Nocked Senseless Read online

  Under my love spell, the horse’s brown eye lost its wild terror and softened. I patted her neck and spoke soothing encouragement into her flickering, white ear. “That’s a good girl. Let’s keep moving now, shall we?”

  Ashtov nickered softly and lifted her wings. Finally, we started over the terrifying fog below. I struggled with the practical and ethical problems of what I’d done for several moments. The effect of my magic should only be temporary. But I’d forced a creature to do something it perceived as dangerous to its well-being through my magic. Ethically speaking it was a huge no-no.

  But I had a demon princess to save and protect. I was a desperate man. And I was prepared to break much larger rules than that one to save the woman I loved. Besides, I reasoned, the magicked horse was blissfully unaware of the danger roiling beneath her hooves. In a way I’d done her a service.

  I only wished I could be so unaware.

  I squinted at the cold horror beneath us, wondering if it had moved closer to the horse’s hooves.

  It certainly looked closer.

  Was it my imagination or did it feel as if the fog were sucking us downward? I gave Ashtov a nudge in her sides and she lifted her wings again, pushing hard to carry us higher in the sky.

  Almost immediately we started to slide downward, closer to the sucking fog.

  It wasn’t my imagination.

  The fog was pulling us in.

  I kicked her again and she pounded her wings to lift us higher in the sky. We gained a few feet and for a moment I thought we’d broken loose but then we started to slide downward again, toward the roiling gray and white mass beneath us.

  As the fog touched Ashtov’s hooves, her eyes widened and she screamed. Large, brown eyes rolling in her head with terror, she pounded her huge wings in an effort to stay above the mist.

  I grabbed mane and held on, praying Ashtov would be strong enough to keep us out of the fog. Inexorably, however, we started sliding toward the ground again.

  The horse was slick with sweat, her flat sides heaving with fear and effort and her nostrils flared widely as she struggled against a constant downward pull.

  Frigid air assailed us as we drew closer to the mist. From its dense, roiling midst I could hear sounds of pain and suffering that made my stomach twist in fear. I remembered the melting heat of wizard’s fire and wondered if it still lurked in the fog.

  If it did I was dead. I had nothing in my arsenal to fight that type of magic.

  I watched in horror as Ashtov’s hooves dipped beneath the roiling mass. A blast of frigid air burst from the fog and consumed us, turning our muscles into steel bands that fought against movement.

  Something snapped at the horse’s hooves and she screamed, pounding her wings hard against the air. I looked down and saw a long, deep wound gouged out of her right, rear hock.

  Blood dripped into the mist below, sizzling as it hit the magicked air.

  The horse’s frantic pounding bought us another couple of inches of clear air but we could only hold the distance if she kept flying hard. And I knew she was quickly reaching the end of her strength.

  I had to do something.

  I took stock of my weapons. The chain was worthless. I doubted the contents of the vial Atropos had given me would do much against the massive wall of magic beneath my feet. My Cupid’s bow wouldn’t help. That left only the bomb.

  I pulled it from my pocket and stared at it, considering.

  Another scream from the horse brought my gaze downward. More blood sizzled against the fog and, as it roiled and shifted, I could see a wide face with red eyes and enormous teeth.

  Something followed us in the mist.

  Something that wanted to tear us into bitty pieces and swallow our flesh.

  I shivered.

  If I couldn’t kill the mist, maybe I could kill the horrors hiding within it.

  I knew the dangers of setting the bomb into play so close beneath our feet. But I didn’t seem to have a choice.

  Thinking quickly, I opened my palm and sent my thoughts into the coin I’d conjured before. The bomb started to glow and pulse with light. It burned my palm but I gritted my teeth, trying to ignore the building pain.

  Smoke rose from my skin as the bomb formed and shaped itself there. When the light from the thing was so hot and so bright I could no longer retain it, I flung it hard and high into the air above the mist, knowing it would be sucked down into it.

