Ethereal Entanglements (24 page)

Iulia snorted. “Of course it doesn’t. Why would he share the glory with his wife? I must have been easy to remove from that memory, as I stayed hidden and caused each new head it regrew to be weaker than the previous. In addition to rooting its feet to the ground and providing shielding for all the men. Or did you think the hydra missed every time for no reason?”

Khalil opened his mouth, then shut it. “I guess I never thought about it.”

“Neither did I.” Justin stepped up beside her, watching the two imaginary lovers move close and share what should have been a private moment. “Why are we here?”

“There are doorways into his demesne through all these memories. I can sense it. This one seemed the least worrisome of all the obvious choices I could rifle through in a short time.”

“We’re in kind of a hurry here,” Justin said as he turned away from the pair. Caius offering this up to his Knights to watch bothered him. Justin would never show video of Marie to other men without her consent. Claire had explained everything Caius did, but he hadn’t fully grasped it. This simple violation of Iulia drove home the rightness of their mission. “Do we have to witness this? I don’t even know what kind of man shows something like this to other people.”

Khalil’s lip curled. “One who sees his wife as nothing more than another conquest. To him, this memory isn’t truly different from the one showing the hydra. I know men like that. They aren’t friends.”

“We can either watch the whole memory,” Iulia said, “or you can try stabbing things. I imagine your blades should be able to cut through anything here.”

Avery and Khalil both still had their swords. Justin hadn’t bothered to bring his. He rested his bat against his shoulder and watched while Avery slashed his sword through the fake Caius and Iulia, mercifully dispersing them. The group remained in the memory, though, and the fake pair ran into sight again as if Avery had pushed a reset button.

With a scowl, Avery also turned his back on the lovers and thrust his sword into the ground. Nothing happened. Justin prodded the grass with his bat, wondering if Iulia had made a mistake. He also wondered how they would kill Caius. The weapons they’d brought would distract Caius, but he had no idea how they’d damage a ghost enough to destroy it without magic behind the blows.

Khalil knelt by a flower. “You know, I’ve been doing this job for ten years, and it still amazes me how often stabbing really is the best option.” He pointed at the white blossom. “There’s something here.”

Iulia crouched beside him and smiled. “How interesting. Caius must be busy. I can’t imagine him leaving this here as a trap on the off chance someone uses this particular memory to reach him. That would be too much forethought.”

Justin jogged to their side and peered at the flower. In the center of five white, ruffled petals, a weird greenish glow rippled. “Is that some kind of rift?”

“In a sense, I think so.” Iulia drew the copy of Claire’s dagger sheathed at her hip and poked the writhing glow. “Normally, he’s able to keep everything separate. When he exerts himself, he does it by pulling power from the Palace. Essentially, the seal is a lake, the Palace is an aqueduct, and he’s the well at the other end. When he needs extra power, the aqueduct is drained faster than the lake can feed it. This makes holes we can exploit.”

She thrust her dagger through and slashed. Instead of cutting the flower, she slashed a hole in the scene. Stepping back, she gestured for someone to take her place. Avery sliced across the existing hole and in a circle until he’d created a big enough gap for them to walk through. On the other side, they saw a wide, arched corridor with a green glow and a dead dragon blocking the path.

“Not exactly what I expected to find,” Avery said. “That’s not Claire’s dragon, is it?”

Justin clenched his jaw and hurried through to examine the corpse. Instead of the normal silver sheen, the dragon’s skin had become mottled gray. “I think Enion has more curve to his horns here, but I’m not sure.” He had nothing to pray to, but he begged to whatever would listen for Enion to still be alive.

Iulia’s dragon poked the dead one and made a heartbreaking trill of despair. Iulia petted its nose and shushed it. She looked and sounded too much like Claire for Justin to ignore. He wanted to comfort the dragon too.

Khalil crouched and poked at the dirt. “Look at the footprints. Several dragons were here. And those are boot prints. Too small to be from anyone but Claire.”

“How did they wind up here?” Justin asked.

“Caius, I imagine,” Iulia said. “He might be pulling that power to keep her here, in which case it might be time for me to spend some of mine. Do you want to find Claire first, or shall we cross over and chat with Caius right away?”

