I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep for the rest of the ride back to the camp. But instead of sleeping, I worried. I worried about Grams, I worried about Emerald and I worried about killing Wolfgang. And when I had finished worrying about them I moved on to Galanta and Santanas.
Where was the Goblin Queen? What was she planning? I ached to be off after her, but I knew our mission was a vital piece in the big picture. If, Dark Sky forbid, we didn’t stop her in time, we would need the night faeries as allies.
That of course brought me back to Wolfgang. Without him our chance of success dramatically decreased.
Tiny stopped walking and lowered us to the ground. ‘We’re here,’ he said, lifting up the flap.
Isla let go of Wolfgang’s hand and bounded out the top. ‘You were wonderful,’ she said, looking up at Tiny.
I followed her and threw my arms around his ankle. ‘You’re our hero.’
The gentle giant’s face erupted into a blush. He clasped his hands behind his back and hung his head while dragging the tip of one shoe through the grass.
Aethan and Luke emerged, stepping backwards as they pulled the end of Wolfgang’s mattress. Wolfgang seemed to have passed out again. His colour looked even worse than when we had first found them. And it was up to me to heal him.
Eeeekkk.
Luke put down his end of the mattress and turned to Tiny. ‘I am forever in your debt.’
Brent bowed low and said, ‘We will tell stories of Tiny the Brave.’
If possible, Tiny’s face went even redder.
‘You’re the man.’ Wilfred punched the side of Tiny’s leg.
‘You are certainly as brave as your mother.’ Wolfgang tried to sit up. Isla rushed back to him and helped him into an upright position.
‘Mother?’ One of Tiny’s eyes pivoted to Wolfgang. ‘You knew mother?’
‘If I am not mistaken you are Berdina Flatfoot’s son.’
Tiny nodded, then his face crumpled. ‘Mother left cause Tiny ugly.’
‘Is that what they told you? Dear boy. Your mother loved you very much.’
The sudden hope on Tiny’s face was painful to witness.
‘She came to us in the Dark Years with crucial information. Then she stayed to help us fight.’
‘Mother help?’
Wolfgang nodded. ‘More than you could ever know.’
‘She never came home.’ A huge tear trickled down Tiny’s cheek.
‘She died in battle.’ Wolfgang shook his head. ‘She died a hero.’
‘I’m sorry Tiny.’ I wrapped my arms around his ankle again.
Tiny sniffled and a tear narrowly missed my head. ‘A hero. Mother was a hero.’ He sniffled again and, as if trying the words on for size, said, ‘She loved me.’
‘Will you be all right?’ I asked. ‘I mean with the other giants?’
He nodded his head and let out a snort. ‘Tiny too dumb to save you.’ He laughed again.
I could see Lily watching us from the trees where she stood with the other horses. I was about to head over to her when Wolfgang said, ‘Isadora. It is time.’
I felt like running away. I felt like hiding. But mostly, I felt like vomiting. What if I got it wrong? What if I…
‘Hey.’ Aethan shook my shoulder gently. ‘You can do this.’
‘I don’t know if I can.’ The words came out in a rush. ‘I’ve never been able to control my magic.’
‘Well if you fail you fail. But at least you’ll know you tried.’
If only it were that easy. I shook my head. ‘I blow things up. Accidentally.’
‘Ahhhh.’ He stared into my eyes. ‘I don’t know you well, but what I know is that you are good and kind, and that you always do your best. Wolfgang obviously thinks you can do it.’
As I met his stare, the urge to blither hysterically seeped away. Instead, calm settled over me. ‘Okay,’ I said. I turned and walked to where Wolfgang lay. ‘What do you want me to do?’ I sat cross-legged beside him and took his hand.
‘Empty your mind.’
I closed my eyes and concentrated on the sound of my breathing.
‘Now reach out to me.’
I pushed my mind outwards and felt Wolfgang there waiting for me. He led me back to his body. His life energy flowed over him like a gentle wave. It tingled beneath my awareness.
‘That’s right,’ he murmured. ‘Let yourself go.’
I flowed into his energy, becoming one with it as it travelled around his body. Over his head, down his chest, past his hips and… I felt it… like a sickness. A dark patch in his energy.
