“So she’s a drug dealer?”
“Sort of, only under the Veil, most everything is legal as long as it doesn’t involve humans. I guess from your perspective, light elves are the weapons dealers and drug lords of the Underveil, but it’s not a bad thing, so stop thinking like a human.”
God, she hated being told that. “She makes the elixir your uncle is hooked on. The one you told me about?”
She put her arms around the boys’ shoulders. “Maybe. Several elves are Alchemists.”
It would explain how Fee had contact enough with Fydor to catch his eye and to get caught by him, perhaps. The image of her from her vision popped to mind again, and a sparkle of hope shimmered in Elena’s heart. She couldn’t beat Fydor using brawn or nonexistent fighting skills, but she just might be able to play on his weakness and outwit him. Grab him by the Achilles heel Stefan talked about.
“Okay, you two know what to do, right?” Aleksi ruffled the boys’ hair in a sisterly way.
The larger one nodded. “Simion and I are going to run to the castle and tell everyone the Uniter has teleported to the elves’ forest with Lady Aleksandra and Mr. Claude as hostages.”
She smiled. “Right. And then?”
“Then we’re gonna run home and not tell anyone anything else or you’ll cut off our testicles and use them as marbles,” the other one said, grinning ear-to-ear. If he’d had a tail, he would have wagged it.
Elena shook her head. “Niiiiice.”
“Visual imagery works. Easy to remember, motivational, and highly effective.” Aleksi stood, brushed off the hay, and flipped her black hair over her shoulder.
Elena remembered the hostile reception Nik received when he asked the elf for help in the forest. She was pretty sure there was no way that was their destination. The story the boys were to tell was a red herring. “Where are we really going to go?”
The door slammed open, knocking Claude down, and two huge men stormed into the room. Not Slayers, Elena noted immediately, based on their dark brown eyes and brown hair. “Where are you really going? You’re going to the dungeon,” one growled.
“Bear shifters,” Aleksi said, pulling her sword from the sheath on her back. “Slow moving. Strong. They claw and bite.”
Still in human form, one charged her while the other one stalked toward Elena, making a low, grumbling sound in its throat. Aleksi brought her sword down on the huge man’s shoulder, nearly severing his arm when he got within reach. “And they’re stupid.”
The one closest to Aleksi shifted into a huge bear with black claws and fangs as big as the head of a claw hammer, while the one nearest Elena remained in human form. He grabbed Claude by the collar.
“She took me prisoner!” he shouted. “She’s dangerous. Release me!”
The guy let him go and spun to face Elena right about the time the bear stood on his hind legs, towering over Aleksi, who remained in fighting stance, sword in both hands in front. The bear roared, and both boys shifted into dog form.
Keeping her eyes on both the bear and the man stalking toward her, Elena sent a charge to her hands. Very little energy was building up. She must have used it up zapping the guard on her way into the dungeon or maybe lighting the cells with her palm. She slipped the sword from the sheath on her thigh.
“We’re not supposed to kill ’em,” the man hollered to the bear. “Jus’ maim ’em.”
The bear made a swipe at Aleksi, and she ducked, spun, and buried the sword in the beast’s chest. It roared in pain, right as the second bear man grabbed Elena by the hair, knocking the sword out of her hands. One of the dogs launched itself at his neck, but missed, biting and latching on to the man’s shoulder instead. Immediately, he shifted into his bear form, and before Elena had built up enough power to deliver a shock, he sunk his fangs into the dog’s neck, ripped it loose from his shoulder, and flung it across the barn, where it slammed into the wall with a yelp and a sickening crack. When it turned its enormous head back to Elena, she shoved her palm against its nose and released all of her current into the beast. His human-looking eyes widened, and soundlessly, his body went rigid and tremors jerked through his huge form. When his eyes glazed into a blank stare, she released him and he collapsed to the floor, bear skin sluffing off to reveal the man again.
Completely drained, Elena was mildly aware of the sounds of struggle going on behind her, but could focus only on the boy in a heap on the floor where his body had landed, limbs sprawled at unnatural angles.