I rather doubted that. He was a selfish prick and wouldn’t face anyone he thought might beat his ass. And Ishtar fell into that category.
I turned my attention to Ford and Lila. She was in his face, trying to get him to turn around. He was arguing and motioning as if he wanted to keep on in the direction he was pointing. My heart froze in my chest as the air around them shimmered.
“Look out!” I screamed the words as I bolted toward them. There was a loud pop and the shimmering air broke open, and Marsum was just there, astride the hyena, right next to Ford and Balder, his hand raised to strike. Ford didn’t notice, seeing as he was still arguing with Lila, but Balder did.
My horse reared up, nearly tossing Ford, and came down hard on the hyena’s head, squashing it like an overripe melon. Marsum rolled to one side, hit the ground, and stood with a flaming sword. A fucking flaming sword!
And because my life wasn’t about small problems being dealt with, from above us came the cry of a hunting falcon.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” I snarled as I ran, flattened out as best as I could be, trying desperately to get to Ford and Lila. We needed to get out of here. Now.
But Ford slid from Balder’s back and pulled his own sword. Not flaming, not magical. “Go, Lila,” he shouted. “Get her out of here.”
As if I would leave. Above me, the falcon screamed again, closer this time. On instinct, I flattened myself to the ground a split second before a massive set of talons ripped through the space I’d occupied only a moment before, tearing through the earth.
I lay there and stared as the two men clashed, their weapons ringing as they slammed into each other. Ford was bigger, but not by much, and he used his weight advantage to shove Marsum back.
I was forty feet away at best as I took off for them again. Lila dodged around their heads but didn’t spew acid on Marsum. I saw her indecision. It was still Maks’s body. It still looked like her Toad.
Marsum lunged and drove his sword across Ford’s sword arm. He roared and dropped his weapon, stumbling back and going to one knee.
Marsum grinned. “You were Maks’s brother, weren’t you? I think it would bother him to know you were fucking his mate, don’t you?”
Ford paled.
Let me help. Merlin’s voice echoed through my head. Let him help? What the fuck did that even mean?
The cry of the falcon came again. An image of those oversized talons popped into my head and I understood. Merlin was still there, at least a little bit.
“All right, Uncle. You better not fuck me over,” I growled and put everything I had into reaching Marsum at the exact right moment. I was going to have one shot at this.
Time seemed to slow as Marsum lifted his blade to the side to strike down Ford. The glyph from my mother’s papers, of Maks standing over a black lion, suddenly made sense. This was that moment, this was the death of Ford if I didn’t pull this off.
I let out a screeching yowl that snapped both of their heads my way as I leapt up and onto Marsum’s shoulders. I dug my claws in, strengthened by the magic of the flail.
“Not today, Marsum. Not today,” I yelled.
He reached for me as the whoosh of wings ripped through the air. I let him go and slid down his back as the falcon’s oversized talons drove into Marsum’s upper body and lifted him into the sky, his arms pinned, his sword falling from his hand and disappearing before it hit the ground.
I can only hold him so long. Go. Merlin’s voice was weaker yet as the falcon he controlled winged away.
“Time to go!” I yelled as I bounded across to Balder, shifting in midair once more as I leapt onto my horse’s back. Lila landed on my shoulders and curled around me with a sigh.
I looked down at Ford, the stunned look on his face enough to set me laughing at another time. “We have to go. NOW! Get your ass off the ground!”
He lurched to his feet, grabbed Batman, and pulled himself into the saddle. With difficulty from only having the use of one arm, but this was not the time for niceties. He wasn’t bleeding to death, no matter how bad the wound hurt.
I spun Balder and we were off, racing across the blasted lands. I glanced skyward to see the falcon winging to the north, away from us, Marsum still in his grip. Likely not for long.
“Thank you, Merlin,” I whispered.
Time, though, was all we needed. Just a little more time, a little more distance.
We raced across the flat land, Batman following close behind. From my neck, Lila spoke just loud enough for my ears.
“He’s really gone, isn’t he?”
She meant Maks, of course, not Marsum.
I shook my head. “Yes and no. There has to be a way, Lila. There has to be.”
Hours ticked by with no sign of Marsum, no sign of Ishtar, no sign of the hunting falcons. Not for one second did I think that any of them had given up.
I finally let Balder slow as we crossed the line bisecting desert and blasted lands. We were far from clear of danger, but at the same time it at least wasn’t immediate danger. I snorted. A sad fact of my life that ‘not immediate danger’ was an improvement.
Ford caught up beside me, holding his injured arm, slightly hunched over the saddle.
“Not to be a whiner, but can we stop?” His face was pale and sweat dripped off him. Lila slid from my shoulder to Balder’s neck.
“Shit, why didn’t you say something? I didn’t think it was that bad!” I frowned as I dismounted and then helped him do the same. He leaned into me, wobbling on his feet and I just held him up.
