Asha's Power (Soul Merge Saga Book 4)

by M. P. A. Hanson

  “Is that all?” She asked, cold curiosity in her voice. “I expected better from the powerful daughters of Gaillean.”

  Neither Silver or Romana replied.

  “She’s too strong to take down conventionally.” Romana reasoned, calling to Silver along their mental bond.

  “I won’t send Asha against her unless I know Ellamae is weak enough for the girl to survive the fight.” Silver retorted. “Any other suggestions?”

  Romana opened her next call to the rest of the wytches. “All at once. Attack.”

  Silver snorted, already aware that they would not win this fight with sheer force, but nodded to the Dark Coven to give her approval of the plan regardless.

  She did nothing, not stupid enough to believe that demon fire would work now when it had failed before.

  “Aunt Silver,” Asha called to her mentally as she watched the jumble of offensive magic being launched at Ellamae fail.

  “What is it?” Silver was open to suggestions at this point.

  “You can’t throw anything at her that she can’t heal.” The girl pointed out the obvious. “You need to take away her power to regenerate.”

  “Absolutely not!” Silver rebuked her niece instantly.

  “She can’t be harmed unless you let me do this.” Asha replied. “I’m an asset, use me.”

  Silver shook her head. “Allow your mother some time. Her idea may yet work.”

  “We both know that’s a lie.” Asha retorted.

  “ENOUGH.” Silver’s tone broached no argument. “Have you forgotten that Gaillean wants you dead? He could be consorting with Ellamae to destroy you. It is more than likely a trap.”

  Asha fell silent, and when Silver sensed her niece was about to speak she closed the mental bond they were communicating along.

  The glow of power around Ellamae faded some moments later, and the wytches’ attacks proved worthless as she emerged as unscathed as before.

  Silver’s anger at the situation grew, and she unsheathed her blades in a whirl of silver metal.

  And finally she saw Ellamae flinch.

  “Romana, our father gave you a blade, did he not?”

  Romana nodded and teleported a long and wicked looking flamberge into her hands, each twist of the blade serrated ever so slightly. It gleamed with the shine of the metal forged by the Ancients.

  Ellamae teleported her own weapon into her hands at the same time, but it was a regular double crescent halberd, missing the mystical shine that spoke of Gaillean’s forge.

  The surreal grace with which she handled the six foot long pole weapon would have unnerved most people. But Silver had mastered her own blades millennia ago, and had Romana at her back to serve at worst as a distraction and at best a partner.

  The other wytches stepped back, recognising that they were out of their league when it came to this particular battle, creating a wide circle, looking for openings to distract Ellamae with their magic.

  Ellamae swung the halberd with the same impassiveness that she had used while flaying the skin from Keenan’s back. She made a wide arc with the blade that would have cut their legs out from under them had Silver and Romana not jumped in time. Silver retaliated with an equally low sweep of both swords, not quite reaching far enough for true damage but slicing Ellamae’s exposed ankle so that a trickle of golden blood flowed.

  Silver’s memory flashed back to when she had cut Gaillean, those few precious seconds in which he had taken to heal a wound from a weapon made in his own forge.

  She counted in her head, eyes glued to the closing wound.

  Twenty seconds.

  Time enough to decapitate her. If Ellamae followed what Silver knew of Ancient regeneration, decapitation would take her a few hours to recover from. Silver should know, before her failed soul-swap with Romana she’d ordered Kate drugged, and when that hadn’t worked, they’d decapitated her as soon as the baby was delivered. Still there had barely been enough time to perform the ritual and for her servants to escort her new infant body to safety.

  She would have felt guilty about that, but the knowledge was about to come in useful. Even with Ellamae’s healing ability, a few minutes close to her was more than enough for Asha to kill the Ancient.

  The battle stepped up a notch as she and Romana duelled against their ruthless opponent with renewed speed. Strange as it was, Silver was almost enjoying herself. If not for the fact that Ellamae needed to die, she would have made a decent sparring partner. Her speed and skill enough of a challenge that without Romana demanding a portion of her attention, Silver would probably sport more than a few minor wounds by now.

