“I’m positive. They won’t risk being caught by humans, and we know they give away their goods to the gentry.”
“Pagiel’s probably strong enough to jump without a gate,” Jasmine reminded me.
“His followers aren’t,” I said with certainty. “He’ll go to the gate. And we’ll be waiting for him. We can beat him if we leave now.” This was a chance we weren’t going to get again. Any number of places would have too many gates to choose from or else be too far away.
Jasmine followed me as I grabbed my car keys and headed for the door. “Where’s the gate open up?”
“The Thorn Land, actually.”
“Ballsy,” she said.
I laughed. “I suppose so. But I think it’s a pretty remote part of the kingdom. Easy for him to hide out and also close to an Oak Land border.”
I wanted to double the speed limit but knew a ticket would slow me down. Still, we made good time on the interstate. It was once we had to turn off and head into the desert that we slowed. I watched the clock anxiously, constantly running calculations on how long it would take his posse to get there. The odds seemed in our favor, but I’d learned not to assume anything when it came to the Otherworld.
We reached the gate, and I parked the car a little ways from it. Pagiel wouldn’t know it was mine, but I didn’t want him getting spooked if he thought humans were in the area. It was late afternoon, in the middle of desert country, and the heat was in full effect. Jasmine and I had had the sense to bring water bottles, but they didn’t stop the sweat from rolling off of us as the sand radiated back the sun’s merciless rays. We found a spot near some saguaro cactuses. They didn’t offer much shade, but they gave us a sheltered view of the gate. Again, I didn’t want our presence to be obvious to Pagiel.
The afternoon wore on, and I began to doubt myself. Maybe I’d guessed wrong on the gate, especially if Pagiel decided not to risk crossing into one of my kingdoms. Or maybe he’d somehow made better time than I expected and was already gone. Our water was running low, though both Jasmine and I could pull water out of surrounding plants if necessary. I felt bad about that sometimes, but it occasionally had to be done for survival.
“There,” said Jasmine, straightening up. I followed where she was pointing and saw sand being kicked up as a group of horses and riders came into view.
“Unbelievable,” I said. “They rode horses from Phoenix. He really is a modern-day Robin Hood.”
Pagiel was in the lead, easily visible with the way the sun lit up his red hair. There were about a dozen riders with him, which made my heart sink. His initial raids had only contained a handful. A dozen was hardly an army, but it still signified an increase in support. After seeing the passionate reactions back in the Otherworld, I had a feeling he could have recruited more if he wanted. It was a small mercy that the majority of gentry had trouble crossing over to this world.
I waited until he was closer but not close enough to cross through the gate. I jumped up and strode forward, Jasmine right beside me.
“Pagiel!” I yelled.
He flinched in the saddle, and instantly, I felt the wind pick up. It stilled when he saw us, though the wary expression on his face clearly showed he didn’t quite trust us as friends. His riders regarded us with equal caution, and I saw the flash of a few copper blades.
“Your Majesty? Jasmine?” Pagiel glanced between us. “What are you doing here?”
“You already know,” I said, trying to present an air of peace and calm. “We need to talk about these raids you’re on. Pagiel, you know they’re not right.”
“Humans have plenty!” exclaimed one of his followers. “We’re entitled to reap our share.”
Pagiel silenced him with a look, and the guy cringed. Somehow, the boy sidekick I’d befriended had become more of a formidable leader than I’d suspected.
“The people in my kingdom are hungry,” said Pagiel. “They are in yours too. Can you honestly say you don’t want to help them?”
“No one’s starving anymore,” I argued. “We’re on rations, yeah, but at least we’re surviving honorably.”
Pagiel shook his head. “We talked about this before. Honor doesn’t enter into it—only survival. Besides, isn’t this what I’m supposed to be doing?”
I winced at the bitterness in his voice. So. He knew. Somehow, I wasn’t surprised. If he’d been back and forth between the worlds in the last few days, word would have gotten to him about his heritage.
“You aren’t ‘supposed’ to be doing anything,” I said gently. “You make your own choices.”
