Shadow City (33 page)

Ilanion stared at her. “If I survive. But I plan to die before I become slave to the Korvad.”

“This isn’t your party,” Max said, surprised. “No one expects you to hit the piñata with me.”

His handsome face went hard, his lips pulling down. Gold swirled in his eyes, and curls of magic spun across his skin. “I will take part as I see fit,” he said loftily.

“What happens to your . . .” Max waved in the direction of the seated gargoyles and company. “Your . . . bond servants . . . if you are taken by the Korvad?”

“As you said, I don’t intend to lose.”

“So you’d risk them, too?” She shook her head, her stomach churning. How had she managed to hold so many lives in her hands? “You can’t do that. It’s selfish. This is my problem. I’ll deal with it.”

“It’s not just your problem. I choose to fight, and that is the end of it.”

“If they want more than a one-on-one duel.”

“They will. They will want to draw out your co-conspirators, and they will want to crush us. No one is permitted to challenge the Korvad and walk away.”

“All the more reason for you to stay out of it.”

“It’s my choice, and I’ve made it.” He stood abruptly. “I’ll go send the challenge. They’ll answer quickly. You’ll have to fetch the heart. All of the artifacts will need to be present.”

“Artifacts? Scooter isn’t an artifact.”

“To them, he is. Are you going to tell him your plan?”

She shook her head. “Let’s wait until it’s done.”

“He’s having trouble staying conscious. If you wait much longer, you won’t be able to speak with him.”

Max sighed. “Lucky him. He’ll wake up either free or dead.”

He stared at her in surprise and then gave an unwilling chuckle. “Together, we might pull this off,” he said.

She eyed the puddle of poisoned armor. “Too bad it’s broken. It would have been a nice help.” She looked back at him. “What are we likely to be up against?”

He folded his arms, scraping his bottom teeth over his upper lip thoughtfully. “Asherah will certainly take to the ring herself. The others—it’s difficult to say if they’ll be willing to risk themselves, though whoever does participate in the battle will certainly earn a bigger piece of the winnings, and that’s a strong motivation. After that . . . They have many servants. My Enay, however, are fierce fighters and nearly impossible to kill.”

Max scowled. She hadn’t thought about who would be going to battle for Ilanion. She didn’t like the idea of dragging the gargoyle critters into this. They didn’t get the choice of saying no. But who else was there?

If you get into trouble, if you need help, you come get me.

Max’s stomach churned.
No
. She wouldn’t bring Alexander into this. But . . . He wouldn’t forgive her if she didn’t. And his help could make the difference.

She drew a shaky breath. “I’m going to get help,” she told Ilanion. “How long are we likely to have before this showdown begins?”

“Hours. Four or possibly five. Long enough to establish terms and send word through the city.”

“I’ll be back as soon as I can.” She unbuckled her swords and laid her guns and knives on the table top. Now she had the attention of the other diners. She grimaced. Apparently, a strip show got you attention whether you were on earth or not.

“What are you doing?”

“May as well leave these here. I’ll be bringing more guns.”

“They are not legal here.”

“Because the Korvad says so, and it’s better for them if nobody is shooting at them. I don’t plan to listen. You said it yourself: in Chadaré, might makes right. I’m planning to have more might. If you have a problem with that, you don’t have to use them.”

“The only problem I have is that none of my people knows how to shoot.”

“Shooting an Uzi is simple,” Max said. “It’s point and spray and kill whatever’s in front of you.”

He snorted. “Somehow I doubt it’s that easy.”

“For this, it’s going to be.”

She scratched the ears of the Calopus. “I’ll be back,” she told it. It licked her hand.

Ilanion shook his head. “How did you end up together?”

“I have a bad habit of picking up strays,” Max said.

“It tried to kill you. Can you trust it?”

“I was trying to kill it. Can
it
trust
me
?” Max asked with a shrug. “It got me out of that trap. That’s all I need to know.”

Ilanion narrowed his eyes at her. “You are very unexpected, do you know that?”

“Is that your way of calling me stupid?” she asked wryly.

“If the glove fits,” he said.

“It fits all too well sometimes,” she said. “I’ll be back.” With that, she dropped into her fortress and stepped out into the abyss.

A
LEXANDER WOKE ON THE FLOOR.
H
E
HURT
.
Layer after layer of pain cocooned him. He blinked at the rock ceiling above, unable to make himself move.

He heard the muttering of voices and the wheeze and whistle of tortured breathing. There were whimpers. He smelled charred flesh and death.

He closed his eyes, trying to remember what had happened. The Fury had killed Alton and then broken through the next circle. After that—

The angels had wrapped themselves around her, and the world had burst into flame.

He opened his eyes, foreboding digging into his entrails. He pushed himself up on his elbows, biting back a moan of pain. He looked down at himself. A blanket covered him from the waist down. Above that, he was naked. Some of his skin was runneled and twisted like melted wax. Patches of it were pink and shiny as if they were new. Others were black. IVs were hooked to both arms. Beyul lay against him and lifted his head as Alexander struggled to sit upright. He pulled the tubes in his arms free.

The beast sat up, and his tongue swiped over Alexander’s cheek and eye. He winced. “Good to see you, too,” he rasped. He could barely hear himself. His throat was swollen and throbbing. He looked across the room. Other bodies lay on the floor like a row of logs.

A hand clenched in his chest. Who was hurt? Who was dead?

Alexander struggled to his feet, the blanket puddling to the floor. He looked down at himself and nearly puked. His cock and balls were shriveled and black, and his skin matched the patchwork of his chest.

“Here,” a voice said, and he jerked around to find Max’s sister, Tris, holding his blanket out to him.

She was gray-faced and drawn, her lips trembling.

