by Jamie Hawke
I simply had the ground raise between us, blocking her spell, and then I shifted the ground so that I moved to her rear, lashing out there with another spell. I had the air around her cut out, but she became a shadow that moved through to cut around back toward me from the other side. Again, I shifted the land and air, and again she was freed from my spell by the power of her magic.
Which made me realize something—magic, mine against hers… wasn’t going to cut it. However, I knew my runes well enough now, at least a good amount of them, and if there was a way to make a stable rune, that could maybe do the trick. So, instead of shifting the ground to my advantage in a fight, I had it give way, enveloping us until we were in the lower levels of the rock and sand, engulfed. At the same time, I shaped the surrounding land into the runes.
No magic, no other rune effects.
She fell to the ground in front of me, and I loomed over her.
“You’d do it like this?” she asked, brushing sand off her robes as she tried to stand up to face me. “Wouldn’t you rather go magic against magic? I mean, casting a spell is so much… easier to swallow than slamming a lady in the face with your fist, isn’t it?”
“How many innocents have you killed?”
She shrugged. “Immeasurable.”
I nodded. “In my book, that’s where the definition of lady stops applying.”
“Very well, then, do your worst.”
She tore her robes so that she was left in basically a skirt and half-top, turning to face me with hands up, legs spread in a fighting stance. I should have figured that with all of her years alive, she would have learned to fight physically as well as magically. I’d hoped not, but should have known better.
I, on the other hand, was still only in possession of fairly basic fighting skills.
But that didn’t mean shit when compared to her insane amount of magical power. So, I charged forward, sidestepped as she tried to take out my leg, and caught her with a haymaker punch to the forehead. Fuck, that hurt my fist, but at least it caused her to stumble back.
“Who the fuck punches someone in the forehead?” she asked, as she came at me again. This time, I wasn’t so lucky. Her first kick swept out one of my legs. Her next caught me in the side on my way down, so that I went flying a couple of paces away from her. Next, she followed me to the ground, slamming me in the solar plexus before going for the groin. First mistake—like any self-respecting man, I’d had years of practice and muscle memory in regard to blocking my balls from being hurt, so was ready in spite of my other pain. And, once I had her, I pulled her in and rolled with her, then head-butted her in the face. Only problem? I had no idea how to properly headbutt someone. It looks easy when they do it in the films but we both connected nose to nose, teeth hitting teeth, and fell away from each other covered in blood.
“Who the fuck taught you to fight?” she shouted, trying to push herself to her feet but losing balance and falling over.
“I don’t have to look cool doing it, as long as I win,” I countered, and had her in a choke hold. At least I had wrestled with friends growing up, so knew this one.
She was scratching, trying to hit me with the back of her head, and thrashing about. But in that moment, I saw the amulet that Fatiha had been wearing. It hit me then that there was only one way. To defeat her, I had to absorb her. The magic was off, but that didn’t matter. I snatched the amulet, tightened my grip around her neck, and then let the runes go so that magic returned.
She started laughing, shocks of electricity flowing out of her and racking my body with pain. But that didn’t bother me.
I pulled her close to me, making the final draw from her energy into myself. As she began to vanish, to crumble away and burst into light that flew around me before entering my body and filling me with incomprehensible power, I felt a tinge of sorrow. These legendary women all now in her, once immortal, were coming to an end.
All of the Nine but Mizoa and Glitonea, gone. Oh, and Morgen, whose presence we still had no clue about.
In a burst of energy, I fell to the ground, but instead of collapsing, knelt and roared with the adrenaline as magic and power surged through every bit of me. Only me, the rest gone. Only me… the rest… gone.
“The Nine aren’t gone,” a voice said, and I turned to see Rianne floating near me, but not quite there—it was like she was one with the light. “Only the people who occupied those roles. It is up to you, now, to name the new Nine, with you at their head. Even Morgen, who was one of them… has forsaken the title. While not dead, she might as well be.”
