“Perhaps the mental strain is getting to you?” he asked.
“You sound scared,” I said, raising my voice. “No flourish, no stylish finish. You’re down to the point of stabbing and shooting, waiting until I get tired and can’t stay out of reach. You just pulled out your trump card, and I’m still fucking here!”
“Not a trump card. Merely a card among many,” Conquest said.
He raised his gun, but he didn’t aim at me.
It was Maggie, on the far side of the street, crouched by a snowbank. She was more exposed, now that the snow had stopped. Her face was intact, now. The same healing she’d granted to me? Faster, clearly, with no scarring.
He fired, and Maggie moved her hand. The bullet hit snow.
He fired again, but she was already moving her hand in the other direction. The bullet hit snow on the other side.
Goblin magic? They work with and against metals.
Maggie ran for cover, hiding at a spot I couldn’t see.
Cowardly, I thought. I said, “I thought this was between you and me.”
“Then you’re an imbecile. The contest was for us to battle with the aid of champions. She remains yours. I’ve disabled your Rose, killed young master Fell, slain your Hyena. Without your Rose, you can’t use the imp.”
“And yours?” I asked. “Somehow I don’t think it’s confidence that has you here alone.”
“The Eye was working the storm, drawing on shifts in climate, and twists this city up to build my tower, as man disrupts his environment to fuel the growth of cities. He’s active, but indisposed. You’ve weakened my Shepherd, set the Sisters of the Torch and the Astrologer against one another. Laird bleeds to death as we speak. This is the natural conclusion. Once I’ve dealt with the goblin queen that lacks any goblins, it’ll be only you or me, and you can only run for so long.”
As if to punctuate his statement, he stepped closer. He thrust around the side of the car, I backed off, and he reversed the weapon, swinging it like a club, hitting the car so it rocked into me. Both car and the snow that layered the top of the car hit me.
Wind knocked out of me, momentarily blind, my movements limited as more snow fell. I was between the parked car and the snowbank, and was knee deep, with snow having fallen around my feet.
I saw Evan fly forth from the garage, and my spirits lifted.
But Evan wasn’t coming to my rescue.
He flew to Maggie.
Conquest struck the car again. It slid, sandwiching me between fiberglass and snowbank, momentarily squeezing the air out of me. I stood at a diagonal, half buried, pinned.
“A beheading, do you think?” Conquest asked.
I looked to Maggie and Evan.
No help there. Maggie held her funny little dagger, but she was staring at me, and she wasn’t doing anything.
I had my locket, but no glamour, no spell I could rely on.
The hatchet was broken.
I was almost out of tricks.
But Duncan had been too, not so long ago, and he’d put up a fight.
Duncan.
The thoughts that reached me were fragmented ones. Theatrics, object-
He drew his weapon back behind his right shoulder.
“Fuck you!” I shouted.
His distorted expression showed only a permanent leer of contempt.
He swung.
I reached up and across, with my right arm, fist clenched.
“Stop!” I bellowed, pulling my sleeve down, exposing the skin between glove and coat.
The blade of the bayonet, practically a sword, given our scale, struck my arm.
The arm wasn’t enough to stop it, obviously enough. Much less my wrist.
But the Stonehenge charm bracelet was the first thing in the line of fire.
The blade cut the bracelet. It stopped.
Everything stopped.
Maggie and Evan remained in place. The snow had stopped falling when Conquest had ordered it, but even the snow from inside the house and the snow that fell from rooftops like a frozen waterfall had stopped in place.
When I looked with the Sight, I saw that most spirits had stopped altogether.
The movement of my arm stirred the spirits, as if simply reminding them to start moving again.
Two simple elements.
Theatrics, for one. A good, clear shout, acting at the right moment.
Duncan had been given the bracelet as a power reserve. I’d spent that power, rightfully taken, much as I’d spent June.
Chronomancy might be a farce, at least in part, but this had worked. Nothing Conquest had done had suggested he was immune to the flaws of perceptions.
There had been nothing certain about it, only gut feeling. If there hadn’t been a spirit inside, or if there hadn’t been enough power, or if Conquest had been immune…
I sank back, gasping for air.
My head touched the snowbank, and found it hard.
In the next moment, I was moving. My arms stretched out, finding leverage on the snowbank, and I managed to pull my legs up and free.
I climbed over the back of the car.
I found secure footing.
Lines circled my wrist, like the rings of Saturn led astray, dust swirling in a corkscrew orbit.
Breaking apart, showing just how much time I had. One or two minutes, if that.
Couldn’t hurt Conquest. He was an incarnation, vulnerable.
I made a beeline to Laird.
The cut on my shoulderblade made itself known as I pulled off my jacket.
I rolled Laird, surprised at how easy it was.
Using my jacket as a bundle, holding the bottom corners and the sleeves, I scooped up the blood-soaked snow.
I slung the bundle over one shoulder, hurrying toward Evan and Maggie.
The line was running out.
I bent down, and began shaking the bundle, controlling the gap in the bottom-
The effect ended. Wind blew, fierce, from the point where sword had touched bracelet, stirring snow and creating clouds of loose snow that reached as high as the houses around us.
I squinted against the wind, glancing up at Conquest, as he followed through. The blade bit into the car’s frame.
He looked up at me.
I kept letting the bloody snow out of the jacket, drawing a thicker, clearer line.
“Blake?” Evan asked.
“Plan?” I asked.
“Rose won’t wake up. She got shot, inside the mirror-world. I thought Maggie could give blood, but-”
“There isn’t a strong connection,” Maggie said. “Among other reasons.”
Like whatever it is that’s lurking just under your skin?
Arm extended, I peeked around the snowbank. A bullet clipped the space inches from my head.
“Use mine,” I said. “Just… don’t grab me. Stab only.”
Maggie wasted no time in listening. I was glad for that. I even respected it. After so long fighting with Rose, arguing over every last thing, it was awfully nice to have a friend that’d stab me when stabbing was necessary.
The dagger punched into the back of my hand, almost exactly where I’d stabbed myself when I’d fought the faerie swordswoman. I bled. Maggie drew out a line in Rose’s direction, matching the direction to the connection that stretched between us.
Maggie said, “Rose, we give you Blake’s blood and bid you to rouse.”
I added, “We need you as we needed Laird. This may be our last chance. Take as much as you need. I don’t know if I trust you, but I trust you to do that much.”
I felt the strength go out of me, as I sank to my knees.
Here we were.
He’s only about as strong as the Hyena. I took on the Hyena with only a little help from Evan and June.