Artifacts, Dragons, and Other Lethal Magic

by Meghan Ciana Doidge

  Then nothing.

  I blinked, momentarily seeing the afterimage of the phoenix against the dark sky. Stars were starting to appear.

  “Shailaja,” I whispered. Though if the rabid koala had been among the shadow leeches, I hadn’t tasted her magic. That wasn’t disconcerting at all.

  Kett and Drake dashed back through the door, both with swords in hand. I had no idea where the vampire’s blade had come from. I’d never even seen him wield a weapon before, other than my knife in Peru. He preferred to fight with the teeth and claws he kept carefully hidden behind his human visage.

  “The sorcerer’s gone,” Kandy snarled. “A blast of magic from you, a few shadow demons, and he tucks tail? Freaking coward.”

  “I guess he didn’t want to renegotiate,” I said wearily. “He’s probably the sanest one among us.”

  “Speak for yourself, dowser,” Kandy said, but there wasn’t much heat in her retort.

  Warner sighed, grim-faced. He sheathed his knife, crossing toward the sundered door. “Nice sword,” he said to Kett as he stepped past him.

  “I was examining it when the leeches passed through. There are … remains inside the door.”

  Warner nodded as if he’d expected that news flash. Then, with one foot through the doorway, he glanced back at me. “She’s ahead of us now.”

  My stomach bottomed out at the darkness in his tone. He had made it clear that he thought pursuing Shailaja and seeking the final instrument was insanity. But he’d stayed by my side against his better judgement then, and he would stay now.

  I nodded, swallowing my fear.

  He disappeared through the door, willing to take the lead where he didn’t want to walk.

  Pulling my thoughts and fears back to the present moment, I reached for Kandy. I wanted a closer look at her head.

  She batted my hands away as she strode after Warner. “It’s a scratch, dowser.”

  With Kett and Drake close behind her, she crossed through the broken door, leaving me alone in the snow underneath the stars.

  Almost every person I loved had just walked before me into unknown danger. And I’d opened the door.

  I hadn’t even said sorry for hitting them with the excess magic.

  I guessed the time for talking was over.

  I sheathed my knife and reached up to brush my fingers over my necklace. I was as ready as I could be. We all were.

  Then I followed my friends into whatever trap lay ahead of us.

  That it was a trap, I had no doubt — whether it was Shailaja’s creation or just the power of the shrine itself.

  All I could do was tear through it until I could go no farther … or I found the other side.

  ∞

  As I stepped through the door, I was expecting a tunnel, or maybe a series of chambers replete with traps and puzzles. I wasn’t expecting the barren wasteland that stretched out before us. Or the mummified remains of the sentries that Kett and Warner were currently examining on either side of the door.

  A faint glow illuminated the slick stone floor that spread from the doorway as far as I could see. Winter-bare trees were inexplicably growing out of the stone, rising ten to fifteen feet high. An intricate sprinkle of bright stars decorated the darkness above us, except I was fairly certain I wasn’t looking at the night sky. At least not at the sky I’d been gazing at before I stepped through the door.

  I hadn’t felt any sort of portal magic or magical barrier as I crossed through. As such, I was pretty sure we hadn’t stepped into a pocket of magic like the one that had concealed the temple of the braids.

  Except, of course, I might have just clumsily and ignorantly ripped through that barrier.

  Not a single snowflake decorated the bleak landscape. Not a single hint of life. Everything appeared to be encased in a thick layer of ice. Except I wasn’t sure it was actually ice.

  Kandy had crouched down a few steps beyond the door, taking in the scene before her. “Smells like magic,” she said, looking up at me. The green of her shapeshifter power flared across her eyes.

  “Tastes like it,” I murmured in agreement. “A slightly different power from whoever constructed the door, though. Muted.”

  Kett crossed the half-open doorway to examine the second sentry. The mummified guard was wearing elaborately decorated, plated-leather armor and what was possibly a bronze one-piece breastplate. It looked ancient, but there was no way to even guess at how old it was through the maybe-ice that coated and perfectly preserved the sentries. Whatever it was that had mummified or frozen them … and perhaps the trees as well.

