Winging It (36 page)

She wasn’t going to cut Meagan’s shadow. She was going to cut her throat.

‘No!’ Isabelle screamed. She lunged forward through the snow.

And we were revealed.

‘Don’t touch her!’ I cried and raced toward Meagan. Urd hissed and slid behind me, beckoning her army with a bony finger.

The Mages were astonished. The woman looked up in surprise, frozen with the blade an inch from Meagan’s throat.

‘No!’ Trevor roared and pushed his way through the circle to fight me. I shifted shape en route and leapt into the fray in dragon form. It felt good to breathe fire and set a lot of Mage robes alight.

I heard the wolves growl and then they were in, too, biting and snapping. Cats slipped between Mages, slashing and snarling. Figures that had been stone just an hour before beat on Mages, making up for all the time they’d been trapped in rock.

The guys shifted shape, taking their dragon forms, but they were still helpless and bound in Mage light. Jessica became a snarling jaguar, but she, too, was still trapped.

The woman who led the Mages started to work what was obviously a familiar spell. They all joined in, adding their voices to the chorus even as they fought. They weren’t going to sacrifice my friend to make Trevor more powerful.

Sacrifice.

The prophecy! I was kicking butt, my thoughts spinning, when I suddenly knew how to get the knowledge and power out of the beryl.

I had to surrender something.

I had to give up the beryl in order to get the rest of my powers. It was elegant, so perfectly logical that I knew it had to be right.

And Urd – Urd had come here to help me. They were like my fairy godmothers, the Wyrd sisters, and they were on my side.

Which explained the stone army.

I smashed two Mages’ heads together, then beckoned to the crusading knight. He came to me, then fell on one knee, his sword and shield outstretched.

I was running on instinct, but then, that’s what Wyverns are supposed to do. I shifted back to human form to get this done.

Before I could think about it too much, I took off my ring and pushed it onto the sword instead, jamming it down the stone blade as far as it would go. I pulled the rune stone out of my pocket, focusing on the circle inscribed on one side. That clue had been there all along, looking me right in the eye, but I’d missed it.

And then I smashed the black-and-white glass ring and the rune stone together, shattering the ring against the knight’s stone shield.

It broke into a thousand shards and made a sound like crashing glass. The sound stopped the fight, as if a movie had been frozen in mid scene.

It was just like the party at Trevor’s, except I was the only one who could move.

I saw ghosts rise from the debris of the ring to float above us all. Suddenly I was surrounded by the ghosts of all Wyverns past. There had to be a hundred of them, all in their shadowy dragon forms. They were all white, all glittering like ice. They were ethereal and magical, a long line of female dragons of which I was the newest member.

Urd made a noise of approval. Yup, the past was her territory.

It looked like the snow had started again, falling thickly all around us. On closer examination, though, I saw that it was really an avalanche of feathers, white ghostly feathers shed by the Wyverns. They moved. I stared in wonder. Urd nodded.

This was it. My big test.

The Wyverns flew in a circle, making a blur of white and silver that surrounded me. The circle moved faster and faster. I heard their names like whispers on the wind, each echoing in my thoughts, then immediately disappearing. I felt like I was standing in a cloud.

And then I had it. Traditionally, the Wyvern retreated to the clouds and the mists. They avoided life and its entanglements. I didn’t do very well with that worldview. I liked to be in the thick of things.

That was what had to be done differently to change the future.

In the same moment, I saw the flash of one Wyvern’s eyes.

They flashed with fear.

On impulse, I leapt. I slipped into that Wyvern’s memory. Her memory was like a fog bank, all half-glimpsed images and mysterious shapes. Then the mists parted and I saw her observing a Mage ritual. I tasted her dislike of them. I felt her horror when she witnessed the first sacrifice they made. Her revulsion flooded through me, her reaction the same as mine had been in seeing the mermaid lost.

That sacrifice had been a griffin, a ferocious shifter that screamed and bit until it breathed its last. Its death had not been easy and the Mages had not made a clean job of it.

I felt the Wyvern’s horror, her sense that she should intervene.

But I felt her hesitation as well.

