Page 27 of April's Fool
“Your highness!”
“I’m here,” Mori called in reply. “Damon, come on, we need to go!” Mori raised his hands and, using his magic, formed a shield around me. I crawled towards him.
Another shot rang out, glancing off the shield. The house was in chaos.
“A portal.” Gregoris looked horrified at the growing stain of blood on Mori’s shoulder.
My demon looked pale. His expression was tight with pain.
“We can’t. The wards.”
Mori glanced at me, then had a wordless conversation with Gregoris. “We can break them if we combine our magic.”
We didn’t have a choice. “Do it,” I said.
They clasped hands, and the hallway filled with a magenta colored magic, the same color as the wings that burst from both Mori and Gregoris.
I heard shouts of panic as the wards strained and crumbled. Some still held firm. Oak and Thyme rounded the corner, their hands raised, ready to do magic.
“Quick, come with us. We’ll return you somewhere safe after,” I called to them.
They nodded their agreement, pushing magic out to help Mori and Gregoris with removing the wards. The ever present feeling of pressure, like an impending thunderstorm, fell. With their help, the wards were down.
The feeling of magic surged once more. A portal opened in the hallway, the demon realm waiting for us on the other side.
Oak nodded at me, clasped Thyme’s arm, and ran through the portal.
The Orchard
Damon
The early dawn lightwas filtering down through the apple trees as we exited the portal on Toth’s lands. This was as close as we could come to the castle with the wards. Getting out wasn’t a problem, getting back in was the issue.
Mori stumbled, all his strength gone, as the portal snapped closed behind us. “Mori!” I reached for him as he regained his balance.
“I’m fine, just empty.” He leaned against the trunk of a tree and took shaky breaths.
Gregoris looked weak, too. He glanced between us and the far off castle, clearly torn about what to do.
Thyme approached and tried to do some healing magic on Mori. “I’m sorry, it’s just not working.” He shook out his hands with a rueful smile. “I used a lot helping to take down the wards so we could get the portal out of there.”
“Same,” Oak added. He lay on the hard ground, looking defeated. “It’s going to be a while before I can do anything. I need food and sleep. Not necessarily inthat order.” He leaned against the smooth bark of one of Toth’s apple trees.
Since my tie was loose, I pulled it over my head and pressed it into Mori’s wound. “Help me with his jacket,” I asked Thyme as I searched for the exit wound. He helped me get it free and dropped the remains of it on the ground. Our hands brushed as I tried to get Mori out of his ruined shirt. He flinched as he touched me, his eyes going wide.
I had to ignore whatever reaction Thyme was having to me in order to care for Mori. “Stand up a bit. You’re squashing those wings.”
“Can’t… put… them… away,” he said around gasps of pain.
There, found it, where the bullet had gone in and then out. Relief filled me that I wouldn’t have to remove a bullet from him. I picked up the scraps of his shirt and then fastened them to his shoulder using my tie. The sight of Mori’s blood was upsetting me more than I could have imagined. I needed him to stop bleeding. Now I knew it was a through and through, I knew he was in no real danger. He was hardly bleeding now. Even without his magic, he had some healing ability. I just wanted the wound gone, now.
“Are you sure you aren’t hurt?” Parker was checking Gregoris over as the bodyguard stood frozen, hand ona tree as if it was propping him up, as he watched me patch up Mori with Thyme’s help.
“Gregoris, take Parker, Oak, and Thyme up to the castle. Send Toth here to help me get Mori healed.”
“I can carry him.” The bodyguard took a wary step towards us.
Mori blanched. “Absolutely not!” He was going to be fine if he still had some pride left.
