And she, in turn, would try to heal him of all the horror he’d endured.
She wasn’t blind to his faults; there were many. Lillian had always seen that. So too had Gregory.
“Battle Goddess,” Lillian shouted, her magic filling her and flowing out of her as her voice grew in volume. “Never again will you be known as the Lady of Battles. I strip you of your title.”
The demigoddess screamed in rage as the chains holding her trapped resonated with Lillian’s words.
“As I strip your title this day, so too will I one day return to strip you of your power and then your life. I will send you back to the Divine Ones for your long overdue judgment.”
The Battle Goddess fought her chains but stilled long enough to eye Lillian over the distance. With a sneer, she said, “You do not have the power.”
“You forget we brought you into being. Do not doubt that we have enough power to return you to the Divine Ones.”
The demigoddess leaned forward and reached out a hand, pointing one long elegant finger at Lillian. “You have your orders from the Divine Ones. You won’t break them simply because I’ve sought to make right a wrong done to me when my twin killed my beloved.”
Lillian laughed, a harsh note in her voice. “You have selective memory. Have you forgotten I and my other half have already broken our greatest vow? We created Gryton. Yes, we had to answer for that, as we will have to answer for killing you.”
“Gryton was a mistake. The Mother’s Sorceress won’t willingly break one of the Avatars binding vows by killing me.”
Lillian continued to summon power. “You are correct. The Mother’s Sorceress wouldn’t break that vow. But the Sorceress Enraged will. Especially after you tried to kill everyone I know and love.”
“Even a billion lives are but a few grains of sand in the vast universe.”
“I do not see it the same. And my children’s fates are for the Divine Ones to decide—not a crazed demigoddess made mad and bitter by her own loss.”
Far away at the top of her temple, the Battle Goddess turned her head and stared up at the sky, as if looking between the stars to the Spirit Realm beyond. When she glanced back down, she said. “I don’t believe you, Sorceress.”
“Whether a person believes in something or not never changes the true nature of something. You do not have to believe that I’ve changed. But I have. I am no longer simply the Mother’s Sorceress. I am now also Lillian. And the universe has never seen the Sorceress enraged before, but one day soon you will feel my wrath. But until then return to your prison.”
Lillian waved her hand and released the spell she’d been holding in reserve. It leaped forward, streaking out of the dome, and crossed the distance in less than three seconds. When it struck the Battle Goddess’s chains, they drew up tight, slowly reeling her back inside her temple.
If she didn’t have Gryton and all Earth to protect, she might have taken this fight to the Battle Goddess here and now, but she couldn’t allow her need for revenge to override her duty to all those she loved.
The Battle Goddess might be out of her reach, but there were other, lesser beings even now scrambling at the dome of power surrounding them.
“Gregory, if you would attend to the second dome, I’ll deal with the riff-raff beating at the door.”
“As my beloved wishes.”
“I do.”
He allowed his hands to drop away from her shoulders and then moved several steps back and returned to drawing down the immense power the spell would require. The temperature inside the old dome dropped by twenty degrees.
Ignoring the chill, Lillian tugged Gryton forward. “Would you like to further your training, my son?”
He arched an eyebrow, but merely nodded and followed.
They halted just behind Major Resnick and his team. The humans had managed to hold back the flood of enemy warriors, giving her the time she needed to reunite her body, soul, and magic.
With a wave of her hand, a glimmering shield formed around the humans, protecting them from further harm, while still allowing them to continue firing into the melee outside the dome.
“I thank you for your service, Resnick,” Lillian said and raised hers and Gryton’s linked hands. “But on my order, you’re going to need to haul ass and retreat behind where Gregory is creating the second dome.”
Resnick glanced over his shoulder as he was reloading, noted where Gregory now stood, and then nodded. “Happily.”
