Vaspara eyed the spell. “We could. If that thing will allow us to get close enough.”
When she stepped closer to the spell, it spun with more excitement.
“Hold up,” Sorac warned. “I think that thing can read our intentions.”
“You might be right.” Curse it. They might not get another opportunity like this to take out the witch. But Sorac was correct. The spell calmed when she set aside the idea of terminating the witch.
“Besides, we need the witch to control that thing.”
“I’ll distract the spell. You see if you can get Taryin and escape with her.”
“I’m not leaving you in a room with that thing.” Sorac’s brows were drawn down into a line above his nose.
“I’m not suicidal. I am not staying. We’ll leave together and then put some powerful wards around this chamber before we go report to the Battle Goddess.” Vaspara eyed the slowly spinning evil once more. “Whatever the witch has sought to create, I think she was successful.”
“Yes,” Sorac agreed. “I feel sorry for Anna and that poor gargoyle cub of hers.”
Vaspara was more concerned about their own asses but admitted she didn’t like the idea of that thing hunting any of her trainees, even escaped ones.
“Come on. Let’s do this and report back to our Lady.”
Chapter 32
ANNA’S FIRST TWO WEEKS at Haven went smoothly after the minor hiccup with Reaver and the not-so-minor encounter with Obsidian in the baths. But at least her heat cycle only lasted three days. She was all too happy it was behind her now.
But in the days after that incident, it was easy to see Obsidian still blamed himself for what had happened. She didn’t know how to erase that fear; she just hoped showing him that she trusted him completely would soothe over the worst of it.
Her plan seemed to be working. Slowly he began to relax around her again.
As for day to day life, their routine was quickly established. She went to the healers early each morning to allow them to study her and to be sure the previous day’s work wasn’t too much for her system after sleeping in healing stone for thirteen years.
Overall, they seemed pleased with her progress and gave her a clean bill of health, which her instructors then took as permission to test her limits.
Her official gargoyle mentors were Master Verroc and Adept Shorban. Though Banrook, or Rook as he strongly preferred, attended all her sessions and took part in a good half. Her dryad instructors were usually Master Maradryn and Adept Takara. Both were calm, level-headed women.
Her new mentors regularly pitted her against other opponents as well. Of her training sessions, over two-thirds were combat based, leaving every third afternoon set aside for history lessons with various Journeymen.
All in all, it wasn’t so very different from what her daily routine had been like in the Battle Goddess’s kingdom. Well, except for the parts about not having to fear such things as the possibility of getting fed upon by an incubus, warding off an amorous Gryton, or finding a way to save innocent people from being sucked dry by a blood witch’s spells.
Anna had soon come to another realization. Here she could form friendships and alliances and not have to worry about the possibility of crossing swords with them on the battlefield in some future time. Not having to kill friends was always a plus.
Typically, this time of day, she would be practicing, but today Obsidian was training for his Adept Trial.
She was looking forward to seeing him fight.
They’d been spending so much time on her, keeping her busy, she hadn’t had time to see the full extent of what Obsidian could do.
Now she was getting her chance.
But when they reached the practice rings, Obsidian continued without slowing.
“I thought the elders were going to give you a workout?”
“They are, but not here. They have something more advanced in mind.”
Advanced might be his word for it, but Anna could think of far more apt words for the steep course with its dozens of obstacles spilling down the side of the mountain. While the ground course she’d run during her novice test had been relatively simple, this one was every extreme sports junkie’s wet dream.
The course was all stone pillars, rope bridges, broad jumps and tall walls that would give even the most diehard parkour nut pause.
“That’s one hellish looking obstacle course.” Anna scanned the terrain from the valley floor all the way up to the cloud-shrouded peaks.
“It’s fun.”
“Only a gargoyle would find that hot mess fun. You’re all insane.”
Obsidian snorted. “You’ll be glad to know the mentors want you to follow me down as I hunt and ‘kill’ as many opponents as I can find.”
“So...suicide hide and seek parkour. Yep, still sounds insane.”
“Come. Fly up to the top. Then you can shadow me all the way down. Don’t get separated. There’s a fair amount of risk for the unwary. So, stay focused and silent. Even a misstep can alert the others to our location.”
“You’re insane.”
He grinned suddenly and slapped his tail against her flank. “So are you for following me.”
Then he leaped into the air, his wings beating mightily as he began the steep aerial climb up the mountain.
Instinctively, Anna spread her wings and followed.
Her gargoyle nature didn’t flag those words as a lie.
HER INITIAL ASSESSMENT was correct. This course was a nightmare on a scale that she’d never experienced before.
Obsidian’s breakneck speed only made it worse. At least she had wings if anything went drastically wrong.
“Flying, even just a short glide, will get you disqualified,” Obsidian sent along their link. “Now focus your mind and concentrate.”
Duly reprimanded, Anna returned her focus upon their immediate environment and Obsidian’s well-muscled rump as he zig-zagged his way down the mountainside. He moved with a fluid grace that was positively impressive for one as big as him.
It took all her skills, instincts and endurance to keep up with him. And if it weren’t for their bond that burned with potent magic, linking them subconsciously, so they moved as one, she never would have kept up with him.
