My stomach lurched. He was right. They were no match for Hyto. Even with Smoky, Vishana, and Shade, Delilah and Iris weren’t equipped to take him on. I turned to them.
“He’s right. Get out of the way. Now.”
“We aren’t leaving you.” Iris held firmly to her wand.
“This isn’t a question of loyalty. It’s a question of self-preservation. Move, now. And if things go wrong, run as hard as you can and hope to hell you can reach the barrow before Hyto does.” Pale as night, I turned away.
Delilah took Iris’s hand. I could feel her watching me but didn’t turn around. “Come on, Iris. Let’s move back a little. She’s right.”
Hyto stopped about twenty yards from us, and there was a sudden shifting as he began to transform. Out of a cloud of mist and snow, a white dragon—twice as large as Smoky—rose up before us. He looked like Smoky, only his skin was more white than opalescent, and his horns were far longer; the mane on his back whipped back and forth. He crouched on all fours, staring at us, and split the air with a violent chuckle.
Terror struck me through and I stood rooted to the ground. I’d thought Smoky huge when he was in dragon form, but now I realized he was still young—he wasn’t nearly the stature of his father.
Holy crap. This wasn’t going to end well. I could feel it in my bones.
Vishana turned to me. “Back away. Now. Let us have room.”
I realized she and Smoky were getting ready to change. Shade grabbed my hand and moved to drag me out of the way, but before he could, there was a rustle in the woods behind us. I heard Delilah let out a long cry. Iris, too.
Turning, I saw someone rushing forward. Someone I recognized.
Oh, no. Please, no. Please, don’t let this happen.
There, in full battle armor, with sword held high, raced Georgio. St. George, come to battle the dragon. He stared up at Hyto, his eyes wide with wonder and anger.
“You will not pass, serpent! You will not pass! Leave the winsome Lady Camille alone.”
“No! Shade, help him.” I pushed Shade away from me and simultaneously yanked the unicorn horn out of my pocket, aiming it at Hyto. The winds had not worked, but he was on the ground now.
Hyto was eyeing St. George with the look of a kid eyeing a Popsicle. His long neck coiled and—
Lady of the Land, take him down!
There was a roar as the ground began to shake and the snow fell from the branches of the trees to land with a plop on the ground. A low rumble filled the area as an earthquake echoed through the valley. The ground shifted in tortuous bends, like the waves off the ocean whipped up by a gale.
Below us, on the slope, I could hear the roar of an avalanche, and I prayed no one else had been coming up the mountain. Hyto shifted from side to side, dancing as nimbly as a dragon could dance, to keep his balance as the ground rocked back and forth.
Shade raced forward, grabbing Georgio before he could take on the dragon of his dreams, and practically flew with him to where Delilah and Iris waited. I glanced back, making sure that Georgio was safe. He seemed to have fainted, which was probably for the best. The last thing we needed was his interference.
I turned back to find Smoky and Vishana holding hands. Then mother nodded to son and they began to transform. As I scrambled out of the way—I knew better than to be in the way of three angry dragons—they rose up.
Vishana was as large as Hyto—even larger. But her skin shimmered with silver and her eyes were steely and hard. She flattened several trees and bushes as she backed up to get her bearings.
Smoky was smaller than both, by far, but when I saw him from this vantage point, it seemed incredible that I’d ever been astride his back.
Hyto dipped and coiled, his neck winding as he rolled his head back, and then a hailstorm came roiling by, chilling the air and dropping the temperature further still. The pellets of ice spread out over the area, catching Smoky and his mother and moving beyond in my direction. Before I could cloak up, the stinging ice bullets began to lodge into my skin and I gritted my teeth, turning away so that they hit against my back. The cloak of the Black Beast absorbed much of their impact, but the reverb was like being hit over and over by thumbnail-sized BBs.
Vishana let out a low roar as she sprang into the sky, followed by Smoky. They circled overhead, and I had the distinct feeling they were challenging Hyto. He gave one long look in my direction, then joined them. As I watched, they spiraled in a circle.
And then came the flames, belching from Smoky’s stomach, to scorch along Hyto’s side. Hyto raised his head and let out a terrible shriek as the blast blackened the skin. I could hear Smoky’s laughter from where I cowered, waiting.
