Ethereal Entanglements

by Lee French

  “He needs to be more distracted,” Claire said as she sat up.

  The dragons gathered around the one whimpering and bleeding to death while Enion’s wing healed. Soft trills and chirps filled the cold air. Claire hung her head and moved to the dying dragon’s side. She checked the wound and found a gaping hole oozing silvery blood with no sign of healing. Only Enion had a Knight, so only he healed. The rest of these incredibly brave creatures faced this danger without the same benefit. The dragon’s sides heaved and she wished she could spare it the pain it obviously felt.

  “I’m sorry,” she told the dragon, sitting beside it and taking its head into her lap. “I didn’t want this.” She scratched behind the frill on its head with tears rolling down her cheeks and watched it die swiftly, surrounded by friends and loved ones.

  She wiped her face with her sleeve. “Enion asked all of you to come for me. And I know he told you it was dangerous, that some of you might be killed. But you probably didn’t believe him. I didn’t really believe it until now. If any of you want to go hide instead of fight, I understand. Half of my family is involved in this, and I don’t want to lose any of them. I’m sure you all feel the same.”

  “Dragons fight for family.” Enion raised his head and filled the corridor with his presence. “Dragons afraid, but not let fear win. Dragons strong. Flight stronger. Fight for Claire. Claire is right. Old man is bad. Place is bad. Darkness and shadow here. Creeping corruption.” He touched the dead dragon’s neck in a gesture Claire thought meant respect. “Fight for Rhubark. Rhubark dead because of bad man. Bad man hates dragons. Dragons kill bad man.”

  Though simple, the speech roused the dragons. Anger rippled through them in a palpable wave. They growled and snarled. Claire realized she’d been roused by it too, because she made a fist and held it up in defiance.

  “We need more help,” Claire said, determined to see this all the way through. She thought Caius had dumped them here to keep them busy for a while, maybe while he handled things happening in the Palace. Maybe he still thought he could persuade or control her somehow and only needed time alone with her to do it. She shivered at the possibilities of what he might try to do to her.

  A chirped to Enion in question. The others nodded and trilled. Enion said, “They ask what happens to Rhubark now?”

  “If we’re successful, he should wind up back on Earth. I’m not sure where. Probably near home?” She scolded herself. The dragons didn’t want theories or guesses, they wanted concrete answers. “We’ll find him and take care of him.”

  The dragons nodded and seems satisfied by her answer. Enion laid a claw on Rhubark’s back. “Was my friend.”

  “I’m sorry. I know how hard it is to lose people you care about.” She patted Enion’s neck and wished they could all take the time to mourn this courageous dragon. “But we have a job to do.”

  Enion nodded. “For Rhubark.”

  “For Rhubark.”

  Claire couldn’t stop her mind from replaying Djembe’s heartless murder. He saw the dragons as monsters, as fell creatures to be destroyed. And he saw that because Caius told him to. She climbed onto Enion’s back.

  “Let’s take a walk.” She suspected they could find a way to escape this place without moving, but it seemed like a punishment to make the dragons stay with Rhubark’s body. “Look around for weak spots, odd shadows, or anything else that seems out of place.”

  Trills and chirps agreed with her. Nine dragons flashed silver and turned small. They flitted away, spreading out to search the corridor ahead. Claire closed her eyes to focus on Drew, trusting Enion with her life. Because she didn’t give a crap what Caius told her.

  Chapter 37

  Justin

  Justin stepped into a meadow drenched in sunshine. Yellow, white, and red flowers studded tall, emerald grasses, all waving in a gentle breeze. He’d never been any place like this, and the aroma of so much unfamiliar life—earthy, musky, floral, dry yet vibrant—threatened to overwhelm him.

  Avery and Khalil stopped beside him. They watched Iulia plant her fists on her hips. Her dragon dropped into the grass and rolled like an excited dog. Beyond her, Caius led another version of Iulia, this one wearing a flimsy white dress, through the meadow. Caius ignored them and had a pleased, smug smile on his face.

  “This was the day we discovered the seal could be used to create the Palace,” Iulia said. “I remember it well. We’d defeated a possessed hydra a few days earlier. The corpse was disgusting.”

