“Still, it isn’t going to be easy sneaking in and switching samples.” Lillian pursed her lips as she was prone to doing when she was planning. He found it an endearing trait and merely let the conversation flow around him. They’d eventually come to the same conclusion he already had.
Reaching out with a tendril of magic, he sought the other two gargoyles in this realm. The first he brushed against was a bright, young magic, flashes of excitement and curiosity bleeding across the link. Shadowlight, then. Lillian’s newly discovered younger brother. The sense of happiness and willingness increased when the other realized it was Gregory.
“Sorry, young one. It is your father I need.”
With a mental acknowledgment, Shadowlight vanished from Gregory’s thoughts to be replaced by the more disciplined mind of Stalks the Darkness.
“Avatar, how may I be of assistance?”
“We have learned the humans plan to study the blood of all the townsfolk, hunting for differences which will allow them to track the magic users.”
There was mental silence followed by a hesitant, “You wish for me to seek out the humans behind the threat and deal with them before they can unearth something you would prefer remained hidden?”
Gregory missed working with others of his kind. Life was so much easier viewed through a gargoyle’s viewpoint. Innocents were protected. Threats were dispatched. Evil wasn’t tolerated. Life was good.
Gregory sighed deeply. “Alas, no. This is not our realm, and so we must abide by the Clan and Coven’s wishes in this. At present, they are a touch divided, but it looks like they will allow the samples to be taken to offset suspicion and later we’ll replace those same samples with human blood they have collected from other sources.”
“I see,” Darkness said and then launched into his own report. “The leshii, Greenborrow, warns of another development. Several of our patrols have found human soldiers among the Riven dead. Those already infected by the Riven were dispatched. Those deemed uninfected have been taken to the healers to have their wounds treated and their memories wiped.” Darkness paused before continuing, “I have more disturbing news. When last I spoke with Greenborrow, he was looking for the fae leader, Whitethorn and a sprite by the name of Goswin. I believe I may have found what became of them. During the last leg of my patrol, I caught the scent of Whitethorn. I followed it and came upon a large group of humans in a meadow. They were studying the area. By the smell of blood and the gore splattered around the meadow, a vicious battle had been waged there. There were no bodies present. Either other members of the Clan had been there before me and started cleanup but had been interrupted before they could finish, or they hadn’t been there yet, and the humans had already removed the bodies.”
“Can you tell if Whitethorn and Goswin survived the battle?”
“No, not after the humans had trampled all over everything.”
There was another pause, and Gregory sensed the older gargoyle was talking with his son. “I’m sending Shadowlight on ahead to meet up with Greenborrow. I don’t want my son near these humans.”
“Agreed,” Gregory said, belatedly feeling a little uneasy for allowing the gargoyle child out in the field at all. “The leshii can watch over Shadowlight. Once he’s safe, return to the cottage as soon as you’re able. By then, the Coven should have collected all the human blood they will need. In the meantime, I’ll see what I can learn.”
Gregory released the other gargoyle’s mind and returned to his body, becoming aware of the stone cottage and the warm, homey smells of the kitchen.
The other conversation had run its course. Lillian, Gran, and Jason all watched him with silent patience. He touched Lillian’s mind.
Ah, they’d come to the same conclusion as he had earlier.
“I’ve spoken with Darkness, and he will aid us in sneaking into the humans’ domain when it’s time. However, we have a new development. Greenborrow and Darkness have found human soldiers, some wounded and others infected by the Riven. Darkness also reports he found signs of Whitethorn and Goswin.” Gregory flared out his wings, stretching and limbering up tense muscles. “It looks like they may have been found by the humans. We have no way of knowing their condition until I’ve had a chance to investigate.”
Stepping into his path, Gran blocked him as he made for the back door. “You and Lillian will need to be here when the humans come. I can’t imagine we will be last on their list, more likely among the first wave. Whitethorn and Goswin will have to wait for their rescue until the rest of the Clan and Coven are safe.” Gran frowned unhappily. Though he didn’t know if it was because she hated to make her friends wait, or if she doubted they were alive.
