Elemental Flame (20 page)

"Yes. Now, your guide will meet you just outside the bars. Use your power to remove the bars. That will allow myself and Hob passage out of here."

Our guide. I assumed she meant Cordelia, since she led us down here. "So just follow Cordelia?"

"Oh. No. I sent Cordelia to bed. She's napping in the grotto. Just follow Bastien."

I made a face again as I slipped my backpack on and headed past Bastien to the bars. One touch and I felt and saw the Arcane spiral down my arm in glittering red effect. It wrapped the bars one at a time quickly and when it was done, the bars were gone.

Transmutation. I could see the iron dust on the floor. On a crazy whim, I removed the backpack and pulled a small plastic bag from the side, something I kept in there just in case we're somewhere and Kyle needs an herb or plant from the side of the road.

I filled it with the dust, sealed it, shoved it into my pocket, and stepped through the door.

:Well fancy meeting you here.:

Oh no… I
knew
that voice!

Standing in the middle of a crossroads of iron bar cells stood a two-foot high Hopi Kachina doll. It had a black half-dome head, hollow tubes for eyes, and white and red painted razor sharp teeth. Just behind its head was a fan of feathers in bright colors. It had a bib of gold and purple lace, a skirt of leather with a black snake on it and moccasins.

I just stared down at it as it put its small hands on its hips. "Medbh?"

"
I
s it
diable
?" Bastien asked beside me.

"You could say that."

:I'm standing right in front of you, you know.:

I remembered every nuance of Medbh's voice, since I had to live with it in my head for nearly nine months. I thought she was long gone by now, destroyed by Brendi. But here she was.

I pointed at her and made a figure eight in the air. "What's with the Kachina look?"

:The usurper's idea of a joke. She had a doll her dad gave her. Loved it. Had one of her Fetches get it and then here ya go, Medbh, you get to look like a cosplay character.:

"
Chérie
…what
is
that?"

"That is the former Obsidian Queen, Medbh."

The look on his face was priceless. "
T'es sûr de sa?
"

:Oooh,:
Medbh waved her small arms.
:Where did you get that one? I like the accent and he looks a lot better than the Drachen does now.:

I dropped to my knees and grabbed the little doll around the upper arms, pinning them to its side. "You've seen Crwys? You know where he is?"

:Let…go!:
The thing squirmed back and forth.
:Of course I do. But I'm not gonna tell you anything if you don't…let…GO!:

I released Medbh and she stumbled back a few steps and landed on her butt. When I reached out to help her, she slapped my hand away.
:I'm fine! I don't need your help. I think you've done enough!:

Nothing was going to stop the ping of guilt that statement brought to the surface. Medbh's separation from her body wasn't my fault. That was all on her. But her being tossed into the body of a doll? Well, that was partially me. I was tricked by my "not aunt" to tempt Medbh with a necklace apparently spelled to snatch up souls. Or essences. Or whatever the hell she was now.

I put my hands on my thighs and pushed myself back up. "Okay. You're right. Lead on."

Medbh tilted that mask up to me, nodded and pivoted. When she started walking around the corner, Bastien and I followed. As we walked, I touched the Lycan's arm. "Don't think I've forgotten what you did. You're going to tell me what you traded to help Ivan."

He didn't say anything. Didn't even nod. Just kept looking straight ahead.

Great…now I felt worse than before. My stomach twisted with guilt and I was insanely worried about Ivan and Crwys.

And now Bastien.

The dungeon turned out to be a maze of corridors and endless cages. Some were occupied with living things. Others…not living. After the third turn, I stopped looking inside of them.

Cool air brushed against my face as I kept an eye on Ivan in Bastien's arms. He looked so much smaller like that, curled up and unmoving. His eyes remained closed and he was quiet. Ivan was never quiet, unless he was sleeping.

Finally we reached a dead end with no cell, just a stone wall. Or so I thought, until the little doll walked right through it. I motioned for Bastien to follow and I brought up the back this time, my hands loaded and ready with energy. I nudged my Elementals and they were ready to make a quick appearance if I needed them. Even the Arcane's voice was ready and felt…eager.

