Page 93 of Magick and Lead
Outside, the sounds of snarling dragons and clashing blades drifted on the wind. In the distance, through the trees, fire flickered and glowed. Suddenly, a large dragon winged towardthem, landing in front of the longhouse in a spray of earth and ember.
“Lacunae!” the rider on it shouted. “And the Gray Witch is with them!”
The witch.
Rohree’s stomach turned, dread hitting like a sickness that threatened to double her over. And then she felt something else. The brand on her leg. It had healed so well and so quickly that she’d nearly forgotten about it on her long journey. But it burned now. And she lifted her skirt and looked down to find the glyph branded into her skin glowing with an ominous scarlet light.
Lady Amberleigh had marked her with some enchanted rune that would allow her to track her—she’d told Rohree as much when she burned that mark into her skin. And still, they had led her straight here. How could they have been so foolish?
She looked to Clua. But instead of remorse or terror, she saw a dark grin on her friend’s face.
Clua spun her mace with a flourish. “Good,” she said. “I have a score to settle with that witch.”
“Clua, no,” Rohree said, grabbing her arm. “You can’t fight her. Please. For me. We must run!”
The dwarf’s eyes seemed to glow with the distant firelight. “It’s for you that I will fight her,” she said.
And she turned, brandishing her mace, and strode off into the burning forest. The others hesitated only an instant, then charged after her.
42
CHARLIE
“Well, look who finally decided to join us,” General Peckham groused as I burst into the briefing room.
From the looks of things, the briefing had just ended. Pilots were putting on their flight gloves, cinching their scarves, gathering their maps, and hustling out the far set of doors to their waiting planes. I was breathless and my whole body still vibrated from riding the motorcycle so hard to get here, but I’d made it just in time.
“You missed the briefing, Inman,” Peckham snapped.
I tried to disarm him with a grin. “Just point me in the right direction, sir. I’m ready to go.”
The general looked me up and down. Though I had my leather flight jacket on, I was still in civilian clothes.
“You’ll fly in Major Blaize’s squadron,” he said.
“Blaize? To hell with that. I always fly lead.”
The general’s eyes grew fiery. “Dismissed!” he barked at the pilots who’d paused to watch our interaction. “Get your asses to your planes. I want dragon tail for dinner!”
My fellow pilots hustled for the doors, several giving me encouraging smiles or pats on the shoulder as they passed. I started to turn and file out with them, but Peckham jabbed afinger at me. “Not you,” he growled. “You stay put. You and I are going to have a talk.”
Blaize was the last one out, striding by me with fire in his eyes. He made sure to bump me with his shoulder on the way past, and it was all I could do not to turn and punch him in the head. But in a second, the room was clear except for me and Peckham.
The general moved toward me, as deliberate as and forbidding as a rhino.
“Listen up, Inman,” he said, pointing at me with a lit cigarette between two of his fingers. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you lately, but you seem to have gotten the impression that your shit don’t stink. Are you the best pilot we got? Maybe. Are you a hero for the spy work you did behind enemy lines? Sure. Hell, every man and woman in the Air Force wishes they could be you, me included. But I’ll be damned if I’m going to let you let it go to your head.”
“Sir—” I started.
“Shut your ass,” Peckham barked. “Anyone else would have been thrown in the brig if they no no-showed like you did the other day. And if anyone else questioned my orders in front of the whole squadron like you just did, you best believe I’d snap their pecker off and beat them over the head with it. Major Blaize has made some rather outlandish claims about you as well—claims that, if I believed them, would be grounds for court-martial—and more. Treason.”
My stomach twisted at the thought that Blaize had been running his mouth about me. But the worst part was, he was right. I was a traitor.
“But I don’t believe him,” Peckham went on. “You know why? Because you’re Charlie goddamn Inman. You’re a hero.”
I nodded. “Thank you, sir…”
“But don’t let it go to your head, man. You’ve gotta know your goddamned place. A lion is the star of the zoo. Everybody goes to see it. It’s their prized possession. But what happens if that lion gets out of his cage? Gnaws on a couple of tourists? Eh?”
