They reappeared at the same position where they’d vanished. The rangers leveled their weapons, then eased their grip once they realized who they were.
“You’re back!” came Alex’s familiar, relieved voice over their comm link. “We had no idea where you were. We were so worried.”
Ken turned, the unconscious Zoe still in his arms. His sword was glowing, a strange mix of dark and light. Gently, he turned the sleeping girl over to Ryker and then raised Kusanagi.
A large blast shot forward from the weapon in a straight line, a strange mix of light and dark, promptly eradicating everything within its range.
“He’s never done that before,” West whispered, sounding stunned.
With an angry snarl, Ken turned back toward Maidenkeep.
“Ken? What’s happened? We’re finally getting a visual on you. Is Zoe all right? Where’s—” Alex’s voice faltered. “Where’s Cole?”
None of them answered. None of them could.
A loud explosion rocked the grounds. Tala’s jaw set as she took in the new gleaming portal from a distance and watched as the cold, smiling visage of the ice maiden that had once been Vivien Fey emerged from the looking glass. The roar that bellowed out from behind the woman confirmed her worst fears.
“We have an ice dragon on the way,” Loki confirmed grimly. “Dex, send someone down here to see to Zoe.”
Another portal fizzled open, and a dragon’s head poked out. Another looking glass activated, and then another dragon emerged.
“She’s sending in her full army,” Loki said as even more portals dotted open. “She’s been waiting for this. Alex, I don’t think we have enough to defend ourselves.”
Alex only needed a few seconds to survey the dozen ice dragons now on Avalon territory to make a quick decision. “Lord Keer, I want everyone inside Maidenkeep. All the citizens, all the soldiers.”
“But, milord—”
“This is an order, Wake.”
A grunt from the Wake. “You heard him. Retreat!”
Most of the rangers were still on the front lines. Ken had realized this; he’d turned back toward the battlefield, Kusanagi already in hand.
“Ken—” Nya began.
“I’ve got the sword, Rapunzel. I’m not going to hide inside the castle as long as there are soldiers still out there. Get everyone inside. I think I know what Alex is going to do, and I’m going to help him do it faster. You understand, right?” The look he shot her way was pleading. “I can’t run away.”
Nya took a deep breath. “I know. And I understand. I love you.”
Ken blinked, reddening. “Where’d that come from all of a sudden?”
“I just wanted to say it again. I love every infuriating, exasperating part of you, and I needed you to know that.”
A wide smile broke over Ken’s face. He hauled Nya closer and kissed her. “Wait for me,” he said. “This shouldn’t take long.”
“We have our own weapons,” Loki said calmly. They patted at their coat pocket, where West had taken up residence, still in mole form. “We’re going to help you too.”
“We’re not going to let you be the sole hero even if you do have the damned sword,” Tristan said and nocked an arrow onto his own segen, the crossbow taking on a fiery tinge.
Ken grinned. “Whoever takes down the most dragons wins?”
“Wins what?” Loki asked, puzzled, but there was the sound of neighing as Horse raced toward them. Ken swung himself up on its back without pause, and the two galloped furiously toward the dragons. Tala could see small portals blinking into view around them, this time Avalon gateways for the rangers to escape through.
Another bolt of light sizzled out from the tip of Ken’s sword, aiming at a dragon’s eyes. The massive beast shook its head back and forth, disoriented, and Ken swiped low, cutting through its left foreleg. The dragon crashed onto the ground. Ken angled his blade a second time and cleaved clear through its right wing. The limb crashed onto the ground and broke into millions of tiny pieces of shattered ice.
Loki and Tristan had teamed up to take on a second dragon. The Locksley boy’s fire arrows were tearing holes through one of its wings, while Loki’s staff battered at the creature’s face, literally breaking it apart.
Tala concentrated on defense; whenever the creatures drew too close for comfort, her agimat extended to prevent a grotesque clawed foot from trampling on Ken and his kelpie or stopped the bursts of icy breath from overcoming Loki and Tristan. Ryker remained by her side, using ice to counter ice. Adapting the Snow Queen’s own strategy, he was sending large columns of sharp icicles bursting from the ground to impale them.
The last of the soldiers made it through the looking glass, and soon they were the only ones left.
“Avast, ye laddies!”
