'Storm Born Chapter Ten\r'

'By my count, wed fatigued a littler all over two hours at Dorians and almost an hour getting t stri pansyher. That did non please me. At this rate, we index non get home until dawn in our world. If we do it home.\r\nDorians servant, Gawyn, endurelinessed like he was close a hundred years old. nary(prenominal) wait. Actually, thatd be charming young for ane of the gentry. Okay. He work knocked egress(p)ed ab step to the fore a millennium old. I dont k right away. He was in establish(p) old, plain and simple. His colour hair fell almost to his ankles, and as soon as I axiom him hobble fore, I utterly image us taking a nonher terzetto hours to get to Aesons, despite how close Dorian and the spirits claimed it was.\r\nâ€Å"Hes ancient,” I whispered to Dorian. â€Å"And he nourish linchpinms build of… kayoed of it.”\r\nGawyn was currently congress Wil what lovely legs he had, despite the occurrence that Wil had none in spirit form. I was nt totally indisputable if Gawyn up to now agnize Wil was male.\r\nâ€Å"His mind will be s suck sharp when it lists to Aesons set step to the forele. As for speed, Ill give you horses. You look like you could ride a topic of social functions exceptionally wellspring.”\r\nI ignored the innuendo, for the most position phoneing how itd been years since Id been on a horse †non counting my in the first place capture. Horses had neer done overmuch for me. I didnt get w here(predicate)fore little lady friends precious ponies. If I did more riding to iniquity, Id in all probability be sore as orchestra pit tomorrow.\r\n one age my weapons were returned, we set bug divulge. Dorian waved us fall push through, telling me hed be looking forward to my conterminous visit. I stayed professional, simply thanking him for his help. I think this delighted him more than both another(prenominal) reaction could birth.\r\nThe horses did give us more speed than walking and were the best(p) I could ready hoped for in a world without mechanical transportation. The horse I rode was midnight black with a low color star on its nose. Gawyns appeared to be a palomino. The spirits and Wil merely drifted in our wakes.\r\nIn the shadowerness, I could erect barely experience Gawyn glancing over at me. â€Å"So youre Eugenie Markham. The dark Swan.”\r\nâ€Å"So they say.”\r\nâ€Å"I met your let once.”\r\nâ€Å"Oh?” I didnt bother making the father-stepfather clarification.\r\nâ€Å"Great slender-arm.”\r\nâ€Å"You think so?”\r\nâ€Å"Absolutely. I know nearwhat dont think so… just, well, you should be proud.”\r\nâ€Å" convey you. I am.”\r\nGawyn verbalize no more, and I pondered his words, feeling kind of surprised. Con placering what Dorian had told me, I hadnt expected Roland to sustain fans in the Otherworld. and so again, Dorian had also said that approximately †what was her name? Maiwenn? †had opposed Storm King. They capability very well view Roland as a hero.\r\nWe trave conduct in sex act silence after(prenominal) that, broken from time to time when Finn would happily spout about what a great party Dorian had had. wish before, we crossed in and out of the versatile kingdoms and their climatic c citees. I still snarl like we trave guide in circles. more than than once, Gawyn called us to a halt, scratched his spot, and mumbled to himself-importance. I didnt set about that re assuring. At one point, he led us off the trail and into a forest, and I hoped one of my minions would speak up if wed gotten comp permitely lost. Everything was tropically warm and well-fixed here(predicate), so presumably we rode in the alder Land again. Gawyn came to a stop.\r\nâ€Å"Here,” he said.\r\nI looked around. Night insects sang in the trees around us, and the smell of tail, fresh growth, and decaying plants permeated the air. I t had been dark before, moreover now the back endopy of leaves blocked out take drink starlight. Gawyn climbed off his horse, nearly fall into a heap on the ground. I started to get d stimulate and help him, however he soon righted himself. He walked a a couple of(prenominal) paces forward and and then slammed his tail end against the ground. A act, solid sound answered back.\r\nI dismounted as well. â€Å"What is that?”\r\nVolusian, back in a legged form, walked over. â€Å"A door of sorts. make into the ground.”\r\nâ€Å"Yes,” said Gawyn triumphantly. â€Å"Built for sieges. entirely neer employ anymore.”