Semper Fidelis
Chapter 20
"So I was reading in your mating journal Cosmopolitan and found that it says by trailing a peacock feather along the bare skin of your partner the female of your species is able to excite the male and encourage him toward other interesting activities. Is this true or is it just a fanciful story?" Honey, the rather sex obsessed unicorn, popped this question into my mind as the lands of Summer raced beneath her feet and I tried desperately not to think of falling off and breaking my neck.
When Lord Kline freed me I immediately broke the strand of unicorn hair that I had tied around my finger and nearly forgotten about in the clamor of the past few days. It says something for the strength of unicorn hair that being tossed around in a few battles had not broken the strand inadvertently. But then again unicorns were magical creatures.
The other four of my companions had left heading the opposite direction from what became my own course in order to try and learn if an unaccounted for Summer army was in fact hiding out of sight on a nearby island. I was happy to see that while there remained tension between the troll and my three companions that Hisha at least had made some initial outreach toward mending the bridges the two had shared in the past. I suspected that now that he knew Lord Kline's will and therefore actions in these events had not been entirely his own he would find it within his heart to forgive him eventually.
Daniel was less than pleased to separate from me and had no problem telling me so in private as I had him turn over the sporting goods he had collected earlier this night. He pointed out where their group was headed seemed more likely to require these materials but I pointed out that would only be true if they were used for their intended purpose. I of course had other things in mind and carefully packed them into my own carrying pack so they would be ready when called upon.
I also told him that he should trust Hisha's guidance and that the old raksasha would not lead him astray. When he asked about the troll and Elaine I merely said he would have to make those judgments for himself. He did give me a hug, something completely out of the norm for the Daniel I had been dealing with for the last year or so, and after my initial surprise I hugged him just as tight back and told him to be safe.
"I am more worried about you sis than I am for myself." Daniel said with complete honesty and a look that he truly was the brother I remembered. Of course that included being too stupid not to realize just how dangerous a place like the Nevernever was for wizards much less those like him without any magic to draw upon.
"Don't be." I said adding a bit of a smile to show confidence. "I'm a wizard. This will be as easy as crossing the street." I said to hopefully make him relax.
"Yeah, well I grew up with you so I know better." He smiled back warmly. "Try not to get hit by a bus okay?" The joke was obvious but there was an undeniable undertone of concern in his voice. He turned and walked away before I could say anything else or thankfully before he could notice the tears brewing in my eyes. I wondered if he did so that quickly because he was hiding the same.
Honey arrived within ten minutes of the group's departure and was beaming with excitement at seeing me. At first I wondered if the faerie clothing I was wearing had me dressed up in her eyes like some proverbial virgin goddess but the naughty little emotions I felt radiating off of her immediately dispelled that idea. For a creature dedicated to working solely with virgins she certainly was obsessed by the idea of sex.
"So do you think I could use a cockatrice feather instead of a peacock's?" Honey asked me as we continued to run at what I knew to be breakneck, and break arm, break leg, break ribs, etc., speeds just waiting for her sex distracted mind to allow her to step into whatever the Summer Court equivalent of a gopher hole was here in the Nevernever.
"I am not having this conversation with you." I said keeping my eyes closed and hoping my fear of dying was keeping me from blushing too much.
Honey of course completely ignored me and just continued on. "I mean a cockatrice has the ability to turn flesh into stone with its touch so wouldn't that seem to provide the added benefit of…"
"Really, not listening!" I said suddenly thinking the whole Cosmopolitan subscription had been a really bad idea.
We thankfully arrived at the heart of the Summer Court even faster than on our initial trip. Honey explained she had to keep a slower pace back then because the centaur's ego could not handle it if he learned just how fast a unicorn really was. I thanked her and she said she would be waiting nearby to return me to my friends once my mission here was completed. As this was part of our original bargain I did not fear accepting such a service, though I did dread how much more 'girl talk' I would be forced to endure on the ride back when she could take a slightly more leisurely pace.
I walked into the Court and was suddenly hit by a strong sense of dread and wrongness that had not been present, or certainly not to these levels, the last time that Elaine and I had been here. Maybe it was merely how quiet this place that was normally filled with the love of life was at the moment. Or maybe I was too late and Fix and Lily were already dead. The latter thought spurred my feet to move a little faster.
