Noble's Honor: Changeling Blood, #3

2

I wasn’t really surprised to find the observation deck completely empty of civilians. Nor was I surprised to find it occupied by half a dozen armed men. I wasn’t expecting them to be armed with strange curved swords to go with their AK-47s or, well, to not attack me on sight.

All six of the men could have been cast from the same mold. They were evenly six feet tall with dark hair and skin, wearing dark gray suits with big swords strapped to their backs. The hands holding the familiar assault rifles were all gloved as well.

The uniformity was odd…and also a sign that I was dealing with supernaturals of some kind. Just not a kind I was used to.

Before anyone could say anything, a seventh figure stepped out of the shadows. He was dressed similarly to his men but was shirtless under his gray blazer. His revealed physique was spectacular, with muscles on top of muscles…and traces of gold swirling across his dark skin.

He was the only one not carrying an assault rifle, but he held a long, curved sword in his hand. Wave-like patterns glittered in the steel, ringing a faint bell of memory, but my focus was on his brilliant white smile.

Jason Kilkenny, Noble of the Wild Hunt, he greeted me with a thick but intelligible East Indian accent. I am Raja Venkat Asi and I am tasked with your death.

This is oddly formal for an assassination attempt, don’t you think? I asked dryly. I doubted the Indian supernatural was fooled by my lack of visible weaponry.

There are standards to these things, he told me. If possible, I wish to avoid unnecessary damage. He gestured to Mary. The girl can leave freely.

And if I shoot you in the head? Mary asked, drawing her machine pistol from inside her coat.

Asi laughed.

Then you become necessary extra damage, he told her. I am charged with the death of Jason Kilkenny. I will do whatever is necessary to achieve that.

His men were spreading out, blocking the exits. I tested the links I was using for communication and was unsurprised to find them blocked. This Asi was far more prepared than his casual manner suggested.

And you’re, what, expecting me to kneel down so you can chop off my head? I demanded.

That would be such a disappointment, Asi said. I’ve never fought a Noble of the Wild Hunt before. He lifted the sword and pointed it at me. I will permit you to prepare. Draw your blade.

I sighed and gestured. Despite his instruction, I didn’t bother with my sword. I had been training, but I wasn’t going to pretend I was more than a mediocre swordsman.

Instead, I drew a sixteen-inch-long rod of black wood carved with golden orichalcum runes along its length. It looked like a whip handle without the whip—because that’s exactly what it was.

I cracked the wooden stock through the air and conjured faerie fire through it. White-cored green flame snapped through the air between Asi and me, and the other man’s grin widened.

Let’s dance.

The golden tinge to the other man’s skin lit up as he moved towards me, a soft glow wrapping around him as he charged with a grace and speed no mortal could match. A golden aura wrapped around his hands and extended up over the blade of the sword.

He then proceeded to run into an invisible wall. A projection of my Gift of Force, the chest-high barrier stopped him in mid-step. He bounced backward but reacted quickly by leaping over my magical barrier.

My whip met him in midair, the green-and-white faerie flame smashing into the golden aura around him. The aura resisted my magic as I wrapped the whip around him and used it to fling him to the floor.

My whip didn’t cut through him, which was a minor surprise, but he couldn’t resist its force. He broke free as he hit the glass and bounced back up to his feet.

Grinning.

I hadn’t even managed to singe his suit—though it wasn’t like he’d even managed to reach me, either.

The sword flickered in front of him in a pattern even I could barely follow, generating a strange sigil of glowing light that then blasted toward me with unexpected speed.

I didn’t manage to get a shield up in time, and the glowing symbol hit me like a runaway semi truck. I stumbled back, and a second sword-conjured symbol crashed through my hastily-raised shield.

I went flying and smashed into the glass wall of the observation deck. The lights of Calgary’s downtown spread out beneath me, and a chill ran through me. Even a Fae Lord might not survive that fall—and for all of the powers I was still learning, I was still fragile compared to the more powerful fae.

I heard the glass crack beneath me and vaulted back into the main deck. My whip cracked across space. I wasn’t aiming for Asi this time. I was aiming for his sword.