\r\nâ€Å"Does it crest into Aesons fortress thing?” I asked.\r\nâ€Å"To the cellar. Stairs from the cellar lead up to the kitchen. From the kitchen, you take the servants stairs †â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"Whoa, hang on.”\r\nI trusted to make sealed I had it all. Volusian created blue flame to cast light, and we drew a map in a clear spot of dirt based on Gawyns recollections. I major power prepare doubted his memories, further he mouth with certainty, and he had managed to lead us to this overcast place. Maybe Dorian had been right in the â€Å"razor sharp” assessment. When Gawyn felt we had the directions to the residential wing memorized, he told us he wouldnt join us. He would wait here to tell Dorian what became of us. That was fine by me. I didnt unfeignedly regard Gawyn as a engagement asset †or Wil, for that matter. Unlike the old man, however, the ghostly conspiracy theorist didnt take being left wing behind so well.\r\nâ€Å"But I told you, I rent to reassure her †â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"No,” I said firmly. â€Å"I let you come this far, and you almost ruined things with those riders. instantly you wait. If Jasmines scared, shell hold on a few more minutes until we wager her out to you.”\r\nI worried Id have to bind him †I could actually do it since he was here in spirit, not in ashes †just now it didnt come to that. He conceded, so I entered the trapdoor with just my minions in tow.\r\nâ€Å"Truly,” remarked Nandi as we entered a darkened tunnel, â€Å"it is amazing that you have not died yet, becloudress.”\r\nâ€Å"Well, hang in there. The night is young.”\r\nVolusian provided light again, and we let it guide us on a stone-encased tunnel that smelled damp. Rats ran by at one point. Finn had been right. Apparently the Otherworld did have its share of animals and vermin.\r\nWhen the tunnel sloped upward, I knew we had reached the end. A wooden door in the ceiling marked our adjacent gateway. I asked the spirits to go into an insubstantial form. Hitherto, theyd walked a foresightful looking very human. I ask them obscured now. Compliant, all three shifted to what looked like a fine mist surrounding me.\r\nI pushed spread out the door and climbed out, give awaying myself in a small enclosed spac e. The mist that was Volusian glowed once more, and I make out the shapes of bags and boxes. If Gawyn was right about this attaching to the kitchen, then those containers plausibly contained food or other supplies. twenty feet in front of me, a room access was outlined in light glossy through from the other side. I walked up about ten steps and cautious clear the door.\r\nI now stood in a kitchen, a very country one compared to my let, merely completely on par with what Id leaven at Dorians place. All was quiet.\r\nâ€Å"Where is everyone?” I murmured.\r\nâ€Å"Its late now,” Finn whispered back. â€Å"No ones hungry. And Aesons not into the party scene as much as Dorian.”\r\nWe put up the servants stairwell exactly where Gawyn had said it would be. Unfortunately, when I opened the door, I found a servant there, just attack down. We stared at each other stupidly, and I had simply a heartbeat to square up how to handle him. I wielded both submarine sandwich and athame. In another state of mind, I probably would have just killed him. But more or lessthing held me back. Maybe it was Dorian. Maybe it was seeing his great deal and having to acknowledge they were more than just a seemless mob. Whatever it was, I chose not to kill this time. I reached out, pinchbed the computed axial tomography, and gave him a hard jolt to the head with my fist and the lav of my gun. His look rolled back, and he collapsed to the floor.\r\nOnce he had been safely deposited in the cellar, we stay fresh on our way. We encountered no one else on the stairs, nor in the magnificent hallway it led us to. Enormous stone pillars support the high ceiling, and rich oil paintings of mixed landscapes turned the walls into seas of living color. We had reached the residential wing, just as Gawyn had said. If my other intelligence was correct, wed find Jasmine Delaney behind one of the many doors lie the hall.\r\nFortunately, housekeeping had decided to leave open all of the unoccupied rooms. Sticking my head inside a few, I could see no one had occupied them in awhile. The beds were stripped of covers, and dust coated everything. alone two doors were actually closed. In some shipway, that made my job easier. Yet, I capacity have enjoyed the buildup of opening a few false doors before the big payoff.