Chapter 17

The Dragon Riders

For a few moments Irene wasn't quite sure which way was up. Fortunately her body still knew even when her brain gave up, so she came up out of the water, gasping for air and trying to figure out where she was and where was she was going. There was water in her eyes and thunder in her ears.

While she was still pulling herself together, a hand grabbed hers and dragged her up a few stairs.

'You all right?' Thomas shouted over the storm.

All her limbs were still in their proper places and she knew who she was and roughly where she was. It would have to be enough.

Irene nodded and tried to blink the water out of her eyes. Thomas dragged her along until they stood under the awning of the building they had just left.

Back where we started.

And somehow everything had only gotten worse.

It took Irene a little while to take in what was currently going on. She knew she'd bumped her head, so she wasn't quite sure how much she missed and how long it had been since she went down.

Her megaphone was gone, and what with all this water, probably halfway to Lake Michigan by now. Not that it mattered much; it really hadn't liked all that water much and had given out on her several times already.

Sue was in retreat. Irene heard dinosaur roars in the distance. Maybe she'd been chased off or maybe she'd found more zombies to munch on. She couldn't see Morgan, or Ramirez. Kai was probably still doing his turn around the area.

Alberich and Harry on the other hand were easy to find. Alberich stood in the middle of his own maelstrom, screaming with effort as he tried to literally grind Harry into the earth. He's drowning him. At least he had some actual water at his disposal and did not, as he had with Irene, try to drown his opponent in a wooden floor. Harry fought him every step of the way.

But he was losing.

Irene had seen him fight, she had seen what kind of powers he could throw around. But against Alberich he didn't stand a chance.

'Empty night!' Thomas swore, reaching for the sword that he had apparently not lost in all the confusion.

Irene stopped him on principle. 'It won't do any good.'

Where was Kai? Had he completed his round yet? She didn't hear him. She certainly couldn't see him. If he didn't hurry up, Harry wasn't going to make it.

Thomas actually snarled at her as he shook her off. It was the first time Irene found it plausible that he was indeed a vampire, a predator. Had his eyes changed colour too? In the flashing light it was hard to tell.

There wasn't time for it anyway. He gave her a last warning glare and plunged back into the rain to make a fight of it.

He didn't get the chance; Morgan beat him to it.

Irene couldn't see where he came from, but suddenly he was there. And it turned out that bringing the barbed wire circle was not a stupid idea, like Irene thought when Harry suggested it. Morgan threw it over Alberich like it was a lasso.

Just like that, the tables turned. Alberich's scream of effort turned to one of impotent rage. His hold on Harry broke. He couldn't touch the iron around him and he couldn't push his power out beyond its confines either. And if he was that susceptible to iron, he had gone more Fae than any human should ever be. He had not strengthened himself. He had weakened himself.

Irene had wondered if she would be able to hear Kai's signal over the storm, but it turned out she had worried for nothing; that roar could probably be heard all the way in Moscow.

Harry heard it too. He didn't look at her – perhaps he didn't know exactly where she was – but his voice was so magically loud it nearly deafened her. 'Irene, NOW!'

She did not need telling twice. That circle had not been terribly effective in holding the Erlking – Irene wondered where he had gotten to; this place would seem like his natural habitat – and if Kai and Harry had not banished Alberich when they had, it might not have held him for very long either.

She invoked the Library in the Language. By pure instinct she screamed it at the top of her lungs. It didn't drown out the storm, or made her words any more effective. But Irene had been soaked to the skin, tossed around like a ragdoll and attacked by more necromancers and zombies than she cared to count. She was, not to put too fine a point on it, absolutely fed up. Screaming her bit of the proceedings didn't make a blind bit of difference for the result.

But it made her feel better.

As intended, it did not improve Alberich's sense of well-being. For a moment Irene wasn't able to discern between his screams of rage and his screams of pain. In that endless moment she wondered if perhaps there had not been enough books in this college to make it work. But then the screams rose in pitch, until they were howls of agony. Being expelled from B-395 had been torment for Alberich. It was no less here in Harry's world.

He seemed to melt as the skin that held him disintegrated. It had never been made for the purpose to which Alberich had put it. Imposing the Library's power would be torture to someone so contaminated with chaos, and being pushed up against iron and a Dragon's orderly boundary must make it worse still.

He went kicking and screaming, but he went.

Irene would have loved to take a moment to enjoy the moment of victory, but there was no time. Grevane, the Corpsetaker and Alberich were off the field, but that only meant that Cowl and Kumori were unopposed. Well, unopposed except for Sue, who was enthusiastically thinning out the ranks of their undead army.

Of course, that was enough good news for one night. The rest of it was looking very, very bad. Harry slumped with what Irene was fairly sure was a winning combination of exhaustion and his extensive injuries. Morgan didn't lend a hand to help him. It was probably a miracle he hadn't resumed his efforts to kill him yet.

