by Keri Salyers
The energy I was feeding it in thick jolts was having its effect. The grelban caught the metal bar in its mouth and there was a sharp snapping sound and Cen quickly dropped it. He shook out his hand as if it had gone numb. In a sudden change-up of how it had been attacking, the grelban feigned a strike at Cen then pivoted sharply, attempting to skewer Devi on the wicked points of its spine. The knife the Harbinger had been trying to pry into the beasts back suddenly became stuck; if not for Cen’s latching onto its tail tail, the spines might have penetrated.
My concentration lagged out of my concern. A shout from Ian set me back on track. I settled back to the ground from a half-crouch that I hadn’t even known I’d come up into. I began to draw in energies, closing my eyes briefly. When I opened them again the skin upon my hands looked as if a spot of ink had been poured on them. The blackness ran along the tendons, the nooks between my knuckles. It crawled along my arm, dripping down the sides as if gravity played any role in Invyrchal’s machinations.
Well, then listen to this! I spun the energy like cotton candy and tossed the treat to the hungry monster. Ravenous, it slurped it up. The grelban gave a hacking cough and grew bigger, its tail thickening and sprouting long needle-like spikes.
“Zofeya, this is not working.” Ianarius shouted unhelpfully, stalking this way and that in hopes of finding an opening. He then glanced at me and came to a halt, mouth parted in a way I would have thought was charming if I didn’t know why I was on the receiving end of the expression. “What have you done?”
His lapse of attention nearly cost him when the grelban turned on him, seeing an easy distracted target. The Master Mage, however, wasn’t off balance enough to not sense an intake of breath, or preoccupied enough to not throw up a shield spell to deflect the grelban’s new ability. He flinched back as green fluid splashed upon the shield, the grass below began to wilt on contact.
The beast sniffed like a hound catching scent and with a gruff snarl, it bounded away. And toward where I sat! It barreled past Devi and Cev. At my side Eleanor gave a shriek and the sudden allure of soul-chilling terror, drew its nose. It rushed her, faster than the blasts of energy Ian sent its way. It shrugged off Devi’s tossed knife and bounded through a fire explosion erupting in its path. Ian was drawing in for a shield spell, I could feel it through our connection. He would make it in time, I had to trust that; I could not halt the feed.
Cen was there. His arms were cut from where he had been knocked into a tree. With a shout he leapt up and drove the metal pole down, driving it deep into the thick tail of the grelban, through it and into the ground. The beast roared and slashed out with hands the size of serving trays, coming within inches of Eleanor. Her skirt fluttered in its wake. Huh, I guess I was wrong about Ian; I glared over at mage. He had his hands up, they were glowing an oracular light. Okay maybe he had been prepared to step in but my son had beat him to the draw.
Eleanor was frozen stiff in fear but Cen had succeeded in derailing its train of thought. It twisted with feline grace, flipping its body around and gave its tail a wrench. Flesh tore and bone broke. It pounced, nearly taking Cen off his feet. My son had a firm grip on the grelban’s two front legs but standing upright as it was meant it had two more in which to use. Blue fire erupted between them—Cen’s heritage flame—and the beast skittered to the side. The smell of cooked grelban fell somewhere between swamp mud and cheap vegan burgers.
“Eleanor, get back,” I said, jaw clenched. The blackness had seeped up my arms and now patterned my chest. I could feel it; its warning signs were tingling along my nerves. Eleanor looked back at me and I could see some of her fear was directed at me as well. Beyond her, I could see the beast shaking and snarling, its body reconstructing, capitalizing on our emotions and evolving.
“Zofeya, this is not working. What is it you are doing?” Ian said, his voice at my side. “What are you doing to yourself?”
“You are interrupting my concentration, Ianarius.”
“Answer my question.”
“It’s none of your concern.”
“It’s all our concerns!” He nearly yelled. “Everything you do right now is our concern! We are in this together! Did you… Is this something Invyrchal did? This black marking?”
I frowned, the spooling of energies slowed. With the connection to the grelban open, it was difficult to keep Ian out. But I certainly tried.
