Head Over Tentacles

by K. L. Hiers

  It had been awkward enough having this talk with Galgareth, but this was Urilith, Tollmathan’s mother.

  Urilith’s hands cradled the sides of Sloane’s face, and her eyes turned into dark oceans full of stars. “I lost my son long before you took his life, little one. The dreaming turned his heart to hate, and when you woke him up, that hate only grew.

  “I mourn the soul that used to write poetry, who composed entire sonnets about the pale moonlight during the solstices, but that child died long ago. Fear not, little one. All is well.”

  “I… I… thank you,” Sloane managed to say. He shivered from the touch of Urilith’s hands. Even without being directly exposed to her divine skin, he was overwhelmed with a feeling of love and comfort.

  “Now,” Urilith said with a brighter smile, “we must plan this wedding! Perhaps at the spring equinox?”

  “Well, if you don’t mind, there’s sort of another problem that’s a little more pressing.” Sloane cringed and glanced at Loch for assistance. With his help, Sloane began to explain everything that had happened.

  As he spoke, Loch chimed in occasionally to fill in the gaps while Sloane quickly got dressed. Loch remained shamelessly naked.

  Urilith listened intently, and her brow creased with worry when Sloane finally finished. “And you don’t know which god is behind this dastardly caper?”

  “No,” Sloane replied. “We have some of the blue goo as evidence, but we don’t know who it belongs to. Whoever it was, they were with Tollmathan before, and they put those binding symbols on the Silenced man.”

  “Toll was always closest with his brothers,” Urilith said. “Gronoch and Xhorlas.”

  “You really think it could be one of them?” Loch scoffed, visibly uncomfortable.

  “Who else would want to destroy the world?” Urilith held out her hands, and they dropped down by her sides. “Your father’s kingdom was denied to them when we went into the dreaming. I could feel their rage even as we slept, and I can think of no one else who would want to do such a thing.”

  “But why go to all the trouble of making these Silenced weapons?” Sloane asked. “Why aren’t they trying to wake up Salgumel again?”

  “Oh, I’m sure they are, but they will need an army to fight the other gods,” Urilith replied. “Should Salgumel ever wake again, there would certainly be a war. The other gods would wake and try to stop him.”

  “They want an army to fight the gods,” Sloane realized out loud. “That’s… that’s insane!”

  “Whatever this magic is that they’re using to create these Silenced weapons is powerful and dangerous,” Urilith said gravely. “I don’t know what kind of soul they’ve bound to that boy, but….”

  “But?” Loch frowned. “What is it, Mother? Why do you look so troubled?”

  “I have my suspicions,” Urilith said, letting Loch usher her out to sit down on the couch. “The power you’re describing, the use of so many binding symbols, the residue…?”

  “Yes?”

  “Shit.” Sloane flinched as his phone rang, quickly fumbling around to find his discarded pants and pull out his phone. “Sorry!”

  “What an enchanting little device,” Urilith chirped, staring curiously at the phone.

  It was Milo calling. Sloane answered quickly. “Hey, what’s up?”

  “Look, Gal and Lynnette made a breakthrough,” Milo said excitedly. “They found a spell, a chant that will break soul bindings! You’d have to keep chanting it over and over again ’cause it only breaks one at a time, but it could work!”

  “That’s incredible!” Sloane switched the phone to speaker so Urilith and Loch could hear. “This is something we could use against the Silenced kid, right?”

  “Yes!” Milo sounded positively giddy. “You’ll have to chant it once per binding, but if that freak pops up again, we got somethin’ for ’em.”

  “Thanks, Milo. Hey, how’s Jay doing? Any sign of the Asra?”

  “Sleeping Beauty? Oh, he’s fine. And no, no weird cat people or anything like that.”

  “That’s good,” Sloane said, running his fingers through his hair and trying to straighten himself up so he didn’t look like he’d just had a god bang his brains out.

  “Everything’s cool,” Milo promised. “How are things going with you?”

  “Fine!” Sloane smiled at Urilith. “Loch’s mother is here. She got herself a body, and well, uh, she’s very excited about planning the wedding.”

  “Oh, so very excited.” Urilith laughed and hugged Loch tightly. “I’m just so happy for you both!”

