Let the grownups clean her mess.
Anger surged in my soul, in our soul. No more running. No more hiding. I slammed the heel of my palm on my eye socket and forced myself to remember my mediation techniques.
Breathe. In. Out.
Again.
My tears fell to the earth. I watched as my sorrow met the pain offered up to me. I watched as they became one. We understood each other.
Breathe. In. Out.
Again.
I pushed my essence into the ground and felt a response. An awakening. An acceptance that went both ways. We were opposite ends of the same telephone wire. The wind sighed around my head, caressing my skin. The birds calling in the night suddenly took on a musical sound. The ground shuddered under my touch and deeper, further beneath, there was an echo of recognition. It was as though the world exhaled in trembling relief. It was not alone anymore, and neither was I. I wanted to cry some more, but sweet, sweet tears of joy. We could do this.
The pain ebbed, but power grew, expanding through me. Sparking, zinging into my palms, tingling my bent knees on the grass, tickling the back of my bare toes on the ground. This was life at its purest, and it welcomed me. I’d never have to borrow from another soul if the earth offered her unlimited supply freely. Slowly, surely, feeling came back to my muscles in a burning sensation that shocked me. The effects of Ambrosia withered and died. What was left was a single-minded clarity. I was done running away. I was done with being told what to do and how to behave and feeling guilty for not being their savior. I’d never be the person they wanted me to be, but I could be the best version of me.
I stood. I leaned back on my heels, palms on my thighs, and then staggered to my feet. I wanted to get out of here. Trembling hands weighted at my side and I stared to the shadowed forest ahead that lined the property. I walked toward it—
—and was stopped by a sharp pain in my middle. I glanced down, surprised. Why was an arrow shaft sticking out of my hip? Blood poured down the curve of my thigh and onto the white ground before my healing ability staunched the flow and eventually stopped it.
And then something strange happened. The earth shrieked in my mind. The wind picked up speed until it howled all around, pushing the leaves of the forest into a frenzy, sending snow flying from its bows. Even from my distance to the fountain, fine drops of arctic water hit my cheeks as wind carried it from the dolphin’s mouth. My hair lifted off my neck and whipped around my face. It was as though the earth felt my injury with me. And it was angry.
“It’s okay,” I said quietly, to the earth and to myself. “I’m okay.”
The wind speed dropped a few knots but didn’t settle completely. I became aware of an energy shift in the air to my right, and another arrow zoomed past my head. A part of me had sensed that movement in the air, as though a ripple in water, and I ducked just in time. In the same instant, I detected a number of souls converging on me in a hostile manner and understood: The castle was being attacked!
No. I was being attacked.
I urged my heart to slow its thumping beat. I had to remain calm, or else the earth would sense it. The distinct snap and twang of a bow releasing sounded in the night. Adrenaline surged in me and pushed the last remnants of Ambrosia out of my pores. But it rooted me to the spot, senses thrumming like a live wire, breath held in my lungs. I couldn’t think. Couldn’t move. Then wind surged in a roar around me, snapping me out of my daze in time to duck as another arrow whizzed by my ear. A gust of wind knocked it off course until it embedded in the stone of the fountain behind me. It lodged in the dolphin’s tail.
“Thank you,” I mumbled to the earth and gave it a quick pat before standing again.
My hand enclosed around the length of the arrow in my hip and I braced for pain. My knuckles tightened on the thin rod until they were white. I can do this. I yanked and screamed, doubling over for a minute to catch my breath while my body healed anew. It only took a few seconds and then I stood tall again. Jeez. Who used arrows these days? I ditched the shaft at the ground and faced in the direction of the souls converging on me. Survival instinct took over. I armed myself with energy and let it show. White light sparked at my fingertips and cascaded to the ground.
Five shadows disengaged from the darkness at the edge of the forest. All wore leather hunting outfits, as though they were on their way to a Cosplay for Robin Hood. I raised my hands, palms out in warning. “Come any closer and I’ll deem it an act of hostility.”
