Emerald Shield
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dg_cainTitle: Emerald Shield
Author: FeistyFox
Rating: M
Pairing: DG/Cain
Summary: DG may have a stronger foothold in the new world she's found herself in but she isn't the only one that needs to come to terms with her past and make a place for herself in the present. With old enemies making a play for power it's going to take more than an understanding of the Outer Zone to re-establish the monarchy.
This is the sequel to Tin Armor. I strongly recommend you read it before starting this story.
This story is in progress. I hope those of you who are reading it continue to do so!
Chapter 8
Disclaimer: I want it! Or at least Cain! Who has him?
Raw took one look at the Tin Man’s face and walked toward the sound of Jeb’s fist pounding on the metal door. Shaking her head rapidly she pushed off Cain and tried to orient herself before another surprise was launched on them. This really wasn’t turning out to be such a great day really. Sure she now had a consort… and possibly a fiancé. Her eyebrows came together as she walked into the sitting room. That was an odd thing to think about, but he had said he wanted to be her husband and he seemed sincere about it.
Her line of thought was disrupted when Jeb pushed through the half open door. “Jeb?” Wyatt’s voice cut across the room sharply as he flew past her. She didn’t blame him one bit; his son was the worse for wear. He was singed from the top of his blonde head to the tips of his worn leather boots. He was also angry. Her eyes scanned his soot-covered face and she reassessed the Captains mood. He wasn’t angry as much as vibrating with absolute and total rage.
She felt the Tin Man’s parental worry ratchet up to fear and she listed to the left at the sensation. Raw’s furry hand snapped out and caught her wrist. He tugged on it lightly until she was steady again. She blinked owlishly at her friend while Cain grabbed Jeb and started checking him over. “What happened to you?”
“What happened?” Jeb’s voice was so low he was practically growling. “I made a damn stupid mistake is what happened!”
She straightened her spine in reaction to his anger. Jeb had only lost control in front of her once, when they found out Zero had gotten loose, but right now she thought he might be beyond that. He was about to go up like a nuclear bomb. She focused on what she thought was an immediate problem. “Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m not hurt!” His voice snapped viciously at her, but she knew he wasn’t angry with her. He was venting, she could understand the necessity of it. “The chief of security wasn’t a Longcoat, he was a message.” The young Captain took a calming breath. “After he informed us of the condition of the city, in great detail I might add, I asked him if he’d noticed any unusual activity. Before he could answer he burst into flames!”
She and Cain turned to look at Raw at the same time. He was supposed to read the man for Jeb. Raw made a startled noise. “Man safe when read.”
The Tin Man closed his eyes as he turned that over in his head. “No, he thought he was safe which is what you picked up on. Someone must have booby trapped him without him knowin’.”
She felt sick at the thought of someone being able to do that to another person. “Did you put him out?” Her voice was only slightly strained which she supposed was better than really strained. “Can Raw or Kalm heal him?”
The way Jeb regarded her told her that was out of the question. “Princess, he didn’t catch on fire. He burst into flames.” At her frown he winced and elaborated. “His entire body exploded.” She saw a sick look cross his face. “Everywhere he went caught fire. The Queen managed to make a path to the door for us with what magic she has left but it took awhile to get the fire out. Luckily your sister showed up before it spread too far.”
She fought against a wave of anxiety. “Are Ahamo and Lavender alright?”
He nodded as he ran a hand through his dirty hair. “They’ll live, but the Queen has a nasty burn on her arm. I sent for Anna and Kalm so she should be healed in a few minutes.”
“Take me to where he blew up.”
“DG-“ Cain started seriously.
“No.” Her voice was firm. “I need to see what happened. If Zero has magic Az or I will be able to tell what it is.”
Cain sighed and started swatting ash off of Jeb. In response Jeb glared and batted his father away like an irritated cat. “I’ll take you if you want to go, DG, but it’s not pretty.”
She mentally cataloged everything she had seen since coming to the Outer Zone and decided that her ‘pretty’ meter had shifted drastically. At the moment she was more worried about what Zero could do with the magic he had, as opposed to the mess he had made. She nodded her mouth set into a grim line.
“Let’s go then.” The Captain of the Royal guard smacked his sleeve and a puff of smoke rose off of it. Turning around Jeb opened the door and looked up and down the hallway before letting her leave the room. Like father like son she supposed with the slightest hint of annoyance.
