Green Flame Assassin (Demon Lord series, book 2) (51 page)

“You mean, where we’re going is harder to reach than other places?”

“The
Land of Dreams is more ethereal than most.  It is a domain where dark emotions create nightmare, and the desire of the heart can lead you astray.  That is where will-o-the-wisps are born.  The only way we can travel swiftly is to guard our hearts, embracing emptiness.”

I frowned.

“What is it?” she asked.

“You realize what we’re carrying is so valuable, our enemies will do anything to get it.  The land will respond.”  At my side, the dream stone inside its canvas pouch seemed to grow denser and heavier.  “We’ll be a freaking black hole, suckin’ everyone down on top of us.”

She nodded.  “We shall doubtless have to fight our way through a number of ambushes.”

“Better and better.  Is there any chance we’ll be hit tonight, before our escort joins up with us?”

“Possible,” she said, “but unlikely.  The Autumn Court will need time to summon and equip their forces.  There will be the usual court squabbles over who gets to lead such an important mission.  The Autumn King is tyrannical and suspicious.  He came to power early when his father was
accidentally
thrown from the saddle and dragged three miles cross country during a fox hunt.”

“You’re kidding?”

“The fey live much longer than humans.  Sometimes, we get tired of waiting for what we want, and just help ourselves.  Speaking of which, the Autumn King may want to attend to this matter personally—with a sizable entourage to guarantee his every comfort.  He’ll not want to risk such a powerful relic being used to overthrow him.”

“Do you happen to know where this thing came from?  Has the Oracle always had it?”

“As long as memories have run, there has always been an Oracle, and an Oracle Stone.  That is all anyone knows.  Caine, I’ve been thinking—”

“Careful, that can be dangerous.”

She slapped my arm, and the parka sleeve iced over.  “I think you should give me the stone.  They’ll be expecting you to have it, and will targeting you.  That will give me a chance to use it, or if all is about to be lost, I can slip away and get it to the Oracle.”

“Leaving me to fend as best as I can, huh?”  I rested my hand on the canvas bag.  “No.  I don’t trust anyone, especially the people I sleep with.”

Izumi smiled.  “Does Vivian know?”

I looked over at Vivian.  She’d been watching us, and now turned away, absorbed with the hunting trophies on the wall.  There was the head and neck of a white stag, a mean-eyed boar with yellow tusks, and something that looked like a fan-eared eel with silver scales and crystal eyes.

Hooves clattered out in the courtyard, slowing, stopping.  Josh and I were the first to the windows.  A moment later, both Izumi and Vivian bracketed me, pressing in.  Their personal fragrances warred for dominion.  Someone grabbed my butt.  I wasn’t sure who, a little more interested in finding out if we were being attacked.

“It’s all right,” Izumi said.  “Those are my mother’s personal guardsmen.”

There were twenty riders in all.  The men wore spurred boots, winter robes, and heavy riding cloaks that spilled back, draping their horses’ butts.  I use the term “horse” rather loosely; they had six legs and two stumpy horns. 

The doors to the stables opened and Ravenwort shambled out to take reins and get the animals out of the weather.  Two of the guards shoved him away, keeping their mounts ready to run.  The rest moved toward the lodge like they were storming an enemy encampment.  Their lack of manners and sense of being on a mission—before the mission even started—set off warning bells in my head. 

I moved back from the window and the girls, and touched the bag at my side, pouring my will into the stone.

Whipping out swords, the men kicked the door in, sweeping in to threaten us.  My red shield popped on, shoving a swords man back from me.  He cursed, and his image wavered at the loss of concentration.  The cloak stayed the same, but underneath, his robes turned gold, as did his skin.  His smooth hair shortened, turning ragged as flame.  His ice blue eyes became the color of smoldering rust.  The rest of the men dropped their glamours as well.  They were no longer Winter Court fey.

“Summer Court!” Izumi yelled.  “How dare you invade our lands!  Are you trying to start a war?”

“War won’t matter,” one of the men said, “if we have the dream stone on our side.  Where is it?”

I pointed at the furs on the bench by the fire, and screamed at Izumi.  “The stone—get it!”

Automatically, she turned in the direction I pointed.

One of the guardsmen shoved her aside, raced to the bench and scooped up the stone.  He tucked it in like a football and raced back outside.  A moment later, we were left alone as the riders galloped off. 

“They didn’t really get the stone, right?” Josh was looking at me.  “Tell me you pulled a fast one.”

