Dark Swan Comic 1-4

by Richelle Mead

  We exited off the main road, cutting through the outskirts of a vast, wooded park. Otherworldly gates were rarely found in heavily populated, urban areas, and this one lay deep within the park’s grounds. The trees blocked the direct force of the wind, but the branches were shifting wildly, showering us with twigs and leaves. We were the only ones out here, since most reasonable humans would’ve long since taken shelter.

  “It’ll be here,” I called to my companions, forcing my voice to be heard above the wind. From the satchel I wore across my body, I produced my wand and an iron-bladed athame. “If they’re going to attack, it’ll be—”

  They attacked.

  Five spirits, two water elementals, and another elemental who glowed like a will-o’-the-wisp. Elementals were gentry who could not cross fully into this world in their original forms. They manifested as vaguely anthropomorphic creatures, composed of whatever element most strongly tied to their magic. From the scope of the storm, I suspected more were lurking nearby, but they were probably the weaker ones. It would take all of their power just to maintain these weather conditions, with none left over for fighting. These sent to battle us were the strongest, and the spirits were a backup choice I’d seen frequently. Spirits who hadn’t moved on to the Underworld had no care for who ruled humans or the Otherworld. They were therefore easy recruits for the gentry who opposed me.

  They weren’t the only ones with help from beyond the grave.

  “Volusian!” I called. I quickly chanted the words that would summon my undead minion. The sounds were lost in the wind, but it didn’t matter. My intent and power were what counted, and within seconds, Volusian materialized. He was shorter than me, with pointed ears, red eyes, and smooth black skin that always reminded me of a salamander’s. “The spirits!” I snapped.

  Volusian needed no further urging. He hated me. He wanted to kill me, even. But so long as I bound him to my service, he was forced to obey my commands. He attacked the spirits with a fury, his magic flaring bluish white in the shadowy landscape. Jasmine had already set herself on the water elementals while Pagiel took on the will-o’-the-wisp, whom I assumed had some connection to air or the charges in the atmosphere.

  And me? I hung back. I hated doing it but had no choice. We’d rehearsed this over and over. The decision to have these twins meant nothing if I let myself get tossed around or—worse—killed. In protecting myself, I protected them, even though it went against every fighter’s instinct I had. Fortunately, I wasn’t entirely useless. Our attackers wanted me but were too distracted by my allies. This freed me to use my magic to diminish some of the more annoying effects of the weather. It also allowed me to banish the spirits. Volusian was well matched against them, but obviously, the less he had to deal with, the better.

  I extended my wand at one of the spirits as it ganged up with another against Volusian. They were translucent, wraithlike creatures who floated in the air and would have been almost impossible to see outdoors in the sun. The shadows and clouds made them eerily discernible. Opening my senses, I reached past this world, past the Otherworld. I brushed the gates of the Underworld, establishing a connection that was solid but wouldn’t pull me in. Banishing spirits to the Otherworld was easier and used to be my tactic when I was eliminating them for frightened suburbanites. Spirits sent there could return, however, and I couldn’t take that chance anymore. The less of them around to come back for me, the better. It was the Underworld or bust.

  I focused my will on my target, using the human magic I’d learned as a shaman to drive the spirit out of this world. The creature shrieked in rage as it felt the Underworld’s tug, and seconds later, it dissolved into nothing. I immediately set my sights on a second spirit, briefly allowing myself to assess Pagiel and Jasmine’s progress.

  To my astonishment, Pagiel had defeated the will-o’-the-wisp elemental already. I hadn’t even seen it happen. I had the power to banish elementals back to the Otherworld as well, but for my two sidekicks, physical confrontation was the only option. Pagiel had used his magic to destroy the elemental outright, obliterating it into nothingness. I’d known he was a strong magic user but had never truly seen him in battle until now. He was stronger than Jasmine, I realized. He immediately joined her side against a water elemental, blasting it with a wind that brought it to a standstill while she used her magic to call on the water of the elemental’s form and rip it to pieces. Meanwhile, I banished a second spirit.