She used to be the swifter of the two, but he was breathtaking.
As they hurled themselves across a rock fall, Obsidian twisted in the air, rolling onto his back to launch a spear of shadow magic at the gargoyle rising out of a crevice ten feet behind them.
Anna had only spotted the gargoyle after Obsidian had targeted him.
His aim was true. A shower of bright sparks rained down, marking her partner’s seventeenth ‘kill’ so far.
“Keep up,” he barked out.
Damn. They’d fallen out of sync and Obsidian was now twenty feet ahead of her. Determined to regain that almost addictive feeling of oneness, she put on a burst of speed to catch up even as she focused her mind on the thread of sensations flowing down their link to her.
When she was alongside him once again, he slapped her flank playfully with his tail. Then he surprised her again by bumping her muzzle affectionately with his. “You’re doing well, but don’t allow yourself to get distracted. I don’t want to see you get hurt again.”
“Now who’s distracted?”
He rumbled and smacked her halfheartedly with his tail a second time “You make me so proud, though I’ll admit that sometimes your beauty and strength distracts me.”
But just then, two gargoyles appeared on the path ahead.
Together, she and Obsidian dispatched these next opponents. It was supposed to be training, but it was so much more than that.
This was right. This was how it supposed to be. Just the two of them against all comers. They moved as one. They breathed as one. They thought as one.
Chapter 33
THE NEXT FOUR WEEKS sped by in a blur. Anna thought she’d been doing well until this morning when Rook had come to them and said Lord Draydrak was
concerned with one facet of their training and wished to speak with them.
But once Rook had delivered his message, she knew what it was about. She and Obsidian had never again achieved that same level of unity they’d shared racing down the side of a mountain together.
Now they stood before the viewing mirror once more.
As Anna waited for the death god to make himself comfortable on the other side, she replayed his words the last time they’d been here. That time he’d said she and Obsidian needed to overcome their fears and merge their hearts, bodies and souls if they wanted to survive the coming war.
It had been six weeks, and while Anna had advanced in her physical and magical training, she still wasn’t ready to let Obsidian into her mind—to see the depths of her fears and the damage to her battered heart. She couldn’t shake the notion that he would see her differently and know her tough exterior was a lie.
When Dray was comfortable, he studied Anna in silence.
And yeah. I suck. We both see it. No need to mention it out loud.
Dray grinned and shook his head at her. It was the first time she’d seen him smile. The flash of teeth was impossible to miss, and would have been frightening, but Anna was used to gargoyle grins by now.
And there was just something peaceful and...pleasant? Yes, pleasant, about spending time with this demigod. Looking back, she realized she’d first sensed it when she was dying. Though she’d been too scared for Shadowlight at the time to be calmed by it. Now she could detect it more easily. A kindness. A purity. Something that clung to the Lord of the Underworld and was able to travel between the viewing mirror and touch her here in the past.
She allowed it to calm her.
“Rest easy Anna. This meeting isn’t about you. It’s about your Rasoren.”
Obsidian stiffened and bowed his head in shame.
What the hell was this all about?
Dray watched them calmly for a moment, then sighed. “Obsidian. I know what it is to fear love.”
“I’ve tried to be the partner Anna needs. To be a Rasoren to make you proud, my Lord. But I have failed.”
He didn’t look up, his braids falling forward to partially hide his face. But Anna didn’t need to see his expression to feel his anguish.
“I love her too much. My desire distracts me, and if I continue like this, my resolve will weaken until I lose control.” He drew in a ragged breath. “When that happens Anna won’t have a choice. She’ll love me because the link will force her too. I don’t want our link to twist my love into something evil. That would destroy a part of my soul.”
Obsidian’s feeling might sound a touch dramatic, but knowing what the link had already tried, his fears weren’t unfounded. Still, she’d never really been afraid of Obsidian, and strangely, she still wasn’t, even after his confession.
They’d been in a lot of tight spots. They’d get through this one too. Anna just wasn’t sure how yet.
“Speaking one’s fears is always the start to overcoming them.” Lord Dray’s soft, soothing tones washed over Anna, and she saw Obsidian’s wings relax ever so slightly. “Another way is to face them head-on.”
Obsidian looked up at last.
“Yes, my Rasoren. There is a way to free yourself from this fear that threatens to cripple you. Throw down all your mental barriers and truly embrace your link. When a normal Rasoren and Kyrsu are first establishing their bond, they must become one mind for a short time. Considering the nature of your bond, that step is likely even more crucial. Allow Anna to experience your love and fear. I think you’ll find she is strong enough to push back and stand her ground.”
“I...I don’t trust myself.”
“That is easy enough to solve.” Draydrak spread his arms wide. “You may have the pick of the masters or any of the other mentors to watch over you. If it is as you fear, and you cannot yet control the link, they will be able to stop you before things develop too far.”
“I...” Obsidian cleared his throat and then stiffened his spine, drawing up to his full height. “I will do as you ask, but only if Anna is in agreement.”