The Damascus-steel sword wasn’t a mundane blade, even before the other supernatural wrapped it in his power. It still wasn’t ready to get hit with the faerie fire of a Noble Fae, augmented by a Wizard-forged focus.

Asi’s power managed to keep the blade intact. It didn’t manage to keep it in his hand, and I flung the weapon away. It slammed into the window blade-first, embedding itself in the carefully designed security glass.

You fight well, he complimented me. The golden glow around his hands was intensifying. "But the duel is for my pleasure. Your death is demanded by a higher call. Take him."

That last was an order to his men, who had spent the last few seconds keeping Mary covered to help convince her not to intervene in the duel. Assault rifles spoke deafeningly in the enclosed space, but I was already moving.

A bubble of force shielded us as I dove for the ground next to Mary. She was raising her own weapon to fire back, but I grabbed her hand before she could object, and stepped into the Between, that strange frozen place beyond the world that some fae used to travel.

Among fae, the gift of traveling Between was one of the key markers for recruitment to the Wild Hunt. We wanted powerful fae, Nobles and Gentry and others with power to shake the world…but we needed the fae who could step Between and cross continents in mere minutes under their own power.

Few were those who could follow me Between, and I started to take a breath as Mary and I recovered from the stumble into otherness.

And then a golden portal began to take shape behind us.

They’re following us, I told Mary.

Um. I thought no one could do that? she asked.

No one who isn’t fae is supposed to be able to, I replied as I studied the golden light behind us for a few seconds. It looks like it’s taking them longer, but we should really be elsewhere.

What if they can follow us?

I grinned at her.

We had a plan for rogue Hunters, I admitted. If these guys, whoever they are, want to play on the Hunt’s ground, they get to play by the Hunt’s rules. I held out my free hand. Trust me.

I do, she confirmed as she took my hands. I just still remember the terrified kid with no idea who he was that saved me in a dark alley a year ago. We’ve come a long way.

And we need to keep going, I agreed. With both of her hands in mine, I closed my eyes and moved. My Power wrapped around us, sweeping us from the heights of the Calgary Tower to the ground in a moment.

The fact that we weren’t in the real world helped. Distance Between wasn’t exactly a logical thing.

Yep. Glowing golden guys walking out of the doorway. Just who is hunting us, Jason?

I wish I knew, I said as I continued to move us through the strange otherness of Between. Not fae, not shifters. I can recognize those. Nothing I’ve ever met before.

I’m guessing that doesn’t narrow it down much, she said, leaning against me as we moved.

No. The only good thing was that I was relatively sure that, whoever they are, they couldn’t catch us Between. They might be able to follow me Between, but that was my worst-case scenario.

I opened my eyes as we flew, looking back at the figures following us. They were faster than I was expecting—but still not fast enough to catch us by a long shot.

We’re fine, I said to Mary. Want me to drop you off? They are chasing me, after all.

What planet are you from, again?

I snorted.

This one, I agreed. It was worth a shot. We came to a halt at a small glowing crystal beacon in the Between. Grab that.

Hanging onto me with one hand, Mary scooped up the gem.

What it this?

What it looks like. A beacon. Don’t want to give our new friends the idea I went somewhere specific, though, do we?

She snorted and was smiling at me as we stepped again, returning to the regular world.

Seven guys chasing us, I announced to the dark room we appeared in. Not sure what the hell they are, but they glow gold and have AK-47s and swords of some kind.

Glow gold? an Irish-accented voice asked. "Asura?"

Indian of some kind, I agree, vaguely recognizing the name as out of Hindu myth. Not Hunters, but they’re coming through after me.

Well, get yourself out of the killing field, if you please, the voice of Damh Coleman, the commander of the Hunt troop assigned to me, continued. I’d prefer not to accidentally shoot you, boss.

It took long enough for the asura to arrive that my eyes had adjusted to the darkness of the warehouse we’d set our trap in. It didn’t take fae nearly as long to adjust as humans did, and we could adjust to far less light.

I don’t know what the asura were expecting when they came out of Between after me, but I’m guessing it wasn’t an even dozen assault rifles opening fire at point-blank range. Four of the gold-skinned attackers went down before they even knew they were under attack, and the other three never left the portal.

