The Black Queen (Book 6) (53 page)

Seger let out a sigh of relief.

“Praise God,” Con said.

“You…are…hurt,” Sebastian said, looking from one to the other of them.

“It’s nothing I can’t fix,” Seger said. She got up, feeling aches in muscles she didn’t even know she had. Some of the blood had dried already, and it pulled against her skin.

She picked up the jar.

“What are you going to do with that?” Con asked.

“Take it back to the Domicile and destroy it.”

“Now?” Con asked.

Seger nodded.

“Shouldn’t we see how Coulter is doing?”

Seger held the jar tightly. “Not until this is completely gone. Then, when no physical part of Rugad remains, perhaps it will be easier for Coulter to destroy the construct.”

“But…Ari,” Sebastian said.

“The best thing we can do for her is take care of ourselves.” Seger stood and extended a hand to Sebastian. He took it, and she pulled him to his feet. The extra clay had made him more supple as well. Not much—he still moved like Sebastian—but enough that he would notice the difference.

“You…fixed…me,” he said and smiled.

She smiled back. “It seemed the least I could do.”

THIRTY-ONE

COULTER FLEW THROUGH Arianna’s mind, following the map she had given him. Touching her, knowing that she was alive and safe, had given him a strange joy and a willingness to do whatever he could to save them both.

He had no idea where the core of her really was, only where her map led him. The maze of walls erected by Rugad confounded Coulter’s sense of direction, which might have been skewed anyway, given the nature of this place. All he knew was he had to find Arianna’s center, and when he did, he would pull the construct from it, bit by bit.

He felt Rugad behind him, flying as well, moving as fast as Coulter, trying to keep up with him. But Coulter went faster, imagining himself always ahead of Rugad, knowing that would make it so.

Finally, Coulter reached the part of Arianna’s mind that was uniquely her. It was a comfortable room with soft walls and golden light. Everything she loved was there—portraits of her father and Sebastian and Gift, and beside the warm bed, a portrait of Coulter. He stopped, stared at it. It was a portrait of him as he looked now.

There were other fragments here, a robin’s feather, a cat sleeping in a chair, bits and pieces of things he didn’t have time to look at. The sense of her was strong, so strong that he wondered how the construct was in here at all, until he remembered Seger’s story.

Arianna had picked up an infant and carried it here, thinking it was Sebastian. Coulter couldn’t look for a building or a fake man. He had to look for a child.

Then Rugad flew into the room and tackled Coulter. Rugad’s physical strength was great, and it knocked Coulter against the far wall, sending some old and dusty portraits crashing to the floor.

Coulter had had enough. They had been playing at this as if they were in the real world, not some imaginary place. And if they were in the real world, a teenage boy probably would have more strength than Coulter. But Coulter would be smarter.

He imagined himself throwing Rugad off and, to his surprise, it worked. Rugad flew backwards and bounced on the bed. Coulter created a wall of fire between them, one that destroyed nothing, but which would burn Rugad if Rugad touched it.

That would keep Rugad busy for a while. Coulter was tapping into his own magick, and Rugad had no tools with which to fight that.

Coulter scanned the half of the room he was in. What would people do with a child in this place? They would create a crib, care for the child, and watch it grow.

It would outgrow the crib and, as it grew, need a place of its own.

Almost as if he’d had the thought, a door appeared. Rugad screamed and pushed at the fire, trying to come through, and screamed again.

Coulter ignored him. Soon Rugad would figure out how to defeat that wall of fire and follow him, but by then, maybe, Coulter would have found the construct.

He opened the door, and saw a plain room with stark decor. The austere feeling reminded him of the military garrison he’d grown up in, a magick-made place called Shadowlands designed by Rugad’s son. There was a bed that was little more than a cot, chairs beside it, and bare walls.

Or at least, they seemed bare until he approached them. Then he noted the weapons on them: arrows, swords, knives—all of them decorative, all of them clearly made by different cultures. He felt a chill, wondering if they were trophies of the places that Rugad had conquered.

Even though the room was empty, it did not feel empty. It felt as if Coulter had walked into Rugad’s brain, not Arianna’s. And then he shivered, realizing what danger he was in. The image outside was not Rugad. The construct lived here, grew up here, existed here.

And Coulter had to remove it.

Coulter put his hands on the walls. They had been built by Arianna for the infant she had brought here, but they no longer felt like hers. Running through them was a hum of someone else, majestic and powerful.

Coulter had found the construct.

At that moment the door banged open and Rugad’s image staggered in. His clothing was still smoking and a section of his hair was on fire.

“You’re good,” he said, speaking Fey.

Coulter turned his back on him. The image couldn’t hurt him. Not in here.

“You play on primitive fears. I can do the same.”

Coulter blocked his mind to that voice. He searched for the hum with his fingers. It skittered away from him.

Suddenly, the room vibrated and he heard a faint
Nooooo
! cried in Fey. A man’s voice. Then he felt echoes of pain. Not real pain, but the pain of separation.

Seger. She had succeeded.

Everything in the room froze except Coulter. He reached through the walls, touched the hum and wrapped it in light. Then he pulled it free.

What he got was a squirming man—fully grown, and much older than the image—but visible only because he was wrapped in light. Coulter slung the man—the construct—over his shoulder.

Rugad’s image shouted at him, but the words faded to nothing as the vibration from outside continued.

Then Coulter stepped through the door, and into Arianna’s room. There was no vibration here, no feeling of separation. Only a lingering sense of her as if she had walked through the room and just a trace of her perfume remained.

Seger had given him a chance. Coulter meant to take advantage of it.

