The Nightmare Charade (40 page)

 

29

The Fallen

My eyes slid closed, and I waited for the blow to fall.

It never came.

A strange thumping sound filled the air—no it
beat
the air.

I opened my eyes, my heart climbing into my throat, hope filling my lungs. A second later, I spotted her. Somehow, someway, Selene had found her way here. She soared through the air, her black wings like rallying banners. She wasn't alone. Impossibly, Corvus was dangling from her arms. The weight of him dragged her down, each vertical inch a struggle, but it didn't matter. As soon as they cleared the Great Ouroboros, she let go. Corvus hit the ground, rolled, then sprang to his feet with the agility and grace of a much younger man. He let fly with a spell, aiming low.

The magic struck the ground a few feet from Marrow. The rock floor exploded, pieces spraying up like shrapnel. Marrow and Deverell both dove for cover, while I rolled around, trying to protect my face and head.

“
Ou-agra,
” a voice spoke from behind me. A second later, I felt the silver ropes around my limbs falling away. Gaping, I looked toward Eli. He was leaned toward me with Bellanax pointed like a wand. I lurched to my feet and raced over to him.

“Eli, you shouldn't—”

He silenced me with a hard, fierce look, one that belied the weakness I sensed in him. Blood still flowed from the wound in his chest.

“Fight,” he said. “Stop them.”

It took all my will to turn away from him. But he was right. The odds had tipped, and there might still be time to save Eli. Real life wasn't like the movies. Death wasn't always so quick, but sometimes a slow, creeping thing like a snake stalking its prey through tall grass.
Hurry, hurry, hurry,
the need pulsed through me, adrenaline sharpening my focus and reflexes.

Corvus was taking on Marrow and Deverell at once, lobbying spells and countering them. His skill made the best of the gladiator team look like beginners. I cast the unbinding spell at my mother, freeing her from the silver robes.

“Help, Eli,” I told her. Then I joined Corvus in the attack.

Overhead, Selene was busy with the black phoenix. The moment the bird had spotted a moving target it had zeroed in on her. Now they were engaged in a kind of aerial war dance. They dove and soared, spun and twirled—the phoenix chasing while Selene aimed spells at it over her shoulder.

With Marrow protected by the Borromean ring, the best Corvus and I could do was keep him and Deverell too preoccupied to escape. Marrow spent as much time protecting Deverell as he did attacking us. We were lucky that Marrow seemed to be at half strength. As it was, we could barely match him.

But the scales tipped once again as Selene dove toward us, heading for Marrow. She was covered in dirt and blood, her wings ripped in places, but she flew straight and fast, more missile than girl. Marrow only had time to duck, but Selene caught him easily, one hand taking hold of his long beard and the other his arm. Then using the momentum of her dive, she hoisted him up, flew a few dozen feet, and hurled him at the wall.

He hit it back first, skull whacking against the stone. He dropped to the ground and lay there, motionless. The black phoenix screamed outrage and went after Selene with renewed fervor. She tried to stay ahead of it, but she was tiring and the attack on Marrow had slowed her down. When the black phoenix reached her, it sank its talons into her left wing and yanked, shredding feather and cartilage both. The phoenix didn't let go until it had torn all the way down the length of the wing. Selene tried to stay in the air, but her injured wing failed. She began to fall in quick, awkward spirals, half-gliding with her uninjured wing.

“Selene!” I reached out to her with my mind-magic. I couldn't stop her falling; I wasn't strong enough for that, but I helped steady her descent. She landed on her feet hard then tumbled forward. Her wings were stretched out behind her, one black and whole, the other a bloody ruin.

The black phoenix wasn't satisfied. Already it was swooping down for another pass at her. Leaving Corvus to deal with Deverell, I raced over to Selene, arm extended over my head as I let off a barrage of spells at the bird. Despite its massive size, it was impossible to hit, but I was able to keep it from getting close enough to strike again. It helped that Selene had fallen near the wall, giving us partial cover.

“Are you okay?” I asked, when I reached Selene. She was slowly struggling to her feet.

“I will be,” she replied, although I could hear agony in her voice. But the pain didn't keep her from shooting a dazing spell at the black phoenix circling above us. In seconds she had things under control enough that I could turn my attention back to the fight between Corvus and Deverell. Marrow was still lying next to the wall, unconscious it seemed.

