“I’m happy you weren’t born a male,” Gregory said with a bemused smile crossing his face.
“Actually, you’d normally be the one to get down on one knee, but it’s an archaic, somewhat sexist tradition, come to think of it, and since we’re all about being equals…” Lillian held the box out for him.
He leaned forward and glanced inside. It was a plain gold ring, large enough to fit around one of his fingers if he was in gargoyle form. His breath stilled in his lungs. While he wasn’t that familiar with modern human customs, he knew what marriage was.
“Gregory Livingstone, my most beloved gargoyle, will you marry me?” Lillian paused, waiting for his answer.
A soft growly purr escaped him. He reached up and pulled Lillian down for a kiss. It was some minutes later before he was able to answer aloud.
“I suppose I must,” he said with a grin, fully expecting to get a rise out of his dryad. “After all, I’ve knocked you up twice now.” Then turning serious once more, he cupped her face in his hands. “I love you more than anything in all the realms. It would please me greatly to hear you call me husband.”
Lillian chuckled, and then placed the ring on his finger. “Smart boy. If you’d said no, I was going to shift to gargoyle form and beat you up.”
Even as they snuggled together, Gregory knew it was a beautiful pledge that fate might be too cruel to allow them to see fulfilled, but it didn’t lessen the moment as he fell asleep with his beloved Lillian, whole and happy, in his arms.
Tonight, he’d enjoy what peace he could find. Tomorrow, it would be back to planning a war and readying for a visit with the Lord of the Underworld. For the first time in all his lives, he did not look forward to facing his old friend. If they were even still friends. Though he hoped so for the sake of Shadowlight and Anna.
Epilogue
Anna’s low moan of pain woke Shadowlight. It was only then that he realized he’d lost awareness for a few precious seconds. He raised his head and discovered Anna was curled in a fetal position next to him. Her skin held a greyish tint to it and sweat coated her body. Every few seconds a mighty shudder would rack her smaller frame.
“Please don’t die,” he whispered to her and petted her damp mane.
She blinked up at him, her lips trying to form words.
“S…sorr…sorry,” she croaked out at last.
“Don’t talk. Save your strength.” But what he really meant was, ‘don’t finish that sentence’ because he didn’t want to hear his worst fears vocalized out loud. He tried not to think about them even in his own mind.
Glancing around, he started to look for help.
They were on a vast island, overlooking the ocean. Far below, the ocean crashed against the base of a cliff, sending sea spray high up in the air. He didn’t care about any of that.
Anna was dying and needed help.
“Lord of the Underworld, if you can hear me, please help Anna,” Shadowlight whispered the words out loud as well as in his mind.
There was no answer, but far off Shadowlight could hear hooves impacting stone. As the sound grew louder, the ground underneath him began to shake. At least he hoped it was the ground and not his body quaking in fear.
He glanced toward the center of the island.
A gigantic form, easily as tall, or taller, than the Battle Goddess, leaped over a low cliff wall and continued to thunder toward Shadowlight’s position. Size was the only thing Lord Death had in common with his twin.
He galloped over the ground swiftly, his four powerful legs carrying him over the dangerous terrain effortlessly. When he reached a ravine too wide for his horse-like lower body to safely jump, he spread his wings and sailed over it before landing with a clatter of hooves against stone.
The God of Death pulled up short when he reached Shadowlight’s side. Then he stared down at them and rested his hands on the hilts of his four massive swords. He tilted his head until his muzzle was pointed down at them.
“Never have I met two such stubborn souls.” Lord Death’s mellow voice rumbled above their heads.
Anna tried to push herself to a sitting position, but Shadowlight wrapped his arms and wings around her as if that would protect his friend from Death incarnate. Though, he didn’t think anything he did would protect her from this four-armed god of death.
“Hello, young ones. My name is Draydrak, but you may call me Dray if you prefer.”
Shadowlight glanced up. This wasn’t precisely the greeting he’d been expecting. With renewed hope, he asked, “Will you save Anna? A blood witch’s magic is trying to destroy her soul.”
Draydrak stared at them in silence for a moment then he reached down and plucked Shadowlight and Anna up in one giant hand. Adrenaline sent Shadowlight’s heart pounding, but he refused to show fear. Anna had taught him not to show weaknesses to an enemy. And while his gargoyle nature told him Lord Death wasn’t an enemy, Shadowlight still wasn’t convinced he and Anna were safe in his care, either.
“Her soul I can, and will, protect,” Draydrak said, cupping a second hand above them and summoning magic. “Saving the human’s life? That I cannot promise.”
The large hand slowly lowered, trapping Anna and Shadowlight within a cage of interwoven digits, but that was the least of Shadowlight’s worries, for the next instant the temperature dropped as a chilled power flowed over them. Seconds after that Lord Death began to sing.
The hauntingly beautiful sound surrounded Shadowlight, soothing and lulling him into a sense of peace. Slowly, his eyes drifted closed and his head grew heavy. Anna no longer moaned in pain and his fears became a distant, forgotten thing.
“Sleep well, young ones,” Draydrak sang. “You will need your rest for what is to come.”
Thank you for reading Sorceress Enraged.
