Silver (Wicked Woods #3) Read online

  “Milady?”

  “At the start, I watched from around the edges of your school, but I could not find a way into it. I was too distinctive to just blend in, and I did not have the kind of human past they seemed to want to take me on as a student. This world is obsessed with bits of paper, and I did not have them. It was… confusing.”

  Briony could imagine that. It was bad enough starting out at a school as it was, but without any of the records that people normal y wanted…

  “I was lucky to hear your kind playing their music, and it seemed an easy thing to play along to it.”

  Briony remembered some of the piece Archer had been playing in the school theater. “Easy. Right.”

  Archer smiled. “Compared to when the dragons sing together in the high hil s, it is. It gave me a way to find out about you. I needed to see if you were who I thought you were, but I got caught up in things. I let myself become involved with your wolf shifters. I found myself in the middle of a battle, and I revealed myself too early. Before I was certain.”

  “Archer,” Briony prompted. “Who do you think I am?”

  “Why, you are the Princess, of course. My princess.”

  “What?” Briony couldn’t help the shocked laugh that came from her then. “I’m not a princess. And I’m certainly not yours. I have a complicated enough life with a werewolf and a vampire without…”

  “No.” Archer cut her off. “I did not put that wel . What I mean is that every dragon has a master or mistress.

  Someone with whom they bond. That bond helps to give the lord or lady their ful power. When I saw your face reflected in one of the seeing pools back home, I knew that I had to find you. To help my royal mistress achieve her power.”

  “Wil you stop saying that?” Briony demanded. “I’m real y not a princess. And I don’t have any hidden powers.”

  “You real y are. And you real y do. The woman you know as Aunt Sophie is powerful enough, but she is only the daughter of a royal guard. You are going to be more powerful stil , Briony.”

  Briony looked around to Fal on, who shrugged, then back at Archer. “What do you want, Archer? What does al this mean?”

  “Why.” Briony froze as Pietre’s voice seemed to come from nowhere. “It means, Briony, that suddenly you have become very useful indeed.”

  Chapter 19

  Pietre simply appeared from the shadows of the trees, unwrapping them from around him like he was stepping between drapes. It seemed that his ability to show up at unexpected times was down to more than simple sneakiness, and that the old vampire had picked up more than his fair share of talents in his long life.

  He obviously saw the shocked look on Briony’s face.

  “Oh, did you think that your little boyfriend was the only one who gained unexpected power from his transformation? I have had decade upon decade to learn everything that the blood can give me.” Pietre briefly turned his attention to Fal on. “Flying? Out in the open where anyone could see you, and where half of them would report it back to me?

  Hardly a good move, boy.”

  “What do you want, Pietre?” Briony demanded. She wouldn’t be afraid. This time, she had her cross with her, and it would be more than enough to do the job. Hopeful y, anyway.

  Pietre didn’t move. “I told you what I wanted back at your home. Don’t you remember, Briony? I wanted you to find the dragon for me. To make a way for me into Palisor.

  And look, you are doing exactly that.”

  Briony shook her head. “Not to help you. I’m just trying to get Aunt Sophie back.”

  “Ah, Sophie.” Pietre looked wistful for a second or two, moving through the clearing and stooping to pluck a wildflower. He held it delicately between his fingers. “You know, I was convinced that it would be her who turned out to be the special one, but now that your dragon friend has conveniently told me al about you…” he crushed the flower in his hand, “maybe I don’t need her quite so much after al .

  Not when I already have a way through the gate. Now, what was it Sophie tried with al those fake ones…?”

  He moved to the stream, scooped up water, and flung it in a fine spray at Briony. It was no more than the finest of mists by the time it touched her skin, but it was enough.

  Thick fog rose behind them, arcing up to reveal the gateway, stone coming clear of the drifting tendrils as the mist bil owed in the center. It swirled and changed, but this time, something was different. This time, Briony could see beyond it without having to wait for just the right moment.