The Jolly Roger ported in with a heavy thump just outside the city walls; Tala could hear the sound despite the distance. She didn’t need to look back to see what Captain Mairead and her pirates were doing; she could already feel the strength of the magic prickling at her skin, the loud thrum of power as a cannon was being loaded up.
“We’ve got a few more regiments still out of radius,” Tala heard one of the techmages report from Alex’s end. “Another five minutes.”
“That’s good enough for me,” the king responded. “Ken, Tala! Get your asses back to Maidenkeep now!”
Obediently, they retreated, giving grudging ground as they made their way back. Tala’s strength was about ready to give out, and it was getting harder and harder to put up shields.
“Get out of the way, you Banders!” Captain Mairead had a powerful set of lungs, needing no megaphone or spell to let her voice carry to them. “We’re blasting in five…four…three…!”
The resulting sound of cannon fire nearly deafened Tala. She saw the arc of the blast blazing up in the sky above her like a vengeful comet, hurtling toward two of the dragons with startling accuracy. Massive as they were, the beasts never stood a chance.
But the Snow Queen was countering them. The dragons brought their heads together and screamed. The ice accumulated around them, blasted back with a powerful concussive force.
The Jolly Roger’s fireball promptly incinerated them where they stood. Two other dragons were caught in the explosion, staggering away as their wings caught fire, rapidly melting their bodies.
The ice blast hit Mairead’s ship. Tala saw the captain and the crew leaping off before the ice firmed up, transforming it into another icy block.
That was their cue to run. Tala dropped her agimat and took off, Ryker running beside her, the rest not too far behind.
A five-foot ice projectile swooped in front of her, narrowly missing her face. The Snow Queen had materialized near the port, blocking their path. Vivien Fey stood beside her, smoothly marbled face smiling cruelly.
Loki swung Ruyi Jingu Bang, and Vivien blocked it with one hand, ripples of ice enveloping part of the staff. “That no longer works on me, Sun-Wagner,” she taunted.
The ice cracked, and the staff emerged from underneath it unscathed. Loki attacked again, and the woman dodged.
Tala saw Horse gallop past, carrying several injured soldiers on its back—Ken must have sent his kelpie ahead to bring some of the injured inside. The boy was already engaging the Snow Queen, and she was matching him blow for blow. “You cannot think to escape,” she said. “You know as well as I that you will die here before Avalon for all the world to see.”
“So what I’m hearing is that you were intimidated enough by me to actually look me up.” There was something odd to Ken’s grin; there was a touch more recklessness there, his attitude even more devil-may-care than what Tala was used to from him. He showed no inclination to move closer to the portal, more focused on fighting the Snow Queen.
“Ken!” Tala shouted over the din. “We have to move now!”
“Right behind you!” Ken said and continued fighting.
The dragons that had survived the Jolly Roger’s blast were already approaching, their teeth snapping. An icy wind from their combined howls tore toward them, and Tala gritted her teeth and warded off the incoming blow, though it felt like her head was about to split in half.
There was a look on Ken’s face she hadn’t seen on him before. It looked similar to the one Cole had worn before he was killed. The Snow Queen knew. Her triumphant smile said it all.
Tala started toward the boy, but Ryker held her back. “What are you doing?”
“Everything I can to make sure his vision doesn’t come true,” Tala said, now sure of it more than ever. She weathered the next round of dragons’ breath, ignoring the cold that had penetrated through part of her agimat and numbed her right arm. She couldn’t. Surely Ken didn’t expect to—
Ken’s gaze flicked to Tala. “Sorry, Tala,” he shouted hoarsely, “but you can’t change this, and I’m not going to let you. Tell Nya I love her and that I trust whatever the hell it is she’s supposed to do next.”
“Ken!” Tala screamed.
Another hard blast from the dragons sent an opaque fog over her vision, one she barely deflected. And when it cleared, Ken was stumbling back, his hand clasped against his chest, which was already blooming red, blood spilling out. The Snow Queen stood, laughing. She raised her icicle sword over him, tip pointed downward.
Something knocked the weapon out of the way, and now the Cheshire stood between her and Ken, a wooden staff leveled her way.
The Snow Queen’s smile was triumphant. “You’re too late.”
“It’s never too late.” The Cheshire swiped at her, and the woman parried.
