A Crown of Ice and Fury, page 31
part #1 of A Crowns of Magic Universe Series Series
Freyia reached over the side of the boat for her dagger, still embedded in the hand. We didn’t know how many more of these creatures existed or what else might be in the passage. Every weapon counted.
The vampire managed to rip the dagger from the thing’s flesh just before the creature lunged up to hiss at her. With enviable speed and dexterity, the vampire sliced the thing across the neck. Astril had gained a sword in the earlier skirmish, and she used that weapon to fend off two creatures that swam closer.
Perhaps they had never seen steel or perhaps they were just hungry, but despite the danger, two of the water monsters leapt out of the water, allowing Freyia to dispose of them. Blood plumed in the water as their bodies fell.
The last, however, disappeared beneath the water.
I chanced a glance overboard. Found nothing. Looking up, I caught Astril’s eye. She shook her head, but the way she held herself told me she was still waiting.
The creature leapt out of the water, mouth opened wider than before to reveal multiple rows of small sharp teeth. It landed on top of Inga.
“Away with you!” I batted the creature with my oar again and again. It reared at me, body coiled to launch, but Freyia’s dagger lodged itself in the creature’s heart.
I exhaled. “Are there more?”
“None that I can hear or smell,” Astril replied as she shoved the thing in the water. “But that’s not saying much. I can’t sense below the water.”
“What are they?” Yrsa asked.
“I’ve never seen anything like them,” Freyia said. “I wonder if they were merpeople once.”
I shuddered. The similarities were there, but I did not like to think about how merpeople could become that. Or why they’d be down here and not in the sea where they belonged.
“Keep an eye out for more of them,” Geiravor broke the horrified silence that had befallen us. “Or worse.”
The vampires simply turned and stared into the darkness. Watching. Waiting.
I pulled a faelight from my pocket, ignited it, and let the ball free. It hovered above my boat, floating along with us.
The channel grew wider. Every four strokes, we gained at least half a body length at the edges. Not only that, but rowing became easier, as if we were going downhill. Faster. The strange sensation was explained when the channel opened into a cavern. Though the faelight did not illuminate the entire area, it did enough to reveal a faint, red glimmering above.
“Are the rocks shimmering? Reflecting the water?” The same luminescence as before filled the pool, but how did the light get so high?
“Where’s the exit?” Thyra asked.
“No, wait. Isolde has a point. What are those?” Yrsa craned her neck, studied above. Thanks to the extra space, the other boat had moved to float right beside ours. “Row faster.”
“You can row,” Geiravor grumbled. “I’d be happy to give up my spot.”
“Those are the bats,” Yrsa hissed, spiking my heart rate.
Carnivorous bats were native to the Autumn Court but had adapted to live in many parts of Isila. Specifically in areas of natural heat, like hot spring water. They would attack, even unprovoked. That not a single one had flown down yet meant they were sleeping.
My oar slipped in and out of the water at a faster rate, matching Geiravor’s pace as we skirted the outside of the cavern, looking for an exit.
“There!” Astril whispered. “I found the exit. Keep going straight, and we’ll come right across it.”
I spotted it too and pushed harder. We were only a few paddles away when Queen Inga let out a loud moan.
The sound echoed in the cavern. Wings rustled.
“Go, go, go!” Thyra pleaded, and by the stars, I did.
“Geiravor!” Yrsa said. “Move over. I’ll row, you ward!”
Her sister hopped up and began working her magic, just as a waterfall of bats detached from the ceiling and dove. Fangs bared, they closed in. One came from behind and latched onto Yrsa’s shoulder. She screamed, and ripped it off her, breaking its neck, but the damage was done. More bats awoke. More rustling wings and strange pitchy chirps sent skitters down my spine.
A hundred more made it down by the time Geiravor cast a full ward above us, but not before dozens swooped inside. One took a chunk out of my arm, and before I could stop them, a shadow released, wrapped around the bat, and squeezed.
