Stained Glass Monsters (30 page)

Asleep. She was just asleep as Kendall
had been. Perhaps they all were. There was no sign of any injuries,
no blood. Everyone had just fallen to the ground in a scatter of
swords and slates.

"Wake up!" Kendall yelled immediately,
careless of consequences. "Wake up! Wake up!"

The demon prince laughed. "Noisy
fledgling. Would you like me to give you a reason to scream? It
wouldn't stir them."

"Don't talk to me, monster!" Kendall
cried, caught between panic and fury. "You're a horror! You're a
wrong thing! Just – go away!"

The demon only looked entertained.
"Spirit, if a little lacking in common sense," he said. He seemed
an oddly smiling and cheerful sort for a monster, though there was
a taste to his words she didn't like. "Now, what was it I wanted –
oh, yes, my distant nephew. Tell me, fledgling, where is he?"

"Why would I know that?"

"Don't be obtuse. That was his bed you
were lying on. You were with his sister. My little cousin's best
little friend, isn't that so?"

How did he know? But the last question
had not been addressed to Kendall. She felt the faintest movement
behind her. Sukata had nodded. The demon prince smiled, cheerfully
smug.

"I don't know," Kendall spat, grateful
for ignorance. "She sent him away, somewhere safe, somewhere only
she knows. Somewhere monsters like you can't get him."

"How lacking in confidence. Really, I
overestimated her. What a disappointment she must be to you."

This was unanswerable, and Kendall made
a searching study of Rennyn's still body. It could be possible to
wake her. Would she be able to do it?

More Kellian began arriving then,
carrying people. Kendall's eyes widened at the sight of Captain
Faille with Princess Sera across an arm and Prince Justin over his
shoulder. He put them both down to Kendall's right, where Captain
Illuma had been clearing away unconscious Sentene. Another Kellian
set a woman down beside them, one who resembled Sera enough for
Kendall to guess that this was Tyrland's Queen.

As the demon prince walked over to
inspect the new arrivals, Kendall twisted experimentally in
Sukata's hold, but the Kellian girl was far too strong and not the
least inattentive. Kendall didn't bother to try appealing to
Sukata, to try and break her free of the control. There was no feel
of the person she knew in this silent creature holding her, and
definitely no sense that any words would reach her. Talking to a
wall would achieve as much.

While the demon son of the Black Queen
bent over Princess Sera, Kendall decided the only thing left to her
was Thought magic. Pebble skipping. It was useless for attacking or
escaping, but she figured that she could try and pull that horrid
spiky thing from Rennyn's wrist. Even if it didn't come off, the
movement might wake her.

Taking a deep breath, Kendall focused,
determined to pull as strongly as possible. And Rennyn's wrist
moved. Not much, as if someone had plucked at the skin. That was
it. Totally, utterly, completely useless.

The demon prince just laughed again, not
the leastways bothered. "You don't listen well," he said.
"Watch."

He reached down and touched Princess
Sera's temple, murmuring softly. The girl immediately stirred, and
sat up, blinking. It took a count of three as the princess looked
around at the strange man standing above her, at all the people
lying in heaps, and her brother and grandmother on the floor. Then
she screamed.

It pierced the skull. The whole huge
room was filled with it, rising with each hiccupping breath the
girl took. Rigidly upright, she did nothing but scream, till her
face was scarlet and she looked fit to pitch over. But the demon
prince had made his point. Not one of the fallen so much as
twitched. Even the Kellian didn't glance her way.

"What a sad lack of dignity," the demon
said, about the time Sera was starting to go maroon. "This is the
quality of Tyrland's false kings, is it?"

Amazingly, that was enough. Sera
jittered to a stop, gazed up at the demon in outrage, and then
threw herself on her brother's body, shaking him urgently. Skin
mottled and hair all-abouts, she looked just a baby, no match for
anyone.

"Put restraints on those two," the demon
prince said, and Captain Illuma left off lining the Sentene along
the wall and produced two more of the thorny things.

Princess Sera gasped as the first of the
things wrapped around her grandmother's wrist, and shook her
brother with increasing desperation, then stood and tried to pull
him away from Captain Illuma. "No!" she cried. "Leave him
alone!"

