Scorn of the Sky Goddess

by Tara West

  Simeon jumped from Tan’yi’na’s back. “Dianna!” He rushed toward her, grasping her in a fierce hug. “I thought I’d lost you.”

  She had no time for his affection. She broke the hug, took his hand, and climbed though a field of pea pods as big as melons. She stepped cautiously up to Lydra, gasping at the giant spear sticking out of her dragon’s wing. Had the dwarves done this? The thought made her blood boil, though she knew they were probably following Furbald’s orders.

  Tan’yi’na looked at Dianna through hooded eyes. I’ll pull it, you heal it.

  She nodded, releasing Simeon’s hand and climbing up Lydra’s side.

  The golden dragon grasped the spear between his teeth, then yanked it out with a growl. Lydra roared in pain, nearly knocking Dianna off her.

  “Easy girl,” she soothed, placing her hands across the bloody membranes. “Aletha,” she begged.

  I’m here.

  She closed her eyes and pulled in powerful ropes of magic, throwing them across Lydra’s wing like a net. When she opened her eyes, the wing was marked with dry splatters of blood but otherwise healed.

  Tan’yi’na let out a deafening roar, blowing a curtain of fire around them in a wide circle, setting the nearby vegetation on fire.

  She scrambled down Lydra into Simeon’s arms.

  “What’s happening?” she asked.

  He frowned, looking at the ring of fire surrounding them. “The dwarves are advancing with spears and arrows.”

  “Those fools!” she spat.

  Tan’yi’na stood near her, chest heaving, wings spread, while he growled at the approaching army.

  She turned to Simeon, the knot of panic that welled in her throat threatening to block her words. “Stop them,” she pleaded.

  Simeon nodded, then climbed up on Tan’yi’na’s back. “Stand down, dwarves!” he boomed. “We’ve not come to battle you. We’re here to warn you a giant army approaches.”

  Though she could barely see the dwarves through the ring of fire, she was relieved to hear the clanking sounds of weapons dropping.

  A loud horn echoed from somewhere beyond the wall. She wondered if Simeon’s warning had come too late.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Markus shot upright when the door creaked open, heaving a sigh of relief when ’twas Madhea who entered into the room.

  He flung off his furs and jumped out of bed, racing to her side. “Why have you been avoiding me?” He clutched her narrow shoulders, desperately searching her eyes, distraught to see the moisture there. “Why are you crying, my love?”

  “Oh, Markus.” She let out a strangled sob, biting down on her knuckles. “I didn’t want you to see me like this.”

  Panic burst through his veins, filling them with icy sludge that slowed his movements. He needed to know what ailed her yet was terrified he wouldn’t be able to help. The thought of his true love suffering in any way filled him with sorrow and dread. “What has happened?”

  “Dianna has cursed me.” She rolled back her sleeves, and he was horrified to see the ugly black marks marring her beautiful skin.

  His sister had done this? That witch would pay!

  “These poisonous vines are eating me alive,” she cried.

  He gently pulled back her hood, treating her with the same tender care he would a newborn babe. His heart broke at the sight of the vines twisting and turning up her neck and across one side of her face. “Great goddess! How can we stop this?”

  She sniffled, daintily wiping her eyes with the hem of one sleeve. “There is only one way to stop a witch’s curse.”

  “How?” He’d do anything to cure the woman he loved. Anything.

  Her eyes widened, then narrowed. “Kill the witch who laid the curse.”

  He sucked in a sharp breath. He hated his sister for many reasons, though they all eluded him at the moment. Still, did he hate her enough to let Madhea kill her? Aye, he did, for he loved Madhea more than his own soul. He couldn’t take another breath if she was no longer a part of his world. If killing Dianna was the only way to save Madhea, then it must be done. “If you kill her, these vines will stop poisoning you?”

  “I can’t kill her.” She stepped back, a hand splayed across her heart. “She’s too powerful now, and she has poisoned my dragon against me.” Sighing, she turned her gaze to the ground. “I fear it will only be a matter of days before I succumb to her curse.”

  Markus’s blood began to boil. “Not if I can help it.”

