Lost Soul

by E. A. Copen

  Ulmir the dwarf stepped into the bar, the modified tire iron he’d crafted into a blade in his hand. “What’s this?” he demanded.

  Khaleda flipped closed the folder in front of her. “This is a war council, and you’re not on it.”

  He snorted shifted the iron on his shoulder. “Like hell, I’m not. You’re planning your war in my court.”

  His court?

  “You’re the new king of the Court of Miracles?” Remy gave Ulmir a doubtful look. “Lazarus isn’t technically dead, you know.”

  “Excuse me. Pardon. Move, please.” Adelard pushed his way through the small crowd gathered outside Paula’s and stopped to adjust his glasses. “Interim king by right of combat.”

  Ulmir puffed out his chest. “That’s right. If King Lazarus recovers, I’m happy to step aside. However, seeing as how I was with him right up to the end, the gents thought I ought to put my hat in.”

  “Not that anyone else wanted the job,” Adelard muttered.

  Ulmir shoved him aside and made his way to the bar, hopping up on one of the stools. “So who’re we fightin’?”

  “No one,” said Remy, turning away. “You were opposed to involvement, remember?”

  “That was before. Now that I’ve seen the enemy, and he’s struck a blow to our court, things are different. Honor demands we repay Mask in kind, ain’t that right, boys?”

  The other dwarves, a couple of elves, and one or two glamoured trolls raised their fists and cheered in solidarity. One of them shouted, “When do we get to pound his face?”

  Ulmir turned back to Remy and shrugged. “You see? Majority rules. They want to punch things. Humans tend to squish when they get punched, so let us go punch some monsters.”

  Khaleda frowned. “I’m not one to turn away help.”

  “Have you ever fought in a war?” Remy asked. “Can you follow orders? Keep formation? Obey the chain of command?”

  “We don’t need them to.” Finn hopped down from his stool. “The few fighters Shadow has left aren’t suited for the front lines, and we’ve got to liberate Summer before anyone there is actually useful. We might have a few knights from the High Court, but Mask probably already knows all the tactics they’ll use. From the sounds of it, Khaleda’s forces are mostly infantry.”

  Khaleda nodded. “I have some specialized combatants thanks to Manus Dei, but they’re only one small unit.”

  “So what we need are shock troops.” Finn put his hand on a female troll’s shoulder.

  She stared at it and snorted once.

  He smiled and backed away. “These guys are heavy hitters that can take a lot of damage and wreck a lot of stuff. Let them break the lines.”

  “And smash faces.” The troll Finn had touched pounded her fist into her palm.

  “And smash lots of faces,” Finn agreed and turned his back to me. “What do you say, Lazarus?”

  “Lazarus is here?” Ulmir’s eyes darted back and forth.

  I sighed. “Over here.”

  Khaleda came around the bar, grabbed Finn by the shoulders, and rotated him so he was facing me. “He’s right there.”

  “Oh. Anyway, what do you think?”

  Ulmir squinted. “Wait a minute…”

  “He’s a disembodied spirit at the moment,” Khaleda explained with a sigh. “Just roll with it.”

  “Not the weirdest thing to ever happen around here,” the dwarf mumbled.

  “I’m no tactician,” I said, “but Ulmir can handle himself. He took on one of Mask’s secondary avatars all by himself and laughed like he was having a good time. If each one of these guys is as good in a fight as he is, you may not need an army to make Mask turn tail and run.”

  Khaleda uncrossed her arms and moved behind the bar again. She picked up the pen and held it out to Ulmir. “He says you’re in. Welcome to the war council.”

  “Great,” said the dwarf. He grabbed an unclaimed beer from the bar, popped the top, chugged it, and let out a loud belch before adding, “Now, who’re we fighting?”

  If my war council meetings had been half as boring as the one that Remy, Finn, Ulmir, and Khaleda had, it was a wonder everyone had stayed awake through them. They signed a bunch of documents, and then Khaleda had her minion fetch a dry-erase board. While Remy described the layout of the Summer Castle and the surrounding area, Khaleda drew a rough sketch that was actually halfway decent. She marked out where she thought all the troops should go, and then she and Finn argued about some of the finer points.

