Rise of the Magi (25 page)

A glance behind let me know Laerni was still fussing with the trays and wasn’t digging around in my head at that moment. I stood. “Everyone who’s going with me, meet at …” Where could we go?

“My place,” Brígh offered. “The shifter’s already setting up for the bunch of us.”

“Everyone else, I think Laerni has prepared a snack?” I posed the question to the elf, who closed her eyes and whispered sounds that my lips wouldn’t have been able to form. As I watched the platters, objects appeared. Some were recognizable as foods I’d had before, like exotic fruits and cheeses. Others were completely new to me—pastries of some kind, gooey little sandwich-like things and odd-shaped tarts overflowing with light blue jelly. The glass bowl on the farthest table filled with the same blue liquid I’d seen the elves serve before. I was sure it would never grow empty, no matter how many filled their glasses from it.

Mouth watering in anticipation of food, I said, “Court adjourned.”

“What I have prepared will not only cure hunger, but can also still the mind.” Laerni, with an arm around my shoulders, directed me to the food and handed me a plate. “Eat, and I shall make you strong with elfish healing. You will need it for what is to come.”

Somehow, I thought I’d need a hell of a lot more than some strange delicacies to get me through the day. Too bad she didn’t have a nice miracle tucked into one of the yummy-looking pastries she filled my plate with.

22

After I’d stuffed my face, as if I’d been starving for months, Neve escorted me to Brígh’s house.

“I’m your captain,” Neve muttered for the fifth time. “Your freakin’ captain and you won’t let me go with you? That’s just wrong.”

“Forget it,” I said. “My baby has no choice but to go with me. I will keep yours safe whether you like it or not, no matter what your job title is. If not for you, then for Andrew, since he’s not here to stand up for his little one.”

Face still frozen in a grimace, she must have gotten it, finally, and fell silent.

I marched up Brígh’s walkway and stopped at the door. “You ready for this? It occurred to me that this is the day the Overseers demanded Brígh’s presence. I need you to be on your toes, watching for anything amiss so I can concentrate on this other thing.”

“You can count on me. Always.”

I turned and cupped her cheek with my fingers, letting my confidence fill my eyes as we stared at one another. “I know I can. That’s why you’re my captain. And one of my best friends.”

She smiled and folded her fingers over mine, keeping them intertwined as they dropped back to our sides. “Lead on, and I’ll follow.”

I had no doubt she’d follow me into the black pits of hell if I asked her to. Because she would, I knew I couldn’t ask it of her. “Let’s go, pinky.”

Neve opened the door and did her usual sweep before allowing me inside. The newly formed posse was already assembled and waiting, empty plates resting on their knees. Faces grim, lips pressed together, they were a sorry sight scattered around the room. Twenty witches sat huddled together in the corner. We’d decided five witches would accompany each rescue party, which would consist of at least one transporter, a few Sluagh for air and telepathic support, and some ground muscle.

Four fire-wielders and one skilled with lightning from the Black City sat on the sofa with their arms crossed. One would go with each team. James stood in front of a painting on the wall in the corner, while Richard appeared calmer than I’d seem him to date, head bowing as if in prayer. Could it be that our Fed was growing up and accepting all of the otherworldly stuff?

The rest of the population in the great room consisted of the transporters, Willa and a dozen or so of her brethren, half of my guard, and Laerni and Parthalan, who sat together on the love seat. An odd pairing if I ever saw it. Their quiet conversation, conspiratorially close, appeared to have them both riveted to one another.

I chose a seat near the fireplace and propped my elbows on my knees. “Okay, here’s more of what Nix told me about the Magi.”

The sullen faces snapped to attention, all business, except for Laerni. She smiled at me. I hadn’t performed the impossible miracle yet, if I’d be able to manage it at all.

“There are three direct daughters. The main one, Alseides, seems to be able to cloud the mind and trick you into thinking she’s everything you ever wanted and more. Thirteen more are equally psychotic, but their magic tends to blow up in their faces. Hundreds, maybe thousands more have spears, bows and a grudge, and a few hundred fae from the Black City are with them.” I went on to explain what Nix had been able to relay about their realm, including the detail about the Magi’s form of mental imprisonment.

