Chapter 16
As we sped toward Tangleroot Park, it occurred to
me that I’d better let Aeval know I was back—if she even knew I’d
been captured. But right now, I was determined to save Chase before
he got in trouble. I couldn’t bear the thought of him wandering
alone forever, trying to find his way home. I knew what it felt
like to be utterly alone.
We parked on the outskirts of the park and
headed toward where we’d first entered the portal. I remembered
what Aeval had taught me and was prepared to open it by myself. But
to my surprise, we arrived to find the portal back
again—unattended. Either it had sprung back up on its own within
the past few hours, or nobody had been down this way to notice it
for awhile. Given the time of year, the snow, and the obscurity of
the park, I was betting on the latter.
As we neared the vortex, I stopped, sniffing the
air. “Crap.”
“What’s wrong?” Delilah hurried to my
side.
“I smell the Bog Eater—on this side of the portal. Damn it—he got through.
He’s loose somewhere, but the trail ends here and I can’t track
him.”
One more thing on our worry list. Another of the
Elder Fae—a man-eating one, at that—had rejoined the world at
large. And he wasn’t terribly amenable to reason.
“Should we go after him now? Try to figure out
where he went?”
I thought about it, then shook my head. “We
won’t find him today. He’s passed by this way, but he’s gone now.
And I want to find Chase. Let’s just go on—but we’ll keep our eyes
open. Pretty soon the Bog Eater’s going to wreak havoc and we’ll be
here to track him down.”
Smoky pulled me to one side.
“We have to speak. We have to discuss what
happened.” He put his arms around me, holding me gently against his
chest. “I cannot bear to think you might blame me for my father’s
actions—though I understand why you might.”
We hadn’t had a chance to talk in private.
Actually, that wasn’t altogether true. The fact was, I’d avoided
being alone with him and Trillian. I’d seen enough pain and worry
in my life to understand that I’d have issues to work through, but
I also knew that none of my husbands could have prevented what had
happened, and that none of them were to blame. When it came down to
it, we were all alone. There was no such thing as perfect safety.
No such thing as invulnerability. One wrong move, one wrong slip,
and any of us could be at the mercy of fate—or a psychotic
dragon.
But once we were alone together, I’d have to let
go. I’d have to have my breakdown and exorcise Hyto’s ghost from my
body and mind. Anyone being too kind to me right now threatened my
ability to push back the rage and the fear. And Smoky’s arms around
me were too gentle, too caring, too loving for me to summon up my
courage.
I pushed him back, my hand against his heart as
I stared into those concerned glacial eyes. He looked so similar to
his father—and yet he was not Hyto, and his nature took away the
resemblance that could have come between us.
“I love you.” Tears sprang to my eyes. “But we
cannot talk about this here. I will need you—I will need you and
Trillian and Morio, and my sisters, to get through this. But right
now, I want to save Chase. If we can save Chase, I won’t feel so
helpless.”
“I’m worried about you—your injuries are not
mild, my love.” A look of pain crossed his face. “I can’t bear to
think that my own flesh and blood did this to you. That I let him
take you away.”
“You didn’t let him. It’s not your fault, and
I’ll never blame you for what happened. Hyto is the one who hurt me. He’s solely responsible
for his actions, and we will make him pay. But right now, I have to
keep busy. I have to keep from dwelling on the past few days. Do
you understand?” I leaned up and kissed him gently on the cheek.
“What is in your heart—that is what I love. Not how invulnerable
you can make my life.”
He covered my hand with his for a moment, then
nodded. “As you wish. We will discuss it when you are ready. And I
will do everything in my power to make sure you’re never hurt
again.”
Uh-oh. That sounded a little too ivory-towerish
for me, but I knew he needed to say it—needed to feel he could keep
some control of the situation. Nodding, I motioned to Trillian and
Delilah, who were waiting up ahead.
“Let’s go get Chase.” I sucked in a deep breath,
wondering when life would ever return to normal. If that were even
possible.
We approached the portal, and I turned to them.
“I have to go first, but we form a chain. Once we’re inside, we
head toward the mushroom ring. Now that Smoky’s with us, we can go
through it and still get out of wherever we end up. And once we go
through, I think from there, we head to the astral. That’s where
Chase managed to jump over.”
