More lightning. And the thunder which followed was closer this time.
You’re mad, Talaith, I thought back. You can’t afford to waste your energy like this. The Renewal Ceremony is approaching. And Dis won’t be pleased if you’re too weak to fulfill your part in it.
I’m touched by your concern, she thought mockingly. You’ll be relieved to know that I’m not using a single iota of my own power. My loyal subjects are thoughtfully allowing me to borrow theirs.
I realized the significance of all the fires we’d seen. The Arcane weren’t celebrating; they were conducting a rite to transfer mystic power to their Lady.
A series of lightning flashes this time, much closer, and the crack of thunder sounded almost immediately.
How’d you know we were coming? I thought. I doubt you’ve been wasting power constantly scrying for me-you don’t have it to spare. Not in your present condition.
I sensed her anger at my taunt. I always conduct an augury using a mourning dove before every Descension Day to determine how things will go. This year, the bird’s entrails told me that you would be passing through tonight. And so I prepared. Glee and anticipation suffused her thoughts. With the help of my people, I’m going to destroy you once and for all, Matthew Richter, and your friends along with you. What do you think of that?
Lightning crashed outside the cab, thunder cracked, rattling the windows. A driving rain began to fall. Lazlo hit the wipers.
What if I told you that I’m due to decompose in another day or so anyway? Why bother wasting magic power, even if it isn’t your own, to destroy me if I’ll be gone in a handful of hours?
Talaith didn’t respond right away, and the rain slackened, but didn’t let up entirely.
I sense you’re telling the truth. And in that case letting you go would be the sensible thing. But I don’t want to be sensible; I want revenge.
The rain picked up, coming down so hard now that visibility was near zero, but Lazlo didn’t let up on the gas. The lightning and thunder were constant now. I wondered how close we were to the Bridge of Lost Souls. Not close enough, I feared.
Instead of destroying you, perhaps I’ll try to merely incapacitate you. That way you’ll get to see your friends perish, and afterward I can bring you to Woodhome and have the pleasure of watching you rot away to nothing. Yes, that sounds quite lovely.
I had one last card up my sleeve. It wasn’t an ace…hell, it wasn’t even a deuce, but it was all I had, so I played it.
What would you say if I reminded you about the Accord that states travelers on the Obsidian Way aren’t to be interfered with?
I’d say, “What Accord?”
And then I felt Talaith’s foul presence depart my mind. If I could have, I would’ve taken my brain out and given it a good scrubbing to get rid of the mental aftertaste of the Witch Queen’s thoughts.
“Uh, guys, we have a problem.”
“No shit we have a problem!” Lazlo shouted over the riotous thunder. “I can barely see two feet in front of us, and these so-called roads are rapidly turning into mud!”
I filled them in on my mental tete-a-tete with the mistress of the Arcane.
“An augury!” Lazlo said in surprise. “Those went out with evil eyes and love potions!”
“This is no time to discuss fashion trends in magic,” I said. “We have to figure a way out of this!”
“We better figure fast, then.” Lazlo pointed at the sky beyond the windshield. There, highlighted against black clouds, was the figure of an angel with wings of lightning. But this was a dark angel with wild raven hair, hate-filled eyes, and lips twisted in cruel laughter that boomed louder than thunder. Talaith, or at least a reasonable facsimile, getting ready to swoop down for the kill.
I looked out the windshield. Talaith’s avatar had left her position in the sky and was swooping down toward us, dark glee and anticipation blazing on her face.
Talaith’s avatar closed on our cab. She plucked a bolt of lightning from her wings and it shaped itself into a sword crackling with electricity. As she neared, she shrieked like a banshee experiencing labor pains, lifted the glowing yellow-white sword, and, as she reached the cab, swung.
But Lazlo was ready for her. Just as she brought the sword around, he jerked the steering wheel to the left and hit the gas. A sizzling sound filled the interior of the cab and then we were spinning out of control. I grabbed Devona because I hoped my zombie body might absorb some of the impact-neither of us were wearing seatbelts because Lazlo’s cab doesn’t have them. He tore them out because, as he once explained to me, they “show a real lack of confidence in the driver”-and together we bounced around the back seat as Lazlo swore mightily and struggled to regain control over his machine.
But it was no good; the car tipped, bounced, and rolled five times before finally crunching to a stop. The cab-what was left of it-was resting on its hood in the middle of a rain-soaked field. I still had hold of Devona.
“You okay?” I shouted above the still rollicking storm.
“I think so. Plenty of aches, but I don’t think any-thing’s broken.”
“Lazlo?”
He moaned and I thought he’d been hurt. But then he said, “My cab! What did that bitch do to my beautiful cab?”
If any of us had been human, or in Devona’s case all the way human, we most likely would’ve been killed. As it was, it looked like we were going to survive long enough for Talaith to kill us in person.
I kicked out the safety glass of the shattered rear window, which wasn’t easy since my left leg didn’t work quite right anymore, and pushed Devona through the opening. I yelled for Lazlo to get out of the car, and then crawled after Devona.
Getting up wasn’t easy with my latest injury, but once I was up, I could stand okay. Devona pointed to the cab’s passenger-side tires: they were nothing but melted globs on the rims.
So Talaith’s avatar had gotten in a shot after all. I suppose the air was filled with the greasy-oily stink of burning rubber, though my dead zombie nose couldn’t detect it. The rest of the cab didn’t look much better than the tires.
The driver’s door burst off and flew into the field as Lazlo forced his way out. The demon’s a lot stronger than he appears. As soon as he got a good look at what Talaith had done to his beloved cab, he began sobbing. The vehicle’s hood had been torn off, exposing its inner mouth. Numerous teeth had been broken off, the cab’s long tongue lolled onto the ground, and a pool of dark liquid that might or might not have been oil was spreading beneath the vehicle. Devona hurried over to console Lazlo, and I looked to the sky, expecting to see Talaith’s avatar gazing down at us and laughing with dark delight. But there was no sign of the Witch Queen, and a moment later the rain ceased and the clouds began to clear.
“What’s happening?” Devona said as I walked over to join her and Lazlo next to the demon’s dearly departed death-machine.
“I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe Talaith used up the magic power she borrowed from her people and couldn’t maintain her avatar any longer.”
Bright white light flared into existence around us, revealing a dozen men and women carrying wooden staffs with glowing lux crystals attached to the ends. Most of them wore tunics, but three-two men and a woman-wore loose-fitting hooded robes. I didn’t have to guess who was in charge.
One of the robed men, a portly fellow with a gray mustache and goatee stepped forward.
“Or maybe,” he said with a sinister smile, “instead of wasting more power, our Lady sent us to retrieve you.”
“That’s another possibility,” I said.
“You sure know how to show a girl a good time, Matt.”
“How long have you been waiting to use that line?” I said.
“A few hours,” Devona admitted.
“You two are a riot,” Lazlo said. “Are you guys always this funny or only when you’re tied to stakes and surrounded by pissed-off witches and warlocks?”
Our Glamere welcoming committee had brought us-by force, naturally-to the village of Merrowvale. They’d hustled us into the village square and then tied us to three large wooden stakes atop a stone dais. The three robed Arcane, who I took to be the village Elders, then ordered children to begin piling firewood around Devona and Lazlo’s feet. But not, I noticed, around mine.