Dragon Shadow

by Alicia Wolfe

  …as if they were sacrifices.

  I felt a shudder. These men were prepared to be turned into trolls at a moment’s notice, to give their lives if necessary in service to Angela. Or whomever she served, if there was someone above her.

  One Fae Knight lunged forward and hacked at a troll ankle with his blazing sword, and my heart skipped a beat when I saw it was Davril. His helmet had been ripped off, and his eyes shone with fury and determination beneath sweat-soaked flaxen hair. His teeth were bared in a snarl. He was a wild thing, an animal at bay expending all his rage against an overwhelming enemy.

  Grinning savagely, he evaded the thrust of an iron shaft and slashed at the ankle again. A piece of armor tore loose, and I understood. He’d been working at a weak spot, trying to find—or make—a chink in the armor. A wave of pride swept through me, and something else, too. Davril was a fighter, smart and relentless, and a total frickin’ badass.

  The other troll brought its staff down toward his head.

  “Davril! Watch out!” I shouted.

  He glanced to me, just for a fraction of a second, then looked up to where I was pointing. Instantly, he sprang aside, and the staff smashed against the stairs, raising a cloud of shattered crystal.

  I rushed forward and started up the stairs.

  The last of Angela’s minions must have heard me coming—no one else seemed to have—and turned to face me. I kicked him in the balls, then punched him in the face when he doubled over. He listed over and toppled down the steps behind me. Another turned and I punched him in the gut. I was faster and stronger than a normal human, and I could handle myself in a fight.

  The man kicked at my face. I swerved, grabbed his extended ankle, and spun him around. He lost his balance and tumbled down the stairs.

  By now, the last two goons were turning to face me. Blackfeather turned, too, but Mistress Angela spared me only a glance—fleetingly—before turning back to direct her trolls, shouting orders at them as they went, one grim foot up the stairs after another. They didn’t have many left to go. Then the Queen would be cornered on her dais with nowhere to go.

  “Shit,” I said, my gaze going back to Angela. She carried a red dagger in her hand. A dagger that might well have been carved from a demon’s horn.

  I didn’t have time to worry about that now, though. The last two goons were coming at me. These two, I saw with dismay, were armed with guns. .9mm pistols to be exact. I wished I still had my dragonfire. I would’ve shown these asshats a thing or two.

  “Evicta!” I shouted, hurling a mix of sini seed dust and dryad spittle at them. It didn’t turn them to ice, but it slowed their movements just enough for me to get close and kick them both in the kneecaps. Howling, they toppled down the stairs and out of the fight.

  Blackfeather opened her mouth, perhaps about to voice the spell that would turn them both into trolls, but by then, I had reached her and rammed her in the solar plexus with my shoulder. I flung her up a few stairs and onto her back.

  Cursing at me, she reached into the folds of her cloak and pulled out a dagger. Its blade flashed as it streaked for my throat. I jerked back, struck her outstretched arm with the flat of my hand, then punched her in the nose. Bone crunched and blood spewed.

  I caught the dagger as it slipped from her hand.

  “Stay down,” I told her, mentally cringing at the poor girl with her nose busted and water filling her eyes. What the hell did I think I was doing? I wasn’t Dirty Harry. Sure, I could get by in a scrape—I’d had to learn how the hard way—but this wasn’t my scene.

  Above, between the legs of the two trolls, I could see Davril bravely leading the defense of the Queen. One of the other knights was being crushed beneath the heel of a troll. Enraged, Davril jumped forward, under a flailing fist, and slashed the troll through the hole in its armor that he’d created. It screamed, but that was it.

  Just wait till that poison arrives, I thought.

  But I knew there wasn’t time.

  Edging up the stairs behind Mistress Angela, I wondered if I could make her call the trolls off. Or maybe if I just stabbed her with Blackfeather’s blade, they would stop. I could feel power pulsing from the dagger and knew it was magical. Hopefully it could slice through any of the protections Angela had gathered about herself. It was my only hope. Maybe Davril and Calista’s only hope.