She chose to turn away rather than to expel this wickedness.

It was easier to retreat, to decide that what happened in the world was beyond her influence. I knew what had happened next. Unobstructed, the Mages had continued to recruit and slaughter, to grow in power and control.

Because my forebear had chosen to avert her gaze instead of make a difference.

I understood the prophecy with aching clarity. I knew the role I had been born to play. I knew what I had to do to change the role of the Wyvern forever. The fact that I couldn’t sit back and watch the view was the good bit, the part of me that could make the difference. That’s why it was my job to lead the fight.

I had to make this right.

Now.

It was time to trash the Mages and do what should have been done way back when that griffin had died. The Wyverns fluttered all around me, their eyes bright even as they trembled with fear. If sacrifices were on the menu, I had a bunch of possibilities.

I wasn’t afraid.

Or if I was, I wouldn’t show it.

I stepped forward and whistled to the Mages, setting the scene in motion one more time. Chaos and fighting surrounded me on all sides.

‘I think I’ve got something you need,’ I shouted, and held Kohana’s black feather aloft. ‘Want to trade?’

The Mages fell silent.

They turned as one to stare at me.

Their spell light flickered orange, as if it too was uncertain how to proceed. The light was agitated, sparking as if calculating new variables.

Then the leader strode toward me, one hand outstretched for the feather and the other holding the NightBlade high. The moonlight glinted off that dark blade.

I stood my ground.

Even though I had guessed what would happen, I was still shocked by how fast he moved. Kohana streaked out of the sky, screaming outrage. He threw thunderbolts into the assembly of Mages, and the earth boomed with their impact. Lightning flashed from his eyes, crackling across the night sky.

He tackled the woman and she screamed as she fell. I saw that he had ripped out her eyes with his claws, then left her writhing in anguish and bleeding in the snow.

Then he leapt for me.

I shifted shape with a roar. Then I seized Kohana and willed myself into the dreaming. He yelped but I didn’t let go. With the ring gone, I had to use the view of my left eye again to orient myself. I found the spell light in the dreaming and latched on to it.

I raced down the conduit of spell light, even as Kohana struggled against my grip. He was swearing and spitting and biting, but I didn’t care.

We emerged suddenly in the wasteland of the Mages’ collective memory.

‘Stupid …’ Kohana began, but I ignored him.

Instead, I breathed dragonfire at the forest. The trees closest to me erupted with brilliant orange flame, their dry wood crackling as it burned.

‘What the fuck …’ he murmured, but I breathed fire in the other direction. I still had a death grip on him, but he wasn’t fighting me anymore. The fire danced high on both sides of us, orange and hot, as the smoke rose from the burning forest.

‘You could help,’ I said and cast him aside. ‘Don’t just stare.’

He was visibly astounded. ‘They’ll lose their recollection. Of everything.’

For once, I could give him a look of disdain. ‘That would be the point.’

Kohana turned to look at the burning forest. ‘Brilliant. It’s fucking brilliant, unless …’

I had no time to chat. I didn’t know what they might be able to do to retaliate, and time was of the essence.

They still had Meagan and Jessica and Derek and the guys in their grasp.

I flew low over the forest, spewing fire in every direction. The forest was soon aglow with a thousand flames, a raging inferno of light and heat.

To my relief, Kohana quickly decided to join forces with me. He swooped in to throw thunderbolts and heat lightning, his efforts spreading the fire beyond my reach. We flew back and forth, working together, relentless in destroying the hive memory of the Mages.

Far away, I could hear them screaming in anguish.

It worked for me.

And when Kohana and I met over the blaze of destruction we had created, he smiled at me. There was something a whole lot like admiration gleaming in his dark eyes as he surveyed me.

‘Not bad,
Unktehila,
’ he said quietly. ‘Not bad at all.’

‘We need to work together,’ I said. ‘All of us, in union against the Mages. It’s the only way we’ll win.’

He didn’t say anything, just gave me that inscrutable stare.

And extended his claw.

Was it a trick? Or was he sincere?

Tick-tock. We had to get back.

I chose to trust him.

For the moment.

