Perfect home for a lunatic dark fae with impossible powers, apparently.
It was certainly secluded enough. The forest here on the rear of the property opened up to the lake that spanned the length of the castle and was twice as wide. Thick forest led directly up to the castle walls on both sides. For most people, this meant that entry would need to be gained from the front side, which consisted of yet more forest leading out to acres of manicured grass and lawn.
“I feel like freaking Spiderman,” Dagan muttered as he readjusted his grip on the spruce he clung to.
Ronin let out a chuckle. “You and Taeg have become total movie addicts since moving onto Earth.”
“Not like they had such a thing as television back on Infernum,” Dagan answered defensively. Yet another reason why Earth rocked in comparison.
Ronin looked back toward the castle and sobered, as if he too had just remembered they were now fugitives. With all the Lina stuff going on, they’d been blessedly distracted from that particular reality. At least there was one point in their favor. The portal they’d taken here was located less than an hour from the hideout Keegan had built in upstate New York. If they rescued Lina—no, once they rescued her—it wouldn’t be a long ride back to their new home. Or tricked-out cave, in this instance.
Dagan refocused on the looming castle. What could Lina possibly be suffering in that place? What horrors was she being subjected to? Much as he might want to think she was being treated well, if Mammon was around, the odds were pretty slim. Prior experience had taught him that all too well.
“We’ll get her back, bro,” Dagan murmured.
“I know,” was Ronin’s quiet response.
Or they would die trying.
“Ready?” Ronin asked. When Dagan nodded, Ronin muttered, “I sure hope this works.”
That made two of them.
Ronin depressed the button on his earpiece to turn it on. “Keegan, can you hear me?” After a moment, he said, “Okay, so we’re good to go… Yeah, we’ll meet back at the rendezvous spot in one hour.” He followed that with a grim, “Good luck.”
He pressed the button again and turned his gaze to Dagan. “Our back-up has arrived and is in place.”
“Sweet.”
Keegan had gotten friendly with a rayamara, a winged demon, who operated as a mercenary back in the city. Rayamaras were rare and prized for their ability to fly, and apparently the mercenary had been able to find a few friends who could act as flying guards. Their services hadn’t been cheap, but no doubt they’d come in handy.
“Maya completed her search,” Ronin continued. “Other than the shield, she didn’t detect anything magical outside the property.”
“Good.” That meant no booby traps.
Not for the first time, Dagan thanked his lucky stars that Taeg had found Maya. Her ability to see through glamours had come in handy more than once.
After they’d taken the portal to Romania, Keegan and Ronin had flown them to the site of the castle. Dagan had ridden on Ronin’s back, all the while grateful that the gravity of the situation didn’t lend itself to gabbiness, since Ronin was pretty much still not speaking to him. Keegan had supported Maya, who held onto a backpack containing Excalibur and Taeg’s clothes.
In order to conserve both Ronin’s and Keegan’s energy, rather than relying on one of them to fly him over, Taeg had dissipated into air and followed along in that form. It was a pretty awesome trick that only an air sylph—or in Taeg’s case, a sylph hybrid—could perform. It also meant that once he rematerialized, he was buck-ass naked, hence Maya carrying his clothes.
Once they’d arrived at the castle, Ronin and Dagan had landed here to scout the rear of the property while Keegan flew Maya around for an extensive visual scan of the entire area. Now that it was completed, Keegan would drop Maya off at the meeting spot they’d designated in the forest. Then he, along with Taeg and the mercenaries, would continue on foot to the edge of the shield, where they would cause a distraction by using Excalibur to rend the barrier and hopefully alert Belpheg to their presence.
Meanwhile, Ronin was going to drop Dagan off by the lake. Dagan would sneak into the castle, undetected, if all went according to plan, and find Lina.
Yeah, there were way too many variables to this fucking plan. So what. He wasn’t going to fail.
He wouldn’t allow it.
“I’m ready,” Dagan said. “You gonna circle back around to join Keegan and Taeg?”
Ronin nodded. “If all goes well, I’ll make it through that barrier and be on the other side to collect you both.”
“Good.”