by Rain Oxford
Mordon stuck the cloth back in her mouth and went to the table before calmly taking a seat. “Is there enough food for Dylan and me?”
“For breakfast, yes, but we will have to hunt later. You two were gone for a long time,” he commented, fixing two more plates of bread and cheese.
“It was a long night of searching,” Mordon explained. “So now that we have everything, what do we do with them to close the gates?”
“That is simple. Dylan has to remember what I told him when he was seven.” Vretial’s presence filled the room the moment he began to speak. Edward moved in front of me to guard me, but the boys seemed almost bored. The dark god regarded Edward with amusement.
“I remembered what you told me when I was seven,” I argued. “You didn’t tell me anything that would help.”
He gave me a disapproving glower. “I told you exactly what you needed to know. Even Mordon heard it.”
My friend appeared more confused than me. “I only saw what Dylan remembered. I saw it when he had that amnesia thing, but I couldn’t understand anything, because he was only speaking Enochian at the time, which I don’t speak.”
“What do you mean, Enochian? If I understood it, then you should have, because you were in my mind. My Iadnah magic automatically…” And then I got it. All of a sudden, it was clear how thick I was. “It can’t be that simple,” I said, more to myself than anyone else.
Vretial laughed. “It always is, child.”
“What’s simple?” Mordon asked.
“But I didn’t have Iadnah magic when I was seven!” I said.
“You were born with it. You were born of it. You just never understood it until you were experienced with nominal energy. It was always in you, and it always will be.”
“What is going on?!” Mordon asked, shaking me a little.
“I’m stupid is what’s going on, so stupid. I’m an idiot, a moron, a fool, and a goat. You heard Enochian in my memory because that’s what we were speaking. I understood it when I was a child but I didn’t know anything about Enochian, so I just thought we were speaking English. That’s why he said I translated it wrong. I heard, ‘there is something in the dark,’ but that isn’t what he said. Then I couldn’t get it right because the translation had already happened.”
“So you need to hear what I heard in Enochian,” Mordon understood. I nodded.
“When you know what I have told you, you will understand the choice I made, and you will have to decide for yourself what to do when faced with the same choice.” He vanished.
“Okay. It shouldn’t be difficult to---” My words were cut off by the sound of an explosion. “We have a visitor,” I said, going to the door.
Outside stood a demon as powerful as Xul, but clearly different in his personality. For one, this demon seemed to have a sense of humor; the body he chose was Mordon’s. Since Ancients could create their own temporary forms or possess the bodies of mortals, I was very happy that he wasn’t killing anyone by stealing a body.
“Were you looking for me, or are you lost?” I asked.
Mordon growled at the doppelganger. The demon was a perfect image, but had a cruel grin and an aura of hatred that Mordon could never manage.
“You act against the balance. I am here to kill you.” His voice was similar to Mordon’s, but too raspy and snide.
“And you took my brother’s form because you thought that would make me, what? Afraid?”
“It is well known that you and the dragon are friends. The balance reacts oddly between the two of you. The idea is that you would not fight back when I look like him.”
I laughed at his self-assurance and I could feel Mordon roll his eyes beside me. “You have never had a brother, then, or you would know better. Sometimes, there is nothing more I want than to have a go at him. But I don’t need to fight you.” As I spoke I could feel the air crackle with energy. The demon lost some of his confidence for confusion. “I could destroy you with one word.”
“Impossible.”
“Just one,” I taunted.
“I do not fear you, mortal. I do not believe the stories they tell of you and your powers.”
His boldness and confidence amused me. “Three letters.”
Between us, Regivus appeared, focused solely on me. He was angry. “Your mate has been…” he started speaking, only to stop when I held up my hand impolitely. I expected him to be irritated at me for doing something so insolent, but his expression was only of patience.
I pointed behind him to the demon. “Red,” I said.
The god turned and without hesitation or doubt, reached out his hand. The Ancient instantly disintegrated into black dust, blowing towards the god and forming into a ball in Regivus’s hand. Regivus crushed it between his fingers before turning back to me with a slight smile. “That is how you destroy a demon.”
“Is that dried demon guts all over the porch? Tiamat is going to be mad,” I said. I wasn’t serious; it was more likely that she would be disappointed she didn’t get to use it for her potions.
“Tiamat is always angry.”
My eyes widened and my jaw dropped. “We can’t be talking about the same woman.” Divina had a temper, as did every woman and especially every god; however, in the seven years I knew her, she was rarely angry.
“She is a god,” he said, as if it were impossible.
“And she is my wife. God or not, Tiamat is normally very happy,” I said.
“With you,” he said. As Regivus was the wisest and grouchiest god, I didn’t expect him to smirk. “Of course you would think so. You make her happy. That is why we accepted you instead of killing you when we had the chance.”
“Are we accepted?” Sammy asked, pulling his brother close.
“You cohort with Vretial, our enemy,” the god told the child. Mordon growled and pulled them behind him, but Regivus continued. “However, it seems we have no say in the matter. Between your mother and father, I’m afraid I would suffer a very painful and untimely end if I did not do right by the two of you.”
