"The old me?" Merlin asked. "You've told me the story a hundred times."
"Your ears might have heard me say it, but these lips have never told it, honey. And I'll look forward to it."
"So what are we doing here, exactly?" Cleo asked.
"Some momma and son banter, that's all," I said.
"No," Cleo said. "Not that. I mean here, here..."
"Well, that's a question," I said.
"That's why I asked it," Cleo said, scratching her head.
"Mom," Merlin said. "You're not in Dixie land anymore. Chill out."
I snorted. Did my slightly-older-than-me son really tell me to chill out? I wanted to put him in time out. Not sure how that works with a time-traveling wizard, though. Probably not much of a punishment if he could just gate himself out of it and come back when time out was over. Besides, it probably wasn't as effective a disciplinary measure for a mid-twenties child as it would be for a younger one.
I huffed. "But Cleo has a valid question. Why are we here? And what was King Conand up to?"
"What Marie Laveau and the ghost of Julie Brown told you, mom, is correct."
I raised my eyebrow. "And you know what she told me because... I suppose I've told that story to you a few dozen times, too?"
"At least," Merlin said, smiling. "There is someone else manipulating the king."
"Who is it?" I asked. "I mean, if I told you this story, surely you know."
Merlin shook his head. "You always referred to him as 'he who must not be named.'"
I stared back at Merlin incredulously. "Lord Voldemort?"
Merlin snorted. "I don't think so. I mean, those are just stories."
"Most people would say the same thing about you, you know," I said.
Merlin rolled his eyes. "Trust me. I know. That version of me from The Sword and the Stone... so weird."
I laughed. "The older version of you is actually a little goofier if you want God's honest truth."
Merlin smiled. "So you've said."
"This doesn't make sense," I said. "Why wouldn't I tell you who it was? I mean, if I insisted you come back here, wouldn't it be easier if I told you to tell me the truth?"
Merlin shrugged. "Maybe if you knew who it was, you wouldn't do what you knew you had to do."
I shook my head. I couldn't think, for the life of me, why that would be the case. I mean, I'd faced a caplata before. That's just the word for a female bokor. And Marie and the ghost of Julie were pretty convinced a bokor or caplata of some kind was involved. But Merlin did say I referred to whoever was threatening the king as he who must not be named... so bokor was most likely the proper term.
I bit my lip. "And King Conand didn't tell you who it was?"
Merlin shrugged. "I don't think he actually knows who it is."
"But do we know what this bokor has over him?" I asked.
Someone cleared their throat. I looked up, and Balor was looking straight at me.
"Yes, Balor?"
"Miss Joni," Balor said. "Me think there something you should know."
"What's that?" I asked.
"The future king did not send you here only to escape. He said we needed the Wyrmriders to save us here, too. That you need to save Fomoria twice."
"What threat are you facing, Your Highness?" Agwe asked.
"The same as your Fomoria," Balor said.
I narrowed my eyes. "The voidbringer is here, too?"
"Not yet," Balor said. "But the one you call the bokor is. Whoever he might be. Your Fomoria was founded by these Fomorians. If we are all destroyed..."
"Then we'd never exist at all," Cleo said, finishing Balor's thought.
Balor nodded and snorted.
"And how do you know that the bokor is here?" I asked.
"Because Miss Joni," Balor said. "The bokor came with the future king."
I cocked my head. "King Conand brought the bokor with him? Why?"
Balor narrowed his only eye. "He had no choice. The one you call the bokor came from inside of him."
28
"THE KING IS possessed?" I asked.
"It makes sense," Agwe said. "Too much sense, really. It certainly explains his... paranoia."
"And you couldn't sense it?" I asked.
Agwe shook his head. "I am not omnipotent, Joni."
"If this bokor possessed the king," Merlin interjected. "We're not talking about a man at all, are we?"
"It is highly unlikely," Agwe said as he floated back in forth through the water. "In fact, I think Balor might be mistaken. What we're dealing with isn't a bokor, not exactly. Not that the spirit of a human cannot possess the living. This is possible. Rare, but not unheard of. Still, if it were merely a human spirit that possessed the king, it would not pose such a threat if it left him here in the past."
