Wyvern's Lair (Desert Cursed Series Book 5) Page 3

  Easing the horse into a ground-covering trot, he finally told her his plan, laying it out carefully. Minus a few details he wasn’t entirely sure of, but she didn’t need to know that.

  “That is quite possibly the worst idea I have ever heard!” she shouted at him when he was done. “The worst idea I’ve heard in a long time, and I’ve heard more than a few bad ideas fall out of your mouth lately. And to involve Maggi? Can she even be trusted? She held the sapphire for a long time, Merlin. You don’t know that she won’t give Zam items that don’t do what they are supposed to in an attempt to get that sapphire back! The stones are addictive, you know this! This is insane!”

  He could feel her shaking her head and he shrugged, touching her hands that were clasped around his middle. He didn’t tell her that Maggi would have to give up her life to fulfill the task that Merlin had given her. Either she would help, or she wouldn’t, but he was leaning toward her helping. Zam had that effect on people. They ended up wanting to help, wanting to go to the ends of the earth for her. He had a suspicion he knew why—the blood in her veins that no one else had identified. She had a charm even she didn’t realize.

  Merlin was pretty sure he knew what it was, and that was the ace up his sleeve.

  “Do you have a better plan? Besides killing Marsum, that is, because we’ve already discussed that not being a viable solution.”

  An intake of breath behind him was his only answer, because no words followed on the exhale of the same breath. He smiled to himself. “Then we are agreed. We will do what we can to slow Marsum down, to tie him up and put him to sleep if possible. That will buy us all some time.”

  “Ridiculous. Putting men to sleep has not worked well for you, idiot,” she said under her breath, but she was so close, there was no way he could miss the words. He didn’t mind, he was used to being called far worse by her.

  “It will work out, Flora. You just have to trust me,” he said.

  “Trust you? I’ve trusted you all along and look where we are. I had to haul you out of the Emperor’s hold. You were trapped by Marsum in that box. I ended up captured by the Jinn because you couldn’t be honest with me!”

  “Agreed.” He nodded. “We are far farther ahead than if you hadn’t trusted me.”

  The strangled squawk she let out made him grin. Yes, she kept him on his toes, that much was true. Even with all that, she tightened her hold around his middle and that was good enough for him.

  She was with him still, both in body and in their new plan.

  An hour slipped by before their target came into view.

  The oversized desert falcon that held Marsum in his talons winged toward them. The flying pair were still a speck in the distance, but Merlin tensed regardless. “There he is.”

  “So, we are going to spell him, try to put him to sleep.” Flora nodded and lifted her hands. “I can bring him toward us, spinning in a whirlwind; that should keep him busy and rather on the dizzy side.”

  “Good idea.” Merlin slowed the horse and they both dismounted. Better to have your feet on the ground when fighting a Jinn master. Looping the reins of the horse around his arm, he slowed his breathing. The time spent with his father had drained him to some degree, but he was sure he could still create a sleep spell.

  At least, he hoped he could.

  Flora lifted her hands above her head and the mid-afternoon sky darkened, deepening to a heavy gray as clouds rolled in. Sweat broke out on her brow and a tiny burst of lightning cracked across the horizon. “Spin it,” she whispered. “Spin it.”

  The wind picked up with her words, curling around and around, faster and faster. Merlin leaned into the weather, narrowed his eyes and kept Marsum and the falcon in view.

  When Merlin had still been in thrall to his father, he’d been forced to possess the desert falcons and attack Zam and her friends. At the last minute, though, he’d been able to use the falcons to scoop up Marsum and carry him away from Zam to give her a respite. To give them all a momentary chance to figure shit out.

  Because Merlin needed to buy himself time to try to fix things that he had set in motion. And now, here, he was about to reverse everything he’d put into play so far. For love.

  For Zam and Maks to find their way back to each other. Because he couldn’t help but believe love was the answer to all this mess, even if he wasn’t fully sure how it would work out in the end.

