But we haven’t spent the intervening time being idle, Kevin thought as he stood up and stretched. Knowing the difficulties they would face, the crafty old sorcerer had not been content with simply preserving their magic. The cosmic configurations that made a rematch possible would only happen once, against descendants of the Sol’agath who commanded an immense concentration of benevolent magic known as the Power of Three.
To counter this, the old man had stacked the magical deck in favor of the Dor’chacht clan’s champions. Not only would Tov’reh, Ce’kahn, and Sh’tara have the full force of their own abilities when the duel commenced, the Sol’agath would have lost most of theirs.
Kevin smiled.
Even though Piper still had half her power, the Charmed Ones would be helpless against the magic of the Dor’chacht. The witches would lose the battle, the last vestiges of their power, and their lives.
And the Dor’chacht would ascend to their rightful place in the universal hierarchy of evil as the feared, omnipotent masters of the mortal world.
Chapter
9
“What day is it?” Paige stumbled into the bathroom, still groggy from sleep.
“Friday.” Piper propped her half-awake half sister against the sink counter. Holding Paige steady with one hand, she turned on the water in the tub with the other.
“What time?” Paige swayed on her feet and yawned.
“Time to wake up and help me figure out how to beat the Dor’chacht with almost no powers and two practically useless sisters.” Piper didn’t try to hide her exasperation.
She had spent the morning helping Phoebe edit pages of scribbled notes into a small memo pad. The process had been complicated by her sister’s inability to carry on a meaningful conversation of any duration. The gap in her long-term memory was potentially more dangerous because Phoebe had forgotten the bond of trust they had built with Paige. Piper couldn’t even guess how much that, combined with their reduced magic, would affect the Power of Three.
“Useless?” Paige pried one eye open with her thumb and index finger. “It’s too early to parry insults.”
“I just want to get you motivated.” Piper held her hand under the running water to test the temperature. She was tempted to make it ice cold, but decided that she didn’t want to deal with a furious witch.
“Okay, I can take a hint.” Paige shrugged out from under Piper’s hand. “I can also take my own shower.”
“Fine.” Piper stepped back. “Lunch will be ready when you’re done. Then we have to work out a strategy for tonight’s magical version of the Hatfields and McCoys.”
“Which we don’t have much hope of winning.” Paige stepped into the tub and pulled the curtain closed.
“Almost none,” Piper agreed, choking off a shuddering sob. She had gotten so used to being a whiny woman, the tears had become an irritation she mostly ignored. She couldn’t ignore the impending showdown, but it was foolish and dangerous to harbor false hope.
“Not necessarily hopeless, though,” Paige said, as though reading Piper’s mind. She dropped her robe on the floor and peeked around the curtain.
Piper’s glance was unmistakably skeptical. Their chances of winning a battle of dueling spells with weakened powers were poor at best.
“I may only have twenty-five percent of my orbing ability,” Paige said, “but considering what it does to coffee cups and candles…” An impish grin brightened her face as she left the thought dangling.
An image of the disintegrated objects flashed through Piper’s mind. The idea of turning Karen Ashley into pieces and parts was appealing, but not a viable option.
“Except we don’t know what powers the evil Ks have locked up in their artifacts along with ours,” Piper pointed out.
“We know that Karen’s name was Sh’tara and that she was a mind-bender,” Paige offered. “And when Leo gets back, we’ll probably know exactly what a mind-bender does.”
And what powers Kevin and Kate as Tov’reh and Ce’kahn have, Piper thought. Or will have when they get their powers back.
“All things considered, it could be worse.” Paige flicked the toggle to divert the water pouring from the tap to the showerhead.
Piper didn’t want to sabotage Paige’s confidence, so she kept silent. Belief in themselves was one of the few positives they had going for them. Unless Leo and the Elders discovered a loophole, chances were better than good that the final round between the Dor’chacht and the Sol’agath would go off as Shen’arch had planned. As Leo had bluntly stated last night, the old Dor’chacht sorcerer had left nothing to chance. He had set up the Sol’agath’s ancestors to take a major fall.