Shards of bone pressed through his flesh, jagged edges digging deep. Tendons twisted, ligaments torn. Muscles ripped and flesh destroyed.
I didn’t know how Wolfgang was still conscious let alone talking. Only his training could have kept the agony at bay.
Without even thinking I flowed into the wound, pulling the bits of bone together and knitting them into a strong piece. I kneaded muscles and re-attached ligaments and tendons.
I could feel him shuddering under my hands, but I ignored it.
I ordered his tissue back to its rightful position and stroked it into place with my power. When it was all as it should be I sat back and opened my eyes.
Wilfred and Aethan had a shoulder each and Brent and Luke had the legs. Wolfgang panted as he stared at me with wide eyes.
‘I’m sorry it took me so long.’ I knew from first-hand experience how painful healing could be.
‘But child,’ Wolfgang squeezed my hand. ‘It hardly took any time at all.’
‘Really?’ I felt like I had been at it for ages.
‘A few seconds,’ Wilfred said. ‘Fastest healing of a wound like that I’ve ever seen.’
‘And it didn’t hurt.’ Wolfgang sat up. ‘At all.’ He flexed his leg experimentally and then rose and put his weight on it. ‘Remarkable,’ he said. ‘Not even any after pain.’ He walked around the clearing a few times. ‘I’m curious as to how you knew where to put everything.’
I stared at him. ‘I didn’t. I let it go where it wanted to.’
He grinned. ‘Ingenious.’
I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. ‘What did you think would happen?’
‘Not sure. I figured anything was better than the pain.’
I could feel my eyes starting to bulge as I glared at him. He had thought I was going to mutilate him and he had let me do it. He had let me risk failure; or worse still, the possibility I would hurt him further.
I turned and stormed off into the trees as I tried to regain control of my temper. Picking up a fallen branch, I slashed the leaves at the tree trunks as I passed.
Stupid faery.
Thwack, crack.
Had been so surprised when I’d healed him.
Swish, thump.
Wouldn’t have been so pleased if his leg had exploded.
A hand grasped my shoulder and I let out a squeal and spun, bringing the branch around like a baton. Before I could hit him, Aethan caught my wrist, locking my arm out straight. My heart raced like a playing colt as I stared into his eyes. What was it with men setting themselves up for me to hurt them?
Consciously, I slowed my breathing and let my arm relax. It dropped to my side but he didn’t let go of my hand.
‘I came to make sure you were okay,’ he said.
I had been okay. I had been happy with my anger. Now though, my heart beat fast for a different reason. Now my knees felt weak and my breath caught in my throat. All I had to do was stretch my neck and tilt my head and our lips would touch.
Our gaze seemed locked together as he shifted closer. I stretched towards him, flexing the balls of my feet to lift me up. His free hand rested lightly on my hip and I shuddered at the contact. I wanted those arms wrapped tight around me. I wanted them holding me in place as his mouth ravished mine. And all the time he stared at me, his dark eyes setting me on fire.
A branch cracked further back in the woods. His eyes widened in surprise as he looked over my shoulder. Lifting one finger to his lips he moved backwards around the trunk of an elm. He pulled me with him and pushed my back up against the trunk. If he weren’t loosening his sword in its sheath I would have thought all my fantasies were about to come true.
He leant against me and peered around the trunk. ‘Goblins,’ he whispered in my ear.
Goblins?
Buzznuckle. Here I’d been thinking all we had to worry about were giants.
‘Do you think they saw us?’ I was far too aware of the feel of his cheek brushing against mine as I whispered in his ear.
An arrow thudded into the side of the trunk an inch from Aethan’s face.
‘Think so,’ he said as he turned, dragging me back the way we had come.
We zigzagged through the trees as we ran, the sound of pursuit obvious behind us.
‘Incoming,’ Aethan yelled as we approached the others.
We burst into the clearing to find them with their weapons already drawn. Isla loosed an arrow past my shoulder. I heard a grunt and turned to see a goblin collapse not a dozen paces behind me.
Wolfgang threw out his arms and I felt two shields form. One was a half-bubble floating over the horses, the other a semi-circular shield in front of us. A half-dozen arrows thudded into it and bounced harmlessly to the ground.