I grinned and let the real dream stone appear in its pouch at my side.  “I gave them a dream of success, a dream that will soon fade, leaving them nothing.”

“Nothing but a belly full of rage,” Izumi said.  “They’ll be back soon.”

Hooves filled the courtyard once more. 

I created a dream of a house in smoldering ruins as if someone had burned the lodge down.  Blackened timbers surrounded us.  Gray smoke roiled, melting snowflakes out of the air.  The housekeeper screamed from her suddenly burnt-out kitchen.  “Just an illusion,” I yelled.  “Bear with it.”

We felt our way out of the illusion, avoiding invisible furniture, and walked outside.  We stood there unseen as the Winter Court guardsmen reined in, staring in horror at the lodge.  One of them threw himself from the saddle, running closer.  “Princess!  Princess!” he screamed.

Izumi looked at me.  “I know him.  I think they’re real this time.”

“Let’s find out,” I said.

I pulled my concealment off her. 

The captain of the guard hurled himself at her, enveloping her with his arms.  He all but wept in joy, finding her alive.  But just to be sure, I materialized a copy of the dream stone in her arms.  He ignored the stone, standing back, kneeling to honor her.

Izumi asked, “Did you happen to see some riders on the road when you were coming in?”

“No, Your-Glory-In-Ascendance.  There was a small orchard of gold-skinned apples I hadn’t remembered seeing before…”

Right, an orchard.

“…but nothing as uncommon as here.”  He peered into her eyes.  “Princess, are you alone?  What of the rest of your party?  Are they…?”

I banished my dream of flamed out ruin.  Izumi’s stone vanished.  The hunting lodge returned. 

“We’re right here,” I said.  “Put away your animals and come in.  I think dinner will be ready soon.”

THIRTY-SEVEN

“Killing’s who I am. It’s what I

do. I’d do it for free, if I had to.”

                                
              —Caine Deathwalker

We’d ridden for hours through the gray, overcast morning.  The horses made good time since our path wound down through ever-shrinking hills.  Snowy evergreens gave way to jutting formations of limestone and bottom-land hardwoods.  The elm, maple, and ash I recognized.  I asked Izumi about other trees we passed.

She pointed at them, “That’s honey locust, hackberry, and that, elderberry I think.  These are the borderlands.  As we get to the Dream Marshes, you’ll see natural levees with oak, and in lower, wetter areas, c
ypress and tupelo-gum, and a little of what you humans call Spanish moss.”

“Sounds like
Louisiana,” I said.  “Are we going to run into raccoon and alligators?”

“Keep thinking about it, and we will,” Josh said.  “Fairy’s interactive, remember?”

The hills flattened out and our trail wound followed the edge cypress forests that appeared on our left.  We stayed just out of it, riding across spongy ground covered with cattails and wiregrass.  On our right, the grasses stretched out for miles, vanishing into mists.  Out of those mists, we occasionally spied ponds and lakes, their surfaces still, like gray-green glass.  The sky overhead was a brighter blue peeking through cotton candy clumps of white cloud.  The grass began to crowd our trail, causing us to ride three abreast, and string out farther as we traveled.  Silver-and-gold-toned flowers increased in frequency, adding sweetness to the air.

Yannin, the captain of our guard, rode at point with one of his men.  After a moment of conversation, the aide slowed and dropped back to us.  Me, he ignored, focused entirely on Izumi.  “Princess, there are shadows in the woods.  We are being paced by riders.”

“Probably Autumn Court fey.  Well, it’s not like we weren’t expecting this.”

“Watch and listen for a signal,” I said.  “Those flanking us will wait until we reach a sizable force that will be lying in ambush somewhere ahead.”

Now the aide looked at me.  “How do you know that?”

I shrugged.  “It’s what I would do.”

“Options?” Izumi asked.

The aide said, “Our captain wants to change course, head out into the marsh.  We can hide in the mists and walk our horses quietly until we lose pursuit.”

“Which won’t work if they’re tracking us by magic,” I said.  “I would be.”

The aide shot me a dirty look and rode forward once more to confer with Captain Yannin.  I heard a heated curse from Yannin, then he was falling back personally to speak with Izumi.  “Princess, I don’t know what this unlearned outlander has been advising you, but—”

Izumi held up a hand to silence him.

“Nothing I haven’t thought of myself.  I think you need to leave the strategy to me from here on.”

He flushed in the face, eyes bulging as he choked on fury.  The muscles at the corners of his jaws knotted as he got himself under control, producing a respectful tone.  “Yes, Your Glory.  I await your orders.”