Dark Isle(40)
This time, I led the way back into the forest. Luke, we were going to get Luke out of here. A shiver ran through me, the fear that I was too late filling me up. Too late for Luke, too late to stop Card, too late to be everything everyone wanted me to be.
Easy. Right now you need to worry only about your own ass in the frying pan. Once that’s taken care of, you can pull others out of the fire. I let out a long slow breath. Cora was right. I reached up to touch her, forgetting for a moment that she was no longer around my shoulders.
We’d reached a grove of trees that looked to be the oldest of the forest, if their girth was any indication. A ring of holly circled around the trees, creating a gazebo. Above the holly was a thick band of ivy and above all of that was honeysuckle in full bloom. The whole effect was breathtaking, a cathedral of nature.
Aednat touched my arm. “This is where we will find the bad Queen.”
“Crap, I don’t want to find her, I want to find Luke!” I said, my eyes widening.
“We have to get past Queen first,” Aednat answered, calm and relaxed. Like we were going out for tea with the Queen.
The rustling of bushes as the variety of plants parted drew my eyes to the far side. A slew of Banshees flowed into the clearing, their eyes trained on us, weapons bared. I forced myself to slow my breathing, to push the sudden lurch of fear down. It wouldn’t help me to pass out now. Apparently not all the Banshees took off after the humans. Damn it all to hell.
What could only be the Banshee Queen stepped through the opening last, her glittering gown catching each ray of sunlight and sending rainbows of color arching across the clearing. She was taller than me, well over six feet in height, willowy and pale. She held a staff loose in her hand, a twisted piece of arbutus tree that was studded with quartz and abalone. Pure white hair fell to the ground in a waterfall of waves, though her face was unlined with age. Her eyes were far from the cruel flints of hard steel I’d imagined, but instead were a gentle brown, like that of a wide-eyed deer.
“Welcome, Quinn, daughter of Lir. Aednat, little sister of mine, you should not have returned.” The Queen’s voice made Aednat’s hypnotic tones pale in comparison.
Aednat shrugged. “Aednat warned you she would be back, you not listen, you think you right, and strong.”
The Queen shook her head slowly, sadness emanating from her in an almost touchable wave. “You have never understood, Aednat. Now it will be ended between us and for that I am truly sorry.” Her eyes turned to me, the full force of her will behind them. It was like I was being wrapped in a blanket, dark warmth made me surrender my will. The Queen, I was only there to serve the Queen, to do her bidding. My mind screeched at me in an attempt to free me from the snare she’d set, and I’d walked into.
A slap snapped me out of my reverie, stinging my cheek and making my eyes water with pain. “She tries to spell you.”
The slap worked and a low moan caught my attention. Luke was dragged out into the open by a pair of rat-faced Banshees. Head hanging low, his blond hair was matted with blood and leaves.
The Queen lifted her hand and the guards dropped him, his body hitting the ground hard; there wasn’t any effort made to catch himself.
Again Aednat touched my arm. “Let me go first.” It was only then that I realized I’d Called my knife and held it in my right hand, ready to throw it.
Aednat strolled—yes strolled—forward, as if she were visiting a friend’s garden. She stopped halfway across, picked a single daisy and then tucked it behind her ear. What the hell was going on now, a way to show some bravado?
“You are done,” Aednat said, her voice ringing clear and loud, the trees trembling under the power of her voice. It shocked me and took everything I had to keep standing. Most of the Banshees weren’t so lucky; their knees buckled and weapons fell to the ground.
The Queen snarled, her face contorting, but her beauty remained. Leaping forward at the same moment, the rivals, sisters, clashed in the middle of the clearing, their shrieks lifting every single hair on my body. Taking advantage of the distraction, I bolted across to Luke, dropping to his side. For a moment, my hands hovered over him; I didn’t want to cause him any more pain. “Luke?” I said, finally laying one hand on a bare patch of skin that seemed to be clear of any injury. Even so, he let out a long groan.
With as much care as I could, I rolled him over, holding his upper body in my arms, his head leaning against my chest. “How bad is it?” I asked, my eyes tallying up the wounds that I could see. They were bad—huge gashes in his chest that were open down to the white of his ribs, a puncture to the right of his navel that was leaking a thick, almost black substance. It looked like the pus that had come out of my Banshee bite, but so much worse.