Page 23 of Reborn
I scraped the bloody snow under my paw and launched it at the panther’s face. Malys groaned, shut her eyes, and turned her head to the side to avoid getting the snow in her eyes. What she got instead was a face full of glimmering, green Pixie dust.
Malys started violently sneezing, one quick snort after the other, the way cats often did.
“What are you waiting for?!” Gullie screamed. “Run!”
I turned tail and ran, heading to where Colbolt was. Melina was already there, helping Valerian to get on Colbolt’s back. Part of me wanted to stay and fight, but I knew it was pointless. She had beaten us; she was way too powerful. All we could do right now was get away with our lives.
“Think about my offer, princess!” Malys yelled as we made our escape. “It has an expiration date.”
CHAPTEREIGHT
“That sneezing powder trick isn’t going to work every time,” Valerian said, “But all things considered, you may have saved our lives.”
Gullie didn’t seem to be in too good a mood to accept the compliment, though. Without replying to Valerian, she flicked herself off Melina’s shoulder and buzzed over to me as I settled down on the snow and took my Fae form. We had stopped running, but the fates only knew after how long. Having followed the road for what felt like an age, we had finally dipped away from it and scattered into the first tree line we could find.
Once inside, we had searched for a clearing, happening upon a small, frozen pond in a calm grove a fair ways in. The wound on my face had stopped bleeding, but I couldn’t see properly out of one eye. I could still feel the impression Malys’ claws had left on my skin. The wound burned and itched, but I hadn’t wanted to stop running to treat it until we were safe.
Safer, at any rate. I didn’t think Malys had come after us, not considering what she had declared as we ran away from her.As she let us run.The more I thought about it, the more I knew with total certainty that she had allowed us to escape unharmed.
Well, mostly unharmed.
This display of her power had intended to serve as a message, and it had been received.
“Will you hold still?” Gullie asked, “I’m trying to heal you.”
I focused my attention on her instead of anxiously scanning the trees for signs ofotherdangers. “Sorry,” I said, “I’m still on edge.”
“And covered in blood. Melina, could you get us some water to clean her up?”
“On it,” said auntie Melina, and she hopped off Colbolt’s back and went over to the frozen pond. With a slight touch of her fingertip against the ice, a small section of it melted, creating a circular pool from which gentle steam feathers rose.
As Valerian walked up to the pool, he stretched his arm off to the side where it disappeared. It came back a moment later with a bowl. Another reach into the ether, and Valerian produced a rag from thin air. My attention returned to Gullie, who was still buzzing around in front of me, grimacing at the sight of the wound.
“She really got you,” Gullie said.
“How bad is it?” I asked.
“Bad. I’ll try to heal it, but it may not heal all the way.”
“Do what you can, my body will take care of the rest—but only if you can spare the magic. I have a feeling we’re going to need every last drop of it if we’re going to beat Malys.”
“Beat her?Did youseewhat just happened? We got our bloody arses handed to us, and you’re lucky you didn’t lose that eye.”
“She’s right,” said Valerian, who was on his way over to me with a bowl of steaming water and a wet rag. “Malys is more powerful than we had anticipated. She made sure we knew that.”
“So, what, after one fight with her we’re all done?” I asked. “You heard what she said to me, right? What her offer was?”
“I did, and I’m not suggesting our fight is over. Only that dealing with her won’t be a matter of simplicity, or only subtlety.”
“Friends,” said Melina. “We’ll need friends. You heard what that rider said… there are people out there who remember you. People who don’t recognize Malys as their Queen. We need to go out and find them, just like we planned to do.”
“She let us go,” Gullie said, “She knows what we’ll try to do, she knows we’ll gather support. It won’t be enough.”
“Or she thinks it won’t be enough. Maybe she doesn’t know how many people out there really don’t like her.”
“You’re forgetting most of the Winter Court’s military power rests within Windhelm,” said Valerian. “We won’t find an army out there that can threaten her, only people. People without training, without weapons, without armor.”
Gullie began to glow bright green. I felt her small, Pixie hands press against my cheek. An instant later came a flood of warmth and good feelings that were more than welcomed. I sighed, shut my eyes, and enjoyed the sensation. It was relief. I wasrelieved.