by Jamie Hawke
“Not without the rest of you.”
“We’ll be right behind.”
I hated it, but it was the mission. They were strong, capable. Megha was still recovering, her powers unknown to me. As quickly as the two had come, they were off again, and I was left with Megha and two dead witches.
There at my side, Megha was recovering. I tried to heal her again, but my power wouldn’t come.
“Let’s move,” I said, and this time we followed the path made by Yenifer. In part, I hoped to find her, to call to her for help. But there had been something in her eyes, a discouraging look that made me wonder if she was with us yet at all.
Two rooms in, and Megha was back with me, holding tight, eyes darting around. I held her close, trying to comfort her.
She’s coming. Riland sent us a mental warning, and I understood Megha’s reaction.
A moment later, a section of the ceiling imploded and Fatiha crashed in, following up with a series of attacks. Each one connected—magic strikes that left me yearning for death, screaming in agony.
But, Ebrill followed her down and immediately started casting her healing spells on me. Then the others followed, too. Shisa with his glorious shield, giving me a moment of respite, to think. In a blink of an eye, I was mentally capable. I could use my transmutation powers to finish the healing process.
Only, Fatiha was on me suddenly, hands on my face, fingers going to my eyes, and we were whisked out of there, the two of us suddenly in darkness. I could smell her, a scent that reminded me of the peaches and candle wax of Gertrude’s house. Even Shisa’s magic defenses hadn’t kept me safe from this witch who I had once thought to be Gertrude’s servant and dear friend.
“Welcome, boy,” Fatiha said, “to my special place. My happy place.”
Candles burst to life, showing runes I instantly recognized… Summoning runes! Fatiha stood back, hands spread, fingertips glowing as if pressed to a flame. Her eyes flickered in the candlelight, robes turning to flames that didn’t burn her.
“They wouldn’t have come just for me, but to have another go at you?” Her smile widened. “You can surely believe they would return for that.”
“Who would ‘they’ be?” I asked, mind reeling, trying to figure a way out of this. My energy was low, and even as I tried to sense the others, to connect and create an escape from this room, I felt the runes and even deeper magic pushing back. Cancelling out my magic power.
“Witness,” Fatiha said.
At that moment, the flames around her surged out, taking shape, and my mind cleared enough to give me the answer. She was bringing back Thiten. Only, there was more than one forming. I stumbled back, fell, then pushed back as flames burst out, the room completely ablaze and light from the candles forming patterns in the air—new, other forms of runes beyond my comprehension.
“Thiten and Thiton,” Fatiha said. “Sisters, equal in power and will. I present to you… your future.”
With that, they formed, two women of incredible beauty and power. Two goddesses, one with her net of glowing embers, the other with flowing hair of fire. Two of the Nine.
“We will take this offering,” Thiten said. “We as one. As Thitis.”
They stepped together, flames merging, burning, and creating one more powerful being. A being that was suddenly adorned in jewelry and robes of ruby red, rising, about to consume me.
My ice walls shot up as I sent my calling out. A tunnel—Shisa! Maybe the lion-dog was there, maybe not… but either way, his shield was around me, protecting me. Had I created it myself? I couldn’t know. All I knew was an urge to be gone from that place. So overwhelming was that urge that I actually felt my body start to leave, to teleport.
Only, something happened then that drew my attention back to the room.
The Eye of Balor—a necklace around Fatiha’s neck—was pulling at Thitis, taking purple power as I had seen Megha doing to the other witch. Absorbing this goddess, taking her into herself.
Thitis turned, screaming as flames shot out in every direction. “You dare betray your master?”
“I am the only master here,” Fatiha replied in a low muttering voice. “And I will have you all. All of the Nine. Upon that day, I will be unstoppable.”
With a final burst of purple, the light shot out around Thitis, engulfed her, and the flames went out as the energy shot back into Fatiha. She rose, laughing, body convulsing as the power surged through and became hers. The runes lit again, but they were different, glowing purple as did the Eye, and other items were there, too, moving about her in a circle. All ancient magic artifacts.
My craving to be gone returned, the feeling of leaving that world taking over, of connecting me to Avalon and the Dark Lands all at once, and then I was pulled, back through walls and rooms, catching glimpses of fighting as I went.
I searched for Megha and the others, my body suspended somewhere between here and the other worlds. A kick hit me, not a physical thing, but like a mental kick, something that threw me from my connection.
If I was going to be caught here, I knew I didn’t want it to be back in that room. I transferred my focus to the upper floors, to the way we had come in. I was caught off guard when a blast of magic energy hit me from behind. The force was enough to send me stumbling out through a doorway to land face-down in the grass.
Nothing made sense, but one thing was certain—I was back.
Focusing on clearing my mind, I pushed myself up and saw that I was in the courtyard out back. Then I saw her—Fatiha, near the house, watching me.
The others, where they free? Was I? She tried to come toward me, but I pushed out, focusing on those other worlds, on calling the Liahona to me.
Her own power canceled it! Nothing happened, and we were at a standstill.
