Sovereign of the Seven Isles 7: Reishi Adept (16 page)

“How many soldiers do you think are bitten?” Abigail asked.

“Not enough to defeat us,” Cassandra said, waving at a pair of witches on the roof of another building nearby. In the growing light, the other eight witches became visible on four different rooftops. With their target wizards all taken safely away by the wyverns, each pair had ascended to predetermined extraction points to await Abigail’s signal.

“Good
. Change of plan. We take the fortress and secure the soldiers who have been bitten.”

“
How do you propose we do that?” Cassandra asked.

“I don’t want to kill General Brand, but we need to get him off the field. Without leadership, those who haven’t been bitten will yield to my authority.”

“I think we can manage that,” Magda said, signaling to Amelia to land. She was leading the steeds of the witches who had infiltrated the command fortress. After a pass, she floated in to light on the rooftop with Abigail while the rest of the wyverns picked out their riders and landed nearby.

“The wizards have been secured,”
Amelia said, her face red and windblown. “Mage Jalal is with them now.”

“Excellent,” Magda said. “We’re going to take the fortress. As soon as we subdue General Brand, I want you to snatch him up and take him to Jalal
as well.”

Soldiers were pouring out of every building and forming up in the central square to attack the wyverns with arrows
, while General Brand shouted for them to be quick about it.

Magda and Cassandra joined hands and began chanting. A moment later, amber light arced from their hands, leaping
off the rooftop, over the crowd of soldiers and striking Brand full in the chest. The light seemed to flow around his entire body, dancing and flickering over every inch of him. He froze in place and then fell over.

A great whoosh of air made Abigail duck as Amelia’s wyver
n launched off the roof, landing briefly on one taloned foot, scattering the nearby soldiers as she carefully took Brand with the other talon. Before the soldiers could react, she was in the air and flying low over the encampment.

“Can you shield me
from arrows?” Abigail asked.

“Of course,” Magda replied, casting a spell around
her.

Before
she stepped up to the edge of the roof to address the soldiers, she looked sideways at Magda.

“Just how many spells do you know
anyway?”

“Seventy-eight,” Magda said with a little smile.

“Huh,” Abigail said, nodding to herself as she started toward the edge of the roof, but then stopped.

“Dalia, will you go get me Agneza’s head, please?”

“Of course,” Dalia said.

“Soldiers of Ithilian, hear me,”
Abigail shouted into the confusion and fear below. “My name is Abigail Ruatha and I am your ally.” She drew the Thinblade, the ancient badge of royalty, and held it up for the men to see. “King Abel and many of his men have fallen under the spell of two very powerful and very evil witches. To your eyes these demon-spawn creatures seem beautiful beyond measure, but you have been deceived.”

There was a murmur of disagreemen
t that grew into angry denials.

“Liar!” one man yelled.

“Lady Peti said that women spread falsehoods,” another said.

Several
others shouted threats at Abigail.

She
made a mental note of those who objected the most vocally.

“Some of
those in your ranks have been bitten. They are beyond reason and must be detained until the venom runs its course.”

A soldier with emblems of rank pushed through the crowd and fired a crossbow at Abigail. The bolt turned aside at the last moment, but it came close enough that Abigail flinched.

“Lady Peti said you would lie to us,” he yelled, turning to the men behind him. “Don’t listen to her—”

Magda
interrupted him with a force-push, blowing him to the ground and leaving him dazed.

“Look at
his neck,” Abigail said. “You’ll see that he’s been bitten.”

Before he could regain his senses, the nearest soldier checked
him, backing away like he was contagious.

“She’s right. He has bite marks.”

As they were absorbing the truth of their situation, several more soldiers fired on Abigail. This time she didn’t flinch, trusting Magda’s magic to protect her as it had so often in the past. Dalia came rushing up with Agneza’s deformed and grotesque head. Abigail took it by the horn and held it up.

“This is Agneza as she truly looks. Her dark magic deceived you—made you see her as beautiful, but she is not, and neither is her sister Peti.”

Abigail tossed the head into the crowd. Many stood in stunned shock and horror, but those who’d been bitten attacked their companions with reckless abandon.

“Subdue them!” Abigail shouted, but the din of battle drowned her out. T
he fight lasted barely a minute since there were only a score of men who’d been bitten. Most died in their frenzied attack but a few were saved and subdued.

Abigail watched with a mixture of sadness for the loss of life and anger
at the last remaining Sin’Rath.

“I swear that I will see the Sin’Rath ended if it’s the last thing I do,” Magda said.

Abigail nodded, turning to Dalia. “Go get Sofia and Jalal. Bring them back here, quickly.”

Dalia nodded and raced to her waiting wyvern, mounting quickly and launching into the sky.

“What do you have in mind?” Cassandra asked.

“
Sofia will take command of her army and Jalal will tell us where the witch went with Abel.”