Passing through the fake wall gave me a bit of vertigo and I reached out to grab a hold of something before I fell. My hand touched Bastien and I felt him jump. It was dark and though I had my eyes open, I couldn't see anything. "Medbh?"

:Give it a minute.:

I waited and kept my hand on Bastien's arm. After a few more seconds, I called my Salamander and he was ready to strike a flame.

But then a subtle light grew from the walls, the ceiling and the floor. Symbols that had no meaning to me glowed in soft aquamarine. The light gave contour to the room. It was round, with a darker center. I could see Medbh climbing up on a round, raised dais and I walked toward her. The dais was three tiered in decreasing size, the third tier level with my chest. I heard a dripping noise the closer I got to the dais. Not a steady stream but a constant tap of water.

The air temperature lowered and I shivered inside my damp clothing. The wind came from above. As Medbh made it to the top dais, I stepped on the first tier, looked down and touched the sides. The tier was made of solid dark marble in the green and blue light. The center of it sloped down to form a basin, half filled with something dark. I could see the ripples as the water dripped in. "What is that?"

Medbh pointed at it.
:That is what Tzariene knew about. The Machine Witch drinks this and he'll be good as new. And then some.:

I stared into the basin. "But what
is
it?"

Bastien came forward and carefully sat Ivan on the lower tier. He waited for Ivan to half wake and then told him in a hushed voice to sit up. When Ivan slowly complied, Bastien straightened and leaned over the tier next to me. "Do we have a cup?"

Medbh looked around and pointed behind us.
:There. This is where the Queen's sycophants come to drink. Should be a cup in that alcove.:

Sycophants come to drink? What for? What are they drinking? Is this some kind of magic potion that comes from the rocks? I leaned over the basin and looked up. I could see a pinpoint of light above, but it was too far up, and I could hear voices and what sounded like…singing?

Bastien moved to the alcove and came back with a glass chalice. It took on the gleam and color of the glowing symbols around us. With a glance at me, he started to dip the chalice in the basin.

I put my hand out. "Stop. I'll do it. Ivan's my responsibility."

Bastien handed me the chalice and I filled it with the liquid. It made the glass warm, and I wondered if the basin was heated from underneath. Carefully stepping down with some support from Bastien, I knelt beside Ivan and touched his face. "Ivan, I need you to hear me. To listen to me."

My Undine, still seated on my shoulder, moved to shine some of her blue light on his face. She kissed his cheek and he opened his white eyes.

I ushered the little mermaid out of the way and put the edge of the chalice to his lips. "Drink this for me, Ivan. It'll stop the pain."

Ivan brought his hands up to help balance the chalice and tilted it back, his eyes closed. I heard him swallow a few times before he lowered it and pushed it away. "Ugh…wow…what is this? Watered down hot sauce?"

The laugh that came out of me was half a sob. That sounded like my Ivan. I laughed and sniffed. "Tastes bad, huh?"

"Yeah, like you ran some of it through a rusty pipe."

:You have to drink the whole cup.:

Ivan jumped. "Whoa…is that Medbh?"

I lifted the chalice back up and told him to drink. He continued until he'd emptied it. Bastien took the chalice as I leaned in to Ivan. "You feel better?"

"Oh I feel great," Ivan said and opened his eyes.

They were brown again. Beautiful brown. "And you can see me?"

"Yeah…why wouldn't I see you?"

Narrowing my eyes, I said, "Do you know where you are?"

"Yeah. I'm in Faerie Land, and don't ask how I got here. All I did was try to grab that stick and wham! I was standing in some high grass and dudes on horses rode up, threw a net over me and dragged me behind them." Ivan's expression changed and he looked sad. "I remember what she did to me, Sam. I…I don't know this woman the way you do. My only experience with Faerie is Medbh and honestly, she creeped me out but she made me laugh. This girl…" he shivered. "She's bat shit crazy and she's sure you're going to take it all away from her."