Gran braced one hand on her hip while the fingers of the other hand drummed out a rhythm on her thigh. “You’ll have to be human when they come and be docile while they take your blood.” Gran looked thoughtful and added, “At least it’s a mostly human looking red. Can you spell it to look identical to human blood?”
“Easily,” he rumbled as he stepped around her. “Do not fear. I will be on my best behavior.”
He chuckled at Gran’s disbelieving look and then turned to Lillian.
Her expression showed determination. “Tonight, after we’ve switched out the blood samples, we’ll look for Whitethorn and Goswin. Obviously, we’ll have to hunt up whatever other evidence the humans have found and destroy it.”
“Yes.”
He knew what Lillian hadn’t said. They would reclaim the bodies of Whitethorn and the sprite if they hadn’t escaped the battle alive. Which, he was coming to think, was very likely.
Whitethorn was powerful and old. If he lived, he would have found a way to communicate with them or escape. That he hadn’t done either meant he was likely already dead.
Chapter 3
SHADOWLIGHT BOUNDED down the path, the afternoon shadows already growing long behind him. He was alone for the first time in his life and found the experience exciting and a little lonely. Though he was proud his father had given him a mission. He was supposed to join Greenborrow while his parents prepared to aid Gregory and Lillian.
When he’d first learned his sister and her guardian needed help, he’d wanted to go with them. Infiltrating the humans’ territory and switching samples had sounded fun, and it would have given him the opportunity to practice his invisibility weaving. However, he also liked the leshii, making his present assignment tolerable.
There would be time to sneak up on mortals later. He had an important job to do by helping Greenborrow determine if other members of the fae were missing and how many. He really was on his way to do that. He just happened also to be finishing the patrol his parents had started. He’d watched as they had cleaned the sites they’d found. He’d even helped at the last two, so he knew he was more than capable if he should run into a battle site in need of cleaning.
It didn’t make sense to him why all the fae viewed the humans the way they did, not when they had other creatures to fear. Hmmm, he was young and had never met a human in person. Perhaps it wasn’t right to judge.
Shadowlight turned down a new game trail, and the scent of Riven and old battle hit him full across all his senses. He skidded to a halt, scenting the air, seeking the direction of the highest concentration. Ah. There. To the left of the track he was presently following. He took his time studying the immediate area for dangers and ambushes. His mother’s hamadryad had shown him a great many survival skills while he gestated inside her. He saw no reason not to trust to her teachings.
Even with his concealment magic shrouding him from view, he prowled along on all fours, making as little noise as possible. When he’d taken in the scene thoroughly, he studied it a few moments more to be sure.
Scattered across the ground, like boulders left by a retreating glacier, several broken bodies of human and Riven origin lay in a haphazard circle around the base of a balsam fir. Even the evergreen’s pungent fragrance couldn’t hide the breath-stealing scent of violent death and th
e stomach-souring stench of Riven taint.
The stench burned his nose, tongue, and throat, but he ignored those senses and focused on others as he eased into the immediate area. He called his magic and rid the earth of the demon-tainted corpses first, and then the human bodies next. He added a prayer to speed their souls into the next life.
He noted some of the humans had died from mortal wounds inflicted by the attacking Riven, while others showed apparent signs of Riven infection. The sharp fangs and claws were some of the earliest signs of contamination. Interestingly, a few of the humans must have swiftly come to understand what their companions were turning into and ended them before the change made them harder to kill.
He continued to cleanse the land, following a trail of broken underbrush and trampled greenery.
Here, there were fresher signs. He came upon another Riven body where it had crawled away from the battle. He glanced at the signs on the ground again. No, it hadn’t been crawling away, it had been creeping in pursuit of something else. A second blood trail led away from the battle.