“Zofeya, what is this marking? Your skin is—” The mage suddenly hissed and I was engulfed in a prism sphere. My line to the grelban was cut off. Devi was on him before I could draw breath to shout. The sphere the miraculous Master Mage imprisoned me in weakened while he split his attention to keep Devi from planting his daggers in his chest. A whirlwind of air wrapped around him, tossing the Harbinger back. The prism hardened once more. “I won’t let you sacrifice yourself for this.”
I stared at him, seeing Devi rise in my peripheral vision. “I am not sacrificing myself. I am not a hero. I’m showing that arrogant spriggan that he can’t push me around. He can’t restrict me. It’s… it’s his power I’ve been using, Ian. It was never my own. But I can use it to end this. Now lower this shield and let me do just that.”
He studied me, his thoughts running sixty miles a minute. As intelligent and astute as he was, there was no way he could fathom this. He glanced at Devi, at Eleanor and Cen, who were in the process of bludgeoning the grelban’s already malformed face.
“Let me do this.”
“We will follow your plan.” The prism dropped. “But I will be the one funneling energy into this beast.”
My mouth came open, aghast. “Do you even know what I was doing? That wasn’t my energy, it was Invyrchal’s! You would be funneling your own life into it!”
“Do you even see what you are doing? This blackness—it’s an auger.”
“Mistress?” That got Devi’s attention. “Don’t do this. If this hurts you, don’t do it.” My Harbinger was looking at me with unblinking frightened eyes. It could have been an act; he was capable of it now. He wouldn’t lie to me but he would play to whatever advantages he had. “I can’t survive without you.”
“I’m not going anywhere. If you want to help, get ready to throw that thing through the portal. When the time is right, Ian, you will help me open it.”
“I will stand ready.”
“How much more time will you need?” the Harbinger asked, face carefully blank.
“With how much I’ve been feeding it, the change should be soon. Unfortunately I don’t know what it will look like. I just figured we’d probably know it when we saw it.” I’m a girl of planning, yes sir.
“Then time I will give you.” He twirled his knives over the back of his hand before heading back into the fray. Cenav was tiring but he had been doing exceptionally well at keeping the grelban from leaving. It had tried to bolt a few times, to seek easier targets to slake its blood thirst.
I pitched out a lure and the grelban sniffed like a dog, coming back toward me to take the bait. The pressure behind my eyes doubled. I heard the phone I had tucked into my bra jingle. Incoming message from Invyrchal? No doubt.
“When the time comes, use me as basis for the portal spell. Not Invyrchal.”
I glanced up at the mage. “Fine. It will sap you good, so be sure ready yourself for that. And do not influence the destination.”
“It would make a fine gift for the Sarkkrai but I will stand down this time.”
Good. I already had a place in mind. Out of the way, secluded. No one would even know but me. Minutes past, the grelban grew. Every attack seemed to influence it to change, to counter it. Minutes past, and I began to fear for my son. He was worn out; his movements were slowing where the grelban’s were speeding up. A gash on his forehead bled down over his right eye. It narrowly missed biting his shoulder but the teeth marks were visible where they scraped his skin; the saliva was a worry, a possible factor in Cen’s rapidly deteriorating stamina.
As Devi sought to draw its eyeless gaze, I no
ticed the cut on its hind leg sloughed off, skin and tissue. It had started! The grelban was beginning to break down!
“The portal, Ian, get ready.”
“I am. Draw on me. I won’t…” He swallowed. “I won’t let him have you.”
The conviction in his voice drew my eyes but he wasn’t looking at me. He was watching the creature. Another jingle from the phone as another piece of the enraged grelban fell off. In my mind’s eye, I pictured where I would send this hell spawn. I would send it to my lair in Lehiras. I would destroy my old home to save my new one. Reaching across non-physical barriers, I touched it for the last time and pulled the memory to me. Linking it to this world, I then knocked on Ian’s barriers and found him open to me without hesitation.
I found him open to me. His whole mind. It was there. No barriers. Rakmorath’s greatest threat.
