Renegade (The Cross-Worlds Coven Series Book 5)

by Phil Stern

  Letting her eyes drift closed, the sorceress magically tracked the safe’s progress down to the yacht’s lower level, then into a nearby cabin. Relieved the work was finally complete, the men quickly closed the cabin door and went back up on deck.

  Above, she could easily discern the sounds of a ship preparing to get underway. The yacht’s master ordered sails unfurled on the mainmast, while other crewman tightened up the anchor chain. Clearly, the lady demon intended on a quick getaway.

  But not before Caylee fully examined Wendily’s “prize.” Slipping from the storage locker in a low crouch, the black-clad sorceress lightly treaded along the passageway.

  *****

  Well, it was time. Holding down her fashionable hat against a sudden gust, Wendily took one final look about the upper deck.

  The wind seemed to be blowing in, which was a bother. But as soon as conditions permitted, the captain was to raise anchor and leave Donlon harbor without delay. For once safely out to sea, Wendily would have all the time she needed to subdue the witch without any interference from...

  Yet even as this pleasing thought crossed her mind, the young demon spied an expensive, steam-powered launch heading straight for them. With a curse, she grabbed a powerful spyglass from the yacht’s captain, focusing it on the intruding vessel.

  Posed in the prow, like some avenging bird-of-prey, was Lady Rhapsony. Wendily’s fellow demon also had a telescope, which was pointed straight back at her. Behind Rhapsony stood Lord Sathron. Even as Wendily watched, a huge billow of smoke poured from the stack as the craft picked up speed.

  “Shit!” Wendily snarled, flinging the captain’s telescope against the mainmast with a loud crack. Several seaman scurried out of the way, though one had his forehead cut by flying glass.

  Unlike Rhapsony’s ship, Wendily’s yacht didn’t have an engine. Thus, her fellow demons had a distinct advantage, especially with the current unfavorable wind. Under the circumstances they’d have to tack several times before angling through the bay’s narrow entrance, giving the other craft plenty of time to catch up.

  Still, what could they do? After all, her fellow demons wouldn’t come aboard without invitation. The men would just make excuses up top, while Wendily was ascending into the Haven witch down below. Rhapsony and Sathron could putter and posture about all they liked, but couldn’t well just storm aboard without good reason.

  Firmly instructing the crew to decline all visitors, and under no circumstances allow any other ships to tie up, Wendily darted through a hatch and down into the ship itself.

  *****

  Oddly, the cabin door wasn’t locked. Carefully stepping into the small space, Caylee was immediately confronted by the squat safe. Taking up nearly one-quarter of the floor area, it’s stocky outline was vaguely visible in the weak light seeping through a grimy porthole.

  Up close, the “stench” of alien magic was nearly overpowering. Turning her face to one side, the blonde enchantress crouched down and applied the lock-cracking device. After a few seconds of humming and grinding, the tumblers politely clicked into place. Taking a deep breath, Caylee fully swung the door wide open.

  Inside was a single small rock, about the size of a baseball on Earth, exuding a chaotic magical signature. It was similar to the native Donlon geodes Caylee had already encountered, yet far more concentrated. Other than that, the safe was empty.

  Disappointed, Caylee let out a deep sigh. She’d been hoping to find some kind of crafted magical weapon, or at least something that might enhance her own power. This was just a roiling ball of raw energy completely antithetical to her own form of magic. Indeed, bombarded by this foreign radiation up close, Caylee’s earth stone began intermittently flickering.

  Half-closing the safe with a annoyed swat, the sorceress stood tall once more. All this work for a dry well. But with her curiosity now sated, she really needed to get off the ship right away. With any luck no one would even know she was there.

  But just as she bent down to relock the safe, the cabin door burst open. Leaping up again, the surprised sorceress was confronted in the small space by the female demon, silver eyes pulsing. Even as she instinctively raised a magical shield, Wendily slammed a second magical rock right into Caylee’s earth stone.

