Authors: J.A. Pitts
I looked into Jai Li’s face, stroking her hair with one hand while blood seeped from her wound. “Hang on,” I said, trying to remain calm. I tore a strip of cloth from my shirt and pressed against her wound.
I lifted her, keeping the pressure on the side of her neck while not cutting off her flow of air. “Need to get you to a doctor,” I said, hugging her to me. “You hang on.”
When I stood, Nidhogg watched me, her birdlike head turning from one side to the other. “Protecting Frederick?” I asked her. “Is he so important?”
She just watched me, turning her head silently.
“Your prerogative, I guess.” I kept walking, keeping my head turned toward her. She was not moving, did not attack me or make a move to Trisha. The troll kidlets had stopped crying.
There were seven final cultists, men and women who fell to their knees, hands behind their heads. I ignored them as well. May they burn in hell.
Before I got to the edge of the plateau, several people jogged up, then came to a screeching halt. Stuart, Qindra, and a few others. Farther back, a bloodied and wounded Mr. Philips limped along, leaning on a large branch. He had a dogged look on his face, one that spoke of blind determination and a fervor born of loyalty and love.
Katie was not with them, nor were many of the other Black Briar folks.
“Qindra,” I said. “She’s been cut. He used a bleeder.”
She hurried over and placed her hands on Jai Li’s face. The girl beamed, her smile ashen and gray, and her blood ran down my arms.
“Set her down,” Qindra said, holding her hand out to Stuart. He helped her kneel, keeping her steady.
I lowered Jai Li to the ground. There was so much blood.
“I need my wand,” she said, “but if wishes were horses…” she trailed off, looking around. “Does anyone have a gun, some bullets?”
“Yeah,” Paul said, stepping forward. He was with Marla, hand in hand, weaponless. He pulled several rifle shells from his pocket and held them to Qindra, who took one. She bit the tip, where the lead was, and twisted it back and forth several times. It was pretty damn hard.
“Here,” I said, taking the bullet from her. I lay it on the ground and took out Gram. Cutting through the lead was simple.
She took the bullet and pulled the bandage away from Jai Li’s neck. She sprinkled the gunpowder into the wound, which was barely bleeding. Not much blood left, my mind ranted.
“Hold her,” Qindra said, looking at me.
I leaned over, placing my hands on Jai Li’s shoulders.
Qindra snapped her fingers and a spark of fire erupted. The gunpowder burned quickly, and Jai Li screamed for a second before passing out.
“That should stop the bleeding,” she said, her face a sheen of sweat and fear. “She needs a hospital.”
“Where’s Katie?” I asked.
Stuart shook his head. “Jimmy’s looking for her.” He had a horrified look on his face. He didn’t say more, but my insides did a somersault. He was scared and didn’t want me to hear his fears. I kept my hands on Jai Li, afraid if I moved, I may collapse. Katie was okay. She had to be. I couldn’t think about that, couldn’t let that into my head.
“She’ll be fine,” I said, swallowing hard. “She’s too awesome.”
Qindra laughed gently, and it was loving, didn’t make me want to punch her in the face. Very much, anyway.
Mr. Philips passed us, glancing once at Jai Li, and turned toward Nidhogg. He didn’t pause, just kept his plodding way to his master. Nidhogg growled once, but he kept his head bowed and plowed onward.
When he got close enough, he fell to his knees, examining Frederick.
“You will live,” he said. For the first time, I heard a tremble in that always-stoic voice.
Eighty-one
G
ram continued to echo in my head, but holding
J
ai
L
i seemed to act as a filter. While anger rolled, filling me with fire, I tamped it down. A shudder wracked my body as the anger faltered. My will. My life. I did not need to succumb to the beserker. Not every single time.
“Stuart,” I said, looking up. “Trisha’s back there,” I nodded toward the mountain. “Frick was stabbed, but I don’t think very badly. Kid has tough skin.”