  “When we discussed the collection of the first instrument, you indicated you encountered an encasement spell in the temple where you found the braids,” Kett said. He was still holding the sword he had taken from the first sentry. “Is this similar?”

  I shook my head, but Warner responded before I could.

  “No,” he said curtly. “That was constructed out of stone.” He had paced ahead to stand just inside the edge of the grove, about a dozen steps ahead of us and staring out into the darkness.

  I couldn’t see Drake, but by the taste of his magic, I imagined he was scouting the interior wall behind us.

  I crossed to the nearest tree, deeming it way less creepy to examine that than the dead bodies. Warner turned to watch me.

  I removed my glove and carefully touched the lowest branch. “The coating is cold,” I said. “But it doesn’t melt underneath my fingers. Magical ice? This is a fruit tree of some sort, isn’t it? By the shape? Or it was. It looks dead, not just preserved.”

  “Apple?” Kandy had straightened from her crouch and was silently padding across the slick ground between us.

  “Pear,” Warner said flatly.

  “Conjecture,” Kett said coolly as he joined us. He had set the sword he’d taken back beside the dead sentry.

  “Logical,” Warner said. “Given the magic the dowser tasted previously.”

  “Let’s all stand around being pissy about it,” Kandy said, laying on the sarcasm. “That’ll accomplish so much.”

  Warner turned his back on all of us. He was holding his knife at his side, and even from a dozen feet away, I could feel how pleased the blade was to be in play. It was creepy that I knew that about the weapon — which was why it was in Warner’s hand, not mine.

  “Drake,” the sentinel said.

  The fledgling guardian appeared to Warner’s right.

  “The wall extends in a gradual curve in both directions,” Drake said, dutifully reporting his findings. “Smooth faced, unscalable, even if there was anywhere to go. No doors or magical loci. Not that I could feel.”

  “Loci?” Kandy asked.

  I was always glad when the werewolf took one for the ‘slow’ part of the team. Namely, me.

  “Manifestations,” Kett said. “Points or beacons.”

  “And Shailaja?” Warner asked.

  Drake, Kett, and Kandy turned to look at me. Warner shifted his grip on the hilt of his knife, twisting it in his hand. But he didn’t look over his shoulder.

  “What did you think would happen?” I whispered.

  Warner turned to me. The gold of his dragon magic briefly flickered across his eyes. “This,” he said. “This is what I thought would happen. Her ahead of us and with the upper hand.”

  I reached up, lightly touching the rings on my necklace. I hadn’t zipped my jacket back up yet, though I was cooling down after the exertion of ripping a hole in the wards. I instantly identified the rune-marked betrothal bands by feel. Curling two fingers through those rings, I smiled at Warner.

  “I’m glad you’re here,” I whispered, not caring about the distance between us or that we weren’t alone.

  “I wouldn’t be anywhere else,” Warner said.

  “Holy Jesus,” Kandy groused. “Have sex on your own time. We have the old man to rescue. That’s why we’re here, right?”

  Warner shook his head, then huffed out a sigh. “Can you locate Shailaja?�
�� he asked me.

  I nodded. Then I stepped ahead into the twisted shadows cast by the starlit trees, placing the familiar magic of my companions behind me. I closed my eyes and sought out the rabid koala with my dowser senses.

  “There,” I murmured, pointing toward the taste of spiced carrot cake that I could taste in the distance.

  My stomach rumbled loudly enough to echo back through the cavern.

  Kandy and Drake burst out laughing. They were quickly joined by Kett.

  I spun around, glaring at them all. I eyed Warner as he fought the impulse to join in. “It’s not my fault she tastes like Serenity in a Cup.”

  Drake was the first to sober. “That is terrible.”

  “Yeah.” Kandy was actually weeping. “You might have to rename that cupcake, Jade.”

  I turned my back on them, but only to hide my own smile. “She’ll be able to search the area quicker than we can,” I said, focusing once again on the problem at hand.

  “How?” Drake asked.

  “The leeches are sentient,” Kett said.

