Wicked Wonderland (21 page)

A demanding howl in the wind filled her with a bone-shivering chill. She knew what had brought the change in the sound the wind made: a storm was brewing. Thank goodness part of the upper deck sheltered her head to protect her from any rain that might come, and that she still wore her wool coat, but her legs were uncovered. Water had sloshed into her ankle boots, her feet were freezing, and her teeth chattered. She gritted her teeth against the cold, her jaw clenched so tight it hurt, and now not only did she have birdmen and Zenia to fear, but all the risks of sailing on an ancient ship during a storm.

When Lilly had first recovered her senses, Zenia had ranted and raged at her, retying her to the railing with knots that felt much tighter than before and cut into her wrists painfully. Then, oddly, Zenia had gone belowdecks, declaring she needed her beauty sleep, and that nothing and no one had better disturb her.

Lilly took a deep breath. Now that her half sister was no longer in near proximity, her body relaxed. She unclenched her jaw and felt the ache of it, working it by opening and closing her mouth to release the pressure. She closed her eyes and breathed in the scent of the salt air. But soon anxiety nibbled its way into her heart again.

The dark fae was unlikely to be taking a nap as she claimed. Perhaps she’d gone belowdecks to perform some kind of ghastly spell that might hurt Nick and Kris. The birdmen who guarded her were giving away no clues of their mistress’s intentions. None of them spoke. There were more of these creatures around her now, watching, their cold, sinister eyes boring into her. Some stood around her; others stood on the balcony and upper deck. In their taloned hands, they held iron swords and shields.

On the upper balcony, Lilly saw two birdmen sitting on top of a huge iron trunk. One of them tried to make eye contact with her. She almost thought there was something kind in this one’s eyes, something very different from the others, but she wasn’t sure. Was that Rurik, who’d given her the drink? She wasn’t sure she could tell these creatures apart.

Suddenly, Lilly heard a sound above her. She looked up to see the most amazing creatures flying above the ship. Huge, heavy wings beat the air. The horse part of the creatures’ form was beautiful, and they were multicolored—sleek black, milk white, chestnut red, sorrel and dun, all glossy and beautiful. Their torsos were of handsome warrior men, and each centaur had wings the color of his horse body. The centaurs carried bows and arrows or swords and shields seemed to be made of pure silver. Hope surged in her chest.

Are they good creatures? Could they…will they help me?

Wonder and joy bubbled up inside her. Such creatures were
real
. It was almost like she’d taken a trip inside her favorite children’s book series. Like she was in Narnia.

Or maybe like the Fae Realm? Your birthright?

With a tremendous clattering of hooves, they landed as one large group on the deck of the ship, distracting her from any more reflection.

The birdmen, armed with axes and swords, were the first to approach, but the centaurs slashed, cutting viciously at the birdmen, who either dodged and fought back, or gurgled and screamed, their lungs full of blood. A birdman hacked the tail off a beautiful chestnut centaur whose screams sent cold chills rocketing through her.

Her teeth on edge, Lilly wanted to look away, sickened by the slaughter, but she couldn’t. Another part of her wanted to join in and fight against the birdmen, who she was sure were all on Zenia’s side.

The sky filled with winged creatures, heedless of the strong winds. More centaurs, more birdmen coming to join the battle. The sun glinted off the bluish-silver metal armor protecting the centaurs’ chests. The bronze helmets of the birdmen shone red as though recently polished.

Wind ruffled feathers and tails. With a high, thin cry, one of the birdmen dove out of the sky, talons slashing at the eyes of a beautiful white centaur. Lilly’s soul ached with horror and pity for the animal. Her hands struggled fruitlessly against her bonds in her desire to brush tears from her cheeks.

And then suddenly she saw the results of the magic Zenia must be doing belowdecks. From out of nowhere, fire sputtered, sparked and then spewed to life, flaming across the decks, burning only the centaurs in its path. Her heart leapt in her throat as two of the centaurs were consumed in fire. The sight of them set alight, whirling in panic, their wings burning orange coupled with the piercing sound of their animal screams would stay in her head the rest of her life.