~*~*~*~
CHAPTER 13
I wish I could say the thought never crossed my mind, and if I have to explain what that thought was, then you were obviously not paying attention. I could touch his thoughts, his deepest inner desires, if I wanted to. They were right there. I could destroy that powerful sensual mind; he’d never have to worry about the affliction that befell all mage-kind.
Like a river of molten gold, I could access all his power—a sip, a cup or a deluge. All access. He probably wouldn’t even be able to stop me. He was… so warm.
A cry of pain brought me back from my revelations. Devi?
I sought out the Harbinger. The grelban’s front legs had evolved at some point into little more than stubs with lance points at the end. And both those lance’s had pieced Devi through his stomach.
All thought left me. Devi. Devi! No! I clambered to my feet only to have Ian grab me and hold me back. I tried to shake him off while screaming at him, “Let me go!”
“Listen to me! Listen to me! Zofeya!” He shook me, literally picking me up off my feet when I tried to kick him. “I was watching that entire time. There is no way he would have gotten hurt unless he wanted to be. I think… I think this is what he wanted.”
“How can you say that?” I cried. “That Devi wants to die?!”
“Harbinger!” I was put back on my feet. “Open the portal. He knew what he was doing. Cen’s strength is flagging and that things speed is only getting faster.” I could hear Devi cry out again as the beast bit into him. Drawing in Ian’s power, I set the portal in a cacophony of thunder.
“Devi! We will hold the portal open. You will not go through it. Do you hear me, Devi? You will not!”
With a gut-wrenching sob as the grelban’s lance drilling sideways and up, the Harbinger staggered sideways. The beast was too pleased over its meal to do anything but follow. Its feet mushed until it was walking on putrid bone and sinew. Snarling in both agony and delight, the sound of Devi’s arm breaking under its teeth was loud in my ears.
I wasn’t the only one who saw the determination in the Harbinger’s pain-wracked eyes. He wasn’t going to obey me. The portal loomed near him, held open by the combined effort of Ian and me. Limping, dragging, the Harbinger prepared to throw himself and the grelban into the abyss.
My fear was cut short at the shrill sound Eleanor made as she raced across the open area from where she was hiding. Her hands were up by her shoulders, her head ducked down. She latched on to Devi with her tiny arms and kicked out at the grelban holding him. With a nasty sluck sound, the lance points slid from Devi and the pair of them toppled. The grelban however, unbalanced by its disintegrating legs, fell back and into the looming darkness of the portal. It swallowed the beast without a sound and with a crack that left us all momentarily deaf, the portal closed.
I scrambled to get to Devi. Dress be damned, I ripped off the bottom when it sought to tangle my legs. When I got to him, I dropped to side. I couldn’t help it; I reached over to the mussed and terrified Eleanor and pulled her into a hug. “Eleanor, thank you! Thank you!”
“I should have acted sooner. I’m so sorry.”
“You lovely thing, you saved him. There’s nothing to be sorry for.” I gathered his broken limb closer to his body. Blood soaked the ground, him, me. I didn’t care.
“But—”
“Just wait. I promise you that Devi will be alright. He’ll be alright!” I sounded delirious but I didn’t care. Pulling his head into my lap—my insane defiant assassin—and stayed with him as the light went out in his dull gray eyes. His heart stilled and the last breath left him. I couldn’t help but hunker over him. The tears surprised me. He’d be alright. I promised. Why the tears?
On the other side of us, Ian dropped to a graceless, exhausted pile. He scraped a hand over his face and then his hair, glancing up at the night sky. Eleanor’s hiccupping sniffles drew his eyes. She knelt with her arms stiff straight on her thighs, bunching her narrow shoulders. “You did good, Eleanor. You have our thanks.”
She brushed a hand over her eyes under her glasses. “Really?”
“Yes. It took a lot of bravery to act when you did. And at the right time.”
“I saw… I saw…” She sniffed. “Cenav try to rise and get to his friend but couldn’t. He yelled something at me b-but I didn’t know what it was. I think he wanted me to do something.”
“And you did. Sarkkrai are very good at galvanizing action.”
“He’ll really be alright?”
