The siren’s gaze was a physical weight, all stern willpower and focused magic crashing against Lillian’s mind, raising gooseflesh along with defensive instincts.
At any moment, she expected to feel a sharp pain as Gran’s spell triggered and shredded her eardrums. One moment passed and then another and another, and still the siren didn’t sing.
“Welcome,” Tethys said, her voice clear and buoyant, free of anything that could be called musical enchantment.
Lillian only gave the siren a slight nod in answer, but she eased forward away from the green maze walls. She didn’t relax, was in fact more than ready to launch into a full heart-pounding, adrenaline-filled sprint for safety, but managed what she hoped was an outwardly calm exterior as she said, “Why did you attack my people and what do you want?”
“An attack implies harm. And I have harmed none here tonight. And as for why I’m here?” Tethys made an elegant gesture with one hand in the general direction of Gregory. “Why, I want the same thing as him, ultimately.”
Lillian hadn’t expected a response, not in words at least and was taken aback by the siren’s easy answer. However, she highly doubted Tethys’ and Gregory’s end game were even remotely in the same ballpark—they probably weren’t even on the same planet for comparison purposes.
“Nice try.” Inwardly, Lillian winced at her flippant tone. It always helped to aggravate older beings of immense power, after all.
The siren tilted her head in thought and fanned her tail to splash water over herself. When her upper body was again thoroughly wet, she pointed at Gregory with one long finger. “Deep down, and it might not even be very deep, he wants the same as me—to help this world find its balance so it can heal.”
“Heal you might say, and yet your tone implies the opposite.” Lillian paced a wide circle around the statue-like Fae as she made her way toward Gregory. It didn’t matter if it was a trap, she had to know her gargoyle’s condition.
Tethys aligned herself to Lillian, but she made no threatening move to prevent her from reaching her goal. “You must not know the other half of your soul half as well as you once did.” She nodded at Lillian and continued, “I wish for us to be allies against the seductive darkness, the taint which touches all in this land, even you.”
Lillian mimicked the siren’s elegant gesture and pointed to the statue-like Fae. “Not the way to gain allies.”
“No, but the situation demands immediate action if this world is to survive.” The siren glanced at Gregory. “Your gargoyle knows this even if you have forgotten. The Fae trapped in this Realm have become complacent. They can feel the world slipping toward disaster, yet they do nothing to guide the humans. Now the humans are nearly too powerful to counter.”
Tethys splashed herself with water and then used her powerful tail to drive herself higher up the grass covered bank until she was three quarters of the way out of the water. “Humans have a weakness at their core, a rot they’ve never been able to outpace, a greed which demands more and more. They are never satisfied with what they have. They think only of themselves, never about the planet as a living entity.” The siren made a vague, yet all-encompassing gesture with one arm. “They think the planet is theirs. Such ignorance. They are such a young species, and unlikely to become an old one. Early on, I hoped they would grow beyond their self-destructive tendencies, but they have not and the world is running out of time. The planet will flourish without them, but they will not survive without the Earth.”
She knew where all this was going, but didn’t know how to derail the conversation or change the siren’s mind. If it was even possible. Lillian had come here with the plan to save her gargoyle, having to save the whole damned planet hadn’t factored into her plans.
Oh, hell. I have to try something. “Many of the humans are aware of the crisis and are working to change things.”
The siren laughed. “A handful of humans trying to undo the damages created by the rest of the human horde will not save this Realm or the billions of innocent non-human victims.”
“No, but what if we help them. The humans have so much drive, so much potential and creative power, so much passion to offer. They deserve a chance to fulfill that potential and find their place in the universe. You said it yourself. They are a young species. They can still learn. Surely the Fae can help heal the damage already done.” Even while Lillian’s brain spat out the words, she knew they were said in desperation. How could she hope to convince Tethys when she hadn’t even been able to sway Gregory, not really?
“You think the humans will just welcome the Fae and their guidance? Humans hate anything different. They commit murder over religious differences and even something as minor as skin of a different tone. How do you think they will treat the Fae? Look to the past. They burned their own kind. No, I have wasted too much time waiting for the humans to overcome their inherently flawed natures. If one cancerous branch of the evolutionary tree must be pruned out for the survival of the rest, so be it. And if I must lead by example, I shall. But I cannot take on all the billions of humans by myself. I will need allies. First among them will be you and your gargoyle.”
“Ah, I beg to differ.” Lillian wished she had more of a plan. Why did the villains always come so freaking well-informed and in possession of a kickass arsenal? But more importantly, what had become of Gran and the unicorn? Aloud she said, “Besides, I have a problem with doing what I’m told. Just ask Gregory. I’m always going behind his back and getting into trouble. Oh hell. Maybe trouble just likes me. But for whatever reason, I’ve been forced to get myself out of a tight spot a time or two on my own. There’s no way I’m going to just roll over and allow you to use either Gregory or myself.”
