and Gal, they were at their forge. Both of them were banging away on metal, and I recognized the small weapons they worked on as some sort of Scottish style dirk.
"For the kids," Gal said. "At least the teenagers."
"Some of them want to fight," Lance said, arching backward to stretch his chest. "Who was I to refuse?"
"You know we can't afford to draw this out?" I said. "We can't wait much longer. The longer we wait, the bolder he gets. He came right in here and strung electricity and wires through our trees without us noticing."
Gal lifted the small knife she was working on and dunked it into a barrel of cold water.
"We're doing everything we can," she said. "Look around you."
"I saw all of that," I said. "And it's not like I'm not grateful, and it's not like I'm not happy to see everyone working, but I know Hunter. He's not going to just wait for us to prepare."
"You're saying we should strike before we're ready?"
"I'm saying it might not be enough."
Lance paused, propping his hammer head down on the anvil. His broad hands cupped over the end of the handle and he leaned on it, the other hand on his hip, as he studied me.
"Don't tell the folks outside that," he said. "They're all working hard because of your speech last night. They believe in you, Skye. They believe in themselves. For the first time in a long time, this town is coming together as a whole. They have hope. They don't just want to survive. They want to thrive."
"It's what I want too," I said.
I thought it best, to meet with the order around the table. We needed to talk it out, discuss the possibilities, find out where our own weaknesses lay. Plug the holes that needed plugged. I asked Gal to round everyone up and when we settled around the charred table, it was Myste who got the first word in, and I was glad I'd made the decision.
The news she had was dire.
"It's worse than you think," she said. "My node wasn't just a relay for the EMP. It also stored a booster that could amplify the pulse. That's gone."
"Hunter is a muster," Marlin said, his face lighting up with realization. "He must be. It's the only thing that makes sense."
"A muster?" I said, not because I didn't understand what one was, but that I'd never considered that Hunter himself could have acquired any magic. He'd found himself a sorcerer. If he had magic himself what would he have needed the sorcerer for.
Marlin scratched at his head beneath his beanie cap.
"His sorcerer didn't just spell Hunter's blade," he said. "He spelled the man's blood. He spelled the man himself." He started to pace and the wires fell from his pocket and trailed along behind him.
He paused to collect them up and stuff them in his pocket. I had the feeling he was gathering his thoughts the same way.
"Remember when you wounded Hunter in the fields during the fire? By all rights, he should have died. That bow and arrow had some gnarly magic infused within it."
Lance ran his fingers down his chin. "I remember," he said. "His sorcerer whipped up a swarm of bees."
"Locusts," Marlin corrected him. "And not just natural locusts. They were the embodiment of the blood magic."
"And they lifted him and carried him from the battle," Lance said, his voice filled with the hollow echo of memory.
"Then gathered back together in the mines to attack you."
"Bastards," Lance said and I noticed his fists clenched on the table.
Marlin pulled his beanie cap from his head and I noted his hair had grown thicker. There was a shock of white at the temple and several clumps of new growth that made his hair look like a mop that had some of its strings cut short.
"Those locusts were pure energy. That energy had been mustered into his blood by his sorcerer. I told you it was the darkest sort of magic. One of hatred and rage. It was how they were able to shape themselves into the man himself. It was how they were able to move with a sort of sentience toward the town. The man's focus was in that plague. He wanted to hurt people—"
"And so the plague wanted to hurt people," I finished.
Gal switched the lamp near the door off and on absently as she spoke. "I hate bugs."
I shared her dislike. Even more after we'd faced the swarm in the mines.
"So is he immortal now?" I said, careful not to compare what Marlin was to what a muster was. He'd been very clear to me that he was not a muster. He didn't know exactly what he was, but he shared some of the same magics as this world's new type of magician.
I heard Sadie suck in a breath as the words hung in the air. Of all of us, she had the most hope and the greatest personal desire to see him out of the way. Her pregnant wife was in hiding because of Hunter and she was due to have the baby anytime.
"I fucking hope not," she said.
