Flight From Death
“Be careful!” Alex was grappling with his opponent. At least if it got its branches around his throat, he wouldn’t die from suffocation. I couldn’t see how everyone else was doing and I realized that if I took the time to check, I’d open myself up to attack.
I stared at the severed piece in my hand. Sapwalkers were so far from human—or dragon—that they might as well be aliens. I dropped the limb, shuddering, as another branch lashed out for me. What worked the first time, worked the second, and I had another piece of sapwalker on the ground in front of me. But that approach ended as the creature wised up to what I was doing.
It was impossible to tell if the sapwalker was angry or just in a haze of pain, but it lurched forward, driving itself closer as I stumbled back. Before I realized what was happening, it wrapped a branch around my feet and yanked, and I was down on the ground. Another branch caught me around my neck.
I almost dropped my dagger, moving to flail at the lignified collar, but then stopped myself. That would do no good, even with my strength. Instead, I used the fingers of my other hand to run over the sapwalker’s body, searching for a vulnerable area that felt like it might be good stabbity-material. And then, there it was. I pressed against an area right above the maw that reminded me of a mouth, and the sapwalker shuddered. Shifting, trying to keep from passing out as it tightened its grip around my throat, I brought the dagger up and stabbed hard.
With a shudder, the creature let out another shriek as a warm surge of liquid spilled over me. Oh wonderful. Tree blood. Or sap. Or whatever the hell it was. I just hoped it wasn’t sticky.
The sapwalker loosened its grip enough for me to use my dagger to cut away the appendage around my neck and I shoved it off. It was still quivering, but I had the feeling it was almost dead.
As I rolled out from beneath it and staggered to my feet, I saw that Chai had moved forward to stand between us and the remaining sapwalkers. He raised his hands, palms out. A blast of flame came shooting forth, and the sapwalkers stopped in their tracks, shuffling back, again, jabbering like blackwings—what we called crows in the Dragon Reaches.
The flames licked at the edges of their branches and they quickly went to trying to stamp them out, swatting their limbs against anything close enough to hit. It had rained enough that there were puddles large enough for them to drown the sparks, but Chai wasn’t done with them yet.
Meanwhile, I turned to see Tonya, cleaving away with her short sword, hacking at first one branch, then another, and another. I made an impromptu decision that—once we went home—I was learning how to use a weapon that had more reach. The dagger was nice, but it was way too up-close and personal.
Alex had managed to take down his sapwalker, and Patrick, too. Degoba had done something to his—I didn’t see it anywhere, or any part of it. And now Chai focused another round of fire on the ones nearest and they turned, beating against their comrades for space so they could get away from the flames. The fight turned into a free-for-all of flailing branches and shrieks. The flames coming out of Chai’s hands flickered and faded, but the sapwalkers were too intent on beating a retreat from us to notice.
“Crap. I wish we could kill them all.” I surprised myself with how bloodthirsty I felt, but the sensation of that branch coiling around my throat was still very real and very raw, and right now, in my mind, the only good sapwalker was a dead one. “They have a vulnerable spot below the hole that looks like a mouth.”
“We can move in while they’re afraid.” Alex stared at what was now a mini-mob of tree creatures pushing toward the undergrowth.
“Let them go,” Degoba said. “I think we may have broken the hold the forest wight has on them. Look.” He nodded in their direction. We turned back to look at them. The sapwalkers were vanishing into the undergrowth, without a single glance back at us. They seemed to have lost all interest.
I looked over at the ones we had killed. They were melting into puddles of mud on the ground. “Is that all they really are? Mud and some magic?”
“No, Shimmer. They are far more than that. But not all physical forms hold their shape when death occurs. Dissolution comes quickly for some—more than with humans. The sapwalkers, once their soul—personality—whatever you want to call it—was gone, returned directly to their mother.” Degoba sounded a little forlorn. “Too bad the forest wight had to impress them into service. They may be chaotic and wild, but they are part of this world on such an intimate nature. They probably wouldn’t have come near us if they hadn’t been entrapped.”
