Dragon Game

by Alicia Wolfe

  Freed, I could run faster. I didn’t, though. I didn’t want to leave Robes behind. He’d already sacrificed enough for us. Don’t get soft, I told myself. Just moments ago I’d been looking for some way to betray him and the others. Of course, that had been before his big heroic maneuver.

  Hela half-turned and hurled a green fireball at the golem. Both Robes and I ducked as it flashed over our heads. I turned to see it smash the golem in the chest. The impact exploded brightly, showering us all with green sparks and smoke. For a moment I couldn’t see the golem at all, and I dared to hope it had been destroyed. Then it lumbered out of the smoke, its eyes ablaze, and the floor trembled (just like my belly) at its heavy tread.

  Hela issued some goblin-ish swear and said, “I can’t stop it.”

  “Me either,” said Lux. None of the rest of us had to say a word. If we could’ve stopped it, we sure as hell would have.

  We ran through another doorway, made a turn, fled along a hall, then ducked through a narrow door. Hela meant to lose the golem, but he stayed right on our heels. If he could breathe I would have felt his hot breaths on the back of my neck, he was that close. Instead my own breaths grew hotter, and more labored.

  “Tell the ship to meet us on the southeast balcony!” I said. I was an old hand at bossing around getaway drivers, although usually it was Ruby.

  Hela didn’t bother to argue. Yanking out her walkie-talkie, she hit a button and relayed my suggestion.

  “On it,” said the pilot.

  We made another turn, fleeing down a broad hall. I didn’t remember it. It seemed wider than the rest and carpeted in rich crimson. Ornamental brass gongs lined the walls. I knew by the shaking of the floor that the golem was still right on our heels.

  Suddenly I tripped. Robes stumbled, too, and we both leaned against each other to right ourselves. Eyes wide, I looked down to see that the ground was scrolling beneath our feet. The whole floor was moving.

  “Holy shit!” Sabetha said.

  My heart hammered rapid-fire in my chest. The floor beneath me moved like a treadmill, cycling backward … toward the golem. Gasping, I glanced over my shoulder. The golem lurched toward us, somehow completely unaffected by the treadmill floor.

  “Goddamn wizard house,” Robes grunted. “Should’ve known there’d be a magic floor!”

  It was a damn good booby-trap, that was for sure. The golem would be on me and Robes any second. Thinking fast, I reached into the pouches of my utility belt, mixed a couple of spellgredients in my palm and flung them at the golem’s feet. As the powder sailed through the air, I said, “Victum roglis!”

  The cloud of dust wrapped around the golem’s legs, becoming a gummy gray substance. The golem slowed, but I knew that would only delay it for a few moments. Robes and I ran faster, but we only progressed a few inches on the magical treadmill the floor had become.

  “What’s causing this?” Lux said. “Find it and we might be able to get out of this.”

  “There!” Sabetha said, pointing to a portrait hanging from the wall at the end of the corridor. At seeing the image, my blood ran cold. It was Vincent Walsh, there could be no doubt. His cold, handsome face with his full, sensuous lips and haughty eyes stared out at us smugly, seeming to bask in our plight. Weird ruins jutted behind him in the background. On his right hand glimmered a ring inset with a black jewel. The ring! Just seeing a picture of it made my breath catch in my throat. The real-life version of that ring held my fire. The piece of my missing self.

  “Destroy it!” Sabetha said.

  Hela waved a hand, and a spear appeared there. It must have been miniaturized and stored on her person, just like she’d hidden away whatever she’d stolen from Walsh’s safe. She cocked her arm and flung it with all her strength. The goblin spear, which was black and sported wicked edges, flew through the air and impaled Vincent Walsh’s image right through the chest. If only that had been the real Walsh.

  Instantly the ground quit moving beneath our feet. We all stumbled forward, righting ourselves. Then, breathless, we followed Hela to the end of the hall, turned left, then made our way through one corridor and another.

  “You saved our lives,” Hela told me as we paused to peer around a corner. Seeing no one and nothing was waiting for us there, we continued on.

  “You did, too,” I said.

