“You married?”
“No.”
“Then you ain't got a man,” the phone went dead and I found myself scowling at it again.
Chapter Thirty-Six
“King Keir. Princess Seren,” a man opened the door to the antechamber and poked his head in. “You're needed at the curtain wall. It appears that we're under attack.”
“Excuse me?” I gaped at him. He'd delivered the news so placidly, I wasn't sure if I'd heard him correctly.
Before he could answer, the whole castle shook, sending me stumbling forward. I caught myself and ran out of the room, following after the fairy. He waved me on urgently, past the stunned high fairy council members and out into the hallway. My father and Cat chased after us.
The sound of shouting started to reach us as we neared the main hall. I heard a boom and then the castle shook again. A large painting fell free of its moorings and plummeted to the floor on my right. I lurched out of the way as it toppled forward and made huge crashing sound. Then my phone rang.
“Hello?!” I shouted into the receiver.
“The elders have declared war!” Aidan shouted back. “I contacted the clans but it was too late, they've already left. They're going to attack the Fairy Council.”
“Yeah, I figured that out,” I snapped.
“Are they already there?” He asked in shock.
Another boom vibrated through the castle.
“What do you think?” I yelled. “See if you can get a message through to them, I'm going to try to stop them from my end.” I hung up on him and slipped the phone back into my leather jacket as I ran out of the castle.
In the courtyard, the fey were calm and organized. I was a little shocked to see how well they were handling the surprise attack. Rows of hunters formed and were given orders before running to their assigned positions. Most went atop the curtain wall but a select few went to higher points, up in the towers, and set to raining magic down upon our attackers; in some instances, quite literally.
Thunder rumbled as the sky above us darkened ominously; oily clouds churning like the hands of a maniac. Flashes of light lit up that demon sky with streaks of cinnabar, sulfur, aubergine, and arctic blue. Howls echoed off the shivering stone walls and screams of pain cried back in response. I ran up the stairs to the walk atop the curtain wall, and looked down into a mass of madness.
Funnels of water swirled by and smashed into the barred gate on my left. Groups of wolves gathered a short distance away, pawing at the earth as they waited for the water to break down the gate. Spheres of flame shot through the sky, coming down on the fairy soldiers along the wall. Most were able to protect themselves in time but a few painful shouts rang out.
“Great balls of fire,” I couldn't help whispering.
But it wasn't the fire that bothered me. Nor the funnels of water. Not even the werewolves or the Quake witches moving the earth beneath us. I could deal with all of that. It was the dead that unnerved me. There was a platoon of zombies waiting to be dispatched on the far right of the field. They just stood there numbly, some more decayed than others, staring with their dead eyes directly ahead of them. What a reprehensible but morbidly fantastic skill. To be able to command an army that would feel no pain, eat no food, and need no rest... it was a hell of an advantage. But it smelled. Eadan had been right, the scent of death was atrocious, even just the light whiff that was carried to me on the breeze.
“Seren,” Tiernan was suddenly beside me, leaning over the crenelated stone for a better look. “Why are they attacking us?”
“They think we stole back the witches I freed,” I sighed. “Look, I'll explain later. Right now, I've got to handle this.”
I was about to start shouting at the witches when a monster flew over my head and breathed fire down upon that dead army. I lurched back, staring up at the magnificent form of a sparkling scarlet dragon. Its body was covered in glossy scales going from bright cherry at its underbelly to deep crimson at its shoulders. There, the color shifted into an overlay, just a sheen of ruby over the sinful black leather of the beast's wings. It roared and angled its head down to look at me, sun glinting off its gold eyes.
“Raza!” I shouted as the whiff of decay turned into roasted rotten meat. “Stop! I need to talk to them! Stop!”
The zombie militia was on fire but they didn't seem to know it. They just stood there as Beckoning witches called over their cousins in Tide to put out the flames. I didn't think the water witches would make it in time though. Raza was spewing some seriously hot flames and the zombies were already crumbling away into piles of blackened bones. I hoped that meant that their souls were freed but I noticed that some of the piles were still moving.
The dragon pulled up abruptly and circled back while the witches scrambled about in terror and panic. Wherever his shadow fell, people froze and stared up at him like deer caught in headlights. And with a wingspan wider than a semi-truck, the shadow he cast was significant. I didn't know if it was some kind of magic or just the fear felt when a dragon was overhead but even the wolves went silent when Raza passed over them. The dragon himself came to rest on the wall beside me, his enormous talons curving over and through the crenelations as his wings settled around us.
“You called?” He seemed to smile at me.
“This is a misunderstanding,” I went in closer and couldn't help being stunned by the beauty of his refined face, the curves of his onyx horns which swept back from his regal forehead, and the glint of dangerous fangs sloping over his massive jaw. I refocused and said, “I need to talk to the witches. Can you take me down there?”
“Are you sure you don't want me to just kill them all?” He asked casually. “They've so thoughtfully presented themselves to me in one convenient package.”
“Yes, I'm sure,” I huffed.
“As you wish,” he extended a leg and wrapped his thick claws around my waist before he leapt into the sky without any warning.
