Traitor (14 page)

“I’m not a Changeling,” I said testily.

“Well you sure fit the bill of one, seeing as you’re a spitting image.”

Dalbach shook his head at me as a warning. He already knew me too well. “Don’t you dare shift. You’ll have us all in cells before any of us could even call out for help.”

Aiden looked between Dalbach and me. He looked like he was sick to his stomach. “I can’t believe I’m hearing this. Why am I even coming along for this? It’s madness, and I’m going to be punished for it. It’s either a trick that will get me killed, or if you two really are telling the truth, we’re all going to be killed.”

I couldn’t see how Aiden was far off in his assessment. I nodded numbly though, because I knew that Dalbach was going to do this either way. “How do I open a crack?” I asked.

He smiled. “Just let your inner Changeling do the work for you. It’s easy.”

We walked a bit further. Aiden said nothing. It seemed like he was between being extremely afraid and extremely pissed. Both seemed like fair feelings, considering the situation.

Personally, I was too afraid to say anything. If I opened my mouth, I could betray my cool exterior. I had to be in control of my emotions no matter what. Dalbach was looking for any trace of fear, I was sure of it. I resigned myself to remaining calm. My mind searched for things that reminded me of tranquility: a smooth lake on a perfect day. Lying in Liam’s arms while we watched the sun set. Oh God, what if I never got to experience that again? My heart sped up in fear from the harsh reality that I may never see Liam again.

So much for remaining calm.

As we reached the wooded area, Dalbach slapped me on the back. “Any tree will do. Make this motion.” He pretended to wax a car in midair. “And the crack will begin to emerge. Concentrate on where you want to go. Easy.”

“Easy,” I repeated. “Sure.”

“One last thing,” Dalbach said.

“What’s that?”

“You may want to shift back to your human form rather quickly when the crack opens. I have a feeling you’ll have a fight on your hands, and you’re quite incompetent in Changeling form.”

Without further warning, Dalbach shoved us both into the dead woods and yelled at the top of his lungs. “TRAITOR! Traitor among us! Prisoner loose! Prisoner loose!”

The results were immediate.

I
T WOULD BE
the truth to say I never saw them coming, because suddenly they were everywhere. Changelings were coming out of every gnarled tree and began to surround us. They popped out of nowhere and ran from all the hidden crevices that this barren wasteland could hold. There were at least a thousand Changelings. We weren’t making it out of here alive. There was no way.

Aiden shrunk against the nearest tree and voiced what I was thinking. “We’re dead meat. I don’t even know who you are,” he looked me up and down with disgust. “Or
what
you are.”

No time to argue or explain. I returned to the task at hand. “Just shut up and keep them off of me, Aiden.”

A grunt was his response, which meant the first Changeling had arrived and been beaten away. I worked at the tree in front of us, imagining the ’wax on, wax off’ commercials. God, this was idiotic. Nothing was happening. A wave of Changelings was fast approaching, their pattering footsteps becoming a thundering, angry herd.

The ground rumbled underneath the massive group of Changelings running toward us. I focused everything into waving my arms mindlessly in the motion that Dalbach showed me. Aiden was beside me, fending off the hoards as best possible. He panted between blows. “You might want to work a little quicker,” he said as he swung at another Changeling. His voice was panicked. “I’m not going to be able to keep this up for much longer!”

Miraculously, the crack emerged. I turned to grab Aiden by the collar of his shirt, that the magnetic pull was so close that it pulled me in backward. I tumbled through the crack and felt my body connect with another being – was it a Changeling? Aiden? I hoped beyond belief that it was the latter. I grabbed the body beside me and forced my eyes to open; it was Aiden. A breath of relief whooshed out. His palm was sweaty as he gripped mine and we tumbled through the vast nothingness that connected Neamar with our world.

We hit the soft ground with a
thump
and I saw Desmond running out of the house toward us. He was smart and had Issac and Tess on either side of him, ready for the impending fight. Unfortunately, there were about thirty Changelings that came with us to Tess’s house.

I screamed for help the minute we landed. A Changeling was already on top of me and smashed my face into the ground as I screamed out. “Tess! Memaw! Guys! Anyone!”