Tethys gave what could only be called a longsuffering sigh. “I had hoped to reason with you and the gargoyle,” she said and then tilted her head and frowned at Lillian. “Did you know you once saved my life, long ago before I mistakenly came to this Realm? I was much younger than, and arrogant in my youth. I’d thought myself strong enough to take on a demon, a true demon from the age of darkness before there was light in the universe—not one of those weak half breeds which call themselves the Riven. I misjudged the strength of the beast laired in a volcanic vent near my home territory. It was tainting everything near it with its’ evil. I hunted it to its lair and attempted to slay it. I managed to hurt it, but it did me greater injury, a mortal wound.”
Lillian inclined her head when the siren hesitated.
“I thought I was going to die there at the mouth of the vent, surrounded by its evil, my soul forfeit, never to know peace. As a last act, I sent out a call to warn all my fellow sirens of the danger. A siren’s power spikes just before death, and my call went out far beyond my ocean realm, out across the realm of magic in all directions. I never expected help to come. But you answered.”
Tethys looked Lillian up and down. “The Sorceress, as you are supposed to be, not as you are now. You came, your power a vast light around you, chasing away the shadows, exposing the ocean floor and leaving the demon in the light. So blinded by the brightness, the creature didn’t even see your Gargoyle Protector until he’d already cleaved the demon in two. While your gargoyle dispatched the taint and healed the living creatures around the vent, you cocooned me in your power and healed me. You made me far stronger than I was to begin with.” The siren chuckled, “and you ordered me to ask for aid the next time I planned to battle a demon from the ancient times.”
Stronger? What a dumbass thing to do. “What unfortunate judgment on the part of my older self,” she said and then realized the filter on her mouth had failed completely. To be honest, she been taken aback by Tethys’s words. The siren had known the Sorceress, had actually shared something freely, which would have taken months to drag out of Gregory.
Lillian loved him and trusted him with her life; however, he had kept secrets from her in the past, and he almost never talked of what she was like as the Sorceress, or at least he never shared sto
ries about their past lives. Was that normal, or some new mechanism he’d developed to protect his emotions?
But now wasn’t the time to worry over their personal lives, not when there was an age old siren talking of the extinction of the human race like she was talking about wiping out a nest of termites.
“I was surprised to find your hamadryad is in fact the Sorceress at the moment. Did you know I tried reasoning with your tree before I attempted to put your gargoyle under my spell? But a dryad’s tree, while intelligent after a fashion, doesn’t think like either of us, and I couldn’t make her understand the threat the humans represent. She knows good and evil, but she doesn’t understand why complacency empowers evil. I suppose the nature of a hamadryad is not one of action.”
“Never really thought about it.”
“Your gargoyle, he and I had an interesting conversation while he slept. He loves the humans no more than I, but he loves you, and you somehow extorted a promise from him to allow the humans to continue as they are without intervention. With such a promise, you made him go against his very nature. He is a protector, a balancer, a destroyer of evil.”
“I figured he had enough on his plate at the moment.”
Tethys flicked herself with water in a lazy fashion. “Did you know the Riven could not exist without the weakness of man? Yet, you asked Gregory to turn a blind eye to the human evil all around.”
“Strange, I thought the Fae were also in danger of becoming hosts to the Riven.”
“Only here, in this Realm, where they are forced to expend so much magic simply to hide themselves from the humans.” Tethys flexed her arms and lifted herself into a sitting position. “Beware dryad, there is a greater danger than the Riven; you are changing your Gargoyle Protector, infecting him with your mortal weakness and your human-centric moral compass. You have also taught your gargoyle how to lie. He is an Avatar to the father of us all and yet he has come close to breaking some of those vows for you. He yearns to love you as a mate.”
Lillian narrowed her eyes, annoyance overriding fear for the first time in hours. “And what concern is it of yours?”
Tethys’s laugh had a tone both beautiful and chilling at the same time. “It will be every sentient being’s concern if you do not do something to curb your dire influence over your gargoyle. You say you won’t allow me to use either of you, that I and my plans for humanity are evil. But it is you, and your weakness, which taints your gargoyle. If you continue as you are, you will give the Lady of Battles exactly what she wants.”
Lillian’s stomach cramped like she had rocks in it. The siren’s words were dreadful, because they struck with note after note of truth.
Had she really forced Gregory to be other than he was supposed to be? And would he be punished for those changes she had inflicted on him? Gregory would never tell her.
Focus. Think of something else, she chanted in her mind. “What you say does have a ring of truth, but I can’t just stand by and allow you to murder all the humans the world over.”
The siren laughed, a bright, clear sound. “They’re doing a fine job themselves, I merely propose to help them along. And it need not be all of them, half would be enough to collapse their civilization. Their technology would fail and they would be back to living off the land and sea within a generation.”
“It’s still mass murder.”
The siren stared Lillian down like she was talking to a child. “Poachers killed 20,000 elephants for their ivory last year. On my journey here, it was just one story I read about in something called a magazine dedicated to wildlife. Humans murder out of greed, desperation, and madness. Do humans not put down rabid animals? I’ll merely be doing the same thing on a larger scale.”
“What about those trying to change? What about the innocent children who have no control over what their elders do? Would you murder helpless infants?
