She spoke only half in jest.
If she were to venture forth where she might meet other gargoyles, she’d at least like to be presentable. Underwear was always a good start. Followed by real clothing and a tamed bedhead.
Obsidian’s brow scrunched in thought. “Your hair will take too long to braid again, but you can borrow one of my mane tiebacks.” He went over to a row of shelves along one wall and produced a strip of leather.
Anna took it and then finger combed her hair into a tamer version of its earlier self and tied it all back at the base of her neck.
Next, Obsidian rummaged in a lower drawer until he pulled out a few items. She recognized the beaded loin cloth preferred by gargoyles and accompanying it was what looked a little like a matching beaded sports bra.
“I knew you’d eventually wake and need these. Plus, it will be safer to wear something that will shape-shift with you until your gargoyle nature is entirely under your control. While you might be weak and hungry now, once you’ve sated your hunger and replenished needed stores, your gargoyle nature will reassert itself swiftly.
In other words, wear clothing that shapeshifts with the wearer to avoid wardrobe malfunctions.
“You can change and attend to other needs through there.” He summoned a small bit of shadow magic and then gestured to a door that suddenly appeared in the wall and opened into another room. Camouflaged doors would take getting used to. Though, the carved wood of the walls and hidden door had a pretty artistry she admired.
Glancing inside the room, a rudimentary bathroom met her gaze. After testing a few handles, she discovered both hot and cold water. Basic plumbing. Things couldn’t be all bad.
Chapter 5
WHEN ANNA EXITED THE bathroom a short time later, she found Obsidian rummaging through his shelves again, randomly shoving items into a satchel. She drew close and peered into the sack.
“Water, rations, and more of the rejuvenating tonic to hold you over while I build a fire and go hunting.”
“I won’t perish, but I can gather wood and build a fire while you do the hunting.”
“It’s my duty to look after my Kyrsu while she is still recovering.”
“Do I look like an invalid?”
He glanced sharply at her, his expression turning thoughtful. “I didn’t say you were. But, Anna, how many times did you see to my protection and needs while I was a child? I’d like a chance to return the favor.”
Eh?
Damn. He had a point. Besides, it would give her a chance to think.
She took the offered bag with a shrug. Never hurt to have supplies.
With that Obsidian triggered the door’s spell and led her outside. She got the first look at her new surroundings, which didn’t tell her much since it was the dark of a moonless night, but her eyes still picked out the outlines of leaves and branches. From the size of the branches, they were a good way off the ground.
“The third moon has just set. It will be dawn in an hour. You’ll be able to see it better then if your gargoyle nature doesn’t reassert itself before and give you back your night vision.”
Anna nodded, adding that detail to the little she knew. This place, whatever it was, had three moons like the Magic Realm. Though, if she remembered Banrook’s words correctly when he’d carried her here, this land was outside time. In a past that had never been.
“Your memory is correct. Though this place has a name: Haven.”
“Haven, eh? It’s an island, right? Even nose dead me can smell the brine. So that means you live in tree houses, on an island, in the middle of an ocean? You sure Lord Death hasn’t left his temple in eons? ‘Cause this sounds like the setting of Swiss Family Robinson.”
“I’m unfamiliar with that family.”
“Fictional book. Old classic. Should have found time to read it to you when you were a kid. You’d probably have liked it.” The reminder that the Shadowlight she knew was gone caused another spike of pain.
To distract herself, Anna walked to the railing. It circled the sides of the dwelling not attached to the tree’s trunk. Leaning over, she asked, “How high up are we?”
“About two-thirds of the way to the top.”
Which told her absolutely nothing since she didn’t know the height of the tree or how far away the ground was, obscured by the sweeping branches of the gigantic tree.
“It’s not a tree. It’s a hamadryad. They continue to flourish and grow as long as the dryad lives,” Obsidian explained. “And these hamadryads are larger than most, fed by gargoyle blood to keep them strong.”
