Sorceress Rising (A Gargoyle and Sorceress Tale Book 2) (15 page)

Lillian
tightened her hold on the heavy crossbow as she stepped under the shadow of the
maze. It was darker inside, the newly risen moon’s light not reaching the
ground within. She made her way using memory and touch, and still it seemed an
age until she reached the maze’s center. Worry for Gran and the unicorn didn’t
help.

When the maze
had first become visible in the distance, Gran had ordered them to split up and
breach the maze using a three-prong tactic. They were each to make their way to
the center, searching for traps along the way. Once there, they would await
Gran’s signal and all attack together, or if the situation inside made it too
dangerous, Gran and the unicorn would draw the siren’s attention to give
Lillian a chance to escape with Gregory.

Not liking the
part where Gran and the unicorn might sacrifice their own freedom, Lillian had
bristled at Gran’s plan, but realized there might not be another choice if any of
them were to escape.

No one said she
had to like the plan. She just had to pull off her part and not fail Gran.

She scanned the
central glade while still hidden by the shadows of the maze. The clearing was
more than wide enough to allow moonlight to bath the small glade in its soft
radiance. Lillian took an immediate dislike to what she saw.

Arranged in a
semi-circle in front of Gregory, with their backs to Lillian, a mixed group of
Fae stood unmoving. They might as well have been as stone-like as Gregory. Some
she recognized; Greenborrow and Whitethorn were two, but the others were
strangers or triggered only a vague recollection in her.

She’d only met a
handful of the Fae before she’d nearly died twice, once at the hands of the
Riven, the second time by an axe wielded by a fellow dryad named Sable. Having
slept for three months while she healed, now felt more like three years. Many
more Fae had joined them while she and Gregory slept, further compounding the
problem of trying to keep everyone straight in her head.

Now she really
missed the knowledge, and most especially what powers those unknown Fae might
command. Even if she hadn’t considered Greenborrow and Whitethorn family
friends, she still wouldn’t have left them to their fate.

It chaffed at something
deep in her soul. It was doubly so to think of Gregory enslaved.

Her blood
drummed in her ears and tingles rushed across her skin, raising gooseflesh in
its wake. It wasn’t until her claws prickled against her own palms that she
drew a calming breath and hauled back on her runaway emotions. Gran had
specifically said not to take gargoyle form until absolutely necessary. Her
grandmother had yet to steer her wrong.

With a mental
shake, the last of the wildness bled from her body, and her thick black claws
returned to the soft pink, useless nails of a human.

Now another
worry inched up her spine—where the hell was Gran and the unicorn? Had they
been captured? She hadn’t heard even the slightest noise to hint at a skirmish.
Maybe the other route was blocked or guarded in some way and Gran and the
unicorn were both forced to double back to Lillian’s position?

Well, she might
as well see what she could learn while she waited for any sign of her
companions.

From the
sheltering dark of her cedar maze, she scanned the small assembly again. Her
eyes briefly settled on Gregory, and then behind him to her redwood, and the
large expanse of pure darkness at its base. Moonlight couldn’t penetrate its
dense foliage, and there might be twenty more Fae hiding in those shadows.

Seeing no other
choice, Lillian reached for the otherness she associated with her gargoyle
bloodlines, the same wildness she’d just pushed away, needing it now. Left to
her own terms, she wouldn’t be controlled by it.

Closing her
eyes, she listened. The night noises sharpened. Crickets, frogs, the hoot of a
Great Horned Owl, and even the splash of water as the stream cascaded down the
small series of flagstones functioning as a tiny waterfall in the north end of
the clearing—all these things reached her ears, making her straining senses
tingle.

She filtered all
the natural noise out like Gregory had shown her. Now the deep throb of the
statue-like Faes’ heartbeats reached her ears, and the soft hiss of their
breath. Otherwise the clearing seemed empty of threats, but she doubted it was
as innocent as it looked.

Lillian crept
forward, muscles tense and senses on high alert as she made her way across the
clearing toward Gregory. There was no point in attempting stealth, it would do
her little good if she was walking into a trap. She was halfway to Gregory when
water surged against stone, disturbing the peaceful night. Frogs and crickets
grew silent even as Lillian sought the source of the disturbance.

Her gaze slid to
the north end of the clearing, where the largest of the otherwise tiny
waterfalls dropped down into a pool stocked with water lilies and goldfish. The
surface moved in an unnatural way for several more seconds, then a head and
shoulders emerged through the covering of water lily leaves.

The woman, for
it was unmistakably a woman rising partway out of the pool, her bare breasts
easy to make out in the moonlight, brushed back strands of damp hair from her
face.

Lillian spotted
several lines running down her neck, the last ending at the curve of her
shoulder. They fluttered and expelled water. If the gills hadn’t been enough to
tell her this was indeed the siren, the great fan-shaped tail jutting from the
surface of the water about five feet from her shoulders was a dead giveaway.

The Fae pulled
herself up onto the rocks at the edge of the pool. She made no other move.
Merely watching Lillian.

The being in the
pool looked nothing like the woman who called herself Tethys, but she felt the
same, especially the strong current of power against Lillian’s skin. After a
moment, she identified what it reminded her of. An undertow, the ocean’s power
far inland from where it would naturally exist, but still recognizable all the
same.

The siren’s gaze
was a physical weight, all stern willpower and focused magic crashing against
Lillian’s mind, raising gooseflesh along with defensive instincts.

At any moment,
she expected to feel a sharp pain as Gran’s spell triggered and shredded her
eardrums. One moment passed and then another and another, and still the siren
didn’t sing.

“Welcome,”
Tethys said, her voice clear and buoyant, free of anything that could be called
musical enchantment.

