Kinked

FIFTEEN

If Aryal thought about the damage that had been done to her wings, panic set in, so she tried not to think about it.

That wasn’t going so well.

She’d had a lot of time for what-ifs in her life, and if she couldn’t fly, she didn’t know that she could live. Flight was sewn into her nature. It marked the shape of her body. It went deeper than her sense of her own identity, into her state of being.

After she shapeshifted back into her human form, for all intents and purposes her wings appeared to be gone. But that wasn’t true. They were still there, still a part of her, and she could still feel the pain from the broken bones and the bite wounds.

She could still remember the agonizing grip of the shadow wolf as it crushed the critical carpal joint, and she knew at that point that the wolf might have already killed her, and everything else that happened after that point would be just her waiting to die.

The shapeshifting had been so hard, afterward she shook like a drug addict going through withdrawal. Quentin gripped her tightly. He sat back on his heels as he held her, and at first she couldn’t even lift her head off of his shoulder.

Belatedly she realized she was resting against his bare, warm skin. She focused on the steady, strong heartbeat against her cheek. Concentrating on something outside of herself helped to stave off the panic.

He rested his cheek against her temple, and the light dusting of whiskers along his jaw felt good. She didn’t often like men’s beards, as sometimes the bristles felt prickly, but Quentin’s beard was as silken as the rest of his hair. In contrast, his wide, tanned chest had very little hair on it, just a light dusting of gold.

A sluggish curiosity stirred. Her voice sounded rusty as she said, “Your shirt’s gone.”

“I used it to bandage my leg and arm.” His arms eased. “Speaking of which, we need to bind your wounds. You’ve already lost too much blood.”

She pulled away and helped him to tear strips of her tank top off at the waist, which he used to wrap her visible wounds tightly. It wouldn’t stop the bleeding, but it would slow it down. As she watched him tie the ends of the cotton on her thigh, she asked, “How did you pick the lock?”

He smirked at her. “I have talented claws.”

Despite his lighthearted rejoinder, his gaze was sharp and assessing as he looked down her bloody figure. She looked down at herself too. They had left enough of her tank top so that it covered her breasts, and her jeans were torn and grimy with blood and dirt.

“You are one post-apocalyptic babe,” he said. “If only you had a padded bra to make you a C-cup.”

“Keep up with the wisecracks, why don’t you?” she told him. “I’ve started a tally. Help me to my feet.”

He put an arm around her waist and lifted her up. She held herself stiffly, unable to do anything to ease the pain of unseen wounds. When he let her go, he did so carefully.

At his unspoken question, she jerked her head to the open cell door and said, “Go on, help the others. I’ll manage.”

She was going to try to walk down that hall, and she didn’t want him to see her struggle. He hesitated and his eyes narrowed, but when she waved a hand irritably at him, he turned and walked out of the cell.

She limped slowly down the hall. Her thigh held up under her weight, just barely, but her entire back felt like it was on fire. Even taking a deep breath hurt.

The Elves greeted Quentin with sharp exclamations that were quickly hushed. She left him to his reunion. There was a barred window at one end of the short hallway that held the door to the cell block. She limped over to it.

The window wasn’t big enough for a grown person to fit through, and it was the only source of fresh air for the whole block. When she looked out, the window opened over the water, so the prison area had to be carved into the cliff itself.

A gust of air blew in, hitting her in the face. It felt cool and damp. She put a hand to the sill to lean on it as she sucked in fresh air and looked out. The island was just visible, and she felt the constriction ease somewhat in her chest. The light was fading fast from the day, and the water was a deeply shadowed blue. Soon the daylight would be completely gone.

She focused on the island. She had meant to fly over there, at least briefly.

Razor teeth fastening on her wing. Her carpal joint crushed. Muscles torn.

Dread flooded her limbs, and she breathed shallowly through a wave of nausea. She had to find some sort of short-term goal, or the panic was going to drive her crazy.

Galya Andreyev might not have anything against the Wyr from America, but now Aryal sure as hell had something against the Russian bitch.

“I owe you one,” she whispered. “And I always pay my debts.”

