by Jamie Hawke
Flames were inches from my face by the time the water hit, flooding over her and sending the dragon sputtering backwards while I slid down, going across the ground and rolling. When I came up swinging, she spun and knocked me down with her wings. I sliced, blade hitting scales and leaving her unharmed.
She opened her mouth to breathe flames again, but none came. Only a gargling, choking sound.
“We got what we came for,” Ali Baba shouted, darting insanely fast past me and dragging me along the way. How he was moving like that was beyond me, but he had the feather in his free hand. A long, beautiful golden feather.
He was right, there was no point risking our lives to kill this dragon lady right then, not if we could escape with what we needed. Flee the battle to win the war.
“Rain check, then?” she called out after me, and I paused at the edge of the roof.
“For which? The eating me part, or a good fuck?” I shouted back.
She tilted her head. “I still don’t see why we can’t do both.”
“You’ve got issues,” I yelled, as I leaped, calling for my lion. A moment later, Ali Baba and I were back on Roar, soaring toward Ali’s apartment. A screech sounded above and I turned to see the dragon growing in size, flapping her wings, and moving in pursuit.
“Fuck me,” I muttered, and leaned forward, close to Roar, watching with anticipation as we closed on the open wall, the portal beyond.
The dragon soared overhead, Ali Baba shouting that we needed to hurry, and then we were in, Roar collapsing into my chest, and the two of us tumbling toward the portal. Only, it was closing!
I leaped, triggering all sorts of traps as I threw myself at the portal but knew I wasn’t going to make it. Ali Baba was suddenly at my side, purple smoke surrounding us as we were hurtled through the portal and came tumbling out the other side.
As soon as we were through, I saw why the portal was closing. Hekate was on her side, holding her head. The walls beside us had been blasted away, and the rest of my team was in the courtyard in the heat of battle.
62
“We’re here, close it!” I shouted, running to make sure Hekate was okay.
She rolled over, saw me and the gold feather, and nodded. The portal faded with a puff of smoke, I imagined from fire on the other side.
“Get out there, I’ll be fine,” she said. “Just took a bit of a beating there.”
“Hekate,” Ali Baba said, giving her a brief nod, joining me to make our way to the fight below. From what I could see—illusions gone and all—a Pucky was doing a good job holding off the enemy with her massive rifle, and Elisa made shields of white light when needed.
“Care to explain your little magic display back there?” I asked as we ran.
Ali Baba grinned, holding up his arms and the gold. “Got these a while back—gives me the power of being a genie, basically, as long as I wear them. Only problem, they’re draining. Wear them too long, and I risk actually becoming one.”
“Damn.” I glanced over, glad I wasn’t relying on powers with such a risk. “And your son? The trap?”
He grimaced, but shook his head. “No, he wouldn’t go back. He’s smart enough to know that, ever since that wife of his saved my ass back in the day, I’ve learned to fend for myself. There’s not a situation I can’t get out of.”
“With my help,” I reminded him.
“And you only got out of there with mine,” he replied with a wink.
“Touché.”
We reached a point where he could use his genie power to lower me down. While I could’ve done it with Roar, this was faster and I hadn’t relied on Roar enough to know if there was any sort of price for calling on him too often, so figured letting him rest wouldn’t be the worst idea.
Hekate followed a moment later, reaching out and saying, “The feather. I’ll get the tracking spell going.”
“Roger that,” I replied, trying to sound formal but earning a laugh from her.
“Here in Witch World, we prefer ‘fuck yeah,’ or ‘here you go, dipshit.’”
I chuckled, trying to figure out a good point to interject myself into the fight. “What’re we dealing with, exactly?”
“Persephone, for one,” Hekate said, indicating a line of witches, one tall and floating, swirling with a tornado of darkness forming. “The rest of the witches, at least any that weren’t out on the front lines.”
“And I see an old enemy,” Ali Baba grunted, suddenly taking off and clashing with a man who’d been about to attack Red.
“Looks like he found the Mouse King,” Hekate said, cringing. She turned to cast a spell of silvery blast that sent two incoming witches to the ground.
I circled up against a man with a wand that kept sending out green sparks my way, but my shield handled them well enough. When I ended him with my sword, a red ball of ichor flew over.
Quickly checking to see what skills I could add, I saw one that allowed me to summon my sword if it had fallen away. While I had been able to in the water with Arthur, that had been because of the water. Now, anywhere, anyhow, if I could get that skill. It could come in very handy, and since I didn’t have much time to analyze the various paths, decided that worked. I applied the ichor and got the upgrade.
More witches and gods were coming our way, some flying, and I realized this wasn’t the time for Roar to be resting. I called him out and he soared up, immediately swooping down again and tackling a man with wild, silvery hair, so that he slammed into the ground while Roar took on what looked like a flying rat as large as himself.
I rose up and brought my sword down to cleave the man’s head in two, then was sent flying sideways by a spell from a woman with lizard features. My team was fighting all around me, Red at my side a second later to help me back up and counter the next spell before it hit me. Elisa was busy throwing up shields of light to keep Persephone’s attacks off of us. The goddess would dart around in bursts of darkness, sending attack after attack at us, none of what we sent her way landing.