  Lux consulted with his magical compass, finding the southeast balcony, and soon we were flinging open the balcony door and rushing out onto it. The dirigible waited for us, the pilot at the helm and the mate standing at the gunwale with a shotgun, meaning to help us repel any pursuers.

  As if on cue, the ground shook beneath our feet, and I flinched to hear the roar of the golem.

  “Hurry!” said the pilot.

  We scrambled over the gunwale and the mate cast us off, then spun to the doorway. The golem, wider than the doorframe, blasted through it, showering splinters, and part of me rejoiced at the thought of Vincent Walsh having to clean up after his automaton. But then the golem raced toward us with shocking speed, and the half-smile that had been forming on my face withered.

  The mate fired at the golem, but the shotgun blast, just like Hela’s goblin magic attack, didn’t even slow the thing down.

  The dirigible shot away from the balcony just as the golem reached it. It lashed the air and roared, but we were out of range.

  “Ha!” I said, and gave it the finger.

  I turned to Sabetha to see her grinning at me. Lux gave me a high-five, then a low-five. Robes embraced me in a crushing hug, then swore and separated, making a rueful face at his injured arm. Hela set to dressing it with her magic. My blood sang. I was part of a badass crew, and we’d just made off with some prize loot taken from a hated foe.

  But what the hell was I going to do now? I watched the little black sack that contained the mystery item sway back and forth from Hela’s waist as she worked on Robes. So close but yet so far.

  My reverie was broken by the dirigible’s first mate. He was pointing over my shoulder, his face growing tight and his eyes fixed. “Guys, I think we have a problem,” he said.

  I turned. I half-expected to see Walsh barreling down on us in his dragon form. It wasn’t that bad, but it wasn’t good. The zeppelin that was Walsh’s home was turning, its prow swinging to face us. As I watched, it lurched forward right toward us.

  “Shit,” I said.

  “That wizard guard must have woken up,” Lux said.

  “Should’ve killed him,” Hela said, straightening from her attentions on Robespierre.

  “Think he knows we took that?” I said, hitching my chin at Hela’s bag.

  “Good bet he does.”

  “Guess he’s piloting that thing,” said Lux.

  “Or directing the pilot,” said the pilot of our ship, cigarette jutting from one corner of his lips. Eyes flinty, he jerked the wheel and mashed levers, shooting his craft in the opposite direction of the zeppelin. This didn’t appear to be his first time running from danger.

  The zeppelin followed, sunlight winking on its burgundy envelope and curved wooden balconies. It grew closer with every second. Damn, it was fast.

  “Think it’ll call the cops?” said Sabetha.

  I shook my head. “Guys like him have their own law.”

  Robes lifted his eyebrows. He sprawled on a bench, the sleeve rolled back from his wounded arm. A clear gel glistened on the red lines of his fracture, and the wound seemed to be healing even as I watched. “Just what is it with you and the owner of that zep?” he said.

  “Never mind. Just be glad he was away when we came by. And you’d better hope that guard mage hasn’t called him back home. I’m praying the guard will want to recover the item before he does.” Grimly I added, “His life might hinge on it.”

  “Hang on,” said the pilot.

  He mashed another gear and the ship rocketed forward. The zeppelin started to diminish behind us, then increased its pace. The pilot ground his jaw, hit another button, and I had to grab onto the
gunwale as we blasted forward.

  “Maybe I can cloak us,” Lux said. He weaved another spell, and the dirigible and its occupants grew hard for me to see.

  The zeppelin drove on, indomitable.

  “Give it up,” Sabetha taunted him. “That guard is hip to your tricks.”

  The pilot turned us into the valley between skyscrapers, removing us from the line of sight of the zeppelin. Sweat sheening his face, he yanked the wheel, plunging us down a narrower lane, then an even narrower one.

  “Now try your spell,” Hela told Lux.

  As the pilot brought the ship to a stop in mid-air, Lux wove another incantation. I helped, deepening the shadows around us. For what seemed like hours, we stayed there, my heart pounding like a crazy drum, sweat stinging my eyes, as the zeppelin hunted us. Maybe Walsh joined in the pursuit, I didn’t know. I didn’t see his dragon form flying overhead, thank God. Once, though, I saw the shape of the zeppelin rolling by overhead, searchlights sweeping from its underside.

