Lady Rose turned her head towards me, and a strange smile of pure sadness lifted the corners of her mouth. Then she returned her attention to Baltar. ‘Take me to Athair first. I want to negotiate with him before this is over.’
‘Negotiate?’ Baltar threw his head back and laughed. ‘You don’t negotiate with a fiend. You certainly don’t negotiate with Athair!’
Her expression didn’t alter. ‘If that’s true,’ she said calmly, ‘then why are you here? You’re looking to bargain with Athair. So am I.’
She was trying to draw Baltar away. If they left together and I stayed here, I’d be able to get inside the mansion and find whatever it was the fiends were after. But I didn’t understand: what was so important that she’d sacrifice her life to protect it?
A fleeting thought flashed into my head but I pushed it away at haste.No. Not that. It couldn’t be that.
Otis hissed from behind me. ‘Daisy, do you think that?—?’
‘Shut up, Otis!’ Hester interrupted him. ‘This isn’t the time!’
Baltar’s mouth pursed, as if were considering Lady Rose’s proposal. Whether he’d have taken the bait or not, however, we’d never know because that was the moment that the sorcerer gave a croak of strained delight and stood up. ‘I’ve got it,’ he said. ‘I’ve broken it!’
My stomach dropped with sickening velocity. Lady Rose stepped back, her hand rising to her mouth as a beaming grin of triumph spread across Baltar’s face.
I looked at the vast mansion. It appeared to be turning blood red. Its walls looked as if they were pulsating and there was a nasty smell of burning. Then the air was filled by a long continuous chiming sound, and I knew the sorcerer was telling the truth.
‘I’ve done what you asked!’ the thin man shouted, his success making him bold. ‘You promised you would leave my family alone if I did what you wanted!’
Baltar looked from the building to the sorcerer. ‘I never keep my promises. Your family are dead. And so are you.’ Before anyone could make a sound, he zapped out three lightning bolts in the sorcerer’s direction, each one striking him in the heart.
The sorcerer keeled over; he was dead before he hit the ground. Baltar didn’t watch his collapse; instead, he glanced at Lady Rose. ‘I don’t need you now,’ he said with considerable glee, and he marched towards the open front door.
A strangled cry of desperation escaped from Lady Rose, then she straightened her back, spread her arms wide and closed her eyes. Almost immediately, intricate red shapes started to spread across her pale skin, her body bulging in several places in a sickening manner. She was conjuring up blood magic – but even if such spells could halt Baltar in his tracks, it would bring her eventual destruction. Using blood magic twisted your psyche – and your body. If she kept this up, before too long Lady Rose would turn into a fiend too.
‘Daisy!’ Hester yelled. ‘Do something!’
I heaved myself upright once more, ignoring the stabbing pains in my body. Then I did exactly as Hester commanded.
I threw out a burst of air magic, making the front door of the Assigney mansion slam shut in Baltar’s face just as he reached it. While Lady Rose’s body continued to bulge and twist, I followed up with a blast of fire, scorching the ground around the fiend’s feet.
Despite his sprawled position, Hugo did the same. Then the idiot called out to Baltar. ‘Come and get me, you fucker!’
Genuinely angry, I glared at Hugo. This wasn’t his fight; it couldn’t be.
Baltar, however, had already realised that. He turned his back on Hugo and faced me. ‘Really?’ he asked. ‘You’re really coming back for more?’
I answered him with a blast of water. It wasn’t a simple sphere designed to annoy him, not this time. Now I was doing everything I could to harm him. The force of the water made him stagger backwards and drenched Baltar from head to toe.
Before I could do anything else, Lady Rose moaned and flung out her arms towards him. Whatever invisible power she’d invoked slammed into Baltar’s body and finally he fell – though his collapse didn’t make him defenceless. Far from it.
Even as his golden body thudded down, he sent severalscorching zaps of lightning towards me. Chillingly, I knew that there were two good reasons why he was attacking me and not Rose, although she was the greater threat. He wanted her to use more blood magic, he wanted her to twist herself into the same evil space that he occupied. And if that didn’t work, he wanted to hand her over to Athair while she was still in one piece.
I rolled and dodged each bolt but several fell perilously close. I couldn’t afford to be struck again. The sorcerer had been dead by the time the second lightning strike had hit him., and the same would probably happen to me if I wasn’t careful.
Baltar wasn’t my only problem, however.
‘Stop it!’ I roared at Rose. ‘Stop conjuring up blood magic! This is what they want. This is what Athair wants, and this is what Baltar wants!’ I gestured to the brownies. ‘Get to that bloody woman and force her to see reason!’
I didn’t wait for the brownies to react because I knew they would do what was necessary. They zipped past me, their wings beating as fast as they could as they headed straight for Rose. Hugo also picked himself up and, thankfully, made a beeline for her while I focused on Baltar.
He was already standing upright but he was dripping wet, and there was a puddle of water at his feet. His red eyes narrowed. Even from twenty metres away, I felt the full force of his fury. He wasn’t used to being challenged – at least by not by complete strangers like me.
He sucked in a breath, clearly gathering his power. I blinked once and then, before I could begin to do anything else, Baltar magicked up a fireball to fling in my direction. This wasn’t like any magic fireball I’d seen before; this one was fucking massive. And when I sprang to my right, thinking that I could simply dodge it, the damned thing followed me as if were some sort of heat-seeking missile. Cumbubbling bollocks.
Panic lit through me and I twisted left, aware that the vastball of flame would do the same. I pumped my arms and legs for all they were worth, but I could still feel the searing heat at my back as the fireball drew closer and closer. Baltar’s mocking laughter was audible over its roar and I wished desperately that I’d taken more spider’s silk pills when I’d had the chance. If I’d swallowed several of them in one go, I might have had a chance. Now I would end up barbecued instead.
