Faerie Magic (29 page)

Kicking another undead aside, I joined Vance, who’d cleared a path to the gate. Without a necromancer to bind the undead, all we could do was take them apart. Vance seemed more hesitant to attack them than he had the last time we’d fought the undead, but when a disembodied arm tried to rip out my throat, he waved a hand and made half a dozen body parts disappear at once.

“Where in hell did they even come from?” I asked. “How many people died here?”

Vance looked at me, oddly pale. “This territory once belonged to the mages. Before the invasion.”

Mages. Oh shit. Did he know some of these people? They were hardly recognisable as human now.

“This territory was lost first,” he said. “The Mage Lords at the time never found all the bodies.”

I faltered, my blade buried in an undead’s skull.

“Their spirits aren’t here,” he added tightly, making several other body parts vanish. We stood in a circle of flopping limbs. “The necromancers, however, need to seal off their territory.”

“Before town becomes Zombie Central.” I groaned. “Drugged half-faeries
and
dead people. Now all we need is—”

A strangled yell came from behind us. My heart dropped, and I turned around.

The half-faerie Chief struggled in the grip of one of those shadowy faeries who’d attacked us earlier. Death stealers—they’d doubtlessly been feeding on the rotting corpses. Its grasping tentacle-like appendages reached out, lifting the Chief into the air. Fury surged, and I called the faerie magic.

Blue light flared from my non-weapon hand. I threw a handful at the creature’s tentacle but missed and hit another. The beast seemed completely unaffected, its grip tightening on the Chief’s throat.

“Let him go, you bastard.” God
dammit.
The half-faerie Chief was fighting hard, blasts of Summer magic flaring from his palms, but only seemed to enrage the shadows more. With a lashing motion, the tentacle flung the Chief against the nearest wall. He didn’t get up.

Shit.

I marched towards the beast, my own magic responding. If the veil really was thinning, I ought to get a power boost, too. And it’d be bloody welcome right now. I didn’t
like
the Chief, but he was the only person who could say the Invocation and stop Calder’s magic from ripping open the veil.

My sword swiped, severing a tentacle before it grabbed my foot. The mass of shadows resembled a giant octopus with a few hundred extra appendages. Behind me, Vance cut the end of one tentacle off, but another took its place. We needed to stab it in the heart to kill it.

Swiping and stabbing, I advanced on the shadowy creature. I let go of the sword with one hand and used the other to throw a handful of magic at its face. Blue light flared, engulfing the creature’s huge, shadowy body. The light dimmed, and the shadow-octopus pulled itself up to its full height and spat at me.

I jumped, but the slimy substance landed in front of me, and
moved.
Another tentacle lashed at my foot, forcing me to step back, and the slime latched onto my ankles.

Immediately, the slime expanded to cover my legs, locking them together, and swiftly climbed higher. A tentacle went for my throat, latching around me and squeezing until my vision turned blue around the edges.
Vance where are you?
Maybe he was tied up, too. Literally.

I nearly died once already. It won’t happen again.

Rage flooded me, and my magic responded even as the sword clattered from my hand. My body had turned numb where the slime touched it. My hands, however, were still free.

Magic flared out from my palms, this time forming a weapon. I sliced upwards, severing the tentacle, then pulled the magic back into myself, pushing it at the slimy cage holding my legs.

The slime exploded outwards, freeing my legs. I stumbled forward but caught myself immediately, propelled by the quick speed my magic gave me. Grabbing my sword again, I sent another wave of magic at the creature. An icy breeze cut through the air, driving the death stealer into the wall at the house’s side.
Vance.
He’d managed to free himself, slashing and cutting at every tentacle that came near him.

As for me, I launched myself at the injured death stealer. I moved too fast for the tentacles to catch me, letting every particle of pain and rage flow through the blue light spilling from my palms.

I landed, tackling the creature around the middle. The combination of speed, magic and momentum sent it flailing, shrinking until it was hardly bigger than a human. Pain radiated from the death stealer in the form of blue waves, flowing to—me.

Like Calder.

Blue light burst across my vision, and I swiftly jumped out of range.

The tentacles vanished as the faerie shrank back into its true form, small and withered. Dead.

“It didn’t have much life left in it,” I said to Vance. “That’s what feeding on death does… crap.”

Vance had moved to the Chief. The buzz of using magic swiftly faded. He was either dead or unconscious. Whichever it was, we were fucked.

“Shit.” I walked over to him. “He’s not…”

“He has a pulse,” said Vance, his tone frighteningly calm. “But from the way he hit his head, he won’t be waking up.”

I swore again, yelling my most inventive curses to the sky. “Well. That’s it.” I stepped back, breathless and shaking. “We’re done.”

No,
a voice whispered in my ear.
We’re not.

The parchment remained in the half-faerie Chief’s hand, gleaming with unreadable runes. The only way to stop Calder’s magic. We were all trapped in the town, behind the summoning circle he’d created. If we didn’t find a way out…

“The Invocation,” I said slowly. “What’s the condition? Does the person who speaks it need to have a Sidhe lord’s blood… or magic?”

I picked up the yellowed, gleaming paper. The other half-Sidhe were no doubt under the control of the drug, and besides, I wouldn’t put a spell like this into the hands of anyone else. That left one option.

Faerie magic or not, using a spell meant for the Sidhe might kill me. But I
had
a Sidhe lord’s magic. Surely that meant I could speak the words.

“I don’t know,” said Vance. “I’ve never heard of a human with Sidhe magic before. The other Sidhe lords’ children, if they exist, are trapped in half-blood territory.”