Keep scrolling the Legacy of the Sorceress.
Legacy of the Sorceress
Legacy of the Sorceress
A Gargoyle and Sorceress Tale
Book 6
Lisa Blackwood
Copyright
Legacy of the Sorceress © 2018 by Lisa Smeaton
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, and characters are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in any print or electronic form without author's permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
Blurb
A roll of the dice and Fate thrusts Corporal Anna Mackenzie into a new situation.
With her soul hanging in the balance, the young gargoyle, Shadowlight, makes a deal with the Lord of the Underworld to save Anna’s life. The demigod saves her, then sends the pair to Haven, a city outside time, where they will heal.
The price?
Thirteen years. The length of time Anna will need to embrace the healing stone sleep of gargoyles. When she wakes, an adult gargoyle is waiting for her. He goes by the name Obsidian, but she’d once known him by another—Shadowlight.
Obsidian might be a stranger, but she’d promised Shadowlight she’d never leave him. Now his older self wants her to honor that promise and stay, training alongside him to become one of Lord Death’s military leaders. To honor the memory of a gargoyle cub she’d once loved like a little brother, Anna agrees to join the Lord of the Underworld’s cause.
Is she working for the good guys? Or has she traded in one Overlord for another?
Either way she’s staying. Her promises don’t come with an expiration date and the more she gets to know Obsidian, the more she sees Shadowlight in him. There’s no way she’s abandoning the kid a second time.
Chapter 1
Really, there are only three types of shit storms. First, there’s the ‘this is some bad shit, but I’ll escape with only a few new scars.’ Second, there’s the ‘Oh, Mother of God, I’
m screwed, but I’m damned well going to take down the other bastard before he kills all my buddies,’ and then as a grand finale there’s the ‘I’m fucked. You’re fucked. Everybody is fucked. We’re all going to die.’
Anna decided her present situation was somewhere between the last two. She wasn’t at all sure if the four-armed, four-legged monstrosity holding her broken body in two of his massive hands was trying to heal her or kill her.
To judge by the pain, she’d guess kill. But then again, the prolonged agony wasn’t what she’d pegged as Lord Death’s modus operandi. Wasn’t Lord Death supposed to be the ‘good’ twin? Before all this started, didn’t the Avatars consider him a friend?
Just then another wave of Death’s acid-like power flowed across her skin and she screamed, her voice as broken as her battered body felt. Time was meaningless, the only certainty was that she’d been screaming for a frigging long time.
So much for a battle-hardened soldier.
The endless onslaught of Death’s magic continued to rush across her skin and into her body. Deeper, always digging deeper. Was he trying to rip out her soul? God be merciful. Please let it end.
“Soon,” a beautiful male voice whispered into her ravaged mind. “It will be over soon. And I promise you, once this is done, you’ll see that I am a friend.”
Friend? Dafuq you say! The Avatars needed better friends.
Anna blinked as sight slowly returned. Until then, she’d been blind to everything except the endless pain. A foot or two in front of her, a beloved and familiar, if a little blurry, image formed.
Shadowlight?
A muzzle dipped low and lapped at her face, washing the stinging sweat out of her eyes.
Yes. That was the kid. Did that mean this was almost over?
She blinked a few more times.
No. Not over. Lord Death was still holding her in his two lower hands while the upper two poised above her, pouring a torrent of power upon her. Shadowlight was sitting next to her, perched on Lord Death’s thumb with his tail wrapped around the giant’s wrist.
The sight made her feel something besides pain: tiny.
She felt as insignificant as a mosquito.
Her mind continued to clear. The pain grew less intense. Still dazed, she shook her head and blinked up at Shadowlight. The power was flowing across his skin as well, but he seemed unharmed.
Anna licked her lips and forced her mouth to form words.
“You okay, kid?” The words came out more of a wheeze.
He bumped his muzzle against her cheek. “I’m fine. You’re the one who nearly died.”
“Nearly? You mean I’ll actually survive this?” Whatever the fuck ‘this’ was.
Shadowlight glanced up at Lord Death. The giant nodded but continued to focus on his work. Which, apparently, was not peeling her like an orange to get to the juicy soul within.
Who would have guessed?
“Lord Death is working to undo the damage the blood witch’s magic inflicted upon your soul,” Shadowlight explained. “He says it’s much more complicated when the soul is housed in flesh, but I begged him to save your life.”
There was something more behind the words.
Oh, God. What had the kid bargained to save her life?
“Normally the Avatars lead my armies,” Lord Death’s voice wrapped around her, warm and strangely comforting. “However, the gargoyle half of that pair has been ignoring my summons. Now I wait to see if the female half will honor our old friendship.”
I wouldn’t hold your breath if I were you, she thought to herself.
The Lord of the Underworld chuckled, then broke into a deep, quaking laugh. It shouldn’t have been a fear-inspiring event, and yet it was. The flash of deadly teeth, as long as she was fucking tall, caused her heart to pound. And that voice loud in merriment! Like thunder it boomed across the landscape and echoed back at them as she and Shadowlight rode out the god-created earthquake in this titan’s hands.
She’d hate to witness his rage.