I felt disheartened then, my anger dissolving along with my thirst for revenge. As I’ve said, blue dragons? We’re a volatile emotional bunch. “I guess . . . I wish we hadn’t had to kill them.”
“All things die. The forest wight, however . . . make no mistake—he knows what he’s doing. Don’t let down your guard, no matter what he says or does.” With a gentle slap on my back, the older man turned toward the battery.
Ralph glanced back. He was a beautiful wolf—white as snow, and with gorgeous, gleaming eyes. His fur was long and blew gently in the wind as he stood there, guarding our backs. He let out a little whine and Alex moved to his side, clapping him gently on the back.
“Thank you for keeping watch.” The vampire stared at the wolf, and then an eerie silence passed between them. Alex glanced over at me. “He senses the forest wight and it’s making him uneasy.” Turning back to Ralph, he added, “You’d better stay in wolf form, mate. You’ll have a better chance of escaping his thrall.”
Ralph bobbed his head.
“I guess we go in, then?” I regarded the gaping doorway. Voluntarily entering the building wasn’t on my bucket list, but after seeing the sapwalkers and how easily this thing controlled them, I realized how far its reach could extend. If we ditched Patrick and said we couldn’t help, the problem would grow because the forest wight was looking to expand its territory. How many other wights did it have lurking in houses around here, causing problems, forcing people out of their homes or under the influence of the dark creatures’ natures? And suppose we were managing to catch it before it had grown its hive widely? If we just left it, how long before it extended its reach?
“Yes, we go in now.” Degoba took the lead again, Alex joining him. We fell back into line and headed toward the door. Ralph remained in wolf form next to Patrick. As we followed, the air seemed to grow thick and oily, and I found myself wanting to cough. I repressed the urge, not wanting to call attention to where we were, though truth be told, logic said the forest wight would know we were here. He’d just lost his army of tree creatures.
The second-floor walkway was overhead now, and I gazed up at it as Alex and Degoba entered the building. The concrete loomed, a threatening umbrella, and even though I knew the building had been built to last, the thought of all the weight over our heads made me queasy.
As I passed through the door, the darkness became pitch black—the walls of the bunker sucking up any light that might have entered with us. Our footsteps echoed from wall to wall. Dragons couldn’t see in the dark, but we were good with echolocation and I could tell the room we were in was huge.
Alex flicked on a flashlight, and Patrick did the same. Degoba followed suit. The room was as big as I thought, perhaps not running the full length of the fort, but big enough to hold a couple of ballrooms’ worth of people. It was hard to get any accurate representation of what the walls looked like, but under the beams from the flashlights, I could make out a number of doors.
“No splitting up,” I said. “I don’t want to find myself alone in here.” In fact, a warning was echoing through my mind. Don’t get trapped in a room without a second exit. Don’t let yourself get sidetracked off from the others.
I was about to tell the others when Ralph let out a yelp and raced off to the left as fast as he could run, loping like a white spirit in the night.
“Ralph—come back here! Ralph!” Alex followed him, yelling over his shoulder, “Stay here, I’ll be back with him.
”
The thrum, thrum, thrum of a heartbeat began to reverberate through the room, but nobody else seemed to notice it. It was growing louder and louder, and the thudding in my head was starting to hurt. I sheathed my dagger and reached up to rub my temples, backing up a step, when there was a sudden flutter and I turned to see Tonya dart out of the room, crying. Startled, Patrick—who was closest—raced after her.
“Chai . . . Degoba . . .” My breath was shallow as the thundering drums pounding in my head increased, now echoing from all sides. I whimpered and moved toward the older man.
Chai roared out an oath—I couldn’t understand the language—and swirled into the center of the room. “Come out, you coward. Fight me, and let’s see how strong you are!” His eyes were blazing and at first I thought that he, too, was feeling the effects of the forest wight’s presence, but then I realized this was Chai when he had had enough. This was Chai, pissed off.
