Page 45 of Queens Will Play

Menolly took a step back as she pulled out a black metal mace. It couldn’t be iron or silver, but whatever it was, the metal sang as she brought it up in one hand. In front of her, Wilbur held up his wand, while Smoky snarled and readied himself. Trillian brought out a hand-held repeating crossbow, and he took aim at one of the creatures. I couldn’t see what Vanzir and Shade were doing.

“What do we use?” Morio asked.

“Fire,” I said. “Scorching Blast.”

Over the past two years, our magic had strengthened and grown. Morio began to feed me energy as I took it in, wove it with mine and focused on creating a shower of incendiary sparks. It took everything in my will to keep from breaking contact. The shandigoes were massive, and knowing their tentacles contained venomous barbs was enough to make me want to run. But Morio squeezed my hand, and I forced myself to focus.

That moment between sizing up the enemy and moving into action felt like it lasted a lifetime, but after one breath, one break in the line, the battle went into hyperdrive. Trillian let loose a bolt, aiming at the shandigo in front of him. The next second, the creatures moved, barreling down on us and he fired again.

Morio gripped my hand tightly as the energy between us spiraled. I held my left hand out, palm forward, while Morio held out his right. Together, we cast the spell.

“Sar se, et sparl ve tu!”

Our voices echoed in the astral winds. The next second, a shower of smoking embers flew forward from our hands toward the creature closest to us, pelting against it with enough force to indent the skin. As they hit the shandigo, they exploded, blackening the skin.

The spell knocked us both back, and we broke contact. I landed on my ass in the mist, jarred in both my aura and my butt. It hurt, but I’d had worse before. Morio jumped back up and held out his hand to pull me up. As I landed on my feet, he shouted. I turned in time to see the shandigo bearing down on us, and it looked pissed. It didn’t have a real face, per se, but the emotion poured off of it. Its tentacles raised, it was poised to strike.

“Oops, I think we ticked it off,” I said, jumping back.

Morio followed me, grabbing my wrist and bolting to the side.

Smoky raced in toward the creature next to Trillian’s target. His nails sharpened into claws as he launched himself past the creature, raking its side with his arm. A moment later, the shandigo let out a deafening screech as the jagged gash opened, spilling stomach acid into the mist. The mist flew to the side as the liquid splashed against the ground, sizzling as it hit.

Meanwhile, the creature that was on Morio and me suddenly sped up, lashing out with one of the its. It landed right of me, close enough that I could feel the mist move against my side. I yelled, rolling to the ground as it once again swung, this time for my head.

Morio morphed into his full demon form. Eight feet tall, he was a walking tank. His face was still recognizable as Morio, but his nose had elongated into a muzzle and his eyes gleamed with a deep topaz light. His nails were claws now—dark and glistening, and he turned toward the shandigo, letting out a low growl as he leapt, landing beside the creature. With one massive swipe, he slashed it, then punched the shandigo between the eyes and grabbed for its head. As he grabbed hold of the bulbous mass, squeezed and boom—one dead shandigo and Morio was covered with slime.

“Help!” Delilah’s voice cut through the crowd.

I turned to see one of the monsters headed her way. Wilbur cast a spell and the next moment, the creature imploded, sending innards over both of them. Delilah grimaced, Wilbur laughed, and I swung my attention away from them.

Shade was in a brawl, dodging attacks as he drove in with a massive hammer. I didn’t remember him having one of those, but it worked extremely well. At that moment Vanzir held out his hands and a series of long, glistening threads came flickering out. He latched onto one of the three left and the scintillating tendrils wormed their way inside. He leaned back, laughing as he sucked the life from the shandigo. I was so invested in watching him that I didn’t notice anything until Morio shouted at me and I turned to see what he wanted, but one of the creatures was right next to me. Before I could even scream, it slammed against me with one of its tentacles and searing pain raced through my body.

I shrieked, trying to break free but whatever it used to inject its venom was barbed, and it lodged in my skin with a hook. Another tentacle wrapped around my waist and I screamed again as several of the sucker cups pierced the material of my skirt. The heat of the venom was overwhelming, and my stomach twisted. Scorched inside and out, I couldn’t think—couldn’t figure out how to get out of its grasp.

The creature started to fly up, carrying me with it. I tried to scream again, but my throat burned and I couldn’t say a word. Another moment later, and I passed out.

I opened my eyes, feeling queasy beyond anything I’d ever experienced. I tried to sit up, but I couldn’t—something resisted my efforts. Managing to open my eyes, I glanced around, trying to take in where I was through blurred vision, and even blurrier thoughts.

Everything around me was dim, bathed in a glowing rust-colored light. I glanced from side to side at my arms, which were stretched wide, and saw that it wasn’t that I couldn’t move, but that I was being restrained. It looked like some sort of webbing, but the strands were thick, black threads.

“Crap,” I whispered, resting my head back against the floor. My stomach cramped again, and for a moment I felt like I might throw up, but the pain eased. I shivered. Where the hell was I? As far as I could tell, I appeared to be on the floor of a cavern, or at least the ceiling looked cave-like to me.

Was I still in the astral? Or was I back in the physical realm? I wasn’t sure which, but I noticed the low mist floating along the surface. Yeah, I was still on the astral. Which meant that I would have a better chance of attracting the others if I ventured out of my body. I’d done so when I was held captive by Hyto, so maybe I could do it again.

Since I didn’t see any of the creatures around at the moment, I closed my eyes again and tried to relax. Even though I was soul-bound to Trillian, and bonded to Smoky and Morio, I would have the best luck reaching Vanzir. I’d managed to get through to him years before and I thought I probably could do so again. His dream chaser demon side had its roots in the astral.

I let myself drift. Focusing on his face, I zeroed in on his eyes. Taking a deep breath, I counted to five, then exhaled and lowered myself into trance.

Lower…lower…lower…the noise of the cavern passed out of notice. Lower still and I was floating. I brought Vanzir’s countenance to mind again and began to float in the direction to which I felt pulled.

All around me, colors swirled and blended, a continual kaleidoscope of spinning lights, all colors of the rainbow, as though I were floating through the middle of a massive tie-dye expanse. After a bit, I began to sense a flickering light and followed it. The light reminded me of the unicorn sheen of some nail polishes—white, but like an oil slick with pinks and purples and blues shifting in the pearlescent background.

I followed the light until it grew so bright it was hard to look at. After what felt like an eternity, the energy hit me hard and fast. Vanzir’s spirit.

Vanzir…can you hear me? Vanzir, listen to me. Can you hear me?

I waited. A moment later, I tried again. Vanzir, it’s Camille. Can you hear me? I need help Vanzir! Hear me! I seldom used the command voice—although I’d had to more often since I took the throne. But whether it would work on Vanzir, I wasn’t sure.