Veins and coils of magic whipped around his form before slowly being absorbed back into his body. After a moment, the lines of burning power shifted, becoming tattoos that covered much of his bronze-toned skin. Even as his body took on a more mortal appearance, his eyes still glowed like two pools of molten lava.
The tattoos, brightening and dimming as if someone was blowing upon hot coals, making them glow brighter by turns, were mesmerizing. Unlike his tattoos, his burning gaze maintained the same steady intensity as he regarded them.
This male was beautiful, in a terrifying sort of way. His shape and form designed to appeal to men and women alike. That was the great jest, wasn’t it? Everything about him was a carefully constructed deception, a lie to capture or stun the unwary, to blind them while he worked to free himself and destroy everything around him.
A djinn.
They’d stumbled into a djinn-designed trap.
Of course. He was the one creature that could have seen the outcome of the battle without even being present. It was the nature of a djinn to know things. It was partly why they were such deadly opponents.
He tilted his head as he studied first Sorac, then her, and at last the fourteen eggs. His next move surprised her.
Grasping his hands behind his back, he walked a large circle around them instead of attacking as she’d expected. His long strides made the glowing power swathing his lower body ripple and dance like flames in a breeze. When he was still again, the power calmed, settling around him like a skirt.
As she watched, his body grew more substantial, and greater details showed. She scanned for weapons. He was naked from the waist up, and a wide belt and the skirt-like power shimmering around his legs seemed the only items he wore. And even those were likely just a manifestation of his power.
She saw no weapons.
But then again, he needed none. He was the weapon.
A weapon placed here to capture or kill them. Vaspara felt despair. Never again would she see that perfect island or get to live out her foolish dream of a quiet, peaceful life. Why had she thought it was possible? The Divine Ones hated ones such as her and Sorac.
And here, now, was their deaths come to meet them.
Neither of them could beat a djinn, not by themselves. Perhaps if they led their battalions, they could trap or destroy the djinn before it could wipe them all from existence. But here, alone, only the two of them?
Vaspara knew defeat when she saw it. “Kill us and make it quick. Our torture will bring you no benefit or honor.”
‘Divine Ones,’ Vaspara sent up a very rare prayer, ‘if you have even a little mercy in your hearts for ones born of darkness, you will kill Sorac before you kill me or his brood. Let him die attempting to protect those he loves at least. Don’t make him watch.’
The djinn laughed. “Firedrake, you picked a considerate partner. She’ll make you a worthy mate.”
Vaspara and Sorac glanced at each other.
What did the djinn care? He was playing games, obviously, though she didn’t know why. Neither of them had command of the bottle used to trap him. Playing with them wouldn’t free the creature.
Perhaps he was bored—a terrible thought.
“I am not here at the behest of my master to kill you.” With a ripple of power and graceful muscles, the djinn moved closer. “I never even told her you were both alive.”
“Why?” Vaspara might be stepping squarely in his trap, but she was curious, and nothing she did at this point could do anything to sway the djinn.
“They never thought to ask me. And as I would get no benefit, there was no point in me sharing the information.”
“What do you want then?”
“My freedom.”
Chapter 8
“TAKE ME WITH YOU. FREE me from this place. If you do this for me, I shall allow you to collect your eggs, and we can then all leave this place.” The djinn waved a hand and a new dome formed over the nest.
Vaspara knew this one wouldn’t answer to anyone except the djinn.
“How are you able to call magic without a command?”
“I was given some leniency for the defense of this kingdom.”
Sorac shifted his weight, taking on a better fighting stance. Vaspara realized she’d done the same.
“Be at ease. Since the Battle Goddess hasn’t yet stripped you of your ranks, you are both still captains, and off limits to me. There is also nothing in my orders that demands I act in this case.” He gave them a sardonic smile. “Mortals truly should not play with djinn.”
No, Vaspara agreed. They should not.
“Aid me, and we can all leave this place before the Battle Goddess and my blood witch mistress,” he practically chewed the last word before spitting it out, “is aware I’m gone. If you do not aid me, then I shall report you to the witch.”
Vaspara narrowed her eyes. She knew a thing or two about djinn. Something didn’t add up. “You hate her. Anyone with eyes can see that. Why would you aid her?”
“She grants me the freedom to explore the fortress for short times.” He grinned wickedly. “A reward for good behavior.”
Good behavior? Not likely.
Unlike when they were in the Spirit Realm, once a djinn was stolen from that place, they turned dark and destructive, filled with rage for the divinity they’d lost. Their one drive was to return to the Spirit Realm at any cost.
Djinns had been known to destroy entire continents as they made their escape back to their home realm or perished in the attempt.
The djinn’s statement likely meant he’d already begun to influence and perhaps even exert control over Taryin. With a djinn, if a master weren’t careful, they’d swiftly become the slave without ever realizing it.
“Will you aid me, or shall I drag you before the Lady of Battles? She’ll be glad to see you both, I’m sure. Perhaps I’ll earn some other reward?”
She and Sorac glanced sidelong at each other. They were both aware of the deadly nature of a djinn, but also that they had no choice but to bring this one with them if they wanted to escape. Vaspara nodded ever so slightly.