They nodded. Delilah tossed me a bag, and I
opened it up. “My iron! You brought me my handcuffs and flail!” For
the first time since Hyto had caught me, I felt a smile truly break
over my face.
She handed me a pair of gloves. “You’ll need
these, too. Now let’s go get our detective.”
We formed a line, with me in the front. Smoky
insisted on being second, and neither Delilah nor Trillian
countered him. Delilah went third, Trillian last. As we took aim
toward the portal, I took a deep breath and led them through. The
crackling energy was like a recharging burst of ocean air, and I
sucked it in, holding it within my breath, within my very cells. I
needed the charge. The surge of power felt like a glass of long,
cold water to my parched body.
Through the portal and we were once again
standing in the jungle of frosty foliage. Smoky and Trillian went
on instant alert, Trillian drawing his serrated blade. Delilah and
I glanced around. Neither Tra nor Herne was anywhere in sight, and
I slowly let out my breath.
Now if we could just keep Yannie Fin Diver at
bay, we might get through it without too much of a battle. But I
didn’t have my unicorn horn with me, so that should take care of
the latter. He’d been after the horn, not so much me. With a little
luck, if we hurried past the bog, he might not notice we were
here.
I pulled my capelet closer around my shoulders
and started forward, pushing past the guys. With Smoky at my side,
I headed forward toward the other side of the frosted lea, in the
direction of the rock-faced ravine leading into the glen. Trillian
fell in beside Delilah.
Nothing stirred, save for a few crows watching
us from the branches of the overhanging oaks. Silently, we passed
through the magical realm, and with every step, the sense of heavy,
old magic surrounded me. Something had been
through here recently.
As we entered the ravine, I could feel the call
of the rocks. There was quartz in the cliff face; that I’d bet my
magic on. Quartz crystals sang to me, and ever since I’d been
Earthside, I’d started noticing it more and more. For some reason,
my connection to the mineral was more prominent over here, and I
used it for the wards around the land.
Beside me, Smoky was keeping a close eye on the
sides of the ravine, his gaze darting from side to side. We passed
silently through the short passage and came to the thick foliage
that separated the ravine from the bog.
“Be careful. Yannie Fin Diver is in that bog. At
least we know the Bog Eater isn’t around. Although the fact that
he’s prowling Tangleroot Park isn’t any comfort, either. But Yannie
is dangerous, and now he has a grudge against me because he
couldn’t get hold of the unicorn horn.”
I pushed through to the open swath of ground
that divided the forest from the peat bog. The sour tang rang in my
nose, and as we passed by, I kept close watch for any sign of
activity out on the surface. I didn’t want to have to go into
combat against one of the Elder Fae, but with Smoky, it would be a
hell of a lot easier to take care of than with just Delilah and me.
We crept along and had almost reached the area where we could cut
into the bushes when a ripple on the surface of the marsh caught my
eye.
Hell. Yannie Fin Diver
rose out of the water. He spotted us and, a feral gleam in his eye,
rose with a triumphant howl.
“It’s him! Watch out!” I headed on a dead run
for the woods, Delilah right after me.
Barely a beat later, Smoky turned into his
dragon self. As he transformed, his long, snakelike body shimmering
into sight, Smoky towered over the Elder Fae. He rose into the air,
his front claws long and dangerously sharp, his wings whipping up a
storm. The ripples on the bog water caused by Yannie’s appearance
turned into a flurry of waves, cresting against the path.
“Oh shit,” Delilah said, turning to me. And then
she flailed, her back heel sliding. Even as I tried to figure out
what was going on, she fell backward into a quivering mass of sand
and water and began to sink. Her head disappeared and I screamed,
but then her head reappeared.
“Don’t struggle—try to float on the surface as
much as you can. Struggling will only drag you down quicker.”
Turning to find Trillian, who was watching the brewing
confrontation between Smoky and Yannie, I yelled at him.
“Help me.”
Trillian’s gaze snapped to me, and when he
realized what was going on, he raced over.
Yannie Fin Diver glanced up at the opalescent
dragon and began to backpedal. Interesting; so even the Elder Fae
could be cowed by dragons. I had been wondering if it came down to
it, who would kick whose ass. But even though he was backtracking,
Smoky didn’t stop, but headed right for him.
