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As I went to right myself, I saw the three Fae converge on Valerian’s position, trying to encircle him so that he couldn’t escape. I wanted to help him, but this spellcaster wasn’t about to let me go anywhere unless I dealt with him first. Considering he could burst into clouds of smoke, that was going to be difficult.
“Come quietly,” said the Fae with the fire hands. “Your friends will be spared, for our Queen is merciful.”
“She is not our Queen,” I snarled. “She stole that throne, and I intend on making sure she doesn’t keep it.”
“Queen Malys would like you to reconsider your stance. She has already stated her terms… do you agree to them?”
“That woman is insane if she thinks I’m going to allow myself to be exiled like my parents were. Don’t you see what she’s done to this world? To you?”
“Thanks to her, I have attained power like I never would’ve dreamed. Or should I say, thanks to you?”
Steel clashed on steel as the soldiers moved in on Valerian. I turned my head in time to catch him lock swords with one of the soldiers. With a hard shove, he sent the soldier stumbling back, arms pinwheeling before the soldier hit the ground with a loud thud. In an instant, though, another soldier was on him, sword swinging violently at Valerian; swinging with intent to seriously injure, or even kill.
Meanwhile, I was only being winded.
Delayed.
Malys was serious… she didn’t care about whether my friends lived or died, but she needed me alive. By resisting, I was gambling with their lives, but giving in to what she wanted from me was worse, wasn’t it? Condemning Arcadia’s Winter Kingdom to live under her rule, to suffer under the yoke of her tyranny, that was way worse.
A breeze rolled in, and on the back of that breeze I caught a scent that I felt was getting stronger, growing nearer.
Colbolt.
“You can tell your Queen I’ll never submit,” I said.
“Pity…” said the Fae. “Perhaps she could have found a place for you, but you lack the imagination to see the kind of future you could have had if you had only cooperated.”
“I am Amara Wolfsbane,” I said, as swords clashed around me and clanking soldiers converged on our position. “I am the rightful Princess of Windhelm, heiress to Winter’s Throne, Daughter of the White Wolf and the Vanquisher of Evil. I will never submit this realm to suffer an impostor’s rule.”
“Then you’ll die,” said the Fae, and wound back his arm, the fireball in his hand suddenly growing in intensity.
I rose up onto my legs and took my Fae form, preparing myself to avoid this Fae’s cold, fiery blast of magic. That was when Colbolt strode onto the scene, hooves pounding heavily against the snow. He came shrieking around a corner, his head low, his antlers poised. With a sweeping gesture of his neck, he picked up one of the soldiers and sent him easily ten feet into the air. Valerian, seizing his chance, slammed the side of his sword against the head of the last, still standing soldier, knocking him out cold.
The spellcaster hadn’t yet launched his fireball at me. He seemed like he was considering his choices, especially since now there were three of us standing before him, and the soldiers backing him up were still trying to get to where we were.
“Amara!” Valerian yelled. He was already getting on Colbolt’s back.
I swung around, taking Valerian’s hand and leaping up and over the Maukibou to land on his back as well. “The gates are closed,” I said, “We’ll never make it out of here.”
“Hold on,” Valerian yelled, and he urged Colbolt to start moving. The Maukibou took off just as the Fae spellcaster launched an icy blue bolt of magic at us. The magic shrieked through the air, missing us only by a hair’s length. “Take us to Earth,” said Valerian as we turned a corner.
“What?! I can’t do that!”
“You can. And this time, you can bring us back, too.”
“Valerian, we’ll lose time…” I said. “The longer we spend on Earth, the shorter our window gets.”
“We don’t have a choice.”
“Dammit,” I cursed, but he was right. I didn’t think about it again. Without wasting another second, I performed the necessary gestures and summoned my power to create a gateway between worlds. Colbolt had brought us into a long, empty stretch of alleyway that I could do this in, placing the portal far enough away from us that I could open it before we reached it.
I was sending us back to London, back to Carnaby Street. I couldn’t believe we were going back.
“For the record,” Gullie said, “I hate this plan.”
The portal crackled open, and the Maukibou surged ahead and took us through it, leaping as he reached the threshold. When he landed, it was in the middle of a busy, pedestrianized street. People screamed and cleared out of our way as we made our entrance, bringing with us a hail of snow and wind all the way from Arcadia.
When Colbolt caught his footing and stopped, I turned around to seal the portal, only by the time I managed to force it closed, the spellcasting Fae had managed to teleport his way through it. The portal shut, leaving a flurry of snowflakes in its place, and the figure of the Fae who had chased us across worlds.