With this force against ours, it was clear we needed to get out of there if we didn’t want to get pinned down in a long battle.
“This way,” Red shouted, pulling me toward Hekate. We found three witches trying to take her down with binding and freezing spells, but Red took out two with quick dashing movements and slicing open their necks, while I sent a blast from my sword that took the next one out of commission.
Soon we had the others from our team, huddled up while Elisa made shields and Hekate sent counter spells.
“What do we need to get out of here?” Pucky shouted over the chaos.
“We’ve got the feather and I’ve started the first steps of the locator spell, but it takes time.” Hekate took Chris’s arm in hers, looking over the group. “So… next step is finding Goldilocks, then?”
“I know exactly where she is,” Red said. “But it’s not going to be fun.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Last I heard—and this wasn’t so long ago—she’s heavy in the underground network. Those neutrals who don’t want to be messed with.”
“That sounds like a lot of fun,” I countered with a chuckle.
She arched an eyebrow, shook her head, and waited while Hekate made the portal per her instructions.
As we entered the portal, I chanced a glance back and was amazed at what I saw. Not only nearby, but as far as I could see there were what looked like Pyramids descending toward the ground—upside-down pyramids. In some places it was more like pagodas, but no matter the shape they all shared the fact that they were descending, light blaring and flashing between them. No, not descending, I realized. Becoming visible.
“Only visible to us,” Hekate said, seeing the look on my face. “Because we have this now.” She held up the golden feather, and I got it.
The Golden Goose was on one of those crazy sky pyramids. Where, I imagined, the gods were coming from. First, we were going after Goldilocks, yes, but then our mission would be taking us up there, a
nd that was terrifying.
63
While crazy pyramids of gods and Legends were making their assault on the world above, we were, apparently, moving into the underbelly of some city. Hekate took us via portal to an underground network of caves and old military tunnels in the mountains of Montana.
“Not many people know about this place,” Hekate explained, “because the military abandoned it and ordered it closed quite a while back.”
“Since then it’s been the rumored hideout of the all the black-market handlers, thugs, and all manner of assholes that refuse to side with the Legends or Myths,” Red explained. “But since you know about it, I’d say it tends more toward the side of Legends.”
Hekate grunted in the affirmative.
The current tunnel had bunks built into the sides, several strange fairy tale characters watching us with furrowed brows. One had little deer horns growing form his head, another a face that was somewhere between human and dragon—it was almost hot, in a weird, reptilian sort of way. I had to smile at that thought, humored by how far I’d come since becoming part of this world. Sure, I’d enjoyed such stories as Monster Musume, but never actually been able to see myself with any sort of odd creature. Since getting involved with Pucky, her horns had kind of acted as a gateway drug for me, opening my mind to all manner of oddities.
We left the main tunnel to climb down a ladder and find ourselves in what looked like an old bunker, but had the smell of a sewer. It was hot down there, making the stench even worse. At the far end, a door opened and about half a dozen thugs entered. Some carried batons, others baseball bats, crowbars, and one even had a large shotgun over his shoulder.
“Word is you’ve gone over,” the one with the shotgun said.
“Who’s he talking to?” I asked, but Hekate stepped ahead of us, motioning for us to stay put.
“That’s what they’re saying?” Hekate asked. “Well, they’re fucking right. The line has been drawn, and it’s time everyone here chose a side.”
“Fuck that.” The guy lowered the shotgun our way.
“Keep pointing that thing at me,” Red said, “and you won’t see tomorrow.”
The man’s eyes went to her and he hesitated, lifting the shotgun. “Fucking Red Riding Hood?” His eyes kept moving as we drew closer, and he froze, blinking. “What the fuck kind of group have you all put together? This is some Suicide Squad shit going on, or what?”
“Wait, from the comics, or the movie?” I asked, ignoring the confused looks from around me.
He chuckled. “Fucked if I know what you’re talking about—there was a movie? Nah, I mean from the comics.”
“Ah, man, you missed a damn-good Harley Quinn, but…” I stopped there, not wanting to trash talk the movie, and realizing everyone was still staring at me. “What, I mean—shared interests, right? It’s a good thing.”
A tense moment was broken by the man chuckling. “Who the fuck’s this kid?”
“Jack,” I answered. “New Protector.”
His buddies scoffed and laughed, but stopped at a look from him.
“That right?” He stepped closer, eyeing me, then turning to Red. “Sorry about before. Didn’t realize”, and, turning back to me, he thrust out a hand, “welcome to the fucking tunnels, Protector.” After we shook hands, he turned to Hekate. “I’m not saying we’re taking sides, yet, but I’ll say this—we aren’t standing in your way.”
“Boss—” one started, but shut his mouth when the guy turned his way.
“We’re not stupid enough to do that,” the apparent boss said. “Plus, I like the new kid.”
The others made confused faces, but stepped aside when he motioned them to.
“Goldi in there?” Red asked.
The man flinched at that, but nodded. “Fuck, this better be important. She’ll have my balls if you’re going in there to… I don’t know, do anything she doesn’t like.”
“We mean to hire her,” Hekate said.
This made all of their expressions change to curiosity.