  Unprepared for this line of attack, Caylee’s earth stone overloaded. The resulting explosion blew the teenager back against the safe, where her hip hit the metal at just the wrong angle. Perversely pivoting over the top, the sorceress flopped down in a heap within the far cabin corner. Awkwardly wedged between the back of the iron behemoth and two converging walls, head spinning, Caylee was momentarily helpless.

  Before she could even think what to do next, Wendily was leaning down to bang yet a third rock directly into the sputtering earth stone. Flooded with toxic magic, the magician helplessly watched the demon draw back her other fist. The resulting blow rocked Caylee’s head back against the wall, after which everything went dark.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  FOR THE THIRD day in a row, Sarina stood on the floor of the lush Lysandy gorge. Moodily staring down at the gushing waterway, excess magic steaming off it’s frothing surface, the Coven sorceress realized she was fast running out of time.

  Having tracked Caylee to a small Lysandy village, and hearing the story of Balen’s Bastion and the “underworld” to which it was connected, Sarina knew what her inexperienced sister must have done. Without plan or backup, Caylee had impetuously leapt into an inter-dimensional rift.

  Glancing up, she idly watched a battle hawk slowly circle the turbulent, roiling main pool farther upstream. This was the obvious epicenter of the event, where anyone returning from the other side would first appear. Sarina had posted both a hawk and unicorn here around the clock, but so far Caylee had failed to reemerge.

  Which meant her 18-year-old Coven-mate was now officially missing. Where she was now, or in what condition, was anybody’s guess.

  Still, for a young, inexperienced operative, the pull of this place must have been irresistible. Strolling downstream, her black boots crunching into stones and muck along the shoreline, Sarina felt waves of invigorating energy shooting up from the water. Almost everything here was raw and real, seething with potent magic. The undiscovered majesty of it all was quite invigorating, like the very landscape was drawing you in for a grand adventure.

  Up ahead, she spied Pend and Tornado standing by the expanding river bank, staring morosely at the water. Since her arrival, the tiger princess and young unicorn had become inseparable, bound together in their mutual despair at Caylee’s continued absence.

  Without question, Pend found Sarina to be a poor substitute. Indeed, the cub had been quite frustrated upon discovering that, unlike her oddly gifted Coven-mate, this new human couldn’t mentally talk with animals. Verbal communication was also no good. Despite several rounds of fervent muttering, chirping, and humming, the sorceress had no idea what Pend was trying to say. Thwarted, the tiger cub would finally swipe a disgusted paw through the air and stalk off.

  If anything, though, Tornado was even worse. Slowly clopping up the river bank, the colt again fixed his worried, blue gaze on her. Clearly, the unicorn was willing to use any means of persuasion, including sulky guilt trips, to spur her into some kind of action on Caylee’s behalf.

  Sighing, the senior sorceress lightly stroked his beautiful nose. Time was running out. She either needed to plunge into the pool herself and go after her wayward sister, or report back to Haven empty-handed. Face turned up to the gorgeous sky, Sarina enjoyed the sun’s warm caress as she methodically shifted through all the various factors now in play.

  *****

  Twenty minutes after being accosted in the coffee shop, Tiffany and Jenla were sitting at a picnic table in a nearby park. Young children and their parents played on swings off to one side, while a pickup game of baseball was commencing in a nearby field. No one was close enough to hear their conversation, though Tiffany erected a hush bubble around them just in case.
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br />   Getting rid of her sister had been a challenge. Clearly, Valensa hadn’t believed the story of a stray Coven-mate with a personal problem in need of counsel. It had taken all of her persuasive powers just to give them a little space, and that was only granted upon a promise of full disclosure later on.

  Yet Tiffany already knew that was a pledge she’d have to break. Whatever disaster had brought a sorceress traveling back in time was surely too explosive to risk sharing with anyone. Indeed, with everyone on edge as it was, the mere rumor of impending calamity could send the entire Coven spiraling into chaos.

  Jenla herself certainly painted a grim picture of the situation. Even now, sitting in a pleasant park in the presence of her Coven-mate, this hardened, adult version of the young girl she knew kept her magical defenses raised. A jumping squirrel in the far tree line drew an immediate scowl, a hand half-raising to her earth stone. Boundary shock, dimensional fatigue...whatever term one preferred, Jenla was obviously near the end of her endurance.