He flew through the maze as he had done before, hands wrapped around the writhing construct. With great effort, the construct stuck out an arm, letting fingers trail across the maze.

The wiggles grew more powerful, until Coulter was having trouble holding the construct. Coulter increased the light, did an Imprisonment spell that would have worked in the physical world, and made himself go even faster. He would have appeared near the Link doors, but he was afraid of getting lost, even now. He didn’t know exactly where they were located from this maze, only that there was one path to getting there.

Too late, he realized that Rugad was regaining strength by touching the maze. Coulter grabbed for Rugad’s hand, but he couldn’t reach it. So Coulter concentrated on holding Rugad and flying.

Finally, they tumbled out of the maze. The construct fell out of Coulter’s grasp and before he could pick it up, Rugad broke through some of the bonds of light. Coulter repaired them, then grabbed his own door, and opened it.

As he did, Rugad seized him. Coulter struggled, but Rugad moved too fast. Rugad gripped the bonds of light, the bonds Coulter had made, and used them like rope to wrap Coulter.

“You’re an amateur, boy,” Rugad said, shoving Coulter toward the Link. “You’ll never be able to win against me.”

THIRTY-TWO

THE DOOR OPENED and Arianna stepped back. Blinding light the same color gold as the Link poured in, and behind it, she could hear Rugad’s voice, but not his words. She pressed herself against the walls of the Link, staying out of sight as Coulter had warned her to do.

Then Coulter fell out, wrapped in light. The light trussed him, binding his hands, his feet, his entire body. He cursed, then shook the light off. The bonds dissolved. He stood, and went back through the door, closing it behind him.

She clasped her hands together, hearing pounding and cursing on the other side of that door. Voices raised and lowered, someone cried out in pain. Then the door opened again, and this time, it was Rugad who hovered there, ropes made of light hanging from his wrists. He was facing backwards, and did not see her. He used the edges of the door to brace himself, and to launch himself inside.

The door closed again. Arianna paced. She wasn’t used to this. Coulter was fighting her battle. She should be helping, but she had promised him she wouldn’t.

She threaded her fingers together, heard the yelping and thudding on the other side. Why, when they could do anything they imagined, did they imagine a simple fight? If she were to go in, she would imagine something greater.

As if that had worked. Everything she had imagined after she discovered Rugad had failed.

The door opened, and this time, both men fell into the Link. Rugad had his hands around Coulter’s neck. Coulter erupted into flame, and Arianna jumped back as if she could get burned. But Rugad continued to hold on, his fingers squeezing tighter and tighter.

She recognized this. She had felt it. If she could just grab Rugad and pull him off, then Coulter would have a chance.

But she would give him a better chance if she cut off the source of Rugad’s power. She had to risk it.

She had to run for the door, even though Rugad didn’t know she was here, even though he would see her.

Coulter turned into water, and Rugad lost his hold for a moment. Then Rugad became glass and started to contain the water.

Soon Coulter would run out of tricks. Rugad seemed to be keeping pace with everything he did.

Arianna leapt past them, and sprinted for the door. Rugad lifted his head out of the glass and then became Fey again. Coulter turned into himself as well.

“No, Ari!” he yelled in Islander. “Not yet!”

But she couldn’t turn back now. She Shifted, became a robin and flew through the door. She reached for its knob and realized she couldn’t do that with wings.

As she Shifted back, she remembered that she could have done anything she wanted. This rigid thinking had trapped her once before.

She reached for the knob as Rugad threw his weight against the door. Coulter grabbed him, and Rugad shook him off. Rugad seemed twice as strong as Coulter, even stronger than Arianna had thought he was.

Rugad became water himself and slipped inside. Ariannacouldn’t close the door now; she’d trap herself with him.

Coulter reached for her. She took his hand, and he pulled her into the Link as Rugad slammed the door closed.

“No,” Ariannasaid. “No. He can’t be in there alone. He can’t. I’ll die.”

“No, you won’t,” Coulter said. “He needs your body. You’ll be fine as long as the body’s fine.”

She grabbed the knob and tugged. The door was locked. “He can’t shut me out of there. That’s my own body.”

“He has shut you out, Ari. At least now he won’t kill you.”

She turned. “But I have nowhere to go. Don’t you understand, Coulter? He’s me now.”

Coulter stared at her for a moment. “Yes,” he said finally. “To the world, he’s you. But he didn’t take complete control, and now he’s going to rule without Vision. I think even Rugad will have trouble with that.”

“It doesn’t matter.” She slipped down the side of the Link, leaning on the wall as if it were her only support. “He’ll never let me back in.”

“That’s right,” Coulter said. “He’ll never let you. But you didn’t let him in either. There are other ways, Ari.”

She raised her gaze to his. “But I have nowhere to go. I don’t exist, Coulter.”

“You exist.” He held out his hand to her. She took it and let him help her up. He put his arm around her and pulled her close. There was comfort in his touch. “You can stay with me. Or we can get Seger to build you a golem.”

Like Sebastian. Only hers wouldn’t be able to Shift or to even move well. She, who had always been so quick and athletic.

But here, she would have no control at all.

She turned and tried the door one final time. It still did not open.

“Do you have ways of testing whether or not he’s locked it?”

“If he hadn’t locked it,” Coulter said, “you’d be able to open it.”

Rugad was solidifying his hold on her body now. She knew it as if she were still there. He had her completely, all except the part of her that really counted. He had her body, but not her soul.

She moved away from the door. She hadn’t been able to hear more than muffled yelling from the Link, but she didn’t want Rugad to hear any more.

She took a deep breath. She didn’t like any of her choices. But she had to make the right one, for herself, and for her people.