Harvest of the Gods

by Sumida, Amy

  “You can get a second opinion,” I knew I was reaching for straws but that's what you did when you're trying to comfort a friend. “There must be something we can do.”

  “There's nothing,” she started to cry again and I pulled her over into a hug. “I'll never be a mother.”

  “Don't worry, Sam, we'll think of something.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “What do you mean you can't think of anything?” I whined to Odin, who I'd gone to for help with Samantha's problem.

  “You could go to a fertility goddess,” he shook his head sadly, “but I'm not on good terms with any personally and I doubt a goddess on the other side of this war will help Samantha. I truly am sorry.”

  “You don't know of any I could ask?” This was ridiculous. Why did they get to be called gods if they couldn't do something as simple as help a woman conceive a child? “Or someone Sam could ask? I'm sure she'd have no problem begging someone to help her and if it's money they want, we'll take care of that.”

  “Well, there was Sif but you...”

  “Beheaded her,” I groaned and sat back heavily against the couch.

  We were seated in the sunken circular area in our bedroom, on the couch that went almost all the way around the circle, breaking only for the two steps that led down into it. In the center of the circle, a fire raged in the hearth, its smoke flowing up the tube that hovered over it.

  “I know of a few but most wouldn't help you and the others, I have no way of locating.”

  “Like who?” I leaned forward. “Give me some names and I'll have the wolves look for them.”

  “Frigg's a fertility goddess but I don't think she'd be inclined to help.”

  “Frigg, you're ex-wife Frigg?”

  “No,” Odin gave me a tortured expression. “A different Frigg, of course my ex-wife. There's also Freyr and Freyja but they're kinda close to Frigg, so you can see the problem there.”

  “Yeah,” I sighed.

  “There's a few Hindu gods but they can be hard to get a hold of and a lot of times, gods who people associate with fertility aren't really that kind of fertility gods. Fertility is one of those magics that seems to get stacked on with other things and unless you specialize in it, you'd only be able to do the basics, like help crops grow or help a woman who is capable of conceiving get pregnant. To actually reverse sterility, and in a Froekn who already has their own magic,” he shrugged, “that's a delicate task that I'm afraid most won't be up to, and those who might be able to do it, probably won't want to try.”

  “Why not?”

  “Magic can go wrong,” he lifted a brow, “you should know that, being a witch. Just as it's difficult for us to kill each other, it's also difficult for us to go against the magic that sustains us.”

  “But Teharon heals gods all the time,” my face lit up, “Teharon!”

  “See, you're not getting it,” Odin held a hand out to me. “Teharon does what his magic is meant to do, he doesn't go against it, he doesn't work against our magic when he heals us... and no, he can't heal Samantha, this is not a disease, that's what I'm trying to explain to you. This is how the magic has chosen to manifest in her. It's decided that she is the end of her line.”

  “The end of her line?” I frowned. “The Froekn have been making babies for centuries, why would it shut off in her?”

  “You just answered your own question.”

  “What?” I was going to throttle him.

  “The magic that makes the Froekn wolves, comes from Fenrir,” Odin sighed and I knew he was about to tell me something I wouldn't like. “Fenrir took a lot of sacrifices and the wolves became assassins, they were using those dead as sacrifices too. Now that they don't do that anymore, the magic is stretching thin I suspect. It can't sustain any more of them, so it won't allow anymore of them to be born.”

  “Are you telling me that I've doomed the Froekn to infertility because I had a problem with them being assassins?” I nearly screamed.

  “They live forever, Vervain,” he patted my leg. “This is hardly a bad side effect.”

  “It is when my best friend wants nothing more than to have little werewolf-werelion babies!”

  “Samantha will get over it.”

  “She'll get over it?” I gave an affronted laugh. “Are you fucking kidding me? No, I refuse to believe there's no one who can help her.”

