Page 26 of The Dragon With A Girl Tattoo
I don’t know what I expected to see, perhaps a drooping man with the long hair and beard of someone who’d been deemed crazy and locked away, but the man who was in the act of striding across the room, his hands busy as he sketched spells in the air, fire trailing behind him, was not that.Not at all.
He spun around, his eyes glowing golden just as the First Dragon’s had earlier.He also had a stripe of white in his dark hair, but rather than his hair being a tangled mess, it was cut short in a style that I connected to the 1930s, the front part of it swooping back in a slight wave that made something in my stomach tighten.
“Who are you?”he asked, spinning around to face me, his dark brown brows pulled together in a truly magnificent scowl.His eyes narrowed on me.“You are no dragon, yet you bear the mark of the First Dragon.”
I shot a fast glance down the long hallway.Noises could be heard coming up from the stairs.
“No, I’m not, but they sent me to get you out, and we have to be really quick because that sounds like one of those terrifying Hashmallim on its way.Stand still so I can apply this glamour on you.”
He shook his head as I gathered up the glamour I’d made for him, holding it for a moment and imbuing into it the warmth of the dragon blessing before tossing it on him.
Or rather, I tried.The glamour didn’t leave my hand.
“You better hurry up.That’s not just one Hashie—it’s a whole herd of them,” Jim warned, backing up until I was between it and the landing.
I examined the glamour, but nothing seemed amiss with it, so I tried again to fling it on Yrian.
It refused to be applied.
“Shit,” I said, looking to the left when a wave of terror rolled down the hallway.Dark shapes appeared and started oozing toward us.
“You can’t apply glamours here,” Yrian said, his eyes still narrowed, glittering like gold in the noonday sun.His lips twisted as he gestured toward the wall.“They’ve made sure of that.”
“Come on, then,” I said, holding out one hand while my other started drawing a will glamour that I hoped would allow us past the Hashmallim.
“I can’t.I’ve tried.They’ve warded the space,” he said on a near snarl, the fire that had been following him now a pool at his feet.
Panic rode me hard.I glanced toward the Hashmallim—three of them—as they approached, and made a snap decision.I leaned forward, saying softly, “I’ll be back.Don’t lose hope,” before I closed the door and spun around to face the three horrors.
“I told you that now was not convenient,” came the terse voice of Dr.Debruin, who moved into view when the three Hashmallim circled Jim and me.“You will leave now!”
“Fine,” I said, wishing they were looking elsewhere so I could slap on my will glamour.“But the weyr will lodge a formal complaint with the Committee about this treatment.I am an official ambassador!I will not tolerate such actions against the dragonkin!”
I stepped forward, praying to any deity who was around that the nearest Hashmallim let me pass, and to my great relief, it did, but only once I was close enough for several strands of its garment to reach out for me.I slapped them away, trying to glare into the blackness in the cowl where its face should be, before snapping an order to Jim to follow me.
We made it outside before I had to stop and double over, my stomach revolting against the absolute wrongness of the Hashmallim.
“Where’s Yrian?”I heard Aisling ask as the dragons gathered around me.
“We have to leave,” I said as soon as I was sure I wouldn’t vomit, standing and looking at Drake.“Do you have another car here?”
His gaze sharpened on me for a few seconds before he answered, “In this town?No.But I can procure one.”
“Do it.Something a big shot would use.”I looked back at the entrance of the Asile, but the doors remained shut.“And we’re going to need it in the next ten minutes.”
I don’t know how he did it, but by the time we had all piled back into the car, driven down the hill to the valley below, and made it to the nearest town, a sleek black sedan zoomed out to meet us.
Jim filled everyone in on the ride to the car while I madly created two more glamours, pulling hard on the dragon blessing to give them extra wattage.
“Right.This is going to be a bit dicey, but it’s the only thing I can think of.I’d suggest you meet us back at the Asile in five minutes.That’s about as long as my glamour is going to last in a place so heavily warded against magic,” I told the dragons as Jim and I climbed into the back of the sedan.One of the redheaded bodyguards took up the position as driver.
“I’m amazed you can do anything in there if it’s as impossible as Jim says,” Aisling commented, giving her demon another pat on the head.“Just don’t do anything dangerous.”
“Yeah, I got my coat into peak condition, and I’d hate to get it scorched or anything,” Jim said from where it stepped on the window’s button, and immediately stuck its head outside.
“Fingers crossed, everyone,” I said, trying to summon up enough concentration to craft a will glamour that would ensure everyone in the Asile would not think twice about fulfilling my orders and commands, even if only for a short time.
“Man, if you’re gonna rely on superstition—” Jim started to say, but stopped when I turned in the seat and tossed the glamour on him.