  THE WALLS TO AYA-SHAY shook with such force, Dianna thought the entire dwarf town might be razed in a matter of moments.

  The lights flickered on, revealing an army of dwarves with crossbows the size of cannons, loaded with arrows the size of spears. So this was what they’d used on Lydra. The crossbows faced the wall the giants were trying to breach. Behind the army of dwarves, their giant children nervously huddled together, gnawing on their nails and crying. Oh, the poor dears. Would they be expected to help the dwarves fight off the kin who’d abandoned them?

  “What are you standing there for?” King Furbald marched up to Dianna. “Help us!”

  The nerve of him. First he was shooting at them, and then he was demanding they fight his battle. She turned away. “I must heal my dragon.” Something was still wrong. Dianna had healed her wing, yet Lydra still groaned, unable to lift her head.

  She ignored the king’s litany of swearing and placed her hand on Lydra’s belly. She was shocked to sense a quickening within. In her mind’s eye she saw a small purple dragon blowing blue rings of smoke.

  “Lydra, my love,” she said, rubbing her giant armored belly, “can you hear me?”

  “I know what’s wrong with her.” Simeon patted Lydra’s scales. “I’ve seen my mother in labor enough times.”

  Dianna worried her bottom lip. “I’m not sure what’s normal for a dragon. Is she supposed to be so sick so soon? Do you think the fall harmed her baby?”

  He frowned. “I’m not sure.”

  “Sindri, Aletha,” she whispered.

  We’re not sure, either, they answered in unison. We’ve never seen a dragon give birth.

  She prayed to the Elements the dragon mother and child would be all right.

  She started at the sound of a deep, reverberating snap, followed by a crash so loud, it filled her ears with a cacophony of noise.

  The giants had breached the fortress walls. They burst through with swinging clubs, deflecting arrows and roaring at the dwarves.

  Tan’yi’na hovered above Lydra. The ice dragon’s tail slapped the ground, and she groaned aloud. There was nothing more she could do for Lydra, but she couldn’t let the dwarves and their adopted children perish.

  “Simeon, help me!” she implored, scrambling up a tall vine that was twisted around a lattice fence almost as tall as a giant.

  He aided her ascent up the vine until they both found a sturdy leaf the size of a small boat to stand on.

  She flung her spirit into that between world, feeling the stones’ magic infuse with hers. She gathered armfuls and returned to the mortal plane, releasing bands of magic in strong pulses.

  The giants fell back, landing hard on their rears, causing the remainder of the wall to collapse and the dwarves to topple over.

  One of the largest giants, who wore a primitive crown of branches on his head, sat up and pointed his club at Dianna. “Madhea!”

  The other giants rubbed sore backs and gawped at her. Before she knew what was happening, they were all on their knees.

  “Great Goddess, me King Munluc,” the giant with the crown said bowing so low, his wide, flat nose scraped the ground. “Me not know why dwarves took giant sacrifices from goddess, but me sorry. Please stop cold. Most giants die already.”

  “I’m not Madhea. I’m Dianna, her daughter.” She scanned the giants standing in the smoke and rubble. They couldn’t have numbered more than fifty grimy, gaunt faces. They wore pieced together animal hides, most of which didn’t shield their arms and legs fr
om the night air. Many of them had blackened fingers and toes, which Dianna thought was due to frostbite. They were totally unfazed by the dwarf army pointing cannons and crossbows at their backs.

  She tensed, searching the crowd for King Furbald. She hoped he wouldn’t order an attack. She’d much rather get the giants to leave without any more violence. “The dwarves saved your children from the altar because the gargoyles were eating them,” she said, hoping to appeal to their forgiving sides. If they had any.

  The giants grumbled. A few Dianna thought were women began to cry.

  “I’m not sure Madhea was aware of the sacrifices,” she continued, “but if she had discovered the babies, they wouldn’t have fared well in her care either. They have thrived with the dwarves. You should be thanking them, not tearing down their walls.”

  “Giants had no choice.” King Munluc wrapped saggy arms around his waist. “We cold and hungry.”

  Dianna and Simeon shared a look. “I’m so sorry.”