  Then I jerked the reins to the side, away from the bomb and kicked the horse’s sides hard, several times, praying we could get enough distance between us and the explosion to survive.

  We climbed hard to the left, gaining several feet fairly quickly. It was as if the mist were focusing on the bomb and had temporarily forgotten us.

  This was good.

  Maybe we would be okay.

  I watched as the bomb hovered for a moment in the sky, caught between its upward momentum and the sucking pull of the fog below. For just a heartbeat in time it hung there and I held my breath.

  Then the fog won the tug-of-war and the bomb plunged downward, disappearing quickly and silently into the roiling mist.

  I kicked the horse several more times and she strained upward, her nostrils wide with the effort. Just as I felt her go limp with exhaustion the bomb exploded inside the fog.

  There was no sound. Only light.

  Massive, intense waves of light.

  The light spread outward in an ever expanding circle that ate a hole in the mist as it went. I watched in delight as the mist disappeared under the burning light, leaving behind only dead vegetation and clean air where hell had once reigned.

  I didn’t have time to enjoy it for long.

  The exhausted horse beneath my thighs had passed out and we were plunging at a deadly speed toward the ground. Then the blast hit the edges of the mist and the concussion exploded outward, bringing with it a sonic boom of sound and releasing a backwash of explosive air that pounded into us, sending us rocketing sideways, helpless against its immense power.

  Our plunge sideways didn’t stop until we crashed into something moderately malleable and crumpled toward the ground.

  My prickly but somewhat padded landing was followed by a decidedly unpadded set down in the hard dirt. My left shoulder crunched as I hit, followed by an excruciating slam to my left hip and then finally, my head bounced against what felt like rock, barely covered with dirt.

  I lay there for several minutes, trying not to breathe too deeply. I was pretty sure everything inside my body was broken. The nostalgic scent of pine tickled my nose. High in the sky, the sun shone brightly and birds started to sing. Other than the sound of happy birds, the area was quiet…and still.

  Turning my head, I could just barely make out the sharp, black peak of the wizard’s castle. It was the tower, where I could envision him standing, looking out over the world and contemplating the horrors he could inflict on the rest of us.

  I pulled air into my lungs and shoved myself into a sitting position. Pain made my eyes water but not as much as I’d expected. Cranking my head around I looked up to see what we’d hit.

  A tall, fat pine tree towered above me. One of its massive branches was bent, hanging downward at an odd angle. A soft groan drew my eyes to Ashtov, who had somehow managed not to land on me when we fell. She was kicking her legs in an effort to stand up. One of her wings was crushed underneath her.

  I’d be surprised if she could fly.

  I stood up and moved away from the flailing hooves. She managed to get her legs underneath her and shoved painfully to a standing position. Sure enough, one of her wings looked broken. She held it tenderly against her side, her ears flicking backward in response to the pain.

  I walked over and stroked her soft neck. “Sorry, girl. We’ll see what Nidras can do to help you with that.”

  Once I was mounted again, we headed up the mountain. Toward the castle looming darkly ahead. The ground beneath us was covered in dead, brown vegetation. The clogging mist
had killed everything it covered.

  Massive trees reached skeletal arms toward a bright blue sky, their bark hanging off in sad ribbons. The grass was long and brown but it looked as if it had been trampled flat by several thousand enormous creatures. The only thing left of bushes and flowers were some scraggly, dead sticks protruding from the ground.

  I wondered if the magic’s poison would stain the ground for the foreseeable future, or if Mother Nature would kick it off and return quickly to normal. I was learning the hard way that magic had a price.

  Thinking of what Nidras was willing to give up to gain her freedom, I knew the price could be steep.

  We picked our way carefully up the mountain. Even without the choking fog the going was slow. Jagged rocks toughened the terrain and forced us to take a circuitous route to the top.

  As we rounded one particularly huge boulder and searched for the narrow path, Ashtov stiffened and gave an alarmed snort.

  “What is it, girl?”

  She flicked her wings, her nostrils flaring with alarm.

