Sorceress Rising (A Gargoyle and Sorceress Tale Book 2) (28 page)

“Exactly.” Gran
motioned another Fae to her side, this one a dire wolf already shifted to human
form. “We need to get this done, because we know the human authorities will be
all over us since the masquerade was our idea and it coincided with the Riven’s
attack. We need to make it look no more or less strange here than what’s
happening in the rest of the town with the townsfolk waking up from the siren’s
enchantment.”

Nodding her head
sharply, Lillian added, “So no bodies, body parts, blood or gore. But lots of
leftovers from a big shindig suddenly abandoned when the partygoers wandered
off after getting exposed to a—what, a hallucinogenic gas or something along
those lines? Got it.”

“That’s my
girl.” Gran said. “I’ll ask any other Fae not helping with the wounded or the
cleanup to create a diversion in the forest and give the soldiers something
more interesting to chase. A three prong diversion should work. Besides, we’ve
flooded enough magic into the land tonight to confound any tech they will have
with them. Do what you can and then meet back here in an hour and a half.”

Gregory gave
himself a shake and stretched muscles stiffening in the cool night air.

“All right,
boys,” Lillian said with a wave encompassing him and the two other gargoyles.
“You heard Gran, let’s do this in record time because I want to shower, eat,
and then dream about sleeping for a week.”

Gregory rumbled
his agreement and they set off, starting at Lillian’s hamadryad and working
their way out from there. He quickly showed Lillian how Elemental fire summoned
from the Magic Realm served their needs much more efficiently than gasoline and
a match.

The cleanup took
less time than Lillian had estimated, but then again with three gargoyles
ridding the land of taint and her own dryad magic repairing the damaged grasses
and other landscaping around the spa, maybe it shouldn’t have surprised her. In
the days to come, there would be more work far out in the forest, such as
adding layers of protection to the dwellings of the other Fae, where wounded
were even now being transported.

When they’d
finished their task, they had gone back to meet up with Gran. Once there, she’d
assigned Darkness and Shadowlight new jobs. Which, Lillian had noted with
amusement, they accepted without as much as a flick of a questioning ear. After
that, Gran had looked Lillian over from head to toe. Gregory got the same
treatment, and then they were ordered ‘to go find a shower in all haste before
someone expires from the smell alone.’

Hence, Lillian
now made her way back to the house with little guilt about leaving others to
contend with the military threat. Gregory seemed unconcerned as well—but that
might just have been exhaustion. He padded along beside her, silent and
physically ‘drooping’ with his ears at half mast, wings loose at his sides, and
tail dragging in the dirt behind him.

“Come on,” she
said as she ran her fingers through his mane and caressed his silky ears, “I’ll
get a quick shower first and then make you something to eat while you get
yours.” By her calculations, of the two of them, he’d done the lion’s share of
the work during cleanup. It was only fair she hunt up food for them.

Gregory rumbled
happily and leaned into her touch, though she didn’t know if he agreed with her
idea or simply reacted to physical contact. They trudged up the back steps and
crossed the veranda and into the house in a companionable silence.

It wasn’t until
they had crossed through the kitchen and into the living room that it occurred
they’d done this exact thing after the last Hunt. “You know, in the future, we
might want to excuse ourselves the nights the Wild Hunt rides. We never seem to
escape it unscathed.”

Beside her,
Gregory tilted his head to look up at her and he started to chuckle. “No, I
suppose we don’t, but imagine how much worse the outcome could have been if we
weren’t there both times.”

“Hmm,” Lillian
debated as she climbed the stairs to the second storey. “There’s that silver
lining. Guess I’m glad all these aches and pains were gained for a higher
purpose.”

It was the
thought of hot water, shampoo, and copious amounts of body wash that sustained
her to the top of the stairs. She shed her clothes as she crossed the threshold
into her bedroom and continued on into the bathroom with the determined shuffle
of the terminally drained.

