by Leela Ash
Around them, nothing moved. There was no sign of the town’s inhabitants or any of the missing Mates.
But no Shifter, neither Wolf nor Dragon, needed a clue to find his woman. Lucas shot off like a furry rocket, tearing through the little hamlet. Out by an old stone wall, he began to dig like a frantic dog. Donnelly Shifted and charged over as well, the others in tow.
One sharp bark from Lucas, and suddenly, the ground rose into the air.
No, not the ground. A sand-covered trap door leading down into some covered pit.
From beneath it, a pretty, round-faced woman peered out. “L-lucas? Is that you?”
With a yip of pure joy, the Wolf began to lick her face.
Ash Anderson. Jordan smiled at the laughing woman. Lucas’ Mate.
When she tossed the door aside, two dozen people staggered out of that cramped hidey hole. Most were the town’s elderly inhabitants; however, a handful of Hares emerged. Finn Donnelly Shifted to his human self and scooped up one of them.
Bree, his wife. Jordan remembered reading a report on her.
But Maddie Hunter, Griffin’s Mate, was nowhere among the Witch Hares.
Which explains why Griffin’s not here either.
At the risk of enraging the Dragon, Jordan interrupted the reunion. “Ash, Bree? Where are the others? What’s going on?”
As he’d feared, Bree Donnelly pointed up at the rocks towering over the town. “A small plane crashed into the Cauldron. That’s the little pond up there. It took out the wards, the magical container, we’d built around Nemagorix’s gate.”
Not the most subtle way to destroy a spell… but effective. Sometimes, brute force was good enough.
The Witch Hare’s face was deathly pale beneath her flaming crown of hair. “A half dozen Hares from Sedona were up there when it hit. Maddie and a couple of the others ran to see if there were survivors. We were grabbing supplies, hoping to rebuild the wards, when one of the locals spotted the Fangs coming. So, we hid here, in this old root cellar.”
Confused, Jordan stared at the trap door. It wasn’t that subtle. Why hadn’t the Fangs discovered them?
Probably didn’t care about a bunch of old Navajo.
He hoped. Because the other explanation was scarier.
Maybe they wanted to threaten those Mates. It’s the only way to summon the Shifters of the Aegis here.
Reluctantly, Donnelly let his wife slip from his arms. “So, if I’m hearing you right, babe, we need to head up into that mess.”
Tears brightened her eyes, but Bree nodded. “I hate to say this, but I think the gate is shattered.”
“Yep.” Donnelly squinted up at the thunderstorm looming above their heads. “That does look like a demon lord on a rampage, doesn’t it? Think we’ve got a hell of a fight on our hands… no pun intended. You guys are on the spot now. Time to figure out what your damned Aegis does.”
Chapter 18.
To Jordan’s shame, the Dragons took charge.
Hurricane-force winds screamed down the ravine that led to the Cauldron, the dank pool at the heart of the rocks above Stillwater. The site where the veil between the worlds grew thin and Nemagorix sought to claw its way into this realm. Rather than face that pandemonium, they chose an aerial assault.
He should have been able to help with that. Instead, he had to bite his tongue and be carried in Briggs’ claws, like a helpless kitten. Lily, in the other claw, glowed with excitement. For Jordan, though, it was just more proof of how far he’d fallen.
Up they rose, skirting the storm. Once they cleared the high stones, both Dragons drove straight into the tempest.
The first gust flipped Briggs and sent him spinning through the air. Black wings flailed as he fought for control, and suddenly, Jordan found he had no appetite for brooding. Survival was the only thing that mattered now. To him, anyway. Lily cackled with mad glee, like a girl on her first rollercoaster.
To their right, Donnelly fought to conquer the wind by sheer, brute force. Briggs sought a different path. He yielded to the storm, rode it like a crow gliding through a squall. With his passengers, he spun and swirled. Seeking – and finding – the gaps in that wall of wind. The currents of air that drew them naturally inward.
Thus, he was the first to break through to the calm eye at the heart of the chaos.
One moment, Jordan was tossed about like a dish rag in a washer. Then, the air stilled, Briggs righted himself…
And the Worm looked down on their true foes.