He motioned for Paul and Marla, who jogged with him toward the mountain. I brushed the hair from Jai Li’s face. “Hang in there, kiddo. We’ll get you to a hospital.”
I slung the shield over my back and picked her up in my arms.
Nidhogg made a coughing sound, and I turned to her. “We’re safe,” I said to her. “Borders secured.”
She watched me with that oddly birdlike flutter of her head.
“Sleep, mother,” Qindra said, striding forward. She began to sing a lullaby. Jai Li gasped, recognizing the song.
“Shh,” I said, holding her to my chest. She snuggled against me, mewling.
Qindra had her hands in the air, weaving back and forth, like a snake charmer. Nidhogg followed, her great head swinging from side to side.
The song echoed from the mountainside, filling me with a sadness and longing beyond my defenses to contain. I sobbed once, gasping for air, my throat aching and my eyes burning. A second sob burst from me, and I started crying.
Jai Li patted my arm as I wept, head bowed over her.
The sky above us began to brighten, allowing me to see more clearly.
Sirens echoed off the mountains, and I walked to the edge of the plateau. One of those huge tour buses pulled up to the burning wreckage below, followed by three ambulances. Folks in armor poured from the bus, fanning out across the battlefield. Others left the ambulances, pulling out rolling stretchers, looking for someone to save. The cavalry had arrived. Better late than never.
I walked to the path. I had to get Jai Li down to them. She needed more help than I could give her.
I looked back one last time.
Nidhogg lay down, her wings spread behind her and her long neck atop her forelegs. Qindra closed the final distance, placing a hand against the glowing white scales. Again, it was Gram that caused the glow, but with the fresh light of morning licking against the tops of the mountain, I no longer needed the assist.
“She’ll sleep now,” I said to Jai Li and began to descend the trail.
Maybe Jimmy had found Katie. If not, I’d begin looking for her as soon as Jai Li was seen to. I needed Katie to be alive most of all—the skald of my hearth and home. Tears leaked from my eyes, but they were beyond my control.
Eighty-two
W
hen
I
got to the ambulances,
M
elanie was there with Jim and Katie. He’d found her, facedown in the snow, her guitar smashed beneath her. She was unconscious. Melanie got to her quickly, sending her and the deputy back in the same ambulance. They headed to Wenatchee. It had the closest hospital.
She hooked an IV into Jai Li and got her stabilized enough to ride to the hospital. I didn’t leave her side. Part of me screamed to go with Katie, but this little girl needed me as well.
The ambulance ride was one of the longest times in my life. I ached—hollowed and hurting with dread. If Katie died, I didn’t know what I would do.
I looked down at Jai Li, stroking her hair. She was so small, so weak. How could anything that beautiful and fragile survive in the world we lived in?
Deidre had been there, coordinating the search for survivors. Since we hadn’t had a big contingency, it wasn’t a long search.
A handful of our folks had stayed back at Black Briar. Skella texted me from Deidre’s phone, all the way to Wenatchee. She explained that her grandmother had feared she would get killed mixing up with our kind. She was probably right to be concerned. Skella promised to give me all the details later, but as long as she was on our side, I didn’t care too much. The fact that there were elves with Justin, however, that had to be addressed. Later, though. I was too damn tired to deal with it.
Katie came around in the emergency room. They gave her fluids and kept her overnight. Best they could figure was she had passed out from exhaustion and lack of food and water, as there were no wounds. She’d obviously had a nosebleed at one point but didn’t need a transfusion or anything. They had her on an IV to get her fluid levels back up and put her in a private room.
Jai Li was in the pediatric ward, where they gave her a pint of blood. They bandaged her neck, but the biggest worry was infection. She’d be staying a couple of days.
Gunther had been stabbed, and Anezka stayed with him until the ambulance could arrive. He had to have surgery but had no permanent damage. He’d have a wicked new scar to add to his collection, though. Anezka had really stepped up, clobbering the cultist who stabbed him and fighting the others off.
