by Julia Mills
“Rian, get the Focus Stone,” Calysta barked.
“Do you have any purified salt left?” Kyra asked.
“Do you still have the herb cachets I made?” Alicia questioned.
“Got it. Yes. Yes.” Rian answered the witches’ questions in order aloud and in his mind.
“Here’s what we’re going to do. The girls are going to form the Power of Seven Circle again. I’m gonna need you guys to form a circle around the hellhound and Drago. Rian, did you do as I asked?”
“I did.”
“Dammit, Calysta, the boy is doing as he’s told, can you just get on with it.” Maddox was snarkier than usual. It made Rian wonder what the crazy old dragon knew that he didn’t.
“Look, you pain in the ass dragon, I didn’t get to be Grand Priestess by leaving things to chance.”
“Calysta...” Maddox growled before being interrupted by Rory.
“Now, now, kiddies, no arguing until after we get the Assassin out of the fire.”
“Rory...” Calysta, Rian, and Maddox all grumbled in unison.
“Yeah, yeah I know I need to be bitch slapped. Whatever. Do it later.” Rory rolled his eyes but Rian could hear an underlying trepidation in his youngest brother’s voice and noticed the wound on his arm had bled through the T-shirt/tourniquet on his arm.
Wonder why he’s not healing? Gotta be because we’re still in this God forsaken place.
“The kid’s right. What do we do now, Grand Priestess?” Maddox asked with tremendous sarcasm accenting Calysta’s title.
Ignoring the crazy dragon, Calysta instructed, “Put the Focus Stone as close to the fire as possible. Form a Circle with the purified salt. Then y’all stand outside the Circle with your toes as close as you can to the salt without disturbing it. Close it with this simple spell—Gods, Goddesses, Guardian Angels, and Spiritual Guides, please be present with us during this ritual. Bless this Circle and keep us protected. No unwanted entities are welcome here. Only pure, divine beings are welcome into this space. The Circle is cast. So mote it be. Blessed be. Blessed be. Then take the bags of herbs and each person drop them at your feet.
“When you’ve done all that join hands and everyone must say the following in unison, “Quench an tine! Quench an tine! Mharú an draíocht dubh! Scaoileadh an dragan! Do you understand?”
Rian had never heard Calysta talk so fast or repeat herself so many times. She was also moving around so much and so quickly that most of the time he was looking at the leaves on the trees over her head. The Guardsmen all had a theory about what was going on and it seemed the witches were in agreement but no one was saying it aloud.
“Yes, ma’am. We’re ready.”
“The Circle is closed?” Calysta questioned.
“Calysta, Rian said he was doing it. We’re ready for the spell. Are you?” Maddox answered the Grand Priestess as testily as she had questioned Rian. There was definitely something going on with those two that the Dragon Leader had not the time or inclination to examine at the moment.
Motioning to Audrey, he said, “Come here, a mhuirnín.”
“But...”
“But nothing. You are my mate. This is all part of it. We’re saving our own. The love you and I share, our bond...the one we’ve forged between you, me, and my beast will make our dragon magic stronger.”
He could see the doubt on her face but was overjoyed when she came to him without further delay. She was part of their clan. Had been from the first moment he laid eyes on her. No better time for her to realize not all magic was bad. It was going to take time but slowly, Rian planned to erase the last hundred years of pain with thousands of years of happiness.
As soon as her hand was in his and was tucked between him and Maddox, Rian nodded and the Guardsmen, along with the witches, repeated the spell Calysta had given them just moments ago. They all stared at the fire as they repeated—Quench the fire! Quench the fire! Kill the black magic! Release the dragon—over and over.
The longer they chanted, the more the fire changed colors, like a kaleidoscope. First red, then orange, then yellow, repeatedly, color-to-color on a loop until they were whirling so quickly it was a blur.
“Throw the last bag of purified salt on the fire and say the chant one more time as loud as you can,” Calysta commanded.
No sooner had the white crystals hit the flames than they burst to the ceiling, hissing and whistling before immediately falling to the ground. The fire became translucent although still holding the same colors, only washed out as if they’d been bleached.