  “I thought he killed the hydra with the help of his men,” Khalil said. “That memory doesn’t show you present.”

  Iulia snorted. “Of course it doesn’t. Why would he share the glory with his wife? I must have been easy to remove from that memory, as I stayed hidden and caused each new head it regrew to be weaker than the previous. In addition to rooting its feet to the ground and providing shielding for all the men. Or did you think the hydra missed every time for no reason?”

  Khalil opened his mouth, then shut it. “I guess I never thought about it.”

  “Neither did I.” Justin stepped up beside her, watching the two imaginary lovers move close and share what should have been a private moment. “Why are we here?”

  “There are doorways into his demesne through all these memories. I can sense it. This one seemed the least worrisome of all the obvious choices I could rifle through in a short time.”

  “We’re in kind of a hurry here,” Justin said as he turned away from the pair. Caius offering this up to his Knights to watch bothered him. Justin would never show video of Marie to other men without her consent. Claire had explained everything Caius did, but he hadn’t fully grasped it. This simple violation of Iulia drove home the rightness of their mission. “Do we have to witness this? I don’t even know what kind of man shows something like this to other people.”

  Khalil’s lip curled. “One who sees his wife as nothing more than another conquest. To him, this memory isn’t truly different from the one showing the hydra. I know men like that. They aren’t friends.”

  “We can either watch the whole memory,” Iulia said, “or you can try stabbing things. I imagine your blades should be able to cut through anything here.”

  Avery and Khalil both still had their swords. Justin hadn’t bothered to bring his. He rested his bat against his shoulder and watched while Avery slashed his sword through the fake Caius and Iulia, mercifully dispersing them. The group remained in the memory, though, and the fake pair ran into sight again as if Avery had pushed a reset button.

  With a scowl, Avery also turned his back on the lovers and thrust his sword into the ground. Nothing happened. Justin prodded the grass with his bat, wondering if Iulia had made a mistake. He also wondered how they would kill Caius. The weapons they’d brought would distract Caius, but he had no idea how they’d damage a ghost enough to destroy it without magic behind the blows.

  Khalil knelt by a flower. “You know, I’ve been doing this job for ten years, and it still amazes me how often stabbing really is the best option.” He pointed at the white blossom. “There’s something here.”

  Iulia crouched beside him and smiled. “How interesting. Caius must be busy. I can’t imagine him leaving this here as a trap on the off chance someone uses this particular memory to reach him. That would be too much forethought.”

  Justin jogged to their side and peered at the flower. In the center of five white, ruffled petals, a weird greenish glow rippled. “Is that some kind of rift?”

  “In a sense, I think so.” Iulia drew the copy of Claire’s dagger sheathed at her hip and poked the writhing glow. “Normally, he’s able to keep everything separate. When he exerts himself, he does it by pulling power from the Palace. Essentially, the seal is a lake, the Palace is an aqueduct, and he’s the well at the other end. When he needs extra power, the aqueduct is drained faster than the lake can feed it. This makes holes we can exploit.”

  She thrust her dagger through and slashed. Instead of cutting the
flower, she slashed a hole in the scene. Stepping back, she gestured for someone to take her place. Avery sliced across the existing hole and in a circle until he’d created a big enough gap for them to walk through. On the other side, they saw a wide, arched corridor with a green glow and a dead dragon blocking the path.

  “Not exactly what I expected to find,” Avery said. “That’s not Claire’s dragon, is it?”

  Justin clenched his jaw and hurried through to examine the corpse. Instead of the normal silver sheen, the dragon’s skin had become mottled gray. “I think Enion has more curve to his horns here, but I’m not sure.” He had nothing to pray to, but he begged to whatever would listen for Enion to still be alive.

  Iulia’s dragon poked the dead one and made a heartbreaking trill of despair. Iulia petted its nose and shushed it. She looked and sounded too much like Claire for Justin to ignore. He wanted to comfort the dragon too.

  Khalil crouched and poked at the dirt. “Look at the footprints. Several dragons were here. And those are boot prints. Too small to be from anyone but Claire.”

