by Patti Larsen
The door clanged open again, impacting one of the Guards in the head, the sound not quite as dramatic as when it struck stone, but infinitely more satisfying as his eyes rolled to white and he collapsed to the ruined floor. The other two Guards, still writhing in agony from the lash my demon delivered, toppled in turn as a pair of masked demons hurtled their own balls of fire. My vampire shield, now reinforced with demon, witch and Sidhe magic, was more than enough to protect me from the flashover, but I winced anyway, brightness of the flames flaring to painful.
I eyed the pair of demons through the sparkling stars dancing in my vision. They stood in my doorway, black masks disguising their features while the three Guards lay suddenly silent at my feet. I wasn't sure if I should be grateful, considering if my two masked visitors were there to rescue me I'd already had the whole thing well in hand.
“Nice timing,” I said, not even trying to keep the sarcasm from my voice as I nudged a fallen Guard with one toe. “Now who sent you?”
Neither spoke, just exchanged a look before the first, tall and broad-shouldered, raised his hand to me. Wait a second. His hand wasn't empty. What was he pointing—
A tiny silver projectile sliced through my shields, flaring with magic as it did. Before I could try to muster some kind of defense, the prick of its sting made me wince and brush at it with numb fingers.
Very numb. Hands, too. Arms like lead. I lifted my head, certain it weighed a hundred tons and took a staggering step forward, pulling in my magic as everything slid sideways into darkness.
***
“—supposed to take her with us.” A male voice punctured the black, echoing in my head as I blinked a few times.
Sydlynn, my vampire whispered. Be silent.
Silent? Okie dokie. I could do silent. If only the pounding in my head knew what silent meant. Tiny jackhammers of pain worked their way across my skull and settled behind my eyes.
Not a sound, she sent, soothing my pain with spirit power. Listen.
I ran my tongue around my parched mouth. You got it. The need to giggle was so powerful I bit my lower lip to stop myself. The pain of my teeth clamped on my swollen mouth nearly drew a gasp from me, but it was enough to shatter the edge of the funny fog and bring me the rest of the way into consciousness.
“I don't care what he said,” a second voice spoke, slightly higher pitched, though also male, and a little whiny in my opinion. And I knew whiny. Been there, done that, irritated the hell out of myself in the process.
Sydlynn. The vampire sighed. I know it's hard, but you have to focus.
Focus. Where was I? A moment of panic told me all of my powers were with me, though Shaylee and my demon remained out of it.
Let them sleep, my vampire sent. Especially our demon. She will react badly, and we need to pay attention before she wakes and does something unfortunate.
Yeah. That was a tactful word. I'm here, I sent back, sluggish, lethargic and still on the verge of giggles. Where are we?
In some kind of transport, she sent. We're fleeing Ostrogotho, from what I've gleaned.
Leaving the Seat? But the tribunal. Dad! Only my vampire's calm collective held me still.
We've been kidnapped, she sent. But you notice the pain and pressure from Ahbi's geas has gone?
She was right, it had. So we're heading in the right direction.
Perhaps, she sent. We're moving at least. It may be all the oath requires to still its needs.
For now. I opened one eye a crack, light pulling my gaze from the dull gray of what had to be a seat to the rim of a shield bubble. Definitely a transport. I'd had some experience with them before, been on a small one with my grandmother when she gave Meira and I a tour of the Planes the last time we were here. Who are our two friends? Or were there more than two?
I reached out ever so carefully with my spirit power, tied to my vampire for stability, as I continued to waffle between the need to laugh at nothing in total hysteria and squeezing my aching head in agony.
Only two, she sent. And young. Some kind of resistance fighters? They've been whispering and I've only just been able to overhear them.
Fair enough. There was a resistance building against Ahbi's rule, I sent as the ghostly thread of spirit whispered over the first demon, giving me the barest visual, like the flashed afterimage of an underdeveloped photograph. But it was enough to fill in the blanks we needed to make a plan.
