Tate swore. “So they might be back any second now?”
“Yeah, if they want to get eaten by the wyrm,” said Miles. “Besides, I’d say bringing the Death King and his allies along with us might deter them a little.”
“The Death King promised to support us?” said Tate. “You know what happened last time. He promises the world and delivers nothing.”
“He tries,” said Miles. “A damn sight more than Shawn ever did. Look, I have a way to bring down the wyrm, okay? We already managed to get past it once.”
“Yeah, right,” said another mage. “Is it like the time you tried to take on that nest of revenants?”
“Hey, that wasn’t my fault,” he protested. “Look, we have a whole stash of cantrips for controlling animals, don’t we?”
“For the vampire chickens,” corrected Tate. “Are you ever going to tell us what you wanted to do with the chickens, anyway?”
“I’d also like to know,” I added.
“Later,” said Miles. “Guys, seriously. I think a small team of us can get the wyrm under our control and out of the citadel if we use the cantrips. We might even be able to turn it on its captors.”
“If the spells actually work on a beast of that size,” said Shelley. “We’ll have to hijack the transporter machine to get it out of there.”
“It’s worth trying,” I said. “If we stop that thing from being unleashed in Arcadia, we’ll save lives, and we’ll be ready to face Shawn without his monstrous ally getting in the way.”
Murmurs of agreement rose, and relief welled in my chest to have their support. I didn’t know if I really believed Tay could be saved at this point, but Harper? She was worth hanging on for.
“Bria saved my arse at least twice, so listen to her,” added Miles. “She’s on our side. No more arguments.”
Some of the mages still wore suspicious looks, but Miles wrangled a small group together, including Shelley. He then handed each of us a cantrip equipped with a minor influence spell for controlling animals.
“That’s our entire stash, Miles,” Shelley said.
“With luck, we’ll only need one of them,” he responded. “Once you get close to that beast, throw it into its eyes. Preferably without getting bitten first.”
“Not helping,” I muttered to him. “You used those cantrips on the vampire chickens?”
“With help,” said another mage, older, with greying dark hair. “Catching those little shits earned me a stint in one of the Order’s jails.”
Miles grimaced. “I already said I’m sorry. I didn’t know the Order would take the issue so personally.”
“You mean the Order of the Elements?” I glanced at Miles. “They locked you up?”
“I had a narrow escape,” said the mage. “The Order’s having issues of its own, thanks to those traitorous spirit mages, so they thought I was with them.”
“I’d have come back for you if you hadn’t already given them the slip,” said Miles.
“I’m lost.” I looked between them. “Why are the vampire chickens even here?”
“Because it’s the only safe place to keep them before we figure out how to post them back to the breeder,” he responded. “That was the original plan, but we didn’t count on half of them escaping on the wrong side of the node. I found someone willing to meet me in Arcadia, but then those assassins attacked us in the Withered Oak before my contact showed up.”
“You don’t think someone might walk past the house and figure out what they are?” I said. “Like Striker?”
“Nah, the guy’s lying low, if he has any sense,” said Miles. “Haven’t heard anything new from him lately.”
“Wish we could set the wyrm on him.” It was a satisfying thought to consider enacting my revenge on the guy who’d cost me my job and my best friend all at once, but I had quite enough enemies to deal with already.
“Are those cantrips likely to work on the wyrm, then?” asked Harper.
“They worked once before,” said Miles. “I’ll catch you up, okay? Go to the node with the others. I’ll be right behind you, Bria.”
Together with the other spirit mages, Harper and I approached the same node we’d entered through.
“More than half of the other spirit mages stayed behind,” Harper observed.
“There’s still enough of us,” I said. “If we get that monster subdued, Shawn and his friends will lose at least one of their major weapons.”
“And if not?” she said. “They must have realised leaving it behind in the middle of Arcadia wasn’t a smart move.”
