Battle of Forces

by Ali Vali

  “Their sacrifice touched the goddess, so she chose to honor the love they had for each other by granting their prayer, and she bound their spirits as one. From that, Aphrodite also created, with Hephaestus’s help, a mystical creature we came to know as the dragon.”

  “The goddess of love created dragons?” Kendal laughed at the absurdity.

  “Dragons are supposedly loyal creatures with pure hearts,” Morgaine said. “In my life I’ve seen only one, but among the folklore of my people they were once commonplace. The stories said they were a problem only when provoked or when their lairs were disturbed, because they were fiercely protective of their young.”

  “Why would anyone do that?” Piper asked.

  “Their eggs were made of pure gold, and sometimes greed overrides sense,” Lenore said. “Originally the dragon symbolized the goddess’s concept of true love. To Aphrodite, love was fierce and could use its power to defeat hate and evil, but like the sword, the dragon has Ares’s blood as well.”

  “Dragons don’t exist anymore, so why does all this matter?” Kendal asked as Piper reached for her hand.

  “Your time as slayer came after they were dealt with, but they most certainly exist,” Morgaine said. “Once their true nature was corrupted by man, the Clan members that came before me had no choice but to stop their rampage.”

  Kendal understood what Piper must be going through. It had been a long time since a children’s story had been proved to be real. “What happened to them?”

  “After a lot of effort to preserve them, the Clan put them into indefinite hibernation.” Morgaine had a faraway expression, but after a sigh she refocused. “The dragons suffered a fate they didn’t really deserve, but the Clan did what they felt was right at the time.”

  “They’re still in hibernation?” she asked.

  “The spell that was cast over them locked them away forever,” Lenore said.

  “Does the sword have anything to do with that?” Piper asked.

  “The book says that when the dragon wakes, and if it’s by someone who wants to conquer the world, they’ll be unstoppable.” Lenore had her finger on a line on the last page.

  “And the right time is?” Kendal asked.

  “I can’t be exactly sure.” Lenore opened her journal to a chart of something. “I wrote out all the clues in here and assume the sacrifice occurred close to the witching hour on what came to be known as All Hallows’ Eve.”

  “Since I’m not familiar with all these cryptic clues, when is that exactly?” Piper asked.

  “Midnight on Halloween,” Kendal said, and smiled when Piper laughed.

  “You’re joking, right?” Piper glanced at all three of them and laughed again. “Is this an elaborate joke to initiate me into the immortals’ club? That’s the corniest thing I’ve ever heard.”

  “Piper, every story you’ve ever read comes about from a certain truth,” Lenore said. She appeared stunned by Piper’s reaction.

  “Kendal’s told me that every time she informs me that something like werewolves are real, so I get that, but come on. This is a bit over-the-top.”

  Kendal held up her hand for quiet so she could offer a better explanation. “The most important thing to accept is that on certain days, certain barriers are easier to breach.”

  “What barriers?” Piper asked, then snorted when Kendal pinched her nose. “Okay, I’ll shut up and let you finish.”

  “Halloween was, for a long time, much more than kids in cute costumes and candy. And if you’re someone up to no good, you know that at the stroke of midnight the barriers between good and evil become nonexistent. It’s why some organized religions picked the following minute as All Saints’ Day. In a way it was the equivalent of drawing a line in the sand for their followers to pick a side. If the book is right about the sword, it makes sense that its fate would be decided in the one instant no side has an advantage.”

  Piper looked at her and nodded her understanding before she kissed her. “Gran’s right, you’d make a great teacher.”

  “Thanks,” she said, and kissed Piper again. “This is only a crisis if someone else knows about the sword, and I used it only briefly before locking it away here. Has anyone shown interest in this legend?” she asked Lenore.

  “In Piper’s vision she felt that someone close to the Elders in Egypt—I don’t know who—wants to trap you, so obviously they’ve heard of the legend and its prophecy. We have less than ten months to find out.” Lenore closed her books and looked at Piper. “It’s not a lot of time, but we need to figure out how to hone your gift so we can get as much information from your visions as possible.”

  “Surprisingly, Seeing the Future Through Visions class wasn’t offered at Tulane, so how do you plan to teach me that?” Piper asked, and Kendal laughed at her humor.

  “I’m sure you’ll do fine,” Lenore said with confidence.

  “The best thing is to not worry about it,” Morgaine added.

  “Thanks for the pep talk.” Piper looked up at Kendal. “Do you think we’ll be okay? I just found you, and you promised forever.”

  “We might encounter a few headaches along the way, but we’ll get through this together.”

  “What choice do we have, huh?” Piper said, and Kendal knew she hadn’t bought her evasive answer.

  “What choice indeed?”

  Chapter Eleven

  The next morning Piper looked out at the grounds from the balcony attached to the master bedroom and noticed a large spot near the back of the house where trees had been planted in a perfect circle around a patch where the grass was still green. In the center of that Kendal stood with Ming, Charlie, Morgaine, and two others she didn’t recognize. With the gray light of dawn outlining them, they went through a series of exercises that reminded her of a ballet. The others were in perfect synch with Kendal, but she didn’t pay close attention to them.