  I looked around, expecting to see the wizard, or an army of gremlins waiting for us on the ridge above our heads. I didn’t see anything.

  The horse screamed and spun in a tight circle. One of her hooves slid from the narrow path and I grabbed mane as we tilted dangerously. Throwing my weight into the mountain, I gave the mare the help she needed to pull herself back.

  As soon as she regained her feet she bunched her muscles and took off.

  We careened down the rocky path at a suicidal rate, the mare’s gaze wild with a fear so great I was pretty sure she’d plunge right off the side of the mountain without even knowing or caring.

  I dragged ceaselessly on the reins in an effort to slow our forward momentum. But she’d gotten the bit in her teeth and was gone, completely ignoring my feeble efforts to stop her.

  We barely managed to navigate a sharp turn, the mare’s outside hooves scrabbling for purchase in the dry dirt. I held my breath as she struggled to stay on the path. Finally, her hooves gained enough purchase to propel her forward again.

  I was relieved to see a wide, green ridge in front of us as we completed the turn. We’d reached the level where Nidras and I had tethered our horses the first time we’d visited the castle.

  I renewed my efforts to stop Ashtov but, rolling her wild brown gaze upward, she held the bit and plunged onward. I looked at the sky above our heads and still saw nothing. Though, as I returned my gaze forward, my peripheral vision caught a slight shimmering in the sky just above us.

  Even as I had the thought I was hit in the shoulder by something with enough force to send me flying off the horse. I landed in soft grass covering hard ground, the impact knocking the wind from my lungs.

  I lay there for a moment, trying to fill my lungs with air and cursed inwardly. I was damn sick of hitting the ground.

  The ground shook and I looked up into a wall of shimmering air. As I squinted, the air thickened and gained form and color.

  Until I was staring at a myth.

  I forced myself to swallow. Though my mind told me to be a man and fight, my body scrambled backward in terror.

  The thing towered over me, its wide, reptilian snout barely closing around several rows of razor sharp teeth.

  Smoke wafted from the jaws with every breath and the smell of sulfur stung my nose, making me want to sneeze.

  The enormous body was covered in silver scales, which reflected the colors of the vibrant ridge like polished glass. The back feet, perched on the end of legs the size of giant redwood trees, had three-inch-long, curved claws that could probably slide through my flesh like knives through butter. The front legs were smaller than the back but the claws on them looked just as deadly.

  It had tiny ears, which twitched constantly at the side of its head and large, purple eyes filled with intelligence.

  Rising to the sides and above the silver dragon, enormous wings fluttered gently before folding back against the huge body.

  I noticed a shiny bauble dangling from one of the creature’s forearms like a bracelet.

  “Where did you get that?”

  The dragon cocked its head.

  I shoved myself to my feet, my fists clenching as I strode toward the giant lizard. “Answer me! Where did you get that necklace?”

  A soft chuckle drifted across my mind. Stupid Cupid. I will show you myself.

  The dragon took a step forward and I suddenly found myself standing way too close to that sulfurous mouth.

  The creature’s mouth opened wide and several rows of huge jagged teeth headed my way. I reached for the chain around my shoulders just as the dragon exhaled. Blinking, I expected a fiery, excruciating death. Instead I was encompassed by overheated, foul-smelling dragon breath. I tried to open my mouth to ask the dragon if that was all it had but my lips wouldn’t move.

  In fact nothing would move. I was completely paralyzed.

  I could only watch helplessly as the massive jaws wrapped around my body.

  Chapter Ten

  Kissing the Girl

  The dragon spat me out on the floor of a cave that smelled like a barnyard. Rubbing at several puncture wounds on my sides, I sat up and looked around. Nidras was chained to a wall at the back of the dragon’s cave. Her head was resting on her chest and she was covered in bruises and blood.

  I jumped to my feet and hurried toward her. Only to be stopped by a huge, spiked tail, slammed to the ground between us. I turned to the dragon. “Get the hell out of my way reptile or die.”

  The dragon’s musical laughter filled my head. Puny creature.

