The earth turned.
Day gave way to night.
Turning, always slowly turning, night once again surrendered to day.
Hamadryad thought about sleeping and keeping her dryad, too. The cold season was coming and surely her dryad would much prefer to wake again when the warm rains returned.
“No,” her gargoyle mate scolded her, though his emotions were more amused than alarmed. “Return my dryad mate to me. She and I have much to do before this realm is safe.”
He was an old and wise one.
Very well, Hamadryad agreed.
She pulled back her enfolding bark and allowed cold air to wake her dryad. Once her dryad began to stir, Hamadryad turned her attention back to their child, singing to her so that she would not miss the sound of her mother’s heartbeat. She crooned of love and magic and the slow turning of the seasons.
∞∞∞
Lillian gasped as she came awake. Like the first time she emerged from the hamadryad, gravity threatened to drag her uncoordinated body from the tree before she was ready.
Unlike last time, Gregory was there, lifting her into his arms.
Though this time he wasn’t the focus of her attention, not entirely. A hand came to rest against her now flat belly. She’d known the child would be gone when she awoke, but it wasn’t anything like she’d expected. There was no sense of abandonment. She was still with her child. Her child was still with her.
She didn’t know what was different this time, but she’d never felt the connection with her hamadryad as strongly as she did now. It must be because of the child. All she had to do was close her eyes and reach for the hamadryad and she could feel her baby sleeping deep and safe within.
“It’s done,” she told Gregory.
“I know. You did well.”
“Now we need to go find Shadowlight and Anna.”
“Yes,” Gregory agreed, and he started to lick the sticky, sweet sap from her skin.
Lillian batted his muzzle away. “Hmm. Maybe a shower first before we go save the world.”
Chapter 30
Gregory stood off to one side of the clearing and summoned power from both Magic and Spirit Realms. Daryna took what he provided and wove it into an intricate, knotted tapestry that, once finished, would form a portal to their destination.
While the spell that had carried Anna to the Magic Realm was similar, this one’s power requirements were greater. They were transporting a much larger group, but this one also needed to remain open. Once they found and freed Anna and Shadowlight, they’d need a swift exit.
During the two hours they’d worked on the spell, Lillian was never further from him than an outstretched wing. Her concern for him, while not warranted, still warmed his heart. Which was about the only thing on or in his body that was warm.
A fine coating of frost now covered his body as power continued to roll off him in waves. Even though Lillian couldn’t manipulate the magic that went into a higher level spell like this one, her body had been created to house the soul of the Mother’s Sorceress and could withstand the river of power rushing from him. That same power would vaporize an ordinary mortal.
Significantly further away, Major Resnick waited with his two teams. Even further back, the rest of the human herd, which seemed to follow him wherever he went, waited and watched and measured and recorded. Gregory huffed in annoyance. Why did he allow these gnats to hover around him again?
Oh yes, because he’d agreed to an alliance and these scientists were part of the deal.
“Gregory, pleasant thoughts,” Lillian said with a touch of humor. “Even I can see that stray bit of magic snaking its way toward the good doctors.”
He huffed in acknowledgment and gathered the stray power back in line.
“Thank you, Gregory,” Daryna said, dragging his attention to the spell work. “That will be sufficient for now.”
She was correct. The spell was almost complete. Certainly, further along than he’d realized. It was foolish to allow himself to become distracted by the presence of a few human scientists.
As he swallowed back the flow of unneeded power, he watched Daryna put the final touches on the transparent walls of shimmering energy. This portal spell looked more like a maze or a labyrinth than the usual smaller, flat disc.
The level of control and strength it took to form such a spell here in the Mortal Realm impressed even him. “Your spell work is magnificent.”
Daryna a laughed. “It better be. Our lives may count on this spell for a swift return if things go ill once we’re in the Magic Realm.”
Nodding agreement, he stepped into the powerful circle and gestured Lillian forward. Once the three of them wove their way to the center of the spell, Gregory called out to Resnick.