The snarls of the Changelings filled the air, along with the acrid scent of their black magic. Electricity sizzled and made my hair stand on end from the amount of magic in the surrounding area. I wrestled the Changeling on top of me to the ground and pinned him. It struggled against my weight and it took every ounce of my strength to keep the faery down. We tumbled to the side and the Changeling scrabbled to get away, then clawed at me with its talon-like nails until I pinned it again. Just when I thought the Changeling might get the better of me, Aiden’s fist came down on the faery’s chest and it exploded beneath me. When Aiden pulled away, I saw something glinting in his hand.

He had iron.

Aiden seemed to know how to fight them off well. He grabbed another one by the arm, swung it wildly and launched it into the chest of another. Both of them exploded into dust, their expressions full of shock. Aiden definitely could hold his own with these things.

I shifted back into human form without even thinking about it. I focused my energy to the palms of my human hands and felt the fiery sensation of my own brand of magic as it became tangible. The warmth started in my chest and pulsated to my hands where I directed it. Purple wisps began to emerge and crackle in my palms. The electricity from the magic tingled and my fingers curled in on themselves. A surge of excitement coursed through my veins; maybe magic wasn’t such a bad thing. In that frozen second of time, I felt dangerous…powerful. I could take care of myself. All I needed was my weapon of choice.

A moment later I pulled my hands completely apart, and my favorite spear appeared out of the purple light. It was long, thin and bore the marks of battles won in the past. The gouges and nicks made me even more confident in the iron. It had seen battle and lived to tell the tale. My hands gripped the handle with confidence and a smile. Today there would be another story forged in the weapon.

I turned and began hacking away at the infernal creatures and connected with one in the side of the head. Its entire body exploded into a haze of dust. With the surge of wind that followed, I was consumed in the cloud of Changeling.

From behind me, I heard others coming. I turned in time to register who it was. Desmond was first on the scene, war-whooping into the fray and jumping into a mass of Changelings. They greeted him with clawed hands and snarls. If anything, it seemed to excite him more. His dual iron blades whizzed and blurred in the air, leaving behind them a trail of dust and the remains of crackling black magic as it fizzled out like dying embers of a fire. Tess and Memaw followed, Liam taking up the rear.

That’s when I saw him.

Reese ran toward us, bow gripped tightly in hand. His eyes were narrowed and focused ahead of me and into the deluge of battle. His strong jawline was set and his stride was lithe and nimble as he leapt over a Changeling that Desmond sent crashing into the ground. This wasn’t the Reese I remembered. This Reese was different.

The sleeves of his grey t-shirt strained against his flexed biceps as he pulled an arrow from the sheath on his back. His fingers looked at home on the end of the arrow as he nocked it in place. One of his eyes was closed slightly, and his chest rose and fell as he let it loose with an assurance I’d never seen in his eyes. I tried to see if it hit its mark, but that was when a Changeling wrapped its arms around my neck and began to choke me.

“Liam! Don’t do it!”

I don’t know who yelled, but the next instant Liam had the Changeling who was choking me in a chokehold as well. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw four or five Changelings gang up on Liam, climbing up, scratching, pulling, ripping anything they could. I felt the weight of all of them on my back, and as suddenly as they’d piled on, the weight brought all of us to the ground as they all tumbled downward in a writhing mess of arms, legs, and magic.

Sparks flew in all directions and I felt the burn of the Changeling’s curses on my skin. Liam yelled out in pain and swung his arm to fight them off. My spear tumbled away just out of reach after being kicked. I stretched my arm out in desperation, but my fingers barely reached their goal.

Liam rolled off my back to face the hording mass. “Dammit Emily, don’t these things have anything better to do than chase you and Ashlyn?” he hollered over the din.

Memaw laughed with glee from somewhere across the lawn. “We’re kind of a big deal, Liam. Haven’t you noticed?”

I rolled to my back to find Liam grappling with three Changelings. He wielded his worm blades with finesse and I found myself mesmerized by his deft ability. He spun to dodge an attack from his left and landed a blow on the Changeling who had just wrapped itself around his right leg. An explosion of dust overtook the battle and I lost sight of him.