  “So tell me,” Tiffany gently began. “And let’s start with the time travel part.”

  “Fine.” Wearily yanking something from her magical travel bag, Jenla slapped a largish yellow rock on the wooden table. “That’s a time stone. Pretty simple, really.”

  To anyone watching, it would appear as if the time stone had wondrously appeared out of mid-air. “Don’t do that again.” Frowning, Tiffany gingerly examined the unusual object. It was much larger than a normal earth stone, about the size of an Earth baseball. The time stone was also rough cut and oddly heavy, clearly having been mined from some alien type of geode. “This is a mundane world, as I’m sure you know.”

  “Oh, the things we used to worry about.” Jenla irritably looked about. “Trust me. These people will have much crazier shit to deal with very soon.”

  A retiree shuffled along a nearby path with his tiny dog, aimlessly whistling to the world-at-large. “A former Coven Elder hinted to me once that time travel was possible.” Studying him a moment, Tiffany thoughtfully turned to her companion again. “The implication was that the Council didn’t share everything they knew.”

  “Yup.” Running a gloved hand through her hair, Jenla sighed. “But there’s only one time stone, and this is it.”

  “How did you get it?”

  “A Coven Elder gave it to me.” Fixing her pretty brown eyes on Tiffany, the sorceress tersely nodded. “My instructions were to find Tiffany Smith, now, on Earth, and fully brief you on our current situation.”

  “You mean, brief me on what’s going on fifteen years from now.” Head spinning, Tiffany tried to absorb it all. “From my perspective, that is.”

  “Yes, but we must be quick about it. I can’t stay here long.”

  “Why? You’ve got a time travel device, right?” Pointedly flicking the potent talisman with a single finger, the rough stone clunked across the table to rest against Jensa’s elbow. “So what difference does it make whether you spend an hour or a year here?”

  “Polluting the time line.” The younger enchantress spoke simply, as if it were a common concern. “The longer I’m here, the more potential ripples I’ll cause.”

  “But you specifically traveled back here to change the future.” Tiffany thought a moment. “To deliberately pollute the time line, so to speak.”

  “Well, yes. But not here on Earth.” Grimacing, Jenla twisted her head from side to side. “I’m here to try and fix one specific thing in another dimension.”

  “And you really think you can fix this one thing, as you say, and not cause any other ripples?”

  “Of course not.” Jenla sat very still. “I’m not an idiot. Obviously, time travel is very dangerous, in any number of ways. It’s a weapon of last resort.”

  “And?” Tiffany gently prompted.

  “We’re being forced to manipulate the natural time line despite all the unknown and entirely unpredictable consequences, not because they don’t exist.”

  “Very good.” Earth’s lead sorceress allowed herself a tight smile. “I always thought you were a smart girl.”

  “Gee, thanks.” Experiencing another shot of pain, Jenla roughly massaged her own shoulder. “But maybe weapon isn’t the right word either. I think the Council always considered the time stone an ultimate insurance policy. In case things really go bad.”

  “And now they’re cashing in.” Idly, Tiffany wondered who was actually on the Coven Council fifteen years from now. Since the current membership was generally advanced in years, there had surely been a few changes. “What’s up with your neck, anyway?”

  “Combat, of course.”

  “With who?”

  “The demons.” Thoughtfully picking up the time stone, Jenla stared into it’s mesmerizing yellow exterior. “We’ve been fighting them throughout the universe for a decade now.”

  “You mean, from my perspective, we will be fighting them.”

  “We will indeed.” With a shrug, Jenla returned the time stone to her travel bag. “You more than most.”

  “And I take it these demons are very bad news?”

  “Very.” Sitting up, Jenla’s whole body became tense. “We’ve lost over half the Coven. Dead, that is. Several others have been taken over.”

  “Taken over?” Holding herself very still, Tiffany felt the wind gently caress her cheek. “You mean...”

