Raea worried that they’d be detected, in fact. Without the raging weather to hide them, she felt dangerously exposed, even at this high altitude.
“It does seem like this ship is at the heart of the weather situation,” she mused. “How do you suppose they are making it happen?”
“It’s got to be magic,” Kyne replied.
“I don’t feel any magic. Do you?”
“No, and I don’t think that’s a good thing. There’s no way the humans can do all of this without some sort of magic. The fact that we can’t detect it must mean they’ve got it harnessed, pent up somehow.”
“That’s really strange.”
“And dangerous.”
“We’ve got to go tell your father,” she said.
“We will. I just…have you got any more Fairy Dust? I need to be invisible so I can get down there and take a closer look.”
“Don’t be crazy.”
“I’ll be careful. Have you got any dust?”
“Not very much.”
“All I need is enough to get closer for a little while, just to find out what’s going on.”
She felt for the little pouch she kept the precious stuff in. She’d been right, there was not very much left, and they were still a very long way from home. They’d need some for the journey. Did she dare risk giving a little bit to him here, where so much was at stake and so much could go wrong?
“I don’t think you should go down there,” she cautioned. “We don’t have any idea what’s going on.”
“Exactly why we need to get closer. Look, what’s that? See, someone is moving around on the deck.”
She could see what he was pointing at. She could see why it caught his eye, too. It wasn’t simply a form moving around below them, but the form had a glow. This huge vessel was built by humans for humans, and they’d seen humans apparently operating it, but this person they were watching right now wasn’t human. And he wasn’t the only one of his kind.
“Fairies,” she breathed.
“Whatever they’re using to manage the weather, it’s based on fairy magic,” Kyne said. “By the Skies, this is a lot bigger than we thought.”
“You’re right. Okay, let’s use just a little bit of dust to drop down low enough to try to find out what they’re up to. Then we’ll go straight to your father, all right?”
“I’ll use the dust and go in closer. You stay up here where it’s safe.”
“Safe? We’re about ten feet away from lightning and hurricane forces up here. How will I know when they alter the little bubble they’ve set up around the ship? Hanging around up here, I might end up in the middle of the storm any second.”
“We flew through it to get here; you’ll be just fine. If something happens to me down there, I’d rather know that you can still get away and take that piece back to Baylor.”
“We go together, Kyne. You agreed to that. We’re partners now, connected to each other. What we do, we do together.”
“I plan to be with you forever, Raea. We’re partners in everything. But this…damn it, you never planned to be involved in anything like this.”
“And you did? Come on, Kyne. This is a joint effort. We’ll be okay as long as we stick together. Right?”
“All right. But just…be careful down there.”
“We’ll only go as close as we need to, and we’ll stay out of sight. And away from any of those awful machines!”
“The good news is the machines must not be sucking up magic, if we can see a fairy moving around,” he said, then frowned. “The bad news is if we can see fairy glow from here, then that fairy can see us.”
“We’d better disappear quickly then, huh?”
She doled out the dust and they made their wishes. Instantly Kyne and his vibrant golden glow faded into obscurity. She could still feel his magic near her, so she knew they couldn’t dare get too close to anyone on that ship. If the machine that depleted all their magic wasn’t being used on board, then any magic creature nearby would sense them. An Invisibility Wish couldn’t cover for that.
“Take my hand,” he said.
“That would have been easier to do about two seconds ago.”
“Hold your hand out and I’ll take it,” he said.
Even in the middle of this storm and the almost impossible things they’d been through tonight, his voice still warmed her and made her believe that things would somehow work out. She held up her hand. Somehow he took it, even despite the buffeting wind and the fact that they were invisible.
“Let’s go,” she said.
He led the way and she was happy to let him. The ship was huge. She couldn’t even guess what humans needed to do with such an enormous vessel. Its size would work to their advantage, though. It was more than big enough for a couple of invisible fairies to dip down unseen toward the inhabited parts of it and hide among the towers and hoists and other unidentifiable ship elements.
“There he is,” Kyne whispered.
She was glad he still held her hand. He’d been so quiet that if she did not feel the warmth of his body so close and his fingers laced tightly with hers, she would have thought he’d gone off somewhere without her.
Fortunately, he hadn’t. The pale yellow glow of the fairy on the deck below their hiding place could not in any way be confused with Kyne. He was no one she could recognize, but at this distance she couldn’t see him very clearly. She could, however, easily see that he was hovering near a pair of humans.
They worked near some crates. Raea and Kyne shifted position as needed to stay near enough to hear their words as they moved around, apparently checking the binding on first one stack of crates then another. There was no indication what was in the crates, but it was obvious they were important.
“Sure don’t like being in the middle of all this,” one of the humans was saying.
“Better here than out in all that mess. How long you suppose they’ll keep it going?” his companion replied.
“Not sure.” The human dropped the clipboard he held down to his side and turned to look up toward the yellow glow of the fairy with them. “What are they trying to do? That storm looks pretty rough over land there, but I don’t see any kind of town or anything. Who are they going after with it?”
