The Complete Gargoyle and Sorceress Boxset (Books 1-9)

by Lisa Blackwood

  Chapter 23

  LILLIAN TIGHTENED HER hold on the heavy crossbow as she stepped under the shadow of the maze. It was darker inside, the newly risen moon’s light not reaching the ground within. She made her way using memory and touch, and still, it seemed an age until she reached the maze’s center. Worry for Gran and the unicorn didn’t help.

  When the maze had first become visible in the distance, Gran had ordered them to split up and breach the maze using a three-pronged tactic. They were each to make their way to the center, searching for traps along the way. Once there, they would await Gran’s signal and all attack together, or if the situation inside made it too dangerous, Gran and the unicorn would draw the siren’s attention to give Lillian a chance to escape with Gregory.

  Not liking the part where Gran and the unicorn might sacrifice their own freedom, Lillian had bridled at Gran’s plan but realized there might not be another choice if any of them were to escape.

  No one said she had to like the plan. She just had to pull off her part and not fail Gran.

  She scanned the central glade while still hidden by the shadows of the maze. The clearing was more than wide enough to allow moonlight to bathe the small glade in its soft radiance. Lillian took an immediate dislike to what she saw.

  Arranged in a semi-circle in front of Gregory, with their backs to Lillian, a mixed group of fae stood unmoving. They might as well have been as stone-like as Gregory. Some she recognized: Greenborrow and Whitethorn were two, but the others were strangers or triggered only a vague recollection in her.

  She really wished she knew what powers those unknown fae might command.

  Her blood drummed in her ears and tingles rushed across her skin, raising gooseflesh in its wake. It wasn’t until her claws prickled against her own palms that she drew a calming breath. Gran had explicitly said not to take gargoyle form until absolutely necessary because if they needed to use the deafening spells, Lillian’s ears would heal too quickly in gargoyle form. Her grandmother had yet to steer her wrong.

  With a mental shake, the last of the wildness bled from her body, and her thick, black claws returned to the soft, pink, useless nails of a human.

  Now another worry inched up her spine—where the hell was Gran and the unicorn? Had they been captured? She hadn’t heard even the slightest noise to hint at a skirmish. Maybe the other route was blocked or guarded in some way, and Gran and the unicorn were both forced to double-back to Lillian’s position?

  Well, Lillian mused, she might as well see what she could learn while she waited for any sign of her companions.

  From the sheltering dark of her cedar maze, she scanned the small assembly again. Her eyes briefly settled on Gregory, then behind him to her redwood, and finally the large expanse of pure darkness at its base. Moonlight couldn’t penetrate its dense foliage, and there might be twenty more fae hiding in those shadows.

  Seeing no other choice, Lillian reached for the otherness she associated with her gargoyle bloodlines, calling up that same wildness she’d just pushed away, needing it now.

  Closing her eyes, she listened. The night noises sharpened. Crickets, frogs, the hoot of a great horned owl, and even the splash of water as the stream cascaded down the small series of flagstones functioning as a tiny waterfall in the north end of the clearing—all these things reached her ears, making her straining senses tingle.

  She filtered all the natural noise out like Gregory had shown her. Now the deep throb of the statue like faes’ heartbeats reached her ears and the soft hiss of their breath. Otherwise, the clearing seemed empty of threats, but she doubted it was as innocent as it looked.

  Lillian crept forward, muscles tense and senses on high alert as she made her way across the clearing toward Gregory. There was no point in attempting stealth, it would do her little good if she were walking into a trap. She was halfway to Gregory when water surged against stone, disturbing the peaceful night. Frogs and crickets grew silent even as Lillian sought the source of the disturbance.

  Her gaze slid to the north end of the clearing, where the largest of the otherwise-tiny waterfalls dropped down into a pool stocked with water lilies and goldfish. The surface moved in an unnatural way for several more seconds, then a head and shoulders emerged through the covering of water lily leaves.