“Do you really think you’ve done anything to stop me here?” Fatiha laughed, the echoes of Thitis in her voice. She stepped back into the shadows, face shifting to become that of Senator Ohlo, whose house we were at. “The opening will come soon enough, and my army will make this world cower before me.”
“For what purpose?” I asked.
“To fucking rule,” she said, sneering, and then she was gone.
I stood there in the courtyard, Secret Service incoming, shouting for me to get on my knees, hands behind my head. A glance into the shadows showed my team arriving, ready if I gave the signal. But this? No, I couldn’t tell them to fight the Secret Service.
Whatever happened next would determine where I truly fitted into this world, and I had no plans of becoming the bad guy.
My first step was to transmorph my face and fingerprints. Next, I sent the Liahona away, dropping my staff. I turned to face them in my false identity, going to my knees with hands up as they demanded.
120
Being dragged off with ties around your wrists and thrown into the back of a car with the likelihood of going to prison wasn’t the bad part. All the eyes on me from nearby residents—that’s what killed.
Knowing that my team was standing by and could likely break me out hurt, too. I didn’t want them to make any moves but knowing that I didn’t have to be taken in was a bit much to stomach. I was the good guy, though, and had to live up to that.
I’m with you, Riland’s voice came through.
Thank God, I replied. The others?
Safe.
And Megha?
He paused, then said, The end there, I’m not sure.
If we didn’t get her, we’re fucked. All of this was for nothing.
“What the hell was your plan, anyway?” the man in the front seat asked.
“We’re not supposed to talk to him,” the other cut in.
“Says who?”
A sigh, and then a sudden muzzle-flash. The other guy was dead. A glance back in the mirror, and the driver’s eyes flashed red.
Shit, I thought to Riland. We have trouble.
The rest are incoming. And… other help.
I sat up, looking out the window in time
to see the car come smashing into ours, hitting the driver’s side and tearing through his window. At the same time, Senator Funai was there, floating overhead as he sent a spell bursting out that tore the man to shreds.
Senator Funai landed as the cars screeched to a halt against a guard rail, then he was back with me, pulling me from the wreckage. Three others were with him, all looking like D.C. interns but with hands glowing gold.
“I thought you couldn’t be involved,” I said, trying to process what had just happened.
“That was before you let yourself get taken by one of theirs.”
“How was I supposed to know?” I protested.
He shook his head. “You couldn’t have.”
I glanced around, realizing we were only two blocks away from the National Mall and not so far from the Capitol building. The night might have been dark if not for the dull orange glow over the National Mall and the steady flow of cars with their headlights on.
Something in the wind smelled of sulfur and lavender, two scents I was beginning to associate with magic, lately. While the air was often warm on D.C. nights, a wind came strong and heavy, carrying with it an extra layer of heat that was unnatural.
My instincts told me to get off the street and a second later I turned to see why. A vehicle came screaming around the corner. I braced myself. When I realized it was a black SUV, though, I shouted, “They’re with us,” and was relieved to see I was right. My team piled out, Shisa on guard, growling toward the Capitol building.
“Damn,” Steph said, eyeing the wreckage, then the senator.
“This is the rest of my team,” I told the senator. Riland emerged from me, and nodded, so I added, “Rather, now this is the rest of my team.”
“I’d love to shake all of your hands,” the senator said, “but…”
Instead of finishing his sentence, he turned at the moment Shisa reacted and even I felt the surge of magic. A circle of light expanded in the air over the Capitol building, and suddenly the light shot out and then up, as if it was a beacon.
“The portal,” Riland said, voice shaking.
“We’re too late,” I added.
“Too late to prevent it, but not too late to shut it down,” the senator shouted. “Follow me.”
The rest of us shared looks of excitement at that, then took off after him with his crew of interns on foot. He led us to a building with metal detectors and the full government look of tall columns and marble stairs. One of the interns led the way with a keycard, another pulling out what I thought was a gun but then realized must have been some sort of magic item, based on the way it was glowing. Not likely interns, then, but still fun to think of them that way. We made our way in, then down spiral stairs. More marble, it seemed, and the floor below was white and black tiles. Paintings of white men with white hair lined the wall, one bust-like statue near a separate set of doors we went through, leading us to the dining area.
“Grabbing a bite?” Steph asked with a hint of annoyance.
“Tunnels,” the senator said.
We shared a look of confusion. As he led the way, one of the interns explained, “There are some main ones that go to the Capitol from other government buildings. Some are known, others… less so.”
“Better to travel where we’re not being watched, I figure,” the senator called back.
“Smart,” Ebrill muttered as she moved up next to me. “What’d we miss back there? What happened?”
“Fuck,” I said, and let out an almost hysterical laugh. “A damn lot.”
We moved through gray tunnels beneath D.C., toward the Capitol, while I told them what had happened with Thiten and Thiton joining, only to be absorbed by Fatiha. How I had saved Megha and even released Yenifer, but how both of them had vanished.
“All we can do now is hope,” Aerona said.
“It’s that bad?” I asked.
She nodded. “We’d hoped to have Megha, and that was before Fatiha had… absorbed, as you say… Thitis.”
“What she is trying to politely say,” Kordelia chimed in, “is that we are, how do you say…?”