Eight warriors broke from the trees, dropping bows and drawing cruel daggers. If I hadn’t fought them before I would have been quaking in my boots. Easily seven-feet tall, their teeth were filed to points and their faces filled with rage. Human bones decorated the leather supporting their loin cloths, and oil coated their dark brown skin. They roared as they charged.
The two fastest reached Wolfgang’s shield first, bouncing off it and collapsing to the ground like birds smacking into a window. If the situation hadn’t been so dire I would have laughed at the sight.
‘Go,’ Wolfgang yelled as he dropped the shield in front of us.
Isla bounded into the air, releasing two arrows into the downed goblins before she landed again. Tiny yelled as he stomped his feet, reminding me of someone trying to squash ants. The goblins dodged and weaved, but not all of them made it through.
‘Hoi,’ Wilfred yelled. ‘Leave some for the rest of us.’
Isla flashed him a smile. ‘Don’t worry, I have a feeling there will be plenty for all of us.’
As if on cue another dozen goblins emerged from the trees. These approached more warily. Of the six that were left from the original charge, four were caught up in battle and the other two had become giant road kill.
I smiled as two of the late-comers ran at me. I’d always found killing goblins a wonderful way to work off a bad mood. Not that my mood was that bad any more. Not with the feel of Aethan’s body imprinted into my mind.
I leapt into the air, turning a somersault as I swept my sword down to cut through the side of one of their necks. Blood arced out in a rhythmical spray and he was on the ground with glazed eyes before I landed. The other licked his lips and backed up.
They’d obviously targeted me for a specific purpose, and I was guessing it was because they’d thought I was an easy kill.
Really, Galanta should train her warriors better before she sent them into battle. What a pity this one wouldn’t get a chance to improve.
I ran at him and he lifted his dagger straight out like I had been sure he would. I wound my weapon around his and spun, ripping it from his grasp. Then I thrust my sword back under my right arm with both hands, feeling the sudden resistance as it speared into his chest.
My next victim was already approaching as I kicked backwards, forcing the dying goblin off my blade. This one grinned as he stalked me, tossing his dagger from hand-to-hand. He pulled a second one and wheeled the blades through his fingers, spinning them faster and faster. A blades master. Great.
I wasn’t sure if he expected me to feel fear. All I know was that I was as surprised as he when one of Tiny’s feet crushed him to the ground.
‘Not hurt my Izzy,’ Tiny yelled, grinding him into the dirt.
Isla was backing up towards a tree as she fended off an attacker. She flicked her blade through a flurry of motion, but was unable to break through the goblin’s attack. She was in trouble once she got to the tree. There would be nowhere for her to go.
I ran towards her, but before I could get there another goblin charged me from the side. He lifted a spear and hurled it at me. Without even thinking I flicked a hand. He and the spear flew backwards through the air. I heard a nasty crack as he slammed into a branch, his body flexing backward so that his head and feet touched. I doubted very much he would be coming back from that.
I leapt into the air and landed on the back of the goblin attacking Isla. Grasping his head, I ripped it to the side. There was another crack and his arms fell limply. I jumped clear as he collapsed.
‘Thanks,’ Isla panted. She picked up her bow and loosed a couple of arrows at a goblin attacking Wilfred. ‘How many more do you think there are?’
I looked around the clearing. Tiny was in the process of picking up some goblins that had popped out of the trees at his feet. One-by-one he threw them as far as he could back over the top of the woods.
Wolfgang was shooting fireballs into the tree line where dark shapes dodged and weaved trying to escape a fiery death. Aethan, Brent, Luke and Wilfred were fighting two goblins each, their blades flicking through complex patterns.
But like a rodent plague, as fast as we killed them, more crept out to replace them. It was only a matter of time before one of us got tired and made a mistake.
‘Cover me.’ I closed my eyes and reached out with my mind, pushing out into the woods. Darkness and evil swarmed around us, black hearts beating in anticipation of our deaths. Like homing pigeons they came.
I heard the bell-like chimes of metal striking metal; Brent crying out in pain; Wilfred laughing like a mad man as he fought; and ever closer our deaths crept. Wolfgang’s spells killed most of them before they got to us, but even that was not enough against what was coming. Galanta had prepared a surprise for us. A hundred more warriors crept through the trees. A hundred more warriors for us to kill.
