Chapter Five
Daemon’s clothes were only a little damp by the time they reached the Imperial City. They’d wanted to come back right away, but because he couldn’t yet summon his wolf powers at will, he couldn’t fly them there, which meant they needed to budget enough time to swim across the channel from Isle of the Moon to Kichona’s main island, then make their way on foot from the coast to the Imperial City before infiltrating the Dragon Prince’s castle. Even with sailfish and cheetah spells, the journey would take a couple hours. Plus, there was the time required to actually search for Empress Aki and, hopefully, kill Prince Gin. Besides, this wasn’t the sort of mission one rushed through. So they’d decided to wait until sunset to break into the city.
Honestly, Daemon still doubted their ability to save the kingdom on their own, but if the rest of them were in, he was, too, and he would do everything he could to keep them safe.
Now, as the cloak of night settled over the kingdom, he, Sora, Fairy, and Broomstick stood on the edge of the Field of Illusions. Its black-and-white sands shifted incessantly in dizzying optical illusions. Sometimes there were whirlpool-like spirals that seemed to suck the sand into the ground. Other times, diamond fractals kept changing color, making them hard to keep track of. And then there were the constantly moving black-and-white waves that rocked the brain into a kind of psychological seasickness. Only taigas could traverse the Field of Illusions successfully; any non-taigas who wanted to enter the Imperial City needed a warrior to escort them across. Otherwise, they’d lose their way.
“How do you want to do this?” Sora asked. There were many ways to approach crossing the obstacle; the only common thread was not to look at the changing patterns, because they were meant to cause confusion.
“Broomstick and I are going to use mole spells,” Fairy said.
“I don’t really feel like digging tonight,” Sora said. “But you two go ahead.”
Daemon knew that wasn’t why she objected, though. She did it for him. Mole spells allowed taigas to burrow beneath the illusions and travel quickly, but for a boy who constantly craved the openness of the sky, being buried under several feet of sand was more than a little anxiety inducing for Daemon. Sora had spoken up so he didn’t have to admit yet another weakness. Gratefulness overflowed in Daemon’s chest, like a mug of beer filled to the brim, foam spilling out of the glass.
He looked at the Citadel, several hundred yards away. With the onset of night, the ryuu had lit torches on the tops of the fortress walls. “We can use hydra spells,” Daemon said to Sora. “We’ll be blind to the shifting sand but drawn by the torchlight.”
“Sounds good to me.”
They pinched their fingers into their respective mudras and chanted the spells. Sora’s, Fairy’s, and Broomstick’s took immediately, but Daemon’s spell didn’t. I really wish I could just turn on some wolf magic whenever I wanted it, he thought. Finally, after the fourth attempt, he got the mudra right.
His vision darkened, as if he was looking into an endless cave. But in the distance, flickers of light glowed, and Daemon was drawn to them as if by magnetic pull.
“We’ll meet you at the Citadel wall,” Broomstick said.
He and Fairy dove into the Field of Illusions, spraying sand on Daemon.
“Ready?” Sora asked.
“Ready. Focus on the torchlight.”
It took them thirty minutes to cross, although it felt twice as long. When they finally reached the base of the Citadel gates, Daemon and Sora hurried to where Fairy and Broomstick were pressed against the fortress walls to avoid being seen by guard patrols.
“We have a problem,” Fairy said when Sora joined them. “How do we get in?”
The looming gates were meant to admit only those who were supposed to enter. Which, at the moment, did not include the four apprentices trying to take down everyone behind said ten-story gates.
Daemon looked up, and up. Even with the stone staircase the ryuu had built in their attempt to breach the Citadel during the battle here, there was too much distance left to the top of the fortress. The walls were as slick as if they’d been greased with oil. They couldn’t just cast gecko spells to scale them.
It’d be awfully helpful if he could fly. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to remember what it was like the moment he’d turned into a wolf, how the magic had coursed through him like rivers of electricity and how he’d hurled himself into the air on instinct and managed to stay there. But try as he might, Daemon couldn’t recall the exact moment of transformation. In fact, he hadn’t even realized he’d changed from human to something else until after he’d rescued Sora from plunging to her death. So it was impossible for him to re-create the feeling now.
At the sound of Sora’s voice, Daemon’s eyes fluttered open.
“Don’t worry, I’ve already thought of how we get in,” she was saying. “With ryuu magic, I can jump the distance from the highest stair to the top of the fortress wall.”
Oh. Right. She didn’t need his help for a mere four-story leap.
“And the rest of us?” Fairy asked.
“I’ll float you over,” Sora said. “I couldn’t risk doing something that conspicuous to get us across the Field of Illusions, but this will be quick. I’ll go first and make sure we’re clear of any ryuu guards, and then I’ll bring you up, one by one. Okay?”
Fairy and Broomstick nodded. Daemon lagged, but then he kicked himself in the proverbial ass and got himself together. So what if he’d been a magical wolf for one brief, glorious night? Sora had always been better at this stuff than he was. Things were no different now. He could handle this.
Daemon, Fairy, and Broomstick kept watch from the base of the Citadel walls while Sora ran silently up the stone steps. When she was near the top of the staircase, they triple-checked that there weren’t any ryuu in sight.
She took the last steps at a full sprint and jumped.
Sora landed on the parapet, disappearing from view behind the crenellations of the wall. Daemon’s heart stopped. There could have been ryuu hidden there, waiting to ambush her.
But a moment later, Sora popped up.
“Thank the gods,” Daemon whispered.
She pointed to Fairy.
“Here I go,” Fairy said as Sora began to float her up, just as she’d done with the piece of Rose Palace. Hopefully, though, she wouldn’t drop any of them. Like the piece of Rose Palace.
Daemon remembered then that Rose Palace was now a pile of rubble. What stood in its place was the Dragon Prince’s bloodstone castle. His stomach turned.
Sora deposited Fairy successfully beside her and began to work on Broomstick. It was a more wobbly effort, since he was twice Fairy’s size, but a minute later he, too, was safely posted on watch at the top of the Citadel’s entrance.
Daemon stepped forward. He thought he might feel something at the touch of ryuu magic, but other than levitating off the ground, nothing was different at all. Ryuu magic was even subtler than taiga magic, at least as far as he could tell. Or maybe it didn’t affect him because he was essentially a parcel being transported from one place to the next, like the citrus crate Sora had hidden in when they were on Prince Gin’s ship.