The Diamond Sphinx (The Lost Ancients Book 6)

by Marie Andreas

  Seeing them charge each other answered my question: while on cat-back my faeries were approximately the same height as the vhin. Riding the cats leveled the playing field.

  Although as skilled as my girls were with their war sticks, I wasn’t sure that those and the cats’ claws were comparable against the long, curved claws of the vhin.

  Then I saw them in action. Garbage charged her cat forward a head in front of the rest. She swung her war blade, and her cat hunched down a bit lower, but still kept up a good speed. With a cry that should have been able to wake my friends, Garbage jumped off of her cat, leaping up toward the charging vhin. Her blade was whirling so fast that I didn’t see it. I did see at least five vhin go down though. They flickered, and then vanished. Garbage bounced off another one, smacking it with her war blade as well, but using it to launch herself back onto her cat steed.

  The rest of the faeries and cats had hit the vhin at that point and dozens of variations of Garbage’s move could be seen. I had no idea of the rules of combat, but I knew the girls had said I couldn’t help them. But I needed at least three of them to go wake the others. Each time there had been a gloughstrike attack, the faeries had helped my friends in groups of three.

  I made my way over to the injured faery and cat group. I wasn’t going to help them; after all, they were already out of the battle. The injuries were mostly to arms, legs, and wings.

  “Girls?” I kept my voice down as I approached, mostly so I didn’t disrupt the battle. “Would it be against the rules if I took you back to camp? Gloughstrikes attacked us and all of my friends are unconscious.”

  I didn’t recognize any of the ones off to the side at first, then a familiar pink and purple faery limped over. Dingle Bottom’s left arm and leg both looked crushed. “We help.”

  I lifted her up. “Are you going to be okay?” I knew the faeries were tough, but she looked bad.

  “Yes. Sugar help?” She gave me a grin, then waved to the others. “Later. You give.”

  Since most of the cats off to the side were hurt too—not as bad as the faeries, which was good since they weren’t as indestructible—I carried fifteen faeries with me as I walked back. Their cats trailed along behind us.

  I had run out to them, but with my cargo I couldn’t do that now so it was slower going back. We’d walked for a few minutes when the manticore shot out a stabbing pain and I almost stumbled. There were no threats that I could see, but a weird glow was coming from the roots of a tree a ways back from the path.

  I kept going. I could come back, but right now I needed to wake my friends up.

  The manticore inside my cheek had a different opinion and this time I did drop to one knee. This wasn’t good: along with protecting me, the damn thing could stop me completely.

  “Better follow.” Dingle Bottom patted my cheek where the manticore was hidden. “Cranky.”

  I got back to my feet. An Ancient defensive relic having a cranky fit, sort of explained my life. “Hang on girls, let’s see what’s going on.” I could walk toward the tree, but as soon as I tried to step away from it, my legs gave out. I hoped that Bunky and Irving were staying with our people—there was a good chance I wasn’t going back to camp for a bit.

  I walked quickly to the tree with the manticore sending cold stabs in time with my steps. It didn’t feel like it was trying to defend me, it felt like it was trying to come out of me.

  The glow within the tree roots increased as we got closer, but I had no idea what to do about it. I sat down the collection of damaged faeries, grabbed one of the roots, and tugged. “Help me pull.” Dingle Bottom didn’t move forward, but five of the less damaged faeries started pulling the roots.

  The faeries and I were all focusing on the tree; it kept replacing each root we pulled away with two more, so not hearing the scrambling behind us wasn’t shocking.

  “Is bad,” Dingle Bottom had stayed behind us, so I thought she was commenting on the roots. “Very bad.”

  I let go of the root I was holding and turned. We were surrounded by the stone blocks. They had made a circle behind us and around the tree, but they weren’t moving closer.

  “Girls? Can you glow even though you’re hurt?” Even after fifteen years I didn’t understand faery metabolism.

