Rise of the Magi (24 page)

“Help me,” I said to Lisa, who assisted in turning the large woman over and tugging her back against my chest.

“I’m trained in first aid.” Richard rose from his seat. “Do you have any medical supplies?”

“Thanks, but no need. Watch how the fae heal.” I brought my Light to the surface, letting it settle in my hands like twin mini-suns. Pressing one palm to her forehead and the other to her chest, I searched her body with my inner sight.

She woke up wailing. Aided by a grunt, I forced my energy into her, absorbing her pain, which seared through me. I stole her fear into myself while willing her flesh to grow back together. When only pink lines remained of her wounds, I released her, gasping for air. Dark pools of terror began to dissipate in my mind, like fog urged out by a summer wind.

When she didn’t move away, I crawled around to see her face. Tears streamed down her cheeks, but she smiled. One of peace and some sort of profound joy I didn’t understand. Was she high?

“You okay?” I asked between heaving breaths. Dizziness kept me from standing to address the dropped jaws of our human guests. Zings of her pain continued to careen around my innards.

“Now, I understand.” Serena leaned against Lisa, who threw her arms around the other woman.

Feeling like an invader on a private moment, I took Brígh’s hand when she offered it and got back to a wobbly stance on my feet. “What does she understand?” I whispered to her.

“Who you are, and why she was an idiot to doubt you. Duh.”

Really?
“Okay, but why? Because I healed her?”

Brígh gave me her you’re-a-dumbass face. “Because you cared enough to take away her pain and that you had the ability to do that at all. Not even your mother could do that, and most wouldn’t have the courage to feel something like that in place of someone else. That is what you did, didn’t you? Like you and Liam have done for a crap ton of us lately?”

“I … oh, never mind.” Needing about a year to process that, I shrugged it off and went to Richard. “You’re looking a little pale. Are you going to make it through this?”

His dark eyes never left Serena while he said, “You’re a walking miracle. Can all fae do that? Can you heal anything? Cancer? Alzheimer’s? Mental illness? What you could do for our hospitals, our citizens. How did you do that?”

Another of the transporters arrived before I could think of an answer. The redhead hugged herself. Wetness lined her long lashes.

“Shit.” Since everyone else had arrived, other than the witches, and they weren’t coming by transport, I didn’t need to know any more. “The trolls are gone.”

“I tried, but …” Tremors shook her and rattled her teeth.

I knew that lost look, having seen it on my own face for years every time I looked in the mirror after I’d failed trying to save someone. “It’s not your fault. Don’t you dare blame yourself.”

A quick nod and she fled into the growing crowd. I shouldn’t have been surprised she didn’t believe me. I wouldn’t have, either. Once. Had she fled out of fear without jumping into the fray at all? If she had, she probably saved herself from being tortured, too. No time to convince her, though. Psychological healing would have to wait until after we’d earned our right to live.

I stood on the dais in the center of the Court as the last few fae, the selkies and Sluagh took their seats, and Laerni finally showed up with a train of women holding platters behind her. All empty save one that held a giant glass bowl—also empty. Their bearers didn’t seem to notice anything amiss judging by their proud grins. Laerni hadn’t seemed to be that out of sorts to miss that she’d forgotten to put any food there.
Why so many?
Did she intend to serve the entire Court invisible snacks?

I took a few cleansing breaths as the elf arranged all of the trays to my left on grass platforms that erupted out of the ground like a series of buffet tables. When the tray bearers grabbed seats, I looked over the Court. I’d never seen everyone so silent, so riveted to what I was about to say.
No pressure or anything.
To calm myself, I set my Light free to burn along my skin. It spiraled through my veins, to core out the bad stuff and leave room for something new. The current of energy teased my hair up into a dance around my head.

Both Richard and James shot forward on their benches, blinking big eyes at me. They’d seen me without glamour, but they’d never seen me in my full fae glory.