  “Maggi, don’t fail me. You need to do what I asked of you,” he whispered to himself.

  Flora spun both hands in the air as if she were a belly dancer, then snapped her fingers, and lightning cracked across the sky followed by a boom of thunder that made their horse shy to one side. The wind doubled in speed and Merlin watched as the oversized falcon spun in a whirlwind, caught up and unable to escape the weather the priestess of Zeus had produced.

  Flora slumped to the ground, down to her knees, her hands pressed against the sand to balance herself. “That is all I can do. The rest is on you, Merlin.”

  This was going to happen fast. He leapt onto the horse as the weather died down, and the falcon spun out of control, crashing into the hard-packed earth, wings crumpled a good football field length away from them.

  Merlin put his boots to his horse’s sides, and they took off at a dead gallop, straight toward the pair Flora knocked out of the sky. The wind around them was gone, and he had only minutes at best to put Marsum under and send him in the other direction.

  To send him to Zam.

  Ahead of him, the Jinn pushed himself free of the still-stunned bird.

  “Shit,” Merlin growled. He pulled his horse to a halt and leapt off before the beast was even fully stopped.

  Marsum wobbled, obviously still feeling the effects of the whirlwind. Even so, his eyes locked on Merlin. “You? You did this?”

  “About to do more than knock you out of the sky,” Merlin said. He gathered his power to send Marsum onto his ass. But the Jinn was no fool. The black mist integral to the Jinn’s power swirled out around Marsum, hiding his body.

  Merlin grimaced and threw the sleep spell he’d rolled together directly into the mist, hoping to hit Marsum.

  The mist dissipated, gone, and so was Marsum.

  Merlin spun as Marsum appeared behind him. He managed to get an arm up as Marsum swung hard. “What is this? You want to spar?”

  This made no sense. The Jinn should have been using his magic, not his fists.

  Unless . . . “Maks, thanks, pup.” Merlin caught the blow with one hand and yanked the Jinn off balance, dropping him to his knees. Blue eyes stared up at him.

  “Hurry, whatever you’re going to do, hurry. I can’t hold him—” His eyes rolled in his head and he screamed, full bodied and full of pain that seemed to rip out of his middle.

  Merlin clutched Marsum’s head with his hands and pumped his power into him, quieting his brain and putting him into a deep sleep. One that would last until Zam touched him.

  The Jinn’s body slumped to the ground and Merlin breathed a sigh of relief. This was where things were going to get tricky. He grabbed Marsum by the hands and dragged him toward the oversized falcon. The bird was exhausted, but Merlin threw a spell at the bird that re-invigorated it. Mind you, the thing would likely drop dead when that spell wore off, but as long as it got Marsum to where he was sending him, Merlin didn’t really care.

  “Oversized, overstuffed turkeys,” he muttered, thinking of Zam as he shoved Marsum toward the bird and directed it to pick up the sound-asleep Jinn.

  Running footsteps behind him told him his time was up. Flora was back on her feet. There was no way she’d be okay with this last step of the plan.

  Trust was a funny thing: he needed it from her, but didn’t trust her enough to trust him. A quandary if ever there was one.

  He wove a spell and sent it deeply into the falcon, through its bones and blood and mind. “Take him east, and to the south, take him to Zam.”

  The bird launched into the air, package gripped in one talon.<
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  “What is happening? Where is it going?” Flora stumbled into him, out of breath, chest heaving.

  “Well, Marsum is asleep now,” Merlin said.

  “I know, that was the plan! But the rest . . .” Flora’s face was brushed with light pink across her cheeks and her eyes were wild and full of confusion. “Where are you sending him? You said we’d put him to sleep and then tuck him away.”

  “Away, yes, he’s going away. Somewhere safe.” Merlin was unable to look her in the eye for fear she’d know.

  Flora glared at him, the heat of her gaze making his skin prickle. “You didn’t. Merlin, tell me you didn’t!”

  He tried to look innocent, though to be fair, he wasn’t sure what that would look like on his face. What did innocent look like on a mage known for deception? And he should have known she’d figure it out. She knew him too well.