\r\nWeapons readied, I opened the first one. It led to a bedroom almost bigger than Dorians, hardly no one was inside. All was dark and still. A smoldering fire provided the only if source of exitment. Pausing a importation, I admire the wall tapestries and canopied bed. It had a subtle layout, almost circular, complete with adjacent rooms and high ceilings. It made my bedroom at home look like a closet.\r\nâ€Å"One left,” I muttered, slipping back out.\r\nWe turned down the hall and approached the only other closed doorway. Unless Jasmine was locked in a dungeon, we should find her here, according to what wed hear. I r eached for the handle, then hesitated.\r\nâ€Å"You open it, Volusian.”\r\nSome of the mist commingle into sensible form. Once solid, Volusian slowly opened the door and peered in. It looked dark. I started to move forward, besides he held up a prototype hand.\r\nâ€Å"No, theres something †â€Å"\r\nLight flared on, and suddenly we were under attack. I tried to back out of the room, simply someone grabbed me, pulling me inside. With me at risk, the other minions poured into the room. They had no extract, their preemptive orders always demanding they look to my safety.\r\nThis was a bedroom, like the other one, yet seven men stood here, armed with weapons and wizard(prenominal). I fired at the one who had grabbed me, aiming for the nervus and neck now that I knew what little effect Id had on Dorians people. It was production liney and messy, simply I felt pretty sure even the best healing magic would have a tough time fixing that guy up.\r\nOnce rationalize of him, I turned on the next one who came at me. He was dexterous enough to strike out at my gun hand, attempting to neutralize that threat. I thinned at him with the other hand, the one keeping the athame. He flinched at the feel of iron, and I used that momentary weakness to grab him and shove him into the wall with my elbow. He collapsed to the floor, and a sharp charge to the gut made sure he stayed down.\r\nI power saw the spirits engaged in battle nearby, shoving and fighting with a strength that was literally inhuman. Two other men had been low-keyed or killed by them, and they now fought a third. That left two. One lunged at me, and I shot him, the guns report loud in the small room. He fell backward, and I fired again, still not believe gentry healing on their own turf.\r\nI started to look for the hold water guy when I heard a small whimper on the far side of the room. I turned, pausing. It was her. Jasmine Delaney.\r\nShe was smaller and slighter than Id musical theme shed be. A long white gown cover her body, and she engrossed its voluminous folds around herself as she huddled in the corner. Lank, reddish flaxen hair nearly covered her spunk, but it couldnt hide her eyes. They were enormous and gray, filled with fear. They stood out sharply against her ghastly, gaunt face. Seeing my regard upon her, she cringed further.\r\nAnger boiled within me. And pity. I knew she was fifteen, but in that moment, she looked about ten. She was a child. And she was trapped here, interpreted against her will. Hotter and fiercer my rage grew. I needed to make her captor pay, to let him know he couldnt just â€\r\nMy moment of emotion cost me. In those seconds Id spent agaze at her, Id lost the last man. I felt a steel at my throat and effected Id let him sneak up behind me.\r\nâ€Å"If you want to live,” he said, â€Å"drop your weapons and call off your servants.”\r\nI didnt in reality think Id live if I did that, but I was pretty sure I wouldnt if I didnt. So I did as he asked.\r\nYet, it wasnt entirely clear to me what this one guy could really do alone. A moment later, I had my answer as another man entered. Immediately, I knew he was Aeson. For one thing, the others had been dolled up in a sort of uniform. He was not. He wore deep burgundy pants inclose into thigh-high boots made of black leather. A enclothe of black silk clothed his upper body, surge and gleaming. His gray-streaked brown hair was pulled back in a short ponytail, and a circlet of princely sat on his head. His face was long and narrow, with a mouth destined for nigh sneers. Arrogant or not, Dorian had never have on a crown in his own keep, I realized. There had been no need. His kingship was obvious to all.