Vik gaped at him. He had no idea to whom the angel referred.
The deity lost interest in the mortal bearing his features and knelt before the king. He set the sparkling sword he carried on the earth. Vik marvelled over the weapon and thought the blade must be diamond.
The deity glanced up. “Don’t touch it!” he said. “The merest brush of a finger would kill a mortal, even one such as you.”
After this odd warning, his attention reverted to the dying king. He pushed Ugoth back until he lay upon the sloping grass. The azure glow was still bright. Kehfrey’s ward sustained him despite the serrated spear that sagged from his gut. The weight of the weapon had pulled entrails out over broken links of chain mail.
A flash of divine white disintegrated the spear. The angel tucked the intestines in and placed his palm over the wound. A more soothing white played down his arm and into Ugoth.
“Do you see that?” Vehre said. “Herfod’s ward grabbed the white.”
Vik lowered to a knee for a closer view. Spirals of blue circled the angels fingers. Along the spirals, white travelled like water around each azure tendril.
The king’s body arched off the ground, and his eyes snapped opened. He gasped inward and slumped back. He blinked in surprise at the angel. He remained still for several seconds; then a roar of desperation erupted from his throat. The combined auras snapped off at the same instant.
“Get Herfod!”
“What? Another with no respect?” the angel muttered. “What he picks for family and lovers!”
The deity snatched his weapon and rose to his full height. With wings spread wide, he towered over them, and Ugoth stared in belated awe. The angel was magnificent. His plate mail armour shone like gold, the metal decorated here and there with silver scrolling. His eyes were a deep amethyst, his hair silver blue, the edges of his white feathers capped with the same. The tips flashed brightly beneath his divine corona.
“I have come to protect you,” the deity pronounced, “and you will be grateful.”
Only a god could be so ignorant and self-assured. “Go to one of the hells!” Ugoth snarled at the glorious figure. He lurched upright. “Herfod needs you more than I do!”
The angel laughed. “You were in peril, mortal. You had entrails hanging from a hole in your gut. Are you mad not to be thankful for my charity?”
“Get Herfod!” Ugoth said again.
“I will not! He is safe where he is just now.” The angel glowered at him. “You are as difficult as all the gryphon kind.”
“What? What’s that?”
“Never mind.” The angel slammed the wondrous blade in its golden scabbard and turned about. “Follow me. I will lead you out of the shadows.”
“Wait! If you can’t get Herfod, just send some lightning down on that fucking sorcerer!” Ugoth shouted. “Then this will all end at once!”
The angel whirled back. Impatience almost snapped from his amethyst eyes. “You stupid mortal! He can’t be struck! He stands on the Great Mother! The earth takes the blasts for him! Do you think none of us ever tried? Now shut up and follow!”
Once again the angel stepped downward. Ugoth searched out his sword and stomped after the god, cursing beneath his breath. Vehre, gaping the entire while, stumbled down behind. Vik looked at the roiling cloud that lurked above and around them. Even as he watched, the darkness pressed forward, claiming the space as the god’s radiance retreated.
“Angel face!” the angel called. “Get down here now!”
Vik leapt down. “Angel face! That’s a laugh, Vik’s face!”
The angel seemed to think this retort funny and laughed lightly.
“What do you mean about him picking family and lovers?” Vik questioned, catching up to the god. “Are you speaking of Kehfrey?”
The angel glanced at him and frowned. “When did you lose an arm? I missed that somehow.” His frown strengthened. “Fuck my balls into a hell! That healing has my father’s signature! He knows about you!”
Vik refused to boggle over the coarse language coming from the deity’s lips. “Damn it! Answer the question! Did you mean my brother?”
The angel glanced upward, a discomfited expression on his face. Noting the blackness that concealed the sky, he frowned quizzically instead. He almost continued the march downward, but paused to gaze worriedly at Ugoth. “Yes, I spoke of Kehfrey. And his lover. You must be very good,” he said to Ugoth. Once again, he glanced upward as if uneasy, though what a god should have to be anxious over, none of the mortals watching could guess.
Ugoth blushed at the angel’s pronouncement. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’ve already guessed,” the angel replied. Ugoth’s blush waxed brighter. The angel smirked and headed down.