  “Eugenie, go!” cried Jasmine, barely sparing me a glance as she and Pagiel sparred with the last elemental. Volusian was down to one spirit. The odds were in our favor now. None of these attackers would have a chance to break away and come after me.

  I grimaced but didn’t hesitate. Again, this was part of the plan we’d established. These Otherworldly denizens were here for me. If I was gone, and they weren’t destroyed first, they’d likely leave once they realized only Jasmine and Pagiel (and Volusian) were left. I felt like a coward and had to keep reminding myself, If you die, the twins die.

  I took off at that half jog, continuing to use my magic to lighten the storm and make my passage easier. Ahead of me, a ring of bright yellow buttercups stood out in sharp contrast against the park’s green grass. No matter how many times the landscapers mowed them down, the buttercups always returned within a day. They marked the gate.

  I was steps away from it when something hit me from my left. The force knocked me over, and I only barely managed to twist my body in a way that minimized the jarring as my knees hit the ground. It had been foolish to think the gate wouldn’t be guarded. My attacker was another elemental, seemingly composed of moss and leaves. They decayed and shifted before my eyes, marking just how weak the elemental really was. It could barely exist in this world. The creature’s chances of survival were slim, yet it had apparently thought it worth the risk to its life to come and take mine.

  I struggled to my feet as it came at me. In one leafy hand, the elemental held a copper dagger, honed to a fine point. Copper was the toughest metal gentry could wield, and even if it wasn’t as effective as steel, it could still kill. The elemental’s moves were awkward and lumbering, giving me enough time to get to my feet, even in my addled state. I still held the iron athame and felt some satisfaction that pregnant or not, I was faster than this bumbling creature. It swung at me, and I easily dodged, giving me an opening with my athame. The blade made contact, slashing across the elemental’s green chest. It shrieked in pain, and I made an instant decision not to finish it off. I didn’t have the luxury of playing hero. That injury was more than enough to slow the elemental and let me spring for the gate. I hurried into the ring of buttercups and reached toward the Otherworld. The gate was a strong one that worked at all times of the year and required hardly any effort from someone who knew how to use it. It was another reason we’d selected this area.

  The paths between the worlds opened, and I felt a slightly disorienting sensation, like I was being taken apart and reassembled. Within seconds, I found myself standing in the Honeysuckle Land, surrounded by my own soldiers. There was no sign of any foes here, and from the startled looks my guards gave me, my battle-marked state was totally unexpected. They wasted no time in responding, however, and had their weapons drawn the instant the elemental followed me through the gate.

  Only, it was no longer an elemental. It wasn’t even an “it.” It was a she, a gentry woman no older than myself with brown hair braided into a high bun. She staggered two steps toward me, still holding the copper blade, before falling to the ground. Blood spilled from her chest, showing the severity of the wound I’d given her. It had been done with iron—the gentry’s bane—and occurred in the human world, where she was at her weakest. Maybe she could have survived a similar injury in this world, but now, it was too late. The blade fell from her hands as she feebly clutched at her bleeding torso. All the while, her eyes never left me.

  “Death ... to the prophecy... .” she gasped out, just before death took her. The light left those h
ate-filled eyes, and soon she saw nothing. I felt ill.

  New arrivals from the gate immediately drew my guards to attention, but it was only Jasmine and Pagiel. They looked as if they’d been in a fight but otherwise showed no serious damage. Jasmine looked at me first, and despite her hard face, I knew she was checking me for injury, just as I’d done for her. It was hard to believe we’d once been enemies.

  Satisfied I was okay, she then glanced at the dead woman before meeting my gaze. “Well,” Jasmine said, relaxing slightly. “At least you don’t have to go to Ohio anymore.”

  Chapter 2

  The layout of the Otherworld defies human physics. There are no straight lines from point A to point B, even when you walk along a road that doesn’t seem to curve or fork away. One step forward on a road may take you into a kingdom you thought you’d cleared ten miles back. Most of the kingdoms tended to stay in the same proximity to each other, but there were no guarantees. A road whose quirks you thought you knew by heart might suddenly change without warning.