  “Aww, she sounds awesome!” Milo cleared his throat. “Don’t suppose she knows anything about the you-know-what doing whatever?”

  “It’s okay,” Sloane said. “She already knows. And she thinks it might be one of Loch’s brothers.”

  “Holy crap, that’s not good.”

  “No, it’s not.” Sloane grabbed a pair of pants to give to Loch, and he paused when he heard the front door open. He tucked the phone against his chest, looking to Urilith and Loch. “The freakin’ door’s open?”

  “Oh! That’s my fault!” Urilith said. “I was just so excited to see my son, and I broke the seals when I came in! I must have left it—”

  “Where is the mortal?” a familiar voice demanded, the white-haired visage of the Silenced boy slipping inside as the door slammed behind him. “Tell me now.”

  “I might need you to text me that spell,” Sloane hissed. “Right now!”

  “Oh, it’s him,” Loch growled, stalking toward the boy. “I owe you a beating of mass-panic-inducing levels, little one.”

  “Hey! What’s wrong? Who is Loch threatening?” Milo cried.

  “Our Silenced friend is here and he’s—” Sloane gasped as Loch was suddenly thrown through the window, naked and clutching his pants as his body shattered the glass and vanished from sight. “Loch!”

  Whirling around to face the Silenced boy, Sloane tried to put up a shield, but he was too slow. The same energy that pushed Loch out the window came back and struck Sloane right in his chest.

  He could see flashes of light, white and sterile rooms, needles and pain, oh, the pain was beyond agony. He heard a voice, the echo of an urgent whisper:

  Alexander… it’s all right… I’m here….

  It was all gone in a blink, and Sloane’s stomach dropped as he realized he was falling out of the window and down onto the street. “Oh fu—!”

  Chapter 6.

  “—UUUCCCK!” SLOANE was falling, twisting his body around and trying to brace himself. The alley between his apartment building and the next held nothing but an old dumpster and certain death from being splattered on the pavement.

  “Sloane!” Loch shouted, his tentacles shooting out and catching him. He cradled him close. “Are you okay?”

  “Fine, oh, just fine!” Sloane clung to Loch’s neck, still stupidly grasping his phone for dear life. “Oh shit! Loch! That guy is up there with—”

  “Ah, ffffffuck!”

  Jerking his head up, Sloane saw the Silenced boy come flying out the same window he and Loch had fallen through. He smacked against the adjacent building, but he didn’t fall. He floated there, suspended in the air and glaring furiously.

  A giant mass of yellow tentacles came thrusting out of the busted window, clawing and swiping at him.

  “Mother!” Loch scolded. “You’re not supposed to abandon your vessel here! Get back in that body right now!”

  Urilith roared, an inhuman and terrifying sound, her tentacles writhing.

  “I don’t care!” Loch fussed. “If I can’t abandon my vessel, then you can’t either! I swear, who’s the parent here?”

  “Alexander!” Sloane called up, remembering the name from the vision. “Stop this!”

  Alexander flinched, and his attention was now focused on Sloane and Loch.

  “That’s your name, right?”

  As he descended slowly, Sloane got a glimpse of the strange energy pulsing arou
nd the young man. It was holding him, wrapped around his waist and lowering him down until his feet touched the pavement.

  It almost looked like….

  “My name is not important,” Alexander spat. “All you need to know is that I will stop at nothing to get the mortal. Now, where is he?”

  “How did you find us?” Sloane countered. “A watchman’s spell? Did you tag Loch with one when he grabbed you before?”

  “Mortal. Now.” Alexander’s voice carried a strict warning.

  “No,” Sloane snapped, wiggling out of Loch’s arms. “Is it Xhorlas making you do this? Gronoch?”

  “Last chance.” Alexander strolled toward them.

  “Milo,” Sloane hissed into the phone, “what’s the spell to break the bindings?”

  “Confractus… uh, uh, uh….” Milo was flustered, stammering quickly, “Vinculo! Confractus vinculo!”

  Sloane eyed Alexander, raising his hand and focusing on the edge of a binding symbol he could see peeking out from the edge of his sleeve. He closed his eyes, concentrating, speaking the words inside his mind:

  Confractus vinculo!

