This is sort of intended to fit into my October Country universe (which includes the Halloween King), but I think it stands well enough on its own, and fits nicely in with the book universe.
And if you haven't noticed, Tall Jake is my favorite character from Malice—I mean, seriously, he shows up for six pages in the whole book, but he. Has. Presence.
Malice © 2008 Chris Wooding
Icy waves crashed against craggy rocks, blades against blades, as steel wool clouds scoured the gunmetal sky.
That was almost poetic, he reflected as he waited on the sheer crumbling cliffs overlooking the Endless Oceans. He'd have to write it down. You know, if he survived this encounter.
No. He would survive this—and he'd win this, too. All of his plotting and scheming was not going to end with him being a burning crisp. He had spread the rumors, he had done the agitating, he had made sure it was easy enough for even a moron to know it was him, and then let it be known that he'd be here. He had picked the location with the utmost precision and purpose—lure the Shard here, and then drown that endless flame in the ocean. Simple as that. And hopefully, it would be so furious it wouldn't see the trap until it was sprung.
He turned to scan the skies again. The Shard wasn't known for subtlety. He'd see it ages before it arrived. He'd hear it before it arrived. There was no chance of it sneaking up on him. Unless, of course, he was waiting for naught and it was busy burning up his deadhouse.
That might be likely, now that he thought on it—his territory butted right up against the Burning Plains, which the Shard called home. His deadhouse would be a tempting target, which would make picking this location pointless—
No. The Shard preferred physical confrontation—as did the Lack, next on his list. He was more than confident in dealing with the rest of the Rulers—his canniness and cunning and subtle spells meant he'd be able to undermine them and send them toppling with minimum issue. But the Shard and the Lack were powerful enough physically to be able to bully their way through any spells he threw at them.
But he had a plan. He had a plan for them all. Drown the Shard in an endless sea, send the Lack a creature she'd never be able to defeat, destroy the Queen of Cats' city—striking her pride was the fastest way to defeat her—
He looked up from his musings—he had heard a distant roar.
Bingo.
He readied himself, settling into a stance that would enable him to send a curse flying straight for the Shard as soon as it presented itself—
And then it lowered itself from the sky, presence burning the clouds—and regrettably, the oxygen—away.
Oh.
Oh, it was mad. Beyond mad. To the dangerous, I'm going to kill you slowly mad. And—and come to think of it, it was huge up close.
Take the Shard first, you said, he thought to himself. Tackle the hardest one first, you said. It'd make the rest of them easy, you said.
And then the Shard opened its mouth, sending boiling air roiling over him.
"You will pay for your lies!" it roared.
Well, he was committed now—nothing else for it.
Tall Jake assumed a proper battle stance.
—Bring it—he snarled.