The Diamond Sphinx (The Lost Ancients Book 6)

by Marie Andreas

  Padraig hovered over him. “Those weren’t in the chest when we first opened it. Nothing was.”

  “Interesting,” Lorcan unrolled one and peered at it. “Definitely Ancient, but a very old dialect even for them. I will leave them to you for now.” He handed the scrolls and the bag to Padraig. “Although, don’t you want some sleep? We will be heading north for the sphinx; but being as none of us have slept, we should wait until the day after tomorrow. We will also need to find horses, at the least.”

  They left the spell bubble that Alric had created on the chest, and Lorcan did a quick external examination. He finally shook his head and put it back in the faery bag. “I’m afraid that until we don’t have to worry about destroying homes or businesses, we should keep this secured.” He tucked the bag into a pocket inside his robes. “Impressive spell bubble by the way, Alric. That one and the one they told me you flung when the body exploded. Siabiane would be proud.”

  Alric gave a crooked grin. “Thank you. I didn’t realize you knew she’d taught them to me.”

  “I knew everything,” Lorcan said, but then his smile fell. “Or I thought I did. Many of us thought we did, we were wrong.” His face looked like he’d aged a thousand years right before my eyes.

  I faked a yawn and stretch that really wasn’t much of a fake. “I think I’m going to sleep in one of the drunk rooms.” I picked up my pack and headed back. Lorcan had held up pretty well over the last few months with everything that had happened to him and his people. What he needed now was rest.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  I wanted to also give Alric some space. It was good he knew he was being a jerk, but it wasn’t really his fault. If we could just keep the relics and their associated items away from him, he’d be okay. Right after we hunted down the diamond sphinx. I wanted to ask where exactly we were heading, but it really didn’t matter. The furthest true north from here I’d ever been was less than a day’s ride, so knowing where we were going would have little meaning to me.

  One thing about Amara being Foxy’s wife; the Shimmering Dewdrop was the cleanest seedy pub in the land. The drunk room was two hard bunks, but they had blankets and pillows. Nothing fancy nor expensive, but good and clean.

  I had just settled in when the door opened and Covey came in. “Sorry, I’m not a certain elf. Lorcan went to sleep in the other room but Alric and Padraig are still talking. Amara’s back and has joined in, but Foxy tumbled off to bed.” She dropped her stuff on the second cot. “We need sleep, I know. But are you okay?”

  I rolled up on one elbow. “I will be. We have enough things to worry about besides me worrying that I’m losing Alric.” Saying the words out loud was far more painful than just thinking them.

  She sat at the edge of her bed. “He was terrified when we came to and you were gone. Padraig almost had to spell him to calm him down. He might not be the most romantic of souls, but he does love you.”

  “I know.” My smile fell. “Or I did know. That geas and these relics are driving him crazy and that’s driving me crazy. I didn’t mean to upset any of you when I left, but I’d do it again in the same circumstances. I thought it was the only way to save you. Covey, it was like I went berserk.” She, of all people, should understand that.

  “I can’t help you with your magic, or whatever spell turned you into that creature, but I can help with that. It might be better not to know what you changed into. Part of my problem was the history of my people and our berserker era. I knew exactly what I had become. But meditation did help me, so it might help you. I don’t know that you’ll change again, especially if it was something that Nivinal did, but it can’t hurt to be ready.”

  We spent the next fifteen minutes with her trying to teach me meditation techniques, and me trying to stay awake. She finally gave up. “Go to sleep. From what I saw of our trip, we’ll be on the road for at least a week, we can work on it then.”

  My period of dreams seemed to come and go. I hadn’t dreamt much before this stuff with the relics started, but after that it became a dream-free-for-all. Then the dreams vanished when I was on the road with the faeries. Now they were back again.

  This time I was looking down a well. Inside of it were all of my friends, looking up at me in anger, fear, and hopelessness. I slowly dumped dirt on them until I couldn’t see them anymore. I felt and saw myself doing it, but I had no control over my motions. I screamed in my head to stop, but my arms just kept on shoveling.

