The Gatekeeper (The Guardians of Tara Book 1)

by S. M. Schmitz

  “Didn’t work,” Nemain pointed out smartly. “Try something else.”

  “You are this close to being sent to Ellesmere Island,” Cameron warned.

  Another group of hummingbirds descended on them, and Cameron threw two fireballs at them this time. Their ranks broke apart again, but several of them had been caught in his crossfire.

  “Did you know a group of hummingbirds is called a charm?” Selena asked.

  Cameron glanced at her and opened his mouth then shut it.

  For once, she’d left him speechless.

  She just shrugged at him.

  Nemain had to ask the obvious question for him. “Why would you know something like that?”

  Selena shrugged again. “Spent most of my life alone. That gets boring really quickly.”

  Two more fireballs waited in Cameron’s hands as the birds regrouped and dove again. “Stupid birds don’t learn very quickly,” he mumbled.

  “It’s called a charm, by the way,” Selena added just as helpfully as before.

  “Selena,” he groaned, “I have been a bad influence on you.”

  He threw the fireballs at the birds and just as before, most scattered and only a few burned in his flames.

  “I’ve tried telling you that you’ve been a bad influence on her,” Nemain said. “You wouldn’t listen.”

  Cameron wanted to argue with the war goddess, but he had a few thousand pissed off warriors turned hummingbirds to deal with. “Selena, try using your telekinesis to at least push them all into a narrow line. That way, when I throw the fireballs, they won’t be able to scatter.”

  He could feel Selena concentrating on his request and watched as the broad charm above them shrunk into a narrower and narrower line of birds. Cameron reached back and threw the fireball in his right hand into the middle of the row. With so many birds pressed together and invisible walls preventing them from flying outward, they either burned in the fire’s path or were lucky – or smart – enough to shoot upward.

  “Can you keep them pressed into a box?” Cameron asked.

  Selena only nodded because she was still concentrating on keeping the birds where Cameron wanted them. As the weaker of her two gifts, it didn’t come as naturally to her as healing, but Cameron admired the hell out of how powerful she must be to still harness this much energy to control the flight of the birds.

  Two new fireballs waited in his hands and as soon as he sensed Selena’s satisfaction that she’d be able to keep the birds from escaping her prison, he threw them both into the thickly packed green and red blur of movement. Nemain darted below the charm of hummingbirds and gripped her sword tightly in both hands then began slicing it through the tightly packed birds. More green and red bodies, most no larger than a few inches, fell to the ground.

  Part of him expected to see the spirits of the dead warriors rising from the bodies, but they simply fell to the ground and remained motionless. As he threw two more fireballs at the tunnel of birds, he noticed they were trying to fly backwards and held the next two fireballs at his side.

  “Are they retreating?” he asked.

  Nemain lowered her arms and said, “Looks like it. Should we let them go?”

  “They’ll just attack us again as soon as they realize nothing is keeping them in place,” Cameron argued.

  “True, but Huitzilopochtli likely has an entire army of dead warriors he can summon. Killing a few thousand is hardly a big loss for him,” Nemain countered.

  “It’s a few thousand less we have to worry about later on,” Cameron said.

  “Would you two stop arguing and either kill these damn birds or decide to get the hell out of here already?” Selena shouted. “You have no idea how ridiculously hard it is to keep a charm of hummingbirds contained!”

  Cameron nodded smartly and lifted his arm again. “You’re right. And I’m burning them.”

  He threw another fireball, but this time, as it hit the wall of birds Selena kept imprisoned, he caused it to explode in a blistering inferno that made Nemain yelp and run back toward the young Irish god and goddess.

  She glared at him and pointed an accusatory finger. “You could have warned me you were about to do that.”

  “You should know I wouldn’t let it hurt you,” Cameron said.

  “Doesn’t mean an unexpected fire erupting above my head doesn’t scare the shit out of me!”

  “Fine. Nemain, I’m thinking I’ll just firebomb the bastards. Happy?”

  “Obnoxious asshole,” she reminded him.