A sea of monstrosities filled the little glen. Mangy red lions with black bat wings. Rock statues that lumbered around the pond blindly. Bent human forms, like half-melted wax effigies. Throughout them, inky blobs slithered. Darkborn, seeking mortal hosts to possess.
Above it all, rose a shimmering curtain thirty feet tall. A tear between the worlds. Through it, he caught a glimpse of the black sky and barren stones of Nemagorix’s realm.
On the other side, an army waited. Thousands more of these monsters, anxious for their chance to enter this world.
Jordan’s stomach roiled at the sight.
Why are they just milling about? We can’t stop that many creatures. They should be able to overrun us.
Crimson smears stained the rising stones, and the ground was littered with winged corpses. That explained half the problem.
Those lion-things aren’t strong enough to make it through the storm. Every one that tries to fly out of here gets smashed against the canyon walls. No surprise, I guess. Two Dragons barely made it in.
“Why the hell is Nemagorix penning up its own troops?” Jordan yelled.
In Marakeen, the old tongue of Dragons, Briggs shouted back, “This storm is not the demon’s doing. The spirits of this world seek to hold him back.”
If so, they were doing a damned fine job. Except… couldn’t the demons simply crawl down the path?
Worried, he glanced at the rift in the stones, and saw the slender thread by which the world’s fate hung.
Three Hares knelt at the edge of the trail. One, he recognized: Maddie Hunter, Griffin’s Mate. The Chimera knelt behind her, his face wracked by agony.
Jordan understood how much it hurt to watch your Mate brave dangers you could do nothing about. The exquisite pain of being unable to protect her.
A tiny line of salt closed off access to the path. Though a hurricane raged around them, not a hair on the Witches’ heads stirred as they knelt, palms on the ground. He didn’t know a lot about magic, but he knew a ward when he saw one. A magical barrier that kept otherworldly entities at bay.
This one, though, had no runes or spells to lend it power. Only the will of the Hares kept Nemagorix’s army at bay, and the strain of that battle showed. Blood trickled from Maddie’s nose, staining her shirt a bright red.
She can’t hold on much longer. We need to finish this.
Briggs and Donnelly landed behind the wards with their passengers.
“Guys, I’m sorry,” Griffin whispered, “I couldn’t−”
Jordan waved him silent. No one expected a Shifter to abandon his Mate. “Game time. We’ve got to figure out this damned Aegis, now. Any ideas?”
“Let’s start with the basics.” Lucas pulled out the little shield and held it up. “Why don’t we all put our hands on it and order Nemagorix to piss off?”
Sounded silly as hell, but he couldn’t think of anything else. One by one, Jordan, Briggs, Fairburn, and Griffin, placed a hand on the Aegis.
The Chimera was the last. “Now, whuh…”
The moment the last man’s fingers touched the shield, the world vanished. Sky darkened, wind died… and they found themselves standing in a ring of standing stones.
In Nemagorix’s realm.
Jordan was the first to speak. “All right. I’m not sure how that was helpful, but at least we managed to get the Aegis to do something.”
Slim and elegant, the rune-carved stones were the sole piece of beauty in this demented world. About a half mile away, a black t
ower rose into the air.
“That’s Nemagorix’s lair.” Griffin, the only one who’d been here before, pointed at it. “There’s a big room at the top with a bunch of magicky stuff in it.”
Not the most precise explanation the Worm had ever heard. Dammit, why couldn’t the Aegis have picked a Hare? “Any idea what it does?”
“Maddie said it looked like a magical prison, but it was broken.”
“All right. As a working hypothesis, let’s assume that the Aegis fixes it.”
Better than nothing, for they were running completely blind. At least that gave them a goal.
There was only one other problem: The rearguard of Nemagorix’s army lay between them and the tower… and their arrival hadn’t gone unnoticed. The first of those leather-winged lions turned toward them, sniffing the air.
Lucas nudged Fairburn. “Hey, remember how we got the Aegis to glow with just four of us? Since we’ve got five now, I bet this stupid thing will do a lot more than keep demons away.”