Rian couldn’t believe his eyes. A quick glance around the Circle confirmed that all the Guardsmen were either opening and closing their eyes or shaking their heads in disbelief. He could hear their thoughts of utter shock and awe and wondered if maybe it was a mass hallucination caused from way too long in hell. Audrey and Maddox seemed to be the only ones taking the craziness before them in stride.
“You okay?” he asked his mate, squeezing her hand for reassurance.
“Would you be surprised to know that’s not the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen down here?” She snickered, melting away some of Rian’s anxiety.
Turning to the crazy dragon, the Dragon Leader watched Maddox take the stone of Rose Quartz out of its polished silver setting. He noted the burn marks on the tips of the older dragon’s fingers from contact with the caustic metal and figured that was why he was dismantling the amulet, but true to form, the crazy dragon was full of surprises.
Discarding the silver, Maddox uttered, “Ara is chugainn mo dheartháireacha,” and threw the stone into the fire.
A blast that reminded Rian of the land mines him and Kellan had led their men through during their time in the armed forces filled the cavern. Thankfully, there was no shrapnel with this explosion. The only side effects were the ringing in their ears and the black dots before their eyes.
As the dust settled, the picture was clear. The fire had been extinguished. The sigils on the box had ceased to glow. And what they had all believed to be a figment of their imagination was lying right in front of them. There was no denying it.
“Just to be sure I’m not losing my mind, y’all see what I see, right?” Lennox asked. It was the first time he’d spoken since their descent.
“Yes, Lenn, we all see it,” Pearce responded as Zen as always.
Maddox walked forward, knelt down, and shook his head. “I swear I’m getting too old for this shit.”
Rian could only nod in agreement as he looked at Drago lying unconscious with no physical signs of having spent several long minutes in a blazing inferno, but also another man of the same Force the dragons had memorialized close to a century ago. Kayne’s shoulder-length white-blonde hair was stringy and matted but still matched the color of his majestic golden beast. His body had many scars that had his dragon been allowed to, would’ve been healed, but their brethren had apparently been cut off from his dragon for almost as many years as he’d been lost to his kin. It was the only explanation Rian could come up with and it also explained why none of them had known their brethren was trapped in the body of a hellhound.
Groaning, first Drago then Kayne rolled over and sat up. The Assassin squinted then laughed aloud. “Leave it to you to make a grand entrance. Always had to live up to your birthright didn’t you?” Just before a pair of sweatpants that Kellan had retrieved from his bag hit the golden dragon in the chest, followed by a mumbled “Cover up, my man.”
The group erupted into laughter as Kayne looked at each Guardsman with utter disbelief until his gaze landed on Audrey. His lips opened and closed several times. He cleared his throat then tried again to no avail. Declan tossed a bottle of water to Drago, who opened it and handed it to his brethren.
Downing it in one gulp, Kayne again cleared his throat and this time got a deep, scratchy growl to emerge. Shaking his head and coughing, he tried again, and this time was able to say, “You killed the bastard,” before managing a crooked smile.
Guess as a hellhou
nd, he’s outta practice.
Smiling one of her beautiful smiles, Audrey stepped forward after Kayne had stood and pulled on the sweats and stopped in front of him. “Thank you. I owe you my life. In between the beatings and the cages of the last month, I realized how many times over the years you did your best to keep me out of harm’s way, even when my mouth insisted on pushing every one of Adramelech’s buttons. I know you did what you had to do to survive, we all did. But you always tried to do it so that I wasn’t hurt, unlike Bás and the other hounds, who took pleasure in anyone’s pain but their own.”
She looked over her shoulder at Rian. Without speaking a word, he knew what she was asking and nodded for her to continue. Turning back to Kayne, the princess leaned forward and hugged the golden dragon. Normally, seeing his mate in the arms of another man, especially a dragon, would’ve sent both man and beast into a jealous rage, but this time Rian understood and would thank the brethren in his own way when they were safe and topside.