  Fortunately, there were no such surprises today. The road we’d taken to reach the Hudson gate eventually got us back to the Oak Land, with only the expected detours into friendly lands. The Oak Land wasn’t one of my kingdoms. It was ruled by my strongest ally, who was also the one who made me the most nervous. Dorian and I had once been lovers and waged an Otherworldly war together. Things had fallen apart when he’d tricked me into a quest designed to conquer a kingdom I didn’t want. We’d been quite hostile toward each other for a while, but my pregnancy had changed our relationship. He was one of the advocates of the prophecy that said my father’s first grandson would conquer humanity, and so, even though he wasn’t the father, Dorian had vowed to aid and protect my children.

  Once he’d ascertained I was alive and well, however, he showed little sympathy upon hearing about our ambush.

  “I never understood why you had to go to that Ohoho place anyway,” he said, pouring a glass of wine. “I say good riddance.”

  I sighed. “It’s Ohio. And you know why I was there. The twins need medical care.”

  “So you claim. They can receive ‘medical care’ here. Ours is just as good as humans’. Do you want a glass?” He held up the wine bottle.

  I rolled my eyes. “No. And that’s exactly the point. Medicine here’s not the same at all. Wine’s terrible for babies.”

  Dorian swept into the sitting room to join me, elegantly arranging himself on a love seat that displayed his purple velvet robes to best effect. “Well, of course it is. I’d never dream of giving wine to an infant! What do you take me for, a barbarian? But for you ... well, it might go a long way to make you a little less jumpy. You’ve been positively unbearable to live around.”

  “I can’t have it either. It affects the babies in utero.”

  “Nonsense,” he said, tossing his long auburn hair over one shoulder. Life would be easier if he wasn’t so damned good-looking. “Why, my mother drank wine every day, and I turned out just fine.”

  “I think you’re proving my point for me,” I said dryly. “Look, I know you believe everything’s fine here and there’s no reason I should ever set foot outside the Otherworld, but I just don’t feel safe not having this pregnancy monitored by a—human doctor.” I’d been about to say “real doctor” but caught myself in time. It was true that I’d watched the gentry perform some amazing feats of healing. I’d literally seen limbs reattached. Yet, despite all the gentry magic, nothing could match the comfort I took in the reassuring numbers and bleeps of medical machinery. I was half human, after all, and had been raised that way.

  “You don’t ‘feel safe,’ eh?” Dorian gave me one of his laconic smiles. “Tell me, did the assurance you got from your human doctor today outweigh the potential damage you received when that elemental knocked you around?”

  I scowled and looked away. Even though I’d managed to land fairly well when I’d fallen near the gate, I’d still had Dorian’s healers check me out when I returned. They’d performed some minor spells on me to relieve bruising and had sworn there was no injury to the twins. They had no diagnostic equipment to prove it, but gentry healers did have an innate sense for such things in the body, just like I was sensitive to the components of storms. I had to take it on faith that the healers were correct.

  “We should’ve been more prepared, that’s all,” I muttered.

  “How much more prepared can you be?” asked Dorian. He still spoke in that easy way of his, like all of this was a joke, but I could see the hardness in his green eyes. “You already traipse through this world with a veritable army at your back. Are you going to start bringing them with you into the human world too?”

  “Of course not. We’d never get a hold of enough jeans to outfit them all.”

  “You risk yourself. You risk them.” Dorian pointed at my stomach, just in case there was any question who he meant. “You shouldn’t be going to the human world. Honestly, you shouldn’t be traveling between kingdoms here! Pick one. One of yours, mine, it doesn’t matter. Just stay still somewhere, and stay protected until they’re born.”

  “I’m not very good at staying still,” I remarked, noting a similarity between this conversation and the one I’d had when I told the doctor about my physical frustrations.

