"I'm fine."

"Dharma-"

"I tried that already," Dharma said. "If he drops from exhaustion, I'm leaving him for the alligators."

I didn't like the way Ivan looked. He was standing at an odd angle, and I could see the gaunt look to his face from where I stood.

The speaker for the Boggarts turned to face me. "Samantha will slay the Dragon now."

"Oh wait," I held up my hand. "No slaying Dragons. I already said that's not going to happen."

"But it will!" several of the Boggarts said with happy cheers, even though they all remained in a circle.

"You might wanna fill us in?" Ivan said. "We've been following the bike trail on foot ever since wolf-man there left us behind that chain." He pointed at Bastien as the Lycan moved to my right. I also noticed Dharma giving Bastien a serious once over.

I didn't really blame her.

"I knew you would find us," Bastien said as he crossed his arms over his chest. When he looked at me, his eyes softened and he lowered his voice. "You know what the nature of the cop diable is, no?"

"Yeah," I nodded "I know what he is. And I know where he is. He didn't leave me, Bastien. He didn't abandon me."

"You sure?"

I boiled down what I knew into a few sentences, letting Bastien know Crwys needed my help.

He listened, though his expression remained the same. When I finished, he lowered his arms and offered me his hand. "Come. We talk, cherie."

"Bastien we don't have time-"

"We talk."

"Sam," Dharma said. "Do we have a plan yet? Finding this live Cairn could work to our advantage. If you still want to try and bring Brendi here."

"I have an idea," I held up my hand. "Just give me a minute." I didn't take Bastien's hand, but instead put both of my hands into my back pockets.

Bastien's shoulders lowered and he moved ahead of me through a path in the woods, something I hadn't seen immediately. I followed him until we weren't in earshot of the Cairn anymore. When he stopped, I stopped. And when he didn't say anything, I opened my mouth to start. "Bastien-"

"Drachen..." he said, with his back to me. "Are complicated monsters, cherie. They care for nothing but destruction, control, domination and self-fulfillment."

The description he just gave me didn't sound at all like Crwys. "Known a few Dragons have we?"

"None. But we learn about them, same as we learn about every other enemy to our world. There is one thing Drachens and Lycans have in common." He half turned from his waist up to look at me over his shoulder. "We love only once, unless that love pa.s.ses into the Summerlands without us." Now he completely turned and came to me. He stopped, inches in front of me and put his hands on my shoulders. His warmth bled through my shirt. His gold eyes met mine. "He has loved, cherie. Have you seen it? He still pines for her, in the deepest places of le couer. I can hear the song of his mourning. His song of loss weighs on him."

I searched Bastien's face. I knew Crwys had loved before. He'd told me this at least a dozen times, and I'd always thought he shared this with me as some kind of warning. But, of course, I'd brushed it off. But now, with the swamp so quiet, Bastien's presence so close, and the pack's link just a thought away, I wondered exactly what kind of warning it was.

"You are choosing to risk your life for something you may never fully possess."

I shrugged his hands off and took an unsteady step back. The heel of my muddy boots sunk into the ground. "This isn't the time for this conversation, Bastien. I'm not sure if there ever will be a time."

"I have never loved, ma cherie," Bastien said.

"That's too bad. You should try it." My heart beat kinda fast as he took another step. He stood above me, and his bare chest and overwhelming man presence inspired a whole lot of interesting thoughts. Until I thought of Crwys. In pain. A golden arrow in his chest. "No. Stop. Back off."

But he didn't back off. In fact, he moved fast and pressed his lips against mine before I could make another move. I stood completely still for a few seconds, unsure of what to do. On the one hand, it was a good kiss. And the wounded parts of me, the parts pining for affection, wanted this. On the other, this was a Lycan and could go from big and handsome to big and hairy pretty fast. But on the last hand...