  Cameron nodded and threw another fireball into the swirling, blazing vortex. Selena grunted in frustration and the walls she’d erected around the birds finally gave way, allowing both animals and fire to escape.

  “I couldn’t hold it anymore!” she cried. “Your fires are too powerful!”

  “Now that I can make weird,” Cameron assured her.

  “Cameron, not now! Put out your fires so we can get out of here!”

  The fires dissipated but instead of descending on them, the survivors fled back into the forest around them. Cameron was about to ask the goddesses if they thought Huitzilopochtli had summoned them when he felt a familiar presence, one that used to alarm him. He turned around slowly and arched a questioning eyebrow at the Norse thunder god who had inexplicably appeared in the middle of the Atchafalaya Basin.

  Chapter Six

  “Thor,” Selena said slowly, “why are you not in Falias helping the rest of your family?”

  Thor waved a large hand in her direction and smiled at her. “They can do without me for a while. You two, on the other hand, I’m convinced can’t avoid trouble in any world.”

  “True,” Cameron acknowledged. “But what trouble are you referring to now? Huitzilopochtli or Enlil?”

  “Neither,” Thor told him. He scratched at his chin through his ruddy beard and his eyes laughed at the young sun god. “Any chance we can go to New Orleans now for that eating contest?”

  “On it,” Cameron promised him before Selena could protest.

  She threw her hands up as the familiar streets of the French Quarter materialized beneath their feet. Cameron winked at her and asked if she were up for a rendezvous at the W Hotel so she threatened to run away to Hawaii with Nemain.

  “One of these days, I’m going to worry that you actually want to get away from me,” he teased.

  “One of these days, I’m actually going to Hawaii,” Selena teased back.

  “What happened to those birds?” Thor asked.

  Cameron shrugged then pointed to a restaurant across the street and told him, “Best shrimp po-boys in New Orleans. Their gumbo is pretty good, too.”

  He eyed Thor’s massive body and added, “I hope you brought your own credit card.”

  Thor laughed and clapped him on the back. “Admitting defeat already, Sun God?”

  Cameron shrugged again. “Now that I don’t have to defend the Tuatha Dé’s honor at the table, it’s only my ego on the line.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Nemain interrupted. “I’ll defend my family’s honor at the table.”

  Thor stopped in front of the restaurant doors to gape at the Irish war goddess. “You? But you’re…”

  “I’m what?” Nemain demanded. “Trust me. I’m no Sif. I can take you.”

  “Dude,” Cameron hissed at Thor, “we’re about to get our asses kicked by a girl.”

  Thor laughed again and held the door open for his former enemies. “I wouldn’t exactly call one of the Mórrígna a girl.”

  Nemain shot him a look that Cameron interpreted as, “You’re damn right.”

  The hostess, a young woman Cameron thought must still be in high school, approached them, giving a wary glance in Thor’s direction before turning a friendlier smile in his direction. He caught Selena rolling her eyes. Despite his constant smartass remarks, he wasn’t really stupid. He knew he was attractive, but like Selena, he’d spent much of his life avoiding contact with people because if they touched him, they co
uld sense the power within him to heal. He’d never really paid much attention to the advances of women because relationships required him to lie once he’d established enough trust, and he’d been serious when he told Selena he rarely lied.

  He hated being dishonest.

  Midir had hated it, too.

  “Four,” Cameron requested. “And make sure you give us a waiter with incredible stamina.”

  “I can totally make this weird,” Selena said. “Sometimes, you make it too easy.”

  “I can make that weirder,” Cameron promised her.

  “Oh, for God’s sake, shut up and follow the hostess,” Nemain ordered.

  “Wait,” Cameron said, holding up a hand. “Which one of us?”

  “You!” Nemain cried. “Obviously!”

  Thor chuckled and shook his large head. “You do keep things entertaining, Sun God.”

  “Yeah, just ask Selena,” Cameron answered as he followed Thor and the hostess. He could feel Selena’s embarrassment and wondered if he’d be a little sorry about that later, too.

