Cursed

by Sue Tingey

  When I looked back out into the courtyard Jinx was stroking the bird’s feathers with his fingertips and I could see his lips moving as though he was speaking to it. When he took his fingers away, the bird gave a little bob of the head and fluttered up into the sky followed by his other feathered friends who had been waiting patiently at Jinx’s feet. Jinx watched them fly away, his hand shading his eyes against the glare of the two suns, and then turned to come back inside.

  When he saw me watching him his lips lifted into a smile and his tail curled around his leg to give a little wave. Jamie gave a derisive snort.

  “What?” I said, giving him a sideways look.

  “He knows you’re totally fascinated by his tail.”

  “I’m not,” I said frowning at him. He raised his eyebrows into a “yeah—right” expression. “I’m not,” I asserted again.

  “You’re not what?” Jinx asked as he strolled through the archway into the room, but from his grin I suspect he knew full well.

  I ignored him and went to take a look at Vaybian. His color had improved and was more like the color of peapods, though still a long way from his usual deep green.

  His wounds were no longer seeping blood through the bandages and he was resting fairly peacefully, though I wished he would wake up so he could tell us what had happened and who had taken Kayla. I would also be interested to hear how they had been ambushed: I knew from a past episode that her bodyguards would appear at the first whiff of danger, even waking from a deep sleep to protect their mistress. That at least one had sustained injuries while still in the bed was a mystery.

  “He has shifted from unconsciousness into sleep,” Jinx said. “A good sign.”

  “How do you know?” I asked.

  His eyes twinkled. “I told you once before: sleep and being unconscious are all levels of death, and I’m an expert on that, if not anything else.”

  “Oh good,” I said with a shiver, “I’ll sleep so much better for knowing that.”

  By late afternoon we’d exhausted our search for clues in the house, Vaybian still slept, and our stomachs began to remind us that we hadn’t eaten all day.

  “Let’s eat,” Jinx said, “I’m starved.”

  “Then you’d better go and get some food—we have none,” I reminded him.

  “I don’t like the idea of splitting up,” Jamie said.

  “Well, we’ll have to if we’re going to eat. I’ll stay to watch over Vaybian,” I said. “Pyrites can stay with me.”

  “Pyrites also needs to feed.”

  “He can wait until we come back,” Jinx said. “Unless of course you want to go and get the food with Pyrites while I look after sweet Lucinda?”

  “I don’t think so,” Jamie said.

  Jinx smirked at him and I could almost see Jamie’s hackles rising. “Pyrites and I will be just fine until you get back, won’t we boy?” I said, running my fingers over my little drakon’s head. He puffed white smoke and rubbed his head up against my hand.

  “We won’t be long,” Jamie said, putting his hand on Jinx’s back and pushing him toward the door.

  Jinx winked at me over his shoulder, ignoring Jamie’s scowl, and before they had even gone outside I could hear them beginning to argue. “I think it’s just as well Mr. Kerfuffle and Mr. Shenanigans will soon be here,” I said to Pyrites. He puffed steam, obviously thinking so too.

  Three

  I was worried about Kayla and the awful, heavy, sick feeling that had stolen over me when I first heard the news remained. Her guards had been slaughtered, which was terrible, but I took solace in Vaybian being alive as he would want to find her as much as I would; he would help us. Provided, that is, he hadn’t orchestrated everything …

  I found it hard to settle. I paced, stared into space, wandered around the garden and courtyard, but every time I ended my journey staring down at Vaybian’s sleeping face. By my third circuit of the villa and its grounds I’d reached the stage where I was sorely tempted to slap the sleeping demon very, very hard to try and wake him.

  Fortunately for him, though not my frazzled nerves, Jamie and Jinx returned just as I was about to give in to the temptation. Jamie frowned at me and Jinx chuckled. I tried to appear nonchalant as I bent down to pull the blanket covering the patient up to his chin. I somehow doubted I carried it off, as Jinx began to laugh like a drain and even Jamie cracked a smile.

  “Come on you,” Jamie said, “we have lunch.”

