But damn, she was good as she danced around Tin Man in the narrow confines of the hall. The woman darted in and slashed with one sword while she parried with the other. Tin Man spoke in a foreign language. While it was an elegant-sounding language, Anna imagined what he said to the woman was anything but nice.
The smaller woman brought her two swords up in a clear attempt to remove his head from his armored shoulders.
At some point, the gargoyle had rejoined the fight. He landed a blow with his long tail that Tin Man hadn’t seen coming.
It unbalanced him, sending him stumbling toward the leshii who swung his club with such force and speed it made her think of a professional baseball player.
The armor along Tin Man’s right shoulder crumpled under the impact, and he roared in rage—pain too probably, but she was sure that was mostly fury.
From that point on, the fight took on the feel of a brawl, no—make that a melee.
Anna slumped to the side, taking her weight on her least injured shoulder just as her senses hummed a new warning. The air around her vibrated. She could feel it in her breastbone and even her lungs.
She dropped flat a second time as an intense wave of fire blew outward from where Tin Man stood.
The bright fiery blast, as intense as a grenade, blew apart a portion of the ceiling and walls nearest it and sent the other opponents flying backward. Anna felt the fire race over her and on down the hall.
She hurt, so she was alive. It took longer to figure out what had happened. At first, she’d thought he’d blown himself up like a suicide bomber.
As she picked herself up off the floor and blinked spots from her vision, she saw him bolt past and dive out a second story window at the end of the hall.
The strange gargoyle and Greenborrow rolled to their feet, looking a little worse for wear, but they followed him out the window just as more people came charging up the stairs.
Through an increasingly fuzzy, grey field of vision, Anna tried to study the newcomers.
She struggled back to her feet and protectively stood over Shadowlight, Tin Man’s dagger clasped in her good hand, ready to protect the kid with her dying breath if it came to that.
Friend or foe she wondered?
The smaller woman with the swords spoke to the newcomers.
Friends, then, Anna guessed.
An older woman with a long, gray braid falling over one shoulder and hefting a substantial-looking staff in one hand tilted her head at Anna, giving her a once over.
After a moment, Anna recognized the woman. It was the nice grandmother everyone in town just called Gran.
“Who the hell are you and why are you in my house?” Gran asked.
Anna drew herself up straighter and nearly fell flat on her face when her one knee gave out. She settled for just staying on her feet, borrowing some of the wall’s strength to do it. “Corporal Anna Mackenzie. I’ll gut anyone who tries to hurt the kid.”
Anna’s vision darkened more, and she knew that last bit was pure bullshit. She weaved like a drunk, her feet or the floor rolling out from under her and suddenly gravity was winning.
She didn’t even feel the floor when she hit.
Chapter 30
BY THE TIME SHE AND Gregory ran back to the house, Lillian had found they’d already missed the primary battle, but she’d been in time to see the human standing over Shadowlight faint dead away. Deciding to voice what everyone else was thinking, she asked, “What’s going on?”
Jason approached the fallen woman and felt around for a pulse. “The hell if I know, but this is Corporal Anna Mackenzie apparently. She’s alive. Guess that makes her our problem now.”
“Wait. I do know her,” Lillian said. “She’s the soldier who helped round up our ‘horses’.”
Gran stormed forward and pushed Jason out of the way. “Go get as many others as you can and follow Greenborrow and Darkness. I’m pretty sure that was Commander Gryton. We cannot let him get away.”
Gregory huffed out an affirmative, his tail still flicked with agitation. He looked like he wanted to go hunt down Gryton then and there, but he hovered near Lillian, and she thought it was more than just the collars that kept him there.
Jason nodded sharply and then hurried to do Gran’s bidding. River used the opening Jason created to reach Shadowlight’s side. Lillian made to follow, but Gregory blocked her.
“Gregory, does the human actually look like she’s capable of hurting anyone at the moment?”
“She’s not human, not fully.” But he grudgingly stepped toward Shadowlight and allowed Lillian to go to her little brother’s side. With Gregory’s help, they were able to move the human and gently roll Shadowlight on to his back and take inventory of his injuries.
He looked no better than the human.
“What do you mean she’s not fully human?” she asked with a cursory glance at the woman.
She detected no hint of Riven upon the soldier. Other than her grievous wounds, which should have killed a human by now, there was nothing overtly strange about her. Then again, she couldn’t scent anything over the stench of blood and burned flesh.
“What do you know that I don’t?”
“Open your senses wide. What do they tell you?”
Aiming a questioning look at Gregory, she did as he asked even though she wanted to help her brother more than solve some mystery about a human she neither knew nor really cared about.
“Shadowlight will recover. He’ll be sore for a few days.” Gregory gestured at the human again.
Lillian was still more concerned about her little brother but turned her attention fully upon the human. “Why is there a soldier here? Would Gryton conscript humans to do his bidding?”
“I don’t know why Gryton is here, but this human was protecting your little brother, not trying to capture him. I think we may have this human to thank for Shadowlight’s present freedom.”
Now that put a different spin on things.
“She was protecting Shadowlight of her own free will?” Lillian muttered in astonishment.
