by Jamie Hawke
“Care to help us out, here?” I waved my hands, hoping that conveyed magic. “And then we were thinking you might have a way of tracking down others from your group.”
“Like Yenifer,” Ebrill said as she moved in for an embrace. “It’s good to have you back.”
“You are back, right?” Aerona asked.
Megha smiled wide. “Same me, but new and improved. As I can say for all of you—fuck, Ebrill, your tits were never like that when you were a boring old elf.”
Ebrill looked down at her chest, considered, and smiled. “True. But, as Jericho pointed out—maybe we fight first, then discuss chest size?”
“I have no problem with that.” Megha admitted. She turned to me, then motioned at the walls. “Okay, let’s go.”
“Go…?” I asked.
“Pull the walls down. I’ll take care of them.”
“There’re a lot of those bastards out there,” Steph said.
“Who’s the old lady?” Megha asked, which was quite humorous considering the fact that all the others were much older. It just so happened, due to magical reasons, that Steph had white hair.
“Sorry,” I said, holding up a hand in my way of asking Steph to let it go. “But… you’re sure you can handle it?”
“Are you ready?” Megha winked, then said, “Get back, and prepare yourselves.”
She jumped, and as she did a form materialized beneath her. Large, growing larger, until she was sitting on the shoulders of a behemoth of a monster. Thick muscles braided beneath gray skin, no face other than a mouth full of sharp teeth, and her hands through its now-translucent head, massaging its brain.
“Rampage mode, motherfuckers!” Megha shouted, and then the creature she rode charged forward with fists swinging. It broke through my walls in a matter of seconds, spinning and jumping and starting to pound on the enemy beyond a moment later. Blood was flying, Megha riding it and cooing softly between giggles, as if this was her pet cat simply playing with a ball of yarn.
Shisa whimpered, which I could one hundred percent relate to, then joined the rest of us as we darted out to press the assault. We formed a convex semi-circle, fighting but staying clear of Megha, and working our way in the direction the senator had been leading us.
“Wait,” I said, and turned back to make the ground absorb the senator. Not the burial I was sure he deserved, but the best we could give him in the moment. Plus, we didn’t want his body showing up and questions being asked. “May he rest in peace.”
There was nothing else to be said for now, and my attention was drawn back toward my team as the night filled with the sound of screams.
121
We emerged in the Capitol and ran out onto the steps, looking across the National Mall and seeing the portal there. It rose in a massive beam of light, monster after monster emerging to cause havoc.
A crowd of them stood at the bottom of the steps, some with snake bodies, others with long horns. There were the dog-like things we had faced in the tunnels, and flying creatures like I had seen in the Dark Lands. It was actually happening—the army was coming, some of it already here on Earth.
Fatiha appeared in the crowd, smiling as she floated toward us, several of her retinue in tow.
“These games have carried on long enough.” She lifted her hand to attack, but in that instant, I felt a pulse go out from Megha.
A gust of wind tussled my hair and then Yenifer was there, landing so hard that she cracked the marble stair she had landed on. Wings spread, eyes glowing, she snarled at Fatiha. Still no recognition of us yet, but at least she was facing the enemy.
“I see you have new friends,” Fatiha said. “But it won’t matter.”
“You killed the senator.” I thrust out my hand, and my staff—wherever it had been—suddenly appeared in my grip. Light circled around the tip, then the Liahona appeared. “We’re done with this shit.”
With a sneer, Fatiha flew forward, flames trailing.
I wasn’t about to let her kill anyone else. Rage at the idea that she would try was boiling up inside of me. Megha began to summon a creature. Yenifer braced herself and roared. Steph summoned her wraith knights, and the others braced themselves for the onslaught. All the while I let my rage well up, and then turned it into a deep focus that pulled simultaneously on Avalon and the Dark Lands.