  The giant’s forehead folds drew down over his eyes. “So Madhea no send cold because dwarves took sacrifices?”

  “No.” She splayed her hands in an apologetic gesture. “Madhea sent the cold because she means to destroy the world.”

  King Munluc dropped his club on the ground, scratching the back of his head. “Why goddess do that?”

  “Because she’s heartless and cruel, and I intend to stop her.”

  He picked up his club and aimed it at her, a wide grin revealing a mouthful of rotten teeth. “You fight mother, and you become new goddess?”

  She wasn’t keen on becoming a goddess, but she decided not to bother the giants with small details, especially not while they were still on their knees bowing to her, and most importantly, not hurting anyone. “I intend to put an end to my mother’s reign and restore peace to the planet, as in the days of Kyan.”

  King Munluc’s jaw dropped. “Kyan, the benevolent goddess?”

  “Aye.” She smiled. “Kyan, my aunt and the one true goddess.”

  A rumbling beneath her almost caused her to topple from her perch. The ground shook with earthquake force before it began to split apart.

  The giants hurriedly scooted back.

  “Sindri,” Dianna cried. “What’s happening?”

  I think my mother has heard you.

  A mound of dirt rose from the split in the ground, rumbling and spewing like a volcano. When the ground finally stopped heaving, a polished white stone appeared at the top of the mound, gleaming in the moonlight.

  Tan’yi’na bowed low before it with a fanged smile. My Deity, it has been too long.

  The stone pulsed a vivid gold.

  Oh, benevolent goddess, Tan’yi’na continued, may I present you to Dianna, daughter of Madhea, a half-mortal witch who means to overthrow her mother.

  The stone pulsed red.

  She is a good witch, My Deity. I give you my word. The Elementals switched her at birth, and she was raised by mortals. I have witnessed her many acts of compassion and kindness. She has collected all your daughters’ stones as well.

  Dianna was taken aback by the golden dragon’s praise, hardly believing he had once tried to kill her.

  The stone flashed a brilliant white, so bright she was forced to look away.

  Tan’yi’na tenderly picked up the stone in his mouth, turned to Dianna, and dropped it at her feet.

  She cradled it in her hands. “It’s an honor to meet you, My Deity.”

  The stone flashed a soft blue. You may call me Aunt Kyan. Now please reunite me with my daughters.

  “Of course.” She set the stone in her satchel, smiling when it warmed her hip.

  “No!!!” King Furbald ran between the giants’ kneecaps, waving his scepter like a victory flag. “Thief! Thief!” He jutted his scepter toward Dianna. “Drop that stone!”

  Simeon chuckled, gripping a spear in one hand. “Come and take it, dwarf.”

  “That stone has belonged to my family for centuries, passed down from king to king,” the king bellowed. “I am its keeper.”

  She wanted to tell the king that her Aunt Kyan belonged to no one, but she doubted it would do any good, so she tried one last time to reason with him. “That stone could mean the difference between me defeating Madhea or losing to her.”

  A familiar-looking giant made his way through the crowd, staring warily at the other giants on their knees.

  King Furbald spun around. “Borg! Get that stone! Do you hear me, you big, stupid broot?” He jumped up and down. “Get my stone!”

  The giant king slowly stood, scowling at King Furbald. “Me had son named Borg. Me put him on altar when he was three winters old.”

  Borg’s similarities to King Munluc were uncanny. Both had the same cleft lips and flat noses. They could have passed for twins except for the king’s graying hair and the lines around his eyes and mouth.

  Borg scratched the back of his head. “Da?”

  “Borg.” The giant king’s eyes watered. “Me thought you were with goddess.”

  “No, Da.” He vehemently shook his head. “Dwarves took me. All dwarves kind except king. King not nice to Borg.”

  King Furbald shook his fist at his adopted son. “Why you ungrateful heap of troll dung!”

  King Munluc raised his grimy foot so suddenly, Dianna didn’t have time to react. The terrified dwarf king squealed like a stuck pig and then she heard the distinctive splatter and crunch of organs and bones.

  “Now dwarf king not mean to anyone,” King Munluc said.

