The Complete Gargoyle and Sorceress Boxset (Books 1-9)

by Lisa Blackwood

  Obsidian froze, not speaking or moving. Only tensing his muscles to strike.

  Rook sent other bits of shadowy magic dancing through the air.

  Whichever angle of attack Obsidian took, the other male would be able to track his charge using the disturbed shadows as his guide. Gritting his teeth at Rook’s cunning, he continued to sit and wait for the perfect time.

  “If you attack, I’ll kill your Kyrsu before you get to me. You know I can. She’s quite magicless at the moment.”

  Obsidian’s growl echoed around the room.

  “Ah. You need a demonstration.” One long, shimmering shard sliced a line along Anna’s cheek.

  She didn’t make a noise. Obsidian didn’t betray his location a second time either. Though it was a fight.

  “Come now, Rasoren. We are supposed to be on the same side. You seem to have forgotten what you were created for.” Rook sidestepped closer to the portal.

  Obsidian triggered his own wall of magic, stopping the Master, who grimaced.

  “The Lady of Battles will welcome you back. She’ll be delighted with your development. And the human is still new enough to her powers that the demigoddess shall be able to use her to control you. And this,” Rook tipped his muzzle to gesture at his own body, “is just an added benefit. The Lady of Battles will be well pleased with my mistress’s work.”

  “You won’t escape alive.” Obsidian used magic to project his voice from different locations throughout the room as he circled wider, heading in the direction of the room’s northern wall, where he’d created his own shadow magic barrier to stop Rook escaping toward the gate.

  If Obsidian was careful, he could hide from Rook’s swirling tracking eddies. Most of them were situated in the central part of the room.

  “Nice try.” Rook slashed another line, down Anna’s arm this time. The female gargoyle only growled louder.

  He felt himself slipping closer to the berserker rage he shared with Anna. He couldn’t let it win. Rook was too smart. That’s what the other male wanted.

  “You won’t escape before the other masters arrive. I can feel them approaching. They’re only a little way distant.” He stalled for time. “Let’s make a trade. Release Anna and I’ll let you escape through the portal.”

  “And have you kill me later? No Rasoren. I’m not that foolish. However, if you allow me to approach the portal, I can get myself through and release Anna on the other side.”

  “Never.”

  Rook’s shard grew into a proper dagger, and he drew it along the curve of her breast, just above where her gargoyle heart beat strong. “If I can’t capture one or the other of you, I was instructed to kill you both.”

  The blade returned to Anna’s throat.

  “Don’t think I will hesitate. I may be sentient, but I am a spell. I do not fear death because I am not alive.”

  All of that was likely true, but the complicated spell’s primary objective was to gather information and carry it back, which gave Obsidian an idea. “A trade then. We’ll approach the portal together. You give me Anna, and you can carry back all that you’ve learned here. The Master is a worthy prize. He knows more than Anna or me.”

  Rook tilted his head.

  Got you now, Obsidian thought with a mental grin.

  “A deal, Rasoren.” Rook nodded his muzzle at Anna.

  They both inched closer to the portal.

  “You may attach anchors to the shadow magic I used to imprison her.”

  “Very well.” He’d do that. But he’d also follow with Anna, and once she was safely away from Rook, he’d continue his original plan of attack. They’d just all go through the gateway together first. It was the best option of the ones available.

  Rook and Obsidian mirrored each other’s every move as they made their way closer to the time spell. When they were at last within touching distance of the glowing portal, Rook stiffened suddenly.

  The hand holding the shadow magic dagger to Anna’s throat was ripped away by a much greater force.

  What was going on?

  A moment later Rook lost control of his other limbs.

  Anna’s expression said she didn’t know what was going on either but darted toward Obsidian. He swiftly took her into his arms and triggered a spell of protection around them and the gate, sealing Rook on the outside.

  Rook continued to arch his back, his wings stretched wide by some unseen force.

  Another ten seconds dragged by as the master struggled.

  Thayn strode through the portal. “Oh, no you don’t! I know what you do when you die.”

  The most ancient of the masters struck Rook with a wave of power, shoving him across the floor. He gestured, his shadow magic dancing around him and more raced forward, dragging Rook halfway up the wall. There another powerful wave of focus slammed him against the stone. It would have vaporized a lesser being.

