Give the Devil His Due (The Sanheim Chronicles, Book Three) (32 page)

Seemingly oblivious to the figure making his way slowly through the rubble, Carman and the Headless Horseman fought furiously. To Kieran, it looked like a bizarre, overly violent dance at times. The Horseman swung his sword with his right arm, Carman blocked with her spear and then tried to strike at the Horseman, who dodged out of the way.

Kieran thought the Horseman was moving slower than normal, an impression that was confirmed a moment later when he abruptly surged forward, swinging his sword and, when blocked, suddenly moving in to hit Carman with a blow from his left arm.

He was testing her,
Kieran thought.
He was purposely trying to assess her strengths and weaknesses.

The tactic worked. The blow caught Carman unprepared, connecting with her face. If it had been him that the Horseman hit, Kieran was sure the blow would have killed him. But Carman seemed to absorb it as if her head were made of stone. She even smiled a little.

It’s a trap,
Kieran thought.

He wanted to shout out loud, but it was already too late. Kieran watched as Carman rammed her spear into the Horseman’s shoulder. The Horseman reeled back with the spear sticking out of him. Carman came after him, punching and kicking.

To Kieran’s surprise, the Horseman didn’t go down. Instead, he continued dodging, while absorbing some blows. The former cavalry officer calmly switched his sword to his left hand and then started laughing. The laughter seemed to echo throughout the apartment, and Kieran wanted to cover his ears. He concentrated on crawling to the far side of the room without getting caught in the crossfire. He was only a few feet away.

The Horseman moved forward, still with Carman’s spear sticking out of his shoulder. He attacked one-handed, but now Carman had nothing to defend herself with. She ducked out of the way of several attacks, before the Horseman’s sword came down in a sweeping arc intended to cut her in half.

Kieran initially thought Kate had won. The blow was well-aimed, and Carman couldn’t dance out of the way fast enough.

Instead, Carman raised her arm and caught the sword edge on her wide, gold bracelet. To Kieran’s shock — and the Horseman’s too evidently — the bracelet blocked the sword in its tracks.

That’s impossible,
he thought.

The two figures were locked together for a moment, the Horseman trying to force the sword down and Carman defying him with just a bare arm and a bracelet. Carman lunged toward the Horseman and ripped her spear out of his shoulder.

Carried forward by the unexpected move, the Horseman had just regained his balance when the next blow came. Carman jammed her spear right through the Horseman’s chest, then put one foot against his torso and jerked it back out again. As the Horseman staggered back, Carman swung with her right arm, a blow that caught the phantom off guard and sent him sprawling across the apartment.

Kieran saw his chance. He didn’t have time to wonder if it would work. He only knew if he didn’t do something soon, they were all going to die. He stood up, grabbed the shield and turned back to watch Carman advancing on the Horseman, who was still prostrate on the ground.

“Hey, wicked witch of the east,” Kieran said, keeping the shield low out of her line of sight. “Did you leave your broomstick at home?”

“I forgot about you,” Carman said, and that eerie smile danced on her lips again. She raised her spear, pointed it at Kieran, and muttered words under her breath.

“Now die,” she said.

A huge, bright green bolt erupted toward him, and Kieran brought up the shield. Her spell didn’t even scratch the shield, instead bouncing right off it and hitting Carman directly in the chest. Kieran saw the air in front of her ripple. Whatever invisible shield she had around her was burnt away in an instant and the green ball of flame kept coming toward her. Carman was knocked back through the wall and half-way across the parking lot outside, making a crater when she hit the asphalt.

“You first,” Kieran said.

Kieran looked through the massive hole in Tim’s apartment wall.

“I don’t think you’re getting your security deposit back,” Kieran said.

The parking lot lights created a glare, but Kieran could just see Carman as she crawled out of the crater and stared up at him. Her golden robes were charred and smoking, but she looked relatively intact.
At least she isn’t smiling anymore
, Kieran thought.