It was too many. Too many by far.
I opened my eyes and stared at Isla, the horror must have shown on my face.
‘That bad?’ she whispered.
I nodded and closed my eyes again.
There had to be something I could do. There had to be.
I felt for their hearts.
Thundering hearts pushing thick, black blood. Coming closer, ever closer.
I sent out tendrils of power; one for each heart, they wound through the woods. Growing like saplings, a fine net of power, woven around each heart. Then I cracked the tendrils, and a hundred whips ripped hearts from goblin chests.
I felt them fall. Like a field of wheat being harvested, they collapsed where they stood, their souls hurled into the ether. And then my vision faded, my legs betrayed me, and I sank to the ground as my mind fled to an oblivion of its own.
***
The familiar twilight of Trillania surrounded me as I lay on my back and stared at the sky. I put my hands to my ears and shook my head. The echo of a hundred screams was tattooed on the inside of my mind.
Best not to think about it.
I pushed myself up to my knees and climbed unsteadily to my feet. The others needed me, I had to go back. But try as I might, I was unable to return to my body.
Hmmmph. The only other time that had happened was when I’d been trapped by Galanta’s blood bond. I was pretty sure that wasn’t the reason this time, so I had to assume I was unconscious, not asleep.
I may as well make use of my time here.
Did I dare track Galanta?
If she were here, she would assuredly have a large force of warriors with her. It wouldn’t have bothered me so much if I knew I could leave whenever I wanted, but I couldn’t.
I sent my mind out to Emerald. Still nothing. I tried to return to my body to no effect.
A piece of hair stuck to my forehead, dangling into my eyes. I brushed it to the side while I thought my way through my problem.
If I snuck up on Galanta I might be able to see what she was up to. I didn’t need to reveal my presence. I wasn’t kidding myself enough to not admit I would kill her if I could. But the chance was slim to nothing. She would be wary. I know I would be.
Mind made up, I closed my eyes, and projected myself to near where she was. I didn’t want to appear right in front of her – although it opened up the possibility for a quick kill, I was more likely to end up with a dagger between my shoulder blades. And while she could leave for healing, I couldn’t.
I found myself surrounded by trees. Why did it always have to be in a forest? There were plenty of things to worry about in a Trillanian forest even without stumbling onto a goblin. I added a crossbow to my arsenal. If a buffo charged me it would come in handy.
Galanta was off to my left. I could feel her. I turned that way and scuttled from trunk-to-trunk, pausing to check there were no unwelcome visitors in between.
Whatever she was doing here, she was doing it quietly. No drums, no chanting, not even any of the guttural goblin language.
It took me a few minutes, but eventually I reached the place I could feel her. I peeped around the edge of a tree trunk to where I knew she should be, but she wasn’t there.
I pulled back behind my trunk. Where was she? I could feel her. Was she hiding behind another tree? But no, the sensation of her was coming from the small clearing I had peeped into.
Ever so carefully, I stepped into the clearing. My head swivelled from side-to-side as I checked for movement. Night birds called and a light wind rustled the leaves, but there was no sign of anyone else there.
I tip-toed to where she should have been and stared at the ground. A small black splotch of blood darkened the earth.
Was she injured?
I could feel a feral smile curl my lips. It was time to hunt.
Closing my eyes I reached for her. North. She was further north.
I willed myself there, crouching low in a dense stand of bushes. Arrow nocked, I stared over the top to where I could feel her. She wasn’t there.
Rising, I stalked to where I could feel her life force. More blood. A larger patch this time. Was she running from someone? Excitement hummed through my veins.
Now I could feel her off to the west. I transported myself there, releasing an arrow as soon as I appeared. It flew through the spot where she should have been, but she was already gone.
I hopped further south and found a sizeable amount of blood.
Back north to find a clump of hair caught on a bramble bush.
I was closing in on her, I could feel it. Could almost taste her desperation as she flicked again and again. Losing more blood each time, getting ever weaker.
East to where she had lost her dagger.
North to where she had left her spear.
She was mine. I could taste the victory as I chased her.
One last jump. This time the feel of her was overwhelming. She was here. I knew it.
