Page 52 of Dancing With Demons
Luckily, Tolmond is exceptionally gifted with scrying. No matter where Piper got off to, he’ll be able to find her.
If we’re not too late. If she wants to be found,a voice whispers inside me. I push down the rising panic as Tolmond’s crystal swings across the map, glowing a deep blue as Tolmond screws his eyes shut to concentrate on Piper’s life force.
In a matter of seconds, the crystal lands on the map with a heavy thud, the sharp point pointing- directly in the middle of the ocean. Tolmond and I exchange another glance before his eyes fall back to the crystal’s point quizzically.
“What does that mean?” I demand, trying and failing to keep the panic from my voice.
“It means she’s in the middle of the ocean,” Tolmond says slowly, still staring at the map as if he expects it to yield more information.
“Well there’s no way she’s just stuck in the middle of the sea. Try again.”
“I’m never wrong,” Tolmond bites with a glare. “We’re going here.”
“Great, I’ll pack my swimsuit,” I snipe back, and Tolmond growls at me.
“If that’s where the crystal landed, that’s where she is,” He says with no small amount of ire. Proving that he’s as concerned as I am with the scrying results, he reaches into a drawer and pulls out an obsidian mirror.
Tolmond lets the crystal hang from his hand over the obsidian mirror, the gem jerking wildly as a cloudy image begins to take shape on the mirror’s surface. Piper’s face takes shape first, and it looks as if she’s… sleeping?
Then I see the chains and the damp planks beneath her, and my blood runs cold. Minotaurs circle around her, discussing something in their guttural language that I can’t understand.
“She’s been taken captive,” Tolmond breathes as the image zooms out. Sure enough, Piper is below deck on a minotaur battleship, the red sails indicative of their path. The minotaurs are headed into battle, with Piper on board. Even if she was conscious, her magic would be useless against them.
Tolmond’s eyes meet mine briefly before he’s grasping my shoulder, shadows thickening around us. The world swirls in the darkness around us, the familiar study turning into dark blurs and disappearing as my stomach lurches in time to the jumpy movements that always come with Tolmond taking us somewhere.
Tolmond drags me out of the dark and into the blinding light, sunlight gleaming off of the ocean around us and only making it harder for my eyes to adjust. The smell of salt and the reek of the minotaurs stuffs itself up my nose, only adding to my already rolling stomach.
Bellows start to rise from the deck as the minotaurs notice their new, unwelcome visitors, and I can keep the gleeful grin off of my face. It’s been far too long since I’ve seen some real action.
I whirl as a massive, furry minotaur launches himself at me, bending my knees and lowering my shoulder to catch the beast right at his center of gravity. As soon as my shoulder makes contact with the minotaur’s gut, I extend my legs, launching him into the air and over the side of the ship.
A ball of fire flies past me and catches the minotaur sneaking up on me in the chest, the smell of singed hair accenting the creature’s screams as he catches fire and tumbles over the guardrail.
I snap my wings open and launch myself into the air, getting a count of the remaining minotaurs on board. There are half a dozen visible from the sky, including the two Tolmond is expertly battling, flame and steel flashing between him and his foes.
My wings tuck tightly against my body as I dive toward the deck, scooping up an unsuspecting minotaur as I free my blade from my hip. I gut him with one swipe, dropping his still-bleeding body into the sea as I dive for another.
This time, the minotaur is ready for me, swinging his blade up toward my wing. I evade his blow, rolling to my feet on the deck and throwing a dagger, watching the blade spin until it finds his mark in the minotaur’s eye socket.
Blood spurts across the deck as he shrieks, grasping blindly for the hilt protruding from his eye. His screams stop suddenly in his throat as my second blade finds purchase in his windpipe.
The sudden quiet is suffocating as I whirl to find Tolmond, standing over a pile of bloody bodies. We’re still for only a moment before we’re both racing for the door that leads below deck, hell-bent on finding Piper and bringing her home.
Two minotaurs are waiting for us as we blink against the sudden dark, Tolmond reacting faster than I do as he launches into an attack, parrying blows and sending licks of flame toward our final enemies. I spy Piper in the corner, still unconscious and chained to a beam.
“Get Piper!” Tolmond shouts over his shoulder as he duels with the minotaur, his command nearly costing him his head as he evades a vicious swing. I obey without thought, diving for Piper’s prone body. The chains are fastened securely around her wrists and wound around a post.
I stretch her as far from the post as I can, 6 inches of chain stretching between her and the wooden beam. I set to work on the chains with my sword, swinging down as hard and precisely as I can, the metal beginning to warp beneath my blows.
“Eth’tak?” Tolmond calls from behind me. “You may need to work a little faster.”
I turn toward him, confused by his statement until I see that Tolmond has blown a massive hole in the side of the hull of the ship, water pouring in faster than he can hold it back with his shield.
I curse under my breath as I begin to swing faster, water reaching the ends of Piper’s hair as it pours in faster from the sea beyond. Finally, a chain link snaps free. It’s all the opening I need.
Moving as fast as I can, I scoop Piper into my arms, running for the stairs that will lead us back out into the open.
“Let’s go!” I roar to Tolmond as I charge through the doors. The crashing of water suddenly set free echoes in response, and then Tolmond is above deck beside me.