  I examined the board while they disagreed on the use of siege engines to breach the walls.

  “They’re not just going to open their doors and let us in because we killed everyone,” Finn said. “Once we break their lines, they’ll pull back into the castle.”

  “But if you destroy the walls, you’ll be damaging our future defenses,” Remy argued. “We’re better off getting one person or a small team inside to open the doors for us.”

  “I like the idea of an infiltration team,” Khaleda said.

  “There’s just one problem.” Finn gestured to the map that’d been drawn. “There’s no way into the city except through that stupid gate.”

  I uncrossed my arms. “Yes, there is.”

  Khaleda held up a finger, stopping the others from arguing. “What is it, Lazarus?”

  “There’s an old drainage pipe over here.” I tried to pick up the marker, but my hand went right through it. Damn it all, I hated being without a body.

  Khaleda picked up the marker and put the felt tip to the board. “Here?”

  “Over a bit and just south is where it comes out. Yes, right there. Curve it up toward the city. The access is near the stables.”

  “How deep is the curve? Forty degrees?”

  “I don’t know! Does it matter?”

  Khaleda clenched her teeth and drew a dramatic curve.

  I sighed. “It’s kind of small, and it opens into the moat, but if you can get across the moat somehow, you can get up the pipe and into the city. When Shadow assaulted Summer, that’s how Foxglove, Athdar, Declan, and me got out of the city to sneak attack their flank.”

  “So that’s how you did it,” Finn said after Khaleda had relayed everything I said. “Everyone said you four just appeared. We didn’t know about the drainage pipe.”

  “You wouldn’t have been able to cross it either,” I said through Khaleda. “Only reason we got across was because Athdar turned his body into a bridge. Getting across the moat is going to be the tricky part, but once you figure out how to do that without being seen, infiltrating the city is easy.”

  Remy leaned on the bar, palms flat. “The fields in front of the Summer Palace are one of the few places in Faerie where a large number of fae have been killed. My people claim the place is haunted.”

  “Is it?” Finn sat forward, leaning on his fist.

  The queen nodded. “In secret, I had been practicing my powers out there when I could get away. I can enlist the help of a handful of fallen soldiers. They have no need for the ground. If my father is willing to lead them once I’ve raised them, they may be able to open the gate.”

  I blinked. Ever since I’d seen her all grown up for the first time, I’d known she had magic. Foxglove had claimed she had the power over both life and death, able to kill with one hand and restore life with the other. That healing came at a great cost, however. To raise one person, she had to take life from someone else. It might also be true for raising ghosts, though that wasn’t what’d stunned me. I hadn’t realized my little girl had become such a talented necromancer on her own. If she’d been developing her powers, why hadn’t she come to me for instruction? A better question, if she could interact with the souls of the dead, why couldn’t she see me?

  I realized Khaleda was looking at me expectantly and cleared my throat. “I can lead them if I can get into Faerie, but I don’t know how effective they’ll be at opening doors. I can hardly manipulate anything.”

  “You’re not a complete spirit,�
�� Remy explained once Khaleda had relayed my message. “These will be.”

  “Is that why she can’t see me?”

  Khaleda sighed. “He’s having doubts and hurt feelings. He wonders why you can’t see him if you’re such a great necromancer.”

  Remy’s face hardened. “I’m not a necromancer. I don’t know what I am. But it takes quite a bit of effort for me to see and interact with the dead, and so far, I have only been able to do so with members of my own court. Perhaps it’s tied to my position as the Summer Queen rather than my powers. I can’t say. Grandmother wasn’t very keen on preparing me to replace her.”

  “Fair enough.” I crossed my arms and floated a little further away. “Wait a minute. When are you planning to do this? Because I’ve sort of got plans.”

  “You have six days to put yourself back together, right?” Khaleda asked.