  “Try.” Dingle Bottom held her breath and a faint glow came from her. One of the others, a deep purple faery, moved toward the blocks as she held her breath, but like Dingle Bottom, she wasn’t bright enough. Apparently faeries need to be in good health to glow.

  The manticore in my face didn’t care about the stones sneaking up on us; it wanted what was in the tree. Another stabbing movement on its part pulled me off my feet.

  The blocks shuffled closer.

  “How does one outsmart blocks?” I stayed on the ground; it was easier right now and brought me closer to whatever the manticore was trying to drag me to.

  “Hammer. No like.” Dingle Bottom nodded as if that solved everything.

  “That’s a good idea, but I don’t have one.” I wasn’t going to mention that I also wasn’t sure if striking one of the blocks would turn me crispy. Another few shuffles on their end, and I’d have to find out.

  “Is that. Bam bam.” The dark purple faery and Dingle Bottom both pointed to my cheek where the manticore relic was trying to freeze my face. “Tell it bam bam.”

  The stone blocks shuffled forward again.

  I had no idea what it would do, but we were out of options. I focused on the manticore, and then forming a hammer of ice. Nothing. Then I threw in allowing it to get whatever it was after from the tree.

  Ice leapt from my face into my hand. Not a hammer so much as a wickedly pointed heavy stick of ice. It covered my arm up to my shoulder.

  One more shuffle forward from the blocks.

  I jumped to my feet and brought the ice pick down on the nearest block. The shock of hitting it knocked me back into the tree, but I didn’t burst into flame.

  The stone block shattered as the ice cracked it open. In a few seconds there was nothing but pebbles.

  The rest of the blocks moved away quickly, and my ice pick vanished.

  I shook out my hand and arm to get some feeling back. Pretty much I had icy tingles everywhere the manticore had reached—but I was still alive, and so were the faeries.

  The glow in the tree was stronger now, and so was the pull from the manticore. Another coating of ice enveloped my hand as I reached for one of the roots. The tree wasn’t fond of the ice either and the roots pulled back.

  The glow was almost unbearable once the roots fled, but when my eyes adjusted I could see that the tree had been hiding a large diamond head. I was shaking as I dragged it forward. It was massive, far too heavy for one person to carry. And it was a sphinx, not a head.

  Crap. I’d found the diamond sphinx. Or rather, it had found the manticore and therefore me. They’d said the sphinx could call the other relics; well, it worked on the one I had for sure. There was no way I could lift it, let alone carry it back with the injured faeries. I was debating just covering it up and coming back with the others when two of the faeries who had been helping pull the roots stepped forward, tapped the sphinx, and then shoved it into one of their tiny bags.

  Then they ran up my legs, handed me the bag, and nodded to Dingle Bottom.

  “Is good. Go now.” Garbage’s imperiousness and command was rubbing off on all of the faeries, but I had to say that I agreed.

  Bunky and Irving were in the clearing when we got back, but there were more gloughstrike bodies lying around.

  “Are there more out there?” I wasn’t sure what the connection was between the vhin and the gloughstrikes, but I didn’t think taking out the latter would cause a problem for the battle taking place.

  Both constructs nodded and I waved them on. “Go get them.”

  The faeries were already climbing off of me—well, the ones that could climb. The rest I gently set down. In groups of three, they ran to Alric first, then to the others. On
e by one my friends came to. Groggy and annoyed, but alive.

  “What happened?” Alric rubbed his head. “Aside from us being attacked by those damn gloughstrikes again.”

  “That’s it. I woke up, you guys were out, the faeries had gone into battle, and the constructs were eating gloughstrikes.” As I spoke, a loud cheer came from the direction of the faery battlefield. The injured ones joined in as well. “I think they just won.”

  “I have to say that was an experience I would have been fine without experiencing. Every nerve feels on fire.” Lorcan shook his robes and patted down his hair.

  I held up the tiny faery bag. “And we found this.”

  “They finally gave you a faery bag?” Covey asked.

