Infinite Magic (Dragon's Gift: The Huntress Book 5) (3 page)

But I also couldn’t go back to that cell. Not just for my own sake, but for Emile’s. And for my
deirfiúr
.

This was going to be tough.

“Better get out of here,” I whispered to Rufus. “Don’t want you to get hit in the crossfire.”

The little rat twitched his nose, but didn’t run.

“Suit yourself.” I peered around the side of the desk and flung Righty at the guard nearest me. The obsidian flashed in the light as it flew. It thudded into the guard’s thigh, and he stumbled to the ground.

He howled and clutched his leg.

Quickly, I nicked the back of my wrist with Lefty, using my blood to ignite the spell that would call Righty back to me.

Righty pulled itself from the guard’s leg, but before it could fly back to me, another guard snatched it out of the air. He’d moved so fast!

Righty struggled to pull itself free of his grip, but it didn’t work.

A stunning spell crashed into the wall behind me, missing me by a millimeter.

Damn it. My daggers clearly weren’t going to do the job.

I called upon my power, reaching out for the guard’s gift of stunning spells. I got ahold of his magic, which smelled oddly of cleaning products, and
peeked
[ peeked]
out from behind the desk.

When I had a guard in my sight, I threw the stunning spell at him. The glittery blue magic streaked through the air and hit him in the chest. He collapsed like an oak, falling flat onto his face.

“The prisoner has her power!” a guard called. “Shields!”

Shit.
 

I
peeked
[ peeked]
out, ready to throw another stunning spell, and caught sight of the guards reaching toward their backs and pulling shields out. They must have been holstered back there. I managed to get a stunning spell off and hit one guard in the side before the line of shields appeared in front of them.

They were now an impenetrable line. Maybe I could hit them on their exposed knees, but I wasn’t sure how much good that would do. If I had access to all of my magic, I could create a massive stunning spell to blast through their shields. But I didn’t. There might be a lake of power within me, but I could only sip it out with a straw.
 

Blasts of magic pounded the desk as they approached, throwing stunning spells. I reached out with my magic, feeling for their signatures. Maybe there was something more useful than stunning spells.

I got a whiff of smoke from a Fire Mage. Nope, no good. This stone prison wouldn’t burn. And even if it did, I couldn’t burn all the prisoners alive. There was an Ice Mage as well.
Working with all the elements, here, eh boys?

There were four Shifters, but they were all big animals and none had wings. I didn’t want to shift and make myself a bigger target.

“Prisoner 857, you are surrounded. Come out now.”

Ha. Yeah, okay. I’d put my hands up and come out peacefully.

As if.

I searched the rest of their signatures, trying to find something more useful than stunning, the elements, or shifting.

And found none.

Shit. There was a really good chance I was going to have to go back to my cell. And the bulldog wasn’t going to be nice this time around. Considering that he’d been about to torture me, I didn’t want to know what his
not nice
was.

Shit, shit, shit.

Ralph squeaked, and I glanced at him. His black eyes were trained on something over my head. I looked up, and my jaw slackened.

A sparkling red dragonet fluttered over my head for just a second before charging the guards. A blue dragonet appeared a half second later. Like the fire dragonet, the water dragonet was the size of a cat. He charged the guards, too.

My heart leapt.

Backup had arrived.
 

Shouts sounded from the guards. In quick succession, the brown stone dragonet and the gray air dragonet had appeared and charged my enemy.

I hopped to my feet, my obsidian daggers ready to fly.

When I saw my friends gathered behind the guards, throwing potion bombs, my heart felt like it might fly out of my chest. They all wore masks, but it was clear that Del, Nix, Aidan, Connor, and Claire had come to save me.

Brilliant, jewel-toned liquid exploded on the guards’ chests from the potion bombs. The dragonets dive-bombed their heads, knocking them down. It took them only moments to cut down all the guards, who appeared to be passed out.
 

I was glad they’d chosen non-lethal weapons. Though the guards had planned to put me back in my cell, they hadn’t been out for my death.
 

“Come on!” Del called. “Let’s get out of here.”

