by S. E. Smith
Reese had provided a transport powered by one of the Thunderbird feathers. Ashure took the wheel before Nali could get to the driver’s seat. She silently chuckled at the excitement on Ashure’s face. When it came to anything of Nali’s that could move fast—be it this electric transport, one of the many airships, or her fire-breathing horses—he wanted to try it.
The vehicle had a convertible top. It hovered two feet off the ground and could easily pass over most obstacles. Asahi stored his duffle bag in the aft storage area. Nali added Pai’s smaller sack before she walked around and slid into the passenger seat. Asahi sat in the seat behind Ashure. Pai set off into the air.
“I talked to Reese while you were retrieving our belongings,” Nali said as she twisted in her seat and faced Ashure and Asahi. “He has set up extra security with multiple teams to keep an eye out for the alien. If the alien stays on the course we suspect it is traveling, we can move ahead of it and make sure the residents have ample warning to evacuate.”
“I hope they will be safe,” Ashure replied. “Ross Galloway, a human from your realm, said the alien inhabited spiders on the Isle of the Elementals. I would rather not have to deal with what it could achieve with some of the unique insects, arachnids, or reptiles on this Isle,” Ashure muttered.
Nali’s expression darkened at the looming threat to her monsters, but she quickly schooled her features and changed the subject. “Ashure and I were discussing the reason his mirror worked without triggering the alien compared to the Goddess’s Mirror,” she said.
“What was your conclusion?” Asahi asked.
“His mirror uses a magic spell, whereas mine—mine comes from the Goddess herself,” she softly replied.
“So perhaps there is a connection between the Goddess and the alien. This Goddess—has anyone ever seen her in person? Has anyone ever seen what she looks like?” he asked.
Ashure glanced uneasily at Nali before looking back at the road in front of them. Nali knew he was mulling something over, and she waited for him to speak. After a moment, he breathed a lengthy sigh.
Nali had a feeling that she knew what he was about to share. Neither he nor Tonya had fully explained what had happened when Tonya lay on the brink of death—mortally wounded by Bleu LaBluff. He had been Ashure’s right-hand man until Bleu betrayed him. Nali knew the experience had been very traumatic for her dear friend and had never pressed him for details. In the end, the how wasn’t important. What mattered the most was that Tonya had survived.
“Tonya described the Goddess who saved her. She looked—yes, she looked like the entities in the caverns,” Ashure soberly replied.
“Then it would appear,” Asahi said grimly, “that it was your Goddess that the alien consumed. If not your exact Goddess, then one of her species—and now it can access objects created with your Goddess’s power.”
Nali nodded and remained silent as they continued along the road. She stared ahead and absently caressed the silver mirror that Ashure had handed to her earlier while the men continued to talk.
Turning the mirror over, she studied the old willow tree and the fairies. Her fingers trembled when she saw something that she had missed before. Partially obscured by the hanging branches of the willow was the figure of a woman. Nestled in her arms was a swaddled baby, and behind her—a portal opening to the universe.
Tears suddenly burned Nali’s eyes. She held the mirror closer so she could see the minute details of the infant. While the face and body were obscured, there were curly locks of hair peeking out from underneath the blanket.
She touched a strand of her long, curly hair, and suddenly she felt a bone-deep knowledge, a realization that had always been waiting for her in the depths of her magic. She was the infant depicted. The images carved into the mirror—they were about her arrival.
“Are you alright?” Asahi murmured near her ear.
She looked over her shoulder at him. He tenderly caressed her neck, and she gave him a distracted smile.
“Yes, I’m thinking about what you said,” she replied.
“Pai is landing,” Ashure warned, slowing the transport.
Nali pulled her gaze away from Asahi’s and nodded. Ashure eased the transport up alongside the hippogriff.
“What is it?” she asked Pai when they stopped beside him.
“There’s a Daktyloi longhouse ahead. I don’t see any signs of life,” Pai warned.
“Scout the surrounding area, we will check the longhouse,” she instructed.
Pai nodded and stepped back from the transport. “Don’t forget to shift,” he grumbled before taking off.
Ashure shook his head. “I notice he hasn’t changed much. He still likes to order you around,” he commented with a humorous grin.
“His heart has always been in the right place,” she absently murmured.
Chapter 12
Fifteen minutes later, Ashure turned onto a short driveway off the major road and stopped the vehicle. Asahi leaned back and pulled the gryphon dagger from his sheath. The animated creature yawned, stood up, and shook, causing his golden mane to fluff out.
“What is it?” the lion growled.
Asahi kept his attention on the long, rectangular hut before them. “We aren’t sure yet,” he said.
“It helps if I know what I’m about to encounter,” the gryphon pouted.
“That would help me too, Mr. Gryphon,” Asahi replied.
He followed Nali as she exited the vehicle. Her body shimmered with a golden hue as her flesh hardened, and a sense of déjà vu struck him for a moment. She motioned with her hand for him to stay back. He paused, monitoring her progress before he glanced at the winged lion that was tapping on his hand. He realized that Mr. Gryphon was still waiting for more information about their location.
“We are in front of a Daktyloi longhouse. Pai thinks something may be wrong. What can you tell me about them?” he requested.