  I had been expecting fish or rabbit or something else that needed cooking. What they plunked down on the table was a basket full of bread, cheese and several flagons of what looked like it could be wine.

  “Where did all this come from?”

  “There’s a village on the other side of the mountain,” Jamie said. “Apparently Kayla’s men shopped there regularly and,” he and Jinx shared a smile, “they said that a group of riders passed through at speed one night ago, and came back through the village in the early hours of the morning. Some say they thought they heard a woman’s cries.”

  “Oh God,” I said, my heart dropping down into my stomach.

  “When he says cries, what he means is they heard a woman shouting and swearing and cursing her companions with various anatomically impossible fates which would make a brothel keeper blush,” Jinx said, opening one of the flagons and sniffing the contents. He gave a contented smile and after glancing around the room strolled off to raid a cabinet for goblets.

  In the meantime, Jamie disappeared into the kitchen and returned with knives, plates and a board on which to cut the bread.

  “Here,” Jinx said, pouring out the wine, “throw this down your neck. It’ll make everything seem that much better.”

  “Jinx, someone killed all of Kayla’s guard,” I said.

  “They did,” he paused as he passed Jamie a flagon, a resigned expression clouding his face, “and there’s not one thing we can do about it, so why waste emotional energy? Kayla and Vaybian are, however, alive and that is cause for celebration.”

  “We don’t know Kayla’s alive.”

  Jinx looked up from the wine he was pouring. “She’s not dead; I’m sure of it.”

  “How could you be?”

  “Do you feel deep inside that she’s dead?”

  “No, I feel sick with worry.”

  “If she was dead you would know.”

  “Would I?”

  “Believe me,” he said, “you, if no one else, would know.”

  I must have looked confused as Jamie laid a hand on my shoulder. “Jinx is right. You would. Remember how when the first time we entered court you were drawn to her?”

  I did; it had been a very strange sensation. “Yes, I could feel her before I saw her.” I accepted the goblet Jinx handed me. I would just have to trust that they were right.

  “Though I must admit, I can’t quite understand this connection the two of you have,” Jinx said.

  Jamie took a sip of his wine. “Nor I. I was going to ask Kayla, but never got the opportunity.”

  “It’s not a demon sibling thing then?”

  They both shook their heads. “When we find her we’ll have to ask,” Jamie said.

  We sat on the floor around a small table close to where Vaybian was resting. The marble floor was cold and hard on my backside and Jinx very considerately went and collected some of the pillows off the bed for us to sit on.

  The wine was thick and fruity and so dark a red it was almost black, though it wasn’t heavy and actually slipped down the throat with an ease that had me accepting a refill, despite my not usually having a head for red wine. Jamie had cut the bread in thick wedges and slathered them in butter the color of primroses. The bread was lighter than its texture promised and the cheese—the cheese was strong, creamy and made my taste buds tingle.

  Pyrites accepted a couple of titbits, but it was too vegetarian for his liking and he soon disappeared to go hunting.

  Despite everything, by the time we finished eating, I was feeling pleasan
tly mellow and when Jinx topped up my goblet of wine I didn’t stop him. Jinx drained the last of the second flagon and rummaged in the basket for the third. He slopped some into Jamie’s goblet and then into his own.

  “Cheers,” he said and took a swig.

  “Cheers,” Jamie said lifting the drink to his lips, but before he could sip, Jinx swiped the goblet from his hand sending it clattering across the marble floor. “What the—”

  Jinx turned his head away and spat on the floor. Once, twice and a third time. “Drugged,” he gasped, getting to his feet and hurrying out into the courtyard as he began to gag.

  Jamie picked up the last flagon and sniffed the contents. His lips twisted into a grimace. “Now we know how they managed to attack Kayla and her guards as they slept.”

  For a moment I was frozen in shock, then I put the goblet down gently. The sick feeling of fear returned full force. Jamie looked as ill as I felt.

  Jinx staggered back into the room and flopped down beside us.

  “You all right?” Jamie asked.

  Jinx managed a sickly smile. “I think I coughed it all up.”

  “How did you know?” I asked.

  “I could taste the death in it,” he said.

