The Spirit Thief(43)

“Eli,” Josef said over his shoulder, “whatever you’re doing, could you do it a little faster?”

Eli gave him a biting look before turning back to the boulder. Josef backed up a step, pressing Nico into the stone. The cloud was not heading at them directly. Instead, it skirted the edge of the clearing, keeping close to the forest. The trees leaned back when the billowing black dust came near, lifting their branches high in the air, as if they were trying to get out of its way. Then the screaming storm touched a tree that had the misfortune of growing too far out, and Josef saw why. As soon as the spinning black gusts connected with the branches, they disintegrated. The cyclone passed over the tree as if it were not there, reducing it to sawdust without effort or notice, and without slowing its progress toward the huddled group by the boulder.

“Eli,” Josef said again, “now would be good.”

“Got it!” Eli shouted. “All right, go!”

“Go where?!” Josef yelled frantically. The cloud was almost on top of them, filling his vision from ground to sky. That was the last thing he saw before the rock swallowed him.





CHAPTER 14





Miranda didn’t realize she had passed out until she woke up sore, stiff, dirty, and uncomfortably damp. She was propped on Gin’s paw, and as soon as she moved, his long snout filled her vision.

“How are you feeling?”

Miranda thought about it, and winced. “Like someone’s beaten me, eaten me, and thrown me up again.”

She ignored his disgusted look and pulled herself up by his fur. “That went well,” she muttered, cleaning the grit out of her mouth with a less dirty corner of her riding coat. “Somehow, I’m not surprised Coriano was there. I’d love to know what that enslaver’s paying him to make him toss out his good reputation with the Spirit Court.”

“I don’t think it’s always about money with that one,” Gin said thoughtfully. “He smells more of blood than gold to me.”

Miranda grimaced. “Well, that’s a problem for later,” on top of the mountain of problems they already faced. “Right now, we’ve got to figure out what we’re going to do about Renaud.”

Gin laid his ears back. “Men like that don’t deserve to be wizards. Sandstorms may be stupid, but no spirit deserves what he did. It’s even worse than being eaten by a demon. At least then you’re just dead rather than jabbering insane and balled up in some maniac’s pocket.”

Miranda looked up. “Is it still around?”

“I can’t hear it, but that’s no guarantee he didn’t put it back in his pocket.”

Miranda groaned and rubbed her temples. “An enslaver with an ax to grind and a throne to grind it on, it doesn’t get much worse than that.”

“Wait,” Gin said. “What about that Banage thing? The thing he sent us here to stop Eli from getting?”

Miranda blanched. “Gregorn’s Pillar…” She put her knuckles to her mouth, thinking madly. “No,” she said at last. “I don’t think he knows about it. Gregorn’s Pillar is a pretty obscure piece of wizarding history. Banage wasn’t even sure Eli knew about it, but it was the only thing he could think of that Monpress would want from Mellinor. Anyway, Renaud was a jilted wizard in the castle for sixteen years. If he knew about the Pillar, he would have enslaved his way to it years ago, wouldn’t he?”

“I’d think so,” Gin said. “But can we count on that? I mean, I’m pretty good against enslavers usually, but Renaud had me down in the dust before I knew what was happening. He’s got a strong soul, and he’s not afraid to use it full tilt. Now, that’s bad enough, but if that pillar is half of what Banage made it out to be, Renaud really will be able to put the spirit world under his boot if he gets his hands on it.”

“That may be true,” Miranda said and nodded, pulling herself up by his fur. “But Renaud getting the pillar is not a possibility we can handle, so there’s no point in dwelling on it. Let’s just focus on getting him off the throne quickly before he figures out what’s in his treasury.”

“It should be simple enough,” Gin said. “Jump the gates, eat the prince, and get out.” He snapped his teeth. “An enslaver is only human, after all.”

“Out of the question.” Miranda shook her head. “We’d just get flattened again if we tried a direct attack.”

Gin snorted, and Miranda ignored him, pacing little nervous circles around the hound’s paws. “What we need is help,” she said. “But there’s no time to send to the Spirit Court for backup, and with all of Mellinor thinking I murdered their king, we’ll get no aid from—” She stopped suddenly, looking around. “Wait a minute, where is the king?”