  “No—well, yes, but it’s what we found that’s now in the bag.” I was going to tell them what happened but looked around for a flat place to open the bag first. I’d been bracing myself for the massive sphinx I saw before, but when I pulled it out of the bag, it had shrunk to a size matching the other relics. I held it up for the others. “It was bigger when we first found it. My manticore buddy triggered this guy to reach out.” I shuddered at how close we’d become to being ash. “We had an issue with some of the stone blocks, but we got this thing out.” I stepped back after handing it to Lorcan as the others swarmed around. “Can we leave now? Please?”

  They looked at the relic, but I noticed no one else tried to hold it. “I’d say yes. Let’s gather our missing friends and depart.” Lorcan tucked the sphinx back into its bag, and was about to add it to his growing collection of tiny faery bags, but held it out to me instead. “You found it; you should carry it for now.”

  Mathilda was working on the injured faeries and was creating slings to carry the injured cats on our horses. The faeries came back whooping and yelling. And eventually so did two slowly moving constructs. I had a feeling those gloughstrikes were hard to digest. Assuming that constructs digested anything.

  “Were you hurt by the gloughstrikes?” I ran over to where they had landed. Garbage and Leaf ran over as well. A few gronks from both and the faeries started laughing.

  “They too full. Ate too many noms.” Garbage and Leaf patted them both and then ran back to their cats.

  “Can you fly?” When both gronked and bobbed, I motioned toward Alric. “Stay up front near him. If you get too tired, land on us, okay?” That answered the digestion issue. I’d never seen either of them eat anything—beyond Irving and his relic obsession.

  Getting through the woods and the plains to get out was even quicker than coming in. Alric kept checking the scrolls and making slight changes in direction, but it all looked the same to me. But there wasn’t a pair of trees on this side to show where the passage was.

  Lorcan knew where to go, however. He didn’t take the scroll back from Alric, but started repeating the spell. Unlike going in, he didn’t need the other elves to add their spell casting. I was going to ask, since we weren’t supposed to use magic inside here, how he was able to cast a spell. Then thought better of it. I just wanted out of this place.

  Again the thin line appeared, but this time it hovered in mid-air. Alric went through with Bunky and Irving, the rest of us following. Even the horses didn’t have a problem entering it, although it looked the same as the one coming in had to me. I kept the faeries and cats behind me.

  The passage wasn’t as cold as before, but it was still unnerving. I was surprised to come out of it to see my friends standing perfectly still with their hands up, when I came out. Then I saw the mayor of Kenithworth and about fifty of his syclarion and human thugs, including Largen and Cirocco. Or rather, including whoever was pretending to be them.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  There were at least five archers that I could see, two with crossbows and three with long bows. The faeries, still riding their cats, came through at that moment.

  “Fly away!” I yelled at them, then held up my hands, as the closest archer looked ready to fire.

  The faeries leapt off their cats and flew right for the mayor’s forces. A few arrows were let loose but they weren’t aimed and didn’t come close to hitting anything. The cats kept running and tangled themselves in the legs of horses and fighters on the other side.

  I had wanted the faeries to fly away, not charge the enemy. They were too cocky after their victory over the vhin.

  But their chaos worked. Because they’d come through the portal at cat level and behind us, no one had noticed the faeries or cats until they charged. Their distraction was enough for Alric, Padraig, and Covey to leap off their horses and engage the enemy.

  The attack brought forward the phony Largen and Cirocco. We were right; they were serious magic users. I felt their spells building and saw their images flicker. The mayor was yelling at the rest of his people to fight back, not even noticing the two changing shapes.

  Mathilda and Lorcan had stayed on their horses but were trying to send spells to attack the two mages on the other side. If the fact we’d seen the bodies hadn’t been enough to let us know these weren’t the real crime lords, the ease with which they threw up a shield to block Lorcan and Mathilda’s spells would have done it. The real Largen and Cirocco didn’t have that kind of power.