The gryphon scratched behind his ear. “Well, the Daktyloi are a strange bunch, even for monsters. They live together in groups of three to five. They are brilliant in areas like mathematics, metalworking, and healing magic. They are also obnoxious. They think Daktyloi are better than everyone else, and each Daktyloi thinks he or she is the best of their own kind. That’s why they live apart from everyone. No one can stand them. They can barely stand each other,” the gryphon said with a dry chuckle.
“I’ll remember that,” Asahi murmured.
Nali paused at the front door and frowned. She looked over her shoulder at him, gave him a brief nod, then turned and knocked on the door. Under her fist, the door popped from its latch and came to a halt just past the door jamb, hiding what lay beyond.
Ashure pulled a sword out from under his coat and signaled that he would take the back. Asahi nodded and followed Nali.
He drew the 9mm handgun from the holster under his jacket, released the safety with a quick flick of his thumb, and strode forward, stopping next to Nali.
“Something’s wrong,” she said. “I smell blood.”
“I’ll look inside first,” he said in a barely audible voice.
She nodded. He stood with his back against the outside wall. Reaching out, he pushed the door open with the barrel of his gun. He peered inside.
Dim light flickered through the windows, giving the interior a surreal, horror-movie appearance. Dust particles floated in the stream of light. From this angle, he could see an overturned chair and a bunch of papers scattered on the floor.
He looked over at Nali and shook his head. Her eyes darkened with concern, and she nodded her understanding. He silently stepped across the threshold, aiming his pistol with his sight line as he carefully scanned the room. He focused on the shadows in the corners, looking for movement. Nali followed him, searching the area.
The room was long and narrow with three openings—one on each end of the room and one in the middle. He moved in a crouch to the left while Nali went to the right. He tightened his grip on the gryphon dagger as he slowly
stepped into the next room.
It looked like a university library. After examining the area from left to right and back again, he felt confident that the room was empty, and he moved forward. This room also had three entrances—the one he had stepped through, one at the opposite end of the room, and an opening in the back wall.
A long table was positioned in the middle of the room. There were five chairs around it, two on each of the longer sides and one at the far end. On the table were many books stacked high in neat piles and several beautiful black metal racks filled with scrolls. Each rack had a unique decoration.
There was an ink well and a quill placed in front of each chair. Mixed in among the papers and books were a variety of mathematical tools. Three of the walls contained floor to ceiling bookcases filled with leather-bound books. An enormous window was precisely centered in the fourth wall. On each side of the window there were two large transparent display screens filled with mathematical equations that he didn’t attempt to analyze closely. He was no mathematician.
The room was immaculate except for a tipped over inkwell. Ink had dripped onto the floor. He stepped around the table and walked over to the chair positioned slightly further from the table than the rest.
A dark imprint from a small shoe stood out on the polished wood floor. The dainty footprints circled around, crossing over others before they disappeared into the next room at the opposite end.
“Maybe you should let me go ahead of you,” Mr. Gryphon suggested in a barely audible voice.
Asahi looked down, startled. He had forgotten about the animated creature. He frowned when he realized that the magical lion could be parted from the hilt of the dagger.
“I’ll follow the footsteps. Can you search the other room?” he murmured.
“I can. I wasn’t created just to look pretty,” Mr. Gryphon retorted.
Asahi shook his head at the lion. The dagger’s creator must have had one hell of a sense of humor. He waited until the winged lion had taken flight and disappeared through the side entrance before he continued following the footprints.
Asahi paused at the doorway to the next room and pressed his back against the wall. A dainty slipper lay upside down, the sole covered in ink. He bent forward and peered around the corner. Out of his peripheral vision, he glimpsed a woman’s small, bare foot in a position that indicated she was lying face down.
Automatically executing FBI procedure, he methodically scanned the area before he entered, slowly twisting in a tight circle as he backed toward the body. He skirted the edge of the couch, looking in each corner of the room, then crouched down next to the woman’s body. She was lying on her stomach with her head twisted to the side. A flash of grief seared him when he noticed the glaze of death in her eyes. There was a small pool of blood near her mouth.
He rose to his feet, holding his gun at the ready and his dagger firmly clenched. A sound behind him caused him to twist around, gun aimed. Ashure raised his hands in the air, and Asahi silently cursed, lowering his gun.
“I found two dead. One in the kitchen, the other in the bedroom,” Ashure said.
They both turned when Nali stepped into the room. “I found another body in the den,” she said, her voice tight with strain.
“I found this woman; no others,” Asahi replied.
“That makes four. There should be five. There’s a portrait on the wall of them all together,” she said.
“Mr. Gryphon hasn’t returned from the other room yet, but if he had found another body, he would be here. He is probably checking the surrounding area outside. Ashure and I will search the house,” Asahi said with a look at Ashure to see if he agreed. Ashure nodded.
“I’ll search from the air and check in with Pai to find out if he has located the one who is missing,” she replied.
He stepped back when her wings suddenly appeared. She looked up at the ceiling sixteen-feet above their heads before she shot upward. He widened his eyes, wondering how she was going to get out that way. There was a sturdy ceiling above them.