Hyto whipped around, his tail slamming against Smoky, sending my love reeling back head over heels through the air. I gasped as he fell, through the sky, plummeting down toward the ground. But shortly before he reached the tops of the tallest firs, he pulled up short and went shooting back toward the pair of circling dragons.
Vishana charged forward, aiming directly for Hyto, her neck waving from one side to the other. As Hyto swung to meet her, she skidded in the air, whirling around, so that her tail whipped into his face. Knocked back, Hyto went spinning. He caught himself and turned in time to catch her before she could rake his side with her claws. She managed to catch one of his wings, and I saw a smear of red against the white, droplets raining down like snowflakes.
Smoky joined the fray, another belch of fire scorching Hyto’s other side. Hyto returned fire and Smoky dodged the first ball of exploding flames, but the second caught him by surprise and he careened away.
The next moment, Vishana swooped over the top of Hyto, her claws trailing down and catching him along his back. He screamed, his call sending another avalanche down the slope of the mountain.
“Fuck!”
Delilah’s scream caught my attention and I whirled. She was fighting Asheré, who had apparently recovered enough to grab his staff and make his way over to them. They were fighting hand-to-hand, and for a wounded monk, he was doing pretty good. Shade launched himself out of the bushes, but before he could reach them, Delilah raised Lysanthra and brought it whistling down on the rogue monk. It pierced his shoulder and drove through the bone—I could hear the splintering from where I stood.
Asheré shouted, grabbing his arm, and Iris took that moment to whisper some charm. As we watched, the monk began to shift, and I realized he was turning inside out—Iris had her powers back, all right. As his flesh split, his organs spilling to the ground, I stared at her, and she grinned and gave me a thumbs-up. A gruesome high-five before collapsing with obvious exhaustion. But it was a high-five, nonetheless, because we no longer had our mad monk to cope with.
I turned back to watch the fireworks going on in the sky. Hyto had taken a couple of direct hits and dove into a cloud bank. Where was he? Could Smoky and Vishana have dispatched him? But then I heard something behind me, and a shadow fell across me from the back. Frowning, I turned. There, barreling down out of the clouds, talons out, was Hyto, dive-bombing me.
“Motherfucking pus-bucket!” First came the anger. When would the fucking creep leave me alone? But then fear settled over the fury and I began to run, slogging through the snow. I could hear Delilah and Iris screaming, and from the side, I saw Shade heading my way.
Vishana and Smoky had flown a wide circle, searching for him, and only now were winging back, combing the thick blanket of clouds into which Hyto had vanished. I could tell by the way they were circling.
“Going somewhere?” The rough voice echoed with laughter as Hyto’s talons came sweeping down to close around my waist. I screamed again, shrilly as I could to catch Smoky’s attention, and struggled, pushing against the talons grasping me tight.
Hyto let out a loud bellow. “This time, you won’t get away. And this time, my pretty little bitch, you’re going to die. Slowly, painfully, one limb at a time.”
As he launched us off the ground, I stopped trying to get him to let go. We were in the air, sailing up above the ground. As I looked down, Shade stood there, looking helpless. He’d just reached where I’d been. Delilah and Iris were struggling forward and Asheré was a bloody blot on the ground.
I held on for dear life, clutching Hyto’s leg, wondering what the fuck was going to happen now. If Smoky or Vishana attacked us, Hyto could easily cut me in half. But even as I tried to figure out a way out of this mess, I noticed that Shade had vanished. I knew he couldn’t transform into his dragon shape during the day, but he’d gone into the shadows. Maybe there was something he could do from there to help.
“Are you ready for me, wench? I told you, you belong to me. That collar around your neck proves it. And now you’re my means to an end. I know my son. And I know my wife.” Hyto’s voice rumbled down to me, and we spiraled higher into the sky as the snow began to fall in earnest.
Chapter 22
Hyto kept hold of me as we sailed into the sky. I could hear Delilah and Shade screaming from the ground below, and I looked down to see them staring at us, horrified. The ground sped away at a dizzying speed, and my fear of heights began to kick in. Everything was spinning, and the only thing between me and a plummeting death was someone who hated my guts. Delightful.