Aryal owed the witch a bad one. Focusing on payback was a good enough goal for now.

Behind her, the others were talking. “Aryal and I need healing, and we need to leave the cell block as fast as we can,” Quentin said. “But we need to do it smart. Do you know if the witch sets any of her shadow wolves to guard outside this block?”

“No,” Linwe said. “We haven’t seen them since she locked us up.”

“The witch didn’t need them when she came in here,” said one of the Elven males. “We were already captured. Besides, if they’re magic, they couldn’t come in anyway.”

“Interesting point,” said Quentin, with that tone of voice he used whenever something had particularly caught his attention. “Do you think they are a creation of hers from some kind of spell?”

Aryal answered him. She said over her shoulder, “I think they may be spelled or magical in some way, but they are not the product of a spell—at least not wholly. I think they are individual entities.”

“Why?”

“Their behavior was too sophisticated for one person to orchestrate. They exhibited pack behavior and lured us to where they wanted us to be before they attacked. And the twelve wolves kept us occupied so that the thirteenth—the alpha—could take me by surprise.” She forced a swallow down her dry throat. “It was quite efficiently executed.”

A short silence greeted her words. Then Quentin said, “That makes a lot of sense.”

“I’ll tell you something else that makes sense,” Aryal said. “That first shadow wolf I saw on the bridge back in the forest—I think that was a sentry. When we crossed over into Numenlaur, it must have tracked us for a while and then ran on ahead to alert the others. At least that’s what it looks like.”

“They did something very similar to us,” said one of the Elven males. “We found the witch’s trail leading into Numenlaur. There was plenty of snow cover on the ground, and her trail was unmistakable. Our orders were to stop anyone from looting, so we crossed over to track her down. We didn’t bother to leave anyone on guard—after all, it was just one set of footprints, and we thought we would be back over to the Bohemian Forest quickly.”

“Did you go into any of the houses?” Quentin asked, his tone neutral. Aryal wondered if he asked because of the dead baby they had found. If these young people hadn’t yet realized that all the babies in Numenlaur were dead, she certainly didn’t want to be the one to tell them.

Sounding embarrassed, Linwe said, “No, but we think the witch did. Her trail seemed to lead inside a few of the first houses, but it also continued down the path. We were moving fast to try to catch her and cross back over as soon as we could. We screwed up. We all wanted to get a glimpse of Numenlaur. That’s why nobody stayed behind. Then the shadow wolves trapped us, and the witch threw some kind of sleep spell, and the next thing we knew, we woke up here.”

“So the shadow wolves are pack, they’re intelligent, and they communicate with each other,” said Quentin. “And they act independently from the witch. Actually they sound a lot like Wyr wolves.”

“And they’re affected by magic,” said Aryal. “Don’t forget that. Power affects them, and it looks like the nullifying spell in here might too.”

Her thigh throbbed, the invisible fire all along her back was getting worse, and she was growing light-headed from standing so long. Just as she started to turn away from the window, she saw a flicker of light on the island. She paused and stood on her strong leg, gripping the bars with both hands, her eyes narrowed. She hadn’t imagined that, had she?

No, she hadn’t. There it was again, a flicker of light, like a torch or a lantern. In the distance it looked small like the winking of a firefly.

She asked, “Does anybody know what’s over on that island?”

There was a pause as everybody adjusted to the apparent change in conversation, and footsteps sounded behind her. She glanced over her shoulder. Quentin, a wan-looking Linwe and two Elven males walked toward her. Compared to the shock of seeing a shirtless Quentin moving toward her, his tanned chest wide over those lean hips and long legs, the Elves looked willowy and somehow unfinished.

Quentin was scowling. He said, “Are you trying to bleed out? What are you doing standing up?”

She told him, “I’m watching a light on the island. Someone’s over there.”

She swayed. He strode forward to put an arm around her. She twitched a shoulder angrily but she didn’t push him away. Instead she took the help he offered and leaned on him. He stared out the window too.

“I think the university is over there,” said Linwe from behind them.

