Page 4 of Fortune's Blade

But I didn’t know what else to do, and insulting your host isn’t a great plan when he could crush you like a gnat and probably never even notice.

I got on. It wasn’t easy, even with the cart giving me a lift and Louis-Cesare, who had given up trying to climb the great hide and used vampire strength to just leap up there, pulling from on top. I’m not normally clumsy, but my body really wasn’t helping me.

My body was smarter than I was.

And things did not get better when I finally topped Mount Scaley, and discovered that the back in question was warm and alive, but also huge and broad and slick, with no hand holds except for a great mane of black hair.

We grabbed hold of that because the alternative was plummeting to our deaths, hoping it was allowed. And I guessed so, since the huge body got up and went loping up the mountainside like it was no big thing, with the massive talons further shredding the narrow road but easily clinging to the rocky slope. Until it abruptly cast itself off of the cliffside, heading straight for the valley floor, where it swerved just before hitting down and skimmed along the tops of the trees, the knife-edged scales sending some severed leaves flying into our faces as we rode what looked like a green wave.

And then we started back up again.

“This doesn’t happen!” I screamed for no reason that I could name, while the great wings strained up a hurricane, and the wind clawed at us like we were barebacking a 747, and the sun shone in our faces so brightly that I could barely see.

“It does today,” Louis-Cesare said, laughter and disbelief and terror all mingled in his voice, as they were in mine. And then he said it, the absolute bastard, as I should have known he would. “Can we go any faster?”

And we did.

Chapter Two

The castle was even more impressive from the inside, with towering ceilings, huge windows, and walls comprised of massive slabs of honey colored stone. At least, our room was. And it was all I saw because we were dropped off onto our balcony, which was as big as a house and, judging by the claw marks in the floor, regularly used as a landing pad.

But only after we’d taken the scenic route first.

Despite his worries about dinner, our host had had no problem buzzing panicked flocks of sheep, soaring with oversized eagles, and looping wildly around the frozen peaks of nearby mountains, all while adhering to Louis-Cesare’s request for speed.

I was cold and wet, because we’d skimmed over a half-frozen river that cut through a towering ice cave. One of the great wings had dipped into the water and thrown up a glittering wave as we exited back into the sunlight, which had cascaded with rainbows and sparkled like diamonds. And soaked me with freezing water until my teeth chattered.

I was quickly tiring, because the mane, while huge and warm and securely attached, had been no substitute for a seat belt. My thighs might never recover, despite the fact that there had been nothing for them to clench around, the back being far too broad. But they’d tried anyway, and now my legs felt like rubber.

But most of all, I was starting to seriously wonder what had possessed me to come here in the first place. Apparently, I’d been playing on easy mode my whole life and hadn’t realized it, with my so-called skills, both natural and hard-won, useless here. It had been all I could do to hold on while I was given a gracious ride to the summit!

After staggering inside to the oversized bed and face planting, I still felt like I was flying. Or maybe floating, as I could swear that my body didn’t touch the sheets. It was vaguely like being high, with the tingly feeling of blood racing through wide-open veins, as if it was spooked, too.

I used to wonder what people got out of roller coasters.

I thought I understood now.

After a while, I opened my eyes to discover that Louis-Cesare hadn’t joined me. He was still on the balcony, leaning over the squat, bulbous columns of the railing and staring downward. Which, yeah, probably had a great view, but how he could bear to do that now was a mystery.

I felt like I never wanted to leave solid Earth again. Or solid Faerie. Or whatever.

I had a bona fide new fear of heights and it had been earned.

But my partner clearly didn’t feel the same.

“Do we dress for dinner?” I rasped but didn’t get a response. Probably because several more impossible things had just flown by, and they seemed to be as interested in us as Louis-Cesare was in them. At least, I assumed that was why a leathery wing brushed the balcony railings as it passed.

It made a fwip, fwip, fwip sound, like someone holding a leafy branch against the spokes of a bicycle. Only it was more like FWIP, FWIP, FWIP, because the creature was huge, and the railing was some type of light-colored granite. And yet was still showing signs of wear.

But Louis-Cesare never budged. He was clearly enthralled, and I left him to it. I needed to sort out something to wear for dinner before I embarrassed Claire and the choices were limited.

Although not nearly as much as they once would have been.

I tossed my duffle bag onto the bed, opened the zip and poked my head into another world.

Technically it wasn’t a world so much as a closet filled with weapons. But it was kind of appropriate at present, since it was the fey who had taught us how to fold portals back onto themselves, forming a somewhat stable room in metaphysical space. One that you could access from anywhere, simply by carrying around the entrance.

My duffle was the entrance, and was just big enough for me to squeeze through and then to take a short flight of stairs into the portable arsenal I’d designed for myself.

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