Great now we were breaking in to human buildings. “It’s a power station. There’s probably no one there but be careful.”
We went in and I heard voices.
Clarence and Fionuir were shouting. “You will stop what you are doing, Banshee.”
“You will not speak to me like that,” Fionuir’s voice came back. “Where is that wizard?”
“I’m here.” I tried to step forward but Lionel pulled me back. “What do you want?”
“My amulet, you stole it.”
I tried not to react, the amulet was in my pocket and until we could put it somewhere safe it wasn’t going out of my control. “What amulet?”
“Don’t toy with me, wizard,” she spat the words. “I thought you were blind from stealing my book, but no, you took the amulet. Give it back.”
I heard a heavy step and then Clarence’s voice cut across the sudden silence. “We will not help you kill more humans. Leave and stop your foolishness before you start a war between the Real Folk and the humans.”
“I don’t care about some possible war. I am fighting a real war of my own.” I heard fear in her voice.
She didn’t believe that the humans would find out, how naive could she be? “The police are already investigating these recent deaths. They may be human, but they aren’t stupid. It won’t be long before they link the last ones to this. How can you not believe they will find us?”
“It’s been thousands of years, Quinn, only a few teenagers have even suspected we exist. What is real, is me fight to keep my position. Give me the damned amulet.”
“No.” I pulled myself out of Lionel’s grasp and walked toward Fionuir’s voice. “You will have to find another way.”
“Oh, I’ve already found another way. I will keep killing humans until I get the amulet back.” She was getting careless; I could hear her footsteps approaching.
“I am still not giving you an amulet.” I stepped toward her voice.
“You are supporting Maeve? You think she will be better than me?
“Can she be worse?” I felt heat from the direction of her voice. “You are putting our entire existence at risk. What point is winning the war with Maeve and losing everything else?”
Someone grabbed me from behind and I felt the breeze of something just missing my face as I fell backward into one of the Kobolds. Edrinda’s voice grunted into my ear. “She’s armed. Let us fight her.”
I felt the wall hit my back before I could argue.
Then all I heard was metal against metal.
Chapter Thirty-Six
I expected Fionuir to be defeated quickly. Fighting two Kobolds was a good way to commit suicide for most people. But she kept up her end. I could hear grunts from all three. It made me glad I couldn’t see what was actually happening. Although it left me plenty of time to worry about that obligation.
Lionel slid down to sit beside me. “Quinn, I don’t know what to do, they are not getting anywhere, and I think she’s enhanced her ability. Can you cast a spell?”
“It would be dangerous for me to cast, I don’t know who I would hit.” I really wanted to throw a net spell but I knew Fionuir would just keep fighting. I wasn’t going to sacrifice my friends for this battle.
“She’s going to kill them then come and get us. I can’t fight her.” Lionel sounded more angry than afraid.
I tried to think. Lionel was better than I expected him to be with magic, but this was under a stressful situation. What could I give him that wouldn’t be a disaster for everyone?
“I don’t think we have much time,” Lionel stuttered. “Can you give me a kill spell?”
“Absolutely not.” I came out of my internal spell inventory. “How do you know you won’t kill everything in hearing range?”
“We have to do something.”
“But not killing. I can’t cause direct harm. This blindness is probably part of that. I gave my word I wouldn’t do direct harm.”
“Great, Quinn, could you have mentioned that before we were in the middle of a battle?” Olan chirped as he landed on my shoulder.
“Even if I didn’t have this obligation, I wouldn’t kill. Do you forget I’m a spirit wizard?”
“Fine,” Olan said. “You think about what you can do and I’ll be getting in her way was much as I can.”
I tried to ignore the sarcasm in his voice. It wasn’t helping me find a solution.
Fionuir screamed, “Get out of here you damn bird.” And there was a pause in the clashing of swords.
I had an idea. “Lionel, have you mastered the preservation spell?”
“Yes, I preserved three oak leaves last month. They are still green.”
It occurred to me that he might be bragging but I pushed the thought away, I had to trust him or there wasn’t any point in trying to stop the fight. “Okay, I have an idea. Do you think you can cast this only on Fionuir?”
“Yes, Olan is keeping her far enough away from Clarence and Edrinda. If we are quick, she won’t be able to get close to them again.”
“If you twist the spell to include ice and air, you can crystallize the air around her. She’ll be held in a shell of ice until we release her. She’ll be alive and aware, but not able to do anything.”
“Okay so instead of saying, rot and entropy leave, I say what?” He was smart enough to figure out the way each part of the spell contributed to the whole.
“Movement and heat.”
“I’ll get as close as I can.” I felt him rise. “Wish me luck.”
“Luck”
The clash of swords started again then stopped. “Bird, I will slice you open if you don’t get out of the way.”
I sent my thoughts to Lionel, now, do it now! He must have heard me. Murmurs of a spell carried across the room. Then suddenly the room went cold and silent.
Then I heard breathing, then gasps of breath and a thud.
“Lionel, what is going on, damn it.” I pushed myself up. If this didn’t work, I was going to blunder into the battle. If everyone was frozen I would have to fix it.
“It’s done,” Olan said. “The boy did fine.”
“What was the thud? Is someone hurt?” No one answered. “Someone talk to me.”
“Fionuir fell over,” Edrinda gasped. “We’re fine. It’s over.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
We were in my workroom. Fionuir was resting on the couch where Princess had been. Princess and Diablo had left while we were in battle.
I checked the integrity of the spell and was impressed with Lionel’s expertise. When he learned a spell he cast solid magic. “Any ideas what we do with her?”
“She’d make a nice ornament if you just stand her in the corner there. You can always hang a coat on her,” Olan said.
I rolled my eyes. “I’m thinking I’d like to survive her reaction when we free her. We will eventually do that, I’m not going to keep her in this state forever. She’s aware, remember.”
“I think we need to get the amulet stored as far away from her as we can think of, and if she’s aware, we need to deal with her first,” Clarence said. “Do you have any more of that tea? And honey, I think the fairies took it with them.”
I told him where to find my stash of rare honey and heard him going up the stairs. It made me realize that I was going to need someone to do my shopping and other errands until I either cured the blindness or learned to handle being blind. Humans managed so I’m sure I would figure it out. And maybe I could get Maeve to give me that book back when she’s officially queen.
“There are a few places we can put her where she’ll be out of the way. We can throw her into a dimensional fold. As long as no one finds her we’re the only ones who could pull her out.”
“We can’t all cast spells, Quinn. What happens if you and Lionel aren’t available?” Edrinda asked.
“If need be, I can deal with it,” Olan boasted.
I ignored him, and added another item to my list of things to fix: return Olan to pixie form. I thought for a minute and then came up with the solution. “I can spell the release into a charm. All you have to do is say the words and you can free her.”