Wind Magic Page 27

  That meant the rest of my portals had not yet been discovered. Relief flooded my system, with it the faintest tickle of a breeze along my skin. Quieting my nerves, I put my hand into the painting of Merlyn's curled wizard hat. Liquid sensation spread over my skin, and the world went black.

  Wind moved through my hair, rustled my clothes against my body. I felt the sun-warmed air of my home leave, and the canyon-cooled air of the market take its place. Scents drifted to me. The cloying pollen from live specimens, the barest hint of hot butter and roasting nuts from the man who sold flavored samples in paper cones. Then came the sound of wind whistling faintly through the tall market, the creak of wooden platforms.

  The market spread before me. Since I'd made the portal anchored to the live botanicals deck in the thought that I would seek quick ingredients for potions, I ended up fairly distant from the popular events areas.

  Even so it was quiet. Too quiet.

  Plants towered overhead, obscuring my view of the queuing ramp where flying carpets waited for passengers. Looking over the edge of the deck below, I didn't see any carpets available. Nor were there any dodging between the decks. To get to the White Poppy Square, I would have to descend a skyscraper's worth of floors and it would be stairs all the way down.

  A short, rounded shopkeeper was whittling away his time by deadheading a prize petunia.

  “Hey,” I called, “what's up with all the taxis being gone?”

  He plucked a yellowing leaf without glancing at me. “They's in the bottom. Won't be up again until the speech is done. Safety thing.”

  “Right.” That would be my handiwork working against me. “All of them?”

  “No, but the rest are out. You want to go somewheres, you got two good legs. Use them.”

  “Thanks,” I said and kept my less polite response to myself.

  Further along the deck, I found a nice, private place with no witnesses to watch as I wore my invisibility ring. There was no way I could go all the way downstairs and make it in time on my own two feet. Carpets were out, too, unless I could stand to wait for one.

  Mordon could navigate these tight corridors and small gaps in his dragon form, I should be able to as well. I saw no reason not to try. Except for a bum shoulder which was protesting very strongly after the mating flight. It pulsed at the very thought of being used again after the abuse I'd given it.

  Scales replaced skin, the change taking place in complete invisibility. Experience with knowing my own dimensions meant that the one thing that got disturbed during my shift was a watering can when my tail twitched. Carefully, so I didn't cause more trouble, I moved to the edge of the deck.

  A maze stared back at me, those spaces between decks now appeared far smaller than they had a minute ago. Mordon flew it because he was a particularly talented flier.

  I guessed if I needed to, I could always take the stairs.

  I dove.

  Before I could get two wing beats in to the flight, a carpet at the end of a deck started to uncoil to form stairs. Right in my path. A quick tip to the side, my chest grazed carpet.

  This put me off course for the next deck. Hard band to avoid an umbrella stand, another bank the other way. Just as I remembered, the decks had no rhyme nor reason to their organization. No pattern could be made of my movements. It was a perpetual duck, dodge, bank. A nail snagged my wing, stinging pain in my membrane.

  My shoulder officially hated me and my shenanigans.

  Three decks down, fifty or whatever left to go.

  Playing Tetris in real life was not so fun. Blood pounded in my ears the decks flashed by too quickly. Merchants detached their shops to drift from one place to another. How Mordon managed with carpets buzzing through the little places, I had no idea. Probably played big truck on tiny road and forced them to give way to him.

  Just twenty more decks to go. I could do this, but how my body hurt.

  I closed my eyes, taking advantage of a straight shot to come to grips with my shoulder.

  Something sliced through the air. Acting on instinct, I swerved into another opening, passed a carpet, and swerved back into my original position to avoid another carpet barreling straight for me.

  Shit.

  That was close. I checked the air, felt no other carpets. Above, the carpets zoomed so fast they made banners stir. A whoop: “Whoo-hoo! Beat you, sucker!”

  Joy riders.

  How could I have forgotten them? I relaxed a fraction.

  I heard a swarm. It sounded like the flap of a curtain caught under a crack in the window, except this was fast. And multiplied by hundreds.

