To both sides, the other gargoyles were doing the same while carrying a double load of dryad riders. Once the battle was engaged, the dryads would take to the ground, freeing the gargoyles to fight on foot alongside them or in the air as needed.
“There,” Lillian said directly into his mind. “On the steps. There’s the blood witch...”
Lillian’s words trailed off as her eyes settled on the figure behind the witch. It was the djinn.
Naharnin, we will rescue you or free you to return to the spirit realm, Gregory vowed.
“I don’t see or sense the vessel the witch would have used to trap the djinn,” Lillian said, sounding more annoyed than worried about that fact. “No matter. It will be near. I’ll find it.”
“I can’t sense Naharnin even though he’s in sight.” Gregory wasn’t sure how that was possible, but he didn’t like the new development. In the past, he’d always been able to sense a trapped djinn. Was this one of the ways he’d been weakened after Gryton’s birth?
What other ways was he now less? On the battlefield was never a good place to learn such things.
Alas, the witch soon reached the bottom of the stairway and began walking through the town at its base. Gregory’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t remember anything in the reports about a village here. But the witch was soon through the town and already moving swiftly toward the portal spells where they waited in standby mode. She hadn’t even reached the three walls of shimmering power before she began to feed more magic into them. But that wasn’t what caught his attention. A secondary power stirred along his senses. This wasn’t the witch or the djinn.
Gregory glanced back up the slope where the red stairs rose up into the fortress city. Rich blue magic with ribbons of darkness swirling through it flowed down the stairs, cascading over the steps like water over rocks.
It would have been pretty if he hadn’t known the source.
The Lady of Battles was adding her own power to the portal spell. With the added energy, the portals were once again growing in size. The great workings of magic thrummed like the deepest tone of a war harp.
“Now,” Lillian shouted as she rose up and dropped her cloaking shadow magic cover.
All along the slope, gargoyles and dryads rose up with her, summoning battle magic. Gregory joined them, a great spear of power forming in his hands. Screaming a challenge, he took to the air and winged his way down the slope. The fastest fliers in the legion followed on his tail.
Picking out his first target, he loosed his spear and took down a great troll of a creature. There were likely many far deadlier monsters, but the beast had already been running up the slope toward Gregory’s Sorceress.
No one would touch her while he lived.
As if sensing Lillian’s presence even surrounded by the legion racing forward to do battle, several of the nearest enemy battalions launched their own magical attack in the vicinity of his Sorceress. The first wave of weaponized magic hit the shield he’d erected around her and then he was roaring a second challenge, unleashing waves of deadly shadow magic as he flew.
The dark wave raced across the sky ahead of him for several heartbeats before it twisted in the air and arrowed down, impaling the leading edge of the enemy army. In a part of his mind not directed at the battle, he felt his lady summon an even greater wave of magic.
“Destroy all those with evil intent, my Lady.”
“OH, YOU WANT TO DESTROY Earth, do you?” Lillian asked the blood witch even though she knew the other woman wouldn’t be able to hear her over the battle magic being hurled back and forth. “Well, I have a little surprise for you.”
Reaching out with a vast wave of raw spirit magic, she shaped the power to her will. Moments later, her magic collided with the first of the portal spells and merged with it. Shortly, her power reached the next two and sank into their complex weavings.
“Yes. That’s it,” she crooned as she instructed her vastly stronger power to take command of the portal spells. “You’re mine now.”
Grinning a toothy gargoyle grin, she looked to the startled blood witch and sent her words flying to the other woman’s ear. “You are a green amateur compared to me, Witch. Let me show you what true power feels like and what it can do to one’s enemies.”
She closed her eyes and spread her wings, power rising up from her body and flowing down from above as she drew energy from the fissure she’d opened. The force continued to build until her wings shook with the strain of containing it. Then with a shout of joy, she loosed another wave of pure spirit magic at the witch.