  “Yes, but my fights are set for tomorrow night, and time in Faerie is super unpredictable. If I miss the one with Fenrir, we’ll have an even bigger problem. The guy responsible said he’d make what Mask did to New Orleans look like child’s play. We shouldn’t go to Faerie until after both duels. Not if I want to make them on time.”

  Remy pushed away from the bar after Khaleda repeated what I had to say. “You’re the one who wanted to push us to act now. The longer we wait, the more defenses Mask will have in place. He knows we’re coming for him while he’s weakened and on the run. If we wait, we miss this opportunity, and no offense, but stopping Mask is more important than getting you back.”

  I flinched. Her words stung, even if she was right. That that was exactly why I’d chosen to sacrifice myself to finish the spell and power the seal. Hearing someone else say it out loud still hurt.

  “Harsh,” Ulmir whispered.

  I cleared my throat and stood up straighter, doing my best to shake it off. “She’s right, though. Odin said I had to start looking at the bigger picture. An Oracle told me the same thing. Only an idiot ignores advice given by two different sources. I might be stupid, but I’m not an idiot.”

  “They’re kind of the same thing, Lazarus,” said Khaleda.

  “I never claimed to be a wordsmith either. The point is, we need to focus on Mask and stopping him. Whatever I want has to come second. However,—” I raised a finger. “—I do need someone to get a message to Detective Brad Drake. I also might’ve put his name forward to referee a fight.”

  Khaleda groaned.

  “What is it?” Finn asked.

  “Nothing. I’ve just got more work to do.” She drew the eraser over the board. “Malphas, rally the troops and form ranks. How soon can the rest of you be ready to go to Faerie?”

  Remy glanced at Finn. “I can get a message to the High Court. Their armies are already on alert. Shouldn’t be more than a few hours.”

  “We’re ready to fight when the rest of you lollygaggers are,” Ulmir growled.

  “Excellent.” Khaleda put down the eraser. “Then let’s plan our rendezvous point.”

  Chapter Eleven

  While the rest of them made their final preparations, I wandered out back to hover in the shade under the awning. The sun had risen high already, bathing the city in its normal heat and humidity. Of course, I couldn’t feel either, which made it strange, knowing it was there but that I couldn’t feel any of it. It made New Orleans feel foreign, which I didn’t like. New Orleans was supposed to be home.

  I reached out and ran my fingertips through a thin beam of sunlight, watching the fire spark and die quickly. It wasn’t enough to do any serious damage, but it was beautiful to watch the sun dance in my hand. How many sunrises had I slept through? Too damn many. Instead, I’d opted to sleep in or sit in my kitchen with the curtains shut. I’d done a lot of griping about mornings and sunlight when I didn’t really know how good I had it. Now that I might not see another, that was all I could think about. When I got my body back, I was going to start getting up before the sun to enjoy every single one.

  The back door opened, and Khaleda came out to join me. “He’ll do it,” she said, stopping next to me.

  “You didn’t use your powers on him, did you?” I didn’t like Brad Drake, but we’d come to a mutual understanding that included budding respect for each other’s work. The guy had a wife. I didn’t want him to lose any of that, not over me.

  “Of course not.” Khaleda looked at me as if I were a complete moron. “Do you think I just go around seducing people for the hell of it?”

  “You said earlier—”

  “I’ll need to recharge before the battle, yes.” She crossed her arms. “But I’m not going to take the first man I speak to. What do you take me for, Lazarus?”

  “I take you for a succubus,” I answered with a shrug.

  “That doesn’t make me a monster.”

  She was right again. Khaleda had helped me more times than she’d hurt me. It was time I let the past go.

  I sighed. “You’re right. I’m sorry.” We stood together in silence and shadow for a long moment. “What happened with you and Josiah?”

  She shrugged. “He’s happier with Stefan. I’m glad he’s found something that makes him happy. Everyone needs that.”

  I nodded and thought of Emma. She hadn’t had much happiness since I walked into her life, and it was all because I’d had to become the Pale Horseman. I’d have to find a replacement for that, too. Remy seemed a natural choice, but she had other responsibilities. She couldn’t be the Summer Queen and the Pale Horseman. Besides, I didn’t want that for her. Every parent wants their child’s life to be better, and I was no exception. She was happy in Faerie, so that’s where I wanted her to be, even if that meant she was with Finn.