I lay on a bench, formed from the material of the transport through magic, my back turned to the front of the vehicle. Another long bench separated me from my kidnappers. This transport was obviously designed for larger numbers of demons or even cargo. My abductors sat at the front, the one on the left managing some kind of control board while the demon on the right sat half-turned toward him.
“—disappointed in your lack of conviction.” Hang on. I knew that first voice, even kept low and soft. Where had I heard it before?
“He isn't here with us, is he?” The second demon grew more sniveling by the second, voice louder, and I could only imagine he turned his head to look at me. “Smuggling the most wanted demon on any plane out of Ostrogotho?”
“You joined us for a reason,” the first voice snapped while I gnawed at my recognition in irritation. I was too young to have such a terrible memory. All those blows to the head and druggings were catching up with me, for sure.
“I'm not a traitor to the cause,” number two snapped back. “But no one said anything about this level of risk.”
The first laughed, a deep sound vibrating through my muscles and bones as the transport banked softly. “You do realize just being a member of the resistance makes you a traitor to the Seat? That you can be stripped and killed for your choice?”
The other didn't say anything, silent as his partner in crime went on.
“This isn't some tame farmer’s perinathon ride, Ahmose. Some cause you can dabble in.”
“How dare you.” The second demon's anger rippled over me as his magic escaped his control.
“Don't be a fool,” the first said. “You're no match for me. And we have a job to do. You want to challenge me, Ahmoselurem, you wait until we're on the ground and safe with Leader. Then I'll be happy to tear your pathetic heart out.”
Silence reined a moment. This could go badly, my vampire sent. If they can't keep their tempers in check.
You think? Just what I needed, kidnappers who hated each other's guts.
“She's a liability.” The pitch and level of whine increased in demon number two. “You know it. Let's just kill her and dump the body. Her death will serve as well as her captivity.”
“No,” the first said. “She's our best hope. Now shut up and let me focus. We're coming to the border and I won't have you screwing this up.”
The border of the city? Had to be.
If we're going to act, I sent, we should do it before we cross out of Ostrogotho.
Agreed, my vampire sent. But quietly.
Quietly. I could do quietly.
Would have managed it, certainly. If my demon hadn't chosen that exact moment to wake up.
Snorting, shaking her inner head, without a trace of the giddiness plaguing me. Nope, she was on the far side of the spectrum from laughter. About as far as she could get. As in Miss Cranky-Pants. Pissed off. Ready to tear someone—anyone—to shreds. My vampire and I both fought her, tried to calm her down as she took in the situation and the fact we'd been drugged. But the surge of rage she flooded my body with burned in an uncontrollable fire. Amber lit my vision as my body spun on the bench, my demon bringing us into a crouch, a ball of flaming magic balanced in either hand.
Both demons turned with shock in their faces. “I thought you said she was out for hours!” I paired number two's voice with the image of him, wide through the chest, but weak in the chin, just as my demon roared her unhappiness from my gaping mouth and threw her weapons forward.
The driver dodged to the left, shields absorbing the explosion of magic, but his partner didn't
deal with the attack quite so well. His hastily raised protections didn't draw in the power impacting them, but instead sent them on a ricochet, the burning mass of magic blowing a massive hole in the front of the transport as demon number one leaped backward with a cry of fear.
The transport shuddered, nose falling away, taking the control panel with it.
“Are you insane?” The first demon spun on me, his face now connecting to the voice I'd heard, the handsome merchant boy I'd met on my first visit, expression nowhere near the one of wicked attraction I remembered now twisted into anger and terror.
“You kidnapped me,” I snarled, my demon speaking through my mouth, but with my permission.
“And you've killed us,” he snapped back. “Without the magic controls to stabilize this vessel, we're going to crash.”
