Shadow City (16 page)

“It appears your faith in your pet was misplaced,” he said arrogantly to Scooter. “She’s hardly worth bothering with.”

“It’s a possibility,” came the noncommittal answer.

Max barely stopped her smile. Scooter wasn’t fooled. He knew she didn’t die that easy.

Ilanion leaned over her. She flicked a frightened glance at him, keeping her eyes wide and staring—the international sign for paralyzed with helplessness. He totally bought it. He smiled arrogantly and did a stupid thing. He assumed that Max was done for and looked away to Scooter.
Dumb shit
. No matter how powerful someone was, more often than not, his Achilles’ heel was his vanity.

She didn’t let him gloat. She wasn’t the idiot in this equation. She snatched his throat. In one lunging move, she scissored his legs out from under him and shoved him onto his back. She landed on his chest, pinning his arms and outstretched wings with her knees. She dug her fingers into the flesh of his throat and clamped down to rip it out.

“Don’t kill him,” Scooter said. He sounded faded, like he could barely muster the strength to speak.

“Why not?”

“He can be useful.”

“If I let him go, he’ll barbecue us both.”

“True.”

Max heaved an annoyed sigh and pulled the dagger from her waistband. It had miraculously not fallen out in the scuffle. The metal was hot, no doubt cooked by Ilanion’s magic. She shoved the point against his neck. He winced as blood flowed.

“I only have to shove another inch, and your carotid is cut through,” she told him. “You’ll not live long enough to kill me. So play nice.”

With that, she loosened her grip on his throat. He coughed and dragged in a harsh breath. Both actions made the blade bite deeper.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” she said helpfully.

His eyes narrowed at her, and he smiled, his teeth brilliant white against his tanned skin and the gold of his mask. “You’re a jewel. What children we could have.”

“Dream on, buddy,” Max said, unable to resist grinning back at him. “You couldn’t handle me.”

“But it would be delicious to try,” he said.

“Why is it men always have sex on the brain?” she asked. “You’d think you’d be worried about dying right now.”

“Nayan doesn’t want to kill me at the moment,” he pointed out.

It took Max a second to understand that Nayan was Scooter. “Nayan? Is that your real name?” she asked him, never taking her eyes off Ilanion.

“It is one of my names. But then, so is Scooter.”

Max grimaced. It was like talking to a used-car salesman. Nothing was ever the exact truth. “Fine. It doesn’t matter. You’ll always be Scooter to me. But can we get on with this? We don’t have a lot of time, and you’re about to fall over.”

“You have a choice to make, Ilanion. Max can kill you, or you can help me take back what’s mine.”

“Help you? What do I gain?”

“Your life, for one,” Max pointed out.

He ignored her. “Helping you will win me significant enemies. My life won’t be worth much. Again, I ask, what do I gain?”

“I’ll be your friend. Your ally.”

“If you get your missing pieces back.”

“Not if. When,” Max corrected. “He’s getting everything back that was stolen from him.”

The point of her knife dug harder into Ilanion’s neck. He looked at her. “You have no idea what you’re up against. You have hidden depths, but I doubt it will be enough to beat the odds.”

“With your help, we stand a better chance,” Scooter said.

“True. But that still doesn’t give me a reason to help you. If you don’t succeed, I will lose a great deal. The Korvad will turn on me, and if I survive, I will have nothing.”

“The Korvad?” Max repeated.

“The ones who took Nayan’s heart, silk, and horn. The ones who own the city.”

“They don’t own it. No one owns it,” Scooter said.

“Might makes right, and they have all the might they need,” Ilanion said caustically. “Things have changed a lot since you left.”

“Then it’s time they changed back.”

“Which still brings us back around to the question at hand. Why should I help you? What can you offer besides the threat of death? I have a snug territory inside the Torchmarch, and the Korvad leaves me mostly alone.”

“You didn’t strike me as the keep-your-head-down-to-save-your-ass kind of a guy,” Max said. “I thought you had bigger balls than that.”

“Spoken by one who’s never met the Korvad or lived in Chadaré,” Ilanion returned, his mouth twisting.

“I have little to offer,” Scooter said. “Except the harvest of what’s left of me, should I fail. That is worth a great deal.”

“I am no butcher,” Ilanion spat, earning him some respect from Max.

