“Fuck. It’s ugly.”
“Indeed. It is.”
Gryton might have said more, but just then he had to leap to the side and dart away from a snaking tendril of shimmering gold magic that had erupted out of the woman’s chest. She hissed in pain as the reddish-black energy slithered away from the gold.
It looked almost like the two powers were at war. But that made no sense either.
“They are not at war in the sense you mean. But they are anathema to each other. I’m fairly certain that other power belongs to the djinn. The two spells are unrelated and serve different purposes.”
“You can tell all that by just looking?”
“Yes.”
Gryton leaped back a second time as another golden tendril emerged from the woman. The stranger screamed and half-collapsed as another wave of the golden power pulled itself free from where it had been entrapped inside her.
“If the reddish-black coiling crap is used to control her, what the fuck is the golden shit doing?”
“That,” Gryton sent along their link as he slashed out with one of his fire swords only to have it lose form and substance as it touched the magic, “Is a very, very powerful assassin spell.”
The magic in his fire-sword expanded out, doubling in size. He leaped away from the raging ball of fire that had once been his fire-sword, and then he kept on retreating across the meadow. But she’d already caught his thought. The assassin spell was specifically designed for him. One he had no way to fight to judge by the destabilized fire-sword. From looking in his mind, she knew it was about to explode.
“Down! Down! Down!”
She and the rest of the team hit the ground moments before the ball of fire detonated like a bomb. The shockwave raced over her head, a wave of super-heated air displacing dust and debris.
“Shit,” she whispered once it had rolled past, leaving still hot, but breathable, air in its wake.
Looking around, she saw that the picnic table that once had held all the practice weapons and other gear—her gun included—was now aflame and half-buried in one of the maze walls, the contents that once sat on it now scattered everywhere. Unfortunately, she didn’t see her gun or any other useful weapon.
By the time she’d leaped back to her feet, the golden spell had continued to extract itself from the prone female. Now eight long tendrils were writhing in the air above her. The woman’s body convulsed, back arching as she screamed.
Erika’s own gift was already responding to the threat, but as fast as she drew magic away from the spell, it replenished itself from somewhere else. She glanced at the woman but was confident it wasn’t coming from her. Erika’s gift sensed something else far off, like an open door that allowed magic to flow through from another location.
She was sure that other location was the Magic Realm.
Sergeant Maracle came over and squatted in the grass next to her. He handed her gun to her. “What’s wrong? Why haven’t you drained that thing yet?”
“I’m trying. But it replenishes itself as fast as I’m drawing power away.”
Captain Stanton dropped down next to them, using the standing stone to Erika’s right as cover in case of another firebomb. “Can you fight that thing or not?”
“I think so, sir. We need to get closer.”
“Of course we do.” There was a hint of reluctant acceptance in his tone. Stanton raised his arm and gestured the others forward. “Focus fire on the spider!”
Erika glanced back at the spell and realized it really did resemble a spider now that the eight legs were levering a rounded body from the chest of the female. With one more strong pull, the assassin spell heaved itself free and then darted forward, racing toward Gryton.
“Fuck! It can’t reach Gryton, or we’re all going to die!” She directed her fire to the spider’s legs, hoping the magic there might be less dense and that the metal of the bullets slicing through it might disrupt the spell enough to sever a limb or at least slow the beast.
Apparently, Captain Stanton had deduced the same thing for he and the rest of the team were firing on its other legs.
The hail of bullets sliced through the magic composing the spider’s leg, tearing pieces from the spell and scattering them in a flurry of bright sparks. But it didn’t slow the monster like she’d hoped. It still raced toward Gryton, who was presently hoofing it toward her position.
He ignored the rain of bullets and leaped over Erika and the other soldiers to land gracefully behind her. “You need to keep that thing off my back for a bit longer until I’ve had a chance to study the spell holding it together. If it manages to wrap itself around me, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to hold cohesion.”
“Understood. Spider gets to you; you go supernova all over the place.”
“Something like that,” he agreed.
Erika, Maracle, Stanton, and the rest of the unit all concentrated fire upon the spider’s front right leg. This time their combined firepower sheared through the appendage.
“Hell yeah!”
But as she was picking out her next target, the spider only paused as a shudder raced over its body. A moment later a new leg emerged from the stump.
“Fuck,” Stanton yelled and then lobbed a grenade at the creature. The explosion knocked the spider off its feet, but it was back up a second later.
When it was ten feet from them, it leaped high in the air. Erika stood in front of Gryton screaming at the monster as it came.
Only it didn’t reach her.
Blinking in surprise, she watched as a wall of fire magic sprang up in front of the golden spider. As had happened before, as soon as the spider touched Gryton’s power, his fire magic destabilized, the wall reacting with explosive force.
Everyone dived for the ground a second time. When the smoke and fire had cleared, Erika spotted the spider on the other side of the glade, half-buried in one of the maze’s green walls. But the spider wasn’t harmed and was soon scrambling toward Gryton with single-minded purpose.
“We need to get the prisoner out of here,” Captain Stanton yelled.