  “Enough to communicate with her? Like, individually?” Kandy asked.

  “To some extent.”

  “So our best course is to follow her,” I said, looking over at Warner. “I’m sorry. Though whatever defenses the shrine holds might slow her down.”

  He nodded. “Drake on the right. Jade in the middle with Kandy and Kett flanking. I’ll take left point.”

  “Protecting me doesn’t make any sense,” I said as the others quickly shifted into formation around me. “The rabid koala wants me in one piece.”

  “You’re also the most capable of standing against her,” Warner said. “Which I believe you proved in Peru.”

  He glanced over at Kett, who nodded.

  “Those were specific circumstances —” I said.

  “Exactly,” Warner said to cut me off. “Moving forward.”

  He took off through the trees, setting the pace at a light jog that everyone but me would probably have been able to maintain all day. I would likely be okay for an hour or so.

  “I should take point, Warner,” I said, reiterating my objection. “It’s harder to sneak up on me.”

  He glanced back. His features were just a dark wash under the fake stars. “There won’t be any sneaking this time.”

  Unfortunately, he was right.

  ∞

  Shailaja hit us with the shadow demons in waves. On their first assault, the leeches appeared without warning. They swirled and twisted through our ranks, siphoning whatever magic they could grab. Then they disappeared.

  It was a reconnaissance pass.

  The second time, they targeted Kandy and Kett specifically.

  “She’s dropping them on us through her miniportals,” I cried out as I pivoted, slashing at the writhing mass of shadow swarming the werewolf and the vampire.

  I couldn’t get an accurate count, but it felt as if maybe a dozen leeches were pressing two Adepts who relied on their strength, stealth, and speed in a fight. With the demons having no real substance to gouge at with claws or shred with teeth, Kandy and Kett were ineffectual against them.

  Plus, Kandy couldn’t even see the soul-bound, demonic energy of her attackers, because most shifters related to magic through scent, not sight. She could feel them, though, sucking on her skin and consuming her magic. As could Kett. It hurt them both.

  Utterly frustrated and completely blanketed in seething, malicious shadows, Kandy screamed.

  The magic of one of Shailaja’s miniature portals bloomed over our heads, literally vacuuming up the masses of leeches. As they vanished, we were left peering at each other through the starlit, frozen landscape, our weapons pointed at nothing.

  “Fucking shit,” Kandy snarled. Red welts crisscrossed her face and neck. Her jacket was shredded, as if she’d clawed at herself in an attempt to get the leeches off. “I can’t fucking see or smell them!”

  She glanced at Kett, whose reddened skin was slowly fading back to its typical paleness.

  “I can see them,” he said. He lifted his hands before him and twisted his lips wryly. “And I can feel them. But I can’t touch them.”

  “She’s playing with us,” I said.

  “No,” Drake said. His golden broadsword gleamed brighter than anything else within the frozen emptiness around us. “Her force isn’t strong enough to overwhelm all of us, so she’s focusing her attacks. Further weakening what she perceives to be the weakest links.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Kandy spat.

  “Tighten the formation,” Warner barked, before Drake and Kandy started seriously tussling. “Kandy and Kett center. I’ll take point. Jade and Drake at the back. And dowser? Some warning?”

  “I’ll try.” I turned to Kandy. “Here.” I reached up to lift my necklace off, ready to offer it to the werewolf.

  “No.” She pushed my hands back. Anger had paled her face. “No sense in weakening you before the big finish.”

  “But …” I looked at Kett, hoping he would take my knife as he had in Peru.

  “No, dowser,” he said icily. Then he turned his back on me, standing shoulder to shoulder with Kandy.

  Warner took off again through the trees. I had no choice but to follow at the rear of the formation.

  I opened my senses as wide as I dared, focusing forward through all the potent magic ahead of me. Realizing that Shailaja had moved, I veered to the right slightly. Everyone moved with me without question.

  My companions were so silent that if not for the taste of their magic and the occasional brush of clothing against icy branches when I corrected our course, I might have been running alone.