“So you finally found me,” Deverell said, flashing a malicious grin at Corvus. “Took you long enough.”

“It was easy,” Corvus replied. “Once you entered my house and stole my ring.
Fligere!
”

The spell soared to Deverell, but he blocked it. “How did you find your way down here though? That was impressive, even from you.
Ceno-crani!
”

Corvus parried the magic with a casual flick of his arm. “I put a tracer spell on my safe. Although I never believed you would be stupid enough to fall for it.”

Deverell's expression darkened, and he cast another curse at Corvus, anger threading his voice.

I turned back to Selene. “You got this?”

She nodded, biting her lip as she concentrated on the black phoenix. Wishing her good luck, I darted across the circle, meaning to run behind Deverell to get to Marrow. If Selene had been able to pick him up that way, then maybe the Borromean ring didn't protect him from a close, direct physical attack. If I could get the ring from him, we might succeed.

The moment I drew near, Deverell launched a spell at me. “
Fligere!
”

“
Alexo.
” My shield spell went up just as Deverell's jab spell crashed into it. The shield shattered on impact, but it still deflected Deverell's spell, shooting it right back at him. He saw it too late, and the magic glanced his shoulder, knocking him backward a step.

It was the opening Corvus had been waiting for. With hatred burning in his eyes, he ran forward, seized Deverell by the throat, and hoisted the shape-changer into the air with brute strength. Deverell grabbed Corvus's wrists and tried to pull him off, but Corvus was bigger and his rage lent him power.

Abruptly, Deverell stopped struggling. His face began to blur as he shifted his shape. Lean, wiry Deverell disappeared, replaced by a hulking, mountain of a man I'd never seen before. Corvus wasn't strong enough to hold up this new form, and a second later the shape-changer broke free. He let out a booming, gleeful laugh and threw a punch. The meaty fist connected with Corvus's jaw. The older man's head snapped sideways, and he stumbled, nearly falling from the blow.

“
Frangere!
” I said. The breaking spell struck the shape-changer in the chest, but he only grunted, the thick, tough hide of his new shape protecting him.

Corvus recovered enough to throw a dazing curse at him, but like my breaking spell, it had little effect. Deverell was slower in this body, but his size and strength made up for it. He lunged for Corvus with a bearlike movement. Corvus shuffled back, just escaping the assault.

“
Ana-agra!
” I heard Paul cry from behind me. I turned to see that he struggled to a standing position, all the weight on his uninjured leg. The spell hit the shape-changer, but as the silver ropes began to appear, he widened his arms and legs, using sheer physical will to keep the magic from binding him.

“No you don't!” I shouted. “
Ana-agra!
” A second set of binding ropes appeared around Deverell. Half a breath later, Corvus cast the spell as well. Beneath the power of the three spells, the shape-changer's strength finally gave way. The magic drew his hands and feet together, and it was all he could do to stay upright.

Corvus strode toward him, once again seizing him by the throat. The shape-changer's form blurred for a second time. I half-expected him to turn into Corvus and make a twisted play for mercy, but instead he reverted to his Deverell shape. Fear sparkled in his eyes. He opened his mouth, trying to speak, but Corvus only tightened his grip. For a moment, I thought he meant to strangle Deverell to death.

But then Corvus drew back his right hand, still holding Deverell's neck with the other. He pointed at the shape-changer's face. “This is for my brothers, you son of a bitch.
Luo-dikho!
”

Strangling would've been better, cleaner.

The asunder curse struck Deverell dead center. His body ripped apart in a spray of blood, tissue, and bone. Then the two halves of him crumbled to the floor with wet, meaty thumps.

All the light in the cave vanished, and darkness descended like curtains. But it was too late to block out what I'd seen. My gorge rose, and I choked it down.

Corvus spoke an incantation into the darkness, and light reappeared, the same glowing orbs that Deverell had used. With the shape-changer's mangled body once more in view, I turned away, my arms and legs trembling. I was too sickened to be relieved about Deverell's demise. I almost forgot where I was, what I should be doing. Then I spotted Marrow lying in the distance, and I forced my feet to propel me forward.