“What about them?” Magda asked, nodding to the men below. They stood in a loose circle around Agneza’s head, those nearest staring with disbelief and revulsion while others tried to get close enough to see.

“Once it sinks in, I suspect they’ll do everything they can to help us.”

Chapter
12

“Lord Abel is at the gate,” Bree said, slightly out of breath.

“Is
that witch with my husband?” Sofia asked.

“She is, along with a cordon of men surrounding them both,” Bree reported. “Dalia, Kat
, and Amelia are on the gatehouse tower. The guardsmen have been instructed to stay off the walls.”

“Good,” Abigail said, standing up from the table in the main council chamber where Abel had conducted business. So
fia, Evelyn, and Jalal were there along with more than a dozen witches from the Reishi Coven. The rest of the wizards had remained hidden in the cave network to avoid becoming charmed again.

It had been little more than an hour since
Sofia had arrived. Jalal had divined that Peti was still inside the main encampment with Abel and that they were rallying their troops to assault the command fortress. Even with a number of witches and Mage Jalal, Abigail knew they wouldn’t be able to hold it against a force of twenty thousand.

“Mage Jalal, I’d like you to stay here with So
fia and Evelyn,” Abigail said.

“I’m coming with you,” So
fia and Evelyn both said at the same time.

“This might get ugly,” Abigail said. “I’d rather you weren’t in the way when the fighting starts.”

“He’s my husband,” Sofia said.

“He’s my father,” Evelyn said.

Abigail nodded in resignation, turning to Bree. “Keep them safe.”

They filed out of the command building into a light drizzle falling out of a calm, uniformly gr
ey sky. Wyverns were perched on a number of rooftops and witches manned the guard towers at the four corners of the fortress. Halfway across the central square, a thunderous roar stopped them in their tracks. The wyverns launched into the sky, scattering in all directions like a flock of birds fleeing a predator.

One of the witches on a gua
rd tower shouted: “Dragon!”

Alarms went up from the encampment outside the command fortress and the soldiers within seemed on the verge of panic.
An expectant stillness came over everyone in the square as they awaited the first glimpse.

“It’s blue,” Abigail said. “Can you see if it has a rider?”

“No rider … and it’s not Ixabrax,” Magda said.

The dragon flew straight for the command fortress, descending in a gentle glide
, then flaring its wings and landing in the square as men and witches scattered, making ready to attack.

“Hold!” Abigai
l shouted over the rush of wind, shielding her eyes from the dust.

“Abigail Ruatha!” the dragon
called out in a rumbling voice. “I was told I would find Abigail Ruatha here.”

Abigail took a deep breath and steeled her nerves before striding out to face the dragon with as much feigned confidence as she could muster. Her heart was pounding in her chest, her legs were trembling
, her hands were sweating. She had to remind herself to breathe as she approached.

It struck her just how ephemeral and small human struggles were in the face of such a creature.
The dragon’s ice-blue scales glistened with rainwater, her brow swept back into a single horn that marked the first in a series of spikes running the length of her spine. Her barbed tail flicked about like that of an irritated cat.

Magda followed
to the side and just behind Abigail as she approached the dragon’s head, held low to the ground so she could look Abigail in the eye.

“I urge caution,” Magda said under her breath.

“A wise precaution,” the dragon said. “Are you Abigail Ruatha?”

“I am.”

“You will come with me,” the dragon said.

“Not without answers
, I won’t,” Abigail said.

The dragon’s eyes narrowed and she moved her snout closer to Abigail.

“Do not defy me, Human.”

“Who are you and why have you sought me out?”

The dragon hesitated for a moment. Abigail got the distinct impression that she was giving serious thought to eating her.

“I am
Zora, mate to Ixabrax. He has been taken and enslaved by the human known as Zuhl. You will help me free him.”

Abigail couldn’t help herself
—she smiled with unabashed joy.

“You’re his mate? I’m so glad he found you.”

Zora ignored her. “You will come with me … now.”

Dalia raced into the square, skidding to a stop when she rounded the corner and saw
Zora. The dragon’s head snapped to look at her with suspicion.

“We won’t attack you,” Abigail said
, motioning to Dalia to hold her position. “You’re safe here.”

Zora
looked around warily, her tail nervously flicking this way and that.

“What is it
, Dalia?” Magda asked.

“Abel and the witch fled when the dragon arrived.”

“Climb onto my neck and hold on tightly,” Zora said.

“Slow down,” Abigail said. “I’m right in the middle of something here.”

“You will set your concerns aside.”

“No, I won’t.”

Zora cocked her head. Abigail couldn’t tell if she was bemused or just irritated.

The dragon
snorted a gust of chilled air at Abigail, sending shivers through her body.

“You’re trying my patience, Human.”

Abigail tried to banish the cold but couldn’t stop trembling until she considered the situation and her anger started to rise.