The Riven, its mad hunger driving it ever onward, had managed to crawl quite a distance with only one leg. The other looked to have been sheared off by one of the human weapons his sister had warned him about. During last night’s battle with the Riven, he’d heard the terrible noise the guns made, and he’d already seen the damage many times while he aided his parents purifying the forest. But that hadn’t been what killed the Riven.
Shadowlight glanced down at the body once more before summoning magic to dispose of it. Had this one not been driven to continue the hunt for its prey, it might have survived the night.
But judging by how the head had been severed from its neck, he guessed its intended ‘prey’ had gotten tired of being hunted and had set an ambush for the Riven. He continued his search with more caution than earlier. This battle’s participants might not all be as dead as he’d first thought. Easing into deeper shadows, he continued his hunt. When he reached the blood trail’s end, he found two more Riven and a human soldier. The human lay propped against an old giant of a tree, his body wedged between two of its massive roots.
Braced against the soldier’s drawn up legs, the long metal device, which he’d learned was what made the fierce sounds and tore the flesh of its victims to shreds by using many tiny projectiles, lay dormant.
Of the two Riven, one was still alive, but impaled on a trap. The other one to the left side of the soldier was dead. Its body torn with ragged tears. This one had also been decapitated, and not with the swift, clean stroke of a sword. It looked more like it had been hacked at repeatedly with a smaller blade. The wounds spoke of desperation, or perhaps the last fierce strength of one knowing his own end was at hand but was determined to take another of the enemy with him.
Surprise and respect stirred in Shadowlight’s heart. Here was one of Light’s champions, found among the humans, but a hero all the same. The human’s heart still beat, as weak and labored as his breathing, but it would not for much longer, not with the wounds he had suffered.
And the soldier had also sustained several Riven bites, and their taint was already infiltrating his body. He would grant the soldier a merciful death once he’d dealt with the other remaining Riven.
This Riven squirmed and thrashed as it tried to free itself from where it was impaled on a broken sapling. Clever human to have set the trap and used himself as bait.
Even with the terrible wounds, including one which had taken most of one arm, the Riven continued its slow, painful struggle toward the human.
Shadowlight didn’t know what it planned to do once it reached its destination. It wasn’t as if the human could become anymore tainted. One of his father’s memories surfaced and slid along his consciousness. Ah, that was the Riven’s plan. The demon soul within had concluded its host body was too damaged to repair and the human only a few strides away was a better option to act as host until another was found. Together the old Riven spirit and the new one developing within the human’s soul would find a place to hide for a time, and then start infecting others to rebuild their numbers.
Shadowlight growled softly and released his concealment spell, wanting the Riven to know what was going to send it back to the dark. When the beast became aware of something other than its human target, the Riven glanced up at Shadowlight, flashing its fangs in a mix of surprise and defiance.
Shadowlight unleashed a lance of destroying shadow magic and sent it cascading deep into the heart of the misbegotten beast. The Riven opened its mouth wide in a silent scream and then blew apart into a hundred thousand wisps of shadow and light. With its destruction, the forest around Shadowlight already felt cleaner. He turned his attention to the human-killed Riven next, vanishing its taint with the same purifying spell.
He scanned the immediate area looking for other Riven but sensed only the taint of their spilled blood. He went to work on that, wanting to postpone the other grisly task for a few moments more.
“Enemy of my enemy is my friend. Or some shit like that,” a voice gasped close at hand. Shadowlight swung his attention back to where the soldier lay. He’d thought the soldier was unconscious, but he was wrong. A set of dark brown eyes studied him under thick dark lashes.
“Do a girl a favor and do to me what you just did to those things.” She coughed and then gasped in pain.
Shadowlight paced closer until he was almost on top of the soldier. This close he could scent the soldier’s female essence over all the blood, gore, and taint. Not a male like he’d first thought.
“Don’t know what you are,” she choked out, and then dragged the back of her hand across her bloody lips, “and don’t really care as long as you kill me before I turn into one of those evil bastards. I can feel it growing inside. But it fears you.”