  Heart beating so wildly I thought it would punch through my chest, I advanced up the stairs toward Angela. I moved lightly so I wouldn’t make too much noise. Above the roars of trolls and the ring of metal on metal, I doubt I could be overheard, but I suspected Angela had enhanced her senses with magic, so it paid to be cautious.

  Beyond her, Davril was leaping over the sweeping hand of a troll, then lunging forward again to stab it near the ankle. Blood spurted, high and strong…and kept spurting. Mentally, I cheered. Had Davril hit an artery? Clever knight!

  Almost to Angela…

  My eyes widened. At Angela’s hip hung the golden antler. The antler of the Golden Hind! Once I killed her, I could take the antler and Ruby would be that much closer to being saved. Thank God, I thought. There was hope for Ruby yet.

  I raised the dagger, feeling its balance. One thrust, I told myself. Right between Angela’s shoulder blades. Yeah, yeah, I knew stabbing someone in the back was uncool, but with this bitch I’d make an exception.

  This is for you, Jason, I thought as I coiled my arm to strike.

  Just before I could stab her, Angela spun. Her face had gone rigid and dangerous-looking. Such was the wrath on her face that I paused. I had to fight myself not to recoil.

  Behind me, I could hear Blackfeather say, “Kill her!” Of course, with her busted nose, it came out sounding more like gil er.

  Mistress Angela thrust out a hand, palm vertical and aimed at my face. I could feel a terrible energy gather there. It was about to explode outward, right at my head. I was about to die. I tried to renew my own attack, but she’d somehow paralyzed my muscles. I couldn’t move that dagger any closer toward her than I already had. It was as if it were stuck in the air. My arms trembled as they tried to shove it forward, but it was like moving it through petrified molasses.

  The energy on her palm built, turning into a purple flame. The flame grew brighter, brighter…it was about to shoot off her palm and engulf my head…

  Suddenly, Angela wobbled. She tried to catch her balance but slipped, stumbling on the stairs. The energy on her palm dissipated, as did the feeling of molasses. I could hear Blackfeather huffing to her feet behind me.

  What the hell had happened? Then I realized it and almost laughed. The troll Davril had stabbed was bleeding profusely, the wound—it really must have been an artery—jetting a crimson river down the glinting crystal stairs. The thick red flood had washed Angela’s feet right out from under her.

  I danced aside, not wanting to get mired in the stuff myself.

  The troll bellowed, then began to fall over backward. It seemed to move in slow motion, huge and heavy, but I knew in reality it was moving all too fast. Blackfeather cursed as she scrambled out of the way.

  I threw myself aside as it slammed down, shaking the crystal beneath my feet. I picked myself up onto my hands and knees to see Angela doing the same thing, spitting out blood from where she’d bitten her tongue. Craning my head, I could see Blackfeather rushing up toward us, her face red.

  Above, Davril was jumping back, avoiding a swipe from the final troll. He was the Queen’s last defender, and I didn’t see how he could defeat this troll. I doubted the same trick would work twice. Calista continued trying to blast the creature magically, but she was looking weary and even she had to know the attacks were pointless. Angela had planned all this out too well.

  But she hadn’t planned on me.

  Still on my hands and knees, I coiled my arm to hurl the dagger right at her black heart. Vaguely I could see Blackfeather laboriously climbing over the side of the troll to my right. Its body had separated us.

  “Don’
t you hurt—” she started.

  I threw the blade. It spun end over end.

  “—my mother!” she finished even as she leapt through the air. She jumped right between Angela and me. Right in the path of the dagger. The blade pierced her heart, not Angela’s.

  Blackfeather gasped, blood on her lips, then fell heavily to the stairs.

  I stared at the body, horrified. I’d never killed anyone before, at least not a human. Shame welled inside me. Feeling my eyes prickle, I lifted my gaze from Blackfeather’s body to Angela. My mother.

  Stark, living rage filled Angela’s eyes.

  “You killed my daughter!”

  Enraged, she threw back her head and screamed, a wordless cry of anguish and misery. The sound tore at me, and I felt tears roll down my cheeks. I’d just killed a daughter simply trying to save her mother.

  Screw that, I told myself. I was trying to kill the evil bitch who got Jason killed, and a whole bunch of others.