  Her eyes narrowed and she smacked him on the arm. “You sent him to Zam, didn’t you? Didn’t you?”

  “How—”

  She threw her hands up and paced in front of him. “I can read you like a damn book, Merlin. What is it with you and a happily ever after? This isn’t going to help her. It’s going to break what’s left of her heart into pieces. She can’t save him! No one can!”

  “Yes, she can,” he said.

  She stopped her pacing and looked at him. “How?”

  “Well, the details are fuzzy, but I believe she can save him. Maggi and I discussed it at length. There is always a way back.”

  He didn’t think Flora could narrow her eyes and still technically have them open, but he was wrong. Lasers might as well have shot out at him and he realized that she was . . . jealous. He grinned. “Maggi’s not my type, Flora. It wasn’t that kind of a discussion.”

  She sniffed and spun away from him. “You’re going to break Zam’s heart. Or kill her. Because Marsum will not let her go again. He’ll kill her first to make sure no one else can use her before he lets her go.”

  Their conversation might have continued on in that vein if not for one thing: a horse and rider running parallel to them, racing toward the east. There was a flare of skirts, the blur of hair as it swept out behind her, running her horse as if her life depended on it.

  Flora paused and pointed. “Who is that?”

  “I think that’s the person who’s been helping the Emperor.” Merlin leapt up onto his horse and held a hand to Flora. “And it’s about time you and I had a talk with her.”

  3

  Zamira

  I clutched the bag Maggi gave me a little tighter, thinking of how I would present the ring to Lila. I mean, a ring that would allow her to be a full-sized dragon with no backlash or pain? It was what she deserved. “Lila would kiss your feet for this, even if they were covered in shit, you know that, right?”

  “There is something else in there for you, something you will need—and soon.” Maggi sighed and her body slumped, folding in on herself, inch by inch. The small oasis warmed quickly now as her power faded, the frozen sand turning mushy under my feet, no longer covered in snow, no longer covered in ice. A quick look showed me there was nothing but a few ice chips floating on the surface of the water, reflected by the moon above us.

  Had that much time passed?

  Shit, Lila and Ford would be freaking out by now wondering where I was. No doubt they were looking for me.

  Maggi motioned for me to open the bag, her hands trembling as though she were cold. The silver bracelet on her wrist shimmered and danced in the light. “I have not many moments left as Ishtar’s curse tightens around me. Continue on. Quickly, please.”

  I reached into the bag, my fingers brushing against the ring, the contours of it familiar, right down to the nick in the lion’s ear. Shock stole my breath and I took a second to pull it together. “You found my father’s ring?”

  “It seemed fitting to put a proper spell onto it, rather than that garbage Ishtar put into it originally.” She whispered the words, and for just a moment, she looked ethereal, transparent.

  “Hurry, Ishtar will have all that is left of me soon and be stronger for it,” she added, breathy, her eyes watering.

  I pulled the ring out and stared at the familiar lion’s head. I let it go, grabbing the chain as it fell, dangling it from my fingers as a thought rolled over me. Maggi’s death would strengthen Ishtar. It would be a loss of knowledge. Could I afford that? Even for Lila, I couldn’t deny that Maggi had information and an understanding of what I might face that I could use. Things happened for a reason in this world, and I was not ignorant of that fact.

  Which left me a single choice.

  “You first.” I stepped close to her and slid the necklace over her head. If it was a blocker of curses as she’d said, and what Ishtar was doing to her was a type of curse, then surely it could save her.

  Maggi stared at me, her hands—already not shaking as they were before—going to the ring as if to take it off. “No, that is not what this is for. I cannot take this. It is meant to help you, not me.”

  “I need what you know, which means you cannot die on me, not yet.” I slapped her hand away from the ring and her mouth dropped open. She spluttered and I slapped her hand down again. “You gave me the ring, and I put it on you. I’ll make you a deal. You can give it to Lila yourself when you’re ready to die. How about that?”