“No,” Gryton shouted back. “it will just follow. We must kill it now before it grows stronger. It’s feeding off magic and the energy your weapons create.”
Stanton cursed.
But if something could draw the magic out of the spell faster than it could intake it, then the spell would unravel like any other exposed to her too long. And without the spell’s will transforming the power supplied from the Magic Realm into a weapon, then it would just be harmless energy. She straightened and studied the terrain. If she circled around and came at it from the west, she should be able to avoid the worst of the crossfire and magic fireballs.
“Wait.” Gryton grabbed her arm. “You’re not indestructible, and you don’t know what else that thing has in the way of defenses.”
“But it’s magic, so—”
“It’s djinn magic. And we haven’t yet discovered your upper limit. On the battlefield isn’t the place to find out.”
“Not sure if that thing will give us a choice.”
“It triggered all the protections within the maze. The Avatars are aware and coming.” He pointed off to the north side of the glade. A shimmering in the air soon coalesced into silvery ropes of power swirling up from the ground.
Gaze snapping to the spider thing galloping toward them and then back to the shimmering portal forming in the north corner of the glade, she did some quick calculations and knew there was a chance the Avatars would not make it in time.
She glanced over her shoulder and briefly met Gryton’s eyes. “You can curse me out in the afterlife if this doesn’t work.”
Erika lunged forward and broke into a sprint, running like all hell was breaking loose. Because that’s what would happen if the atomic spider reached Gryton. She and the spider closed the distance swiftly.
It wasn’t until the spider’s giant legs took up her field of vision that it occurred to her the assassin spell couldn’t s
ee her. Or, perhaps, it didn’t care, it was so focused on its primary target.
Putting on a burst of speed, she leaped at it. And then gasped out a surprised grunt a moment later when she fell through its leg. Having expected more substance to the appendage, she was shocked to find herself falling forward into the slightly denser core of its body.
All around her, the spell shrieked, deafening in its intensity. Gasping and choking, she gagged on the magic. So much power. The normal tingling that accompanied her feeding was now a burning under her skin.
She screamed along with the assassin spell, but her gift continued to absorb more and more of the golden energy until the spell turned pallid. The spider’s legs crumpled under it as it collapsed around her. She could see through it now, see the Avatars rushing toward her from one direction and the soldiers from another.
And farther back, Gryton stood with a surprised look on his face.
She’d never seen an expression quite like that on his face before. If she’d had the concentration, she would have peered into his head to see what he was thinking, but as it was, all she could do was slump forward onto the ground as her vision sparkled with snow and her body burned.
Blessedly, the sensation of feeding stopped.
And then so too did everything else.
Ah, shit. Did I just die? This life was just getting interesting.
Chapter 38
Gryton
HE HAD HATED THE FEELING of uselessness he felt at being unable to fight the djinn’s assassin spell, but he’d needed time to study it, to learn how to fight it. But before he could understand its composition and find a weakness to attack, the Null had tossed herself into the spell spider.
He...
He hadn’t recognized the feeling in his core, an icy cold sensation no fire elemental should ever feel. It took the long moments while the Null absorbed the djinn’s spell for Gryton to fully understand the cold feeling.
It was fear.
But not for himself. He feared for someone else.
Not concern. Not unease. Fear.
Forbidden rages of the Divine Ones! He’d been afraid the Null would be killed.
Gryton rocked back on his heels. While he wanted to stand frozen as he processed the new and very unwelcome feeling, he needed to study the remains of the spell before it dissipated completely. And he also needed to check on the Null to be certain she lived.
He...
He would need her later if he had any hope of killing the Lady of Battles and the Lord of the Underworld. It was that simple. His welfare was tied to hers. Of course he should feel some concern for what befell her until his mission was complete.
His sire and dam were already with the Null when he approached.
“How is she?” he found himself asking instead of studying the remains of the spell.
Lillian was leaning over Erika, her fingers at her throat. “If she wasn’t a Null, I’d use magic to determine her condition, but she’s already gorged herself on the djinn’s power. The last thing she needs is more magic entering her overtaxed body.”
He knelt next to them. “But she’ll recover?”
“Of course I’ll recover,” the Null said, her voice not much more than a gravelly growl. “Balls! I hurt.”
The tightly coiled ball of fear eased its icy grip on his heart, and he plastered a disdainful look on his face. “Ah. I see you’re alive. I had hoped for a coma at least. So much for the few days of peace I’d been hoping for.”
“Shit out of luck. I’ll be back on my feet sooner than you can direct a glower at me.”
She started to sit up but grabbed her head and groaned. Gryton slipped an arm under her shoulders so she wouldn’t fall back and crack her thick skull.
“Easy,” he muttered as he helped lower her back to the ground.
“Actually, a coma doesn’t sound so bad. A nice nap. A few days’ rest.”
“You’ve done enough. Stay here, Erika. I’ll go see what the lovely Vaspara has to tell us.” Gryton turned and started over toward the fallen captain only to run up against twelve humans pointing their guns at him.
Sighing, he halted and glanced over his shoulder at his Avatar parents.