“You manage that,” the boss said, “we know which team we’ll be on.”
“And we’ll hold you to it,” Red replied as we walked past them and through the doorway.
“I kinda like him,” I admitted.
“If you knew the shit he’s pulled over the years, you might not,” Hekate said, but then turned to Chris and frowned. “Then again, Chris forgave me my mis-deeds.”
Chris shrugged. “Killing, burning… all that—it was a different you.”
I turned so they wouldn’t see my disapproval. At least with Sharon, her past had been influenced by shadow magic, which I completely understood. As far as I knew with Hekate and these goons, that wasn’t the case.
We kept pushing on, checking various hideouts, going through old war rooms and whatnot that had been turned into living quarters. Not a sign of her, nor much else. It was practically a ghost town. Or, ghost tunnel place.
“Why so empty?” I asked.
“I had a hunch it would be this way,” Hekate said. “Cleared out. Taken down by the agents or off to fight in the war now raging between Myths and Legends.”
“What if she’s not here?” I asked. “Maybe she went off to fight, joined in…”
“Then we’d be fucked,” Red said. “More than likely, she’d be on the other side.”
“And you think she’ll help us?”
Red glanced my way, then shook her head. “No. Not on her own, but with a bit of persuading.”
“Meaning what, exactly?” Pucky asked.
“We find leverage.”
Elisa turned, eyes narrowed, then suddenly glanced around. “Not them....”
I was as confused as Pucky and, it seemed, Sharon, but an answer came a moment later when Pucky kicked open a door and charged in, blade out and ready. Okay, maybe not the answer—but a start to an answer.
We followed her, not sure what to expect.
“RAHHH!” a roar came, then a large form charging through and slamming into Chris. When the man turned, he was transforming into a bear! Two more men were following behind, transforming as they came.
“Fuck this,” Sharon said, going full wolf and dwarfing them as she went for the two newcomers. Hekate and the other witches had already started dealing with the first, and I was surprised to see Chris bust out a spell of his own as flames erupted from his fingers, catching on the bear.
I didn’t want to release Roar underground, so went for my sword instead. Our other teammates were faster than me to act though, with Red and her cloak darting forward, Elisa thrusting blinding light at the enemy and then boosts on us. The witches and Chris doing their part.
“Don’t kill them!” Elisa shouted as we made impact, and I turned to see Hekate actually putting out the fire on the first bear.
“What?” I shouted, confused.
“These are her bears—we kill them, she’s definitely not going to help us.”
“Fuck!” Red shouted back, darting and kicking to sweep out a bear’s legs, while seconds before she’d been ready to knife the bastard.
The still standing one roared and lunged for Pucky, who teleported past it and caught it with a swift kick in the ass. Still, it managed to get Red and slam her against the wall. Goldi or not, I wasn’t about to let the bear hurt Red, so I prepared to slice the beast.
“I’m not getting involved,” a voice said, and everyone froze.
We spun around to see a woman with a look of a dark-haired Madonna stepping out of the shadows. As much as they’d said her name came from her ability with locks and not her hair as the legends claimed, I found it humorous that she was wearing bracelets of interlocked gold chains.
“Just one job,” Red said, pushing the bear off of her, standing tall as if the fight had never happened. “The Golden Goose.”
Goldi scoffed. “You’re out of your damn mind. Nobody can get to it, nobody—”
Ali Baba held up the golden feather, and Hekate waved her hand, causing gold
en light to swirl above it, leading off to our left.
“Shit, you…” Goldi stepped forward, reaching for the feather.
“Not so fast,” Red said, knife closer to the bear’s throat.
Ali Baba moved his hands and the feather was gone. A simple sleight of hand, definitely more trick than magic, but still, impressive.
“Let him go, bitch,” Goldi said. “You should’ve known the moment you showed me the locator spell, I’d be in.”
“Had to have insurance,” Red said, pushing the bear away.
“Wait, so… she’s in?” I asked.
Goldi turned my way. “Who’s the new boy?”
“Man,” I corrected her.
“Protector,” Red corrected me.
I nodded, standing tall.
“No shit?” Goldi smiled, seductively. “He claimed yet?”
“We’re with him,” Pucky said, horns starting to glow as she stepped toward Goldi. “So back the fuck off.”
Goldi held up her hands and laughed. “You ever get bored of them and wanna become a fourth bear, let me know.”
“Fourth…?” I said, then looked at her three bears, realizing they had some sort of golden chains around their necks that matched her bracelets. “They’re your slaves?”
“Willing,” Goldi countered, a bit too fast. “They can leave whenever they want to. But as long as they’re with me, they do what the fuck I say, when I say.”
“Like a Reverse Harem?” Chris asked.
She turned to him now. “Fuck you.”
“What’d I say?”
“I think it’s the way you said it,” I offered, really having no idea.
“No,” Goldi motioned to one of the bears. “Are you part of a harem?”
He scrunched his nose, then chuckled. “Sure am.”
“There you go,” Goldi turned back to me, then Chris, as if she’d just proven her case. “Did I have to say ‘reverse’ in there? No, don’t be stupid.”
“It works with books,” Chris mumbled.