“That’s not what I hear,” he said. “I heard what everyone said when I was back there. They’ve all got plans for me. Even my grandmother does. Why else wouldn’t she have told me?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. There was a raw pain on his face that broke my heart. Maybe he’d technically reached manhood by gentry standards, but he was still a boy in many ways. He’d been thrust into a world he wasn’t ready for, had his life irrevocably changed. I knew the feeling, and I ached for him. “Let me help you. Come back with me so we can talk.”
That set off alarms for him. The wind rose again, whipping my hair around. “‘Talk’? I’m not stupid. I know what that means. You’ll put me in iron and lock me away.”
“Stop that,” I snapped. With barely a thought, I killed his wind magic. He might be strong, but Auntie Eugenie was stronger. He cringed a bit, feeling my magic dwarf his. “I’ll win if we fight, and I don’t want it to come to that. We’re family, Pagiel. And in a lot of ways ... it feels right, you know? You’ve stood by me since we met. I want to do the same for you. I swear to you, I won’t hurt you. Neither will Dorian. We’ll work this out together.”
Indecision warred on Pagiel’s face. He didn’t know who to trust, and I didn’t blame him. I’d been in that position. In a chaotic world, he’d carved out this outlaw niche for himself, one that at least gave him control of something.
“Pagiel, please,” I said. Panic was building in me. I was afraid it was going to come down to a fight, and I really didn’t want that. “I know what you’re going through. I’ve been fighting the destiny that was allegedly laid out for me too.
You
are your own master, not some prophecy made before you were born.”
Pagiel still didn’t respond. It was Jasmine who cracked him. “Pagiel, please,” she said, echoing me. “Please come with us.”
His gaze flicked to her, and I saw a new pain cross his features. Like her, he’d come to realize the family connection that had killed their romance. Nonetheless, I knew that as he studied her, he still cared about her and probably always would.
“All right,” he said at last. He turned his attention back to me. “I trust you, Eugenie.”
It was the first time he’d called me by my given name, and I smiled. It was fitting, since we were related. A few of his followers grumbled about this decision, but again, a command from him silenced them. I also noted that a few of them actually looked relieved. I wondered if maybe what had started off as a fun, madcap adventure had become too much for some.
Pagiel glanced back to where a couple of horses simply carried packs and supplies. “Distribute those goods among everyone so that my aunts can ride,” he ordered.
His riders jumped to obey. I hoped desperately we could work out all of this because he had so much potential. He was powerful in presence and personality. If he was put on the right path, he could become the kind of leader who did great things in the Otherworld. He could inherit a kingdom someday.
I hoped my abandoned car would be okay and crossed with Pagiel’s riders into the Otherworld. It wasn’t one of the strongest gates I’d ever used, but none of his party seemed to have difficulty with it. He’d picked a strong group. We reached the Thorn Land and then turned down the road for the Oak Land. As we rode, I occasionally saw the other gentry going through the packs of stolen goods. A few of them started munching on candy bars, like Butterfinger and Heath.
Once Pagiel’s stopped his raids
, I thought,
this will all be funny someday.
It was still weird seeing the Oak Land so green. The trees held the fruits of both summer and autumn now, and I hoped Pagiel would soon realize there was a lot to love here in the Otherworld. He and his followers didn’t need the human world. This was where they belonged.
We reached a part of the road that I knew well, a bend that would soon put us in sight of Dorian’s castle. I breathed a sigh of relief. We had done it. We would bring Pagiel home and fix all of this.
Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, an arrow zinged by Pagiel, only just barely missing him. It was followed by two more, one of which took one of Pagiel’s riders in the chest. I pulled out my athame and gun. The air swelled around us—a result of both my magic and Pagiel’s—and his riders drew weapons. Shouts from the trees around the road told me we were rapidly being surrounded, but I couldn’t see by whom yet. I looked around frantically, trying to decide how we could best defend ourselves.
Before I could say anything, Pagiel gestured to me and Jasmine with his sword. “Seize them! Use them as hostages! They’ve led us into an ambush!”