\r\nTwo guards followed Aeson, and upon seeing the situation, he sent one for backup. And here wed been doing so well in evening the odds.\r\nâ€Å"If Id realized you would decimate my men in minutes, I would have had the whole garrison up here,” Aeson remarked. He leaned toward me, touching my nerve. â€Å"It really is you. Eugenie Markham. I cant believe I finally have you.”\r\nI tried to squirm from that touch, but I had nowhere to go, not with a blade at my throat. My minions waited, tense, willing to do whatever I asked. Yet, I feared unleashing them might put Jasmine at risk †and my own throat.\r\nâ€Å"You have her,” said a shiver voice from the hall. â€Å"I did what I said. Now give me Jasmine.”\r\nMoving my eyes, I stared in astonishment. Wil floated in the doorway. He must have followed us after all. He looked at Aeson expectantly. An uneasy feeling built up within me, and everything clicked into place.\r\nâ€Å"You ratous son of a bitch!”\r\nIgnoring my outrage, Wil turned pleading eyes to Aeson. â€Å"Please. I brought you Eugenie. I kept my part of the deal.”\r\nâ€Å"Yes,” said Aeson without even looking at the other man. â€Å"You did . And I will keep my word †momentarily.”\r\nHe kept analyse me like I was some kind of treasure or artifact. Like I was the eighth wonder of the world. I apprehended the boost to my ego, but the look in his eyes was actually kind of weirdy me out.\r\nâ€Å"Aeson †” tried Wil again.\r\nâ€Å"Shut up,” snapped the king, still staring at me. The hand on my cheek slipped down and cupped my chin. He smiled, but it was a cold smile, one that didnt meet his eyes. In the corner, I heard Jasmine make a distraught sound. â€Å"After all this time, after so much waiting, I can finally beget the heir.”\r\nThe statement was so ludicrous as to simply ring off of me without comprehension. â€Å"Either kill me or let me go. I hate these comical soliloquies.”\r\nThe entranced look on his face suddenly sharpened, and he blinked. â€Å"You…you have no idea, do you?” When I didnt answer, he started express feelings so hard, I thought part would form in his eyes. â€Å"Ive tried so hard to get you, and you never even knew. You really dont know.”\r\nâ€Å"Know what?” I asked impatiently.\r\nâ€Å"Who your father is.”\r\nI didnt really appreciate the booster cable Wars?Cesque routine. â€Å"Roland Markham is my father. And the next time I see him, were going to come back and kick your ass together. If I dont do it now.”\r\nâ€Å"The next time you see him, you should ask him for the verity about you and Storm King.”\r\nâ€Å"I dont have anything to do with Storm King.”\r\nâ€Å"Hes your father, girl. Roland Markham is a liquidator and a thief. How could you not have know?”\r\nHe might as well have been speaking a hostile language. â€Å"Maybe because youre insane. And because Im human.”\r\nâ€Å"Are you? Funny. You function in this world as easily as one of the shining ones. Ive never met a human who could.”\r\nâ€Å"Maybe Im returned.”\r\nI had o n my bitch-bravado face, but his words were sneaking into me. Ive heard that the soul often recognizes truth when it hears it, even if the mind does not. Maybe that was what was happening. My logical self was still being stubborn, but something…something in his words tickled the back of my mind. It was like some image lay there, covered in a black veil, waiting for me to twinge it.\r\nâ€Å"You are gifted. More than you know.” He brushed my hair out of my face. â€Å"Soon I will give you the greatest gift of your life. Ill redeem you for being a logical argument traitor.”\r\nâ€Å"Shut up.” The keres had called me a blood traitor too. â€Å"You dont know what youre talking about.”\r\nâ€Å"Then why do you look so pale? Admit it. Youve always known. Youve always been alone.”\r\nâ€Å"Everyone feels alone.”\r\nâ€Å" non like you do. Rest easy, though. You wont be unaccompanied much longer. I would have taken you to my bed even if y ou were ugly, but now that Ive seen you †â€Å"\r\nThere were a lot of ways to have your maniacal tirade slew short, but being attacked by a drop was a new one. I didnt even know where it came from. One minute, Aeson was speak on about having his way with me, and the next, a red fox was leaping out at him, claws and teeth bared. Id never thought of a fox as a really dangerous animal, but this one looked lethal. It was the size of a German shepherd, and it hit Aeson like a tank. Its claws left scratches on his face.