As I tried to think about what I could do from my position, I heard another shriek echoing from our left. I did my best to look around and saw that Smoky was staring directly at us. He knew that Hyto had hold of me. Vishana came circling around, her great wings giving her position, even as her long, snakelike body coiled to give her purchase in the air.
Hyto hovered, his wings gently beating the air. “What are you going to do now? Going to strike me with your fire? Send me spinning to the ground? She’ll be dead before you touch me.”
“What do you want?” Smoky’s voice echoed across the expanse.
Hyto laughed, then said. “Your life, my son. Your life. If you choose to follow, meet me on the Cusp.” And then, the world began to spin, and everything vanished in a cloud of smoke and vapor.
We were in a different realm, but it wasn’t the astral, that I could tell. And it wasn’t Hyto’s private dreyerie. He was still in dragon form, but as we soared over tall timber, toward a misty ledge on the cliff face, I saw a cavern mouth. Great, more caves. I was mildly claustrophobic and with all the caves and barrows lately, all I wanted was to spend a week out under the open sky.
Hyto hovered over the ledge and let go of me about four feet off the ground. I dropped to the narrow outcropping and scrambled to catch my balance. As he was transforming, I quickly looked around for a place to run, but there was none. Unlike his other dreyerie, this place had no path leading down. The cliff was straight with granite beneath the snow. I’d never be able to climb down the rock face. I decided to chance the unknown and raced into the cave before he could lay hands on me again.
“Camille? Where the fuck did you go, girl? Get your ass back here or I guarantee, you’ll be begging me for mercy when I find you!” His voice was harsh and he was panting. He must have been hurt by the attacks while in dragon form.
I glanced around, wondering where the hell I could hide. I couldn’t see—coming into the darkness after the blinding light of the snow-covered mountain had the same effect as if someone had snapped a flash camera in my eyes. I stumbled ahead, holding my hands out to feel for the walls. After a moment, I made contact and I pressed against the rock, praying he wouldn’t notice me until I’d found a place to hide.
“I said, get the fuck out here.” And there he was—standing not ten feet away. I could see the glimmer of his robes.
Hell, what was I going to do now?
He swung around and then stopped, staring in my direction. A low, throaty chuckle told me the jig was up. “Well, well. There she is.” He started for me and I backed up, fumbling in my robe for the unicorn horn. It still had some energy left in it—probably enough for one big blast. If I had to, I could bring down the cavern on both of us, and I was considering doing just that. The thought of being buried under tons of rubble wasn’t all that appealing, but the thought of Hyto putting his hands on me again was even less savory.
“Leave her alone!” Smoky’s voice came from the front of the cavern and then I could see him—my eyes were adjusting. “You wanted me. You have me. Let her go and I’ll stay.”
“No!” I shouted at him, realizing he was getting ready to make a trade. “Don’t you dare! He’ll kill me after he kills you. It’s both of us or neither.”
Hyto let out a loud snort. “She’s smart for her kind. I’ll give her that. She’s also sweet. Her meat will be tender and delicate . . . or maybe I’ll keep her around to be my toy for a while. She’s very amusing when she’s in pain.” And then he lashed out. A jagged spear of ice came reaming out of his palms, aimed directly for my husband.
I screamed and thrust the horn in the air. Maybe none of us would come out of this alive, but Hyto would die. “Lady of the Land, hear me!”
The cavern shook violently and the spell Hyto had cast slid off target by a mere inch, but it was enough to give Smoky time to dodge it. Hyto let out a string of curses in what I could only imagine was dragonese. I grabbed for the wall as a low rumble began to shift through the cavern. There was a roar behind me, and I screamed again as rocks and rubble began to fall.
“Camille!” Smoky shouted at me, and I tried to make my way around Hyto, but the damned dragon caught hold of me with his hair and drew me toward him.
“You decide to play for keeps, then you take the consequences, girl.” He wrapped his hair tight around me and I screamed as he squeezed until I could barely breathe.
The shaking went on and on, and the ceiling began to cave in, stalactites crumbling to the floor from where they had hung for a thousand years. A cloud of dust began to rise and I started to cough. I could hear Smoky shouting my name, and Hyto’s horrible laughter as the world started to spin.