  Wiping the tears away, I stalked forward. I’d rip the dagger free and use it on Angela, too. The same blade could kill both mother and daughter.

  Above, at the top of the stairs, I could see Davril placing two of his fingers in his mouth and whistling. With the other hand, he swatted at the troll, but really, I thought he was just trying to keep it busy. What the hell did he think he was doing by whistling?

  “GURUM VITAI!” Angela shouted.

  Immediately, I heard a strange scream, then a weird grinding, rushing noise behind me. Turning my head, I saw the four goons I’d taken out moments ago suddenly blooming into hugeness. One moment, they were normal, if stupider-than-average, humans. The next, they’d transformed into giant, hairy trolls. Still walking gingerly where I’d hit their knees or balls, the trolls picked themselves up and started up the stairs.

  “Damn,” I said.

  Angela laughed.

  I quit worrying about her and turned to face the four trolls. How the hell was I going to get out of this?

  Grinning nastily, the huge brutes reached the foot of the stairs, then started climbing up them toward me. Only two could move abreast of each other, they were so big. Great. One minute I’d been about to win; the next, I was about to be a troll snack. And that was if they didn’t simply flatten me.

  I stepped backward, nearly slipped in troll blood, then moved around it, still going backward. Up toward the crystal dais.

  Craning my head periodically, I could see that Angela was moving around the bulk of the troll up there. It had rotated, putting itself between Davril and Calista, keeping him away from her, while Angela approached the Queen. The witch held the red dagger in her hand, the weapon I was sure had been carved from Lord Mortock’s horn.

  Calista tried to blast her, but Angela simply waved her hand and the magical blast veered to the side, exploding against a wall.

  I turned back to the front.

  The four trolls were almost to me.

  There was nothing I could do to fight them. But maybe there was something I could do for Calista. Swallowing down my fear, I spun about and fled up the stairs, nimbly leaping over the body of Blackfeather.

  Panting for breath, I reached the dais. In one corner, Davril was trying to go around the troll’s legs, but it was kicking and grasping relentlessly, determined to keep him pinned down long enough for Angela to kill Calista.

  Calista blasted Angela again, or tried to. Angela knocked this beam of energy aside, too. She’d backed Calista up against her own crystal throne. The Queen couldn’t go anywhere.

  “Now comes the rule of Prince Jereth,” Angela said. She coiled her arm to stab the Queen with the demon horn—

  “Fuck off,” I said, and jumped on her back.

  Her demon horn rocketed forward, scraping along Calista’s side. Blood leaked out. The blade had been aimed right at her heart, but because of my meddling it had only scraped her ribs.

  Furious, Calista balled her fist and socked Angela right in the jaw, while I pulled the evil woman’s hair.

  Angela screamed and thrashed, throwing me to the ground. As I went, I grabbed at the golden antler dangling from her waist and ripped it off. Now I had the antler! Blinking sweat out of my eyes, I rose to my feet and stood side by side with Queen Calista. We would face Angela together. Calista nodded to me in appreciation. I nodded back.

  Angela smiled, cruelly and triumphantly. “You think you’ve beaten me?” she said. “I’ve only just begun.” She raised her blade. Blood dripped off it. “The venom of that horn will kill anything—even you, Calista. Not that I’ll give you that long.”

  She advanced a step, meaning to skewer us both, I have no doubt. Behind her, the four new trolls were just reaching the dais.

  “It’s been nice knowing you,” I told the Queen.

  She was gracious, even in defeat. “You as well.”

  Just then, the glass dome above us shattered, at least in one part, and Davril’s flying car Lady Kay flew down through the hole right toward us. That was why Davril had been whistling—he’d been calling for his car! Davril, having managed to get away from the troll he’d been fighting, jumped into the driver’s seat, then shouted at us, “Well, what are you waiting for? Get in!”

  Chapter 19

  Queen Calista and I looked at each other again, then dove into the car. The top had come down, revealing to my surprise that Lady Kay was a convertible. I loved magic. Calista jumped into the back while I took the front, right beside Davril.

