by Lisa Daniels
She didn’t know how to say it, though, not in her current state. However, she had learned from observing the best way to destroy the twisted constructions—and the inspiration had come from someone whom she had not known existed. When Orion had been saving Precious and Legend, she had been watching the destruction of one of the hearts in Solona.
Someone was going to need to fix the time distortions, but that someone was definitely not Phoenix. At some point, the druids were going to have to suck up their pride and ask Freya to help them fix all of the time leaking around the world because of the time holes. As condescending as druids tended to be toward the mystics, some of them were nearly as powerful, and Freya was definitely one of them. Phoenix had witnessed the queen completely alter the time in a large area while manipulating time around herself and Hector. Ultimately, he was going to be a critical part of bridging the gap between the magic users because of his unique lineage.
Shaking her head, Phoenix brought herself back into the here and now. “Mesa Verde.” The words were difficult to pull from the jumbled thoughts, but Orion knew without asking what she meant.
“It’s a beautiful country. Is there nothing the Unwashed will not sully?” He opened a portal with one hand and grabbed her hand with the other, leading her through to their destination.
They stepped out of the Holding Place and onto a cliff where they could easily observe the Unwashed working below them. Phoenix moved to the edge and dangled her legs over, her mind repeating what she needed to do.
“What do you need me to do?” Orion asked as he sat next to her, his hand reaching for hers.
Scratching her head, the druid tried to communicate what she needed. Pulling her hands in imitation of the way he grabbed the sides of the Holding Place, she said, “To the heart.”
“You want me to take us directly to the heart?” He looked at her as she nodded. “The women cannot be saved.”
Phoenix sighed, “I know. Release.”
He tilted his head, “You can do that?”
She smiled and stuck out her tongue a little as a natural smile spread across her face. It wasn’t often that she got to surprise him, so she was pleased to see him working through what she wanted.
“Oh, I see. You got the idea from Precious. But unlike her, you save them without taking them into yourself. Oh, my clever little bird.” He pulled her close and kissed her on the top of her head. “Then what?”
Phoenix held her hands apart, one resting flat under the other, which was domed like a hill. She moved her hand up, then quickly lowered it onto the flat hand, making an explosive noise as she did.
Orion watched her hands, then looked in her eyes. Soon his dimples were showing. “You watched him.”
She nodded.
“And you liked what he did?”
Her smile widened and she nodded. “Clever. Better. Almost perfect.”
“I hope you get the chance to tell him.”
“I will. Good job.” She patted his chest as she tried to praise him.
“Alright,” his eyes moved over the camp below them. The Unwashed were scurrying around, unaware that everything they were doing was about to be completely destroyed, their lives extinguished for their sins. “Let me know when you are ready.”
The druid rested her head against his shoulder, trying to enjoy the time she had with him. Part of her mind would be returned to her once she finished, and from there, Orion would start to put distance between them.
Unless… a thought began to form. It was wrong to deceive him, but he didn’t have to know that her mind was returning to her. That would leave more of the burden of the mission on him, something that had never been intended, but it would free her mind to do something that she had never been able to do during her time with him. If he was in control, she would be able to try to find a way to remain. There had to be a way. It was the only way to stop the cycle that had condemned them to lives neither had wanted.
They stared out over the scenery, neither saying a word. They didn’t need to.
With enough of a plan in place to accomplish the destruction of one of the smallest remaining hearts, Phoenix hoped that enough of her mind would return to start looking for the one thing she had long thought she couldn’t have. As tempting as it was to try to do another one immediately after, there were too many variables, most important being she had no idea what would happen when she regained part of her scattered mind. The Unwashed in other locations would notice the change, but it would be harder for them to notice consider how little they were getting from this heart. After they had taken another one or two after this, though, it would get a lot harder to quickly destroy the hearts. And one of them they were going to have to leave in the capable hands of Caspian.
Phoenix rose and looked out over the horizon, wondering what it would be like to wake every day in this plane and experience life.
“Are you ready?” Orion had risen and taken her hand. With a sigh, she forced her mind to focus on what needed to be done. Squeezing his hand, she let him know that they could go.
With one smooth motion, he opened a path back into the Holding Place. It took him a little longer to find the best place to enter the chamber for the heart. There were Unwashed moving around the place, but he could easily manage them while Phoenix worked.
“Don’t touch the heart, okay?” He felt the warning was necessary because Orion wasn’t certain how much Phoenix knew about what they were about to encounter. Again she acknowledged him by squeezing his hand. He pulled open the space and shifted into his panther form.
Phoenix stepped out and walked slowly toward the heart, the opening to the Holding Place closing on its own once she passed through it.
