by SA Magnusson
There were footsteps behind me.
I didn’t dare turn around but worried one of the priests had appeared. The only priest I knew was David, but I didn’t know how much the other priests knew of the fact that this was neutral ground.
Magic built.
Relief swept over me. Maybe I could get out of here.
I rolled to the side as the spell built, sizzling through the air.
It was like electricity, a lightning bolt, and it streaked over my shoulder, catching the shifter. The shifter froze in place for a moment, the electricity coursing through it, standing its fur on end.
I managed to glance over my shoulder to see Aron standing there with another spell building. He threw it, something like a baseball pitch combined with a punch, and another bolt of electricity shot from him, catching the shifter again.
“Get up, Kate.”
“My leg…”
Aron threw another spell. This one was weaker. The cold that raced along my spine wasn’t nearly as intense.
How much strength was this taking out of Aron?
“How many more of those do you have in you?”
“My limit is usually three,” he said.
“Limit?”
“This takes considerable power. Most of the time, I can destroy a demon with one.”
A demon with one, but this shifter had withstood three?
Not only that, but he had withstood all of the power I had thrown at him, not mentioning what my grandparents had attempted to catch him with.
I looked over at the shifter, and once again, his fur rippled as he continued to shift, healing himself. It wasn’t even a complete transformation, but it was enough to restore him.
If only we could get Ariel to shift, maybe we could restore her.
That was something for later, but for now we had to focus on this.
“I think he wants to use the neutral ground to reach across the Veil,” I said.
Aron grunted. “That could be devastating.”
“I think they were using the shifters to cross the Veil for the same purpose, but when we grabbed Ariel…” Somehow grabbing Ariel had disrupted the spell. Did they need some sort of sacrifice in order to open the connection?
More questions.
Aron helped pull me down the hallway.
“How are Gran and Gramps?”
“They have used the seal to keep the room secured.”
If it weren’t so dangerous to the other side of the Veil, I would have considered using the circle and the power that I had accessed the last time, but I suspected that was a terrible idea. What if the shifter could also use that power?
We reached the end of the hall, and to my right was the doorway.
The shifter prowled toward us. Aron threw another spell, but it was much weaker than the last. We had come to the end of his strength.
We would fall here.
The door opened and power exploded inside the room.
Dark magic.
I looked over to see Darvish and Barden storming in.
Maybe we would have help.
The shifter attacked.
15
As the shifter bared down on us, I shifted my stance, readying for the brunt of the attack. All I needed to do was get a good blow in. I wasn’t sure that I would be able to, not with as tired as I was, but considering the way the shifter moved at us, there had to be some way for me to slide underneath him and attack up, driving into his jaw.
Aron threw me off to the side.
The shifter pounced on him, dropping him.
Darvish flung a spell that sent a shot of cold racing along my spine. Barden followed with a similar spell.
“How are you here?”
“The archer alerted us,” Barden said.
I glanced over at Aron. He had alerted the Dark Council? I needed to give him more credit than I had. “Just the two of you?” I asked.
“The others are preparing.”
“Preparing for what?”
The shifter was snapping at Aron, but somehow he managed to hold a barrier in front of him, just enough to keep from getting devoured. I could easily imagine those massive jaws tearing through his flesh, ripping him apart the same way John had been ripped apart. I didn’t doubt this was the same shifter, and that if it managed to tear into Aron, he would sustain a similar injury. Could I heal him?
If I could, would he be the same? We still didn’t know if John would ever be the same.
I lunged, and my shoulder crashed into the shifter’s side. I wasn’t very large—certainly not compared to the shifter—but connected as I was to magic, however weakened I might be, I had more than enough force to throw him off Aron. He sprang to his feet, trying to pull on one of his electricity lightning bolts again.
“Come on, Thor. We need to get him out of here,” I said. Darvish barked out a harsh laugh. “What are you laughing at?”
“You calling the archer the God of Thunder.”
We backed down the hall, the four of us holding individual barriers. We had created them at the same time, though no one had said anything. The combined energies crackled against each other, a combination of my magic with Aron and his mage magic, along with the dark magic from Darvish and Barden.
The shifter slammed into the barrier, but with the four of us holding it, we managed to push him backward.
“We need to get him out of the basilica,” I said.
“Do you have any suggestions on how to do so?”
“I’m really not sure what we can do, other than—”
A loud and terrifying howl erupted from just outside the basilica. Even though it was outside, it was powerful and loud enough that it split my ears, a painful sound that echoed against the stone.
Could there be another Great One?
I looked over at Aron. “How many do you think they unleashed?”
“They should not have been able to unleash any.”
“From what he was telling me, he was imprisoned somewhere and was freed.”