As I watched him bellowing into the darkness, Degoba touched me on the arm. “Come with me, I have to show you something.”
Still trying to shake the echo of thunder out of my head, I turned and followed him into the room nearby. As we crossed the threshold, Alex’s warning filtered back but it was too late, because Degoba slammed the door behind us and softly laughed. And I knew that he was laughing at my expense.
CHAPTER 16
I jumped away, but Degoba was quick. He managed to grab my arm but luckily for me, and unluckily for the forest wight, I was a dragon and my strength was enough to break free. I backed away toward the wall, grateful that he was still holding the flashlight.
“Degoba, the wight is influencing you. Listen to me—you have to resist it!” I didn’t want to attack him. Even with the wight’s influence, I was still stronger than he was, and I could hurt him badly.
But Degoba was firmly in the grip of the forest wight’s possession, because he raced forward, ramming me back against the wall. I pushed against him but, to my surprise, I wasn’t able to shove him away. He let out a low rumble of laughter, his eyes flashing a dangerous green.
“I’ll teach you to interfere with me.” Degoba cupped my chin and thrust upward, slamming my head against the wall. Dizzy from the blow, I struggled to get out of his grasp, but the force of the wight gave him strength. He dropped the flashlight near us and raised his other hand, using his knees and body to keep me pinned.
I glanced at his fingers and in the faint periphery of the flashlight, I could see that he was holding something—it looked like the hilt to a knife. He flicked it open to reveal a nasty, sharp edge. He brought the blade toward my throat. If I didn’t do something—anything—in the next moment, he would slit my throat. And dragon or not, when I was in human form that meant a very bloody death.
I did the only thing I could think of. My right hand was able to reach the sheath holding my dagger and I quickly whipped the blade out, stabbing directly into his thigh. The blade slid into his flesh with a horrible sound. Degoba shouted, pulling back to yank himself away from my blade.
Roaring, he swooped toward me, his knife aimed at my heart. I brought my dagger up to meet him as I jumped to the side. He passed three inches too far to my left, but this time, my blade clipped him in the side and—my mind clouded with fear and confusion—I shoved it deep, letting go as I backed away toward the door. Degoba gasped, then fell to the floor.
At that moment, the door slammed open and Alex ran in, Ralph behind him in human form, carrying a flashlight. He trained it on Degoba. As he saw the blood pooling around the spiritwalker, the werewolf let out a single squeak and fell to the floor in a dead faint, the flashlight rolling away.
“What happened?” Alex stared at Degoba in horror. “Blood—oh hell. Chai! Get the hell in here.”
Chai and Tonya entered the room and Tonya screamed, dropping by Degoba’s side. Alex hurried out and I could hear him telling Patrick to go outside where he could get cell reception and call an ambulance. Chai struck up a light between his hands so we could see.
Tonya pressed hard on the wound. “I don’t dare pull out the dagger—it would bleed too heavily and he’d die. I need something to stanch the flow of blood—give me your shirt!” She motioned frantically to Chai, who stripped off his shirt and pushed it into her hands. Within seconds, she had pressed it against the wound and was holding it tight. “It looks like you missed the artery in his thigh, but this side wound is a nasty one.”
A noise from the other room alerted us as we heard voices echoing. Chai’s ball of light vanished, as did he. The next moment, the police burst into the room. We didn’t recognize either officer and I realized we could be in deep trouble. I could be . . .
“Call for help—” one of the officers started to say, but Alex chimed in.
“We’ve already phoned for an ambulance.”
“Who stabbed him? What happened?” The cops glanced around, their guns still drawn.
I began to cry, unable to register just what was going on. I stammered out the only thing I could think of that might make sense. “I did—I didn’t mean to. It was an accident. I thought he was going to attack me.” I started forward, but they motioned to me to stay still.
“Don’t move. Put your hands in the air where we can see them—all of you.” He glanced down at Tonya. “Except for you—continue to hold pressure on the wound. You’d better pray for your friend here that he doesn’t die.”