"How does she know this? Why does she think this?"

"There's this guy with her. He's dressed in black, in a black robe and hood over his face. He told her what to ask me while she was…" his voice trailed off and I didn't prod him any further.

:That would be this man who calls himself the priest.:
Medbh moved up to stand between Ivan and I.

Ivan spotted her and his new beautiful eyes widened. "Medbh? Sweet Lady you look impressive. You're mobile!"

:You like it? I do. Much better than the head,:
she pointed at him.
:You took care of my head, didn't you?:

"It's fine, Medbh, but this isn't getting us to Crwys." I stood and helped Ivan to his feet. He practically popped up like a prairie dog. His shoulders straight, a grin on his face.

:Not so fast. You, wolf boy. You should drink a glass too. And you really need to drink some, Sam. Your reserves aren't as good as they could be.:

"My reserves?" I looked at the chalice in Bastien's hand. "Was us drinking part of the deal Bastien made with Tzariene?"

:You'll have to ask him. I'm just saying if you want to be at full capacity to deal with crazy bird up there, then you'll need the boost.:

I looked at Bastien. He shrugged. "She didn't say
not
to drink." And as if to put a period on that statement, he dipped the chalice in and downed a full cup. When he finished he made a face too. "
Merde
."

So I took the chalice and filled it. I noticed there wasn't much left in the basin. I doubted what I left behind could even fill the chalice a quarter. I held my breath and downed the whole cup. I could taste it, and Ivan was right, it did taste like watered down hot sauce through a rusty pipe. I figured it was some kind of mineral water.

Wait…

"
Lady Darksome!
" I held the chalice out and stared down at Medbh. "We just drank something in Faerie! We're not supposed to do that!"

Apparently, we all had a temporary moment of stupid. We knew this!

:Keep your voice down! You didn't. Trust me. And Tzariene wants you out of Faerie. She's not going to have you drink something that'll keep you here.:

"
Oui
, she's right," Bastien took the chalice and returned it to the alcove. "We should go."

I agreed. Something churned in my stomach and I thought for a second I was going to throw up. Arcane surged forward, from my chest, down my arms, and into my hands where I created two balls of fire, one in each hand. They flamed and then disappeared.

"What the hell was that?" Ivan said.

:It's her Arcane. That stuff gave it some needed boost. Okay, everyone ready? The spell's already started.:

I whirled on the doll. "She's started the binding?"

:Yeah. We better hurry before your kissy-face is kissing somebody else.:

B
efore we started
out of the room, something ran into the back of my leg and I went down. I would have hit my knees on that hard stone if Ivan hadn't grabbed me.

"Sam! Sam!"

Cordelia. I caught sight of her as she ran around Ivan and I, and then stopped in front of Medbh. "This little thing is weird."

:Back at yah.:

"Cordy, what are you doing here?"

"Cordelia came to help! The Summer Queen sent Cordelia because there is help to give. Cordelia can be invisible. Cordelia can be a distraction."

This was true. The Boggart could actually start fights, the way she did with Ivan and Kyle, and at the Aces compound. "Okay, but you have to do what Medbh says and you have to be quiet."

"Can do!"

Getting out of that weird room proved to be a bit more difficult than getting in. Medbh led us to a small groove in the wall, invisible if you looked at it straight on and in the eerie light cast by the symbols, but visible if you stood to the right of it. Now that Ivan was up and on his feet, fully sighted, Bastien insisted on taking up the rear again.

"How does she know these secret passages?" Bastien asked.

"This used to be her palace."

The passage narrowed before it widened, reminding me of Fat Man's Squeeze at Rock City in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Mom used to take me there when I was smaller. The best memories of my life were of Mom and Dad having trouble through the closely fitted rock walls, while I just crawled under it, between their legs. There had also been this part of the park with fairies hanging above us, each a different color. I'd thought they were so pretty back then. Imagine my horror when I learned Faeries were real and not cute little cherubs with tiny wings.