  A mass exodus barreled towards my invisible body.

  There was not a gap to be seen, just a stampede of fleeing carpets filled with grim passengers. They could not see me, and I knew what sort of chaos I would cause by crashing into even one of them.

  A deck later, I landed roughly on an open area. Tassels clipped my spine. I was forced to accept that with a migration like this one, I would make progress best as a human. Plus, the carpets wanted to spread. The smaller of a body I had, the less likely I would be hit.

  I shifted, taking on a human form in silence. The panic of the people had rubbed off on me. Despair threatened to strip me of control. Whatever Cole had planned, it had happened. If I was too late, I would be better off going home than getting caught.

  I could only stare overhead, wincing, my sight blinded with tears from physical agony. Carpets continuously grazed across my bellow. Screams and yells echoed up the market.

  A black carpet passed by. On it, a man and a woman. The woman rested lifeless in his arms. I closed my eyes. “Sorry isn't good enough, Mordon,” I said. “Not nearly good enough.”

  Finally, an eternity later, the flood of carpets eased. Time to find out what happened.

  I shifted one more time.

  Through the quieter air way, I descended. Another wave of carpets came, this time from above. Riderless. Some healers on a few.

  The fair grounds were obvious with their rides still shining as if luring people to enjoy chairs that whirled suspended from an animated kraken puppet, giant tea cups that were still spinning their way all around the hedge maze, wooden carousel animals that bobbed restlessly where they’d been abandoned. Fairy lights, candles, oil sconces, and fire braziers flickered even in the daylight, seemingly calling for the evening to come and turn the carnival into magic.

  Buntings obscured the best places to make a safe landing, but I found one spot which had seen most of the yellow and blue triangles tangled on the dirt.

  I landed roughly. My gaze fell on the tramped grounds. Blood filled my nostrils. And death, the rotting corpse stench of an unburied rodent whose hide had turned maggoty and green. Beneath it all was the scent of hot oil, fried dough, and fair time sweets.

  Noise from the formal gardens. In the tall hedges. Yelling. Latin, Saxon. Spell-casters.

  My talons gouged into the lawn as I took a quick, gliding flight to the start of the hedges. Before I landed again, I glimpsed the central activity, felt my stomach sour.

  A red drake ringed by various monsters, undead things composed of a mismatch of animals. Walking animations. Barnes had said that he'd seen those tear through soldiers before. They'd be sure to do a number on civilians.

  Whimpering drew my attention, the muffled tremble of someone in shock. I became human, advanced on the noise.

  It was a woman, dirt stained face, bloodied foaming nose, glazed eyes. I took off my invisibility ring to approach her. Cautiously, but confidently, just in case she was a decoy.

  “Hey. What happened?”

  She shivered. “We were watching ill-illusion. A demonstration. How the new security would work. And a protestor yelling. Creature's rights, she said. Creature's rights. And Cole tried to talk to her.” The woman shuddered. “They attacked.”

  “Who?”

  “Them.”

  “I don't know who 'they' are.”

  She shook her head. “Those thing
s. Whatever they are. Necromancy.”

  I sighed. “They are walking animations. Osteomancers make them. Bone magic is stronger than tissue.”

  The woman wasn't listening. “They kill. They kill. One look at you and you can't move. Fighting's no good. They don't get hurt.”

  She was not in a mood to learn. Not now, maybe not ever.

  “What next?”

  She shuddered. “People started running. I got trampled. Was lucky, at the edge. My leg...”

  “Can you walk?”

  She blinked, not answering.

  “Can you walk or not? If you can, there are carpets over there. If you can't, you're stuck.”

  Fierce nails gripped my arm, her eyes wild. “Where are you going?”

  “To see what I can do. People are still in there.”

  “They won't go. They won't move.”

  “It's a fear spell. Once it is broken, they'll go. Now, do you need help to stand?”

  She responded by trying to get up. I supported her until she was steady. Once she'd taken her first tentative steps, I went the other direction.

  “Wait.”

  I stopped. She was staring at me, plainly puzzled and a little revolted.

  “You're Fera-Feraline Swift. Aren't you?”

