by Logan Jacobs
The moment I felt the slight tingle of the creature’s blood, I knew it was too big to destroy all at once, but that gave me an idea. I poured every ounce of strength I had into my Hand, even as my lungs screamed for air, and my eyes felt like they were on fire from the raw sewage in the water and pulled.
The kraken’s globular eyes went wide for a millisecond, and then its body began to bubble. Finally, its three massive hearts burst through its flesh in an explosion of blood and entrails so violent that the shockwave jettisoned me to the surface of the water.
I gasped for air as I hit the surface, and dark green blood and bright red guts burst up from the water and coated the walls in gore.
The kraken’s dead carcass floated up to the surface of the water, and it started to bob along gently with the current. One eye had been completely ripped apart by my magic when I’d yanked out its heart, but the other was still intact. It lay there, swollen and open as it stared at me. A piece of tentacle floated past my back, and then the tunnel was filled with a shocked gasp.
“No!” Cirsen shouted, and then he let out a long, angry snarl as he stood in the middle of the concrete island to my left. “Do you think this will change anything?” He shook with anger. “This is merely a setback!”
“What about this!” Maaren cried as she swung her axe at him.
He managed to raise his sword to parry Maaren’s downward swing, and then he whirled toward me with rage in his eyes.
Maaren stepped back, and she lunged at the elf in a dangerous stab, but he swung his sword sideways and stepped away from the blow.
“You’ll die for opposing us, you half-blooded swine!” he snarled as he lunged angrily at Maaren, but she parried the blow gracefully, and then twisted the tangled blades in an effort to disarm the elf. He managed to hold on, but I saw a chance to step in and assist.
I threw out my Hand and tugged on the blood that ran through Cirsen’s veins and since I was still hoping to question his dumb ass, I jerked him backward violently. The hard yank sent him flying back first onto the hard concrete, and the back of his head smacked into the stone with a wet crunch that sent his sword flying. It skidded to a stop right in front of my feet as Cirsen gasped for air and tried to stand up.
“About time,” Maaren called breathlessly. The heat of the huge bonfire had already started to dry us, and I could see that her snow-white hair was pinned to her forehead by sweat.
As Cirsen staggered to his feet, she shoved the point of her sword just under his chin. I snatched up the sword at my feet to replace my lost pistol and then pointed it at our prisoner.
Only Cirsen was standing there, far too calm for somebody who had a sword at his throat. Something just felt… off.
“What do the Phobos want with the animals?” Maaren demanded as she bared her teeth in a snarl.
When Cirsen didn’t answer, she pressed the edge of her axe into his neck hard enough to draw blood. He was only a few feet from the fire, and the flicker of the red and orange flames surrounded him in an eerie glow. Now that there wasn’t so much excitement, I noticed that the elf had some strange tattoos of Elvish words on his neck, and they shimmered an iridescent white in the light. They reminded me of human gang tattoos, and I knew they meant something important, even if I couldn’t read the language
“Where are the rest of your group?” I asked as I stepped closer. “I know the Phobos are behind this.”
I had begun to feel the effects of my heavy magic use and my struggles in the sewer water. Exhaustion started to weight down my body, but I pushed on and kept my shoulders straight.
The evil elf shook his head in response to our questions, and then his face broke out into a maniacal smile. “It’s a real shame the two of you don’t support our cause,” he said with a shrug. “You could have been some of our best and brightest despite your genetic failings. Instead, I’m afraid the only thing you’re both going to be are corpses.”
The sword in my hand vibrated for just a moment, but before I could cinch my grip on the weapon, both my sword and Maaren’s axe flew out of our hands and into the murky sewer water around us.
Our enemy didn’t hesitate. Cirsen moved with the speed only a full-blooded Fae could have, and he was on Maaren in a millisecond. The elf wrenched the hunter around by the waist and threw his arm around her neck. Her eyes went wide as he cut off her air supply, and her gasps filled the room.
“Take this moment to learn a lesson about loss,” Cirsen sneered as he turned toward the huge, roaring flames of the bonfire.
