Page 76 of Magic Cursed
What’s he up to?
“Pssst!” Elsie says in my ear. I jump and turn my head to see my friend in her true form, floating in the air by my head, smiling with her deadly fangs. My elation is a flame struck then quickly snuffed out as I fear for her safety. If she gets caught, they’ll have no mercy on her. “Don’t look at me like that,” she whispers. “I’m completely capable of handling these mindless morons.” She flips her hands, spreading her fingers wide and her razor-sharp claws flash out.
I smile and she whips through the air with a tinkling. She slices two of the guards across the backs of their necks, injecting their spines with her venom before they even know what’s happened. They flop to the floor, nothing but dead weight. The third has a moment to raise his sword, but Elsie only licks her lips. He looks at his comrades and goes for his whistle. If he blows it, we’ll be surrounded in minutes.
“Stop him,” I say. Before Elsie gets a chance to, a knife flies through the air hitting the man hilt-end in the back of the head. The whistle flies from his mouth and his eyes roll back into his head. He falls face first onto the ground.
Elsie frowns at Tuuk, back in his troll form. “I had it,” she says.
“He was ‘bout to blow that whistle and you know it,” Tuuk says. “You’re welcome.”
Elsie flies down and runs her fingernail across the back of the guard’s neck. “Just in case,” she says. Then she lowers her head.
“Elsie, no!”
She stops and pouts. “Oh, come on, just a sip?”
“You promised Daimis you wouldn’t,” Tuuk says.
“Daimis?” I ask. “You talked to him? You’re working together?”
“Yes, yes,” Elsie says. I can still hear Daimis causing a ruckus, his version of a diversion, I realize.
“Get to work, Tuuk,” I say. “Daimis may not be able to keep them preoccupied for long.”
Tuuk rolls up his sleeves with a determined look on his face. He places his hands over the chains tethering me to the tree. “I can break these now,” he says, “but it will take me more time with the ones on your wrists, without burning you.”
“These cursed things already burn,” I say with a scowl.
“Yes, but they’re not really burning you, I would be.”
“Point taken.” Trolls’ magic is in the manipulation of metals. They use their bare hands to heat the metal to melting point, but it takes time.
“How did you know you could trust Daimis?” I ask Elsie as Tuuk works on the chains.
She gives me a cat-like smile. “Wasn’t hard. I could smell you all over him.” She sniffs at me and wrinkles her nose. “Yup, and he’s all over you,” she says waving her hand. “It’s strange really, it’s like your smells have mingled. Now you know I’m not one to give a human a compliment, but I’ll just say that I approve. He’s easy on the eyes and doesn’t carry any of the prejudices that so many humans do. Didn’t even bat an eye when we turned back into our superior forms.” She raises her brows. “Smiled even.”
I huff a laugh, wishing I had been there to see it for myself. To have seen my two worlds interacting.
“Tuuk, would you hurry it up?” Elsie snaps at the troll. “We don’t have all day, you know.”
“Shut it, Elsie,” Tuuk says through his teeth, sweat running down his temples.
“So testy when he’s working,” she remarks. “So, when you run, we’ll split up, less chance of getting caught that way. Daimis told us how to get to his cave. We’ll meet there.”
I nod and add, “Just be sure no one follows you.”
“As if we don’t know precisely what kind of precautions to take. We have all been living in the samesecretedplace, you know,” Elsie says with an eye roll.
“Almost,” Tuuk grunts, followed by the sound of metal falling to the ground “There! Done!” He pulls the chain from the hole in the manacles until they’re free of it.
Tuuk lifts the bottom of the tent for Elsie and me, and we all slip out. The sky is still covered in gray clouds, and everything else in white, save for the beautiful Faestone nestled between the granite mountains. I look for the best route through the trees, and nod to both Tuuk and Elsie. They take off in different directions. I can’t hear Daimis’s yelling anymore, so I have to assume that time has run out. I stay low and sprint from tree to tree.
I have to be especially careful not to rattle the manacles until I’m at a safe enough distance away. I’m sprinting from one tree to another, pretty sure I’m just about in the clear to full-out sprint the rest of the way when the sound of fast-approaching footfalls tells me that I’m being chased.Damn it.My lungs burn in the crisp cold air. I don’t waste any time looking back, I’m already not as fast as I normally am with these manacles keeping me from swinging my arms.
I push harder, wishing I could access my magic, but knowing it’s useless. I should have just told Tuuk to go ahead and burn me. My legs, still achy from the drugs, protest. Before I get much farther, I’m tackled to the ground. I roll with my attacker in the snow until we come to a stop with him on my back and the side of my face pushed into the biting cold snow. I struggle, twisting and bucking, but it’s no use. I’m caught.
Chapter23