  The woman—for it was unmistakably a woman rising partway out of the pool, her bare breasts easy to make out in the moonlight—brushed back strands of damp hair from her face.

  Lillian spotted several lines running down her neck, the last ending at the curve of her shoulder. They fluttered and expelled water. If the gills hadn’t been enough to tell her this was indeed the siren, the great fan-shaped tail jutting from the surface of the water about five feet from her shoulders was a dead giveaway.

  The fae pulled herself up onto the rocks at the edge of the pool. She made no other move. Merely watching Lillian.

  The being in the pool looked nothing like the woman who called herself Tethys, but she felt the same, especially that strong current of power flowing against Lillian’s skin. After a moment, she identified what it reminded her of. An undertow, the ocean’s power far inland from where it would naturally exist, but still recognizable all the same.

  The siren’s gaze was a physical weight, all stern willpower and focused magic crashing against Lillian’s mind, raising gooseflesh along with defensive instincts.

  At any moment, she expected to feel a sharp pain as Gran’s spell triggered and shredded her eardrums. One moment passed, and then another and another, and still the siren didn’t sing.

  “Welcome,” Tethys said, her voice clear and buoyant, free of anything that could be called musical enchantment.

  Lillian only gave the siren a slight nod in answer, but she eased forward away from the green maze walls. She didn’t relax, more than ready to launch into a full, heart-pounding, adrenaline-filled sprint for safety but managed what she hoped was an outwardly calm exterior as she said, “Why did you attack my people? What do you want?”

  “An attack implies harm. And I have harmed none here tonight. As for why I’m here?” Tethys made an elegant gesture with one hand in the general direction of Gregory. “Why, I want the same thing as him, ultimately.”

  Lillian was taken aback by the siren’s easy answer. However, she highly doubted Tethys and Gregory’s endgames were even remotely in the same ballpark—they probably weren’t even on the same planet for comparison purposes.

  “Nice try.” Inwardly, Lillian winced at her flippant tone. It always helped to aggravate older beings of immense power, after all.

  The siren tilted her head in thought and fanned her tail to splash water over herself. When her upper body was again thoroughly wet, she pointed at Gregory with one long finger. “Deep down, and it might not even be very deep, he wants the same as me—to help this world find its balance so it can heal.”

  “You might say heal, and yet your tone implies the opposite.” Lillian paced a wide circle around the group of statue-like fae as she made her way toward Gregory. It didn’t matter if it was a trap, she had to know her gargoyle’s condition.

  Tethys aligned herself to Lillian, but she made no threatening moves. “You must not know the other half of your soul as well as you once did. No matter, I still wish for us to be allies against the seductive darkness, the taint which touches all in this land, even you.”

  Lillian pointed to the statue-like fae. “Not the way to gain allies.”

  “Perhaps not, but the situation demands immediate action if this world is to survive.” Tethys splashed herself with water and then used her powerful tail to drive herself higher up the grass-covered bank until she was three-quarters of the way out of the water. “Humans have a weakness at their core, a rot they’ve never been able to outpace, a greed which demands more and more. They are never satisfied with what they have. They think only of themselves, never about the planet as a living entity.” The siren made a vague, yet all-encompassing gesture with one arm. “They thi
nk the planet is theirs. Such ignorance. They are such a young species, and unlikely to become an old one.”

  Lillian had come here with the plan to save her gargoyle, having to save the whole damned planet hadn’t factored into her plans. But she had to do something. “Many of the humans are aware of the crisis and are working to change things.”

  The siren laughed. “A handful of humans trying to undo the damages created by the rest of the human horde will not save this world or the billions of innocent, non-human victims.”

  “Then why not help them save the planet? The humans have so much drive, so much potential and creative power, so much passion to offer. They deserve a chance to fulfill that potential and find their place in the universe. You said it yourself. They are a young species. They can still learn. Surely the fae can help heal the damage already done.” Even while Lillian’s brain spat out the words, she knew they were said in desperation. How could she hope to convince Tethys when she hadn’t even been able to sway Gregory, not really?