“You all know why we’re here,” I began in a voice that sounded like the memory of my mother’s—clear and resonant, multiple voices speaking as one, from a deep tenor to soprano. “We may have our differences, our own creeds and religions”—I directed my gaze to Richard, who closed his mouth long enough to offer a respectful nod—“our own way of dealing with the bad stuff life throws at us.” My power built, swirling around me as Iress pulsed within my flesh, lifting me from the dais. “The Magi may think they’ve broken us by taking half of our numbers, those we love, what and who make us whole, but I think they’re wrong. Because, despite those differences between us—some of them monumental—the Magi have only succeeded in uniting us in our grief.” Memories of Liam’s last kiss burned on my lips as a tear trickled down my face, dropping onto my hand as I reached up to swipe it away. Not water, but a golden drop that shone like sunlight. Murmurs grew in the crowd. “They can make us cry, sure. They can make us stomp and scream and shout about how unfair it all is, absolutely. But they don’t know us very well. They think we’ll fall down and give them what they want, that we’re weak and helpless in our feuding and rage. But we all now have a single purpose, a common purpose, to shut those bitches down and get our people back. Do you agree?”

A raucous battle cry roared. Their spirits slammed into me, filling me even more. I opened myself wide to them, sharing my own sorrow and battle-lust. I could sense their troubled minds, their sadness, the fire burning in their hearts. It didn’t matter the race. Hurt us where we loved and we all became warriors who would rush into war crying murder and paint the fields with blood.

Fists jabbed into the air as they all continued to roar. Brígh pounded on her chest like a rowdy gorilla, making me snicker a little as she worked to rile up those around her.

As the noise quieted, I held my hand up, and Meline burst through the gate above me with one of the guards Neve had on the portal. I hoped Meline had brought every last witch she could find. I had a feeling we’d need them all.

She waved and gave a tight smile. I nodded.

Directing my attention back to everyone else, I said, “I have a man who was in the Magi’s realm. He thinks he can lead us there, along with our new friends, the Coven of Toronto and whoever else we’ve been able to convince to help. I hope we can bring down whatever magical force is preventing us from finding these dryads and get our men.”

“What are we waiting for?” Raven shouted from halfway up the hill. “Let’s go now!”

After waiting for the subsequent shouts of agreement to die—I wouldn’t dare force my will on them in that moment and kill the momentum I seemed to be gaining—I said, “If I thought a brute force attack would work, I’d be with you. But they’re smarter than that. They manipulated us with the Shadowborn. They manipulated us into taking Nix, who unleashed a spell within our wards so they could take our men. It’s very possible that they want us to go in force like angry bulls, against their giant forests now protected by wards. If Nix, my former captain, taught me one thing in our training together, it’s that we can’t attack in anger because it makes us stupid. We have to think this through, come up with a small, skilled team and have a plan for every possible outcome we can think of.” I explained what Laerni had told me about Alseides and her ability to render a mind into something she could mold for her purpose. “This isn’t going to be a physical fight, not with her, anyway.”

“But they could be … what if …” Raven dropped her gaze. “Our guys may not have time for us to do that.”

I nodded, feeling the same agony in my own heart, though my gut told me our men were still alive. “I know that. You all know me, and should get how agonizing it is for me to rein in my fury about this, to not stomp out there and lay a beat down on the first thing that moves. But what good does that do us if we all get slaughtered and our loved ones are lost, anyway? I have to consider that they want me for something. Something terrible. Something that could mean the end of everything for everyone, and with Alseides’ mind tricks, she could very well manipulate me into doing it. The choices we make right now will decide whether we live or die. Finesse is needed, and Goddess knows it’s not my strong suit. I need you to help me with the brains of this operation while I provide at least some of the firepower.”

“Who gets to go, then?” Willa asked from where she’d settled behind Raven. “The selkies offer strength even greater than the fae. Yeh know we’re not squeamish about riskin’ ourselves for what’s right. Our men could be hurt. We need strength to carry ‘em home.”

More throughout the crowd echoed her question of who should go with me, offering their skills and suggestions.

I held my hands up to quiet them again. “Nix and I have to go after the Magi. Him to lead us there, and me because it’s me they want. The covens need to send enough of their numbers to pull off a little idea I have brewing, which will include the transporters from the Black City. Parthalan”—I focused on him, where he sat between James and Richard, who kept eying the Host Lord—“I need you to stay with me to act as a command hub to the rest of the Host in place of our telepaths.”