Ryker was by Ken’s side in minutes, another ice barrier placed in between them and the Snow Queen as he dragged the injured boy away. Loki retreated quickly to join him.
Gathering everything else she had, Tala shoved her agimat at the Snow Queen. Something else cracked in the air before them, and the woman actually took a step back, like she’d encountered some invisible but physical resistance.
The distraction was enough; the boys pulled Ken through the Avalon gateway. Tala and the Cheshire dove in after them.
And just as she did, she saw Ken smile, saw him raise his hand. The bone that the Snow Queen had taken from him at World’s End lay nestled in his palm.
The Snow Queen let out a cry of rage and started forward. But the portal was already closing up behind Tala, sealing itself completely before the woman could take another step.
They were now at one of the great halls within Maidenkeep set up for the wounded. Lord Keer was also there, arm and leg wrapped in heavy gauze and stained red, still giving orders as a team of techmages patched up a link back to Avalon’s main command. All around them, screen displays showed parts of Maidenkeep at every conceivable angle. Tala saw the Katipuneros still by the castle gates on the east end, still fighting, as were Lola Corazon’s team of Filipino soldiers.
The castle shuddered again. Tala saw the remaining fleet of ice dragons heading for them. The Katipuneros were an elite fighting force, but faced with six or seven of the flying beasts, they had little chance. She saw another looking glass opening beside them, saw General Luna shoving Titas Teejay and Chedeng, both sisters clearly wounded, into the portal. Some of the Filipino delegates and other soldiers nearby weren’t as lucky; the dragons’ breath came upon them quickly, turning them into sheets of ice.
“We ain’t down yet!” Tala heard Captain Mairead shout through their comm link. She saw the Jolly Roger powering up again, melting the ice spells keeping it immobile.
The ground underneath her turned white with cold and then started to splinter. Tala scrambled away from the edges as they broke apart. “The queen’s hitting us from underneath!” she heard someone yell. “Shift the shields below us, or she’s going to tear Maidenkeep apart!”
She saw her mother, and then she saw her father. The Banders had guarded the west side of Maidenkeep, and they’d been unaware of how the fighting was going elsewhere. Her mother had led the northern defenses; Kay Warnock had shown up there, and she was matching him blow for blow, neither of them relenting, neither of them retreating.
Tala saw Vivien Fey bearing down on the Katipuneros with several projectiles while they were still busy fighting off the dragons, and she found herself screaming at the top of her lungs, yelling at them to look, to move, even though she knew they couldn’t hear.
She saw General Luna go down. She saw Lola Corazon leap forward, pushing a startled Lola Urduja out of the way, and take a blow for her.
She saw her mother shove at her father with her agimat, then raise her hands as if pleading. And then she saw her father stop—just for a second or so—before he stepped forward once more to attack.
The Snow Queen arrived at his side. Kay Warnock turned at her call, moved to stand obediently beside her. Tala watched as the Snow Queen reached up to caress her father’s face, saw the look of anger on Lumina’s. But her mother was wise enough not to rise to the bait. She said something—not to the Snow Queen but likely to Alex through her earpiece. She took a step back, right into the portal that appeared behind her.
“Get ready!” Lord Keer roared. “Confirming that we have everyone inside, citizens and soldiers alike. Do what you have to, Your Majesty!”
“Out of the way!” Captain Mairead roared. “We’re powering up. Move out of the way!”
“Hold on,” Loki panted, pressing down against the wound on Ken’s chest, trying to stem the flow. But there was too much blood. Far too much.
“Had to do it,” Ken gurgled. “Needed…the damn bone. That’s what I saw. She’s the…only one who could take it from me. If she’d kept the bone…we’d all…”
“For once in your life, Ken,” Loki said hoarsely, “shut up and let them help you.” A team of medics was already rushing over to where he lay.
Ken smiled bloodily at them. “Worth it,” he whispered. And then his eyes widened, and his whole body seized up, arching painfully over the ground. The doctors set briskly to work.
Tala stood there and felt helpless, her hands over her mouth as she fought to keep back her sobs. Loki slipped their hand behind her shoulder. “He’ll be all right,” they whispered. “Inoue’s a fighter.”
“No,” Tala said as Ryker stood with them. “He’s not going to be all right. He’d been hiding something this whole time. Ever since the Ryugu-jo.”