  “Yeah. Why?”

  “Why are you here? You're one of...them.”

  I shook my head. “Don't you see? Cole has made his world based on what we are. I think this world should be based on who we are. What we do to better the lives of those around us. Not where we happen to be born, or to what family or race or anything else. We need to make a difference. A good one.” I couldn't believe her expression. It was as if I'd shined a light out my backside. I urged her, “Go! Before the carpets leave without you.”

  “You're going to help?”

  “Yes.”

  She now seemed panicked, protective, or fearful. It was hard to tell. “But you can't.”

  “Cut off connection between the monster and its maker. That's how you do it. Now go.”

  I left her before she could delay me any longer.

  She gaped.

  Without knowing what the others had in mind, my advantage at this time lay in stealth. Ring turning me invisible, I stalked through the hedges towards its heart. Sorcerers scurried about, people in deep cloaks who smelled of dirt, decay, and vinegar.

  If they were human or mixed blood, I couldn't tell. My nose was not as good as Mordon's. I stood in a crevice to let a clocked figure go by. Ahead was the opening to the center where Mordon and the others would be. I wondered what had happened between the woman's account and now. The cloaked sorcerer glanced my way, hesitated. I held my breath. He moved on.

  I began the trek to the heart of the hedges. The activity was thicker here, but in a wind-down sort of way. People taking off hoods, wrapping bandages. Scolded to get dressed again. Walking animations milled about, sauntering in lazy paths. Nearer to the middle, people still worked to secure their prize.

  Mordon in his red hide was obvious.

  A thick rusty chain bound manacles from his neck to the ground. Considering what he'd done to me, it seemed rather fitting—though I did feel petty for being oddly pleased with his comeuppance. The chains binding him would make matters very difficult, particularly given the dejected slope of his head. I hoped his low spirits were an act.

  Movement caught my eye. I jumped in surprise.

  “Barnes!” I hissed.

  He flinched, turned too-black eyes towards me, and then relaxed. Sneaking through the shadows with him was Lilly. I crossed into the shadows to join them.

  “It's Fera,” Barnes murmured to her.

  “But the chain—”

  So, Lilly had provided the chain. I shouldn't be surprised. I said, “It did its job. What it was tied to happened to be easy to dismantle. Point is, I'm here. Mordon is caught. People are dead. What else is important? Who was it that died?”

  Lilly pursed her lips, saw that I wasn’t being sarcastic, and said timidly, “We aren’t sure. There were a couple of curses flying that shouldn’t have been, and I know some people fell to them.”

  “How did you get here?”

  “Well, it wasn't easy.”

  “The house was locked. Shut up completely.”

  I mentally threw up my arms in exasperation. “I walk through walls, alright? Now what are we facing here?”

  A grumbling henchman emerged from around the hedges, silencing us as he wandered to the central clearing. Someone greeted him. Muffled conversation started. Reasonably sure no one else was moving about, I said, “Well? We're burning time.”

  “We need to release Mordon first. He knows what to do,” Lilly said.

  “Right, so is it only Mordon they have? No one else?”

  An uncomfortable pause passed between us.

  “He's got Death,” Barnes said.

  Of course he did. “Fantastic.”

  “How many footmen they got in there?” Barnes asked.

  I answered. “Six by each opening. Thirteen with Mordon. Didn't see Death, so I don't know about him.”

  “They'll split forces equally between him and Mordon. The roll call is twenty-six, plus six times five openings. Fifty-six in total.” Barnes twitched his mustache. “We need Mordon. Will you free him?”

  “Yes, I'll free him, then I will skin his hide for his stunt this morning.”

  “Good. Don't get in front of me,” Barnes said.

  “Why not?”

  He smiled. It was the menacing Cheshire cat grin of a man who was very much looking forward to using her dark elemental powers. He said simply, “Constable business.”

  “Wait,” I said, confused. “I thought you reported to Cole?”

  “That's the Sheriff. I'm a locally-based internationally-overseen authority,” Barnes said and strode forward.

  Oh.

