For Whom the Spell Tolls (22 page)

“Knight, do you think that’s a good idea?” she started. “He obviously already knows about our plans. Over.”

“We have no choice,” Knight said in a hollow tone. He shook his head as he diverted his attention from my face. “We’ve already made our bed.”

Christina sighed heavily and after a protracted silence, she took another deep breath. “Be careful,” she said at last. “I’ll look forward to your next call.”

“You too. Just follow the water downstream and you’ll eventually end up in a city somewhere. Stay under the cover of the trees whatever you do, and look out for
smolls
. Over.”

“I’ve got an Op 6 and a 7 so I’m good to go,” she responded. I wondered what in the hell
smolls
were but didn’t have the strength to ask. “Bye, Knight.”

“This isn’t good-bye,” he responded stonily. “We’ll be talking again soon.”

Turning off the radio, Knight’s eyes bored right into mine. I couldn’t read anything in his expression and half wondered if he would yell at me or embrace me. “This isn’t your fault,” he said at last.

I gulped down my response because at this point, I knew it wouldn’t make any difference. Whether or not it was my fault didn’t help things. We had to focus on the tactics that would. Knight was right: it was too late now to turn back. We had to push forward and take my father out, even though it was now quite obvious he knew we were coming for him.

TWELVE

“So how much does Bram know?” Knight asked, turning to face me as we hid in the cover of the forest that bordered Willoughby House. I gazed out at the swamp from which we’d narrowly escaped death, and saw the monster bird flying through the air, squawking and screeching as if protesting that its lunch escaped into the forest. There was no sign of the swamp monster.

Facing Knight again, I had to gulp down the burning taste of acid that started up my throat when I thought how easily Bram stabbed me in the back and, worse, how I practically helped him do it. Knowing my anger could only deter me from achieving my goal of going after my father, I tried to answer Knight’s question as to what Bram did and did not know. “Obviously, he knows we’re gunning for my father, which is why he gave me his pocket watch,” I started. “So I predict it’s safe to assume he knows we’re coming after Melchior.”

“And that means it’s also safe to assume that Melchior now knows that as well,” Quill added while I nodded in agreement.

Knight didn’t say anything more as he pulled the walkie-talkie from his pocket and tried to reach Fagan again. As soon as Knight hung up with Christina earlier, he kept trying to reach Fagan through the radio, but the Drow never responded. This time was no closer to being a charm, as there was still no response from the other end. Knight shook his head in obvious disappointment and returned the radio to his back pocket, turning to me again. “When Bram gave you the portal ripper, he instructed you to go after the Netherworld Guard base at Squander Valley, right?”

I nodded while wanting to throw up because the taste of acid creeping up the back of my throat was becoming toxic. “Right, so Bram obviously must have helped plan the Netherworld Guard’s response.”

“Did he know anything about our other attacks?” Knight continued, eyeing me directly. I still couldn’t find any anger in his features. And, for some reason, knowing he didn’t blame me for trusting Bram, despite his repeated warnings not to, made me feel even worse. It was a guilt I’d never experienced before—it made me want to drop to my knees and cry, while tearing my hair out in mute frustration.

I shook my head and heaved a sigh as I tried to banish the self-disgust from my mind. I just couldn’t accept that I, Dulcie O’Neil, was so stupid as to trust the vampire so blindly. I rarely trusted anyone; and it usually took years, sometimes decades, before I allowed someone into my inner circle.

And, yet, you’ve known Bram for years
, a small voice reminded me.
Bram played you like a pro. He waited all these years, pretending to be your ally and your friend, while planning to pull the wool over your eyes at the very end.

“Bram didn’t know anything else about our other strategy,” I said finally, concentrating on the subject at hand. “I didn’t tell him about staging the phony surrender at the airport, or our proposed attack on Tipshaw.”

“So maybe both the airport surrender and Tipshaw went off without a hitch,” Knight started as Quill began firmly shaking his head.

“Melchior is a smart man. He would have assigned reinforcements at Tipshaw as well as all the bases in the Netherworld as soon as he learned about Squander Valley,” he rebutted, frowning at Knight and then at me. A shadow passed over his face as the bird creature from the swamp flew over the trees.

I nodded at him, reminding myself that the monster bird couldn’t find us in the dense forest. And, even if it did, there was no way it could reach us beneath the thick canopy of trees. ’Course, all that did was remind me of all the creatures in the forest that
could
get us …

“Right,” I said. “I think it’s safest to assume that my father has all his bases covered, no pun intended.”

Knight turned his attention from the sky, where he was watching the flying obscenity, to me. “So Bram has no idea how many soldiers we have with us right now?” he asked.

“I never told Bram anything about our numbers,” I started. I cocked my head to the side as I considered whether that was a benefit or a hindrance to us. “Bram not knowing our numbers could be good, but it could also be bad.”

“How so?” Knight inquired, ever the eager manager.

I shrugged. “Maybe Melchior thinks we’re coming with lots more backup than we really are, in which case his battalion here could be huge, leading to our brutal defeat.”

Quill shook his head and crossed his arms against his chest. “So far, from what we’ve seen, there doesn’t appear to be much going on here. If Melchior had a whole battalion of soldiers at Willoughby, they’d be assembled everywhere—on all the beachfronts and the forest bordering Willoughby. So far, I’ve yet to see one soldier.”

“That doesn’t mean they aren’t in the house,” I pointed out, and then frowned because it was never a good practice to make assumptions.

Quill nodded. “Your father would have instructed guards to patrol the house, and the property too. My point is, I don’t think Melchior stationed more soldiers here than usual simply because we haven’t seen nor come into contact with any.” He took a breath. “Something I find strange.”