Gregory plodded
into the bathroom behind her. She’d originally wanted to shower alone so she
could scrub off any incriminating evidence that she might have missed with her
hasty wash in the pond before she’d smeared herself in the bog slime. But
Gregory had proven a fantastic mind reader in the past, and if she tried to
chase him from the bathroom now, he might get suspicious.

And a suspicious
gargoyle was far too much for her to cross wits with in her present state of
brain fog.

****

In the end,
Lillian had emptied half a bottle of body wash on the two of them before
Gregory had stopped crinkling his nose up every time he took a deep breath.
She’d finished up first, and then gone in search of something to eat. To her
surprise, she’d opened the door to the hall only to bump a tray with her toes.
No harm had come to either her toes or the trays, of which there were two and
both piled high with steaming food. A glance up and down the hall showed no
hint as of how they’d gotten there, but she’d bet a night’s sleep Gran’s
invisible hand was involved even if she’d not stepped foot within the house
herself for hours.

Gregory was
still in the shower, so she set the trays on the bedside table and pulled the
towel off her head and started to work on the snags in her hair. She’d managed
about half when the bed shifted behind her and Gregory took the comb out of her
hand. With a gentle nuzzle, he continued the work in silence. He was in one of
his touchy-feely moods, but she didn’t mind, taking comfort in his presence. He
slowly teased out the tangles with a gentleness and patience far greater than
her usual efficient brushing.

In a moment of
weakness, a part of her wanted him to catch some betraying thought or scent, to
discover that they’d crossed a forbidden line because she was terrified that
her worst fears might come to pass and she’d have to face that truth alone.

One hand strayed
to her flat belly. Reason returned and she quickly retied her robe’s sash to
make the move look natural. Now was not the time to fall apart or panic,
especially when nothing might come of her foolish mistake. Gregory didn’t need
yet another thing to worry about. She’d just have to dig deeper and find a
bigger backbone.

“Lillian?”

Her stomach
plummeted. Had he already discovered her shameful secret?

“Yes, love?” she
asked, proud her voice didn’t shake or squeak.

 “What are you
afraid of? I can smell the sudden spike of fear.” A large muscular tail curved
around her waist and tugged gently until she softened her stance and allowed
her head to drop back against his chest. “Me?”

Breath froze in
her lungs and she couldn’t answer as her heart did a strange little flip in her
chest.

“Is it me you
fear?”

Hearing
uncertainty and dread in his tone, she turned and straddled his lap. She
entwined the fingers of one hand with his and pressed the palm of her other
hand against his chest where she could feel the throb of his heart. Then she
raised their joined hands to her own breast and pressed his hand over hers.
“No, never.”

“I would never
harm you. Not even when I was fully under Tethys’s enchantments, could she have
made me harm you.”

“Shh, I know.
It’s not you I fear; it’s this,” she stroked the tattoo around his throat.
“I’ve made so many mistakes and bad choices. I don’t know if I can ever make it
right.”

He took her
hands and cradled them in his larger one, and then in a courtly, old world way,
he pressed a kiss to the back of each. “We will face this new obstacle as we
have always faced challenges, together.”

She hugged him
in a fierce embrace.
I dearly hope so.

Gregory must
have caught her thought for he dipped his muzzle down and nuzzled her damp hair
for several moments before one large hand came up and started to caress it in
long soothing strokes.

Even after her
inner turmoil finally quieted, she continued to hold Gregory in a fierce grip
until her arms grew tired, only then did she release him with a sigh and asked,
“Are you hungry? Food magically walked to our door while you were still in the
shower.”

He gave her a
slight nod and she padded over to where she’d set the two plates.

****

Gregory was just
finishing off his meal when his gaze took on a distant look, which meant he
sensed something or someone was communicating with him. “What is it?” she
asked, fearing bad news.

“Your
hamadryad,” he rumbled, sounding happy. So perhaps it wasn’t bad news.

“My hamadryad
can talk to you?” she prompted when he didn’t seem inclined to explain.