We had to slide sideways, and Ivan took that opportunity to tell me how he was able to contact me from Faerie.

"That's what caught the Queen's attention, actually."

"What? That you somehow texted me? How did you do it? There isn't Internet in Faerie."

"There's not," he said as he pushed himself through a particularly tight spot. "But there is a kind of…I don't know…web of some kind. It's like this invisible connection between things. I can't say it's Cyber by definition, but it's there. So I took a chance and connected to it."

"Where were you when you did it?"

"The dungeon. I'd just had the crap scared out of me when Hob appeared out of the back wall. I tried it, sent you a text and minutes later the armored guys came back and—" He stopped and when he didn't say anything else, I respected that whatever happened, he didn't want to talk about.

Then, "Anyway…my point is I can still feel it. It's there."

"Don't log in," I cautioned.

"Oh no. I'm not. But if we need to call someone in our world, I'm thinking I can do it again. Otherwise…I'm not really much help on this side of the looking glass."

I thought it was amusing that he also referred to
Alfheim
the way I did. Through the looking glass.

The entire time we crawled, twisted and turned, I noticed the path ascending. The road was steep enough I was breathing hard. I looked at Bastien a few times, but he seemed lost in thought. Medbh insisted the water wasn't tainted with Faerie dust and it wouldn't make it impossible to go home.

But still. Faeries. I have trust issues.

The air cooled again and I welcomed the breeze. The sound of singing and chanting increased in volume and I psyched myself up. I didn't really have a plan yet, simply because I didn't know what I would see or what I would find. Would there be an opportunity to offer the book in exchange for Crwys? Would we have to fight? Would we be able to stay together so I could use the wooden knife to get home?

When the passage grew wide enough, I lowered my backpack and retrieved the knife. I shoved it through a belt loop and then pulled the bagged book out and tied the bag by the drawstring to a different belt loop. I felt better having those two things within easy reach.

I pulled out a bottle of water and the bag of metal ash. I wasn't sure I'd use it, but thinking it might come in handy, I opened the water and poured as much of the ash as I could get into the bottle, screwed the cap on and shook it. I secured the now iron infused water into one of the outer pockets of the backpack.

Our little procession stopped abruptly and I ran into Ivan. He grabbed me and put his finger to his lips.

Medbh moved from the front of the line to stand in front of us. She put her hands on her hips and started pacing, looking a lot like a football coach giving his team a pep talk.
:The throne room is laid out like any other room built to make everyone else feel small and worthless. There is a door in front of us. When I open it, we'll be coming in from the right side if you were sitting at the dais. The nobles and the soldiers, those that believe in whatever cause this crazy bitch has going, will be sitting to your right.:

"Where is Crwys?"

When Medbh hesitated that ball of anxiety grew.
:You'll see him. It's the getting to him that's going to be difficult. So if you've got something up your sleeve, I'd suggest you use that first. If not,:
she pointed at the barely visible Boggart.
:Start a bar brawl.:

"And what will you be doing, Medbh?" I liked the way Bastien said her name. May-Eve.

:Don't worry about me.:

I always worried about Medbh. But I'd started to feel something. A building of something. And on the edge, a peripheral whisper of something familiar as my Arcane reached out to touch subtle power, bubbling beneath the surface. Like a volcano rumbling under my feet.

"Wait…we can't step out there looking like this."

:Then glamour yourselves. It's not that hard.:

"I've never used glamour. I have no idea how."

:Use Arcane. That's one of its basic uses.:

It was?

-Allow me?-

I agreed and stepped away as I raised my arms. Red sparkling Arcane moved around my arms and my body, my legs, my feet and up around my neck. Within seconds, the world became just Arcane as I blinked and watched as Bastien's and Ivan's jaws dropped. "What?"

"
Très belle
," Bastien's smile widened.

I blushed. He needed to stop calling me beautiful.

"Sam…can you do that to me? I wanna cosplay."

