Shadow Heir

Jasmine looked reluctant to go, but Kellum didn’t have to be told twice. He seemed nervous at being left alone with us. The two of them hurried over and disappeared into thin air, just as the others had done. Dorian held out his hand.

“Shall we, my dear?”

I smiled. “It’s too narrow for that. We have to go single file.”

“Mmm,” he said, with a small frown. “Oversight on my part. I’ll have to work on that the next time I build an amazingly brilliant impromptu bridge to save us all.”

“Next time,” I agreed.

Ever the gentleman, he let me walk first. Our horses had already gone on ahead, so we didn’t put much weight on the structure. Plus, he was right that our magic was more than enough to keep the bridge in its suspended state. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much we could do when a huge green-and-red-scaled serpent emerged from the lake’s surface and roared a challenge to us. Along with the tacky Christmas-color scheme, it had pointed gills radiating out from its body. Its mouth was full of sharp teeth and was more than big enough to swallow one of us whole.

“Really?” I asked with dismay. “We couldn’t have gotten a break just once?”

“Go!” said Dorian, with no trace of his earlier levity. “We’re nearly there.”

It was true. We were over two-thirds of the way across. Still remembering to keep the water in check, I sprinted forward. I could see the bridge’s end and knew I was about to reach the other side when the serpent roared again—practically right behind me. I turned and was just in time to see it make a lunge for Dorian. He dodged the attempt and dropped to the ground. Unfortunately, doing so broke his concentration on keeping the bridge up. I had enough presence of mind to continue making the water reject the earth but only where we stood. Behind us, all that rock and dirt crumbled away into the water.

I held out my hand to Dorian. “Come on.”

Dorian started to rise, and then, with speed that seemed too great for its size, the serpent struck out again and knocked Dorian back to the ground. One of its pointed gills or fins or whatever it was called made contact with Dorian’s forehead, and I saw blood appear. More pieces of the bridge started to fall, and I adamantly ordered the water not to accept them. Still, as I watched the serpent come back for another strike, I knew maintaining the bridge wouldn’t be enough. I acted quickly, doing the first thing that came to mind.

I removed all the water around the serpent.

One instant the water was there, the next it wasn’t. Part of the water I simply pushed aside with magic, creating the Red Sea effect I’d speculated about earlier. For the rest of it, I simply caused evaporation. It created a considerable amount of steam, but I could still clearly see the results. The serpent had nothing to swim in, and as Jasmine and I had noted, the lake ran deep. With said lake no longer there to support the serpent, the creature immediately dropped into the chasm created by the water’s absence.

“Impressive,” Dorian managed as he staggered to his feet with my help. I wanted to check his head wound, but there was no time. I couldn’t both hold the bridge and keep the water away for long.

“I’m just glad everyone else was gone so there were no witnesses to that,” I remarked as we scurried across the last few feet of the disintegrating bridge. We were single file, but I still managed to keep hold of his hand nonetheless.

The land shifted, and suddenly, we were both on solid—very solid—ground. The tall evergreens of the Yew Land surrounded us, and the Otherworld’s familiar road was beneath us. I laughed with relief. A smile started to break out over Dorian’s face too, but then his expression shifted to one of horror. Spinning around, I looked for what he’d seen.

Two dozen uniformed soldiers stood ahead of us on the road. Standing with them, tied up and restrained, were our friends. Notably not bound were those from the Hemlock Land. They stood off to the side, weapons drawn—against us.

One of the soldiers stepped forward and gave us an icy smile, along with a mock bow. “Queen Eugenie, King Dorian. Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Gallus, general of Her Majesty Queen Varia of the Yew Land’s forces. We’ve come to escort you to her.”

Chapter 19

I was dumbfounded for only a moment until I pieced together what had happened.

I glared at Orj and his companions. “That’ll teach me to give people the benefit of the doubt.”

Gallus chuckled. “If it makes you feel better, you were identified as soon as you crossed into the Beech Land.” So much for Dorian charming the Beech squadron’s leader. “Even if this lot hadn’t helped us, we would have seized you through other means before you reached Withywele. They simply reported on your magic and descriptions to help us further verify who you are.”