  Sugared cinnamon tickled the tip of my tongue. “Incoming!” I yelled, waiting for the leeches to drop from above us.

  Instead, they hit us from the right, rolling in underneath our feet, buffeting our legs, and attempting to rip Kandy and Kett away from our protective triangle. Warner, still running, spun and yanked Kandy around by the arm, flipping her up and onto his back. The leeches immediately assaulted him, creating a whirling storm of darkness around them. The sentinel slowly twisted, methodically slashing through the shadows with his knife.

  Drake and I sandwiched Kett between the two of us, facing out and attempting to skewer any shadows that flitted too close.

  Frustratingly, they wouldn’t come near me. If I lunged too far, they’d slip in and around my legs, leeching onto Kett behind me. If I stood still, they simply stayed out of reach.

  Then they were gone.

  Kandy was hanging off Warner’s neck. The sentinel looked as frustrated as I felt.

  “How many of them are there?” Drake asked.

  “A dozen, maybe. Not as many as they seem to be,” I said. “But even slashed to bits, they can keep coming.”

  “Or they regenerate quickly,” Kett said. “Which is why she keeps pulling them back.”

  Kandy slowly swung down from Warner’s back.

  “You need shields,” I said, glancing around me as if I was expecting to uncover some useful artifact in the ice.

  “We need to keep moving,” Kandy growled. “The sooner I have my hands around her neck, the better.” She slashed her wolf claws across her shredded sleeves, freeing her hands from any loose fabric they might get tangled in. “Why do you think the far seer gave me these cuffs? I’m going to strangle the skinny bitch.”

  “How do you know she’s skinny?” Drake asked.

  “Chubby people are always cheerful. They get to eat whatever they want.”

  Under any other circumstances, I would have bantered with Kandy over that statement, but it wasn’t the time or place to be playful. Not even for me.

  Kett had a series of demonic hickeys across his neck. I reached up to touch his shoulder, but he warned me off with a shake of his head. A red sheen rolled across his eyes. The marks faded.

  Everyone was getting hurt but me.

  I turned away, dowsing for Shailaja. “She’s nearer,” I
murmured. “The shadows are just a distraction. Let’s provide one of our own.” I glanced over at Warner. “She expects us to come straight at her, en masse.”

  He nodded, apparently following my train of thought.

  “So … we need to be more … random. Maybe the shadows won’t know who to concentrate on if we weave back and forth quicker than they can follow. So … stay close. But, you know, zigzag.” And with that brilliant bit of strategy declared, I took off at a run.

  Kett slipped up beside me, then split off into the trees.

  Drake outpaced me. “There’s a cliff face up ahead,” he said, pointing, then darting off in the direction he’d indicated. “Forty-five degrees.”

  I still couldn’t see anything but rows and rows of skeleton trees. I focused on the taste of Shailaja’s magic ahead of me. The others flitted back and forth, weaving between and around the trees.

  Monsters in the dark.

  A tree splintered somewhere in the darkness to my left.

  I kept running.

  Kandy howled off to the right.

  Shadow demons blew by me. I snatched one out of the air as it passed, but it had built up enough momentum that it dragged me off my feet and slammed me into a stone wall I hadn’t seen in the starlit darkness. I lost my hold on the leech and my footing on the slick ground at the same time.

  I scrambled to right myself, keeping my knife at the ready. But nothing else moved in the starlight. I ran my hand along the wall that stood behind me. More pear-tea magic filled my senses and clung to my hand. The entire freaking place was covered with whatever magic shielded the door.

  Delightful.

  Though I’d apparently found the chamber’s far side.

  Reorienting myself by tracking the taste of my companions’ magic, I attempted to run along the edge of the wall, keeping it to my right. But the stone of the floor there was uneven and slippery, as if the ice had built up more along the edges of the chamber. There was also less light. And unlike the dragons and the vampires, my eyesight penetrated the darkness only so much.

  I stepped back through the row of trees nearest the wall, homing in on the magic of the rabid koala just ahead. I held my knife at the ready, slowing my pace and attempting to not announce my presence like a rampaging elephant.