by Jamie Hawke
“Sorry,” I said. “It’s just, I’ve never seen—”
“A pair of perfect breasts?” She eyed Pucky’s now, considering. “Seems unlikely.”
“A mermaid,” I replied.
“He’s new?”
“He is.” Pucky took my hand in hers, noting that the other boat was coming to a stop slightly behind ours. I was relieved for the help, as this conversation was proving to be very awkward.
As soon as she saw Elisa, Nivian floated away, hands out and wards coming up. “Tore didn’t tell me you had a dark one amongst your ranks.”
Elisa put a hand on Sharon’s shoulder, standing but almost losing her balance. “She’s with us now. No longer with them.”
“Yet her shadow still lingers,” Nivian said, and then turned to me with a hint of scorn. “And now that I realize what it is, I sense it on you, too.”
“Who’s this, the Little fucking Mermaid?” Sharon shot back, clearly agitated.
“No—” I started, but Nivian shut me off, swimming over to their boat and rising just enough that she looked about to strike Sharon—and enough so that her breasts were now fully exposed, I might add, along with the section at her waist where her skin became glimmering fish scales.
“For a time I was, yes,” Nivian said. “And I’d thank you not to bring up that painful memory. Tell me you were involved so I can gut you here and now.”
“Involved?” I whispered to Pucky, very confused by what was happening.
“Nivian’s story as the Little Mermaid happened long after Arthur went dark… she fell for Prince Eric, but the Legends got to him after they wed and… destroyed him.”
I gulped, seeing how this could be a problem.
To my relief, Sharon shook her head and said, “As a matter of fact, I wasn’t even born at that time.”
“Not an original?” Nivian said this with almost as much distaste as when addressing her as an enemy, making me like this mermaid that much less.
“There’s nothing wrong with that,” I said, coming to Sharon’s defense. “In fact, in this case I see it as a positive and so should you.”
Nivian pursed her lips, lowering herself back into the waters, frowning but seeming to at least concede to my point.
“We’re not here to fight,” Elisa said.
“No?” I said, suddenly realizing something. “But if we’re looking for her, and she’s… with Arthur? Wouldn’t that make her our enemy?” All eyes went to me. “Well… no?”
“Arthur…” Nivian said, starting to back up, glaring. “Arthur’s in a complicated situation. The point is that he’s returned to me, and from there I will figure it out. I came here today as a favor to Tore, but really to warn you—back off. Leave Arthur alone, or you answer to me and mine.”
“Only problem with that,” Pucky said, “he’s our only link to finding Morganna.”
The mention of the name sent hatred into Nivian’s eyes, and she glanced around, then leaned in. “Hear me now—never say her name around me. Arthur is in my care. He will not be part of this fight!”
“There’s no other way.”
“I came here to tell you to leave us be,” Nivian said, seething, eyes taking on a darker tone, narrowing, teeth growing sharp. “I came to tell you to get far away from us, to never return—but if you won’t listen to reason… You’ve forced my hand.”
A sky that moments ago had been the perfect tourism blue with not a cloud in sight, suddenly transformed to one of swirling black clouds. Nivian dove, waters swirling with her as she moved, so that the surface rocked and sent us back and away.
From the shore came a burst of purple as Sekhmet and Bastet tried to get our attention, but we had enough going on here.
“For one so against the shadows, this feels pretty fucking dark!” Sharon shouted, eyes flaring red as she worked to fight whatever was going on.
“If she’s harboring Arthur…” Elisa started, but cracking thunder cut off her last words.
“She’s using the lake as a portal,” Pucky shouted from my side, “similar to how witches make portals, but this is different. She’s doing it as a Tempest would, and I can sense it on the spirit realm.” Pucky took my hand, eyes wide with excitement. “Get to her, grab hold. If you can access your new powers, like we did when making love, we might be able to keep the link open, to follow her.”
“How exactly?” I asked, standing and watching as a burst of light swirled below.