  “You think the humans will just welcome the fae and their guidance? Humans hate anything different. They commit murder over religious differences and even something as trivial as skin of a different tone. How do you think they will treat the fae? Look to the past. They burned their own kind. No, I have wasted too much time waiting for humans to overcome their inherently flawed natures. If one cancerous branch of the evolutionary tree must be pruned out for the survival of the rest, so be it. And if I must lead by example, I shall. But I cannot take on all the billions of humans by myself. I will need allies. First among them will be you and your gargoyle.”

  “I don’t think so.” Lillian wished she had more of a plan. But more importantly, what had become of Gran and the unicorn? Aloud she said, “Besides, I have a problem with doing what I’m told. Just ask Gregory. I’m always going behind his back and getting into trouble. Oh hell. Maybe trouble just likes me. But for whatever reason, I’ve been forced to get myself out of a tight spot a time or two on my own. There’s no way I’m going to just roll over and allow you to use us in your genocide.”

  Tethys gave what could only be called a long-suffering sigh. “I had hoped to reason with you and the gargoyle,” she said and then tilted her head and frowned at Lillian. “Did you know you once saved my life, long ago before I mistakenly came to this Realm? I was much younger then, and arrogant in my youth. I’d thought myself strong enough to take on a Void Demon, a true demon from the age of darkness before there was light in the universe—not one of those weak half-breeds that call themselves the Riven. I misjudged the strength of the beast laired in a volcanic vent near my home territory. It was tainting everything near it with its evil. I hunted it to its lair and attempted to slay it. I managed to hurt it, but it did me greater injury, a mortal wound.”

  Lillian inclined her head when the siren hesitated.

  “I thought I was going to die there at the mouth of the vent, surrounded by its evil, my soul forfeit, never to know peace. As a last act, I sent out a call to warn all my fellow sirens of the danger. A siren’s power spikes just before death, and my call went out far beyond my ocean realm, out across the realm of magic in all directions. I never expected help to come. But you answered.”

  Tethys looked Lillian up and down. “The Sorceress, as you are supposed to be, not as you are now. You came, your power a vast light around you, chasing away the shadows, exposing the ocean floor and leaving the demon in the light. So blinded by the brightness, the creature didn’t even see your Gargoyle Protector until he’d already cleaved the demon in two. While your gargoyle dispatched the taint and healed the living creatures around the vent, you cocooned me in your power and healed me. You made me far stronger than I was to begin with.” The siren chuckled. “And you ordered me to ask for aid the next time I planned to battle a demon from the ancient times.”

  Lillian winced. I made her stronger? That there was a dumbass thing to do.

  “What unfortunate judgment on the part of my older self,” Lillian muttered and then realized the filter on her mouth had failed utterly. To be honest, she had been taken aback by Tethys’ words. The siren had known the Sorceress, had actually shared something freely, which would have taken months to drag out of Gregory.

  Lillian trusted him with her life; however, he had kept secrets from her in the past, and he rarely talked of what she was like as the Sorceress, or at least he never shared stories about their past lives.

  But now wasn’t the time to worry over their personal lives, not when there was an age-old siren talking of the extinction of the human race like she was chatting about wiping out a nest of termites.

  The siren’s gaze grew distant as if in thought for a moment before sharpening upon Lillian again. “I was surprised to find your hamadryad is the Sorceress at the moment. Did you know I tried reasoning with your tree before I attempted to put your gargoyle under my spell? But a dryad’s tree, while intelligent after a fashion, doesn’t think like either of us, and I couldn’t make her understand the threat the humans represent. She knows good and evil, but she doesn’t understand why complacency empowers evil. I suppose the nature of a hamadryad is not one of action.”

  “Never really thought about it.”

  “Your gargoyle, he and I had an interesting conversation while he slept. He loves the humans no more than I, but he loves you, and you somehow extorted a promise from him to allow the humans to continue as they are without intervention. With such a promise, you made him go against his very nature. He is a protector, a balancer, a destroyer of evil.”