He nodded, eyes as aglow and eager as I’d ever seen them. At least, since he’d stopped being the Glass Man and had become my friend.
My friend. Parthalan
.
Too weird.

“My gift is fire,” Raven said. “There are four others, and more with gifts of lightning like Rourke had. We should be with you.”

“Good, I agree.”

She froze, her mouth guppying as if she’d been readying for me to shut her down. “Thank you.”

Back and forth I went with everyone, considering their talents, and through debates that remained calm and civil—shocking the hell right out of me—decided who would go with me, and who would stay to protect the ones who would remain in Iress. The Mountie and the Fed weren’t too happy I’d left them off the guest list, but it was only for show. They would be my contingency. If we failed, I needed to make sure at least some survived to carry on.

With the attack party decided, sort of, in numbers, anyway, I went on, preparing for the hard part. “Nix will lead us to their encampment without knowledge of the extraction groups. The covens will bring down the wards keeping us out of their realm, and the transporters, hopefully—if I can keep Alseides busy for a while—can get our people out.”
Assuming, of course, they’re all in the same place.
I shrugged and sat my tired behind on the edge of my wicker chair. “Then what? These are the Goddess’ children, and as psychotic and hell bent on destroying us as they may be, we can’t just walk in there and kill them. I have this feeling in the back of my mind, this instinct I just can’t deny, that’s telling me the Goddess doesn’t want us to do that. I believe she gave me the gifts I have for a reason, a very specific one. She might have given all of you, the fae, that is, yours for the same reason. This reason. For this very moment. To stop this atrocity from happening because she either can’t or won’t.”

Heads twisted, casting glances from neighbor to neighbor. Lips formed hushed conversations I wished I could hear. Clearly, some of my brethren hadn’t considered that little twist in the equation. Me, plus a bunch of pissed off fae who’d lost their mates, multiplied by fury cubed, equalled a bunch of dead dryads. The remainder would be one disappointed Goddess and quite possibly the end of the world for everything that drew breath. I didn’t like that answer.

“Is this an all or nothing attack?” James asked, still frowning. “Can’t you just use your witches to get you in, find out what they want, and then negotiate with them?”

I laughed a little too long at that one, sounding a little manic even to me. “I’m about as good at politics as I am at flying an airplane. As in crash and burn before I even take off.” Rubbing my tired eyes with the heels of my palms, I sighed. “If Gallagher was here, or Donovan, or my mother, then yeah, maybe we could negotiate with them if they weren’t complete lunatics. They don’t seem like the type to do anything but what they want to do, though. And if you remember what I said about what Alseides can do, it may not occur to me to try. Hell, I might not remember why I went there or that she’s the enemy. Aside from that, once we’re in, I don’t think she’ll have any intention of letting us leave. Certainly not me, judging by the lengths the Magi have gone to manipulate me. If they did, and they didn’t want us to find them again, I believe, wholeheartedly, that we wouldn’t. I, for one, will not take that risk.”
Not when Liam is at their mercy along with the others.
“If I go in, I finish this, one way or another. Or I die trying.” The mother bear in me continued to war within. Garret needed to be protected. That I couldn’t leave him behind in the safety of Iress—though it wasn’t that safe anymore either—tore at me the most. If I failed, my baby would die with me, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about that. My heart burned, crushed into so much bloody pulp.

“Then, if this is it, if this is the last stand to shut this down, you will not leave us out of it,” James said. “I may not be able to do any crazy shit with my hair or glow or heal anyone, but this is my home we’re talking about here. My world. My future. If you think I’m going to sit on my arse while some crazy tree people take it away from me, then you’ve sorely mistaken me and the rest of the human race.”

“Agreed,” Richard said.

I knelt before them, drawing them in close. “I never intended to leave you out, but you have to be patient.” I gave them each a hard stare, hoping they’d read in it that the Court wasn’t the place for the discussion. Richard nodded right away.

It took James a little longer, but the fire left his eyes after a moment, and his frown flattened out again. “Yeah, I can do patient.”