Witchbane (Book 5 in The Twilight Court Series)

by Amy Sumida

  “Wait, are those the ones with the bright red hair and backwards feet? I've never met one.”

  “You've met twilight mixes of curupiras,” Keir insisted. “The ancestry just isn't as obvious as it is with other races. Their most noted feature, the backwards feet, don't usually appear in the twilight children.”

  “Lucky for them,” I huffed.

  “Yes, well, it was more of an evolutionary thing they developed to mislead anyone hunting them,” Keir shrugged. “You may meet his father, Felipe. He lives with Lucas, and he's a full curupira.”

  “So I might get to meet one after all,” I grinned.

  “Yes, well, try not to stare at his feet,” Keir grimaced. “He'll think you're flirting with him.”

  “Right,” I blinked, “no feet gawking. Got it.”

  “And, Seren,” Keir leaned forward anxiously. “Remember that Uisdean is my brother. I know, at this point, his death is destined. But please try and be merciful.”

  “Alright, Dad,” I lied, sort of. Technically, I wouldn't be the one torturing Uisdean. But I just couldn't bring myself to tell Keir about the sea dragons and our bargain.

  “I love you, Daughter,” Keir said simply. “No matter what happens.”

  “Love you too, Dad,” I wiped away the connection. After Keir faded away completely, I whispered, “I'm sorry about Uisdean.”

  Chapter Forty-Two

  A plane ride with teams of extinguishers, hunters, witches, and sea fairies is unpleasant. And it was eleven hours of unpleasantness. Between the snarky banter, sly racist slurs, and downright hostility, it was a miracle we all made it to Brazil in one piece. I was glad I'd left Cat behind in Ireland. With her on board, we might have had a few casualties. At the very least, there would have been a few more dismembered fingers laying around.

  I did not get to sleep on the plane.

  We landed in Recife because Olinda didn't have an airport. But it wasn't very far by car. The Human Council had a local group of extinguishers meet us at the airport and lend us some vehicles. SUVs of course. We drove them down to Olinda.

  Olinda used to be a sugarcane plantation town but now it was an artist community. Lovely, really. The houses were 18th century, brightly painted, and squeezed together like it was so cold, they needed to share their warmth. It wasn't and they didn't. It was hella hot. And humid too. Worse even than Hawaii. We're talking the kind of humidity that you can scoop out of the air with a spoon. It coated my skin as well as the inside of my throat. It was almost like being underwater in the Court of the Nine Sons again. Okay, maybe not that bad. But, I'm telling you, it was humid.

  The sea breeze helped a bit, but that was only near the shore. The further up we went along the cobbled streets, past looming Baroque cathedrals (yes, plural), the hotter and more humid it got. It was still quaintly beautiful, and the people smiled brightly at us, their white teeth brilliant against their deep tans. They were a happy lot despite the sweltering conditions. But then, I suppose you could get used to anything.

  I was on the look out for obvious reasons, scanning everything and everyone for magic or glamour. No spells were getting by me. I didn't catch any unusual enchantments, but I was shocked to see the amount of fairies walking the streets. Flashy fey auras abounded, beacons amid the more subtle human auras.

  “Do you see them all?” I asked Killian.

  “Yep,” he nodded, staring out the window steadily.

  “There's a large population of Fey here,” one of the fairy hunters noted. “It's easy for them to blend in, and the proximity to both forest and sea is appealing to a lot of races.”

  “Sure,” another hunter added. “There's saci, muto, laras, curupiras, muans, tundas, cherufes-”

  “Damn, dude,” Killian held up a hand. “Enough. I don't want to know.”

  “You should,” Alex grimaced. “The more you know, the better you can protect yourself. Fairies in regions such as this, where's there's access to wilderness, tend to be more savage. They don't concern themselves with the laws of the truce as much as other fey.”

  “They're monitored as closely here as they are anywhere else,” one of the hunters, Trevyn I think he was called, growled at Alex.

  “Hey!” I held up a finger. “No fighting. Especially not in such close quarters. We had enough of that on the plane.”

  “Yes, Princess,” both men said at once.

  “Everyone is held accountable to the laws of the truce,” I added. “Even those who are unaware of the laws. But that's not why we're here.”

