Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty-Three

LYRE

Lyre grabbed the back of Clio's top and hauled her out of the way as the dragon lunged at them. Its huge jaws snapped shut, missing her by inches. He shoved her in front of him, and she landed on her feet, already running. He sprinted after her.

The dragon plunged back into the water, vanishing beneath the surface, but he didn't trust its retreat. Clio flew along the fallen tree trunk ahead of him, her feet barely touching the bark. Her hair streamed behind her, blond that shone and shimmered like moonlight on water, and faint green markings on her ivory skin trailed up and down her arms and legs.

If they survived the next five minutes, he would love to get a better look at her true form.

They raced down the tree and leaped into calf-deep water. Splashing through the shallows, they ran out onto the wide gravel bank. Beyond it, a forest of towering trees stood like a dark wall.

Breathing hard, Clio stumbled to a stop and turned. Lyre glanced back, his heart hammering and his head spinning from the drugged tea. On the far bank, Sabir and the other jinn stood well back from the river's edge. With the reflective surface of the water in their path, the jinns couldn't shadow-step across the river. One problem solved.

In a wild spray, the silver dragon charged out of the river. Lyre backpedaled. Without magic, he was useless.

Clio sprang in front of him and flung a spell at the beast's face. It ducked its head. The magic hit its shimmering silver scales and sloughed right off.

Lyre tackled her around the middle, dragging her to the ground as the beast snapped its jaws shut where her head had been. The creature skidded to a stop, heavy finned tail whipping past and almost catching Lyre in the chest. It was right on top of them, deadly talons sinking into the gravel inches from their flesh.

Clio dove one way and Lyre rolled the other. As he lunged up, he shed his glamour. Strength flowed through him, washing away some of the dizziness. He still couldn't grasp or use his magic, but at least he wasn't as slow and weak.

The dragon whirled on Clio and snapped its huge jaws again. She danced back. As Lyre grabbed his bow off his shoulder and pulled an arrow, Clio sprang straight at the dragon's face. She grabbed its muzzle and used it to launch herself over its head. She landed on its shoulders, jumped off it, and dropped beside Lyre.

He barely managed not to gape. Since when was this clumsy, accident-prone nymph so nimble?

Flipping an arrow onto his bow, he raised it and fired. The bolt hit the dragon in the chest and shattered. He needed his weaves, but he couldn't use his magic to activate them.

The dragon lunged at him and Clio. She flung a binding at the beast that tangled its front legs. It stumbled, and Lyre used the extra moment to grab a dagger from the sheath on his thigh. He slashed at the beast's face.

The blade hit the scales of its cheek and skidded across them—right over the creature's eye.

Blood sprayed and the dragon lurched backward with a high-pitched whine. It stumbled again, front legs still bound. Lyre backed up, Clio beside him, and grabbed another arrow from his quiver—this one woven with his best armor-piercing weave. As he laid it on his bow, Clio touched the arrow and the weave activated.

He drew the string back and loosed the bolt.

It hit the dragon in the chest and sank in deep. Golden light flashed. The spell exploded in a spray of blood and the dragon screamed as it collapsed onto its belly. Lyre stumbled backward, catching his breath.

The light dimmed. He looked up as heavy clouds rolled across the planet's face. The light reflecting off the river disappeared and the water went dark.

He jerked around to face the opposite shore, but the two jinns had already disappeared. He scanned the black water, his stomach clenching. They were coming.

Realizing it too, Clio cupped her hands, preparing another extra-bright light spell. Lyre drew a new arrow and raised his bow, waiting for a sign of where they might appear.

Clio sprang backward. Sabir materialized out of her shadow, his dagger flashing. It caught her forearm, cutting up the underside and across her wrist. Her half-formed light spell burst apart, and the concussion slammed into Lyre, throwing him backward. Clio crashed to the ground nearby.

Jolting half upright, Lyre fired his arrow. Sabir melted into nothing, then reappeared a step away with his hand extended toward Clio, magic flashing. With no time to grab another arrow, Lyre desperately called on his own magic, but only sick dizziness answered.

A scream erupted, rising shrilly.

The other jinn had shadow-stepped onto the riverbank as well, but he hadn't joined the fight. He was alone on a stretch of gravel, on his knees and clutching his head. He didn't appear injured, but he shrieked as though his head were being crushed in a vise, his voice rising even higher until it cracked.

His agonized cry cut off but he didn't move, hands fisted in his hair and eyes squeezed shut. In the silence that followed, Lyre's entire body went cold. It took him a moment to realize why.