  I didn’t scream myself awake, but I was sobbing. I needed to find out what was causing these horrible dreams and find a spell to block it.

  I tried rolling over and going back to sleep, but the curtains were thin, and while I’d only gotten a few hours of sleep, it was clear the sun was up and had been for an hour or so.

  Covey was asleep and softly snoring. I gathered my things and went out to the front. Foxy and Amara had a pair of bathrooms, and they’d shown us before that one had a secret passageway to a large shower.

  Dogmaela was sleeping near the back door. I doubted this was her regular home, but she’d probably moved in when Foxy went missing and wasn’t going to leave until everything settled down.

  I had a quick shower, changed, and came back out to the pub proper to find a full breakfast, along with a massive pot of tea, waiting for me. At least I assumed it was for me. No one else was around.

  Amara popped her head out of the kitchen. “Dig in. You’ll be having a long day of it, and who knows when you’ll get another real meal. I will be putting together road food, but still…” She rolled her eyes, nodded her head, and darted back into the kitchen.

  I would have pointed out that we weren’t leaving until tomorrow, but her food smelled too good to walk away from for even a moment. Halfway through the meal it dawned on me she might know something that we didn’t—that whole being a goddess thing.

  By the time I finished eating, Covey, Padraig, and Lorcan had come out, showered, and been presented with huge piles of food and tea.

  I narrowed my eyes. Alric wasn’t the last one to get up unless he was seriously injured, and I knew there was no way the geas had messed him up that badly.

  “How long ago did he leave?” I didn’t mention Padraig, but he’d been the last one with Alric, so my comment was aimed at him.

  Padraig wasn’t a good liar. He looked up from his tea and glanced around. When I scowled, he swallowed. “Alric? I’m not sure. Not that long ago, I’d think.”

  “Does anyone think our lone-wolfing-again elf should be out on his own?” I waited until everyone looked up.

  “He said he wanted to do some recon on the hill, see if there was evidence of what happened when the mayor came in and when Largen was killed,” Padraig said. “He left before I went to bed, and honestly I thought he’d be back by now.” He held up his hand. “But Foxy went with him.”

  I’d been about to jump out of my chair and run after him, but those last words settled me down. Worst-case scenario, if Alric was being really stupid, Foxy could pick him up and carry him back.

  “Why did you let him go? Alric hasn’t been himself lately at all.” Covey got out in between bites. She looked ready to take off after him herself, but there was no way she was going to do that until she finished her food.

  I wasn’t afraid so much for Alric; I was afraid he was going to do something stupid, like go take on all of the bad guys at once. A thought hit me. “Amara?” I called out. I was afraid to go into the kitchen when she was working.

  “Did you need more?” She popped out of the kitchen with a full bowl in her hand.

  “No, but you can sense Foxy, right?” I knew she’d had some trouble when he’d been grabbed. Most likely that was because she could sense him vaguely, but whatever spell was being used to hide them blocked her from narrowing it down. Hopefully no one was blocking him this time

  “Aye,” she said, then closed her eyes and tilted her head. A small smile played on her face, then dropped and she opened her eyes. “They are fine, but y
our elf is causing him distress.”

  Both Padraig and I jumped to our feet.

  Amara waved us down. “It’s annoyance. Whatever Alric is doing, it’s bothering Foxy because he thinks it’s stupid.”

  “That’s Alric,” both Padraig and I said.

  “Are they on the Hill?”

  “No, they are near my hedge. You don’t want me to let him out, do you? He is trying to find a way and I think that is contributing to Foxy’s annoyance.”

  “No!” All of us said in unison.

  “In fact, could you have your hedge smack him in the head for me?” He and Foxy probably started looking into things on the Hill, then Alric decided to make a run for it. There could be a legitimate reason for them being down there, but the fact that Foxy was annoyed told me Alric was definitely trying to get out.

  Amara closed her eyes, then laughed. “I did, and he is standing down.”