The screams of the Unwashed didn’t even reach her ears as Phoenix focused on the women suffering in the twisted creation in front of her. Holding up her hands, she moved until she could feel the magical energy reaching out for her. One at a time, she syphoned the women out of their cruel prison. Once freed, she guided them to the next plane where they were able find peace. The energy from the heart shrunk as the power source disappeared, so she moved a little closer to keep the connection to the souls. With each passing soul, she could feel her mind focus a little bit more. It wasn’t going to be a large piece of mind, but already she could feel the difference. If they could retrieve two more pieces with the same ease, there was a chance that they would be able to find a way out of the cycle.
When there was no more heat from the heart, Phoenix lowered her hand. Only then did she see what Orion had done while she was freeing the magic users. The floor was coated in blood except in the space where she had been standing. He had been particularly vicious, which reminded her very much of how he had been when they had first met. As much as Orion had changed, there was still a part of him that could be incredibly cruel and vindictive. He just reserved it for those who really deserved it.
Still, the druid could not help but give him a disapproving look as she turned to face him. Being careful not to talk too much, she waited for Orion to speak.
“I know that you aren’t displeased after helping each of those women to the other side.” His eyes shifted to the forms in the heart. “What I did to the Unwashed was merciful compared to what they did to those women.”
Phoenix held out her hand. Stepping over a few corpses, Orion stretched out a hand to her. Opening the same space, he pulled them through and back to the cliff’s edge. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I'm sorry, but I have to leave this part to you.” His startling eyes were very apologetic as he looked at her.
Giving his arm a pat, Phoenix held her hands out and manipulated the land around the area. The Unwashed below them had been unaware of the destruction to the heart, but they could not miss how the ground under them began to shift. It was almost funny to watch them scurry, if not for the knowledge of what they had done to magic users around the world. Phoenix couldn’t inflict the same level of viciousness as Orion—she wasn’t an assassin—but she did hav
e the ability to take many lives all at once. The mountain that once stood looming over the distance disappeared, creating a small crater where it had once been. The Unwashed in the area were pulled into it, leaving nothing of the operation that had infested the neutral country.
There was a chance that no one would even notice the change. The Unwashed had picked the area because it was uninhabited.
The pair looked over what they had done in less than 30 minutes.
“Six left,” Orion said, turning to look at Phoenix.
Her eyes met his. On impulse, she rose up on her feet and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Turning back to the horizon, she said, “Two more, then rest.”
“No rest for the wicked, huh?”
“An end to them,” she responded without thinking.
“So it worked a little?”
Phoenix mentally chided herself. Of course, he noticed the change. Holding up her fingers, she gave him a shy smile to indicate that her mind was working a little better. It wasn’t a lie. Considering what she was capable of, there was still a long way to go.
“Where to next, my little bird?”
She rattled off two more names, pausing just long enough to give the impression that she was having trouble remembering.
“No pause between them?”
Phoenix shook her head. “Not necessary.”
“Surely it can’t be this easy to take down all of them.”
“Just for us.”
He pulled her into a hug and stroked her hair. “Before you decide that it is too risky, I’m going to try to enjoy every moment. Just tell me if you need me to back off.”
Phoenix put her arms around him and shook her head. “More. I wish…” she stopped herself from saying what she was thinking so that she didn’t give it away.
“Me too. I will always wish for more, but I will be happy with whatever you are willing to give.”
“All of me.” She couldn’t stop herself, the words spilled out.
He put his hand under her chin. “I wish that could be.” He leaned down and gave her a gentle kiss. Phoenix moved closer to him, wanting more. Again time seemed to stand still for them. Finally, he pulled away from her. “You had better be careful. My self-control can only be tested so far with you.” He ran a hand through his hair. “It is quite the change to have to be the mature one.”
She gave him a quick hug, then turned. “It’s time.”
Chapter 6
Searching Through the Past for Answers
They emerged in another remote location, this time in the middle of a forest. Orion looked around. “What did they do? Make a way underground to conduct their evils out of sight?”
Phoenix nodded, “Yeah. Down.” She stomped on the ground. “Easier.”
“I suppose it would be easier for you if you don’t have to collapse an entire mountain on their heads.”
“That too.” She looked around. “Too many animals.”
Orion nodded, understanding that she didn’t want to act in a way that would kill animals. Shifting into his panther form, Orion ran and roared. He covered vast distances in an impossibly short period of time. There weren’t too many that he noticed fleeing, mostly because animals did not like the unnatural energy exuded by the heart. The animals that had put up with the activities of the Unwashed were not willing to remain with a panther active in the area.
“That should do it. Are you ready?”
Phoenix paused for a moment. Their time was now much more critical because there was no chance that the Unwashed would have missed the sound of a large cat roaring near them. That was not what concerned her, though. The problem was that it would be more difficult to stay safe when she collapsed the ground under them. Her head turned around in several directions. “Different ground.”
Orion began to look around. “I see what you mean. Hold up.” Again he shifted. Launching his sleek body into a tree, Orion disappeared from view. Phoenix sent her mind out, this time with greater ease as it did not spread out as she tried to maintain her focus.
