by Jamie Hawke
“Oh, shit.” I stepped over to Riland, motioning him away from the others. “I’ve been a real ass, haven’t I?”
“A horny teenager,” he said. “Not much of a difference sometimes, but I’m not blaming you.”
“You’re sure?”
“The…” I was suddenly interrupted by the ladies laughing, and turned to see Aerona making a gesture that resembled her jacking me off with both hands. I frowned, but then shrugged. Whatever, I was having fun. Let them talk. “I know it’s tough, especially as we get closer to Yenifer. But… maybe we can find you someone else?”
He glared, and I was torn between whether I should be consoling him or trying to avoid the topic of the princess. His lost love.
“Sorry,” I corrected myself. “Someone else… not a good idea, maybe. Right? Too soon?”
His eyes went from me to the ladies, then back to me. “It was never meant to be and yet… it will always be too soon.”
“I’ve been inconsiderate. Shit, I’m trying to figure all this out.”
“No.” Riland put a hand on my shoulder. “You are a young lad. Your actions make complete sense. Perhaps, if you were to give one of them to me—”
“What?” I stared, horrified.
“Joking!” he laughed, squeezing my shoulder and then letting go. “You should have seen your face. Listen, Jericho, I’ve had my time to grieve, and frankly, nothing going on my head has to do with you and your ladies. You all need to be happy and focused on the battle ahead—not on me and my issues.”
“I’m sorry.”
He pointed at me. “No more saying that. Ever. Got it?”
With a laugh, I nodded in agreement. He pointed to the side and I turned to see that we were now alone.
“Where…?” I started, but sensed the house and found they had gone up to the roof. We followed.
Sure enough, we found the team up there. Megha had apparently returned, because she was there with a circle of candles and what looked like lines of blood on the ground. Shisa walked up to me and stared with large eyes, so I knelt and patted his back. Shisa blinked, then nuzzled my leg in a way that seemed to tell me I wasn’t doing so bad. Megha had her ‘Bob’ creature out, her finger wrapped up in its tail, watching me.
“What’re you doing?” I asked Megha.
She held a finger to her lips. It was Steph who came to my side and whispered, “Summoning.”
139
Watching Megha perform a summoning spell, the candles around her flaring, I turned back to Steph, voice low.
“Summoning what?”
“We found a trace to Yenifer’s magic and the one controlling her, and will summon the witch here to find out why.” Steph put a hand on my lower back. “And you…?”
“Wait, trace? Related to the map stuff?”
“Yes, and she worked with Riland to be able to trace it to the witch controlling Yenifer. We hope, also the one responsible for her not being herself, so that we can counter that. We’re all ready.”
A glance around showed she was right. The gargoyles each had a section of the roof covered, crouched, ready to cast spells and attack. Riland as well.
“That won’t be necessary,” I pointed out.
“What do you mean?”
“First, she didn’t attack us before. No reason now… second, I feel the trace now,” I said the words even as they became true, even as the image came to me. “She’s not a threat.”
Steph blinked in confusion, but I turned to the summoning circle, watching as the image of Mizoa appeared there as it had to my mind.
She glared, pissed, looking like she might attack. A split-second later, a crunch of stone sounded and then a loud thud as a gargoyle appeared out of the night.
Yenifer.
“What is the meaning of this?” Mizoa demanded, eyes landing on me and softening slightly, but still on guard. As she turned, her eyes lit up and Yenifer took a step toward Megha, clearly on the offensive.
“No!” I shouted, and Mizoa hesitated, eyes meeting mine.
“Release Yenifer,” Ebrill demanded, while Megha knelt, hands moving about her to keep the magic of the summoning strong.
“Did you know they were doing this to me?” Mizoa asked, eyes still on me, narrowed with a sense of betrayal.
“No, I didn’t know it would be you. But if you’re controlling Yenifer, please…” I stepped toward the circle, hands out to show I wasn’t a threat. “Let her go.”