I spun in a circle, my sword loose in its sheath and an arrow ready to fly. Dark brown flickered through the trees as she staggered away from me. I took off after her, ready to end this once and for all. I had let her get away once, that wouldn’t be happening today.
Isadora.
I ignored the sound as I raced after Galanta. The distance between us was closing.
Isadora.
A black shape, off to my left, flickered through the trees. Galanta darted to her right and I followed, cutting the corner and gaining time.
Isadora.
Blackness grew on the edge of my vision. But Galanta was so close. I sighted her down my arrow and released it. It thudded into a tree, inches from her head. She threw a desperate glance over her shoulder, her eyes wide, her mouth open as she panted. She pressed her hands to a wound in her side and she staggered.
Looking back on it all, there were so many things that didn’t make sense. Where were her warriors? Why didn’t she leave Trillania?
But there, at the time, with the feel of her in front of me and the taste of her death on my lips, I wasn’t capable of rational thought. I let out a snarl and hurled myself after her.
The blackness swelled as it raced towards me, twin lights blazing from within its inky depths. I let out a screech and loosed my arrow into it. The arrow flew wildly as if I had not aimed at all.
I threw out a hand, loosening a lightning bolt towards the shadow. It glanced off a sheet of light and a tree to the right burst into flames.
Now it was my turn to flee.
Isadora.
The hair on the back of my neck stood on end as fingers of dark reached out towards me. I could see Galanta off to the side, her head thrown back as she laughed.
A trap. It was all a trap.
And I had fallen for it.
The shadow wrapped itself around me, cold and damp it slithered over my skin. I closed my eyes and willed myself away.
My daughter.
Why couldn’t I leave? I tried again and again, but the shadow pinned my arms to my side and held me in place.
Look at me, daughter.
I opened my eyes and stared at the glowing lights. Dread walked down my spine. ‘I am not your daughter,’ I whispered.
A shadow hand reached up and brushed back my hair. ‘Of course you are.’
I shook my head trying to deny who trapped me. Part of me wanted to start screaming hysterically, the other part wanted to curl into a ball and hide. But as the shadow formed a man, Galanta came to stand at his side. I could no longer deny who held me.
‘Your brother, Alexis, is my father.’
He threw back his head and laughed. ‘If I am not your father, why does my blood trap you?’
That’s what was going on?
‘No,’ I shook my head again. ‘My mother would not lie to me.’ Well, not about this I hoped.
How was I to break this blood bond? I couldn’t do what I had with Galanta, because he had no blood to drink.
‘Come.’ He lifted me bodily and drifted through the trees.
Galanta followed off to the side, a triumphant sneer on her face. ‘Did you think I couldn’t feel you?’ She let out a laugh. ‘We are blood bonded. I always know when you are near.’
I was so going to have that talk about blood bonds with Wolfgang when I got back.
If I got back.
I banished that thought from my head. Defeatism would only cripple me.
Galanta had said she always knew when I was near. Prickles ran over my skin. If that were true, she had known I was there the night she had raised Santanas’s spirit.
‘That’s right.’ Her lips pulled back to reveal her pointed teeth. ‘I knew you were watching. I wanted you to know what you had done.’
‘Gloating’s not very nice.’ I was proud my voice didn’t show the panic the rest of my body experienced. What were they planning to do to me?
‘Nice isn’t in my vocabulary.’
‘There’s a lot of things not in your vocabulary.’
She turned to Santanas. ‘Let me cut out her heart.’
Sweat formed on my brow as bile pooled in my gut. I fought back the urge to vomit. I would not show weakness in front of her.
Santanas let out a sigh. ‘You are not going to gut her Galanta. We need her.’
I resisted the urge to giggle in relief. They weren’t going to cut out my heart.
Galanta stuck her bottom lip out and eyed me. ‘Surely a little cut wouldn’t hurt.’
‘I’ll think about it,’ he said as we flowed on through the forest.
‘Where are we going?’ Normally I liked surprises. Christmas, birthdays – I was all for it. Today I wasn’t feeling so adventurous.
‘Your new home.’
I stayed quiet for the rest of the trip. The answers I was getting weren’t helping with my attempts to remain calm. Would Aethan and Wilfred realise I was here? Would they come for me?
