Captured, they forced it to spin around its island anchor. It was still a huge monster, but it was under control.
Only their shields protected them from the buffeting winds, but they weren’t done yet. Together, they directed more magic into the storm, spinning it out into a glimmering net, where it captured and drained away the storm’s fury little by little.
After fifteen minutes, the winds dropped. The clouds soon began dissipating.
“Not half bad, partner.” She lengthened the last word into a drawl and grinned at him. “We can add masters of meteorology to our resumes.”
He gave her his best ‘humans are odd’ look. Then ruined it by nuzzling her nearest wing. She returned his warm affection in kind.
They wandered down the beach together, and then, neither of them in the mood to return to Haven yet, settled under one of the big leafed palm-like trees. There they sat and watched the still rough ocean in silence.
Their link remained open, thoughts flowing freely between them. They didn’t need words. There was a profound understanding between them that required none.
She leaned into him, and he mantled a wing around her.
His invitation was more than physical, and she was soon looking into his mind as some of his youthful adventures with Truth and friends played out in his memories. She, in turn, showed him some of the long summer camping trips she took with her family as a kid.
“You miss them.”
His words weren’t a question.
“It feels like a lifetime since I saw any of my brothers or either of my parents.” She shrugged. “Not that we ever see much of each outside of the Mackenzie family reunions. Too busy with careers and life. But we used to at least text or chat from time to time.”
She paused as something else occurred to her. “I wonder what my family knows, if anything? My father is a brigadier general. He’d know all or at least some of what happened to me back on Earth, but the rest of my family probably wasn’t granted clearance. I wonder if my father has given up hope and thinks we’re dead.”
Then his mind was answering even before his words. “While it has been thirteen years here in Haven, it will be like no time at all has elapsed in the present. For our families, it will only have been the few months that we were trapped in the Battle Goddess’s kingdom.”
“Right. I keep forgetting about the time travel part.”
“I will do all in my power to see that you get to reunite with your human family.”
“Deal. And I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you get to see your sister again...and reunite with your father one day after he heals.” She paused. “We can visit with your battle-ax of a mother as well, I suppose.”
Obsidian snorted. “She’ll be very pleased with you.”
“I doubt that. She hates me.”
“She admired you, actually.”
“Really?” Doubt was probably etched on her face because he laughed at her.
“At first she didn’t, but she soon saw how you protected me.”
He fell silent and nuzzled her hair again. She thought he was finished talking, but he started up again, his tone soft and kind. His accompanying thoughts were as well.
“Years ago, back on Earth, do you remember the time Gryton invaded Gran’s home by night and he tried to capture us? We were weaponless but fought him anyway. While I was keeping him busy, you got his dagger and used it against him.”
Anna glanced sidelong at him and arched a brow, wondering what had triggered that memory. “Yep. The bastard just about charbroiled us.”
“Just before that, while we were still fighting. I thought you the bravest and fiercest being I’d met. Your soul was lovely. I knew then that you were the one the Divine Ones had chosen for me.”
“You were young. It was infatuation. A crush. But I am flattered.” Usually, the dread would be kicking in at the mention of anything that smelled like a relationship conversation, but strangely she was okay with this.
“That’s true. Though it grew into true love as I matured. What I feel now is a much more adult version of that same love.”
A smile touched her lips, realizing something else.
“I loved Shadowlight like a little brother.” She reached out to pat his cheek. “But you I now love as a partner. Just couldn’t admit it right away. Waged a bloody, internal war to deny it, in fact. Looking back, I know it started that first night I woke here in Haven and you took me to the cliff side forest where we just talked. I was grieving the loss of Shadowlight, but even then, I knew this Obsidian fellow was a good sort and I could trust him.”
“We agree we love each other?” His lips curled back in humor.
“Yes.” It came out easily. That surprised her. “Still, I’m not certain...”
“If we’re ready for romance?” He looked thoughtful, his mind on the other end of their newly strengthened link was calm. “I’m not either. I love you. You saw that in my mind, but our link is so new. And after everything that—”
“After everything that happened, we need time to process all of it and see how that affects us.” She lay back on the sand and stared up at the stormy sky.
“Yes.” He joined her, his wings spreading until one touched hers.
“You know, this island wouldn’t be so bad with a cold beer and minus the storm clouds. We should come back here some time.”
“We could bring lots of food with us. Make a day of it swimming and fishing.” He sighed and stretched.
“You can do all the fishing you like. I’ll be on the beach sunning myself.”
“Hmm, that has merit too.”
“Damn straight.”
In that moment she knew her world was perfect.
Chapter 47
THREE DAYS AFTER OBSIDIAN had called a storm into being, Anna was back in the practice ring, facing off against Banrook. In other words, getting her ass kicked across the sands by the big brute. He’d grin occasionally and praise her.
Then he’d proceed to knock her on her ass.
After the ninth time, he just shook his head and called for a halt.
“Don’t know why I bother,” he said, sounding grumpier than usual. “Might as well take a break since your mind is not on the lesson.”
