The Devourer: A Reverse Harem Fantasy (Airshan Chronicles Book 3)

by Nhys Glover

  “It was my fault. I shouldn’t have issued that challenge to race. I forgot how new you are to riding anything, and...”

  “It was an accident,” Zem interrupted sternly. “No one is at fault. It could have happened to any one of us at any time. But without it we wouldn’t have thought to explore the very valuable addition to our group magic.”

  I nodded reluctantly and wiped the tears away with the back of my hand. Landor kissed my forehead as I sniffed.

  “You cannot get rid of me so easily, my beloved. Now what did I miss?”

  I laughed a little so he saw his joke was well received. “Not much. We...” I stopped talking and spoke to him mentally. ‘We were considering cursing a priest with Laric’s magic so we could use it on The Jayger, if we had to. If Sky fails.’

  Landor’s pale blue eyes widened at the news. ‘Is it possible?’

  I shrugged.

  Zem spoke aloud, using his fake voice. “We have just been waiting for you and telling Laric he’s going to get the Rama talk if he isn’t careful.”

  I frowned in confusion and then replayed what our conversation might have looked like from a seer’s perspective. I had started to say something and then stopped. Landor had then looked surprised. If we were to hide our mind-reading ability we needed to be more careful. I needed to be more careful.

  Landor must have picked it up faster than me because he grinned, as if in on the joke. “I am just glad to be alive. Though what use The Five will be now we have lost the Key to the underworld I do not know. Mayhap we can still fight. We have more power between us than any five mages ever had. We might even be more powerful than Airsha now.”

  “Maybe we’ll have to sail home and see if we can engage The Jayger there. If Airsha were to join us we might really have a chance,” Prior said, joining our theatrics.

  Zem’s gaze narrowed as he considered Prior’s words. ‘You know, that might be good ammunition we can use to convince The Jayger to come to us now. If he believed we were going to join forces with Airsha he might think to pre-empt that move.’

  ‘Then let’s see if I can get into its head,’ I suggested, though it was the last thing I wanted to do.

  Laric was the concerned one this time. ‘Are you and Landor up to it? This has been a draining day.’

  I looked at Landor and he shrugged.

  ‘Let’s get back to camp first. The sun is setting and the others will likely be worried.’

  “Let’s go!” I announced aloud, as if we hadn’t been chatting in our heads.

  Before the sun had properly set behind the volcano, we were back at camp and fielding questions about Landor’s fall and how he’d been healed.

  Shardra gave Landor a big hug and kissed his cheek. “Thank the Goddess you are well again. Even though your healing didn’t work on Sky, I am glad Flame was able to make it work on you.”

  “Some injuries are too severe. Sometimes my healing is not enough,” he said, playing along.

  “But we have an idea,” Zem told them all, using his stage voice. “As our powers are now at their peak, or close to it, and remaining here is useless, we decided our only chance of defeating The Jayger is to return to Airsha’s side. With her magic and ours we might find a way to defeat it. Or damage it.”

  For a while there were creased brows of confusion, but as we silently encouraged everyone to go along with us, the furrows cleared.

  “It’s something, I suppose. But it’ll take a few days to make ready the ship,” our captain said stiffly, knowing the last thing we wanted to do was leave this island before the final confrontation.

  “As soon as we can then.” Zem told him with a nod.

  After a quick meal, we headed up the beach to our own campsite.

  Things were speeding up, and suddenly I felt like I was on the back of a runaway beastling. Out of control. I was out of control, racing toward a destination I wasn’t sure I was ready for. Maybe we shouldn’t be trying to make it happen sooner rather than later. We still hadn’t explored all the possibilities for our power yet.

  A calming arm settled around my shoulders and I was surprised to find it was Prior, his handsome black face gentler than I’d ever seen it. “Don’t worry. There is time. We can do this, sweetling. We can defeat this monster.”

  I smiled wanly. “I hope so. It just seems to be happening too fast.”

  “There is still time. We still have time to perfect our magic. The more time we have the more powerful we become. But so does our enemy.”