Jeb led them down the long hallway at a quick clip. Decon ran up ahead of him, his mandibles buzzing like crazy. The walk down the two flights of stairs and down three more long corridors was silent except for their footfalls on the cool metal beneath their feet. She could feel Cain’s anxiety growing as they got closer to their destination and had to focus to push his feelings to the edge of her consciousness. Was this how Raw felt all the time? She wouldn’t be able to deal with this on a long-term basis and she only had to worry about her connection with one other person. She couldn’t even begin to comprehend what Raw must feel all the time.
The Viewer must have caught on to what she was thinking because the next thing she knew he had his hand on her shoulder. He gave her a soft squeeze and smiled at her in an encouraging sort of way. She returned the smile immediately hoping she could ask him how the best way to control this was if they ever got a second alone.
Up ahead she heard muted voices and Decon went into a low crouch, inching along the floor until he was up against the corner. Cain and Jeb stopped them and they waited silently while the Papay snuck his head around into the new hallway. He was completely motionless as he took in what he was seeing. Then abruptly he stood back to his full height and walked easily around the corner. Taking this as a sign that everything was clear there little party followed without hesitation, although she saw the Tin Man’s hand move to his holster.
What they found outside the entrance of the large parlor, or maybe if was a small meeting room, she couldn’t tell, was a bunch of soot-covered people. There were dark burn marks winding around the doorway and one of the metal doors was half melted. Her eyebrows shot up at the sight and it took her a full ten seconds to recognize her sister. She was standing in a group of Jeb’s Resistance fighters looking as if she had blundered out of a hearth. The fighters seemed to have found a new respect for the older princess because one large man in his forties clapped her on the back as he pointed inside the room. Her sister staggered slightly at the contact but she gave the man a lopsided grin in return.
Glitch was off to the side talking to her parents who were as dirty as her sister. Ahamo had pulled back the sleeve on her mother’s once pale dress and was holding it out of the way as Anna carefully cleaned the large shiny burn on her forearm. Kalm stood next to the medic’s elbow watching her intently as she worked. She winced when she saw the small blisters that had bubbled up on the Queen’s skin and walked hurriedly over to her parents.
“Are you two alright?” Ahamo glanced up at her and nodded seriously before going back to his hovering.
Her mother smiled tightly at her as Anna wiped at the edge of the burn. “We’re fine, My Angel. I managed to make us a corridor out of the room.” Ok, it was weird that her mother was bearable, if not pleasant, when she was in pain.
Her lip twitched slightly as she ran her eyes over Lavender’s arm. “Yeah and you managed to barbeque your arm while you did.” Her mother’s delicate eyebrows drew together and Ahamo let loose a soft chuckle. Her smile got wider and she met her mother’s purple eyes. “Good job.” She said and meant that with all the sincerity she possessed.
Anna smiled up at Raw as the older viewer moved to them. “Master Raw, her arm will be ready for you in a few more minutes.”
Her eyebrow twitched up but she figured she could ask him about that title later. As she headed toward her sister, the fighter’s, and the two Cain men she heard Raw speaking to Kalm about the best way to go about fixing burns. Glitch injected something that cause the small group to laugh and she stopped worrying about her parents. Cain and Decon began edging into the room cautiously as she approached her sister. “You know, Sis, if you’re tired of being royal you could definitely become a chimney sweep. Gray really is your color.”
Her sister huffed at her and several of the fighter’s fought back grins despite the serious circumstances. “You shut up! I had to put the fire out before it swept out into the hall.”
“Which completely explains why you’re covered in ash.”
Az sputtered and crossed her arms. A cloud of soot rose off of her sister and she snickered. “I had to use wind to keep the flames in the room and it superheated everything. The ash is plainly the result of that.”
She grinned, enjoying the fact that she had gotten under her sister’s skin. “Don’t listen to her none, Princess Azkadilla.” The burly fighter that had been congratulating her grinned down at both of them. “She’s only teasing ya some. Had a brother like that. Figure she’s right impressed with what ya’ve done.” Her sister stared up at the man in wonder. “And if she aint impressed we sure are.”
Inordinately pleased that the fighter’s appreciated her sister, and that he wasn’t treating her like she was diseased, she made a soft sound of pleasure before she sidled by him catching her sister’s hand as she went. “Come on my incredibly impressive sister. I need you to help me with this.”