It was true. Usually, Rook would have her full attention. Today it was divided between the ring and the council chambers. Rook had said it was more important that Anna continue her training since she still hadn’t reached Obsidian’s level of mastery.
That meant Obsidian was in the council chambers with the Masters discussing preparations to abandon Haven. That a djinn had returned to the Magic Realm and might be able to sense the portal spell had created quite the stir. They also discussed what to do with the gargoyle legion.
If they just suddenly appeared in the present-day Magic Realm, the Battle Goddess would sense the shift in the magic flows. It would betray the gargoyles’ numbers.
Because of that, Thayn had mentioned taking the gargoyle army to Earth instead. There they’d be able to hide their presence from the Battle Goddess.
“Yeah, that’s going to go over real well back home,” Anna said along their link.
Obsidian agreed, and then explained again about how the governance on Earth worked to the Council of Elders. He suggested a small contingent go first and negotiate to secure permission for the rest to come.
“I’m rubbing off on you. Don’t think I’ve ever heard you use the word negotiate before.”
Obsidian replied with a mental snort. “You. Go back to your training before I start laughing to myself in front of the Masters.”
“Fine. But if you get tired of all the negotiation talks, give me a shout. We can trade. I’m sure Rook will happily kick your ass around the ring a few times.”
“I’d love to switch,” Obsidian said, truth ringing in his tone. “But Rook wants your training accelerated as much as possible.”
“Gee, I must have missed that.”
But just then Rook approach
ed her bench with a drinking skin.
She touched Obsidian’s mind once more. “Have fun with the council. Talk more later.”
His mind brushed hers, acknowledgment and love flowing through that slight touch.
The bench dipped as Rook sat down. Anna found a drinking skin unceremoniously shoved in her face. Grinning, she uncorked it and took a swig.
Expecting water, she choked down the cold burn of something that was reminiscent of peppermint and alcohol. “Ugh. What is this crap?”
Rook just snorted and rolled an eye at her. “Drink it. Your pain will go away for a short time.”
Eyeing the sand ring and then Rook as he stood up and went to retrieve a pair of quarterstaffs, Anna upended the skin and drank. If she was to guess, Rook planned on keeping her on the practice field until well past sunset.
A mind that wasn’t Obsidian’s touched hers and a familiar power swept over her being seconds before Lord Draydrak’s voice was loud in her mind.
“Run! Run now!”
The God of Death’s voice still echoed in her head.
“What?” But Anna was already on her feet.
“That is not Banrook.”
His words still explained nothing, but Anna had come to trust this demigod’s words. If he said that the gargoyle in front of her wasn’t Rook, she believed him.
Even as she moved, she called on her protective magic. Or at least she tried. It was sluggish to respond. For five seconds she stared at her empty palms, where the magic had sputtered for half a second and then died.
Then she remembered the drink Obsidian had swallowed during his Adept Trial. The one that neutralized a gargoyle’s magic. It had smelled minty.
Oh, fuck.
“There is no point in fighting,” Rook who was not Rook said. “Your magic is gone for a short time. Long enough for me to return you to our goddess.”
He was talking about the Lady of Battles. Anna didn’t know what or who was standing in front of her, but he was an enemy.
Moreover, the Lord of the Underworld had just instructed her to run.
Leaping backward over the bench, she shifted in the air and then landed on all fours, darting away from the threat. She reached for Obsidian even as she ran, but like the time he’d drunk the potion, there was only a numbness where the tether tying them together should be.
Behind her Rook didn’t give chase. She was realizing the implications just as she ran headlong into some kind of magic net. It contracted around her, squeezing tight. The numbness inside her continued to spread.
There was another power there too. She sensed it now. The coppery taint of old blood. Sickly sweet. Familiar. The work of a blood witch.
The power continued to cocoon her in ever tightening layers.
Rook standing over her was the last thing she saw before he tossed something over her head as well.
Chapter 48
MASTER VERROC WAS DISCUSSING the number of gargoyles to send to Earth for the first wave of negotiations, but Obsidian’s mind was drifting. His new, stronger link with Anna was also addictive. It was work to focus on anything else.
He loved it, and yet it was a distraction in the current situation.
Still, he found himself reaching back along the link to briefly touch Anna’s mind.
And ran into a barrier.
No...not a barrier.
He sucked in a surprised breath.
There was nothing to touch.
What? How?
Blood began to surge as he rose to his feet, no longer seeing the Elders gathered around the council table. He was drawing breath to warn them that something was wrong when Lord Draydrak’s powerful mind touched his.
Wasting no time, the God of Death, shoved a vision at Obsidian, wordlessly telling him all that had happened.
“Go, my Rasoren. Rescue your Kyrsu. I will explain and rally the council.” With those few words, the demigod was gone from his mind.
Obsidian didn’t need any other prompting and bolted for the stairs. Once he was far enough away from the council chamber’s protective shields, he took to the open sky, winging his way to the practice fields.
“She won’t be there,” Dray whispered, telling Obsidian the demigod was still with him. “There is only one place this agent of my sister can run with his prize.”
