Page 66 of Knight's End
Don’t move, Bloss!Quinn commanded in my thoughts.
I froze.
And then suddenly, the entire line of soldiers dive-bombed at once, suiciding themselves.
Isla’s smiling expression turned to frightened shock.
And a dark piece of my heart lit with black fire.That’s right. You think you know what magic we have. But we have more than you’ll ever know.
Tell Declan excellent work,I thought.
Then Pony and I shot forward toward the bitch queen.
“Bloss, wait!” I heard Connor shout behind me. So, my knights had followed.
But I was too attuned to the hunt, my prey just beyond my jaws, her scared scent in my nostrils.
Isla’s bear dove onto a balcony on the third floor of her palace. She yanked at the doors as I grew close. They were locked.
I chuckled, easing Pony down. I debated whether she deserved to be doused with peace before I shoved her off the balcony or if I wanted Pony to rip her limb from limb the way her bears had tried to kill my Ryan.
I got close enough that I could see the whites of her terrified eyes.
And fate be damned, someone unlocked the door for her just as I swooped down.
“Arrrgh!” I growled in disappointment as Pony and I rose back up in the air, out of the reach of Isla’s bear. It was too exhausted to fly after us, but not too exhausted to swipe at us and defend itself.
I took a moment to evaluate her palace.
The palace was huge. It was three times the size of mine. That wasn't because Rasle was wealthier. The palace was larger because it was necessary, so giants and part-giants could fit. Each stone block that made up the walls was as tall as I was, and probably twice as wide. They were a dull blue grey.
I scanned the palace. There didn't seem to be many sentries about, but perhaps the line of soldiers that Declan had killed were the ones set to guard the palace just then.
As I circled, I felt a change in the air beside me. I looked over to see my knights and several riderless gargoyles.
My eyes flew to Ryan. “Are you alright?”
Ryan gave a stiff nod.
Declan spoke before I could question Ryan any further. He leaned toward my giant. “Remember our practice on stones?”
Ryan nodded and raised his hands. Yellow reduction magic lit the front wall. The blue stones turned a dull green.
Declan's recent training with Ryan seem to have worked, because the wall started to disintegrate into air before our eyes, turning the castle into a life-sized dollhouse.
Courtiers screamed and came streaming out of the front of the palace like ants. A woman in an orange dress went mindless with panic when the wall disappeared. She toppled from the third floor and became a screaming blur before she turned into a puddle of silk and blood on the ground.
Someone rang the alarm bell that signaled attack. Archers appeared on the trip of the castle and arrows whizzed through the air below us. I could see their purple streaks, laced with poisonous magic. We were out of range.
I ordered our gargoyles to dive bomb. Resistant to the arrows, they could take out the archers while we searched the open-faced rooms for Isla.
“Another wall,” I ordered.
Ryan’s face was strained and sweaty, but he only nodded.
Connor hovered beside him, feeding him tiny bits of pink healing magic as he strained himself to take out another side of the palace.
This time, we spotted Isla, and her daughter Corinna, trying to escape into an inner stairwell. I shot peace at both of them. It glinted off some of Isla’s armor, off the quiver of purple arrows at her back, but Corinna was dressed as a princess. My magic soaked through her long blue dress until she stood like a dumb rag doll.