  Dianna didn’t know how to react to Furbald’s gruesome death. She and Simeon shared shocked glances before she turned back to King Munluc. Her breath stilled as she watched the dwarves, waiting for them to sound the alarm and advance on the giants, but with the exception of Lydra grunting and panting behind her, their war-torn garden was in a hush.

  Borg looked at the splattered remains of his adoptive father with a heavy frown. He placed a hand on his heart, mumbling something so softly, she had to strain to hear what he was saying.

  When the rest of the dwarves joined in, she recognized the souls’ prayer. “In life these dreams we make. In death our spirits wake. To the Elements we ask our souls to take. Amen.”

  She hung her head and quickly mouthed “amen” while dwarves and giants did the same. Then Borg scooped up a handful of dirt and dumped it over his adoptive father’s remains.

  She waited again for a call to arms, but the dwarves remained stoic, looking to her. Mayhap Grim was right, that there were many dwarves who had wanted to overthrow Furbald. She suspected his sour mood had affected more than just Borg.

  The giant king once again knelt in front of Dianna. “Young goddess, King Munluc no want to give any more sacrifice to Madhea and no want Madhea to destroy world.”

  Simeon stepped forward, clasping her hand in his. “Then join with her, King Munluc. Help Dianna defeat her mother and take her rightful place as your new goddess.”

  The king looked at Simeon as if in a trance. “King Munluc and giants will follow Dianna,” he said in a monotone.

  So much for Simeon’s magic not working on giants. It had clearly worked on Munluc. Then again, she didn’t think he’d been trying that day Ryne had asked him to use his persuasion on Borg. He’d been sulking over her rejection, after all.

  “Thank you, King Munluc.” She heaved a sigh of relief. “Now that I have the final stone, I believe I will be victorious.”

  Lydra let out a low dark wail that sounded like a brooding broot, only far more heartbreaking. She rushed to her dragon’s side. Lydra sat up, heaving and sputtering as water dripped from her fangs.

  She let out a primal roar, then slumped back down, raising a hind leg and rolling onto her side. A purple egg about the size of a full-grown human, tucked into a ball, rolled out of Lydra and onto the soft soil.

  Tan’yi’na sniffed the egg before turning to Dianna with a fanged smile. I’m going to be a father, little witch. We must kill the ice shrew before my hatc
hling enters this world.

  She clasped her hands, smiling at Simeon as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “Oh, Tan’yi’na,” she said to the golden dragon, “I swear on the Elements I will do everything in my power to make the world a safe place for your child.”

  Tan’yi’na was right about you, niece, Kyan’s soothing voice echoed in Dianna’s skull. You are indeed a good witch.

  TAN’YI’NA REFUSED TO leave Lydra’s side, growling at any giant who walked too close to his mate and the egg. Grim showed up with Gorpat as Dianna and Simeon were leaving. She had the pleasure of informing Grim that he was the new king of Aya-Shay. With Grim eager to take on his new duties as king, she and Simeon were left alone outside the remains of the gate.

  As they walked back to the refugees, he squeezed her hand while they went over the night’s events. She was still too stunned to process all that had happened, but it appeared she’d have a giant army to assist her in bringing down Madhea. She believed she had a very good chance of overthrowing the ice witch, especially now that she had all seven stones. They had been buzzing with activity since mother had been reunited with her daughters. It warmed Dianna’s heart that they were together once more. If only they could be restored to their true forms.

  She assured Alec, Ryne, and several elders the giants had vowed not to harm them. She was surprised to find the rest of the refugees gathered around the two prophets. Knowing they’d slow their party down, and not wanting to have to break up any more awkward fights, Dianna had left the old men in Aloa-Shay. How had they gotten here so fast?

  “Dafuar, Odu?” She walked over to the brothers. “How did you get here and what are you doing here?”

  We were carried by two brawny young men.” Odu nodded to ice men hunched over under a palma tree, rubbing their lower backs.

  “And we’ve come to warn you,” Dafuar added, worry lines marring his wrinkled brow.

  Her legs weakened, nearly buckling beneath her. She’d have fallen if Simeon hadn’t been there to catch her. He helped her sink onto the soft sand, then sat beside her, wrapping a comforting arm around her.