The creature fell into the water, and though effective, I opted to use winter magic to do away with the rest. My power blasted upward and into the air, freezing the flying bats. They fell into the water, no longer a threat.
“Can you make it a shield over the exit when we pass through?” I continued to row. “And how long will it last?”
“Longer than we need it to,” Geiravor replied with confidence, even as she wiped sweat from her face.
My boat entered the exit first, and as we passed into the smaller tunnel, a shudder rang through the air. The ward. Geiravor had already set it up for us to pass through, but no others. Bats tried to follow, flinging their hungry bodies up against the ward and falling back.
“Those were awful,” Freyia muttered.
“We’ll have to get the bites looked at by the healers in Myrr,” Thyra added.
We’d all acquired at least one bite, but as I looked at Inga, I gasped. Four vicious bites marred her exposed skin. Dislike her or not, I didn’t want to think of bats eating my mate’s mother’s face.
We floated through the darkness, my faelight and the sparkling water our only guiding lights. The water picked up speed again, and this time the current was so strong I stopped rowing and instead used my paddles to steer us down the channel.
“We’re nearing the harbor,” Yrsa said. “Right at the entrance, there’s a gate that’s locked.”
“Have you picked it?” I asked.
“Only examined it from the other side. I thought maybe one day I’d row upstream and see what there was to see.” Yrsa shuddered. “That’s no longer in my plans.”
The other boat got into the front position. Right in time too, for a pinprick of light appeared in the distance. Moonlight. Or maybe faelights and torches from the docks? I hoped we would not exit too close to the docks. Sailors were up at all hours of the night, and the fewer witnesses the better, for a guard would have certainly been alerted by now. Soldiers would likely be swarming Grindavik.
“We need to disguise the queen.” Salt laced my tongue. The pinprick in the distance had grown into a disc. Originally, the queen was going to use a cloak, but those remained in the castle, never to be seen again. Thank the stars it wasn’t cold enough to necessitate such attire, or that would be another reason we’d stick out.
“We have nothing,” Yrsa said. “Flop her head over and make her hair hide her face.”
“Her clothing is too grand,” Freyia pointed out.
“Would you rather we paraded her naked through the streets?” Thyra snapped. “If we find something we can improvise on the way, we take it. If not, we hope the night cloaks us.”
The grate came closer and closer until the other boat slammed against the metal. I breathed in, the fresh air was welcoming after so long in the confined space.
And then the gate lit up like a faelight, and the alarm sounded, the keening echoing in the cavern.
Thyra loosed a filthy stream of swear words.
“It’s not so loud that many would hear it. I bet you that alarm goes up to the castle,” Freyia said.
“I’m sure it does. And there are two locks here.” Yrsa examined the grate, unbothered by the alarm. To keep my sanity in place, I took that as a sign she’d done lock picking under extreme pressure. “Geiravor, come work the other. We need a fast getaway.”
The sisters crammed together. On the other side of the metal, the waters from the channel mixed with seawater, the effect providing a swirling halo of light around the area. It would be pretty if it didn’t feel so much like a target.
“These are bleeding difficult,” Geiravor said.
“They’d keep out any lock-picking lowlife,” Yrsa agreed. “Only the best could get in here. And still fewer would survive what they meet.”
Had we come with one less person, we might not have made it. That realization did not make me any less worried about Vale and our friends.
They’re capable, I told myself. What other choice did I have?
“Ah!” Yrsa exclaimed, her hand retracting quickly. “The thing shocked me!”
Geiravor leapt back. “Me too!”
“And now you’ve lost the feel of the lock,” Astril growled. “Get back in there and don’t lose it again. You’ll have to endure.”
“Dammit,” Yrsa groused, even as she gritted her teeth and carried on.
The shocks came faster and harder, and the sisters took each one, their bodies jolting, their faces contorting, but the Riis sisters had the same spines of steel that I’d found in their brothers.
One click sounded, and Geiravor leaned back as the shocks stopped. Her hands trembled from the aftereffects. “Got this one. Are you close?”