“You’re correct. Would you like to come in for some breakfast, or did you have a message?” I asked.
“I came to ask you to take your mate back. We need to be able to argue out our problems before we can work together. We are all older than this universe, and we have many problems with each other. Arguing is our way of dealing with it. Tiamat wants us to work together in helping you to close the gates.”
Mordon laughed until we all stared at him. “Sound familiar?” he asked. Ron and Sammy nodded with resigned expressions. I gave him my best “clueless” look. “The Guardians are all arguing and you’re trying to peace them to death.”
“I’m not that diplomatic.”
“You have your moments. I mean, sometimes you’re so peaceful I think I could puke.” He shrugged. “Then you have your psychotic moments when I realize you could destroy the entire universe without a second thought.”
I would always give it a second thought. Regivus vanished, leaving Divina in his place, as beautiful as ever.
She had on skinny jeans, a dark blue satin shirt that went to her thighs, a silver belt around her waist, and brown leather boots on the outside of her jeans that went to her knees. While her hair was normally straight, it was slightly curly today. I pulled her into my arms, where she belonged.
When I tried to kiss her, she put her hand over my mouth. “Don’t start that or we’ll never get anything done.” We went inside and everyone sat around the table… everyone except for Emiko, who was still tied up. “Why is there a dragon tied up in the living room?”
“She tried to steal and threatened Edward.”
“How did she get here?”
“Oh, that.” I paused until Mordon had his cup to his lips. “She’s Mordon’s girlfriend,” I said. Mordon predictably started choking. I tried to pat him on the back, but he shoved me away.
“She is not! She’s annoying, rude, and has awful habits!” he said.
“I kno
w,” I answered, unable to keep a straight face. “You have terrible tastes in women. Then again, far be it from me to stop you from buying a fixer-upper. I’m not judging you.”
Divina smacked me in the arm. “Leave him alone. You’re going to teach the boys to be mean to each other,” she said. Sammy and Ron were watching us carefully from across the table.
“Mordon and I tease each other, but we never fight.”
“Of course not, you’re brothers,” Ron said.
“Mordon, will you take Emiko out of the room so we can talk?” I asked.
He picked her up “fireman style.” “She’s a dragon, so I would need to take her quite far. I’ll take her to the springs. I already know you’re going to catch everyone up, so just call me when you’re ready for us to come back,” he said, walking out the door.
“Use protection!” I yelled after them in English. I turned back to my wife. “She looks like a biter.” I caught everyone up on everything that had happened, including what Vretial said about Mordon and I being born to balance each other. Sammy and Ron were extremely interested in that. Divina was more interested in the part about mates, where I was her balance.
Edward just listened. When our discussion ran down, he stood and stretched. “We have been here for hours. We should check on the Guardians.”
“They don’t know me, except for Nano, so I’m going to stay here. Sammy and Ron should stay, too,” Divina said.
“Mommy, he wants to be called Hail, now, not Sammy.”
“Of course,” she said. I flashed Edward and myself to the springs, where Mordon and Emiko waited. She was untied.
“We’re going to check on the other Guardians,” I said.
Mordon stood and took my arm, leading me away from Edward and Emiko. It was odd, because he spoke in my mind. “I don’t know about bringing Emiko around them. She is new to the idea of people traveling worlds and her mouth will get her in trouble. Besides, we still don’t know what Ghidorah is.”
“Do you trust her?”
“Not at all. She will steal, she will lie, and she has already tried to stab me. She’s a spoiled little draxuni.”
I smirked. “She sounds charming. Why is it you like her again?”
He sighed. “She is also smart, and I get the feeling she is loyal. She needs to be protected.”
“Are you sure it isn’t magic attracting you to her? I mean, she is very pretty, but it doesn’t look like she makes you happy or anything. I thought your type would be submissive and sweet,” I said.
“No, it was never that. Of course, my father always thought a king’s wife should be submissive, I wanted…”
“A challenge,” I said.
“Yes. I don’t want someone to bow to me. I want someone who is sarcastic and tough and needs to be trained in manners. Someone who needs to be protected and guided, but who will fight me along the way.”
“Like me?”
“Yes.” He blushed when he realized what he said. “But a girl. Definitely a girl. Someone like you… but a woman. And prettier. Definitely prettier.”
I narrowed my eyes. “I’ll have you know Divina finds me very nice on the eyes.”
He frowned. “Has she ever got them tested?”
“Oh, shut up. I destroyed a demon with just one word, if you remember. You don’t want to make me angry. I might decide you’re not worth the trouble you cause me.”
“Actually, it was Regivus who destroyed the demon.” He patted me on the back. “Can you send Emiko back to your place? Divina can watch her.” He paused. “She wouldn’t do anything to Emiko, would she?”
“Not unless Emiko started it,” I smirked, knowing full well the young dragon would start something. I flashed Emiko to Divina and Edward, Mordon, and myself to Edward’s cabin. Each of the Guardians as well as Vivian and Meri were sitting around the fireplace, eating lunch. Hobble ambushed me, pounced, and knocked me down in order to lick my face. Two forked tongues could cover a lot of skin.