I tore my attention away from them and fell flat
on the ground, my walking stick out in front of me. I tried to push
it across the sinkhole that was swallowing Delilah, so that she’d
have something to grab on to.
Trillian leaped over the shifting quagmire in
which Delilah was caught, barely landing on solid ground. He
wavered, flailing his arms for a second, then regained his balance
and immediately went down on his stomach like me, bracing the other
end of my walking stick. We held it steady over Delilah, who was by
now chest deep in the mire.
She grabbed the lifeline, dragging herself out
of the sucking sand. As she clung to the staff, Trillian and I
slowly edged it over the side of the sinkhole and she struggled to
clamber out. I slipped one hand under her left arm, as Trillian
reached across and slipped his hand under her right, and we pried
her out as she scrambled onto the ground, covered in the wet slimy
sand. She leaned her head on her knees, her short spiky haircut
matted down by the gunk.
“Damn, that’s more bog than quicksand. I hate
that stuff. It’s scary hard to get out of,” she gasped, spitting
out bits of sand that had gotten into her mouth.
A huge roar filled the air, and we all jerked
around to see Smoky engage Yannie. The Elder Fae had grown terribly
large, big enough to fight back. Crap. Maybe he wasn’t so
vulnerable after all. He raised his huge arms, and the kelp boas
that flowed around his shoulders rose like stinging snakes and
launched themselves at Smoky, catching him around the neck.
Smoky let out a loud rumble, blasting him with
flame and smoke. I gasped, but the Fae managed to jump aside,
merely singed. Smoky turned in midair, strafing at Yannie with his
dragon fire, as the Elder Fae kept growing, reaching a good fifteen
feet in the air.
He swiped at Smoky, hitting my dragon on the
butt and knocking him off balance. Smoky caught himself and dove
for Yannie, barely missing the top of his head with his talons. His
wings gave one major shove and managed to beat up enough turbulence
that Yannie went cartwheeling back into the bog.
Like a hawk diving after a fish, wings back,
talons at the ready, Smoky barreled down toward the Elder Fae, who
took one last look at his incoming opponent and splashed beneath
the waters, churning a wake behind him as he headed out toward the
marshy wastes. Smoky pulled up, skimming the surface of the water,
chased him for a bit, then headed back to shore.
He transformed even as he settled to the ground,
his hair whipping around him in a frenzy. I froze, staring at it,
remembering what Hyto had done to me with his long locks, then
slowly let out my breath, reminding myself that—at least for the
present—I was safe from the freak.
Smoky wasn’t even panting. And, as usual, clean
as a whistle. I really had to find out how he did that, but so far,
he wasn’t telling anybody.
“He disappeared before I could kill him, but I
doubt if he’ll bother us now.” He turned to Delilah. “Are you all
right?” He sounded abrupt, but I knew that he cared about my
sisters—even when he pretended not to.
“Yeah,” she said, pushing herself up and wiping
off what she could of the gunk that clung to her clothing. “I’m
cold and wet, but I’ll be all right.” She shivered and Trillian
offered her his duster, but she shook her head. “I move better
without a long coat. I’ll be fine for a bit.”
I considered trying to dry her off with a spell,
but the better part of wisdom prevailed, and I refrained.
“You cannot travel while chilled. Take off your
clothes and lay them down on the ground.” At her look, he shook his
head. “Just do it.”
Delilah obeyed as Smoky moved to the edge of the
bog and, without another word, was in his dragon shape again. He
swung his long neck toward her clothes and let out a great belch.
Instead of fire, smoke came out, and soot. Even from where I was
standing I could feel the intense heat behind the gust of air, and
after two or three more puffs, he turned to her and blew a gentler
gust over her.
“Thank you, Smoky.” She grinned at him, and
headed over to her clothes, which were dry, if still dirty. As she
pulled on the stiff material, she caught my gaze and shook her
head, trying not to laugh. I repressed a smile as Smoky shifted
back and—looking pleased with himself—motioned for us to move
on.
As we headed inland, toward the mushroom ring,
my only regret was that Smoky hadn’t managed to kill Yannie Fin
Diver. Right now, I wasn’t feeling very merciful toward my
enemies.
We came to the mushroom ring before long, and
once again a surge of trickster energy blasted out from it.
Trillian blinked, shaking his head.
“Damn, whatever sort of gateway it is, it’s
strong. And cunning.”
