"Keep moving," Cerise barked behind her.
A hand shoved her out into a hallway.
"What are you doing?" Francis cried out. "Let go!"
"Shut up!" William strode down the hallway, pulling him along effortlessly. "This way. The outside scents are stronger here."
They turned the corner.
"I've had enough of your brutality!" Francis dug his heels in. William didn't even notice.
Behind them, a door burst open. Guards spilled into the hallway.
Another door blocked their exit.
"I demand you let me go!"
William dropped him and hammered a kick into the door. It held.
"Reinforced," William said.
"Let me!" Audrey pushed forward to the door. Her magic streamed from her. She felt the lock - a complex key tumbler . . . and two bars across the door, one at the top, one at the bottom. Two heavy bars. Damn it. "I'll need a few seconds."
The guards sighted them.
William whirled, metal spikes in his hands. He tossed two to Cerise and thrust two into the wall to the left, one high, one at the ground.
"Wait, we can explain!" Francis said. "We're guests!"
Cerise jabbed her spikes into the right wall at the same heights as William's.
"They don't care," William told him.
The guards opened fire. A hail of charged bullets filled the hallway. The spikes flashed. A pale shield of blue magic flared between them, searing the bullets in mid-flight.
The key tumbler clicked open. Her magic focused on the top bar, trying to slide it back. Audrey strained. The bar rattled in its cradle. Heavy. Move. Move.
"How are you doing, Audrey?" Cerise asked.
"Need . . . a few . . . seconds . . ."
The guards abandoned their guns. The veekings trotted forward, blades out.
"Honey?" William asked.
"I thought you'd never ask." Cerise stepped forward, past the spikes.
"Lady Candra! Where are you going?" Francis lunged after her.
William gripped his shoulder and shoved him back. "Stay back, you fool."
The top bar slid back. Audrey exhaled and pushed her magic down, to the bottom. It grasped the bottom bar, tugging. It felt like she was trying to lift a car.
Cerise reached into her skirt and withdrew a slender blade.
The veekings pondered her for a moment - she looked absurd in her beautiful beige gown - and resumed their assault.
Cerise leaned forward. The pointed shoe on her right foot rubbed the ground.
"Help her!" Francis gripped William's arm. "If you don't, at least let me!"
A spark of white light slid along the edge of the blade.
The first veeking was a mere five feet away.
Cerise struck.
She moved so fast, she blurred. Cut, cut, cut, and Cerise halted, like a dancer in mid-move, her sword dripping blood.
The front four veekings didn't scream. They just fell. The one on the left lingered. His head slid off the stump of his neck and tumbled to the floor. His body dropped to its knees.
The guards halted. Francis closed his mouth with a click.
"Audrey?" Cerise asked without turning.
"One lock left."
The remaining veekings charged. Cerise cut, fast, precise, silent.
The bar slid back. Audrey gasped and bent in half, pain blossoming in the pit of her stomach. Too much magic, too fast. By the time she managed to straighten up again, the bodies of the veekings filled the hallway. Cerise wiped her blade on the skirt of her gown.
William yanked the door open, grabbed Francis with one hand and Audrey with the other, and pulled them through. They marched onto the castle ramparts into the sunshine. Cerise walked behind them, her face tranquil and slightly sad, as if she had just spent a day in prayer.
William leaned his head back and howled. The long high-pitched note of his wolf song rolled through the castle, eerie in the daylight.
A door burst open in the tower to the right, and Kaldar, Gaston, and the boys tumbled out into the sunlight onto a small balcony. Jack's hands and face were bloody, and he was grinning like a maniac. George's rapier dripped with red, as did Kaldar's sword. He saw them and saluted, a big grin on his face.
William yanked off his jacket. A harness was strapped around his chest and waist.
"What is this?" Francis finally found his voice. "Who are you people?"
Cerise shrugged off her dress, revealing a tight black suit and the emergency harness she wore underneath. Audrey pulled off her own gown. At the other balcony, Kaldar, Gaston, and the kids shed their clothes.
William pulled his jacket apart, yanking another harness out of the lining, and slapped it on Francis, hooking it to his own with a short rope.
"Audrey, you're with me." Cerise motioned to her, attached the short rope to her harness, and checked her buckles and straps.
Shouts came from inside the castle.
Gaston jumped off the balcony. Twin streams of blue unfolded from his harness, snapping into fabric wings. Behind him Jack followed, tethered to Gaston with a short rope. They glided down to the trees.
William kissed Cerise, grasped Francis, hurled him over the parapet, and jumped after him. The young man screamed. The two men plunged down, then their wings opened.
Cerise held out her hand. "Come on. We'll do it together."
Kaldar screamed out a warning.
Audrey turned. A huge clawed shape fell at them from the sky. Audrey caught a flash of furry hide, massive claws, a dark cavernous mouth on the serpentine neck, and a single rider on the beast's back.
Cerise spun, but it was too late. The creature's claws smashed into Kaldar's cousin. The impact knocked her off the wall. For a moment, Audrey saw Cerise falling as if in slow motion, her dark hair flaring about her, her mouth open in surprise and anger, and then she vanished behind the parapet. The world snapped back to its normal pace. The rope attaching Audrey to Cerise yanked and pulled Audrey toward the edge after Cerise. Before she could escape, the rider dropped off the beast, severing the rope with a cut of his knife.
Sebastian.
Audrey backed away from the edge. He came toward her, his eyes fixed on her face with predatory glee. Helena emerged from the door leading back into the castle. Blood stained her uniform.
On the other balcony, Kaldar cut the rope between him and George and pushed the boy into the open air.
"Go!" Audrey screamed at him. "Go!"
She sprinted to the edge. Helena and Sebastian dashed to intercept.
The railing loomed before her. Almost safe.
Helena's kick smashed into her. The impact spun her around, and Audrey crashed to the stone floor. A hand grasped her neck. Sebastian yanked her up.