A surge of power flowed through her blood.
Her goddess had heard and responded.
Chapter 45
By the time Asharru had managed to saw through all the ropes, the drug and the knowledge that Tirigan was in danger had stirred her gryphon up into a mix of fiery rage and the need to seek out her mate.
That mate was Tirigan, not Nutesh. Her gryphon knew that with absolute certainty and wanted to kill the other male in the ship’s hold with her.
Asharru reminded her beast that Nutesh was her ally. They needed to keep him alive. He might help them escape.
Besides, you can’t just kill him because he’s not the male you want.
Her gryphon seemed unimpressed with the limitations Asharru was imposing upon her.
Soon, she whispered to the gryphon. Soon, we will be with our Tirigan again.
The gryphon calmed a little at the reminder.
A little, not a lot, but it was enough for Asharru to cut through the last of the rope. She shook loose the remaining cording and then slowly stretched her abused limbs, rubbing at the numbness to restore circulation. Once she could move, she forced herself to go to Nutesh and start cutting through his bindings.
It took a great deal of willpower not to kill the male. But blessedly, sawing through his ropes went much quicker than her own. Two hands and better angles helped. Soon the ropes were falling off his wrists, and she stepped back.
The Anunnaki groaned and worked the blood back into his outer extremities.
“Goddess, sometimes being mortal is not at all wonderful,” he complained as he rolled to his feet.
He was unsteady at first but soon faced the stairs leading up to the next level. He scowled up them. “We’ll have to fight our way free.”
“I’m going to shift to gryphon. I’m faster in that form.” She paused and looked at Nutesh with narrowed eyes. “Are you able to reach Nutesh’s gryphon and get him to shift? If you can, we have a chance of fighting our way to the deck and then flying to safety.
“Yes. I think I can still control that magic. It’s only my own as an Anunnaki that I still can’t touch.” He gave himself a shake. “Be aware though that as soon as we shift, the drug will drive us into a wilder, more instinctive state. If I’m killed or maimed by your gryphon, I won’t be able to help you escape. Save your rage for the enemy.”
“I will. My gryphon knows who is threatening her mate.”
“Good to hear,” Nutesh said with a little chuckle.
“I’m not the only one who wants Ekurzakir’s blood. I prayed to Ishtar, and she answered.”
“I shall keep that in mind.”
Asharru kicked off her sandals and then shed the rest of her clothing until she was standing naked. Out of the corner of her eye, she noted Nutesh doing the same thing.
“Come,” Asharru said, raising her arms wide, calling on both Ishtar and her gryphon’s magic.
Both answered her as she shed her human body to become gryphon. But not just any gryphon. A gryphon of the royal line.
A gryphon who had already received Ishtar’s blessing during a Blooding Ceremony. Now Asharru called upon the Goddess’ battle magic and her rage. Power rushed through her gryphon body. Flexing her claws deep in the wooden boards, Asharru stretched her wings wide and lashed her tail.
“Destroy them all, my Queen and Priestess,” Ishtar whispered into her mind. “Then go save our Tirigan. The traitors to our kingdom have stolen enough from us. They do not get our Blade as well.”
“As my Goddess commands,” Asharru and her gryphon agreed, surging forward up the stairs.
There were two men stationed at the top, but they weren’t expecting her, and each of them only had time to glimpse the flash of her talons and her deadly sharp beak moments before it snapped shut, severing their heads from their bodies.
Asharru didn’t stop or slow, continuing up to the next level. Nutesh followed her, killing others that rushed toward them from different parts of the ship, drawn by the commotion and screams.
Above them, Asharru’s gryphon spotted a square patch of blue sky and the promise of freedom. It was the open hatch at the top of the stairs. Just as they reached it, Ekurzakir appeared and started down. His daughter was beside him.
Ekurzakir’s sword caught the light and flashed brilliantly in the sun, but a fiery power, like a second sun, built within Asharru’s soul.
“Traitor,” she snarled, the word coming out heavy and thick, filled with all the darkness and rage churning in her soul. “Traitor to your people. Traitor to your Queen! Traitor to Ishtar—your creator. Die now and be judged by the Anunnaki!”
Power outlined every feather on Asharru’s body and then it lashed out, blasting a spear of white fire from the center of her chest outward toward Ekurzakir.
Nuannin, seeing death coming for her father, twisted on the stairs and landed a powerful kick to the center of his chest. The spear of power struck Nuannin instead, burning through her, vaporizing tissue, blood, and bone.
Ekurzakir screamed his daughter’s name, but it was already too late. Yet the daughter had managed to save her father. He was lying sprawled half on the deck; his upper body clear of the hatch.
Seeing Asharru coming for him, he scrambled the rest of the way onto the deck.
Asharru emerged quickly after him, but there were too many soldiers between them. Nutesh leaped from the opening to land on the deck beside her, his golden feathers splattered with blood, though none of it looked to be his.
“We need to fly,” he growled out, blood dripping from his beak and coating his front claws.
“Yes,” she agreed, unleashing another wave of power as she and Nutesh leaped into the air. Below them, the ship’s deck blew apart, and enemy soldiers screamed as they died. Asharru might have felt something for the deaths she’d caused, but her gryphon didn’t care about the fate of traitors.
And presently, she was being ruled by her beast.
As she and Nutesh circled the burning ship, Asharru’s gryphon searched for the blood-link she shared with her Blade. She might not have the same power as Tirigan to know his exact location, but her beast could sense in which direction he wasn’t.
She eventually detected a hint of his magic somewhere to the south and west of her location. The way revealed, she winged her way toward her Blade. She wouldn’t stop until she found him.
Then together they would rain death and destruction down upon their enemies and make Ishtar proud.
Perhaps even a few of the Anunnaki would grow fat by the time Asharru rid her kingdom of evildoers and traitors.
But first, she had to find her beloved Blade. Her mate. Her Tirigan.
The End
Asharru and Tirigan’s story continues in The Blade’s Shadow (Coming Soon).
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Blade's Destiny (Ishtar's Legacy Book 3) Page 25