“Fucked,” Steph filled in the rest. “We’re fucked.”
“Not so fast,” Senator Funai said, turning to us. We had reached another set of doors, although the tunnel continued to our left. “This is it. Through here and up, and we’ll be at the portal location. All we have to do is fight long enough to deactivate the portal by destroying at least one of the magic items holding it open. Defeating Fatiha can come at a different time.”
“Or not at all,” a voice said, somewhat a mixture of Fatiha and her absorbed goddess. The door blasted open and three dog-like creatures the size of bears burst in. Lines of glowing green moved along their bodies like snakes but were like cracks in the stone that made up these creatures.
I was glad they weren’t legit dogs. Maybe it was my dad’s love for them, but I couldn’t see myself being okay with fighting one. These things, though, with their nasty, snarling teeth and their eyes that peeled back to look like demons’ eyes, weren’t going to be a problem.
It was the way they split open after being torn apart by spells and gargoyle claws that worried me. That green glowing stuff came out like ooze, forming into blobs that shot out, tendrils trying to take us, and left sizzling lines on the cement of the passage.
Senator Funai lifted a clawed hand that shook, causing one of the blobs to convulse and squeeze back in on itself until it kind of splatted, done. His interns had those magic gun-looking devices, shooting and sending shocks through the others. Aerona shouted for me to freeze them. I did, then brought them back as remnants—because more enemies were coming. A creature with a hood and robes like Death swept through, each hand wielding long blades, or maybe its hands were the blades. Rilandwas cut, but Ebrill swept him aside and held him while he healed. Kordelia tried to hold her own against the death creature but it was faster than her. Luckily for us, we had it outnumbered. I used my go-to spell, the ice claw, and that distracted it at least long enough for Kordelia and Riland to attack with spells that left it as a slumped pile of robes.
Meanwhile, I saw that the senator and his troupe were dealing with little kobold creatures and several Drow who had made it down. One of them looked familiar, actually, and when the Drow blocked a spell while surging toward the senator, then held his body close, blade sticking through and coming out from the man’s back, I saw why.
It was one of the Drow who had been on guard back in Avalon, before the betrayal. If Rianne were here, I wondered what she would say.
As it was, the others had enough to spit out at him.
“Fucking traitor!” Ebrill howled, lunging at him with blue flames licking her horns and fingers, claws clanging off his armor.
He dropped Senator Funai’s lifeless body and attacked, but then switched to defense as Kordelia joined in.
“We trusted you to defend Rianne,” Kordelia growled between strikes.
“Everyone makes mistakes,” the Drow countered. “That was one of the many that your people made.”
Aerona had seen and was trying to fight her way over through kobolds and others, tearing a path through, but Riland got to him before her, at the same time as an intern’s shot from the magic taser hit and put the Drow on his knees, and then Riland summoned a sword that cut right through the Drow’s head.
“Brother,” Riland said, standing over the corpse, watching it fall.
“Not…?” I started, wondering if he meant real brother, but Ebrill shook her head. The fighting was still going on. Steph was nearby blasting fire as her wraith knights fought just past her, but I then finally processed the fact that the senator was dead.
I stepped over to him, overcame a kobold with my remnants, and stared at the lifeless eyes of the man who had come to our aid. I had hardly known him, and there he was, dead… for me.
Monsters of all sorts were converging on us as Senator Funai’s body lay lifeless at my feet. All I could do was drop to my knees and morph
our surroundings so that we were protected. The last of those inside fell with ease. I cast ice walls as well, and was vaguely aware of Ebrill casting booster spells to amplify our defense and speed, while Aerona and Kordelia added to my shields.
“We need more than this,” Steph said, taking a knee at my side.
“Megha,” Riland added.
“We failed,” I replied. “We have no idea where she is.”
“On that note, though, I have an idea.” Riland held out a hand. “Close your eyes, pretend to sleep. I’ll take care of the rest.”
“What?”
“Just… with our mental connection. Me to you, her to that place—I think it can work.”
Doing as he said, I listened to the sounds of attacks on our shields and walls, felt the magic as the enemy tried to barrage our position. And then, with a jolt, I wasn’t there at all but back in the land where I had met Riland and Megha.
To my surprise, a translucent version of her was there. Not nude, this time, but dressed as we had seen her with the coven—a thin, flowing black robe that fell low at the edges to reveal some nice side boob.
She eyed me, grinned, and said, “Knew you’d come looking for me here.”
“I thought I pulled you out of this place. Saved you.”
“You did—but my magic is the type that allows me to reconnect. This time, I’m not really here, but projecting myself. It’s quite convenient, especially since it allows me to do this.”
Reaching out her hand, she grabbed mine. We were instantly torn from that land and back in the tunnel beneath the Capitol. Only, now she was there with me, fully in the flesh but wearing her black robe.
The others gasped at the sight of her Shisa gave her a quick sniff and approving nod. Steph glanced down at our clasped hands, and when Megha saw her looking, she brought my hand up to her face, licked it, and tried to take one of my fingers into her mouth. I pulled my hand away, cleared my throat, and nodded at the surrounding walls—one was starting to crumble and was covered in cracks, clearly about to give.