The human had proven brave in the past and he showed his inner strength again by walking into the spell without hesitation. Daryna indicated where Resnick should stand, and he swiftly followed orders. The rest of the two teams were just as efficient.
Though perhaps he shouldn’t be surprised. The humans had been briefed at length on what to expect.
Once everyone was in place, Daryna nodded and Gregory gave the warning. “Brace yourselves. Breaching the Veil between the Realms is never pleasant.”
“We’re ready,” Resnick said.
Daryna needed no other prompting. The translucent walls of the labyrinth-like spell solidified, snapping around each of the travelers to hold them in place. The network of lines and the interconnecting knots holding it all together glowed brighter, taking on the brilliance of a miniature sun at circle’s center.
With a stomach-jolting tug, the spell activated, sending them hurtling towards the Magic Realm. A great pressure compressed his lungs, stealing his breath. It only lasted seconds as he knew it would, and then the weight shifted. Powerful currents of power drove him forward. The rushing continued and suddenly it was like he’d been tossed off a cliff to freefall through space.
Beside him, Lillian let out a whoop of surprise and she wasn’t the only one. Major Resnick was laughing as if this was the most fun he’d had in years. The human truly liked this? There was something seriously wrong with the man.
Slowly, the pressure and madly rushing power slowed. The world righted itself. Gregory looked up at the surrounding mountains where no mountains had been before.
“Welcome to the Magic Realm,” he told Resnick and his teams while he waited for his stomach to sort itself out of the knot it had put itself in.
Now the truly difficult part would begin.
Major Resnick and his men fanned out, searching for unseen dangers. Gregory sent his magic hunting for the same thing.
After several minutes, Resnick and Gregory both concluded their arrival hadn’t been noticed.
“We’re lucky,” Resnick noted.
“Luck has nothing to do with it,” Daryna a said. “The spell was designed so no one would sense our arrival by magical means and I dumped us far enough away from the city that we wouldn’t be seen by random patrols either.”
“Two suns,” Resnick muttered with a shake of his head. “You told me, and I didn’t believe you…. but two suns! That’s going to take some getting used to.”
Daryna glanced at Lillian. “Welcome home.”
“I hope we don’t stay long. I don’t fancy becoming a slave,” Lillian shot back.
“Nor I,” Gregory agreed and then glanced upslope to the mountains high above. Long shadows were already reaching down from the slopes to cover the valley floor in shadow. In another hour it would be dark.
They’d planned their arrival to correspond with the setting of the first sun. Once the second sun vanished behind the horizon, they’d begin their travel, and if all went according to plan, they’d arrive at the fortress-city just before dawn when many of its protectors would be sleeping or have their senses dulled by the day.
Once the second sun made its descent, Gregory nodded to Resnick and the major gave the order to move out. Several
team members fanned out around the still glowing portal spell—they would remain behind to guard it—while the rest of the humans moved away into the trees. Silent and swift, Gregory, Daryna, and Lillian kept pace.
All in all, Gregory admitted a little grudgingly that the humans were handling their foray into the Magic Realm well. Perhaps he’d have to rethink his opinion of humans. At least these humans.
Once they were away from the dampening spells built into the portal, Gregory’s magic picked up the essence of two gargoyles to the north and west, deep in the Battle Goddess’s domain. Not that he’d doubted Daryna’s message from Gryton, but this just confirmed that Anna and Shadowlight were very much alive.
Alive, but changed. The two were much more powerful than they’d been last he’d felt their essence back in the Mortal Realm. It was not unexpected, but it was still shocking.
Lillian was looking off to the north and west as well. “That’s them I feel, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” he said quietly.
“Gods, Gregory. They feel so much stronger, so different.”
“Yes, but it doesn’t matter. We will fix whatever the Battle Goddess has done to them. Now we just have to get them out of there without getting a lot of our friends here killed.”