Raja Venkat Asi wasn’t among the first wave and apparently had the sense to cut off a bad plan before it killed too many of his people. Damn it.

We waited for several minutes to see if any more of the asura followed, then Coleman snorted.

All right, give me some light.

This warehouse was our space now, which meant that the lights had been tuned for a far dimmer default than most human spaces. It was more than enough for me to pick out the dozen men and woman lurking in the space.

Coleman himself was about as obviously Irish as anyone I’d ever met, a gaunt redheaded man who looked in his early forties. Of course, Coleman was a Rider of the Wild Hunt, a special type of fae Gentry with the immense physical capability of a Gentry and the ability to step Between.

He was clad in civilian clothes in a mix of dark green and black that basically was a uniform. The other seven Hunters of the half-troop deployed tonight wore different clothes in the same colors.

Three of Coleman’s subordinates were true Hunters, fae of various levels with the ability to step Between. The other four were Companions. In another time, they would have been lesser fae or even mortals transformed into horses by powerful magics.

These days, Rider was more metaphorical and the Companions were volunteers, Gentry and fae, who made up roughly half of the Wild Hunt’s numbers. These four were all Gentry, since Lord Ankaris had assigned a powerful troop to my command.

Ankaris was the Horned King, a member of the Fae High Court, the current master of the Wild Hunt…and, as it turned out, my cousin.

My other allegiance was shown in the other four fae in the room, a group of young women with liquid Welsh accents. Like myself, they were Vassals of the Queen of the Fae and sworn to Mabona’s service.

All four were water nymphs, members of a pseudo-religious order dedicated to Mabona in Wales. They had an otherwordly attractiveness—that thankfully didn’t work on most supernaturals unless specifically turned up to maximum—combined with inhuman grace and speed.

Like the Wild Hunt troop, they had been assigned to my protection. Part of the trap laid for the fae who would hunt me to undo my father’s final spell. If they got their hands on me, they would once again be able to kill gods. If we got our hands on them, well, the long cleanup of that particular war would finally be over.

Anyone injured? Coleman demanded, looking around. Most of his attention was on Mary and me, though.

We didn’t stick around once they started shooting, I told him. Asura, huh?

He nodded, walking over to the four fallen attackers and checking for pulses.

Damn. They’re all gone. I was hoping for answers, he observed, then looked back at me. AKs. Swords. Asura…it seems our masked friends decided to outsource. To the best.

The Masked Lords were the fae rebels who had killed my father. They apparently possessed one of the ancient artifacts of the fae—Esras, the Spear of Lugh—and had used it to create a ritual that could kill even the Powers themselves.

Like my father, the previous Horned King, Calebrant.

Unfortunately for them, Calebrant had used his life’s essence to bind Esras to his bloodline. Only two people in the world carried enough of Calebrant’s blood to wield the spear now: Ankaris, the Horned King…and me.

I was many things now, but chief among them was bait. It looked like the Masked Lords had realized that, though.

The best? Mary asked.

"Asi Warriors, Coleman told us. They’re asura mercenaries—out of India, obviously. Some kind of ancient Hindu cult tied up around the supposed ‘first true sword.’ The Hunter shook his head. Asura are tough, but thankfully, they’re as vulnerable to bullets as anyone."

I shook my own head, stepping over to stand next to him. We’d been expecting fae, so the guns had been loaded with cold iron.

Cold iron wasn’t needed, I take it.

No, but armor-piercing rounds would have been if we weren’t using cold iron, my subordinate told me. "Their skin is like elephant hide and they’re fast and strong. The word translates as demons."

So, they’re hunting me because someone paid them? I asked.

Bingo. The Hunt knows them of old; we’ve clashed a few times over the years. Coleman sighed. "They don’t give up easily, though they do eventually give up. No one has ever worked out what criteria they use for giving up on a contract, though."

Because it almost never happens, one of the other Hunters pointed out. "We’ll need to keep a closer watch on Lord Kilkenny. If the Asi are after him…"

I’ll keep that in mind, I promised. I wasn’t the one running this show, after all.

Or so I kept telling myself, anyway.

