She regarded him. “You are hiding something.”
“No…it’s just…”
“Just what.”
Argos clicked his claws in a gesture she had come to know as fretting. “Oh, dear, I shouldn’t say this. But it’s too late. As far as I know, he should have turned back. I think it’s something inside of him that is keeping him as he is. Something is keeping him human.”
Her heart tightened like a fist. Was it her? Was she the reason he wasn’t able to seize this moment of centaur destiny?
“Thank you, Argos,” she whispered. “One more question?”
“I suppose I can’t do much more damage now,” he mused.
“If he doesn’t turn back into a centaur, can he beat Scorpos?”
Argos’ silence told her all she needed to know.
It was time to end her association with Markos, once and for all.
“You must get me in to see him, Argos. I have to…to set him free of me.”
“Yes,” he said, his voice sounding as torn and broken as she felt. “I know. And I’m sorry.”
Libby slipped her hand into his claw, squeezing. She was fighting the tears with all her might. “Don’t worry about it. Just tell me you’ll do it right away? You promise? Before I chicken out?”
“Yes,” Argos said again. “With the stars as my witness.”
She laughed, through the tears. “Maybe we should have really called them as our witnesses, huh? Maybe it would have turned out a little better.”
“Everything happens for a reason, or at least that’s what we say on Constellia. Do you believe that on Earth?”
“Sometimes. Mostly I think shit just happens.”
“There’s a cheery thought. You would get along splendidly with Dalion, you know.”
“I resemble that remark,” called the ram, appearing as usual just in time to pick a fight.
Libby listened to their banter as they walked out, taking small comfort in their words. In her heart, meanwhile, one thing resounded. Markos was going to be okay and that was all that mattered.
Chapter Seven
This was hardly the grand escape Markos had planned. No galloping across the frontier, no heroic stand at the gallows, taking down dozens of scorpions. All this would have been possible had he changed back into a centaur. But Markos was still human, with a pair of legs, useless for running, useless for attack.
It was the Aquarians who had saved him. Hundreds of them with their life-giving waters, spirals of river, uncoiling before him, the perfect carpet for a lightning-fast getaway.
They were clever indeed, placing him inside one very large jug, allowing him to bob and weave and dash like a cork through the turbulent, rushing liquids. While some of them helped him into the jug, others used their water as whips, keeping the scorpions at bay.
Brave, brave Aquarians. Many would go to their death before the dawn. They were happy too, though, not only for Markos but for the queen, whose freedom and return to public life they craved.
Markos so deeply regretted that he could not handle things alone. If only he had his right body.
He was sure when he returned to his cell that he could will it to be so. If Libby could transport herself across the bands of time and space and get to Constellia surely he could break one tiny crab spell.
It wasn’t so tiny, though. And the only thing broken was his heart.
How could Libby have said what she did? After all they had been through together? What did it matter how long they had known each other or how different their backgrounds were? She made his heart sing. She gave his life color and joy, filling him in ways he never knew he needed to be filled. It was like having an opposite to himself, a counterpoint that somehow spiraled back.
By the stars, they had fun. Wasn’t that enough?
Not according to Libby.
“I am sorry,” she said, her voice cold and detached. “It has to be this way. I need to marry a man I can rely on. Someone practical, who practices law like me, or maybe medicine or dentistry.”
Dentistry, of all things. Markos didn’t see it. Libby needed a mate with a spirit of adventure, someone who could bring out her own inner wildness.
“Frankly, Markos, I find you a little immature,” she said.
Why not shoot an arrow through his heart? It would do less damage.
“I thought there was something between us,” he said. “I do not know how I am supposed to accept this.”
“You see?” She twisted his words against him. “That proves my point. You are supposed to save your world and you are worrying about a silly one-night stand.”
He pointed out they did much besides stand, but that only made her angry.
“Damn it, Markos, why can’t you get this through your thick head? I don’t love you, I don’t want you and I don’t need you.”
At this moment his heart closed against her. She would not see him cry or beg. “Go, then.”
“I would like to wish you well,” she replied, completely confusing him.
“Why? You care nothing for me.”
“I will always regard you as my friend.”
“A friend would never betray the trust built between us, Libby. We shared our bodies and our hearts.”
Her lip began to quiver. She seemed to be concealing a number of emotions. “We were fuck buddies, Markos. Get over it.”
He understood the words individually, but together they meant nothing. Perhaps this was a fitting metaphor for their relationship. He suggested this to her and that was when she said goodbye and good luck.
“I don’t believe in luck, Libby.”
With that she turned away, calling for the guards to let her out.
Once she was gone he called for Argos. “You will see that she is returned to Earth,” he said curtly. “You will do this on your life.”
His old friend was momentarily taken aback by the force of his words but he was quick to recover. “I will do all that I can,” he vowed. “On my life.”
Markos quickly apologized. “I am sorry,” he said. “My words indicated a lack of trust. This was wrong. I am…not myself.”
“Oh, no.” His old friend, bidding him farewell. “You have never been more yourself.”
