“Hey,” I said. “If you’re done staring into space, toss me that blanket.”
He kept staring. I needed to distract him from whatever he thought he’d seen before he worked out I had a familiar watching my back.
“What’s up? Glitch in the Matrix? Hey, Raphael.” I snapped my fingers. “You want out, or not? Pass me that blanket.”
He narrowed his eyes, then shook his head and picked up the blanket folded at the end of the bench and tossed it to me. I shook it out and draped it over Cody, muttering an apology under my breath. I took a step back and ran an appraising eye over the form. Anyone looking in would think he was sleeping.
“You’re sure you can glamour him, and yourself?” I asked, making for the door.
Raphael nodded. “As soon as my powers start to return.”
He strode to the door, then braced himself in the frame, staring out. A slow smile spread over his face, and then, for the first time in thirteen months, he stepped out of the cell.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Whatever reservations I might have had about freeing the most dangerous druid in the country, now wasn’t the time to dwell on them. We were only going to get one shot at this, and I hadn’t come this far just to earn myself a room without a view.
“Well?” I said, casting a meaningful glance at the unconscious enforcer. Raphael drew in a deep breath, and seemed to grow taller, stronger. More powerful. A shiver ran through me. The effects of long-term exposure to those wards would leave him weak for some time, but a weak Raphael was still the equal of a lowly druid enforcer trainee.
He turned and fixed his eyes on Cody. I’d never have noticed the slight tightening around his eyes if I hadn’t been looking for it. Casting the simple glamour was taking its toll on him, and that spell would continue to drain his limited power for as long as it was active – hopefully not leaving him enough left over to turn me into a toad.
As I watched, the enforcer – or what I could see of him – took on the appearance of Raphael. A moment later, Raphael’s form shimmered, and it was as if Cody was standing in front of me. I looked him up and down with an appraising eye, and nodded. Raphael had every detail perfect. Unless anyone looked closely enough to see the spell – and I wasn’t planning on giving anyone the chance – he’d pass for the enforcer.
I pulled the door shut, and the prison’s magic sealed it.
“This way.” I set off along the corridor at a brisk pace and Raphael fell into step beside me. The corridors were deserted, proving luck hadn’t abandoned me just yet, and I hurried along them.
“Do you normally all but run from this place?” Raphael asked with a raised eyebrow. “Not that I don’t understand the urge, of course.”
He was right. I forced myself to slow from a near run to a calm, business-like stride, not quite casual because no-one was casual in Daoradh, not even the enforcers who worked here. Still, I sucked in a calming breath, and restrained my quivering muscles – and while I was at it, tried to rearrange the ones in my face so they didn’t scream guilty. I was, though. Guilty. I was breaking some pretty damned big laws, no matter how this turned out. And betraying all the people who’d sacrificed himself to put Raphael here. No. Not betraying. I shook my head and pressed on, rounding another corner.
I’d memorised as much of this place as I could, given that I could hardly pop down to the local town hall and get a floor plan. But Zara had come across the journal of some long dead guy that had probably been long forgotten, rotting away in a corner of the library. In that journal, there’d been a memoir about the time he’d spent as an enforcer in Daoradh. I wasn’t entirely sure whether the rules back then had been more relaxed, or just less strictly enforced. Or maybe the former enforcer had been a wily old druid and had escaped being caught, and it had been the mark of a twisted sense of humour that he’d concealed the journal in Krakenvale. Frankly, I didn’t much care, so long as what he’d written had been accurate. Otherwise, we were all screwed.
The corridor came to an end and set into the wall was an iron door peppered with sharp spikes, each one the length of my hand. The door itself seemed designed to admit something much bigger than a human, and I could feel the magic pulsing through it from here.
I turned sharply to my right, to the roughly hewn wall, and drew in a slow, steadying breath.
“Cruadal,” I muttered, and prayed the enforcers hadn’t changed the password since whenever the dead guard had patrolled these halls.