“Sure, Deeg.” Her sister said distractedly. Apparently she wasn’t the only one that had been surprised by such open acceptance. Pulling Az into the room she stopped dead right inside the entranceway. Until she stepped into the room she hadn’t been able to detect the smell of burnt flesh. She forced back her gag reflex as she took in the now blackened room. Pieces of the chief of security for Central City were scattered over the room in pieces of differing size. Most of them were smoking faintly along with the remains of the furniture. “Oh.” Az said faintly.
She squeezed her sister’s hand hard and pulled her farther into the room. Cain was crouched over what appeared to have been part of the man’s head with his blank mask firmly in place and his hat in his hand. “Have you ever seen anything like this before?”
The Tin Man considered what he was looking at. “Saw something similar to it when I was with the Mystic Man.”
“How similar?”
He sighed and stood up. “A woman attacked us on our way to a little village up in the mountains. She wasn’t an ordinary woman; she had some kind of gift involving earth magic. When she attacked us there wasn’t much me and the other guards could do about it. The Mystic Man had to take her out himself. He froze her solid and she shattered like a pane of glass.”
“Wow.” She didn’t want to think about how much magic that would take to do.
Cain frowned. “The thing is he had to touch her to do it and he wasn’t happy he had to use that spell.” The Tin Man appeared to be trying to recall the incident in as much detail as he could manage. “I think he said something about elemental consequence?”
Az’s head snapped up from her examination of the blackened wall. “That’s when you’re magic rebounds on you. Did he get chills afterwards?”
He shrugged. “That could be. It was a long time ago.”
She felt her sister go still. “I know what this is.” Suddenly white magic flared out of her sister’s free hand and swept across the room. As it flowed around an object that was mostly buried under the remains of a chair it began to glow softly. The Tin Man stepped toward it as Az’s magic continued to move about and suddenly he too was glowing. The magic flowing from the older princess petered out of existence as she squawked at him. “Why are you glowing?”
“You tell me, Princess.”
Azkadilla’s mouth opened and closed several times as she tried to find a reason for turning her Tin Man into a nightlight. Then she sucked in a sharp breath and her eyes began to fly between her and Cain. “Ooooooh! Deeg you made him your-”
She slapped a hand over her sister’s mouth and hissed at her. “How about you say it a little louder!” So much for keeping that a secret. “Don’t tell anybody!” Dark eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. “No one, Az!” After a moment she seemed to get the hint and her round eyes went back to Cain and then to the still glowing object buried in the ruble. Slowly she took her hand away from her sister’s smudged face and stepped back.
Az took a moment to compose herself then pointed at the object. “It’s not active anymore. You can touch it.”
The Tin Man had watched the exchange between them in silence, his shoulders stiff with tension as his eyes flew to the door. When she spoke he bent down and dug up what looked like a small broken glass ornament. A small, hollow, burned globe sat in the palm of the Tin Man’s hand. He spun it around slowly as she edged up to see it. “It looks like you could hang it right on a Christmas tree, if it wasn’t broken anyway.”
“I wouldn’t put that on a tree.” She could hear the confusion in her sister’s voice and Cain shot her an odd look. “It’s a fire hull.”
“A fire hull?” Cain prompted.
Az shifted uncomfortably. “The Witch…” She halted mid-sentence and started shaking. Turned to fully face her sister she caught her face with both hands she locked eyes with Az hoping to calm her.
“Relax. She’s gone now.” Sliding into the role of protector for her sister was an easy thing to do. “What did she do?”
Az took a shallow breath. “She was experimenting with elemental weapons that could be set to go off with a password right before she found you alive on the Otherside. She thought her troops could flush out the rebels with them and she wouldn’t have to be anywhere near them.”
“And she made these fire hulls?”
“She only managed to make a few. They were very…unstable.”
“How unstable?” Cain’s rumbled quietly.
“Very. She killed at least twenty of her Longcoats while she was working on them.” Her eyes closed briefly. “However, she did manage to make eleven stable hulls before the eclipse. I’m sorry, I forgot about them.”
She knew her sister had been having problems but she had no idea that memory loss was part of it. “You can’t remember?”
Her sister began to wilt. “Some things. I’m sorry, Deeg, some of it is like flashes or foggy dreams. The rest… It scares me. I don’t want to think about it.”
