by D. N. Leo
Mya nodded, deciding not to tell Leon about Dex and Kirra. At least for now.
“I’ve got a signal,” Ciaran said and gave the cell phone back to Richard.
“I hope you didn’t call the ones who wanted to turn us in to corpses,” Zach said.
“I have no intention of dying today,” Ciaran said. “I dropped the jar at the Daimon Gate on the way to Babylon—just in case things went awry. I messaged Madeline the location. It appears she received the message. Our commanders have been sent to retrieve the jar and are delivering it now.”
“How did you contact them without your wrist unit?” Zach asked.
“Triangulation. The technology is in beta mode. It’s unstable. But we’re lucky enough that our head of intelligence anticipated this and has been waiting for the signal.”
“Jake? I thought you said he’s inexperienced.”
“He is. But being young has its advantages. He’s certainly tenacious.”
Zach shrugged. “Tenacity is what we need now. Get us the hell out of here. Any chance you can message your Goddess, Mya? Or do we have to deliver the jar to the court?” Zach asked.
“I can message her,” Mya said and closed her eyes, concentrating on her deity mode.
“Richard, you might want to stay out of sight. Behind that tree.” Ciaran pointed at a tree in the distance. Richard nodded and strode away.
The air thickened, and a wedge of light shone on the grass. For the people in the distant town, it would look like a rainbow. But up close, it was a teleport. The round circle of light scanned the grass, and two wrist units and a jar appeared.
Then the light changed shades, from a darker blue to a lighter blue and then to white. As it faded in color, it moved away from the objects.
“It turned from teleport into holocast mode,” Zach explained to Mya. “Teleport is when people and objects can come in and out and be in presence. Holocast is just a holographic telephone.”
“Got it.” Mya grinned and looked at the little golden jar sitting on the grass. It seemed to be smiling at her. Her thousand years’ worth of debts to the Goddess were about to be paid off. She would be free.
Mya approached the jar and picked it up. Zach stood next to her, rubbing his hand on the small of her back. Then he squeezed her hand slightly. She looked up at him and could see his soft green eyes twinkle. He had anticipated this moment as much as she had. She smiled at him. She wanted to kiss him but thought it would rather be inappropriate, so she pushed the thought away.
In the ring of the holocast, the image of a young man, as beautiful as an angel with blue eyes and sandy hair, looked at Ciaran. “Thank you, Jake,” Ciaran said and picked up the two wrist units. He gave one to Zach and put one on his wrist.
“I have commanders on another line, ready at the teleport gate, just in case you need them,” Jake said.
Ciaran signaled him to wait. He approached Zach and Mya. “How are we doing?” he asked.
“We’re all set. The Goddess is coming to us,” Mya said.
Zach tapped his wrist unit. “Jake is brilliant. You should give him a raise.”
“He’s at the top of his rank. And he’s very young. So don’t say it to him, or he’ll get cocky,” Ciaran said.
“All right, I’ll tell him this wrist unit is horrible, and I don’t like the way he talks,” Zach joked.
“Sciphil Two, your microphone is on,” Jake’s voice came out of Zach’s unit. Ciaran rolled his eyes and turned his unit on.
“Jake, commanders on standby for precaution only,” Ciaran said.
“Yes, sir.”
Jake’s image faded away.
In the distance, a gong echoed in the air.
“The Goddess comes,” Mya said.
Fifty feet from them, Ishtar appeared with twenty warriors flanking her sides. Mya frowned. Does she need that many just to accept the jar she was going to give the Goddess anyway? She felt Zach squeeze her hand gently, signaling her not to move.
Ishtar approached, leaving her men behind. “Well, what have we here?” she said in English, locking her eyes on Ciaran.
Ciaran stepped forward and nodded a greeting, “Ishtar, I apologize in advance that I do not know the court etiquette.”
“Normally, people fall to the ground and kiss my feet.”