  Maggi stood, her body filling out even as I looked on, and her skin improving in color with each second that passed. “You are as stubborn as any cat and just as likely to ignore commands. How my sister kept you on a leash for so many years is beyond me.”

  The words were sharp and full of irritation, but they made me smile because at least she wasn’t dying. “Well, to be fair, she didn’t really keep me on a leash with much success. That was the problem. I was a shit disturber. Too reckless.”

  Maggi snorted and stretched, her joints crackling as if throwing off chains. I thought the ice would grow on the oasis once more, but it didn’t.

  “I have very little power left,” she said, catching me looking at the melting cold. “I will be of no use to you other than what I know.”

  Good enough for me.

  “What else—” I moved to stick my hand into the silken bag.

  Maggi beat me to it and snatched the bag away from me. “No. You will not have this then as long as I am alive.”

  I laughed even though the sound hurt my head, though I tried not to let it show. “See? You’re as stubborn as me. You weren’t ready to die.”

  I reached for the bag again, my reflexes still fast even if I did feel like shit. I snagged the bag and she snapped her fingers at me. I braced for the impact of a spell, but nothing happened.

  She closed her eyes and blew out a sharp breath. “Damn it.”

  “Really, you did give me this. What’s wrong with me looking?”

  I reached into the silken pouch and my fingers brushed against something metallic, something much larger than the ring. I took hold of the item and pulled out . . . a pair of . . . “Handcuffs?” I held them up with one finger, not sure what to make of this particular gift. I could imagine Maggi using them on someone to keep them bound, but what would I need with them?

  Made of copper, the handcuffs were flecked with a black stone that I guessed was some sort of quartz. The inner edges of the cuffs that would rest against the wrist were lined with silk, as if they were meant to be worn a long time in comfort. One cuff had more of the black stone than the other. I snorted and couldn’t help the low chuckle. “Kinky. Not sure that—”

  “I will know when to use them, Zam. That is all you need to know,” Maggi snapped. “They are powerful. Do not mock the gifts you’ve been given.”

  She held her hand out.

  “I thought these two items you made were for me?” I frowned and then thought about what she’d said. She would know when to use them. She would know . . . as if . . . no, oh no.

  Her eyelids slid to half-mast like a self-satisfied cat who’d just lapped up a bowl of
milk. “I will be coming with you, now. Seeing as you’ve spared my life, I am in your debt.” That smile deepened and I realized right then and there I’d been played. And played well.

  Had she known I would give her the necklace?

  She tipped her head to me. “You are still a protector, a caretaker of all those in this land, just like your father. I took a gamble with the odds in my favor.”

  Even though I knew I was fighting an uphill battle, I tried to change the course of what was happening.

  “No, that’s not really what I was thinking. I can just call on you if I have a question. Or maybe . . .”

  “Maybe what? Phaw. I will come with you. As you said, I can give Lila the necklace when she is ready. When I am ready.” Her smile was sharp, and I kicked myself for giving it to her. Kicked myself for being so easily manipulated.

  Idiot, I was an idiot.

  She took the handcuffs and put them into the silken bag, then tied it to her belt.

  “Tell me,” she said, “have you killed Steve yet?” There was a definite twinkle in her voice, if there could be such a thing.

  “How could you possibly know about Steve?” I spluttered.

  Her eyeroll was nothing short of epic. I was surprised both orbs came back to center again.

  “He was in my dungeon.” She spread her hands wide as if that explained everything. “I watched how he was with his women. Watched how he treated you and them when you were trying to save him.” She shook her head. “He is not done making your life miserable, Zam. Be wary of him. And if you get a chance to kill him, honorably or not, do it. I doubt you will get another chance. So, do it.”

  She turned and faced me, changing directions once more. “Are you ready to go then?”

  “No, you tell me what you mean about Steve.” I folded my arms, staring her down.

  Maggi clasped her hands in front of her and placed them against her thighs and the gauzy material of her dress.