I finally put my hands up and worked them between us, pressing against the warmth of his chest until I could get enough leverage to- Bastien flew backward a second before I heard the link. The link was severed and the pain of that abrupt end sent a sharp knife between my eyes. Bastien was in wolf form in seconds and tearing back through the woods. I scrambled behind him and started in the direction of the compound just as I heard Grey.Sam! The Cairn!I changed direction and headed toward the toadstools instead of the compound. I could feel the air charging with magic the closer I got. I could also hear screams and growling. I called my Elementals and they appeared with me. My Gnome charged out ahead with her axe as my Salamander became a fire bolt and wove a path through the trees.When I got back to the clearing of the Cairn, I stopped in my tracks. Flashes of light in all the Elemental colors illuminated the woods. Hooded figures dashed between trees as they fired off red bolts of magic. Some of them were aimed at Dharma and Ivan hiding behind a large clump of trees. The two of them were protected by a sphere of protection, visible as the oppressor's fire lit up the otherwise invisible shield. Dharma was giving as well as she was getting. It looked to be a stalemate.My Gnome attacked the closest hooded figure, catching it in the back of the legs with her axe. The guy yelled out and when he went down on his knees, all manner of leafy, viney things shot out of the loamy earth and wrapped itself around his neck, his face, his arms and his legs, and pulled him into the ground where his screams came to an abrupt end.Sweet Lady!My Salamander set one of them on fire. The guy became a human torch as he ran around the woods, setting dried brush on fire. Luckily, my Undine went behind him and doused those flames just as quickly. My Sylph attacked the one gaining ground on Dharma and Ivan and blasted him backward into a tree."There's an Elemental Witch here!" someone shouted."Kill the Elemental!"And then I became the target.-Fight!- I raised my hand and summoned a sphere as fast as I could, made up of all the Elements but powered by my own energy as I pulled it from the earth beneath me. Their blasts of magic bounced off the red, sparkling exterior as I zeroed in on something to my right.A tall man with broad shoulders, also dressed in one of the dark hoods, stepped out of the woods and stalked directly into the center of the Cairn. When he pulled a long, gnarled staff from inside his cloak and raised it, I realized what he was about to do. I recognized the staff was rowan wood and if he stabbed the middle of the Cairn, he would effectively shut it down. For good."NO!" I shouted and at that moment I lowered that shield, wrapped up that power and fired it directly into the b.a.s.t.a.r.d's chest. I got the distinct impression he didn't see that coming because he flew two times farther than my Sylph hurled his target. The staff clattered to the ground, and I dove into the Cairn and grabbed it."Sam! Don't touch it!"I wasn't sure whose voice that was. But I heard it just as I reached for the staff. Another hand got to it before I did and s.n.a.t.c.hed it away. Light blinded me as the edges of the Cairn lit up and the toadstools twinkled as if sprinkled with stars."Get her out of there!"Someone grabbed me, wrapped powerful arms under my shoulders and lifted me off my feet. I was in the air and yelling out until we landed on a soft, if not damp, patch of loamy dirt. I caught my breath as I looked up into Bastien's face. He had blood splattered across his nose and cheek. He was sweating and breathing heavily. His canines were sharp and his eyes were still that of a wolf.And he was naked."tes-vous bien?"I stared up at him as I heard and felt the crack of something hitting the ground close by. A crisp, burnt odor filled the air as smoke moved above us. Someone cried, followed by the sound of running. Wolves growled and raced past as someone screamed.I nodded to Bastien's question and tried to get up.He kept me down as he sniffed the air. After what felt like hours, he moved back and gestured for me to stay down as he rose up like a prairie dog."Sam?"That was Dharma's voice. I pushed myself up on my elbows, and then turned to my left side so I could peek up over the top of the gra.s.s line. That's when I saw it, lying p.r.o.ne and still just a few inches from where we hid in the gra.s.s.A Boggart. The very one that spoke to me. His body was little more than a shriveled husk, his eyes burned away to staring hollows. Smoke drifted up from the charred remains, adding to the thickening fog around us.A look to the other side of me and I saw another one. And a third. And as my horror made me braver, I moved up on my knees and spotted more of the corpses around the Cairn, until I was standing and looking at the smoking outer ring that had once been a circle of living, breathing creatures.The toadstools were gone, shriveled away to nothing more than ash. And in the center of what had once been a Cairn, stood the gnarled staff. The gra.s.s around it was gone, and in its place remained a tough, gla.s.sy covering of obsidian."I...I don't understand," I heard myself say. "I...I had the staff.""Yes. You did," said an all too familiar voice to my left. I whirled and spotted Edmund Blackwood by the edge of the obsidian Cairn. Still wearing his cloak and looking a bit mussed, though his hood was off and nestled at his shoulders. "That was quite a powerful spell, Miss Hawthorne. I see you've learned to incorporate your new Arcane talents with your Elemental ones. I find that interesting."I balled my fists so hard my nails dug into my skin. "What the h.e.l.l are you doing?"He shrugged. "It's our job, isn't it? To prevent the Other Worlds from sneaking into our own?" he held out his hands. "You can't be upset about these wretched creatures, can you? They were little nightmares. The givers of bad dreams and fear.""That didn't give you the right to murder them," I said through a tight jaw. I felt Bastien beside me, his presence rea.s.suring."I didn't need a reason," he smiled. "But then, I'm not the one that held the staff."When he glanced to his right, I looked at my left. Dharma was there, and I sensed Grey just as she came to me."Where is Ivan?" I stared at Dharma as she stumbled toward me, tripping over the Boggart bodies. "WHERE IS IVAN?"Tears cleared lines down her dirt-smeared face. She held her left arm with her right. I saw blood. I smelled it. She'd been hit. But that didn't stop me from moving to her and grabbing her shirt. "Where