“Don’t you understand? She’s our best hope of finding everything from the research that Gertrude did on the whereabouts of the others. Of finding the rest of the statue, the stones…”
“What is she talking about?” Steph asked.
“Ancient magic,” Megha answered, eyes moving from me to Ebrill. “If she’s right—”
“No!” Aerona cut her off. “We will not sacrifice one of our own. No matter the cost.”
“Agreed,” Ebrill said.
Kordelia nodded with a grunt.
“I know this is important.” I took another step forward, hand now held out to Mizoa. “Please. We can work together. But Yenifer must be her own person.”
“Person…” Mizoa scoffed. “Have you seen her?”
I turned my attention to the massive gargoyle, very aware of how loosely the term ‘person’ had to be when applied to her. She did look more monster than woman at this point, and there was something fierce within that I found both scary and significant. The concept of not fitting in your skin was one not foreign to me in the slightest. She still had her hair, her womanly figure—womanly and buff as hell. Large breasts that were completely exposed… I couldn’t help but notice those. Even with the semi-rocky style of her skin, though, and the taut muscles, I could still see she had an inner gentleness about her.
Then there were her eyes. Underneath the ferocity, the confusion… there was a comforting strength there.
“She’s beautiful,” I said,
“You’re twisted,” Mizoa spat, and then thrust out a hand so that magic grabbed hold and thrust me towards her. “How about a trade, everyone? Yenifer for your new lover, here?”
Everyone glared. No answers.
“Mizoa,” I said. “Look at us. We’re not the enemy, here. We can help.”
“You can’t help me,” she said, and then pointed at each of them. “None of you ca…” She had stopped, her finger aimed at Aerona, and her mouth actually fell open. “I stand corrected.”
We all turned to Aerona, equally confused.
“The dreams,” Megha said, and something passed between the two, like sparkling particles of dust on a summer afternoon. Only, these sparkles were moving between the two ladies, and I had to imagine they were communicating or maybe even they were off in some mental place like where I had been when I formed my runes.
“Should we do something?” Steph asked, but Ebrill held up a hand to keep us in place.
After a moment of this, Mizoa blinked, the connection gone, and smiled. “Deal. We’ll work together.”
Aerona, however, fell to the ground, fists slamming into the roof so hard that the stone shattered. Her wings flailed for a moment, then she wrapped them around herself so that she was in her own little tent.
I swear I heard a sob.
“Can someone fill me in, here?” Steph asked.
Kordelia and Ebrill looked equally lost, but Megha, who had broken the summoning spell, stood and wasn’t paying attention to all that drama. Instead, she was approaching Yenifer, the large gargoyle who was now standing, dazed, one hand to her head. The short Asian witch walked up to this beast who was three times her size, eyed her up and down, and then cursed as one of the gargoyle fists flew out and smashed into her chest. Megha fell, landing on her back, feet in the air.
“Fuck, Yenifer!” Megha wheezed, as Ebrill and Kordelia charged to her defense.
“Contain her!” Ebrill shouted, coming up from the other direction.
“You’re with her?” Yenifer growled, turning on them too. But they froze, and
I realized why—Yenifer had spoken in her own voice.
“She’s with us,” I said, stepping over, glancing back to ensure Shisa was following, in case I needed him.
“I never went to the other side,” Megha said, sitting, holding her chest. “It was an undercover mission for Rianne.”
Yenifer stood there, studying each of us in turn, including Riland, then her eyes slowly moved back to Megha. A slow grin appeared. “Why didn’t you say so before I knocked you on your ass?”
“Fucking funny.” Megha stood, nearly collapsed, and reached out for Ebrill. “A little help. Punctured… maybe. Something.”
Ebrill ran over, helping her to stand and healing her, while the rest of us stood there, eyes darting between Yenifer and Mizoa.
“Just so it’s out there,” Mizoa said, “yes, Yenifer, I released you but under a spell where you were essentially my avatar, and I was using your connection to where you’ve been in a hunt for specific items related to the temple of the Liahona.”