  I nodded, knowing this was another message for The Jayger.

  My husbands and I lay down on our bedding as if to sleep.

  ‘You sure you want to go into The Jayger’s mind?’ Zem asked me. ‘We could start by giving one of the priest’s Laric’s nightmares.’

  ‘No. It’ll be of no use having that ability if we can’t get inside the Devourer. So we have to try that first.’

  I felt the others nodding worriedly, even though their heads were still and their eyes closed. I closed my own and returned to my peaceful inner world, ready for the biggest challenge yet.

  Very quickly, I found the priest I’d visited earlier in the day. Was it just today? It felt like a sun since then.

  I found him at his prayers. Delighted, I saw that the red thread was clearly discernible and throbbing brightly. The priest was thinking about what they had discovered last eve and what it would mean for his master.

  Perfect timing! I could start applying pressure now. Focusing in, just as I had been learning to do in the last quarter moon, I dropped our idea into the priest’s mind. I did it in a series of connected thoughts, just the way the mind usually worked. If the Key was destroyed what might The Five do now? Join forces with the Goddess Incarnate? They might have a chance at defeating his master that way. Would they consider such a thing, though? They might, if they were desperate enough, which they surely were now they had lost the Key.

  The priest followed along with the questions as if he was posing them himself. He considered the possibility and agreed the idea was a sound one. He seemed to be full of good ideas lately. Mayhap the release of his master had made him brighter. Ideas had never been his strong suit before.

  Job done, I left him to pat himself on the back some more and turned my attention onto the red cord. As I did with the Goddess, I followed it.

  My heartbeat seemed deafening in my ears, even though my consciousness was leagues away from my body. Fear weakened my resolve. This might be my last moment of sanity. Who knew what horror I was going to find at the end of the cord? My only hope was that my men would escape madness, even if I didn’t.

  No sooner had I made that wish, than I found myself at the centre of a vortex of energy so powerful I felt it would tear away my very being. The world tipped end over end around me, as if I was at the centre of a whirlpool or a whirlwind. My hair whipped around my face, cutting into my cheeks and stinging my eyes. How was that possible? My body... my hair... they were back on the island, not here!

  I needed to leave, get away while I still could! I looked back over my shoulder and saw the throbbing cord that had brought me here. That was my way out. The only way out!

  Before I could make good on my escape, my courage returned. As the panic receded, I realised I was still alive, still me. What did a bit of wind, or whatever it was, matter? I let the energy buffet me and began looking around with more care.

  Here there was no neat and orderly library. Instead, there was just roiling black clouds and pinpricks of green light, swirling in the maelstrom.

  How was I withstanding Its force? It really was as if I was at the calm centre of the whirling storm. Those lights, though, were spinning in it, caught in its chaotic power. Made part of it again after eons.

  My mind rocked as I considered that possibility. While the Devourer had been locked away, more than just the Goddess’ creatures had been saved. The Jayger’s creatures had also been freed from Its powerful and destructive influence.

  Not the
priests, though. Somehow they had managed to delve deep into the underworld to access the furious power for their own purposes. But once they came under its influence they became part of the maelstrom. Powerless. Puppets that did their master’s bidding, even though they courted their own destruction. I hadn’t fully understood that until this moment. Only the Goddess’ greatest creation could have found a way to access that power, their greed and arrogance making them believe they could control the uncontrollable.

  Humanity had betrayed the Goddess, undermining all she had done to save the world from its greatest evil.

  Self-loathing threatened to knock me from my course. I fought it with everything I was. Everything we were. Humanity might have done this, but humanity could undo it, too. We could undo what the priests had arrogantly done.

  Strengthening my resolve, I focused on those lights. I chose one at random and went into it. I was beneath the sea, devouring smaller sealings, taking pleasure from every bite. I backed out quickly. It should have been no different to the featherling I’d been inside, but it was. It was colder and less... human. No, that was the wrong word. Less emotional. Less relatable. It seemed to know only pleasure and pain. There was nothing in it but the immediate need to gain one and avoid the other.

