Varvara’s cruel laugh rang through the garden. Aaron drew his sword up and adjusted his grip, preparing to drive the point into Ezra’s chest.
“No!” I cried.
The blade flashed down—and Ezra rolled, barely evading the strike. He heaved onto his hands and knees, then sprang up, clutching his weapons as he faced his friend. With stilted, robotic motions, Aaron swung his sword again.
Silver steel struck black blades as Ezra caught the weapon on his own. Fire burst off Aaron’s sword, but wind swept it away before it could engulf Ezra. As the fiery light flared, it illuminated something dark covering the side of Aaron’s face—the spot where Varvara had touched him.
“Tori,” Kai wheezed, his voice a shadow of its usual crisp tones. “You have to … stop them …”
Aaron slammed his sword down on Ezra’s blades again, driving the aeromage back several steps. Flames raced over Aaron’s arms and shoulders, and the grass around them caught fire. Wind spun around Ezra, barely holding the fire at bay.
“You have to.” Kai’s fingers dug into my arm. “Before Ezra … kills Aaron.”
For a second, his words made no sense. I’d expected him to say “before Ezra is killed.” Aaron had already sliced Ezra open, though I couldn’t tell how badly, and I really didn’t think it was the pyromage who was in trouble.
Not bothering to share my assessment, I pulled my arm free from Kai and grabbed the railing.
“Don’t you dare die on me, Kai,” I growled at him. “Stay right there.”
I leaped over the railing and dropped off the terrace. The fall was only a few yards, but even remembering to roll on the landing—thank god for those taekwondo lessons—it still hurt like hell. Gasping, I sprinted toward the fight.
Everything was on fire. I gritted my teeth and charged through the scorching flames, closing in behind Aaron. My hand went into my pocket, fingers closing around a leather tie as I squinted past Aaron’s back to Ezra. Firelight gleamed across his eyes, turning the pale iris to burning crimson.
Ezra caught sight of me and surprise flickered over his face. He snapped his focus back to Aaron as the pyromage brought his two-handed weapon down in a strike that would cleave Ezra in two. The aeromage flipped the short sword in his hand so the blade lay against his forearm and thrust it up.
The huge sword slammed down on Ezra’s blade—and the powerful impact barely shifted his arm. Ezra thrust the blunt hilt of his other weapon into Aaron’s unprotected stomach and a blast of wind hurled him off his feet.
Aaron slammed down on his back a yard in front of me, stunned and unmoving, fire still racing over his arms and shoulders.
Before he could move, I jumped on his chest, slapped the red crystal against the exposed skin of his neck, and shouted, “Ori decidas!”
The crystal shimmered and Aaron went limp, the flames on his body snuffing out. I didn’t react to the searing pain in my hands from reaching through the fire. My attention jumped straight to the dark splotch on Aaron’s cheek—a glistening substance like sticky black gel. In the center, something glowed green. I didn’t touch it, afraid of what would happen.
Clutching his swords, Ezra stepped between us and Varvara, who was observing from across the garden. Nadine knelt behind her, bound in magic, and as the garden quieted of all sound but the crackling flames that had taken hold of the grass around us, I heard her quietly weeping. Fury burned through me, almost as strong as my fear.
But my fear was stronger. Aaron was down. Ezra was wounded. Kai was dying. And all I had was my Queen of Spades card. For one insane moment, I considered calling Echo the dragon, but he was a wyldfae and I had no way to know if he would help me—or make things infinitely worse.
The grass rustled. Kai staggered through the flames and dropped to his knees beside me, his gasping breaths hoarse and wet.
“You idiot,” I hissed. “I told you to stay put!”
“I don’t follow orders … any better than you.” He wilted sideways and I pushed my shoulder against his, keeping him upright.
“Kai.” Ezra’s voice was soft, quiet, and possessed that unshakable calm that always soothed my fear. “I have no choice.”
Kai’s throat moved as he swallowed. “I know.”
Ezra’s hands tightened on his swords. The air around him went eerily still, then burst outward like a silent detonation. Wind more frigid than the arctic circle swept over us, extinguishing the fires across the garden and coating everything in a layer of white frost.