  “It was poison?” I said, feeling sicker by the moment.

  “No, drugged. Strong enough to make us all sleep, not strong enough to kill.”

  “They obviously wanted at least one of us alive,” Jamie said, looking at me.

  “So, the villagers were helping them,” Jinx said, his lips pressed together into a grim line.

  “I doubt they had much choice, Jinx,” Jamie said.

  Jinx pulled a face. “I need some water.”

  “Let me,” I said. I went to get the jug and a glass from beside Vaybian and poured Jinx a draft.

  He rinsed his mouth and spat into the flagon that had held the drugged wine, then took a long slug of the water. “That’s better,” he said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

  “I think we should leave this place,” Jamie said, “they must be coming for us.”

  “We can’t move Vaybian yet,” I said. I didn’t want him slipping further into unconsciousness when we needed answers.

  “Why do you think they let him live?” Jinx asked.

  “Maybe they thought the thigh wound was enough,” I said. “If they’d hit the artery he would have bled out.”

  “But they didn’t, and would’ve known it.”

  “I suppose all will become clear when he wakes,” I said, voicing my thoughts.

  “I’m not sure we can wait that long,” Jamie said. “They attempted to drug us for a reason.” He tapped the drugged flagon with his finger. “Maybe we should take another trip down into the village.”

  “Maybe we should stay here and wait to see who comes for us,” Jinx countered.

  “It’s too dangerous for Lucky. They must have come armed to the teeth; they killed all of Kayla’s guard.”

  “Kayla’s drugged guard.”

  “I wish Vaybian would wake up,” I said, glancing at the sleeping demon. Jinx got to his feet and wandered over to the couch and crouched down beside him.

  “If he wakes up and finds you peering down at him you’ll scare the shit out of him,” Jamie said.

  Jinx glanced up and was about to make some comment but was interrupted by a loud thump, a flurry of wings and Pyrites skidding across the marble and screeching to a stop beside him.

  “What is it lad?” Jinx asked.

  Pyrites was jumping from foot to foot so fast he was practically tap dancing, his claws clicking away on the marble in an agitated rat a tat tat.

  Jinx rested his hand on the drakon’s head. “Pyrites, calm down.”

  Pyrites belched out black smoke and growled. Jinx jumped up and ran to grab his sword from where it lay on the floor.

  Jamie was instantly on his feet, his own sword in hand. “Fight or flee?”

  “Aren’t you interested to learn who is brave or foolhardy enough to risk the wrath of a Guardian and Deathbringer?” Jinx asked.

  “Not at a risk to Lucky.”

  “Pyrites, take your mistress to safety,” Jinx said.

  “No way,” I said crossing my arms. “I’m not going anywhere without you two. I did that once before and I don’t think my nerves could stand doing it again.”

  “Lucky, for goodness’ sake, can’t you for once in your life do as you’re told?” Jamie said.

  “Not if it means leaving you.”

  “Jinx, tell her will you?”

  Jinx put a finger to his lips then stretched out his hand in a “wait” gesture. We all stopped stock still and waited, listening hard. From the courtyard came the telltale slap of leather upon marble. They weren’t even bothering to keep quiet. Jamie and Jinx moved to stand either side of the entrance and motioned for me to sit down at the table. Pyrites got the idea. He immediately flopped down and stretched out as though asleep. I dropped down beside him and lay half across the table as though I had passed out, peering through the hair veiling my face.

  Two gray-swathed figures appeared through the archway, their voluminous hooded robes hiding their faces in unnaturally dark shadows. They were followed almost immediately by two brown-robed demons. I could see their faces, and it was their expressions not their deamonic features that gave me goose bumps. These demons had ill intent on their minds. They stopped a few feet inside the doorway and formed a loose line.

  “Where are the Guardian and Deathbringer?” a sibilant voice hissed from within one of the gray cowls.

  “Find them,” the second gray figure ordered with a voice that sounded like he was gargling slime.

  The demons in brown marched toward the adjoining rooms, the smacking of the soles of their leather sandals upon the marble slabs incongruous when compared to the silent progress of the gray-robed figures gliding toward me. The demons in gray were different, and I was in no doubt who were the more dangerous of the four.