  Even while the thick fog continued to occupy the space within the stone arch, Briony could see the clearing beyond it perfectly. Could see the brightness and glory of it.

  Briony saw Pietre take a step towards the gate, but Archer placed himself between the vampire and the structure.

  “You shal not pass, demon. Your kind is forbidden from this place. Even if you touch the door, you wil find it locked to you.”

  “He’s right, Pietre,” Briony put in. “Fal on and Jake both bounced right off the gate the last time. You won’t be able to get through.”

  Pietre just smiled. “You know, with both a dragon and a princess of that land to serve as keys, I think I might just do a little better.”

  Fal on stepped in front of Briony. “You aren’t going to do anything with Briony.”

  “Oh, with just you to protect her?”

  “Not just my brother.” Kevin stepped from the trees, with Jake beside him. Exactly how many people had seen Fal on’s flying routine?

  “As for making me help you,” Archer said, “you have no chance. You might be an ancient vampire, but I am a dragon. Even if we were alone, you could not defeat me.”

  “And of course, you are not.” Pietre’s smile did not falter. “But then again, neither am I.”

  They came from the trees. More than a dozen of them, moving with the unnatural grace that al vampires had.

  To Briony, none of them looked young. They weren’t Pietre’s age, but they al had their decades behind them.

  They would al be powerful.

  “I have told them about Palisor, and what it takes to get in there,” Pietre said. “Like me, they want a way in. They wil have it, too. Whether you agree or not. Why not just do as I ask? I wil let you al live if you do.”

  Briony stepped back. Things were suddenly a lot more dangerous than they had been. She looked around at her brother, at the two young men she cared about, at Archer. Would they be enough to fight off so many vampires? Wouldn’t it be better to just let Pietre through?

  Briony knew it didn’t work like that. She couldn’t afford to give in to Pietre, even when the alternative was violence. Besides, she strongly suspected that Archer wouldn’t move aside no matter what anyone said. And then there was the obvious point that Pietre simply couldn’t be trusted to keep his word.

  “You aren’t coming in, Pietre,” she said, drawing out her cross and releasing the hidden blade.

  “Oh, I think I am.”

  “Not if I can help it,” Fal on said.

  “Or me,” Archer said, and shifted. The vampires had obviously been told to expect it, because they didn’t run at the sight of a massive, winged, golden dragon before them.

  Yet it was stil enough to make them hesitate, and in that pause, Archer flamed. Fire leapt from his mouth in a great gout that caught at least three of the vampires, incinerating them before they even had a chance to scream. He ploughed forward into them, and whipped round in a frenzy of teeth and claws and lashing tail. Seeing it, Briony realized how much he had held back when fighting her and her friends before.

  Yet even that ferocious charge wasn’t enough to keep the vampires at bay. They were old, and they were fast. Fast enough to slip past Archer even as he slew another of their number with rending claws. One vampire leapt onto the dragon’s back, hammering at his scales with punches that would have crumbled brick. More vampires surged forward to engage the remaining four of them.

  “Briony,” Fal on s
aid. “If you end up going through the gate and not coming back, I just want you to know…”

  “Don’t say it. I a m going to come back,” Briony insisted. “My life is here, I can’t leave you, Jake, and my friends…Kevin. I’m going in, getting Aunt Sophie, and coming back. I have to lead the Wicked Preservation Society, and make sure the diner runs smoothly. I even have to make sure the show wil go on in the school play!

  Miss Smith would be very upset if I got trapped on another world before opening night.”

  Even as she said it, Briony darted forward, straight at one of the vampires running for them. It obviously had not been expecting the move, because it wasn’t able to stop before Briony plunged her cross blade deep into its heart. It fel back, already dead. Fal on matched the move with a desperate leap at a trio of the creatures, disappearing into a brawling, struggling mass that at least kept them back from Briony. Briony was about to move forward and strike them from behind when the next vampire came at her.

  This one, a woman who looked only a little older than Briony, but dressed like something from the nineteenth century, was more cautious than the one Briony had kil ed.