Lillian only
gave the siren a slight nod in answer, but she eased forward away from the
green maze walls. She didn’t relax, was in fact more than ready to launch into
a full heart-pounding, adrenaline-filled sprint for safety, but managed what
she hoped was an outwardly calm exterior as she said, “Why did you attack my
people and what do you want?”

“An attack
implies harm. And I have harmed none here tonight. And as for why I’m here?”
Tethys made an elegant gesture with one hand in the general direction of
Gregory. “Why, I want the same thing as him, ultimately.”

Lillian hadn’t
expected a response, not in words at least and was taken aback by the siren’s
easy answer. However, she highly doubted Tethys’ and Gregory’s end game were
even remotely in the same ballpark—they probably weren’t even on the same
planet for comparison purposes.

“Nice try.”
Inwardly, Lillian winced at her flippant tone. It always helped to aggravate
older beings of immense power, after all.

The siren tilted
her head in thought and fanned her tail to splash water over herself. When her
upper body was again thoroughly wet, she pointed at Gregory with one long finger.
“Deep down, and it might not even be very deep, he wants the same as me—to help
this world find its balance so it can heal.”

“Heal you might
say, and yet your tone implies the opposite.” Lillian paced a wide circle
around the statue-like Fae as she made her way toward Gregory. It didn’t matter
if it was a trap, she had to know her gargoyle’s condition.

Tethys aligned
herself to Lillian, but she made no threatening move to prevent her from
reaching her goal. “You must not know the other half of your soul half as well
as you once did.” She nodded at Lillian and continued, “I wish for us to be
allies against the seductive darkness, the taint which touches all in this
land, even you.”

Lillian mimicked
the siren’s elegant gesture and pointed to the statue-like Fae. “Not the way to
gain allies.”

“No, but the
situation demands immediate action if this world is to survive.” The siren
glanced at Gregory. “Your gargoyle knows this even if you have forgotten. The
Fae trapped in this Realm have become complacent. They can feel the world
slipping toward disaster, yet they do nothing to guide the humans. Now the
humans are nearly too powerful to counter.”

Tethys splashed
herself with water and then used her powerful tail to drive herself higher up
the grass covered bank until she was three quarters of the way out of the
water. “Humans have a weakness at their core, a rot they’ve never been able to
outpace, a greed which demands more and more. They are never satisfied with
what they have. They think only of themselves, never about the planet as a
living entity.” The siren made a vague, yet all-encompassing gesture with one
arm. “They think the planet is theirs. Such ignorance. They are such a young
species, and unlikely to become an old one. Early on, I hoped they would grow
beyond their self-destructive tendencies, but they have not and the world is
running out of time. The planet will flourish without them, but they will not
survive without the Earth.”

She knew where
all this was going, but didn’t know how to derail the conversation or change
the siren’s mind. If it was even possible. Lillian had come here with the plan
to save her gargoyle, having to save the whole damned planet hadn’t factored
into her plans.

Oh, hell. I
have to try something
. “Many of the humans are aware
of the crisis and are working to change things.”

The siren
laughed. “A handful of humans trying to undo the damages created by the rest of
the human horde will not save this Realm or the billions of innocent non-human
victims.”

“No, but what if
we help them. The humans have so much drive, so much potential and creative
power, so much passion to offer. They deserve a chance to fulfill that
potential and find their place in the universe. You said it yourself. They are
a young species. They can still learn. Surely the Fae can help heal the damage
already done.” Even while Lillian’s brain spat out the words, she knew they
were said in desperation. How could she hope to convince Tethys when she hadn’t
even been able to sway Gregory, not really?

“You think the
humans will just welcome the Fae and their guidance? Humans hate anything
different. They commit murder over religious differences and even something as
minor as skin of a different tone. How do you think they will treat the Fae?
Look to the past. They burned their own kind. No, I have wasted too much time
waiting for the humans to overcome their inherently flawed natures. If one
cancerous branch of the evolutionary tree must be pruned out for the survival
of the rest, so be it. And if I must lead by example, I shall. But I cannot
take on all the billions of humans by myself. I will need allies. First among
them will be you and your gargoyle.”

“Ah, I beg to
differ.” Lillian wished she had more of a plan. Why did the villains always
come so freaking well-informed and in possession of a kickass arsenal? But more
importantly, what had become of Gran and the unicorn? Aloud she said, “Besides,
I have a problem with doing what I’m told. Just ask Gregory. I’m always going
behind his back and getting into trouble. Oh hell. Maybe trouble just likes me.
But for whatever reason, I’ve been forced to get myself out of a tight spot a
time or two on my own. There’s no way I’m going to just roll over and allow you
to use either Gregory or myself.”

Tethys gave what
could only be called a longsuffering sigh. “I had hoped to reason with you and
the gargoyle,” she said and then tilted her head and frowned at Lillian. “Did
you know you once saved my life, long ago before I mistakenly came to this
Realm? I was much younger than, and arrogant in my youth. I’d thought myself
strong enough to take on a demon, a true demon from the age of darkness before
there was light in the universe—not one of those weak half breeds which call
themselves the Riven. I misjudged the strength of the beast laired in a
volcanic vent near my home territory. It was tainting everything near it with
its’ evil. I hunted it to its lair and attempted to slay it. I managed to hurt
it, but it did me greater injury, a mortal wound.”

Lillian inclined
her head when the siren hesitated.

“I thought I was
going to die there at the mouth of the vent, surrounded by its evil, my soul
forfeit, never to know peace. As a last act, I sent out a call to warn all my
fellow sirens of the danger. A siren’s power spikes just before death, and my
call went out far beyond my ocean realm, out across the realm of magic in all
directions. I never expected help to come. But you answered.”