“Huh.” Studying her surroundings, she picked out other such structures in nearby trees. Between them stretched bridges and ladders.
“We should go. It will be dawn before we know it and others will come looking for me the hour after sunrise.”
Obsidian gestured for her to take the walkway leading right. She did, walking ahead of him and following his softly uttered instructions when they came to interconnecting bridges. At last, they came to a large platform she’d taken for a dead end until she spotted the ladder.
“I’ll fly you the rest of the way.” He squeezed past her and dropped to all fours, dipping a wing for her to mount.
“I don’t think I’m ready to fly yet.” She kept the nervous note out of her voice. “I’ll take the ladder and meet you at the bottom.”
“We’re high up. Flying down will be faster.” But he folded his wings back tight to his side and reared to stand on two feet. “But if you think you’ll fall off, then I’ll carry you.”
The one-way mind-reading thing was getting old.
Obsidian chuckled. “If I’m honest, I doubt I’d stop it even if I could. It’s been so long since I felt your conscious mind, I can’t close myself off from you completely. It will stop once you recover enough to rebuild your mental shields.”
The link flared briefly, proving it wasn’t as one way as she’d thought. It let her glimpse a tiny peek into his mind. Just a fraction of a second but it was enough. In that moment of absolute clarity, she knew as difficult as she was finding this new situation, it had been much harder for him. “The link—or at least its absence—it was difficult to endure, wasn’t it?”
“Yes.” His expression was placid, but he couldn’t fully control the agitated flicking of his tail.
“I’m so sorry I wasn’t able to be there for you.” She rested a hand on his shoulder, and he turned his head to nuzzle her fingers.
“You’re here now. That is a blessing I shall thank the Divine Ones for daily.”
The link that bound them had claimed a heavy price. She saw that now. Her absence had left him feeling like a part of his soul was missing, just beyond his reach. As a child, his mentors had thought it grief, but as he grew older, both he and his teachers came to understand it was more.
And now that she was awake at last, he desperately wanted to regain her trust, he craved it, needed to restore what time had stolen from them.
But he was patiently waiting for her to make her own decision. Anna glanced at the ladder. She could be stubborn and embrace her unease, or she could begin the process that might one day restore the absolute bond of trust they’d once shared.
Ah, hell, she’d never been a fan of rope ladders, anyway.
“I’ll take the ride, but don’t get used to it. I’ll be doing my own flying as soon as I’m able.” Anna stepped into his space and craned her neck. “A little help, please? You’re enormous.”
Relief washed down their link a second before Obsidian scooped her up in his arms and he laughed joyously. Anna scrambled for a grip around his neck as the big idiot launched himself over the edge and was suddenly twisting, flipping and gliding through the branches at breakneck speed.
Gonna die. Gonna die. Gonna die.
“Never!” Obsidian’s voice rang loud in her head.
They dropped faster and faster; the branches getting bigger the lower they flew, and then suddenly they were out of the dense canopy. O
bsidian tightened his arms around her body and then spread his wings wide, soaring thirty feet above the ground. Now the only obstacles in his path were the wide trunks of the hamadryads which he navigated with ease.
“A little warning next time would be nice.” But she wasn’t angry at him. They both knew it. In fact, his joy was filling her, shoving aside her uncertainties and dark memories. And she didn’t miss how he hugged her just a little closer.
“Whiner,” he mouthed into her hair.
“Jerk.” Anna grinned up at him while she adjusted the satchel she still had gripped in one hand. “You’re lucky I didn’t drop the supply bag.”
“You’re too well trained for that.”
“Training, my ass. Sheer terror had my fingers locked in a death grip.”
Obsidian continued to pick up speed during his reckless flight through the trees. In this one moment, she had Shadowlight back. She didn’t know how long it would last, but for now she was thankful all the same.
“You didn’t scream.”
“Jaws were locked.”