3

Once, fae had traveled Between for discussions and meetings. We’d been more able to communicate than regular mortals had, but it still took time and arrangements and was a general pain.

Magically encrypted videoconferencing might seem strangely mundane for a gathering of powerful supernaturals, but it was definitely convenient.

Asura, Lord Oberis, the master of Calgary’s joint Fae Court, noted aloud. I’ll admit that I didn’t expect the Masked Lords to hire mercenaries. They seem to have enough resources among our own people.

But we were expecting our people, Ankaris replied. The leader of the Wild Hunt was one of the people on the big video screen in Oberis’s office. Most of our defenses were rigged around any attacker being fae, so…

So they worked around it, Mabona agreed. The Queen of the Fae was a tall and statuesque presence. Like Ankaris, she wasn’t physically present. Unlike Ankaris, she had a projection of herself in the room instead of using conference software.

Probably to hide where she actually was. I could tell, for example, that Ankaris was in a castle of some kind. That meant he was almost certainly in Europe, probably in Ireland. Since Mabona was simply there, there was no background to her image.

The fifth member of the impromptu conference was also linked in by videoconferencing, though he could have been there in person if he chose. The view behind the Wizard Kenneth MacDonald was of downtown Calgary, and Oberis and I were in the hotel that hosted the Fae Court, a western-themed inn along one of the city’s main southern thoroughfares.

Your plans and measures were a success nonetheless, MacDonald pointed out. "I am concerned that they entered the city without triggering any of my alerts. There are few who can circumvent the wards of a wizard."

The Asi Warriors have a lot of practice, Ankaris told him. I’m not even certain how long they’ve been around, but they are very good.

There were Asi Warriors when I became queen, Mabona said. They have always existed among the asura. Few of the asura or deva leave India, though. She snorted. They can’t travel far from their sacred rivers for long, to the benefit of the rest of us.

They’re about as physically powerful as Gentry, I said. Plus some degree of protection and magical powers different than I’ve encountered before.

Raja Asi and I have met, Mabona noted. He’s one of their senior strike leaders. Possibly the only one that operates outside of the subcontinent. She shook her head. I met him in World War One, I should note. He is at least as old as I am.

And I’m guessing good and uninclined to give up? I asked. At least they care enough to send the best.

How do we get them to give up, short of killing them all? Oberis asked. I’m unenthused with foreign mercenaries in my city, people. He snorted. At least, ones I didn’t invite.

The Wild Hunt weren’t the only strangers in town these days, after all.

They’ve got some criteria on which they’ll break contracts, my Queen replied. I’ve heard of them doing it after losing a single warrior…and I’ve heard of them pursuing contracts for years and losing dozens before they finally brought down their target. We have to keep stopping them until they give up.

"I have to keep stopping them, I said, then sighed. I’ll be good, people. I’ll keep my escorts with me. All I wanted was one private night."

The half-dozen other Vassals Mabona had sent now shared three apartments in my building. I didn’t know where the Wild Hunt were staying, but there was usually at least one with me. Oberis himself had several Gentry assigned to a rotating guard duty around me, and his grand-nephew Robert, a Fae Noble, kept showing up at random times.

It was irritating and comforting at the same time.

All it takes is one mistake, Jason, Ankaris told me. You’re a Noble of the Wild Hunt, yes, and less vulnerable than we once feared, but you are still the easiest target of Calebrant’s blood. If the Masked Lords can take you, then the High Court itself is at risk.

"Every Power is at risk, MacDonald noted. My enthusiasm for your rebels and their ritual is limited, Lord Ankaris, Queen Mabona. I will aid in defending this city, but I will be much relieved when your little civil war is done."

The videoconference ended shortly afterward, leaving me in the room with Oberis and the projection of my Queen. Mabona looked…unhappy.

You need to be more aware, she snapped. You are no longer alone, undetected by our enemies. So long as your blood will unlock the Spear of Lugh, the Masked Lords will hunt you. You are stronger than I dared hope—but you are still our weak point.

I hate to pile on, Oberis said dryly, "but people look to you for leadership now. A troop of the Wild Hunt, a handful of our Queen’s other Vassals, several of my own people… They may not owe you fealty, but you have been placed in command of them.