***
Chapter Six
The transport, magical support gone, fell like a very bulky and badly shaped stone, the bubble overhead flickering as the last of the power running through the vehicle finally ran out. Freezing wind tackled me as the shield collapsed, sending me backward into what had been a bench seat, now just an empty space, to impact the low lip of the edge of the transport. I was very lucky the side wasn't flat, and that I'd been crouching at the time. Had I been standing, there was no way I would have managed to stay on board. The knee-high ridge barely caught me as it was. Stiff material I could only compare to plastic bruising my ribs, all the air rushing out of me as the non-existent nose of the craft turned down toward the ground.
The two demons slid at me, the boy from the market diving headfirst, hands outstretched to save his head from impacting the edge of the vehicle while his companion grabbed for the only thing he could reach on the way by.
Me.
Hands off, jerktard. Get yourself killed on your own time.
He grasped at my legs as he half-fell over the edge, pulling me sideways. I grunted with the effort it took to hold my place, driving wedges of power through the hull of the ship, anchoring myself with earth and air magic. The clinging demon refused to let go, pulling against my leg, using me as a rope, until he slid in next to me, panting, still clinging to my thigh. His struggle knocked the transport into a slow spin, my stomach protesting as the air changed from bitterly cold to something more temperate.
Oh, goody. I wouldn't be an icicle when I died.
Humor only delayed my panic and the surfacing memory of the last time I'd plummeted to my near death. The endless nightmares about my fall from the elevator, the terror trying to take over even as I fought my mind for control.
—falling, falling, the city below rushing toward me as my mind screamed in terror—
The veil, my vampire said, so calm it broke me loose from my memory. I almost laughed, fear turned to insane humor, while the world came closer and closer.
Right. The veil. I snatched at it, my demon eagerly slicing through. Only to be blocked.
No good, I sent back with as much calm as I could muster. The tapestry of the ground below changing from a distant vista to a detailed, 3D panorama I wouldn't be enjoying much longer.
—falling, falling, screaming, dying—
Sydlynn, she sent. I know you're scared. But you must act.
Yup, yup. Had to act. Okay then. A triple jab from vampire, Sidhe and demon, jerked me out of my stunned terror state.
Okay, this was worse. Much worse, but at least panic was familiar enough. Mouth gaping open, screaming out loud now because I couldn't help myself, the pair of demon kidnappers clinging to me as we plummeted to the ground, I called up every ounce of air magic I could muster. My power cocooned us in a bubble, the tip sealing over the shattered nose of the transport the split second before we hit the ground.
I was suddenly weightless, flying up toward the shield, bouncing back from it to hit the bed of the ship so hard I lost my ability to breathe for the second time. Someone's foot hit my knee while my hip crushed a foreign hand, but there was nothing to be done, not while we bounced one more time before sliding, red dust flying around us, blocking the view of outside, for what seemed like forever.
I ground my teeth together, prepared for the worst, body stiff, waiting for a final impact. When it came, the hissing sizzle of ground passing under our shield fading to a soft hum, the hull barely bumped whatever brought us to a halt at last.
Each breath panted from my aching lungs, my heart pounding so fast it thrummed from the strain at any moment I let the air magic collapse. And instantly regretted it. A cloud of dust and debris rained down on us, drawing cries of protest from my kidnappers while I coughed and waved at the filthy air.
I know I should have leaped to my feet and challenged the pair of them immediately, calling for Dad or some other reinforcement to take the two traitors away. But I couldn't bring myself to move, lying there with a leg draped over mine and someone's chest under my head.
I had a very hard head. I hoped the impact hurt.
Market Boy was the first to stir, half-sitting before falling back again. It was his leg pinning me down and as he rolled on his side and met my gaze, amber eyes glowing with amusement, I wanted to rip that leg off and feed it to him.
“Nice landing,” he said. “Fly much?”
He was so lucky I didn't punch him in the nose. “Get off me,” I snarled, my demon shoving him aside with her power even as he backed off, hands up, coughing himself as the dust settled. I pushed myself up, not caring the kidnapper trapped under me cried out in pain.
Let him. Served him right.