Murmurs passed between Raven’s crew, while she did a good impression of a raging bull, nostrils flared, teeth set. I had to bet that if any of the traitors survived the fight, they wouldn’t survive Raven.

“So what’s the plan, Lila?” Willa asked, her fingers digging into the upholstery.

“We already discussed the teams.” I shifted my focus to Meline. “Getting our men away from the Magi all hinges on you and yours being able to bring the wards down so the rest can slip through. How do we do that without the Magi seeing what we’re up to?”

“Misdirection and multiple teams, I think, is our only option,” the witch said, raising her left hand. “You, Parthalan, Nix and Laerni keep the main threats over there.” Lowering her left hand, she raised her right. “Over here, we slip in, make a small enough crack in their wards to cast some confusion charms, then break through and get everyone in the vicinity out. We need to do it in small bursts. The longer the five casters keep the gap in the ward open, the stronger the magic becomes and might bring attention we don’t want. Once our people go in, we have to be carefully that only they, and our boys, come back out. It would kind of defeat the purpose if we let these freaks free by accident.”

“What if the Magi themselves are guarding the boys?” Raven asked. She’d put on a pair of black jeans and a matching T-shirt instead of her skank wear. “Aren’t they going to throw up an alarm of some sort after we do our first grab and run? The Magi seem to be pretty with it, and must have scads of guards watching their borders, wherever they are. What if they see us coming a mile away?”

Good questions, and ones I’d have asked had I thought of them.

“Using a confusion charm, we can make those guarding our guys believe something that’ll stop them from doing that,” Meline said. “Like someone came to get their prisoners to take them to eat or move them to a different holding cell. And for the second point, the witches of each group will cast a concealing spell on their own group before the transporter moves them into position.”

The transporters turned to one another and nodded, all but the one who’d flipped me off. That one continued her attempt to murder me with her stare.

“We might have one little problem, though,” Meline said. “Assuming the men are alive, and I’m going to make that assumption, they might not be caged or bound. If what Lila said about the Magi’s mind tricks is true, they might just be sitting out in the open and feel so content they just haven’t wanted to escape.”

That could be a problem, all right. I was torn between potential relief that Liam wasn’t agonizing over the whole thing and fury that he might be there having a good time.

“Given the old spells we encountered when they took Thomas, I have to consider they might have bespelled our people the same way we intend to bespell them,” Meline said.

“So, what will you do if the prisoners fight the extraction teams?” That came from Richard.

“Well … it takes three of us to breach a ward, one will be needed to charm the hell out of the enemy, leaving one to sever whatever mental hold the Magi may have on our people,” Meline said.

So impressive, I could have kissed her, not that my door swung that way. “When you’re all done getting everyone out, do you think you can break me free of any hold she’ll have over me?”

“Honestly, I don’t know.” Meline shrugged. “The magic is really old and more powerful than anything I’ve encountered. I can only promise you that we won’t stop trying until you’re free, or we’re dead.”

I wouldn’t let it come to that. “Thank you. What then?” I asked it more to myself, my soul unknotting under the knowledge that I might not lose myself to Alseides. “How do I shut the Magi down while you’re all playing prison break? And for that matter, how do I get into their realm?”

Meline offered a sympathetic smile, which deflated me. “We can’t bring the wards down for you, or they’ll know we’re there with you. We’re counting on the element of surprise, or this whole raid will be over before it begins.”

“So, you’re saying my team is on its own to get to the Magi.” I nodded, contemplating how that would work. “Once we’re inside, Parthalan will signal the Host in each of your teams and relay what’s happening so you can know when to start extraction.”

“And how will you stop them all without killing them all?” Raven asked. “I think they gave up their right to live the moment they enslaved Alastair and unleashed the Shadowborn.”

I blinked at her for a little too long while I tried to come up with the answer. I agreed with her, yet I didn’t.

“Perhaps this is not something you can think through, Lila Gray.” Laerni did that exquisite movement that brought her to her full seven feet and came to me, still smiling. “Perhaps this is something that must be felt, to be experienced, before the answer will come to you.”

Willa nodded. “I tend to agree with her. Yeh have always been a bit of a pantser at the best of times.”