Justin flicked his gaze from face to face before looking down at the corpse again. “Distracting him might be all Claire needs. We’re Spirit Knights. Dealing with corrupted Phasms is our job.”

“Agreed.” Avery said with a curt nod. He held both his shotgun and sword ready.

Iulia rested her hand on the wall. “I would prepare for a poor reception. He won’t react well to me.”

Justin had seen plenty of incredible things in his time as a Knight. Phasm demesnes never failed to include awe-inspiring sights. Talking animals, possessed people, animated cars, ghosts, even minor godlings with their power cut off had all crossed his path. Watching a witch make the wall swirl with her hand topped them all. He could see how someone might covet or fear the sheer amount of power at her disposal.

The wall warped as if instead of stones, a curtain formed the surface. Justin had to look away to avoid losing his last meal to vertigo while the wall’s colors spiraled into her hand. The wall remained as a dull, gray slab of unrelieved stone until she thumped her palm against it. Jagged shards of stone blew outward.

Sunshine streamed in, catching the dust as it settled. Justin knew better than to stand around and stare when Caius was involved. He hurried over the threshold, baseball bat ready. The flat plain of yellow-brown dirt stretched into infinity in every direction. He recognized this as a basic battlefield, intended to disallow terrain advantages for either side.

“Caius will cheat,” he muttered.

Avery smirked. “He always does. If he fought fair, he wouldn’t always win.”

“Come out, Caius!” Iulia ripped away her silver armor and dagger to reveal a dingy, toga-style dress stained with blood and dirt. “Face me, coward!” Her dragon stood beside her, tail swishing.

Dust in the distance announced someone coming at high speed. Soon it became clear Caius rode his horse to greet them. Djembe ran alongside, his legs moving so fast they blurred.

“I think he heard you.” A tremor ran through Khalil’s voice.

“Steady.” Avery squeezed Khalil’s shoulder. “Don’t let yourself get separated. As long as we stick together, we should get through this.”

Justin gripped his bat tight enough to turn his knuckles white. He knew Caius could beat them all, either individually or as a group. The horse likely had enough skill to keep all three of them occupied on its own. Djembe made everything more complicated. Justin thought he could beat Djembe one-on-one, but not like this, and he didn’t want to kill the man.

They slowed to a stop, taking away Justin’s primary concern. He’d thought they might charge first and ask questions never. Caius scowled down at Iulia with pure venom.

“How dare you come here,” he snarled. “How dare you profane this place!”

“Spare me your fabricated rage.” Iulia stood straight and proud with her fists at her sides.

Though he had no desire to see Caius’s rage directed at him, Justin had a thought to keep him from focusing properly. Interrupting would help.

“We’re here—”

“I know why you’re here,” Caius spat. He waved to dismiss Justin and kept his attention on Iulia. “Because women are all the same.”

Justin remembered wanting to talk to Caius, to reason with him. All lingering doubt about the path he chose left him. He snorted. “Yes, it’s a shame how they all want to help and get credit for it. That’s just awful. And that part where they point out flaws in plans and mistakes so we can learn? That’s just the worst.”

Caius and his horse both narrowed their eyes and glared at Justin. Distraction mission accomplished. The next minute or two promised to be interesting. Justin hoped the definition of “interesting” didn’t include his death at the hands of an angry Phasm.

Chapter 38

Claire

“Oh, thank goodness.” Drew’s arms wrapped around Claire’s waist from behind. Blood streaked his left sleeve and he slumped against her. “I got trapped between four Knights with bloodlust.”

Enion trotted through the corridor, still looking for something to lead them out. Claire twisted to get a good look at Drew, who suddenly rode Enion’s back with her. Blood stained his hoodie around a rip over his chest.

She grimaced and prodded the rip with a finger. “Are you bleeding?”

“Not anymore, no. Kay is helping me heal. Between that and using the mist to not get skewered worse, I don’t know how much help I’ll be against Caius.”

“Can you, I dunno, use me somehow? Through the blood oath thing?”

“Um. Maybe? Kay thinks there’ll be a consequence. But he’s not sure what kind. If I take power from you, though, the obvious would be you getting drained, at least temporarily. No idea about the specific effect.”

Claire gulped. “This isn’t the best time to experiment.”

