The Fiend Queen (11 page)

Katya kissed her knuckles. “No offense intended, dearheart. I would take your power over an army of adsnazi.”

Starbride smiled wryly. “Thank you.”

“Perhaps if we put the bed over him?” Hugo said. “And then laid on it?”

It would give them a little more weight. They’d have to be careful how they timed it and not put their weight on Brutal until after his Aspect had begun to emerge. They dragged the bed over his legs sideways, ready to shove it forward and jump on top of it. Ma had taken her necklace out, ready to transform. Hugo did the same.

“Get ready.” Starbride pressed the tiny pyramid to Brutal’s forehead. When she closed her eyes, Katya grabbed the bed frame.

Seconds passed, a minute. Katya didn’t take her eyes off Starbride. She could feel the tension thrumming from her mother, Hugo, and Dawnmother. They leaned forward as if ready to sprint.

Brutal continued to lie still, chest fluttering, color waxy and sallow. Perhaps the pyramid was broken, or the Fiend transfer hadn’t worked.

“Star,” Katya whispered. Brutal twitched, but in reaction to her voice or what Starbride was doing? Starbride didn’t answer. “Brutal?”

His eyes slipped open, sure and even. Katya watched, rapt, as the iris expanded, bleeding into all parts of his eye until they were two pools of blue.

“Now!” Katya yelled.

They shoved the bed forward, stopping just short of the arrow shaft. They tumbled on top, pressing Brutal into the floor. He didn’t flinch, and Katya watched his first transformation from only a foot away. A spike like Katya’s father’s jutted from the middle of his chin, joined by two others just under his cheeks. The horns that sprouted from his brow and continued over his crown were just like Katya’s had been, or so she’d heard.

“Wait,” Katya said as Hugo inched forward.

Brutal’s lips pulled back in a snarl, showing off fangs. Katya’s glance flicked to the arrow. The skin around the shaft inched together. “Hugo, now!”

Hugo grabbed for the arrow shaft as the bed jerked upward. Katya kept hold of the mattress, but her mother went flying. Hugo clutched the bed frame and Dawnmother. Starbride fell backward against the wall.

Katya grabbed for the arrow, but Brutal bucked again. He might have been tied, but that didn’t stop him from thrashing. Katya slid toward his face, and his eyes fixed on her, teeth snapping at nothing. Katya pushed off his chest and back onto the bed.

Ma threw herself across all of them, sending the bed smashing down again. Katya made another grab for the arrow, but Ma’s knee dug into her wound, making her cry out.

Dawnmother scuttled forward, under Ma, and grabbed the arrow. As the bed bucked again, the fletching slid through her fingers, but by the spurt of blood, she’d pulled it out a little.

Starbride pushed off the wall, shaking her head. She darted forward and gave the arrow another yank, but Brutal nipped at her, and she jerked away.

Katya heard one snap and then another. Brutal had broken his bonds. As his large hands grabbed the sides of the bed, Katya lunged forward and grabbed the arrow shaft.

Brutal heaved, and the bed seemed to fly upward, but Katya kept her grip. The arrow ripped from Brutal’s chest with a sickening pop, and then Katya was weightless, sailing through the air in a tangle of limbs and furniture.

The bed
thunked
into the floor, and Katya slid off, banging her knees. She landed on top of everyone, the bloody arrow still in her grasp as the mattress fell on top of them.

Katya struggled to get up, but the bed flew to the side as if under its own power. Brutal stood over them, flexing his long claws. Katya fell back and kicked him, but her ankle threatened to buckle against his hardened skin. Brutal bent down for her. She shoved her feet against his chest. The arrow hole inched closed, the bleeding only a trickle of frozen droplets. The pile of people squirmed and cried out underneath Katya, and Brutal ignored her force as if she wasn’t even there.

He jerked upright, eyes wide.

“Hold him!” Starbride cried.

Katya barked a laugh. She’d sooner push the palace five feet to the north. Still, she threw the arrow away and lunged, wrapped her arms and legs around Brutal, and held on. The others piled on him, looking for all the world like children climbing a tree. When Brutal turned in Starbride’s direction, Katya lost her grip, certain she’d hindered him much as a fly did a bull moose.

But a fly could still bite. Katya yanked on his legs. Starbride had stabbed him with a pyramid as she’d once stabbed Katya, the blood contact making it easier for the magic to take effect. Katya punched Brutal in the knee, his frozen bone making her knuckles ache.