“Then our negotiations must be at an end. I have nothing else of value to offer,” Scooter said in a voice devoid of any emotion.

“So I can kill him now?” Max asked.

Scooter let go a slow breath. “It would be safer for us,” he said reluctantly.

“I can promise not to pursue you,” Ilanion countered. “Or help your enemies. That much I can do.”

“You think that’s worth your skin?” Max asked.

“It means that if you kill me, you do so for no reason. I’m not a threat. Besides, time isn’t your friend.”

Just then, she became aware of the baying of the gargoyles. They sounded too damned close.

“I can turn them away from your trail,” Ilanion said.

“They belong to you?”

“They listen to me.”

“I don’t think he wants to die today,” Max said to Scooter.

“Neither do we. Make your promise, and we will be on our way,” he told Ilanion.

“Let me up. I’ll make my promise on my feet,” the winged man demanded.

“Before or after you cook us?” But Max released him. She retrieved her two swords as he stood, his armor clanking.

He stared at her a moment. “Most would have kept the dagger in my throat until the promise was made.”

She shrugged. He was right. But she had too much experience being compelled into something she didn’t want. It went hard against the grain to wish that on someone else. “A forced promise isn’t worth much in my book.”

“Magically, it makes no difference. Coerced or not, I’d have had to stand by it. Now I could simply fly away or boil you in magic.”

“You could. Will you?” Maybe she should have been worried, but she wasn’t. He’d been too honest about where he stood with helping them.

The corner of his mouth lifted in a half-smile, and he shook his head. “No.” He reached up and took off his helm. His hair was gold-streaked chestnut cropped close to his head. His cheeks were wide and sharply cut, his brown eyes almond-shaped, with long lashes and bold, expressive eyebrows. Max expected him to have a beak for a nose, but instead, it was large, straight, and blunt. More like the wedge of an ax. Blood continued to run from his neck wound. He seemed unconscious of it. He bowed to her, his wings flaring.

“My lady Max. It is a quite a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Her brows rose as he straightened.
Seriously?
But he seemed completely genuine. “I’m sure having me poke you in the throat was seriously special, and you trying to cook me was just beyond all kinds of fun, but can we get on with this? Your pets are getting awfully close, and we need to be gone before anyone sees us.” She glanced up as a flicker caught her eye. “Too late.”

Something dark glided through the shadows. Max squinted but couldn’t make out what it was. The thick shadows of the city were impenetrable, even to her Shadowblade eyes. Whatever it was, chances were, it wasn’t friendly. They were out of time.

“We should get going,” she said, reaching for Scooter. She swung him up in her arms. “Coming or staying?” she asked Ilanion.

He scowled, yellow sparks flickering in his eyes. Max’s lip curled. He was too damned witchy for comfort. He jammed his helm onto his head and strode toward his two companions. “I am going to regret this,” he grated, and then swept them into an iron grip. His wings beat the air with powerful sweeps that sent dust and debris scudding across the cobbles.

They rose off the ground and flew down the street like an arrow. Ilanion’s speed and strength were stunning. Almost like Tutresiel or Xaphan. He turned on his wing at a right angle and then again. Scooter moaned as they jolted. Max firmed her grip, but there was no way to comfort him or make him feel better. It was all she could do to hold on to him and keep the two swords pointed down away from Ilanion. The points of his gauntlet talons cut into her flesh.

They swept more turns, staying low between buildings so they couldn’t be seen across the rooftops. Max looked back. A shadowy shape followed them, a streak of charcoal sliding through the air behind them.

“We’re being followed,” she said to Ilanion.

“I am aware,” he said, never slowing.

“What is it?”

“A minion of Kratos.”

“Who’s that?”

“A bad guy. One of the Korvad.”

He dropped suddenly and skimmed close to the ground, gliding into a long tunnel that led beneath a sprawling compound of boxy gray stone buildings that looked like warehouses. Ilanion dropped to the ground inside the broad tunnel, releasing Max and Scooter. She set the latter on his feet, keeping her arm around him to steady him.

He leaned heavily against her, his body shaking beneath the sheltering layers of his robe. It was such a change from the all-powerful being she’d met just weeks ago and totally different from the bastard who’d tossed her against the cliff over and over just to make her learn how to get into the abyss. How much time did he have left? They’d been bleeding him for thousands of years. How long until he was dead? And why in the hell had he waited so long to come back and fight? Why had he waited all this time to find Max?