“Hmmm, I imagine they were trying to protect each other.”
“I can explain,” Greenborrow shouted as he came stomping back up the stairs. “Darkness and the other fae are out hunting for our dear commander. I thought I should return and explain about the human before anyone does anything...regrettable.”
He stomped his feet and rotated his shoulders like he was aligning his joints back in place.
“Tell us what you know.” Gregory didn’t look up at Greenborrow, much more interested in Gran’s healing.
“Anna is Shadowlight’s pet human,” Greenborrow chuckled. “Though, I think he knows not to call her that in her hearing.”
“A pet human? Never in all my...” Gregory just shook his head and studied the two in question. “And under our noses, too.”
“Yes, it serves us right for leaving a week-old gargoyle to his own devices for long periods.”
“How long have you known?” Gran glanced up and glared at Greenborrow. “Children make mistakes in judgment. A ten-thousand-year-old leshii should not.”
He waved his hands in surrender. “Only a few days.”
“Days,” Gran snorted. “Old fools and children will be the death of me yet.”
“Go on,” Gregory prodded, not willing for this to descend into a bickering contest.
“The boy found the human just after the Riven battle. She’d killed two of the beasts and had done a fine job on a third. As you can imagine, she was infected by the time our young gargoyle found her. Shadowlight was impressed by her bravery. She’d asked him to put her out of her misery, but he couldn’t bring himself to end such a brave, determined spirit without trying to fight for her first.”
Greenborrow waved at the unconscious gargoyle. “He didn’t really understand what he was doing when he gave her his blood in order to save her. If you look past all that blood and burns, you’ll see some of the changes. I don’t think that will be the la
st of them either.”
“But she’s human,” Lillian whispered, “I thought it only worked on dryads. Even then, it doesn’t change the dryad.”
“Interesting, isn’t it?” Greenborrow stated.
Gran stood. “We will discuss this later. First, we need to treat these two.”
After some muttering, shifting of bodies, and barking of orders, Gran won. Shadowlight and the human were moved into a medical area situated in the far back of the basement.
“How many more secret rooms are there that I don’t know about?” Lillian asked.
“A few,” Gran said and rolled her eyes. “It has never come up in conversation.”
AFTER BEING SHUFFLED to one side of the room, Lillian paced back and forth while River and Gran worked on Shadowlight and the human.
Gregory tilted his head and then cleared his throat. “Darkness reports he lost Gryton’s trail. He believes the commander used a pre-set magic weaving to transport himself to another location.”
It had been too much to hope they would have tracked him down.
“Your father doesn’t know where it took Gryton, only that the spell wasn’t great enough to take him back to the Magic Realm.”
“Well, that’s a blessing.”
“Wounded as Gryton is, Darkness doesn’t think our enemy will be able to return to the Battle Goddess under his own power any time in the next three days, not with the wounds they dealt him before he escaped.”
“Don’t suppose he’ll do everyone a favor and crawl off into some hedgerow somewhere to die.”
“No,” Gran barked. “He will likely be seeking another way home before we have a chance to track and kill him.”
“You said he’s not powerful enough to get back to the Magic Realm at the moment.”
“Not under his own power, no. However, we know of one being capable of meeting his needs.” Gran didn’t look up from her work.
“You’re talking about my hamadryad. Why would she aid him? She is the Sorceress now, and as Gregory and I can attest to, she does possess higher thoughts. She’s waking to her power and memories. Surely the tree will recognize what Gryton is and prevent him from traveling between the realms.”
“Yes,” Gran said, a frown easily heard in her voice, “the Sorceress must have known Gryton was here. He had to have come here using her power. Otherwise, we would have felt a surge of a foreign power at the time of his arrival, and we would have investigated the cause. Which can only mean the Sorceress wants him here for some reason.”
Lillian touched the tattoo branded around her throat. “Gryton made these.”
“Exactly,” Gran said.
Gregory looked upon them both like he was seeing them for the first time and was horrified by what he saw. “The Sorceress would not side with evil.”
“Perhaps not,” Lillian said, “but what if she wants something from Commander Gryton, and she brought him here for that reason? Gran has to be right. Otherwise, Gryton couldn’t have hidden his arrival. We would have felt it.” Lillian tapped the matching brand encircling Gregory’s throat. “But what if Gryton being here is part of my hamadryad’s plan to free us from these slave collars? Gryton created them, after all, he must know how to get them off.”
“The Sorceress does not need his help,” Gregory countered.
“But what if that is the Sorceress’s plan?”
“Doesn’t matter at this exact moment,” Gran cut in. “We need to heal Shadowlight and the human. I don’t like that Shadowlight hasn’t regained consciousness.”
River pressed her palm against Shadowlight’s forehead. Lillian felt the flare of magic, like a slight vibration against her skin. Her mother continued to pour magic into Lillian’s little brother for a few moments more.
Removing her hand, she frowned. “I do not like what I feel either.”
Gran waved her hands in Lillian and Gregory’s direction. “Go join the other fae and relieve Darkness. He’ll want to be here with his son.” She bestowed a stern look upon Gregory. “If you make it an order, Darkness won’t feel like he’s forsaking his duty just to be with his son.”
