He slumped back against the pillows. “I guess this means we’re not moving in together.”
“We couldn’t have afforded a house in Seattle anyway.”
“Just wait.” He forced a smile and pointed at me. “One of these days, I’m going to find a treasure that’s going to make me rich.”
“I hope so. If you keep getting shot, your health insurance premium is going to go up a lot.”
He snorted. “Speaking from experience?”
“Let’s just say that being an assassin isn’t conducive to a good rate.”
Slowly, groggily, I grew aware of rough material scraping along my cheek. It took me a moment to realize that something was wrapped around my ankle like a vise with teeth, and I was being dragged across the carpet. That switched to the cool wood of floorboards and then to something that felt like metal. Somehow, I still gripped my sword hilt, and the blade was being dragged along with me.
My limbs were still numb, but I tried to squeeze my hand tighter, tried to will blood to flow to it and for whatever magic had me paralyzed to wear off.
The pressure around my ankle disappeared, and my senses kicked in, informing me that one of the wolves had been dragging me. I managed to twitch a finger. And then my foot. The creature backed away, leaving me on the metal sunburst floor decoration I’d noticed in the grand hall floor earlier.
I managed to lift my head, turning it enough to see Michael’s form on the carpet. He was so close to me now. If I could get the rest of my body working, I could crawl over and check on him.
The floor lurched and shifted underneath me. I tried to roll to the side, but my body was still responding too slowly.
The rays of the sunburst snapped upward, the tips joining to create a pyramid around me—a cage around me—leaving only a few gaps that I could see out. Clanks sounded, and a chain descended from the ceiling and hooked to a loop at the top of the pyramid. Somewhere above, a winch creaked, pulling the chain upward. The floor of my cage tilted, and I rolled to one side, cheek pressed to a gap and giving me a view of Michael’s form on the carpet.
As the chain pulled me upward, his body faded until it disappeared. I’d been right. It had been an illusion.
Damn it.
The wolves trotted into the hallway in the back—heading off to inform their masters that I’d been captured.
Growling, I forced my jelly-like muscles to work and shoved my way to my knees. That was as far as I could rise, for my head clunked against the slanted sides of my new cage.
Through all of this, I’d managed to keep my hold on Chopper. The magical blade ought to have the power to cut through the thick sunburst bars, even if they were also magical, but only if I could find the room to swing it. My elbow clunked against the side of my cage, making that doubtful.
For the first time, I sensed that the magical auras that I’d noted earlier—the ogre and his mysterious buddy—were on the move. Heading this way. Where I was wrapped up like a present under a Christmas tree.
Snarling, I maneuvered my sword until the tip pressed against one of the gaps and slid it between the rays of the sunburst. Since I couldn’t swing it, I sawed the blade back and forth against the bars.
“Thorvald?” came a whisper from below and behind me.
Willard had made it in and stood with her rifle at the mouth of a hall that likely led to the front doors. Having her find me in this predicament was almost as bad as being found by the bad guys.
“Yeah,” I reluctantly said. “Don’t inhale the fog if you see it.”
That fog had dissipated since I’d been captured, so she probably wasn’t in danger.
“And don’t hang around,” I added. “An ogre is coming along with someone else. And…” I grimaced as, for the first time, I sensed an aura similar to that of the cub. Similar to but much stronger and more powerful. Why hadn’t I sensed it earlier? “I think the tiger we’ve been hearing.”
Willard walked forward, alternately eyeing the hall entrances and my cage. It was too high off the floor for her to jump and reach the bottom. I kept sawing with my sword, silently apologizing to Chopper for using it as a file.
“They know we’re here, right?” Willard stopped a few paces away and looked up to the chain holding my cage.
“They know I’m here. Did you knock and show your warrant to one of the wolves?”
“Nobody answered. I had to force the door open.”
“How’d you manage?” I sensed the ogre, tiger, and other being getting closer and sawed harder. Nothing dulled Chopper’s magical blade, and I was making progress, but I feared it wouldn’t be fast enough. “That looked like a stout door.”