Paige stuck her head out from behind the curtain again. “Does our almost complete lack of magic”—she yawned—“make us the innocents in this epic?”
“Beats me.” Piper shrugged. As far as she knew, no one else was a player in the family feud. Of course, if the Dor’chacht won, the entire human race would eventually forfeit innocence.
Piper closed the bathroom door and started down the hall feeling as weary as Paige and impossibly more despondent than she had been. She didn’t have the strength to deal with her sisters and a catastrophe with potential global repercussions. Keeping Paige awake was going to be almost as hard as keeping a coherent dialogue going with Phoebe.
Just as Piper hit the top of the stairs, Paige’s high-pitched shriek reverberated through the Manor. Executing an abrupt about-face, Piper dashed back to the bathroom and threw open the door.
“What’s the matter?” Piper asked as she burst in, but the answer was immediately obvious.
Paige was at the end of the tub opposite the tap, wrapped in the shower curtain. Flecks of shampoo lather spattered off her hair as she jiggled up and down, squealing.
Gilbert was at the other end of the tub.
The sight of the grotesque, scaly green beast playing under the spray was so comical, Piper laughed out loud.
“It’s not funny!” Clutching the shower curtain, Paige hopped out of the tub. A guttural groan of loathing sounded in her throat.
“Uh…yes, it is.” Piper laughed again, tears streaming down her face. The frolicking gremlin reminded her of someone who had just discovered the joy of chocolate ice cream. He was deliriously ecstatic.
“That is a matter of opinion.” Paige shuddered.
Gilbert suddenly realized he was outnumbered two to one and panicked. With a shriek several decibels higher than Paige’s, he slithered back into the large faucet. His hefty back legs got stuck for an instant, then vanished into the pipes.
“When did he get so brave?” Piper wiped her eyes, but she continued to chuckle.
“Gosh, I wonder.” Paige stuffed the end of a towel into the tap and stepped back into the tub to rinse her hair. “Do you think a sink full of garbage goodies and no apparent intent to capture had anything to do with it?”
“Okay,” Piper said, breathing in deeply. “Guilty as charged, but it’s not like Gilbert is the worst thing we have to worry about.”
“Easy for you to say.” Paige grimaced with disgust. “He didn’t plop out of the tap on top of your toes.”
Piper shrugged, trying not to laugh at the image those words provoked. “Well, he certainly woke you up!”
Paige threw a wet, wadded-up washcloth. It hit the door as Piper jumped back and slammed it closed. Piper didn’t regret instigating Paige’s angry flare. Even playful flashes of temper would keep her sister’s adrenaline going, which might help keep her awake.
Kate stormed into Kevin’s apartment. “What’s so urgent that it can’t wait until we hit the battlefield?”
“What could possibly be more important than attending a strategy session to make sure we win the war?” Karen sat on the sofa with her flute in her lap. She looked back, annoyed.
“House hunting,” Kate said. She had been cruising the city trying to decide which mansion she would move into tomorrow. There were so many luxury homes, choosing wasn’t easy.
“You can have any building you want,” Karen said, “after we defeat the Sol’agath tonight. So let’s concentrate on that.”
“Sure.” As the midnight hour approached, Kate felt more in touch with her barbaric original self, Ce’kahn, and she was anticipating a rampage of murder and mayhem.
Kate cast a withering glare back at the modern reincarnation of the Dor’chacht warrior, Sh’tara. If Karen did not learn more respect for the empowered keeper of the elements, Ce’kahn would turn the forces of the storm on her after the Charmed Ones were dust.
“Their defeat might be more difficult now, though.” Kevin paced the length of the small living room. “Karen wasn’t able to touch Piper with the flute last night.”
“You failed?” Kate turned accusatory eyes on Karen.
“What was I supposed to do?” Karen sneered. “Reclaim my ability to bend wills just to make sure Piper can’t slow us down for a few, inconsequential seconds?”