I barely remembered where I was going, relying on my feet and emotions to guide me more than any visual landmarks that all seemed new to me. I wondered if that were an unfortunate side effect of the constant rebirth of live that Summer supported is that everything was new all the time. Even if it was, the body I stumbled across when I turned a corner near the hedgerow and almost tripped over it certainly did not fit that travel brochure picture.
The body was that of an elf, a she elf based on her modestly molded breastplate, who had died with her sword in her hand for all the good that did her. Based upon the fist sized cauterized hole burned straight through her stomach her weapon had merely served for show. Wisps of smoke still curled up from the remains of the wound. I will save you the description of what that particular effect smelled like. I had seen a lance of flame spell before when Harry had cast such magic but now seeing the results up close on a childlike looking elf who looked in truth younger than half my siblings made me sort of happy such a spell was beyond my capability.
On the other hand it was more or less a signature type spell for those who knew Harry. And based upon what Lord Kline had said, I wondered if this spell had not been used purposely to incriminate my boss. If that was their plan, then they were in for trouble. These types of things did not happen on Molly Carpenter's watch; well not if I could stop them at least.
The only good side of finding the body was that I knew I was on the right track. Elaine had said that only the personal guard of the Lady of Summer and the Summer Knight were still at the court protecting their charges while the rest were in the field preparing for war so the young elf must have been one of those left behind. I also felt a familiar tingle of spent magic in the air that I could follow through the maze like a rat smelling cheese. "Go go gadget sensitive magic bloodhound!" I thought as I hurried up.
I was gaining on whoever attacked the elf because the next body was not even dead yet. This one was a green and brown haired nymph who cradled her severed right arm to her body in shock. The fire's cauterizing effect would probably keep her from dying since there was not a lot of blood, or sap, or whatever liquid nymphs had inside of them. But hey maybe she could tell me where the others were since they almost assuredly were trying to get to Fix and Lily.
"My lady which way did you attacker go?" I said bending down and trying to get the Fae creature's attention. She was in shock of her wound and did not even sense my presence much less seemingly hear my question. Well desperate times and so forth…
I leaned back and slapped the nymph across the face, spinning her head and even hurting my hand in the process. I can't say that some part of me, probably something aligned to Winter did not take a small satisfaction in that action, but I tapped that down for more immediate issues such as where her attacker had gone and if Lily and Fix still lived.
The nymph's eyes opened wide and stared at the Winter token on my chest. She recoiled away though there was not much room for her to do. "You shall not get to them." She said trying to rally defiance but realizing her claim was likely bluster.
"Look at me." I commanded. "I am not the one who attacked you or desire to partake of any war." I said. "I am the Winter Emissary sent here to prevent such a war. Do you remember me?" I asked.
She looked at me. "I remember you but I do not believe you." She said though her defiance fled. "A wizard of your White Council did this to me." She said indicating her severed arm. "You kind have aligned itself to the forces of Winter just as Lady Abagalesidhe warned us you would. I will not allow you to perform the killing stroke on the new Lady of Summer and Summer Knight just so you might brag to others of your kind as your Master Dresden does over his killing of Lady Aurora." God I did not have time for this.
"Look I have come here to save both of them." I said. "Lily and Fix were struck down by eating foods laced with iron. It is in their blood and unless I get to them they will die whether you leave me sitting out here or not." I said opening up my pack and showed her the two jars and the contents they contained.
"This is medicine that may keep them alive, but every second makes that chance less likely." Okay the term 'medicine' was a bit of a stretch even though I guess from a historical perspective it was technically true. I can't tell you how pleased I am that times have changed when I think over my own trips to the doctor.
The nymph picked up one of the jars and stared at the contents and then looked back at me once more. I was thankful that she was obviously familiar with what was inside for that made her at least understand what I was planning. But even with that being said, the Winter token on my chest was not something she was prepared to overlook.
"You story certainly contains all the details to make it seem reasonable Winter Emissary, but all the best lies are wrapped tightly under blankets of truth." The nymph said handing the jar back to me. "I am changed with overseeing the remaining life of The Summer Lady and Knight and I shall not allow you the chance to harm them more." She settled back against the hedge row behind here and from her posture and emotions I could sense she had resigned herself and her people to die.
That just pissed me off. I don't know how else to put it. I had watched Harry face off against odds that seemed utterly impossible and do so with a smile and a few cocky comments. Granted the stakes in this case were worse than even some of those events, but to me this should make people try even harder to succeed not to go resigned to their death.