“Three side kicks, and the bolt snapped. I wasn’t going to resort to that, but then I heard an explosion and figured the door breaking wouldn’t faze anyone.”
“That was me.”
“I figured.” Willard lifted her rifle and aimed above my cage.
“What are you—”
She fired, her bullet striking the chain. A shudder went through the cage, but it didn’t drop to the ground. She fired again and hit the chain dead on.
“There’s magic reinforcing it. Here, try mine.” I unholstered Fezzik and was about to try to fit it between the bars when I sensed the tiger. Before, it had been walking at the side of the other castle denizens, but now it was coming fast. “Never mind. The tiger’s coming. Get out of here.”
“I cracked it.” Willard fired again, a third bullet striking the chain.
My cage lurched but didn’t fall.
The huge silver tiger that was everything I’d feared it would be came into view, powerful legs propelling it into the grand hall. It glowed slightly, the same as the cub. It—he?—had to weigh a thousand pounds. A thousand pounds of pure muscle.
His green eyes locked not on me but on Willard. She lowered her rifle and opened fire on it.
Those bullets wouldn’t hurt it; I knew that even before they landed, striking the glowing tiger and deflecting away.
Still stuck on my knees in the cage, I aimed Fezzik through the bars, hoping my enhanced bullets would do more.
But instead of firing, I shouted, “The cub is in the tower!”
Could he understand? Did he care? Were the cub and this large tiger related or completely unrelated?
Those green eyes glanced up at me, but he kept barreling down on Willard. She backed toward the front hallway, firing as she went, but she didn’t have time to escape. With no other choice, I opened fire.
My magical bullets bit into his silver hide, and for the first time, he reacted with a flinch and a roar. It reverberated from the walls and made my cage shudder as much as Willard’s bullets had.
It seemed a crime to hurt such a magnificent creature, but he was almost under my cage, and I wouldn’t be able to target him through the bottom of it. I couldn’t let him get to Willard.
My rounds struck his shoulder and flank, and he veered off before he reached her. He rushed into the side hallway I’d originally come from—a hallway with the walls charred and half tumbled in and the ceiling collapsed. Seeing that made me fear for the cub. When I’d thrown that grenade, I had only been thinking of taking out the wolves, not that I might damage the structure of the castle or collapse her tower.
As the tiger disappeared over the rubble and up the stairwell, I crossed my fingers that the tower was still intact. And that the cub was still in there and safe—assuming the tiger had understood and was going up to check on her. He might simply be fleeing my bullets.
Another fear replaced the last. What if the cub, who had been weaker and weaker as the hours progressed, perished, and the tiger walked in and found her dead? If she meant something to him, he might come back down here and risk my magic bullets to tear out my throat.
The ogre that had been taking his time reaching the grand hall ambled out, a wizard’s staff the size of a small tree in his large hand. Unlike most ogres, who favored simple fur or hide vests and trousers, he wore a blue ro
be sewn with sigils that emanated magic. I’d heard of ogre wizards but had never met one. Until now.
He looked around, his broad face faintly puzzled. On a chain around his neck, he wore a single charm that also emanated magic. A cat-shaped charm.
“If you’re looking for your tiger,” I said, wanting to make sure he focused on me instead of Willard, “he fled after I perforated his hide.”
The ogre did indeed focus on me, but instead of leveling that staff in my direction and casting some spell, he stepped to the side to make room for several wolves to enter, along with one more person. The blond elf male with pointed ears wasn’t the monstrous figure I expected, but I realized two things right away: he was a vampire, and he was holding Michael by the throat and forcing him to walk out first.
17
This time, Michael’s eyes were open and pained as they locked onto mine. Bands of invisible but tangible power wrapped around his body like massive cuffs, and he could barely shuffle forward.
