Roseate shrieked. “They’re the mermaids!”
“Those crowns were probably fairy artifacts.” I folded my arms across my chest. “What in the Known World do you want with Evolene?”
“It’s you we came for,” said Astri. “And you’ll come with us back to Savannah, or we’ll kill your friends.”
Chapter 21
A dull silence spread over the next few moments. I stared at King Magnar’s sisters, blinking hard. Had they really disguised themselves as Magical Militia lieutenants, goaded the Witch General into arresting Evolene, and spirited her away to this underwater enclosure just to capture me?
Phoenix stood at my side, tense and shaking as though holding himself back from transforming. With one blast of dragon fire, he could destroy these witches. Blood surged through my veins, pumping heat and fury and power to my limbs. My fingertips twitched, aching for a weapon to fight my new enemies, but I remained still. They held Evolene’s life at the tips of their staffs, and they were ruthless enough to kill her.
Stafford groaned from the floor. He had probably hit his head hard when he had been stunned.
“Y-you lied!” screeched Roseate.
Astri turned her cool, turquoise gaze to Roseate. “We said what was necessary to complete our mission. Blame yourself for being… What did the librarian write in his report?”
“The most unaccomplished witch with the biggest thirst for recognition and glory.” Botilda flipped her loose, blonde curls over her shoulder. “Easily the weakest link in Mount Fornax.”
Roseate’s face crumpled, as did her posture. I snatched my gaze away and closed my heart to her dry sobs. What did it say about us that we had been willing to walk into a trap based on her information?
“You won’t get away with this,” said Phoenix.
“Actually, we already have.” Astri spread her hands wide. “The hardest part of our plan was attaching this extension beneath the prison. Once we extended the Magical Militia’s wards around our enclosure, our success was guaranteed.”
“Why not just abduct me and bring me back to Savannah?” I asked.
“You would have fought back, and the spriggans need you alive and healthy to finish their plan.”
I stiffened. There had been too much talk and allusions to spriggans and the Forgotten King over the past few days. They seemed to be the cause of everything that had recently gone wrong in Mount Fornax. I glanced at Stafford, who remained face-down and twitching on the floor.
“All right,” I said.
“What was that?” asked Astri.
“I’ll come with you.”
The witches exchanged confused glances, and Astri asked, “Without a fight?”
“But you’ll have to release Evolene first.”
The pair snickered. I scowled, hoping the intensity of my glower would burn them from the inside out, but I had no such good fortune. They remained as sneering and alive as their brother.
“It’s been a while since we had something to laugh about,” said Botilda.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked.
“Because you ruined our lives.”
Suppressing the urge to roll my eyes, I folded my arms across my chest. “I seriously doubt that.”
“All you had to do was let us move those eggs across the border, but you fought us with your dragons and even killed a spriggan. Do you know how the others punished us?”
My mouth fell open. The sleeping dragon had killed the spriggan, not me. Something told me that explaining this would fall on deaf ears. But if the four younger sisters had been punished for its death, I could understand their resentment. “Are your sisters all right?”
“What do you care?” spat Astri.
“You didn’t deserve what happened to you.” I stepped forward. The sisters had had a hard life, spent mostly in a basement dungeon being kept until alchemists could work out how to transfer their life forces to King Calder. When their brother had secured their freedom, he unwittingly condemned them to another form of captivity at the hands of the spriggans. “Any of it.”
The tip of Astri’s staff glowed red. “Don’t come any closer, or I’ll hurt one of your friends.”
I stepped back. “This isn’t the answer. You should be allying with us to get rid of the spriggans, not working with them.”
A harsh laugh escaped her lips. “As if you care.”
“We’ve got the formula for an elixir that hurts them. We have envoys from the fairies trying to find their location. Work with us, and we’ll help you free your sisters.”
Astri’s glare faltered for a second before her face hardened. “Like you helped Magnar?”