“What is he?” Ugoth demanded. “What is Herfod?”
“Your lover,” the angel retorted, his nervousness apparently dissipated.
“Gods!” Ugoth hissed in frustration. But it was a god to whom he spoke. “You! Angel! Answer me! What is Herfod? He’s just not normal!”
The angel laughed derisively. “He must not be named by us, gryphon king. You risk all our deaths just asking.”
“What?” Vik said. “Kehfrey wouldn’t kill us!”
“Not intentionally. I will not tell who he is. He must speak the name himself. It must not be spoken for him. There is too much power in it.”
Ugoth rounded in front of the deity and refused to move. “Then tell us who he is without the name.”
The angel eyed him thoughtfully. Abruptly he grabbed Ugoth, hauled him into his arms and kissed him. Startled, amazed, Ugoth pushed against the ornate chest plate, but the god’s arms were an implacable set of bars against his back. The immortal was too powerful to fight off. Beneath insistent lips, scorched pleasantly by divine white, Ugoth’s determination started melting. After another few seconds, he shuddered and opened his mouth. The angel took the offering and melted him further. When the kiss ended, Ugoth could only stare, dazed beyond thinking.
“You are pure,” the god whispered. “The purest there has ever been of this line. You must sire another daughter.”
“What?” Ugoth shivered within his arms. “I have four.”
“They don’t have gryphon. I will help you with the next one. I know what is wrong.”
“What are you going on about?” Vik intruded. “And get off Kehfrey’s property!”
The angel fixed him with an annoyed glare. “You think he won’t share?”
“No! Not this one!”
The angel smiled. “Then I’ll have to seduce him too.”
While Vik stared in surprise, Abbot Vehre’s awed silence shattered. He laughed, but it was more a bark of derision. “The angel is a rutting stag!” he blurted and he began to laugh uncontrollably. He caught his breath and managed to speak further. “We give an oath of chastity to a rutting stag!” He guffawed crazily once more.
The angel released Ugoth and glowered at the abbot, but Vehre only chortled louder. The god huffed angrily. He stomped away from them, his immense wings a brilliant cape that flicked a caustic rebuff at the holy man. An inhuman moan sounded higher up the slope. Ugoth remembered their peril and barked a command.
“Come on!” He charged after the god. Vik and the monk ran after him before the darkness swelled in behind.
A few moments later, the angel halted and pointed downward. “There. The shadow halts just feet from us. Go out of it.”
“What about you?” Vik asked.
“I am just as hidden by this murk as you are. I must return while I still can.”
“Hidden?” Ugoth repeated. “Are you not supposed to be here?”
“I go where I please, mortal.” The angel betrayed this arrogant statement with a glance upward, his expression once more apprehensive. He looked down and caught their misgiving stares. “Get on with you!” he insisted.
Mystified, Ugoth attempted to step past, but the angel yanked him in for another embrace. The angel kissed him until he shivere
d and then let him go. Smirking mirth and arrogance, the god backed off. “I couldn’t resist a second.” His handsome grin altered to a warning glare. “Don’t get hurt again!”
“Have you heard of a woman named Nicky?” Ugoth said as he retreated backward down the hill. He didn’t want another kiss. He was confused enough. How could he react like that to another man? He was so fucked.
“She’s the one you coupled with recently, is she not?” the angel asked.
“Yes.” Yes! Not just men! He wasn’t just a roach with a bent for powerful males who could sear his skin with divine fire.
Divine fire?
Vik’s face! Herfod’s fire! It couldn’t be coincidence. This angel had some sort of relation to them. He had to.
The angel interrupted his burgeoning comprehension. “She has a son! I want a daughter!”
“She’s a seeress! She says I will die!” Ugoth shouted.
The angel stiffened in shock. “You mustn’t do that,” he decreed.
Ugoth laughed. “Do you think I’m trying to?” He darted out of the shadows, pulling Vik along behind.
The abbot stared at the god without moving. His grief-induced laughter had faded. “Is my Thali up in heaven?” he demanded of the divine creature.
“Mortal souls rise, but they never stay,” the angel told him. “They always return to get reborn. You’re an odd lot, you mortals. Look for her in another life, human. Now get out of this shadow! I’m about to leave!”
