Silver - By Kailin Gow Page 0,51
back to me?
Hardly a good move, boy.”
“What do you want, Pietre?” Briony demanded. She wouldn’t be afraid. This time, she had her cross with her, and it would be more than enough to do the job. Hopeful y, anyway.
Pietre didn’t move. “I told you what I wanted back at your home. Don’t you remember, Briony? I wanted you to find the dragon for me. To make a way for me into Palisor.
And look, you are doing exactly that.”
Briony shook her head. “Not to help you. I’m just trying to get Aunt Sophie back.”
“Ah, Sophie.” Pietre looked wistful for a second or two, moving through the clearing and stooping to pluck a wildflower. He held it delicately between his fingers. “You know, I was convinced that it would be her who turned out to be the special one, but now that your dragon friend has conveniently told me al about you…” he crushed the flower in his hand, “maybe I don’t need her quite so much after al .
Not when I already have a way through the gate. Now, what was it Sophie tried with al those fake ones…?”
He moved to the stream, scooped up water, and flung it in a fine spray at Briony. It was no more than the finest of mists by the time it touched her skin, but it was enough.
Thick fog rose behind them, arcing up to reveal the gateway, stone coming clear of the drifting tendrils as the mist bil owed in the center. It swirled and changed, but this time, something was different. This time, Briony could see beyond it without having to wait for just the right moment.
Even while the thick fog continued to occupy the space within the stone arch, Briony could see the clearing beyond it perfectly. Could see the brightness and glory of it.
Briony saw Pietre take a step towards the gate, but Archer placed himself between the vampire and the structure.
“You shal not pass, demon. Your kind is forbidden from this place. Even if you touch the door, you wil find it locked to you.”
“He’s right, Pietre,” Briony put in. “Fal on and Jake both bounced right off the gate the last time. You won’t be able to get through.”
Pietre just smiled. “You know, with both a dragon and a princess of that land to serve as keys, I think I might just do a little better.”
Fal on stepped in front of Briony. “You aren’t going to do anything with Briony.”
“Oh, with just you to protect her?”
“Not just my brother.” Kevin stepped from the trees, with Jake beside him. Exactly how many people had seen Fal on’s flying routine?
“As for making me help you,” Archer said, “you have no chance. You might be an ancient vampire, but I am a dragon. Even if we were alone, you could not defeat me.”
“And of course, you are not.” Pietre’s smile did not falter. “But then again, neither am I.”
They came from the trees. More than a dozen of them, moving with the unnatural grace that al vampires had.
To Briony, none of them looked young. They weren’t Pietre’s age, but they al had their decades behind them.
They would al be powerful.
“I have told them about Palisor, and what it takes to get in there,” Pietre said. “Like me, they want a way in. They wil have it, too. Whether you agree or not. Why not just do as I ask? I wil let you al live if you do.”
Briony stepped back. Things were suddenly a lot more dangerous than they had been. She looked around at her brother, at the two young men she cared about, at Archer. Would they be enough to fight off so many vampires? Wouldn’t it be better to just let Pietre through?
Briony knew it didn’t work like that. She couldn’t afford to give in to Pietre, even when the alternative was violence. Besides, she strongly suspected that Archer wouldn’t move aside no matter what anyone said. And then there was the obvious point that Pietre simply couldn’t be trusted to keep his word.
“You aren’t coming in, Pietre,” she said, drawing out her cross and releasing the hidden blade.
“Oh, I think I am.”
“Not if I can help it,” Fal on said.
“Or me,” Archer said, and shifted. The vampires had obviously been told to expect it, because they didn’t run at the sight of a massive, winged, golden dragon before them.
Yet it was stil enough to make them hesitate, and in that pause, Archer flamed. Fire leapt from his