Magic Burns(89)

And Curran would brood and stalk along the walls.

“Who won?” I knew he would answer that one.

“I did.”

“How?”

“Threw him into the smaller water tower. He doesn’t like water. He shrunk.”

Below us the trees shivered in the morning breeze.

“Do you want it to be your turn now? Do you want to tell me what an idiot I am?” The violence in his voice sent shivers down my spine.

“Hold on, let me make sure there are no water towers around…”

He dragged his fingers across the stone rail. If he’d still had his claws, they would’ve left white scratches.

“You put that damn thing in my hand and I gave it away. I’ve got no necklace, no kid, two of my people dead, three are in the medward. There is a ward spell over the Honeycomb Gap and scouts tell me it’s full of monsters. Impressive performance all around. Go on. Take a shot.”

“I would’ve traded the necklace for Julie in a heartbeat.”

He glanced at me. The next moment I was pinned against the wall, his teeth an inch from my carotid. He sucked in my scent, his eyes still flooded with molten gold. His voice was a contained storm. “Knowing all I know now, I would do it again.”

“So would I. Let go of me.”

He released me and stepped back.

“If you can’t save a child, what’s the point of it all?” I told him. “Julie’s worth saving, and I don’t want to buy my safety with her blood. I’d die first.”

I leaned against the wall. “I should’ve put it all together sooner. Better yet, I should’ve left her with you. That little shit Red couldn’t have taken her out of the Keep. I’m sick of being a day late and a dollar short.”

Our stares connected and we were quiet for a long minute, united by our misery. At least he understood me and I understood him.

“A fine pair we make,” he said.

“Yeah.”

In the yard I saw a small figure stumble from the ruins of the water tower. I nodded at him. “He screwed up, too. Bran teleported all over the place like a nitwit looking for the cauldron. It was right there under the pile of crates. The first place he should’ve looked. We all got outsmarted by a guy with tentacles and his brood of undead mermaids.”

Curran shrugged his massive shoulders. “It’s never fucking simple. Just once I want it to be easy and neat. But no, there is never a good decision. I pick what I can live with.”

We both knew he blamed himself for every last scratch his people got.

The sun broke above the treetops, flooding the world with sunshine, but the staircase shielded us and we remained in the cool blue shadow. Curran pushed away from the stone. “I take it, that gray bubble in the Gap will burst soon?”

“Fifteen hours from the moment it appeared. If Bran can be trusted.”

“So around seven tonight. The thief…”

“Bran.”

“I don’t give a damn what his name is. He can close the cauldron, you said. What will that do?”

“How much do you know about what’s going on?”

“Everything you told Andrea.”

I nodded. “The cauldron belongs to Morrigan. Morfran, the ugly one, stole it from her, so he could be reborn through it. The creature with tentacles, the reeves, and the giant all serve Morfran. They are the advance party of Fomorians, the sea-demons, who are now climbing out of the cauldron. Closing the cauldron will stop more demons from being reborn. Those who are on the field will become mortal. Morrigan will gain the ownership of the cauldron again, which will be the end of Morfran and his happy Fomorian tent revival.”

Curran thought about it. “The Honeycombers are moving their trailers to prevent the demons from climbing up the walls into the Honeycomb. The demons have only one way to go: southwest, along the bottom of the Gap. The Pack will block the Gap. We’ll take on the brunt of the assault. Jim says there is a tunnel leading into the Gap from the Warren.”

“I know of it.”

“That idiot and a small party of my people can go through the tunnel into the Gap, while the demons are concentrating on us. It will put them into the Fomorian rear. With luck, the demons won’t even notice him. Can he keep from throwing his hissy fit until he gets to the cauldron?”

“I don’t know. You’re not impressed by his warp spasm, huh?”

He grimaced. “It’s abhorrent. Total loss of control. No beauty to it, no symmetry. His eye was hanging out on his cheek like some piece of snot. No, I’m not impressed.”

“I can try to keep a lid on him until we get to the cauldron.” I made a pun, but he wasn’t in the mood to notice.