Chapter 26
“What?” I exclaimed. “They aren’t with us! I don’t know who they are!”
Pagiel didn’t seem to hear me. Neither did his followers. A few of them advanced on me, which was pretty foolish on their part. I held out my silver athame in a warding gesture and summoned a sudden rush of dark clouds and flickering lightning above us that was mostly for show. I didn’t want to hurt them, not when a third party was attacking us. The trick worked, and his riders hesitated.
“I’m not your enemy,” I told them. “Deal with me later. Worry about
them
.”
Our attackers conveniently chose that moment to finally show themselves. They were a mixed group of warriors, with no real uniformity to their attire. They could have been ordinary brigands, but on a few of them, I caught the flash of a golden willow tree pin. To round out the mix, they’d recruited a few wandering spirits and trolls.
“They’re Maiwenn’s people,” I said to anyone who would listen.
Finally, one of the riders was smart enough to realize the danger. “The Willow Queen has sent her assassins to kill our lord!” he exclaimed. “Attack! Defend Pagiel!”
Many of his followers were his age.
So young
, I thought sadly. But from the fierce looks on their faces, they were more than willing to defend their leader. I respected that. Me, I didn’t have much concern for Pagiel. He could take care of himself, so I left it to others to fret over him as I charged forward to help thin out the opposition.
Most of Pagiel’s warriors could handle one-on-one physical or magical combat with the Willow attackers, so I focused on the monsters and spirits. A lot of them I could dispatch with shamanic magic, keeping my distance and ousting them before they even realized what was happening. I traded my athame for my wand. It was a
real
wand, not the homemade contraption from the Yew Land—though I had kept that as a souvenir.
Some of the spirits sensed what I was doing and attacked me directly. It occurred to me then that I hadn’t really been involved in a true fight for a while. Despite all the dangers we’d faced on the Yew Land journey, there’d been very few physical confrontations. The closest had been when I freed the monarchs, but even then, my storm magic had kept most of them at bay. I hadn’t gotten down and dirty in a while.
Like so much after the birth of the twins, I was excited to see that I really had recovered. Part of my fear when pregnant had been that my body was lost to me forever. Time had healed everything, and I was just as fast and effective as I used to be. Sure, I got a few bruises and burns from the spirits (this group had an acidlike touch), but I took it in stride and fought my way through.
Our group was making good progress when a group of Oak Land warriors, led by Dorian himself, came charging down the road. That pretty much cinched the odds for us, and in a very short time, Maiwenn’s people were either dead or had fled.
I wiped sweat off my brow and put away the wand as I rode over to Dorian. Having come at the end, he looked remarkably fresh and energetic, though I saw blood on his sword. “Well, well,” he said. “What’s all this?”
I grimaced. “Ambush. I found Pagiel in Arizona and convinced him to come back with me to see you. Then these guys showed up. Kiyo acted like he’d be hunting Pagiel, but my guess is he knew I’d have better luck and simply had Maiwenn’s forces stake out likely places we’d return.”
Dorian glanced around, a small frown creasing his features. “Where
is
Pagiel?”
“He’s right—” I turned around and stared. There were all of Pagiel’s riders, alive and well. But no Pagiel. “Where the hell is he?” A moment later, I noticed something else. “Where’s Jasmine?”
His disappearance was as much a surprise to his followers as it was to me—well, most of them. A couple exchanged knowing looks, and I could see mild guilt on their faces.
“What is it?” demanded Dorian. “What happened?”
One of them gave a half bow from his saddle. “Forgive us, sire. When the attack started, we thought ... well, we thought it was a betrayal.” He shot me an apologetic look. “We urged Pagiel to leave since we knew he was the target. And ... we, uh, encouraged him to take the Lady Jasmine with him.”
“He didn’t run away,” added the other guy hotly. “He’s no coward. He would’ve stayed if not for our insistence.” His friend nodded fiercely.
I stared in disbelief. “He took Jasmine as a
hostage
?”
“Smart thing to do when you’re scared and think you’ve been set up by those you trust,” muttered Dorian. “I doubt he’ll hurt her.”