“Cunning is right. Remember—Chase was captured
by what sounds like a spider-related Fae. Cunning and webweavers go
hand in hand. Spider creatures are smart.” I pointed toward the
edge of the ring. “I put my arm through there and it was kind of
freaky. Okay, we ready for this?”
Smoky grunted and started to take the lead, but
Trillian motioned him back. “This is Fae territory, dude. This is
more my speed than yours. You stick close to Camille and Delilah.”
He stepped forward, and, reluctantly, Smoky moved back, a skeptical
look on his face.
We tied up—portals like this weren’t safe to
travel through without having some connection to one another.
Otherwise, who knew if we’d end up in the same place? Then, without
another word, Trillian stepped through, me following, then Smoky
and Delilah.
Most portals are disorienting; this was a freak
show. The moment I passed through, a spiral of colors began to run
around me as reality melted into a swirl of color and sound. I was
still tied to Trillian, but the only thing I could see were
brilliant blues and greens, rotating in on themselves, like the
spiral on the old Outer Limits
program.
My body felt like it was melting, it was so hot.
Sweat trickled down my forehead, slowly forming rivulets along my
cheeks. Droplets trickled down my nose, onto my tongue as I reached
out to catch one. Salty. Sweet. I wanted to
rip my clothes off—the heat was stifling. As I considered undoing
my capelet, something in the back of my mind whispered, Don’t—it’s the portal. It will pass. Don’t fall for
it.
Keeping my wrap on, I shifted beneath it, the
pain fading from my thighs, from my heart, from my back and bones.
All I could feel was the heat—the mind-numbing heat, the heat
rising in my body, spreading through my stomach, making me ache for
someone strong to come along, to push me down on the ground and
fill me full. I struggled not to strip bare at the thought that
Trillian might be close enough to touch.
Music swept up—panpipes and drums, a tambourine,
a lute—the dance called me in. To dance, to spin, to whirl under
the stars, to leap into the great cosmic orgasm of the universe and
never stop dancing . . . the swell of desire rose within my heart
and I began to wander away from the path, but the rope around my
waist stopped me.
Confused, I stared at the nylon coil wrapped
around me, wondering how to get rid of it, when someone on the
other end tugged—hard. Unprepared, I went sailing forward,
stumbling through the swirls of color until the heat suddenly
lessened and I tripped, finding myself lying prone in a
snow-covered meadow, with Trillian waiting anxiously. Oddly, the
snow didn’t feel all that cold.
He knelt by me and took me by the shoulders.
“Camille, are you all right?”
I looked around, perplexed. Smoky and Delilah
were there already, but I’d been second. “How . . . what
happened?”
“You got lost in there. The energy is magnetic
and glom-med onto you. We were trying our best to pull you out, but
you were resisting. What was it?” My love searched my face, the
dark gleaming skin of his hands stark against my skin. I kissed his
fingers, reveling in the feel of them against my face. The seducing
energy still held me in its grasp.
“I . . . I wanted to strip naked and run . . .
to screw my brains out with somebody.” I inhaled deeply and slowly
let it out. After a moment, my head began to clear. “Whoever opened
that portal is powerful and has a yen for magical energy. It’s not
quite the same as the portal through which we initially came, but
there was the same seductive pull—the same sort of siren
song.”
“Hmm . . . perhaps a creature who feeds on
magical energy?” Smoky extended his hand and I placed my left in
it, my right in Trillian’s, and allowed them to lift me to my
feet.
“It wouldn’t be the first we’ve met like that.
Come on, let’s see where we’re at.” As we began to look around, I
realized that although we were in a frosty meadow, everything had
an artificial look to it—as if it were two-dimensional. It was
almost as though we were on a movie set.
“This feels . . . like somebody created this
space. Tried to make it appear real but couldn’t quite get the
pattern down. The snow—it’s not very cold. I noticed that when I
was on the ground. Anybody else have any thoughts?”
Delilah leaned over a low-growing bush and
inhaled deeply. “You’re right—there aren’t any smells to these
bushes. Did you notice?”
I frowned, looking around. Closing my eyes, I
lifted my nose and breathed slowly. She was right—there was no tang
to the soil, no woodsy scent to the trees, no scent of ozone to
signal that it had been snowing. It wasn’t that the currents were
free of fragrance, but I couldn’t identify what it was.