Cosplay? I looked down at myself. I wasn't wearing my jeans anymore, but a gossamer gown of deep blue, with sleeves that fanned from my wrists and dragged the ground. I touched my now dry hair as it curled and bounced around my bare shoulders. The gown came off my shoulders!

I grabbed my ears and gasped. They were pointed!

The Arcane raised my right hand as the sparkling magic shot from my fingertips and covered Ivan. I watched as his t-shirt and jeans became a classic noble youth's leather pants and soft red shirt. A jerkin of the same leather wrapped itself around his chest as knee-high boots covered his feet and calves. His dark hair lengthened and his ears pointed up through his hair.

He definitely looked like a Faerie. But… "Medbh, it's still our faces. Ivan looks like Ivan."

:To you. But not to them. And you don't look like Sam.:

"Yeah, 'cause Sam would never wear a party dress," Ivan laughed.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," I muttered as I shifted my backpack. "I suppose the backpack looks like what?"

:A backpack. And the wolf?:

Bastien held up his hand. "I'll shift. Grey told me about the Hunt beasts. I should blend right in." And as if to prove it, he shifted in front of us to the large red wolf.

Medbh ran to the wall and pulled on a handle I hadn't seen before, letting a bright light in as it outlined the size and width of the door.
:It's time. Good luck.:

That just didn't make me feel any better. I led the way out, with the invisible Cordelia just ahead of us. Ivan walked at my left while Bastien stayed at my right. I put my hand on his back just to keep from looking as scared as I felt.

The enormity of the room was the first thing I noticed. The ceiling made the grotto look small in comparison. The walls, ceiling and floor were what gave the queen and the palace their names. Every part of the structure had been crafted in obsidian. Smooth, lifeless, dead obsidian.

I spotted Brendi immediately since we stepped out facing the dais where she stood in the center. She had a smoking brazier in front of her, her arms lifted in the air. Wolves lounged around her, and if they noticed Bastien, they didn't show it. They didn't look like they cared. I thought of my mom in that position, serving Medbh, and I had to rein in the urge to kick that Kachina doll.

Brendi didn't look remotely human anymore. Her ears were the first thing I noticed, as I always did. She wore a black gown that hung from her shoulders and left her outstretched arms bare. Gold bracelets tracked up her arms from her wrists. They accented the gold earrings and the gold necklace around her neck. Her hair looked almost purple, under the bright lights of the room.

To our right were stacks of seats, like bleachers. I looked up to see the nobles Medbh mentioned. All type of Faeries sat in the seats, many I couldn't label. I stepped further into the room and moved to the front of the bleachers where a few others stood. Ivan and Bastien followed me. Bastien had been right. There were other wolves roaming around the room, some sitting with their owners.

A matching row of bleachers roared on the side facing ours. The entire place erupted in a chorus of cheers as Brendi finished whatever it was she'd been singing.

And in the back of the room, suspended in the air, high above the cheering Faeries, hung an all too familiar figure.

Crwys.

My
Crwys.

His arms were pulled out from his sides, wrapped in chains that held him. I could see more thick chains wrapped around his legs. I could see the gold glint against his chest. The arrow. His head was bowed and he wasn't moving. Not even struggling.

"Please…be silent," a voice echoed around the room. "The Queen has successfully bound the Destroyer to her with her magnificent magic. Now it is time for the joining." I tore my gaze from Crwys and saw a dark, hooded figure raise its head as Brendi stepped to the side. "But first, we must ask this assembly, we must beg you to look into your hearts and tell us of your doubts. If you have doubts, the spell will not work and the Destroyer will be free. We must have your hearts and your support, so that we may take the Destroyer and force the Autumn and Spring courts to fall down before us as the Summer court has done!"

The response was deafening and I put my hands to my ears.

:Tzariene told you what to bring. If you have it, present it now!:

Nervous, terrified, trembling, I reached down to my side where the bag hung. I retrieved the book and held it with both hands. With a glance at Ivan, we stepped away from the shadow of the stands and approached the dais.