Varvara, who had observed the mages’ battle with a satisfied smirk, narrowed her eyes. Her smile melted away.
Ezra took a slow step toward her, and for the first time, fear tightened her regal features. Head jerking up, she hissed an incantation and slashed her hand in a strange, urgent gesture. For a moment, nothing happened.
Then low growls filled the darkness.
From the far corner of the property, shadows appeared. Thick, stocky Rottweilers prowled out of the trees, a white rune etched into each dog’s forehead—literally carved into their skin. They gathered around the sorceress, a dozen in total. Nadine cowered, trying to inch away from the beasts without drawing their attention.
Varvara pointed at Ezra and spat a Latin command. With deep barks and rumbling howls, the dogs charged us. I leaped up, empty hands grasping the air as though I could summon a weapon to defend myself—and Aaron and Kai, who were helpless.
Ezra extended his arms, blades outstretched as the temperature plunged to freezing—and kept dropping. The dogs flew toward him, too many for a single person to fight. They would swarm him in seconds.
The darkness deepened all around us, then the dogs burst into a frenzy of howls. Very different howls.
Two canine shapes charged into their midst—shadowy black wolves far larger than the Rottweilers. Their black fur rippled and danced as they tore into the dogs, red eyes glowing like beacons of death. The dogs’ ferocious attack morphed into panicked chaos, the garden filling with terrified yelps and deep, ethereal snarls.
As Ezra took two shocked steps back, his head snapping side to side in confusion, I spun around.
He was already standing beside me. Shadows coiled around him, the black tattoos that covered his arms shifting eerily, and the runes on his inner forearms gleamed with unnatural radiance.
The Ghost had arrived.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“You’re late!” I shrieked hysterically.
Combined terror and relief left me feeling loopy, and I had to sternly remind myself to be careful what I said—my oath was still in effect.
“We almost died!” I added in case he hadn’t grasped the near-catastrophic consequences of his tardiness. I’d texted him ages ago, and I was in no mood to consider how much of a miracle it was that he’d beat the Crow and Hammer team here. Plus the bigger miracle—that he’d come at all.
Without so much as a glance in my direction, he flashed past me, a red glow coalescing in his hand. It formed into a curved blade of light, and he slashed it at the nearest dog. Pivoting with inhuman agility, he tore through another canine as the vargs circled the pack, driving the terrified beasts into the druid’s fae blade.
With a high-pitched squeal, the last dog died. Zak faced Varvara, his shimmering saber casting a sinister scarlet glow across the garden.
He’d abandoned his usual trench coat in favor of a fitted t-shirt and black pants that did nothing to hide his belt of alchemic vials, the blades strapped to his thighs, the assorted crystal artifacts hanging around his neck, and the tattoos running down his arms. A frightening black mask covered his head, leaving only shadowy eye holes. Though his face was covered, other identifiers—like his tattoos—were on full display.
“Ah.” Varvara’s lips curled into a delicate, disdainful sneer. Behind her, Nadine stared at her hero with wide eyes. “You came, druid. I thought you too wily to show yourself.”
Zak pointed his crimson blade at Varvara. “Release the girl.”
“She bel
ongs to me, as she has since she was an infant. You are the thief, druid.”
I gulped. The dark druid versus the dark sorceress—and I had no idea who would come out the victor.
At my feet, Kai sagged against my legs and my heart lurched. Whoever won the battle, by the time it was over, Kai would be dead.
“Druid!” I yelled desperately.
Smiling venomously, Varvara began to chant. Zak hesitated, then cast his hand out. The two vargs charged the sorceress while Zak backtracked toward me—causing Ezra to bring his swords into a defensive stance. Abandoning Kai, I leaped over Aaron’s prone body and grabbed Ezra’s gloved wrist—so cold it burned my skin.
I flinched but my voice was steady. “He’s here to help, Ezra.”
His unnervingly blank stare snapped to me. I squeezed his wrist.
“Trust me,” I whispered.
Varvara’s chant stuttered, then she barked a different spell as the vargs circled her, lunging and snarling without attacking. While she was distracted, Zak crouched beside Kai and Aaron, his red saber dissolving away. He swiftly examined them, then pulled a vial off his belt. He tossed it to me and I caught it with fumbling fingers.