She tucked some of her dark hair behind her ear. “It’s ok.”
“No.” Her whispered word cracked. “This man is dead because of me.”
She shook her head. “He’s dead because of the Witch and Zero. She made these, not you.”
Tears welled in purple-flecked eyes and Cain cut in before she started to cry.
“You said there were eleven. Are they all this powerful?”
“In different ways.”
“Meaning?” The Tin Man’s voice was sharp.
“They aren’t all based on the same element.”
“So there are ten more of these? All of them different?” Cain growled. “How are we supposed to protect ourselves against these?”
Az shook her head, dislodging her hands. “She made eleven in total but I think at least six were used in the battle at the Tower or fighting rebels in the woods.”
“And this one was set off. So there are four left.”
“There could be less than that.” Az said. “There is no way to tell if Zero used the others already.”
Cain looked at the glass ball meditatively. “I doubt he used the others. They’re to valuable to waste.”
She sighed silently agreeing with him. “We need to warn everyone.”
He grunted. “I’ll tell Jeb, he’ll tell the guard.”
“No, everyone.”
Cain glanced away from the globe long enough to meet her eyes. “You heard her, Scales. Go get the pixies.” Decon chuffed in understanding and left the room immediately.
“What are you going to tell them?”
She stared at the damage around her and let herself accept that her family and his could have died very easily if her mother hadn’t thought so fast. “The ball is set for the day after tomorrow.”
“It is.” She felt a spike of fear run through him at the thought even as Az shifted uneasily beside her.
“I’ll have them move into the city tonight. Even if it is early they need to be in place in case he does something else… unexpected.”
He nodded sharply and tilted his head toward the door. “Let’s tell them then. Nothing else in here for us.” Squaring her shoulders she nodded and headed back out to her parents. She’d have to get Az to make her a dress now. She had a sinking feeling that using any magic from this point on would end up with her in a nasty position.
Author Note: Papers, and power points, and finals oh my! I’m so sorry about the massive delay but the end of the school year consumed my life! I had multiple presentations, term papers, and finals I had to devote my life to and sadly my stories were running a place behind an extra hour of sleep or a cooked meal. But on the bright side I have a few weeks off and time to write! So here is to more chapters for both my stories! Look for updates!
Author: FeistyFox
Rating: M
Pairing: DG/Cain
Summary: DG may have a stronger foothold in the new world she's found herself in but she isn't the only one that needs to come to terms with her past and make a place for herself in the present. With old enemies making a play for power it's going to take more than an understanding of the Outer Zone to re-establish the monarchy.
This is the sequel to Tin Armor. I strongly recommend you read it before starting this story.
This story is in progress. I hope those of you who are reading it continue to do so!
Chapter 8
Disclaimer: I want it! Or at least Cain! Who has him?
Raw took one look at the Tin Man’s face and walked toward the sound of Jeb’s fist pounding on the metal door. Shaking her head rapidly she pushed off Cain and tried to orient herself before another surprise was launched on them. This really wasn’t turning out to be such a great day really. Sure she now had a consort… and possibly a fiancé. Her eyebrows came together as she walked into the sitting room. That was an odd thing to think about, but he had said he wanted to be her husband and he seemed sincere about it.
Her line of thought was disrupted when Jeb pushed through the half open door. “Jeb?” Wyatt’s voice cut across the room sharply as he flew past her. She didn’t blame him one bit; his son was the worse for wear. He was singed from the top of his blonde head to the tips of his worn leather boots. He was also angry. Her eyes scanned his soot-covered face and she reassessed the Captains mood. He wasn’t angry as much as vibrating with absolute and total rage.
She felt the Tin Man’s parental worry ratchet up to fear and she listed to the left at the sensation. Raw’s furry hand snapped out and caught her wrist. He tugged on it lightly until she was steady again. She blinked owlishly at her friend while Cain grabbed Jeb and started checking him over. “What happened to you?”
“What happened?” Jeb’s voice was so low he was practically growling. “I made a damn stupid mistake is what happened!”
She straightened her spine in reaction to his anger. Jeb had only lost control in front of her once, when they found out Zero had gotten loose, but right now she thought he might be beyond that. He was about to go up like a nuclear bomb. She focused on what she thought was an immediate problem. “Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m not hurt!” His voice snapped viciously at her, but she knew he wasn’t angry with her. He was venting, she could understand the necessity of it. “The chief of security wasn’t a Longcoat, he was a message.” The young Captain took a calming breath. “After he informed us of the condition of the city, in great detail I might add, I asked him if he’d noticed any unusual activity. Before he could answer he burst into flames!”