Thomas must have had the same thought. He trudged through the water until he reached Harry, making sure to keep himself between Harry and Morgan. Not that Morgan seemed to have a lot of qualms about killing vampires.

Irene cast one look at the rotating clouds above her head and decided that now was not the right time to settle personal vendettas.

She splashed towards them. It was slow-going; the water reached up to a little above her knees. At this point it might be easier to swim. Maybe there was a point where the amount of water became too much.

It was of course therefore pretty ironic that there was nothing that Irene currently wanted more than a hot shower.

'Is he gone?' Morgan demanded without preamble when she joined them. He, like all of them, looked like a drowned rat.

If we all end up with pneumonia, that wouldn't surprise me. Of course, to end up with pneumonia, they'd have to survive the night first. It's just one thing after another.

Irene promised herself a hot shower, a good night's sleep in an actual bed and a good book – or three – when this was all over. After this debacle, she had earned it. Actually, make that five books. Minimum.

'Gone,' Irene confirmed. From this alternate at least. The chances of her visiting again had increased exponentially. 'What next?' The best way to avoid confrontation: make sure to keep everyone on track with the bigger crisis.

She had addressed Harry on purpose. After all, he had brought the dinosaur.

The plan, such as it was, was simple. 'Get in, stop Cowl.'

Morgan scowled. 'I haven't forgotten what you've done, Dresden.' The man had a single-minded focus that was probably really useful if he used it for the bigger crisis instead of his crusade against Harry.

Irene debated knocking him out, but the odds were stacked against them enough as it was. Thinning out their own ranks would be somewhat counterproductive. Having said that, the man got on her every last nerve. 'Is now the time?' They were probably lucky that Cowl hadn't done his thing while they were all distracted with the Corpsetaker and Alberich.

Morgan apparently thought this was the time. 'He murdered…'

'The Corpsetaker,' Irene interrupted. 'Switching bodies was what she did.' She had seen that for herself with the soulgaze. Even now, a few days later, the memory was as vivid as if it had only just ended. Note to self: never look a wizard in the eyes ever again. 'If Harry hadn't shot her, she would have killed us before we realised who she was.'

Well, she would have killed some of them at least. Probably not all of them. Still, the point stood.

Morgan clearly thought Irene's testimony as suspicious because of her association with Harry. 'You…'

'… Are right.'

The interruption made all of them turn around.

Irene thought she could not possibly be surprised anymore after the last few days, but the sight of Ramirez supporting a bleeding but very much alive Captain Luccio in the Corpsetaker's old body rendered her speechless for a few moments.

The good thing was that Morgan didn't know what to make of this either. 'What…?'

'Stand down, Morgan,' Captain Luccio said. The voice was different, but Irene, who'd had the questionable honour of hearing the Corpsetaker use it, could tell that this was not the same person. The intonation, the delivery was all different.

And Morgan knew it too. His jaw dropped.

And in case that wasn't enough, Ramirez put in his two cents. 'It's her, Morgan. I soulgazed her.'

That should eliminate all doubt.

Morgan staggered. He seemed to have forgotten that Harry was even there.

In the relative silence that followed this revelation Kai landed. Irene could tell that he tried to be gentle about it, but there was so much water that there was no chance of him landing without causing a minor tidal wave.

It's a good thing we're all drenched already, Irene thought wryly.

Kai didn't bother to change back. 'There are several hundred zombies surrounding Cowl,' he announced. 'If the rain and water hinder him, I could not see it.'

Irene was on the verge of asking if perhaps he could stop the storm altogether then. By now she was so cold, she barely remembered how it felt to be properly warm. What she wouldn't give for a few days in a comfy chair with a book. In front of a blazing fire. Definitely.

Kai punched a hole in that fantasy with his next words. 'I could not stop it. The necromancer,' his voice dripped with contempt, 'is meddling with dark forces. It's affected the weather.'

Probably because in stories evil deeds were supposed to be accomplished on dark and stormy nights. What most stories failed to mention was how absolutely miserable these conditions were, how annoying it was to constantly have to blink the water out of your eyes and how little you could see beyond your immediate surroundings in a downpour.

It rather made Irene rethink her appreciation for the dark-and-stormy-night aesthetic.

Harry nodded. 'They won't see us coming.'

Of course, there was that as well. Although Irene was not sure Harry should be coming at all. He'd been hit on the head last night and then again just now. That couldn't be good for him. He leaned heavily on Thomas and, although it was hard to see much, Irene could have sworn that his gaze was not as focused as would be recommended for such a mission.

Unfortunately, he was also the man with the dinosaur.

'How close can we come without getting killed?' she asked, and realised almost straight away that this was not the right question. If the zombies didn't do them in, then Cowl and Kumori might. And if they were successful in their spell, they'd kill everyone in a mile radius. At least. Irene's chances for survival were not looking good.