As Carman watched, the Horseman rose up behind Kieran and stood beside him. Whatever damage the witch had done appeared to be fixed. The Horseman seemed as strong as ever. Kieran smiled at him and handed him the shield.

“Here you go, big guy,” he said. “You can put this to better use than I can.”

The Horseman stood there with his shield and sword in hand, ready to face Carman.

But the witch leapt into the air and started flying away.

“Hell yeah!” Kieran screamed after her. “We came, we saw, we kicked your ass!”

Carman was a speck in the sky and then she was gone. The Horseman turned briefly toward Kieran and seemed to nod in his direction. It reminded Kieran of last year when the Horseman greeted Sanheim — just before Kieran put a knife through his heart.

Seconds later, the Horseman was gone in a flash of light and Kate appeared. She immediately fell to the floor and Kieran rushed to catch her.

“Are you okay?” he asked, holding her up.

“Just drained,” she said. “I raced all the way from Chancellorsville. And then those spears…”

“I saw,” Kieran said. “But when you stood up there just now, I thought you looked ready to rumble.”

“That was the idea,” Kate said.

“I guess it worked,” Kieran replied.

“We both know she’ll be back,” Kate said. “We need to get moving.”

Outside, they could hear sirens. Kieran wondered what the hell had taken them so long. He helped Kate walk over to where Tim lay against the wall. She turned him over.

“He… he doesn’t look so good,” Kieran said.

Tim looked bruised and battered, but that wasn’t the worst of it. His shoulder, where the spear had gone through, was ripped open and bleeding. The outer edges of the wound were black, as if some kind of fungus was growing there.

Kate took the shield and lay it against the wound. Kieran watched as the black started to slowly recede. After a moment, Kate removed the shield and the black was all gone.

“He should be okay,” Kate said. “At least the magic has been destroyed.”

“We can’t take him with us,” Kieran said. “We need to get moving and soon.”

Kate looked at Tim and touched his face.

“The police will be here in a moment,” she said. “They’ll make sure he gets to a hospital.”

“Speaking of which…” Kieran said.

The sirens were nearby. Kate stood up.

“Get the other sword,” she said.

Kieran went to comply, going into Tim’s room to pick up the silver-infused sword. He grabbed it and ran back into the remains of the living room. Kate was holding the shield and staring out the hole in the wall, where police were now gathering. Kieran wouldn’t be surprised if a SWAT team showed up.

Before Kate turned around, Kieran looked quickly through the rubble. Still keeping an eye on her, he picked up the knife, which had fallen to the ground in all the fracas. He grabbed his jacket from the floor, shook it off, and stuck the knife inside.

“You have a plan to get us out?” Kieran asked.

“Through the front door,” Kate replied.

“You sure you have enough energy left for that?” he asked.

“We’ll see,” she answered.

Kieran watched as Kate cast one more look in Tim’s direction and then faded from view. In a moment, the Headless Horseman stood in her place. Just as suddenly, a horse appeared out of thin air.

The Horseman mounted up and waited for Kieran to follow suit. He climbed on, holding the sword to his side and the knife in his pocket.

The Headless Horseman burst out the door, down the steps, and before police could do much more than shout, galloped away into the early morning darkness.

Chapter 26

Quinn slipped out of the cave, careful not to wake the others.

They had traveled for a day under the mountain, with Parker and Janus taking turns guiding the way. Quinn still didn’t understand how Janus knew where to go, but he had almost come to take it for granted. Parker, on the other hand, had clearly been living and hiding in these tunnels since the Spider’s death, possibly for centuries.

Quinn didn’t even know how long he had been in the Land of the Dead. By his own clock, it was only a couple of weeks, which had flown by. But Carol seemed to think that the mortal world, or home, moved at its own pace. Usually it raced by the underworld, only slowing during the mortal month of October. It dawned on Quinn that it could already be nearly a year since he died.