“Dusty, look out!” Selene shouted.

Too late I saw the massive form of the black phoenix diving my way. Several spells struck it, one from Selene, one from Corvus. Even Paul had taken aim at it from where he stood, leaning against one of the altars. It didn't matter. The black phoenix was either immune or too focused on its goal to care. Its talons closed around my shoulders, piercing flesh and muscle. I shrieked as it pulled me into the air. Agony shot down my arms and back.

“Dusty!” This time it was Paul shouting.

The black phoenix carried me across the circle toward Marrow then let go. The fall wasn't far but I landed hard enough to knock the wind out of me. Panicking with the need to breathe, I couldn't fight the hands that closed around my arms, hoisting me to my feet. The renewed pain in my shoulder drove off the haze from the fall, and I let out an involuntary scream.

“Don't struggle,” Marrow spoke into my ear. His familiar had delivered me to him like a cat with a dead mouse. A shudder passed through my body.

Suddenly aware of the serrated knife at my throat, I forced myself to still.

Everyone else had frozen as well, all except for the black phoenix, flying in calm, sweeping circles above us now.

“You all understand how this works,” Marrow said, pushing me forward. “I will be leaving, and so long as you stay there and don't try to stop me, Dusty will live. If you try to stop me, she will die and the rest of you will follow.”

It wasn't a hollow threat. He might be weaker than the last time I faced him, but he remained impossibly strong, his magic coming off him like an electrical current. Combined with the Borromean ring's protection he was as formidable as ever.

“Do what he says,” I said, fixing my gaze on Corvus. Of all of them, he remained the biggest threat to Marrow. My mother was standing next to him, and although her face spoke of murder, she didn't have the strength to back it up. She looked ready to collapse at a single puff of wind.

I shifted my gaze to Eli. He was still sitting up, leaning heavily on one hand, the other clutching Bellanax. There was something odd in his expression. He looked far away.
Fading away
. Terror clawed at my thoughts.

“Please let him go,” I said, once again addressing Corvus.
And hurry,
I silently added, tears burning my eyes. Eli was still alive, but each second, each desperate beat of his heart, only drove him closer to the end. The life was seeping out of him in visceral display. Blood soaked his chest and the altar beneath him.

“Okay,” Corvus said. “Go.”

“There's a good Nightmare,” Marrow said, and then grabbing me by the shoulder, he pulled me back with him, edging us toward the wall. I kept my eyes on Eli. I didn't care if Marrow escaped so long as Eli lived. My heartbeat counted out the seconds. How much longer did he have?

“Dusty,” Eli called, and his voice was so weak I barely heard him.

“Don't talk, Eli. Please don't talk.”

He raised his hand, the one holding Bellanax. “This is still yours,” he said, and then with all the strength he had left in him, he hurled the sword into the air.

It was an impossible throw, an impossible distance. But this was no ordinary sword, and Eli no ordinary boy. The sword flew through the air, spinning hilt over jagged blade. Time seemed to slow around me, around everything except the sword that flew with a singular purpose. I raised my hand, fingers outstretched, and Bellanax soared into it, the hilt landing in my palm like it had always been there.

The moment my skin brushed it, the bond between girl and sword, between magickind and numen vessel, knitted into place, like ligaments binding two bones into a single joint. The spirit in the sword was weak, only half-present, but our connection remained strong. Bellanax reached for control and I gave into it, lending the sword strength. This was the Bellanax from Lyonshold, the one who had saved the island and everyone on it. And now it would save me.

With the sword guiding my movements, I spun toward Marrow. His hand still held the knife, but he didn't have the same skill with a traditional weapon that he did with magic. I knocked the knife aside with Bellanax's jagged blade. The Borromean ring couldn't protect him now. I was too close, within its sphere of magic. I plunged the sword straight into Marrow's heart.

His eyes widened, and his lips spread as if he meant to laugh like he had the last time I'd stabbed him with this sword. But he didn't laugh. Death was too quick. With one, mighty shudder, the muscles in his body seized, then let go. He dropped to the floor. I kept hold of Bellanax, pulling the blade free as he fell. I didn't want his spirit trapped this time.