“Can’t have you out-heroing me,” he mumbled.
“Is that even a word?” Lila asked. “I mean really, are you making that up?”
His face was against the crook of my shoulder and I felt him smile. “Maybe.”
We were on the southern edge of the blasted lands and the shimmer of the true desert haze was not far from us.
“There, that pile of rocks is the best you’re going to get for a cushion,” I said.
I couldn’t wait to be back there, feeling the heat that was so familiar to me. I’d had enough of cold, wet, toxic, crappy places. Give me blistering heat any day.
I helped Ford lean up against rock. This close to the desert there were no toxic waste pits, no lava bubbling up. I helped him sit and then loosened the tack on the horses.
Balder nosed me in the belly. I scratched him under the chin. “Disobedient. Was it your idea to come back?”
Ford grunted. “I caught him sneaking out of our camp.”
I grinned and kissed Balder on the nose. “My best boy.”
Ford grunted again, and when I turned he was frowning. “You can’t blame me that he’s the best ride I’ve ever had.”
His lips twitched. “So far.”
Ah crap, not this already. I grabbed the food from the saddlebags.
Dried fruit, a bit of some sort of bread Kiara had made along the way. I divvied it up between the three of us, and then sat next to Ford, leaning my back against the rock. Lila sat to my left, gnawing at some of the overdried fruit.
“This has been a shitty day,” I said as I stared out at what lay ahead of us. Blasted lands. Crossroads. The Impaler’s Stake. Wyvern’s Lair. Fuck, my life had really gone to hell in a handbasket.
“Yup.” He took a bite of the food and he could have been answering my outside voice or my inner. “This gourmet meal, though, makes it all worth it.”
I laughed and shook my head. “Ford, you shouldn’t have come back.”
He was quiet, chewing on his mouthful before he answered. “I couldn’t leave you out here.”
“I told you to stay with them,” I said. “To protect the others.”
I turned to see his jaw ticking, and I didn’t think it was from chewing. He finally turned to face me. “I couldn’t leave you out here, Zam. I couldn’t. Don’t ask me to leave you again.”
Those deep golden eyes softened and I fought my urge to look away to pretend I didn’t see all those emotions in them
.
This was what Shem was talking about. This was what Maks wanted for me, to be with a partner who wasn’t going to turn on me. But I wasn’t sure I could do it. Even if I knew there was some chemistry between us, I wasn’t sure . . .
“I still love him,” I blurted.
He slung his uninjured arm over my shoulder and tugged me tightly against his side. “I know.”
Another time, I would have pushed him away, would have told him to fuck off. But he was warm, and solid, and damn it . . . he wasn’t going to be taken over by some psycho Jinn. And he didn’t want to fuck Kiara.
“I just realized I have really bad taste in men,” I muttered.
“Good thing you don’t want me then.” He chuckled. “Must mean I’m the perfect guy for you.”
Lila snorted a laugh. “Ha, he has you there!”
I let my body ease against his, resting for a minute. Or two. Or ten. I closed my eyes and let the closeness of another shifter sink into me. This was a different kind of home. Shem was right, lions didn’t want to be alone. And even though maybe I wasn’t a lion in shape, I’d been raised with them, and they would always be my heart.
“You know, I’d rather do this on the banks of a river. Or an Oasis,” he said. “With a full belly, and no injuries. A drink in one hand.”
I smiled. “I don’t think that’s my lot in life, Ford. So if you want it easy, you better get the fuck out now. Go find a nice, robust lioness that’s ready to bring you supper and rub your feet, and not get into any trouble.”
“Sounds boring,” he said, his arm tugging me a little closer. “Besides, if this is where you are, then it’s where I am. I’m your enforcer, after all. If nothing else, it’s my job to protect you. With my life if I have to.”
I looked up at him, just as he looked down, and the moment stretched. And Ford, damn him, knew very well what to do, and what not to.
He leaned in and I tensed, and he kissed my forehead. “I’ll help you with whatever you need, Zam. You need to cross the world and face the Emperor? Done. You need to find out if there is a way to bring Maks back? I’ll be there. Even if it means . . . I lose my chance with you.” He tightened his hold on me. “He’s my brother. I want him back too. Or at least part of me does.”
Lila snorted. “We all know the part that doesn’t want him back, and it’s in your pants hoping she gives in.”
“LILA!” I half yelled, half choked her name as I burst out laughing. “Goddess save me from smart-mouthed dragons.”
Lila grinned up at me. “I’m still your favorite. And we all know that. You did bring me back from the dead, after all.”
Ford spluttered and demanded I tell him the story. I spun it slowly as the colors of the sky slid from day to night. I couldn’t sleep anyway, no matter how tired I was. No matter how much my heart and body hurt.
So story time it was.
27
Merlin
Controlling an oversized, toxic waste-riddled bird from thousands of miles away while still existing solely in a dreamscape was no small thing, but Merlin did it. And he’d saved Zam while he was at it.