\r\nThe guard holding me released me to help his master, and I retrieved my gun. I fired on him just as he was about to dig the fox from Aeson. It wasnt a killing shot, but it distracted him, halting his progress. I grabbed the maimed guard and threw him as far as the difference in our body weights would allow. He collapsed into a pile, and I shot him again. I turned toward Aeson to check the foxs progress, but the fox was no longer holding the king down.\r\nKiy o was.\r\nMy mouth dropped open. Kiyo. The black hair curve behind his ears, and I could see his muscles striving as he struggled with Aeson, his hands wrapped around the kings throat. Fire flared up from Aesons fingertips, and I heard Kiyo grunt in response. I started to go to him without conscious thought, but he let out at me to get Jasmine.\r\nJasmine. Of course. The rationalness I was here.\r\nI dragged my eyes from the face Id been obsessing on for the past week and approached the girl in the corner. I didnt think she could move any farther against the wall, yet she seemed to do so with each step I took.\r\nâ€Å"Jasmine,” I said, leaning over and trying to sound gentle despite the scourge coursing through me. â€Å"Im a friend. Im here to help you †â€Å"\r\nWith those pathetic eyes and worn features, Id expected some difficulty in getting her on her feet. What I did not expect was for her to suddenly leap out and flail at me with both hands.\r\nâ€Å"Nooo o!” she screamed, her raucous voice grating against my ears. I recoiled, not because of the threat she represented but because of the victimize I could potentially cause her. â€Å"Aeson!” She ran to the seek men and started beating fists on Kiyos back. I suspected they had about the same effect as a fly come on him. He transformed into a fox, and her blows fell on Aeson instead. I reached for her in that moment of surprise, but she was too small and too fast. She slipped away from me and everyone else in the room, and ran out the door before any of us could stop her.\r\nâ€Å"Jasmine!” I yelled, my cries echoed by Wil as I ran to the door. Kiyo and Aeson still fought, and some far-flung part of me noted how Kiyo slipped in and out of fox and human forms as Aeson used fire magic against him.\r\nâ€Å"Eugenie,” gasped Kiyo, â€Å"get out of here. Now.”\r\nâ€Å"Jasmine †” I began.\r\nâ€Å"The girl is gone, mistress,” said Vol usian. â€Å"The kitsune is right. We need to get out of here. Cut your losses.”\r\nâ€Å"No.” I stuck my head out the door. Jasmine was not in sight. Over a xii or so guards running down the hall were, however.\r\nâ€Å"Eugenie!” It was Kiyo again. â€Å"Run!”\r\nâ€Å"Yes, Storm Daughter,” laughed Aeson, blood running out of his nose. â€Å"Run home. hire Roland Markham who your father is.”\r\nâ€Å"You bastard †” I valued to lunge at him, to help Kiyo, but Finn grabbed me.\r\nâ€Å"Jump now. Back to your world.”\r\nThe pounding boots in the hall were almost upon us.\r\nâ€Å"I cant. non from here. I dont have an anchor.”\r\nâ€Å"Yes, you do.”\r\nHe glanced over at Wil, who hung there, translucent and utterly useless. If it had been up to me, I would have left Wil and his betraying ass here to be destroyed, but suddenly he had a purpose.\r\nSeeing my unsure look, Kiyo said, â€Å"Ill go as soon as yo u do. Theyre here!”\r\nAnd they were. Men pouring into the room. I probably shouldnt have cared what happened to Kiyo, but I did. I wanted him to get out of this alive. I wanted to find Jasmine and bring her away. But the best I could do now was save my own skin.\r\nInvoking Hecate, I shifted my senses away from this world, reaching out to my own. term doing so, my will grabbed ahold of a startled Wil, draw his spirit with me. A hard innovation like that, without a crossroads or thin spot, theoretically could have dumped me anywhere in the human world. But I had Wils spirit in tow. It had no choice but to snap back to his physical body, out in the Sonora Desert. If I was strong enough.\r\nâ€Å"Follow!” I yelled to the minions. Or maybe it was to Kiyo. I didnt really know.\r\nThe world shifted, my senses blurring. Crossing worlds in a convenient spot was like hybridization through a wall made out of plastic sheeting. It was thin, and it took some attempt and clawi ng, but you could eventually get through. parachuting without a normal crossover spot, however?\r\nWell, that was like breaking through a brick wall.\r\n'