  To my surprise, Dorian’s face actually softened into sympathy. “I know, my dear. I know. But these are unusual times. I’ll give you this: moving around does make it harder for them to find you. Maiwenn and Kiyo can only monitor so many places at once, so there’s something to be said for not staying entirely stationary.”

  Maiwenn and Kiyo. My heart twisted. We rarely ever spoke those names. Usually we just said “the enemy” or simply “they.” But even though there was a large contingent of gentry who wanted to stop Storm King’s prophecy, we all knew that two in particular were the real threats. Maiwenn was queen of the Willow Land and had once been a friend. Kiyo was my ex-boyfriend and half human like me.

  He was also the father of my children.

  Kiyo ...

  If I thought about him too long, my emotions would get the best of me. Even after our romantic relationship had begun to fracture, I’d still cared about him. Then, he’d made it clear that he considered me and the twins acceptable losses to prevent any threat to humanity. I certainly hadn’t wanted to see the gentry conquer the human world either, but his actions had left me reeling. It was still a hard reality for me to accept, that I could know someone so well ... and yet not really know him at all.

  “What do you think we should do about the wedding?” I asked, forcing myself to change the subject. “They know I’ll be there.” Two servants of mine, Rurik and Shaya, were getting married soon, and I was hosting the festivities.

  Dorian nodded, eyes narrowed in thought. “They also know all of your allies and a number of others who simply don’t want to be on your bad side will be there. So long as we can get you back to the Thorn Land securely, there shouldn’t be—”

  “I don’t care what he’s doing! It’s imperative I speak to him now !”

  Dorian and I both flinched at the interruption and turned in surprise toward the source of the angry female voice. Guards standing sentry at the sitting room’s door immediately began protests about how Dorian wasn’t to be disturbed, but it was clear those explanations were being ignored.

  A world-weary expression crossed Dorian’s face. “It’s fine,” he called. “Let her in.”

  I’d been sprawling on a chaise, nearly as at ease as Dorian, but now I straightened up. I knew who this newcomer was and wouldn’t be caught off-guard.

  Ysabel came striding into the room, wearing a gown that was elaborate even by gentry standards. I always thought the best term to describe their fashion sense was “Medieval rave.” Her dress was made of a heavy silver satin with a crazy V neckline that went nearly to her stomach. A pattern of seed pearls trimmed all the hems and also adorned her long auburn hair. I wondered if she was on her way to some formal event or
if she was simply continuing in her efforts to lure in Dorian. She’d been his mistress until he and I were together, but he hadn’t resumed things after our split.

  Perhaps more astonishing than her attire was that she had company. Trailing in her wake were Pagiel and her formidable and generally unpleasant mother, Edria. The boy had to hurry up to keep pace with the other two and looked miserable. A few moments later, his younger sister Ansonia also entered nervously. She had long hair, almost the color of mine, and looked terrified to be here.

  “Your Majesty,” exclaimed Ysabel, coming to a halt before Dorian. I couldn’t tell if her cheeks were flushed with anger or bad makeup application. Considering the gentry often made their cosmetics out of nuts and berries, neither possibility would have surprised me. “This is unacceptable.”

  “Mother—” began Pagiel, reaching her side.

  Ysabel pointed at me, anger flashing in her eyes. “I refuse to allow her to keep endangering my son! Why, he nearly died today.”

  “I did not!” exclaimed Pagiel.

  Dorian gave Pagiel a calm once-over. “He looks fine to me.”

  “It was a very close thing,” said Edria gravely.

  “I don’t know,” I said, recalling how quickly Pagiel had dispatched his foe. “From what I saw, he had things under control.”

  “How would you know?” asked Ysabel with a sneer. “You ran away.”

  I felt a blush of my own creeping over my cheeks. My new coddled status still grated on me, as did the knowledge that I had to keep myself out of harm’s way while others defended me. No matter how logical it all seemed, I’d never be easy about it.

  “Hey, I did my part,” I said.