  Kendal wore the gi pants she seemed to be fond of, but unlike the last time Piper saw her like this, the only other thing she wore was a sports bra. She seemed oblivious to the cold and dampness of the morning, since they didn’t impede the fluidity of her movements. The sword she used resembled the Sea Serpent, but it was another katana like the one she’d used in New Orleans. They all thought it best to keep the real thing locked away until they knew more of what it was capable of.

  Piper held her large coffee mug with both hands and was glad for the blanket Kendal had wrapped her in before she’d gone down. They’d talked a lot more the previous night, but her worry that she’d fail to help them through this was making her colder than the English weather.

  “Look at her and clear your mind,” Lenore said softly when she joined Piper. “Concentrate only on what you feel for her.”

  “That’ll do it?”

  “We all have a center.” Lenore placed her fingers in the middle of her chest. “It’s the place where we feel nothing can harm us. For her,” she pointed to Kendal, “she’s always found it in her skills.” Lenore must’ve seen the disappointment in her face. “Don’t take that to mean she loves the battles more than you. That’s far from the truth now.”

  “How so?”

  “She got lost in the skills to find her center before you, and now she must maintain them to protect her center. Do you understand?”

  “Center is what we find in each other.”

  “Exactly, because you can see in every one of her moves the desire to be the best. It’s the only way to win what she wants most.”

  Piper studied Kendal again and envied her ability to totally concentrate. “She’s already won my love, so she has nothing left to prove, if you mean me.”

  “But she will whenever the need arises, so learn from what you see. If you let go of the doubt and worry, your mind will open and you’ll find every answer before the question even forms.”

  Piper laughed as she put her cup down to reach for Lenore’s hand. “Nothing like a little pressure to make me relax.”

  “Think of it this way,
” Lenore said, holding Piper’s hand between hers. “You can never have another vision, and we’ll still be fine. You own her heart, but I’ve known her longer. I’ve seen her come out the victor long after everyone thought the fight was over, so look,” she pointed to Kendal again, “and clear your mind.”

  Piper let her thoughts wander as she watched Kendal move from one position to the next as if she were gliding on a cloud because of the pants. Even from this distance she could see the muscles in Kendal’s back, and when she turned and pointed her sword at the others, Piper closed her eyes and had the sensation of flying off to another place. This time, though, the trip was to the future.

  Kendal stood with the Sea Serpent Sword in her hand, and the stones of the dragon’s eyes glowed vibrant green, as if an electric current ran through Kendal’s hand. The moment for the dragon to wake was here, and Kendal planned to send the power back to the gods who’d made it, but a man fought her for it. When he took it the stones glowed red, and the change made him laugh.

  “Come here and we’ll finish this together,” the man said to Piper, and she was pushed from behind. Closer to this stranger she could sense the magnitude of the power that flowed through him from the sword. It truly felt like an instrument of the gods.

  “Asra,” she said, confused as to why Asra wasn’t helping her.

  “She’s lost to you now,” he said, and pointed the tip of the sword as if forcing her to look.

  Two men held Asra down and a third drove his sword into her chest with savage strokes, making her drop to her knees, completely weakened. The sight was worse than the night Henri and Ora had done the same.

  “You’re mine,” the man said as he reached for her and ripped her shirt open.

  Piper’s eyes opened and she took deep breaths to keep from crying because the fear was so overwhelming. It might’ve been a vision but it’d been so real, down to the copper smell of Kendal’s blood.

  “Try to let it go, but not to the point you forget,” Lenore said, but she sounded miles away.

  “All this stuff I see, will it happen?”

  “I can’t answer that, Piper, but I wish I could. From my experience with the seers in the Clan, the things you see are the future as it will happen if nothing changes it. If one little thing we do changes fate, then you might have another vision of the same thing and it’ll be completely different. It could be that you’re different from the others and whatever you see is unchangeable, but even Bruik, the Clan’s best seer, doesn’t have complete domination of the future.”

  Piper told Lenore everything she’d envisioned but kept her eyes on Kendal, comforted that she was healthy and strong and disarming everyone she faced. “I wish I could describe the men who attacked us, but I didn’t see any faces clearly and they used no names.”

  “Nothing was distinguishable about them?”

  “All I know for sure is they want to destroy her to the point that we won’t be able to salvage what’s left even with the help of the elixir.”

  “Luckily we know for sure now that whatever is coming definitely has to do with the sword, so all we have to do is figure out a way to change what you saw to keep it from happening.”

  Piper’s head didn’t hurt, but she rubbed her temples as if it did. “Do I tell her what I saw just now?”

  “If it were her having the visions, would you want to know?”

  “That was a stupid question, so forget I asked it.” Even if she could keep this from Kendal, she wouldn’t want to. “Do you have any idea who hates her enough to destroy her?”

  “Asra has made plenty of enemies through the years, but she destroyed most of them.”

  “So no one comes to mind?” she asked. Having to study every year of Kendal’s life for the answer would make their quest impossible.

  “It’s either someone or something that slipped through the cracks of time, or someone loyal to someone she destroyed, who sees this as an opportunity to seek revenge.”