  She knew how to fight, too. She feinted to charge, waited until Briony tried to thrust at her, and then slipped to the side, bearing Briony to the ground. She reared up, her fangs bared.

  Kevin’s wolf form hit her from the side, smashing the vampire away from Briony and nearly tearing her head from her shoulders. He paused, looking back at Briony as if to check that she was al right, and at that moment another vampire flung itself at him.

  Jake jumped past Briony to intercept the move, and he, Kevin and the vampire went down struggling. Jake bounded clear, obviously looking for a better angle. He didn’t see Pietre step up to him until it was too late.

  “Time to die, boy.”

  Pietre seized Jake, and his viciously sharp nails drew a howl from Briony’s brother that was painful just to hear. Briony did the only thing she could think of. She launched herself forward, lifted her foot, and kicked Pietre as hard as she could.

  It knocked him back from Jake, at least, but her brother slumped to the ground. Was he unconscious?

  Worse? With no thought except of revenge, Briony lunged at the master vampire.

  He caught her wrist easily, twisting it until Briony had to either drop her weapon or watch her arm break. She let go.

  “Shal we get going to Palisor, Briony?”

  Briony looked past Pietre and saw Archer’s great dragon head turn towards them. It seemed that she was about to be rescued. Yet at the same time, she saw Kevin further back, fighting a group of the other vampires now and losing, badly. It was no kind of choice.

  “Archer, help Kevin!” The dragon hesitated only a moment. “The werewolf!”

  This time, he turned, and let go another great gout of flame. Only this one was needle sharp and precise, picking off the vampires around Kevin one by one. As the heat touched them, it burst across them, the fire burning them up in just seconds.

  Seconds were al Pietre needed though.

  “Come along, Briony.” He dragged her physical y towards the stil open gate. Briony tried to resist, but Pietre just twisted her wrist cruel y, making her cry out.

  “I wish Aunt Sophie had staked you and finished you off back at the house.”

  Pietre smiled, and there was nothing pleasant about it. “When we get through, I am going to find Sophie, and I am going to make her watch while I drain you dry. Then, when I am done with you, I wil start on her.”

  Fear made Briony look around for help, but the battle was too chaotic to see where it might come from.

  Several of Pietre’s vampires were on the run, their clothing aflame, yet Briony couldn’t make out Kevin, Fal on or even Archer. A dragon the size of a school bus shouldn’t have been that hard to spot, surely?

  Then though, Briony saw the reason for it. Archer stepped up to them, back in the form of a young man.

  “Let go of her,” he demanded.

  Pietre ignored him.

  It turned out to be a poor move. Archer’s hand snaked out, wrapped around Pietre’s, and with a force that brought the snap of breaking bone, wrenched it from Briony’s arm. The vampire screamed, as much in fury as in pain.

  “You. I’l kil you. I’l …”

  He lashed out, catching Briony rather than Archer.

  The force of the blow sent her sprawling back. Archer met the move with a return strike that punched Pietre from his feet. Archer didn’t fol ow the strike though. Instead he turned and stooped, scooping Briony up in his arms as easily as if she had been a child.

  “There is only one way to keep you safe, Princess.”

  He didn’t wait for an answer, and Briony wasn’t sure that she was in a fit state to give one anyway. It felt like Pietre’s nails had gouged into her, and right then, she was having a hard time simply remaining conscious. Archer carried her toward the gate, paused only briefly at the entrance, and then stepped into the fog it held.

  Briony had just enough time to see the gate closing behind them before exhaustion fil ed her, and she blacked out.

  Epilogue

  Briony opened her eyes to the sight of Aunt Sophie kneeling above her as she lay on what felt like grass. She wasn’t alone. Archer was there, stil in his human form and looking down at Briony with obvious concern. To Briony’s other side, and next to Aunt Sophie, stood a man with pale, delicate skin and hair that fel in a shimmering silver wave almost to his waist. His ears rose to delicate points, and Briony found it impossible to place his age. Though the fangs he revealed when he smiled down at Briony might have had something to do with that.