The shifter snapped, snarling at the barrier. With each attempt, he raked at the invisible wall, sending sparks streaking, allowing the wall to be visible, however briefly.
I wasn’t sure how much longer we’d be able to hold onto this barrier like this. As we strained, struggling to hold him back, he continued to tear at the barrier.
I looked over at Aron. His jaw had a hard set to it and tension along his eyes told me how hard he was straining. There was considerable effort placed into his attempt to withstand this shifter. How long could he hold out? Darvish and Barden were fresh, which made them better allies, at least for now.
Another howl came. This time even closer than the last.
The shifter began to attack with even more fury than before.
What was going on here?
We took another step, forcing the shifter back. He was pushed away from the entrance to the stairs, prevented from being able to reach the neutral ground. We needed to get him back outside.
Another howl.
The shifter thrashed, throwing more and more intensity at the barrier.
A shadow moved across the distant doorway.
The shifter broke off and raced down the hallway, heading for the main part of the basilica.
I surged forward, stumbling, but Aron caught me.
“What was that about?” I asked.
“It seems as if the shifters aren’t getting along,” Darvish said.
“We rescued the alpha, like I told you,” I said.
“You went into the shifter territory and interfered with their leadership?” Barden stared at me.
“I didn’t really have much choice. It became clear the shifter sent to me wasn’t attacked as part of the regular challenge. The attack was different, and it was meant to—”
“It doesn’t matter what it was meant to do. The shifters and the council have agreed to allow the shifters to rule without interference,” he said.
“I’m not on the council, a
nd I don’t have a whole lot of concern about what was agreed to before. When I see—”
Barden’s laughter cut me off. “Are you under the impression I somehow care about what you did?”
“I guess not,” I said.
Barden nodded. “We need to pursue this creature.”
“How did you know to come here?”
“There is a certain sensation when the shifters attack. I was aware of it approaching, and given what you said…”
I frowned. Could I actually have persuaded Barden to interfere?
“That’s not the only reason,” I said.
“No. It’s not, but the rest of it doesn’t matter. Not until this is over.”
I had a sense that it did, but maybe we would have to deal with that later, after we finished handling the shifters. As much as Gran and Gramps wanted to reject my idea about the origin of the magic from the mage council—and the Dark Council—I still thought I was right.
We headed into the main part of the basilica. There was no evidence of the shifter having come through here, and for that I was thankful. Rows of pews were lined up facing the pulpit. The ceiling domed overhead and light spilled through stained-glass windows, providing a warmth and a sense of power. I didn’t like the idea that the creature might tear through here, causing great destruction to a historical place like this. I wasn’t religious, but you didn’t necessarily need to be religious to appreciate what was found here.
Aron took my hand and pulled me along, dragging me free of the main part of the church. We reached the doors leading outside and paused. Sunlight streamed down from overhead and I focused, searching for any sign of magic, but I didn’t pick up on anything. That troubled me.
“Where did they go?” Darvish asked.
“They were here. I don’t detect anything,” I said.
Barden studied me as if I were some sort of puzzle he needed to solve.
“It’s possible they have returned north,” he said.
“Really? We were doing so well against one of the shifters. There’s no reason for it to have headed north, not when he was so close to overpowering us,” I said.
And it was more than just overpowering us. He needed Ariel, but why? What was it about Ariel that forced his need? There was something about her magic, but what was it?
“Where are the rest of your Dark Council mages?”
“They’re nearby,” Barden said.
“Are they ready if we need help?”
“They can be.”
Aron turned to me. “What are you considering?”
“I’m thinking that if we can corral this shifter, maybe with the combined force of the Dark Council and whatever mages of the mage council we can gather, we might be able to overpower him.”
“And if you overpower him, what do you intend to do?” Aron asked.
“What do you mean? I intend to remove him as a threat.”
“And then what?”
“I don’t get what you’re after.”
“It’s what you hadn’t considered before, and I should have given it more thought, especially considering the time I have spent in the shifter lands, but…”
He was worried about how to restore Ariel to power.
She had been defeated by this shifter, which meant she had lost her position. Without that, even overthrowing this coup might not be enough. It might be that we were left with instability within the shifters, the Veil weakened once again, and then…
Whoever had helped this shifter cross over the Veil, releasing him from his prison, had to want that instability. Either way, he would win. If this shifter managed to cross over the Veil, he would have the instability that he sought. And if Ariel managed to escape, she wouldn’t be able to return to power, which again would lead to instability.
Somehow she had to win a challenge.
That couldn’t be our concern.
“We have to stop him first. You saw how powerful he was.”
“I saw it,” Aron said.