I stood up and with my right hand I grabbed the barely five foot nymph who weighed only slightly more than a leaf in my opinion, from off the ground and held her up at my eye level so that her bare toes could not feel the blades of grass six inches or more beneath her feet. I cocked my hand back and the nymph's eyes prepared for the spell she expected me to cast to end her life once and for all.
My left hand came forward and I slapped her ever stronger across her face, first to the left and then to the right, so hard it seemed to jar her teeth and left red welts in the shape of my hand on both cheeks. While she had been prepared for a spell, likely of flame, to end her life, facing off physically with a formerly perky but now nearly psychotic apprentice wizard mortal was a completely different thing.
"Listen Bitch, a famous poet it my world once said "Do not go gentle into that good night." I said quoting Dylan Thomas's most famous work. "Now you can help me save the lives of the Summer Lady and Knight and keep this war your kind and those from Winter seem to accept as inevitable from happening or I am going to find a way to save them anyway and then I am going to hunt down your oak tree and ensure it is used to make a hundred toilet seats for mortals to crap on before we all die." Okay that was neither ladylike nor emissary-like but I was really getting sick of having to play nice word games with everyone around me. "Now take me to Lily and Fix!" I slapped her a third time just to make sure my point was made.
The resignation was gone from her face and replaced by wide-eyed fear. She tried to deny me but she could not even get her head to shake. The worst part though is that I could feel there was some part deep inside of me that loved this feeling of power I had over her at the moment. Worse still was that I knew it had nothing to do with the Winter token. It was the darkness inside of myself that Harry had warned me about bubbling to the surface. I liked the feeling; so I had to lock it away.
I placed the nymph back upon her feet on the grass. "I am sorry." I said averting my eyes at the horror of what I had done. "Both Summer and Winter are so stringent in your hatred of each other that you are letting others manipulate you into a war. Personally I would not care if you two destroyed each other, but whoever is behind this is trying to do it in such a way so that someone I care about will be held responsible and killed. I care about him as much as you do your Lady and Knight so I must save their lives to save his."
The honesty of that statement struck me because I had not even known I thought such a thing until I spoke it aloud. Geez what a stupid time to suddenly realize I had a crush on my boss. Worst still is that he was not here to be able for me to tell him how I felt.
"Swear to me that you will actually try to save them and I will take you to them." The nymph said as she looked at me with sudden understanding. Great another oath is all I needed hanging over me, but I really did not have time for anything else.
"Alright I swear upon my magic that…" I began but the nymph interrupted me before I could finish.
"No!" She said firmly. "I don't care about your magic." She said looking at me with serious intent. "Swear to me on this love that you feel and then I will take you to the Lady and the Knight."
Her demand set me back on my heels and then successfully locked away, for the moment at least, the darkness I felt that had risen up inside of me. I knew how terrible the result of violating an oath based upon my magic could be if I did not keep it. Harry had made that result very plain to me early on in my lessons with him. But both he and my father had always said love was an even stronger power than magic. What terrible things could happen if I dared to violate such an oath?
I did not even think to hesitate once I reasoned this all out. Sure I had a lot to lose if I broke my word. But having my oath to fall back upon would also give me the strength I needed to see things through if times got tough, which they always seemed to do. "I swear upon my love for Harry that I will do all that I can to save Lily and Fix." I said feeling a bond placed upon me that was stronger than the oath of magic I had made to Lord Kline only hours before. Molly what are you getting yourself into I wondered?
With a nod the nymph accepted my word and she leaned back against the hedge behind her and like magic, yeah the pun was on purpose, the branches opened a pathway once more to the inner courtyard. Unlike the last time I visited though this place no longer looked alive and festive. Instead it showed all the signs of a battle, both from the destroyed tables, numerous small fires still burning, and of course the half dozen or so dead Summer attendants whose bodies lay scattered over the ground.
Untouched though through all the destruction were the magical biers that the Lady of Summer and her Knight lay within. We walked to them, around the worst of the destruction and remains, the nymph accepting my shoulder to lean upon after only a moment of hesitancy. She kept her eyes firmly fixed on our destination and her loyalty to her charges rather than what remained of her friends who had died giving their lives while attempting to do the same.
The casket each of the pair lay within looked to normal eyesight as crystal clear glass but to a sensitive wizard such as myself I could feel that it was in truth a magical creation and extension of Queen Tatania's power. It was keeping the pair alive and protected at the moment, but also ensuring that when they died their power would come directly back to her and not be temporarily lost like it was when the previous Summer Knight had died. With war boiling on the horizon it was a reasonable decision; even if it did prevent me from touching the pair like I needed to.