  I tensed, then jumped as I felt Sabetha holding my hand tightly. I squeezed back. Both our heads were craned up, staring at the zeppelin, dreading the fall of its searchlight on our little alley.

  Then the zeppelin vanished from sight, and we all breathed out.

  Lux grinned. “See? I got this.”

  Hela shook her head. “Good job, guys. Let’s give it another few minutes, then I’ll have Max drop us off back at the bar. Gavin will send out the payments after I’ve cleared the job with him.”

  We nodded our agreement, and in ten minutes the pilot, Max, was taking us back to the rooftop bar we’d begun this misadventure from. We saw no sign of the zeppelin, although I noticed Max kept the ship low and stuck to the small alleys where Lux’s and my spells seemed to work better. Max brought us up only when we arrived at the bar, then lit another smoke while his mate tied the ship off at the marina. We thanked him and hopped out of the ship, Hela slipping him a wad of cash.

  “Maybe we should have a drink before we split up,” I suggested to the group. The truth was I just wanted to delay us breaking up so I could figure out some way of getting the bag. But I have to admit part of me didn’t want to break up the band so soon. Damn it all, despite everything, it had actually been kind of fun. I felt a little bad for the wizard who had died, but he served Walsh, and I knew that anyone who knowingly served that bastard must be kind of a bastard, too, so I didn’t feel too bad.

  “Can’t,” said Lux. “I’ve got a thing.”

  “Me, too,” said Sabetha.

  I sighed. The other members of the group nodded their farewells at each other, and me, then broke up. Hela stayed to shake my hand.

  “You did good,” she said. “I know this was your first job with the Guild, and it was kind of a trial by fire, but you more than earned your share.”

  I grinned. “Does that mean I get a bigger share?”

  She snorted. “Funny. Anyway, I’ll tell Gavin you did good. Others will want to work with you, and I might hit you up myself next time I’m putting a crew together. Stay loose.”

  “Uh, you, too.”

  She nodded one final time at me, turned on her heel and moved back to the dock, where she slipped astride the back of a huge bat that looked like it had mange or something. I mean, it was a seriously ugly damn bat, and bats aren’t exactly beauty queens to start with. It was kind of fitting, though. Not that Hela was ugly, but she was a goblin, and the sight of a goblin warrior riding a giant bat kind of worked. If she’d ridden a giant dove, I might have smirked, if you know what I mean.

  I watched the direction she left by, then hopped aboard my own ride, my lovely, gleaming Chromecat. I stroked her curves (yes, I know how that sounds, but she was seriously strokeable), goosed her engine and took off into the skies, leaving that shady bar of ill repute behind.

  I ducked into an alley, cloaked Chromecat and myself using my best spell, then sped off in the direction which Hela had vanished.

  I prayed I wasn’t too late.

  Chapter 8

  My heart stopped when I didn’t see her. Damn it all. If she got away with Nevos’s prize and delivered it to him, enabling him to do fuck all with it, and I’d helped her do it, I would never forgive myself. And it might bring hellacious harm to the world, too. I had to stop her.

  I gasped with relief when I passed a building and saw her flying her bat down a cross-avenue. Narrowing my eyes, I turned Chromecat and followed. It occurred to me that I could dive-bomb her and waylay her, then steal the bag. On the other hand, I could let her lead me to Nevos. That made more sense to me.

  It also posed more risk.

  But no risk, no reward, right?

  Hunching my back, praying I was making the right decision, I followed. Hela flew east, leaving the tall buildings of New York City behind and venturing over Long Island. Where the hell was she going? She flew on and on, and I began to worry about gas. Chromecat might be magical, but she still needed gas for her engine. I checked the gauge and was relieved—not even half empty. She used gas slowly. Thank goodness.

  The homes below grew nicer, larger, more stately, and the grounds around them beautiful and well-manicured. The ocean stretched away to the right. I realized we were flying over the Hamptons and whistled to myself. It had been a long time since I’d made a visit to the Hamptons, and then it had only been because a guy I’d met in a bar promised to take me out on his yacht. Turns out yacht was a euphemism for canoe, and that was proportionally about right for other things regarding that jerkwad, too. Moving on.