  “There it is,” Alex nodded towards something ahead of us.

  It was a tall, colonial style villa, cramped between two other such buildings. The villa was pressed close to its neighbors, just as every other house in the area. But this house was massive. Three stories high and wide enough to take up a third of the block. The cement... plaster... I'm not sure what the material was, was painted white, just as Killian had said. There were twelve windows in a row, marching across each level, all outlined in cheery yellow trim. The upper level windows were actually mini balconies, just a small ledge of iron grate, fenced in with an iron railing. They each had glass doors behind them, but those doors were guarded by even more iron. On the first floor, the main door dominated the façade. Made of wood and painted black to match the profusion of iron, it too was barricaded behind an iron gate.

  “Damn,” I whispered. “Did Uisdean think we wouldn't look in a place like this for him, or was it purely a means of defense?”

  “If it was defense,” one of the hunters noted, “it wasn't a good one. Lord Uisdean knew we'd come at him with extinguishers and witches, not only fairies. It will be uncomfortable for us to fight around all that iron, but not impossible. And you could simply open the gate for us, Princess. So the security it provides is limited at best.”

  “How strange,” I shook my head as we pulled into a parking space a few car lengths down the street. “Uisdean rarely does anything without a good reason. Are you sure he chose this place?” I asked our psychics. “Maybe it was just an option.”

  “No, he definitely decided on this building,” Alex said. He narrowed his eyes and looked back to the house. “But I'm unsettled. What's Uisdean's magic again?”

  “Thorns,” I answered. “He can make huge thorns pop out of your skin.”

  “Gruesome,” Alex whistled.

  “Please,” Zhayu rolled his eyes. He'd been fairly quiet on the way to Olinda. He was the only sea fairy in our vehicle, but I wouldn't have thought that would matter to him. “No one is afraid of a few pricks.”

  Killian choked on his laughter.

  “Uisdean has something else in there with him,” Alexis frowned. “Something powerful. It's not alive... exactly. Not a person, but its energy is very similar.”

  “Oh fuck,” I whispered. “How the hell did we forget about the club?”

  Amazing as it may seem, after the whole Rue debacle, no one had asked about Dagda's club. I guess with the shock of Anu revealing himself and resurrecting a whole bunch of people, I had simply forgotten about the fairy relic. The Councils didn't ask about it, so they must have forgotten too. Even Keir hadn't mentioned it. Everyone had spaced out the fact that Uisdean still had a weapon of extreme power.

  “The club!” Alex nearly shouted. “Shit! We forgot about that damn thing entirely.”

  “Everyone please be advised, Uisdean is most likely still in possession of Dagda's club,” I spoke into my comm piece. “It was never recovered from the last battle, and we believe he took it with him.”

  A chorus of “copy that” and “yes, princess” met my ears.

  “Dagda's club,” Zhayu said covetously.

  I didn't tell Zhayu that he couldn't have the club. He would surely know that we wouldn't give it to him without a fight, and I didn't want to declare war on the dragon before we concluded our present bargain. If it came to it, I would do everything I could to make sure Zhayu didn't get his hands on Dagda's club. Even going as far as fighting Z
hayu. But for now, I would hold onto our alliance. Because I knew I'd need him. Uisdean wouldn't have gone down easily to begin with, but with the club, he could take out nine people with one swing.

  Nine. I sighed and looked around the SUV. That was more people than there were in our vehicle. Of course, we had all kinds of magic to help us. Including three powerful psychics. And I intended to use their skills to the fullest.

  “Can any of you sense where Uisdean is exactly?” I asked them.

  “Princess,” a voice came through my earpiece. “We are waiting on your orders.”

  “Hold for now,” I said back. “We're doing some reconnaissance.”

  “Copy that.” Must have been an extinguisher. The hunters weren't as comfortable with soldier lingo.

  “That's why he wanted all the iron,” Alex mused. “That club is powerful enough, it would be the equivalent of a light house to anyone with psychic or magical ability. Uisdean would have attracted attention from every fairy in the region. But because it's a fairy weapon, surrounding it with iron dulls the radiance down to a flicker.”