“Pour that on his face,” Zak ordered as he leaned over Kai.
“Tori,” Ezra growled warningly.
“Trust me,” I told him again as I knelt beside Aaron. Pulling the cork out, I dumped the tangerine potion over the dark gel blob stuck to his cheek. Black smoke boiled off the substance, and the gel melted away. A small metal disc—the source of the green glow—slid off his face and thudded in the grass.
Aaron gasped, blinking rapidly as his eyes focused. “Holy f—”
I plucked the red crystal off him and he sat upright so fast he almost head-butted me. Gulping down air, he lunged to his feet, Ezra instantly at his side. Together, they faced Zak, whose attention was locked on Kai.
I planted myself between the two mages and the druid. “Just wait.”
“That’s the Ghost,” Aaron snarled, like I’d somehow failed to notice.
“Duh.” I rolled my eyes. “And he just freed you from the mind-control splat. Let him help Kai.”
Varvara was chanting again but I didn’t look to see what she was up to. I glared at the guys, silently demanding their cooperation. They’d told me to trust them. Now it was their turn to trust me.
Zak stepped to my side and held out a tiny glass vial filled with clear liquid.
“I don’t know what poison is killing him, but this is a universal antidote. Make him swallow every drop.” As I took the vial, he snapped a larger one off his belt. “Then have him drink this. It’ll keep him alive until you can get him to a healer.”
I clutched them both. “Thank you.”
“We can talk about a payment plan for that antidote later.”
My mouth hung open. “Uh …”
Her voice rising to a shriek, Varvara flung her hands into the air. The vargs were nowhere in sight—nothing impeded her incantation. With a final screamed word, she pointed imperiously at the two decorative suits of armor standing at attention on either side of her.
Or … not so decorative.
Glowing runes lit up across every inch of steel. With creaking groans, the suits shuddered, then stepped off their pedestals. Clattering with every motion, they stomped toward us and lifted their broadswords.
“Do have fun, druid,” Varvara called over the racket. “I will enjoy hunting you down at a later date.”
She’d stuck around to watch Aaron and Ezra fight, but she wasn’t keen to take her chances with Zak. Dissolving the magical binding on Nadine, Varvara hauled the girl up and marched her toward the property’s edge and the waiting yacht.
Zak canted his head toward the two mages. “You two take the golems.”
Aaron bared his teeth. “Like hell I’m doing anything you—”
“Do as he says!” I yelled.
Zak didn’t wait to see if the mages would obey. As shadows rippled around him, blurring his shape, he launched ahead. Aaron and Ezra took identical steps backward, startled by the druid’s speed.
“Shit,” Aaron muttered.
“Enchanted medieval knights, incoming!” I reminded them urgently, already rushing toward Kai. “Hurry up and stop them!”
They finally got their asses in gear and sprinted to intercept the walking armor. I dropped to my knees beside Kai. His eyes were half closed as he wheezed, the gurgle in his lungs more pronounced. Hands trembling, I pulled his head onto my lap and carefully uncorked the tiny antidote vial.
“You need to swallow all of this, okay? Ready?”
He nodded weakly and opened his mouth. I poured the potion in and he swallowed repeatedly. Tearing the cork out of the larger vial, I helped him drink that one too. Behind me, battles raged—fire blasting heat across my back, clangs of steel on steel, Aaron and Ezra shouting as they coordinated attacks.
A scream rang out, piercing my ears. Nadine.
But I didn’t look. I held Kai’s shoulders, waiting. If the antidote didn’t work, then I would hold him until the very end. He wouldn’t die alone.
Eyes closed, he concentrated on breathing. One minute passed, then two. With a deep, rasping inhalation, he opened his eyes. As I gave him a weak smile, I realized my face was wet with tears.
“You still with me, Kai?”
“Yeah.” He gingerly pushed upright. “My lungs are a bloody mess, but whatever that second potion was …”
He trailed off, his gaze flashing past me. I finally turned.
Aaron was on fire again, hammering his sword into a suit of armor that refused to die. It swung its giant broadsword and he ducked, the steel cutting through the flames leaping off his back. Ezra had knocked the helmet off his, but the headless suit was still flailing its sword around.