“If they wanted you to know the target, they might have told you,” the fairy replied. He had a strange accent. Clearly he was not from their Fairyrealm, but one of the others scattered across the globe. Again, that indicated this was a much bigger problem than they’d suspected.
“Well how are we going to know if they hit the target? Outside the safe zone, our instruments don’t tell us a hell of a lot in this mess.”
“Just keep checking on these crates,” the fairy instructed them. “We’ll be headed out pretty soon and things need to be secure.”
The information was tantalizing, but hardly enough for Raea to make any guess at all about what might really be going on. So the ship would be leaving this area soon? Where would it go? She wondered if maybe Kyne was making more sense of what they were hearing.
Another glow caught her attention and she squeezed Kyne’s hand. He squeezed back and she was confident he saw what she did. Two more fairies were approaching the little group inspecting the crates. Raea instinctively held her breath and pulled back into the shadows where they had been eavesdropping. Kyne’s tug at her hand and his soft whisper of her name reminded her that they were safe.
“You’re heading to the mountain now,” one of the new arrivals called, presumably to the yellow fairy.
“But it’s still storming over there,” the fairy complained.
The other fairy grunted, apparently insulted by this show of cowardice. The third fairy of the group moved forward, his green aura more intense than the others. It was a green that Raea thought she recognized. When he spoke she had no doubt. The harsh curse Kyne uttered under his breath further convinced her. He recognized the green fairy, too.
It was Swift, the same fairy who had hauled Kyne
in for interrogation and nearly cost him his magic. Somehow Swift was here, and he was working with the enemy. That meant either he was a traitor to his own council, or the council was involved in this part of the conspiracy, too.
“You’ll be with me,” Swift announced. “Things should be well under control by now, and we can arrange for retrieval of our equipment.”
“That’s it?” the yellow fairy asked. “We go out there and pick up those collectors we placed? So why all the bother with this storm?”
“I didn’t ask. Come on. You got dust?”
“Are we going to need it?”
“We need to be prepared. Let’s go. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we sail out of this place.”
“And on to Caribbean paradise, right?” one of the humans interjected.
“Hell, after this place, anywhere is going to feel like paradise,” his partner remarked.
“I hear where we’re going it is paradise.”
The fairy with the accent seemed to be directing things, and he scolded the humans for wasting time. They grumbled and went back to looking over the crates and marking things on their clipboard. Swift gathered up his yellow fairy and hung around to get last instructions from his leader.
“I’ll oversee things here. You go make sure things are all wrapped up in the mountain. Be quick about it.”
Instead of fluttering off as instructed, though, Swift seemed to be unsure. “Wait, in the mountain? I thought the equipment we were retrieving was on the mountain.”
“One of our associates will meet you there and explain. Just do as you’re told, Swift. The coalition appreciates your work.”
“So we have team members already on the mountain?” Swift asked. “I thought we left that equipment there to gather up surplus magic from a derelict dragon outpost. The place has been abandoned for centuries. We don’t need a team on the ground for that, so what are they doing there?”
“It’s not your place to ask. All will be explained once you get there. Go now. Eubryd will find you when you are near.”
But Swift still did not leave. “Eubryd? That’s not a fairy name I’m familiar with.”
“Because she’s not a fairy.”
“And I’m supposed to meet up with her? Why don’t you tell me what she is, then?”
“A wyvern. She’s loyal to us and will tell you exactly what to do. Follow her instructions to the letter, Swift. No matter what.”
That sounded almost ominous. So now a wyvern was in league with this coalition? Just how much of the Forbidden Realm was involved with this scheme, anyway? Raea did not like the sound of any of it.
Swift, however, seemed content with the answer and chastised the yellow fairy to stop slouching and prepare himself to leave. The fairy in charge gave them last-minute instructions and sent them off in the direction of the distant mountain. Immediately the storm began abating, almost as if someone directed it in order to make their travels easier.
It was the strangest thing and, again, left Raea feeling more than a little uneasy. Fairies were supposed to protect the natural order. Conspiring with humans and stealing magic to use for controlling the weather…well, there was nothing at all natural about that.
“This is not good,” Kyne whispered beside her.
She breathed a timid agreement. But now the glow of Swift and his yellow partner rose up into the backdrop of the lessening storm. It was obvious what she and Kyne needed to do.
“Come on,” he breathed, with another squeeze of her hand.
She didn’t have to be asked twice. She left their hiding place immediately and flew after the two scheming fairies. There was no chance that she and Kyne could get to the mountain in time to warn the dragon that his wyvern companion was in league with the others, but at least they could be there to find out what other actions had been planned. Baylor would want to know.
To be honest, Raea had a sinking feeling that she would rather not.
Chapter Twenty-One
Nic felt Lianne stir in his arms. Thank the Flame, but she was still alive. He brushed the dust and soot from her beautiful face as her eyes slowly fluttered open. It was hard to contain himself when she gave him a weak smile full of warmth and recognition.