“Thank you,” he said in a harsh whisper, and wrapped it around his waist. His legs shook, but he ignored them and the agony stabbing up through his bones and burrowing through his flesh.

“Here, drink this,” she said, and gave him a cup of something.

Alexander drank it and gasped as his gut exploded. “What is that?”

“Medicine. The witch—Valery—made it. It’s supposed to get you better a lot faster. It’s got magic in it.” She said
magic
as if she were being force-fed cockroaches.

It was working. He felt strength flowing through his veins, and his pain was fading. His skin was smoothing. He did not dare check his genitals while Tris was watching, but he could feel them healing, too.

Suddenly, someone hit him in the shoulder. He turned, and Valery pulled him into a tight hug. “You bastard,” she said softly, tears running down her face. “Don’t ever do that to me again. I thought I lost you.”

“I couldn’t get that lucky,” came Holt’s annoyed voice. He stood behind Valery, his arms folded and his lip curling as he watched their embrace. He was haggard and thin, like he had lost twenty pounds.

Alexander bared his teeth at the mage in something like a smile. “I guess today is not your day to play the lottery, is it?”

Valery pushed away and looked him over from head to foot. She, too, had lost weight, and her face was pale. She had a cut on her cheek and a hash of them on her forearms. Alexander touched the wound on her cheek. “What happened?”

“All the rocks exploded, and suddenly we were inside a blender,” Holt answered for her. “Valery is lucky she didn’t die.” His voice was hot with accusation. His hex marks glowed blue. “No thanks to you.”

She cast an annoyed look at her ex and then returned her attention to Alexander. “I’m fine. I shielded myself.”

“Not fucking well fast enough,” came Holt’s furious response.

“What business is it of yours?” she asked. “I’m a grown woman and perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”

“You’re an idiot, and if you took care of other people the way you supposedly take care of yourself, you’d be arrested for neglect.”

Valery grinned up at Alexander, her eyes snapping with humor. She was riding an adrenaline high. The same kind she got when she was stealing. He was sure that Holt knew it and that was what was driving the other man insane. Valery took risks for the fun of it. “No harm, no foul,” she said with a shrug,. “Time for you to get over your big bad self.”

Holt was beside himself. He grabbed her arm and pulled her around. Alexander started to interfere, then checked himself. Valery did not need a hero, and Holt deserved a chance to make an ass of himself. After suffering Max’s rejection for so long, Alexander could not help feeling sympathetic to Holt. He hated the mage, but the man was clearly desperate.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” the mage demanded through gritted teeth. He gave Valery a shake. “You could have died.”

There was a wealth of horror in the words, and his cold expression cracked. Suddenly, he pulled her into his arms, wrapping her tightly and pressing his lips against her hair, his eyes closing. She hesitated, then hugged him back.

“You have to stop scaring me like this,” he said, his voice unsteady.

Alexander decided that he did not need to eavesdrop on the rest of what they might have to say to each other and walked down along the row of bodies, Beyul at his side. Tris followed.

He came to Lise first. Bile flooded his mouth. She was in bad shape. If he hadn’t recognized her scent, he would not have know it was her. Absently, he reached down to pet Beyul, wanting the touch of someone warm and alive.

“Is she going to make it?” he asked Tris.

“They say so.”

“Who are
they
?”

“Those two.” She hooked a thumb back in the direction of Holt and Valery. “And Giselle. She’s been through a few times since—”

Tris broke off, and her face twisted. “I’ve seen a lot in my life,” she said quietly. “I thought the worst of it was when those shape-shifters attacked our orchard and you came out of it like hamburger. But this . . . Is it going to be like this always?”

Alexander nodded. “The Fury rising—no one could have predicted that. But the Guardians unleashed a flood of magic into the world. A lot of people were displaced, and a lot of magical creatures have returned from wherever they went. Everyone is looking for a home. I expect that for a while, we will be living in the old west, where there are no laws and everybody is fighting to establish their territories.”

“How long is a while?”

Alexander shook his head. “Maybe longer than you will live. Maybe longer than your grandchildren will live.”

Her mouth pinched, and she nodded. Then said, “Thank you. For keeping us safe.”

He looked at her in surpise. “It is our job. But you are welcome.”

“I heard you saw Max. That she was here for a little bit. Is she OK?”

It was easier to look at Lise than to see the pleading look in Tris’s eyes. She missed her sister more than he had thought. “She was. But that could have changed by now.”

“But she’s strong, right? Stronger than most?”

He nodded. “She has a lot of reasons to come home safe, too.”

“I hope so,” Tris said. “We—things weren’t good between us when she left. Mom spends half the day crying and the other half yelling at my dad. I’d like to have a chance to know her again.”

“You will get it.”

“You sound sure.”

He smiled without humor. “I have to be. Otherwise, I would shoot myself in the head.” He changed the subject, not wanting to think about Max. “How long has it been since the Fury rose?”

“Fourteen or fifteen hours.”

A long time for him to be out. He must have been hurt badly. Thank goodness for Valery and Holt.

He turned away and went down the rest of the line. Oak and Steel were there, and so were Nami and Simon. Steel’s brother, Flint, was sitting beside him. There were also three Sunspears, and Judith and Gregory were huddled under two mounds of blankets at the end. They were shivering, and two Sunspears, Maple and Ivy, sat with them, talking softly.

“What is wrong with them?” he asked.

“I’m not sure. Something to do with the magic that was unleashed. Holt and Valery worked on them, but now it’s just wait and see.”

Alexander frowned, looking around the space again. “Where is Xaphan? He can heal.”

Tris opened her mouth and then closed it, shaking her head. She pointed through another doorway.

He went through it slowly, feeling numb. The smell of death assaulted his nose. Blood and charred flesh. His stomach lurched again, and he swallowed it down, his body clamping tight.