“That’s weird. I’m getting a little nervous now.
What do you think it is?”
“I don’t know.” She glanced nervously around.
“I’m beginning to wonder if this is a natural realm or not. It’s
not the astral, is it?”
Slowly, I shook my head. “Smoky, Trillian, what
do you think?”
Smoky took a few steps forward, then stopped. He
pointed past a small stand of small evergreens. “There’s a cottage
there.”
“Cottage? Chase said something about being
dragged to a cottage.” I took a step toward it, cocking my head.
“There’s something odd about it. Do you notice anything
weird?”
Delilah shaded her eyes with her hands and
peered at it. “It looks almost as though the walls are
moving.”
As we started toward it, Smoky in the lead, I
saw that Delilah was right. The walls and roof of the cottage
looked like they were in motion, like the very atoms of the house
were dancing. Wondering what the hell it could be, we quietly
descended the sloping path leading to it.
“I don’t like the feel of this.” Trillian shook
his head as he drew his dagger. “There is danger here. All around.
We are surrounded by it, as though we . . .”
His voice drifted off as I grabbed his arm.
“Stop. Stop right here. Look closely—I see what’s making the house
move.” I skidded to a halt, looking closely. “Oh, fuck.”
“What?” Delilah squinted again, trying to see
what it is. “I can’t tell.”
“I’m seeing the aura of the house. The movement
isn’t on an energetic level—it’s on a physical level. The house is
covered with spiders and bugs—they’re swarming everywhere. The
whole house is like one giant anthill, sans the ants.”
And then, as I said it, everything came into
perspective. The swirling mass became individual spiders and
beetles, scurrying in swarms all over the house. In the narrow
slits between the layer of bugs, I could see what looked like white
strands—a cocoon! The house was a giant cocoon.
“Oh Great Bast, do you think Chase is in there?”
Delilah’s voice spiraled, slightly hysterical.
Shaking my head, I started to back away, my
teeth chattering. I could take many things, but swarms . . . not so
much. “No . . . he was in body on the astral. And if we’re smart,
we’ll jump over there now!”
“But we have to know if he’s in there. We have
to be sure. I’m sorry, I can’t rely on just your dreams that you
had while that freak of a dragon held you captive. It might have
been a fever—”
I wanted to slap her, but I knew she was right.
I’d been accurate about Vanzir, but that didn’t mean I was right
about Chase.
Smoky glanced from Delilah to me, waiting for
some sort of direction. “I could just burn down the house—”
“No! What if Chase is in there?” Delilah let out
a small mew, like she usually did when she was going to transform
into a tabby cat, but I could tell that Panther was just below the
surface. She squeezed her nails into her fists. “I can’t afford to
transform, not yet. But we have to do something.”
“I think the decision has been made for us,”
Trillian said, pointing toward the cottage.
Out of the house came a scrabbling figure,
moving from side to side at first, then heading our way. She looked
like an old woman wrapped in a red and black robe, almost like one
of the Hags of Fate, but she had six arms, and in no way did she
have a human look about her. Her hair was knotted into a tight
little bun on the top of her head, and her beady little eyes held a
grasping expression. I caught a flash of hunger that swirled
through the air. She was ravenous. Whether for blood or flesh, I
wasn’t sure, but she wanted it now.
“If she’s that hungry, then she hasn’t fed for a
while. Chase isn’t in the house.” I said it softly, but the others
caught my words and nodded. Before she could reach us, I reached up
and called down the power of the Moon Mother. This was one of the
Elder Fae, and we were going to need all the help we could
get.
“Moon Mother, don’t fail me now,” I whispered,
sending a bolt of energy toward the creature. The lightning wrapped
itself around her, forking into a web. But instead of stopping, she
merely smiled an unholy smile and the energy began to absorb into
her body.
“Oh crap, she’s the creature who eats magical energy—that’s why she captured Chase and
that’s why the portal was singing to me.” I stepped back as Smoky,
Delilah, and Trillian moved forward. I couldn’t use my magic—not
only would it be useless, but it would strengthen her.
As I fumbled for my iron flail, she was suddenly
in front of Smoky, and then vanished. I looked around, frantic, and
the next thing I knew, the creature was standing beside me, her
arms out, ready to wrap me in her deadly grasp.