Aryal’s eyebrows rose. When Quentin glanced at her with a silent question in his eyes, she shrugged. She hadn’t even known there was a university.

Linwe was continuing. “When we first woke after the witch locked us up, she asked us a lot of questions. She’s not just looting for treasure. She’s looking for something specific. She didn’t say what, but from the things she said, I think it’s either an item of Power, or maybe it’s a spell. The university here has a library that’s famous among the Elves, kind of like the lost Alexandrian library in ancient Egypt.”

Aryal met Quentin’s gaze again. “She must want that item or spell very badly,” she said. “Because I’ve never heard of her leaving Russia before, and she’s willing to risk making an enemy out of Dragos.”

“That’s if Dragos catches her,” he pointed out, the deep shadows on his face accentuating his sardonic expression. “To catch her, he would have to know what happened here in the first place, and for that, there would need to be witnesses. She was not best pleased with you when you called her by name, sunshine.”

“And she doesn’t seem to be the kind of person to lose track of details or make forgetful mistakes,” Linwe added in a small voice. “I don’t think she just forgot to feed us today. I think she chose not to. We were always expendable, and when you guys showed up I think she decided to, well, expend us.”

Quentin was still staring at Aryal, the weight of his intent gaze palpable even in the near dark. “You called her by name,” he said. “Galya something. You know who she is.”

“Andreyev,” Aryal said. “Galya Andreyev, from the Russian Steppe. Don’t let her looks fool you. I forget how old she is, but for a human she’s very old. Unnaturally so, like over three hundred years, and she didn’t turn into a Vampyre to achieve that. She did it by some other means. And no, I don’t know how.”

“How do you know of her if she never leaves Russia—or never did until now?” Quentin asked.

“Dragos knows her,” she told him. “Or at least he knows of her. He claims that Galya Andreyev is one of the most Powerful witches in the world. You remember when Urien had Pia blackmailed into using a finding charm? Dragos said at the time that he knew of only three people who could have made that charm—Urien, Rune’s mate Carling, and Galya Andreyev.”

Quentin swore. “I knew as soon as I looked at her that I was outgunned on the magic front.”

She started to say more, but lost her train of thought as the world grayed around her, and Quentin’s arm tightened until he had her hauled tightly against his lean body. “We have to get out of here now,” he said.

“What about the shadow wolves?” one of the Elven males asked. One of these days, Aryal was going to figure which of them was which. Right now, she didn’t give a rat’s ass as she could barely hold on to her own name.

“If they’re out there, we’ll just have to deal with it,” Quentin said harshly. “Those wolves were able to do the kind of damage they did to us because they caught us by surprise. I’ll bet they did the same with you. But Power affects them, and I’ve had a chance now to think about what that means. I’ve got a few offensive spells that I think will be effective.” He said to Linwe, “Your job is to help Aryal. Caerreth, as soon as we’re beyond the influence of the cell block, you work on healing her. Aralorn, you and I are the guards. As soon as we feel we’re beyond the dampening magic, we stop and keep it at our backs. There’s a boundary somewhere. It’s in our best interest to use it. If the witch comes, we slide back over the line. It doesn’t matter how Powerful she is. It’s going to nullify her magic too. Got it?”

Aryal couldn’t focus her eyes properly, but everybody must have nodded, because Quentin passed her gently over to Linwe. The Elf was smaller than she was by several inches, and she slipped easily under one of Aryal’s arms, putting an arm around her waist.

“You lean on me,” Linwe said softly.

“I don’t think I’ve got a choice,” Aryal said.

One of the Elven males came up on her other side. “I’m Caerreth,” he said. “You can lean on me too.”

While she couldn’t see his features very well in the deepening darkness, she would know him again by his scent. He was much taller than Linwe, so she slipped an arm around his waist. “Thanks,” she muttered.

“Don’t mention it,” Caerreth said. “You and Quentin came after us when you found that we were missing. If it weren’t for you, we would still be locked up. Helping is the least we can do.”

Quentin had glided away to go to the cell block door. As he worked to pick the lock, Aryal and her helpers followed more slowly.