The wind howled, and rain began to fall. The sea was an angry monster pounding the sides of the ship with huge, swelling fists. The army of birdmen slashed with their iron swords, making the ship run sleek with blood that the steadily increasing rain washed over the decks and over her feet and around the dead. She felt sick at the sight, but the rain sizzled on the wooden planks and washed out Zenia’s fire. And that was a good thing.

She willed one of the remaining centaurs to come and cut the ties from her hands, but none of them came near her. She tried in vain to inch around to find some bit of broken wood or something that might shred the rope, but she couldn’t get away from the railing to which she was securely fastened.

Her hopes of rescue sank. Where were Nick and Kris? Did they have any idea where to find her? And Zenia was still belowdecks, using fire magic to fight from a distance. Lilly shook her head in disgust. The coward was letting the birdmen slaves do all the work in this brutal battle. For all her brave talk, it seemed Zenia was a coward when it came to real physical danger to her person.

The air filled with the sounds of the ship creaking, the rain beating the decks, the screams and groans of the injured, the clattering of hooves on wood, and the metal-on-metal clash of swords.

Something landed on her shoulder. She froze, hoping to God it wasn’t a rat, but it felt more like a bird. Though her head ached like hell and it hurt to turn it, she did, and to her amazement saw Nick, as tiny as a robin, sitting on her shoulder. Nick had a tiny axe that Lilly guessed was made of bronze.

His beautiful wings sparkled despite the dark weather as he flew down to her hands. He took scissors from his pocket and humming a magic chant began to cut at her rope, holding his axe under his arm as he worked. The tiny scissors combined with the magic chant seemed to work, and the strong rope fell away after only a couple of snips.

Once she was free, Nick hopped up to her shoulder and whispered in her ear, “I can spirit you away from here. Get you away from the fight. But I won’t be able to stay with you. Kris and I have to help the centaurs we summoned here. And one of us will kill the dark fae who did this to you.”

“Like hell! If you’re staying to fight, then so am I.”

Concern filled his eyes, but he handed her a miniature bronze axe that matched his own. “Use this only if you have to.”

Lilly looked at the tiny weapon in confusion. It was about the size of a Q-tip. Was he kidding? She kicked off her wet heels and struggled to stand. Her bare feet felt raw against the wet wood of the deck; they were blue and wrinkled and sore. She bit her lip against the pain.

Nick tilted his head to one side and hummed, and in the blink of an eye, he grew tall, his muscular body taking its normal shape. At the same time, the axe in her hand grew to a useable size. Though the rain beat down heavily, she struggled out of her coat, afraid it might restrain her movements. Something small, pretty and golden whizzed past her eyes, and she realized it was Kris. He held a sword that looked like it was made of bluish silver, like the centaurs’ swords. On his belt, a silver dagger glinted in the gloom.

A flash of blinding light struck the ship, changing the sinking feeling in her stomach to primitive terror. The thunder that exploded the same instant drove some of the birdmen back to cower against the sides of the ship, giving an advantage to the more courageous centaurs. “The Undines are shaking the ship from underneath,” Kris whispered from his perch on her shoulder. “That should make the birdmen seasick. But it won’t affect the centaurs.”

“What are Undines?” Lilly cried to him above the noise.

“Water fae.” Kris sprang from her shoulder, flew down to the deck humming and, within seconds, regained his normal size.

And then Lilly saw it! What must be the Undines’ magic, green and blue lights, sparkling, leaping and swirling and flowing up around the sides of the ship. The Undines were adding their water power to the fight.

A few of the birdmen were indeed seasick and vomiting over the sides of the ship. Majestic swells in varying shades of gray propelled the ship up and down. Salt water mixed with blood splashed in her face. Why did these scum bend to the will of her half sister? She felt a mean gladness to see that some of the birdmen looked much sicker than she felt. Desire for revenge burned in her heart. What would it be like to slice into one of their chests? But she didn’t know if she could do it, didn’t know if she could stomach it.

Zenia’s magical fires sprang up and were repeatedly repelled by the waves splashing up on deck or by the rain.

Turning her head at the sound of aggressive bird calls, Lilly saw a huge birdman approaching, his iron sword getting nearer to Kris’s unprotected chest.

“Kris, look out!”

At the sound of her cry, Nick brought his axe down hard on the sword itself, and the blow made the birdman drop the weapon and cry out in fury.