  Nothing happened.

  “Milo!” Sloane barked. “It didn’t work!”

  There was a screech of metal as the dumpster lifted up from the ground and came hurtling right at them. Loch grabbed Sloane and threw him out of the way, but it put him right in the path of the dumpster. It crashed into Loch and he went flying down the alley.

  “Loch!” Sloane stumbled against the wall, throwing up a perception spell to see if he could catch the next attack. He could see the waves of energy more clearly now as they writhed around Alexander’s body.

  Wriggling….

  Curling….

  They were tentacles!

  “Holy shit,” Sloane gasped. He quickly summoned a massive shield of starlight. He made it into a wall, blocking off the alley to protect himself and Loch, coming up behind him. He put all of his strength into it, shouting, “Alexander! Stop this now!”

  The invisible tentacles pounded against the shield, ineffective at first, but cracks began to show when Alexander raised his hands to direct them.

  “It’s a god!” Sloane clenched his teeth together as he struggled to maintain the shield. “The soul that’s bound to him—it’s a god!”

  “It can’t be,” Loch whispered in horror, quickly adding his power to keep the shield up. “How?”

  “I don’t know!” Sloane looked all around for his cellphone, spying it a few feet away from where he’d hit the wall. “Loch, can you reach my phone?”

  “Yes!” Loch reached with one of his tentacles, swiping the phone and bringing it back. “Here!”

  “Milo!” Sloane frantically shouted into the speaker. “Are you still there?”

  “I’m here! I’m here, dude!” Milo cried. “What’s wrong?”

  “The spell didn’t work!”

  “Oh, shit! Shit, shit, shitty shit shit!” The line was muffled for a moment, and then Milo cursed, “For fuck’s sake, it’s not my fault your A looks like an O! Okay, Sloane! Listen! It’s confractus vincula! Vin-cooool-ah!”

  Sloane grunted, struggling to concentrate as he ran the spell through his mind once more.

  Alexander was right at the wall, raising his hand and rapping against it. “Knock, knock….” he taunted. “Gonna let me in?”

  Confractus vincula!

  Alexander’s arm snapped back, and he stared in faint surprise at a fresh stream of blood running down his hand.

  It worked!

  Sloane cast the spell again and again, closing his eyes as he concentrated on sensing the binding symbols. He didn’t have to see them now; he could feel each one and focused on breaking them all.

  Alexander screamed in pain, the ghostly tentacles waving around him frantically and pounding against the shield. He had to drop down to one knee, and he snarled from the agony of his skin being torn apart. “This won’t… stop me!”

  “Want some more?” Sloane taunted, flicking his hand to break another symbol.

  “Fuck you!” Alexander seethed. He spat up a mouthful of blood and nearly fell flat on his face. “I can’t… I can’t give up….”

  No more! an angry voice bellowed. You’re killing him!

  “Huh?” Sloane looked all around, but he couldn’t find where it was coming from. “Who is that?”

  “Sloane!” Loch growled. “What’s wrong? Why did you stop?”

  “You don’t hear that?”

  “Huh?” Loch strained to listen. “Sloane, I don’t hear anything!”

  Alexander, the voice soothed, please… we have to go… come on.

  “No!” Alexander cried weakly, coughing up another splatter of blood. “We can’t… he has to tell us….”

  “That!” Sloane huffed.

  I love you too much to watch you die, the voice snarled, and a bright light glowed around Alexander. We must go!

  “Hey, wait!” Sloane shouted. “Alexander—”

  In a flash, the light became totally blinding, and Sloane had to look away. A big rush of turbulent air nearly pushed him over, and Loch hugged him tight to keep him standing. When he looked back, his shield was in pieces and Alexander was gone.

  “Well, fuck,” Sloane snorted.

  “Are you okay?” Loch asked, feeling over Sloane’s body. “Everything’s still in its proper place?”

  “Yes,” Sloane promised, and he kissed his cheek. “I’m okay, really. But what about you? You got thrown out a window, and then he hit you with a freakin’ dumpster!”

  “Hmmph! I’m fine! My magical vitality as a god keeps this body in tip-top shape.”