“I am.” If this was what it took for Obsidian to regain his confidence, then she’d even risk him seeing what she desperately didn’t want him to see.
“Very well. Make your selection this day. There is no point putting this off.”
Anna thought Dray was finished with them, but his expression turned thoughtful. “Perhaps if I share my greatest fear, it will help to lessen yours?”
Anna somehow doubted that, but merely nodded her head. Beside her, Obsidian was doing his best to restore some of his composure.
Needing to do something for him, and not caring if Lord Dray thought it a weakness, Anna came to stand next to her partner and wrapped a wing around his larger form.
He shuddered and leaned into her.
“Shhh...I’m here. We’ll find a solution to this newest complication.”
“Oh, goddess, if we don’t, I’ll...I’ll. We just can’t let that happen.”
“We won’t. Lord Dray will help us.”
The demigod, shifted his legs, seeking a more comfortable position. “The Avatars once shared with me an ancient prophecy. It tells of how the first female gargoyles will mark the coming of Death’s Mate. Lillian is the first female gargoyle. You are the second.”
Anna nodded. Because, really, what else did you do when a demigod was telling stories?
“While I can see the possible futures of all living creatures, that gift does not extend to my own future or my twin’s. But now there is another being whose future I cannot see.” He paused as if deep in thought, then gave himself a little shake and continued. “The Avatars’ youngest child—her future I cannot see. That suggests it will be entwined with mine.”
Anna knew about Lillian and Gregory’s unborn child. But Lord Death’s wording was strange. Youngest child. Not only child.
“Do the Avatars have more than one child?” Anna blurted out.
Lord Dray’s one ear flicked forward, then he grinned again. “You caught that, did you? That is a story for another time.”
Yeah. It probably was.
The Lord of the Underworld held all four of his hands clasped loosely against his abdomen. “I fear Lillian and Gregory’s girl child is the mate the Divine Ones promised me.”
“You don’t sound too enthusiastic about that.”
“Why should I be?” He shrugged. “I have been alone all of my existence. I am at peace with what I am. And after seeing what the Avatars have suffered for love, and what it did to my twin, do you blame me for wishing to avoid that?”
“No, I suppose not.” Anna didn’t know what he wanted to hear, but she did think she understood why he was sharing. He was telling them that they weren’t alone in fearing love and what it could do to them.
Nice gesture, but Anna didn’t think what was wrong with her, and now Obsidian, could be healed with a story.
“But not all love is painful. For many, it is a glorious thing.”
Yeah. But it wasn’t for everyone.
“At least you don’t have to worry about the Avatars’ child for a few years yet. She hasn’t even been born yet.”
Dray just flashed his teeth at her. “The outlook of a mortal. For me, the wait for her birth and then growth will be but a blink in time.”
Anna compressed her lips, realizing something else. “You’ve said it yourself. You don’t know your future. Or the girl’s. With war looming, nothing is guaranteed.”
“That is the truth.” Dray agreed softly. “The future isn’t set. There are always many, many possible futures. And in many of them, I see you and Obsidian overcoming your fears and sharing a love that rivals the Avatars.”
And in others he must have seen us fail, destroyed by a love twisted into something of darkness, Anna thought, or else he wouldn’t have needed to warn us of the danger.
Chapter 34
ANNA AND OBSIDIAN SAT across from each other in the center of th
e sand ring. She tried to ignore all the places where sand was infiltrating as she listened to Rook’s deep voice.
“The first step to deepening your link is to lower your mental shields and let each other fully into your minds.” He paused, giving them a moment to begin. When nothing happened, he continued in a soothing voice—the first she’d ever heard him use.
Who would have thought Rook had a gentler side?
“Obsidian, you worry that your mind will take command of Anna’s, that what might be a benefit in battle, could also cause trouble in your day-to-day life.” Rook patted the younger gargoyle on the shoulder. “But you forget, Anna is equally as strong in both mind and soul. She simply must remember that and know when to fight and when to give. This is just another part of your training.”
“That doesn’t sound so terrible, as far as a magical link goes, does it?”
Obsidian snorted. “Talk to me again when my emotions bleed over, and you find yourself suddenly and inexplicably seeing through my eyes and feeling what I feel.”
“Both of you, stop muttering in each other’s heads and concentrate!”
Damn it. Sometimes she forgot Rook had the gift to see inside his student’s minds.
She concentrated on her breathing, the deep sound of her pulse, the warmth of the sand. Of Obsidian’s steady breath, his scent, the thrum of his strong heart.
“Now discard everything I taught you about building shields.” Rook’s voice came from different directions as he paced a circle around them. “That’s it. No barriers. Reach for each other without fear.”
Anna sighed out a long breath and then visualized surrendering the last shield blocking Obsidian from her mind.
The shield lowered.
She waited.
Nothing happened.
Her eyes popped open to stare at her partner. His head was bowed, eyes closed, but his mind was still locked up tight. But even then, he couldn’t block their link entirely and a hint of fear, like a bitter fruit, flowed down it to her.
“It’s okay to be scared,” she whispered into his thoughts.
The Complete Gargoyle and Sorceress Boxset (Books 1-9) Page 139