  They flickered one more time and there was no question as to who they were. Granted, I’d never seen Edana outside of a smoky shape in the corner of my house, but I recognized Nivinal. Although he was shifting between elven, syclarion, and dwoller, I knew it was him. I also knew in my gut that syclarion was the right form for him. That meant the vicious looking syclarion woman flashing next to him had to be his mother, Edana.

  They were slowly pushing their way to us and I saw her reach into her cloak. Their spells grew stronger. Damn it, she might have been able to bring back her son from the dead, but she still had that chimera and was drawing strength from it, even though it wasn’t inside of her.

  I reached in and pulled the tiny faery bag out of my pocket. I didn’t know if I had to touch the sphinx to make it work, but I clutched the bag and told it and the manticore that we needed that chimera.

  A burst of light came from both the bag and my face, and the chimera flew into the air, but Edana grabbed it again. Before I could try once more, Bunky and Irving dove down. Bunky sent a heavy electrical charge at Edana, cutting through her shield. The chimera flew in the air again, and Irving ate it. Then he spun to me and opened his mouth.

  “Swallow it!” It was good of him to check but the middle of a fight wasn’t the best place.

  He swallowed, and he and Bunky flew high over the trees. Edana dropped her shield and sent a spell arrow right toward me. I dodged but it was aiming for the tiny bag in my hand, not me. I felt something in my hand change, and then I was holding an empty bag. She’d gotten the sphinx without even opening the bag.

  “We leave,” Edana yelled and turned her horse around.

  The mayor watched in shock. He obviously had no clue who they really were, and his great heist was falling apart. “This is my job, who do you think you are?” His voice rose at the end as the reins of his horse started to strangle him. From the movements of Edana’s hand, she was behind it.

  “I am the one who might let you live. I have what I came for; I will get back the rest soon enough. And if you weren’t such an idiot, you’d hear armored knights riding our way.” She bowed to Padraig and Alric. “Most likely elven ones.”

  The rest of the surviving thugs turned and followed her. The mayor rubbed his neck, but as the sound of the approaching knights grew, he took off as well.

  “They got the sphinx!” I couldn’t believe that I’d had it, then lost it.

  “But you got the chimera, right?” Mathilda nodded. “I saw Irving. We can protect the rest of the relics with the chest.”

  The sound of armored knights on horseback was unique, distinctive, and extremely loud. Flarinen rode into sight first, followed by Kelm. I wasn’t surprised about them, but Harlan, Orenda, Siabiane, Nasif, and Dueble were a surprise.
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  “Well met, Master Lorcan.” Flarinen gave a stiff bow, but didn’t even acknowledge the rest of us. “We have come to escort you, Alric, and Padraig back to the enclave.”

  “And Orenda and I are joining the rest of you,” Harlan wasn’t a great rider, but he managed to nudge his horse around Flarinen. Orenda and Siabiane followed, with Siabiane jumping off her horse and running to her sister.

  Mathilda jumped off her horse as well and the two had a silent reunion. Well, silent to others, it was clear they were talking to each other.

  “Why would we come back right now?” Alric shook his head. “We’re trying to take care of this. That’s what we’re out here for.”

  “No, you’re out here to gather the relics and bring them back. You have them; bring them back to your king.”

  Lorcan looked at the knights. “The king and queen have given me release to resolve this my way. And this is my way. There’s no reason to go back and certainly not to take the relics we have back. They have to be destroyed.”

  “My kingdom disagreed and gave evidence to your king,” Orenda said with a tone of disgust most likely aimed at her absent brother. “They now want to examine them further. My people will be coming down along with three other enclaves.”

  “That won’t work.” Mathilda shook her head. “They have to be destroyed. Lorcan and I have come up with a plan to gather them, destroy them, and make certain enough people know they are destroyed to leave no doubt. We need a battle. Not a time for study.”

  “We might be able to use some of the relics, not the weapon, but some of the individual pieces.” Flarinen didn’t sound certain. He was repeating what his superiors had said.

  “No. This has to end. I came along to see my sister, but I had no idea this was the plan of the king and queen.” Siabiane was clearly furious.