“Shawn doesn’t strike me as smart,” I responded. “Persistent, righteous, but not smart.”
Movement stirred in the corner of my eye. Someone was behind us. Not a spirit mage, I didn’t think… but not a lich, either.
Then a cold hand locked around my wrist, dragging me backwards. Another clamped over my mouth to muffle my scream, as someone yanked me into an alley.
“You were hard to find,” a voice growled in my ear. “Did you think getting this band of vagabonds on your side would keep you safe from me?”
Striker. Speak of the devil. He must have been waiting for me to return to Elysium so he could wring my neck over the vampire chickens.
I bit down on his hand, teeth sinking into flesh, and he bellowed and let go. Spinning around, I conjured fire to my fingertips. “I’m not beholden to you anymore.”
“I kept you alive.” He swore, shaking his injured hand. “You ungrateful bitch.”
“You turned in Tay to the House of Fire,” I said. “You gave her no choice but to join up with the Family, didn’t you? Then you ran off and left us to take the fall.”
“You cost me everything, Bria,” he responded. “You damn near got me locked up by those shitheads. They’re coming for all the mages soon, you know, and you’re already theirs. I won’t let them get me, too.”
“Too bad I can do worse,” Harper said from behind him. “I don’t know you, but you seem like a royal dickhead who deserves to be stripped of his soul.”
Striker stiffened as her shadowy form towered over him, and brightness suffused her hands. Then he pivoted away, and she lost her grip.
“A newly reformed lich?” he said. “Is that the best you have?”
“She also has me.” Miles ran towards us, and Striker recoiled from a blast of spirit magic that knocked him sideways into the wall. The distant sound of squawking followed. Miles, it seemed, had left the gate to the house open.
Striker’s mouth fell open. “What have you done?”
“Those vampire chickens,” said Miles. “They were yours, weren’t they? I seem to remember you forcing Bria and her friend to transport them around the city, risking arrest.”
His face flushed. “You stole my vampire chickens?”
I burst out laughing. “There’s something you don’t hear every day.”
Striker cursed and ran towards the squawking noise, but the vampire chickens had tasted freedom and liked it. I doubted he’d have much luck catching them all.
“Wonder if he’ll outrun the authorities this time?” Miles said.
Harper sighed. “I thought I had him then. Spirit magic’s harder than I thought.”
“I can teach you,” said Miles. “I’d let you practise on Striker, but I think he’ll be occupied for a while. The authorities are on high alert after the vampire chickens escaped the Order and were sighted in the city.”
“Yet they never noticed they were in your garden?” I said. “How did you get away with hiding them in plain sight, anyway?”
“They didn’t have reason to check up on our house,” he said. “We’re not known troublemakers… or we weren’t before Shawn decided to set up shop in the citadels, anyway.”
“And before you met me,” I added.
Or rather, before they’d drawn the attention of the Family.
“I won’t hold it against you.” He flashed me a grin. “I’ve had worse days.”
“Spe
ak for yourself,” Harper said.
I snorted, my heart lifting despite the guilt burning within me. We’d lost so much in such a short time, but there’d be time enough to grieve later. If we all got out alive.
A deafening roar split through the sky ahead of us, and the spirit mages scattered as the wyrm shot straight out of the node and into the air.
“It already escaped,” I breathed.
Never mind the vampire chickens. Now we had a real animal-related problem on our hands.
20
The creature took to the sky, tail lashing at the buildings below. Miles backed up, swearing. “We’d better move.”
“Leave it,” said Shelley. “There’s no catching it now.”
The wyrm turned in mid-air, diving straight at us. We threw ourselves to either side to dodge its swiping tail, then ducked into an alley it was too big to get through.
“I think it recognises us as the people who set it loose,” said Miles.
Harper hovered behind us. “Can it see us?”
“It recognises faces,” said Miles. “That’s why we need to get the hell—”
The creature shrieked and dive-bombed us again, its body wedging into the alley and its teeth snapping at our heels. After a couple more half-hearted attempts to get through, it took to the sky once more.