Of course, she had fulfilled her part of the bargain. Alberich was banished. She had the book she came for. Coppelia would be satisfied. In fact, she would recommend that Irene did not get any more involved than she already was. She might even order Irene to take Kai and the book – not necessarily in that order either – and get out of here as quickly as she could.

But she didn't.

The first reason she would give Coppelia if asked – and if she survived then she would be asked – was that Kai would never go along with it. He'd give her that look that was both indignation and disappointment as he demanded why she asked him to abandon their new friends in their hour of need. Irene would then say that it was her duty to the Library, after which Kai would completely ignore her and do what he wanted anyway. And, as Irene would definitely explain to Coppelia, she could not drag a Dragon anywhere against his will, especially not if he was still in his Dragon form; he wouldn't fit through any library doorway to start with.

The second reason – this she would not actually tell Coppelia, as she would probably say that Irene was being unprofessional – was that Irene actually agreed with Kai. These people had, somehow, become friends. And leaving friends in trouble was never a good thing; all the books she'd ever read agreed on that. Besides, Irene liked to think she was a better person than Bradamant. And Bradamant had sought refuge in the building with Warden Yoshimo, allegedly guarding the children.

Yeah, right.

'Close enough until the moment Cowl completes the spell,' Harry said. He may be battered and bruised, but he pulled himself together admirably. 'Then only those with a necromantic field around them can live.'

Given that the clouds were rotating ever faster Irene doubted she could get out in time anyway. 'We'd better hurry up, then.'

Which wasn't going to be exactly easy with that army in the way.

Of course, that was when Harry had an idea.

One day, Irene promised herself, she would stop getting involved in these kinds of situations. It was one thing to jump into a mass of zombies and necromancers when there was a book the Library really wanted – and even then the prudent Librarian would be advised to pursue a course a little less risky – but to do it when there was no real gain for the Library was something else entirely.

Despite her misgivings she nodded at Harry's plan and climbed onto Kai's back for the second time in one night. Ramirez and Harry climbed on after her, the former significantly more energetically than the latter. Harry was bearing up well, but Irene was not entirely sure that he would be able to keep going long enough to see this to a successful conclusion.

He needs a hospital, not another fight.

But this coming fight needed a wizard of Harry's calibre.

Ramirez's thoughts were running along different lines. 'I've never ridden a Dragon before,' he announced, grinning widely. 'Much obliged.'

Irene almost heard the eyeroll Kai gave to that in response. 'You are welcome, Warden Ramirez.'

'No,' Ramirez said, shaking his head. 'Dragon and fellow Dragon riders get to call me Carlos.'

After an adventure like this, Irene supposed it made sense to be on first name terms.

Provided, of course, that they lived long enough to call each other by their first names.

Bradamant had been retrieved from the building in which she had taken shelter, which had not improved her mood. At this point Irene was surprised she was still here. She joined Morgan and Thomas, who regarded each other with deep suspicion. Warden Yoshimo was charged with looking after a badly injured and newly rehoused Captain Luccio in the same building where Butters still kept up his one-man polka march.

Harry's assertion that polka would never die started to take on a strangely prophetic quality.

Irene took a deep breath to steady herself and then sputtered when she inhaled too much water. Being warm and dry was rapidly becoming a distant memory.

'Stay where you are,' Kai warned.

And so, on a dark and stormy night they took to the air again on the back of a Dragon to fight zombies and necromancers. It sounded like something straight out of a film, but if this were a film, there would be a rousing and epic soundtrack. The only thing Irene heard was the rushing rain, the howling winds, and the rumble of thunder.

Being higher up gave her a closer look at the rotating clouds above her, still lighting up in unnatural colours as Cowl worked his magic. Irene wasn't sure if she only imagined she could feel it; the cold tingle that made shivers go down her spine. Of course, it could just as well be the freezing rain making her shiver. And the odd taste on her tongue was just as likely to be the onset of a nasty cold as the strange powers flying around.

What was real was the funnel forming under the clouds. It was small still, but there was no telling how long it would take to grow into a full-blown tornado for Cowl to absorb.

Cowl himself stood next to a picnic table, still in his all-encompassing cloak, although at least in these conditions it made sense for him to have his hood up. He extended one hand towards the sky in what Irene thought was a really unnecessarily dramatic pose, holding a skull with glowing blue eyes with the other.

What with his conforming to story stereotype – pretty standard evil bad guy – Irene wondered if he wasn't Fae after all. She remembered that he had used chaotic powers as well when she first encountered him. Fae or chaos-contaminated, she guessed.

Kumori, on his right side, also still wore the cloak with the hood. Her pose was however somewhat less archetypal evil, but that might just be because she had an enormous drum strapped to her side. She drummed out the beat with her left hand whilst trying with the other to summon up a shield of sorts that kept Sue away from her army.

