Liz felt her magic flow out of her and she became solid once more. There was much iron around her. She was in a desert, the sun high over her head. There was a canyon before her. Liz walked to the edge and looked down.
"Whoa."
It was a very long way down, narrowing in some places, but it was the other side that intrigued her the most. The canyon wall on the opposite side was higher than the side she was on. It rose up, looking almost black, the rock formations looking like a giant skull.
"Now I see why they call this place Iron Skull," said Liz.
Liz heard a low growl. She turned around and saw small dunes of sand rising. The sand slid aside to reveal the mangled features of some sort of zombie canines. A full pack of demon dogs, eyes blazing red.
Liz slowly stepped back. The heel of her boot touched open air. She was at the edge of the canyon.
I may not be able to teleport, but I can still manage to fly, Liz thought.
Liz leaped back as the demon dogs sprang at her. She glided back and hung in the air. The demon dogs plummeted to the canyon floor.
"That wasn't so hard," said Liz, returning to the ground. She opened her bag and began to sort through weapons. "But things will go smoothly with these."
Avalon's armory had quite a collection of weapons, including iron weapons. Liz had borrowed a few and kept them in her room in the palace. She had brought with her an assortment of throwing stars, a blow dart gun with plenty of darts that were laced with a mild toxin, and several daggers of various sizes and styles.
Liz strapped one dagger onto her belt and slipped two more into her boots. The throwing stars went in her pockets along with the darts. She tucked the dart gun in her belt.
"Okay," she said, taking a look into the canyon. "Here I go."
Liz swung herself over the side and began to climb down. She climbed about halfway down before she was able to safely cross to the other side using a combination of magic and strength.
She groaned as she landed on the other side. "Now I know why none of the others could be sent to do this," she moaned.
Her head pounded and her earlobes burned from her earrings. What magic was left in the diamonds was forcing its way into Liz to restore her depleted magic reservoir as the iron quickly drained it away. Jumping from one side to the other with her magic was not a wise thing to do. Now Liz was forced to rest.
Two minutes and a pep talk later, Liz began climbing once more. Finally after an hour, she pulled herself into the mouth of Iron Skull. She got to her feet and dusted off her hands. She saw that her palms were very irritated.
"Can't do a thing about that now," she said to herself.
Liz took the dagger from her belt and a flashlight from her bag and entered Iron Skull. She could hear strange noises from deep inside the cavern. She heard something behind her and froze.
Trap.
Liz ducked and something whizzed over her head. She kicked back as hard as she could and she heard all too familiar sound of bone breaking.
Behind her was a group of skeletons brandishing swords and shields. One lay on the ground, its spine and ribs shattered. It flailed before becoming still.
Liz held up her dagger and she threw her flashlight at one of their heads. It bounced off its skull and beheaded it. Liz scuffled with another, locking blades with it before managing to smash its pelvis with a well placed kick. The beheaded one found its head and placed it back on its neck. It grabbed Liz around the throat, its bony fingers digging into her flesh. Liz summoned what was left of her magic and released it, sending the skeleton back into the remaining ones, green magic causing them to fall apart.
"Figures," Liz said, rubbing her throat. "Skeletons in a place called Iron Skull."
Liz picked up her flashlight and looked at the damage. The bones of the skeletons she fought had strange marks on them. Runes to be exact.
"Someone's been playing with animation spells," muttered Liz. "Good thing it wasn't necromancy or I would not be standing here."
Carson was gazing at his crystal ball. That girl had defeated both his demon dogs and his skeletons. He had not foreseen this. Oh, he knew that capturing a fey and trying to force him to use his magic for some purpose had its consequences, but Carson wanted to show the world fey existed. A lowly trickster was only so much of an attraction, but a more powerful fey, perhaps one from a god legend, would bring much more. And who knew, he could probably discover Avalon and make his home there.
But this girl was being troublesome. Yes, Carson had been expecting someone to try to rescue the fey, but not a girl. He had thought that one of the more powerful fey would come for the trickster. She had taken out the demon dogs and the skeletons, but they weren't exactly the most reliable of guards. They were only there to scare potential trespassers.