Another crack opened and more Changelings poured out. The assault felt never-ending. Five more found their way to me as I ran to find my spear. I kicked and punched anything I could get a hold of to break free of the mass and find Liam. Reese made his way over and yanked me out of a Changeling’s hold. How did he get here?

Reese ripped one Changeling off of me, then another. He pulled me to his chest and examined my face quickly. “How bad are you hurt?” he yelled, already letting another arrow loose at a particularly persistent Changeling that Desmond couldn’t take down.

I tried to make myself heard over the din. “Nothing I can’t handle!”

“Then I’m gonna go get Liam out of that mosh pit!”

Reese took off toward the tree line where more Changelings leapt out of the portal. Liam struggled underneath the weight of four Changelings. It looked like Liam had resorted to using his hands and feet as weapons.

Reese grunted with each powerful swing of his closed fists, each time connecting with another Changeling until he reached Liam and started to pull him away from the heart of the fray. “Liam, I told you not to try to be a hero. You’re not immortal! Get your butt out of here!”

Not immortal? Neither was Reese! What was he talking about? I ran to help him, grabbed a Changeling by the arm, and tried to mimic Aiden. I threw him into the fracas that everyone else was taking care of. Dust flew up from the center of the deluge of carnage. Memaw stood at the crack, making the same motions that Dalbach and I performed. Why would she keep the crack open?

I looked back and found that Liam had wrestled the other two to the ground, pinning them under his weight. He pulled another worm blade from his pocket and shoved it into one of the Changelings. As he raised another dagger to finish the other one, an arrow whizzed past his cheek and found its mark in the Changeling’s forehead. Both Changelings exploded at the same time. Liam coughed and wiped Changeling dust from his eyes. He was covered in the stuff. Reese stood over Liam, still holding the bow in position.

Liam rolled onto his back and popped himself into a sitting position with his hands. He looked exhausted and sounded it as well. “I didn’t need your help, Reese.”

Reese chuckled as he ran to the other battle brewing in the yard. He waved and called out his response over his shoulder. He pulled another arrow from his quiver and sent it into the swarm of remaining Changelings. “Sure you didn’t. Just with the first three.”

Liam stood up shakily and started over to the others. I grabbed him by the arm and took in his face, neck, and arms. They were all cut up and his shirt was torn in a couple places to reveal even more lacerations on his torso. He looked awful. His left eye was already swollen shut and the gash along his neck looked particularly nasty. Blood dripped from his chin from a fat bottom lip that was split on the side. It would take Roslin to put him back together, and maybe even Rueben. “Liam, stop. You’re not going to help anyone right now. Just stay back here with me. We aren’t trained to deal with the Changelings like Memaw and the rest of them.”

Not that Reese knew which end was up,
I thought to myself. I grabbed Liam’s hand and held it to my heart. “This is where you belong. With me. Please?”

He shrugged out of my grasp and ran toward the others without saying a word. What was wrong with him?

I followed behind, picked my spear off the ground and launched it into the air to take out another Changeling. More dust. By the time Liam and I reached the fray, only three remained. Desmond, Reese, and Tess took them out quickly.

When the quiet finally settled around us, we were standing in three inches of ash from the bodies that had evaporated. It was eerie. Suddenly I realized why nothing was living in Neamar. Nothing could live under ash. I couldn’t imagine how many Changelings had been killed there.

Memaw walked back to us, her lips in a thin line. Her golden hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, but it was disheveled and chunks stuck up in odd directions. A stray leaf and other bits of earth clung to the ponytail where she had wrestled in the forest with the insurgents.

It was the first time I’d seen her in regular clothes. The old jeans and dark grey t-shirt almost made her look normal. Almost. No matter what she did, the aura of invincibility she exuded was impossible to squash completely. Her face was hardened as she stopped in front of me, hands on her hips. “Do you care to explain why you brought half of the Changeling race with you?”

That’s when Tess caught sight of Aiden standing behind Memaw. He’d purposely hidden himself behind Reese and I, as to not attract attention. Tess lost it.