“And they’ll be under the influence of the drug. Like everyone else.” My voice sounded distant, and almost as calm as Vance’s. “I’ll do it.”

“Are you sure?” His gaze was steady, though the tempest still brewed in his eyes.

“I have the magic of a Sidhe lord,” I said. “Magic should matter more than blood. Right?”

The words on the page flared up at my touch. I stared, my vision blurring. I could
read
the text, and I if I opened my mouth, I’d be able to pronounce the words. The magic—Avakis’s magic—would take over.

Power thrummed through my hands, which shook on the paper. No human had ever spoken an Invocation. Vance wouldn’t be so calm if he realised it might kill me. But he’d never seen my magic in action before—not to its full extent.

God. I’m sorry, Vance.

“The Invocation needs to take place on the Ley Line,” said Vance. “Ideally, at a point where the line and the summoning circle cross.”

“It’ll seal his magic,” I said. “I’ll need to kill him first.”

“If his magic is gone, anybody will be able to kill him,” said Vance. “But I’ll leave the honour to you.”

My throat clogged with emotion. I threw my shaking arms around him, clutching the Invocation that might mean my death. His grip tightened on me, a breeze kicking up. The salty taste of my own tears lingered on my tongue when I kissed him, wishing I could tell him how sorry I was. Wishing I could take back the time we’d wasted.

There was never going to be enough time.

I wiped my eyes one-handedly and forced a smile. “I’ll kill the bastard. Let’s go.”

Vance nodded, and we disappeared, leaving the old building and the dead faeries behind.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

We landed outside a row of terraced houses, all of which looked empty.

“Not here,” said Vance.

I barely had chance to recover before he’d swept us off again. This time, we landed in a field.

“What’re you looking for?” I asked.

“He’ll be using a key point as the summoning circle’s edge,” said Vance. “That’s where the Invocation will need to be spoken.”

A fresh wave of emotion rose in my throat—
if this works, it might kill me—
and yet I couldn’t form it into words. I just nodded, and took his hand again, squeezing it hard.

The third time we landed—on a hill—I knew we’d got the right place. Magic responded to my presence by lighting me up like a torch, bathing everything in blinding blue light. I blinked, and my vision adjusted sharply like all my senses were thrown into focus. I felt lighter on my feet, less tired, more acutely tuned into movements around me.

Like last time I’d been in Faerie, when I’d been buzzing all over with victory.
We’re not too late. We can’t be too late.
For our world to feel like this meant the veil must be splitting at the seams, and Faerie was spilling over into our world. The air hissed with magical energy—beyond Summer and Winter, but something dark and primal.

Vance hissed in a breath, his sword in hand. “This magic—it’s not of our world. This is where we need to be.”

“You can see it. Guess it means this is the place.” Where was Calder? I needed to kill him, or Vance did, if I didn’t make it. I held up the parchment, hands shaking so hard I could hardly hold it steady. The words were written in the faeries’ rune language. Unfamiliar to me… at least at first.

Magic swirled down my arms to my hands, transferring over to the parchment. Shimmering lines darted across the page, and a surge of power rattled through my bones.

A yell came from Vance, and the world tipped over sideways.

Icy energy blasted the parchment from my hands. I flew into the air, mouth open in a silent scream. I caught myself as I fell, feet skidding on the grass. Vance ran to me, catching the parchment, but a blast of magic sent him flying back.

Calder stalked towards us, murder in his eyes and a handful of icy magic in his palm. I raised my sword, putting myself between him and Vance.

Not a moment too soon. Calder hurled the magic at me, which glanced off my shield. It took hardly any effort to turn the shield into a weapon and retaliate. The blood in my veins sung with pleasure, reacting to the magic around us.

An angry snarl drew my attention. Vance lay pinned to the ground by a shimmering wave of blue light. He fought against it, beating at the spell with his now clawed hands, but even his partially shifted form couldn’t break the spell. At once, the buzzing sensation in my veins dulled to shock and anger.
It’s not right. None of this is right.

Another surge of magic went through the air, and the sound of clashing swords filled my ears. Just downhill, half-faeries clashed with humans—mages?—in a frenzy. Damn. Looked like Vance’s patrolling mages had run into an ambush.

“You’ll pay for making a fool out of me,” shouted Calder. “Both of you.”

Either he didn’t see the parchment in Vance’s hand or he didn’t know what it was.
I have to stall him.
At least until Vance broke free of his spell.

“Not if I kill you first,” I said, and sprang at him.

I struck solid air and fell back, wincing. The air shimmered in front of Calder. A magic shield—one that repelled
me
, as well as magic. Damn.

I raised my hands and called my own magic into me, ready to shape it into a weapon, but it faded as soon as it appeared, flooding over to Calder. He bared his teeth, hands held high, pulling my magic into him.

I pulled back, riding the tide of fury.
That’s mine.

The Grey Vale itself fuelled my power.

Calder’s face twisted in anger and he threw another blast of magic at me. I ducked easily, my veins humming.
Nice try.
I countered with an attack of my own, but it rippled off his shield.

“You’re too late,” he yelled over the melee—the ongoing battle between the half-faeries and the mages had moved closer while we fought. They didn’t even seem to be aware of us. Only the magical force-field surrounding Calder kept them from intruding on our fight. “The veil is opening, and the transition is almost complete.”

“Congratulations on destroying the world,” I shot at him. I risked a look at Vance, who’d managed to get to his feet. Calder’s magic held him pinned in position, right next to the warring half-faeries. Blasts of magic shot in all directions, bouncing off Calder’s shield. The mages were outnumbered, though, and no amount of blood would satiate the half-faeries.