“You’re alive!” she murmured.
“Of course I am. Things were a bit iffy for you, though.”
She frowned, trying to remember. “That little dragon was here…and Mr. Blanchard, too. He was with her. They were going to blow up the clutch. Oh no…did they?”
“Shh, keep calm. The clutch is fine,” he assured her, though of course Eubryd was out in the central chamber and at any minute now she might do something terrible and prove him a liar.
He couldn’t think about that now, though. He had to protect Lianne.
“I need to get you out of here,” he said.
“Why? What’s happening?”
It would probably be better if he didn’t answer that. “I’ll have to take you back the way we came in here. Are you in much pain?”
She thought about it for a moment, winced when she tried to sit up, but shook her head. “No, I think I’m okay.”
Of course she wasn’t okay, but as she struggled to stand, he assisted her. Apparently nothing was broken, though she would be bruised from head to toe by tomorrow. If she hadn’t made it into the other room before that blast went off…well, they wouldn’t be having this conversation right now.
“I’ll help you. There are some tight passages out there, but for most of the way I can carry you,” he said.
“No, I can walk. You look like you’ve been through a lot already yourself,” she said. “You lost your clothes again, as a matter of fact.”
“Is that a problem?”
“You’ll be the sexiest warrior out there, battling the forces of evil.”
“Hmm, maybe I should slip into these,” he said, digging through the rubble and pulling up a pair of sweat pants that at one time appeared to have been folded with some other clothing on a shelf just out of the blast zone.
He navigated the shards and debris covering the floor, digging out a pair of shoes to go with the pants. She let her eyes linger over his form as he bent, sliding one muscular leg at a time into the pants and then crouching to pull on the shoes.
“Kind of a shame to cover that up,” she mumbled.
He grinned at her. “Let’s just hope it’s not too long before I can get out of them again. In the meantime, I guess I’m lucky they didn’t get roasted.”
“Well, not totally, at least. They’ve got a few holes burned into them.”
“As do you, I’m afraid,” he said, his grin fading to a concerned frown. “Come on now, before anything worse happens.”
He was helping her pick her way through the rubble when her eyes must have caught on Mr. Blanchard. She knew what had happened, but still seeing him this way caught her off guard.
“Is he…dead?”
“Yes. I’ll bet he never knew what hit him.”
“He had a gun, a big one. It shot grenades or something. He was aiming it at you, Nic. He was going to kill you!”
“And somehow you stopped him, didn’t you?”
“I heard them coming…ouch.”
She stumbled a bit and bent to rub her injured leg. He held her so she didn’t have to put weight on it, but urged her toward the doorway. There was no telling what Eubryd was up to, or if she had access to more weapons out there. The sooner he got Lianne out of this place, the better.
“We’ll get you to a doctor,” he told her. “You need that leg looked at.”
She merely chuckled at his concern. “It’s not broken, just sore. I’m pretty sure I won’t die from it.”
He wished he could be as lighthearted about this as she seemed to be, but he was glad she didn’t realize how much danger they were actually in just now. Still, he needed to keep her moving.
“Come on, slide through the opening out into the passageway. I’m right behind you.”
“
Okay, okay. I just…it was a total shock finding Mr. Blanchard working with that little dragon person. Wait, where is she? What happened to her? Did she have stuff fall on her as well?”
“She’s…she got away.”
“Got away? Damn it, Nic, you need to go after her! She might still be trying to harm the clutch.”
“First I need to get you somewhere safe.”
“You mean…Hell no. I will not let you waste your time with me when you need to be somewhere else. That clutch is your responsibility, your legacy!”
“The clan will go on. I need to take care of you first, Lianne.”
She wouldn’t budge, even though he practically shoved her into the opening ahead of him. Instead, she held her ground and faced him with fiery eyes.
“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard, Nic. You—more than anyone—know what’s going to happen to me. If I don’t die in the mountain, I will in a couple months in a hospital somewhere. You shouldn’t be here with me, not when you can get out there and fry that scaly little bitch to save your batch of eggs. I’m not worth your effort.”
On that last point she was wrong. Very, very wrong. He took hold of her shoulders so she couldn’t avoid him.
“You are worth it, Lianne. You’re worth every moment I’ve spent with you and every moment we have left together. I won’t give up any more than I have to.”
She merely stared at him as if she was trying to make sense of his words. They probably did sound senseless to her, as a matter of fact. How could she possibly believe him? He didn’t even know what to make of it himself. Why would he turn his back on the clutch, on everything that was important to his kind, to his clan, in favor of some human female he’d only known a short time?
There was no sense to it. He only knew this was the way things had to be. He was choosing Lianne over everything else.
“Why?” she simply asked after an almost painful pause.
“Because I love you,” he said.
And that made sense out of all of it.
* * *
Holy hell, he was serious, wasn’t he? Lianne stared at him in the firelit glow of the room and waited for his words to truly sink in. He loved her!
Licked by the Flame Page 24