  “As I said,” he started again with his patient tone that was making me really pissed off for some reason. “Those that can, may not want to try because Samantha's magic has made her sterile and to reverse that would be to go against the magic. It could have serious repercussions for both parties.”

  “Like what?”

  “I don't know,” he spread out his hands, “it's never been done. It's really too bad that Aphrodite's powers weren't true fertility, you know some think of her as a fertility goddess, but alas, she's one of those who could only make herself fertile.”

  “She made herself fertile?”

  “Why do you think she had so many children?” He laughed at my dismay.

  “Not as much as Eris did, and that bitch couldn't have been a fertility goddess.”

  “You are correct,” Odin grimaced. “If you did have the fertility magic though, you'd probably be the only goddess who could pull this off without a hitch.”

  “How's that?”

  “You aren't fully a goddess,” he shrugged. “Just as you can kill us easily due to your mortal blood, you'd probably be the only one who could alter the magic for the same reason.”

  “Like when I changed Horus' magic,” I whispered.

  “You changed Horus' magic?” He was fascinated.

  “Yeah, back when I first found out that I could take magic away from gods,” I thought back to that day in Ull's apartment. The way I pulled power from the earth and then thought to play a joke on the gods and see if I could pull power from them. It had worked a little too well. “They were all watching me work a spell and I took a little energy from everyone there. I didn't know I could, just thought I'd give it a try since you guys have been taking from us for so long.”

  “There is that,” Odin nodded as if to prompt me to continue.

  “Well I spooked them and then they told me why they were spooked and it spooked me. Horus made a movement toward me and I threw my hand out in defense, automatically. It sent some of his power back to him but it was different. I don't know if my fear twisted it or what but it made him shift in a different way than he normally does. He had the head and wings of a falcon with the body of a man.”

  “Holy shit,” he whispered. “You can change the magic.”

  “Well that's it then,” I said softly as a thought occurred to me. “I just happen to know of a fertility goddess I want dead.”

  “Demeter,” Odin's face went slack.

  “Is she a true fertility goddess?”

  “Yes but-”

  “Then there's the solution, I'll take her magic.”

  “No, Vervain,” Odin sucked in a breath but I cut him off.

  “We'll try to find someone else but her magic isn't another beast, so I wouldn't have to worry about that confusion. I think I could handle it.”

  “You don't know that,” he took my hand. “Vervain, you've almost lost your sanity.”

  “Yeah,” I shrugged, “couple of times, so what?”

  “What if this magic is the last straw for your already fragile mind? We both know it's gone dark. Demeter isn't a good person, to say the least, so her magic will need taming.”

  “Unless, like Love, it wants to be good again,” I smiled gently at him. “Look, I don't even know when I'll have a shot at Demeter again, this may be a moot point. We can try to find someone else to help Sam before then.”

  “I have a feeling that this search will not be fruitful,” he grimaced, “no pun intended.”

  “Hey, what about Persephone? She does that growing thing.”

  “She's one of those who's fertility is limited to plants,” Odi
n shook his head distractedly as I deflated. “I don't like this, Vervain.”

  “Well, who else you got? Can you think of anyone?”

  “Well, there's Eostre, she'd probably help you, I'm told she's very sweet, but I'm also told she's even more of a hippie than Jesus is. She's always off communing with Nature and she's definitely into free love, if you get my meaning.”

  “Odin, after all the times people have called me a whore, I really don't appreciate you implying the same about some goddess that you've never even met.”

  “Yes, of course,” he cleared his throat and turned a little red. “I was merely repeating what I'd been told.”

  “Well, keep that part to yourself. Who else?”

  “Well, ah, Epona, but I'm not certain her magic will work on humans since her thing is horses.”

  “Oh crap, that's awkward at best.”

  “Yeah, you might want to let Samantha approach Thor's ex-girlfriend if you decide to ask,” Odin smirked.

  “You're an ass,” I made a face at him. “A giant red baboon's ass.”

  “Are you referring to those primates with the bulbous buttocks that are bright red?”