“Of course, she
is the Sorceress,” he said, sounding perplexed at her question. “Though, from
this distance, the best she can do is send emotions. When you are finished your
meal, your hamadryad has something she wants us to see.”

Lillian glanced
down at the food she’d been ‘worrying’ instead of eating. “I’m not actually
that hungry. We can go now if you’d like.”

Gregory glanced
at her plate of partly eaten food with a disapproving huff, but didn’t say
anything, or, thank the gods, try to get her to eat more. Her stomach was
twisted in too many nervous knots to know what to do with food at the moment.
Maybe whatever good news her hamadryad had would help distract her from other,
less pleasant things that had occurred this night.

She tilted her
head toward the door. Still Gregory hesitated.

“Please,” she
said, sounding as tired as she felt. “I could use a little good news.”

Gregory nodded,
and led her from the cottage. Dawn was a pink hint on the horizon as they made
their way back to her grove, where they’d battled the Riven not five hours
before.

Lillian trudged
along beside Gregory thinking that whatever news her hamadryad wanted to share,
it damn well better be good.

Tethys fanned
her upper body with water, the gesture more out of routine than necessity for
the air was cool and moist in the Lord of the Underworld’s cliff-side temple.
Absently, she speculated if that was natural, for she could hear and scent the
salty-brine of the ocean, or if the pleasantly hospitable climate was his
doing.

The pool she
presently basked in was likely new as well, or perhaps simply a bit of repurposed
architecture. She eyed the great temple where it reared high above, with its
terraces and stairs cut into the rock. There were five terraces and hundreds of
steps composing the entrance to the megalithic structure. Greenery and the
sparkle of waterfalls and pools dotted each level.

Odd though it
was, Death’s domain held more life than what she’d seen of the Battle Goddess’s
lands when Tethys arrived in spirit form beside Lillian’s oldest hamadryad.

The hamadryad
had shown her many things about the goings on within the Magic Realm. Much had
changed over the millennia she’d been gone. And yet, much was still the same.
She was home at last. And she wouldn’t sit idly aside while dark forces planned
to abuse its bounty.

With a burst of
empathy and what Tethys would have called well-wishing in a flesh and blood
being, the hamadryad had sent her to the Lord of the Underworld’s temple.

She’d awoken in
this pool some time ago to find her spirit housed in her old body—or what was a
perfect duplicate.

Apparently, the
Lord of the Underworld had given her spirit a body once more and then just left
her here.

To think?

Perhaps.

Was she to
become a tool in the war against his twin? A tool he had no plans for at
present but would use at a later time? Her present location didn’t look like a
prison. Behind her, the open cliffside vista and the great blue ocean called to
her spirit. Reaching out with her siren’s senses, she learned that the drop
from the terrace edge to the ocean below was a goodly distance, but not one
that would harm her.

Freedom was only
a short distance away, she could even follow the meandering path of the streams
and small waterfalls to the edge of the cliff.

Death’s actions
were not what she’d expected.

Nothing here
was.

He hadn’t been
chained as the hamadryad had shown the Battle Goddess was. At least not by any
physical means. His chains were self-imposed, created by the considerable power
of his iron control and the Divine Ones’ duality curse placed upon the Twins.
As long as one was imprisoned, so too was the other.

His was a
willing, noble self-sacrifice and she now knew why the gargoyles revered him.
She wasn’t sure if she’d be able to make such a sacrifice for the good of all
else.

Deep in her own
thoughts, she missed when he first emerged from his temple.

The distance was
considerable, even then, his massive size dwarfed the small trees and lush
greenery lining the rough-hewn stairs cut into the cliff. The immense strides
of his horse-like lower body devoured the stairs twenty at a time. Each hoof
was as massive as her entire body.

Tethys had seem
many strange species, both natural and magically altered, but perhaps none as
unique as the form Death wore.