“Wing it, is that what you’re all saying?” Unable to sit still a moment longer, I got up and went to the fireplace, gripping the mantle so I wouldn’t put my fist through anything. “When I have no choice, I make do with whatever I think up on the fly, but something this important … what if I don’t figure it out in time? You’ll get our people free, but if she ensnares me and I somehow release them from their prison, and do whatever it is they want me to do, we all die anyway. Brígh’s vision says so.”

I am the storm.
Hot and cold took turns kicking me in the gut. “There’s one thing I don’t understand.” My head bobbed a few too many times while I attempted to build a structure of courage to support my failing nerve. “If they’re using Unseelie to transport, why not just snatch me instead of taking the men?”

“Of that, I am not certain, but I have a theory,” Laerni said.

“Theories are better than I’ve got, which is exactly squat.”

“What if one must enter their portal willingly?”

I squinted at the elf. “Then how did they get the guys inside?” Did Nix willingly agree to go?

“Her power is to seduce and nurture,” Laerni continued. “She cannot possibly relay her full potential across a conduit, but perhaps it was enough to woo them into crossing the barrier of their own accord once transported to the outer side of the portal. Something about you, Lila, possibly your strong will, could have them fearing that beyond the portal, Alseides’ charms may not be enough to bring her there.”

Parthalan’s gaze stayed on the elf. “Then, she should not go. If the Magi are assured victory upon the Mistress passing the portal, we cannot allow it.”

“I’d like nothing more than to walk away from this, Parth, but they’re going to keep pushing, taking and killing until I do. I know there’s a way to fix this, I just don’t know how.”

“The Goddess didn’t put her faith and power in yeh for shits and giggles,” Willa said. “The selkies have faith in yeh as I think most of us here do. Yeh’ve got the best shot at this, where the rest of us’d fuck it up before we even got there. Win or lose, we’ll be at peace because our queen loved us enough to risk everythin’ to save us. Look at us, Lila.”

I turned and met all of the gazes in the room one at a time. Willa let tears fall from her big brown seal eyes. Most looked back at me. Hard as I tried, in most eyes I couldn’t find a shred of doubt, not even in Raven or her Black City brethren. My heart swelled.
They really believe I can do it, that I’ll find a way.
“Considering all my mistakes over the last few years, I’m not sure how I managed to gain your confidence, but thank you. It means more to me than I can say without making myself blubber like an idiot.” I laughed to ward off the prickle in my eyes. “Okay, then, I think we have a workable plan. Anyone who needs to pee before we jet had better go and shake the dew off now.”

Meline snorted. “Jesus, are you always so blunt?”

“Yes,” Parthalan said deadpan, all serious as if contributing some vital answer.

I shot him the evil eye before heading for the door.

Before I got there, Brígh’s hair-curling scream stopped me cold.

Shit!

23

I jerked around to find the Overseers’ creature with his putrid, flaking fingers wrapped around Brígh’s arm.

“No!” I bellowed. If he’d blinked in, he could blink her out before I could ever get there.

“
Manto!
” Meline uttered in a voice that tickled my ears, seeped into my senses and made me shiver under her command. No wonder Brígh hated when I did my thing if it affected her the same way.

A shimmer twisted in a circle around Brígh and the crypt keeper. The grey beast released her and pounded a fist against an invisible barrier.
A ward.
Sparks flew. Flakes of his flesh drifted to the floor. The horned nasty squealed and spoke in a language that might have been pig Latin, judging by the ridiculous sound of it.

Fire burned in my center. A glance at my hands let me know just how pissed I was. They glowed like rich blue fire. That piggy slime needed to die.

“You can step out, honey.” Meline offered her hand to Brígh, who shook as if she’d soon come apart at the joints and fall in a clatter of bones. Brígh reached for Meline, the movements of her arm stiff and jerky. Once she made contact, Meline pulled her in close and hugged the whimpering fae.

My skin radiated a dark blue sheen as I moved like a locomotive to the sparkling circle on the floor, where the contents barked and probably cursed in its language. I opened my senses and searched for its mind, laughing when I found it. Meline must have designed the ward to be one directional as well as specifically for numb-nuts crypt keepers. I knew I liked that girl.