  “How did they wind up here?” Justin asked.

  “Caius, I imagine,” Iulia said. “He might be pulling that power to keep her here, in which case it might be time for me to spend some of mine. Do you want to find Claire first, or shall we cross over and chat with Caius right away?”

  Justin flicked his gaze from face to face before looking down at the corpse again. “Distracting him might be all Claire needs. We’re Spirit Knights. Dealing with corrupted Phasms is our job.”

  “Agreed.” Avery said with a curt nod. He held both his shotgun and sword ready.

  Iulia rested her hand on the wall. “I would prepare for a poor reception. He won’t react well to me.”

  Justin had seen plenty of incredible things in his time as a Knight. Phasm demesnes never failed to include awe-inspiring sights. Talking animals, possessed people, animated cars, ghosts, even minor godlings with their power cut off had all crossed his path. Watching a witch make the wall swirl with her hand topped them all. He could see how someone might covet or fear the sheer amount of power at her disposal.

  The wall warped as if instead of stones, a curtain formed the surface. Justin had to look away to avoid losing his last meal to vertigo while the wall’s colors spiraled into her hand. The wall remained as a dull, gray slab of unrelieved stone until she thumped her palm against it. Jagged shards of stone blew outward.

  Sunshine streamed in, catching the dust as it settled. Justin knew better than to stand around and stare when Caius was involved. He hurried over the threshold, baseball bat ready. The flat plain of yellow-brown dirt stretched into infinity in every direction. He recognized this as a basic battlefield, intended to disallow terrain advantages for either side.

  “Caius will cheat,” he muttered.

  Avery smirked. “He always does. If he fought fair, he wouldn’t always win.”

  “Come out, Caius!” Iulia ripped away her silver armor and dagger to reveal a dingy, toga-style dress stained with blood and dirt. “Face me, coward!” Her dragon stood beside her, tail swishing.

  Dust in the distance announced someone coming at high speed. Soon it became clear Caius rode his horse to greet them. Djembe ran alongside, his legs moving so fast they blurred.

  “I think he heard you.” A tremor ran through Khalil’s voice.

  “Steady.” Avery squeezed Khalil’s shoulder. “Don’t let yourself get separated. As long as we stick together, we should get through this.”

  Justin gripped his bat tight enough to turn his knuckles white. He knew Caius could beat them all, either individually or as a group. The horse likely had enough skill to keep all three of them occupied on its own. Djembe made everything more complicated. Justin thought he could beat Djembe one-on-one, but not like this, and he didn’t want to kill the man.

  They slowed to a stop, taking away Justin’s primary concern. He’d thought they might charge first and ask questions never. Caius scowled down at Iulia with pure venom.

  “How dare you come here,” he snarled. “How dare you profane this place!”

  “Spare me your fabricated rage.” Iulia stood straight and proud with her fists at her sides.

  Though he had no desire to see Caius’s rage directed at him, Justin had a thought to keep him from focusing properly. Interrupting would help.

  “We’re here—”

  “I know why you’re here,” Caius spat. He waved to dismiss Justin and kept his attention on Iulia. “Because women are all the same.”

  Justin remembered wanting to talk to Caius, to reason with him. All lingering doubt about the path he chose left him. He snorted. “Yes, it’s a shame how they all want to help and get credit for it. That’s just awful. And that part where they point out flaws in plans and mistakes so we can learn? That’s just the worst.”

  Caius and his horse both narrowed their eyes and glared at Justin. Distraction mission accomplished. The next minute or two promised to be interesting. Justin hoped the definition of “interesting” didn’t include his death at the hands of an angry Phasm.

  Chapter 38

  Claire

  “Oh, thank goodness.” Drew’s arms wrapped around Claire’s waist from behind. Blood streaked his left sleeve and he slumped against her. “I got trapped between four Knights with bloodlust.”

  Enion trotted through the corridor, still looking for something to lead them out. Claire twisted to get a good look at Drew, who suddenly rode Enion’s back with her. Blood stained his hoodie around a rip over his chest.