She and Orion were nothing like their respective species. There was no other druid who could guide the dead. They did have mort statera, but bringing another plane to overlap this one was a different and more common ability among the druids. A druid with death magic was dangerous, which was what had led to her being all but banished when she wasn’t needed. Of course, remaining was also very difficult for her to do because her mind had trouble holding onto a single place, keeping her form in a single space. Orion was like her complete opposite—he was an assassin with life magic. It had marked him early as unique, and during his training no one had been quite sure what to do with him. The life magic of druids was nothing like what he could do. It made Orion far more grounded and empathetic as time passed, but it had also inflated his ego.
Phoenix’s first impression of him had been that he was an arrogant, condescending pain in her ass. That was before she had learned about her abilities. Being roughly the same age, they had been forced together to be monitored under the strict eyes of a few older druids. Orion was put under their protection because the assassins had no idea how to train him since he didn’t have any death magic. Phoenix was put under their care because she hadn’t displayed any particular talents. Of course all of that would change drastically, but in those early days Orion loved to show off. It would have been impressive given he had figured out all of his magic on his own. Having watched him rub it in her face when she had no obvious abilities had made Phoenix really dislike him in those early days.
With time it had proven to be a bond that would change everything for both of them, as well as their places in the world. He had eventually been taken on as a mentee by an assassin who was only a few years older than him. While most of the people around him saw Orion’s attitude as being obnoxious, this assassin saw it as a cry for more. Orion was left to his own devices. Without guidance, his abilities were going to waste. Others laughed as the assassin, a thoughtful and reserved shifter, declared he would help Orion.
Of course, that past was all but forgotten because very few of those who had been around back then were left. Only five people still remained from those days, including Phoenix, Orion, and the only assassin to volunteer to help him—Caspian.
Orion had progressed at an unbelievable rate, particularly for an assassin with no death magic. He drank in the knowledge that Caspian offered, quickly becoming more adept than nearly any other assassin with daggers. This more than made up for what he lacked in magic. Orion soon realized that his magic could be used to tether people to the world, much like a mort statera, which made it easier for Caspian to pass judgment following gruesome murders, during wars, or times when a critical witness was silenced. Judgment had changed a lot since then, largely because of Caspian, Orion, and the albino panther shifter named Diony. He had been fascinated by the other two, and joined them on their missions. They became like an inseparable trio.
Following Orion’s first official judgment as an assassin, they had returned to celebrate. Caspian had gone off to a corner to watch the rest of the revelers, not one to enjoy parties.
Phoenix had been invited, but she felt it was as much for Orion to rub in his success. Of course, that wasn’t why she was invited, but she couldn’t help her feelings of resentment. He had found success while she had shown no real abilities to do anything, not even the simplest healing magic. Sitting off in a corner, she glared at the party.
“Mind if I join you?” The voice was only vaguely familiar. Looking up, Phoenix saw a pair of emerald green eyes that shone even in the dim light where they were. Turning away from him, she held out a hand to indicate that he was welcome to sit if he chose. “I warn you that I’m not the best person to talk to at these kinds of things, so don’t go trying to converse.”
His movements were so smooth that Phoenix couldn’t help but watch him out of the corner of her eye. “Don’t worry. This kind of thing really isn’t for me either. I prefer to be out in the field g
etting things done. Building relationships seems like a pointless exercise to me.”
Phoenix turned to look at the assassin, her interest piqued. “Aren’t you a bit young to be feeling like that?”
“Aren’t you a bit young and far too beautiful to be sitting off in a corner at a celebration?” He turned to look at her.
“Flattery doesn’t work with me.” She sat back and folded her arms across her chest. It felt like he was mocking her.
“I was stating a fact, not flattering you.”
“I’m not an idiot. I know that I am not attractive, and with no talent, you are really wasting your time with me.”
The assassin leaned forward. “I never thought you were an idiot, but listening to you talk, I think you are not the best judge of beauty. Particularly of a woman. Look around.” He waved to the room. “So many beauties, but they all have a similar look. Then there is you.” He turned to look at her, “You have a unique beauty that probably intimidates people. Coupled with your apparent desire to hide in the shadows, you act more like an assassin than a druid.”
“Considering I don’t have any magical abilities, I dare say I’m more like a human.”
A hand rested on her knee, causing Phoenix to turn. “Even humans have their charms. However, I can honestly say that I have never seen one as stunning as you. As for no magical abilities, that is impossible. No panther shifter or druid is born without some magical abilities.”
“There’s a first for everything.”
There was a pause in their conversation. Suddenly, the assassin grabbed her hand, “I will show you that you are not what you think you are.” Phoenix allowed herself to be pulled out of her chair and out of the celebration hall. Once they were out in the open air, Phoenix began to feel a little less trapped. The heavy sigh she let out did not go unnoticed.
“You are far too young to sound so defeated. Before we get started, though,” he gave a slight bow, never breaking eye contact with her, “I am Caspian.”