“He’d better not!” I exclaimed. “How’d he even subdue her? She’s strong.”
“And he’s stronger,” Dorian reminded me. He turned toward Pagiel’s compatriots. “I trust you’re convinced we’re on his side now. Which way did he go?”
They hesitated only a moment. “I believe he cut across the woods, Your Majesty,” one said, pointing. “I think that way.”
“Then that’s the way you and I will go,” Dorian told me. “Nonetheless, we can’t be certain he didn’t change course. The wounded will go to my castle. The rest will split up and fan out in other directions to find him. If you do, convince him of our support and bring him back.” He gave a sharp look to those gathered. “Do you understand?”
There were meek murmurs of agreement. They might support Pagiel, but most were Oak Land subjects. Dorian was impressive, and it was hard for them to refuse him.
“Damn it,” I muttered, once Dorian and I had split from the others. “And damn me for not thinking Maiwenn and Kiyo might do something like this. I should’ve known they wouldn’t take the proactive approach. They’re riding off of our success.”
“Well, they were proactive enough in setting up these ambushes,” Dorian pointed out. “I’m guessing similar parties are waiting elsewhere on our borders. This group got lucky.”
“Not lucky enough,” I realized. “Kiyo and Maiwenn themselves weren’t here. They were only guessing at which group might catch Pagiel on his return.”
Dorian nodded agreement. “Their presence would have added an extra complication. Ah, this is promising.” He stopped and pointed to where some grass and bushes had been recently trampled.
“I wouldn’t have even noticed that.”
He flashed me a grin. “That’s why I’m here. An excellent hunter of all manner of difficult prey.”
I rolled my eyes at the double entendre, and we continued on. Joking aside, Dorian did have a good tracker’s eye for small signs of Pagiel’s passing. And, the farther we journeyed, I began to notice some signs of my own.
“The air’s not natural through here,” I said, for lack of a better description. “It’s faint, like residual effects, but magic’s altered it recently.”
Dorian gave me a concerned look. “Do you think it’s a trap?”
“No,” I said, after a moment’s consideration. “Not nearly strong enough. If I had to guess ... it’s probably part of what he used to carry Jasmine off. Even if he’s stronger, she wouldn’t be easy to just slip out of there. Air can be used for binding, if you know the right tricks. You can almost create a kind of ‘air rope’ or—in extreme cases—cut off someone’s breathing enough to make them compliant. I really hope it hasn’t come to that.”
“Well, like I said, I don’t think he’d hurt her. I think she was just an easy choice, one he thought would hold you off.”
I nodded, knowing that he was right. Even at a brisk pace, it seemed unlikely we’d catch up with Pagiel anytime soon. He’d undoubtedly taken off as fast as he could to avoid pursuit. Our one stroke of luck came when we found Jasmine’s horse nibbling on some grass.
“Too difficult to bind her and force her on her own horse,” I guessed. “He must have just pulled her onto his.”
Dorian’s eyes were aglow the thrill of the hunt. “This will slow him. It’s our chance to catch up.”
We continued off at that same fast pace for a couple more hours, hoping we could take advantage of them riding double. The residual air magic grew stronger and stronger, giving me hope, until we finally emerged into a clearing and found Pagiel and Jasmine sitting on logs. He jumped up when he saw us.
“Don’t come closer,” he warned. “I ... I’ve got her.”
There was a tremulous note in his voice, backing up Dorian’s assertion that Pagiel would have trouble hurting her. Studying Jasmine, I saw that she sat nearly immobile, her arms held tightly at her side. I’d been right as well. She was bound with ropes of air. Meanwhile, the wind around him stirred.
“Pagiel, I told you before—you won’t win in a fight. Especially against the two of us,” I said. “Please let her go. I know you care about her and don’t want to hurt her.”
The earlier pain and confusion returned to Pagiel’s face. “You lied to me. You arranged the ambush.”
I shook my head. “If you’d stuck around, you would have seen that they were Maiwenn’s people. We got rid of them. Your riders put up a great fight. They’re really loyal to you and fought for your honor, even with you not there.”