Events moved at breakneck speed after that. He spent the remainder of his alone time trying to will back his centaur body. Unable to do so, he devised the best plan he could to achieve escape as a human.
Which would have utterly failed without his newfound allies.
Not to mention the help of his old allies.
Dalion knocked two scorpions aside all by himself. Argos handled two. Kalos used his fine teeth to untie the ropes that held Markos to the pole. The Aquarians flushed away the Dissolution Spell caster, a particularly nasty scorpion with blue spikes on his stinger.
Just seconds before the deadly dissolution dust reached him, Markos was free.
“No arguments,” said Kalos as Markos was shoved unceremoniously in the jug. “This is for your own good.”
“So is this.” Markos grabbed hold of his Capricorn friend, pulling him into the jug with him.
Thus did he have a companion for the ride, albeit an unwilling one.
“I’ll need your help,” said Markos. “The troops may not respect me as well now that I am not one of them.”
“You’re always one of them,” Kalos replied. “We will all follow you anywhere. Mind you I will never forgive you forever for sticking me in this blasted genie’s bottle.”
Markos laughed. He needed the release as much as he needed the friendship. Closing his eyes and settling at the bottom of the jug he decided to get some shuteye. Outside he heard the roaring waters, conveying them, a carpet made of millions of droplets, amassed for this one purpose, white and foamy, blue and deep.
Soon, very soon they would be in the mountains. Battle would come, just what he needed to forget a certain female, an exasperating woman who had done more to turn his world upside down than any wizard or power-hungry scorpion
.
Common sense told him he was better off without her. The trouble was, Markos was a centaur, not always strong on common sense. He happened to like his world upside down. As for Libby, who he prayed to the stars had found her way home by now, he happened to like her too.
No, that was not strong enough. Libby, he loved.
Funny how you never recognize these things until it’s too late.
Settling his mind, he focused on the future. On Constellia. This one battle would determine everything.
For the first time in his life he did not care if he lived or died.
So long as his people lived…and Libby too.
* * * * *
Libby held the amulet tight against her chest. This was going to be her fourth attempt to say the words right and she did not want to mess them up again. “Vorak ge-lan,” she began, easily enough. “Morad…doseen…ba-adoshir?”
“No, no,” interjected the increasingly frustrated Argos. “It is ‘doseen badomir.’ You must get the syllables perfectly or the spell will not work.”
She blew strands of hair back from her face. “All right, give me one more try. I know I can get it.”
“Can’t you say the words for her?” Dalion asked Argos for the third time.
Argos snapped at him. “How many times must I explain this to you, you thick-headed ram. The magic must be initiated by the person who is to be transported.”
“Well, there’s no point getting upset with me,” said Dalion. “I’m not the one who made up this stupid spell.”
Argos sighed. “I’m sorry, Dalion, but I am becoming…frustrated. Libby, you must concentrate. I know it’s hard, but you must.”
Actually it was not that hard. Libby just could not keep her thoughts straight, that was all. She kept thinking of Markos and how he was out there all alone, fleeing for his life with an entire scorpion army after him.
He had looked so terrible when she last saw him, too. Oh, how it had killed her to have to say those awful things to him. He just wouldn’t give up, though, and she had to get meaner and meaner. She couldn’t tell him the truth—that she was cutting off her attachment to him so he would stop subconsciously wanting to be human and stay with her.
He would never buy that argument. He was too stubborn. Not that she wasn’t stubborn herself. What a pair they were. Or would have been. It was history now. He was fighting for his life and she needed to be fighting for hers. Did she want to get stuck on this world? She had to get the words right and disappear, from Constellia, from Markos’ life.
He was a centaur from a realm of astrological magic, she was a lawyer born in Pittsburgh. Not really a good match, was it? Not like you could invite a half man, half horse to the office Christmas party or take him shopping for wedding rings.
Wedding rings. Listen to her…
“Vorak ge-lan,” she pronounced, determined to make it through this time without error. “Morad doseen badomir, delan tikas, oranlikas, shemato—”
This time it was not her own halting tongue which stopped her but a loud banging sound at the door of Argos’ small cottage at the edge of the woods near the castle.
“Open,” cried a voice. “In the name of Scorpos!”
“Hurry,” said Argos. “You must get the rest of the words out before the scorpions come in.”
“I’ll hold them off.” Dalion charged to the door, ready to employ his splendid horns. He pushed with all his might.
The banging sound was replaced with a steady, repetitious boom.
“A battering ram,” growled the real ram.
“Dae koojon,” exclaimed Libby rushing as fast as she could. “Matakaso entor—”
“Look out!” Argos grabbed her, pulling her back from the curtained window.
One of the scorpions had broken the glass and he was aiming his stinger directly at them. Dalion for his part was having trouble at the front door. The wood was splintering all around him. Argos tried to cover Libby. The scorpion at the window was pushing through the wall, cracking it around him.
Dalion couldn’t hold them off any longer. He retreated, prepared to fight for Libby along with his friend. “We will die for you,” he told her.
“No,” said Libby as the scorpions poured through the door into the small house, surrounding them. “I don’t want that.”