“Swim!” Pucky said, and in one quick motion she pulled Excalibur from my side and shoved me into the water.
“No!” Sekhmet’s cry carried over faintly from the shore where she stood, but I’d have to find out why later.
I didn’t have a choice in this, apparently. I reached out for Nivian as I held my breath, focusing my Fae connection on trying to reach her, to latch onto her. There was no reason to know if it would work or to expect it to, but she was there, cursing me and lashing out with her tail, flying at me with claws at the ready.
My arms sliced through the water and, to my surprise I was thrown out of the way. Right, Tempest! I’d forgotten that my chosen class now had to do with elements, with water being a major part of that. Her eyes went wide with surprise, but that didn’t stop her assault. In fact, she smiled, clasping her hands together. The light from below shot up, water swirling around it and coming for me.
Again I threw myself sideways, barely dodging it, but realized what she was doing as the light took one of the boats above—she wasn’t going to use this portal or whatever it was she was creating to escape, but to send us away!
To my horror, the boat with Elisa, Red, and Sharon came swirling down with the light. They were scrambling in confusion, trying to reach for me. I threw myself at them this time, but it was no use. Swirling, roaring light shot out long tendrils of luminosity that reminded me of a massive octopus grabbing hold of them… and they were gone.
I screamed, forgetting my need for air, and charged Nivian. If my attack had been against anyone else, it might have worked. But not her—this was her domain. Her tail came up to slam into my back as she changed direction and then came across my midsection, drawing a stream of blood as another swirling light went for Pucky.
No way was I letting it take her too, but without breath, I didn’t know what to do. Instead of staying here and trying to fight this mermaid, I shot up for the surface, hoping to grab Pucky and make for shore.
Instead, she went shooting past me, mouth clamped shut and eyes wide with panic, but Excalibur held out for me. I grabbed it and watched her horns glow as she shot past, hoping she would be able to teleport or whatever it was she did. Before she was able, the light took her and she was gone too.
Fuck me.
Almost at the surface, Nivian charged me. I had Excalibur, though, and the sword fueled my powers. Before she could reach me I changed direction, caught her with a good slice to the arm, then went for another strike—fast, direct for her heart. Her only chance was the light, and she took it.
In a flash, she was gone and the waters had returned to normal. I surfaced, spluttering, confused, and glanced around.
It shouldn’t have come as a surprise that everyone up here was going about their business, oblivious to what had just happened. Swan boats moved out from the dock, a sailboat in the distance, and tourists were walking about enjoying the sunlight, not a cloud to be seen.
I treaded water, wondering what the hell I was going to do. Finally Sekhmet calling my name got my attention, and I remembered that I wasn’t completely alone, at least.
Swimming back to shore, I swore we’d find a way to go after that fucking mermaid, find my team, and get to Arthur. No matter what the cost.
41
My return to shore happened in a flash, with Sekhmet helping me out of the water and Bastet pacing, hissing at the lake as if to say she’d been right to hate the water. She had a good point.
“What the fuck do we do now?” I asked, after spewing out the quick version of what had ha
ppened.
Sekhmet glared at the lake, chest heaving. “How could you let this happen?”
“Me?” I took an aggressive step toward her, clenching tight to Excalibur. “If you two hadn’t been scared of fucking water, we wouldn’t be having this talk!”
Bastet hissed at me, but Sekhmet held up a hand and said, “No. Turning on each other does no good here. We still owe the price of leading them to Arthur, and…” She eyed me to see if I was catching on. After a moment, she took out her blades and seemed about to cut me, but then ran them over me, flames going just enough to act like a quick-drying spell.
“Since your tracking spell led us to Milan, he can’t be far away,” I said. “But Nivian—The Lady of the Lake?”
“A distraction.”
“Still leaving us with the question of what we’re supposed to do now.”
“Well, considering someone led us here…” she spun back toward the direction of the station, back to Milan where we’d met Tore, and started walking, Bastet at her heels.