It was a subtle dig. I didn’t actually blame him for leaving but knew it troubled him. If he was confused enough, I hoped he would come back with us and listen to reason.
“I can’t trust you,” Pagiel said. “I can’t trust anyone. Even those who claim to support me ... they ask so much, more than I’m ready for.”
“Pagiel,” said Dorian gently. “Have I ever given you reason to doubt me? Haven’t I always been there for your family?”
Pagiel wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Yes, sire. Once I would have trusted you implicitly, but now ... now I know your loyalties are with
her
. I don’t question your choice. It’s your right. But it also means I can’t believe you’ll always act in my interest.” He sighed and then looked up with a grim and unhappy resolve on his face. “Forgive me,” he said.
That was my only warning. He wove his spell too quickly, more so than I would have imagined possible. A forest hardly provides the right conditions for a haboob, but he created a complex wind pattern that was nearly the same. And it was
strong
. Dirt flew up from the ground. Trees were ripped up. We were affected as well, blown backward and forced to scramble for our footing. I caught hold of a tree whose roots were still holding it strong and managed to keep myself upright.
Pagiel used the diversion to flee. I couldn’t address him right away because I devoted all my energy to stopping the maelstrom he’d created. My magical senses burned, and I could detect every thread of magic, every molecule in the air around us. The magic was a mirror of my own, courtesy of our shared genes. I matched it, answering each glimmer of the magic with a nullifying force. It was a complex process, like trying to unravel a tapestry. I hated the delay but needed to undo this magic before it killed me, Jasmine, and Dorian. When I finished and the world stilled, I glanced around, expecting to find Pagiel gone.
Instead, I found him encased in a prison of earth and stone that had risen up from the ground, cocooning him up to his neck. I sensed him pulling his magic to him, probably in an effort to blast Dorian’s handiwork away. I quickly slammed up walls of air, turning the air pressure up to crazy heights that were uncomfortable for the rest of us but ensured Pagiel wouldn’t bust out anytime soon.
Pagiel fixed his eyes on Dorian. “Your Majesty. Please let me go. You said you would help me!”
“I am,” said Dorian, a hard expression on his face. “I could easily keep building this structure until you suffocated. I don’t want that. I want you alive.”
“Then free me,” Pagiel begged. “You always supported the legacy in my family. Will you really drag me back like a prisoner?”
Dorian hesitated long enough to glance briefly at me. “Things change. This is the better fate.”
My heart swelled, and the last piece of fear within me shattered. Dorian had been telling me the truth. He could have easily let Pagiel go, letting him continue on with the prophecy. Instead, Dorian had stood by me. His love for me really was greater than the dreams of conquest he once held.
My epiphany was short-lived when a giant fox came tearing out of the woods. He leapt straight for Pagiel, jaw open for the boy’s semi-exposed neck. In an instant, all the plants and trees in a huge radius withered and water shot from all directions toward Kiyo. It wasn’t enough to incapacitate him, but it did throw his attack off course. He harmlessly hit the side of the rock formation and was knocked back, skillfully landing a short distance away. He blinked the water out of his eyes and then shook droplets off his muzzle.
Jasmine, who had been freed in the earlier storm, was on her feet and allowed the water she’d summoned to fall to the ground. “Let him go, Dorian!”
It was probably the most conflicted I’d ever seen Dorian. Letting Pagiel go might mean we’d never catch him. Keeping him imprisoned made him an easy target for Kiyo.
“Do it!” I cried.
Like that, the walls of rock and earth shattered, giving Pagiel just enough time to dodge Kiyo’s next attack. The boy fell to the ground, but by then, I was back in control. I pulled up the water Jasmine had called, turning it to a mist that swirled in the wind. I moved the whole creation, surrounding Kiyo in a thick cloud he couldn’t see through. A moment later, I felt the wind and air pressure intensify. Pagiel, whom I’d expected to disappear, was still around, adding his magic to mine. Maybe he didn’t trust us, but he also wouldn’t leave us to Kiyo’s attack.