Ciaran smiled. He was more than six foot three and towered over the Goddess. “I’m afraid that is not our custom. And I’m very clumsy at kneeling, so I’ll be standing instead. In that case, you might have to look up. Furthermore, I don’t imagine our conversation will be extensive. You have an agreement with Mya. We are here to fulfill the agreement, and after that, she’ll be free from the court.”
Ishtar smiled and traced her golden nail down Ciaran’s abdomen, who had been walking around shirtless since Merlin’s encounter. “Indeed.” She turned toward Mya and reached her hand out. “Give me the jar, and you will be free.”
Mya inched forward, but Zach pulled her back. “Wait, Ciaran has a plan.”
Ciaran stepped away from Ishtar and said, “We have the jar here.” He gestured toward Mya. Mya raised the jar so the Goddess could see. Ciaran continued, “We will place the jar on the ground with our protective shield around it. Once we have safely teleported away from this location, then we will lift the shield, and you will be able to retrieve the jar.”
“What does that mean? Are you playing tricks on me?”
“No, Ishtar. You’ve seen the jar. It’s a precaution on our part to ensure all of us get back to Eudaiz safely.”
“Mya is not yours!” she snarled.
“No one can own her, Ishtar, including you. After we deliver the jar, she is free to go wherever she wants. And I think she might choose to go with my second councillor. In such case, she will be Eudaizian. She will be my people.”
“How dare you—”
“I just want to fulfill this agreement in peace.”
“Then give me the jar!” A low roar hovered somewhere in the air. Mya knew it was Ishtar’s temper. She inched forward, but Zach pulled her back.
“Let’s get this over and done with,” Ciaran said and walked away from Ishtar. She moved toward her warrior. Then she suddenly turned around and swung her arm at Ciaran.
Mya balled her fists, but Zach stood still and smiled.
The lightning strike from Ishtar hit an invisible wall and shattered into millions of light particles. She staggered back a few steps and growled.
Ciaran raised a hand to signal, and a flash of light cast out, ringing a glowing line around Zach, Mya, and Leon. Ishtar struck at them once more, and her strike shattered again.
Ciaran smiled. “You disappoint me, Ishtar. I thought you were better.”
“I am,” she roared and raised her arms.
Chapter 37
“Give me the jar! I want the jar!” Ishtar roared.
“I said you will have it. But now that you have completely destroyed our confidence that you will fulfill your promises, we will have to deliver it via the shield,” Ciaran said and signaled Zach, Mya, and Leon to walk toward him so that they could all teleport away.
“Leon cannot leave!” Ishtar shouted.
“Oh, so that’s what it is. You want him and the jar. Well, aren’t you greedy? Given that he isn’t part of the deal, you have to cheat,” Zach said.
“Why do you want me, my Goddess? You can easily appoint someone else to be the head of the temple guard,” Leon said.
Ishtar prowled around outside the protective shield. Her face grew redder by the second, so much that her temper seeped out through the layers of makeup on her face to become visible on the surface. She wagged a finger with a perfectly polished golden nail at him. “I should have known when the servant picked you up in that little basket that you were not an ordinary baby. I should have known! I should have killed you at that Well of the Death.”
“Well, you should have. But it’s too late now, Ishtar. Leon has accepted the successor position of Sciphil Two, Zach Flynn. I believe
you have a record of this. So he’s my people now.” Ciaran smiled.
“He’s mine!” Ishtar struck the wall of the teleport again but couldn’t break through. She roared. “Ciaran LeBlanc, you think you can protect your people in the multiverse? You think you are powerful? How about this?”
She stretched out, and her arm grew like a giant steel python. She swung it in the direction of a tree in the distance. The tree and the surrounding area exploded. Richard’s body was flung into the air. She grabbed him like a rag doll and pulled him toward where they were standing.
“No, please don’t kill him my Goddess,” Mya cried out and ran outside the protective shield, but Zach pulled her back. Ciaran signaled. Another teleport beam appeared, from which marched out a group of stealthy Eudaizian commanders.
Ishtar’s warriors raised their weapons.
“Humans pray to you, Goddess. You’re supposed to protect them. He’s an innocent soul!” Mya cried out.