It was like all of my focus before had been a whisper, and now I was shouting. Energy poured into me, magic from those lands, mine for the taking. Deep legends and ancient rituals all flooded into me. In that moment, I pulled on the powers of past mages before me. So much so, that as I thrust my staff and the Liahona forward, the surrounding air lit up and I realized I was wearing robes that fluttered in the wind. A mask, too, had come to rest on my face. I wondered about its history, how much of that would come to light in the near future.
For the moment, all I cared about was kicking Fatiha’s ass.
As if on cue, both sides charged. Watching my newfound power sweep over them was like watching those old movies where the first wave of charging soldiers falls to a wave of arrows. Light shot out, almost like blue flames. Kobolds and the like were blasted away, one giant vanishing only to be called upon by Megha a second later. She had her hands in its head and was on its shoulders, whooping as she rode it down the steps to go berserk on the enemy.
My thought then, was that when we ‘killed’ the enemy, they were sent back to the Dark Lands. As long as that portal was open, they could repeatedly keep on coming.
I sent out another blast, aiming this one for Fatiha. She braced herself but was thrown back slightly, burn marks smoking on her skin. But she wasn’t defeated, not with the power of Thitis in her.
My power was great, but I couldn’t hold it long. Like trying to play a role, the minute I ‘broke character,’ the magic faded. I was back in my jeans and t-shirt, the remaining enemy still charging.
Yenifer and the two larger gargoyles swept through the sky, descending on the enemy with a barrage of strikes and spells, while Shisa stayed with me for defense and Ebrill kept toward the edge of the fighting in order to hit us with buffers. Steph’s wraith knights were giving the enemy hell, and the senator’s interns, to their credit, were holding their own.
I took off down the steps, finding it odd that most of the fallen had vanished into the other world. Not all, though, or not all yet. Those who were only injured, and the dying but not yet dead, stayed, clawing their way across the ground and trying to lash out when they could. I leaped over a two-headed bear, thrusting out with my Liahona power again as I landed so that I finished him and the snake-like lady next to him. Then I spun, aiming for Fatiha, but she was in the air. One second ahead, shooting around in bursts of flame the next.
“This is all you have to throw against me?” she said with an ugly laugh. “Come, Jericho… you’re not as pitiful as that… are you?”
She flashed into flames, appearing as a spiral of fire that came right for me. I threw an ice wall her way and dodged. The ice wall didn’t do anything to stop her but had at least blocked her vision so she couldn’t see that I had rolled out to the side and was now up. Two ice claw spells nearly caught her, and then I used my remnant spell. When they rose, I realized the creatures had that same blue-gray tint as the ones Megha called upon.
To be able to send the enemy right back at themselves felt great. Even better when half of their forces stared at their former companions in shock, right before being pummeled into the ground. My remnants could only take a hit or two, but it was enough when paired with a surge of flurries I threw at them. Each time we took down enemies, I summoned more remnants. Although, like Steph with her wraith knights, I began to feel the toll.
And, at the moment I stumbled, Fatiha was ready to strike. She hit me with a blast of flame. It didn’t kill me, thanks to Shisa nearby, but it hurt like hell and left me with a singed eyebrow, I was pretty sure.
Moving back to Shisa, I said “Carreg,” and kept moving as attacks and spells bounced off me. I
didn’t have the energy for more, and felt the stone skin effect of the spell actually slow me down, draining me of energy. It was a good defensive spell if I didn’t need to charge in kicking ass two seconds later. Shisa’s protective spells took over right as the stone skin faded.
“Doing okay there, boss?” Riland pulled back to my side, sword at the ready. His powers seemed best suited here for sword fighting or a skill that allowed him to send creatures back to the Dark Lands. Since the sword did the same thing, it made more sense in combat of this nature.
Watching another troop emerge from the portal, I shook my head, but had a thought. “She’s sending them in waves. Why?”
“I don’t follow.”
My words were mostly for me to figure it out, anyway, so I continued, “Waves means surges of energy. Just like my energy is low, she must be recharging it… or recharging an item.”
Eyes scouring the battlefield, I noted Aerona going up against Fatiha on one side, Kordelia trying to take the other. There, by an art sculpture in the grass, I saw what I hoped was what I had been looking for.