“Beaurigard’s got a point,” Knight piped up as my wings, which lay previously in repose against my back, suddenly started beating furiously. Both Knight and Quill had to grasp hold of my arms to keep me in place. “That issue we had in the swamp would have alerted nearby soldiers if there
were
any,” Knight finished.

I couldn’t help smiling at Knight’s reference to the swamp situation as an “issue.” The word was such an understatement to what truly happened. But any feelings of levity quickly vanished as soon as I reminded myself of our current predicament. Really we were stuck between an enormous rock and a hard place, because it was never a good idea to begin an assault without first knowing what you were up against.

“I think it’s safe to assume that your father doesn’t think we’re coming here with much backup,” Quill finished. “Because it’s not as though he could hide a squadron of soldiers.” He shrugged as his eyebrows reached for the sky. “But why doesn’t he have an army of reinforcements here? That’s the question to which I have no answer.”

Knight nodded before turning to face me, his blue eyes flashing. The trees shook with a small breeze, allowing the sun to penetrate the branches in prismatic rays of yellow light. “You said Bram didn’t know anything about how many soldiers we brought with us here, but does he know the total number of our soldiers?”

I figured he meant how many soldiers and recruits we’d managed to corral. “No,” I said, frowning and inhaling deeply as something else occurred to me. “But don’t forget: Bram had Christina in his custody for a couple of days when she was still on the
Blueliss
.”

Knight nodded, his eyes sparkling with something that resembled anger as his jaw twitched. “Right, so he could easily have discovered our numbers from her, which he probably did.”

Quill faced Knight. “But at that time, The Resistance was only comprised of the three hundred or so soldiers, right? Wasn’t Fagan still in the midst of drafting the others?”

“Right,” I answered, crossing my arms against my chest as another breeze coiled around my body in an icy embrace. “Which means Bram probably thinks we’ve only got three hundred soldiers to the Netherworld Guard’s four hundred. And, if he does, it’s all the better for us since we would still have the element of surprise.”

Knight shook his head and arched a brow at me as if disappointed that I hadn’t considered some other angle. “But don’t forget Squander Valley and Tipshaw equated to four hundred fifty soldiers and recruits, so Bram and your father would be well aware that our numbers exceeded three hundred.”

“Well, based on however many creatures they were able to consign,” I corrected him as my wings suddenly stopped beating and simply hung there, now exhausted. Knight and Quill released my arms as I remembered Christina mentioning over the radio that many of her group were able to flee from Squander Valley. Since our soldiers hadn’t all been caught, Melchior wouldn’t know for certain how many of us there really were. Maybe the same thing happened with the attack on Tipshaw. Or maybe I was underestimating us, and our forces had decimated the Netherworld Guard in Tipshaw. Until we reached Fagan, we’d never know.

“At any rate, Melchior must be aware our numbers are larger than three hundred,” Quill said.

Knight took a deep breath and shook his head, frowning as he alternated his stoic expression between the two of us. “None of this matters anyway. This discussion is doing nothing, but wasting our valuable time,” he said forcibly. “We have two options: we either go after Melchior now, not knowing what we’re up against, or we have to surrender. It’s too late to beat a path back to Splendor and regroup.”

“He’s right,” I started, facing Quill. “I say we go in,” I finished robotically, swallowing hard as I searched Knight’s stunning eyes for an answer as to where he stood on the subject. It felt like time stopped as I waited for his response. If he and Quill chose to surrender, I didn’t know what I’d do. For my part, I intended to go after my father and that’s all there was to it. Whether that meant going in with Knight and Quill was beside the point. I was going in. Period.

“Agreed,” Knight said with his jaw tightened and his eyes calculating. “I will never surrender to Melchior. I’d rather die fighting his minions.”

I rewarded him with a big smile before turning to face Quill, who was already looking at me. He frowned and I figured his answer wouldn’t be quite as clear-cut as Knight’s. After a few seconds, he began nodding. “We’re here; we might as well go through with our original plan. If we retreat to Splendor, your father would assume he still maintained authority and he’d, no doubt, come after us.”

“Either way, there’d be a confrontation,” Knight finished.

Quill glanced at the horizon for a few seconds before facing us again. “And, for whatever reason, it seems your father is not very well protected here, which only strengthens our upper hand.”

I couldn’t agree with them more and nodded. Then, taking a deep breath, I glanced first at Quill and then at Knight. “Our soldiers are already surrounding the house and they’re waiting for your word to move forward, Knight.”

“Right,” the Loki answered. “So we give them the go-ahead, and when they attack the house, all of Melchior’s men will be focused on defending the house and its perimeters.”

“And we go after my father at the same time,” I finished as my heartbeat began to race with peaked adrenaline.

“Your father will have guards surrounding him,” Quill cautioned.

“How many?” I demanded.

Quill shrugged. “Probably three. He’s always got Manga, Angus and Herrod hovering around him at any given second.”

“What are they?” Knight asked.

“Thugs,” Quill responded, but seeing Knight’s frown, he continued. “Manga is a goblin. He’s maybe six-two and he fights street-style.”

“Goblin means he has no magic,” I said quickly. “We can defeat anyone who doesn’t have magic.”

“Angus is a warlock,” Quill threw back at me. “He doesn’t have brawn, but he makes up for it with witchcraft and he’s damn good.”

“I can take him,” I answered quickly, resting my hands on the two Op 6s strapped to my waist, beneath my T-shirt.

“Dulce, your magic won’t work in the Netherworld,” Quill reminded me.

“I’m aware,” I snapped back. “But my Op 6s will.”

Knight chuckled behind me as Quill grinned, shaking his head. “Yep, they will,” he finished. “It’ll help that we’re all armed,” he added, patting the band of his waistline where he kept an Op 8 loaded and ready to go. “But don’t forget that Melchior’s men will be armed as well.”