"Is there some way to open this?" I asked the nymph. "I need to get this to their skin." I said holding up the two jars to show that I had been serious in what I was planning.
She nodded and placed one hand over the crystal casket and spoke words that made no sense to me but left me thinking of a sunny, pine forest beside a bubbling stream. Summer magic was very odd for a mortal to comprehend I guess.
Within moments the area beneath the nymph's hand began to glow and then parted, opening a space that would be just large enough for my hand holding the jar to reach in through. As I unscrewed the lid I wondered if the magic opening would snap back closed once I put my hand inside. Wouldn't that be a pretty poetic revenge by a creature who had lost her own arm to a mortal wizard? I pushed the thought aside and reached in, realizing I had to have faith that what I was doing would be the right thing.
While shamans and others gifted with magic had often been healers for their villages and tribes throughout history, the need for curative capabilities in the mortal population far exceeded the ability of wizards to perform especially with the huge increases in the human population. Add to that fact that many civilizations for a thousand years or so promoted the idea of burning wizard healers at the stake and you quickly understand that more mundane forms of medicine were required.
Of course the study of medicine was not grounded solely in science, at least not from its earliest days. Few people know that doctors only wear white coats today because they wanted to imitate scientists, who also wore white, and used to disparage the medical profession and its treatments. They took great pains in proving their methods did nothing positive for the patient.
In order to lend credibility to the medical profession, which was held in the same general esteem as Congress today, doctors followed the old adage of 'if you can't beat them, join them' and began wearing the same clothes as scientists just to give the impression to patients that they were science based and reliable; even if that were true or not. Over time that little bit of public relations became common practice even though few knew today know its history.
One of those earliest practices held in much disdain by scientists was the practice of leeching or bloodletting. Early medical practitioners thought all sickness was an issue of the blood and if enough of it was drained away the patient would recover. Knowing what I know today I wonder if this was actually an idea promoted by the Red or Black vampire courts to hide their own nefarious identities behind the medical profession. Thankfully bloodletting fell out of favor in the past two centuries or so when the study of the human body pointed in new directions. Recently though scientists actually reversed course and said that leeching was a valid treatment in some very rare conditions. One of those just happened to be the case of too much iron in the blood.
As I dumped the nasty little critters on Fix's face and chest the literal blood sucking worms began to squirm about and do exactly what nature and their singular instinct demanded of them. They latched onto his skin and began to feed; drawing iron laced blood from his body though a hundred or so little mouths; I guess Daniel had not been cheap, that or the sporting goods shop was having a sale on fishing bait.
If all went as it should the little leeches would drain a pint or two of blood and iron away, which would signal to his body to produce more. The new blood however would not be created infused with iron and therefore it would overall dilute the amount of poison still in his body. I explained this all to the nymph as I repeated the process by pouring the second jar over the Lady of Summer as well. It would likely take a few days for the leeches to restore their iron levels down to a more normal range, and the treatment would be disgusting, but they would live if I had my facts straight.
"Thank you." The nymph said as closed the second hole and then she turned toward me. I saw her smile vanish in an instant and then turn to shock, not at me but at something behind me, which was the only warning I had before what could only be a wizard's wooden staff slammed against the back of my head and knocked me to the ground spilling the contents of my backpack and leaving me weak and seeing stars.
"Open the wards up again." A male voice demanded that sounded somewhat familiar but I could not place. I was having trouble staying conscious from the blow but I tried to tell my body to push myself up from the ground and at least see what was happening. My body, however, had voted against that course of action and like the teacher's union when the county needed to make budget cuts, immediate went on strike.
"Never!" The nymph's voice called out.
There were some other words exchanged but my mind was unable to hear them. I did however sense the gathering of magic and the release of a powerful spell before my body registered the rise in temperature and told me fire had been the result. I struggled some more but nothing my mind sent to my limbs to do seemed to be getting through. I did register the screams of the nymph that seemed to end rather suddenly and with a sense of finality.
I lay there for a few moments, hell it could have been an hour for all I know, before I felt the end of the wizard's staff flip the hair up off my face so its owner could get a better look at me. I tried to open an eye and look his way but between the blow to the back of my head and the fact that he was standing with the sun directly behind him all I could make out was an indistinct and shadowy shape that towered over me.