He grinned. “Better lock them again then.”
A moment later he went vertical, missing a low-hanging branch by inches and then rolled on his side to squeeze between two closely spaced tree trunks. Using one leg to push off from the nearest trunk, he changed directions.
“You call that a warning?” She was just talking shit now though. Like old times.
“That was an advanced warning.”
“Still a jerk.” She grinned and gave his neck a squeeze.
Again, joy sparked down their link, the emotion too powerful for him to block. She’d done the right thing by accepting the flight.
Eventually, they arrived at their destination—a cliff with trees running right up to its jagged edge. As far as Anna could tell, these were just regular old trees.
“Yes, we use this area for harvesting wood for the cooking fires.” Obsidian circled lower, giving her a good look at the area before coming in for a landing. “We’re less likely to get discovered out here, especially since it isn’t yet dawn.”
He gently placed her on her feet and then stepped back, searching the ground for a natural depression. Without a word, he swiftly used his talons to clear the area of debris and enlarge the hollow.
Straightening, he stretched and sniffed. “I smell little in the way of prey here. I’ll build a fire and then go hunt in the shallows for fish.”
“I’ll gather some loose rocks for a fire ring while you gather the wood.”
Obsidian huffed in disdain and then waved his one hand at the ground. At first, nothing happened, and then the shadows shivered and rocks came loose from the ground, rolling toward the hollowed-out area.
Anna watched with bemusement. “Show-off.”
In under a minute, the stones had formed a fire ring.
“I will be back shortly. We’ll talk more then.”
She nodded her agreement, and then he vanished into the forest way faster than someone of his size should be able to move.
Chapter 6
FOUR LEAF-WRAPPED BUNDLES of fish were cooking on flat stones shoved half in the fire. Anna, too impatient to wait, peeled back the charred leaves of a fifth packet to get at the meat inside. Fish used to be one of her least liked foods, but her new gargoyle nature hadn’t yet met a meat she didn't like.
“Eat these first.” Obsidian held out some berries he’d found nearby. She popped a few in her mouth, then got hit with a rush of musty tartness and a hint of hot spice. Grimacing at him around a mouthful of the nasty crap, she gave him the finger.
“You did that on purpose!” she accused once her mouth was mostly empty.
“They are high in vitamins and minerals. Eat them.”
Anna made a face but swiftly popped another handful into her mouth and chewed them as she continued to unwrap the fish. “Tastes like the devil’s ass. Better be worth it.”
Obsidian shrugged in apology. “They are much better dried and eaten in trail rations.”
“Well, they couldn’t get any worse, could they?”
After finishing the berries, she swished her mouth with water and then started in on the fish, burning her fingers but too hungry to care. She polished off the first bundle of fish and Obsidian immediately handed her another.
Nodding, she took it gratefully. After the sharp edge of hunger was sated, she looked over at Obsidian where he was polishing off his own fish.
It was so peculiar to know this was Shadowlight, and yet he looked like a stranger.
“It is strange for me, too,” he admitted with a sigh. “I think I always just thought we’d pick up where we’d left off when you woke. But I’m not the gargoyle you remember. While I don’t feel like I’ve changed that much, I understand that you need to come to terms with everything.”
His words only highlighted the extent of the changes.
Shadowlight would have just brushed aside her concerns, told her she was foolish, and given her a big, sloppy gargoyle kiss. She’d have half-heartedly swatted him but then agreed, and they’d have found a solution to the present situation.
“There’s a simple solution to this ‘problem’ if you’re open.”
Anna arched a brow at him.
“We talk. Ask me anything. I’ll share everything with you. It might take days or even months, but I promise, we can be what we were before.”
“I’d like that.” Her heart swelled painfully, and she glanced down at the fire so he wouldn’t see the glimmer of foolish tears.
“Then ask me anything.”
She scrambled as her mind blanked for a moment. Then went with the first question that popped into her head. “Have you created other gargoyles?”