“I assure you.” Ian’s voice held a hint of a smile but I wasn’t looking at him. I was listening for a heartbeat that had not yet come back to me.
I heard someone rise and lightly pace off. It was Eleanor; I could sense Ian’s presence but he was respectfully remaining quiet. We waited. I touched Devi’s forehead with mine. It was growing colder. My hand faithfully remained on his motionless chest. “Don’t make me wait forever, Deviant. You are not allowed to defy me in this,” I whispered. Still, we waited.
Then I felt the weakest movement. Devi’s left foot gave the smallest kick. Then he gave a gasp that startled me all the way down to my heels. I hugged him fiercely with a half-sob laugh that I hadn’t realized I’d been holding in. He whispered something and I had to get closer to hear.
“M-mistress,” Devi gurgled, “You are… pushing my ribs into my… remaining organs…”
I pulled back, petting away his damp hair from his forehead. From my vantage point, I could see the holes in his midrift heal over. They left nasty-looking bruises but that was an improvement over gaping caverns. The bones in his arms knit audibly. He grimaced. “I always… hated that part.”
“That was a brave thing you did. I will not say I misjudged you, Harbinger, but I… appreciate what you did,” Ian said.
Devi tilted his head a small bit toward the mage. He displayed his sharp, bloodied teeth. “I didn’t do it for you, Pelthocian,” he panted out while his lungs healed.
“No, you didn’t. And I am not doing this solely for you.” Ian, eyes full of discomfort and lips pursed tightly, pushed up a sleeve and held out his arm. Devi and I both regarded him like he’d gone crazy. “I’ll not owe you for doing something I could not. What? Is Pelthocian blood no longer good enough for you? Hurry up before I come to my blasted senses.”
We were both in shock, Devi recovering quicker. While healthy, a Harbinger can come back from death without needing blood but blood was never turned down. It would certainly aid his recovery. And willing blood? Pelthocian mage blood? I couldn’t tell if he was drooling or not. Ian didn’t know it but he was a rare delicacy nearly on par with me.
Devi reached across his chest with his unbroken arm and took what Ian offered. The mage obliged by scooting closer, the discomfited look on his face magnifying. When he brought the Pelthocian’s wrist to his mouth, I could feel him chuckling. Not a bad reward for killing yourself, at least, to a Harbinger. Ian cursed heartily when Devi bit into him like an apple.
Pain tolerance was only going to hold out as long as adrenaline did and Ian was already exhausted. He pulled away not long after Devi had sunk his teeth indelicat
ely into the veins of his wrist. Pale, the mage pulled together enough energy to close the wound. Devi sat up and swiveled around to face me with a big rejuvenated smile that further sent the mage into full-blown self-questioning mode. I wiped a smudge of blood from his cheek and returned the grin. I saw the black was retreating upon my skin. Past Devi’s shoulder, I saw Cenav sitting cross-legged, his hands palm-over-fist under his chin, elbows on knees. Eleanor was trying her best to dab his wounds with a handkerchief; he was dead-set on ignoring her.
“Everyone is covered in gray,” Devi said cheerfully, rising to his feet.
“Red, Devi. Blood is red.” Slower, I got to my own feet as did Ian. “And its mostly you covered in blood.”
“Ah! Red like my eyes then.” He was too pleased; I didn’t want to correct him further. Mage blood could cause a narcotic high in Harbingers? Huh, who knew?
My phone chimed. I sighed. I gave the screen a look. Apparently Invyrchal texted more than the couple times than I took notice.
“You don’t take my advice seriously, do you?”
“This is a warning, Zofeya. You are pushing my generosity.”
“I am trying to give a speech here, Zofeya…”
And lastly, “Good, good. See, I told you to use them. Very clever portal use. The explosion was… quite lovely.”
I looked around at my bedraggled team, the tore up grounds of the park, the cloudy night sky that was steadily growing more foreboding and, finally, my once-beautiful gown. Was this how my life was going to be from now on? And theirs? How was that fair? I hit the reply button. “I don’t recall asking to police any non-human traffic into this world…”
