Bound by Faerie: An Urban Fantasy Novel (Stolen Magic Book 1) (17 page)

On the top floor there was a woman in much the same condition, necklace and all. She still smelled faintly of hot metal, but she didn't move from her seated position, not even to look at me. At the other end of her cell block, I heard a shuffling sound.

I flitted down to the last cell and cawed involuntarily at Owen. He paced his cell with a fervor that contrasted with the dull look in his normally bright eyes. His strong shoulders drooped. It wouldn't be long before he resembled the other two prisoners. I shifted to my human form and held up the wand.

"Come here Owen, so I can get that thing off you." I waved at him frantically. Being in human form had me feeling vulnerable. I checked that my swords were firmly in place. "Come on!"

Owen paused his pacing to stare at me vacantly. "Just go away. I need this."

"Owen, Siobhan told me what that thing does. Trust me, you want to take it off as soon as possible." I waved the wand at him. "Get over here. I don't want to shift just to get in there and take it off you." Being behind bars held no appeal. Once he took the necklace off, he could melt his way out.

"I know what it does. That's why I took it," he said, bitter anger coloring his words. At my shocked look, he continued. "You thought the lure made me steal it?" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a black velvet bag. "Nope. The enchantment on this bag mutes the lure even now. My head is clear, you don't have to save me. I don't want to take it off. I need it."

I shook my head. "This isn't you," I said. Owen slumped down on his pallet against the wall, putting more distance between us. He didn't know what he was saying. He was being controlled. I never realized the lure was affecting me while I had the necklace on. Neither would he. "This conversation is getting us nowhere. I'll be back when I have the keys."

I shifted back to crow and put the wand out of Owen's reach. I didn't want to take it with me when I needed to carry keys, but I couldn't trust him not to destroy it. As if escaping from a castle full of crazed barbarians who worshiped The Morrigan wasn't hard enough already, I had to deal with a combative escapee.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The guard at the gate was amused to see me return. He pulled the lever to open the metal gate and made a sweeping gesture, urging me out. It was so kind, and he looked at me with such reverence, that I hesitated briefly before I raked my talons at his face. He was being nice to me, but he was holding Owen prisoner. Still, I wasn't too aggressive. I only needed to distract him enough that he wouldn't notice his keys were gone.

The guard let out a startled yelp and swatted ineffectually at the air I no longer occupied. I swooped in for another attack and came away with a chunk of his greasy hair.
Ew
. That must have hurt.

He howled and swung his sword. It didn't come anywhere near me, which seemed intentional. He was still trying not to hurt a crow. I laughed and it came out as a series of strangled caws. It sounded rather evil.

A few more passes and he was flustered enough that he couldn't keep his eyes on me, swinging blindly in his frustration. Instead of going for his head on the final pass, I swooped lower and pulled the keys from the rope that held up his pants, and flew back into the jail. As I turned the first corner, I caught sight of him still spinning and looking for where I'd gone. Perfect.

Up three floors, and I was standing in front of Owen's cell, the keys clutched in my hands. "Time to go," I said, trying the first key on the ring. "Pack your bags."

Owen growled at me. Not a human growl, which was always a little extra from him, but a full-throated dragon growl that shouldn't have been manageable from a human throat. "You need to leave me here. This is what I need."

I ignored him and fumbled with keys until one of them finally went
snick
and the door swung free, squealing loudly. Owen growled again and swatted at me, his hand alight with fire. He let out a pained howl and shrunk back into the corner of his cell, fear creasing his features.

"Don't you see? If you don't leave me here, I'll kill someone else. I almost killed you when you stole my book." His words tumbled out so quickly I could barely follow him. He curled in on himself, his hands clutched to his chest. "Have to get rid of the fire."

"This necklace must be hitting you so much faster than it did me because you're a dragon." I stepped up to him, strangely unafraid. He seemed more like a frightened child than an enraged dragon. In one quick motion I pulled the wand from behind my back and touched it to the necklace.