While Resnick relayed the order to his team, Lillian called down a raging torrent of power from the Spirit Realm. It swirled in the air just above the humans’ heads, lashing and flailing with the violence of a coming storm, but she enforced her will upon the power and it coalesced into delicate threads of magic. They knitted themselves together into a fine webbing.
She fed more raw power into the weaving, spinning out more and more of the webbing. As it grew first to a twenty-foot and then a thirty-foot expanse, she pushed the air around it, sending it floating higher.
“Mother,” Gryton said as a group of twenty enemies breached the shield. “While the spell work is pretty, and I appreciate the lesson, perhaps, now isn’t the best time?”
Fire rose up and incinerated the warriors who ran toward their position, but an endless stream of newcomers flooded into the dome through the ever-enlarging fissure.
“Mother, we’re going to get flanked.”
“Nope.”
Her spell continued to grow, expanding to fit itself along the underside of the old dome. Once the entire surface was covered, she summoned another wave of magic from the Spirit Realm and fed it into both webbing and dome. The two spells blurred, melting into each other.
“Ah,” Gryton said as he glanced away from the battle for a moment to stare in awe at her work. “You’re rewriting the dome’s spell pattern. I would not have thought that wise.”
“For most, no. But I’ve lived a very long time and know a few tricks others don’t.”
“So I see,” Gryton said dryly.
“It’s almost ready.”
Gryton summoned more fire magic and flung it at the next wave of armor-clad warriors racing toward them. “I hate to pressure you or question your great wisdom, but nonetheless, we are about to get overrun.”
He launched three more rapid volleys of tightly coiled fireballs that expanded out as they flew. Some of the enemies were able to dodge or to knock aside Gryton’s power and they sprinted forward. Resnick and his team were now on mop-up detail, picking off the few enemies able to get past Gryton’s defense.
“Almost done...,” Lillian said as she manipulated a small bit of power. The tiny bit of magic spun and twisted in the air above her outstretched hand and then with a flick of her wrist, she sent the trigger spell flying. It adhered itself seamlessly to the dome high above. “There. Resnick, time to go!”
“You heard the lady,” Resnick barked, not needing to be told twice. “Move!”
The uninjured soldiers grabbed their wounded counterparts and dragged them behind Gregory, where he’d erected another defensive shield separate from the dome spell he was working on.
“Beloved,” Lillian said even as she looked forward to the enemies rushing through the break in the dome. “I’m about to kick the hornet’s nest. We’re going to need your spell about ten seconds after I trigger mine.”
He brought his hand down in a long slashing motion as he finished drawing the last symbol in the air. The individual glowing glyphs were adhered to a circular construct, and as she watched, the last symbol aligned with the rest and settled into its designated spot.
Grinning, Gregory beat his powerful wings and took to the air, propelling his weaving twenty feet above her head. Feeding on his pure elation, she laughed joyously. Working together side by side, summoning vast amounts of pure, untainted power and trusting in each other to hold up their end of the bargain. This was how it was supposed to be.
“I am ready, my love,” Gregory shouted over the growing noi
se as more of the Battle Goddess’s army rushed forward, sensing the old dome’s growing weakness.
Their enemies didn’t yet know it was a trick. The old dome had tinted to an opaque sickly green shade. While it had darkened to such an extent as to prevent Lillian from seeing outside, it also blocked their enemies from seeing within. Only the soldiers running through the breach could see what was going on inside in the seconds before Gryton burned them to ash.
Lillian glanced at Gregory’s spell one last time. It spun slowly, awaiting his final command while it cast off a multi-hued light that reminded her a little of a disco ball. She stepped away from Gryton and took to the air. Gregory made it look easy, but Lillian imagined her own attempt probably wasn’t quite so graceful.
But it didn’t matter. She had a whole lifetime to learn what her gargoyle body was capable of and she would do it with her beloved at her side. “If you’re ready to rock, let’s do this.”
Gregory chuckled. “I very much want to ring the Battle Goddess’s bell.”