  Silver made a calculated leap, going over Ellamae’s head, sweeping out in a crossing motion with her blades. Ellamae retaliated with the sharp head of the halberd, sweeping up and wrenching one of the broadswords from her grip. Silver let go of it only because if she hadn’t she would have lost her hand.

  Ellamae gave a sadistic smile of triumph as Silver landed a few feet away from her other blade.

  But the move had distracted Ellamae. Romana took advantage and brought her flamberge upwards in a diagonal arc from behind the Ancient.

  Silver inwardly berated her sister for not chopping off the Ancient’s head when she had the chance.

  Ellamae’s torso dropped to the ground, and she looked briefly horrified at the sight of the bloody stumps below her knees.

  Golden blood flowed in a rush, and flowers sprung from around her even as Ellamae began regenerating.

  The Ancient turned to look at Romana, and Silver used the moment to grab her lost sword, come up behind her and take off her ugly head.

  “Now Asha!” She roared, as Ellamae’s head fell to the ground, and immediately started regenerating the rest of her body.

  Asha didn’t wait, landing in the puddle that was an odd combination of blood and wildflowers, and slamming the palm of her hand onto the wriggling head of the Ancient.

  Ellamae’s neck continued growing back and, as her shoulders began to re-form, Silver wondered what on earth Asha was playing at.

  “Get on with it.” She urged.

  Asha gave her a glare. “She’s resisting harder than Llewellyn. It may take some time.

  Both covens waited with bated breath. Silver kept a careful eye on Ellamae’s regenerating body. When an arm grew back to the elbow, she sliced it off dispassionately, ignoring Romana’s cringing.

  Finally, the regeneration slowed, and Asha’s expression of concentration deepened.

  Ellamae’s head began to shrivel, till it resembled one of the old shrunken heads that centaurs specialised in. Then it shrunk further, grinding into dust.

  Silver expected to feel an increase in her own power, but Asha didn’t direct it to her. A quick glance around the circle showed where some of the power was going, Riven was looking at Asha with awe-struck adoration.

  So the girl had another mortal she wanted to gift with more years.

  But the way that Asha began to pulse suggested that she was absorbing most of the power for herself. The pulsing stopped as Ellamae finally died, her body in pieces scattered among the flowers and shrubs still growing from her blood.

  Silver thrust her hand into the wiry hair of the Ancient, pulling Ellamae’s head up into the air above her head, and letting out a warbling war cry.

  The covens joined in, their voices magnified by power. Silver moved to the edge of the tower, letting their victory cry echo out across the battlefield before she spoke. She kept Ellamae’s head elevated, so that it could be clearly seen by everyone battling below.

  “HALT.” She let her power amplify her voice, and let it carry her words on the mental plane as well as the physical. “Your Ancient is DEAD. Surrender now and you will be left in peace.”

  A few seconds passed, and then the battlefield rumbled. The sounds of weapons dropping from the hands of their owners in defeat.

  A cheer went up from Marten’s army, but the sound was interrupted as Silver found herself being telepor
ted against her will.

  She looked around. She was in the Ancient’s meadow, with Asha and Romana beside her.

  What on earth was going on now? One look at Gaillean’s face and she knew it couldn’t be good.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  REGRETABLE CONSEQUENCE

  Kate looked on in sadness at the scene before her, unable to stop her tears from flowing. She wanted to snatch her child and grandchild and take them away, but a look from Marta had her frozen in place. The foreseer looked calm, and gave Kate a single ambiguous head shake.

  The consequences of her disrupting this would be worse than the ones she already faced.

  Silver looked guardedly around the circle of nineteen Ancients, oblivious to the invisible shield that kept them safe from her.

  When Gaillean spoke, he sounded calm. As he would, he had planned this moment from the beginning, even knowing it would break her heart.

  “Daughters, you will be pleased to hear that a peace has been brokered between ourselves and our brothers and sisters. They will accept the fall of the Law of Logic, and as such your assistance in battle, while valuable, will no longer be required.