It rushed down the slope and into the valley, vaporizing anything not powerful enough to withstand a wave of spirit magic. Even those enemies with personal shields strong enough to withstand the immediate assault did not escape unscathed and were knocked down like trees in a hurricane.
Focusing her will, she ordered the wave of spirit magic to shrink in upon itself, forming a heavier, denser substance in the moments before it hit the blood witch.
It was entirely too satisfying to see the witch fly back a good three hundred feet to disappear among the throng of sword carrying enemies. “I think I may need to take up bowling after this.”
“Bowling?” Gregory asked along a private link. She sensed as he took out two more of the enemy with barely a pause between kills.
“It’s a human game. Never mind. I’ll tell you more later,” she paused and then added in a mental caress, “I love you.”
He purred softly in her mind, and then he was focused on the battle once more.
Lillian turned her attention back to the portal spells. Her magic had merged entirely with the spells by now and awaited her command. Good.
“Now it’s time to introduce Second Legion,” Lillian whispered to herself as she looked upon the fortress city high above.
Reaching out with one hand as magic swirled around the wrist, she sent a command embedded within the magic and flicked it toward the first of the portal spells. She repeated the action twice more, and then all three portals heaved and shuddered as they opened gateways to the Mortal Realm, but instead of where the Battle Goddess had intended, Lillian’s magic had redirected the anchors to a specific point deep in the forests east of North Bay.
The sudden opening of the gateways caused a mighty wind to sweep across the valley floor as power rushed from the Magic Realm into the Mortal. And while the enemy soldiers would have been trained to expect the imbalance trying to correct itself, this wasn’t how they’d expected it to happen.
Instead of marching into the Mortal Realm with a plentiful amount of magic racing along with them and having time to adjust to the other realm, now they would have to learn to fight with far less magic, while simultaneously having to fight a battle on two fronts.
The portals spun open wider and offered their first view of the Mortal Realm and the massive standing army of Second Legion and the Joined International Task Force.
“Enemies of the Divine Ones,” she shouted, magic rising to carry her words across the battlefield so that all might hear, “Meet Second Legion and our other allies. Your demigoddess has overstepped this time and doomed you all.”
With war, there would be unavoidable death, but Lillian wasn’t without compassion, even for her enemies. “Unlike your goddess and the blood witch, I do not crave death and destruction. If you lay down your weapons and surrender, I shall let you live. My word of honor.”
She didn’t actually expect any of them to surrender, so wasn’t surprised when a roar issued from inside the fortress and a mighty firedrake rose up over the walls and darted toward her.
He was as fierce and beautiful as all his kind. She also knew from reports from Anna, Obsidian, and Gryton that this was Sorac, one of the most formidable of the Battle Goddess’s captains. The mighty drake winged his way toward her but was hit and knocked off course by a powerful spear of magic from her protector.
“Love, I can handle a firedrake.”
He snorted. “Focus on your jo
b, which is presently the portal spells. I’ll keep the riffraff off your tail.”
“Fine. I’ll return the favor later.”
“Sorceress,” Greenborrow called and then pointed her to the portal spell and the Legion members already taking flight. “I believe our allies might require your aid.”
Hmmm. He was correct. The two enemy battalions were flanking the portal spells. If she didn’t do something, there would be a bottleneck as the humans attempted to cross.
“I was never very fond of housework, but I think now is the perfect time for a little sweeping. What say you, Greenborrow?”
The leshii chuckled in delight. “Sweep away, Great Lady.”
Chapter 20
Anna
FROM THE EARTH SIDE of the portal spell, Anna stood shoulder to shoulder with Obsidian. Together they summoned a great shield that would protect Second Legion and the Joint International Task Force long enough for everyone to cross over and get mobilized on the other side.
Anna surveyed the sea of bodies marching on the portal spells. “That looks ugly.”
Obsidian snorted at her dry comment but continued to summon magic and funnel it into the shield. She did the same. Though she was still focused on the problem on the other side of the gateway.