“I don’t think it’s going to listen to reason,” I said. “Come on. Let’s move before it decides to snack on us after all.”
“Hang on,” Harper said. “Looks like it found a new target.”
“Where?” I backed up to the alley’s entrance, standing on tiptoe to see over the rooftops.
Miles caught me up. “Holy shit.”
The creature soared over the rooftops and landed atop the spired citadel. A deafening clang echoed above as its body slammed into the roof.
“Why is it targeting that place?” I asked. “Does it think it’s the same as the other citadel?”
“Damn, that thing is smart,” said Miles. “I think it just pointed out Shawn and his friends’ hiding spot.”
“That’s where they ran off to?” The beast slammed into the roof again, its claws bouncing straight off its smooth exterior.
A calculating expression crossed Miles’s face. “Guys, change of plans.”
“We’re not running up to that monster,” said Shelley.
“I don’t see why not.” Miles pulled a cantrip out of his pocket. “It’s already got Shawn and the others on the run.”
“And I’d rather not join them,” Shelley said firmly. “I vote we stay back here and let the monster eat them.”
“Don’t you think they have a plan for dealing with their predator if it escapes?” I said. “They can always hide in the citadel until it calms down. I doubt it’ll break in.”
“I bet they don’t have a plan,” said Miles. “They’re not forward-thinkers. Neither am I, but the difference is, I didn’t lock up a deadly predator.”
Really, Miles. I still hadn’t figured out what his reasoning had been when it came to those bloody vampire chickens. Had he really tried to make up for the chaos he’d unintentionally caused earlier this week, or was there some other reason? Either way, they were on the loose again, and the odds were high that Striker would be caught by the authorities. I wouldn’t lie, that painted an appealing picture.
As for Tay, I couldn’t picture her staying in hiding while her new allies let their plans collapse around their ears, but then again, I hadn’t been able to picture her betraying me, either. Some things were just impossible to imagine until they slammed into you and left you scrambling to pick up the pieces.
“Might they transport themselves back to Arcadia?” one of the other spirit mages asked.
“They might,” said Miles. “We need to get rid of that wyrm before they do. Use the cantrips. We play our cards right and we’ll be heroes.”
“Or dead,” Shelley supplied. “Not all of us want to trade our lives for an afterlife as a lich.”
“I think Miles is right,” I said. “We have them trapped in that tower. If we get that beast out the way, they’ll be cornered by the authorities.”
“The authorities might catch us, too,” said Shelley. “Sure you’re not just trying to get back to that friend of yours?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know if she’s in there. If I were her, I’d have run. Besides, if they use the transporter to get away, we’ll lose our shot and that beast might start attacking civilians. We have the means of subduing it without anyone getting hurt.”
“And we have an advantage,” Miles said. “Shawn will assume any lich in this city is here to help him.”
All eyes turned to Harper.
“What?” she said. “You want me to pretend to be Shawn’s ally?”
“If you want to,” said Miles. “That beast can’t harm you as a lich, you know. All you have to do is run up to the citadel and pretend you’re the backup. Then they’ll open the door, and…”
“Good idea,” I said. “If Harper’s up for it, that is.”
“I’m not the one in danger of getting eaten by a monster,” she said.
“Exactly,” said one of the other spirit mages. “I’m heading through the node. We can meet on the other side.”
Miles frowned. “You don’t know what’s going on in Arcadia.”
“I’ll risk it.” Several of the mages walked back in the direction of the node, while the rest of us remained behind. Harper took the lead, gliding shadow-like through the streets.
“How many places does the citadel’s transporter link to?” I asked Miles.
“They used to be able to link to any citadel anywhere in the Parallel,” he said. “Back in the old days, before the war, it was how the spirit mages got around.”