I didn’t sleep that first day, going back and forth between Katie and Jai Li. When Deidre and Jimmy got to the hospital with the Black Briar survivors, I let her spell me while I went to use the hospital locker room to shower. I changed into scrubs and fell asleep at Katie’s bedside. Jai Li was asleep, and Deidre would be there when she woke. I needed Katie to wake up, to say my name.
Did I say that ambulance ride was long? The night waiting for Katie to wake up was longer. Now I had an inkling of what she’d been through after I killed Jean-Paul. And those chairs were not comfortable at all.
Around dinner the next day I was contemplating the fact that I hadn’t had any food since the olives, cheese, and salami we’d had in our apartment the night before. The thought of it and the memory of making love to her warred inside me. I needed fuel. Knew I needed it, but if she died, if she did not open her eyes soon, I don’t think I cared if I ever ate again.
And I couldn’t bear the thought that she’d wake up and I’d not be there.
Skella solved it. I was nodding, trying to stay awake, realizing
that,
too, would take me down eventually.
“Here,” Skella said, swinging into the room with two boxes and a case of Diet Coke.
She pulled a hospital table around and placed a box on top of it, flipping open the lid. It was a BBQ-chicken pizza. My mouth watered and my stomach clenched.
“Thanks,” I said, but she was already at the door.
“Got to deliver this other one,” she said with a wave and was gone.
I closed the lid on the box and slid the table aside. I did take a drink, though, and cracked it open. The first few gulps tasted like heaven going down.
“I’d kill for a slice of that pizza,” Katie said.
I dropped the soda, lurched up out of the chair, and practically threw myself onto the bed. I was laughing and crying at the same time.
“About time,” I said, wiping my face. “You scared the hell out of me.”
She smiled, taking my hand, squeezing it. “You look hot in those scrubs.”
That’s when I knew she was going to be okay.
Eighty-three
W
e had twenty-four people in
C
humstick counting the hostages. Of the four on duty when the cultists arrived on the scene, Lonnie and Abrielle were killed, while Steve and Jayden survived.
Stuart and Jimmy brought twelve people with them. Paul Aaronson, Marla Stewart, Kyle George, Jillian Brachman, Jimmy, and Stuart survived. We lost Eddie Boyce, Bobby Denton, Daniel Kincaid, Byron Fischer, Aiswara and Victor Tiwary (brothers), Andrew Ohng, Cindy Nguyen, Tila Morgan, Kesha Mahnke, Lorelei Sturgis, and Brook Lefevre.
The bad guys had shown up with some of our folks in tow. They all survived, miraculously. Trisha, Frick, Frack, and Jai Li. As well as Mr. Philips, the manservant of Frederick Sawyer.
Qindra was already there, trapped in the house. She got out alive.
Frederick Sawyer and Nidhogg both arrived after the battle had begun, and both survived. Although a change had happened. Nidhogg had not been out of her house in a hundred and fifty years. The world had progressed a lot in that time. Big changes were on the horizon.
On the bad-guy side, they counted the bodies of eighty-four cultists. Didn’t make any sense why they hadn’t totally kicked our ass. Sometimes you just had to shake your head and wonder. I know our fighters had trained and used weaponry and terrain to our advantage, but seriously.
About a dozen of Justin’s folks were seen beating feet for the hills.
On the plateau, Qindra counted forty-seven murdered civilians. She had a crew come out, but there was no way to cover up that many dead.
The newspapers had a field day.
The sheriff was among the murdered, but the deputy survived, thanks to our folks. He told the story of how we’d broken up a cult, like that Heaven’s Gate crowd. They killed a lot of people, burned down a few buildings. We were all heroes. Like I needed more time in the papers.
The elves and, in two cases, trolls, who had been part of the cultists, were handled by a private funeral home that had connections to Nidhogg. Need a body disappeared? No problem. A dragon owning a crematorium. Seemed redundant.
And the seven we’d captured. They disappeared. Qindra wouldn’t say anything more about them. I guess I didn’t want to know.