“I’m just supposed to follow you?” I called after her. Seeing people eye me with curiosity, I rolled my eyes and started after her. “Do we have a plan at least? Just go ask him again?”
“This time we’re not asking,” Sekhmet replied. “We’re demanding.”
I heaved Excalibur up onto my shoulder, careful not to cut off an ear. “I like the sound of that.”
Taking the train back to Milan was painful, in that it took two hours and we knew we were running out of time. Still, our only hope right now was this Tore character. If I thought there was a chance of reopening the portal in the lake, believe me, I would’ve done it, even if it meant drowning in the process. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for my ladies.
It went quickly, though, and soon we were back in that shopping district, all of it looking much less glamorous this time around. Sekhmet took the honors of stomping on the character’s balls to summon him.
“You?” he said, emerging from the shadows. He stood tall, muscular, his horns glimmering in the sun that shone down from the glass above. “You have no business with me.”
He stepped back into the shadows, starting to fade, but Bastet was fast, darting over and encircling him, casting a purple glow upon him that brought him back. Sekhmet closed the distance in three strides, grabbing him by one of his horns and slamming his head into the wall behind, so that it broke the edifice, creating a hole. We followed him through, into a narrow alley. Bastet darted behind us, throwing up another of her purple barriers that, I imagined, made none of this visible.
Sure enough, people kept on walking, nobody paying any attention to us.
“Now,” Sekhmet said, still holding Tore by the horn, one of her curved blades at his neck. “I’m not going to ask nicely this time, because you’re standing between me and freedom. Where is Arthur?”
“This isn’t my fight, but if you insist on dragging me in, I’ll see that you regret it.”
“Try your worst.” Sekhmet kneed him in the gut and threw him to the ground, and was about to leap on him to show him she meant business, when two wolves darted out, tackling her. Before she hit the ground she was a lioness, Bastet at her side, and the four animals were going at each other.
That left me and Tore, and he was up, starting to run away!
I charged, drawing my sword and shouting for him to stop, only to find three ninjas swooping down. Yeah, fucking ninjas!
“What the fuck fairy tale are you from?” I asked, skidding to a halt and preparing to go up against the closest.
“Fuck you, that’s what,” that one said, and leaped for me. Thank God, Sekhmet charged in at that moment, plowing through him and giving me room to move to the outside and pursue Tore.
Or so I thought—but as soon as I’d made it two steps, a throwing star lodged in the wall by my head, chipping stone, and then one of the ninjas was charging me with sword held high. Damn, there was no way I was going to be able to stand toe-to-toe in a swordfight against a ninja… but I’d been leveling up and maybe, just maybe, I’d be able to outrun the fucker.
So I ran for Tore, going all out. When I glanced back I saw with relief that Bastet had managed to block off the ninja, and now all three were dealing with Sekhmet, along with the two wolves, and she was holding her own.
Damn, that lady was badass!
But as I moved into the back alley and then turned a corner, the bull of a man plowed into me. His horns caught my arm. They didn’t puncture skin, but landed on each side so that Excalibur flew from my grip, clattering to the cobblestone road.
He slammed me against a wall and pulled back, eyes furious, and landed two good punches.
“Our kind aren’t involved!” he shouted, then punched me a third time. I thought my ribs were going to break if he got another hit in, so I wrapped my legs around the back of his and threw my weight onto him, taking out his knees. We rolled to the ground and I used what little wrestling they’d taught me to move around to his back and, improvising, grabbed him by the horns, pulling back.
“By fighting us, you’ve chosen a side,” I said, and slammed his face into the ground, hard.
“Fuck you!” he shouted, and then I slammed his face down hard again.
When I pulled him up again, twisting his head by the horns, he held out a hand and said, “The golden statue of the Madonnina.”
I glanced around, expecting there to be a Madonna—the singer—statue around, then wanted to slap myself. Of course he meant the statue of the Virgin Mary, the one at the top of the cathedral.