It fell to the floor and I snatched it up without a second thought. Its lure called to me, but now that I knew what to look for, I could fight the compulsion to put it on. For a while at least. I was used to the fight against my covetous tendencies. Still, that struggle made it difficult to be of aid to Owen, who was still cowering in the corner. With a deep breath, my emotions were shoved aside. We needed to get the hell out of there. I kneeled by his side, prepared to come up with something comforting to say, and I took his hand in mine. I jerked with shock as the lure's magic disappeared like someone had flicked off a switch.

"What in the—oh." I looked down at Owen's pocket where the magical bag was hidden. Everything he said was a hundred percent true. He wasn't being affected by the compulsion charm.

"You thieving asshole!" I shouted and dropped his hand. The compulsion to put the necklace on washed over me. I reached into his pocket and snatched the bag, putting the necklace inside of it, nullifying the enchantment that attracted us to it.

Emotions raged through me. I almost pulled my sword I was so pissed off. "You never intended to destroy this thing. You wanted it the whole time. You were careful about what you said. You said you wanted to make sure it was 'taken care of'. You are just a covetous dick like the rest of the dragons I deal with."

Owen straightened, finally looking like himself again. That smug grin slid back into place. "You're right. I manipulated you," he said. "And I would do it again." His grin turned fierce. "Now give me back the necklace. I need it."

That phrase echoed in my head. He needed the necklace. That was true. There was no enchantment influencing his words. He
needed
it. "Why?"

He didn't get the chance to answer. Booted feet slapped on stone, echoing up the stairs. I peeked out the cell and counted eight of the clansmen crowding into the room with more coming. I looked down at the bag in my hand and lamented my nudity and lack of pockets. I tossed the necklace down the stairs, hoping the men coming up them wouldn't see it in the gloom. "If you want that necklace, Owen, you need to help me fight through these bastards." The sound of steel rung through the air as I drew both my swords.

The clansmen only gawked at the naked woman in front of them for a moment before springing into action with their crude weapons. That was long enough for me to disembowel one with Epic and stab another in the chest with Haiku. As I'd become fond of doing while using my swords, I recited poems I'd memorized, using the rhythm of the words to keep my motions measured and controlled. I danced among the brutes, slashing them open and delighting in the fury of battle and the feel of warm blood splashing my skin. It was a little screwed up from an outside perspective, but I was my mother's child. Battle excited me.

Owen dove into the fray, his dragon strength cracking bones whenever he landed a solid hit. There were only two men left which was good because Owen was huffing and puffing like he'd run a marathon. That necklace had really taken it out of him.

I advanced on the man to my left, and he backed up. Smart guy. The man on the right circled toward Owen. My opponent lunged, swinging his enormous
sword at my head. I ducked and ran him through. He crumpled to the floor.

Owen wheezed loudly, and one arm hung limply at his side. I was about to finish his opponent when a whole new crowd of men swarmed up the stairs. At least a dozen.

"Damn it." I raised my swords, mentally calculating our odds. They weren't good. I might be able to take them if Owen were in better shape, or not there at all. I couldn't do it while trying to drag him along with me.

I had to make the tough call. They wanted Owen for a prisoner. The guard had said they wanted him in one piece. I was the unknown. I sheathed my swords and shifted to crow in a puff of smoke. My wings unfolded and I leapt into the air.
The reaction from the clansmen was immediate, and nothing I could have imagined. As one, they dropped to their knees, murmuring what sounded like prayers.

What the hell?

I circled the room and landed back where I was. If they weren't going to attack, I didn't need to fly off and leave Owen behind. Maybe this would work out after all. I shifted back to human so I could talk.

The tallest man I'd ever seen rose to his feet and stepped forward, his blue eyes shining with some emotion I couldn't put a name to. I swear, it looked like he was going to cry with joy. "You've come back to us, Battle Goddess. We thought you had forsaken us."