  Standing at the centre of the maelstrom again, I spoke aloud what I had already told the priest. ‘What if The Five joined forces with Airsha? They might come up with a way to defeat me. At the moment they were in disarray, having lost their one way of defeating me. But that could change soon...’

  In the midst of the storm I identified what I could only call intelligence, though It was nothing like what I would normally consider a sentient being. It seemed to have heard what I said, though, and was now considering it. I darted away before that thinking mind wondered where the thought had come from. Of course, as the priest had thought it first, The Jayger might track the idea to him. I hoped so, anyway.

  Hurriedly, I backtracked to the priest and then back to my body. Exhausted, I momentarily gave into the overwhelming experience.

  It had been very different to what I’d felt inside the Goddess. Where the essence of the Goddess had been love, that maelstrom of energy had been nothing but rage and hatred. And though I had become used to feeling befouled by contact with the minds and essences of the Devourer Priests, now I felt soaked in The Jayger’s poison. I doubted any amount of baths would wash me clean of Its taint.

  But then, wasn’t that what I’d expected? In some ways the maelstrom hadn’t been as bad as I expected. It hadn’t succeeded in tearing me into pieces, at least. Though It had tried.

  I opened my eyes and reached for the hand of each man at my side. Those warm, strong hands squeezed mine, reassuring me that I was safe, loved and free of that foul power.

  At least for the moment.

  This time, when I ran into the ocean, it wasn’t to celebrate the loving connection we had all experienced inside the Goddess. This time, I was seeking to cleanse myself and remind us all of what we really were: creations of a loving Goddess. We were nothing like that thing! It was as alien from us as anything could possibly be.

  And yet... wasn’t there some small element of It within me? Wasn’t the anger and resentment I’d felt toward Zem when he hurt me been part of the Devourer? At our core, were we not like that sealing who was driven only by pleasure or pain? After all, wasn’t that the story of creation? That the Goddess had tempted the creatures of the sea onto her land and the Jayger had felt betrayed and turned his fury on them. Had it been just the physical act of leaving the water that enraged The Jayger... or had it been the mental development those creatures had undergone? Had becoming more than mindless entities seeking pleasure and avoiding pain, taken away The Jayger’s control of them?

  What about the air breathing creatures in the sea? Maybe they had developed after the Jayger was confined to the underworld. Maybe they were able to develop along the lines of the earth creatures because they then had the freedom to do so.

  My mind spun out of control at the deluge of possibilities. Warm arms wrapped around me from behind, and I felt my mind slowing. I drew in deep, calming breaths and relaxed into the strength holding me up. Who was it? Did it matter? We were all one. We all supported each other now.

  When more bodies surrounded me, I sank into them. When we made love it was to reaffirm our connection to each other and the Goddess. And our quest. More than ever, winning this fight mattered. Because again becoming nothing more than a creature that sought pleasure and avoided pain would be worse than death.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Things moved fast after that. And I no longer bewailed the need for speed. The creatures of the sea needed freedom from the chaos as much as we needed to stay alive. If it took my last breath to make it happen, then so be it.

  The morning after our trip into The Jayger I went to Airsha and explained what I needed her to do. She listened intently and nodded.

  ‘I will do my part, of course,’ Airsha said mentally, as she rocked an ailing Trace in her arms. ‘I hate directing that malevolent force your way though. It is like taking up a bow and aiming an arrow directly at your heart.’

  I laughed humourlessly. ‘But that arrow is going to fall directly into the elemental ring and be locked away forever. The Jayger thinks the Key is gone and we have no way to defeat him. He will become—God’s balls, why can’t I remember to call it It rather than he? It isn’t a male. I’ve experienced It first-hand, so I know. But I still keep calling it he.’

  ‘Does it matter? Focus on what matters, Flame. Stop beating yourself up about the irrelevant stuff.’

  I nodded and mentally smiled. ‘I know. It’s just easy to turn my frustration and rage on myself. It doesn’t matter for what.’