“Meaning?” I asked.
“A story for another time.” She floated there for a moment, starting to fade, then vanishing.
It was up to me.
So, I spoke the names. Naturally, Mizoa and Glitonea were still with us, and there was me. “Jericho, Mizoa, Glitonea, Megha, Steph, Ebrill, Kordelia, Aerona, and Yenifer.”
“Let it be as you have spoken,” Rianne said, voice carrying on the breeze, and then I was back on the battlefield at Gettysburg, watching as the last of our enemy crumbled away, falling to dust on the ground, or vanishing into the darkness of night.
There would be no bodies left the next day, although there wasn’t much we could do about the scorch marks and large craters from explosions. Or was there? I knelt, realizing that with my new level of power plus my transmutation magic, I was only really limited by my mind. As the others approached me, I placed my hand to the ground, focused on the earth and grass and trees to return to how we found them, any sign of battle to vanish.
When it was done, the rest of the new Nine stood around me. Outside of our circle stood Riland, Galahad, and all of Steph’s Knights. Past them, the Order and others who had joined our side during the battle.
I stood, looking over all of them, and nodded. “Welcome to the future.”
A cheer rose, and my team moved in, hugging me, kissing me, and asking what had happened.
I motioned to the sky, where the edges were turning light blue. “Sunrise will be here soon. I’ll fill you in on the way to the tourist lodge. The rest of you, go with Galahad. Rest, and then discuss with him how we will move forward here. I believe he understands my desire.
He nodded, giving a cursory glance at the orcs, Drow, and other new members of our new army.
“It will be done,” he said, and I knew we were on the same page.
They departed, leaving the Nine to pile into two vehicles and make our way to the lodge. We would sleep there, allowing the gargoyles to hide on the roof. The next night, we would make our trip back, and be ready for the next stage in our journey.
148
I woke around mid-day, groggy and unable to believe I had slept the night and most of the morning on the roof. The gargoyle statues provided shade, so that Steph and Megha could continue sleeping, but I nudged them awake to see if they were hungry. Megha nearly punched me, without opening her eyes, and then Bob formed, growling at me. When I stepped back, Bob crawled up her sleeve, vanishing. Steph sat up, adjusted her dress, and yawned.
“Breakfast?” I asked. Glancing in the direction of the sun in the sky, I corrected myself, “Or lunch?”
She chuckled, let me help her up, and said, “Please.”
We went to the edge of the roof and looked out over what we could see of Gettysburg, although from here it was mostly a large touristy statue with trees beyond.
“Think the others made it back to the city okay?” I asked.
“We killed all the bad guys.”
“Not all the drunk drivers,” I joked. “Plus, who knows what else still lurks out there? Or if maybe Moronoe or the others will find a way to return from the beyond.”
“True.”
She leaned against me, but then stood straight and pulled me toward the ladder we had used to get up there in the night.
“Too bright up here,” she said, and I had to agree.
“Watch over them, Shisa,” I said, patting the little guy’s head.
>
We waited to make sure nobody was around, then made our way down the ladder and into the building. Our first stop was to the area where food was sold, where I grabbed us some ribs, corn bread, and a meatloaf. The moment Steph bit into the cornbread, she started going at it like crazy, moaning and praising it.
“You realize we have to get some of this for the rest of them,” she said.
I chuckled. “We have money. We have time. Right now, I want to get some of the touristy stuff out of my system.”
“Wait, you were serious? I mean…”
“Like I said, we have time. At least until nightfall, when we all pile into the vehicles and check in with the mansion. Until then, I say we have ourselves that date we always spoke of.”
“First of all, that was the version of me under a spell.” She bit into the ribs, and with a full mouth mumbled, “Holy hell, we really do have to get these for everyone. too. Maybe I’m just really hungry?”
“No, they’re delicious. And second?”