“I, too, doubt the Avatars will return to take up their old roles again. At least not in this lifetime. I saw a surprising new path open before them the moment the female half of the soul reunited with her proper body.”
The power flowing into Anna ceased altogether. A sigh of relief escaped her before she could prevent it. Though, she doubted this reprieve would last long to judge by Lord Death’s calculating expression.
Well, if she had to guess, that’s how she’d interpret his slightly raised brow, somewhat narrowed eyes, and the slow flick of one ear.
But she’d based her guess on the fact his upper body shared similarities with a gargoyle. The rest of him, from what she could see from her current vantage point, looked more like a winged centaur or sphinx.
Lord Death tilted his head to study her with one eye. “If the Avatars will not lead my army, then I must find alternatives. And behold, the Divine Ones have delivered two powerful new beings into my keeping.”
Yeah, that’s where she thought his little speech was going. Had she and the kid traded one evil overlord for another?
“Not sure if it was your Divine Ones,” Anna said, trying and failing to make her voice sound strong.
It was likely a foolish effort since she still twitched and shook worse than an addict overdue for a hit, but, hell, she wanted to at least appear less helpless than she felt. To her great annoyance, she couldn’t get her limbs to cooperate enough to sit.
“Of course, it was.” Lord Death seemed entirely unfazed by her doubt. “The Divine Ones put two children in my path. I will see that they grow in strength and wisdom until they are one day fit to lead my army.”
“Children? For the record, I’m full grown.” Baiting a titan probably wasn’t the wisest of moves, but she needed to mount a defense.
Lord Death laughed like she’d said the most entertaining thing in the world.
Okay. Fine. She supposed to a being who was a bazillion years old, her twenty-four years was less than a blink in time. Still, she wouldn’t just roll over, especially if Shadowlight had been forced to bargain to save her life. Time to find out the price of her continued existence.
“I owe you my life and all. Thanks for that, but do we get a say in any of this?”
“You always have a choice. Even when you were still my sister’s prisoners, there was a choice.”
“Yeah, about that. It was more of a serve or die scenario. This time I’m hoping for something a little more… flexible… with a happy ending.”
“Flexible? Happy ending?” The giant grinned, flashing his teeth to full advantage again. “Some would say I deal out many joyful endings. I am the Lord of the Underworld. I bring death to the universe so there can be mercy, renewal, and rebirth.”
“Not quite what I had in mind.”
“I am aware.” His toothy grin stretched wider for a moment before his expression smoothed into something more thoughtful. “Just because I wield a fearsome power, doesn’t mean I am evil or share my sister’s ambitions.”
“Glad to hear it.”
“I also don’t believe in enslaving creatures to serve my needs. Nor do I force children into my armies. You and Shadowlight still have much learning and growing to do before you are ready to make the decision that will end with leading my army.”
Anna glanced at Shadowlight and relief washed over her. At least the Lord of the Underworld wasn’t planning to enslave the kid. This demigod seemed willing to give them a choice. Perhaps after she healed, he’d let her and Shadowlight go?
Now you’re being naïve, Anna, she thought to herself.
“I don’t enslave. I won’t force either of you to lead my army.” Lord Death’s expression took on a hint of slyness. “But Shadowlight is a gargoyle, so too are you. That makes you my responsibility. I guide and protect all young gargoyles, only releasing them into the world once they are ready, after many years of training.”
“I know I’m young compared to you—a child in your eyes,
but I am an adult and have been looking out for myself for quite some time. And I have responsibilities to my people.”
“Yes. I see that in you. The need to report back to them with what you’ve learned. A good soldier. And once you’re fully healed and recovered, I will allow you to return to the humans if that’s your wish.” Another sly look. “However, Shadowlight is much more a child than you. He will stay with me until I deem him ready. Would you willingly leave him behind when you returned to your world and the Avatars?”
Why the four-armed bastard! He already knew her answer. He’d crawled in and out of her head enough times to know she wouldn’t leave the kid.
“Never. If you don't release Shadowlight, you’re stuck with me too.” The words would have had more impact if she’d been able to cross her arms and frown at him. Hell, it would’ve had more impact if she could sit up when she made her pronouncement.
“Superb,” Death’s enchanting voice flowed over her, smooth, deep and rich, lulling her worries and soothing her soul-deep aches. “Sleep now, little hybrid. Find what renewal rest will grant you. Your long journey of healing is only beginning.”
He bent his neck, his muzzle with its deadly fangs dipping far too close, and then he exhaled. His breath, warm and sweet, almost like flowers, blew over Anna. Her mind grew slow and her lids heavy.
She only had time for one swift regretful ‘Fuck, I wasn’t finished with this conversation’ before she knew nothing more.
Chapter 2
Food. Anna dreamed of food, which, given what her dreams were usually like the last few weeks, was a departure she could embrace. The warm scent of bread—and something that smelled like oatmeal and some unidentifiable fruit reached her nose.
Her stomach growled.
Blinking open her eyes, she discovered it wasn’t a dream at all.
Shadowlight sat on a cot across from her, scarfing down a bowl of something hot and steaming. She must have made a noise because he stopped eating and looked up.
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