“All right people, we can all hold hands and sing Kumbaya when we see sunshine and green grass.” Then to the other golden dragon in the room. “Kayne, I’m damn glad you’re back. Life was getting really boring being the only golden left. We’ll catch up later, ‘kay?” Not waiting for an answer before calling to everyone, he added, “I don’t know if y’all noticed, but thundering hordes are headed this way. I’m thinking they’re not taking too kindly to us killing their Chancellor. It’s just a guess, but let’s not hang around to find out, cool?” Lance already had his pack on his shoulder and was heading toward a tunnel at the back of the chamber.
“Do you know something we don’t?” Rory hollered.
“Yeah, where ya’ going, you big pain in the ass?” Royce added.
Answering over his shoulder, Lance yelled, “The opposite way of the beasties after our asses. Care to join?”
Brannoc laughed aloud while grabbing his gear. “The big jerk is actually going the right way. Go figure.”
“Then let’s get the hell outta hell,” Declan said, making everyone laugh while he looked confused at their amusement.
Rian stopped beside Drago and Kayne and asked the Assassin while grinning at the golden dragon, “Think we oughta take this guy home.”
“Damn straight, lead the way, boy.”
Rian had to laugh as he grabbed Audrey and lifted her into his arms. Who other than another dragon would call a hundred and sixty-five-year-old man ‘boy’? His mate struggled a bit while complaining, “Put me down, Rian. I can walk.”
“I’m well aware you can, but we’re gonna be doing more than walking and not only will you not be able to keep up but your poor feet have seen enough abuse.” Kissing the tip if her nose, he continued, “Just let me do this, please?”
Sighing loudly, Audrey said “Okay,” a second before the Dragon Leader swung his mate around until she was riding piggyback and yelled, “Hold on.”
Using their enhanced speed, the dragons followed Lance and Brannoc as they led them down one long, dark, passageway after another. They passed all manner of creepy crawly beings and beasties that defied all the laws of nature, but none tried to stop them. As a matter of fact, more times than not the evil little creatures cringed and backed away.
Even traveling almost faster than the eye could track it seemed to take forever for the group to reach the large granite statue of Hades sitting on his Throne of Skulls with Cerberus, the King of hell’s three-headed dog, at his feet. Setting Audrey down, Rian pulled out the journal she’d stolen from Adramelech all those years ago and opened it to the last page. With no way to communicate with the witches topside, the Dragon Leader had to hope they’d remained nearby and would feel their dragon magic working the spell.
Just to be certain, he asked, “Lance, Jace, Royce, Liam, Drago—can ya’ll try to contact your mates. Tell them we’re here and we’re about to blow this pop stand.”
Nods from them all and the familiar buzz of their mate mindspeak had Rian trusting in the Universe and Fate to take care of them as he prepared the exit ritual just as Kyra had taught him. Unwrapping the bronze mesh from the silver box holding the Focus Stone, the Dragon Leader opened the lid and placed it at the feet of the statue of Hades. He then poured the Mountain Ash and purified salt mixture from the leather bag Kyra had given him in a circle around the huge sculpture and box.
He looked around, found Kayne, and said, “Come on over here, you big demi-god, you. We were supposed to have to call your given name to free you from the silver coffin, but you took care of that on your own. A story I’d like to hear when we get home and you can actually speak more than a few words at a time. For now, I’m thinking we’re gonna need that name as the catalyst for this spell. Kyra said I’d know it when I found it.”
“I believe you are right,” Maddox agreed from somewhere behind the Dragon Leader.
“Oh! And your fire is said to be the only thing that will light our way topside. You up for it?”
Kayne nodded and moved to stand beside Rian. Moving on, the Dragon Leader turned to Audrey, knelt down, and squeezed Adramelech’s blood from what was left of her cotton frock into a tiny brass cup he’d pulled from his pack. “This seems like the most powerful demon blood we’re gonna get. Thanks, sweetheart.” He kissed her quickly on the lips as he stood and referred to the journal and the piece of paper Kyra had written his instructions on.
“Shit!” He spat.
“What’s wrong?” they all asked, pretty much in unison.