“Get up, Dylan. Show some dignity,” Edward grouched. I knew he was joking, though. He held out his hand to help me up, which I took. Nano pulled the gargoyle off me, since he was the only one strong enough to. Hobble was getting big. He was still a juvenile, but we could all tell the stone creature would be a real beast when he was done growing.
None of us knew much about these creatures. Hobble, along with a small group of older gargoyles, were misplaced in time. So far, it appeared Hobble was trapped for good. We treated him well, especially since he was injured saving Edward. It was confusing because his stone flesh wouldn’t heal itself, even though his was maturing. Unfortunately, thinking about Hobble growing made me realize that gargoyles were born, not created. That meant there were stone gargoyles out there in the future… making baby gargoyles.
I had my hand on his bad leg before I realized what I was going to attempt. Vretial said I was becoming a more powerful healer. I let my energy flow through the stone, but it came back confused, for it didn’t know how to heal stone. “I will keep trying,” I whispered to the little guy. He rubbed his heads against my stomach. I tried to pet the left head and the right head nipped at my fingers. The right head was often jealous of the left one. Weird little beast.
“What news do you have about the gates?” Shiloh asked.
“They’re opening, but we have what we need to close them. We just came by to check on you before getting started. Or figure out how to get started anyway. What have you guys been up to? It doesn’t look like any of you killed each other. I might be wrong, though… math wasn’t my best subject.”
“Meri and I have been teaching these brutes how to talk,” Vivian said.
“We have made a lot of progress in the Guardian council,” Emrys said. “Shiloh and I plan to start right away on creating a necklace that each of us can wear that will alert everyone when one of us needs help. We are currently stuck on what to call the council.”
“You’ll think of something. By the way, sorry for…” I waved at his head.
“I doubt that, but don’t worry about it.”
“What are you talking about this time?” Mordon asked.
I grinned at him. “You haven’t figured it out yet?” I asked. He rolled his eyes. “Emrys disappeared from his tent in the middle of the night. He reappeared weak and injured some time later with wounds too shallow to have caused the blood we found in his tent. And he had to be terribly wounded because otherwise the story wouldn’t have held on Lore. I realized it when I healed him after we got back from Lore because the injuries were the same, just more severe. I suppose we will, at some point, go back in time to kidnap him from his tent and ask him to find us on Lore.”
“But… I thought we were trying to avoid a paradox.”
I nodded thoughtfully. “Of course we are, but I’d also like to live and not be trapped on Lore. Now, is there any food left?” I asked.
“Dylan, we have work to do.”
“And it could be hours before we get to eat again. I can’t do magic on an empty stomach,” I said. He sighed.
* * *
We joined the rest of the group to eat. It seemed that Guardians could be worried, but they didn’t show it on their faces. They just talked a lot. Mostly it was Rasik and Rilryn who regaled us with their adventures and unusual missions. When they spoke of demons and monsters they fought, I watched Ghidorah’s face. That was a man who had seen the most horrible of horrors, and the most horrible of horrors were never beasts.
He caught me staring at him and put down his plate. “Have you figured it out yet?” he asked me. Everyone else focused on us.
“I’m not sure what to call you, but I know what you do. Do you have wings?” I asked. He stood and stripped off his shirt. Across his back was a tattoo of wings.
The lines became defined and developed color. It was weird; as the wings separated from his back, they were iridescent, not feathered. They were as much ominous and forbidding as they were majestic and beautiful. There was nothing dainty abo
ut them, either. In fact, the wings looked like they could be used as weapons. Ghidorah stretched them out to about four feet across before folding them back against his back. The lines of the wings shrunk back into his skin to become a tattoo once more.
“What do they call angels on Skrev?” I asked.
He didn’t the typical description of an angel that I was used to, but I figured that was because he was a being of Skrev. It was possible that Ghidorah, or whatever creature he was, was where humans god the image of angels.
“How long have you known?” He put his shirt back on and sat.
“The demon squeaking like a dog toy when he saw you kind of gave it away. You kept talking about judging and punishment. The closest human reference I can think of is an angel, because I know you’re not Anubis. I mean, you got the attitude of a jackal, but not the head of one. Besides, finding Anubis on Skrev would be like finding Arthur in Camelot or a cop at a donut shop. On the other hand… Am I rambling?”
“It’s okay. Nobody’s listening anymore,” Mordon said.
“Oh, good.”
“I think I understand you, now,” Ghidorah said. “You forget that others are not as powerful as you, and you forget they are not as smart as you.”
I scoffed. “Smart? How do you figure?”
“You have been two steps ahead of everyone, friend or enemy, your entire life.”
“Hardly.”
“Believe it or not, you see connections that nobody else would. You figure out the answer and then find your pattern, when the reality is that no one else would have figured it out given the clues.”
“How can you say you know about me when we only met a few days ago?” I asked.
“I can see your soul. I cannot judge you because you are a Guardian, but I can still see you. The only person I cannot see is your son, Sammy.”
“Oh, he wants to be called Hell, now.”
“Hail,” Mordon corrected me. “He is protected.”
“By god magic, I know. God magic coming from his little brother.”
“What happens when you judge someone?” Mordon asked.