My stomach muscles clenched, and I ground my teeth. King Magnar had never asked for any assistance. He’d threatened war on Aunt Cendrilla if she didn’t marry him, hoping that their union would oblige her to fix his problems. When she was no longer an option, and he discovered I had a measure of power, he’d tried to force me to become his obedient bride. I was about to say all of this when Botilda shot her magic at Evolene’s tank.
Panic lanced through my heart, blanking my mind and freezing my limbs. Evolene’s eyes cracked open a peep. She blinked twice, then her eyes flew open, her face contorted, and bubbles escaped her lips.
“She’ll drown,” I sobbed.
“Take off your weapons,” Botilda snarled. “Now!”
Fingers trembling and damp with sweat, I unbuckled my sword belt and threw it aside. The swords fell on the stone floor with a clank.
Dull thudding sounded from Evolene’s tank. She banged on the glass, cheeks puffed out, eyes wide with panic.
Astri turned to Phoenix. “You, too!”
He raised his hands above his head. “I’m unarmed.”
“Then disarm him.” She pointed at Stafford.
Phoenix knelt by his writhing form and removed his sword from his right hip. He patted around his left, found a dagger, and threw them both aside. “Done. Release Evolene.”
“Please.” My voice cracked, and tears spilled from my eyes. “Let her go.”
With a flick of her staff, Astri removed all the water from the tank. Evolene fell to the ground and rolled onto her hands and knees, gasping. I rushed toward her and bumped into a barrier.
“Your friends can take Evolene home once you’ve boarded our underwater ship,” said Astri.
“What about the wards?”
She raised a shoulder. “Jump down the column of gravestone, and you won’t alert them of your presence.”
My teeth ground together. They had either forgotten the Witch General’s dire warning or didn’t care. “If Evolene leaves without feeding her magic to the wards, the Witch General and many others will lose their magic. Then no one will be able to help you and your sisters the next time the spriggans want to force your hands.”
Both their faces dropped. “Didn’t you think of something before coming here?”
“We did.” Stafford raised his head. “There’s an avatar in my sac. We meant to throw it into her cell, but now you’ve changed things around, we don’t know what to do.”
“Show me,” said Astri.
Phoenix tried to stand, but she pointed her staff at him. “Not you, or I’ll remove all the air from Evolene’s tank.”
“Can I at least help Stafford stand?” he asked.
“Go ahead,” replied Astri. She said to her sister, “Keep your staff trained on the dark-haired one. I don’t trust him.”
I pressed my lips together, silently urging Phoenix not to do anything brave. As a dragon, he would be impervious to the magic of two witches, but they were still in the position to hurt Evolene or to withdraw their help with the avatars.
My jaw ached from the tension and frustration at once again being at the mercy of a person driven by the spriggans, and I wished the security witches hadn’t blocked my bond with Fyrian. Right now, her keen observational skills would have been handy for dealing with King Magnar’s sisters.
Phoenix helped S
tafford to his feet, and Stafford floundered to the spot by the wall where he had dropped his sack. He knelt, reached into it, and pulled out a snowman squash.
“Bring it here,” said Astri. When he tried to stand, she pointed her staff at his head and smirked. “On your hands and knees.”
A hot, angry breath rushed out of my nostrils. “Why are you treating us like this?”
“Be grateful for your comfortable lives in Mount Fornax!” she spat. “This is nothing compared to how the spriggans humiliate us on a daily basis.”
Roseate rocked back and forth. “You’re all awful!”
Stafford brought the snowman squash to Astri’s feet. She cast white power on it and scoffed. “It contains atmospheric magic. That’s not going to fill the wards.”
“We need to transfer some of Evolene’s magic into it to make the difference,” I said.
She chewed her lip. “Oh.”
“What?” I asked.
“We kept her in that water for so long, it would have depleted her.”
“What are you saying?” asked Stafford.
Astri’s gaze darted to a spot on the floor. “She won’t have any magic to spare.”
All the blood drained from my face. If Evolene didn’t fill the avatar, she couldn’t leave the jail. “N-no.”