The wall stayed bare. I stared at it for a long moment, wondering if I’d said the word wrong, wondering if I should try again, and wondering what the hell I was supposed to do if this plan didn’t work. Somehow, I didn’t think telling Raphael we were going back to his cell would go down particularly well.
The wall seemed to shimmer, and a section of it vanished, revealing a long, well-lit corridor. I stepped into it, not quite suppressing a shudder as I crossed its threshold.
“Impressive,” Raphael said, following me through, and I wasn’t sure if he meant the corridor itself, or the fact I knew how to access it. And, I reminded myself firmly, I didn’t care. It didn’t matter a thing to me what this dangerous, no, deadly druid thought, so long as he lifted his curse, and didn’t kill me in the process. Or afterwards. Or just for fun. In general, I would quite like to avoid being killed, especially after I’d gone to all this effort.
I sucked in a shaky breath and tried to force myself to focus. True, having Raphael at my back was terrifying, but I’d faced worse before. Just because I couldn’t recall a single instance when I’d faced worse didn’t mean I hadn’t. We were halfway there already. I just had to press on. And hope he didn’t go back on his word.
We moved in silence; me wrapped up in my thoughts and terror, and him– Well, who knew what went through a murderous druid’s mind? Not me. He stuck close to me, scanning all around without seeming to, still wearing his enforcer glamour. He was much better at this than me. For one thing, he didn’t look like he was about to puke at any moment. It was just as well there were no guards patrolling round this area. But that wasn’t all the luck we were going to need to pull this off. I hoped I hadn’t already used up my quota.
I swallowed and shoved my hands into my pockets so if we did pass someone, they wouldn’t see them shaking, and took the next two right turns, and the third left after that. I was glad Zara had taken the time to drill me on the layout of the prison. This whole place was a maze, and we didn’t have time to get lost. Someone could discover Cody – the real Cody – at any moment, and we couldn’t afford to be wandering the halls when they did.
I took the next left and hurried along the corridor. Relief bubbled up in me as we approached the far end. Almost there.
A single door lay ahead of us. It didn’t look like much – just a single wooden door set into the stone wall – but you know what they say about looks. They can be deceiving. That door was all that lay between me and getting the curse lifted, while I still had some magic left in me. And it wouldn’t be easy to pass through.
I lifted one hand and placed it against the smooth wood. Magic thrummed back at me, pulsing in time with my heartbeat. A glance over my shoulder confirmed Raphael, wearing his Cody glamour, was watching me with a patient expression that I suspected was about as genuine of my love of magical history.
“Fìrinneachd,” I whispered, pulsing my fire magic back into the door. My palm threw off a red glow, but the wood stayed cool to the touch, and I knew when I took my hand away, there would be no burn mark.
When the door opened, I would be staring at an open field with a single vehicle parked on a dirt track. Open air would be rushing around me. I’d be standing in the British countryside, with the sullen mass of Daoradh squatting at my back.
I took another slow breath, the image haunting my mind, and exhaled again. The door opened a crack beneath my hand. This was it.
Raphael waited at my shoulder, but I could feel his impatience crackling in the air. There was no sign of the
jaguar returning, so it looked like I was doing this on my own. I hoped the familiar was okay. It had risked a lot to get me this far. It had also gotten me hospitalised by my own gryff, though, so on balance we were probably square. Still, it would have been reassuring to see a flash of yellow-brown and black.
I pressed my hand back to the door and swung it open. It was exactly as I’d pictured it.
“Step aside,” Raphael commanded, and a shiver ran the length of my spine. I turned back to look at him over my shoulder. His eyes were dark with the threat of what it would cost me to disobey, and I shrank back a half-step, making way for him to pass through the door. He dipped his chin in a curt nod without breaking eye contact, and stepped through.
As he did, I reached out and grabbed hold of his wrist. He turned his eyes on it, glaring, but I wouldn’t be cowed a second time. I had only one thing left to fear from this man.