“Ah, you truly are young, child-like almost. Is this what remains of the Sorceress with all her knowledge and wisdom stripped away? An innocent. I see why the Gargoyle Protector can’t protect himself from you. You work great damage with your wholesome innocence.” Tethys snorted. “A deadly temptation to a gargoyle. I’m surprised he hasn’t given in and just had you. You wouldn’t be able to resist him even if you wanted to.” The siren’s lips turned up in a smile. “But you wouldn’t really put up a fight.”
Lillian’s fingers tightened on her crossbow as she fought the urge to just take a shot and hope for the best.
Tethys sighed and made a soothing noise. “Don’t get all confrontational, dryad. We both know I speak the truth.”
“Your version,” Lillian snapped.
“I don’t lie. I never have. Sirens are always forthright in our answers. Think about what I’ve said. We are not enemies. I can help free you and your gargoyle from the trap the Lady of Battles devised for you.”
“We don’t need the kind of help you’re offering.”
“Yes, your hamadryad is doing a fine job of killing the demon seed trapped within—it was very ingenious of the tree to remove it from you while she healed you. And I would judge the tree to finish her work in another three or four months. But I doubt you and Gregory have the time. Either the Lady of Battles will send her minions, or you and Gregory will give in to the desire growing between you.”
“I won’t allow it to…”
Tethys cut her off with a slashing motion of one arm. “I can offer you another option. I am powerful enough to sing the demon seed to death. Then I can help you rejoin your hamadryad and you can take back your soul and become the Sorceress as she was meant to be. Once you are whole, the Lady of Battles will be unable to withstand your joint power. You can take the battle to her and teach her it is unwise to pit oneself against the Avatars of the Divine Ones.”
Oh, it sounded so tempting, Lillian thought, but for one little detail. “Is this the same deal you offered Gregory while he slept in stone? Since you’re now pandering it to me, I take it your plan didn’t go so well.”
“No, it didn’t have the effect I’d hoped,” the siren answered and laughed openly. “He said he might have said yes had he also thought you’d ever forgive him. So I come to you with the same deal.”
“And a very tempting deal it is, except for one rather large detail. Well, more like 3.5 billion smaller details. I think that is how many souls my decision would cost. I won’t barter one soul to save myself; I certainly won’t trade a few billion innocent human lives just so I can become the Sorceress again. No bloody deal.”
She snapped the crossbow into position and loosed the bolt. It flew true, its trajectory level with the siren’s upper body. With an impossible gesture too fast to follow, Tethys swatted the bolt, knocking it to the side where it embedded itself in the muddy bank. Lillian was already reloading it when the crossbow took up a subtle vibration in her hands. It lasted for all of three seconds, and then she was suddenly clenching empty air, gaping with sickening astonishment at where it had been.
“Ah,” Tethys said, sounding as calm as a lazy summer morning, as if Lillian hadn’t even attempted a shot, “That’s what your gargoyle said you would say, apparently he knows you better than you know him. But that doesn’t change my goal. You’ve forced my hand. I had so hoped you would make this easy. I truly don’t want to enslave your gargoyle. He is such a noble beast. So much better had it come from you.”
Her heart pounding in her throat, Lillian glared at the siren, not liking the turn of events but admitting it was going exactly the way she feared it would. Not knowing what to say next or how to extract herself and her gargoyle from immediate danger, Lillian fell back on pure bravado.
“If you could have enchanted Gregory, you already would have, and you wouldn’t need me to give him any orders.”
“True and false,” Tethys said with a mysterious smile.
“And what does that mean?”
“Gregory is male. Under the correct situation, I could eventually win him over. He’s still weakened from e
xpelling large quantities of magic to produce weapons for the land-bound Fae. It would be the perfect time to enchant him. Unfortunately, while he remains in stone, my power cannot touch him. So now he can heal, grow stronger, all while being impervious to my song. Once he is at full strength, he will awaken. At which point, it won’t go well for me. If he lets me live, I imagine it will be locked away behind a powerful spell.”
The siren pointed to the maze’s northern exit, and then pushed herself backward until her lower half was below the water line.
Lillian jerked around as she caught an unpleasant odor. Something unwholesome was coming. She could sense it deep down in the soles of her feet; the forest around her gave warning, the trees aware of an evil passing through their domain. She took a step back, the unconscious move drew Tethys’ attention away from Gregory and back to her.
“Young dryad, stay. There is something I want to show you.” There was a commotion at the north entrance of the maze, accompanied by much growling and snarling as a tall, humanoid figure was shoved forward at sword point. The unidentified person dropped down into a defensive crouch. Three Fae followed close at his heels, hemming him in and directing his momentum.
Lillian snarled in recognition and two-inch black claws emerged from the tips of her fingers.
The Riven answered her in kind, its snarl harsh on her ears.
Chapter Twenty-Four
While she was less than happy to see one of them here in her grove, she held her position—not truly afraid of one lone Riven. If she had to, she could fight it in her gargoyle form. That nature simmered just below the surface, demanding she answer the challenge, eager to dispatch the Riven sullying her grove. Instead of forcing the dominant bloodline back, she held it in check, ready if she needed it, but stopped short of a full shift, which might neutralize her grandmother’s spell. That spell might be her last chance of escaping the siren.
Sorceress Rising (A Gargoyle and Sorceress Tale Book 2) Page 15