Curious, Shadowlight hunched down next to the human.
She studied him in turn, her gaze lacking fear. His mother’s memories showed that for some, when death came for them, it was a relief and they did not fear the end. While others cried and begged and pleaded, fighting against what came next until their last breath.
“I am a gargoyle,” he said into the silence.
“Gargoyle, eh?” She seemed to think his words over for a moment. “Well, Gargoyle, since you’re no friend of those things...”
“Riven,” he supplied and then added, “They serve the endless void, not the Light.”
“Riven. Suits them. Can I count on you...?” She held a knife in one hand, likely the one she’d used to kill the Riven, and gave it a little shake. “Can’t seem to do it myself.”
No, she wouldn’t. The Riven taint wouldn’t let her. It needed a viable host to anchor it to this realm.
Shadowlight took the blade from her. He didn’t need it to finish her off, but he wanted something to postpone what he’d have to do next. He’d seen his mother and father do what needed doing several times this night. As for himself, he’d yet to end any life not already a Riven. Those ones were already dead in one sense. This human watching him with her pain-filled eyes was something else altogether, and he feared the act of ending her would change him in some way. He suddenly felt his age. He wanted his mother or father at his side.
But they weren’t here. And the human was.
She was young. Although several years older than him. From what he’d seen and sensed, she was brave and as honorable as a gargoyle. He couldn’t leave her bright spirit to be overtaken and enslaved by the Riven tainting it.
Yet, he found himself reluctant to end her life even though it was required.
The Riven taint was too deeply embedded to be routed out by normal magical means. While he had powerful healing abilities and could fight off Riven taint with little effort, the human had no such reserves left.
His dryad mother was a healer, and her knowledge and memories told him his magic could heal the human’s injuries, but the Riven taint was not something that could be healed. It had to be hunted down and eradicated first.
>
By its very nature, his magic-laced gargoyle blood was designed for hunting and eradicating evil. A blood exchange would kill the Riven taint, but there was a good chance the human wouldn’t survive it either. If she did, what then? She’d be tied to him for life, just like the unicorn was to Gregory.
And that was just with one sip of blood. He feared this would take much more. All his knowledge came from his parents’ memories, but neither of them had ever had reason to heal a human in such a way. He wasn’t even sure it would work.
A brave human was dying at his feet, worse than dying actually. He had to help, or at least try.
“Little human, can you still hear me?”
She blinked her eyes open and then took a moment to focus on him. “Yes. Just do it. You’re running out of time. It’s growing stronger.”
“You are brave. Stronger, I think, than many of your kind. There may be another way to help you.” Shadowlight dropped down onto his haunches and mantled his wings around himself. He really didn’t want to kill her, sensing it might darken a part of his soul if he did. “Gargoyle blood contains powerful healing and purifying magic. If I share my blood with you, it would hunt down the Riven taint in yours and destroy it. However, it might also kill you along with the taint.”
She laughed, and it turned into a groan. “God, this is the strangest conversation I’ve ever had. I’m worse than dead without your help. So what if your blood kills me?”
“Yes, but it would be a painful death.” Shadowlight gave a little shrug. “I could grant you a quicker death with my talons. However, if you are not afraid of pain, I would prefer to attempt to heal you.”
“Can’t believe I’m talking to a hallucination. On the off chance this is real, I’d be stupid to say no. Besides, I really want to get revenge on the bastards who did this.”
Her voice drifted into silence, and he realized she’d just blacked out again. She’d given consent, though, hadn’t she?
Shadowlight gave another little shrug. He understood her reasoning. If he’d been in a similar circumstance, he’d want a second chance to live, to hunt down his enemies, to avenge his family. Because that’s what he sensed when she’d talked of revenge. The men who had died here with her were like family.
The Complete Gargoyle and Sorceress Boxset (Books 1-9) Page 54