There was a whir of sirens from outside and then, amid harsh, brilliant flashlights, the medics came running in with a stretcher. They eased Tonya out of the way and took over, working on Degoba.
I wanted to go to him, but I realized that it wouldn’t be a good idea for me to move right now, given the mood of the police. One of them stepped forward and motioned for me to turn around.
“What’s your name?”
“Shimmer.”
“Last name?”
“Just Shimmer—I’m from Otherworld.” A cold sweat broke over me as I realized what they were doing. One of them was pulling out a pair of handcuffs.
“Shimmer, you are under arrest for assault. Put your hands behind your back.” As the cuffs snapped on, he continued. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?”
Now I was scared.
Alex moved in. “She was defending herself—”
“And who are you? Did you see the stabbing?” The cop swung around, glaring at Alex.
Alex’s gaze shifted to mine and I knew that he had to answer truthfully. He could lose his license to practice, and incriminate me even worse if he lied. “No, I didn’t see her stab him. But I heard her screaming from outside the door. I’m Alex Radcliffe, owner of the Fly by Night Magical Investigations Agency. And Shimmer is one of my employees.”
The cops stared at him for a moment. One said, “Vampire. Okay, then, we’ll all take a ride to the station to sort out what happened. Everybody out.”
As the medics gently hoisted Degoba onto a stretcher and wheeled him out, the officers pushed me forward. As we exited the building, I thought I could hear the wight laugh and I realized that, for tonight at least, it had won the battle.
• • •
Across town from Fort Worden, the police station was nothing like the FH-CSI, the Faerie-Human Crime Scene Investigation Unit down in Seattle. For one thing, none of the cops appeared to be Supes. For another, I had the distinct feeling they weren’t sure what the hell to do with me. They checked me over, searching me thoroughly. Even when I’d been chained in the Dragon Reaches, I hadn’t been strip-searched in human form, and that was a humiliation I could easily go without ever experiencing again.
I grimaced as the matron told me to get undressed, and then to “Bend over and spread your legs.” Blushing, feeling once again the lack of any control over my situation, I did as she bad
e, while all the while wanting to smash in her smug and haughty face. That over, she handed me an orange jumpsuit that barely fit over my boobs and was about three inches too short in the legs. I put on the slippers they gave me in place of my shoes and followed her to a cell where she handed me a blanket and a pillow and pointed to the bunk.
“Park it and don’t cause trouble. No television at this time of night.”
Feeling terribly alone, I sat on the edge of the bunk, clutching the pillow. The room was small, probably six feet wide by eight feet long, and contained a TV fastened to the wall, a bunk, a toilet, and a pedestal sink. My thoughts kept running to Degoba and I wondered if he was alive. The memory of my dagger hitting his side kept replaying through my thoughts and I winced, hanging my head. I’d had no choice, and yet—and yet—if he died, it would be my fault.
Wondering what the hell was going to happen next, I stayed right where I was. I got my answer soon enough, when someone popped into the bunk behind me. Startled, I turned to see Chai, trying to scrunch up as inconspicuously as possible.
“Don’t look at me, and don’t stand up,” he whispered. “Alex wanted me to check on you.”
“You can make it into the cells?”
“Here I can—this is a human holding tank, not built for Supes of any nature, apparently.” He poked me in the side. “Scoot forward just a little, I need to rearrange my arm.”
I did, thinking that I should just ask him to get me out of here, but then I realized there was a problem on two levels with that. One, the cops would freak when I vanished, and that would leave us open to more questions than we needed or wanted. And two, that would be asking Chai for a favor and he’d be forced to fuck it up as much as he could. Sometimes having a djinn as a friend could be complicated.
“Is Degoba still alive?” I wanted him to be alive, and not just because I wanted to get out of this as unscathed as possible. Though, if he died, I’d be up the creek without a paddle. Without even the damned canoe.