“They have orders to shoot you if you try to go anywhere without Private Emerson,” Gregory added helpfully.
Pressing his lips into a narrow, humorless line, Gryton regarded his sire and then looked back at the Null.
“Nope.” His mother stepped in front of him, blocking his view of the human. “You will not grab the poor woman and drag her caveman style over to the captain just so you can interrogate her.”
The Sorceress started toward where Vaspara was still slumped and called back over her shoulder, “You will stay with Erika while your father and I investigate the Battle Goddess’s assassin to see what other trick or traps she might be harboring.”
“I saw one of the blood witch’s twisted spells controlling Vaspara when she first attacked me,” Gryton said to his mother’s retreating back.
“I would expect as much, given what you, Anna, and Obsidian have already shared with us about that place.” His mother paused and glanced over her shoulder. “We’ll update you as soon as we know more.”
“Thank you.” The words felt strange on his tongue but not as odd as the earlier feeling of fear. It was unsettling. He didn’t even glower as the guards herded him back to Private Emerson and then encircled them.
Shortly after his parents went to check on Vaspara, Anna and Obsidian arrived with another company of human soldiers. Their arrival offered him a distraction from his unsettling thoughts. But the newly-made Rasoren and Kyrsu soon approached the Avatars.
Gryton knelt next to Erika while he watched the others. He wanted to know if Vaspara would survive, but he also found he didn’t want to leave his Null keeper when she was so weak. He raised his helmet’s visor and looked down at Erika.
She blinked up at him as if trying to bring him into focus.
“Howdy.”
“Hello,” he offered. “Erika, are you—”
“I will be fine, Hot Stuff.” Her laughter turned into a moan.
If he could heal her, he would have. But healing was never one of his powers, and the last thing she needed was more magic.
She cleared her throat. “There is one silver lining in all this.”
“Hmmm?”
“I finally got you to call me by my name. We can work on rank and surname later.”
He rolled his eyes and then forced his attention to the others before he revealed something even more damning to the human. “Rest now, Null. I’m sure you’ll be back to feeding on me in no time.”
“You got that right.” She closed her eyes after that, and while he sensed she wasn’t asleep, she wasn’t aware of her surroundings either.
Convinced that she would not die, he turned his attention to his other concerns.
While he’d never lowered his guard enough to form friendships, Vaspara was one of the captains he’d trusted the most. He somehow doubted it was random chance that Taryin had used Vaspara to deliver the assassin spell. And if Vaspara had been successful, she would have died moments after him, along with everyone else on this planet.
He forced his fists to relax. That Vaspara was here must mean she’d still been loyal to him even after he’d defected. Otherwise, the Battle Goddess wouldn’t have sent one of her most skilled captains on this suicide mission.
But where was Sorac?
The firedrake was never far from the succubus if there was a dangerous mission. Gryton remembered the coiling, red-brown ropes of blood magic that had covered Vaspara when he’d first seen her.
Sorac must be dead. Otherwise, there was no way he’d allow the blood witch to have Vaspara. While the firedrake and the succubus always hid it well, he’d been certain they were in love with each other. It was their one significant weakness. And had likely been exploited in some fashion to defeat the two.
He only hoped Sorac’s death had been sw
ift.
Soft conversation drifted on the breeze and Gryton listened without difficulty.
Anna was leaning over Vaspara. “She didn’t have this blood magic taint last time we faced her and Sorac in battle during the raid on Lord Draydrak’s island.”
“No,” Obsidian agreed. “This is new and terribly powerful. The witch is learning new skills.” With that ominous statement, the big gargoyle stepped back to allow Lillian and Gregory to better examine the unconscious succubus.
“Help me up,” Erika hissed, drawing his gaze back to her upraised hand.
“Wait until one of your human medical teams get here.”
“Help me up, or I swear to God—”
“Fine, but if you faint, I will toss you over my shoulder and lug you back to my cage and lock you in until you recover.” Gryton reached down and hoisted her up.
“I don’t faint.”
“Good.” He paused and then lowered his voice so the other guards standing around wouldn’t hear. “But you should know the amount of energy one of your kind can absorb varies from Null to Null. So does recovery time. I also remember reading a Null’s abilities grow stronger with use and age. The older, or the more battles they’ve seen, the more magic they can absorb. You’re still very young in this lifetime. Have a care you don’t overindulge and get yourself killed.”
“Ah. Knew you cared.”
He glowered at her. “Do I need to remind you it has nothing to do with your welfare and everything to do with mine?”
“Liar. Been in your head. I know it’s more than that.” She grinned suddenly. “Come on. Let’s go see this Vaspara.”
With a disgruntled huff, Gryton took more of her weight and helped her walk, the rest of the guard unit flanking them. They reached the outskirts of the other group in time to hear Anna speaking.
“She was strict,” Anna agreed, “but never unfair. There are other captains I’d wish dead first.”
“Vaspara was a loyal and respected woman. I vouch for her as well,” Gryton offered. “Not that my word means anything to any of you.”
The Complete Gargoyle and Sorceress Boxset (Books 1-9) Page 178