Lillian fought to keep a straight face. “Flight lessons for me, the urban dictionary for you.”
Then she reached out to the trigger spell and flicked it with a bit of power. The spell flared brightly like a small detonation and then within seconds the entire web and dome began vibrating. A louder hum emanated from the dome. As the vibrations increased, the sound grew higher in pitch.
It continued to climb to uncomfortable levels, but she could heal a little hearing loss later.
The vibrations increased until the webbing couldn’t hold back the force. With a loud shattering and a high-pitched crystalline scream, the dome bowed outward, a great wave of boundless force and raw, burning power raced out in an ever-widening circle of annihilation.
Lillian was blinded by the sudden brightness after the greenish semidarkness inside the dome. Nevertheless, her vision adapted in time to see the shockwave roll over the hapless soldiers in its path.
As the backlash of power expanded further out, it began to weaken and break apart. It was still a great force, but more and more of the soldiers were now surviving the blast, their personal defensive magic strong enough to withstand the hit.
But the spell had done its job and cleaned a huge swath of land, giving Gregory time to erect the new dome. A glance in his direction showed him already releasing it. As Lillian watched, his spell grew brighter and he began to feed it more power during its last growth phase.
Something set all her instincts on edge. Lillian twisted in the air, facing the swirling ash and ravaged ground just beyond where the old dome had stood. Moments later movement in the ash had Lillian summoning a spear of power.
“It’s Captain Taryin,” Gryton said in warning and summoned a wall of fire. “She’s a powerful blood witch.”
Lillian had the scent now. Yes, that stench was blood magic. The power of the shattering dome wouldn’t have been enough to kill one such as this. Narrowing her eyes, she summoned two more spears forged of shadow magic to add to her arsenal.
An amber-colored mist rose up out of the ashes moments before a female form struggled back to her feet. The figure was badly burned, but already beginning to heal, the blackened skin flaking off to reveal pale pink tissue. All the deaths fueled her power, and she continued to call upon her dark magic, shaping it into a ravaging cloud that she sent flying toward Gregory.
Lillian darted through the air and erected a shield between her beloved and the blood witch. When the two powers collided, a shower of sparks rained down upon the ground. The blood magic spell did not break apart though, continuing to slowly eat away at the defensive shield.
“I’m capable of protecting myself,” Gregory said in a dry mental tone while he worked.
“Of course, but your power is better spent fueling the new dome spell.”
He grunted in acknowledgment. Lillian returned her focus fully upon her enemy and flung one of her spears at the blood witch. The woman Gryton had called Taryin countered with another wave of her foul magic.
Already Lillian knew this wasn’t going to be a quick victory. If she wanted to kill the blood witch, she’d have to take her heart and burn it and once that was accomplished, burn the rest of her body, too. Otherwise, the witch would just regenerate.
Lillian dropped to all fours and charged forward only to have a wall of fire burst into being directly in front of her.
“Damn it, Gryton!”
“There’s no time.” He gestured, pointing behind him where Gregory’s dome spell was even now growing down toward the earth. “Mother, if you get caught outside Gregory’s new shield when it forms, it won’t go well. For either of us.”
Lillian was aware of the dangers, and she also knew she could survive outside the dome in a one on one fight with the blood witch, but Gryton was reaching his limit. She couldn’t risk him losing control, but he had that determined look she’d seen on Gregory’s face so damn many times over thousands of lifetimes. The one that said he wasn’t leaving her side.
Like father like son, apparently.
But Gryton had already sustained colossal trauma this day. She wouldn’t expose him to more.
“Beloved,” Gregory’s voice was suddenly in her mind. “You well and truly kicked the hornet’s nest. But now it is time we leave.”
Fine. Lillian glowered unhappily at the blood witch but backed toward Gregory’s position. At a muttered word from him, the new dome spell went through one last expansion phase and then snapped into place, forming an impenetrable shield between them and their enemies.