I shifted my position in the cramped cage so I could find a gap that I could aim Fezzik through. The cowardly vampire was almost fully behind Michael, but I trusted my aim and knew I could peg him in the forehead if I could find the right angle. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t destroy a vampire—it would take a stake to the heart or cleaving his head fully off to do that—but maybe it would jar him into letting Michael go.
This was the real Michael this time, I had no doubt. He struggled against the invisible bonds holding him and shook his head with anger and distress when he saw me.
“Do not,” the vampire said in accented English, his voice ringing with power as he lifted a hand. “Do not, Ruin Bringer.”
The same power that restrained Michael wrapped around me. I’d let Chopper rest on the bottom of the cage while I fired, but now I gripped the hilt and willed the sword to help me repel the attack. The magical grip seemed to lessen, but I could still feel the vampire’s hold on me.
The ogre pointed his staff at me, as if it were a bazooka, and loosed a bolt of fiery energy. An instant before it struck the cage, I ducked low.
The metal bars partially deflected the blow, though the cage creaked and rocked ominously, but I caught some of the power. It knocked me against the back of the cage and rattled every tooth in my jaw.
“Do not fight,” the vampire repeated. “There is nothing you can do. You were foolish to come with so few allies.”
“I tried to round up more people who would be excited to come to your creepy-ass log castle, but the list of interested parties was short.”
I glanced out the back of the cage, hoping Willard hadn’t been hit by that blow, but she was gone. Good. She would get pulped by these guys. Unfortunately, if I couldn’t get out of here, I was in danger of the same.
“Michael, are you all right?”
His jaw was clenched, but it looked like magic held it in place, not his own desire. With effort twisting his face, he wrenched his mouth open to shout, “I’m sorry, Val!”
“Silence.” The vampire’s hand tightened around his throat, and Michael dropped to his knees.
Fiery rage made me want to tear my cage apart with my bare hands. I fought the power weighing on me and brought Fezzik up to a gap to try to target the bastard without hitting Michael.
“What do you want him for?” I demanded, sweat slithering down the side of my face. I needed the vampire to move a couple of inches…
“I don’t want him at all. It’s you that I’ve been trying to lure up here with all manner of bait.” The vampire’s lip twitched, his elven face handsome even though he was paler than talc. How had an elf been turned into a vampire? Their kind were so long-lived that he couldn’t have volunteered because he sought immortality.
“What do you want me for? I’m willing to trade myself for him.”
“How noble, but it’s not you I particularly care about, though Vroth here has heard of you and would like to kill you.”
The ogre smiled and said something in his own language. I was too busy trying to find a way to target the vampire’s forehead to worry about going for my translation charm.
“It’s your sword that I want,” the vampire said.
“My sword? You set all this up for my sword? Kidnapping Michael? Sending your tiger out to kill and maim people?”
“Had you scurried up here when Vroth’s tiger first started killing people, as we expected, your lover need not have been captured.”
I hadn’t even known about the slayings up here. If Hobbs had still been stationed in Seattle, he would have told me. He would have sent me instead of some other agent.
“But it has given Vroth here time to prove his loyalty and his utility. His tiger even brought me living humans so I could have fresh blood. Human blood is inferior to elven blood, but when you’re driven out of your home world, you make do. And you find those who prove themselves useful to you.” He reached up to put a hand on the ogre’s shoulder. “I have promised to make him a vampire and give him immortality once my goal is achieved.”
“Your goal of getting my sword?”
“Indeed.” The vampire’s smile was icy cold. “Drop it, or your lover dies.”
“You’ll kill him anyway,” I said, though I would trade the sword in a second for Michael’s life. If I could be certain the trade offered was a fair one, I would take it, but the last thing I wanted was to give more power to the vampire while his hand was wrapped around Michael’s throat.
He shook his head minutely, as if to warn me his captor couldn’t be trusted.
“Perhaps,” the vampire said. “Perhaps not. I have kept him alive these last days to ensure I had sufficient bait for my trap.”