“We’re not afraid of you. We know what you are,” one male said, knocking his arrow and pointing at me. His accent sounded local. He was tall and slim with a brown beard growing down his neck. A full quiver was slung over his shoulder. Half his chest was shielded with a leather plated chest guard. This guy was a serious bowman, but he was wrong to attack me.
“If you really know what I am, then you know it’s a mistake to misjudge me,” I added.
My sparking hands cast an ambient, blue glow that mixed with the yellow tinge coming from the castle’s outdoor lights. The result was an eerie, green glow that touched every surface around me.
How did the men get past the security at the gate? They must have injured the guards somehow. And if they did that, then they had the means to incapacitate beings of power. The five people—oh my God!—I gasped. A step backward betrayed my shock. These were human. Not Nephilim. Not Seraphim. Just poor misguided humans. All dressed in hunting leathers, playing at some savior notion. They thought they were heroes, or perhaps they were deranged.
The bearded man in the lead twitched his finger on his nocked and braced arrow. His arm trembled from the strain of holding the drawn string taut.
“I swear to God if you let that loose, I’ll…” I bit my tongue to stop myself saying something I’d regret.
“You’ll what? Bewitch us? Bleed us dry? We’ve seen what your kind can do. We know who you are.”
“You don’t know anything about me!”
“We know you’re the mother of evil. You created witches,” said another man. He was younger and sported a green leather jacket with a hood.
“I did nothing of the sort!” But even as the words came out of my mouth, I knew them for the lie they were because, wasn’t I responsible for bringing life to this planet?
“That’s what the god said. He said you’re the one responsible for all of our pain.”
His words cut, but I shook my head. No. I couldn’t accept blame for every little thing that happened after. People made their own decisions. I didn’t hold a gun to anyone’s head to force them to turn evil. That was all Urser and his destructive ability to kill and create with his dark power. It was probably how he’d manage to evolve all these years instead of devolving like Soul-Eaters. He had created life. It may not have been good life, but it was something he gave to the Universe.
“You’re the reason my wife got possessed.”
“And my daughter,” another said.
“A witch killed my cousin,” said the third.
The hurt in their voices was clear, but: “Uh-uh, pals. I didn't force a witch to possess your wife. I’m sorry for your loss, but I can’t control what happened. I wasn’t even on this planet when witches were created!”
“You think that matters to us?” He jerked his bow in my direction and stepped closer. “You think that makes a difference to all the suffering because of what you started?”
I threw my hands in the air, exasperated. “What do you want from me? To bring your wife back? I can’t do that!”
“We want you to pay. We want to hand you over to the god who wants your blood. He said he’ll take the witches with him when he leaves. We want to do something so nobody else suffers like we have.”
“Trust me, I don’t want anyone else suffer, either. But you have to admit, how do you know he’s the one telling the truth? What proof has he given you that he’s for real?”
I knew I’d hit a mark when they all glanced at each other briefly.
“He’s a god,
” one of them said.
“So am I. I’ve been fighting against him all this time. The people at this refuge are fighting against him. The only difference is that we want to avoid innocent loss of lives. He’s the one responsible for the bombings of all the National Treasures—the pyramids, the Opera House. He did that. Not me.”
The youth lowered his bow, but his father frowned and shook his head. “No… I don’t know.”
“Those creatures you saw on the news… do they look innocent?”
“No,” he shook his head.
“Urser is the one who made them. Not me.”
Just then, I felt another shift in the energy around me—a pulsing of atoms and molecules—a ripple that alerted me to another presence.
Cash.
None of the five had seen him, but he was here, somewhere. His aura didn’t shout at me like the rest of them, but through my soulmate connection and the earth’s awareness, I knew exactly where he was. The last time I’d seen Cash in action was when he obliterated poor Malcolm in mere seconds. He doesn’t think. He acts. All the hairs on my body stood on end and, for the first time that night, I was afraid.
Slowly, I raised my palm to the five. “Don’t move.”