Gregory agreed, ushering Lillian from the room.
“Oh,” Gran called over her shoulder. “Take Gryton’s dagger and the piece of armor to the other fae and see if you can come up with a way to track him.”
Gregory huffed a second agreement.
They left the room in silence. Lillian didn’t have to touch their mental link to know Gregory’s thoughts and emotions.
His earlier rage had been replaced by a limp tail and drooping wings. He wouldn’t meet her gaze.
She waited until they were far enough away that Gran and River wouldn’t overhear their words.
“This isn’t your fault, Gregory.” She reached out and touched his arm. “You couldn’t have known Gryton was here.”
He pulled away from her touch. “Of course it is. I am the Protector, Lord of the Gargoyles. One such as Commander Gryton should never have been able to venture into this Realm without my knowing! I failed in my duty.”
“How so?” she countered but didn’t give him the chance to answer. “I think it’s likely my hamadryad is behind this, at least in part. I told you she was hiding something from me.”
“You don’t know what you’re saying. The Sorceress would never side with evil.”
“You’re a hard-headed male. I’m not convinced the old rule book still applies in this lifetime. We’ve bent those old rules so badly I think we’re dealing with a whole new set.”
Gregory grunted and hunched his shoulders as if that would change the course of their discussion. “They have not changed merely because I am foresworn.”
Lillian stopped. Well then. So that was the broader issue. She should have known.
“Hmmm, if either of us is guilty of not upholding our duties and our vows, that would be me. Each knuckle-headed, moronic decision which has nearly led to disaster has always originated with one of my ideas or actions. That we are still here is due entirely to benevolent gods.”
“You may say it is so, but that does not make it true. I have allowed myself to be distracted far too many times. I will endeavor to do better.” He turned to her suddenly and wrapped his arms around her. “I will not fail you again, and I will never fail our child.”
Lillian’s need to finish the conversation faded, but the knowledge that this present mess was not Gregory’s fault did not diminish.
She would find out what her hamadryad was planning, but first, they had to stop Commander Gryton from returning to the Magic Realm.
She squeezed Gregory fiercely and then released him. “Come on. We’ve got a sample of Gryton’s blood on the daggers. Let’s see if we can use that to track the bastard. Then we’ll make him pay for attacking Shadowlight.”
Chapter 31
“ARGH!” ANNA CURSED as she jerked awake. Three things became immediately apparent.
She was alive.
She’d been injured.
And she sure as hell wasn’t on base.
Oh, right. Gargoyles, magic, and other strange shit.
“Hello,” said a voice from a chair to her left. She turned toward the sound and found her body didn’t want to move. Her one arm was wrapped in several inches of bandaging, which was why she had trouble moving it. She eventually turned far enough to meet the gaze of an older woman with a long braid.
“Name’s Vivian, but everyone calls me Gran.”
“I remember. And Shadowlight has told me more about your family since I met him.”
The woman shifted a seven-foot quarterstaff from her lap and rested it against the chair. She wiped her hands on a rag. At which point Anna realized the other woman had been cleaning and oiling the staff’s dark wood.
She eyed the length of wood a second time. She hadn’t seen one in years, but her father had an obsession with antique weapons. That length of wood lying across the old woman’s lap was no walking stick.
Something told her this was not
a ‘Gran’ to pick a fight with.
“The human is awake?” This voice came from the other side of the room, behind a curtained off section. A moment later, the curtain parted, and another woman came into view. This was the same delicate-looking woman from the sword fight earlier, though, her two swords were now absent. That had to be a good sign.
She looked human. Both women did. However, the newcomer addressed Anna as ‘the human,’ so she was likely the only homo sapiens in the room.
“Where is Shadowlight?”
But her heightened senses already told her he was behind that screen. Or at least another gargoyle was. She’d never been close enough to any of the others to compare scents.
But there were other instincts telling her Shadowlight was behind that curtain.
She tossed back her blankets to find she was wearing a long nightgown.
“Easy,” Vivian cautioned and came to her feet.
Anna ignored the warning and stood up. Then gritting her teeth, she stormed toward Shadowlight. Okay, it was more of a stumble than a storm.
The delicate female made to block her.
“River, I would suggest you allow her to see Shadowlight. I felt the shadows reverberate to her anxiety.”
“The human mongrel is no match for me.”
Mongrel?
Seriously?
“Who the fuck are you?”
“I am Shadowlight’s mother.”
Anna managed to hide her surprise. Shadowlight had said his mother was a dryad. He’d explained the whole born-of-a-tree thing. “You should be fired. You suck at motherhood. I’m Shadowlight’s new babysitter, or legal guardian, big sister or something—so get out of my way. Who in their right mind lets a child do the things he’s done?”
If livid was a color, mommy just turned it. But just then the shadows shifted, and the curtains flowed apart like an unfelt breeze pushed them. Another gargoyle appeared beside Shadowlight’s mother.
The Complete Gargoyle and Sorceress Boxset (Books 1-9) Page 71
