a minute. I could kill this many in that amount of time, but what if there were more?
The stun tended to wipe me out, leaving me at a disadvantage in any fight that might follow. I usually reserved it for emergencies as a result: for when enemy backup arrived unexpectedly and I found myself outnumbered, or when I ended up surrounded and needed to escape. It was a good defensive weapon, in other words, but not particularly well suited for offense.
And, of course, there was an even better defense, if we hadn’t yet been spotted.
“Well, hell,” Ray said. “That’s only fifteen, maybe twenty guys a piece.”
I looked at him. “Do you think you can take fifteen or twenty well-armed fey warriors?”
He rolled his eyes. “You do know there’s these things called jokes, right?”
Yes, but this did not seem like the time.
But perhaps it would help to ease the tension.
“I think we should make like a tree,” I said.
“What?”
“Leave.”
He stared at me for a moment, in what appeared to be concern. But he must have agreed. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s get outta here.”
Chapter Eighteen
Dorina, Faerie
There was only one other direction to go, so we hurried back down the tunnel toward the smaller capsule. It was still lit up, with the silvery blue color splashing the driftwood pile and throwing claw like shadows onto the walls. It resembled a bonfire burning with blue flame.
Ray shook his head in disgust. “That’s not gonna work. We gotta find a way to turn that shit off—”
The lights suddenly extinguished.
He and I looked at each other.
“Maybe . . . it’s on a timer?” he said.
I had not seen a timer, or anything else that looked like technology, unless you counted the ship itself. But he knew Faerie better than I did. “Have you encountered such things before?” I whispered, as we skirted the thicket of driftwood.
“Other than for the one we hit, you mean?”
I paused. “You mean with the shield?”
He nodded.
“That was one like this?”
“Yeah, only bigger. And made outta wood, like the ones back there.” He hiked a thumb at the fey. And then he glanced at me. “Looks like somebody wants you bad.”
“We should probably hurry, then.”
We hurried.
I was afraid that the cave would come to a dead end, which might have had a double meaning in our case. But instead, the opposite proved to be true. The rocky floor stopped abruptly a hundred yards or so past the thicket, but in a cliff, not a wall.
It overlooked a much larger cavern complex that spread out below our feet. I could not see an end to it, as there was a forest of stalactites and stalagmites in the way, but not like the ones behind us. These were huge, spearing up from the darkness or knifing down from above, that looked as if they had been growing there for centuries. They reminded me of a great mouth filled with jagged teeth, which I did not find to be a happy reference.
I switched to several different types of vision, but they did not tell me much more, and neither did my nose. The air was cool, almost cold, with a clammy breeze carrying surprisingly clean smelling air, with just a hint of guano. I thought I heard water rushing somewhere, but it was so faint that it could have been an echo of the falls behind us. There did not appear to be a way down.
Or if there was, we did not have the time to find it.
A fey voice yelled, far back in the cave, and was quickly echoed by several others. I did not need to understand their words to know the cause: our footsteps had been spotted. Our enemy was coming.
“Okay, okay. You got a plan, right?” Ray said, bouncing on his toes.
I looked at him. “I do?”
“You’re supposed to have a plan! Dory always has a plan!”
I did not doubt that. My twin was very resourceful. Unfortunately, I had always been strong enough to fight my way out of most predicaments, and thus never needed to develop her skill set. And now we were in a land where my physical advantage was diminished.
It was a problem.
“Well?” Ray whispered.
“I am thinking,” I said.
This did not appear to reassure him.
It did not reassure me, either, but I did not see—
Anything, I thought, as a sudden blaze of light from behind all but blinded me.
“What the—?” Ray yelled, as we were both knocked off our feet.