Beyond their battle, a swirling cloud of shadow and darkness flashed with half-obscured bolts of crimson and jade. Zak had cut off Varvara’s escape, but he had yet to defeat the sorceress.
Kai pushed onto his hands and knees, and as he struggled to rise, I grabbed his arm and helped him. He leaned against me, panting, then started forward.
“What are you doing?” I hissed, wanting to stop him but afraid of yanking him off balance. “You’re half dead!”
“I’ve got one more good bolt in me.” He slipped a short silver knife from his vest. “If you help me, I can take her down.”
I glanced at the tiny knife. “What do you need me to do?”
“Electricity always tries to ground,” he explained as we hastened into the shadows, circling Aaron and Ezra’s fight. “I need something to aim at. Stab her with that, and I can hit her no matter what defense she uses.”
We moved swiftly, albeit with a lot of staggering, until we were level with Varvara. Shadows twirled around her and magic glowed up her arms. She had her elbow locked around Nadine’s neck, holding the girl against her as a living shield.
Zak stood ten paces away, his crimson saber in hand. Lallakai’s shadowy wings rose off his back and yellow magic ran up his left arm in an intricate pattern, sparking with each twitch of his muscles. Two of the crystal artifacts around his neck were active and glowing. He snapped a vial off his belt, nudged his mask up above his mouth, and pulled the cork out with his teeth. He poured the vial’s milky white contents over the bleeding gash in his right bicep.
Varvara chuckled softly. “How many antidotes do you carry, druid? I’ll find a poison you haven’t accounted for.”
“Do you think you have that much time?” he retorted coolly, casting the vial away. His phantom wings flared wide, making him seem huge.
“What the hell is he?” Kai muttered.
A druid. A really badass druid.
Gripping the silver knife in my hand, I left Kai crouching in the shadows and crept toward Varvara, trying to stay out of her peripheral vision. Though I couldn’t see Zak’s face or eyes, I knew when he spotted me; I felt the electric zing of his attention. Keeping the motions small, I raised
Kai’s teeny metal conductor and pointed it at Varvara.
Zak flicked his sword, drawing the sorceress’s attention to the weapon—and away from me. His other hand clenched and a green rune on his inner arm shimmered, then erupted in crackling light that formed wide rings around his forearm.
“Careful, druid,” Varvara warned, tightening her grip on Nadine’s throat.
Zak laughed, a husky sound of contemptuous mocking. “You’re a fool, sorceress. If you think her life is the reason I’m here, well.” As he spoke, Lallakai’s wings flared wider—then faded to nothing. The tattoos didn’t reform on his arms. “You will see the error of your thinking.”
He angled his blade for his next attack. He was making his move—which meant I needed to make mine and hope Varvara didn’t notice me coming. I rose into a crouch like a sprinter waiting for the starting gun.
Cool, alien power washed over me. I gasped when my vision dimmed as though I’d put on sunglasses, and for a terrible instant, I thought Varvara had cast a spell on me.
“Go now,” a female voice, shimmering in a way no human throat could mimic, whispered in my ears—or was she whispering in my head?
Lallakai. The fae eagle had wrapped me in her shadow magic to hide my movements. Zak had sent her, leaving himself vulnerable.
I launched into a sprint.
Zak charged Varvara from the front. Shoving Nadine to the ground, the sorceress threw a hand up, deflecting his saber. Not missing a step, Zak swung his fist, coated in green fae magic. Varvara shouted an incantation—a familiar one. Ori repercutio.
His attack rebounded, slamming him backward. I closed in from behind, the blade clutched in my hand as I aimed to ram it into her kidney.
Varvara whipped around, faster than I would have thought possible, and her metal-adorned hand slammed into me. “Ori impello potissime!”
An impact like a semitruck hit my chest and I hurtled backward. Lallakai’s wings swept open, releasing me from her shadows, and the fae materialized behind me, countering my momentum with her body. I hit the ground, rolling painfully.
Dark Arts and a Daiquiri (The Guild Codex: Spellbound Book 2) Page 21