At a glance, she
was reminded of the old-world centaurs with their equine bodies and human-like
torsos. But that was where the similarities ended. Two massive wings erupted
from just behind his equine shoulders. The membrane stretched between the stout
bones looked soft and supple, not unlike a gargoyle’s wings, and they were not
the only gargoyle-like attributes. Instead of an upper body like a centaur
possessed, Death’s was far closer to a gargoyle’s. Great, glossy black horns
swept back from his forehead as they reached for the sky. A thick mane cascaded
down past his shoulders. It fluttered in the strong breeze blowing in from the
ocean beyond, and he reached up with two of his four arms to tie it into a knot
behind his head. His other two arms remained in place, his fists loosely
clasping the hilts of two of his swords where they were tucked under his wings.
She spotted the hilts of the other two poking out from behind his shoulders,
half hidden in his mane.

While she
studied him in silence, he folded his legs under himself and sat next to her
pool. Even then he still blocked out the sun and an involuntary shudder ran
through her body.

“I thank you for
housing my spirit within my body once more,” she inclined her head in a show of
respect, “for there is much I must tell you.”

“Your spirit
already told me all that has gone wrong in the Mortal Realm.” Death’s voice
flowed across her senses, dark, full of mystery, and utterly beautiful.

Beguiling. The
word was invented to describe his voice.

The power
contained in her own voice was nothing in comparison to his. She wondered once
again why he’d given her back her body. What use could he possibly have for
her?

“Others would
say I gave you life on a whim.”

Others? Who
would be so foolish to mock death?

Instead she
said, “But you don’t do anything on a whim, do you?”

“No,” he said,
voice echoing softly. “The Avatars sent you to me for a purpose. I gave you
back your life out of love for them. You have a choice to make, siren.”

She inclined her
head, knowing what he would ask now, and already knowing her answer.

“You may stay
and become one of my subjects or go out into the world, free to do as you
choose.”

“Thank you wise
one. I am honored by the choice.”

He gave her a
slight nod in acknowledgement and then with a flick of his wrist he pulled her
trident out of the air; whole and unblemished—its internal song resonating deep
inside her. He released it and she snatched it out of the air before it hit the
water.

“Take as long as
you like to decide what path your life will take.”

The siren bowed.
“Once again, I thank you. But it will not be necessary. My path leads out into
the world. There is something I must finish, a debt still to be paid.”

Death nodded,
his solemn expression unwavering, but she felt his thoughts brush hers, felt a
tendril of his contentment. He already knew her new quest and was well pleased
with her choice.

She smiled, he’d
likely known her decision before she herself did.

“Go with the
Light’s blessing, Tethys.” She felt his power swirl around her. “May your hunt
go well and your debt be paid in full.”

With his words
fading into a faint echo, his power surged and she was pulled from the pool.
Her mind and senses blurred and she didn’t know how far she’d travelled. She
may have been sent half-way across the Magic Realm for all she knew.

The open ocean,
and the voices of the other oceanids called to her and she went.

****

It didn’t take
her long to travel the rest of the way to her intended destination. She sang as
she swam, summoning all the oceanids to her. And her siren daughters came,
welcoming her with joyous song.

Far inland from
the shore, a range of black mountains rose high into the sky. On the leeward
side of the tallest mountain sat a temple equal in grandeur and size to Lord
Death’s, though this one was cold, hard, and devoid of all warmth and beauty.
Tethys studied the structure, the place where the Lady of Battles ruled her
domain, a strange mix of prison and seat of power.

Tethys looked
away, for the temple held no more interest for her. It was not her target,
after all. Her gaze followed the path of a glacially fed river; its cold, clear
waters cascading down the mountainside until it finally emptied into a
wide-mouthed estuary.

She scanned the
shoreline, pleased to see how the shoulders of the mountain came right down to
the water, its foothills flanking the river so conveniently.

Lining the sandy
beach along the bay, just on the outskirts of the Battle Goddess’s domain, a
mass of bodies congregated at the river’s mouth—a Riven army poised to march
upon the Sorceress’s hamadryad.