  “He's right,” Killian growled. “I can barely sense the club, and I'm searching specifically for it.”

  “I think Uisdean is on an upper floor,” Alexis shook her head, “but I'm not sure exactly. That iron is masking his magic too.”

  “Upper, definitely,” Alex said with narrowed eyes.

  “Killian?” I looked to him.

  “Feels like he's on the roof,” Killian glanced out the window. “Watching us.”

  “Great,” I rolled my eyes. “So he probably already knows we're here.”

  A loud popping sound startled everyone. Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! We all swung around, trying to see where it was coming from. Then angry shouts came through our communication devices.

  “He's blowing our tires!”

  “Thorns! He's wrapping thorns around our vehicle!”

  “Ours too!”

  “Fuck, he's making a run for it! Look there! He's cloaked himself. The bastard is flying.”

  We all stared out of window, searching the skies for the telltale glimmer of glamour. Sure enough, Uisdean was using elemental magic to hover himself away like an evil blimp, as he simultaneously ensured we couldn't follow him. The sound of more tires blowing spurred me on.

  “Gun it!” I shouted to the hunter who was driving. “He won't be able to lock on us if we're moving. Just follow his glimmer.”

  “Yes, Princess,” the hunter nodded as he took us out onto the street and stepped on the gas.

  The streets of Olinda were narrow and built for a different type of vehicle. It wasn't a place to speed. Not that it was a problem for our SUV. I'm saying it was a problem for our driver, who had numerous obstacles to dodge, or simply push out of his way, as he chased an invisible, flying fairy.

  “Everyone who can still drive, follow us!” I shouted into the comm, but received only replies in the negative. “Call the local extinguishers for help, and get out to the rath in Camaragibe as fast as you're able. That's where the bastard is headed,” I grimaced and flicked off the mic.

  For now, we were on our own. I looked grimly towards Killian. He nodded, fully prepared to face Uisdean in any way we had to. Alex and Alexis looked scared but determined. Zhayu was grinning from ear to ear.

  I pulled out my cell phone and dialed the number my father had given me. As it rang, I cringed, watching as objects were launched at us. Uisdean was getting more and more desperate. We had to bulldoze several vehicles out of our way and dodge vicious balls of ebony thorns which appeared suddenly in the air before us.

  “'ello?” a cherry voice answered.

  “Uh, hi,” I made a huff as I was tossed into the door.

  “Yes? Are you alright?”

  “This is Princess Seren Firethorn of Twilight.”

  “Oh, hiya, Princess!” the voice said brightly. “King Keir told me you may be calling. Rest assured, we're fully prepared to fight off King...er, I mean, Lord... is he still a lord? Oh well, what I mean to say is, your uncle will not get by us.”

  “Great, cause he's headed your way.”

  “Oh! One moment please.” I heard him shout over his shoulder “Dad, man the moat!” Then he came back on the line. “No biggie, Princess. We've got it covered.”

  “We're on our way. Just hold out as long as you can,” I frowned. Moat?

  “Alrighty, see you soon,” he hung up on me.

  I stared at the phone in confusion for a moment before I hung up as well.

  “Who was that?” Killian asked.

  “I think it was Lucas,” I said, realizing that he never announced himself. “He's the rath guardian. And he has a moat.”

  “A moat?” Alexis asked. “What does that mean?”

  “It means there's water!” Zhayu laughed in delight. “Uisdean is mine.”

  “Wonderful,” I grunted as I the SUV dodged a trash can and I was tossed into Killian.

  I had a feeling it was going to be a long, rocky ride to the rath.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  The rath was technically in Recife. Kind of annoying since that's where we had come from originally. It was on the outskirts of the town though, the last house you could reach by car. Tucked back into the rainforest, it sat surrounded by a lush growth of plants made even lusher by Lucas' magical moat.

  “Not water,” Zhayu said in disappointment.

  No, it wasn't a traditional moat. It was a trench, so technically you could call it a moat, but it was filled with plants. A huge wall of green, growing things surrounded what I assumed was Lucas' house and the rath. The hedge was a mass of tangled vines boasting thick thorns, gnarled trees, and fragrant rose bushes.

  Uisdean was standing before it, fuming.