  “We should go see what his issue is.” I nodded to Padraig.

  “Might as well all go. I can out run him if he tries to run, and between Lorcan and Padraig they have more spell fire power than he does.” Covey had finished chasing the last bit of food around her plate.

  “Yes, maybe that would be best. Foxy’s annoyance is increasing.” A tiny line appeared between Amara’s brows.

  I must have been really hungry after my shower. I finally noticed that the faeries and Bunky and Irving were missing as well. “And where did the faeries and constructs go?”

  Dogmaela had come out from the kitchen and was loading up our dishes. “They are sitting in the tree.” The emphasis on the told me she meant Amara’s tree.

  The pub wasn’t open yet, so we’d see what they were up to once we went out the back way. If they looked iffy, I’d set them on a task of some sort. I could only worry about one troublemaker at a time.

  I was the first one ready, so I went out the back. Dogmaela was right, the faeries were scattered all over the tree—and far more than my current group of twenty-three. Bunky and Irving were hovering at the top. And about thirty squirrels were also there. My sword had been sticking around as of late, so I had it out and the start of a push spell as I stepped into the alley.

  “Girls? Who are your friends?” They didn’t seem distressed, and a quick glance at the squirrels indicated that none of them had those odd amulets on.

  “See? Is told you!” Garbage wasn’t responding to me, but she was pointing. The extra faeries took to the air, buzzed near me, and vanished.

  The squirrels looked at me, gave odd little bows, and scampered down the alley.

  “Can someone tell me what that was about?”

  “Squirrelable!” Crusty shouted. She’d used that term before when we were in the aqueducts. According to her it meant something good. She refused to explain beyond that.

  “We meet. Make plans. Is good. They see you now.” Garbage buzzed around proudly.

  “They didn’t see me before?” I had a feeling there was more to that and every little bit would help. There was a nagging suspicion that what the faeries were doing was going to be important at some point.

  “Saw, but no seeee.” Crusty had begun a conversation with a branch, but looked up to answer me.

  “Yes. Back soon!” Garbage yelled and twenty-three faeries flew off. Bunky and Irving circled me once and then followed them.

  “Where did they go?” Covey asked as she and the others came up behind me.

  “I have absolutely no idea, but I don’t think they are up to anything bad.” Maybe that was false optimism, but I was okay with it.

  Padraig led the way, which was good as I was just going to start at the Hill and work my way down until I hit the hedge. “Amara was able to give me a better idea where they are, especially after you asked her to have the hedge hit Alric.”

  Beccia looked almost normal. The shops were open and a fair amount of people were roaming around doing everyday things.

  It took far less time than I expected to find Foxy and Alric, and it was a good thing we did, too. Foxy looked about two seconds away from throwing Alric over his shoulder. That he had his hand on him wasn’t a good sign.

  “I’m right, this is—” Alric cut off as he spotted us. “You can tell him, we have to get out of here. We have to take down this hedge.” Alric’s green eyes had too much white around them and he was shaking.

  “Why?” Padraig stepped forward and motioned for Foxy to step back. “We’re fine here, Alric. Why do you need to leave?”

  “We have to leave.” He looked quickly to all of us. “This hedge is killing us. If we can take it down, everything will be fine.”

  Now it was Lorcan’s turn to step forward. With a frown he cast a spell at Alric. It glowed, then went black and crumbled. “He’s spelled. Did that crime lord you met up with touch him? He is a dwoller mage, right?”

  “Yes, he is, but I don’t think he touched him.” Padraig looked to Alric, but whatever Lorcan’s spell had done had mostly shut him down. He was standing, his eyes wide, but he didn’t look like he was aware of what was going on.

  “He did though. When they were having their pissing contest,” Covey said. “Cirocco tapped Alric’s shoulder. Why? Did he have to touch him to spell him?”

  I was with Covey on this one. Cirocco was a serious mage, and he shouldn’t have to touch anyone.

  “For this one he did.” Lorcan stepped forward and tapped Alric’s shoulder. Another spell was cast and this time Alric crumpled to the ground.