  He pulled Selena’s chair away from the table as a sort of peace offering, and she narrowed her eyes at him before sitting in it.

  Yeah, he was already a little sorry.

  A waiter appeared by their table, his spiky orange hair complimented by a labret that almost made him lose his appetite. Selena glanced at the stud in the young man’s face before returning her attention to her menu.

  Just don’t look at it, she advised.

  I can totally make that weird, too.

  She sighed aloud then smiled at him. Believe me. I know you can.

  Why are you looking at the menu? Didn’t I tell you at the W? Crawfish po-boy. Trust me.

  Why are you so obsessed with shrimp po-boys then?

  Because they’re equally amazing, and the best food on this entire planet. Or in our new world.

  “Knock that off,” Nemain warned again.

  “They do that telepathy thing a lot?” Thor asked.

  Nemain nodded. “It’s incredibly annoying.”

  The waiter shifted his weight between his feet nervously and cleared his throat. “Um, can I get y’all something to drink?”

  “What was that beer you suggested?” Thor asked Cameron.

  “Purple Haze for our giant friend,” Cameron said, “water for me.”

  “Wimp,” Thor teased.

  “I’ll take a Purple Haze,” Nemain interjected.

  Thor shot him a look that he interpreted as, “You just got shown up by a girl. Again.”

  “Get used to it,” Selena muttered.

  “Ok, is this about the comment in the Basin or the comment at the door?” Cameron asked.

  “Both.”

  Great.

  He was definitely sleeping on the couch.

  Selena finally lifted her head and smiled at him before telling the waiter, “I’ll have water, too. But these three would like the biggest shrimp po-boys you have.”

  “Fully dressed?” the waiter asked.

  Selena blinked at him then looked down at her clothes, and even though he was already in trouble, Cameron laughed anyway.

  “Yes,” he told the waiter, “and with three bowls of seafood gumbo.”

  “Four,” Selena corrected. “But that’s all I want.”

  Why are they dressing your sandwiches? she asked as the waiter walked away.

  Fancy sandwich, Cameron corrected.

  You are dangerously close to sleeping outside, Selena warned.

  Er… what I meant to say is it just refers to what we put on the po-boys. Lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise. Sometimes pickles. They skip the pickles here. Can I sleep with you now?

  Depends. Are you referring to sleeping or something else? Selena teased.

  Both.

  “You’re right,” Thor told Nemain. “This does get annoying really quickly.”

  Cameron smiled and leaned on the table to tell the famous thunder god, “We’re done. Promise. She agreed to sleep me with again.”

  “No I didn’t,” Selena interrupted. “And stop telling people stuff like that!”

  Cameron decided he’d pushed his luck enough for one day so quickly changed the subject. “You didn’t really track us down in the middle of a swamp while we were battling possessed hummingbirds just to get an admittedly kickass lunch out of us, did you?”

  Thor snickered and shook his large head. “I wish that were the only reason I’m here. Ukko actually asked me to come.”

  Selena dropped the silverware she’d just unrolled from her napkin. “Ukko? Why?”

  “Words already out that he’s taken up permanent residence in Findias,” Thor explained.

  “So?” Nemain interrupted. “He left the New Pantheon in capable hands. Surely no one’s stupid enough to try to take it over.”

  Thor shook his head again. “That’s not the problem. Ukko was also the head of his pantheon, and with him out of the equation, there’s apparently a power struggle to replace him.”

  “So how is this our problem?” Cameron asked.

  Thor sighed and snapped, “If you Irish gods would stop interrupting me and let me finish, I’d tell you.”

  “Sorry,” Nemain and Cameron mumbled.

  “It’s your problem,” Thor continued, “because of who just claimed control of Ukko’s pantheon. And that makes it a problem for all of us, especially for a couple of new gods who claim to be worried about the fate of Earth.”

  “Oh, great,” Selena groaned. “We really need to find this Stone’s heir.”

  Cameron nodded in complete commiseration.

  “I don’t even know which of the Finnish gods are still alive,” Nemain said. “Who has Ukko so worried?”