"Respect that authority or they will not."

I sighed and nodded. I wasn’t used to being in charge of anyone except myself. My fealty to Mabona put me outside most ordinary chains of command in the fae world, so hierarchy and authority were not my strong points.

I know, I admitted. Not used to it. I don’t like being surrounded by guards.

"Get used to it, Mabona told me. I hated it at first myself, but I go nowhere without escorts now. Even for a Power, there are risks untold to this world. You are not a Power, yet you are hunted by people who have killed them."

She shook her head.

We can protect you, Jason, but only so long as you are sensible about things. You must act for your own security as well…not undermine the security we have put in place.

"I know," I repeated. I was trying not to sound like I was whining, but from the way my Queen’s eyes flashed, I failed.

Impertinent child, she sighed. We are supposed to be working together here, Jason, but you cannot ignore the fact that the linchpin of all of this is you.

I have a team waiting for me outside, I reminded her. "Last night was a wake-up call I didn’t expect to need. Things had been quiet for long enough that I thought one evening would be safe."

I shook my head.

I was wrong. It won’t happen again.

We will find an end to this, Jason, Oberis promised me. This cannot endure, my Queen. Not for him. Not for anyone else.

"I am not the one who controls that, Mabona told us. Ankaris seeks the Masked Lords in other ways, but using Jason as bait remains our best route to victory. Assuming you don’t get yourself killed."

Believe me, my Queen, I have no intention of doing so!

To my surprise, Robert was waiting for me when I came out of the meeting. He was chatting up one of my water nymph bodyguards and, from her body language, was being more successful than many would have expected.

Robert was a slim and tall man with shoulder-length brown hair. He and I could have passed for cousins, but there was something more to the other fae. And if Nobles weren’t supposed to sleep around outside their own ranks, well, Robert was an example of both that rule being broken and why it wasn’t necessarily a good rule.

The theory was that keeping the bloodlines pure would result in more Nobles. Someone like Robert, whose father was a Noble and whose late mother had been Gentry, usually didn’t manifest the higher-tier powers.

In his case, though, trauma had required his father and me to work together to save his life. Surviving cold iron had awoken the young man’s true gifts…which was not a trial I would recommend to anyone.

So, are you doing another random checkup on me, specifically hitting on Kristal, or do I owe the pleasure of your presence to something else? I asked Robert as I reached him.

He blushed, hard. Kristal Sayer, to her credit, just laughed—and then tucked a piece of paper I presumed to be the petite raven-haired woman’s temporary Canadian phone number into Robert’s shirt pocket.

Robert coughed again and shrugged helplessly at me.

I was actually looking for you, he told me. My father is in town. He wanted to meet with you.

Talus was the senior Noble of Oberis’s Court, which meant he spent most of his time in Fort McMurray. Thankfully unknown to the humans, one of the by-products of their oilsands extraction processes was a material called heartstone. Mixed with other materials, it became key components of all kinds of magical materials.

The runes carved into my Wizard-forged whipstock were made of it mixed with gold. The small vial of what was effectively a powerful fae combat drug hanging around my neck was heartstone and mercury. Mixed with silver, it was bane—a deadly weapon against shifters like Mary.

Calgary’s various supernatural communities all had exclaves in Fort McMurray that controlled its production and distribution, and Talus led the fae team there. It kept him busy.

I can make time for Talus, I told Robert. I need to go home and touch base with Mary before she heads to work herself, but I’m free after that.

He said to tell you to meet him for a late lunch at the steakhouse, the youth replied. Two PM? I’ll be there as well. Mary’s invited if she’s free, I think this is mostly social.

Nothing was entirely social when you were a Fae Noble. I was still getting used to the fact that that category included me now.

I’ll check with her, I promised. I’ll definitely be there. Kristal?

Car is waiting out front; Riley’s with it, she told me. Hitting the road?

4

An eight o’clock meeting in Calgary was a midafternoon meeting in Ireland—and I didn’t pretend to know where Mabona was hiding out. If I focused, I could use our blood bond to locate her, but if I didn’t know where she was, I