I placed his last feather in his claw.

He laughed and produced the NightBlade from the cluster of thunderbolts in one claw. He flourished it, swishing it through the air.

‘You got it!’ I cried.

‘It’s mine to destroy,’ he said, then shot into the sky. He ascended in a spiral of ebony feathers, seeming to fly straight at the sun. He was faster than ever. I could never catch him.

And really, I didn’t want to.

I went back to save the others.

I closed my eyes and abandoned the destroyed hive mind of the Mages. I willed myself back to the fight in the cemetery and opened my eyes to find a kick-ass fight in progress.

I leapt right into the middle of it, with a roar.

The Mages were at a serious disadvantage. The older Mages – and probably the ones who had been initiated longer – had collapsed on the ground. They writhed wordlessly in the snow, their gazes blank. I could only assume that they had no memory other than what had been in the memory hive. The woman who had led them was only twitching where she had fallen, great bleeding holes where her eyes had been.

Their loss had trashed the ranks of the Mages. I could see Adrian, casting spell light with furious intensity, and Trevor, singing his heart out to cast spells, along with about a dozen other young Mages and Mage apprentices. Their spells cavorted in the air, all golden light, gathering power before they attacked.

The cemetery was full of wolves, all of them leaping and snapping and biting at the surviving Mages. I’d never seen such a furious pack of dogs, and I guessed the Mages hadn’t either. Then there were the cats, slashing and spitting and ripping the guts out of anyone they could reach. And there was Urd, gesturing to her stone army, guiding them through the fray as they pounded and smashed fragile human bones.

Some Mages broke rank and ran away, only to be pursued and taken down. Others targeted their opponents with bright spells. There was a lot of blood in the snow, and a lot of fallen bodies. Any ethereal ShadowEater forms had been dispelled, but I doubted that they were completely destroyed.

The amazing thing was Meagan. I could see that she must have talked to Jared. She was standing with her feet braced against the snow, singing defiantly back at Trevor. Her spellsong had purpose as it hadn’t before, and it gathered into a ball of furious light in front of her. Sparks flew from that sphere, flattening anyone who was hit.

She was a natural.

I was shocked to hear her singing Jared’s song ‘Snow Goddess.’ Spell light in a thousand hues of blue and purple emanated from her, forming a barrier between her and the Mages.

I saw then that she stood over Garrett, who was still struggling against his binding spell. He was wriggling and fighting the tight cords of golden spell light, murmuring to himself. Sparks from Meagan’s sphere fell on him and I saw one line of spell snap, then sizzle as it burned.

The ends of the broken spell light danced toward each other, like a pair of snakes that would join anew. Garrett glared at them, all fiery intensity, and they burned back several inches. It was enough that they couldn’t touch again.

Yet.

I guessed that the spell had been fashioned to repair itself if any of it broke. Meagan saw what he had done and changed her tune, making a whole flurry of her spell sparks fall on the spells that bound him. There was sweat on Garrett’s brow, but he laughed as more of the binding broke and he burned it back.

I roared and flew straight to Meagan in dragon form. I helped Garrett free himself, watching Meagan’s back as she tossed spells into the crowd of Mages.

‘Thanks,’ he said, then leapt into the air, shifting en route. He lunged past Meagan and attacked Trevor, his dragonfire vivid against the darkness. I’d never seen anyone shoot such a huge plume of flame, and I stared in awe. He was glorious, his garnet and gold scales flashing in the night.

Meagan stopped singing for a moment, her face flushed as she caught her breath. She swallowed, her gaze fixed on Garrett, then smiled when Trevor fled across the cemetery, with Garrett’s flames right at his heels to encourage him.

I gave Meagan a thumbs-up, although I’m not sure she noticed. She was focused on singing with all her might.

The other guys, though, were still securely trapped. Derek and Jessica were still trussed up as well, and now apparently caught in human form.

Isabelle, to my relief, was okay; she had a buff guy defending her on either side. One looked like a football player, a seriously large guy. The other was more slim. There was something about the way the first guy beckoned to an approaching Mage, as if daring him to rumble, that reminded me of Fish Breath.