  “Aunt Sophie?” Briony struggled to sit up, ignoring the sudden pain in her stomach. “The gate…”

  “Easy now, darling,” Aunt Sophie said. “Try not to move too fast. We’ve had to take a large chunk of one of Pietre’s nails out of you as it is.”

  “Briony.” The fanged man’s smile widened. “You’re here just in time.”

  “In time for what?” Despite her great-aunt’s warning, Briony pushed herself to her feet. It didn’t feel too bad.

  “For the transformation, of course,” the man said. He obviously caught the look of confusion that passed over Briony’s features, because he turned to Aunt Sophie. “Am I getting ahead of myself?”

  “Only a little,” Aunt Sophie said. “I haven’t told her much.”

  “Then perhaps now is the time to explain things.”

  Aunt Sophie nodded, and Briony didn’t know whether to be glad or not. On the one hand, she had been hoping for a ful explanation of what was going on almost since she had come to Wicked. On the other, she suspected that the explanation was going to be every bit as strange as the things that had passed before it.

  Aunt Sophie put a comforting arm around her shoulder. “You have to understand, Briony, that I didn’t think any of this would happen so quickly. Just a short human lifespan, and already, I am transforming into what I real y am. Into what we both real y are.” She looked back at the fanged man. “Do we have time?”

  “I have waited fifty of your years and more for you to arrive, Sophie. I can wait a few minutes more.”

  That was said tenderly, and Briony couldn’t help wondering if there might be something between the two of them. After al , there had been Uncle Pete, and Pietre, so why not…

  “He’s my father,” Aunt Sophie said, and Briony found herself faintly embarrassed. She had forgotten about Aunt Sophie’s mind reading ability for a moment or two. Another thought came to her.

  “Hold on. Your father? He doesn’t look old enough.”

  “Thank you,” the man said, turning a smile on Briony that was ful of warmth and compassion, despite the fangs.

  “Our people are long-lived. What we are… wel , one of the peoples of your world cal s us the Hugtandalfer. The fanged elves, in your tongue. As you probably know, this is our land. Palisor. It is a place that retains enough magic for our kind. For al kinds of
creatures your world would consider mythical.”

  “Not all kinds,” Aunt Sophie added.

  “Not the dark ones, true.” The fanged elf nodded.

  “But others. So many others. And you have a special place here, Briony.”

  “Yes,” Aunt Sophie said, squeezing her tighter.

  “Welcome to Palisor, Princess Briony.”

  Briony could hardly think of what to say. It was true, what Archer had said?

  “Of course it is,” Aunt Sophie replied, apparently stil picking up her thoughts.

  “But wouldn’t I be… way down the royal pecking order?” Briony asked. “I mean, if you’re my aunt, then what about my mother? What about Jake? What about you?”

  Aunt Sophie shrugged. “Hugtandalfer stay looking young and handsome for long enough that their family trees can get a little complex, once humans are involved. My father is not your great grandfather, because he was not a father to my half-sister, your grandmother.”

  “But then where do I get my Hug… fanged elf blood from?” Briony asked.

  “I may have told your mother a few too many stories about our kind,” Aunt Sophie said. “And of course, with the gate so close by, she had to go and investigate.”

  “So my father is…”

  The fanged elf man supplied it. “My brother. The king.”

  Briony tried to fit it al together. It wasn’t easy. Her mind kept coming back to the thought of everything her mother had kept from her. To the fact that the man she had thought of as her father was not.

  “Try not to judge her too harshly,” Aunt Sophie said.

  “Your mother didn’t plan for any of it, and your hugtandalfer father didn’t know. The gate closed, and cut them off. Your mother did her best for you, and married a good man...your human father.”

  “So Jake…”

  “Is his,” Aunt Sophie said. “He’s stil your half-brother, and nothing wil change that.”

  Briony moved a little away from her great aunt. “I can’t believe al this. Suddenly, I’m this… elf. I mean, I look just like other people.”