"You seem troubled," said Peter Maza from the cell he was in. "Something not going according to plan?"
"Shut up, old man," snapped Carson. "Only a minor setback, one that I will soon be rid of."
Carson turned to Coyote. The trickster was lying on the ground beside Peter. His arm had been bandaged, but the piece of iron was still lodged in his forearm.
"Looks like they sent someone for you after all," said Carson.
Coyote opened his eyes and rested them on Carson.
"I didn't think it would be a girl," said Carson. "I thought it would be someone who thought they had the power to defeat me. But no, they send a girl instead of a god."
Peter stood up and pretended to look at Carson when he was actually looking at the crystal ball. He saw Liz as she carefully navigated the caverns.
Carson waved his hand over the crystal ball, the image vanishing. "She'll be joining you soon enough."
Carson turned to a dark corner of the cavern. "Phantom, take care of her. Kill her if you must, but I would prefer you bring her here alive. She may be worth something."
A masked, robed figure emerged from the shadows, nodded once, and left.
Peter sat down beside Coyote. He laid the trickster's head in his lap. "Liz is coming," he whispered. "She's coming."
Coyote simply relaxed in Peter's lap as Peter placed a comforting hand on the ailing trickster's shoulder. He was too weak to speak or gesture. He cursed the iron in his arm. Carson had bandaged it, leaving the iron in, knowing that Coyote wouldn't be able to do a thing with it lodged inside him. The only thing he could do was have faith in Liz.
Runes on bones mean human sorcery, Liz thought as she walked through the caverns and tunnels. I'm not dealing with fey, but a human or humans. This is good. I'm out of magic.
Liz felt a chill run through her. She stopped and listened. She heard something moving, like the wind, but she did not feel the wind. Liz looked over her shoulder, searching to see if anything followed her and tried to sneak up on her. This seemed to be the modus operandi of this sorcerer. Nothing.
Good.
Liz turned around. Standing in front of her was a masked figure. It reached out to her. Liz yelled and jumped back, pulling her dagger. The figure disappeared.
"Oh, great," muttered Liz. "Now this is necromancy."
Liz tried to remember the deterrents of ghosts and phantoms. The only one she could remember was salt. It was said that circles of salt could protect from harmful spirits. Liz did not have salt.
She back herself against the cavern wall. It won't do me much good if it decides to come through the wall, Liz thought.
It can't come through the wall, said the voice in her head.
What do you mean it can't come through the wall? It's a ghost!
Think, Liz, said the voice. Salt keeps them away. What harms them?
I don't know! Liz thought desperately of things that could harm inhuman creatures. Stakes for vampires, silver for werewolves, iron for fey.
Then it clicked. She could almost hear Coyote's voice.
"Iron harms both fey and spirits."
That's why it can't pass through the walls!
Liz reached back and found a loose rock. The phantom appeared again and she hurled the rock at it. It was knocked back.
"Weren't expecting that, were you?" Liz asked with a grin.
The phantom recovered.
"Figures," said Liz. "And I don't have the means to free you."
The phantom managed to get behind Liz and yanked her arms behind her back. Liz felt her ears burn as the protection spell of her earrings tried to ward off the phantom, the phantom's own power filling her with cold. She fought back, not sure what to do, but she'd been taught to fight until her last breath. The heel of her hand made contact with the phantom. It released her and staggered back, grabbing at where she touched it. Liz looked down at her hands. They were irritated from climbing — and getting iron under her skin.
Liz had an idea. She reached into her boot and pulled out one of the daggers, one with an iron blade. The phantom charged up to her and she stepped into its arms, thrusting her arm upwards. The phantom grabbed her upper arms and Liz felt a cold chill flood her. Liz grinned triumphantly as the phantom began to disappear.
"Phantom or not, an iron blade to where your heart once was will do you in," said Liz. She stepped away. Liz could swear that the mask the phantom wore disappeared and the face behind it smiled at her.
There's chapter 3! Review!