  “Stop!” Jamie said stepping out behind them, sword in hand.

  The two lesser demons whirled around to face him, whereas their leaders kept on moving toward me. Both held daggers in claw-like hands covered in skin that looked tight and bruise-blackened. There was something repugnant about them, and as I studied them through half closed eyes, I found myself mesmerized by a pulsating boil the size of a golf ball on the back of one of their wrists. The thing looked almost alive and an unbidden image of it bursting and spewing forth tiny spiderlike creatures flashed vividly into my mind.

  “My fine feathered friend said stop—and that includes you, too, Sicarii,” Jinx said, and somehow he appeared to float down, as though descending an invisible staircase in between them and me. I snapped out of my trance, shuddered and had to swallow back bile, very glad that I couldn’t see beneath the creatures’ cowls.

  The two figures stopped, one giving a malevolent hiss. Pyrites jumped to his feet with a long, low snarl and grew so he was shielding me with his body. I guessed the time for pretending I was unconscious was over, so I stood to peer over my drakon’s back.

  A shout went up from our robed attackers and more figures in brown came swarming in through the arched entrance, forming a barrier between us and freedom.

  “James, my boy,” Jinx called as he moved forward, and with a flap of his wings Jamie flew up and over the heads of the freaky gray demons to join Jinx and Pyrites, putting all three of my guards between the intruders and me. It was now four against probably twenty or so—not good odds to my way of thinking, but Jamie and Jinx were unperturbed.

  “I suggest you tell your guard to step down,” Jinx said.

  “Give us the female and we will leave you in peace.”

  Both Jamie and Jinx flexed their muscles and took a step closer to the two demons in gray. “Not on your nelly,” Jinx said.

  “We will have her,” one of them said, gesturing to their brown-robed minions. They instantly surged toward us, swords in hand.

  “Pyrites,”
Jamie called as he stepped forward, his own sword at the ready.

  My drakon understood immediately and he backed away, pushing me along with him. I heard the clash of steel against steel, and as soon as Pyrites came to a stop I stood up on tiptoe and strained to look over his back to see what was going on.

  My men should have been overwhelmed by the sheer numbers, but with an ease that was bordering on magical Jamie and Jinx were holding their own. Several brown-robed demons were already sprawled across the dark blue marble and several more were limping away clutching their wounds. Then three rushed Jamie, one from the front and one from either side, and another three ran at Jinx. Jamie and Jinx were good, but I wasn’t sure they were that good.

  “Pyrites—do something!” I said, though I had no idea what. Jinx and Jamie were between them and us, and if he let loose with a stream of flame he was just as likely to roast my men as the enemy.

  Pyrites obviously thought the same as he immediately shrunk to the size of a very large bird and shot into the air leaving a trail of steam behind him. A yell of triumph went up from the minions upon seeing me apparently undefended and two came rushing toward me swords in hand.

  I began to back away as I reached for the dagger tucked in my belt, but my fingers had barely touched metal when Pyrites let out a roar so loud that it reverberated throughout my body and left my ears ringing. He roared once again and before my attackers were even within a few feet of me, a spout of my drakon’s fiery breath hit the first demon and he erupted into a pillar of flames. The second skidded to a halt, but too late. Pyrites was not about to forgive a threat to his mistress and flew straight at him puffing black smoke. The demon threw up his arms to cover his face and head, and was hit with a blast of fire that turned him into a screaming inferno of scarlet and gold.

  The shrieking demons careered around in a blind frenzy of panic and pain, clothing and flesh ablaze as their companions recoiled in the fear that their own robes might catch alight.

  Taking advantage of the situation, Jinx shoved one of the two demons he was fighting in the chest, sending him stumbling into his burning comrade. The back of his robe was a roaring sheet of flame within moments. Jinx’s last opponent leaped out of the way, and only just avoided being turned into a fireball himself. With an anguished cry he rushed at Jinx, sword held high. It was a bad move; with a flick of his wrist Jinx sliced across the demon’s chest and the brown robe instantly turned to green as the thing sank to its knees.