“And give the Higher Powers the opening they need to send us straight to Hell without a fight?” Kate shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
“Exactly, Ce’kahn.” Karen returned Kate’s challenging stare.” It’s not like they have any chance of winning.”
“How can you be so sure?” Kate asked, frowning. She remembered all too well how the Sol’agath’s powers and spells had brought them down the last time. Being ripped from her body and cast across time and space had been a terrifying trauma, but the consequences of losing the final round would be far worse.
“Even with their full powers, these witches would be no match for anyone schooled in the customs and magic of the old ways,” Karen said. “They are pathetic and puny, the pampered product of a culture that no longer respects the strength and cunning of a warrior.”
“I’m certainly glad I’ve been working out.” Since Piper’s powers weren’t a problem, Kate instantly forgave Karen. She perched on a tall, backless stool by the kitchen counter and pulled a PowerBar out of an opened box.
“It would be a mistake to underestimate them,” Kevin said. He faced Karen, his tone sober. “Have you forgotten that we’re here now because they won then?”
“Really?” Karen walked to the window and looked out.
Kate’s gaze focused on the vista of urban canyons visible beyond her sister sorceress. The towering monuments to humanity’s technological achievements were vague shadows of significance compared to the ageless buttes, crags, and stone towers of lands long erased from human memory.
Kate was beginning to remember, and her breath caught in her throat as she watched the muscles in the mind-bender’s back tense.
Sh’tara had always kept her raw emotions hidden beneath a veil of calm. In this new life, Karen continued to keep contained the seething angers that fueled her power. Soon her ability to command the minds of others would sweep across the world like one of Kate’s primal storms, a magical fury that destroyed free will and enslaved everyone she touched.
When Karen slowly turned back around, the detached expression of the cool musician had been replaced by the fierce countenance of a Dor’chacht sorceress. Azure eyes reflected a fire of inner purpose that enflamed the ancient blood in Kate’s veins. When they emerged as their true Dor’chacht selves at midnight, all the cultured veneers of modern life would have completely melted away.
Karen’s gaze flicked from Kate to Kevin. “If the Sol’agath had won, we would not be preparing to meet them in the Valley of Ages to end the conflict now, would we?”
“No, we would not.” Kevin met her hard stare with an unwavering control that was not a facade, but the tempered steel of lethal conviction and intent. Shen’arch had put Tov’reh in charge because his sharp mind did not miss the small details and nuances upon which victory so often depended. “But we were not forced to wait three thousand years to avenge our clan because the Sol’agath were weak and powerless. Shen’arch had to use trickery and cunning to arrange this unprecedented chance to undo what has already been decided.”
“Nothing was decided!” Karen’s temper erupted. “The instant Shen’arch removed us from the field, the outcome was negated.”
Kate hadn’t thought of it quite that way before, but Karen’s words rang true. They did not know with an absolute certainty how the original battle might have ended had they been there with their magic intact.
Closing her eyes, Kate breathed in deeply. The air was alive with the elemental forces she would soon be able to mold into a killing funnel of black wind or a wall of raging water.
“Are you suggesting that Shen’arch acted prematurely,” Kevin asked, “before the outcome was sealed?”
“I’m only saying that it’s possible,” Karen conceded. “We must not doubt ourselves, not for a moment.”
“I am Dor’chacht!” Kate slipped off the stool and raised her fist. She could feel the storm she did not yet have the power to call, but the overwhelming connection to it still simmered deep within.
Kevin, too, seemed to sense the magic that was still denied him. He flexed his fingers, anticipating the moment he could turn a log into a dragon or stone into liquid fire.
“All our powers will be restored, while the Sol’agath witches will have almost none,” Karen snarled through gritted teeth. “This time, the warriors of darkness will prevail.”
• • •
“Guess what?” Piper looked up from The Book of Shadows. Her eyes were red with dark circles, but dry.