“There’s no easy route to join First Legion once we’re on the other side and not nearly enough room for everyone to deploy. We need to clear an area if we hope to gain a big enough foothold to allow the others to fan out.”
Obsidian grinned suddenly. “I believe my sister is already working on that.”
He jerked his muzzle in the direction of the eastern slope where Lillian was hovering, a swirling vortex of magic dancing in the air around her.
“Be ready,” Lillian said, her voice suddenly in Anna’s head. “I’m going to do a little spring cleaning. It’s certainly well past due. However, this is going to use a lot of raw power. I can only afford to do this once.”
Obsidian held his arm up, signaling to the rest of the Second Legion to be ready to fly. Anna relayed the Sorceress’s words to Major Resnick, and he passed it up the chain of command. Then Lillian was snapping her wings forward, driving all the raw power she’d just summoned from the Spirit Realm toward the three portals.
“Tell me it’s supposed to do that,” Major Resnick said as he tensed beside her.
Anna was wondering the same thing, but Obsidian was grinning like an idiot, so everything must be going according to plan.
“Think so,” Anna said to Resnick a moment before the magic washed up against the portal spells and then changed directions, racing toward the Battle Goddess’s army with renewed force.
The enemy soldiers didn’t have time to prepare an adequate defense.
“Ready!” Obsidian called again. Then to Anna, he said. “They’ll survive the power since it wasn’t forged into battle magic, but they’ll be knocked farther down the valley, giving us the opportunity to move into the area newly vacated.”
The wave collided with the first line of soldiers, sweeping them back as Obsidian said it would. The power only slowed a little, but the slowing at the front merely drove the power into a taller wave. It continued to grow in height as it rushed down the valley, carrying the right-most flank of the Battle Goddess’s army with it.
“Now!” Obsidian roared as he took to the air.
Anna was only a wingbeat behind him.
Thunder rolled through the sky as line after line of gargoyles took to the air with their dryad riders. Anna and Obsidian led the way, crossing the portal swiftly. The heated power of the portal spell was a strange burning pressure against her skin, but then it was over, and she was once again in the Magic Realm.
This time she noticed the flows of power lacked the potency they normally held, and she realized it was because so much of the magic was flowing to Earth.
“Not that now is a good time to ask, but what’s all this shit going to do to Earth?”
“The magic?” Obsidian guessed after briefly touching her thoughts. “Likely very little that will be noticeable. The fae that are not here will likely feel the return of magic, but they’ll know enough to remain hidden. They won’t suddenly rise up and attack the humans.”
Obsidian arrowed for the newly cleared ground, winging his way as swiftly as possible to the farthest edge. She kept up with her Rasoren, and when he went vertical in the air, hovering as he called upon his magic, she did the same.
Spreading their arms wide, they released their two powers. Their magic merged and formed the beginning of a wall between them. They continued to feed magic into the spell as swiftly as possible. Once it had enough to hold its form while expanding at the same time, they set it flying toward the enemy soldiers.
Anna and Obsidian followed it, dipping and darting through the air, directing power at the weakest portions until they, too, solidified. The other gargoyles reached their side and added their own magic to the ever-expanding shield wall. Once it was finished, it would provide a barrier for long enough that the rest of the allied forces could make it through.
They just had to protect it long enough that the shield became self-sustaining, drawing power from its environment.
A roar split the air. Jerking her head up from the section she was working on, she scanned the sky. It didn’t take long to spot the firedrake winging his way toward them, an angry glint in his eye.
“Think the shield is about to get tested,” Anna shouted.
Cursing, Obsidian fed more magic into the shield. “It’s not ready for something as powerful as Sorac yet.”
“I’ve got just the thing,” Major Resnick shouted as he dropped down from his gargoyle mount and landed next to them. A moment later he was barking something into the radio. He glanced back at him. “Tell your gargoyles to clear the airspace and hit the ground.”