There was no time to ask or get the answers. From the looks of it, Scooter had maybe days, if not hours.

Max eyed their surroundings. It was as much a trap as it was a hiding place. The only visible ways in and out were the tunnel mouths, and those could be easily blocked. On the other hand, it was going to take a little while until anyone found out where they’d gone to ground. Except for that damned shadow creature. It had been following close. Even if it hadn’t seen Ilanion drop into the tunnel, it would have a pretty decent idea where to narrow the search.

“I thought you weren’t going to help us,” she said.

“I was wrong,” Ilanion said abruptly, and rubbed a hand across his mouth as he thought. “We haven’t much time. Kratos will be coming.”

“Got a plan?”

He shook his head. “I’m equal enough to Kratos, but the Korvad will destroy me. They want Nayan a great deal.”

“Shouldn’t
you
want him?” Max asked, an insane idea percolating in her mind. “I mean, he’s valuable, if for nothing more than to sell to the Korvad. Am I right?”

Ilanion’s wings flared as he thrust his shoulders back. His jaw jutted, his eyes turning to liquid gold. “I don’t deal in butchery,” he said in a cold, guttural voice. Magic flickered across his skin and wings as his entire body tightened.

Max waved away his protest. “Yeah, but you
might,
right? No one in their right mind would hesitate to take such a prize as Scooter. At least, my bet is that’s what the Korvad thinks.”

Beside her, the being in question nodded. “That’s true.” His voice was whispery and thin.

“I wouldn’t!” Ilanion’s anger was quickly firing into rage. His lip curled. “I should kill you where you stand.”

“Oh, shut up,” Max said, frowning. Everything hinged on her. On whether she could pull them all into the abyss and back out. Hell, she could hardly manage herself. Now she wanted to take the golden boy and Scooter, too? She was insane. Not that she had any other choice. So she’d do it. She looked back at the bristling Ilanion.

“Hear me out. What I need is some time to retrieve Scooter’s heart, silk, and horn. The only way I can do that is if he’s somewhere safe and I can get around without someone crawling up my ass every minute. The best way is if you take us prisoner. You can set up some kind of auction or whatever. They’ll see it as a play for power and money. That should give me time to do what I need to do. That is, if you really want to help us. You can walk away now, no harm, no foul.”

“Except that the Korvad will shortly know I had my hands on you both, if they don’t know already.” Ilanion’s eyes narrowed, and he folded his arms over his chest. “I can’t walk away. They won’t believe you escaped.”

Max shrugged. “I can rough you up. I promise to make it look good. They’ll never suspect a thing.” She smiled wolfishly and rubbed her hands together.

He smiled unwillingly. “Thanks,” he said dryly. “Suppose I agree? They won’t let me take you back to my compound. They’ll have it blockaded within the hour.”

“Not a problem.” She hoped. “All you have to do is agree or not.”

He frowned, his attention moving to Scooter. “Nayan, what’s going on?”

“I told you, Max is unique.”

The answer clearly didn’t make Ilanion happy. But he wasn’t getting anything more.

“So? What’s it going to be?” Max prodded.

He looked her up and down like he was hoping to develop X-ray vision. Finally, his mouth pursed as if he’d eaten a live scorpion, and he nodded. “Very well. What do you require from me?”

It took Max a second to understand what he meant. “Just don’t actually try to take us prisoner when we get there,” she said. “I don’t want to have to kill you, but I will if you turn on us.”

“You can try,” he said. “I won’t make the same mistake again. However, the issue won’t come up. You have my word.”

It wasn’t binding, like a promise, but giving his word still had tangible power.

“Good. Then let’s get out of here before we can’t.”

Max reluctantly dropped her swords on the ground. It was going to take everything she had to bring Scooter and Ilanion into the abyss. She didn’t need extra baggage. She looked at the eagle man. “How attached are you to your armor?”

He frowned confusion. “What?”

She shook her head. “Never mind. But if we get there naked, it isn’t because I want to see you in all your glory.”

“How do I find a place to land?” she asked Scooter, realizing suddenly the flaw in her plan. She had no idea where she was going beyond Ilanion’s compound, which sounded like a military installation.