Captain Illuma didn't even seem to
notice, just dropped the worm on Prince Justin's free wrist and
turned back to moving people off the black central square, removing
their weapons and lining them up against the walls. The demon
prince looked critically around the room as more Kellian arrived
carrying people. Kendall recognised two members of the Hand, ones
who had been in the infirmary.

They were sorting out the mages. Not
killing anyone, just moving them all together and putting one of
the thorny worm things on the wrist of every mage. A restraint. It
must be something to stop them using magic.

"Wake up," the demon prince said,
bending over Prince Justin, and then repeating the motion for the
Queen. "Can't have the guests of honour sleeping through the royal
progress."

Queen Astranelle was the same dainty,
pretty type as her granddaughter, but didn't show any sign of
blubbing despite waking up with a demon standing above her. She
picked herself up off the ground with the minimum of fuss, looked
around her and said, "The worst result?"

"I suppose that would depend on your
point of view," the demon prince said, in the same conversational
tone he'd used with Kendall.

Prince Justin, struggling as his sister
latched her arms around his neck, managed to get to his feet. "You
– you're–"

"Helecho Montjuste-Surclere," said the
demon, nodding as if they'd been introduced at a party. "Be quiet
now."

A group of Kellian came in carrying more
people. The only one Kendall recognised was Lady Weston, but they
all looked important. A few were given horrid bracelets, and then
the demon walked from one to the next, telling them to wake. But he
wasn't interested in talking, completely ignoring their outrage and
distress and the Queen's murmur of explanation. With a glance at
Captain Faille he said: "Tear the throat out of the next one who
speaks."

Even the most hysterical of the
newcomers instantly choked into silence. Kendall didn't blame them:
Captain Faille was always scary, and was far worse now that he
wasn't a person anymore. Unconcerned, the demon turned all his
attention back to Rennyn, like a wolf who had decided to stop
circling and go in for the kill.

It must be nearly time. Kendall tried
escaping Sukata's grip again, but it was pointless. Still, most of
the Kellian had left, so they were really only dealing with the
demon, Sukata, her mother and Captain Faille. There were ten
captives standing now, and while the Kellian were strong they
weren't carrying any weapons. Could they possibly give Rennyn the
chance she needed?

"Lift her."

Captain Illuma hoisted Rennyn up by the
armpits, which didn't wake her any more than Kendall's efforts. The
demon prince reached out and gripped Rennyn's chin, his mouth
widening in a gloating smile.

"Wake up, cousin."

Rennyn blinked, and tried to stand
straighter, but was hampered both by Captain Illuma and the demon's
hold on her chin. Kendall could tell the demon wanted her to be
upset, and was glad Rennyn didn't give him any satisfaction. She
turned her eyes left and right, taking in the piles of people, and
the Queen and her small group of nobles clustered nervously under
Captain Faille's watchful eye. For a long moment she looked at
Captain Faille, then finally the demon.

"I suppose it really was too much to
hope I'd never have to deal with you again."

"So pleased to disappoint," he said,
letting her go. Captain Illuma stepped back as well, and Rennyn
lifted her wrist to look at the thorny thing. There wasn't any
blood where the spikes had pierced the skin, and the flesh around
it was blanched white.

"Don't play with it – its defences are
very amusing," the demon said. "And you don't have a chance of
overwhelming it without this." Eyes glittering, he held up the
necklace which carried Rennyn's focus.

But Rennyn barely glanced at it,
surveying the room again. "She means to rule, not ruin."

The demon looked just a little nettled.
Not, Kendall thought, because of what Rennyn was saying, but
because she wasn't acting particularly frightened of him. "Ruin? An
odd notion. A Queen overcomes treasonous attacks to return to her
kingdom. That is what is happening here."

"And the incursions, the Azrenel
particularly, would have benefited her rule how?"

"Azrenel are not at my beck and call,"
the demon said, shrugging.