  The thing was seriously pissing me off with its attitude.

  She lives, Cupid. She only sleeps.

  I scowled at the dragon for a long moment. It blinked long, vibrantly hued eyes at me and opened its snout in a horrible parody of a smile.

  In desperation, I cast my mind back to my classical Greek studies. There’d been quite an extensive section on dragons, I remembered. Unfortunately I’d been about as good a student as I’d been a Cupid. I’d been too busy trying out my winning smile on the goddesses to pay much attention to my studies. Particularly Greek monster legends. Knowing I was destined for Earth, I hadn’t expected to interact much with the sharp tooth and deadly claw circle.

  I did remember something that I might be able to turn to my advantage. The pure white of the dragon’s wide, scaled belly told me it was a female. Males had gray bellies and, if I remembered correctly, black eyes.

  The necklace dangling from the dragon’s foreleg was probably another clue to its gender. Unless of course dragons celebrated sexuality in all its forms.

  I tried a smile, deciding seduction might be just the thing. “I’ve never met a dragon before. Especially such a beautiful one.”

  The dragon’s long eyes narrowed slightly and she snorted. I jumped away from the fire streaming from her nostrils.

  Apparently she wouldn’t be easy to seduce.

  Trying another tack, I looked at the pile of sticks and feathers in the corner, closer to where Nidras hung unconscious. “I’m tired from my journey. Would it be all right if I rested for a while in your nest?”

  The dragon moved its tail to scoop me farther away from the nest and unfortunately, Nidras.

  All righty then. That wasn’t going to work.

  I shrugged and went to sit against the wall. As I lowered my aching body toward the rocky dirt of the cave floor I groaned. It wasn’t an act. I’d never been so sore. My whole body was beaten and bruised.

  I briefly wondered what had happened to Ashtov. I hoped she’d found refuge in the woods beside the castle.

  Nidras gave a little gasp and jerked in her chains. My gaze flew to her and sharpened with anxiety. But I forced myself to relax and smile at the dragon. If she thought I cared about Nidras she might kill her just to spite me.

  Dragons were very emotional creatures. Especially the females.

  The giant reptile was watching me very careful
ly, no doubt judging my every expression.

  “So. What are you going to do with u-um me.”

  The dragon curled her tail around her massive body and sank onto her haunches. She lifted the tiny front leg with the diamond sword on it and cocked her head as the gems caught the sun and shot sparks of color around the room.

  I realized then that the dragon sat in the only pool of light in the cave. She became transfixed by the necklace, her large eyes looking almost glazed as she stared at it.

  “Hello?”

  She ignored me. Or didn’t hear me.

  “She won’t answer you while the sun catches the diamonds.”

  My head jerked around. Nidras’ lavender eyes peered at me, filled with pain. I wasn’t sure if it was physical or emotional.

  “Hey, demon princess.”

  She offered me a small smile. “Hey yourself. Imagine my surprise at waking up to find you here.”

  I stood up slowly, watching the dragon as I gained my feet. “I’m not easy to get rid of.”

  I thought I heard her sigh. But she didn’t respond.

  I slid along the wall until I’d passed the dragon’s deadly tail. The patch of sun softened as a cloud passed by outside and the dragon stirred.

  I stopped moving and pressed myself against the wall.

  When the sun returned I moved quickly toward Nidras.

  “The sun will be going down soon. We don’t have much time.”

  I pulled on the chains, trying to ignore the bloody skin beneath them. Nidras had obviously been trying to escape for quite some time. I pushed away feelings of guilt for not having arrived sooner. It wouldn’t help.

  After several moments of both of us tugging on the chains to no avail I stepped back, sweaty and panting. “Where’s the key?”

  Nidras shook her head. “I was unconscious when she hung me here. To tell you the truth I don’t know how she managed it. I think she must have had some help from Grimsbar.”

  I glanced toward the nest. I’d already decided that most of the barnyard stench was emanating from it. “Maybe it’s in there.”