“You what?” Yenifer turned on her, voice low.
“Yes. But, good news—we don’t need you for that anymore. We have Aerona.”
“How does that make sense?” Kordelia asked. “Wait, first…” She walked over and embraced Yenifer. “I should tell you, first, welcome. It’s good to see you. Second, your breasts are hanging out for the world to see.”
Yenifer looked down, grunted, and then looked first at me, then Riland. “Don’t look at my breasts.”
Riland looked away, eyes on Mizoa again, but… come on—someone tells you not to look at something, your first instinct is to look. So, my eyes went straight to her tits.
“Who’s this guy?” she said, but then laughed. “Wait, the little man from… holy hell, that’s you!”
She stomped over, picked me up in a hug that left my face right in those breasts, and then set me down. Finally, I was able to take my eyes away.
“We can get you a shirt,” I offered, and shrugged.
“Or, you could walk around fighting with your cock out,” she countered.
“The shirt might be more practical.”
She laughed. “Not necessary. This body, it feels so… not mine, it doesn’t matter anyway.”
“Yenifer,” Kordelia chided, but was smiling, apparently finding it amusing as well.
“Wait…” Ebrill turned to Aerona, whose wings had pulled back, but who was still kneeling. Addressing both her and Mizoa, Ebrill asked, “I feel like I’m still missing a big part of this picture.”
“As am I,” Aerona said.
“Most of it, I imagine, you still are.” Mizoa stepped over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. “We thought we’d lost you.”
“Sorry, what?” Ebrill folded her arms. “How would you two possibly know each other?”
Mizoa and Aerona stared at each other in silence.
It was Megha who spoke up. “I saw some of what Aerona recalled just now. It’s not entirely clear, although I imagine Mizoa can fill in some of the blanks.” When neither interrupted, she continued. “Aerona wasn’t in Avalon the entire time—in fact, she was used as Yenifer here was being used, until they got too close to their goal.”
“Ask me, ‘used’ is a strong term,” Mizoa interjected. “But… yes. She was always special, the legends said. We figured she would have the best chance of going against the magic wards setup to keep others out, to locate the stones and, we had hoped, the Liahona. When she got close, she was whisked away, back to Avalon, and out of our reach.”
“Because the Liahona was there,” I said, getting it. “In a sense—or didn’t exist in your world during that time.”
“It transcends time.”
With a nod, I turned to the others, and figured I would explain for those who hadn’t been along for the journey. “I went back in time once I had woken Ebrill, using a strange dream-magic, I guess. Rianne gave me the Liahona to protect, and I returned to this time. So, in theory there simply was no Liahona during the time that I left the past to the time that I returned to the present.”
“Intense,” Riland said in awe.
“And who’s the ‘we’ you speak of?” Kordelia asked Mizoa.
“Glitonea and I worked together,” Mizoa replied. “It was during all of this that she went a little… overboard. With the runes, losing herself, her sanity.”
“That’s why you want to find her, too,” I said. “You feel responsible for that.”
“And I believe she’s still reachable. If I could connect with her, one-on-one, I believe she could see reason.”
“So do I,” I replied, considering what I had seen of the lady.
Aerona stood tall, jaw clenched. Suddenly, she turned and stormed off.
“Where are you going?” Ebrill asked.
“Out.”
With a wave of her hand and a magical chant, Aerona leaped up onto the ledge of the roof, spread her wings, and then flew.
“Is she going to be safe out there by herself?” I asked.
“She cast a spell that should keep her hidden,” Ebrill answered.
“Still, I’ll keep an eye on her,” Megha said, then pointed and summoned three of those shimmering, nearly invisible flying creatures. With a soft chant of “Gwylio,” she sent them out after Aerona. “They’ll keep their distance, and if they see anything, let us know.”
Her eyes were tinted with an unsettling sheen of rainbow, which I assumed gave her the ability to either see through those creatures’ eyes, or was simply a symbol of her magical connection to them.