The slosh of water lapping at the bank had vanished. The river had gone utterly silent. Had he gone deaf? The clouds shifted and silvery light streamed down, illuminating the river once more—and Lyre knew he hadn't lost his hearing.

The water had gone as calm and still as glass. It reflected the sky like a perfect mirror, not a single ripple disturbing its surface.

And standing in the shallows of the unnaturally still river was a daemon.

The planet's light shimmered on the jewel-like scales that covered most of his body in a rainbow of blues, greens, and purples, and deep green hair fell to his waist. Not a splash or ripple of water broke the silence as the daemon paced unhurriedly to the shore. His tail, ending in broad double fins, lifted from the water, breaking his contact with the river, and the surface erupted in ripples as the current returned all at once.

Lyre didn't move. Couldn't move. What kind of power was this? What kind of daemon could control a river's current?

The daemon approached the immobilized jinn, still on his knees and clutching his head. Stopping in front of his victim, the daemon touched the jinn's forehead. Blue light flickered under his fingertips. The jinn arched in silent agony, then collapsed backward.

Dead. Dead before he hit the ground.

Sabir gasped, a sound of pain and disbelief. Clutching his dagger, the blade coated in Clio's blood, he melted into shadow.

The new daemon turned. His dark eyes slid across Lyre and Clio, and in the center of his forehead, three teardrop scales glowed, identical to the ones on the silver dragon.

"Ryujin," Clio whispered hoarsely.

The daemon raised his hand, the motion smooth and graceful. Blue light danced over his fingers, their clawed tips shining, and the scales on his forehead brightened ominously.

He whirled, swift and deadly, and thrust his glowing claws at nothing.

Except in the same moment that the ryujin struck, Sabir appeared in his path. Those gleaming claws hooked into the jinn's neck and, casual as that, the ryujin ripped his throat out.

Sabir staggered back a step, his dagger weaving drunkenly, as though he couldn't understand what had happened. Lyre couldn't understand it either. How had the ryujin known where Sabir would appear?

The jinn crumpled to the ground, and the ryujin pivoted again to face Lyre and Clio.

Still on his knees, Lyre grabbed an arrow from his quiver. As he slapped it into place, Clio reached to activate the spell, her injured arm pressed to her chest.

The ryujin swept both arms wide as though inviting the embrace of an invisible stranger.

Magic exploded out of him. The wave of fiery blue light hurtled across the riverbank. Clio lunged in front of Lyre and cast a green bubble shield over them. The blast, as powerful as anything Ash had unleashed on him, slammed into the shield, ripped it apart, and hit them, its force barely diminished.

The river and sky spun in his vision and he tumbled across the rocks, almost losing hold of his bow. Pain ricocheted through his limbs and his skull ached sickeningly. Scarcely able to move, he pushed onto his hands and knees and looked up. Clio was sprawled awkwardly a few feet away, unmoving, with a puddle of blood forming under her injured arm.

Two dozen yards away, the ryujin glided toward them, finned tail swishing behind him and odd, narrow appendages flaring out from its base. Lyre reached for his quiver but lost his balance and half fell.

The ryujin was coming. He had to do something. He had to fight the daemon. Somehow, he had to find a way. Beside him, Clio was unconscious and bleeding. Lyre straightened and grabbed an arrow. His vision blurred and doubled, but he got the arrow in place by feel alone. With unsteady hands, he raised the bow.

The ryujin stopped. Their eyes met, and Lyre clenched his jaw as he drew the string back, knowing the arrow was as good as useless without magic to aid it.

A quiet whimper.

The ryujin's head snapped toward the sound. The silver dragon Lyre had shot groaned again, its chest heaving for air.

Without so much as a glance at Lyre, the ryujin abandoned his course and sped to the dragon. Sinking to his knees, he pressed his hands to the beast's chest, a blue glow lighting under his palms .

Lyre hesitated, bow drawn and arrow ready. The ryujin didn't look up, his attention focused on the dragon. He was attempting to heal such a terrible wound? There was no way he could save the creature.

But if he intended to try, he would be busy for at least a few minutes.

Lyre stuffed the arrow back in his quiver, slung the bow over his shoulder, and heaved Clio's limp form into his arms. Lurching to his feet, he stumbled toward the dark wall of trees.

Just before plunging into the forest shadows, he glanced back. The ryujin met his stare with strange eyes, solid black with no sclera or pupils, colder than the depths of an ocean. Then the daemon returned his attention to the dying dragon.

Lyre fled into the trees, knowing that once the dragon died under his hands, the ryujin would come for them again—even hungrier for their blood.