Sekhmet was there in a flash, blade held at Tore’s throat. She looked like she’d actually cut him.
“No need,” I said to her, releasing Tore. “Arthur’s at the Duomo di Milano.”
“He said so?” She backed off, standing as Bastet arrived, circling her feet. Behind them, a purple wall of light blocked the others from pursuing.
“But you’re likely too late, aren’t you?” Tore snorted.
“Meaning what?”
“You’ve used the sword, no? Not like you did before, I’m guessing, but—to have escaped the Lady, you must have truly called upon its powers. I’m quite certain Morganna will be able to find you now.”
“If we discover you’ve led us astray,” Sekhmet said, bringing her blade up to the base of the horn. “I’ll have your horns ground up and served in my next soup. Got it?”
He glared, nostrils flaring, but replied, “You’ll find him there. It’s the only spot she could find that would restrain him.
That gave me pause. Why would she have wanted to restrain Arthur? But Sekhmet released Tore and strode past me, through her sister’s spell, and back into the now increasingly crowded throng of people.
I ran to catch up, and when I reached her she started running too, Bastet at her side. We didn’t have time to waste, not with my team taken and Morganna likely coming for me next.
“How is he not an enemy at this point?” I asked, trying to understand why he would have led us astray to begin with.
“They follow their own code,” Sekhmet said. “I’ve come across his type in my day—in my mind, it’s better to go evil, because then at least we know who to fight. Those like him hide in the shadows and play both sides, when convenient.”
“No offense, but—”
“Am I the same?” She scoffed, but her eyes betrayed her uncertainty. Finally, she muttered, “We’ll see.”
We ran along streets crowded with shoppers and tourists. If I was going to spend my life seeing cities in this way, so be it, but I certainly hoped there’d be some of the more relaxing variety of sightseeing in my not-too-distant future. Making love to these ladies while looking out over the Coliseum in Rome, for one, would be a nice way to spend an afternoon—while not worrying about where our next fight would be.
Then again, all of this action was fun as hell. I kind of liked the high of the fight, the risk of not knowing what was coming next.
We reached the open area w
ith the cathedral, and Sekhmet slowed, considering the high spires and how we were going to reach the top.
“No matter what anyone says, or who stands in our way, no stopping,” she said, and kept right on, heading for the doors.
“That’s the plan? Just push our way through?”
“Meow,” Bastet replied, as if that were the obvious and only choice.
“Worst case, Bastet gives them some illusions to work through.” Sekhmet opened the door and we entered. It felt like I’d just walked into an amplified version of the Hogwarts great hall—minus the actual magic stuff. No floating candles or pumpkins or whatever. The ceiling arched up in multiple positions, massive columns with more carvings at their top, and pew after pew arranged to face the front. We turned to the wall to move along the sides, passing various statues and stained-glass windows depicting saints and biblical scenes. I had to ask about it.
“All this… God, the saints…?”
“You’re asking if there’s a God?” Sekhmet hissed, ignoring the couple walking past and glancing our way only briefly. “How would I know?”
“I just assumed, I mean with the way you all live so long and the spiritual realm and all that—”
“No.”
“‘No,’ as in there’s no God?”
She frowned, gave Bastet a look like I was an idiot, and said, “No, as in you assumed wrong. Anyone who claims to know for certain is fooling you—or trying to sell something. Believe if you want. Our existence, the existence of the Fae world and everything that comes with it, none of that has to do with whether there’s a one God or not. Believe in what you want to believe in, and don’t let outside forces dictate that.”
I actually liked that answer, especially in a cathedral as grand as this. That didn’t mean I had any idea of what I actually believed, but hearing it from her in this cathedral gave me some relief. If she’d told me a definitive answer one way or the other, I wanted to think I’d still have chosen to make up my own mind on the subject someday, but either way I was content to not know, and to have everything I was doing be unrelated.