“We’ll bring you with us,” Sorac agreed.
“Where is your bottle?” Vaspara added, knowing wherever it was, it wouldn’t be easy to reach.
The djinn tilted his head toward her. “The Lady of Battles placed the vessel between the four anchors that lock her chains to this temple.”
Sorac cursed. “She wants you to escape your enslavement and return to the Spirit Realm, destroying the spell the Avatars created that traps her here when you go.”
“Yes,” the djinn purred.
Vaspara swallowed against the nervousness tightening her throat. “She thinks she’ll survive, but this place, and everyone within it, will be destroyed.”
“Yes, as a failsafe should she lose the war. She doesn’t want to remain imprisoned here for thousands of years more. My power, once unleashed, will react with the Avatars’ ancient spell and together it will be enough to destroy this world, ensuring the Battle Goddess’s freedom.”
Sorac glanced at Vaspara again, his expression saying he thought this djinn was being abnormally talkative. She concurred.
“For some reason you don’t want to cause that destruction,” Vaspara mused. “I don’t know why you’d care. Everything we know about your kind says you are heartless in your drive to return to the Spirit Realm. You aren’t supposed to care how many you kill.”
The djinn laughed, the cruel sound sending a chill down her spine. “You and every other mortal might think I’m a monster, but I am not. Not yet. I do not want to undo a spell that cost the Avatars so much to create.”
Vaspara noted his comment made no mention of preventing the death of millions.
He turned from them to approach the eggs, his living, ember-like tattoos flaring brightly against his dark skin. He stared down at the eggs for a long moment. Vaspara didn’t dare move a muscle.
Thank the Divine Ones the firedrake kept his instincts
in check. It couldn’t have been easy with a djinn admiring his nest.
“I was there,” the djinn said at last. “I watched the creation of the duality curse that binds the twins. And, later, I nursed the one you know as the Avatars. Weakened by giving everything of itself, the Avatar damaged its soul and could not blend itself back into one being as it always did upon returning to the Spirit Realm. It took a very long time for my siblings and me to restore the two halves of the sundered soul.”
“I understand why you want to get away,” Vaspara whispered.
“No, you don’t. But one day you will know what it is like to watch helplessly as the one you love is hurting. I do not wish to be the one to cause my oldest companion such hurt. I must get far from this place before I break free of this vessel prison. So, you will take me with you when you leave, and once the Avatars return to this realm to face the Lady of Battles, you will take my bottle to them, and they will find a way to free me without destroying this world.”
There was something the djinn wasn’t telling them. Vaspara had spent a lifetime learning to read people. Knowing who could be trusted and who would try to kill her to achieve their own ambitions was something she’d had to perfect. Her survival depended upon it.
And this djinn was holding something back.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“The one who summoned and trapped me is stronger than any blood witch to ever plague the universe before. Worse, the Battle Goddess has been teaching her things to which no agent of darkness should be privy.” The djinn turned back to Vaspara, a grimace just vanishing from his features. “She found a way to do more than enslave a djinn. Her power is infusing me with her taint. If I can’t get free of her soon, I’ll become more of a monster than you can ever envision.”
Cold sweat dripped down Vaspara’s back, but she knew what had to be done. Some things transcended concepts of good and evil. This was one. The djinn had to be taken from this place and somehow returned to the Avatars. There was no option for failure. They could work out the ‘how’ later. “We will steal the vessel that traps you and then we’ll make our escape.”
“Your oath that you will take me to the Avatars,” the djinn said, hissing some words as his magic flared in warning.
Vaspara fisted her hand and thumped it against her chest. “On my honor and my life, I will do all in my power to get you safely away from the Battle Goddess’s territory.”
Sorac mimicked Vaspara’s gesture and oath. “Although, with the Avatars in the Mortal Realm, there’s the problem of how to reach them. Neither Vaspara nor I have the magical strength or knowledge to create a portal spell to travel there.”
“A hurdle to overcome at another time,” the djinn said.
Chapter 9
AFTER THE DJINN HAD acquired their agreement, he’d vanished, returning to his vessel to await them, he claimed. With his departure, Vaspara relaxed only a little. She and Sorac continued on foot, ghosting down little-used corridors until they reached a wider tunnel.
Here, they were careful to pick their way over and around the four lengths of glowing chains that stretched off in both directions. The slightest touch of the chains would be enough to maim or kill even someone as strong as Sorac. The flare of magic would also alert the Battle Goddess that someone was down here. She’d then rush to capture or kill the intruder.
The chains had been known to punish the Lady of Battles even if she wasn’t the one tampering with them. At least they weren’t shifting and slithering. The demigoddess must be at rest. There was no telling how long that would last.
She and Sorac hurried as much as they could before the chains changed from an annoyance into something much deadlier and harder to avoid.
Their destination wasn’t far. With luck, they would get in, get the djinn’s bottle, and get out all without ever having to look upon the demigoddess again.
“Divine Ones be merciful,” Vaspara muttered.
Not that they ever were to ones such as she and Sorac.