“The time portal.” Obsidian angled a wing edge and sliced a sharp turn in the air, winging his way as fast as he could in the new direction.
“Yes. It is his only hope of escape. His djinn magic allows him to hide, even from me to some extent, but he won’t be able to hide from all my gargoyles. He’ll try to make it to the portal with your Kyrsu. He knows if he can escape with her, you will follow.”
“Always.” Obsidian’s fierce reply echoed through the air.
“I have been healing the soul of the soldier who carried this dark spell into our territory. The soul was severely damaged, and it took me time to heal him, and even longer for him to remember what his mission had been.”
For once Dray’s mellow voice failed to calm Obsidian, but he listened as the demigod provided valuable information on the creature who had stolen Anna.
“He was a carrier only. His death was used to fuel a spell created by the blood witch using magic from a djinn. It wasn’t my sister who captured the djinn. It was the witch.”
Obsidian didn’t miss the mild relief that touched Death’s voice, and he wondered at that.
“If my sister had lost the last of her sanity, she wouldn’t have stopped with just one djinn. She would have summoned and captured them all. At least the blood witch has limits to her power.”
“For now.” But for how much longer, with a djinn to fuel her spells? But Obsidian couldn’t dredge up the appropriate fear for that just now, not with Anna being held by one of their enemies. His only relief came in the knowledge that whatever controlled Rook wanted Anna alive. If not, his Kyrsu would already be dead.
WHEN HE REACHED THE temple, he called his shadow magic. After sealing the bond with Anna, he’d surpassed even a Master’s abilities. He might even be more powerful than Thayn now.
He hoped so, for this new enemy had taken one of the most powerful masters as its host, and only the power of a fully trained Rasoren or Kyrsu could hope to overpower one of the ancients.
Still, he continued with caution. There could be no berserker’s rage or a blind rush to Anna’s side. He had to be swift but cunning. If whatever was controlling Rook learned Obsidian was on the hunt, the creature might kill Anna if he couldn’t escape.
I cannot lose my Kyrsu, he thought a little desperately.
Making his way deeper into the structure on silent feet, at last, he came to the chamber where the time portal resided. Rook was already there, standing before the two, as yet, dormant stalagmites.
Only the sight of magic already rising off Rook’s body stopped Obsidian from attacking. Rook was feeding power into the portal. If Obsidian launched an attack now, that magic would join what was already in the spell work.
The time spell was both enduring and yet fragile. Too much power and it could collapse, trapping everyone here in this place.
Obsidian would wait until the spell was self-sufficient. As soon as Rook was far enough away, he’d launch his attack.
Rook continued to manipulate the trigger spell, unaware that he was being watched.
Twenty feet from the larger gargoyle, Anna lay on her side against a wall, wrapped in layers of the imposter Rook’s shadow magic.
She was breathing.
She was still alive.
His gaze sought hers.
Oh. And she was pissed.
He hadn’t seen her look that enraged since her time in the Battle Goddess’s kingdom.
The breath he’d been holding released on a soft, unheard sigh.
Now all he had to do was stop Rook from dragging Anna through and keep him trapped here until Lord Death had rallied the council. They’d be here in a matter of minutes. The only reason they were
n’t was because only Anna could outpace him in the air.
He eyed the master’s progress with the spell work and then the distance between Anna and the portal. Rook must not have wanted to chance his spell might interfere with the portal’s summoning. Obsidian’s narrowed eyes tracked back to the enemy.
If Rook escaped through the portal, he couldn’t be sure that the male wouldn’t destroy it once through.
Though, Rook would only have taken Anna if he wanted her Rasoren, too. Which suggested the portal was safe until Obsidian crossed. At which point, the essence controlling Rook might decide to destroy the gateway.
While Obsidian mulled over his options, Rook continued to wake the dormant time spell.
Though he knew a select few of the masters traveled between the two times, Obsidian hadn’t seen the inside of this room, or an active portal, since he’d first seen it as a child.
The stalagmite began to glow much the same as he remembered. This time he watched as Rook created the trigger spell. It was a complex and beautiful thing. One Obsidian was confident he could re-create now that he’d seen it.
As soon as the portal had stabilized, Rook slowly walked to where Anna lay on the floor.
Obsidian stalked forward, low to the ground, still shrouded by his shadow magic. He’d gotten better at hiding himself from his mentors during his recent training sessions, but he didn’t trust that the elder wouldn’t sense something.
Inching forward, Obsidian moved closer to the portal, until he was almost close enough for a successful charge. He needed to put himself between Rook and the portal so he could toss up protective spells around it the second he charged. It was the only way to protect both his Kyrsu and the gateway.
Rook leaned down and scooped up Anna. Instead of turning toward the portal, Rook faced Obsidian, a shard of shadow magic held against his Kyrsu’s throat.
“You’re very skilled. I wouldn’t have noticed if the portal hadn’t responded to the shift in power flow in the room,” Rook said, addressing the room at large. “I don’t have to see you to know you’re here.”
The Complete Gargoyle and Sorceress Boxset (Books 1-9) Page 146