  “There are six demon-witches that we know of.” A flash of green fire fully swept through Jenla’s gaze. “There may be more.”

  “I see.”

  “No, you don’t see.” She bitterly snapped a twig between two fingers. “These girls have given themselves over to the enemy! They’re traitors to everything that we believe in!”

  Tiffany deliberately let a moment go by. “Traitor is an awfully harsh word.”

  “But it’s the right one, trust me.” Leaning forward, both of Jenla’s gloved hands curled into fists on the table top. “Actually, it’s a word that’s become quite popular of late.”

  Now a younger couple jogged by on the nearby path, a happy golden retriever padding along beside them. Turning away from her seething companion, Earth’s lead sorceress idly watched them move off. “You mentioned Caylee. How does she fit into all this?”

  “Well, speaking of traitors, Caylee was the very first.”

  “So you said.” Once more looking at her visitor from the future, Tiffany slowly shook her head. “But honestly, I find that impossible to believe.”

  “Trust me, it isn’t.” Sitting there, on the picnic table in the park, Jenla became deadly still. “If it wasn’t for Caylee, none of this would have ever happened in the first place.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  BOLTING AWAKE, Caylee found herself strapped into a simple chair. Hands tied behind her back, legs bound to the wooden legs, she was physically helpless.

  Yet even as her forced immobility vaguely registered, the sorceress instinctively reached out to her earth stone. Calling forth it’s vast might, Caylee directed potent magic along her wrists to incinerate the bonds.

  But all she got was a sputtering magical echo. Even this tiny vestige of power quickly dissipated, mocking the enchantress with her newfound impotence.

  Breathing hard, Caylee visually scanned her own waist. Her earth stone was still snugly attached, clearly visible within it’s tough mesh. However, the talisman was cold and inert, lacking all of it’s previous green luster. It was as if the wondrous magic had been bodily driven out, leaving an empty green husk in it’s place.

  Somehow containing a surge of pure terror, Caylee looked about. She was still in the same space as before, the yawning safe mere feet away. Two of the odious local magical stones sat on it’s roof, saturating everything with their noxious stink. Indeed, their countervailing magical signature oozed all about, making it difficult to even think straight.

  Forcing herself to concentrate, she fully remembered sneaking aboard the yacht, then stealing into this very cabin to raid the safe. But it was all a trap, the demon timing her
strike to perfection. Wielding the unstable local geodes like a magical club, she’d managed to completely knock out Caylee’s power.

  But for how long? Surely the earth stone wasn’t permanently ruined, was it?

  Once more trying to interface with her power, the thwarted enchantress came up empty. For the first time since in nearly eleven years, she was completely without magic.

  Immensely frustrated, the young operative rocked the chair back and forth, attempting to wrench herself free through sheer physical strength. Yet the bonds held true, merely bitting more deeply into her wrists and ankles. Shooting pain soon reached up from Caylee’s four extremities, mocking her now-mundane condition.

  Somehow forestalling a full-blown descent into panic, she professionally appraised her own situation. Fully armed with her magic and freedom, the sorceress stood a great chance of staying one step ahead of Donlon’s lords and ladies. In her current state, she was toast. Really, the fact that she wasn’t already dead was a mild surprise.

  Which raised an interesting question. Even if they wanted her alive, why hadn’t the demon simply stolen Caylee’s earth stone? For with it at her side, there was always a chance of regaining her power. Without it, she’d never be a threat to them again.

  A strong gust of wind hit the yacht, rocking the craft back and forth. Up above, Caylee heard the captain give orders to shorten the anchor chain. Apparently, the demon intended to spirit her newest prisoner far away from the city. That didn’t sound good at all.

  Gritting her teeth, Caylee once more tried to tease her dormant power back into an active state. Moments went by, soon stretching into minutes. It was exhausting work, especially with Wendily’s putrid stones fouling the small space. She idly remembered Tiffany recounting a similar situation, something to do with hot wiring a Coven Stick. Recalling a few of the techniques her older Coven-mate had employed, she doggedly kept going.