  “I figured he had enough on his plate at the moment.”

  Tethys flexed her arms and lifted herself into a sitting position. “Beware, dryad, there is a greater danger than the Riven: you are changing your Gargoyle Protector, infecting him with your mortal weakness and your human-centric moral compass. You have also taught your gargoyle how to lie. He is an Avatar to the father of us all, and yet he has come close to breaking some of those vows for you. He yearns to love you as a mate.”

  Lillian narrowed her eyes, annoyance overriding fear for the first time in hours. “And what concern is it of yours?”

  Tethys’ laugh had a tone both beautiful and chilling at the same time. “It will be every sentient being’s concern if you do not do something to curb your dire influence over your gargoyle. You say you won’t allow me to use either of you, that I and my plans for humanity are evil. But it is you, and your weakness, which taints your gargoyle. If you continue as you are, you will give the Lady of Battles exactly what she wants.”

  Lillian’s stomach cramped like she’d swallowed rocks. The siren’s words were dreadful because they struck with note after note of truth.

  Had she really forced Gregory to be other than he was supposed to be? And would he be punished for those changes she had inflicted on him? Gregory would never tell her.

  Focus. Think of something else, she chanted in her mind. “I can’t just stand by and allow you to murder all the humans the world over.”

  The siren laughed, a bright, clear sound. “They’re doing a fine job themselves. I merely propose to help them along. And it need not be all of them, half would be enough to collapse their civilization. Their technology would fail, and they would be back to living off the land and sea within a generation.”

  “It’s still mass murder.”

  The siren stared Lillian down like she was talking to a child. “You’re living in one of the planet’s great death cycles. Only this time humans are the driving force behind it. Humans murder out of greed, desperation, and madness. Do humans not put down rabid animals? I’ll merely be doing the same thing on a larger scale.”

  “What about the people trying to change? What about the innocent children who have no control over what their elders do?”

  “Ah, you truly are young. Is this what remains of the Sorceress when all her knowledge and wisdom is stripped away? An innocent. I see why the Gargoyle Protector can’t protect himself from you. You
work great damage with your wholesome innocence.” Tethys snorted. “A deadly temptation to a gargoyle. I’m surprised he hasn’t given in and just had you. You wouldn’t be able to resist him, even if you wanted to.” The siren’s lips turned up in a smile. “But you wouldn’t really put up a fight.”

  Lillian’s fingers tightened on her crossbow as she fought the urge to just take a shot and hope for the best.

  Tethys sighed and made a soothing noise. “Don’t get all confrontational, dryad. We both know I speak the truth.”

  “Your version,” Lillian snapped.

  “I don’t lie. I never have. Sirens are always forthright with our words. Think about what I’ve said. We are not enemies. I can help free you and your gargoyle from the trap the Lady of Battles devised for you.”

  “We don’t need the kind of help you’re offering.”

  “Yes, your hamadryad is doing a fine job of killing the demon seed trapped within—it was very ingenious of the tree to remove it from you while she healed you. And I would judge the tree to be finished her work in another three or four months. But I doubt you and Gregory have the time. Either the Lady of Battles will send her minions, or you and Gregory will give in to the desire growing between you.”

  “I won’t allow it to...”

  Tethys cut her off with a slashing motion of one arm. “I can offer you another option. I am powerful enough to sing the demon seed to death. Then I can help you rejoin your hamadryad, and you can take back your soul and become the Sorceress as she was meant to be. Once you are whole, the Lady of Battles will be unable to withstand the two halves of the Avatar. You can take the battle to her and teach her it is unwise to pit oneself against the Avatars of the Divine Ones.”

  Oh, it sounded so tempting, Lillian thought, but for one little detail. “Is this the same deal you offered Gregory while he slept in stone? Since you’re now pandering it to me, I take it your plan didn’t go so well.”