I bit my lip. "I think I know why I referred to it as one who must not be named... I mean, why I will when I tell Merlin this story."
"It's a Loa," Tahlia piped up. "It's not a bokor at all. It's a Loa."
I nodded. "That's my fear."
"Not necessarily a Loa," Agwe said. "I am a Rada Loa. There are Petro Loa, those who've been born in the New World. And there are the Ghede. But these families, these nations of Loa, we are all extensions of the will of Bondye."
"And Bondye is like what, the god of gods?" I asked.
Agwe nodded. "Bondye is the prime source, the ultimate principle of the universe. He is existence itself. Whatever King Conand brought here, it is not a part of Bondye. If it is interested in destruction, in the opposite... if it were a Loa, it would be against everything we were created to stand for. It would be an abomination of the worst sort."
I bit my cheek. "Julie Brown, the ghost in the swamp. She said that there are bokors who intend to unmake the world itself so they can remake it and gain power."
"What if this entity," Merlin added, "isn't an ancient god at all. What if he's something new. Something created by the bokors in order to carry out their purpose of destruction?"
"Basically, the voidbringer personified?" I asked.
"If you could call it a person," Merlin retorted. "Since it apparently possessed King Conand."
"And if it possessed the king," Tahlia said. "How do we know that whatever this thing is isn't possessing anyone else?"
Merlin shrugged. "We can't know that for sure. Especially since we don't know exactly what we're dealing with."
I sighed. "That might not be true. If this thing was made of magic, if some kind of magic sustains it, I should be able to sense it, even siphon it."
"But mom," Merlin said. "If you do that, if you siphon this thing..."
"I know," I said. "It will possess me. But what choice do we have? If I get possessed by whatever this thing is, you all can exorcise it, right?"
Agwe and Merlin exchanged concerned glances. "Technically, yes," Agwe said.
"But I don't like it," Merlin said. "You know as much as anyone, mom... whatever you siphon, if you don't know what you're doing, it can change you."
I shrugged. "Well, you've said it yourself. The future me has told you stories. That means, whatever happens, I must make it through alright."
Merlin shook his head. "The fact that you've refused to name whatever this thing was... I don't know... maybe you wouldn't say his name because it was too traumatic. Whatever you did..."
I took Merlin's hand in mine. "If that was the case, wouldn't I be telling you everything I could to convince you not to allow me to attempt this?"
Merlin pressed his lips together. "We don't even know for sure that this is the kind of thing we're facing."
I shrugged. "Maybe not. But whatever was possessing King Conand... I don't know about anyone else... but I'd much rather face some kind of baby god, something made by bokors, than one of the ancient ones."
Agwe took a deep breath. "The problem with young gods, or new spiritual entities, is that they're unpredictable. They're dangerous precisely because they are new. They lack perspective or foresight.
Only the drive to do what they were made for. When you're new, you lack restraint."
"And when you were new?" I asked.
Agwe huffed. "You don't want to know."
"When were you made, exactly?" Tahlia asked.
"We Rada are some of the first gods ever known... your Christian bible refers to the sons of God who came and laid with the daughters of men."
"That would be in the sixth chapter of Genesis," Merlin said.
Agwe nodded. "I'll just say I was still rather new at that point. And given to rule the sea... well... you've heard of Noah and the flood, right?"
I bit my lip. "You caused the great flood?"
Agwe shrugged. "Like I said... when a deity is new... it knows only the drive to do whatever it was made to do."
"And if the bokors made this thing," I said. "If they made it to destroy..."
"We're in uncharted territory. Whatever they made couldn't have been made from the material world. They must've attempted to birth this deity from the void itself."
I know what it is...
It was Nammu speaking. I heard her. Apparently, Merlin could, too. After all, he was once a dragon. I didn't expect he'd still have a dragon's essence in him... but he must've had enough to hear her. And Tahlia could hear her, too. We turned and looked.