Marlin shoved his beanie back onto his head and yanked it over his ears.
"I don't think so," he said. "My guess is his sorcerer imbued Hunter himself with magic, transforming him into some sort of muster. If he wants that booster, it might be a greater threat than his army.
"I don't understand," Gal said, turning the lamp off finally and edging closer. She leaned in, arms over her chest, and gave Marlin a look that would have even me confessing secrets.
"Whatever power Hunter now has, the booster no doubt will amplify it. And not just electricity – but magic."
"So he'll power off the booster and do what?" I said.
There was a nagging thought that there was something I was missing, something important. Something that could make the difference between living and dying.
"He'll blow the lights, the wires, the–" Myste said.
"Not so bad," I said with a shrug. "At least the nymphs will be happy if the powers out."
"No?" Myste said. "You know what happens with an overload of power?"
"Live electricity, raw and un-tempered running through wires, seething along surfaces, jumping from conduit to conduit, searching for ground. Magic amplified and weaponized –"
"And anyone in the way will get struck," I said.
"Like lightning," Marlin finished.
I thought of the chaos the nymphs had created with their magic. I imagined the townsfolk working so hard, of the defenses we were mounting all over town. In my mind's eyes, I saw the items Marlin had energized: stones, blades, swords. I thought of the magics the nymphs had imbued into inanimate things. I thought of the lights and lamps and stoves and all those open and hanging outlets that had been abandoned to neglect when the EMP stole the power and made upkeep unnecessary.
Those things were all over town.
"The town will go up in flames," I said. "Everything we've done will backfire."
"We have to abandon the town," Sadie said. "We have to get everyone out of here."
"The Hell I'm going," Gal said and slammed her fist on the table. "I've worked too hard to just give up."
"Hear, hear," came Chas's small voice from the other side of the room. I'd forgotten he was there, but he'd obviously been taking it all in. He was so young. So eager. My heart clenched at the thought of him getting caught in some crossfire of magic and electricity.
"I don't think we need to out and out aba
ndon the town," I said. "I'll go to Hunter."
"Fuck no," Lance said.
"Think about it," I said. "He wants vengeance. I betrayed him. Whatever drive he had to do good at one point has been warped, and me abandoning him was the last straw. He'll obliterate the town, but he'll want to kill me first. He'll want that to be good and personal."
"No," Lance said. "I don't know what you have in mind, but no. You're too important. The town needs to know you're here, standing with us."
"And what answer do you have?" I rounded on him. While it was endearing that he wanted to protect me, it was also frustrating. I was my own woman. I had led the town into this mess and I needed to fix it.
"We'll booby trap the town," he said. "Turn their magic back on them. Blow them out of existence."
I smiled crookedly and caught Marlin's eye. He knew the same thing I did.
"And how do you propose to do that?" I said. "The town is primed. We primed it. There's magic strung through the very air." I pointed to the lamp stand next to the door. "Even if an element is turned off, there are wires exposed."
Myste stood, yanking her hood onto her head with a flourish. "I'll see if I can fix the EMP emitter. At least if I can get it functioning, it might lessen the damage."
Chas stood up, excited. "Good idea," he said. "And we'll get everyone to turn off every electrical appliance they can find."
He was really so eager. It was heart-wrenching to see the hope in his face, the belief that action could turn back the tide.
I nodded quietly while those around me made plans but I was already working it out in my mind. None of those things alone would be enough.
Those things I'd seen when I made the blood vow with the nymphs, that couldn't be coincidence. Excalibur had the power to meet strike for strike, and it wouldn't break in battle. But it also had a deeper magic. One that had bothered me ever since I'd taken it to my hand.
Whether it was thoughts and desires or terrors from the past, the sword fed me the images and emotions of my enemy. It helped me use the magic and energy of that pain to withstand every blow that came at me. It helped me understand my enemy. Find weak spots.
Queen of Skye and Shadow complete box set : Queen of Skye and Shadow Omnibus books 1-3 Page 30