We drifted through the forest and across a large plain. Then up into a mountain range that stretched as far as the eye could see. Was it the Black Mountains?
Near the top of one of the peaks a stone castle stood. Part of the turrets had plummeted to the ground where they lay in discarded piles of stone, but the rest of the castle was intact.
Galanta pulled open double wooden doors, leading the way into the castle and down a flight of stairs.
‘Remove her weapons,’ Santanas said.
Galanta shoved and pushed at me as she took my sword, daggers and bow and arrows. I let her. There were plenty more where they came from.
‘Home, sugar, home.’ She pulled open a door to a cell.
‘It’s home, sweet, home,’ I said as Santanas deposited me in the room.
She pulled back a hand to slap me, but Santanas loomed in between, a barrier of shadow.
‘You will not harm her,’ he said.
I stuck my tongue out at her and waved as she slammed the door shut.
In the small amount of twilight peeping through the window high in the wall I could see a mattress lying on a pallet on the straw-covered floor. A bucket filled with water sat in the opposite corner. I paced the room, measuring it as I walked. One wall was five paces, the other four.
I rattled the door and looked for cracks in the walls, but there was no easy way out. I stood pressed up against the wall furthest from the window and tried repeatedly to release a lightning bolt. The only thing I got for my efforts was a stress headache.
Okay, so if I couldn’t escape I could at least protect myself. I summoned a sword, but nothing happened. I had the same result with every weapon I could think of.
Despondent, I slumped onto the bed, wriggling around to get comfortable. A lump persisted, digging into my spine.
I pulled the mattress up and felt along the wooden pallet. Half a nail stuck out of one of the planks. The wood was split and warped along its length. I pushed the mattress off the pallet and grabbed the end of the plank, straining upwards till, with a mighty crack, a chunk pulled free.
I smacked it into my hands a few times. It wasn’t a baseball bat, but it would do. It would have to.
By the time I had finished, my head was pounding so I lay back down with my weapon hidden under the edge of the mattress. How was I going to get out of this mess?
I wasn’t sure how long I’d been lying there before the door rattled. I grabbed my plank and stood by the door, wiggling my feet till the stance felt right as I raised the wood to the side of my head.
Batter up.
A few seconds later a plate was pushed through a hatch near the bottom of the door.
Hmmmph.
I’d been looking forward to smacking Galanta in the head.
I stared at the food. Without enough light I couldn’t be sure what it was, but its putrid smell was enough to tell me not to eat it.
I drank the water and sat on my mattress and waited for the door to open. I paced the room, running my hands over the walls and yelled till my throat was raw. Another couple of trays turned up, each as foul-smelling as the first.
How long had it been since I’d been captured? Trillania didn’t have days, and time here didn’t correlate to Isilvitania. All I knew was that my stomach grumbled so fiercely that the clumps of meat were starting to smell edible.
The door rattled again, but this time, instead of the noise of the bottom latch working free, I heard a key in the lock. I grabbed the plank and stood by the side of the door. If I hit her hard enough it would be game over. Without her, Santanas’s spirit would be lost.
The door pushed open and a shape too short to be a goblin stepped into the doorway. I swung the bat back, waiting for them to step into the room.
‘Ithadora?’ the small shape lisped as it peered into the darkness.
Friend or foe? I couldn’t be sure. The plank felt heavy in my hands as I stared at the small head.
‘Ithadora? We muth go now if you are to ethcape.’ The voice was low enough to belong to a male.
Escape? I lowered the plank and stepped into the opening of the door.
‘Come,’ the figure beckoned when he saw me. ‘We go.’
He stepped out of the doorway into the light. I tried to follow but an invisible barrier held me in the room. I ran my hands over it and then beat at it, but it would not yield.
‘Come, come,’ he said.
‘I can’t.’ I peered at him. Was he a mudman? Why would a mudman be helping me?
‘Yeth,’ he said. ‘Blood bond cannot hold you. You share blood.’
I stared at him while my frantic mind contemplated his words. And then I got it. It was the fact that I was of his blood that was giving Santanas his current control. But that meant that I already had his blood running in my veins, I didn’t need to taste his at all. His tenuous hold over me had come from my lack of knowledge on the subject. I had thought he had control over me and therefore he did.
