heal,” he gasped, blood and spittle raining on the floor around him in a macabre pattern.
I tried to push myself up but it was too much work. I lay there, knowing I was going to die. I reached behind me with my left hand and grasped my last hope. It was the one knife Leith hadn’t known about, the one that hadn’t been ripped off me by the soulless, grasping hands. I fumbled, trying to get the knife from the tape holster stuck to my skin, but it had been fashioned for my right hand.
“Don’t do it, Maddy,” Tarrek gasped, beginning to raise a hand toward me. I knew the hand held my death.
I ripped the tape holster from my back, tearing skin away at the same time. Blood ran down my back and seeped between my butt cheeks, pooling under my right hip. That was going to leave a mark. Pulling the knife from the homemade holster, I shoved myself to my feet, my right knee refusing to hold any weight.
“Come on, you jackass,” I croaked, weaving like a drunk.
“So eager to die? I should have killed you the first night, at the stones.”
“That is so canned,” I snarked, rolling my eyes. Then I paused, looking at him. “That was you?”
“It was.”
“Did you put my family tree in the car?”
He cocked his head to one side, considering. “No, I did not.” He coughed and some of his discharge splattered me. “Enough.”
Tarrek pushed himself to standing, and I knew this was my one chance. I gritted my teeth just as he raised his hands, opening his mouth to begin chanting under his breath, and I pushed off with my good leg. I fell into him and sliced across his face with my knife, splitting his lips horizontally to stop the spell. Blood splattered my face and hands, and I dropped the knife as I fell. I was a dead woman.
Bodies of Tarrek’s soldiers rounded the corner at an awkward run. I lay there and accepted death. It had ironically taken me ten days to finally live—to make a wish, to fall in love, and now to die.
A horrible roar came from below as a dragon launched itself over the railing at our little party, shifting into a woman before hitting the balcony.
“Tarrek,” screamed Brylanna. “No.” She held him to her breast, sobbing. “You must stay with me my love.”
That explained a lot. I heard a commotion behind me and Bahlin pulled himself over the ledge. Looking at me he froze and I whispered, “Finit.”
With a roar of pain and rage, Bahlin belched out a column of fire that devoured the two lovers, taking them into death’s embrace together, but not before Tarrek’s final spell was cast. It blew me back into the wall. Bahlin turned to me in slow motion and began to shift back to human. The horror on his face was the last thing I saw before darkness claimed me.
I sat up and was amazed that nothing hurt. I looked around and realized that Tyr was at my side.
“You may have set a record,” he said and almost smiled. “Shortest Niteclif service in the history of all Niteclifs. Do I congratulate or console you?”
I thought about that for a minute. “Wait. I can’t be dead,” I challenged, looking around for proof, but there was none to be had.
“You have a choice, Madeleine Dylis Niteclif,” Tyr said. “Do you stay, or do you go?”
“Go where?” I asked skeptically. “Because there are options, apparently.”
Tyr tipped his head back and laughed but sobered quickly as something happening over my shoulder caught his eye. I turned to see what he was looking at and I froze, my heart seizing in my chest.
Bahlin was bent over me giving me CPR. Not good. He was working feverishly, but I obviously wasn’t responding.
“Put. Me. Back,” I said, my voice and posture uncompromising. “I mean it, Pops.”
“Ah, you’re shitted. No, wait. That’s not right. Hmm. You’re pissed. That’s it. You’re pissed,” Tyr said, look pleased with himself for getting the slang right.
“Yes, I’m pissed. Put me back or show me how to get back.” I turned and looked at Bahlin who continued with chest compressions, a new franticness taking over his earlier smooth efforts. Behind him lay the smoking remains of corpses. They were so charred and mangled, piles of limbs sticking this way and that, it was impossible to tell who had died.