  “Then why does your arm look like it’s popped out of place?”

  “Oh. Hold on.” Loch grabbed the affected arm and gave it a twist, forcing it back into the socket with a loud crunch. “See? Good as new!”

  “And your pants?”

  “Oh, hmm… seem to have lost those.”

  “Ulgh.” Sloane scrubbed his hands through his hair. “You really didn’t hear that other voice? Not Alexander, but the other one? The one who said he loved him too much?”

  “No?” Loch cocked his head. “I could hear that the Silenced one was talking to someone, but I didn’t hear anything else.”

  “Weird.” Sloane tensed when he heard someone coming around the corner. He relaxed when he saw it was Urilith, back in her human form and rushing up to them.

  “My child!” Urilith was crying. “I’m so sorry! I tried to help, but I was too big to get out of the apartment!”

  “It’s okay, Mother.” Loch embraced her and patted her back. “We have to be careful in this new world. Not many mortals would appreciate our beauty now—”

  “Enough about that! The boy!” Urilith said urgently. “The soul bound to him? I think it’s a god!”

  “So do I!” Sloane agreed. “I could see tentacles. Those waves of energy that he kept hitting us with? They’re these ghost tentacle things!”

  “Where is he now?” she asked worriedly. “What happened? I was trying to get down the stairs to come help you, and I couldn’t even get through the blasted window!”

  “Galgareth and Lynnette found a spell that breaks the soul bindings,” Sloane replied, “but something’s wrong. The god that’s attached to Alexander? I don’t know how to explain it… it’s… I don’t think the god is his slave.”

  “How do you mean?” Urilith gasped. “What god could want to spend eternity bound to some mortal?”

  “I heard this voice, the same one I heard the first time we fought Alexander, and he was pleading for him to stop. Said that he loved him too much to watch him die.” Sloane threw up his hands. “And that’s when they disappeared!”

  “You think the god did this ritual… willingly?” Loch frowned.

  “I don’t know, but it’s obvious he cares about him. Maybe they’re both slaves to the god who put all of this mess together to begin with.”

  “Perhaps we should retire so
mewhere safe?” Urilith glanced up at the broken window. It magically repaired itself as she suggested, “Somewhere that this Silenced boy won’t be able to find us?”

  “Which reminds me.” Sloane held up his hands for a perception spell and scanned over Loch. “I thought maybe he’d put a tracking spell on you, like a watchman’s spell, but there’s… huh, there’s nothing.”

  “How did he find us, then?” Loch grumbled.

  “I don’t know,” Sloane said “but at least we know the binding spell works if he decides to surprise us again.”

  “Have you concluded your mating for the time being?” Urilith asked politely. “I know I interrupted your coitus earlier, but perhaps—”

  “Oh, uh, no! We’re fine! Mating was so good, and we are definitely done for now!” Sloane rambled. “Definitely, absolutely done.”

  “Really?” Loch asked thoughtfully. “Because I could be persuaded to go again….”

  “No!” Sloane argued. “Just let me go upstairs and grab my laptop, and you’re putting pants on. Then we’re going over to Lynnette’s house to regroup.” He approached the bloody spots on the ground where Alexander had been wounded, passing his hands over the drying fluids.

  A few bubbles floated upward, encasing themselves in a thin layer of starlight and dropping into Sloane’s hand.

  “Souvenir?” Loch snorted.

  “More evidence.” Sloane tucked them away into his pocket. “Might come in handy later.”

  Once Sloane retrieved his laptop and made Loch get dressed, they all hustled out to his car to drive back to Lynnette’s. She was more than happy to receive the Goddess of Fertility into her home, and all the gods enjoyed a small family reunion in the living room where Jay was still snoozing.

  “Ah! To have two of my children in my arms again!” Urilith cheered, dragging Loch and Galgareth into a crushing group hug. “I can hardly believe it!”

  “We’ve missed you too!” Galgareth couldn’t stop smiling. “We haven’t all been together like this in ages!”

  “Not since the last winter solstice feast,” Loch remarked. “Hmm, maybe a thousand years ago?”

  “Has it really been that long?” Urilith gasped.