Chapter 26
A growing sense of dread unfurled in my gut as multiple larger than life energies arrived behind me. Without turning, I instantly recognized a few auras belonged to the gods who had been in the War Room with Cash: Jacine, Cato, Thurstan, Zebedee. Jed and a few other lesser souls were also filtering out to see the show.
And then there was Cash. He encroached from the side, unnoticed in the dark shadows lining the wall of the castle. Slowly, slowly, and step by step, he came closer.
In a panicked moment, I saw a flash of the worst unfolding. Cash would eliminate these men without thinking twice, and the gods would take out anyone he missed. Then, once word got out to the towns around us, there would be no denying what these people thought of us. We would be the devils Urser described. I couldn’t let that happen.
“Everyone, stop.” I held up my hand and looked in the direction I knew Cash was coming, but he was either not paying attention to me, or he thought I was speaking to the humans who had in turn noticed the gods behind me. Cash sidled closer. Closer. The Robin Hoods tensed.
“We’re not who you think we are,” I said to them. “The story you’ve been told is a lie. You have to believe me.”
“How do you know what we’ve been told?” asked the youth in a green jacket.
“That’s enough. Don’t engage, Jack. She’ll twist your mind,” said the bearded leader, looking more and more unsure. His urgent words were more to persuade himself, rather than to convey a message. “The god said she would do this. He said it!”
“Look,” I started. “I know that—”
“Enough,” Cato interrupted behind me in an explosion of sound and energy. His aura unfurled from his body and for the first time since meeting him, I gauged a true sign of his age. He was strong. Lethal. Gravel crunched with each footstep Cato took closer.
“You’re trespassing,” he said to the attackers. “You have exactly thirty-seconds to turn around and leave. Thurstan—” He indicated for his son to flank my other side.
My fingers sparked and, for a minute, I lost control of my thoughts. One second they were on the danger in front of me, the next, I was paying too much attention to the men sliding to my side. Were they going to undermine my authority? And I didn’t mean that in the sense of myself being their damned queen, but in the sense that I had built a rapport with these people. Granted, our connection might be all in my head, but I didn’t want anyone going off halfcocked and injuring these people. The wind rose in a gust to show me its support.
“Get back,” Jack said, eyes wide when Thurstan stepped forward.
“Do you know whose castle you’ve trespassed on, boy?” Jacine’s voice was liquid silver as she confidently stalked closer. “I mean, you’ve heard the rumors in the town, have you not? They myths, the stories, the Pied Piper who lured men to their deaths with the sound of her voice… the goddess who stole husbands from wives and gave them pleasure unbound until nothing else in life was good enough and… well, you know. There’s a reason no one comes here anymore.”
I slapped my palm on my face. “Not helping, Jacine.”
“What?” She whined and glanced at me wide-eyed. “I don’t do it anymore. I’m reformed. But I could.”
“Let’s just all calm down a minute,” I said. “Nobody is turning anyone into a pleasure slave.”
Jacine pouted but stepped back to align with us.
Archers flicked their gaze to each other. Fear crept over their features. Two stepped back, and checked their rear, readying for a retreat. I felt their intentions as clearly as if they spoke. The cold earth beneath me was aware too. Its energy zipped up through my bare feet to strengthen my bones with power that crackled and sparked out my fingertips and licked up my arms. We were alert. Aware. Cautious. But we were hopeful.
I moved forward hesitantly. All arrows zeroed in on me. I stepped again. “Buddy, like I said, we’re not the bad ones. We didn’t make witches. That was Urser. The man you saw on TV.”
He narrowed his eyes, affronted. “Liar.”
“One more step and we fire,” Jack said. “We don’t need you alive to bring you back.”
Jacine laughed. “You can’t kill us boys.”
“You’re right. Not with regular arrows.” The bearded man reached behind him and pulled a black tipped arrow from his quiver. His crew also reloaded with black tipped arrows. “But with these, we stand a chance. Made from Obsidian and dipped in Nightshade.”