Everything slowed down for me at that moment. The tingle of my Hand vibrated and grew stronger, and I could feel Cirsen’s blood as it pumped through his veins as if my hand was wrapped around his arteries. They were less than a foot from the fire, and I tried to think of the safest way to kill this guy. If he fell forward, he could take Maaren directly into the flames with him.
Then, almost like my Hand spoke to me with a mind of its own, I moved on some deep-down, primal instinct I never knew I had. In between heartbeats, I isolated the feeling of Cersen’s blood until I had a grip on the very veins in his arms. Then I threw the elf’s arms out to the side like he was a marionette and forced him to release Maaren. The hunter elbowed him in the stomach the moment she was free, and as he stumbled backward, she tried to bolt.
Only Cirsen managed to reach out and grab hold of her hair as he fell toward the flames, and in that instant, I knew they were both going to fall into the fire.
Without thinking, I reached out toward him once more, and forced his fingers open as he fell backward to his fiery death. Then I grabbed onto Maaren’s blood and jerked her toward me as the flames engulfed Cirsen. He screamed and twisted. His flesh started to melt off and turn to ash, and the disgusting scent of charred flesh mixed with irony blood filled my nostrils as he died. After a few moments, his screaming ceased completely, and his body was left to burn in the pyre of flames.
“Thanks,” Maaren said as I all but collapsed on the ground and waves of exhaustion rolled over me. “Remind me to never get on your bad side.”
“You never could,” I panted and nearly toppled over.
Stars covered my vision, and I felt lightheaded as I sucked in deep breaths of air. Still, I had learned something new about my powers. They could grow and get stronger, but it came at an exhausting price. Or at least they did for now. A bit more practice, and maybe I’d be able to choreograph my own dance number in real time.
“That was close,” Maaren said as she crouched next to the griffin’s cage and unlocked the door. “I’m glad he was the only one who got to experience a horrible fiery death.”
Her face was soft and sorrowful as the creature bolted out of the crate and nuzzled its head against her shoulder. She wrapped its thick neck in a soothing hug and stroked the fur on its backside as the baby cooed softly.
“Especially since he totally deserved it,” she continued. “Look at how he treated these poor animals.”
“Yeah,” I replied breathlessly. As I tried to catch my breath, I found my eyes drawn to my Hand as the magic still tingled through it. What I had just done was something I simply couldn’t do before. I turned to look over at Maaren.
“Is that normal for Fae powers to grow like that?” I asked as my vision cleared, and I started to regain the feeling of my body.
Maaren looked up at my question and worried her bottom lip like she didn’t really want to answer my question.
“No,” she said finally. “For most people, the powers you have when you get your Hand are the powers you’ll always have. You shouldn’t suddenly be able to do things you couldn’t before…”
“Like isolate body parts?” I finished for her.
“Exactly,” she replied with a slight smile. “Or turn your enemies into a gory marionette puppet.”
“Was your brother able to do this?” I asked. “Isolate body parts, I mean.”
“I’m not sure.” Maaren shook her head. “Oragon and I didn’t know each other very
well. He was extremely powerful, so I guess it’s possible. But even so, his powers never randomly grew.”
“Guess I missed the clause in the Racmoth contract that said ‘general rules may not apply,’” I joked, and Maaren let out a raucous laugh.
The griffin jumped back at the sound and cocked its eagle head at Maaren curiously.
“You’re such a cutie,” she said to it gently.
I wouldn’t exactly have described the griffin as ‘cute’ myself. Storm was cute, but this thing was already the size of a small pony, despite the fact that mere days ago it had been small enough to fit in a person’s arms.
I guess it made sense when I considered how large the adult griffin had been. Its eagle head was awkwardly large on the rest of its body, and the lion paws on its back legs were huge too like a puppy’s. It let out a small squawk after Maaren spoke to it, and she seemed to be communicating with the beast, just as she had its mother.
“Can you speak to all animals?” I asked her curiously. I hadn’t thought about it much, but she hadn’t seemed to carry on a conversation with Storm the way she did with griffins.