The ground was glowing, in a sense. More like heat waves of light. Another search, this time knowing what I was looking for—sure enough, there was another spot opposite the portal. More became apparent, and I focused on seeing it from above, as if flying. Using my transmorph power, I was able to make a line of light appear before me to draw it out.
“As I thought,” I said. “A simple rune pattern.”
“No shit?” Steph said, and I turned to see that she had apparently joined us.
“It’d seem so. Meaning, she had to arrange the magical items in certain locations to set up the portal. Disrupt them, and it closes.”
“Close,” Steph said. “But… I’d caution that it might have been to open the portal, not keep it open. You might have to do a counter-rune to really close it.”
“Shit.”
I looked at the rune, realizing it was similar, maybe even the same, to one back at Gertrude’s.
“We’ll need to disrupt it before we can alter it,” Steph said, apparently having seen something in my eyes.
“Then let’s focus on that.”
I nodded to Riland and was about to charge for the closest glowing spot of the rune, when a roar came to my left. We all turned to see a massive lion with wings, and there alongside him was Galahad and other fighters attacking the enemy’s flank. The cavalry had arrived!
Taking advantage of the moment, I sprinted. Whatever force Galahad had brought with him was likely to at least be enough to give me the time I needed. I reached the ground and knelt, hand on the ground and fingers in the dirt, willing it to move aside.
A moment later, I was staring at a hole in the ground. An item hovered there where the dirt must have been used to conceal it from most eyes. Mine happened to be special.
This item wasn’t really an item at all, but a small creature curled up in a ball, its heart area glowing bright, emitting the light. Shit, I didn’t want to kill this thing. I didn’t know what it was!
At that moment, Megha went storming by on her tank of a monster, laughing as it smashed heads and pummeled teeth out of mouths.
“That gives me an idea,” I said, and whistled.
Megha glanced up, and I said, “A little help, here.”
Her tank charged over, and halfway to me she pulled her hands from its head, then leaped and rolled out of the fall to land next to us. The monster fell, no longer having anyone to control it, and faded out of our world.
“What is it?” Megha asked.
“Can you… try your thing on this guy?” I indicated the floating creature.
Megha eyed it. “Shit!” she exclaimed, suddenly leaping toward me and grabbing me as she fell to the ground, so that I was pulled out of the way of a blast of fire.
“I let this go on for far too long,” Fatiha cried as she came at us again.
“Get it out of here, then we try,” I whispered to Megha, bracing myself. Staff held high, ready to call on the Liahona and my connection to the other worlds, I indicated the nearest building, “Get it there.”
“The bathroom?” Steph said, frowning.
“Anywhere that’s out of sight!” I shouted.
“Bathroom works,” Megha shouted back, taking off with the creature in her arms.
Fatiha let out a shout and flew after Megha. I was ready, though, my powers recharging fast. As the robes of the other worlds flowed around me and light burst forth in all directions, I pulled myself toward her by connecting us, and focused on using the magic to try and transmorph her. While I hadn’t really been sure what I was doing, it worked! Halfway to Megha, Fatiha transformed into a massive whale and plummeted into the ground below.
The effect was short-lived, though. A moment later she turned on me as she morphed into a massive crocodile, and I was reminded of Captain Hook. No thanks. I struck out with magic attacks as she turned herself back into her natural form, matching my spell with hers.
“Go!” Steph said, and thrust a barrage of fire attacks at Fatiha while three wraith knights charged the witch. Riland was there, too, pressing the attack, and I knew where I was needed.
“Be safe,” I shouted, and took off after Megha. With each step, I noticed that as the extra burst of magic from the other worlds faded, so did my otherworldly robes, leaving me as I had been.
I found Megha inside the doorway of the women’s restroom, where she indicated one of the stalls and said, “It’s hiding in there.”
“No way.” I checked, and sure enough there were little feet, along with whimpering. “Damn.”
Megha nodded, but held the creature up, hands in its head. It was almost cute, in a way—like a rounded out, furry lizard-puppy. “What do you want me to do?”
