CHAPTER Twenty-One
It didn’t make any sense. I stood there, staring in utter bafflement at the now apparently vacated spot. I leaned forward and touched the dagger gingerly with my toe, just in case his corpse was somehow now only merely invisible rather than completely vanished. Unsurprisingly, there was no camouflaged body blocking the path of my boot. He had definitely gone. What the f*ck was going on?
Corrigan padded up beside me and sniffed, then looked at me with troubled eyes.
Can you smell anything?
He shook his head. I can’t get the stench of that thing out of my nostrils. It’s blocking virtually everything else.
I twisted round, raising one hand, and shot out fire towards the red-eyed beast’s body, lighting it up. Unfortunately the smell of its burning flesh only appeared to compound the problem, rather than solve it. Giving up, I turned back.
What in the hell happened, Corrigan? He couldn’t have just gotten up and walked away. I f*cking killed him! The bloody dagger is still there!
He sat back heavily on his haunches. He wasn’t a ghost. He wasn’t even undead. I could smell death around him, but it wasn’t of him per se. It was more like…a perfume.
I wrinkled my nose in disgust. Great. A guy without a name who enjoys making art out of dead bodies, has the ability not only to recuperate from being dead himself, and who wears eau de corpse. Why me? Then I stopped in mid-thought, dread flooding through me. Because it wasn’t me he was interested in. It had never been me he was interested in.
“The dryads,” I whispered.
I looked down at Corrigan in horror. His feline green eyes met mine and a single moment of mutual understanding passed between us. I moved forward, yanking my dagger out of the dark ground in one swift movement, gripping it tightly in my hand. Then we both turned and started to run.
The clearing where I’d met Mereia’s friend previously was a good twenty minutes walk up the hill. Neither of us were strolling now, however. I pelted up the slope, mustering every single ounce of energy and speed that I possibly could. Corrigan, in his were-panther form as he was, far outstripped me. He bounded up at almost twice my speed and, even as fast as I was going, was soon almost out of sight.
I put my head down and gritted my teeth. How could I have been so stupid? Why had I taken my eyes away from that bastard? I should have known that it couldn’t have been this easy to defeat someone as intent on pure evil as he had been. He was clearly drawing on forces that were far beyond my comprehension. I swore under my breath and forced my legs to pump faster, scree and small twigs flying up into the air around my wake. The trees and dark shadows around me began to blur into the background as I whizzed past, heart pumping. I could feel every facet of my body tingling with fiery heat. I was going to destroy him. I’d rip every limb from his f*cking body and bury them at the four corners of the earth so that there was no way in hell he’d rise again. Whoever he was, he wasn’t going to fool me again.
It wasn’t long before I realised that up ahead of me a harsh glow was emanating from the clearing. Suspicions unhappily confirmed, my resolve hardened even deeper. I continued to sprint the last couple of hundred yards, finally zipping away from the beaten path and into the trees themselves, until I came to a grounding halt at the edge of the small open area. Corrigan was already there, a dark sleek ball of growling tension. I stared ahead.
Our nasty death-defying sorcerer had planted himself smack bang in the middle. It wasn’t clear exactly where the light was coming from, but it seemed to centre itself somehow around his body. It wasn’t that which caught my attention, however. Rather it was the two dryads, suspended about two feet in the air on either side of him that drew my eyes. The one on his right was the shy nymph I’d already met. Both her and her friend were writhing and twisting in the air, obvious agony on their faces. I snarled.
“Let them go.”
Their captor blinked slowly at me. “Dear me, why on earth why would I do that? You have to understand, Ms Smith, that I require their energy. The thing is, I was only going to start with the trees. I had plans, you know. You and your little furry Lord Alpha have rather disrupted them.” He shrugged. “But I can adapt. I had intended to be more merciful, and to permit the remaining dryads to continue with their rather dull and pitiful existence.” He smiled unpleasantly. “Well, most of them, anyway. Unfortunately for their species, your interference has changed all that. By bringing the humans here and interrupting my schedule, I have no choice but to fast forward my plans. You shall have to live with the results.”