  Romana’s face split into a smile of relief. Silver wasn’t so easily fooled.

  “And the terms of this peace?” She demanded.

  Gaillean’s gaze hardened. “It is the regrettable consequence of your success on the battlefield that steps will have to be taken to remove the threat to my brothers and sisters and ensure their safety.”

  Silver’s face hardened, she drew her swords. “Asha, stay close.” She ordered.

  Kate watched with dismay as Romana’s disbelieving eyes finally settled on her. The moment Romana saw her tear stained face her own eyes began to water.

  “No. Not my daughter. You said yourself you could never be responsible for harming your own family!” Her words became more and more distressed as she reached for Asha.

  “It is unacceptable to have such a blatant challenge to our own power exist.” Gaillean continued. “However, you are correct, we frown upon killing our own. However your sister has never had any trouble with the concept.”

  Silver gave him a death glare. “I killed my cousins on your orders you bastards. I was just a weapon to you.”

  “And now we shall use one weapon to decommission another.”

  “No!” Romana pulled Asha closer. “Take me, I’ll take her powers, you can kill me instead.”

  Silver stood unmoving. Kate wondered if the warrior princess was finally mentally broken.

  All those years of torture hadn’t done it. But killing Asha would damage Silver in ways unimaginable.

  “You will, of course, be compensated for your sacrifice.” Gaillean commented.

  “You cannot force me to.” Silver replied at last.

  “The compensation,” Gaillean continued as if he’d not been interrupted. “Will be in the form of Keenan Iceblood’s continued unnatural existence. A huge concession for us, considering our policy of destroying half-demons when they are discovered.”

  Just like that, Keenan appeared next to Gaillean, his arms and legs shackled, his arms and face bruised and beaten. He knelt at the Ancient’s feet, his hatred palpable in the air though the gag prevented him from speaking.

  Kate shuddered under the weight of more tears as she saw Silver shut down in front of her.

  *

  Silver couldn’t think of a way out of this one. Contrary to what the Ancient’s believed she could see the shield that separated herself, her sister and niece from Keenan and the rest of them. Her mind screamed at her that this was her own fault. By allowing and accepting Keenan’s courtship, she had created this situation for herself. But as she glanced at Marta she knew it had all lead up to this. Somehow the foreteller and Gaillean had created this entire scenario. Asha had been born and used as a weapon to scare the others into this peace treaty, and now she was being discarded. They’d all been used.

  As Marten and Riven appeared next to Keenan, both bound, bruised and gagged, Gaillean continued to explain the Ancient’s generosity in allowing such powerful, unnaturally immortal beings to live. Silver realised they were all doomed.

  She looked around the circle, seeing compassion, yet determination in the eyes of every Ancient. Their colourful swirling robes rustling and the swishing of the long grass were the only sounds in the circle apart from Keenan’s laboured breathing.

  Her mind froze at the thought of those breaths stopping. But she could no more exist in a world without Asha than she could one without Keenan.

  A voice reached out to her from the past, her father-king’s words as vivid as the day he had said them.

  “Love will destroy you, Talia. Destroy it first.”

  She should have listened.

  “It’s okay, mother.” Asha spoke softly, and Silver looked away from Keenan to see the girl extricating herself from her mother’s arms.

  What did Gaillean gain from this? They had been winning the war, there was no way that the other Ancient’s would have won against Asha’s power. Many would have undoubtedly died, but Gaillean was happy to make that sacrifice.

  Silver’s eyes surveyed the circle, and locked onto Kate’s crying face. And she wasn’t the only one.

  Marta’s eyes kept flicking to Kate’s face as well, a look of sympathy and determination there. Kate had once said that Marta was one of her favourite sisters and it ran both ways.

  The truth hit her like an arrow to the skull. Marta had foreseen Kate’s death if the war continued. That was why she had helped Gaillean manipulate the future. And that meant that Gaillean would not back down from making her murder her niece.