  It should probably be someone who can see me like this, I thought. If they could see me as only a partial spirit, they had to be pretty attuned with the dead and a potentially good candidate. I studied Khaleda a moment and immediately decided she wasn’t a good candidate. For one, she was trying to become the Queen of Hell, which made her ineligible for the same reasons as Remy. She’d be too busy ruling her new kingdom. Second, she was Khaleda. Maybe she wasn’t a monster, but she wasn’t what I’d call morally good either.

  That leaves Nate. I scratched my chin, trying to think up a reason he wasn’t a good candidate. Nate was a good person in every way. Smart, a fast learner, open to the supernatural and naturally curious, but with a background in mundane science. He understood how bodies worked, had a healthy respect for both the living and the dead, and I trusted him to be my moral compass. He also wasn’t going to become king of anything anytime soon.

  The only thing standing in the way was his family, most notably his wife Leah. He’d mentioned before that the two of them had hit a rough patch, but I knew they were still a solid couple. The loss of their daughter had thrown them both for a loop, but maybe things would get better once we rescued Jess from Mask.

  Nate’s not a fighter, though. He’s non-confrontational by nature.

  That wasn’t true anymore, either. Actually, maybe it’d never been true. The first time I’d met him, he’d helped me fight some organ-stealing Egyptian gods. He’d been terrified, but then so was I half the time. And I’d just watched him stand up to Khaleda. I guess his more passive personality is a bit deceiving. The guy had one hell of a backbone.

  But can he handle the pressure?

  “What are you thinking so hard about?” Khaleda asked.

  “My replacement. Samedi and I struck a deal. I’m getting out. If I get my body back, that is.”

  “I know you haven’t been doing this very long, but it’s hard to imagine anyone else as the Pale Horseman now. Who did you have in mind?”

  “I’d rather not say.” I slid behind her toward the door. “But I do have one more person I need you to talk to, a last-minute addition to our assault. If you wouldn’t mind sending Nate to see me?”

  She eyed me with curiosity, then pushed off the wall with a hip and went to open the door. “I should charge you for all thi
s work I’m doing for you, you know.”

  “Put it on my tab.”

  Khaleda left, and Nate arrived about an hour later, looking more worn than usual. Paula came in about the same time and ripped everyone a new one for drinking all night, then started tallying up tabs for everyone. She couldn’t see me, but I communicated through Nate that she should get him a beer and something to eat and add it to mine, even though I hadn’t been drinking.

  “What will you have?” Paula asked Nate, shoving the last of her papers onto the magnetic clips behind her.

  “Just some black coffee and eggs if you’ve got them. Over easy.” Nate removed his glasses and rubbed his face. “Emma came to relieve me this morning.”

  “How is she?”

  He shook his head. “She puts on a good face, but it was hard not to tell her. Are you sure that’s what you want, Lazarus? I really think it would help her to know there’s hope right now. Someone stopped by to ask us if we knew if you were an organ donor. Poor guy is lucky he still had a face when Emma was done shouting.”

  That was definitely Emma. If she couldn’t shoot it or solve it, she did a lot of yelling at it. It was a front, one that had taken me a long time to see through. Inside, she was hurting and scared. Nate was right. I owed it to her to give her something, but if I brought her in now, she’d want to go to Faerie and fight alongside everyone else. I didn’t want to put her in that kind of danger.

  But I was okay with Remy taking that risk, and I was about to ask Nate to do the same. In fact, I had volunteered everybody repeatedly except for her. Every time Emma wanted to help, I’d pushed her away, and all that’d ever done was complicate things. Maybe we really were stronger together. I turned away from Nate. “I don’t know how to tell her. She’s going to be mad at me for what I did.”

  “She’s going to be happy to have you for whatever time is left. Trust me on that.” He stared at the bar surface.

  Remy put a hand on Nate’s shoulder. “Freeing Jessica is a priority.”

  Nate nodded slowly.