This thing offered a form of portable warding? For the first time, Jordan felt his spirit rise. “Great idea. What do we do?”
“Picture energy running from you to the Aegis,” the Wolf replied.
Why did magic always feel like playing make-believe? Feeling ridiculous, he and the other Shifters obeyed. Nothing seemed to happen.
To them. But a bright light burst from the Aegis and two of the drawings on its face twitched. The inky forms of a Bear and Wolf stretched, shimmered… and then leaped off the shield. The Wolf rocketed straight into the air and disappeared. The Bear hovered above them, creating a golden canopy of bright light that covered all five of the Shifters.
“Uh, guys?” Fairburn scowled at the Aegis. “This thing is now stuck to my hand.”
“Congratulations, Rex.” Jordan clapped him on the back. “It looks like you’ve been picked to be the porter.”
Lucas still stared at the sky above them. “Why did my Wolf take a runner?”
“No idea,” Jordan replied. “Let’s see if we can move this Bear-shell.”
Turned out, they could. The globe of light centered on the Bear. Where Fairburn went, it went, and as long as the others kept close, it covered them all. Despite the uneven ground, the group jogged toward the tower. A decent pace that made Jordan’s spirits rise.
Until they met the first enemy.
One of the bat-winged lions swooped down. When it hit the edge of the Aegis’ radiance, it careened off, screeching in pain. But Fairburn stopped too, with a soft grunt.
“I felt that,” he muttered. “It’s like I’m carrying a glass ball around us.”
Oh, hell. Did that mean…? “Is the glass cracking?”
“No. But I’m going to have a hell of a time ‘pushing’ it through that.” He pointed at the sea of hideous creatures roiling toward them.
“Well, do your best.” What other choice did they have?
Two more flying monstrosities pinged off their shield. Then, the edge of the tide arrived.
Darkborn swept across the ground, swirling along the edges of the light. Black steam hissed off them where they touched it, and yet, they still came. Hundreds of them. A river of filth seeking a crack in their defenses. Behind that, man-shaped rock piles stomped up. Their punches never dented the dome of light that protected the Shifters. Yet, the strain of defending it showed on the Bear’s face. Sweat began to trickle down Fairburn’s cheeks. His breathing slowed, and so did his pace. From a jog to a walk, and then to a crawl.
Finally, they stopped completely. Surrounded by screaming monsters. Still a quarter mile away from Nemagorix’s tower.
“Fairburn?” Jordan kept his voice calm, even though he raged inside.
“Sorry,” the Bear panted. “Can’t.”
“Dammit, try harder!” Griffin snarled.
The Worm laid a hand on his arm, though he couldn’t blame the man. The only thing holding Nemagorix back was his Mate, Maddie. She couldn’t take much more of this. If they didn’t bind the demon lord soon, she would die.
And thousands of people with her.
Yelling didn’t help, though. “Anyone got any bright ideas?”
“I can breathe fire ahead of us,” Briggs offered. “Try to clear a path.”
“Sounds like a plan. Why don’t you−”
High above, a howl echoed in the dark skies.
The Wolf from the Aegis shot down in a streak of silver, sliding nimbly through the swarm of bat-lions circling above them. As it hit the edge of their shield, it vanished, and the dome of light grew brighter.
From the heavens, a single horn answered that howl with a clear, sharp note. More joined it. Dozens… hundreds…
Then the sky split, and light spilled forth.
Hundreds of winged horses plummeted from the dusk, their white feathers gleaming. Each bore a rider armored in bright silver. Armed as well, for a rain of glittering arrows showered down around them. Every one that touched a demon, killed.
For a moment, all five Shifters gaped at this new army. “Okay,” Lucas finally said. “I think my Wolf ran to get the cavalry.”
One Pegasus swooped low overhead. The Shifters scrambled to one side and the horse touched down neatly in the space they cleared, not a feather outside of the Aegis’ protection.
Close now, Jordan could get a better view of the rider. He was a fey, delicate man with violet eyes and pale hair. Tall and thin, too beautiful to be human.
Adanai? He’d read reports on the fairy-like creatures that ruled the Other Side. He’d never seen one, though.