Lillian nodded in agreement.
If all went well, by this time tomorrow, they should be home with Anna and Shadowlight.
Chapter 31
Captain Sorac didn’t believe in fear, weakness, or hesitation as Anna’s first flight lessons highlighted. It were very much learn or die. Maybe not die, she admitted as she sat squeezed between Shadowlight and Captain Sorac on the bench and ate her dinner. If she died, it would have enraged the Lady of Battles, but even so, Captain Sorac wasn’t above shoving her off a cliff when she took too long reading the wind currents.
After her first couple ugly flight lessons, it did become easier. As Shadowlight promised, her wings, tail and horns began to feel like a part of her. Now, in the fifth week of her unwilling stay, Anna could shift to her gargoyle form and back to human the same day without falling into a dead sleep for hours afterward.
Shadowlight was also growing more powerful, both physically and magically. Worse, Commander Gryton no longer needed to chain him down when they were taken before the Battle Goddess for her special sessions.
He wasn’t the only one growing complacent. If Anna was honest with herself, she’d grown to like Vaspara and Sorac. Captain Vaspara had been teaching Anna and Shadowlight how to protect themselves from mental attacks by building impenetrable shields around their minds. It had been working, not even Gryton was able to sneak in and look around without her knowing.
As promised, Sorac was turning them into, if not masters, then at least proficient students of the sword.
Both mentors were fair, never unduly harsh—even if one was a succubus and the other a dragon. Well, actually, Sorac was something called a firedrake. Though, a fire-breathing, flying lizard was still a dragon in Anna’s books.
Oh, on a fundamental level, Anna knew Vaspara and Sorac were the enemy. She hadn’t forgotten that. Just compared to the blood witch, it was hard to get worked up about them.
Besides, she had bigger problems. One of them visited her dreams nightly now, able to slide right past her new powerful mental shields like they weren’t there.
Lord Death was a persistent sort. In the dream, the bodiless voice asked the same questions every night.
Did she wish to be a slave?
Or did she wish to be free?
The answers were no-brainers on the surface. Of course, she didn’t want to be a slave and, yes, she wanted to be free. And with each passing dream, she was even more certain Death’s version of ‘free’ was more along the lines of ‘free the soul from the body’ than freed from slavery.
Yep. Nope. No thanks.
So, each night she ignored the darkly seductive voice and each day she did what she needed to keep herself and Shadowlight alive. Though, not once had she stopped seeking a way free of this mess.
Every time she thought of escape, her mind circled back to that night over three weeks ago when Shadowlight had attacked Gryton, completely overwhelming his collar’s control for a short time.
While that entire episode had been a test concocted by Gryton to see if Shadowlight had leveled up in power, Anna was more interested in how the kid had overcome the collar and how soon he could do it again.
Each day, when the city slept while the sun was high in the sky, Shadowlight practiced calling his shadow magic without permission. At first, when Gryton had fitted him with his second collar, he hadn’t been able to accomplish much, but the stronger Shadowlight grew, the more he could resist and overcome even this new, stronger control collar’s influence.
They weren’t ready to make their escape just yet, but Anna was working on a plan. Each day they saved back foods that wouldn’t spoil and hid it in the base of their wardrobes. Soon they’d have enough supplies for the journey.
When they finally were ready to make their escape, they’d need to include the human family. After three weeks, Anna was sure the humans were trustworthy and wouldn’t willingly betray hers and Shadowlight’s escape plan, but that didn’t mean one of the captains wouldn’t be able to read their minds, so Anna was keeping them in the dark for now.
Once they were ready to make their escape, they’d inform the family and then flee with them. But that was at least a few days off. So, in the meantime, Shadowlight practiced his magic in the daytime and Anna embraced her flight lessons.
Staring down at her food, Anna continued to eat. It was another of the thick stews. Someone really needed to teach Cook a few new recipes.