I laughed coldly. “I do believe your over-confidence is going to be your undoing. I am going to f*cking pulverise you.”
“Goodness, such language. Someone really ought to wash your mouth out with soap. I will admit that I hadn’t expected you to display the power that you did. Believe me, it hasn’t gone unnoticed. I don’t suppose you are willing to tell me now what you are?”
“F*ck you.”
A pained cry rang out from the dryad to his left, and he raised his eyebrows. “I would watch what you say. Your words and your actions have consequences.”
Corrigan snapped forward at the same moment as I used my one free hand to jet out green fire. Both dryads immediately shrieked and blood began to blossom in the centre of each their chests, a dark flower staining their skin. I withdrew my hand, and Corrigan adjusted his attack, sailing over the threesome instead of slamming into them, and landed on the other side, twisting around to face their backs and flank them. The fire that had already reached the bastard ate away at the edges of his suit but did little other damage. Both the dryads’ screams subsided into quiet sobs, although blood continued to drip from their bodies, turning the dark ground even darker as it fell.
His mouth quirked up at one side. “I did warn you.”
“You’re not going to get away with this.”
“Oh, how terribly comic book of you. I think you’ll find, Ms Smith, that I will get away with it. With this and with, oh, so much more.”
Rage was beginning to scorch its way through me. My lungs were filling with fire, and I knew I was close to shifting, whether I wanted to or not. This time I chose not to bank down the flames. Becoming a dragon again might f*cking terrify me, but if that was what it was going to take, then that was what I was prepared to do.
He cocked his head towards me. “You are turning a most peculiar shade of red. Interesting.”
We need a plan, Corrigan.
I know. His Voice was grim. Are you going to shift?
I might not have a choice.
“The pair of you are communicating telepathically.” He gestured backwards towards Corrigan in a flippant manner that raised my hackles even further, if that were possible. “So that would make you some kind of shifter then. Except I’ve never seen a shifter who can use magic as well. Ms. Smith, you are a charming conundrum.”
If you attacked from behind, knocking him over, and I used the dagger on him again, we might be able to get the dryads released before he hurts them anymore. I don’t think he’s put a ward in place.
It’ll need to be fast. With what he’s shown us so far, it won’t take him more than a second to kill the pair of them.
“I tell you what,” he murmured. “You wanted to know my name. I’ll give you it if you tell me what you really are.”
If I transform, it’ll distract him.
It might also give him enough time to slaughter both of them too.
I spoke aloud. “Sure. You first.”
“Somehow I don’t think I trust you, Ms Smith.” He sighed. “I am also starting to rather tire of these antics.”
“So stop then.”
“Do you know why I chose the dryads over the Batibats? Certainly I imagine that you would be less inclined to be getting in my way right now if I had opted for that direction. And both are linked to the earth, granting me the power that I need to draw.”
Hmm. I kept a mental note of that comment, trying not to let the fact that he’d piqued my interest with his sudden clue to his motives show on my face. “Enlighten me,” I grunted.
He snapped his fingers together, and a dark shimmering shape appeared in front of him. I peered at it. A f*cking portal. It looked different somehow to normal ones; usually even in darkness they were identified by streaks of light purple. This one just looked black. If it wasn’t for the light that he was already casting, I doubted I’d have managed to make out even a single flicker of the gateway he’d opened.
We can’t let him escape.
I growled back. I know.
“You see,” he stated calmly, “every dryad is connected.”
Where is he going with this?
Corrigan sounded as baffled as I felt. No clue, but keep him talking.
“To their trees? So what?”
He waved a hand dismissively in the air. Mereia’s friend moaned and my muscles tightened in anger. “Yes, yes, to the trees. More than that, however, they are connected to each other. An invisible web, if you like. It’s entirely unique to their species.”