“I forgot to get the hair from the belly of a hellhound,” he ran his fingers through his hair trying to come up with any other answer than going back to the cavern where they’d just slayed Adramelech.
Deep in thought, Rian’s eyes shot to his youngest brother when Rory laughed aloud. “Lookie here. I have just what the witch ordered. Hair from the hound that tried to eat me.”
The Dragon Leader looked at the blood soaked tuft of hair in Rory’s hand and then the wound on his arm that seemed to be getting worse instead of better and said, “Damn, I’m sorry you got hurt, but thanks for keeping some of the beast. And you make sure Niall and Sam look at that arm as soon as we get back.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ll be fine,” Rory teased, but Rian could see the pain in the lines around his eyes and the tension in his mouth when he spoke.
“Do what Rian says, Ror, or I’ll have to kick your ass and I really just want to see Kyra...alone...for about a month or so before I have to deal with you again.”
Laughing at his brothers’ bickering, he read through the journal entry and Kyra’s notes one more time. When he was sure everything was in place, he cast the Circle of protection as he’d been taught and called the Guardsmen to attention.
I’m getting to be a pro at white witchcraft, something I never thought I’d say.
“We’re ready. Step to the line, hold hands, and repeat after me. Dear Universe, Goddess of All, God of Heaven, the Guardians of the Corners and the Elements, and the Sun God Lugh, hear our request. We humbly ask your favor upon our return to the Earth. We ask for your Blessing, your Power, and your Guidance.”
Turning his head, he looked at Kayne and said, “The one known to us as Kayne, our brother in arms, in blood, and in fealty. We call upon your fire and the power given to you by your father, the powerful Lugh. We humbly ask you, Daibheíd MicLugh, a thabhairt do dóitéain! Guide us home!” Rian was glad Drago had known Kayne’s given name because the golden dragon was still having difficulty speaking.
A flash of light—not lightning, but an actual ray of sunshine—shot from the Focus Stone in all directions, filling the cave with its bright cleansing light and momentarily blinding the Guardsmen. An explosion of thunder shook the cavern, holding the tribute to Hades, and as their vision cleared, Kayne walked towards the Focus Stone, lifted it over his head, and gave a mighty roar as a brilliant stream of pure dragon fire shot from his mouth.
The trembling of the ground beneath their feet grew, making it difficult to stand. Wat
ching the statue of Hades tipping from side-to-side, Rian was just about to order a retreat when the stone figure cracked in a perfect line down the middle and the two pieces slid apart, showing a brightly lit corridor. Kayne’s fire immediately ceased and the Guardsman hit the floor, unconscious once again.
The scent of wildflowers and nature assaulted their senses. Rian scooped Audrey up at the same time Drago threw Kayne over his shoulder and together, they exited the cavern following their brethren.
Speeding toward home, the tunnel they were following made an abrupt turn into a stone wall. The Guardsmen immediately began to draw their swords, ready to take the wall down, but Rian called out for them to wait. He remembered Kyra telling him there was always a hidden, last step to every spell, especially when dealing with pure evil.
Pushing his way through his brethren, he had an idea. Approaching the wall, he saw the emblem of Persephone and knew he was right. The writer of the journal had said they had to have a love greater than the evil they faced and there was no doubt in the Dragon Leader’s mind that what he felt for Audrey was stronger and more powerful than anything even Hades himself could drum up.
Letting Audrey slide down his body until her feet touched the ground, he pulled her close, took her hand in his, and placed their joined hands on the symbol. Looking deep into her eyes, he said the first thing that came to mind. “I love you more than life itself. You are the very air that I breathe. Without you, I would cease to exist. I thank the Universe with all my heart and soul for you and vow to give all that I am to your happiness and wellbeing.”
As soon as their lips met, the earth shook, a gust of wind tore around the cave, and every one of them was lifted off their feet and thrown through the air. Caught in a cyclone, one by one the Guardsmen disappeared through the stone wall as if it wasn’t there, and found themselves floating in total darkness. Rian held tight to Audrey as he felt her panic rise.