  I ran forward and pulled his head into my lap. “Is he okay?” His eyes were shut, but his chest was moving.

  “He will be.” Lorcan stepped back looking fatigued. “That was a nasty spell. If Alric didn’t have strong magic himself, the hedge would be down and he would probably have joined Cirocco and whoever else is out there.”

  I looked down at him. His face wasn’t settled as if in sleep, but more as if he was fighting something off. Like he was having a nightmare. “He will wake up, right?”

  “Yes, this is part of his own magic; my spell had to work through his defenses, and then fight off that dwoller’s magical attack. Nasty spell, and definitely one only used by their kind. It’s how they hunt.”

  “I thought Cirocco was being too agreeable,” Covey said. “He must have planned this.”

  “Or he just couldn’t stand that Alric bested him again,” I said. Alric was slowly stirring. His eyes fluttered open but it took almost a full minute for him to register who I was.

  “How in the hell did I get here?” He looked up to Foxy. “You and I were going to the Hill to look for evidence. Beyond that, I don’t recall a thing.” He shuddered. “Yes, I do. A hole. I was in a hole and there was no way out.”

  He didn’t mention me, or look my way, but the connection to my dream was too close.

  “Thank you.” He patted my leg then rolled to his feet. “That asshole spelled me, didn’t he?”

  “You started acting weird once we got to the Hill. Stormed through a few abandoned houses, and then said the hedge was the problem.” Foxy shook his head. “You was a stubborn one for certain. Even claimed I’d made the hedge attack you. Was this close to dragging you back.” Foxy held his fingers about three inches apart.

  “There was something on the other side of the hedge I needed to see.” He walked a few feet over and stopped. “Right here.” He started shaking and collapsed again.

  “Is this part of his defenses?” I really didn’t think it looked effective if it was.

  Lorcan was beside him in a moment then glared at the hedge. “No. But we need that hedge open.”

  Amara was much better at sensing what was going on than we thought, or she’d improved in the past fifteen minutes. Or she had a way to spy through her hedge. A corridor appeared right where Alric had stopped.

  Alric was unconscious. “Foxy and Lorcan, stay here and keep him safe.” I nodded to Padraig and Covey. “Let’s go see what Cirocco was really up to.” I was the first one through, so I got to scream first.
It was perfectly justified when faced with a semi-decapitated dwoller laying in front of the hedge.

  Padraig and Covey were right behind me.

  It was Cirocco for certain, but while he looked like he might have been lying there for a while, the partial decapitation was fairly recent, judging by the pale dwoller blood oozing out. His hands were clenched, and a piece of paper was clutched in one.

  I didn’t want to move closer, but I also needed to know what that was. I moved toward the body.

  “Let me, it might be spelled.” Padraig stepped forward. He kept one hand held over the body and reached forward with the second to free the paper. Then he dropped a spell bubble over the body.

  “There are too many spells here. I can’t be certain that this man actually cast the spell on Alric. Or if he did, it might have been something different. But somehow the spell on Alric was tied to him, so now that he’s dead, Alric should recover.”

  I pulled out my sword, looking around the empty landscape. “The killer is still here?”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Covey tilted her head, and then shook it. “Not that I can tell. His body is bringing me close to berserker, so my senses are extremely up right now. But he was lying here for a while before he was finally killed.”

  Padraig leaned closer to the body. “Someone knew of the tie Cirocco had placed between him and Alric, and they were torturing Cirocco to get the hedge down.”

  “As good a reason as any to keep it up then,” Alric said as he came through the hedge, looking no worse for his adventure into being spelled. Lorcan, Foxy, and even Amara followed.

  I did a double take at that, she hadn’t been there a moment ago. I guessed that goddesses could move fast if they needed to “What did the paper say?”

  Padraig let go of his spell over the body and tried to unfold the crumpled paper. It took a while. “He was hanging on to this with all of his might.” Finally he gave up and held it to Alric. “It says for you, and won’t open no matter how hard I try.”