“Fear not,” said Zinox, joining them. “There shall be plenty of death to go around before the night is through.”
The scorpions hissed in approval, stingers at the ready.
“Feel free to beg,” said Zinox. “Not that it will do you any good. My only regret is that you will not see me kill Markos.”
“You will never kill him,” exclaimed Libby.
“Who is going to stop me? You?”
“If need be, yes.”
He snorted. “Kill her. Kill them all.”
“No!” roared a voice.
The scorpions backed off, lowering their heads.
“Lord Scorpos,” fawned Zinox. “My heart leaps with joy to see you.”
Scorpos approached him, bending forward with his extra-long stinger. He was the largest of the creatures Libby had seen. Unlike the others, his body was coated in gold. Some kind of armor, perhaps? His stinger also appeared to be specially armed with several black barbs, tipped in red.
“Somehow I doubt that, Zinox,” said the High Protector.
Zinox cowered as Scorpos’ stinger pressed down on his back. “Please, My Lord…mercy.”
“You have outlived your usefulness,” Scorpos pronounced. “You’ve cost me before, but this time you nearly lost me the one weapon with which to beat Markos, no matter how large his army—a hostage.”
It was Libby’s turn to tremble. She was pretty sure he meant her.
“My Lord, I can make up for this…”
“Sorry, too late. Goodbye, Zinox.”
Zinox screamed out, shaking violently as Scorpos stung him. It was over in a matter of seconds. Scorpos lifted the body afterward, tossing it out the door. “You,” he said, pointing with his stinger to one of the others. “You are Captain of my guard now.”
“Y-yes, My Lord,” the new captain stammered.
“Take the human, bring her to the dungeon,” he ordered.
“What of these other two, Sir?”
“Let them go,” Scorpos said, surprising Libby. “They are no threat to me anymore.”
“You’ll live to regret underestimating us,” Dalion vowed.
“Hush,” said Argos. “Don’t push your luck.”
“I want you to deliver a message,” said Scorpos to Argos and Dalion. “To all your friends who plan to hide in the underground chambers. Tell them I know everything. Tell them whomever does not surrender to me in the morning before I defeat Markos will face my wrath.”
“Go to the Four Winds,” said Dalion, defiant to the end.
Scorpos scoffed, turning away. Libby was seized by scorpions for the second time in one day, no less.
She hoped very much that Scorpos’ plan would not work, that Markos would not stop his attack because of her. But she had a funny feeling he would. How did she know this?
Because it was what she would do, that’s why.
* * * * *
The centaurs and lions were more than a little shocked at Markos’ appearance. The very last thing they had expected to see was their leader, transformed into a creature most of them considered both imaginary and inferior.
It was Kalos who rallied them, at least to the extent warriors could be appealed to by practical exigencies.
“What would it matter if Markos came to you as a frog, or if, stars forbid, he did not come to you at all? You all know the truth, how he was falsely accused and arrested, how he managed to coordinate the escape of all of you before Scorpos began throwing you in the dungeon.
“He could easily have died there, by all rights he should have. He didn’t, but that is not the point. Each and every one of you has reason to fight and if you don’t take this risk to gain back o
ur kingdom, then we will have nothing, ever again.
“We’ll never have a better chance to fight. Scorpos won’t expect this. We have allies, hiding below the castle. This is our time. If the king’s memory means anything to you, if Markos means anything, then honor them both. Go into battle. Win…or die.”
Vorius, one of the lions, was first to step forward. “I will fight and I would be deeply honored to carry Markos upon my back.”
Markos stepped forward, his heart overflowing. “Thank you, my friend. I shall be honored to ride upon you. Win or die.”
“Win or die!” called one of the centaurs.
“Win or die!” came the cry from the ranks.
The troops were off in short order. The Aquarians had no water left to convey them but in their place were Pisceans, millions of them, flying fish ready to convey the warriors. A hundred of the brightly colored creatures apiece to lift each lion and each centaur and when they rose into the air en masse, it was like the roar of thunder across the sky.
Never had Markos seen such a sight or believed such a thing possible. “My friend,” he said to Kalos next to him. “You are a hero of Constellia. I will see to it you are knighted for this.”
“Just see to it I don’t get stung to death and I’ll be happy,” he quipped.
“Indeed.” Markos grinned. “That I shall do.”
With that they were off, cloud upon cloud, a moving force of vengeance and of justice bound for the castle, bound for the black heart of Scorpos himself.
* * * * *
Scorpos proved a much better host than Zinox. He neither stung her nor removed her clothes. Nor did he seek to play any head games. Rather, he was quite fascinated to learn about Earth.
He sat with her over a long supper, sipping wine well into the night. Libby was quite careful, of course, as she knew his questions were far from innocent. His intent was conquest, pure and simple.
“So tell me.” He pushed a bowl of surprisingly tasty green leaves in red sauce her way. “What would you say is the best part of living in your world?”
Libby scooped out seconds, amazed at how hungry she was. “I would have to say kickboxing. And potato chips with chocolate ice cream. You’ve no idea how yummy that is.”
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