  “Bulbous bright buttocks!” I clapped my hands in delight. “That's wonderful, I have to remember that, and yes, I am.”

  “That's fairly offensive,” he frowned.

  “Yes, that was the point, keep up. Now anyone else? Don't you have a god list or something?”

  “No, Vervain, I don't have a telephone book of the gods. You could probably Google it. Go ask Torrent.”

  “That's actually not such a bad idea,” I raised my brows.

  “I don't want you getting hurt just because Samantha wants a baby,” Odin got serious again.

  “I have the emerald,” I lifted the emerald pendant he'd given me, that had the power to siphon the magic of a god into the earth. “If I do get a chance at Demeter and the power becomes too much for me, I promise I'll release it, just let it flow through me like with Eris and Iktomi.”

  “Okay,” he sighed. “I guess that's probably the best I'm going to get from you.”

  “Taking Demeter's magic would kill two birds with one stone; one of them, a big golden booby bird.” I laughed, picturing the uptight goddess as a fluffy bird.

  “Just make sure the second bird isn't you.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  I had just finished pouring myself a cup of coffee when an unknown man walked into the kitchen. Without even thinking about it, I shifted my hands into claws and sank into a defensive position.

  He immediately started to scream and my mouth fell open as he flung his hands up over his head and backed away from me, out into the hallway, until he hit the far wall. Then he just stood there cowering and screaming.

  “What the hell?” I eased forward a little a peered at him.

  “Griffin!” Teharon came running down the hallway toward us. He took the guy by the shoulders and shook him gently until the man finally stopped screaming and lowered his arms. “It's okay, you're safe here. I promise you, you're safe.”

  “Teharon,” I waved a hand at the man. “Who is this and why was he screaming bloody murder?”

  “This is Griffin,” Teharon continued to use a calming tone and I noticed his hands had a light glow about them where they touched Griffin. “He's one of Demeter's victims.”

  “Oh shit, right,” I groaned. “I forgot, I'm so sorry, Griffin. I didn't know who you were and you kind of surprised me.”

  Griffin looked over at me, his bright blue eyes widening as they fixed on my claws. He cringed and began to whimper. I cursed under my breath and changed my claws back to regular hands.

  “There, see,” I held up my hands. “All better.”

  “I'm going to take him back to his room,” Teharon started easing Griffin down the hallway.

  “How many of them are left?” I frowned when Griffin hunched his shoulders and started crying. “Are they all like this?”

  “No, most of them are fine,” Teharon grimaced, “a little damaged but nothing time won't heal. They're all still here but they should be on their way soon, they all have families who are missing them. Griffin is the worst case, I'm not sure I can heal him.”

  “So we may have to commit him?” I followed them down the hall. “I really don't want to do that.”

  “Neither do I,” Teharon sighed. “Hold on a second, let me get him settled.”

  Teharon walked Griffin over to a chair in one of our guest rooms. The man fell heavily into it and instantly covered his beautiful but stricken face with his hands. He ran them up his face and into his blond hair, spiking it out in all directions.

  “I'll go get you some lunch, Griffin,” Teharon said gently. “You just wait here.”

  He came back out into the hallway and closed the door behind him. His demeanor changed immediately, the soft look on his face turning brittle with frustration. He gestured back toward the kitchen and we started walking.

  “She has totally destroyed his mind,” Teharon huffed. “Griffin is barely able to speak and when he does, it's usually to beg to not be hurt anymore. He may eventually, with serious therapy and heavy medications, come around but honestly, the most merciful course of action may be a swift death.”

  “What?” I made it back to my coffee but was too shocked to even reach for it. “No, no way. I brought Kirill back from insanity, we can bring Griffin back too.”

  “This is not an Intare, Vervain,” Teharon sank onto a kitchen stool and began to pour his own cup of coffee. “This is a human. They are much more fragile than gods and he's not accustomed to our world. It was shock layered upon abuse and it broke him.”