“I can't believe we're alive.” The one named Ahmoselurem stared up at me as I turned to look down, his weak chin wobbling as tears filled his eyes. “You saved us.”
“You forget, my friend,” Market Boy said with a wink, “she's the one who almost got us killed in the first place.”
And I thought Quaid was a jerkasaurus.
“That's it.” I scrambled to my feet, hands on hips, ignoring the twinge in my knee from the blow I'd taken, glaring at the pair of them. “You two are in deep doo-doo and there's no way I'm saving your asses again. Not after you had the nerve to kidnap me.”
Market Boy shrugged. “So turn us in, Princess,” he said.
Argh. Men. Boys, more like it. Screw this. I was going home.
I reached for the veil without thinking and met the same wall, the same resistance. I blurted out a few words I normally didn’t use to punctuate my unhappiness while Market Boy continued to smirk at me and his friend wiped filthy tear tracks from his face.
We can't leave, no matter if you were able to open the veil, my vampire said. Ahbi's power would stop you.
Damn it. DAMN IT.
Amber light flickered over my sight as I glared at the pair before looking around, expecting to see the towering heights of Ostrogotho.
Nope. No city. What the…?
“I thought we were just clearing the border?” I kicked Market Boy's foot in frustration. “Where the hell are we?”
“The border, yes,” he said, climbing to his feet, not offering a hand to his companion who glared at him as he struggled to rise. “The city lies far from the edge of its own territory.”
Oh, just freaking lovely. “How far?” I couldn't ride the veil and I wasn't looking forward to walking.
“Far.” He dusted himself off. “Too far to walk, if that was what you had in mind.”
“Okay,” I said, feeling more than a little huffy about the whole disaster and ready to let my demon out just to work off some steam. “So what are you going to do about it?”
“Nothing.” Market Boy grinned like it was some kind of giant joke with a punch line I hadn't heard yet. “Not until we talk.”
“Oh, you want to talk now.” So much sarcasm. I really had to find a way to better vent my anger. Then again, it served me well in the past and just felt so good.
“Allow me to introduce myself.” He bowed at the waist, an elaborate gesture involving hand movements I barely followed before he straightened again. “I am Rame
ranselot. And in case you've forgotten, we've met before.”
“I remember,” I said. “But you weren't kidnapping me then so I had a little better opinion of you.”
“Fair enough.” He grinned before gesturing to the other demon who now stood next to him with a scowl on his face. “And this is Ahmoselurem, my steadfast companion in crime.”
“Stuff it, won't you, Ram?” Ahmoselurem shrugged off the hand Rameranselot set on his shoulder. “We're nothing of the sort.”
“One can dream, my fine friend.” Ram's wink almost cracked my sullen shell.
Almost.
“How lovely for you both,” I snapped. “Now, do you mind telling me what this is all about?”
“Saving your life,” Ram said. “For the second time.”
I snorted and shook my head. “Dad would never let them execute me for something I didn't do,” I said.
“Sydlynhamitra,” Ram said, serious at last, “those three Guards weren't there to give you a dancing lesson. If they failed, another attempt would have been made. And another. Until they succeeded in killing you.”
That sounded distinctly demonish, so I bought it, though I wanted very badly to know who was behind the attacks. “On whose orders?”
“We don't know for certain,” he said. Naturally. “But our network knew you were in danger.”
Grumble, mumble. “You could have just told me.”
“And you would have then walked out with us, climbed into a transport with two total strangers and left Ostrogotho on our word?” Ram's sarcasm equaled mine. Well, not quite. I was better at it. “How silly of me, Princess. I'll remember how easy you are to convince for next time.”
“We can't just stand around here talking,” Ahmose cut him off, eyes scanning the empty horizon. “The Guards will come after her.”
“Good,” I said, hopping over the edge of the transport, bare feet squishing into hot sand. It was warming up, the suns now fully risen, and I found myself fanning my face absently with one hand as I looked around.