  She grimaced and prodded the rip with a finger. “Are you bleeding?”

  “Not anymore, no. Kay is helping me heal. Between that and using the mist to not get skewered worse, I don’t know how much help I’ll be against Caius.”

  “Can you, I dunno, use me somehow? Through the blood oath thing?”

  “Um. Maybe? Kay thinks there’ll be a consequence. But he’s not sure what kind. If I take power from you, though, the obvious would be you getting drained, at least temporarily. No idea about the specific effect.”

  Claire gulped. “This isn’t the best time to experiment.”

  “I know.” Drew rested his chin on her shoulder. “I could draw power from the Palace. I don’t want to, but I could.”

  “Sticking it to Caius by siphoning off his power sounds like a good idea to me.”

  “Except it tastes funny. Like…I don’t know. It makes me feel like my teeth are rotting out of my head, except everywhere. I’m also worried it’ll make Caius immune to me. He might even be able to control me.”

  “Let’s not risk that.” Claire rubbed her face and saw no choice. Without Drew, their chances seemed much worse. Without her… She wanted to feel useful. She wanted to be useful. Caius could stop her with so little effort it hurt. When her anger and determination faded, she had a feeling she might cry about how useless she was.

  “Yeah,” she said with a nod. “This is important.”

  “I need to touch your locket.” He paused. Then he coughed. “That sounded really dirty. I didn’t mean it to.”

  Claire’s cheeks blazed and she giggled. “I should probably slap you.”

  “Not time for that,” Enion snapped.

  “You’re right.” She thought of Rhubark and sobered. “I’m sorry, Enion.”

  Drew held up his hand and tugged his sleeve until he exposed the heart-shaped mark on his arm. “I’m just thinking the connection is based on the two symbols, so if they come into contact, I might be able to draw power from you. That’s all.”

  As her answer, Claire took his arm, pulled the neck of her shirt down and helped Drew position his arm so the two symbols touched. Sparks shot through her body the moment they connected. Drew grunted into her ear, the sound full of surprise. The world went dark and Claire only knew she hadn’t passed out because she felt them hit the ground together.

  Drew held her close, panting beside her ear. His chest heaved. “Yep,” he gasped, “
that worked. Whoa, did it work. I feel like I could run a marathon. Claire?”

  “I…uh…” She blinked repeatedly until her vision flickered into focus again. “Let’s not do that again unless we really have to.” Strength trickled through her body in time with her heartbeat. “Yeah, I need another few minutes.”

  “We don’t have another few minutes.” Drew pointed and helped her lift her head.

  They’d gone in a circle and returned to Rhubark’s body. Nine tiny dragons perched on Enion’s shoulders and he remained several feet away from the body, hunkered down. She had no idea what he hid from. Drew pushed her up straighter until she saw that the two side walls showed wildly different views. In one direction, a happy meadow. In the other, a flat, barren plain with Caius on his high horse and Djembe beside him. They faced Iulia, Leeloo, Justin, Avery, and Khalil. She saw them all in profile and could barely hear them speaking. Justin’s baritone drifted on the air, too distant or muffled to be understood.

  “I can’t stand,” Claire whispered, her mouth gone dry.

  Caius snapped his attention to Justin and everyone around him bristled with weapons.

  “Enion,” Drew hissed as he leaned Claire against the wall, “bring her through as soon as you can. The rest of you, let’s go.” He kissed Claire’s cheek and she lacked the strength to stop him before he ran out of sight.

  Claire flopped herself forward to see the flat plain and watch everything. Nine dragons leaped off Enion and flashed big. They stampeded into the scene. Iulia and Leeloo danced to the left with Caius and his horse to avoid them while Djembe dove to the right with the three other Knights.

  “Why did you do that?” Claire moaned, knowing Drew couldn’t hear her anymore. “That was stupid.” Muted sounds of battle reached her.

  Enion nudged her with his head, pushing so hard she flopped over. “Went to face Caius. Doing job.”

  “I know,” Claire whined. “He’s going to get himself killed.” She closed her eyes. Not only did she not want to see anything happen to Drew, she wanted to take a nap.