is he?""Cherie-""Shut up, Bastien," I said as I locked my eyes with Dharma's. "Where. Is. Ivan."She didn't look away and I could feel despair as it radiated from her. "He-he ran out to help you. I told him to stay with me, but he said he couldn't just sit there and not help. I-I told him to just grab you, but he took the staff-"I staggered back and into Bastien, who put a hand on my shoulder. "Ivan...Ivan took the staff..." I looked over at the smoking circle, at the charred earth, at the dead bodies. "Where...""Dead, Samantha," Blackwood said as he stepped into the ruined ring and touched the staff. I watched as it turned to ash and was whipped away by a sudden, cold wind.SIXTEEN.The hole in my stomach broke wider at the thought I'd just lost Ivan. Ignoring Blackwood, I stumbled into the scorched circle and searched the ruins for remains. My Arcane flared as I sent up small suns, b.a.l.l.s of bright yellow light, into the air to illuminate the destruction. I sent my Elementals out to find Ivan. Any trace of him-any clue that could tell me he wasn't dead.Blackwood stepped back from my Elementals as they manifested around him. I felt and saw the surge of Arcane Power as my despair and horror coalesced into the very solid form of a glittering red angry unicorn. It turned on the Magician and stalked him, shooting yellow fire from its flaring nostrils. Blackwood backed away until he was outside of the blackened ground.I pushed my fingers past my cheeks and into my hair and held it back from my face. "What...did you do?" My voice sounded small, but it echoed in my head. The pack was listening."I did my job, Miss Hawthorne. It is our duty to destroy the monsters that come into our world, isn't it?" he gestured to the bodies strewn over the ground. "These were monsters. And they came in through this Cairn.""Our job isn't killing innocent Witches!""He got in the way," Blackwood said as he straightened his cloak. He looked at everyone but me and the angry horse glaring at him.-We could do to him, what he did to the Witch.- For once, I agreed with the voice. But I didn't want to act irrationally. "Ivan tried to protect me.""Then it was his fault. The staff was already set to destroy the Cairn. He shouldn't have been touching it when I-" he stopped and seemed to rethink what he was about to say. "He shouldn't have touched it.""When you what?" Dharma said as she came from my left. I glanced at her. She glowed a brilliant blue and white in the darkness. The Cleric was fully charged and broadcasting her ident.i.ty. If he didn't know she was a Cleric before, he knew it now. And I a.s.sumed from the look on his face when he spotted her, he didn't know this before. "When you triggered the spell? You knew he was holding the staff, an innocent Dianic, and you acted anyway?"But then he regained his composure and narrowed his eyes. "As a Cleric, isn't it your duty to report the infected to Parliament?"Dharma didn't back down. "You murdered a Dianic Witch.""And you are aiding and harboring an Arcane wielding Elemental, young lady. Exactly whom do you think your Parliament will side with? Me. Because to them, the life of a Dianic isn't worth its magic. I saw an opportunity to destroy this Cairn and I took it. No magical court in this country would ever convict me of murder.""I don't need a judge and jury," I said as I felt myself slip into the warm, glittering blanket of Arcane. It fed my need for revenge, it fed my need to destroy, and it fed my need for retribution. "We're in the swamp. There is no Hive here. No laws to bend and break.""And you will do well to listen to me, Samantha Hawthorne. I have a recording of you using that forbidden power. And all I have to do is give it to Cromwell and no one will ever see you again."I took a step toward him. "With today's special effects, I'm pretty sure that recording can be explained away as nothing more than a fake, Mr. Blackwood. So let's settle something right here. Why did you really destroy the Cairn? Is it because you don't want me rescuing Crwys Holliard?"Blackwood didn't step back. In fact, he looked amused within the deep contoured shadows of his face. "You think you can rescue a Dragon?"I took another step."You will not, Hawthorne. No one will. He was the price of Arden Vervain's deal and he will remain in Alfheim, away from this world and punished by the ones he nearly destroyed a long, long time ago," he took a step toward me and pointed a long finger at my chest. "Now you listen to me, and you do as I say because I own you now. Just as I own Arden. Given another day or so that Witch will be dead and I'll own all of her land and holdings free and clear. You're not going to Alfheim. You're not going to touch a Cairn, or I'll make sure to deliver you personally to Cromwell with my evidence."I laughed. Or the Arcane laughed. "You really think you're a match for me? That I'll obey you and do your bidding?""Yes. I do." He held out both of his hands. I felt a slight pressure in the air, something that drilled slowly through my personal shields until I was on my back with something invisible and strong wrapped tightly around my neck. I grabbed at it but couldn't wrap my fingers around it, and the whole time I was screaming in my mind, trying to figure out how a Ceremonial Magician had broken through my Arcane shields to choke the c.r.a.p out of me.I heard voices and snarls and then the shout of Dharma's voice. The thing around my neck disappeared and I gasped for air as I flailed on the crisp, dead ground. Bastien leaned over me and took me into his arms, pulling me up to my feet but holding me close to him. He smelled of gra.s.s and all things living."Cherie?" his voice was soft and I heard the name in my head as well as with my ears. "tes-vous bien?" He leaned down and kissed the top of my head."I'm...okay," I said before I turned to see Dharma standing between Blackwood and myself and Bastien. She was lit up like a floodlight and her Undine was beside her, five times its usual size. Dharma was not messing around. I could only imagine the hurt in her heart right now, and though she was a Cleric, I was pretty sure she was having a hard time not killing Blackwood herself.My horse snorted and approached Blackwood. He held up his hand as if to fire something at it just as a shadow moved to his right. It grabbed his wrist and pinned it behind him. More shadows appeared until a dozen or more Lycans in human form held Blackwood where he was.I told my stallion to stop. It didn't want to...but it did.Bastien released me and strode forward to stand in front of Blackwood.