“I know.” Drew rested his chin on her shoulder. “I could draw power from the Palace. I don’t want to, but I could.”

“Sticking it to Caius by siphoning off his power sounds like a good idea to me.”

“Except it tastes funny. Like…I don’t know. It makes me feel like my teeth are rotting out of my head, except everywhere. I’m also worried it’ll make Caius immune to me. He might even be able to control me.”

“Let’s not risk that.” Claire rubbed her face and saw no choice. Without Drew, their chances seemed much worse. Without her… She wanted to feel useful. She wanted to be useful. Caius could stop her with so little effort it hurt. When her anger and determination faded, she had a feeling she might cry about how useless she was.

“Yeah,” she said with a nod. “This is important.”

“I need to touch your locket.” He paused. Then he coughed. “That sounded really dirty. I didn’t mean it to.”

Claire’s cheeks blazed and she giggled. “I should probably slap you.”

“Not time for that,” Enion snapped.

“You’re right.” She thought of Rhubark and sobered. “I’m sorry, Enion.”

Drew held up his hand and tugged his sleeve until he exposed the heart-shaped mark on his arm. “I’m just thinking the connection is based on the two symbols, so if they come into contact, I might be able to draw power from you. That’s all.”

As her answer, Claire took his arm, pulled the neck of her shirt down and helped Drew position his arm so the two symbols touched. Sparks shot through her body the moment they connected. Drew grunted into her ear, the sound full of surprise. The world went dark and Claire only knew she hadn’t passed out because she felt them hit the ground together.

Drew held her close, panting beside her ear. His chest heaved. “Yep,” he gasped, “that worked. Whoa, did it work. I feel like I could run a marathon. Claire?”

“I…uh…” She blinked repeatedly until her vision flickered into focus again. “Let’s not do that again unless we really have to.” Strength trickled through her body in time with her heartbeat. “Yeah, I need another few minutes.”

“We don’t have another few minutes.” Drew pointed and helped her lift her head.

They’d gone in a circle and returned to Rhubark’s body. Nine tiny dragons perched on Enion’s shoulders and he remained several feet away from the body, hunkered down. She had no idea what he hid from. Drew pushed her up straighter until she saw that the two side walls showed wildly different views. In one direction, a happy meadow. In the other, a flat, barren plain with Caius on his high horse and Djembe beside him. They faced Iulia, Leeloo, Justin, Avery, and Khalil. She saw them all in profile and could barely hear them speaking. Justin’s baritone drifted on the air, too distant or muffled to be understood.

“I can’t stand,” Claire whispered, her mouth gone dry.

Caius snapped his attention to Justin and everyone around him bristled with weapons.

“Enion,” Drew hissed as he leaned Claire against the wall, “bring her through as soon as you can. The rest of you, let’s go.” He kissed Claire’s cheek and she lacked the strength to stop him before he ran out of sight.

Claire flopped herself forward to see the flat plain and watch everything. Nine dragons leaped off Enion and flashed big. They stampeded into the scene. Iulia and Leeloo danced to the left with Caius and his horse to avoid them while Djembe dove to the right with the three other Knights.

“Why did you do that?” Claire moaned, knowing Drew couldn’t hear her anymore. “That was stupid.” Muted sounds of battle reached her.

Enion nudged her with his head, pushing so hard she flopped over. “Went to face Caius. Doing job.”

“I know,” Claire whined. “He’s going to get himself killed.” She closed her eyes. Not only did she not want to see anything happen to Drew, she wanted to take a nap.

“Stay awake.”

“Tired.”

Enion scooped her up with his front leg and held her close. “We need you. Lean on me. Heal.”

She breathed deeply several times, pulling on her link to Enion. Within seconds, she felt stronger. The link could heal all kinds of problems. Knowing this bolstered her even more. She wrapped her arms around Enion’s neck as his essence repaired hers and almost forgot about the fight.

“Go fight,” Enion said.

Claire climbed around to his back. “Yeah. Let’s go. We have a corrupted Phasm to destroy.”

As Enion bounded through the doorway, she took stock of the situation. Justin, Avery, and Khalil faced Djembe, who somehow managed to fend all three men off at once. Claire suspected Caius helped him. Nine dragons surrounded Caius’s horse, which also seemed to be managing despite the odds.