“Do you think I care about pathetic human lives? You want to be a god, Leon? Will you protect these humans if they pray to you? If you want to protect them, then step outside that silly light of yours and face me.”
Leon approached the light wall. Ciaran pushed him back inside the protective shield. “Casey died to save you. Try not to waste her sacrifice,” Ciaran growled, then signaled his commanders again. They charged. Ishtar warriors roared and advanced. Ciaran’s commanders had the most advanced guns in Eudaiz, Ishtar’s warriors didn’t seem to die. They dropped down when they were fired upon but then stood back up and kept moving forward.
Ishtar smirked. “In a bet between technology and magic, I always put my money on magic, Ciaran. From what I’m told, magic is your weakness. Now let that boy come out, or I’ll kill your commanders and this gentleman here.”
Mya’s hand curled into a ball. Zach saw it and said, “You can’t hurl your fire from inside, Mya. You’ll burn us.
“So we stay in here like cowards?” she asked.
Ciaran approached the light wall. “This is your last opportunity to call the warriors away and let Richard go. I’ll leave the jar for you. That’s the agreement you have with Mya. You’re a Goddess. Honor your word.”
“I don’t have to honor my word to anyone. They betrayed me. Someone has to pay.” Her steel arm still dangled Richard in the air.
“It isn’t his fault that someone betrayed you,” Ciaran said.
“What I don’t have, nobody can. He has a love spell mark branded on his palm. I don’t like it. I don’t like him.”
“You’re not capable of loving anyone or anything. You’ll die old and lonely, bitch!” Richard said.
Ishtar roared and ripped Richard’s body into hundreds of pieces.
Chapter 38
Mya cried out and tried to charge outside, but Zach held her back despite her protests. Ciaran pushed Leon inside again and approached the wall. “You asked for it, Ishtar.” He looked at his unit and said, “Jake, do it.”
Outside, a funnel suddenly appeared like the nose of a giant vacuum cleaner. All the warriors and the commanders were sucked up and out. Ishtar jumped aside, fell, and scrambled to her feet again. The funnel vanished.
“You sacrificed your commanders. You’re no different than I am, Ciaran.” Ishtar stood by herself.
“I didn’t sacrifice them. They’re alive and will be taken out at the other end. There’s no guarantee about your warriors, though. This is a Xiilok service. I’m reluctant to use them unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
“You use Xiilok fighters? You’re as evil as I am!” Ishtar screamed.
“You insult me with that comparison. If you’re any good as a leader, you should know there are different kinds of Xiilok fighters. I used the good ones.” He turned toward Mya. “Leave the jar on the ground for her. We’re leaving, Mya.”
Mya nodded and put the jar on the ground.
“No!” Ishtar roared. “That bitch had what I didn’t. Not only I will kill her, I’ll kill generations of her offspring.” Her eyes turned red, and she started to chant a curse.
Leon grabbed his chest and heaved. Then he ran out, pulled his knife, and shoved it right through Ishtar’s heart.
Ishtar roared in pain.
“I don’t know my mother. But no one is going to call her names.” He pulled the knife out and stabbed again before Ishtar grabbed Leon and threw him several feet away.
Mya raced toward Ishtar. She dangled the jar in front of her. “Leon or this jar. You can only have one.”
“Don’t you dare!”
“You don’t want to try me.”
Zach and Ciaran stepped out of the protective shield. Zach blasted a sound wave at Ishtar. It bounced back at him, pushing him several steps backward. Ishtar smirked. She crooked her finger and waved, and Zach was drawn toward her.
Ciaran shot at Ishtar, immediately realizing the gun wouldn’t work on her. He threw a knife at her. It curved back, slashing at his arm.
Ishtar squeezed her fists. Leon heaved and grabbed at his chest again.
“We can’t kill her. Get back behind the shield,” Ciaran said.
“She’ll curse Leon to death. Nothing is going to stop her curse,” Mya said and raised the jar again. “I’ll destroy it, Ishtar.”