  Piper sighed and stood. “I’m afraid we’ll run out of time before we know for sure, and if we do, it’ll end in disaster.”

  “Trust her and trust yourself, Piper. It’s the only way to win.”

  “Trust in each other isn’t the problem.” She smiled at Lenore for her always-upbeat outlook on things. “I’m not that old compared to you all, but sometimes, no matter how hard we try, the right side doesn’t always win.”

  She was surprised to see Hill come out and join the others, happily accepting a sword from Charlie. Kendal seemed to be giving her pointers as she engaged her, and they were both laughing. The scene didn’t make Piper feel like something wicked was waiting to destroy them and the world as they knew it, but she was happy that Hill had found a new set of friends who would understand her as well as she did.

  “Even I know it’s impossible not to worry, but look at how willing they all are to fight for her. That she has you to fight for, combined with that kind of loyalty, will make this all okay.”

  “No matter what, I’ll stand or fall at her side. I need no visions to be certain about that.”

  *

  Kendal hurried upstairs to shower so she could keep her date with Mac and from the landing saw Lenore leaving the master bedroom. Lenore walked quickly to her room, so Kendal took the last set of stairs two at a time. When she entered the room Piper stood next to the bed with an expression that was hard to read.

  “Is everything all right? I saw Lenore rushing to her room.” Kendal stripped off her sports bra. It was cold outside, but they’d moved around enough for her to sweat.

  “Are you still having breakfast with Pops?”

  “I was planning to, unless he cancels or you need me for something.” She took her pants off next but Piper never moved. Whatever she and Lenore had discussed had bothered Piper enough to knock the playfulness out of her. “You didn’t answer my question. Is everything all right?”

  “I sat with Lenore this morning and had another vision,” Piper said, then told her what she’d seen. “Whoever this is wants more than just the sword, and it made me feel dirty.”

  “Let me call downstairs and tell Mac we’ll make it lunch.”

  “No.” Piper finally moved toward her and leaned against her. “I want to write down everything I saw while it’s still fresh in my mind. If I have another one of these flashes of the future, maybe we can chart a way to change what I saw this morning. So don’t keep Pops waiting. If he calms down again, it’ll be one less thing for me to worry about.”

  “Are you sure? I can stay really quiet while you do that, if you need me close by.”

  “I’ll always need you close by, but I need my grandfather to like you too, and that wins out this time.” Piper led her to the shower and helped her clean herself, then get dressed.

  Ming led Kendal to the estate’s sunroom where Mac sat reading the paper and having coffee. “Would you like me to serve now, ma’am?” Ming asked.

  “Please, then have everyone clear out and close the door.” While the servants placed everything on the table, Kendal took the time to fix herself a cup of coffee as well. Once they were alone, she looked at Mac and smiled. “Good morning. I apologize for keeping you waiting a few minutes. I was going over something with Piper.”

  Mac stared her down as if trying to decide the best way to start taking pieces out of her hide. “Can we cut through the bullshit?” he asked.

  “I’d be happy to do that if you’ll answer something for me,” she said, realizing Mac was an old-fashioned guy who was used to the simple approach. People like that hadn’t done as well in the modern world because they expected everyone to be as honest as they were, making them easy targets at times.

  “Like I said, no bullshit, so shoot.”

  “I gave you my word that I love your granddaughter and promised to take care of her, so what’s changed that I’ve lost your blessing? Granted, you never really came out and gave it to me, but I thought you approved of our relationship.” She scooped up some lemon curd and p
ut it on her scone, giving him a chance to think of an answer.

  “When we met I had a certain impression of you and where you came from, and all this doesn’t fit into that. Piper has already gone through that dance with that jackass Kenny, and I don’t want a repeat of that for her.” He placed his fists on the table but didn’t come across as angry. “I love Piper with all I am, and I want more than anything to trust you with my little girl.”

  “Mr. Marmande, I owe you another apology.”

  “For what?” He lowered his hands and leaned back in his seat as if she’d surprised him.

  “I should’ve called you before I made certain promises to Piper, to get that blessing from you, but I love her so much it made me rush.”

  “I get the feeling you’ve never had to do the in-law thing. Hell, I didn’t do all that great either when it was my turn, so no need for apologies.”

  She reached across the table and offered him her hand. “It matters to me that you know there’ll never be a day in our life together that I won’t take Piper’s welfare as seriously as you have. I love her and she will be safe with me.”

  “In the end, all we have is our families, and I really thought mine would’ve been filled with grandkids, my son, and his wife. God didn’t grant me that, so I hope you understand my concerns when it comes to Piper.”

  “I’ll go through this with you as many times as it takes to convince you I’m the right choice for her, so don’t worry about it.” He shook her hand and finally let the smile she was used to seeing on his face appear. “If it’ll make you feel better, I’ll have my attorneys send over the paperwork we signed in Venice. We entered into this with the belief it’s going to be forever, so there was no need to protect assets from each other.”

  “And have Molly mount my head in the trophy room I got a look at last night? No, thank you.” He appeared to have suddenly gotten his appetite back when he started putting salt on everything like he was going to finish it all. “My wife won’t ask you, but if you two start talking babies soon, she’ll be in heaven.”