  “Ra!” Davril said, goosing the pedals, and Lady Kay shot up and away from the dais.

  Mistress Angela screamed in rage behind us, and the trolls echoed her cry, lifting their heads and bellowing their fury at the dome. Their volume was so great that several panes of glass cracked and broke off.

  Lady Kay blasted right through the hole it had made earlier and rose into the night sky. Wind whipped around me, and I turned to Davril to see his eyes shining and his jaw firmly set. He turned once, to me, and I could see reluctant respect in his eyes. He may not be able to trust me, but I had saved his queen.

  I glanced back to her, and some of my enthusiasm evaporated. She was holding her side, and blood trickled through her fingers, soaking into the seat.

  “Did she get you bad?” I asked.

  Calista shook her head tightly. Her color had changed, from flesh tones to a sort of yellow color.

  “She said—poison,” Calista breathed, and I could tell it took an effort for her to talk. “The red blade—poison.”

  I nodded. “Mortock’s horn, it’s deadly, and it can cut through many magical shields. It’s why Angela wanted it.”

  “What’s this?” Davril said as he drove.

  “Never mind,” I said. “Just take us to your castle. To the Order of Elshe. They’ll know how to heal the Queen.”

  I stared at the golden antler. I still had it gripped tightly in my fist.

  “Did you get that from Angela?” Davril asked me, and I nodded. Suspicion entered his face once more, and my heart sank. “Is that why you helped us?”

  “Is—is—?” Anger washed through me, and I had half a mind to sock him in the jaw just like Queen Calista had done Angela. “Did you just say what I think you did, you self-righteous asshole? Do you know what I just went through to help you?”

  “We all went through a lot, Jade.”

  I ground my teeth. “I just killed someone to help your queen! I’ve never killed anyone before.” I turned my face away from him, feeling shame well up in me again. Wind tore at my hair, whipping it away from my face and making my eyes mist.

  A long moment of silence passed. At lastI heard Davril sigh.

  “Very well,” he said, and I could sense a certain guardedness in his tone. “Then I thank you.”

  “Me as well,” said Calista behind us.

  Her voice came out trembly. Looking back at her, I could see that she looked even more ill than just a few moments ago. That poison was working fast. In that moment, fear for her drove out all my other thoughts an
d feelings, even my shame at having killed Blackfeather and my anger at Davril for questioning me.

  “Are we being followed?” Davril asked.

  I scanned the horizon behind us. Nothing.

  “No,” I said, “but I see smoke rising from the palace.”

  Dark trails twisted above the white spires. The sun had set, but its light could still be seen, just faintly, over the horizon, and it painted the city in tones of blood. The palace looked bloody and smoking. I thought of the horror that had taken place inside it—was still taking place inside it—and shuddered. But it wouldn’t take long. Even now, Jessela would be distributing the poison from the Hall of Enchantment. The Fae Knights would have the trolls dispatched in no time, I thought. If all went well.

  Until then, though, the Queen was our responsibility.

  I glanced to Davril and saw him turn to me, then give me a nod, not of trust or respect, but indicating that he felt it, too. That this was all on us. A sacred pact between us to save the Queen.

  “Do you think…?” I said, keeping my voice quiet. It came out nearly as trembly as Calista’s.

  “Yes?” Davril’s voice too was low.

  I swallowed. “Do you think that was Angela’s plan all along—to kill Queen Calista?”

  “I…” His jaw bulged as he ground his teeth. His eyes glared straight ahead, and the buildings whipped by to either side. “It makes sense,” he said at last. “Angela had her contact at the palace—”

  “It was Lord Seafoam.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Very sure. He tried to kill me in the cell.”

  Davril stiffened. “He…what?”

  I told him what had happened, ending by explaining how Jessela had saved me. “If not for her, I’d be dead,” I added when I was done.

  He didn’t look at me, but I could feel emotion boiling off him like heat off a tarmac. His eyes glared hateful daggers at the world ahead, and he gripped the steering wheel so tight I was surprised Lady Kay didn’t complain. I realized what it was, or thought I did. Davril was mad at himself. He would never say it, but he was furious with himself for endangering me.