“Forgot what I was going to say. Something about the real me never talking about going on a date to Gettysburg, but now this food is making me super happy and I don’t think I would say anything like that anymore. Shit, if sex wasn’t so great with you, I’d say this was better than sex. It’s close, though.”
“Ha.” I took a bite, nearly melting like the meat did off the bone. “The perfect amount of barbecue sauce.”
“What if,” she leaned forward, licking barbecue sauce from her lips. “We got a bit of this sauce, found a room, and—”
“Ahem,” an old woman gave us a stern glare from the next table over.
Steph simply winked at me, then leaned back, licking the rib in a very inappropriate way that caused the old woman to get up and leave.
“After the tour,” I said, loving the idea of it. “And come on, there’s a museum back that way, and—”
“Barbecue sauce… No? Dammit, I was hoping to make you forget about all that.”
I laughed. “Steph, how often are we going to be here? Not very! Come on.”
“You’re saying you can get this,” she gestured at herself, “all the time. Is that what I hear?”
“Can’t I?”
She frowned, but nodded. “Of course. Fine. One ice cream, then we go.”
We finished our food, got a soft serve and a box of ribs and corn bread to go, and made our way out to the front. Looking over the map of Gettysburg, though, I quickly realized we would need to drive.
“On it,” a voice said, and we turned to see Megha there dangling a key fob. She wore a gift shop dress, hair neatly done up in her buns. “Ready?”
“Where’d you come from?” I asked, teasingly. “Thought maybe you were going to leave.”
“No, you didn’t.” She led us to the van, where she had a tourist map ready to go, spots already marked.
“When did you have time for all this?” Steph asked.
“First, you two take forever to eat.”
“We stopped by the museum,” I noted. “Stuff like that.”
She winked, motioned for us to get in, and started driving us around, giving us a tour as if she had been at this for years. Apparently, she had learned to drive in her years as a prisoner.
For me, the trip was heaven. We stopped at the battlefield from the night before, first, finding a place called Little Round Top, and a statue there that said it was of General Warren.
“Metal,” Megha noted, looking over the statue. “Too bad. Could’ve used him in the fight last night.”
“I actually might have been able to make that happen,” I said. At their confused looks, I put my hand on the statue and used my transmutation power to make it turn and look at them, then wink.
Quickly returning the statue to the way we had found it before a group of incoming tourists noticed anything, I chuckled.
“Your magic sometimes scares me,” Steph said.
“Jealous, is what she is,” Megha added. “Honestly, so am I.”
“There’s so much I haven’t learned how to do yet,” I noted. “Shapeshifting like Glitonea does, for example, could be fun.”
“I’ll teach you,” Glitonea’s voice came from the crowd, and I turned to see her and Mizoa walking our way. Both wore summer dresses clearly bought from the tourist shop, although Glitonea’s didn’t cover all her runes so they still showed like tattoos all over her. It was kind of hot.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“Saw that you all came out this way, and figured we’d see if there was trouble,” Mizoa said, eyes searching the battlefield and trees below.
I laughed. “Sightseeing, actually.”
“I don’t get it.”
“Allow me.” We spent the next couple of hours seeing more sights while I explained to them what I knew of the battles, reading most of it from the information boards at the locations. We stopped by a graveyard, and Mizoa paused at one of the graves, then checked a few more.
“Why the crescent moon?” she asked.
I looked, seeing the moon with star on them. “Maybe a Muslim thing?”
She considered this, then turned to Glitonea with excitement. “The symbol of the moon was on the empty box.”
Glitonea frowned. “And you think it has to do with the Muslim religion, or…?”
“No! Not related, but it got me thinking. Aerona was damn close to the gold stone, absorbed it, right? I think there’s something to this—to the gargoyles, traveling at night, and—” mused Mizoa.
“Shit!”
“I feel like I’m missing something here,” I complained.
Glitonea turned to me, beaming. “Khonsu was a god in Ancient Egypt, watching over travelers at night. And he was also the god of the moon.”