"What is it, Nammu?" I asked.
Spawn of the voidbringer... a son of the anti-god...
"First thing's first," I said. "We have to find this thing before we can even begin to figure out how I can siphon it out of someone."
"Can you sense it here?" Merlin asked.
I shook my head. "Too many magical creatures all crowded into this place. Not to mention, this ancient version of a Fomorian city has plenty of its own magic. Finding this thing is going to be difficult."
"Maybe not as hard as you'd think," Agwe said. "As I said before, new gods can't help but act. Suppose this thing is some kind of spawn of the voidbringer, one that apparently likes to incarnate itself through possession. In that case, it will stand to reason whoever it possesses might be exhibiting destructive characteristics."
"But did Conand exhibit destructive traits when he was possessed?" I asked.
Agwe shrugged. "Well, apparently, he couldn't help but open the void itself."
"True," I said. "But he also gave us this chance, brought us here so we'd have a chance to stop it."
"So if this is the theory we're running with," Tahlia interjected, "we aren't saying the bokors had anything on Agwe at all?"
I shrugged. "Unless the fact that he was possessed by this thing was what they had on him."
"Typically," Agwe said. "If someone, human or mer, is possessed, the entity responsible will gradually gain more control over time."
"Well, time really isn't an issue, right?"
"Time is never an issue," Merlin smiled. "For me, at least."
I snorted. "So, we can't go back through the portal we took to get here. But we have a gatekeeper, my darling son."
"Mom, stop."
"Am I embarrassing you?" I smirked.
"No," Merlin said. "But isn't it a little weird? I mean, our timelines are different. In your timeline, I'm still a baby."
I shrugged. "Whatever. You'll always be my baby."
Merlin groaned.
I giggled a little. I didn't know how long I'd have to go without seeing him after this whole ordeal was over... if it was ever over... so I wanted to get the most mothering in now that I possibly could.
"Here's what I'm thinking," I continued. "My son will take us back to the present only outside of the city so we can stop the voidbringer."
"But you must still stop whatever it is that threatens us here," Balor said.
"Of course," I said. "Which is why we aren't in a rush. If this whatever it is, this voidbringer spawn, is possessing someone. If it's bound to get a greater hold on its host over time... then we wait."
"That's your plan?" Tahlia asked. "Sit on our thumbs and wait for the spawn of nothingness to start devouring existence?"
"Basically," I said. "That pretty much sums it up. I can't sense it. Not yet, anyway. Maybe that will change as it grows. Hopefully, it doesn't devour too much before that."
"So what do we do in the meantime?" Cleo asked. "Since we're basically stuck here."
I smiled wide. "We train. We become the Fomorian Wyrmriders."
"Even me?" Tahlia asked.
"Honey," I said. "I don't discriminate. You're as much Fomorian as the rest of us. In my book, children by adoption are as much a part of the family as children by birth. And if King Conand ever wants anything from us, he's gonna have to take all of us."
29
MERLIN RODE ENKI most of the time. The two had something of a connection. All that time, I suppose, when Merlin came to teach baby Enki how to make gates.
Cleo rode with me on Nammu.
Agwe and Tahlia rode the other two as they had from the start.
This wasn't the same Fomoria. Not at all like the merkingdom off the gulf coast. This Fomoria was the original Fomoria. If there's Old England and New England, Orleans and New Orleans, and the like, then this was Old Fomoria.
From what I understood, the ancient Fomorians, at some point later than the period in which we currently were, decided to spread around the globe. In turn, this same species inspired myths and legends of merfolk and other similar creatures around the world.
We were at King Balor's behest. Sure, it was a temporary arrangement. Once we figured out who baby voidbringer was possessing, we'd get back on mission.
Call it the prime directive.
Star Trek geeks: calm down.
In the meantime, we defeated a Kraken. It was threatening the ancient city. A nasty beast and, despite living underwater, had the worst breath you'd ever imagine. A steady diet of whales without flossing will do that to even the nastiest creature.