Pristine and powerful, the new dome shimmered in the early morning light. Two seconds later, the blood witch screamed as she tossed more magic at the shield.
The dome flared with power, its nebulous colors floating and shifting in swiftly changing patterns as the shield voraciously drank in the energy, using the magic to fuel its own defenses.
Gregory dropped down onto the grass next to her, one wing curling around her in a familiar, protective way. “We did not come here to start and end the war with the Battle Goddess in one day. We came to free Anna and Shadowlight. Instead, we have liberated our son and saved the Earth. That is not a terrible day’s work. Now we must return home and report all we have discovered.”
That slow simmering rage still bubbled in Lillian’s soul. She wanted to end the Battle Goddess once and for all. Unfortunately, Gregory was correct. Gryton’s power was unstable and to stay and continue the fight might end with their son’s death and much of this world’s as well.
Gryton deserved a chance to atone. He couldn’t do that if he was dead.
“You are wise my beloved protector.”
“Some of the humans need healing as well,” Gregory added, glancing over his shoulder at Resnick.
Outside the dome, the Battle Goddess’s army was rallying, but there was nothing they could do at present. They’d have to create another gateway if they wished to traverse the Veil between the Realms. It wouldn’t be easy, but Lillian didn’t doubt that with a blood witch’s help, they’d one day succeed. It just wouldn’t be today. And with luck, it would give her and Gregory time to face Lord Death, mend some fences and get Shadowlight and Anna back.
“Draydrak?” She mentally reached eastward, in the direction his temple lay. “Old friend, I now know that I and my other half broke our vows in a past life and that we must make amends, but please, don’t take my brother from me, or the human he loves like family.”
She waited for a response. When none came, she forged on. “Dray, I know you might not have faith in my judgment after the breaking of our vows, but Anna and Shadowlight are pure, strong souls, capable of great courage. The Battle Goddess will not have changed that in so short a time. Please let them live to prove that to you.”
Lillian waited a few seconds longer, but no beautiful voice manifested in her mind.
Yep. She and Gregory needed to mend some fences with the Lord of the Underworld before they went to war with the Battle Goddess. In the meanti
me, she had to believe Lord Death would be merciful.
Speaking of mending fences. She glanced sidelong at Gryton and studied him for some moments. “You must return with us and own up to what you’ve done. In return, I promise to teach you how to better control your power so that nothing like what happened today will ever happen again.”
“I...thank you.” Gryton’s expression showed nothing, but she could feel the emotional need he tried to deny.
“Don’t thank me yet. The humans are going to want your head on a platter, and I can’t say I blame them.”
Gryton turned to study the humans and his expression darkened.
“If you promise to behave, I won’t let that happen.”
“I shall...behave,” he said after a rather long awkward pause.
“Good.” She was certain he wouldn’t betray her. Besides, he had nowhere else to go. It was more likely he didn’t know what to do or how to act. She didn’t blame him. It wasn’t like her long existence had prepared her for a son.
Grunting, Gryton nodded slightly and then stalked over to the humans to help Gregory gather up the injured.
Once the others were gathered around the trunk of her hamadryad, Lillian joined them and glanced at Gregory. “We’re going to need to have a long talk about Gryton later.”
“I know.” He nuzzled at her hair. “But we also need to talk about us.”
Ah. Their relationship had changed again, hadn’t it? Gregory’s fear had come true: he’d lost his mate.
At least in his eyes. Lillian didn’t see it the same way. But he was correct, that was a conversation for later.
Closing her eyes, she summoned more power and touched the rough bark of her hamadryad. With a sense of being jerked forward and then falling, Lillian and the others were suddenly pulled back to the Mortal Realm.
Falling back was much easier than going the other direction.
Still, Lillian just stood in the shadow of her hamadryad tree for a few seconds, enjoying the sensation of being home.
The Complete Gargoyle and Sorceress Boxset (Books 1-9) Page 119