Suddenly, I saw an opening. It was risky but it might work. Corrigan, I think I have it. I know how I can take the dryads out of the equation. His only leverage will be gone and you will be free to attack him. You just need to keep him away from that portal.
But you can’t get both dryads at the same time, Mack. They’re stuck fast and he’s in control. He’s using magic to keep them in place. How are you going to snap his spell?
“I’m afraid I still don’t quite see your point,” I said aloud, trying to keep my opponent relaxed and chatting so we could plan out our move.
Do you see where both their feet are pointing?
Their toes are focused on…I see it.
It was subtle, but glaringly obvious once you knew it was there. Freaky Mage Man had already given it away in fact with his words. He was using the tree nymphs to leech power from the earth. And in order to keep the nymphs suspended where they were, he was using the earth back at them, forcing them into position through the one point that both their feet were demonstrably aiming towards. It was too much of a coincidence to not be important that there was one single patch of ground that all twenty of their toes were being drawn to, as if by some invisible magnetic force. Add in the fact that there was an oddly shaped patch of black-as-death shadow in that very spot and, hey presto, there was our way out. Break that connection and break the dryads’ prison. If I could fling all of my power at that one spot – blood and fire together – then Corrigan would be free to destroy this prick without fear of the consequences.
“You are thinking narrow-mindedly, Ms Smith.”
Actually, no I wasn’t. There was no way I was going to tell him that though, of course.
“The thing is,” he continued, “if I slant things just right, if everything aligns in the way that I want it to, then what I take from one, I can take from all.”
I had absolutely no idea what he was on about. I didn’t really care either. I didn’t want to let on that we had discovered the chink in his armour, however, so I kept talking. “Why not do that before now then? You already slaughtered one of them. Why not take everything you needed then?”
“As I said, I wanted to be merciful. But,” he motioned towards me, “things change. Besides, power is a funny thing. Overload everything all at once and you risk creating a shortage.”
“And you’re not worried about that now?”
Are we good to go?
“Since my first visit here, I have been building and growing my capacity. I wasn’t in a position to take everything before.” He smiled toothlessly, in a manner that sent an icy cold trickle of hatred through me to join the angry swirl of bloodfire in my veins. “I am confident now, however, that I can manage to draw it all in. You can be content in the knowledge that your actions are responsible for the extinction of the dryad race.”
Uh, what? This guy wasn’t just a power hungry murderer, he was a wannabe genocidal maniac making absolutely no sense whatsoever.
“So whatever you and the kitty cat are planning in those little heads of yours, you can abandon it now. I will grant you one boon, however.”
“Oh yes?” I said, distractedly.
On a count of three. Three…
“My name.”
Two…
“So you can spend the rest of your pathetic life with something tangible to curse.”
One…
“It’s Endor.”
Now!
Several things happened at once. Both dryads let out abrupt piercing shrieks as Endor outstretched both his arms towards them. Corrigan launched himself from behind, claws flashing in the air as he aimed his great rippling panther body at the sorcerer. I threw my one remaining dagger down and leapt towards the dark point on the ground, fire shooting out from my fingertips and intermingling with the drops of blood that were still welling up at the surface of my skin. The fire and blood mix hit the spot with an angry hiss, sending up a plume of dark steam but, just when Corrigan was scant inches from Endor’s body, he took one swift step towards the portal. I could have sworn there was merry amusement twinkling in his eyes as his entire figure vanished. Corrigan and the dryads thumped virtually simultaneously onto the hard ground, and all four of us let out individual exclamations of pain, anger and frustration. The light that had been surrounding the area winked out, and we were plunged into darkness.
Without thinking, I threw myself at the strange blackened shimmers of the gateway in a desperate bid to follow him, but, for some reason, my passage was blocked and instead I also slammed down to the ground. I smashed my fist in thwarted anguish against the earth, and instead crawled over to Mereia’s friend.