“The dampening spell is on this door too,” Quentin said, his voice quiet.

Aryal caught the small, distinct sound of the lock clicking open.

What a useful trait, having your own lock picks on the ends of your fingers. She envied him those. Her talons were too thick, and they were too hard to file into a thinner shape. And she was fairly certain she was a sharper thinker than this usually, but she had lost too much blood and was so light-headed, she was surprised she was still conscious, let alone still stringing thoughts together in a semicoherent fashion.

Someone nudged her, and she came alert with a start. She’d lost a few moments. The cell block door was open. Quentin and Aralorn slipped out, disappearing into even darker shadows.

Quentin appeared again almost immediately. He said, “There’s a stairway. The dampening spell appears to wear off by the time you reach the top. We’ll stop there. Come on.”

Caerreth and Linwe had to carry most of Aryal’s weight up the stairs. She couldn’t hold back a groan as their lifting strained her back. Ahead of them on the stairs, she saw the silhouette of Quentin’s head as he turned to look down at her. But he said nothing, and after a few minutes they had reached the top where Aralorn stood, waiting tensely.

They were in a hallway that stretched in either direction. It was shadowed, cool and quiet, and for the moment free of shadow wolves. That was all Aryal had a chance to see before Linwe and Caerreth eased her down onto the floor.

“She has to be on her stomach,” Quentin told them.

As they eased her over on the flagstone floor, she helped them as much as she was able. Normally so strong, her own weakness filled her with rage.

Someone knelt beside her head. It was Quentin. He put a steady hand at the back of her neck. His hand was warm and bracing. She closed her eyes against how good it felt. He told her softly, “You have to change again. Do it quietly this time, hear?”

She nodded, bracing herself, and reached for the shapeshift.

Usually shapeshifting came so easily, like second nature. This one was brutally hard, taxing her meager resources, and, oh gods, it hurt. She swallowed down a scream and strained. The shift felt chainsaw rough and barely within her reach, but finally with a pained grunt she managed to change over to the harpy.

Her broken wings spilled over onto the floor.

There was a silence, where the only sound was her shallow panting. Quentin stroked the back of her head.

Caerreth whispered, “She needs a hospital.”

“Well, she’s not getting one,” Quentin snarled. He sounded savage. “So pull up your big-boy pants and fix her.”

“I need light for this.”

The younger Elf barely got half the words out of his mouth before a small ball of light snapped into existence. Aryal managed to look over one shoulder. The light hovered just beside her head, and the magic from it felt like Quentin’s Power signature. She coughed out a thready laugh.

“Okay,” said Caerreth. He sounded a little scared. “Thanks.”

Then the Elf set to work, and Aryal sagged from relief as the first cool wave of magic washed over her, blocking the pain. He worked deftly on the various wounds all over her body but hesitated when he reached her wings.

“Um, Aryal,” he said softly. “I can set the broken bones and help them to fuse, but I can’t repair this crushed joint, and if I throw a general healing spell on your wings, it’s going to heal wrong. You won’t be able to bend or flex it.”

Razor teeth fastening … crushed. Torn.

She shook all over. Yeah, you’ve killed me, bitch.

She couldn’t bear to look at her wings again and rested her cheek on the cold floor as she whispered, “Do it.”

Then Quentin appeared in her line of sight. His face was upside down. She blinked rapidly, trying to clear her sight.

He had lain down on the floor too, on his stomach, his head turned toward her. His bare wide shoulders looked especially naked against the flagstone floor. He was dirty and haggard, the lines of his face set, but his gaze was the bluest she had ever seen.

Blue like the sky, steady and clear and filled with infinity.

“You should be on watch,” she whispered.

“Aralorn’s on the lookout,” he said. His voice was as steady as his eyes. “And I have fast reflexes. Besides, if the shadow wolves were here, they would have shown up by now. I think they’re with the witch.”

Caerreth muttered instructions to Linwe, who braced her at the shoulders, and she felt strong tugging on her wings as Caerreth set the bones.

Aryal’s face worked, and she clawed at the floor. She wanted to strike at the Elves, to knock them away from what they were doing to her.