“I can see why.” We closed in on the citadel, ducking low so the beast didn’t spot us. Cantrips in hand, we readied ourselves to surround the wyrm from below. Miles whispered orders to the others, while I stuck with Harper. “You okay?”
“Of course,” she said. “I could get used to this. Not being afraid, I mean.”
“Stay focused,” Miles said. “Okay… go.”
Harper glided towards the citadel, halting for a brief moment when the beast turned its attention to her. One swipe of the claws had no effect on her transparent form, at which point it lost interest and turned its attention back to the citadel. Harper floated up to the doors, unharmed, and said in a clear, carrying voice, “Backup’s here. Let me in.”
The doors didn’t open.
“Oh well,” said Miles. “It was worth a shot—”
The beast roared and dove at the tower, clawing at its metal exterior. I readied my cantrip, and a blast of fire grazed my shoulder.
“Incoming!” someone yelled.
I spun around to see the spirit mages who’d left through the node running back, pursued by a group of fire mages along with two masked individuals wearing long coats and boots. Fear sliced through me as keenly as the point of a knife.
One of masked men flung a knife at me, which I dodged despite the dread seeping through to my core.
“They aren’t mages.” Miles conjured spirit magic to his hands and deflected another weapon. “Not cool. Who even are you?”
I had the sinking suspicion I knew who. “Assassins-for hire.”
Spirit magic blasted from his hands and narrowly missed one of the assassins, who leapt onto the rooftop with eerie grace. “Whoa. Not humans?”
“Not regular humans.”
A roar sounded above. The beast circled us, drawn by the new arrivals, and the door to the citadel flew open.
“Oh, thank fuck,” said one of Shawn’s people, spotting Harper and the mages. “Hawker sent backup.”
Not quite. But with fire mages and assassins surrounding my friends, our group had scattered, our formation had broken, and my attention was torn in a dozen directions at once. One eye on the monster, the other on the tower, while the sound of the spirit mages fighting with the newcomers
echoed in the background.
Flames shot from my palms at the two assassins, who fell under the spirit mages’ assault. Then I turned my attention to the wyrm. When it dove down, I took my cantrip in hand and sped towards it. The cantrip flew into the air, hit the beast dead-on, and it froze mid-flight.
Miles clapped his hands. “Good one, Bria.”
I looked into the beast’s eyes. “Go back into the tower and attack Shawn and his friends.”
The beast roared. Then it dove through the half-open door, grabbing a spirit mage fleeing into the tower. Snapping and crunching noises followed as the beast’s tail disappeared into the room within.
The sounds of screaming intensified, and several seconds later, a blinding flash of light came from inside the tower. I ran towards it, and Miles snagged my arm. “I reckon Shawn used the transporter to run.”
“Dammit.” I turned back to the battlefield, where the Miles’s allies gathered around the bodies of the fallen assassins. It didn’t look like anyone from our side was dead, but the tower had gone eerily quiet.
“The beast must have followed them through the transporter,” I said. “Shit, I ought to have told it to fly away instead.”
“Then this isn’t over,” said Miles. “C’mon. That noise will have drawn the authorities’ attention, I guarantee it.”
We moved for the tower door, and Harper floated ahead of us and into a wide room. The place was a mirror of Arcadia’s Citadel, including the staircase spiralling to the upper floor.
“Where d’you reckon they went?” I reached the top of the stairs first, which contained a copy of the same transporter as the one in Arcadia. “Anyone know how to use this?”
“I think I can figure it out,” said Miles. “It’s our best bet at this point.”
“Arcadia?” asked Shelley. “Not exactly a safe haven.”
“Safer than here if the Houses catch up to us.” Miles took central stage, examining the transporter. “I need a spirit mage to turn it on. Harper, can you give me a hand here?”
“I would if I had the slightest clue what I was doing.” She flew over to his side. “Do you want me to come with you?”
Cage of Fire (Parallel Magic Book 1) Page 20