“And you’re trying mine, Dragon. I’m right in the middle of a war here and the outcome of this battle will shape the future of an entire island kingdom. Countless people will be affected
. And you want me to drop what I’m doing and fly away with you?”

“Your concerns are of little interest to me. I care only for Ixabrax, and you are the
one being that I know of who can help me free him. You will help me or I will become a far greater and more immediate threat to your future than any other enemy you face.”

Abigail stepped closer to
Zora’s snout, drawing the Thinblade and holding it up for her to see, close enough to strike. The soldiers and witches all tensed, frozen in place.

“Don’t threaten me, Dragon.”

Zora’s tail cocked back, poised to strike.

Abigail
turned the Thinblade in front of her and said, “This is what you want. But it will do you no good without me, so hear me well. Ixabrax is my friend and it breaks my heart that Zuhl has collared him again.” She sheathed the Thinblade. “I will help you free him, but only on my terms.”

Zora
’s eyes narrowed again. “And what terms are those?”

“We join forces,
we work together to free Ixabrax and destroy Zuhl, but only after I’ve ended the threat here.”

“Unacceptable.”

“Which part?”

“You will come with me now. Whatever threat you face here can wait.”

“No, it can’t! I’ve been pursuing this witch across half the world and I finally have her within reach. I’m not about to let her get away now.”

“Ixabrax must come first.”

“No!”

Zora
’s head moved back as if she were seeing Abigail anew.

“I see why Ixabrax likes you. Because of that, I’ve given you the benefit of
the doubt. Any other human who spoke to me in such a fashion would be little more than indigestion by now.” Her giant head moved closer. “Now you will hear me. Every moment that Ixabrax wears a slave collar is intolerable. He must be freed … today.”

Abigail threw up her arms. “So what’s your plan? Do you think you and I can make a run at Zuhl and survive? He’s a mage … he’s surrounded with soldiers, priests
, and drakini … oh, and he’s got a dragon fighting for him.” Abigail shook her head, running her hand through her silvery blond hair. “My father used to say: Be driven by emotion but ruled by reason. You’re allowing emotion to rule you. When we go after Zuhl, we’ll need a plan … and a lot more power than you and I can bring to bear alone. Look around you. I have an army of witches mounted on wyverns. If we work together, we can succeed, but we have to be smart about this.”

A wyvern came in and landed on the wall, flinching skittishly when
Zora unfurled her wings and brought her head up to face the potential threat. The rider shouted something to the soldiers within the walls, but she was too far away for Abigail to hear.

“
Zora, you don’t need to fear us.”

The dragon looked back to Abigail, folding her wings
again.

“I don’t fear you.”

Abigail snorted, nodding to herself. “Fair enough, but you should fear Zuhl. He’s dangerous and ruthless. If we do this wrong, he’s just going to put a collar on you, too.”

Zora
bristled, her tail flicking around with irritation.

“That will never
happen.”

“Not if we do this right.”

A nervous soldier appeared at the edge of the square, reluctant to come any closer until Abigail motioned for him to approach. His eyes didn’t leave Zora and he only got close enough to shout the message.

“Abel and the Sin’Rath have
fled through the Gate.”

“What?!” Abigail shouted. “Where did they go?”

“I don’t know,” the soldier said, backing away.

Abigail put her hand on her
forehead as she walked in a small circle, her mind racing for answers to a dozen questions, the foremost on the list being where had they gone? She stopped, facing Zora with her fists planted firmly on her hips.

“This is on you, Dragon.”

“Be that as it may, it would seem that your quarry has escaped, and with it your excuses for delay are gone as well.”

“You have no idea what you’ve done,” Abigail said, her eyes closed and her head tipped back. The light drizzle on her face was cold but sobering.

“We had her … now there’s a demon-spawn witch with an Island King and his Thinblade loose somewhere in the Seven Isles.” Abigail shook her head and faced Zora. “There’s no telling what damage she’ll cause now.”

“This witch is not my concern
—”

“Oh, yes she is. You want
to free Ixabrax? Well, the price just went up. First, we do this my way. After we free Ixabrax, you’ll both help me kill Zuhl once and for all, and not just his simulacrum … him. Then,” she continued before Zora could respond, “you’ll help me kill the Sin’Rath witch that just escaped. You’ll give me your word on this right now or there’s no deal.”

Zora
’s eyes narrowed, her catlike irises contracting slightly. Silence fell on the courtyard. Abigail stood her ground, scant feet away from the snout of a beast that could make a light meal of her in the blink of an eye. As the moments slipped by and the tension built, Abigail felt common sense begin to penetrate the anger and frustration fueling her rash words. Her confidence started to erode … then the dragon spoke.

“Bargain struck, Human. But know this, if you fail to free my mate
, or if he is harmed, your life is forfeit.”