I picked up Ralph and clutched him to my stomach, shielding him, then ran to my friends, jumping over the fallen bodies. I swooped down and grabbed Righty from the hand of the guard who’d caught it, then joined my friends.

I could identify which masked friend was which by their height and eyes, which peered through black ski masks.

“We’ve been dressing up like cat burglars too much lately,” I said.

“For real,” Nix said. “But we need to get out of here.”

“I’ve got to get my friends Emile and Rufus.”

“Lead the way,” Aidan said.

I appreciated that they didn’t question. “This way.”
 

I led the way down the hall, sprinting full out. We no longer had stealth on our side. Speed was the only way.

When we raced by the door to my cell, it was still closed and locked. Were the bulldog and his goons still inside? I wasn’t going to stop and find out.

A moment later, I skidded to a halt in front of Emile’s cell door. We didn’t have a key, and even though Aidan could probably knock the damned thing down, I didn’t want to make more of a ruckus.

“Any chance you can transport, Del?” I asked.

“No. The prison’s dampening charms are too strong.”

“I’ll try to mirror your gift, then,” I said.

Her brows rose in surprise, but I didn’t bother to explain. I called upon my power, reaching out for Del’s transport gift. Her signature hit me first—the scent of fresh laundry and the feel of grass beneath my feet. When I caught hold of her ability, I grasped onto it and drew it inside myself.
 

I knocked on the door and yelled, “I’m coming in, Emile!”

I gave him a sec, then teleported into the cell. I almost bumped into Emile, who had his ear pressed to the door. Ralph sat on his shoulder.

“Cass!” he said.

“Come on!” I grabbed his arm and teleported back into the hall, joining my friends. “We’re ready to go.”

“Where’s Ralph?” Aidan asked. “You said you had another friend.”

I pointed to the rat who rode on Emile’s shoulder. “That’s Ralph.” Then I held up Rufus, who I’d been clutching to my stomach. “This is Rufus.”

“Of course you’ve become friends with rats,” Del said.
 

“Just call me Cinderella.” I glanced down either end of the hall, then looked at my friends “How’d you get in?”

“Through the kitchen delivery door, using the Penatrist charm,” Aidan said. “Follow me.”

We set off running, Aidan leading the way down the hall. The dragonets flew beside us. My heart pounded in my ears, a fierce staccato. Every shadow and tiny noise sounded to me like the guards were coming. The cell doors flashed by as we raced for the exit.

“Right,” Aidan said when we reached a crossroads in the hall.

We turned and ran smack into Merk, Brar, and his buddy. The troll guards I’d passed earlier. Shit.

Their eyebrows popped up in surprise, but before they could raise the alarm, the dragonets charged them. The stone dragonet slammed into Merk’s ugly face, knocking him over, while the air dragonet plowed into Brar, a mini cyclone of wind that threw him into the wall. His big head thunked against it and he collapsed.

The water dragonet splashed against the face of the last troll. As he was choking on water, Aidan stepped forward and punched him square in the face. His eyes rolled back in his ugly head, and he fell onto his back, crashing against the ground.
 

“Nice one,” I said as I checked to make sure they were all passed out. They were. Good.

Aidan shook out his fist. “I’ve had some pent up aggression since you were taken.”
 

The dragonets fluttered around my head.

“Thanks, guys.”

They nodded their little heads, and we continued on, racing down the hall, our footsteps nearly silent.

“Almost there,” Del whispered.

When the hall spilled into a large kitchen, I almost laughed in relief. We were so close.
 

The collapsed body of the cook and a guard were tied up and gagged near the stove. The cook, who I recognized by his dirty apron, shifted at the sound of our entrance. His gaze traveled to us, widening at the sight of our group. He thrashed, trying to send up the alert any way he could.
 

We ignored him, heading straight for a heavy wooden door.

“Don’t touch the handle or it’ll burn right through your hand,” Aidan said.
 

He didn’t need to tell me twice. I could feel the protection charm sparking against my skin from feet away. It felt like bee stings, and I wanted to swat at my skin to make them go away. It’d do no good, though.

Aidan stepped toward the door. “The protection charms on the door are too strong for my spell stripper. But we can get through one at a time with the Penatrist charms.”