She and Cain turned to look at Raw at the same time. He was supposed to read the man for Jeb. Raw made a startled noise. “Man safe when read.”
The Tin Man closed his eyes as he turned that over in his head. “No, he thought he was safe which is what you picked up on. Someone must have booby trapped him without him knowin’.”
She felt sick at the thought of someone being able to do that to another person. “Did you put him out?” Her voice was only slightly strained which she supposed was better than really strained. “Can Raw or Kalm heal him?”
The way Jeb regarded her told her that was out of the question. “Princess, he didn’t catch on fire. He burst into flames.” At her frown he winced and elaborated. “His entire body exploded.” She saw a sick look cross his face. “Everywhere he went caught fire. The Queen managed to make a path to the door for us with what magic she has left but it took awhile to get the fire out. Luckily your sister showed up before it spread too far.”
She fought against a wave of anxiety. “Are Ahamo and Lavender alright?”
He nodded as he ran a hand through his dirty hair. “They’ll live, but the Queen has a nasty burn on her arm. I sent for Anna and Kalm so she should be healed in a few minutes.”
“Take me to where he blew up.”
“DG-“ Cain started seriously.
“No.” Her voice was firm. “I need to see what happened. If Zero has magic Az or I will be able to tell what it is.”
Cain sighed and started swatting ash off of Jeb. In response Jeb glared and batted his father away like an irritated cat. “I’ll take you if you want to go, DG, but it’s not pretty.”
She mentally cataloged everything she had seen since coming to the Outer Zone and decided that her ‘pretty’ meter had shifted drastically. At the moment she was more worried about what Zero could do with the magic he had, as opposed to the mess he had made. She nodded her mouth set into a grim line.
“Let’s go then.” The Captain of the Royal guard smacked his sleeve and a puff of smoke rose off of it. Turning around Jeb opened the door and looked up and down the hallway before letting her leave the room. Like father like son she supposed with the slightest hint of annoyance.
Jeb led them down the long hallway at a quick clip. Decon ran up ahead of him, his mandibles buzzing like crazy. The walk down the two flights of stairs and down three more long corridors was silent except for their footfalls on the cool metal beneath their feet. She could feel Cain’s anxiety growing as they got closer to their destination and had to focus to push his feelings to the edge of her consciousness. Was this how Raw felt all the time? She wouldn’t be able to deal with this on a long-term basis and she only had to worry about her connection with one other person. She couldn’t even begin to comprehend what Raw must feel all the time.
The Viewer must have caught on to what she was thinking because the next thing she knew he had his hand on her shoulder. He gave her a soft squeeze and smiled at her in an encouraging sort of way. She returned the smile immediately hoping she could ask him how the best way to control this was if they ever got a second alone.
Up ahead she heard muted voices and Decon went into a low crouch, inching along the floor until he was up against the corner. Cain and Jeb stopped them and they waited silently while the Papay snuck his head around into the new hallway. He was completely motionless as he took in what he was seeing. Then abruptly he stood back to his full height and walked easily around the corner. Taking this as a sign that everything was clear there little party followed without hesitation, although she saw the Tin Man’s hand move to his holster.
What they found outside the entrance of the large parlor, or maybe if was a small meeting room, she couldn’t tell, was a bunch of soot-covered people. There were dark burn marks winding around the doorway and one of the metal doors was half melted. Her eyebrows shot up at the sight and it took her a full ten seconds to recognize her sister. She was standing in a group of Jeb’s Resistance fighters looking as if she had blundered out of a hearth. The fighters seemed to have found a new respect for the older princess because one large man in his forties clapped her on the back as he pointed inside the room. Her sister staggered slightly at the contact but she gave the man a lopsided grin in return.
Glitch was off to the side talking to her parents who were as dirty as her sister. Ahamo had pulled back the sleeve on her mother’s once pale dress and was holding it out of the way as Anna carefully cleaned the large shiny burn on her forearm. Kalm stood next to the medic’s elbow watching her intently as she worked. She winced when she saw the small blisters that had bubbled up on the Queen’s skin and walked hurriedly over to her parents.