  “Give me time.” She said, testing her theory with dread. “Time to come to a decision.”

  Gaillean’s eyes flicked to his right, Marta gave a head shake.

  Bingo.

  And with that revelation any hope of Asha leaving here alive flew out of the window.

  Gaillean would kill his own granddaughter to keep Kate safe.

  “No. You will do this immediately, or the fey and the halflings’ lives are forfeit.” He said.

  Check mate. They had lost.

  Silver’s brain scrambled for ideas while trying to shut out Romana’s and Kate’s sobbing and the laboured breaths of her fiancé. When the tap on her shoulder came, it was unexpected.

  She turned and found herself closer to Asha than she expected. Her surprise and dread magnified as her niece pulled her into a hug.

  “It’s okay, mother,” Asha whispered in her ear.

  Silver didn’t question how Asha knew that she had two mothers. She didn’t even want to consider herself Asha’s mother. A true mother would never even contemplate hurting her child.

  When Asha lifted one of Silver’s swords from the sheaths on her back, Silver had the brief instant of hope that Asha would kill her instead and save her from the choice she faced.

  But Asha pressed the blades into Silver’s shaking hands instead.

  “The whole world will be at peace if you do this.” Asha said quietly. “The number of lives I save from war by dying will be worth it. And I wouldn’t want to live knowing that Riven, Keenan and my father died and I could have prevented it.”

  “I’d slaughter them all in an instant.” Silver replied, almost soundlessly.

  Her niece – no, her daughter – shook her head. “Until the next life.” Asha whispered.

  But it was a lie. The Ancients would never allow Asha to reincarnate when the entire point of this was to remove her power from the equation.

  Asha left Silver holding the hilt of the sword, and shifted her grasp onto the shining blade. She pulled it up to her neck, acceptance in her gaze.

  “I won’t do this.” Silver whispered.

  “You don’t have a choice.” Asha replied, letting go of the blade so that Silver was holding the sword at her neck. “I love you.” Her daughter looked straight into her soul with eyes so calm and at peace that it made Silver shut dow
n even further.

  Silver held that asymmetrical gaze even as her arm moved, and Romana’s grief-stricken wail pierced the air.

  Everything became hazy as Asha’s head fell to the floor.

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  ASCENSION

  Silver wasn’t moving. She’d fallen to her knees by Asha’s body and hadn’t moved.

  Kate watched with pain-filled wonder and golden blood dripped from her granddaughter’s body, surrounding the traumatised Silver with flowers and greenery. Romana had passed out for a moment, her grief too great for her to bear, but now she knelt next to her half-sister, watching with wonderment as the earth around them exploded with life.

  The circle of Ancient’s was muttering in surprise. The five remaining supporters of the Law of Logic were switching between amazed and aghast. Gaillean had promised them Asha’s death if they ceased their war. He had never told anyone that Asha had absorbed enough power to become one of their own.

  Kate had never suspected it was even possible.

  Now as she watched with bated breath, she saw Asha’s body begin to regenerate. Her neck re-growing.

  “A long time ago, we were told that we would be joined by others.” Gaillean spoke over the mutterings of the circle. “We were told in the beginning that those who were true in their inner strength and reverence, power and compassion, honour and humility could become us if we showed them a sign of our favour. Asha has proven herself worthy consistently throughout her short lifetime in many ways, not least of which, defeating our wayward brother and sister and finally going to death for those she loves. Kate bestowed her wings upon her as a sign of her favour some time ago.”

  Romana’s head whipped up at that, and Kate remembered that Romana had no idea about the wings until now. Kate had made the girl keep them secret from her mother, knowing that Romana would demand the gift was reversed if she knew the trade Asha had made.

  Kate was barely paying attention to what Gaillean was saying now, her eyes fixed on her granddaughter’s regenerating limbs which were barely visible among the flowers and grass sprouting around her. Romana’s hands fluttered across her daughter’s body, gently stroking back a lock of hair every now and again. Her eyes still full of tears and disbelief.