Thank magic we’d taken them from Victor’s demons. A spell stripper would remove the protection from the door entirely, as long as it wasn’t too strong. Penatrist charms were for the big guns, like this. They didn’t remove the protection charm, but they’d allow one person through.

Aidan gave the charm he’d pulled out of his pocket to Emile, and I shoved mine into Claire’s hand. “Go!”

Her brows shot up. “What about you?”

“No way I’m leaving first,” I said. “Anyway, I can access some of my power, so it’s best I stay behind in case guards show up. Now go!”

Emile and Claire gripped the charms in their hands and turned to the door. Claire grasped the handle and pulled it open, showing no sign of pain upon touching it.

It swung open easily, revealing a vast white tundra. I shivered. Claire and Emile stepped out, followed by the dragonets, who had no problem crossing the threshold without charms. On the other side, they disappeared, returning to wherever they had come from.

Claire turned around and thrust her hand back through the doorway. Emile did the same. Connor and Nix reached out and took the charms, both of them shuddering visibly when their hands neared the door.

But as soon as they took the Penatrist charms from Claire and Emile, they relaxed, no longer affected by the bee-stings of the door’s protection charm.
 

They stepped through the doorway, into the tundra. As they were turning back to us, the sound of thundering footsteps reached my ears. The hair on my arms stood up.

“Guards are coming!” I said.

Connor and Nix thrust the charms back over the threshold. Del and Aidan grabbed them. Aidan pressed his into my hand, then shoved me through the door, not waiting for me to argue that he should go first.

I stumbled out into the cold, my feet aching at the feel of the icy stone step. I whirled around and thrust the charm back at Aidan, who grabbed it and lunged through just as guards streamed into the kitchen.

He slammed the door shut behind him, but it would only buy us seconds.

“I can transport two people,” Del said as she grabbed Connor and Claire each by an arm.

“I’ve got a transportation charm.” Aidan held out a small black stone. “Everyone else come with me.”

We nodded. Del disappeared with Connor and Claire as Aidan threw the stone to the ground. A cloud of glittery gray smoke poofed up. We stepped in just as the door to the kitchen opened, revealing a horde of guards.
 

When I opened my eyes in my own living room, I almost fell over with relief. My heart was still pounding, but when the guards didn’t show up, I knew they hadn’t been able to follow us.

Home. It was tiny and cluttered, but it was all mine.

Everyone stood around me, tugging their masks off. I was so grateful to see everyone again, whole and hale. Last time I’d seen them, they’d been fleeing Victor and the bulldog. Del and Nix had been unconscious.

“You guys are the best! Thank you.” I went in a circle, hugging everyone. “I was screwed right before you showed up.”

“Thank magic for luck, then,” Aidan said as he squeezed me hard. “The timing was coincidental. We’d just figured out where the prison was located. It’s damned hard to find.”

“Did you bring the dragonets?” I asked.

“No,” Del said. “They showed up at the same time we did.”

“I guess they’re my guardian dragons.” They’d shown up last time I’d really needed them, too, when I’d been facing off against Victor Orriodor at the stone circle near my parents’ home. Thank magic, I wasn’t going to look a gift dragon in the mouth.

“Are we safe here?” Emile asked. “Will they know to look for us?”

“They don’t know my name,” I said. “And my concealment charm works again. So they can’t find me here. Do you have any kind of concealment charm that will block you from their seers, if they decide to look for you?”

Emile shook his head. “No.”

“I can get you one.” Aidan pulled out his phone and tapped a message in, then looked up. “Someone will be here in fifteen minutes to take care of it. And I’ve put the best protections available on this building.”

“We haven’t had any trouble the last few days,” Nix said. “Any time Nix and I go out, we use a glamour charm to change our faces. That’s all Dermot Mulvey could possibly recognize, because I don’t think he knows our names either.”

“Dermot Mulvey?” I asked.

“That big bastard from the Order of the Magica. Jowly fellow.” Del gestured to her cheeks. “The one siding with Victor Orriodor.”

“The bulldog. And yeah, he doesn’t know your names,” I said. “Which makes us safe for now, right?”

“As long as you use glamour charms when you’re out and about in Magic’s Bend, just in case you run into him,” Aidan said.