Ciaran’s wrist unit beeped. He looked at it and said, “Don’t worry, Mya. The jar is not to be delivered to Ishtar. I’ve just received information that the jar is not the potion that raised the dead as she claimed but rather the poison she used to kill the prince of Xiilok. She just wanted the jar so she could destroy the evidence.”
“No, I didn’t kill him!” Ishtar roared.
Ishtar charged at Mya for the jar. Mya withdrew.
Ciaran said, “For your information, when I left the jar at the Daimon Gate for safekeeping, I sent a sample away for testing. Since we had gone through such trouble to retrieve the jar, I needed to know what was in it. Well, the results came back—it was a potion with your signature toxic compound in it. And that toxin matches the one used to poison the prince of Xiilok.”
“That wasn’t for him!”
“So it really was poison!” Ciaran smiled.
“I make poison for sport. Many wizards and shamans make toxins. There’s nothing wrong with it.”
“No, not until the toxin was used for murder,” Zach said.
“It wasn’t me!” she shouted.
“Oh, so the prince was poisoned by your toxin but not by you?” Leon asked.
Ishtar growled. “It’s none of your business.”
Mya said, “But it’s my business because you kept me in debt and made me retrieve a potion that could raise the dead. Now it turns out the jar is evidence of a murder. So you’ve breached the contract, and I’m off the hook.”
“I don’t care anymore.” Ishtar turned around and was about to leave. Ciaran pressed a series of buttons on his wrist unit.
“You can’t leave!” Mya shouted. “You made the poison, but your lover Nunnaki poisoned the prince. That’s why he stole the jar from you. That’s makes you an accessory to murder.”
Ciaran’s unit beeped. He glanced at it and tapped a button. Then Zach’s unit beeped.
Ciaran said, “The record shows you were engaged to someone in the underworld.” The timeline matches up with the incident when Mya let Nunnaki run and, as a result, she owed you a never-to-be-paid-off debt. That means you committed adultery.”
“Adultery is the most heinous sin one could commit at the court,” Leon said. “I’d take the murder charge if I were you.”
“Don’t you dare accuse me of anything.” The Goddess swung her arm up, but Leon pointed at her, halting her movement.
“I owe you nothing, Ishtar. I resign from the position at your court. And because I am a minor god, if you strike me, it will an unprovoked attack at your own kind.” Leon grinned. “You don’t want to add that to the crimes of accessory to murder and adultery.”
Zach said, “But wait…we have more.” He read from his uni
t. “You were engaged to the prince of Xiilok before he died. There was an uprising, and the prince was about to be declared illegitimate to the throne. Damn, you must have been disappointed and wanted out of the poor deal. So you got engaged to someone else in the underworld. That double adultery.”
“It’s not an adultery if my partner died before I became involved in the next relationship. Do you need to read your textbooks again?”
Ciaran smiled. “You got Nunnaki to kill the prince so you could get out of the engagement. You might have had to promise him something so that he would do that for you.”
“Love, she took him as lover,” Mya said in disdain.
Ciaran shrugged. “You then became engaged to someone else in the underworld while dating Nunnaki. That’s adultery. Well, unless the person in the underworld died, too,”
“He did!” The words came out before Ishtar could stop them.
Ciaran smiled. “And you know that for sure because you had him killed in a timely manner. At this stage, just between you and me, I think you’d better pick either murder or adultery, whichever one is less severe.”
“And in which court of law am I being accused? The Eudaizian? Eudaiz is overrated, Ciaran. Yes, I did it. I love for benefits and kill for sport. So what? What will you do to me? Oh, let me ask that differently—what can you do to hurt me? All four of you are standing there at my mercy!” She raised an eyebrow in challenge.
Ciaran winked. “It’s tough, isn’t it? Here’s a bit of advice from me. Between technology and magic, I’d put my money on technology. Have you ever heard of triangulation technology? Probably not, but it’s simple. What you have just said is being reflected to multiple dimensions—to the people in Xiilok, to the underworld, and to whomever has authority over you. The trial is being broadcast live to them. My apologies to some panels for the multiversal time differences. But the short version is…you have just plead guilty in front of your authority.”