"Why if it is not Dresden's little warlock apprentice." He said with undisguised delight of surprise in his voice. "I did not recognize you without your pink and blue hairstyle that you were sporting last time." He said moving his staff and letting my hair fall back down over my face. The fact that he recognized me, most likely from my trial since that was when I had that particular hair style, meant I was right; I likely had met or at least heard his voice somewhere before likely at the trial.
"You know when I had conceived of this plan I asked my agent to work to keep you master out of it because he has this annoying tendency of screwing up things that are beyond him." The wizard gloated as he explained details of his plan. Yeah if anyone needed a refresher course of the Ultimate Evil Overlord's list of what not to do it was this guy.
"However, your presence here is quite fortuitous." He explained and then I felt him start gathering magic and that he was using it to fill another source that was already brimming with magic power of its own.
"You see after that fiasco at Arctis Tor I could not afford to have anyone looking too close at who was behind the attack on another Faerie Court so I had hoped to perform this particular raid without notice." He said. "Unfortunately I crossed paths with someone who had personal desires of her own and that detail created an unforeseen conflict. However, we were able to come up with an agreement that if I helped her remove the Lady and Knight then she would turn a blind eye to my other activities, especially if there was someone else more likely deserving of the blame I could pin this all on. And well here you are my dear ready to play that role"
"Unfortunately, these magical biers the pair lay within are keeping them alive and preventing my spells from reaching them which makes it impossible for me to kill them quietly." The mysterious wizard said. "That means I have to go old school and ratchet up the power a bit. Up until a few moments ago I only had the Winter token to use as the focus and a blame for that type of detonation. Now though it will look that much better when the body of Dresden's apprentice, working as an agent of Winter, is found among the rubble and will make a very convenient excuse for the 'accidental' explosion by an apprentice who just was unready to handle that much magic."
I felt the raw power he was filling into the Winter token and while he might not be a power match for a spell that Harry could throw, instead of a single burst he kept pouring more and more into the artifact. I guess it was important to remember that a lake is nothing more than lots of little drops of water contained all in one place. And the Winter token was becoming the dam that held this water back from overflowing and wiping out a significant portion of the Summer Court in the process.
I felt the flow of magic stop as he bent over and laid the magic icicle near my body. "It is a pity child that this blast will kill you." The unknown wizard whispered to me. "I would so like to have seen the Wardens execute you and your master together one day when one or the other of you failed."
"Bastard!" I tried to say but only the second syllable formed correctly which all things being equal was not so bad considering. I received another rap to the side of my head for that minor indignity, not a full on blow but more of a slap on the hand for trying to be defiant. Normally I would have shrugged it off but the pain in my head flared up even higher.
"I would say for you to take that as a lesson not to speak poorly to your betters but as you have no future to make such learning important the idea of a lesson is therefore wasted." He snarled. "Give my regards to Dresden when he comes to meet you in Hell." And without another word the wizard strode away, caring not that he had left me still alive on the ground behind him. Like I said he really needed to brush up on his Evil Overlord rules if he was going to make mistakes like this and live; that was provided I could get my mind clear enough to make my body respond.
I tried to command my arms to move but all that attempt at concentration achieved was to increase the size of my headache. Damn his first shot had hit perfectly and unless I found a means to shake this off I was done for. And not just that, Harry was a goner too. There was no way I was going to let them kill him because I was too weak. I needed to heal enough to move and hopefully Hisha had shown me what I needed to know.
I also was struck by the odd thought that the entire reason I was going to die right now was because Harry had not had bologna in his fridge and I had been too lazy to go to the store to buy some. If that was not an argument against peanut butter and jelly sandwiches then I do not know what was. Sorry Skippy and Jif, from now on I'm and Oscar Meyer kid!
Thankfully keeping my eyes closed was easy. The difficult part was not being distracted. I could get past the pain and the exploding stars in my head but the overwhelming sense of magic by my back that had begun to feel like it was literally burning through my faerie clothes made this quite a bit more difficult. Thankfully I was getting use to the path I had to mentally take and though the going was slow, or at least too slow for my comfort, I finally stepped fully into my chi and felt its warm healing touch clear my mind and reduce the concussion swelling I now realized that I had. By the time I was done my mana was nearly tapped out, but thankfully I was able to sit up without any pain and take account of my situation.