Brutal kicked, and Katya skidded across the floor. Ma climbed across Brutal’s shoulders while Hugo and Dawnmother tried to pin his arms behind his back. He reached up, letting them dangle, but before he could reach Ma, Katya barreled into him.

He staggered a step under Katya’s onslaught, so she backed up and rammed him again.

“Almost there!” Starbride cried.

Katya felt wetness trickle down her back and knew she’d bled through her bandages. Still, she slammed Brutal again. They’d come so close to losing him; she couldn’t stop now. “Come on, Brutal!”

His head turned as she began another run, his eyes fading to normal and falling closed. She hit him hard, and he toppled, taking everyone with him.

Katya lay on his legs and gasped. Everyone followed suit amidst the remains of the furniture. Katya heard the clatter of wood shifting and glanced up to see Hugo peeking at Brutal’s chest. “He’s healed.”

They all sighed so loudly it was like a shout. Katya couldn’t help a chuckle, and as the adrenaline abandoned her, it turned into a guffaw until gales of laughter shook her. They all cackled like mad idiots who’d just turned their friend into a Fiend.

Soft hands pulled Katya to her feet, and she wrapped her arms around Starbride.

“You make a lovely battering ram,” Starbride said.

“And you’re my hero.” Katya kissed her long and deep, as she’d wanted to every moment since they’d laid eyes on each other again. “Will he be all right?”

“Should be. The pyramid wound I gave him won’t have healed, but it’s far more manageable than a hole through his chest.”

“We’re lucky his Fiend didn’t know what it was doing,” Hugo said.

“Very lucky.” Katya recalled how clumsy Hilda and Darren had been the first few times they’d transformed. Even without control, the Fiend had to get used to its new body. Katya pressed a kiss against Starbride’s forehead. “He would have killed us without you.”

Hugo snorted. “He would have died in the first place without her.”

“Afraid I’m not giving my love enough credit, Hugo?” Katya asked.

He stammered, wide-eyed, but Starbride waved his protests away. “She’s only teasing, Hugo.”

When he looked to Katya, she nodded, granting him a reprieve. She wanted to stay in that room forever, to keep the giddy mood.

*

Brutal awoke before the others returned. His eyes snapped open, and he bolted upright so fast, they all scrambled back. “Maia?”

“Here.” She knelt, and they gazed at each other for a few seconds. What had passed between them seemed too large for words.

When he stood, he clasped both of Katya’s arms. “See,” he said, “I told you you’d come back for me.”

“I’m glad you didn’t have any doubts.” Averie’s face drifted past her mind’s eye, and she had to swallow. “Brutal, I’m so happy.”

He ducked close to her ear. “I understand now, about the Fiend.”

“How? You can’t remember. No one can unless they’re joined with their Fiend!”

“It’s just something that I feel, some enlightenment I received. I feel like I understand you more.”

Katya breathed a laugh and had to chalk that up to the unknowable, at least by someone who’d never set foot on Best’s and Berth’s path. “And I learned that trying to knock you down is like trying to fell a tree.”

He moved to shake Hugo’s hand, and he bowed low to Ma, who gave him a gracious nod. Dawnmother waved away his thanks and hugged him, Starbride joining her.

“We’re so glad you’re all right,” Starbride said as he wrapped his arms around both of them.

After the greetings were done, they stood in a silence that managed to be comfortable and strained, companions reunited yet still with hard tasks in front of them.

“Should we go looking for the others?” Maia asked.

“Best to stay put,” Katya said. “We might miss them.”

Brutal rubbed his hands together. “Any wounds need looking at?” He pointed at Katya. “I seem to remember you being stabbed in the back, and I see a new cut on your arm.”

At the mere mention, her back started to throb. “The arm’s not bad, but I think my back is bleeding again.” Ma had taken Brutal’s medical bag when they’d left him, and now she happily returned it. Katya grimaced as she saw the needle and thread come out. “Can’t we just bandage it?”

“Not if it’s going to keep reopening.” When she didn’t move, he gave her an uncompromising look. “Do I have to sit on you?”

She glared at him. “And there I was happy that you’re well.”

She shrugged out of her coat and lay face down on the mattress after the others had cleared it from the debris. Brutal lifted her shirt, undid her bandages, and clucked his tongue. “I wish we had some of the count’s brandy, but water will have to do.”