“Our deal?” I demanded.
He looked out into the open space, sucking in a deep breath of the fresh air like a drowning man bursting through the surface of a stormy sea.
“Come with me,” he said, staring out at the freedom in front of him. “Your power is too great to be squandered with the enforcers.”
“Our deal,” I said again. He snapped his eyes to me.
“You belong at my side. We were meant for better things, you and I, and fate demands it of us both.”
“Our. Deal.”
“Your destiny will not be so easily thwarted. But I will not be the one to break our bargain. I will remove the curse from you. In time, when you see the truth of my words, I will reach out to you, and we will conquer those who are not worthy of the power they hold.”
“You seem to have gotten over wanting to kill me pretty quickly.”
My stomach clenched. Seriously, I didn’t learn. I was literally incapable of keeping my mouth shut. Way to remind probably the most powerful druid on the planet that he had good reason for wanting me dead. I let my hand fall from his wrist, ready to defend myself – or do the first sensible thing I’d done all day, and run like the hounds of hell were on my heels.
Raphael chuckled.
Of course, sensible didn’t apply when you were dealing with a maniac. I really should do a better job of remembering that.
“The past is behind us. The future awaits. But first, our deal.”
He raised a hand and stretched it towards me. I dodged back.
“What are you doing?”
“Honouring our deal. Unless you’ve changed your mind?” He raised an eyebrow.
“You didn’t to have touch me to put the curse on me.”
“If I did the same as before,” he said, sounding faintly amused, “I’d merely be doubling the potency of the curse. I presume you would prefer I did not do that?”
I shook my head. I wasn’t entirely sure what doubling the potency of the curse would do, but I was pretty confident I wouldn’t enjoy it.
Raphael placed his hand over my heart chakra, and I shuddered at his touch. If he noticed – and I was sure he did – he didn’t show it. Instead, he closed his eyes, and started muttering under his breath. I could feel his magic stirring inside me, responding to his words. Anxiety swirled inside me, all churned up with fear and desperation. And then I felt it. Just the faintest glimmer, fighting through the pervasive darkness. Hope.
For the first time since the spell had taken hold, I felt hope. My eyes slid shut, and I basked in the sensation.
With each word Raphael spoke, the hope grew, like the dawn chasing away the night, until there was no more darkness inside me.
The dark druid stepped back, looking drained, and elation bubbled up inside me. It was gone. Raphael’s magic was gone from me, and my own magic was coursing through my veins again.
“There,” he said. “It’s done. And now that your judgement is no longer impeded by the spell, I will ask you again. You must see that you no longer have any future with the enforcers. Join me.”
I blanched. He was right – I’d risked everything to get him to restore my magic, but freeing the dark druid was an act of treason. The circle would take my magic away again the moment they got wind of it. What had I been thinking?
Of course, I knew something he didn’t. I knew none of this was real.
Chapter Twenty-Six
I took a step back and threw a glance over my shoulder. This would be a really good time to not be standing next to the most dangerous druid in the country. Because, given how easily he’d just pulled the curse right out of me – the same curse that not a single one of the circle’s hex breakers could even get close to – I didn’t want to stick around long enough for him to discover that we were still deep in the heart of Daoradh, inside one of their glamoured interrogation rooms.
“I’ll take that as a no,” he said. “Disappointing.”
The toll the exertion of the counter-curse, and the months of exposure to magic-suppressing wards, had taken on him seemed to be fading by the second. I took a step back towards the door.
“Such a shame. Of course, the fact that we’re still underground, and not standing beneath the open sky, as this glamour would have me believe, did rather hint towards that.”
Shit.
“Oh, I’m not angered,” he continued, as though we were discussing nothing worse than whether or not it might rain this afternoon – instead of whether or not he was planning to kill me horrifically. “I’d expect nothing less from my daughter. Superior breeding always shows through.”