My mind raced, trying to understand what was going on so I didn't make a misstep. What had changed? They'd seen me shift. The Morrigan had a crow form. They thought I was her. "Yes," I said tentatively. "I've returned." Technically, I'd left the room and returned. The word games with this charade could get tricky quick.

A chorus of cheers echoed through the room. Tears streaked down Mountain Man's face and into his beard. "We have sacrificed many dragons over the decades you've been gone. The magic has been poured into this place and is yours for the taking."

I nodded, trying to keep my gorge from rising into my mouth. They'd been killing dragons for
decades
. That's where the magic I'd felt permeating this place had come from. "You have done well, but it is time for your work to be finished. I require that you free the dragons you have here. I have use for them elsewhere."

"You cannot leave us again," said the Mountain, his features turning to grim determination. "We have appeased you. Now you must stay and honor us with your favor. We will feast and sacrifice these dragons for you."

I turned to study Owen.
Way out of this mess, way out of this mess, there had to be a way out of this mess...
Owen's eyes went to the woman in the cell across the way. She'd moved to the front of it and clutched at the bars. Their gazes held for several seconds and then each nodded. No words were exchanged, but an agreement had been come to. I had a creeping suspicion of what it was as relief shone in her eyes. I knew what I'd be thinking: escape or death. Either would be acceptable to her. Anything that changed her circumstances.

It wasn't acceptable to me.

"You have displeased The Morrigan," I said, raising my voice and putting as much pompous authority into my tone as I could manage. I wanted to believe it was true, and that was enough. I knew The Morrigan was evil, but if she enjoyed dragon sacrifices she wouldn't be ignoring the bizarre group. "Release your prisoners and allow us to depart and I won't eat you."

"To be eaten by The Morrigan would be a great honor," said the Mountain.
Oh, fae, this again?
I was rolling my eyes, so I missed when he lunged forward and wrapped me in his iron grip. "But you will give the rest of my men your aid as they have appeased you. We will feast and feed you the magic of the dragons. You will not fool us with your tricks. We know your rules. We must earn your approval. If we have not already, these sacrifices must be enough. Why else would you have returned?"

I opened my mouth to argue and my head was slammed to the side. The last thing I heard before drifting into unconsciousness was the clansmen cawing.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Pain.

My skin stung.
I couldn't stretch out my legs. Was I in a cage?

I sat bolt upright as the events before I lost consciousness came back to me. I was in a silver cage. Magic imbued the silver. It smelled like blood—binding magic. Even if the magic weren't an issue, the bars were close enough together that a crow couldn't squeeze through. My swords were gone. I punched the bars of the cage, angrier about that discovery than being put in a cage. Where the fuck were my swords? I'd been put into a black dress, decorated with shiny bits and bobs. Some of them looked sharp. That would explain some of the poking. The straw lining the bottom of my cage explained the rest. They were treating me like a bird. Giving me shiny things, hay to nest in, and putting me in a birdcage.
Ugh!
I was a person, too! Well, I guess they had given me a dress rather than leaving me naked.

My cage was positioned on a table at one end of the dining hall I'd seen earlier, near a raised platform I hadn't noticed in my earlier hasty review of the room. The platform held a pile of stones, with little shiny trinkets tucked in the cracks, topped with one giant, flat stone that was a peculiar shade of reddish brown. The coloring wasn't uniform, like it had been poorly dyed. I stared at it, head crooked to the side, until it hit me like a car hit crows too involved in their dinner.
Blood
. That was a sacrificial altar. Those freaking devo
ut monsters. That was where they were going to kill Owen and the other dragons if I didn't stop them.

I had to get out of that cage.

Men walked purposefully around the dining hall lugging crates and barrels. Some decorated the room with boughs of evergreens and a few huddled around the huge hearth, critiquing their comrade's fire building skills. Every one of them gave off a sense of anticipation for a long awaited holiday. The celebrations were about to commence! Hurray, oh cheery day! I fought down the urge to vomit because I didn't have anywhere to do it other than the straw at my feet.