“What is this creature?” Barden asked. He had been watching us, and I wondered what thoughts were going on in the back of his mind. Barden was clever—he had to be, in order to have survived operating around the mage council for as long as he had—and hopefully that experience meant he had knowledge that might rival that of the mage council.
“We think he’s a Great One.”
“They can’t be here,” Barden said.
“Aron didn’t think so either, but here he is. You saw how he attacked. Aron can handle a single shifter—even several—but not something like this.”
Barden looked over. “Is that true, Archer?”
Aron nodded.
“But this thing? My grandparents weren’t able to do anything against it.”
Barden offered a half smile. “Your grandparents are powerful mages, and for them to fail but for you to generally succeed tells me much more than I had expected to learn about you, Kate Michaels.”
I breathed out a sigh. “We can deal with that later.”
“Indeed. And if it is a Great One, we need to return it to whatever place it came from, or we need to kill it.”
With as much power as it had, and with the way that it had simply shifted, healing itself, I didn’t know that we would be able to kill it.
“What do you know about its prison?”
“Not much. There are few who know anything about where they come from, especially as they are from the other side of the Veil.”
I looked over at Aron. “There’s someone who might know.”
“We don’t have time to get to her.”
“Who?”
“Solera,” I said.
Barden pressed his lips together into a frown. “You would risk going to her?”
“We’ve gone to her once,” I said.
“Then you are lucky to still be here.”
A howl erupted from the west. Hearing that gave me hope, but it also sent fear coursing through me.
“At least they’re not inside the basilica,” I said.
“Do you really fear them going into the basilica?” Barden asked.
“I don’t know what the shifter intends. If he goes across the Veil and attacks the fae queen, I don’t know what will happen.”
“Whatever happens will be on the other side of the Veil,” Barden said. “That’s none of our concern.”
“I think it needs to be,” I said. If they went across and battled with the fae queen, that could spread, reaching this side. It was bad enough having the magical creatures we did on this side of the Veil, but if a fight spread across it, and if it carried with it the kind of magic I’d already seen, people wouldn’t be able to withstand it. Hell, we had barely been able to withstand it, and that was with many magic users all trying to oppose the attack.
“Are you going to help or not,” I asked.
Barden glanced from Aron to me. “If I do this, then I will need you to do something for me.”
“I’m not sure whether I like the sound of that.”
“It’s nothing you will find too distasteful,” he said.
I studied him, debating whether to agree or not, when a surge of power struck. I felt it distantly. There was a park running along the interstate to the west, and it seemed as if it came from there.
How much time did we have before whatever was taking place returned here?
Could the shifters have moved their attack closer to the city? Would they attempt to cross the Veil here?
“Fine. I’ll do whatever you need.”
Barden nodded. “Then you have our help.”
“Good. Now, since you know where the neutral ground can be found, go down and get my grandparents and tell them what you agreed to.”
“And where will you be going?”
“Apparently, out to the lake.”
Barden frowned. “If this is as time sensitive as you make it seem, are you certain we have that time?”
“I can get her there in time,” Aron said.
&
nbsp; “See? He can get me there.”
Darvish chuckled. “He is the God of Thunder,” he said.
I suppressed a laugh.
Aron glared at him. Darvish ignored it.
“The two of you need to stop. Whatever fighting that you have been through is done,” I said.
Barden tapped on Darvish’s arm and they turned away, heading toward the basilica.
I looked over at Aron. “Now. What do you intend to do?”
His gaze flickered over to the SUV parked in front of the basilica. “It’s time for a drive.”
“Even driving, I’m not sure you can drive fast enough to get out there and back. Especially if we have to request Solera ferry us back across.”
“There is another way,” Aron said.
“Really? And what is that?”
He stared at me, saying nothing.
“Fine. If you don’t want to tell me, then let’s head out and face the shifters. We’ve already seen we can’t manage with them, but I’m willing to give it a try. I don’t have a whole lot of strength remaining, but then, that probably doesn’t matter. Neither do you.”
Aron pressed his lips together. “There is another way, but it’s one I have tried not to use.”
“Am I finally going to see your magical way of driving great distances?”
“So it would seem.”
He ran toward the car and I followed, hopping into the passenger seat.
“Hold on,” Aron said.
He threw the car into gear and a spell built from him, coalescing around the front of the SUV. It formed something of a tunnel, and as we went, pressure built around me, squeezing upon me. The pressure continued to build, growing stronger and stronger, and eventually the car rocketed forward through that pressure, as if we were being squeezed into a tiny shape.
“Aron?”
“This won’t be entirely pleasant,” he said.
“What are you doing?”
“This is the only way to get there quickly.”
“Get where?”
We were heading toward an underpass, not making our way toward the interstate, as I had expected.