He understood a second later when a large hole magically appeared, revealing tree branches and the blue sky above. The hole closed the moment she passed through. He looked at Ashure with a confused expression.
Ashure gave him a grim smile. “Remember, my friend, you are no longer in your world. Nali is much more powerful than she appears—and I suspect more than even she is aware of,” he added.
“I see,” he distractedly replied.
“We would have heard a scuffle if Mr. Gryphon encountered anyone. He will likely meet up with us soon. We need to discover if this is the alien’s work. It rarely happens, but there has been the occasional murder among monsters,” Ashure said with distaste.
Asahi frowned. “What happens in that case?” he asked.
“Then they get the unfortunate opportunity to meet me,” Ashure commented.
Asahi drew in a long, hissing breath when their eyes connected. It was as if Ashure had removed a veil of pretense from his eyes, revealing the dark and dangerous man hidden behind his charming facade. Deep in the recesses of Ashure’s pupils, Asahi could see shadows, and it felt as if he were being drawn into an endless abyss.
“The Cauldron of Spirits,” Asahi remembered.
“And the Keeper of Lost Souls,” Ashure added. “There is a special place for magical souls who have turned bad. Magic does not die when the shell that contained it fades away.”
“What happens to the friendly souls?” he asked, looking down at the dead woman.
Ashure’s gaze followed his to the body of the woman. A sad but peaceful look came into Ashure’s eyes before he concealed it. The shadows were once again shielded from prying eyes.
Ashure looked back at him with a sardonic smile. “You’ll have to ask Nali that question. I’ve only been gifted with knowing what happens to the rotten ones,” he replied in a deceptively light tone.
Asahi silently followed Ashure when he stepped around the woman’s body. They took their time, examining each room in the house. They did not find Mr. Gryphon.
“They killed themselves and each other,” Ashure concluded as he looked at the stab wounds on one of the men. This was the second man with stab wounds, and the injuries on both of them gaped far more than they should have.
Asahi nodded. “If I had to guess, the killer entered through the front door. It took over the oldest victim in the front room while he was studying. The Daktyloi male in the bedroom saw what happened. A fight ensued, and the oldest Daktyloi was killed. The alien tried to take over the victor of that fight, but the man ended his life before the alien could use him. Next, the alien went after the woman. Given the defensive wounds on her arms and hands, she resisted, and during the struggle she died from strangulation.”
“That leaves the man in the kitchen and the one that is missing—unless the missing one is our killer,” Ashure added with a sigh.
Asahi nodded. They walked into the kitchen. The back door was wide open. The third man was lying on his side on the floor. Unlike the others, a green-tinted foam ran down the man’s cheek. His glazed eyes were bloodshot, and there was a slight odor to his skin.
“Poison,” Ashure muttered, nodding to a torn bright-blue mushroom lying in the man’s curled, stiff fingers.
Asahi squatted next to the man. He used the tip of the dagger and gently touched a black smudge on the man’s bottom lip. He jerked back when the smudge shrieked and writhed at the touch of the dagger’s point. The magic in the dagger turned it a brilliant white, which then faded. The residue left by the alien turned to ash.
“I guess we now have a definitive answer on what killed them,” Ashure murmured.
Asahi heard a faint flutter of wings, and stood up, facing the back door. He held out the dagger, hilt pointing up, for the lion to land on. Mr. Gryphon shook his body from head-to-toe and wingtip-to-wingtip before folding his wings against his body and sitting down.
“Did you find the missing man?” Asahi inquired.
Asahi looked through the doorway. Nali was landing just outside. She strode across the yard and into the kitchen.
“Did you discover anything?” Ashure asked.
She shook her head. “Nothing significant. Pai is still searching,” she replied.
“We know for certain it was the alien. There was black residue on one victim’s lip,” Asahi said with a nod toward the body.
“I found footprints leading into the woods,” Mr. Gryphon stated.
“I’ll—” Nali began before they heard their transport’s engine start up.
“By a Sea Monkey’s tit,” Ashure cursed.
Asahi was already speeding through the other rooms, heading for the front door. He pulled it open in time to see the back of the transport fishtailing as the missing Daktyloi stole their mode of transportation. Nali pushed past him, lifting off as she ran. He started after her, but Ashure reached out and gripped his arm.
“Ashure,” he growled, trying to pull his arm free.
“Something is not right, my friend. Besides, you couldn’t catch up with either of them on foot,” Ashure muttered with growing unease.
Asahi pulled his arm free and looked around. There was a strange chill in the air.
“Step back inside,” Ashure murmured.
Asahi slowly moved back into the longhouse. Ashure followed him, shutting the door and sliding the thick iron bar across to secure it. Ashure signaled him to close the window to the left while he took care of the one on the right.
“We need to secure the rest of the house,” Ashure said.
“I’ll take the front. You take care of the back. Make sure you start in the kitchen. The door was still open,” Asahi grimly agreed.
They split up. Ashure disappeared through the doorway leading to the back of the dwelling. Asahi secured the living room area before retracing his steps through the front room to the library. Upon entering the room, he hastened to the windows, closed the heavy iron shutters, and locked them.