Vehre backed off, staring until he lost sight of him. The shadows rolled shut and became a menacing wall before his face. He blinked at the barrier in astonishment. He could see properly. He was in failing sunlight.
“Brother Vehre!” Samel’s excited voice hailed. The Turamen senior snatched him and dragged him further away from the lethal cloud.
“Brother Samel,” Vehre said numbly. “I saw your angel, and he was a buggering roach. And I lost her! She won’t even be up there waiting for me!” He broke down and sobbed in Samel’s arms. Samel gaped at his bent head and thought he must have gone mad.
***
Keth’s gang surrounded Ugoth and Vik the moment they materialized out of the darkness. Keth clutched Vik’s shoulders and stared like he couldn’t believe he was there. His eyes were red from weeping.
“I’m alive,” Vik said with immense blandness. “Stop staring. I’m real.”
Keth grinned and drew him in for a near-crushing embrace. Vik accepted it with one arm and a stump. Truly, he felt anything but careless over escaping Marun’s shadows. He was grateful to be alive. Life seemed very good again and so did Keth’s strong arms. If the brat monk was cured of yearning after Kehfrey, he might just give him a chance at last. Maybe.
Stupid son of a bitch! He’d never be cured. Damn, but Keth felt good for a sweaty monk in grimy wool. Maybe he’d give him a chance in any case.
From over Keth’s shoulders, Vik watched Ugoth step forward and scan the front. The king’s expression was bleak. Vik pulled away from Keth and looked further off. The enemy army attacked. Ugoth’s combined forces were pressed between Marun’s wall of darkness and the furious battle below.
“Ufrid hasn’t arrived,” the king said flatly.
“Majesty,” Keth called. “Samel said Brother Herfod’s ward wouldn’t fail you. He insisted we wait for your emergence.”
“There are ghouls back there,” Ugoth told him. “How strong is the ward behind us?”
“The strongest we can manage. It will be stronger now that we have Vehre back. Gods! How did he survive?”
“Herfod put a moving ward over him as well.”
Keth pulled straighter in surprise. “Did he? Oh.”
“Not that way!” Ugoth snarled. “He did it when he gave him the major blessing.”
“Oh!” Keth said, comprehending rightly. “In any case, you must move down to the centre of the army. We can’t risk you up here. Go down with Vik.”
“Keth!” Vik said urgently. “If the shadows break the ward down, grab Vehre! Do you understand? You’ll die if not! Tell the others.”
Keth nodded solemnly. “Take the king down past the second ward.”
“I will.” Vik turned to Ugoth. The king gazed up at the looming darkness.
“Herfod’s not with him,” Ugoth said.
“No,” Vik agreed. “Marun can’t use him in this much shadow. He’s up there alone.”
Ugoth peered across the field of Stohar and Winfellan soldiers. Herfod wasn’t with Marun. He was somewhere beyond the milling expanse of enemy bodies. That alone gave Ugoth a measure of hope.
“I told you he wouldn’t kill you,” Vik said.
“Then what does?” Ugoth demanded. He stepped down the hill toward the next ward. Monks urged them forward with animated waves of their arms.
“There’s an entire army trying, Ugoth. Perhaps Nicky got it wrong this time,” Vik suggested.
“Has she before?”
“She told Kehfrey that the future wasn’t fixed.”
“And so he told me, but all my children die and I’m not there at the funeral, nor is Herfod. She saw that clearly. What could explain such a thing?”
“The angel whisks you off somewhere to father daughters on a harem of women while he seduces Kehfrey!” Vik snapped. “I don’t know! Nicky didn’t see that god either!” He stopped walking suddenly. “Oh!” he gasped.
Ugoth halted. “What?”
“Oh!” Vik cried again. “She said it herself!”
“She said what herself?”
“And she didn’t know at all!” Vik gaped into the distance without seeing. “It was pure coincidence!”
“Vik!” Ugoth barked.
Vik looked at him, pale eyes wide and filled with wonder. “I went to her, Ugoth! The day Kehfrey learned she was in Durgven, I went to learn why she’d ripped his heart open like that.”
“And?”