  Hela finally brought her bat lower to the ground. Unsurprisingly, cops on griffons rose to meet her. They fell in beside her, flanking her, and she exchanged a few words with them. Instead of driving her off, they escorted her on. Interesting. They must have been informed of her arrival.

  They flew on, lowering toward the ground over Southampton. Frowning while simultaneously marveling at all the awesome mansions on display (seriously, the Hamptons rocked), I said a spell to reduce the noise of Chromecat’s engine even more and trailed them. The griffon-mounted police brought Hela to one particular mansion along the beach, alighting in its driveway. A few security personnel came out to meet them, and the cops nodded and spoke to them, then took off.

  I made a few circles of the mansion, heartened that no one seemed to notice me, then dipped down to the grounds and pulled Chromecat to a halt under some arching trees in the huge front lawn. A mansion by the beach in the Hamptons. Damn, Nevos sure knew how to live. And he’d only been in our world for a few months. Then again, maybe he was just visiting someone.

  I killed the engine and climbed off, stretching to unkink the muscles of my shoulders and legs. That was the longest bike ride I’d ever been on. The thrill of flying for that long had put a grin on my face, but unfortunately it had also made my legs wobbly, and I stumbled a little as I pushed through the foliage toward the grand entrance of the mansion, where the guards were leading Hela.

  A majordomo took over for them at the door, and they bowed and slunk away, disappearing into the shadows with supernatural skill. I realized they had magic on their side, too. Hopefully mine was better. I kept a close watch out for them as I made my way through the grounds, using all my skills as a thief and a semi-witch. Reaching a vine-covered brick wall, I climbed it to a window. Sensing heavy wards, I moved to the next window, then the next. All warded powerfully. Damn. I’d have to use some of my expensive new spellgredients to get through.

  Swearing under my breath at the necessity, I mixed a potion and said a spell, carving a hole through the wards of a second story window, then opened it six inches. I peered in. A maid was walking away from me down the hall. I waited for her to disappear, then climbed through and dropped to the carpeted floor.

  Where had Hela gone?

  Hardly daring to breathe, I kept to the walls and shadows as I crept through the corridors of the mansion, making my way toward where I thought the majordomo was taking Hela. Sure enough, I arrived just as he was
showing her to the top of a set of grand stairs and then along a high, clean, immaculate hall. Everything gleamed of crystal or gold. Pictures of yachts and sailboats hung on the walls.

  I snuck up behind Hela and the majordomo.

  This is it. Once I do this, there’s no going back.

  I snatched a gleaming gold candlestick off a passing table, rose and whacked the majordomo over the head. He crumpled to the floor without a sound. Even as Hela spun, I struck her, too, praying that my spells of darkness and stealth had prevented her from seeing my face. She grunted and collapsed.

  I bent down, found the surprisingly small black velvet bag containing the mystery item, untied it from her belt and tied it to my own, then stood. I put my ear to a nearby door and listened. Hearing nothing on the other side, I opened the door, then dragged first the majordomo, then Hela inside. That should keep them out of sight until I was done.

  Done with what? I thought as I closed the door on them.

  Well, I had to make sure Nevos was here. Do that and I would get clear and summon the Fae Knights to take him down.

  Pleased with my plan, I moved down the corridor toward its end. That had to be where the majordomo had been taking Hela.

  My heart had been pounding so loudly in my ears that I hadn’t even heard the music, but as I inched closer to the end of the hall it began to wash over me, and I blinked in surprise. What was that instrument? At first I couldn’t place it, then realized it was violin music. Someone was playing the violin. The rich, complex sounds poured over me, lifting me up, dashing me down, spinning me around in a thousand directions. I was breathless with the beauty of it.

  What the hell?

  Wonderingly, I reached the end of the corridor and paused before a large oaken door with a sparkling brass knob. The music came from behind it. Nevos must be there. Somehow I just knew it.

  My belly fluttered with nerves, and a thrill coursed down my spine as I lifted my hand to knock. I paused. Was knocking really the thing to do in a situation like this? Hela would have been admitted by the majordomo, but would he have knocked? Probably, I thought. How was I going to explain the absence of the majordomo? I would have to improvise.