“I think so.” Yrsa’s jaw tightened. “Just . . . there!” Her lock clicked too.
Astril took over at the front of the boat and eased the rusted grating open. The sound might have garnered attention if it wasn’t for the alarm echoing through the night.
I braced myself to fight, but when our boat drifted into the harbor, it was to empty water and air. No soldiers. No fae in the area at all.
“They might still come,” Thyra said.
We rowed to the nearby beach. The boats ran aground, and we hopped out, then eased the queen between Thyra and me.
The Riis sisters took the front position, the vampires the rear, and no one looked back as we ran for our lives.
Chapter 38
ISOLDE
Sweat poured down my back as we raced through the streets of Grindavik, and bells—alarms—began to sound.
I stumbled, and a stream of curses flew from my lips as I caught the queen before dropping her. A group of pixies fluttering in a doorway nearby watched us with interest.
“Unbelievable!” Geiravor hissed. “That’s the alarm that tells us to get to our homes. Anyone still on the street in a few minutes’ time will be a target.”
We picked up the pace as Yrsa and Geiravor led us around the harbor. The channel exit had been clear on the other side of the harbor, as far away from the brothel as it could have been while still being near the water.
Within a few more blocks, it became clear how effective the alarm was. The crowds, which had been dense despite the late hour, had halved.
“You seven! The females!” a voice called out.
Seemed pretty unlikely that whoever that person was, they were talking to a different group of seven females.
“Stop right there!” the voice commanded when we kept going. “In the name of House Ithamai, I demand that you stop!”
I located the person shouting. Three faerie soldiers staring right at us from down the street, one pointed, as if his fellows could fail to see our group rushing along the streets. If the size of our group hadn’t raised a red flag, Inga’s attire likely had. Her clothes were dirty, but still of fine quality. Queen’s clothing.
“Turn here!” At Yrsa’s command we pivoted down a street, away from the soldiers. Yrsa sent up a blaze of light that exploded high in the sky. Startled screams rang out, followed by sighs of pleasure and admiration. Yrsa flung another beam of light into the sky, and it transformed into a dragon that opened its mouth in a silent roar just as the trio of soldiers appeared above us. They’d taken wing and caught up easily.
“I said stop!” the same voice bellowed, but we had no intention of doing so.
Scattered on city rooftops waited Vidar, Sayyida, Livia, and the third Riis sister, Sváva. We’d just told them our location, and that we needed help.
Above, fire erupted and shifted into a whip. The flame began to move and slither snake-like through the sky. Sváva was a fire wielder, and the flames she tossed about were as vibrant as they were deadly. A rope of flame snatched one of the three soldiers who had taken to the skies and almost caught up with us. He screamed and disappeared.
But there were two more, and one was gaining. About to attack with his magic. He’d likely strike my sister and me to get three for the price of one.
Swallowing, I made an insane choice and called my shadow magic. The dark power rose and swept out of me, but this time, no tendrils emerged. Instead, a figure with the body of a fae stared back at me with black eyes.
I nearly tripped from the shock. An equally startled Astril swiped a blade at the shadow, but it remained. Unbothered. Simply moving at our speed but doing nothing else.
“It’s like the sword. Waiting for a command,” Thyra hissed. “Give it one.”
Right. I knew that. It had just taken me by surprise that I’d finally succeeded in making a true shadow person.
“Take down the soldiers behind us. And any others that come.” I drew in a breath. “Otherwise keep out of sight and disappear when you feel my glamour break.”
It soared away, and I felt a tether that connected to the shadow stretch and stretch and stretch. Behind us, a scream rang through the street. Thyra let out a breathy whoop.
“No time to celebrate yet.” Geiravor’s words came out fast with her breaths. “And you’d better believe we’re going to want an explanation as to what that thing was, but for now, save your breath and run!”
And we did. We ran as if we were being chased by a pack of direwolves, muscles burning hotter with each step.
It took great control not to look back at the vast threads of fire swooping and looping and slashing and twisting through the sky. There would be no way to determine their origins, and I imagined Sváva’s fire threads snatching soldiers from the sky.