How was that for a fuck you to his bastard of a father?
“Well,” his father said, “I see by your face that you’ve caught her.”
Merlin grimaced and the bird wobbled as the Jinn master twisted around and tried to use his magic on the oversized rooster.
“Putting up a fight,” he growled.
“Of course she is. Hurry it up,” his father said. “I want that flail.”
Merlin put more of himself into the bird. He wanted a chat with Marsum while he had the chance.
Blinking through the raptor’s eyes, he looked down at the Jinn. “You still in there, Maks?”
The words were rough coming from a vocal box not made for speaking, but they were intelligible.
The Jinn looked up at him with steely eyes. “Maks is gone.”
As Merlin thought. That was the best way to protect Zam from Maks’s call as her mate, to disappear.
“The Emperor would speak with you,” he said, “to discuss power.”
The Jinn relaxed. “I stole much of his power. I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
Merlin lied through his teeth. “All is forgiven. You have injured his enemy. And you are trying to bring his granddaughter to heel.”
The Jinn nodded. “Then I will come.”
Merlin withdrew from the bird and let it fly on its own, headed for the Emperor’s Throne. He blinked up at his father. When had he gone to his knees? “There will be no fight.”
“Excellent.”
That was the last thing he saw as his body was shaken hard, a slap landing on his face. His real face.
He came awake, spluttering as another slap landed. He blinked up at the most glorious face he’d ever seen.
“Flora?”
“What the hell, Merlin?” She put her hands on her hips and stared down at him. “I leave you for one second and look at the trouble you’re in!”
He grinned up at her and then the grin fell. “Oh, shit. You have no idea how right you are. I just put Maks, aka Marsum, on a direct path to intersect the Emperor.”
She paled and went to her knees, her riding skirt pooling out around her. “Sweet goddess of thunder, why would you do that?”
He cringed. “It seemed like a good idea at the time?”
Flora put her hands over her face. “He could wake the Emperor, Merlin. Maks holds one of the stones still.”
“I know.” He pushed to his feet. “Which means we need to be ready to stop him.”
Merlin held out a hand to her. She sighed.
“Here we go again.”
28
Zamira
A day’s ride from the blasted lands, and Ford, Lila and I were headed south. I’d checked on my connection to the rest of the pride and they were safe, content, and far, far away from us. From me. That was for the best, at least for now. Where I went, danger and death followed. Until I finished this, I couldn’t go back to my Pride. That hurt more than I thought, but I knew it was the right thing to do as their alpha.
We’d stopped for a few hours to rest, seeing as Ford was still recovering from his injury from Marsum.
Marsum, not Maks.
I stood maybe a hundred feet away from where Ford, Lila, and the horses slept. My body had healed, my head had cleared, and even my heart ached a little less. Ford made me laugh. Lila kept me from getting cocky. Balder kept me moving forward.
We would get to the crossroads, find Ollianna and Trick waiting and we’d solve the riddle the Oracle had given us. I could not think of any other outcome, even if my spirits were beaten and bruised, hope fleeting.
“I miss you, Maks,” I whispered to the night air. “You should be here with us. Helping us.” My throat tightened and my hand eased on the bottle of țuică I held. I tipped the bottle to my mouth, let a moment pass, then let the liquid slide down my throat, slowly, savoring the rich plum flavor and the heat of the alcohol.
Savoring the memories that rose with it. I swallowed and breathed the memories in, and then blew them out one last time.
I poured the rest of the liquid into the sand. “I’ll never stop looking for you, Maks. But until then . . . you were right. I have to let you go. I have to live or I’m going to get myself and the rest of them killed believing I can trust the body Marsum owns now.” I looked over my shoulder at the sleeping forms. “They need me to be whole. I can’t be indecisive when I see you next.” Because I knew there would be a next, even if I didn’t know when.
I knew as well as I knew the sky was blue and desert sands golden that Marsum and I were not done yet, not by a long shot. That fucker was going to keep coming until he got what he wanted.
Or I found a way to end him.
I closed my eyes, crouched, and put the bottle on the sand. I turned and walked back to where Ford lay and looked down on him, watching his chest rise and fall easily. He twisted around and opened one eye. �
�What’s wrong?” He started to sit up and then frowned when there was no obvious danger. “Zam?”
It was only then I realized that tears slid down my face. “I’m cold.”
He flipped his blanket open and held out his hand. “I can keep you warm for as long as you need, Zam.” And I didn’t think he meant just for that night. No, not Ford.
He rolled onto his side and pulled me to his chest and held me with strong arms. Warm lips kissed my hair as he breathed me in. “I’m here for as long as you need.”
Afterword
Spring 2019
Wyvern’s Lair
Desert Cursed Book 5
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Oracle’s Haunt: Desert Cursed Series Book 4 Page 22