“Tell the creature to deactivate whatever magic it’s tapped into.”
“Already done,” she replied as the glow faded from the creature. “Also, I’m keeping it.”
“What?”
“Bob. That’s its name now—I’m keeping Bob.”
Confused, I realized she was talking about the strange creature. Giving her a quick nod of ‘who the fuck cares,’ I glanced back out and saw the portal still there. “Damn. And… any chance we can use this thing to figure out the counter-rune?”
She thought, then closed her eyes. “Tap me.”
“Sorry?”
“I mean, tap into me. See if you can pull out what I’m seeing.”
“Ah, right.” I put a hand on her and focused on doing exactly that. Sure enough, I was able to see the runes necessary for the portal, and even better, they made sense. The building rocked. No, not just the building, but the ground around us. Part of one of the nearby government buildings was collapsing. We had to do this, and now.
A gush of air hit and then the gargoyles were there two seconds later, all but Yenifer. She was still out there somewhere, running amok.
“What’s happening?” I asked, stepping out to see that Riland, Shisa, and Steph were sprinting toward us. Then I got my answer. Fatiha was absorbing other witches and Drow into herself, growing in power.
“We need to finish this, and finish it now,” Aerona said.
I nodded. “The runes from back at the house. I think there’s a way to adjust them, to make the counter-runes and put out a defensive shield over the city at the same time. But…”
“It’ll take the entire focus of those runes,” Ebrill said, and sucked in a breath. “Meaning Glitonea’s release.”
I nodded.
“Do it.” Aerona looked out at the chaos. “We’re running out of options.”
As much as I hated the idea of setting Glitonea free, she was right. It had to be done. We could deal with the ramifications of that decision after taking out Fatiha.
122
Using the power of the Dark Lands and Avalon, layering them over our world in a way that let me ignore distance to a degree, I was able to tap into the runes below our house. When I did, I became aware of o
ther runes throughout the city, runes I couldn’t quite tap into yet, but certainly planned on exploring more later. Some held treasures, others kept dark secrets hidden. Intriguing, but not my goal at the moment.
For now, I needed to focus on amplifying the defensive nature of this place. Or, better yet, shutting off the magic. My gargoyle team would still be gargoyles, and as far as I knew Shisa would still work in a defensive capacity. Then again, wait! All those Drow and whatnot didn’t need magic if they had weapons and could overpower us by numbers. I didn’t stand a chance against them without my magic. Damn. The idea had been worth the thought, at least, but it just wouldn’t work.
Instead, I stuck with the original plan. Accessing the runes, my first step was to attempt a message to Glitonea, without knowing if it would get to her. To let her know what was happening, to ask for her help.
If not for us, for your sisters—for the Nine, I sent.
Then I adjusted the runes, knowing it would set her free, but feeling the protective barrier go up over the city and seeing the portal flashing out of existence was worth it. Whatever Fatiha managed here today, at least it would be contained. In fact, why not make a separate, internal barrier? Keep them concentrated in the National Mall area. Making the adjustments, I tied it to the original rune magic Fatiha had used to construct the portal and amplified it with her magic. I felt a surge of pride when it seemed to have worked.
I pulled myself out of there, back with my team, and nodded.
“Well, then,” Aerona said, “all that’s left is to do our best.”
“Kill ’em all,” I said. “Let God sort ‘em out. Or… let them simply appear back in the Dark Lands and go from there.”
Steph laughed, apparently the only one who got my Marine Corps reference. Oh, well.
Now that the portal was gone, our confidence surged. As one, we moved back out to face the enemy, this time knowing that when they were defeated, they wouldn’t come back. They were already moving on us so we formed a semi-circle, preparing for the attack. When it came, blood flew and heads rolled. We were going all out, a barrage of magic and crazy summonings on Megha’s behalf. Each time their troops fell, I’d bring them back as remnants and send them into the fray so that soon, much of the enemy was fighting other-plane versions of itself and we could turn our attention to Fatiha and the more powerful opponents.