Obsidian shouted the order both aloud and in mind speech and every gargoyle in the air dived for the ground. Fifteen seconds later, the first drone flew through the open portal spell. Five more came buzzing shortly behind the first.
Anna could see the firedrake was suspicious of the drones, but he continued on, not knowing the danger. He swiftly learned his painful mistake as the first missile locked onto him. The firedrake roared in pain as the explosion sent him careening wildly through the air.
The great beast crash-landed on the western slope. But with a shake and another loud roar, he launched himself back into the sky.
The next missile streaking toward him was engulfed in his fiery breath before it got near him. The missile’s outer casing vaporized in the elemental fire. Three seconds later, the ordnance exploded. It was too far away from the firedrake to do him damage.
Soon the big drake was munching on drones for breakfast, but secretly Anna was glad Sorac wasn’t killed. She’d always had a soft spot for him and Vaspara. And after what the succubus had revealed after the assassin spell incident, Anna felt sorry for them.
But the drones served their purpose, and the shield spell had finished maturing while the firedrake was busy. Now a curving dome surrounded the three portal spells in a vast protective shield.
“That’s it. We’re good. Let’s make the Sorceress’s sacrifice of power worth it,” Obsidian barked.
The remaining members of Second Legion didn’t need to be told twice and darted through the portal spell, their wings darkening the sky as they joined Anna and Obsidian and the advanced guard.
On the eastern slope, Anna spotted as First Legion made their descent, Gregory and Rook already in the air, leading the way.
Behind Anna, the last of Second Legion was swift to make the crossing.
Having a three-mile expanse of open gateway certainly made for a quicker mobilization than the small portal spells they’d been forced to use to travel from Haven to Earth.
The Clan and Coven came next. Whitethorn led the Wild Hunt, his sidhe brethren riding elk and fae horses. Hunting hounds and dire wolves followed close on their hooves. Anna spotted the quarter
staff-wielding form of Gran riding a blazing white fae moose. Beside her raced a dark shifting shadow—Thayn.
Gran raised her staff high above her head, motioning the rest of the Coven to ride. Most of the Coven were mounted on pookas and unicorns, but a few of them had gargoyle mounts as well.
Anna briefly admired the sight they made knowing how much work had gone into building that level of trust and cooperation.
Behind the Coven came the first of the helicopters and armored vehicles.
“Time for Second Legion to earn its keep,” Obsidian shouted as he darted toward the shield wall.
She saw the reason why. While the main force of the Battle Goddess’s army not in the line of the Sorceress’s wave was still gathering itself, one mounted unit of what had to be two thousand riders charged ahead of the rest. The four-legged lizard-like beasts moved much swifter than horses.
“Don’t let them reach the shield,” Obsidian bellowed.
Anna immediately moved to obey, outdistancing Obsidian in a few wingbeats. The shield was keyed to allow their forces to pass through it, but it became an impenetrable substance if one carrying the taint of darkness or demon blood made the attempt.
But it could only do its job if they provided it with enough power. When they’d come up with the idea, Obsidian had made the calculation using the normal amount of magic present in the Magic Realm, but with the portal spell still open wide, much of the natural magic found in the environment was flowing away into the Mortal Realm.
Obsidian caught up with her. “Don’t outrun me next time, unless you want to scare years off my life.”
Anna gave him a little mental caress in the way of apology, but it was all she had time for. The mounted riders were almost upon them. Lucky for her and Obsidian, other gargoyles were dropping out of the sky to join them. Truth landed next to them. Meadow rode on his back, a crossbow with a battle magic bolt at the ready.
“Where do you need us?” Truth asked.
“Everywhere,” Anna muttered, but Obsidian just told them to stay close. Then they were forging through the shield wall, a line of fierce gargoyles to meet two thousand mounted riders. Not what Anna would call good odds, but soon other gargoyles arrived to help drive off the mounted battalion. The Clan, Coven, and Wild Hunt were swift to join the fray
The Complete Gargoyle and Sorceress Boxset (Books 1-9) Page 192