Which meant that one of us had to carry it to the circle.
But how do we get past the dragons? I chewed at my bottom lip. One dragon we might be able to take. It would be a hel of a chal enge, but probably not impossible. But three? I shook my head. We needed help.
Where are those collectors? I poked at the spel again, just to make sure I’d real y activated it the first time. No rush of magic this time, so I trusted that the first wave I’d felt worked.
“I have another idea,” Hol y said, but her eyes didn’t meet mine when I turned. “We can cause a disturbance, draw the dragons away, and someone smal , someone who wouldn’t be noticed, can affix the disruption charm to the side of the circle.”
“Someone smal ?” That definitely knocked Falin out of the running, and I was far from short. Hol y was petite, but I the running, and I was far from short. Hol y was petite, but I didn’t think she meant herself. Her eyes darted to where PC sat in my lap. “No. No, no, definitely not. Hol y, he’s a dog.”
“He’s tiny, and the dragons are huge. They probably won’t even be able to see him.”
She had a point, but . . . I clutched PC closer. Stil shaking my head.
“It’s not a bad plan,” Falin said. “Though I suggest we plan to become dragon bait only if they notice PC. Hol y and I can take positions on either side of the clearing and you can send him at the circle from the center. If one of the dragons notices him, the person closest wil attack. I’m sure the beasts are charmed to protect the circle from humanshaped threats, not from tiny dogs.”
His argument didn’t make my head stop shaking. If anything, it made me dislike the plan more. If someone did have to distract a dragon, that someone would be alone. I didn’t like it. Not at al .
I glanced at the circle. The dancers had dissolved to the point that most no longer had eyes, so their faces went up to the center of their noses and then stopped. They were dead. Al of them. Oh, they kept dancing, but there was no saving them now. Of course, there was more than just the lives in that circle at stake. I shuddered, staring at the energy coalescing behind the piper. How much does she need to smash all the planes into reality?
“Alex?”
Death. I spun in my crouch, expecting dozens of col ectors, but found only Death, the gray man, and the raver.
“I was expecting more.”
“More?” Hol y asked, unable to see the col ectors.
“We were the closest,” the gray man said, crouching to stay out of view. Right, Hol y and Falin might not be able to see the col ectors, but the constructs could.
The raver shook her head as she sank into a crouch.
The raver shook her head as she sank into a crouch.
“Damn, those things are huge.”
Falin had clearly figured out that the col ectors had arrived because his narrowed gaze was fixed on the space I was talking to. “Three of them?” he asked.
He was good. I nodded.
Death scoped the clearing, his jaw set hard as he knelt again. “We have to find a way inside that circle.”
And we were back to the circle.
Falin explained the plan currently on the table despite my running protest. He might not have been able to see or hear the col ectors, but he knew they could hear him. And, unfortunately, they liked the plan. I was outvoted five to two
—because I figured if PC understood what was going on, he’d vote against the idea.
But they were right. If one of us tried to run to the clearing and place the charm, the dragons would be on us in seconds. Using PC, we might avoid detection by the dragons until after the barrier was down. Maybe. I hated the plan, but they were right.
Falin affixed the charmed bark to PC’s col ar with a bit of ribbon made from glamour. In theory, since PC was a nul , he would soar through the barrier as though it didn’t exist, but the glamour and the charm would stick and the disruption spel would activate. Or at least that was the plan.
“Ready?” Falin asked.
Hol y nodded, her freckles standing out hard on her pale face. I let out a deep breath that tasted of sour fear, but I nodded. Then the gray man went with Hol y and the raver went with Falin. Death stayed with me.
I knelt in the underbrush, rubbing PC’s head, Death by my side.
“We’re going to watch out for him,” he said, and I nodded again. I noticed he didn’t say that PC would be okay. The same quality that made PC useful for this job would make him hard to keep tabs on once things turned nasty. “They are in position by now.”
are in position by now.”
I know. I crab-walked forward, carrying PC until we were almost in the clearing. If the dragons focused on my hiding spot I was screwed, but PC needed a straight line of sight for the circle.