She was just stepping over a chain when it shifted suddenly as the Battle Goddess moved somewhere in the levels above. Vaspara leaped over one chain, and only narrowly missed brushing against another link.
Cursing softly, she danced over and around them as links slithered on up the tunnel. The thigh-high links weren’t the easiest things to jump when they weren’t moving. Behind her Sorac cursed.
“You all right?” she called softly when the chains were still again.
“Yes, one of them nearly brushed my scabbard. Should have left it behind.”
Vaspara realized he was correct and swiftly unbuckled hers, holding it in her hands instead. Picking their careful way along, they were soon having to weave, dart, and leap over the links as they moved again.
“Curse it. She must be pacing.”
Sorac snorted. “Probably worrying over how she will ever find worthy replacements for us.”
“I might find that funnier if we weren’t risking our lives for the djinn.”
At last, the Battle Goddess stopped moving, and the chains stilled.
Vaspara glanced over her shoulder at Sorac. They were both panting. “This would have made a good captains’ test. Too bad we never thought of it.”
He grinned. “Yes, it would, wouldn’t it?”
They came to the end of the tunnel. It was much lighter here; the glow bleeding off the anchors was stronger than the chains themselves. She shielded her eyes while they adjusted to the brighter environment.
“Here,” Sorac called as he circled around the glowing crystal pillars growing out of the bedrock. “I found the djinn’s bottle.”
Vaspara joined him once she could see again. It looked like someone had set the bottle in the central space between each of the fiery pillars, just dropped there like a bit of trash.
“Do you sense any spells?” she asked. “I can’t, not over the power those things are giving off.” She gestured at the anchor pillars.
“No. Nothing. I doubt any other spells could survive here.”
“There are no spells of protection because there was no need,” the djinn said as he appeared behind them.
Vaspara spun to face the djinn, still not trusting him.
“The blood witch and the demigoddess assume no one is foolish enough to venture into her territory without her knowing, certainly not to come down here and risk their souls.” The djinn grinned. “But these are interesting times, and neither of them are parents. They didn’t factor in what two parents will do for their young.”
“I’m not a parent,” Vaspara groused.
“Not yet, but you will make the fiercest of mothers.”
She didn’t bother to respond, instead moving closer to the pillars. “I’m narrower through the shoulders,” she told Sorac, “I’ll get the djinn’s bottle. Just steady my hips and legs and make sure they don’t brush the pillars or the chains. And for the love of your eggs, grab me if the demigoddess moves again.”
Sorac stepped in behind her and took hold of her belt to quickly pull her out from between the pillars if need be. Once she was between them, he switched his hold to her hips and slowly slid her forward.
Vaspara took in every detail around her, ready to react to the tiniest shimmy in the chains. But they remained still as she stretched until her fingers closed around the pretty little bottle. “Got it. Pull me out.”
Sorac did, and then they both stood there for long moments and stared down at the bottle.
“Tuck that someplace safe,” the djinn ordered, “and let us leave this place. We’ve been lucky so far. Blood Witch Taryin hasn’t called on me to aid in spell work yet tonight, but she will. Best I am too far away to react to her summons.”
Vaspara nodded and swiftly tucked the jar into the padded bag slung across her shoulder. All the others were back in the underground egg chamber.
Once the bottle was safely stored, she looked up at the two males. “Let’s go.”
Chapter 10
SOR
AC DIDN’T RELAX until they were back in the chamber housing his eggs. He hadn’t liked a moment of the time Vaspara was belly down between the crystalline pillars, with their piles of coiled chains that could move at any moment.
If the Battle Goddess had descended deeper within her temple, the chains would have retracted themselves, narrowing the space between each of the pillars. It had been a tense few moments while Vaspara had been vulnerable.
But it pleased him she trusted him with her life.
Now they were back with his eggs, still not out of danger by any stretch, but soon.
He glanced over his shoulder at the djinn. “We’ve done our part. Time to hold up your end of the bargain.”
Sorac jerked his chin at the eggs.
“Once given, I honor my word.” The djinn waved one hand almost dismissively at the shield, and it shimmered more brightly for a moment before vanishing into the bedrock as Sorac’s own spell had done earlier.
“I shall return to my vessel until after your escape. I’m much less noticeable that way.”
The djinn chuckled in amusement, but even that he managed to make chilling, Sorac mused as he gently lifted an egg and placed it in the individual padded sections Alaya had sewn into each bag to keep the eggs from bumping together during flight. Beside him, Vaspara picked up the first egg. He could see that its weight and heat surprised her.
“They’re warm. You can feel their souls,” she said, her surprise evident.
“Of course,” Sorac said as he gathered up the next one.
Not having been around many infants or eggs, he realized Vaspara probably hadn’t expected the sparks of life to already be so powerful.
She was even more careful picking up the next one. When she held it at arm’s length until she wrestled the bag open, he grinned again. It was clear she was afraid of accidentally banging the satchel against the nest’s stone rim.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look so flustered,” Sorac added with a grin. Seeing this new side of Vaspara made warmth curl in his belly, and then his loins. “They’re eggs, not deadly weapons intent upon destroying you.”
The Complete Gargoyle and Sorceress Boxset (Books 1-9) Page 154