Quinn wondered how Kate was doing. Not a moment went by when he didn’t think of her. Mostly, he just worried. Carol was so sure Kate was coming for him, and Quinn knew that if she discovered a way to get him out, she would literally move heaven and earth to accomplish that goal. But was she getting any help? Was she alone, scared, struggling?

If this crazy plan worked, if somehow he and Kate found each other again, what shape would she be in?

It doesn’t matter,
Quinn thought.
Once we’re together, nothing else matters.

As tempting as that was to think, Quinn didn’t really believe it. Parker had said “everything” depended on Quinn.

He stared out of the mountain tunnel across another field of red grass and strange, twisted trees. Beyond them, in the distance, he could see Dun Cumhacht, the Fort of the Ancients. It stood out black against the purple sky, a ring of stones piled high on top of each other. Crowley was supposedly being held there. Quinn didn’t know what else was there or how reliable Carol’s information was, but he was anxious to reach it.

When Quinn first spotted it, he wanted to set out immediately, until Buzz finally convinced him it would be better to rest first. But Quinn got only a few hours of sleep before he woke up, worried about Kate and the mission ahead of them. Hopefully the others would have an easier time.

As if on cue, he heard a scraping sound behind him and saw Janus walk out.

“Couldn’t sleep?” Quinn asked him.

Janus stared at the fort in the distance. It was close, so close it physically pained Quinn. They needed to get moving, and soon. He felt sure they were running out of time. He had the sense that Halloween was close in the mortal world, and that felt important.

Janus nodded.

“You?”

“Worried about Kate,” Quinn said. “Wondering how she’s doing. Sometimes I think I’m the lucky one.”

“The lucky one?” Janus asked. “You died, mate. What part of that is lucky?”

“It’s the survivors who take it the hardest,” Quinn said. “I learned that when you died. Right after your death, I spent most of the time just trying to survive. But once all that was over, your absence was like a hole in my life. I missed you, man. Every day.”

Janus smiled at him.

“Are we supposed to hug now?” he asked.

“I’m serious,” Quinn said. “It was painful. It’s only now that I remember how annoying you can be.”

“Hey,” Janus laughed and hit him lightly in the arm.

They were quiet for a moment.

“I visited you in that dream last year, remember?” Janus asked. “I came back a little.”

Quinn recalled it very well. He and Kate were being chased through a castle by ominous hordes. Janus was there, helping them.

“I tried to warn you about Kieran,” Janus said. “Sanheim only let me say certain things, and he was very particular with the information he provided. But I knew he had an inside man. I didn’t know his name, but I picked up enough clues. I knew I couldn’t tell you immediately or he’d yank me out of there. But I thought if I shouted it at the end…”

“I heard you,” Quinn said. “But I didn’t know what it meant. Not until it was too late.”

“And now we’re both here,” Janus said. “The good news is you don’t have to miss me anymore. The bad news is you miss Kate. Death’s a bitch.”

“You know what’s funny?” Quinn asked. “To the degree I thought about it at all, I always thought the afterlife was a carefree place. I read those stories about Crowley and the Spider invading the ‘Land of the Dead,’ and I never once wondered what it would be like to go there. If we had beaten Sawyer and Elyssa, and Sanheim had let me live, I would have been one of those Princes who sat on his ass. I don’t see why you’d want this place.”

“Power, mate,” Janus said. “It’s always about power.”

“Not for me. All I wanted was to stop Lord Halloween and be with Kate. The rest of it was forced on me.”

“Ironically, that probably makes you the perfect person to wield power,” Janus said. “You don’t want it. You’re a reporter.”

“What’s that have to do with it?”

“Oh, come on,” Janus said. “Reporters despise authority. They bristle when they’re told what to do. They’re the ones asking questions of authority, always second-guessing it. We’re a cynical lot. If you were put in charge, you’re so conflicted you’d probably end up leading a revolution against yourself. But better you than a tyrannical nut like Sanheim.”