I had no idea what that was but auras around me skipped a beat.
“You see,” the man said, “it was those stories and myths you speak of that sent us on the right path to find your weakness. It took years—decades—and generations of us, but finally, we found something, and from the look on your faces, we’ve struck gold.”
“Why are we even talking with these interlopers?” Thurstan waved his hand and water from the fountain arced out of its container and hovered in a menacing bubble overhead, suspended between the attackers and us. Cato placed his palms together, almost as though he were praying but it had a sinister and deadly vibe. His eyes locked on the archers.
“We’re not leaving until we take her to the god.” The bearded man, who appeared to be the leader, nodded in my direction. “This is our final offer. Let us take her and we’ll leave without hurting anyone else.”
Silence expanded in the courtyard and for a moment, I believed my companions weighed up the option of handing me over.
I stepped forward, palms out, one in the direction of the attackers and one at the gods behind me. “We need to solve this without violence. They’re humans.”
Like an apparition, Cash’s sword lit up in his hand and revealed his location to the group. He was only feet away, eyes narrowed and locked on the closest attacker to him. It was Jack. Jack swung his bow toward Cash and released. His arrow flew.
“Fire at will.” The bearded leader loosed his arrow in my direction but I was watching the young Jack reaching to reload his bow, not noticing Cash and his fiery freight train coming toward him.
“No!” I screamed, letting all my anguish out. That one word had multiple meanings: Stop, don’t harm, protect, save. The sparks in my hands intensified like lightning and suddenly I wasn’t standing between Cato and Thurstan, I was in front of Jack, my palms out, watching Cash’s sword of fire swing toward my neck.
“Shit,” Cash spat as he reined his might at the last minute. He rolled to the side, effortlessly redirecting his strength to stand before me. The sword reduced to embers. Suddenly, his fierce gaze snagged on my now nude body and he forgot all about attacking Jack. His expression morphed into horror. “You teleported!” And then, “I almost killed you.”
“They’re human, Cash. They’re innocent.”
Seeing me jump between god
s and humans, everyone stopped.
“No one is innocent.” Cash flashed a snarly smile over my shoulder. It was the kind of smile you’d see on a wolf before it ate prey.
I launched forward and threw my arms around him. “Please.”
His face softened as he took me into his arms. He draped his jacket around my shoulders. It didn’t quite cover all of me, so I dropped my hands to cover my lower private bits. Cash glared at the gods behind us with calculating intent. I couldn’t see the gods behind me, but something unsaid must have passed between them because, suddenly, Cash’s warm body left mine. Sensing the attack, the archers loosed their arrows with a twang, water splashed and crashed and bright flashes of red and yellow light scalded my eyes.
I threw up my hands to shield myself in a moment of sheer panic. “Stop!” Why won’t anyone listen to me? Help!
The earth heard my plea and the ground rumbled, moving us all helter-skelter in a haphazard way. I almost lost my footing but braced in time to see great spears shoot out of the ground and curl around each individual. It happened so fast that it took me a moment to realize the projectiles weren’t spears but vines. Each tendril twisted around the legs of gods and humans alike, growing and tightening until they were all rooted to the spot, cocooned to the head in plant life.
A sliver of sensation trailed up both my ankles, knees and thighs. I glanced down to see vines sliding up my body. Unlike the burst of fury that covered the others, it was a gentle, reverent caress that had each leaf and tendril weaving over my body to cover my nakedness. By the time the vines finished entwining, Cash’s jacket had fallen to the ground and I was left with a green woven dress that hugged my body and trailed around my ankles. As I stepped forward, the last vestiges of roots broke away from the ground and snapped to dangle like nature’s bridal train.
Cash writhed and struggled within his cocoon, face contorted and red with effort. With his strength, it would only be a matter of time before he broke out of its hold. He spotted me walking, he noted my new clothes with wide, comprehending eyes. “Roo. This is your doing?”
The Game of Gods: Series Box Set Page 91