She was muttering something to herself. Literally, as I watched, the colour was draining from her shadowed skin. She reached one hand out to me, and I clutched it, panicking.
‘What’s happening?” I shouted. “What can I do?”
She moaned, her fingers tightening around mine. “He’s taking it all,” he gasped.
With an inarticulate snarl and snap, Corrigan shifted back into his naked human form, and crouched over the other dryad.
“She’s fading, Mack, I don’t know what to do.”
I wrenched my hand away and ran the few steps to the portal, trying to smear my blood on it to close it and stop whatever Endor was doing to the dryads. He had to still be linking to them from wherever he was. If I could force the magical doorway shut then I could break his connection. The wound on my finger had nothing left to give, however. I cast around quickly, my eyes landing on the gleam of the silver dagger gleaming in the weak moonlight that still lit the area. Scooping it back up, I pressed it again into my hand, creating yet another wound. The pain didn’t even register. Then I sprang back to the portal of darkness and shoved my bleeding palm towards it. The shimmers reacted, almost as if they were angry, flickering faster and colliding with each other. The gateway, however, remained open. I cursed and tried again.
“Mack,” said the dryad weakly.
I barely heard her, using the dagger to open up my wound even more. I must just need more blood. Again, I thrust out towards the shadowy shimmers. Again, the portal refused to close.
“Come on, come on,” I muttered desperately.
“Mack,” she said again. “You need to do it now.”
“I’m trying!”
“No, you don’t understand. You need to end it now. Kill us.”
Her words slowly sank in as I looked first at her and then at Corrigan. His face was pale under his tan as we both stared at each other. What the f*ck?
“He was right,” she gasped, the pain in her voice obvious. “I can feel it.”
“Feel what? I don’t understand.”
The colour in her eyes was already starting to dim and leak out. “Through us he’s linked to everyone.”
I still didn’t get it. The fog of confused desperation was almost overwhelming.
“He…” she paused for a moment as a wave of agony overtook her, before swallowing hard and continuing on. “He’s using us to get to them all. He was right that we’re all inter-connected. By taking our life-force he’s taking it from every single dryad in the country. He’s used the power he already took from Mereia to somehow force us all together as one and tap into the system that binds us. If you don’t end it for us, then they will all die. Kill us now, Mack. You have to. You can’t let him destroy all of us. And you can’t let him take that much power.”
Her companion joined in, chiming weakly. “I can feel them all fading away. Do it now. You must.”
Atlanteia’s invisible roots. An icy hand of frozen anguish gripped its way round my heart, squeezing tightly. “No,” I whispered. “There must be another way.”
“There’s not. Do it, Mack, do it before it’s too late.”
“No! My blood. If you take my blood then it will heal you.”
I began thrusting out my hand towards her. How much would she need? I’d need to make sure there was enough for both of them. The dryad, however, was shaking her head.
“You can’t. I can’t. It will heal us, but it won’t break the link. The others will still die, Mack. All the others. You need to kill us to save them.” Her eyes pleaded with me.
The realisation of what Endor had meant when he’d said that Corrigan and I would have to live with consequences of our actions hit me. All that stupid power inside my blood and not one single iota of it could help. Dully, I stared down at her, then back towards Corrigan. He watched me grimly, then nodded. Barely able to draw breath, I nodded back. Tears filled my eyes, blurring my vision as I knelt down beside her. Her hand grasped up towards me.
“It’s the right thing,” she whispered.
No, it f*cking wasn’t. I took her hand in mine, then reached out with my other one and smoothed down her tangled green hair. Corrigan was beside the other dryad, cradling her head in his hands.
I clenched my teeth. “I’m so so sorry.”
She lifted her eyes to mine, stubborn denial at my words lighting their depths. “Do it. We will have our revenge through you in another life.”
Kill a few to save a lot. To save them all. It wasn’t f*cking right. I took a deep breath, moving my hands round the sides of her head. Then I twisted it sharply right and broke her neck.