  “You're telling me there's nothing left in there,” I focused on Teharon sharply. “No piece of the man he was? Are you absolutely sure we can't bring him back?”

  “Look, we can wait,” he took a sip of coffee and sighed. “We can give it a month or two if you really want but frankly, it seems like more needless torture to me.”

  “I can't just kill a guy after rescuing him,” I searched Teharon's face but it was filled only with compassion and a heavy sadness. He didn't want to kill Griffin either but he truly didn't see another way to help him.

  “What about his family?” I grasped at straws. “Don't they deserve closure?”

  “Griffin has no family,” Teharon put the cup down and got up to start making the lunatic's lunch. “It may be what pushed him over the edge. He had no one to remember, no one to help him get through the horrors.”

  “Oh fuck,” I rubbed a hand over my face. “Okay, I know you think this is cruel but can we just give it a little time and see if he starts to improve?”

  “Alright, Vervain,” Teharon shook his head, he knew I was delaying the inevitable but he understood why. “We can wait a little longer.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “I need to go into Faerie,” I said to Trevor as I walked into our bedroom.

  He was on the couch in the sitting area near the bathroom, which had a nice view of the butterfly courtyard. From inside our bedroom you could see little areas that you couldn't see from the path that ran through it. I actually loved standing at the glass and watching the butterflies wander through the secret nooks, looking like they were alone in a peaceful jungle, but Trevor wasn't looking at the butterflies. He was reading a book, which he put down to give me an irate look.

  “Well, hello to you too.”

  “I'm sorry,” I went over and gave him a kiss. “Hi, Honey-Eyes, I gotta go into Faerie. I'll be right back.”

  I held up my left hand. My father's ring(funny how I still couldn't think of it as mine, or maybe I just enjoyed the thought that I was wearing something of his) glowed on my pointer finger. It had the power to take me anywhere in time but it had limits. I traveled alone, no passengers, and if I went into my past, I could only relive it, not change it. I couldn't save people from or prevent death, and I couldn't change something that the ring felt had to be. I could however, use it to
travel to Faerie, stay practically indefinitely (well, up to two and a half years before Trevor started to suffer from my absence), and then return to the God Realm in the exact time I'd left. It made my visits to Faerie a lot easier for everyone to take.

  “You sound like there's a reason for the visit,” Trevor searched my face. “Well, beyond seeing the dragon.”

  “There is.”

  I'd already told Trevor about Samantha but I hadn't told him what Odin had said, so he didn't know everything yet. I wasn't sure how he was going to take the news that we'd made the Froekn infertile. I was kind of hoping I'd be able to go into Faerie and find a cure before I had to tell him but I was so bad at lying to him and he deserved to know. So I gently explained while I carefully watched his face for radical shifts of emotion.

  “She can't have children because of me,” Trevor's face fell. “Because we don't kill anymore?”

  “Possibly,” I swallowed hard. “Do you want them to return to assassinating people?”

  “No, I don't,” he frowned, “but the choice isn't mine to make. I have to tell them, let them decide for themselves.”

  “We don't know if everyone is affected,” I patted his arm. “Samantha is one of the younger wolves. It may be only affecting some of the Froekn.”

  “The rest will have to get tested,” Trevor nodded. “At least those who want children. Fenrir will be upset, he loves kids and it's been a long time since there's been any in the pack.”

  “Obviously he likes children,” I smiled to try and lighten the mood, “there's like billions of you guys.”

  “Or maybe a couple hundred,” Trevor huffed and smiled back. “Looks like I need to head out too.”

  “There may be another solution,” I put a hand on his arm before he could get up. “I could take Demeter's power. Odin believes I'd be able to alter the magic that's causing Samantha to be sterile, if I had fertility magic of my own.”

  “I don't know if I like the idea of you taking on more magic,” he shook his head.

  “I know, Odin said something similar but it'll only be a last resort. I'm going to Faerie to see if maybe there's some fey magic that could help.”