“I need assurances.” I slumped, pretending I couldn’t resist the power he kept using on me, but I surreptitiously went back to sawing Chopper’s blade through the bars. I was more than halfway through one. “I’m willing to make the trade, but you have to let Michael go free and get back to the road. Then you release me from this cage. Then I’ll give you the sword.”
“Of course you will. The Ruin Bringer is so known for being friendly and fair to magical beings.”
“I’m not unfair to anyone. The only beings I’ve killed are murderers.”
“One society’s murderers are another’s heroes.”
For some reason, I thought of that troll that had been stealing from the meat-packing plant for his people. If he’d only stolen, I wouldn’t have been sent after him, but he’d been a killer. He’d murdered more than ten people as he stole. I wasn’t the bad guy here.
“Who considers you a hero, vampire elf?” I demanded, more of the bar filing away under the subtle rasps of my blade. “You just said you were driven out of your world.”
“A mistake my people made that I will remedy once I have your sword.”
“What’s the deal with my sword? It can’t possibly be that great. There are swords all over this planet and must be millions more on the other worlds.” I knew Chopper was better than any Earth-made sword without magic, but magic was as common as allergies on the other worlds. It couldn’t possibly be that rare. Maybe he was stuck here on Earth for now, and there weren’t that many other magical swords around.
He curled a pale lip. “If you believe that, you are more ignorant than I thought.”
The magical tiger disappeared from my awareness, his aura vanishing. What the hell? He’d been up near the tower the last time I’d checked on him.
I couldn’t tell if the cub had also disappeared. Her aura had been weak, too weak for me to detect from the grand hall.
“Drop the sword, or I will kill him,” the vampire stated.
I was so close to sawing through the bar. But what then? Even if I kicked it free and could get out, I would still have to face the wizard, the vampire, and those wolves.
“I already gave you my deal,” I said.
“Unacceptable.”
His fingers tightened, and Michael gasped in pain, his back arching as magic flowed down
his spine.
If I’d thought the vampire was bluffing, I might have been able to hold out, might have been able to do nothing while my friend writhed in pain. But the vampire’s icy eyes said he would kill Michael and then send his wizard and wolves in to take the sword from me. And they could do it. Even if Willard had still been here, we couldn’t have fought off two powerful magic users. I certainly couldn’t by myself, especially when that tiger might reappear at any moment. I was surprised the vampire didn’t already realize he had me overpowered and that he could easily force the issue. Maybe he thought the sword was more powerful than it was.
Michael dropped to his knees. Blood ran out of his left ear and dripped off his stubbled jaw.
“Fine,” I called. “Stop.”
I turned the sword, so I could stick it out through the gap and prepare to drop it.
The vampire released Michael, who dropped to his hands and knees, still gasping, but more in relief now than pain. The magic that had been flowing into him ceased.
“I’m sorry, Val,” he rasped, looking up at me.
“It’s not your fault. It’s mine. I’m sorry this asshole dragged you up here.”
“I know you are.” Michael managed a quick smile. “If there was anything to forgive, I would forgive you.”
The vampire’s eyes narrowed, and he lifted a warning hand toward Michael.
“Let him come over here, and I’ll drop the sword.” I still held Chopper out of the cage but hadn’t yet let go.
“Drop it now, or I’ll finish what I started.” The vampire drew a magical bone dagger from a belt sheath, the wicked blade almost a foot long. He held it over Michael’s back.
I shook my head. “I want him out of your range before—”
A blast of magical power struck my wrist like a sledgehammer. Chopper tumbled from my grip and clanged to the floor. The ogre sneered and twitched the end of his staff. My sword levitated four feet into the air and floated toward the vampire.
I swore and brought up Fezzik, but the ogre hurled another blast of power toward me, this time at the cage instead of my wrist. The vampire lunged at Michael, that bone dagger raised. I fired at him through the bars, but the ogre’s attack landed, and my cage rocked wildly. The dagger plunged through Michael’s spine, and he screamed.
Mist and Magic Page 12