The results were probably not what she was after; Sue was having a grand old time gobbling up one zombie after another.

In theory, this should be simple. Disturbing the beat would free the zombies from control. Breaking Cowl's concentration would end in a backlash that would likely kill him.

Irene's long experience as a Librarian had however made her a firm believer in the principle that if something could go wrong, it probably would. This particular outing was certainly proof of that.

She was therefore not at all surprised to find that everything went to hell in a handcart in the span of a few moments.

Kumori looked up and saw them. Irene couldn't see her face, but she could see that she made some sort of gesture in their direction. Before she had the chance to wonder what she was doing, she felt it. Some sort of force slammed into Kai and their secure seat suddenly was not so secure anymore as the blast made Kai tip to the side. Only Carlos's swift response stopped Irene from plunging to her death.

'Hold on!' Kai said, albeit a little too late.

There was nothing Irene could do. Everything she could reasonably affect with the Language was beyond the reach of her voice. Kai was already doing what he could, and Harry and Carlos wisely preserved their strength until they had a clear line of sight.

As wise as that was, they were sitting ducks now.

Their flight became a whole lot more exciting, which was not what Irene was particularly after right now. She held on for dear life as Kai embarked on a mission to dodge Kumori's attacks, whilst also trying to get them as close as possible and not let them fall off his back.

It was not a smooth ride.

Kai roared so loud that the whole world seemed to shake. Even Kumori faltered for a moment and did a step back. Cowl on the other hand must have ice water in his veins, because he showed no reaction whatsoever.

The momentary distraction was enough for Kai to land them.

Not that conditions were any better on the ground, all things told. The zombie army was that much closer and somehow the looming funnel above looked much more terrifying from down here than it had been on Kai's back.

Although that might have something to do with the fact that on Kai's back, she could have vacated the area easily, whereas on the ground, she was stuck.

Life or death.

And since there wasn't a lot of time, she had better get on with it.

She used the Language to clear an area around Kai, so that they could dismount in relative safety. Kumori was still beyond the reach of Irene's voice. Regrettably, their little party was not beyond the reach of her. One of her energy blasts turned Irene's renewed acquaintance with terra firma into a more painful affair than it had to be.

It took her a few seconds to remember how to breathe.

Ramirez wasted no time in retaliating, which allowed Harry the chance to get off. Irene pretended not to notice that he swayed on his feet. Worse than that, from the moment she first met him it was shutting him up rather than getting him to talk that was the problem, but he'd barely said twenty words since Morgan slammed him into a tree.

Speaking of which, she couldn't see him, or his party, anywhere. Granted, the undead army surrounding her made seeing in the distance a little complicated. It wouldn't surprise her at all if Bradamant used the opportunity to disappear again, but Thomas and Morgan would come. If they could.

Another energy blast made even Kai stagger. He roared in response. Irene hoped that it was anger, but it really sounded more like pain.

'I'll deal with her,' Kai said. The tone suggested that this dealing would be of the very permanent sort. 'You deal with Cowl.'

Irene would have minded that a lot more if Kumori had not devoted considerable time and effort to kill her. Besides, dealing with Cowl was going to be difficult enough anyway.

If this was a regular mission for the Library – and she would have had ample time to actually prepare for it rather than make it up as she went because events kept overtaking her – she would have made a mission plan outlining her objectives, her methodology, her resources, and a detailed step by step plan on how to execute the mission.

There wasn't a lot of time to do that now, but she could make a start. The mission, at least, was simple enough: stop Cowl, then stand back and watch as everything blew up in his face, preferably literally. Irene was too cold, too wet, too tired and just too fed up to be forgiving and merciful.

Her methodology was simple too: the Language. She had few other useful skills to bring to the table. She could defend herself a bit, but that was against people of flesh and blood. None of the self-defence lessons the Library offered had at any point included any useful tips on what to do when confronted with zombies and ghosts.

She should point out that oversight at the first possible opportunity.

Fortunately she had resources to make up for the lack. She hadn't had many missions where she had a back-up of a Dragon, a vampire and a bunch of wizards. Of course, it sounded like the beginning of a bad joke when she put it like that.

Irene didn't count on Bradamant, so it wouldn't be a disappointment if she never showed.

The step-by-step plan didn't have that many steps: get close enough to Cowl and Kumori, using the Language to sweep all before her, disrupt the beat and then ideally stand back and watch as the backlash took care of Cowl and his army.

All of this might be a lot easier if there weren't so many zombies.

But at least she had a wizard.

Of course, Irene had barely finished the thought when the next blast slammed into Harry's chest. He was thrown back and landed on his back in the water.

And he did not get back up again.

Next time: more action, more rain, more opponents.

Reviews would be welcome and appreciated.