“What?” Paige stopped pedaling the old exercise bike she had found stashed in a corner of the attic. The activity kept her awake and was infinitely preferable to bathing with Gilbert. Despite the disgusting brush with the gremlin, the gross encounter had produced some unexpected benefits. Now they knew that adrenaline surges countered her fatigue for brief periods, and a good laugh gave Piper momentary relief from her magically induced depression. They were pretty sure that excessive repetition explained why Phoebe could remember her name in spite of having no short-term retention and no memory of ever meeting her.
Phoebe sat in the rocker with the laptop on a small table in front of her. Typing everything into the computer didn’t improve her ability to track, but it helped minimize her frustration.
“Did you find something we can use, Piper?” Paige dismounted the stationary bike and stretched.
“Nope. Not a thing.” Piper closed The Book of Shadows and ran her fingers through her hair. “No charms, spells, or potions. Nothing that will help us defeat the evil blond brigade.”
“There must be something we can do!” Phoebe sat back, twirling a strand of hair around her finger. “Wouldn’t a Power of Three spell or a potion vanquish”—she leaned forward to read the screen—“the evil Ks?”
“The book says not,” Paige said, yawning. She’d have to take a long nap to build up her reserves for the final round, as they were now calling the imminent battle with the Dor’chacht clan. However, all the sleep in the world wouldn’t help if they had no means of fighting Kevin, Karen, and Kate’s restored magic.
There was no doubt that they’d have a better chance of finding a solution if Phoebe could focus for more than two or three sentences. Phoebe might think of something useful that Paige and Piper had missed.
Phoebe typed something into the laptop, then sat back again, staring at it. “There’s no Power of Three spell to vanquish the Dor’chacht.”
“Right.” Paige exchanged a glance with Piper.
Piper tapped the computer screen. “Just keep reviewing your notes and tell us anything that pops into your head the instant it pops into your head.”
“Okay.” Frowning, Phoebe turned her attention to the laptop. “We’re in big trouble, aren’t we?”
“Yep.” Piper moved back to the pedestal. She touched The Book of Shadows, as though she could conjure an answer to their problems just by wanting it badly enough.
“There’s nobody but us standing between this world and one where evil rules,” Paige said.
The pl
anet and its human inhabitants weren’t perfect, but most people were mostly good. Only a few, many of whom managed to rise to positions of power, were pure evil. Eventually human good overcame them and the evils they perpetuated, but that was about to change unless they came up with a way to stop it.
“Leo—” Piper started to cry as her Whitelighter husband orbed in. “Okay, somebody say something funny before I totally lose it.”
One look at Leo’s troubled face and Paige’s sense of humor took a hike. “Sorry, Piper, but I just can’t think funny when my life is on the punch line.”
“Me neither,” Phoebe said. “I could never remember a punch line when I could remember.”
Paige and Phoebe both watched Piper, but their lame attempts to make her laugh fell flat.
“Was there a point to that?” Leo asked.
“Since Piper is still sobbing like it’s the end of the world, no.” Paige climbed back on the exercise bike and changed the subject. “Judging by the look on your face, Leo, it’s a good thing nobody kills the messenger anymore.”
“Bad news?” Phoebe nervously chewed her nails.
“It’s not good.” Leo put his arm around Piper to comfort her, but she just clung to him and cried harder. “Shen’arch made sure that nothing could interfere with the battle tonight, not even the Higher Powers.”
“What does that mean exactly?” Paige tightened her grip on the handlebars to keep from falling off as she fought her own private war with exhaustion. “They can’t interfere to stop it? Can’t give us a hint how to win? What?”
“They definitely can’t interfere,” Leo said. “You’ll be transported to the Valley of Ages at midnight to finish the feud fight with the Dor’chacht, and nothing on this Earth or in any dimension or plane can stop it.”
“Period?” Phoebe asked.
“Exclamation point.” Leo pried Piper off his shoulder and eased her down onto one of the large throw pillows on the floor. “I hate to say it, Piper, but maybe it would have been better to let Karen zap you last night.”
Dark Vengeance Page 11