“Right, so…” Steph waved off the wraith knights she’d had at the ready. “You’re going to work with us, wonderful. Where do we start?”
“There’s a reason I’m here in D.C., along with Yenifer,” Mizoa replied. “We’re looking for Fatiha, for somewhere she might be storing magical artifacts. We need to figure out where this could b—”
“The coven,” I interrupted.
“You know where it is?” she asked, hope shining through.
“We do.”
She smiled, a good look on her. “Then we have our destination.”
140
We moved down to the main dining room to discuss the plans for infiltrating the coven, with the idea that they had a clue Mizoa could use to help us find the legendary stones or something related to the temple the Liahona had been affiliated with. It was a good spot to chat, too, because some of us were hungry. As they snacked, I went about putting together some Lasagna, per my amazing recipe. I put it in and listened to them discussing, but really needed a bathroom break.
Sitting on the toilet allowed me a moment to consider everything, to look at our situation. We had just found out that Yenifer, and before her Aerona, were both being controlled by Mizoa and Glitonea in a search for this extra magic. Now, we were working with Mizoa and hoping to get Glitonea on our side, but first going to the coven I had barely escaped from before, because Fatiha occupied it and was now damn powerful. She had absorbed some of the Nine along with many from the Dark Lands, and now had their power within her.
This wouldn’t be easy.
“You can trust him,” a voice said, and I placed it as Ebrill. “We all do.”
“Rianne did,” a second voice said. This one had to be Kordelia.
Then Yenifer’s deep voice replied, “What I know is… he cursed us. Nothing more.”
For a moment I balked at that, having kind of forgotten that getting stuck as stone statues and then waking many, many years later with wings and horns could be considered a curse.
“To save us,” Ebrill replied. “To save the Liahona and bring us to this time.”
“As monsters.”
I flushed then, and they went silent. After washing my hands, I opened the door and saw them looking my way. Ebrill offered me a guilty look, although she had been defending me.
“Hey,” I said, stepping out, wiping my hands on the back of my shirt. “For the record, all I’ve done is what Rianne asked.”
Yenifer stared at me, chest heaving, dark purple nipples at eye level making it all very awkward.
“And for the record,” I added, “I don’t see any of you as monsters.”
“Then you’re blind.”
“You’ve gained power. A type of power that has altered your appearance, but you’re still beautiful.”
She growled, hands out, body exposed. “Look at me! How can you say that?”
I looked, and then looked at Ebrill and Kordelia. While Ebrill was the most beautiful by traditional standards, looking almost like a succubus as much as a gargoyle, Kordelia and then Yenifer had more of a demonic-power thing going on. Yenifer fully embodied this raw power, this woman with the strength to rip the heads off her opponents, and in some twisted way, I found it sexy as hell.
“You are all beautiful,” I said, standing my ground.
Another long pause, then Yenifer turned to the door, stomping off. She stopped in the doorway, then, and glanced back at us.
“What about Mizoa?” she asked. “The witch had me under her control. Used me.”
“Along with Aerona,” Ebrill noted. “I think, before we make any moves, this is a discussion we need to have with her.”
They all looked at me as if I might disagree, but I nodded. While I had spent a brief amount of time with Mizoa when taking her to Rianne, I didn’t know her. The rest of the group had to see her as a threat at worst, at best someone they were only half sure they could trust.
“Let’s talk with her, then,” Kordelia offered.
Yenifer led the way, already ducking to squeeze through the door—even with the modifications I had made so that the doors and halls would be bigger in the house, while being cautious of not wanting to have the place cave in on itself.
As we walked, I told Yenifer about my trip to Avalon with Mizoa. “…for what it’s worth,” I finished, not sure how much I was helping.
Yenifer paused, nodded, and then kept on. “It’s worth a great deal. Considering what I know of Rianne.”
We stopped by to check on the Lasagna, but that shit takes forever to cook so we had to settle on more snacks and some mango slices one of the guards had picked up.