Magic Strikes(105)
Mart dropped the useless hilt and grabbed me, his eyes brimming with fury. Curran lunged for
me.
But Mart shot straight up like an arrow. Curran's clawed hand caught empty sand. He'd missed
me by half a second.
Wind fanned my face as Mart flew up. It felt like the afterlife, but I wasn't dead yet. One doesn't
feel pain in the afterlife, and I hurt. Dear God, I hurt.
We soared above the Arena's sand, floating in the shaft of golden sunlight stabbing through the
nearest skylight. I saw that only three rakshasas had made it alive from the Pit's sand: Mart, Cesare,
and Livie, locked in the crook of Cesare's arm.
Tiny flecks of skin broke free from Mart's cheek, hovering in the light. He breathed, and his
entire being fractured into a thousand pieces, streaming upward like myriad butterflies taking flight
to vanish in the glow, revealing a new creature. He was tall, his shoulders broad, his waist and hips
narrow. Skin the color of amber stretched taut over refined muscle. Black hair streamed from his
head down to his waist. His eyes were piercing cobalt blue, two sharp sapphires on a beautiful face
tainted with arrogance and predatory glee.
Mart no longer needed his human skin.
He clamped me to him and I saw Sophia on the balcony, clutching at the Wolf Diamond. We
streaked to her and stopped at her eye level.
«Gift me the jewel,» Cesare ordered and held out his hand. The curse of the stone had been
weighed against the Fools, and the Fools had won. Mart would rather risk the anger of the Wolf
Diamond than the shapeshifters' down below.
Sophia swallowed.
«Don't,» I said.
Below us the Arena roared with indignant screams.
«Gift me the jewel, woman.» The tattooed snakes rose from Cesare's skin and hissed.
Sophia's long, pale fingers let go. The golden tear of the Wolf Diamond fell and landed in
Cesare's huge palm. «It's yours,» she said.
You moron.
The rakshasas flew up. The skylight blocked us. Mart's hand flashed and the heavy glass
shattered into a glittering cascade of shards. We pushed through it and then we were flying above
the city.
I LAY IN A GOLDEN CAGE IN A PUDDLE OF MY blood. It soaked my hair, my cheek, my
clothes. I breathed it in, its scent and magic cloaking me. I could feel the blood around me the way I
felt my limbs or my fingers. It had left my body but we remained connected. I had always sensed
magic in my blood, but I'd never felt it, not like this.
Inside my stomach, tiny flecks of power smoldered, the remnants of Roland's sword. My body
was absorbing them slowly, one by one. His blood mixed with my own, releasing its power, and
anchored me to life and pain. I didn't move, conserving what little strength and magic I had left. I
chanted, barely moving my lips, trying to push my body into regeneration. It didn't obey very well,
but I kept trying. I wouldn't give up and just die.
At least the pain had dimmed enough for my eyes to stop watering.
High above me a golden ceiling stretched, shrouded in shadow. Tall walls defined a cavernous
chamber, their carved glitter flowing seamlessly into the tiled floor layered with vivid velvet and
silk pillows. Nataraja, the People's head honcho in Atlanta, had tried to furnish his room just like
this. But his chamber atop the People's Casino paled in comparison to this room. All of Nataraja's
wealth wouldn't have bought a single panel of these golden walls.
I wondered if he had gotten his interior-decorating ideas from visiting a vimana. The People's
association with rakshasas must have gone pretty far back.
Just beyond me, the Wolf Diamond shone on a narrow metal pedestal. The two trophies of the
rakshasas' might: me and the gem. Where is your curse now, you dumb rock?
A steady hum underscored my thoughts. The propellers of the vimana. I had lost consciousness
during the flight. When I came to, we had landed on the balcony of the flying palace sitting aground
in the lush jungle, and Mart had tossed me into the cage. Now I lay there, neither alive nor dead,
suspended three feet above the floor in a cage like some sort of canary.
Mart sat among the pillows below. He'd traded his cat burglar suit for a turquoise flowing
garment that left his shoulders and arms bare. Three women fluttered over him, like brightly colored
hummingbirds. One washed his feet. One brushed his hair. One held his drink. Other rakshasas sat
along the wall, a respectable distance from him, a motley crew of monstrous and human bodies in
jewel-toned cloth. Some came and others went through the arched entrances puncturing the walls.
Mart stared at me, his blue eyes two merciless gem-stones, pushed the women aside, and strode
to the cage. I stopped chanting and just lay there, like a rag doll. I had enough strength left for one
lunge. The second he opened that door, I'd break his neck. His finger twitched and Livie came into