Tristan picked up the knife and pistol from the blood-soaked carpet and handed them to me. “We don’t. I do. Keep a steel weapon on you at all times – those who come will have even less tolerance for the metal than a troll. Stab one while it is corporeal, and you’ll likely kill it.”
“I don’t know what that means.” I followed him into the corridor, trotting to keep pace with his long stride.
“If it takes a shape.” He stopped in his tracks and gripped my shoulders. “I should have told you more before, but I did not believe they’d come so soon. They must have been watching.” He took a deep breath. “There is too much to explain, and we’ve no time for it. Stay within the castle walls, and you’ll be safe.”
I nodded in understanding if not agreement, as I had a sinking suspicion that he had no intention of remaining safely behind walls.
We ran toward the front of the castle and out into the darkness of the night. The torch flames danced wildly with the force of the wind, the sudden thick snow descending from the sky, carpeting the ground. It was painfully, unnaturally cold, and I would have retreated back if not for the warmth of Tristan’s magic wrapping around my body.
The gates were closed, and the walls were lined with guards too fixated on the monster flying above the city to notice anyone coming up from behind them. “Open them,” Tristan demanded once we reached them.
“Are you mad?” one of the guards replied, eyes wild. “Do you know what’s out there?”
“Open the gates!”
I turned to see Lord Aiden striding towards us, but there was something about his voice that seemed… off. “Cécile,” he added under his breath, and gave me a wink as he passed. It was my brother, disguised as Aiden with troll magic.
“But, my lord, there’s a…”
The look my brother gave him, using Aiden’s face, sent the man scampering to the mechanism that opened the steel portcullis.
“I trust you can kill that thing,” he said under his breath.
“We’ll find out,” Tristan replied. “Either way, I’ll be needing your sword.”
In grim silence, we watched the heavy steel rise in its stone casement, the screams of the terrified people running in the city streets sending chills down my spine. The dragon wheeled and dove, coming up with victims in its mouth, their blood freezing into ice before it reached the ground. Frost billowed from its mouth with each roar, coating the city with ice.
“Do not step beyond the walls,” Tristan said once the gates were open, and then he walked out onto the bridge.
“Anushka is dead,” I whispered, gripping my brother’s arm.
Fred tore his gaze from Tristan. “The curse is broken?”
I nodded. “Fred… There’s something I need to tell you.” I didn’t know how to say it. How to tell him that our mother was dead, and that I’d been the one who killed her. But before speak, Tristan shouted in a language not of this world, his voice amplified by magic so that the creature would hear.
“Whatever it is can wait,” Fred replied, and I nodded in silent agreement.
The dragon drifted in lazy circles around the castle, listening to whatever Tristan was saying. It was enormous – easily the size of a ship, and I could not fathom how Tristan intended to kill it.
Tristan ceased speaking, and the dragon came round to hover above the bridge, massive wings sending blasts of wind that tore the banners from their moorings.
Thud, thud, thud.
Then the creature opened its maw, and a blast of ice hurtled through the air toward him. And smashed up against a wall of magic. Chunks of ice crashed onto the bridge and into the raging river below, and then the dragon jerked down. It shrieked in fury, trying to retreat up into the air, but invisible ropes of magic held it in place. The bridge shivered and the walls shook as Tristan bound the creature to them, drawing it down and down until it crashed into the bridge, knocking the railings into the river.
Tristan spoke again, and though I could not understand the words, from his tone, I knew he was giving the dragon one last chance to retreat. One last chance to live.
But it only roared in defiance.
Lifting Fred’s sword, Tristan swung, the blade whipping through the air to slice into the dragon’s neck, and then its head was falling. But before it could hit the ground, it turned to snow indistinguishable from that which fell from the sky. The body also turned, looking for all the world like a giant snow sculpture soon to be eroded by the wind. The blizzard died down, and the unnatural chill left the air.
“God in heaven,” Fred whispered. “How is such a thing possible?”
Lowering the sword, Tristan turned back to us. “It was a test, the real threat is…”
Horns blasted from the south, drowning him out. Over and over again they echoed off the mountain peaks and through the valleys, the tone ominous and threatening. The sound of war.
“They have discovered their cage has been broken,” Tristan said, and taking hold of my hand, he led me back to the castle.