“No.” He gave an accompanying flick of his tail. “My mentors say it is unnatural and they wish to study your development before deciding whether it is something we should use to further grow the gargoyle legion.”
Anna hastily swallowed a mouthful of fish. “I thought they’d give a resounding ‘hell no’ to any power linked to the Battle Goddess.”
“Normally, yes. But they’ve studied me for many years now and know I am not her puppet.”
Looking at him, his size, his control of magic, the impenetrable shield around his mind, Anna wasn’t so sure she wasn’t looking at the culmination of the Battle Goddess’s plans.
He gazed at her, a hint of hurt creeping into his expression. “I thought we’d been through enough to know I’d never serve her.”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean it like that—I meant physically. You’ve grown into what she’d intended. The potential she’d strived to create to use as her vengeance.” Anna resisted the urge to give the big brute a hug. “But your soul—that is a thing entirely of the Light. Thirteen years. A hundred years. A thousand. Nothing will ever change your core goodness.”
And now that she was getting over her earlier shock, she could see bits of the gargoyle cub she’d known in the adult who sat across the fire from her.
He huffed softly and returned to his food.
Time for a new topic. “Do you like it here? Do they treat you well?”
“Yes, this is my home now. I have friends, instructors, favorite mentors, even a few rivals in training. It is as Gregory said. We can trust Lord Draydrak. As fierce as his power is, he is nothing like his sister.”
All his answers felt natural and unscripted, not brainwashed. A weight lifted off her chest. Shadowlight might have changed into this stranger... this Obsidian, but he wasn’t unhappy. He’d just grown up on her.
Her throat grew tight again, and an ache that was becoming a familiar throb in her chest returned. She’d never again be able to read Shadowlight a story before bed or help him steal his favorite cookies from Gran’s kitchen.
Considering what could have happened, this was the best outcome, even if she silently grieved the loss of Shadowlight.
Across the fire, Obsidian stood suddenly and then came around and knelt next to her. A moment later he w
as pulling her into his arms, his wings wrapping around her. “Shadowlight isn’t gone. I’m still here. Look into my mind and you will see it’s true”
There was no hesitation, just a familiar power and the warm brush of a mind she’d missed. But unlike when he was a child, the link was much stronger; the emotions bleeding across it as strong as if she was experiencing them herself.
Distantly, she heard him grunt in surprise at the unexpected strength of their link. She didn’t have time to worry though, for in the next moment, she was Obsidian.
The gargoyle she’d once known as Shadowlight had trained for years, sunup ‘til sundown, preparing for the time when he would lead an army of gargoyles against the Lady of Battles.
It was his own determination that drove him—not his mentors’. Though they shaped and guided his energy, that will to become the weapon that would strike a devastating blow to the Lady of Battles was all his. It was Shadowlight himself who’d first taken the steps down that path because he wanted to be a warrior worthy of his partner, his Kyrsu.
Together they would be powerful enough to destroy anyone or anything foolish enough to challenge them. Never again would he experience the helplessness he’d felt when Anna was struck down by the blood witch.
They were a team. Two halves of a whole. Together they would be near invincible.
Obsidian issued a little hissing growl, and suddenly Anna felt their link fade. The big gargoyle folded his wings and stood, taking a few steps back.
“My apologies.” His voice came out gruff. “I knew our link would be stronger, but I expected nothing quite so...”
“Overwhelming,” Anna supplied for him.
“Yes.” He gave himself a little shake as if still struggling free of the binding magic linking them. “I was you for a few moments.”
“Yeah. And I was you. Guess that answers some of my questions.”
“That is... good.” His tone was a little doubtful and cautious as if he were trying to determine what all she’d seen in his head. “I thought I’d be able to control it even though you were untrained, but perhaps we should await direction from our mentors before trying again.”
The Complete Gargoyle and Sorceress Boxset (Books 1-9) Page 124