“Are you two alright?” Ahamo glanced up at her and nodded seriously before going back to his hovering.
Her mother smiled tightly at her as Anna wiped at the edge of the burn. “We’re fine, My Angel. I managed to make us a corridor out of the room.” Ok, it was weird that her mother was bearable, if not pleasant, when she was in pain.
Her lip twitched slightly as she ran her eyes over Lavender’s arm. “Yeah and you managed to barbeque your arm while you did.” Her mother’s delicate eyebrows drew together and Ahamo let loose a soft chuckle. Her smile got wider and she met her mother’s purple eyes. “Good job.” She said and meant that with all the sincerity she possessed.
Anna smiled up at Raw as the older viewer moved to them. “Master Raw, her arm will be ready for you in a few more minutes.”
Her eyebrow twitched up but she figured she could ask him about that title later. As she headed toward her sister, the fighter’s, and the two Cain men she heard Raw speaking to Kalm about the best way to go about fixing burns. Glitch injected something that cause the small group to laugh and she stopped worrying about her parents. Cain and Decon began edging into the room cautiously as she approached her sister. “You know, Sis, if you’re tired of being royal you could definitely become a chimney sweep. Gray really is your color.”
Her sister huffed at her and several of the fighter’s fought back grins despite the serious circumstances. “You shut up! I had to put the fire out before it swept out into the hall.”
“Which completely explains why you’re covered in ash.”
Az sputtered and crossed her arms. A cloud of soot rose off of her sister and she snickered. “I had to use wind to keep the flames in the room and it superheated everything. The ash is plainly the result of that.”
She grinned, enjoying the fact that she had gotten under her sister’s skin. “Don’t listen to her none, Princess Azkadilla.” The burly fighter that had been congratulating her grinned down at both of them. “She’s only teasing ya some. Had a brother like that. Figure she’s right impressed with what ya’ve done.” Her sister stared up at the man in wonder. “And if she aint impressed we sure are.”
Inordinately pleased that the fighter’s appreciated her sister, and that he wasn’t treating her like she was diseased, she made a soft sound of pleasure before she sidled by him catching her sister’s hand as she went. “Come on my incredibly impressive sister. I need you to help me with this.”
“Sure, Deeg.” Her sister said distractedly. Apparently she wasn’t the only one that had been surprised by such open acceptance. Pulling Az into the room she stopped dead right inside the entranceway. Until she stepped into the room she hadn’t been able to detect the smell of burnt flesh. She forced back her gag reflex as she took in the now blackened room. Pieces of the chief of security for Central City were scattered over the room in pieces of differing size. Most of them were smoking faintly along with the remains of the furniture. “Oh.” Az said faintly.
She squeezed her sister’s hand hard and pulled her farther into the room. Cain was crouched over what appeared to have been part of the man’s head with his blank mask firmly in place and his hat in his hand. “Have you ever seen anything like this before?”
The Tin Man considered what he was looking at. “Saw something similar to it when I was with the Mystic Man.”
“How similar?”
He sighed and stood up. “A woman attacked us on our way to a little village up in the mountains. She wasn’t an ordinary woman; she had some kind of gift involving earth magic. When she attacked us there wasn’t much me and the other guards could do about it. The Mystic Man had to take her out himself. He froze her solid and she shattered like a pane of glass.”
“Wow.” She didn’t want to think about how much magic that would take to do.
Cain frowned. “The thing is he had to touch her to do it and he wasn’t happy he had to use that spell.” The Tin Man appeared to be trying to recall the incident in as much detail as he could manage. “I think he said something about elemental consequence?”
Az’s head snapped up from her examination of the blackened wall. “That’s when you’re magic rebounds on you. Did he get chills afterwards?”
He shrugged. “That could be. It was a long time ago.”
She felt her sister go still. “I know what this is.” Suddenly white magic flared out of her sister’s free hand and swept across the room. As it flowed around an object that was mostly buried under the remains of a chair it began to glow softly. The Tin Man stepped toward it as Az’s magic continued to move about and suddenly he too was glowing. The magic flowing from the older princess petered out of existence as she squawked at him. “Why are you glowing?”
“You tell me, Princess.”