Santanas’s blood bond was only effective because I believed it was.
As soon as I realised the truth, I was able to pass through the doorway. I resisted the urge to shout in triumph. Stealth was still better than confrontation.
‘Thank you,’ I said to the mudman. ‘I need to go now.’ The block preventing my return was gone.
‘Wait,’ he said. ‘You muth thee.’
‘See what?’
He didn’t answer but beckoned for me to follow. Was it another trap? I couldn’t be sure. But the little man had rescued me – why I wasn’t sure.
I armed myself and then crept down the passage after him and up a flight of stairs. We wound our way through the castle, eventually exiting a door on the opposite side of the castle from where I had entered.
A large wooden building stood off to the side. A stable or a store house.
I could hear Santanas’s voice booming from within. ‘You served me before. You will again.’
An animal roared its displeasure and light flared from gaps between the wooden logs.
Santanas laughed. ‘You think to harm me? You cannot touch me, dragon.’
I froze in horror. Dragon?
Emerald? I sent my mind out towards the barn and encountered emptiness. She wasn’t there.
‘You muth thave her.’ The mudman tugged on my arm. ‘Your friend.’
I shook my head. ‘No. That’s not my friend.’
‘Yeth,’ he said. ‘Your dragon.’
I sent my mind out to her again, this time flowing through the entire barn. Galanta stood near the side wall and Santanas’s spirit hovered in the doorway. I couldn’t feel Emerald, but I also couldn’t feel any other dragon. Inch-by-inch I scoured the air until I realised what I had been missing. There was a void in the middle of the barn. My mind skated over and around it, but I couldn’t penetrate it.
She’d been here the whole time, trapped in a shield. I beat at it, trying to reach her, but it held firm. I was going to have to free her the old-fashioned way.
The mudman beckoned and led me around the back of the building. He bent down and pointed to where a chunk of wood was missing. I clambered to my knees and pressed my eye against the gap.
Emerald crouched in the middle of the barn. Her lips pulled back from her massive teeth as she spewed fire at Santanas. The shield lit up like a light globe as the fire curled inside it.
‘Yield,’ he yelled, cracking a whip at her.
The tip of the whip lashed the side of her face and she shook her head, her eyes wild with pain. He slashed again and this time the whip gouged a chunk of flesh from her flank.
She roared and poured fire towards him but she didn’t so much as flick a wing.
‘We can do this the easy way, or the hard way,’ he said, cracking the whip in front of her face.
The bond between us yanked tight, squeezing the air from my lungs. I had to help her. I had to save her.
Santanas’s whip had showed me that the shield was one way. If I could get to her, perhaps I could free her, but I was only going to get one go at it.
I nocked an arrow and ran around the side of the building. Bursting through the doors I loosed the arrow at Galanta. She let out a shriek and disappeared from view. It would take her a few seconds to re-orientate herself and get back.
‘Stop.’ Santanas’s voice was laced with power but it no longer had the ability to control me.
All I could see was Emerald, her beautiful body streaked with blood, her majestic head held proudly. The anger in her eyes changed to hope as I sprinted towards her.
I knew as soon as I was through the shield. Our minds collided in a whirl of conversation.
You must leave.
Not without you.
He has bound me with ties you cannot break.
I let my mind roam over her. Invisible bonds bound her wings and her legs.
If I can free you where will you go?
Isilvitania. He cannot reach me there. Not yet.
I reached her side and lay a hand on her flank. She was right. I wasn’t going to be able to break the bonds. Not in time for her to escape.
He comes.
The terror behind her thoughts made my mind up for me. I couldn’t leave her here. I wouldn’t leave her here. I slashed with my mind, ripping the shield into two pieces and tossing them to the side. Then I yanked the bonds off her body and let them flow over mine.
No!
You must go. If he caught her again all would be for naught.
She bent her head and touched her snout against my forehead. A large tear wet the side of my face. Then she stretched her wings and let out a roar and promptly disappeared from view.
I fell to the ground as the bonds tightened fully. They bound my feet together and pinned my arms to my side. Galanta flickered back into view and I smiled at them both as I shut my eyes and willed myself back to my body.