Well, courtesy never went wrong. “Thank you,” he told the strange warrior. “We could use your help.”
The rider ignored him. Instead, he bowed to a startled Lucas Clay. “The Call has been heard and answered. The promise made shall be fulfilled.”
“Uh… okay?” The Wolf backed to the edge of the light and glanced about at his companions.
Not that they could help him. The Adanai refused to even look at the other Shifters. “You’re up, Clay,” Jordan grumbled. “Talk to the man.”
“If you need nothing more, I shall join my brothers in the battle and−”
“No! Wait!” the Wolf yipped. “We need information.”
The rider settled back in his saddle. “Ask.”
“Who are you, what’s the Call, what’s the promise, and how do we lock up Nemagorix?”
That was one way to get it all out there. Jordan bit back a chuckle as the Adanai cocked his head in confusion. “Do you not know anything?”
“Basically… no.”
“Yet you are the Handmaiden’s son. I see her in your visage.”
“My mom died when I was born. I got nothing – except the Aegis.”
Griffin tapped his wrist, as if checking a clock. Lucas nodded and added, “We’ve got to hurry, but if you could fill us in quickly.”
“You are the son of the Queen’s Handmaiden. The Lords of the Banner promised her that if she could recover the Aegis, we would aid her – or her chosen – when she sought to chain the Enemy.”
“You’re all Adanai, right?” The warrior nodded. “So, my Wolf called you and you’re here to protect us. Cool. So, uh, how do we bind this creep?”
“Return the Aegis to the Guardians at the top of the tower.”
Lucas repeated the plan carefully. “You get these demons off our back. We walk to the tower. Hand the Aegis over to the Guardians and they do the rest. Got it.”
Simple enough. But the plan didn’t make any sense to Jordan. “Hang on. You say the Handmaiden ‘recovered’ the Aegis. From where?” The Adanai ignored him once more, and he sighed. “Lucas, could you ask him that?”
When the Wolf repeated his exact words, the rider deigned to answer. “From the Guardians, I assume.”
That was not good… “If she was right there with the Aegis, why didn’t she just hand it back to them?”
Silence. Until Lucas played ‘translator.’
“I don’t kno
w.”
Great. “Another question, if you would, Lucas. If the Aegis was with the Guardians, why wasn’t it binding Nemagorix?”
To his surprise, the rider actually had an answer to that. “The thousand years had passed. Their aid must be requested every millennium.”
“And the Handmaiden didn’t ask… because?”
“I don’t know. Perhaps she could not persuade them.”
Uneasy, Jordan glanced around their little circle. “Anyone got a clue about how to ‘persuade’ spirits?”
Briggs volunteered at once. “I am familiar with the rituals that show respect to Earth spirits. I would imagine they also please the spirits of this realm.”
“Don’t rites require things? Knives, sage, tobacco… other ceremonial items?” The Dragon nodded at him. “Where are we going to get all of that?”
“In my pouch.” Briggs patted a bag at his side.
Griffin snorted. “Do I dare ask why you carry that stuff around all the time?”
“In case I need to appease a spirit,” the Dragon said. Like that ought to be obvious to everyone.
“All right,” Jordan chuckled. “Briggs, you get a merit badge. Lucas, order your army to clear a path for us. Let’s get this show on the road.”
At the Wolf’s command, the Adanai’s mount leaped into the air. Rains of arrows quickly mowed down the enemies before them. Once more, Fairburn could push ahead.
Onward, they staggered. Running over Darkborn. Rocked on their heels whenever one of the walking stone piles collided with them. Throughout it all, Fairburn drove the group forward. Drenched in sweat and panting… but a Bear to the end. A man who protected his companions with his life, if necessary.
Finally, the tower loomed before them, a sliver of inky blackness in the eternal twilight of this place. The monsters fell back, as if even they were frightened to approach Nemagorix too closely. Ahead, an open doorway gaped like a toothless mouth. They tottered toward it…
And bounced off, repelled by some invisible barrier.
“What the hell?” Fairburn gasped, his sides heaving.
As if in answer to his question, a reedy voice whispered from the doorway. “My master has sealed the way. None may pass without his blessing.”