Then Kris was humming and murmuring magic words. Yellow and gold petals fell from the sky. “Warriors of the Light,” she heard Kris whisper. Suddenly, he, Nick, and Lilly wore bronze helms and held bronze shields. She tested the weight of the axe in her hand. Would she need to use it? Could she defend herself?

Screams to her right made her turn in time to see a birdman viciously stab a centaur. She gasped and shut her eyes for a moment. She’d never seen so much blood. No way would she ever get used to the violence and death of a fae battle. The idea of killing
anything
nauseated her, but she was determined to help somehow.

In moments, Nick stood beside them. Though he’d lost his helmet, he swung his axe, and the birdman who’d been trying to kill Kris lost his head on the first stroke. Blood shot out like a geyser. A second birdman approached Nick. Nick’s foot shot out, sweeping the legs from under the birdman. The creature went down with a shout, and Kris impaled him with his sword.

When a birdman barreled toward Lilly, fear lodged in her throat, nearly choking her, but she aimed her axe straight under his chin and swung. She closed her eyes as she struck, not wanting to see the damage, though the ghastly sound of his scream was enough for her to know she’d managed to hit true. She thanked years of Kung Fu and self-defense classes for her quick reaction.

She forced her eyes open again and saw the birdman wasn’t dead but had swung away from her, its taloned hand cupping its bleeding wound.

The stench of centaur and birdmen blood filled her nose and made her gag. Another huge birdman charged straight toward her. For half a second, her heart froze and death seemed a certainty; then, with the speed of an adder, Kris grabbed the creature by the feathers and skin under its head and shoved the pretty silver dagger up and under its humanlike ribs. She wanted to put her hands over her ears to block out the sickening screams, even as she blocked another attack with the use of her shield.

Kris was not as large as the birdman, yet he managed to hold on to the creature though it struggled and squawked and flailed like a fish. Still holding the animal down, he pulled out the dagger and brutally shoved it in again. The creature grunted and sank to the deck, blood pouring down its side.

Rain lashed Lilly. Lightning blinded her, and thunder deafened. She was soaked to the skin and numb with cold.

Another of the largest, most muscular and powerful of the birdman had Nick in a headlock. She remembered her self-defense teacher’s words.
“Assess the situation clearly; always aim for the unprotected area of your attacker.”

Lilly aimed for the space where bird head met human body, and struck the spot with all her momentum and strength. The bronze axe hit against bone. The handle shivered in her hand, and she turned away, wanting to vomit as the axe head went halfway in and blood spurted into her eyes. When she wiped the blood away, she saw the birdman had keeled over and dropped his sword to the deck.

Though she felt strangely repelled by it, Lilly reached for the iron sword.

“No, Lilly! Don’t touch!”

She turned to look at Kris in amazement.

“The heavy iron in that sword. It will kill any fae powers you have. You’ll be taking the path of iron!”

That explained why their axes were made of bronze, and Kris and the centaurs had silver swords.

Kris threw himself into a half spin, using his wings, drifting off the deck for a moment, then smacking his bronze blade into a birdman’s belly. The birdman gave an inhuman shriek that sounded full of pain and fury. This birdman wore thick chainmail. He was winded not seriously hurt, but his screams were hideous, and he cried out the name of his mistress.

The sound brought Zenia flying out of the hatch that must lead belowdecks, her titanium knife raised high, her blonde hair whipping around her face in the wind. Some of the birdmen cringed. Fear lived on the deck, fear that hung in the air like black flies. It radiated off the birdmen and into Lilly’s heart, making her sweat.

“How dare you touch Brock? How dare you touch my most loyal slave, you filthy half-breed!” Although Kris had struck the blow to this particular birdman, Zenia turned her rage upon Lilly.

Lilly almost laughed. “What did you expect would happen while you hid beneath the deck like a coward?”

Zenia’s eyes blazed with fury. She pulled herself up to her full height and pointed her knife at Lilly. “I was performing magic, you idiot!”

“And being a coward.” Lilly liked how strong her voice sounded. She lifted her axe and shield to deflect the possible stab of the blade.

Zenia extended her arm, her long, golden fingernail pointing at Lilly’s chest. “Grab her!”