“You did it!” Spark hauled him to his feet, her grip warm and strong. “Let’s get out of here. Hit the log out command.”
Aran lifted his finger in the signal to exit the game. Nothing happened. He tried again.
Spark looked at him, her eyes wide and anxious.
“We’re stuck in-game,” she said, her voice tight. “This is bad.”
“And about to get worse.”
In those few seconds, night had fallen. The moon hung in the sky, a sharp sickle. Branches rustled, and he caught a glimpse of gossamer wings, of red caps and sharp teeth, of flickering purple flame. Faint music drifted on the breeze, and the air was icy.
The Dark Queen was coming.
Nine by Night: A Multi-Author Urban Fantasy Bundle of Kickass Heroines, Adventure, Magic
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Spark grabbed her bow, her fingers chilled to the bone. Of course she and Aran couldn’t just close up the gateway and go home—the Dark Queen would not allow it. The shadows in the forest gathered thickly, and Spark’s heartbeat pounded in her ears.
She reviewed her spells. Whether to use each element at a time, or throw them all together at once depended on how the fight went. She was confident she could make that choice in the heat of battle.
What she wasn’t confident of was the strength of two mortals going up against the most powerful being in the realm.
Figures gathered around the edges of the faerie ring, like spectators at a match. Squat goblins wearing hats the color of blood were joined by twiggy figures with long, oddly jointed limbs. Ethereal maidens stood shoulder to shoulder with shambling bog creatures. All of them focused on her and Aran, their eyes feral and avid.
A rustle went through the crowd, and Spark swallowed the lump of fear blocking her throat. Striding toward them was the forbidding figure of the Black Knight. She remembered him from her former battle against the queen. Encased in ebony armor, his helmet was drawn over his face, the eye slits revealing only more darkness within.
He stopped at the edge of the ring, but made no move to attack. Yet.
The Dark Queen glided into the clearing. Her dark hair framed a face pale as snow, with high cheeks and eyes like fathomless pools. Spark glimpsed the death of stars in those eyes, and tore her gaze away. The terrible beauty of the queen was enough to freeze Spark’s senses.
Wait. She shook her head and blinked frost from her eyelashes. Stiffly, she looked at Aran. A thin layer of frost coated him, his cheeks shining with ice.
Anger flared through her, and she called up her wall of fire, blasting it forth from frigid fingers. The heat of it freed them from the frost’s embrace and made the watching fey folk cry out, stumbling in their haste to avoid that sheet of flame.
The Black Knight held his shield in front of his queen, absorbing the fire as if it were a black hole, eating up the light.
“Unfair,” Spark said.
The queen laughed, the sound like icy bells.
“Mortal girl,” she said. “Do not speak to me of fairness when your companion has cheated us.”
“Cheated you?” Aran scowled at the queen. “How about gold coins turning into leaves? I’d call that quite a scam.”
“We upheld our end of the bargain,” the queen said. “You received your reward. A pity that our coin takes a different form once transported from the realm. Yet you may not break the bargain we had.”
“Oh, yes I can,” Aran said. “And I have. The gateway is closed, and you can’t make me open it again.”#p#分页标题#e#
He lifted his tablet and, pivoting, smashed it against the invisible wall. The screen shattered, pieces of plas-metal and glass littering the moss. Spark glimpsed a bit of bright orange in the mess—the plastic dragon Aran had wished for.
The Dark Queen’s eyes narrowed into glittering shards of diamond. A frigid wind whipped through the clearing, lashing the branches of the white-barked trees.
“Take them!” she cried, pointing at Spark and Aran with her long, sharp finger. “What mortal meddling has begun, mortal blood will make undone!”
The Black Knight drew his sword and strode forward, a gang of goblins at his feet. Spark nocked an arrow and fired, but the point slid uselessly off his black armor. Beside her, Aran flung throwing knives at their advancing enemies. A few of them hit, but not enough. Time for a bigger attack.
She conjured up a wave and sent it splashing over the goblins. They shrieked and flailed as most of them were washed away. The remaining few halted, dripping and wary. But the Black Knight kept coming.
Spark lifted her bow again and fired. The knight charged forward, knocking her arrow aside. She danced back, throwing up a wall of air to stop him. That armor was a beast to deal with. A shot right into the helmet was her best—and probably only—chance.