  The waiter approached again and all of the gods fell silent as he placed their drinks on the table. He tried to ask if they needed anything else, but Nemain had apparently lost her patience.

  “We’re fine,” she snapped.

  Cameron watched his retreating back for a few seconds before telling her, “He’s totally spitting in your gumbo.”

  “And you totally deserve it,” Selena added.

  “Nobody deserves spit-gumbo,” Cameron argued.

  “Pretty sure Huitzilopochtli does,” Selena argued back.

  “Conceded,” Cameron said.

  “Would you two shut up?” Thor asked.

  Nemain snickered. “Good luck with that.”

  Thor’s thick fingers rubbed his eyes as he mumbled, “I should’ve sent an email.”

  Cameron nudged Selena’s arm and told her, “This is going to be the new ‘What is wrong with you?’ isn’t it?”

  Selena nodded seriously. “At least we don’t have to come up with an answer for why no one just sent the email.”

  “And if people stop asking what’s wrong with us, we don’t have to worry something is actually wrong with us.”

  “Clearly something is wrong with them if they keep showing up expecting different results,” Selena said.

  “Good point,” Cameron acknowledged.

  “What is wrong with you two?” Thor asked.

  “Well, that lasted all of fifteen seconds,” Cameron sighed.

  “If I weren’t waiting on food, I’d go back to Falias,” Thor sighed back.

  “Don’t blame you,” Cameron said.

  “Who’s the new head of the Finnish pantheon?” Nemain groaned.

  “Loviatar,” Thor answered.

  Nemain groaned again, but Cameron just looked at Selena with a questioning look. He didn’t know this name or why it should alarm their friends. Selena returned the look and shook her head.

  “Ok, we give up,” Cameron said. “Who’s Loviatar and why is he evil?”

  “She,” Thor corrected. “And she’s evil because… well, she is.”

  “That’s not an answer,” Cameron pointed out. “And it’s circular reasoning. You failed Logic 101, didn’t you?”

  “I’m spitting in your gumbo,” Thor warned.

 
; “I’ll totally smite you,” Cameron warned back.

  “Loviatar is the goddess of death, which doesn’t necessarily make her evil. Obviously. You knew Osiris, and he was far from it,” Thor explained.

  Nemain took a long sip from her beer at the mention of her dead friend’s name. Sometimes, the Battle of the Gods already seemed to be in their distant past and it was easy to forget how fresh the wounds of their losses were.

  “But,” Thor continued, “in Finnish mythology, she is responsible for unleashing disease on mankind. Not true, of course, but the reason Loviatar earned those legends is that she’s always used her power to extort whatever she wanted out of humans.” Thor paused to address Selena and nodded toward Cameron. “If she wanted your boyfriend and he refused to leave you, she would threaten to strike you with some terribly painful and disfiguring disease that would eventually kill you, but she’d make sure you suffered first.”

  “I’d torch her,” Cameron immediately said.

  “You would,” Thor responded. “But weaker gods and humans don’t have that option.”

  “So she can control diseases?” Selena asked.

  “Sure,” Thor said. “She just didn’t create them. If you can heal them, it only makes sense that other gods and goddesses can control them, too.”

  Cameron didn’t want to admit that Thor was actually right about something, even though he liked Thor now, so he changed courses. “Ok, evil goddess trying to take over the Finnish pantheon. But can’t Ukko’s gods take care of her? Why do we have to get involved? We always have to get involved.”

  “Because you and Selena have more power than most of us combined,” Thor told him. “You don’t know how to use it all yet and are probably capable of things you don’t even realize, but especially for those pantheons that have become weak over time, like the Finns, they’ll need all the help they can get to prevent someone like Loviatar from bringing even more misery to this pathetic little world.”

  “Hey,” Cameron cautioned, “I was born in this pathetic little world. Watch it.”

  “And you’re on this quest as the new Guardians of Tara because you recognize it needs all the help it can get,” Thor argued. “Loviatar will do nothing except hurt people, and if you care so much about humans and their futures, you’ll stop her.”