As usual, Gryton sat to Shadowlight’s right. She still trusted Gryton only a touch more than she did the others, but so far, he’d earned her grudging trust since he’d never laid a hand on the kid in anger. Not even during the test when Shadowlight had tried to toss Tin Man’s ass through a wall.
“Vaspara, I’m not part of your meal,” Gryton said in a low voice, one not intended to carry beyond the high table. Though Anna’s gargoyle hearing had no trouble picking out the words even over the steady hum of conversation.
Vaspara sat up straighter and cursed softly.
“You may have the evening off to attend to your needs,” Gryton said between bites of food.
She apologized and quickly excused herself.
“Do I want to know what that was all about?” Anna asked. She didn’t want to seem too eager, but anything that changed routine was worthy of note.
“Vaspara has been spending much of her time tutoring or guarding you and the young gargoyle.” Gryton leaned forward so he could see her past Shadowlight’s larger mass. “It has suppressed her need to feed, dulling her hunger so to speak. But her succubus nature still needs to be fed, or she risks having her nature overwhelm her at inopportune times and attempt to drain power from another.”
Ah. Vaspara had tried to feed on Gryton and he’d gotten his knickers in a knot. As long as no one was preying on the kid, she didn’t care who ate whom.
Anna dismissed Gryton with a grunt and returned to her own meal.
“I’ll assign another to guard you tonight since the Lady of Battles requires me to report on your progress.”
Anna pretended she was more interested in her food than what Gryton had to say. It wasn’t the first time she and Shadowlight had been babysat by one of the non-mentor captains. In truth, Gryton, Sorac, and Vaspara were more focused and alert.
Oh, sometimes Sorac pretended sleepy boredom, but he missed nothing. Anna would bet her favorite dagger the blood witch was another who missed no detail. Thankfully, Gryton never left them alone with her.
Of her usual babysitters, Ninara and her twin brother, Honnan, were the most likely to let their guards down. A reaction Anna and Shadowlight had been cultivating by never giving their babysitters reasons to remain on guard.
Being willing and biddable went a long way to ga
ining trust.
Unfortunately, there were some new players Anna hadn’t interacted with enough yet to get a good read on their personalities. Three more captains had returned from whatever they were doing in the valley east of the fortress city.
Captains Rynar, Korsha and Bardorac were still completely unknown commodities. She hadn’t even figured out what species they were since she and Shadowlight hadn’t been in sniffing distance of the newly returned captains yet.
Anna weighed the odds. It was more likely Gryton would assign them one of their usual babysitters. Besides, the newcomers likely had a lot of tasks that needed their attention.
Anna continued to chew her food with outward bored indifference, but inside she was smiling. Looks like it was going to be another practice night.
“Honnan,” Gryton called down the table. “You will escort Anna and Shadowlight back to their chambers after last meal concludes.”
Bingo.
“As you wish, Commander.” The incubus didn’t sound thrilled, but he was obedient and always did as he was told without complaint.
“And Honnan,” Gryton added, a hint of fire lacing his words. “If you attempt anything foolish and Anna is forced to hurt you, she won’t be punished, but you will. Understood?”
Honnan grunted an affirmative.
Anna wasn’t concerned with him, though. He’d never tried anything before and now that she could assume full gargoyle form it tended to dissuade would-be admirers. Well, all except Gryton. His gaze still hinted that he’d like to explore a physical relationship with her, but he hadn’t pushed, and she still hadn’t seen a way to use his desire against him, so she just ignored him. Though, Anna hoped she and the kid got away before Romeo got impatient.
Gryton pushed back his seat and stood, pausing only long enough to transfer command of Shadowlight’s control collar to Honnan before he marched from the hall.
Honnan took Gryton’s seat and broke into an extracurricular history lesson.
Anna sighed. Who would have thought a sex demon would be so interested in dry old history, but he was, and Shadowlight was like a sponge, sucking up every bit of information because it might be useful one day.
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