Quentin grabbed her hand, gripping it hard. “We already knew you were going to have to have surgery,” he said. “This isn’t news.”

“Leave me alone,” she hissed.

“Like you left me alone these last two years?” His expression was relentless, and his grip tightened to the point of pain. “Like you left me when the wolves attacked? I don’t think so, sunshine.”

Caerreth threw the healing spell. She felt it sink into her, fusing torn flesh and broken bones together. Fusing the joint. Halfway through, she twisted her fingers around and clenched Quentin’s hand.

Dead, dead …

She realized she was whispering it. “… dead. Bitch, you are so dead.”

“That’s right,” Quentin said, his voice pitched low. “We’re going to take her down. She’s a dead woman. She could have asked for whatever the fuck it is that she’s looking for. She could have borrowed it. She didn’t have to lock them up. She didn’t have to do this to you. She made choices.”

The healing spell faded. Caerreth was done, at least with her. “All right, Quentin,” Caerreth said. He sounded shaky. “Now it’s your turn.”

Somehow Aryal pulled out another shapeshift. It helped that her wounds had been closed. They still hurt, along with her wings, but she could tell that the healing had taken root, dispelling whatever had caused the wounds to remain open in the first place.

She forced herself up onto her hands and knees. Linwe ran forward, putting an arm around her to help her get to her feet. Aryal looked down at the ground. Quentin had rolled onto his back and sat up. Caerreth was already working on him.

Aryal looked up at Aralorn, then at Linwe. She could barely stand upright, and the Elves weren’t looking any better. And Caerreth was doing all that healing while he was just as depleted as the others.

She said in a rusty-sounding voice, “We all need food, water and real rest. There’s got to be plenty of food supplies in the palace kitchens. And the safest place to rest is down in the prison cells.”

Quentin lifted his head. Aralorn turned to look at her.

She twitched a shoulder. “Think about it. Bitch tries to come into the cell block, the wolves can’t join her and she can’t use magic. I only hope that happens, because that means we’ve got her. And I really need to get her.”

“Aryal’s right,” Quentin said. “The most dangerous thing will be hunting for the palace kitchens to get food and water. I’ll do that.”

Linwe said, “I’ll go with you.”

“You sure?” Quentin asked. He rolled to his feet as Caerreth finished with him.

Linwe said, “I’m the only one who wasn’t injured. And I can run fast.”

“Okay.”

They watched as Caerreth worked on healing the wounds that Aralorn had. By that point the healer wasn’t looking good. When he finished, Caerreth said, “I’m tapped.”

The young Elf was looking down at himself. That was when Aryal realized he was bandaged too, with defensive wounds on both his forearms. Quentin walked over to him and gripped his arms. “When it comes to healing spells, I’m a one-trick pony,” Quentin said. “Are these wounds simple enough for that?”

Caerreth nodded, and Quentin spelled his arms. Afterward, he looked at Aryal. “You might as well go down below. Linwe and I will join you as soon as we can.”

She nodded dully. “See you soon.”

Her heart and head were pounding, and her mouth was dry. She had pushed past her limit some time ago. She didn’t wait to see Quentin and Linwe slip down the hall. Instead, she eased down the stairs to the cell block, bracing herself with one hand against the wall.

Aralorn and Caerreth followed. “It goes against all of my instincts to walk back in there,” Aralorn muttered. “If something happens to Quentin, and the witch traps us in there, we’re caught again and as good as dead.”

“I know,” Caerreth said tiredly. “But we might take more damage if we stayed at the top of the stairs and got caught there. I think we’ve just got to trust Quentin and Linwe to take care of themselves and get back to us with supplies.”

While Aryal heard them, she didn’t care. All she cared about was going horizontal again as quickly as she could. When they entered the cell block again, she went into Quentin’s cell because hers was too bloody.

A formless noise filled her ears, like that of the ocean. It was odd, because she could have sworn the ocean was on the outside of the cell block window. She made her knees unlock one at a time, and forgot to catch herself, so she fell in a sprawl to the ground.

That was the last thing she knew for a long, dark while.