Rennyn glanced at him, assessing him in
a way which left Kendall unexpectedly hopeful. Rennyn hadn't given
up. She might have lost the power of her focus, and have that thing
on her wrist, but she was looking for weaknesses, a way to turn
this around. If she could grab the Queen's focus at the right
moment–

"Where did you get the power for that
casting?" she asked next. "Even with some immunity to the perils of
the Eferum, that was beyond any focus you could have summoned in so
short a time. At least with much of the localised Efera being
caught up in the Grand Summoning."

"Borrowed power," the demon said, and
recovered his smile. "A tiny fraction of what is coming."

"You used the city's main circle to
transmit it?"

The smile broadened. "Yes, and yes the
sleep doesn't extend outside the main circle. But, dear cousin, if
you're counting on rescue I hope whoever is playing hero can
overcome these." He cocked his head toward Captain Illuma and
finally had the satisfaction of disrupting Rennyn's calm assessment
of her surroundings.

"The Kellian are weak to magic," she
said, narrowing her eyes. "I wouldn't rely on them overmuch."

Pleased, the demon stepped closer to
Rennyn. "Is it your brother you're waiting on? I'm told you've put
him somewhere safe. Does he come dashing in at the last moment to
save the day?" His hand darted out to tangle in Rennyn's hair,
stopping her move to step back. "Aren't you worried? Time's running
out."

"Did you start out as a monster?" Rennyn
asked, sounding more annoyed than anything. "Or do you work at
it?"

"I knew I was going to enjoy you," the
demon said. He tightened his grip on her hair, pulling her head
back. "Where were we, cousin? Do you remember?"

His head lowered, and he bit her. Bit
her neck. Kendall wasn't sure if she only imagined the sound it
made, or the faint swallowing noise which followed, but she
couldn't mistake the pain and disgust which flashed across Rennyn's
face. Princess Sera made a sympathetic whimpering sound, quickly
stifled. Kendall didn't blame her. The air felt thick with dark
magic. This was a true monster, a Night Roamer, a blood-drinker,
and none of them were enough to stop him.

Not that this would keep Rennyn from
trying. Lacking magic, she simply curled one of her hands into a
fist and hit him in the stomach. It was hard enough to hurt him,
and she managed to wrench herself away, leaving a long hank of her
hair tangled in his fingers. Blood streamed from her throat, from
the ragged tear his teeth had left, but she didn't have a chance to
do more than take a step back before the demon said: "Hold her,"
and Captain Illuma obediently got in the way.

"Did that make you feel better?" the
demon asked, only a little out of breath. He was all excited and
pleased, eyes shining and mouth bloody, though beneath it there was
a hint of puzzled surprise.

"Not much," Rennyn said shortly.

The demon chuckled and looked around,
then went and fetched a silky scarf from one of the conscious
captives, laughing again when she flinched away from him. Rennyn
only stood, stiffly upright with her arms held behind her, as the
demon wiped his face, then tied the scarf around her neck. Her
shirt was slick and wet, and Kendall felt the twitch of magic as
the demon cast something to stop her from bleeding so much.

Then he balled up one fist and slammed
it into Rennyn's stomach just as she had hit him, except with a
monster's strength, so that she was smashed back against Captain
Illuma and then crumpled and hung, gagging, in the Kellian woman's
hold.

Her hair fell across her face, but
Kendall didn't miss the way her eyes flicked at the nearest door.
She
was
waiting for someone, just as the demon had said.
Sebastian? Or could there be more Montjuste-Surcleres, and the
story about them being the last just a lie?

And it was too late. A snatched breath
and a stirring among the captives told Kendall she wasn't the only
one in the room who felt it. She realised it had been growing for a
while, swelling, and now was made obvious by the way the Black
Queen's focus swung on its chain, pointing toward the middle of the
room like it thought that way was down. The demon glanced at his
wrist, irritated, interrupted in his play. But then he smiled, and
shrugged, and said:

"Time to meet your Queen."

It happened far too quickly. The demon
walked around the edge of the room's big central square so that he
was opposite Rennyn, putting the Black Queen's focus well out of
her reach. Kendall made one last attempt to wriggle free of
Sukata's grasp and the other captives exchanged urgent, impotent
glances as the heaviness turned suffocating, and all the mage glows
dimmed.