I'm certain Harry had a dozen means at his disposal for getting rid of this atypical time bomb. He could probably will it to another location, drain off the power stored within it, or find a way to fling it so high up that the explosion would do nothing on the ground. Yeah, the problem was he had yet to teach me any of those types of spells.
I had my own Winter token that might allow me to open a gate of my own, likely either to Winter itself or to the mortal world, neither of which actually solved the problem I was faced with it only moved it someplace that was likely equally as bad. I did know it was bad form to use magic to drop your problems in someone else's unsuspecting lap. There was also the quite real possibility that this would kill me as gates were more or less new to me.
I considered and dismissed the idea of wrapping one of my shield charms around it and trying to contain the blast. They might be able to stop a bullet or deflect a normal spell, but the icon was flared up and full of magic to rival a small deity so it was hardly going to work. And all that energy ended up slapping against my body with that spell is not properly deflected and truth be told I was not looking for experiencing that much pain. But that gave me an idea of what just might work I realized.
I flipped my pack over and let the rest of the items inside fall free then I flipped the burning icicle token, yes I did recognize the irony of that, with my shoe onto the now empty pack. I grabbed the first piece of playground chalk I could find, florescent lime green, and drew a hasty circle around the token making sure the chalk line was unbroken by any seam in the material. A quick drop of blood, something I found was wet and sticky on the side of my head so readily accessible, and the smallest circle of containment I had ever built, eight inches across, was up and running.
I could have attempted the same thing by pouring the salt I carried in a circle around the token on the ground and saved myself the discomfort of burning off the tip of my faerie shoe but I figured it was dying for a good cause; namely to keep me from doing so. Had my salt circle been flawed then the power would still stream out into the lands of Summer. I wasn't completely sure but I strongly suspected from the damage I had done just driving the power of my regular token into the dirt a few days ago that this was a situation to avoid.
I was just sitting back to wonder if I had done everything I could when the token exploded and converted itself and all the power it contained into a glowing beam of light, much like the killing beam of the Death Star, straight up into the sky which was the only direction the power was capable of flowing. I fell back and away from it in surprise, landing hard enough on my backside to leave a bruise as the laser light show ended as fast as it had begun.
I willed the circle to stop and fell back once more to lie on the grass and close my eyes happy to know I had lived through another event that by all rights should have killed me. I only opened my eyes once I felt the oddly familiar brush and touch of cold on my cheek and could see that small flakes of snow, all that remained of Winter's power, were landing gently and immediately dissipating on the grass. Thankfully this seemed to be a side effect of the magic rather than the power itself for it caused no damage to any part of the lands of Summer where the flakes landed.
I lay there for a time before I found the strength to get up again and start gathering the remains of my gear, the two severed mandibles mostly, salt, chalk, and crystals, into what was left of the backpack. I had just finished when a voice made me spin around and face a totally new problem.
"So Winter Emissary it appears that you have made it snow here in the heart of Summer." Handmaiden Abagalesidhe said without a hint of amusement in her voice. She was dressed for war in shining copper armor that literally crackled with the electric power the once Goddess of Summer Storms was known for.
"No, what I did was stop a human wizard from blowing this place up with the same Winter token you found on the cook and left lying around here completely unprotected." I said finding my balance and while not taking a posture directly challenging of her authority, I took one that did not communicate I was backing down in any way to her challenge either. "In the process I saved the lives of your Summer Lady and Knight; twice actually if you consider the leeches that are drawing away the iron they had been poisoned with. So before you get all high and mighty on me about being the Emissary of Winter perhaps you should acknowledge this service I have done for your court and back off." Okay maybe the last was a bit much but Harry always said it was wise to deal with the Sidhe from a position of strength and not weakness. I only hoped Abagale saw it that was too.
"I do indeed applaud your intelligence and resourcefulness, especially considering your relative lack of experience with both magic and the Courts." She said but did not smile. Then again I don't think I had ever seen the Handmaiden of Summer smile.
"However, since it was I who put these plans in action you must understand that I hardly can allow them to falter now when they are so close to succeeding." She said with a wicked smile that made me long for a moment earlier when I had never seen her face shaped in such a form. "And of course I cannot leave witnesses to this action either so you my dear will have to die like the tool of Winter you deserve to." She drew up a charge of electricity into her hand that I just knew was going to hurt if she actually got the chance to fire it. So I needed to not give her the chance.