Don’t worry. With me in charge, you’re all going to be all right. The odd look in Ken’s eyes when he said that, using you instead of we. The way he’d talked constantly about doing his part as the sword wielder. His lack of curiosity regarding Nya’s refusal to tell him her secret, when he’d previously been so angry over her decision to hide her mermaid ancestry from him.
Tala turned. Nya stood there, her whole body trembling. Her hands were clenched together so tightly Tala could see blood from the marks her nails were making against her skin slowly trickling down her fist. She didn’t move toward her dying boyfriend. She didn’t even cry.
And then the castle shuddered again, and Tala realized that it wasn’t her imagination.
The Wake hollered out another command, and one of the screens flickered to the young king. He was standing at the center of the Nine Maidens.
“Alex!” Tala was scrambling toward the display, even though she knew Alex wasn’t likely to hear. “Don’t you dare use it! Alex!”
The king was using the spelltech like he’d never done so before. Bits of asphalt and dirt rained down on them from the ceiling, and Tala wasn’t sure if this was a side effect of whatever spell the Avalon king was using at the moment or if the ice dragons were increasing their attacks—likely a combination of both.
Another loud roar confirmed her suspicions, and Tala saw part of the roof give way, a large portion of it crashing down onto them. It met a thick ceiling of ice that Ryker summoned to act as a shield, saving them for the moment.
Wild magic surrounded Alex. The king gritted his teeth, and one of the Nine Maiden’s spellstone columns flared brightly, spells sizzling around it like it was a lightning conduit.
“I need to go to Alex,” Tristan said, his face pale. He was already running toward the doors. “I have to—”
He lurched to the side when another jolt shook the castle. Looking up, Tala saw one of the ice dragons leering down at them from a hole in the roof, cold steam rising out from its nostrils. It opened its mouth, and Tala struggled one last time to force her agimat to meet the hailstorm she knew was coming.
The dragon’s head snapped back, part of its snout suddenly melted. “Keep it steady above us, Ryker,” Lumina instructed. Her mother lashed out again with her own agimat, and the dragon’s face caved in abruptly, sending it crashing to one side of the palace wall.
“Fire!” Tala heard Captain Mairead shout.
Tala heard a victorious scream. The Jolly Roger had not aimed its great cannons at the dragons but rather at the firebird, whose fires now filled the sky as if the blast had only strengthened it a hundredfold. Now it zipped through the air, tearing easily through the ice dragons as if they were wet paper, its brightness like a second sun.
Tala could hear the other creatures’ death cries as the firebird attacked, obliterated them. The castle was now surrounded by fire—exactly like her dream in Tintagel Castle all those months before.
There was a loud snap. For several moments, Tala felt like she was suspended in time, with everything else moving in slow motion—the medics still working on Ken, Nya clasping his hand tightly, West slowly shifting back into his human form, still holding tightly to the raskovnik with its two remaining leaves. Ryker and Loki stood beside her, both trying to shield her from whatever blow might come next.
She could feel magic rippling around them, far too strong to be contained, and it reverberated throughout Maidenkeep like a whirlwind. It felt like it was spinning them around even though they all remained upright and unmoving, like the laws of both physics and magic no longer existed.
And then, just as quickly, it was all over.
The palace no longer lurched and spun like it was about to break apart. Only silence reigned.
On the screen, Alex lay sprawled on his back, the shallow breaths leaving his mouth the only indication he was still alive. Tristan was already there, feeling for his pulse, cradling his body, calling desperately out to him. The ground around them lay in ruins, and the roof had been completely pulverized, sand pouring down from somewhere above.
The young king opened his eyes and smiled up at the other boy. He said something, and Tristan lowered his head.
Alex took him by the collar, pulled him all the way down to kiss. Then his hand dropped listlessly to his side, heedless of Tristan’s panicked calls to wake him.
The medical personnel had stopped working on Ken. The boy lay on his side, his eyes closed. His chest no longer rose and fell.
One of the medics let out a harsh, pained sound. “Time of death, 2:25 p.m.”
Nya reached out and gently moved Ken so that his head was on her lap, the way she’d done many times before.
“I love you.” Nya didn’t cry. She stroked his hair, the sides of his face. “And now I’m going to prove it.”