Azkadilla’s mouth opened and closed several times as she tried to find a reason for turning her Tin Man into a nightlight. Then she sucked in a sharp breath and her eyes began to fly between her and Cain. “Ooooooh! Deeg you made him your-”
She slapped a hand over her sister’s mouth and hissed at her. “How about you say it a little louder!” So much for keeping that a secret. “Don’t tell anybody!” Dark eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. “No one, Az!” After a moment she seemed to get the hint and her round eyes went back to Cain and then to the still glowing object buried in the ruble. Slowly she took her hand away from her sister’s smudged face and stepped back.
Az took a moment to compose herself then pointed at the object. “It’s not active anymore. You can touch it.”
The Tin Man had watched the exchange between them in silence, his shoulders stiff with tension as his eyes flew to the door. When she spoke he bent down and dug up what looked like a small broken glass ornament. A small, hollow, burned globe sat in the palm of the Tin Man’s hand. He spun it around slowly as she edged up to see it. “It looks like you could hang it right on a Christmas tree, if it wasn’t broken anyway.”
“I wouldn’t put that on a tree.” She could hear the confusion in her sister’s voice and Cain shot her an odd look. “It’s a fire hull.”
“A fire hull?” Cain prompted.
Az shifted uncomfortably. “The Witch…” She halted mid-sentence and started shaking. Turned to fully face her sister she caught her face with both hands she locked eyes with Az hoping to calm her.
“Relax. She’s gone now.” Sliding into the role of protector for her sister was an easy thing to do. “What did she do?”
Az took a shallow breath. “She was experimenting with elemental weapons that could be set to go off with a password right before she found you alive on the Otherside. She thought her troops could flush out the rebels with them and she wouldn’t have to be anywhere near them.”
“And she made these fire hulls?”
“She only managed to make a few. They were very…unstable.”
“How unstable?” Cain’s rumbled quietly.
“Very. She killed at least twenty of her Longcoats while she was working on them.” Her eyes closed briefly. “However, she did manage to make eleven stable hulls before the eclipse. I’m sorry, I forgot about them.”
She knew her sister had been having problems but she had no idea that memory loss was part of it. “You can’t remember?”
Her sister began to wilt. “Some things. I’m sorry, Deeg, some of it is like flashes or foggy dreams. The rest… It scares me. I don’t want to think about it.”
She tucked some of her dark hair behind her ear. “It’s ok.”
“No.” Her whispered word cracked. “This man is dead because of me.”
She shook her head. “He’s dead because of the Witch and Zero. She made these, not you.”
Tears welled in purple-flecked eyes and Cain cut in before she started to cry.
“You said there were eleven. Are they all this powerful?”
“In different ways.”
“Meaning?” The Tin Man’s voice was sharp.
“They aren’t all based on the same element.”
“So there are ten more of these? All of them different?” Cain growled. “How are we supposed to protect ourselves against these?”
Az shook her head, dislodging her hands. “She made eleven in total but I think at least six were used in the battle at the Tower or fighting rebels in the woods.”
“And this one was set off. So there are four left.”
“There could be less than that.” Az said. “There is no way to tell if Zero used the others already.”
Cain looked at the glass ball meditatively. “I doubt he used the others. They’re to valuable to waste.”
She sighed silently agreeing with him. “We need to warn everyone.”
He grunted. “I’ll tell Jeb, he’ll tell the guard.”
“No, everyone.”
Cain glanced away from the globe long enough to meet her eyes. “You heard her, Scales. Go get the pixies.” Decon chuffed in understanding and left the room immediately.
“What are you going to tell them?”
She stared at the damage around her and let herself accept that her family and his could have died very easily if her mother hadn’t thought so fast. “The ball is set for the day after tomorrow.”
“It is.” She felt a spike of fear run through him at the thought even as Az shifted uneasily beside her.
“I’ll have them move into the city tonight. Even if it is early they need to be in place in case he does something else… unexpected.”
He nodded sharply and tilted his head toward the door. “Let’s tell them then. Nothing else in here for us.” Squaring her shoulders she nodded and headed back out to her parents. She’d have to get Az to make her a dress now. She had a sinking feeling that using any magic from this point on would end up with her in a nasty position.
Author Note: Papers, and power points, and finals oh my! I’m so sorry about the massive delay but the end of the school year consumed my life! I had multiple presentations, term papers, and finals I had to devote my life to and sadly my stories were running a place behind an extra hour of sleep or a cooked meal. But on the bright side I have a few weeks off and time to write! So here is to more chapters for both my stories! Look for updates!
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