“We think there might be some connection there, based on the box,” Mizoa added. “It was empty, but there might be other clues at the temple of Khonsu. In Egypt.”
“You want to go to Egypt?” I asked.
“It’s just a hunch. For now.”
We agreed to drop off Mizoa and Glitonea at the tourist shop, as they had work to do. The three of us wanted to keep enjoying our day of relaxation, though. That came in the form of stopping at a mini-golf place and grabbing some baklava. Megha, for once, was out of her league. She didn’t have a clue how to play, but did a great job holding the club suggestively.
And, when we decided it was too hot and we needed a break, the two used some of the extra barbecue sauce in the back of the van. A quick wiping me down with hand-wipes, then a line of sauce along my shaft. Steph there, grabbing my ass and lapping it up, then Megha pressing her lips to my tip before licking up Steph’s leftovers. It was sexy as hell, but I couldn’t help but keep thinking, ‘Please don’t bite, please don’t bite,’ as, I mean, it was a sausage with barbecue. How could they not? They did great in that regard, though, and soon ignored the sauce, taking turns going down on me, licking between my legs, my balls, and each other.
“I want to fuck you,” I said, trying to maneuver them up.
“Next time,” Steph said, and kissed Megha briefly while continuing to stroke my cock. “Right now, I want to taste you, to feel you unleash in my mouth.”
“Mmmm.” Megha ran a hand down Steph’s back, then up under her dress to finger her. “And I want to watch.”
So, she did, biting her lip and caressing us both as she watched Steph bring me to the brink of climax, pull it out, give me one final stroke so that my cum shot up into her mouth—and then she dove back down on it to finish the job.
She continued until I was shaking, my eyes almost barely able to stay open, and then Megha was there, kissing me, filling me full of energy. I opened my eyes to see her hands in my brain, and I wanted to scream.
Grinning, she pulled out her hand and said, “Relax, relax. Just… giving you a jolt of energy. Like a cup of coffee.”
To her credit, I felt very awake and alert, and even more, my cock was rock hard again.
“Because I wanted a turn,�
� she added, and then went down on me as Steph moved out of the way, watching while licking her lips and moaning.
I quickly forgave her for putting her hands on my brain, as odd as that was, as I climaxed again, this time in Megha’s mouth.
“Yummy,” she said, finishing and wiping her chin.
For a moment I was too exhausted to move, then I shook my head, laughed, and said, “My turn. To make it even.”
They glanced at each other. I went down on Steph first, as she had been the first with me, but she was quick—within a minute, maybe two, tops, she was moaning, kicking the back of a seat, and nearly pulling my hair out.
Megha reclined, took off her panties, and let me move in immediately. She must have taken at least half an hour, but I loved it. Sure, I was drenched in sweat by the time she came, squirting all over my chin and chest. That’s what I call a good time.
Right there, we passed out in the van, wrapped in each other’s arms. Dreams took over, mostly in the form of memories of the summer so far, of arriving in D.C. and how my expectations had been vastly overshadowed by reality. I saw Steph first arriving at the window to my room at my aunt’s place, the first moment I realized magic was real and that I had control over it. And now, I was here, on the path to moving up through the American government. Having fought a war, and changed the trajectory of two worlds.
149
When I woke and saw the purple and orange clouds over Gettysburg, I sat there for a moment, enjoying the view from the van, then turned my attention to one of Megha’s breasts, soft and ready for my mouth. I woke her with kisses on her nipple, flicking my tongue across it. She giggled, sat up and kissed me, then she woke Steph with a hand up her skirt.
“Whoa, there,” Steph said, laughing and sitting up straight.
“The others will wake soon,” I said, seeing the lust in their eyes, but knowing we had to move on.
We snuck back to the roof, getting there just in time to find the stone of the gargoyles breaking. Kordelia was the first to notice me, kicking the stones apart to run over and pick me up, spin me, and laugh amid showering me with kisses.