“I asked her what she saw in Kehfrey. I mean; he’s short, Ugoth! Short men usually have smaller—”
“I know what they usually have! What has this to do with what Nicky saw about my children?”
“Nothing!” Vik cried.
“Nothing?” Ugoth stared at Vik. One corner of his lips quivered up in sardonic rejection. “Nothing,” he repeated. He continued toward the anxious line of monks.
“Nicky likes tall men, Ugoth!” Vik cried. Ugoth heard him thumping to catch up. “Ugoth! She couldn’t resist Kehfrey!”
“His penis is bigger than mine, for gods sakes!” Ugoth snarled. “Shut up!”
“No! Ugoth! It’s not about penises. She hadn’t seen his since he was a child. He wasn’t fully developed then. How could she know how he’d turn out. You saw how slight he was when he was fifteen. Well, except for that!”
Ugoth continued downward determinedly. This subject wasn’t helping his state of mind. Of all the people to speak of, the two he wanted most in the entire world! He cursed angrily.
Put off by the snarled imprecation, Vik’s tongue worked a moment without a word escaping. At last he managed a cry of frustration. “You don’t understand!”
Ugoth halted again. “So tell me!” he said. “What are you trying to say?”
“She said he was a god, Ugoth! She said he was a god. She couldn’t resist him because that was how she saw him.”
Ugoth stared at him. He stared and he stared. The coincidence of Vik’s striking similarity to the angel paled before this suggestion. Ugoth felt as if the ground had just fallen out from beneath his feet, or perhaps the sky had picked him up and tossed him into space. Vik was still babbling at him. Ugoth barely heard the noise coming from his mouth.
Tyrunath. His family name meant gryphon’s get. The angel had said he was pure. There was gryphon in his heritage. It wasn’t a myth. It was real!
His glazed regard fixed on the face of the agitated man before him. And what if angel heritage were real? What if Vik carried divine blood? What if Herfod did?
But not even this explained the immensity of H
erfod’s power, unless he was more than he appeared, more than a man possessed of a divine bloodline. Nicky, the seeress, had inadvertently named him a god.
“She didn’t even know she was right!” Vik cried. “She just couldn’t resist him! Ugoth! She said it without knowing at all! And Kehfrey has no idea! His mind is gone! And the angel knows! Only he says he can’t risk saying his name! Oh!” Vik grabbed Ugoth and shook him. His stump came up in a motion mimicking his right arm; he was too excited to notice. “And Kehfrey told me a symbol kept appearing when he danced outside of the city. Keth saw it and told him. A symbol! It must have been his name! Ugoth! He almost freed himself from the darkness between death!”
“Death!” Ugoth whispered.
Vik at last perceived that he was practically gibbering. “Ugoth!” he said. “Kehfrey is a god!”
“I heard you! Oh, gods! What the hells is going on?”
“I don’t know. And neither does Kehfrey. But that angel seems to.”
“Vik!” Ugoth hissed. “Say nothing! Do you hear me! Say nothing to Herfod!”
“What? Why not?”
“Because he’s not ready! Even the angel is afraid to awaken him. Vik! He can hurt the angel! The angel as much as admitted it. And Herfod told us some of the gods aren’t too happy to hear from him when he prays. Think, man! He is safer in this darkness that death gave him. So long as he’s there, they can’t quite spot him.”
“The angel spotted him,” Vik pointed out.
Ugoth provided a plausible reason. “The angel has something to do with your family, Vik. You can’t deny any longer that you have the face of an angel, because you do. For all we know, the one we met is your cousin or ….” Or what? Ugoth really didn’t know. Were Vik and Kehfrey secretly the angel’s bastards?
“I refuse to consider it,” Vik said. “That angel was an ass thief! I am in no way related to a divine ass thief.”
Ugoth glowered at the stubborn man. “That angel has some sort of blood relation with you and Herfod, Vik. He does! And he may have something to do with Herfod’s rebirth as a mortal.”
“Gods!” Vik whispered. He blinked at his own curse. “But which god is he? Shit! Kehfrey’s read more of the myths concerning divinity than I have. How am I to ask him who he was before he died? I mean died the last time, before the first time … I mean—”
Bound in Stone 3 Page 42