  I hadn't realized the full power behind my accidental coven members. This also meant that the Magic Constabulary was a threat to Cole—and no wonder. That was why he had tried to push Barnes out of the way.

  Barnes walked straight towards the man guarding the entrance.

  I hesitantly made to follow.

  Lilly pawed empty air searching for me. “Wait.”

  I waited.

  One man detached from the group, met Barnes. The man listened, raised his arm, pointed to someone on the other side of the clearing. Barnes nodded, clapped him on the back, and walked in that direction. The man did not move again. It was as if he had been frozen in place.

  “It's a restraint patch,” Lilly said. “Good for five minutes. Wait till he's gotten the others.”

  They took no more than a passing notice of Barnes, assured that the alarm would have been raised if needed. So they didn't care that Barnes walked behind their group. Cards flew out of fanned hands onto an empty bird bath, men wasting time until they were told to do something again.

  Nothing was noticeably wrong until someone failed to lay down his card. They joked at his terror, but only two were laughing at his expense. The rest were unresponsive. A concerned mutter crossed between the two who Barnes hadn't yet frozen.

  Barnes slapped one of them on the cheek. He stiffened. The other man yelled.

  “Oi!”

  Barnes whacked him with a restraint patch, too. Then he pointed at one of the frozen men, as if blaming him for cheating. Miraculously, the alarm was not raised. To any casual observer, there was a card game. Those were bound to elicit the occasional outburst. Once it was clear that no one else was concerned about the card game, Barnes moved on.

  That their victory against Death may yet be lost was far from their minds.

  Barnes appeared to be making his way for Mordon.

  “Go, but wait for him to clear Mordon's chains,” Lilly said.

  Heart thudding, I went. Every sense accelerated. I was sweating. This was too easy, too good to be true.

  The grass, bruised from trampling feet, was worn to a slippery sludge. The soil holding
it together had turned into a mud pit. It made small squishing noises with every step, and left in my wake a trail of foot prints. My one advantage was that my prints were lost in the mass of all the others.

  Barnes was speaking to the people who were guarding Mordon. They half-circled him, standing at ease, apparently bored of their babysitting duty. Odd that they weren't harassing Mordon, but they may be on orders not to deliberately antagonize a rather large fire drake. It was possible an enraged Mordon could escape without my help. Unfortunately, Mordon's chain was in the way of Barnes's line of fire.

  I weighed my options.

  Once I was beside Mordon, I could use him as a shield against any stray spells. Assuming no spells hit me in the open ground between here and Mordon. Assuming that I could convey to Mordon that I had arrived without him being startled or starting up a battle of wills.

  No one was throwing spells yet, I reasoned. Less than five minutes before the men with the restraint patched unfroze, too. Stepping as quietly as I could, I began my trek to Mordon.

  Forty feet.

  Twenty.

  An angry word from the lead man. I paused, one foot elevated, then set it down again. The leader of his group pointed.

  “Thank you,” Barnes's gruff voice said.

  Ten feet.

  Mordon seemed to be sleeping. I wondered if they'd made him sleep. His scales bled above the eye-ridge, scales along his throat jutted out of alignment with the rest. I knew that injury. Something had snagged his scales from the chest and pulled them towards his jaw, threatening to de-scale him the way a chef would a fish. Depending on how severe the blow was, his armor could be very weakened. The throat was vulnerable anyways. My stomach felt ill.

  Eight feet.

  My toes sank into the mud. I saw the faint circle at the same time that an electric jolt passed through the ball of my foot, up my leg. Pain throbbed through my shoulder. The person nearest us turned his head. It all happened in a split second, the same instant that I stepped right onto a ward.

  Reflex was to jerk, but I was leaned so far forward that I lunged towards Mordon. His eye opened, pupil narrowing in response to the light.

  A wall of blue electricity formed, stinging my heels, closing me in. The last few feet disappeared in a blur. I didn't recall running, but the next thing I knew, I found myself spread-eagle over Mordon's curled forepaw. My hand gripped his talon, one with dried and tacky blood sticking to my palm. Muffling a gasp, I tried to control the pain echoing through my body.