  “Is Sleeping Beauty behind that thing?” Killian asked as we pulled up in the drive.

  I chuckled and jumped out of the car.

  “How you like them thorns?” I asked Uisdean.

  “Seren,” Uisdean snarled and turned to face me.

  He was fully visible now, looking a little worse for wear. Lord Uisdean had on human clothes, and he had his braided his long hair back from his face. He looked almost human. Except for the shining silver club he held in his left hand.

  “Hello, Uncle Uisdean,” I stepped forward.

  Then Uisdean spotted Zhayu and his eyes widened.

  “Yes, we've formed an alliance,” Zhayu smiled. “The enemy of my enemy and all that.”

  I rolled my eyes. I'd been the one to tell Zhayu the line.

  Uisdean didn't bother with anymore banter. He swung the club at me. I was completely unprepared for it, and so was everyone else. Except for Killian. The witch glided forward like some kind of movie ninja, slipping his iron swords free of the sheaths on his back as he went. Killian slid to his knees before me, crossing the blades and lifting them in a leftward angle. The grating sound of metal on metal echoed around me.

  I gaped at Dagda's club, held firmly between two iron, samurai swords. It was close enough for me to see the detailed carvings along the handle, and how they were fading from a brilliant blue to a disgruntled gray. Silver gleamed against the dull black of Killian's swords, and then sparked as Uisdean pulled the club free. Uisdean's completely black eyes went wide, and he backed up to the edge of the hedge-moat.

  Killian stood, and began to walk forward, shoulders back and his swords lowered. But Uisdean had other plans. He launched himself up into the air and over the curve of the hedge. I guess Uisdean figured the wall had to end at some point. But it didn't. We all heard Uisdean's frustrated shouts as he discovered that the hedge was actually a dome.

  “So much for the Sleeping Beauty reference,” I smirked at Killian.

  “Wasn't there a dragon in Sleeping Beauty?” Zhayu smiled as he stripped.

  “Dude, what the hell?” Killian looked pointedly away from Zhayu's nudity.

  “Back up, everyone,” I pulled Killian to the side with me. I knew exactly what Zhayu's strip teas
e preceded.

  Zhayu shifted, seeming to luxuriate in the process. His limbs lengthened and scales formed over his skin. His eyes enlarged and slid to the sides of his stretching skull. Horns popped out of the skin of his lengthening neck and continued down his back. Then a tail extended from his hind quarters, thrashing the ground with its fluffy tip.

  The sea dragons were so different from the land-based dragon-djinns. They were sleeker, with fur and whiskers, and they were more colorful. Most had long whiskers which flowed about their bodies in both water and air, as if they were prehensile. Striking, and sometimes hypnotizing, but not nearly as useful as wings. Which sea dragons didn't have, for obvious reasons. I wasn't sure how Zhayu intended to follow Uisdean onto the dome without the ability of flight.

  Well he climbed. Duh.

  Zhayu roared and sped up the sides of the living wall with the agility of a giant gecko. Which I guess he kinda was. The thorns didn't bother him. Hell, gravity didn't bother Zhayu. He just flowed upward like he was swimming through water. I knew Uisdean didn't stand a chance, and it looked as if everyone else knew it too. We all kind of shrugged at each other and found something to lean on while we waited. I figured Zhayu would bring me Uisdean when he was done.

  “Hey, uh, thanks for the save, Kill,” I mumbled to Killian.

  His mossy eyes brightened to emerald as he smiled at me, “The mission is almost done, Twilight. I've protected you, and now Uisdean is about to die.”

  “Yeah,” I whispered.

  “So-”

  Disturbing scrambling noises emanated from the top of dome. The scrambling turned into growling, accented with the cracks of falling foliage. Then the impossible happened. Zhayu's body came tumbling down the verdant wall to land at our feet. The ground quaked, the trees shook, and the air quivered. Hell, even my damn hands started trembling. I stepped forward hesitantly and the others came up behind me. Zhayu's brilliant, blue eyes were open and staring past me with the unfocused look that was a nearly certain declaration of death.

  “No. No fucking way,” I whispered and crouched beside him. “Zhayu?” I searched his neck for a pulse. “Where do you feel for a dragon's pulse?”