Dead Man's Deal The Asylum Tales - By Jocelynn Drake Page 0,143

Bronx said, and I nodded in a jerky motion. “But you know she’ll be here when you get back. We both will be.”

I narrowed my eyes at the troll. “Why aren’t you asking to come with me?”

“Would you let me?”

“No.”

The troll raised both eyebrows at me and gave a little smirk. “And that would be why.” He shrugged his massive shoulders as he laid his hands on the countertop. “Seems like it’s a magic users’ party anyway and we trolls aren’t so strong at magic.” His light expression slipped away and he frowned at me. “I would go with you, though. I’d take on the Svartálfar and go with you to the Ivory Towers.”

“I know. I’d choose you guarding my back over a hundred warlocks anytime.”

“Thank you.”

I smiled weakly. “Watch over Trixie for me.”

“Of course.”

There was nothing left to say. I was merely wasting time because I didn’t want to go charging after Reave into the heart of the Svartálfar nation. I didn’t want to risk my life to capture him, only to take my life in my hands again when I delivered him to the Towers. Despite all my planning, this wasn’t going to end well. It couldn’t. But I had to keep moving. The longer I delayed, the more people were going to be hurt.

Pulling my wand out of my back pocket, I turned and opened the front door, sending a little electronic chime through the shop. As I expected, the hobgoblin darted from the back of the shop. He settled on my shoulder, one small arm resting on the top of my head while his long tail wrapped around my biceps. He had to give me some directions to Reave’s location. We stepped out into the cool night air, ready to hunt down a dark elf.

28

THE DARKNESS SEEMED impossibly thick around us despite a velvet sky full of stars and a half-moon hanging overhead. As my eyes soaked in what little light there was, I started to pick out a thick swath of trees surrounding us. There was a feeling of empty space directly in front of me, as if the earth suddenly fell away. I decided to trust the feeling and not step forward.

I had used a teleportation spell to take the hobgoblin and myself across more than a hundred miles, leaving us close to where the dark elves were huddled. Duff had given me the mental image of the spot, promising that it was a safe distance from where he had last seen them.

I needed to get my bearings before we started out. I had no idea where the hobgoblin had taken me, just that it had been south of Low Town and my shop. Cupping my hands in front of my face, I blew a slow, steady breath into them as if trying to warm them. The air curled around my palms, brushing against my fingers as I willed it to form an almost solid ball. Closing my eyes and turning my head away, I gave one more push of energy into the ball of warm air before tossing it up into the sky. When I looked back, a ball of energy hovered a few feet above me, casting the area in a soft, white glow.

Shadows lunged and thickened where they tightly clasped to trees and in deep hollows. There was a drop-off directly in front of me. I couldn’t tell how deep it was, but I wasn’t willing to find out the hard way. I could see a path leading off to my right that seemed to snake through the forest. The trees were heavy with leaves and the brush was thick on the ground, hiding all sorts of predators, but then I wasn’t counting on sneaking up on the Svartálfar. No one snuck up on an elf on its home turf, not even a warlock.

Turning around, I saw a stone formation rise up behind me. The glowing orb ducked in closer at my command, showing that two openings had been cut into what would have been a rock wall. A rush of anger flooded my veins and I silently cursed the dark elves for ever stepping foot in this place.

“Angel Windows,” I said, my eyes dancing over the rock formation. “They had to come here.”

Duff shifted on my shoulder, one tiny fist tightening in my hair. “That’s what the humans call this place. You know where we are?”

I nodded, turning toward the path, the glowing orb shooting out in front of me.