On other rooftops, the Virtoris siblings were supposed to be creating spectacles of their own, hoping to catch the castle guards’ attention. And last of all, Livia flew above. Cloaked in the darkness of the night, the third vampire was tasked with looking out for those who were providing us a distraction. She was the goddess of death to any who might get too close to those on our side.
My arms and back ached from carrying Inga, and a tightness filled my chest as a result of my tether to the shadow form, but my legs never stopped, and my senses remained on high alert as Yrsa wove us through the streets and alleys. We burst onto another street, this one busier. Recognizable. I cast a wild glance about and spotted a Nava-themed brothel I’d found amusing when we’d left Lord Riis’s establishment.
“Ready?” Yrsa asked.
My wings threaded through the tunic, into position. The Riis sisters leapt into the air first, catching the sea wind. Thyra and I followed, and the vampires took up the rear, always watching our backs, ready to drain an enemy dry. A few fae watched us rise through their windows, but when a new blast of fire rose from somewhere behind us, the combination of the alarm and the flames proved effective on more than one score.
Yrsa landed on a rooftop five away from the brothel, and taking more care, we leapt from roof to roof, back where we needed to be.
The trapdoor was open when we arrived, Lord Riis peeking out. Thank the gods Sváva’s fire was keeping most of the winged fae out of the sky. If other fae soared this way, they would not fail to see his red hair glinting in the moonlight.
“Down, Father!” Yrsa hissed. “We need to get the gateway up!”
“What happened to her? What happened to Inga?” he didn’t move.
“We’re not sure,” Geiravor answered. “Perhaps they haven’t been feeding her. She’s weak and was passed out for much of the time.”
Lord Riis swallowed. I could tell it took great self-control for him to turn away from his love. We dropped into the office, and our glamours broke one by one. It was the oddest sensation, especially when paired with the thread of connection with my shadow form. I shuddered, glad to be rid of the shadow form.
Lord Riis shut the trapdoor, swept over, took Inga in his arms. Tears streaked his face.
“Take her to Ramshold,” Yrsa said. “Geiravor, help him.”
The Riis sister eased her father toward the gateway, moving tenderly and slowly. Before she got there, however, the trapdoor lifted again. Vidar dropped inside, followed by Sayyida and Livia. Sváva would not come. She would divert until she could no longer do so.
“Thantrel, Caelo, Qildor, and Vale had to stay behind. Did you see them on the streets?” I asked no one in particular.
“No, but we need to move out.” Sayyida swallowed. “Most fae have gone into their homes and soldiers are swarming the streets. Hundreds of them.”
Knocking came at the office door, and my stomach dropped to my knees. Upon our arrival, Lord Riis had made an appearance downstairs because Yrsa and her sisters had entered the brothel through the front door. A father coming to speak with his daughters bothered no one, but the high lord had made it clear that he was not to be interrupted. Also that no one in the city was to know he was present in Grindavik. No one loyal to him would defy an order like that unless they had to.
Or unless they wanted to warn us.
“Who is it?” Geiravor asked.
“Minthe.”
“I’ll get it.” Yrsa pivoted towards the door, for Lord Riis was still staring at Inga, his face pale, as if in a trance. “Everyone, stay out of sight.”
I squinted. Did the queen look grayer than before, or was that the dim lighting in the office? I didn’t have time to decide before Thyra pulled me out of sight.
Yrsa answered the caller, and Geiravor moved that way too, the pair of them doing their best to block our side of the room from sight. “Yes?”
“Miss Yrsa, I know your father wishes not to be disturbed, or for anyone to know he’s here, but there are soldiers here. From House Ithamai. They want to search the establishment.” She inhaled. “We told them that was inappropriate, and our clients deserve privacy, but they’re insisting. I owe Lord Riis a lot, but I don’t wish to be jailed.”
“Of course not.” Yrsa exhaled long and low. “I will come to speak with them.”