I shuddered and didn’t quite manage to keep the revulsion from my face. But I had bigger problems than the fact my biological father was a creep and under some crazy delusion I was going to follow in his footsteps. Because he wasn’t just a delusional creep – he was a delusional creep with the power of life and death over me. Last time I’d faced him with all his powers intact, I’d had Stormclaw by my side, and he’d been distracted by a spell he was working – and the only way I’d been able to stop him was by trying to kill us both. Now I was on my own, and his attention was focused solely on me.
He raised his hands slowly out to his sides, until they reached shoulder height.
“Leig ris!”
Raw energy shot from his hands, fragmenting and arcing through the sky. The air around us crackled with power, and the glamoured flickered twice, and died. Instead of standing in a wide, open space beneath the dusky sky, we were in a large and utterly barren room. The walls were enchanted stone, etched with symbols, and the floor was bare concrete but immaculate, and the only sign that this room hadn’t been used in a long time was the dust webs gathering high in the corners. This much I was able to discern before the residual light of the glamour faded, plunging us into utter darkness.
It occurred to me that this would be a very good time to run.
I turned and darted for the door. A hand landed on it first, and I twisted round to its owner, mere inches from me. A fireball spun in the air, casting light and shadows across the pair of us.
“Let me go.”
I meant it to blaze as a demand, but instead it slipped out as a plea. Raphael tutted.
“We do not plead. You’re better bred than that.”
I wanted to say something sarcastic about nature versus nurture, but I’d been better raised than that, too. I lifted my chin and met his eyes.
“Then do what you have to.”
“There.” Raphael gnashed his teeth in a twisted smile. “There she is. I’m leaving, Lyssa. You can come with me, as my heir. Or you can stay here, as a corpse.”
Neither of those options particularly appealed… but maybe there was a third. I searched inside myself for the tenuous silver thread I’d sensed before, linking me to the jaguar cub, and I called for it.
“What are you doing?” Raphael frowned, a note of irritation in his voice. And something else. He was doing his best to hide it, but he was wary of me. I paused, considering that a moment.
Of course, he’d have no need to be wary of me if I was dead, an
d honestly, I wasn’t really a fan of that option. I needed to buy some time.
“Deciding,” I told him – not completely a lie. “Take me with you.”
Maybe he’d get caught by the enforcers trying to bust out of this place. Maybe he wouldn’t. But I couldn’t let him out to roam free in the world, and I couldn’t take him in a straight battle of power.
“Many times I have imagined you saying those words. I never imagined you speaking duplicitously.”
“I’m not lying,” I said, forcing myself to meet his eye again. “I want to come with you.”
“Why?”
“How long do you think you’ve got until someone notices you’re missing, or until someone comes looking for me? If we’re going to do this, we have to do it now.”
“Hm, very well. Step aside.”
I moved, and he pulled the door open. Light spilled in from the hallway, and behind me, the fireball blinked out. He stepped past me, into the hallway, and I wasn’t sure if it was a sign of his arrogance in his own abilities, or doubts in my own, that he didn’t hesitate to turn his back to me. Either way, he was right. Nothing had changed. I couldn’t take him alone.
I glanced back over my shoulder to the empty room – my big hope of tricking Raphael, so much for that – and a flash of yellow-brown and black caught my eye. The familiar. I didn’t know where it had been, or what had happened with the other familiar it had been fighting, but the jaguar cub seemed unhurt. And strong enough that it could fully manifest on our plane now. It stared at me through slow blinking eyes, and I realised there was something else I didn’t know – how to communicate with it. We weren’t fully bonded yet. I didn’t even know its name. Its gender. Nothing, other than the form it had chosen to assume, and that it had attached itself to me. Oh well, here went everything.
I held my hand out low to my side and pushed a small amount of magic into it. The jaguar trotted over, drawn to my magic, and gazed up at me.
“Get help,” I mumbled, not daring to make my voice any louder than a low whisper. “Raphael is escaping. Tell Elias.”
Familiar Magic (Druid Enforcer Academy Book 1) Page 18