"So you're the one hiding the army out past the Island of the Sirens." I said with my Detective Becket voice catching her off guard and hoping in my ploy that Lord Kline was every bit as strategically smart as he made himself out to be and was right on where to hide an army. I also called up as much magic as I could hold and readied my shield bracelet in case she shot before hearing what I had said.
"How could you possibly know that?" She said drawing her up short in obvious surprise. I guess it is one thing to create a situation to make yourself the hero, but if others could prove she had done this by actually putting the Summer Court in jeopardy in the first place then Queen Tatania would hardly find this acceptable. I knew she had to know just who else knew about this part of her plans.
"Let's just say I have spent the last two days with friends putting together various pieces of this plot and shutting them down one by one." I explained resting my bag on the magical bier that the Lady of Summer lay within. I happened to look down at the leeches on her skin and shuddered, knowing it was the only way to save her, but never wanting to know what that type of rescue would feel like. There were at least a dozen on her pretty face and three or four times that number on the exposed patches of skin that I could see.
"One thing I remain unsure of though." I said to keep her attention away from blasting me. "Did you hire Rumplestiltskin to create the firearms for your little war or was that another of the little sidelines that the White Council wizard was playing to manipulate both Faerie Courts into war?"
"I have no dealings with his kind." She replied. "And if he is doing what you say and violating the treaties against such actions then I will take it upon myself once Queen Tatania imbues me with the power of both the Summer Lady and Summer Knight to ensure he feels significant pain before he dies for such crimes."
Great! The crazy bitch already had too much power and she wanted to top that off with the combined power of the third and fourth most powerful beings of the Summer Court? Yeah I may only be a perky wizard apprentice but that whole situation did not appear to be a good idea to me. Unfortunately, currently that left only me to stop her as well.
"Don't worry yourself over it." I tried to sound nonchalant as I pulled one of the severed mandibles out of my pack and held it up for her to see. "I took care of that loose end for you already."
"I suppose you think I owe you a service for this service then?" She said continuing that smile I would now be happier to have never known about. "And of course your choice would be that I let you go free. Unfortunately that cannot happen so I will make sure I pass my debt onto your next of kin." She said without regard. "The service of such a powerful Fae would be a worthy gift. I suspect I should healing your father is fair compensation. I speak of his body at least since his heart will remain broken for his lost daughter."
Yeah that pissed me off. I know Harry says wizards should not react emotionally but damn it this was my dad she was speaking badly about. So since I was facing death anyway why not go out with a blaze of glory; or in my case a blaze of light!
"Rave!" I commanded loosening my magical light show and funneling it through the mandible in my hand straight into the eyes of Abagalesidhe. Wow, the bony appendages worked every bit as well as I had thought and almost all of my magic landed right in her eyes. Now I may only be a pinprick compared to the sledgehammer she was capable of, but I defy any of you to think a pair of needles driven right into your eyes was less painful or easier to accept that a hammer slamming down on your hand.
She was staggered and stunned and fell back to the ground by the fury of my spell. I had the option to end things right there and then but the Handmaiden of Summer was no novice to battle and before my sword hand had reached the hilt on my back, Abagale erected an electrical curtain all around herself that was a rival to the power in any of Harry's wards. No way I was going to touch that and she was not going to let it down until she was ready to squash me so that left me only one choice; run like hell!
"I am going to tell your army what you have done." I said as I fled. "They are going to know you endangered the entire court just for your own quest for power." Yeah that was not the brightest thing I could have done but I dared not leave Abagale alone long enough to bypass her queen's protections on the Lady and Knight of Summer to finish what she started. She had to come after and silence me first if her plans had any remaining hope of success. Or at least that is what I told myself as I made my way out of the central court through the same passage Abagale had arrive through.
Honey came running to find me as I cleared the hedge maze. "I saw that strange beam of glowing light and I feared the worst." She said stopping and spinning beside me knowing that my rapid fleeing likely meant I needed to get the heck out of here quickly.
"Yeah, that was only part of the problem. I need to get away as fast as I can from Abagalesidhe before she decides to cook me." I explained. "I know your loyalties are to the Summer Court. Can you help me or do I need to find my own way."
"Get on Molly." She said lowering herself so I could vault on and ride like a normal person for once.
"Thanks Honey." I said as the unicorn turned and went from standing to full out gallop in less than four steps.
"Think nothing of it. I never liked that bitch much anyway." She replied. "And if anyone so need to get laid it's her!" I smiled but could not help but find myself agreeing with the sentiment.