It was clear
they planned to travel the gentler slopes of the river valley instead of
climbing the tall, craggy cliff bordering the temple. Tethys smiled and began
to sing. Other voices joined her song, but the power for the spell came from
her alone. She had innocent blood on her hands and it might take an age to
redeem herself, but she would start with this debt. It was hers alone to pay.

Her daughters
merely came to witness as she’d asked.

Power gathered
in the ocean water surrounding her, answering her lilting summons. The slowly
rolling waves grew in height and frequency as her song stretched out, away from
her.

For leagues
around the ocean stirred to her call, and she absorbed the magic into her body.
Her song increased in volume, the gentle melody becoming something harder and
darker. The ocean reared up, great waves coming toward her, and then racing
onward toward shore. She held up one webbed hand, palm out, facing the massive
incoming wave. Its forward momentum froze, but the press of water behind the
wave continued forward, forcing the wave to rise up, the only direction she
allowed.

Magic continued
to flow into her body, faster now. Her body began to glow, illuminating the
ocean with a pure white light. Above, the grey-tinted sky grew darker, the
clouds amassing to the east, hurrying to her call as well. Warm, magic-laden
air met with the cold low pressure front and flashes of lightning, and a power
more than lightning, bled between the clouds.

She sang, her
voice rising above the crash of the stormy seas and the equally turbulent
winds. Her body brimmed with magic, her bones ached with it and still she sang
and absorbed the bounty of the ocean.

Far away on
shore, she felt the dark army’s attention swing out to the ocean, sensing her
and the threat she called down upon them. The Riven began to stir, seeking to
toss up defenses or use their demon blades to shift to another location, but
the power of her song washed away their dark power, swirling, shattering, and
cleansing.

Pain bombarded
her overtaxed body, it had for quite some time. With a sudden sizzling anguish,
her nerves flared and died in a million tiny pin points of pain. Her body grew
numb, the light brighter, the veins under her skin stood out stark and clear.
Blood and magic swirled away from her dying body, but still she sang. Her
spirit took up the song when her voice grew weaker.

She only had
moments left, her spirit was already preparing to leave her body. With a
fragment of her consciousness not focused on the destruction of the Riven army,
she looked back to her daughters with her mind’s eye.

“Tell the
Avatars that I paid my debt in full, and I thank them for showing me back to
the Light.”

With a flick of
thought toward the stormy skies, she loosed the magic-laced lightning down upon
the Riven. Strike after strike pounded the beach, burning the Riven to ash and
turning the sands to glass.

“With my power
and sacrifice I send you back to the abyss from which you crawled,” Tethys sang
from her spirit, “May you become naught, know naught, and forever be naught.
Let all others forget even your memory. Go now and perish.”

Her spirit
surged free of her flesh. From her position above the waves she saw her own
body flash as magic ripped it asunder, becoming nothing more than flecks of
light and foam on the sea.

The great wave,
which had been held back by her living will, broke free and raced toward shore.
Contained within, the purifying spells she’d been singing all along flowed with
it. She watched with calm assurance as the wave slammed into the bay, rose up
over the beach and continued deep into the mouth of the river valley, cleansing
everything it touched.

Her oceanid
daughters sang a lament to the sea, singing her onward to her next, and final
journey.

“You did
well.”
Death’s voice echoed in her mind, as
soothing and beautiful as the first time she’d heard it.
“Go now and rest. I
would carry you to the Spirit Realm as I did for the heroes of old, were I
still able.”

“You honor
me, my Lord. When you see the Avatars again, tell them they saved my life not
once, but twice. And this debt I paid gladly.”

“I shall.”
With those last whispered words, Death was gone from her
consciousness, but in its place there was a gentle tug on her spirit.

With a burst of
joy, she turned from the power of the ocean, and the song the other sirens sang
in farewell, following that tug as she began her final journey home.