“How could you?” Stafford whispered.
Botilda bristled. “Don’t talk to my sister like that. How were we supposed to know you’d need her to fill an avatar with her magic?”
The back of my throat ached as if I’d been screaming. “How else was Evolene supposed to leave without the wards noticing she’d gone?”
Botilda’s shoulders drew up to her ears, and she tucked her elbows into her sides. In a small voice, she said, “We didn’t know.”
I turned to Roseate, hoping she would provide some insight, but she remained kneeling on the ground, head bowed, in her little bubble of self-pity. My lip curled. How could she think of herself when Evolene’s life was in peril?
“I have an idea.” Phoenix’s voice shook.
“What?” asked Astri.
“If you let me bond with her, she’ll have access to all my power.”
My heart flip-flopped, and I drew in a sharp breath. Master Jesper had once mentioned that my bond with Fyrian had made my power limitless because I could access her magic. Phoenix could create a bond with eye contact, just like Fyrian had done with me.
Astri narrowed her eyes. “What kind of bond?”
“I’m a dragon. Please, if we bond, she’ll have enough power to fill the avatar.”
She spread one arm wide. “Go on, then.”
“I’ll need skin-on-skin contact.” Phoenix held out his hand, indicating for Stafford to give him the avatar.
I held my breath and glanced at Stafford. His eyes flashed. That was a lie. If Phoenix could snatch her and disappear, then the witches would no longer be able to threaten Evolene. Stafford rolled the snowman squash across the room, and Phoenix picked it up.
Astri removed the barrier. “Hurry.”
I walked over to Stafford and grabbed his arm. “Let’s get out of his way. He needs to transform to create the bond, and you know how big dragons get.”
Stafford stood, and we locked eyes. I squeezed his hand and nodded. Phoenix had to have a plan.
Phoenix unbuttoned his flying Jacket, making the witches’ eyes widen. I tilted my head to the side. What in the Known World was he doing? He’d never needed to disrobe to transform into a dragon.
“Do you need to take all your clothes off or just the top half?” asked Botilda, a hopeful lilt to her voice.
“I’m just making myself comfortable.” Phoenix crouched by Evolene, who knelt on her hands and knees, thin arms trembling.
While the witches kept their gazes on Phoenix, I wrapped my hand around Stafford’s wrist and edged toward our weapons, which lay halfway toward the patch of wall that led to the other chamber. Phoenix murmured something to Evolene, who offered him a weak nod.
“When will you turn into a dragon?” asked Botilda.
“Now.” He stood, stepped back several paces, and transformed.
I held my breath, picked up my sword belt and fastened it around my waist. Stafford reattached his sword and dagger. With Phoenix’s huge body providing a barrier between us and the witches, this would have been a great time to escape. But I couldn’t. I had to make sure Evolene could fill the snowman squash with her magic, and I couldn’t let her leave until I was sure the wards would accept the avatar.
A moment later, Evolene gasped, and Phoenix transformed back into a man. She now sat up on her heels, hair and chemise plastered to her skin, and with her hands on her chest.
I stepped forward. “Did it work?”
She nodded. “I can feel his presence in my head.”
“Go on, then,” said Astri. “Fill the avatar.”
“H-how?”
“Same way you push your magic into your staff.”
Evolene wrapped her hands around the lower segment of the snowman squash and closed her eyes. The avatar’s skin glowed, and the middle button blinked, indicating that it was already half full of ambient magic. Phoenix knelt behind her with his hands on her shoulder as though feeding her his power through his palms. I glanced at Stafford, whose face pinched.
Closing my eyes, I let out a shuddery breath. Hopefully, this new bond wouldn’t complicate things between them.
It took several moments for the rest of the avatar’s buttons to light up, and when it was full, Evolene released her hold and wiped her hands down her face. “I-I’ve finished.”
Phoenix took the snowman from her hand and placed it on the ground. “Did it work?”