Apparently, the head of a Fomorian was quite the proof of one's manhood for the humans. We stopped more than one fleet of aspiring young warriors seeking exactly that.
More often than not, I rode Nammu. Sometimes Enki, if Merlin was off doing other things. It just depended on the mission. Nammu was protective of her baby, and I was typically leading the charge. But Enki was faster. If our strategy demanded more agility than brute force, Enki was my wyrm.
Merlin came and went. But most of the time, he was with us. He'd disappear for a day at a time, usually leaving to attend to other matters across the fabrics of space and time. You know, gatekeeper business. But he always came back.
Days turned to weeks. Weeks to months. I can't begin to say how much I appreciated that time with my son. Sure, it wasn't what I envisioned would happen this soon after he'd been born. I mean, he didn't nurse at all..., and I didn't change his poopie pants a single time. So I guess, all things considered, it could have been worse.
More than anything, I enjoyed getting to know my son. Before, when I'd met the future much older version of him, he'd seemed little more than a quirky, eccentric, but powerful and wise man. Now, I was getting a chance to see him in his prime. Still wise. A little quirky, perhaps—but who could blame him for that given his parents. More importantly, he was kind-hearted. He was gentle. My heart soared when I saw how he played with the mer children or how he worked with Enki. He was patient. I don't think I saw him raise his voice a single time in all the weeks we were together.
Adventure. Time with my son. Thousands of years removed from all my anxieties...
Sort of...
The voidbringer spawn could show himself at any time. Whenever I swam through ancient Fomoria, gathering food for meals and greeting the people, I couldn't help but wonder if whoever I was talking to might be the one possessed.
Yes, at first, we came to call the thing the "voidbringer spawn." Why? Well, I don't know. It just sort of stuck.
Plus, calling something a "spawn" has evil connotations. People refer to the "spawn of Satan," for instance. Still, I've never heard anyone speak of the spaw
n of anything good or wholesome. Sure, technically, Merlin was the spawn of me. But we don't talk that way. It's rude.
And we didn't mind our manners when it came to newly made demigods who had a singular purpose of wiping out all that exists. Call me crazy, but I don't think I owe such things an ounce of courtesy or charm.
And for the most part, the saying, "out of sight, out of mind," held true. The more accustomed I got to leading the Wyrmriders, the more missions we went on for Balor, the more I started to think of this ancient place as my home. The less I really thought about the looming doomsday that was bound to come.
I mean, if we didn't stop the voidbringer spawn here, I'd never be born. I was half Fomorian, after all. And if I was never born, then I wouldn't even be here to worry about it. So long as I wasn't thinking about the voidbringer spawn and didn't see any evidence of its whereabouts, I was reasonably confident we were on track.
None of the missions the Wyrmriders completed for Balor were particularly difficult. The Kraken was nothing compared to four Wyrmriders. And most of the humans who came looking for Fomorians wet their pants and turned their boats right around at first sight of one of us.
They didn't have sea beacons. Not like New Fomoria. They didn't have a sophisticated way of tracking magic around Britain's coast. Probably wouldn't do much good, anyway. The whole place, in those days, was steeped in magic. Even if we had Conand's beacon system, chances were there'd be so much magical interference it wouldn't do much good.
Instead, regular patrols were required.
Since the wyrm could do it in a fraction of the time as a regular Fomorian troop, we volunteered most days. Not to mention, it gave us a chance to go for a swim. The thing about the wyrm, they're not used to being held up in little cities. They were technically creatures of the void. While I wasn't sure how that worked, I was pretty sure, absent of anything that exists, they pretty much had free roam of whatever sort of nonexistence they were accustomed to.
Typically, before a patrol, we'd each spend a little time with our respective wyrm. All of them, in truth, required my presence. Sure, Agwe, Tahlia, and even Cleo had managed to each ride a wyrm here on their own. But coordinating movements, helping the wyrm stay focused in case a tasty looking whale swam by, or pretty much anything else required my presence. They were all tapped into my dragon-like essence.
Gates of Eden: Starter Library Page 44