“Just birds or in this case, something with avian ancestry,” she said with a shrug. “It’s, uh, it’s a gift that some Unseelie have.”
“Cool,” I declared, but I didn’t press the issue further.
The awkward way Maaren tilted her head and avoided eye contact told me she didn’t want to speak about it just yet.
I looked around at the humans who were still out cold. “So, we better tie them up until we can get a team down here to take them in.”
“I have an idea first,” Maaren replied with an excited sparkle in her green eyes. She stomped over to Razor and picked him up by his shirt collar and then dragged his body over to the cage where they’d kept the griffin. With a grunt, she tossed him inside like a sack of potatoes and slammed the door shut with a proud smile.
“How the tables have turned.” I chuckled as I stared at Razor’s massive form. Drool dripped from his open mouth and pooled on the floor of the cage.
“I found some rope over here,” Maaren responded as she chucked a coil at me. “Probably the same stuff they used for the pulley system. Or to tie up their captives. Either way, it’s more than enough to tie up these other three.”
We sat the unconscious criminals in a circle and wound the rope around the thugs’ meaty torsos until we were sure they couldn’t break free. Then, we knotted it tightly, just to be sure.
Once we were out of here, Kal could radio in a team down here to take these guys back to the guild, and then we’d see what they knew. A slightly petty part of me hoped the guild would send Arendor. I chuckled at the mental image of the tall, proud elf covered in sewer muck.
Once the prisoners were secure, I wandered over to pick up the basilisk egg from the camp chair where Razor had left it.
“No baby phoenix.” I said aloud as I surveyed the scene.
“Nope,” Maaren replied with a frown. “These clearly weren’t the only group under the Phobos’ command.”
“Don’t worry,” I said with a firm nod. “We’ll find them. As long as our team sticks together, we can take on anyone.”
The basilisk egg was surprisingly cool to the touch when I picked it up, almost like it had been dipped in ice water and dried off. The surface was as smooth as a set of china, and I ran my fingers over it curiously as I watched the way the gold shimmered in the firelight. As I held it, the egg shook and vibrated slightly in my hands, and I was so shocked I nearly dropped it.
“Hey, Maaren, didn’t you say the egg needed to be incubated by a rooster before it would hatch?” I asked hesitantly.
“Yeah,” she replied as she and the baby griffin wandered over to me. “Why?”
“Well, the thing is vibrating,” I replied as I handed the egg to her. She looked at it for just a moment before she tucked it under her arm and lifted the two of us into the air. She whistled down at the griffin, and it took flight with us.
“So maybe this wasn’t laid as recently as Bassett claimed,” she said with a giggle, and stroked the shell softly.
“Why are you giggling?” I exclaimed as we flew back up into the sewer tunnels. “We might have a deadly giant snake on our hands in a few seconds! That’s not funny!”
“It’s kind of funny,” she replied. “You’ve already got your hands full with Storm, so the thought of you taking on a deadly snake? It’d be hilarious.”
“No,” I shot back, “not funny at all. If that thing hatches and its creepy golden eyes kill me, I will never, ever forgive you.”
“Of course not,” Maaren chuckled as we pushed open the manhole and stepped onto the dark street, “because you’d be dead! Besides, basilisks can’t kill until they’re fully grown. Relax.”
“Oh.” I blinked and sighed as we landed, and then I heard our comms units click back on, free from the interference of the sewers. “Still. I’m not a snake person.”
“Hey, Kal,” Maaren said into her comms as she completely ignored my protests
“Did you guys catch our runner?” the dwarf’s voice came alive in our speakers. “Tell me it was awesome. Was it awesome?”
“Oh, it was awesome, alright.” I laughed. “We’ll tell you all about it on the ride back. Could you come to pick us up?”
“We’re on our way,” Ariette replied, and the engine of the van revved in our ear. The griffin nuzzled Maaren with his head, and she leaned into his touch.
“Wait a second,” Kal said suspiciously, and I could almost see the way her violet eyes narrowed and her full lips pursed as she spoke. “Are you covered in sewer filth? I will have nothing soiling my precious van!”