Astri pointed her staff at the avatar and bathed it with white magic. “It’s close enough to her magic to fool the wards.”
Phoenix transformed, wrapped his arm around Evolene’s waist, and disappeared. As if she’d expected this to happen, Astri spun on her heel, and shot me with white magic, making everything go black.
Chapter 22
“Alba!”
I awoke in the bowels of a vessel that reminded me of a pair of rowboats turned on their sides, stuck together to create an elongated sphere. A lantern swung overhead, illuminating a hull of walls of rounded planks covered in oiled leather.
Up ahead, Botilda sat at the helm with the crystal end of her staff in a receptacle which she used to affect the oars protruding through the curved, side walls. The front of the ship had been enchanted to be transparent, much like the Fornax Flying Float. On the wooden bench next to her, Astri read from a scroll.
“Alba!”
I jerked upright and hit my head on something invisible. “Fyri?”
“Finally! Where are you?”
I raised my arms, but they got stuck in a barrier. Most probably the penitentiary bubble the witches used on Evolene in the Drogott Arena. “It looks like I’m in an underwater ship. I thought you were behind runes and wards.”
“Phoenix told me what happened, so I spat on the wall and smeared venom on a few of the runes. You’ve been sleeping for hours. What’s happening? You’re surrounded by fairy magic.”
“This ship is probably one of the spriggan’s artifacts,” I replied. “Where is everyone?”
“When you got taken, Stafford and the pink witch went back to Jesper, and Phoenix transported them out of the cave.”
“Where’s Evolene?”
“Hiding in the underground tunnel the flying cat used to leave the wards. Tell me where you are. Phoenix wants to know where to look.”
“Hold on, I’ll see if I can get their attention.” I made a loud, theatrical groan.
Astri rolled up her scroll and placed it on the bench. “You shouldn’t have woken.”
I sat up. “Where am I?”
“Passing the Glacier Islands,” said Botilda.
“Botti!” Astri whirled around to give her sister a filthy look.
Botilda shrugged. “What? It’s not like h
e can call for help or anything.”
I tilted my head to the side. The Glacier Islands were a trio of icebergs north of Steppe. It looked like we were traveling around the continent to reach Savannah. It would be time-consuming, but nobody would think the witches would transport me via the Cursed Sea. “Did you hear that?”
“Yes. I’ll pass the message to Phoenix.”
“Does anyone at Mount Fornax know I’m missing?”
“Not yet, but if they can’t find you by sunset, Phoenix will tell Fosco.”
I groaned. If I didn’t act now, Niger would be in serious trouble for having helped me escape. “All right. I’ll try to break out. Tell him to fly over the north coast of the Glacier Islands and look out for a disturbance.”
“Why are you taking us the long way to Savannah?” I asked.
Astri snorted. “So your dragons can ambush us at the border like they did last time? No thanks.”
“You can still redeem yourselves,” I said. “Move your underground ship to the Glacier Islands and let me off.”
Astri strode down the walkway, clanking the butt of her staff with each step. She glowered down at me, making my spine stiffen. “You don’t understand. If we fail to deliver you, the spriggans will keep our sisters imprisoned in a dollhouse.”
“And I told you we can work together,” I said. “The spriggans are under a magical obligation to keep the six of you safe. If you bring me to them, they’ll use me to release the most dangerous fairy who ever lived, and you’ll doom every other mortal in the Known World.”
Her lips tightened, and her eyes blazed with fury. “Nobody helped us when we were kept as prisoners in a basement. Why should we care about what happens to them?”
I pressed my hand against the barrier of the penitentiary bubble, smoothing my palm against its smooth, glassy surface. As much as I could understand why she would only care for the plight of her sisters, I couldn’t put sympathy for the witches above the fate of millions of people.
The Forgotten King would take control of Fyrian and the other dragons and turn them into slaves to attack the Queen of the Fairies, who would fight the dragons with low-fairy soldiers they deemed expendable, like Mother and Uncles Orel and Rouen.
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