He sluiced some over her wound, and Katya cursed. Starbride sat at the head of the mattress and held her hands. Katya grunted and gnashed her teeth as the needle tore little holes in her flesh and dragged the thread through. Starbride smoothed her hair from her face, whispering loving words in her ear until Katya didn’t know if she squirmed from the pain or the delights that Starbride promised.

When the others returned, Brutal saw to their wounds, Scarra hovering over his shoulder as he talked her through what he did. All the while, Redtrue glared and looked him up and down as if trying to determine what had been done to him.

Freddie remained in the hall, talking to Hugo. When Brutal took a final look around, he said, “I guess Pennynail’s all right then. Skulking around?”

“Not exactly.” Katya quickly told him of Pennynail’s real identity. He’d had enough surprises for the day.

When she waved Freddie inside, Brutal said, “I know you.”

Freddie smirked. “I get that a lot.”

“No, not from the Butcher stories.” Brutal’s eyes narrowed. “We’ve met. In a tavern?”

Starbride burst out laughing. “The night we went out to see what the townsfolk thought of Appleton’s murder, in your promised den of ill repute that was nothing of the sort, Freddie.”

Freddie’s grin made Katya think of the laughing Jack mask, even without the paint. “You thought I was giving Starbride some trouble, Brutal. You came after me in the crowd.”

“But I got distracted by that other man.” He pointed at Freddie’s lean frame. “You’re lucky, friend. I would have torn you in half.”

“You would have
tried
.”

Dawnmother tsked. “You said the same thing, boastful, right after we left the tavern.”

“Knows when he’s beaten,” Brutal said. “A good frame of mind for a fighter, though being beaten teaches us just as much about the universe as winning, brother.”

“The universe and I know as much of each other as we’d like, brother.” Freddie opened his arms slightly, and Brutal moved in, lifting Freddie clear off the floor as they embraced.

Some of the tension left Katya’s shoulders. Brutal had sparred with Pennynail, and to a member of the strength chapterhouse, that meant they knew one another. A handy trick if one could only believe in it.

Starbride

While Katya asked Castelle and Freddie about the last pyramid they’d taken care of, Starbride took the time to sit. Yes, they still had work to do. Yes, Roland was still out there. But that morning they’d started a war, and that afternoon it was still raging, and they were wounded and tired. Pain had crept up Starbride’s shoulders and to her head, recalling the headache that had plagued her earlier, though this pain was only a shadow.

Starbride pulled the bit of cheese and bread Dawnmother had given her from her satchel. She hadn’t been hungry before Brutal, but ravenousness rolled over her as quickly as fatigue, and she had to force herself not to take huge bites.

In one corner, Brutal and Maia sat together, eating and sipping from their water skins. They didn’t speak, but it seemed they didn’t need to. She laid her head on his shoulder as she ate, and when Scarra and Hugo sat cross-legged in front of them, they both smiled. Dawnmother wandered over, touched Maia’s shoulder, and whispered something in her ear.

Queen Catirin sat by herself, eyes closed, resting against the wall. Starbride thought she had the right idea: rest while they could. Still, Starbride didn’t think she could sleep if she had a featherbed. Maybe if Roland were dead. And if Katya climbed in with her.

The fantasy faded as Redtrue settled next to her. “You know what I’m going to say,” Redtrue said in Allusian.

“You want to know what I did or how or why.”

“I don’t care how or why. As for what, I have an idea. My question is, how could you let these people corrupt you so?”

“I happen to be in love with one of ‘these people,’ and I’m friends with a great deal more. I’m helping them fight a Fiendish madman.”

“Fighting Fiends with Fiends.” Redtrue sneered. “Those are words from Katya’s mouth.”

“I speak with my own voice.”

“You should have come to the adsnazi.”

Starbride fought not to squeeze her bread into crumbs. “The adsnazi never bothered to look for me. How many potentials have they missed?”

“We do not force ourselves on anyone.”

“And what if a person would like to learn but just doesn’t know she can?”

“Those who truly desire to learn the ways of the adsna always find us.”

Starbride took a deep breath, determined not to get into an argument about her own feelings. But what was it that drew some to the adsnazi and not others? Was it more than just the call of power? From what Crowe had told her, she wasn’t weak when it came to pyramid magic. He’d claimed she was as strong as him in some areas, just lacking in practice. Did only the exceptionally strong gravitate toward the adsnazi, and those with lesser gifts never felt the need?