Maaren and I shared an amused look before we both replied, “Nope. Of course not!”
Chapter 15
Needless to say, Kalista was somewhat unhappy that we brought our sewer filth into her van. Actually, she was pretty pissed. The moment the van rolled up, she flew out of the van door with her hands up.
“Don’t move,” she growled as she stepped down out of the van. “Nobody trashes the Van of Death but me!”
Ariette followed her with two towels and a very amused expression. “Did you have fun down there?” the elf questioned as she bit back a laugh.
“Tons of fun!” Maaren replied with a smile. “Can you send a team down into the basin of the sewer? There’s some sewer filth down there that we didn’t bring back on our clothes.”
“Yeah, I can see how your clothing brought a lot back with you.” Ariette gave the underwear clad fae a once over before she quirked an eyebrow at the two of us, and then her eyes landed on the basilisk egg in my hand and the baby griffin who stood nervously behind Maaren.
“They didn’t have the phoenix?” she asked.
Kalista busily wrapped the towels around Maaren and I to help us dry off, and she wrinkled her nose at the smell.
“Nope.” I shook my head. “But we did rescue the egg and the griffin, and we sent a member of the Phobos to a gruesome, fiery grave. Some cocky guy named Cirsen. Does that ring any bells?”
“Not particularly.” Ariette shrugged and pointed at the griffin. “I’m just not sure what to do with that thing. Take him to the zoo?”
“I know this sounds weird, but he told me he doesn’t want to be in captivity at the zoo anymore. I figured he’d be better off somewhere where he can fly free if he wants to and have a warm bed to come back whenever he’s done frolicking around. I don’t want to take him back there permanently and upset him.” Maaren shook her head.
“I’ll talk to Danira,” Arriette said with a shrug. “But I suspect it won’t be much of an issue since it seems like that griffin is bonded to you, and if it is, we can’t exactly take it back to the zoo now can we?” She eyed the griffin as it nuzzled Maaren again, and the hunter handed Kalista the basilisk egg so that her hand was free to pet the beast’s head.
“No. We couldn’t,” Maaren replied in a way that made me think she wasn’t being
one hundred percent truthful, but it must not have mattered because Ariette nodded.
“That’s what I thought. Totally bonded.”
“So, I can keep him?” Maaren said with a tinge of hopefulness in her voice.
“Of course!” Kalista exclaimed. “We can freaking fly on him, and he can, like, scratch people’s eyes out when they try to attack you, and then when Storm’s full grown they can be our little animal team, and--”
“Hey, Kal?” I interrupted with a laugh. “Can we get in the van now? I need a shower.”
“Oh, right,” the dwarf said, and then she eyed the two of us viciously. “If you drip on my van’s interior, I will never forgive you, got it?”
I held up my hands in surrender. “We’ll try our best.”
She whipped around and hopped in the van behind Ariette, and then I climbed in next. Maaren coaxed the griffin toward the open door, but the poor thing balked at the dark interior. After a few minutes of soothing words, Maaren gave up and stared at the griffin.
“This isn’t working,” Maaren sighed. “He doesn’t want to get into the tiny, smelly enclosure.”
“Smelly?” Kal balked. “My van? You tell that little fella that those are fightin’ words!”
“You know…” I grinned as an incredible thought came into my mind. “He is a griffin. We could just have him fly back to the guild.”
“But then he wouldn’t know to get there,” Maareen protested. “I don’t want him to get lost in the city and--”
“Exactly.” I grinned. “Somebody’s gonna have to guide him back, now aren’t they?”
Maaren’s face lit up with excitement. “Of course they will,” she agreed.
“What?” Kal cried. “I want to ride the griffin!” The dwarf started to launch herself out of the van door, but I grabbed onto her shoulder and dragged her back.
“Are you forgetting something?” I asked as her violet eyes stared at me sadly. “You’re the only one that can drive this thing, Miss I-Have-the-Hand-of-Sight-so-I’m-Going-to-Paint-the-Windows-Black.”