  ‘Frustration and rage are not gifts of the Goddess. They’re emotions that are the Devourer’s legacy. I do not pretend to know how you will defeat It, but it will not be like against like. Just like one element cannot fight against the same element, I think the same applies here. Hate cannot fight hate. Only an opposite emotion can defeat it.’

  ‘Love? How can I fight with love? Maybe I don’t have to hate the Devourer to fight It. Although, after all I’ve experienced, that is exactly what I feel about It. But I can’t see how I can love It to death.’

  ‘How are things with you and Zem? I gather there were tensions there. How did you overcome those?’

  I tried to remember if I’d told Airsha about Zem’s hurtful words. I didn’t think I had. It wouldn’t have been right to share my personal problems with her while we were dealing with bigger issues. Then how did she know? Could she access my mind while I was accessing hers? That was a frightening thought.

  I let it go and focused on the question, because I knew at a deep level it was crucial to our coming battle. What had she asked?

  How did I overcome the ‘tensions’ between Zem and me?

  I’d tried to do it logically, convinced that unless we were all together we would fail. Therefore, I had to forgive Zem and move on. But I hadn’t been able to do it. I acted the part, but I didn’t truly reach that point until I was inside the Goddess and overflowing with her love. Then I’d seen Rama and Airsha and recognised how similar their relationship was to mine and Zem’s. Love had just washed all the hurt and bad feelings away, without me having to even try.

  I tried to bring up what I’d felt back then. I couldn’t. I remembered it, but I couldn’t feel it. Love had washed it away.

  Gods! That was the answer. Airsha was right. Love defeated hate—although I doubt I actually ever hated Zem, even at the moment he’d hurt me most. But it was a similar emotion—love had still won.

  That was what was missing from The Jayger’s creatures. They couldn’t love. And caught in the clutches of The Jayger they never would.

  ‘Are you there, Flame?’ Airsha asked in concern.

  ‘Aye. I was just thinking about what you said. And you are right, of course. I will keep it in mind during the coming b
attle. We cannot fight like against like, whether with elements or energy.’

  Airsha smiled. ‘You are a quick study, sister. I knew you were, even when you were driving me mad back at the beginning.’

  I grinned. ‘I learned to love you. Maybe not as fast as I would have liked. I caused you too much pain. Have I ever told you how sorry I am for that?’

  She shook her head. ‘No apologies necessary. You were driven by hatred because of what my brother did to you. I may have done exactly what you did, had I been in your shoes. What is important, what matters, is that you recognised love and let it in. As I said, a quick study.’

  I had certainly been inundated by love back then. Calun, Spot, Zem, and then Airsha and the rest of her husbands, especially Rama. They’d forgiven my deceit and loved me.

  I felt tears sting eyes I didn’t have in that moment. ‘I love you, Airsha. You know that, right?’

  ‘I do. As you know I love you. Go save the world, sweet sister. I will get my bow out now.’

  I gave a little laugh and let the connection go. It was done. Once word got out that the Goddess Incarnate was challenging The Jayger to a battle with her champions, that malignant force would shoot our way. We’d already planted the seed, Airsha would grow it.

  When I returned to my men I posed a question that our talk about love had initiated.

  ‘What if Laric’s nightmares could become pleasant dreams?’

  I felt Laric react as if I’d hit him. ‘My magic could never be pleasant.’

  ‘But what if it could? You have only ever wished nightmares on your targets. The first few times because they tormented your sister. But who says they have to be bad?’

  ‘What difference does it make?’ Zem asked a little impatiently.

  He would see this as an unnecessary distraction. But the more I thought about the idea of love, and how much worse the Jayger had become after being locked up all that time, the more I wondered about another way.

  ‘I would like to infuse our dome with healing and good dreams. As the Jayger comes into contact with the net, ready to fight it, drown it, whatever, It’ll be hit with healing love and sent into a wonderful dream while It’s being sucked into the underworld. It seems to me that a few eons of healing and lovely dreams might cure Its madness. Then, if It ever gets free again, It wouldn’t go on a rampage. Locking It up was a stopgap, it wasn’t a solution. Airsha’s talk of love has made me wonder if there isn’t another way.’