  “Nasty bit of spell work that. But that should hold him.” Thayn gave Rook a couple more shakes to be sure before pointing a talon at the center of the room. The unconscious gargoyle sailed back across the space to land in a heap before the portal.

  “Thank you,” Anna said.

  “Well,” Thayn said, circling the fallen male. “I was coming to warn of another danger entirely when our Lord touched my mind and told me what he’d learned from the enemy soldier and the purpose of the spell. I wasn’t about to let it go slithering into either of you. Even I would be hard pressed to win a fight against our powerful young Rasoren.”

  Obsidian kept his attention on Thayn.

  Can I trust him though? Both masters had been in the dungeon when the original spell triggered.

  “Thayn is clean.” Lord Draydrak confirmed. “I’ve already searched his soul for signs of the spell. There are none. The others who were injured in the same attack are likewise unaffected. Only Rook was corrupted.”

  Thayn grinned suddenly. “I’m not going to let the cocky brute live that down for a good long time.”

  Obsidian shredded the spells trapping Anna. When she was free, she came to her feet and looked down at Rook. “Who the hell is he?”

  “A friend and an enemy,” Thayn said with an accompanying ear flick. “Lord Dray will deal with Roo—.”

  The portal flared with power as a giant hand, talons extended, emerged. A second later it snatched up Rook. Then as swiftly as the massive hand had come, it was gone, the portal quiet once again.

  Thayn blinked at the spot where Rook had been, his tail swaying and his ears cocked at the portal. “Dray does so hate when his sister plays with his gargoyles.”

  Ignoring the elder, Obsidian took Anna’s chin in his hand and turned her face to his. Her eyes were still slightly widened in surprise. When he leaned closer, sniffing along her skin, he could smell the drug on her.

  “Are you alright?” It was strange having to ask that after how strong their link had grown recently, but the potion Rook had tricked Anna into drinking would remain in her bloodstream until at least nightfall.

  Her expression twisted into a bemused look. She must have come to the same conclusion as him. “I’m fine. He didn’t harm me. Just my pride. He managed to capture me in thirty seconds flat.”

  “It’s nothing to be ashamed of, especially not without the use of your powers and against one as skilled as Banrook.”

  “Still. Pride stinging a little over here.”

  He drew her closer and wrapped her in his arms.

  Slowly, some of his earlier fears dissipated but it would be a long time yet before he forgot how close a bit of shadow magic had come to slicing her throat. He’d been close enough that had the worst happened, he could have shared his magic with her, turning them both to stone to heal.

  But that would have allowed Rook to escape, and that could have had far more dire consequences.

  He never wanted to choose between Anna and the greater good.

  He was just glad he had not needed to make such a decision this day.

  If Fate were kind,
he never would.

  Chapter 49

  WHEN OBSIDIAN AND ANNA faced Rook several hours later, his usual pride and assurance were absent. But Anna supposed that was expected after Lord Draydrak had carved away the djinn-fueled blood witch’s spell that had been feeding on him.

  After the Lord of the Underworld had finished with that task, he called them all together to inform his council of everything he’d learned.

  In the real temple, in the real time.

  They’d crossed over when Draydrak said it was no longer safe to stay. The legion was preparing to evacuate. But first, they had another problem to face and defeat.

  The Lady of Battles hadn’t left the task of retrieving Anna and Obsidian solely to the spy spell.

  She’d sent an army.

  That was the other threat Draydrak had discovered and sent Thayn back in time to warn Haven.

  “We must stop them before they can come close enough to sense the time portal and destabilize it,” Rook said into the silence.

  Thayn nodded sharply. “We will set an ambush for them.”

  On the far side of the room, the Lord of the Underworld paced with restless energy, his horse-like lower body moved with fluid grace.

  The viewing mirror hadn’t done him justice. He looked even bigger and scarier in real life.

  “Rook, you will take the most skilled of the students and destroy this threat,” Death interjected into the conversation. “All other available gargoyles will stay to guard the island in case the first line of defense fails. The first line of defense will not fail. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Perfectly, my Lord,” Master Banrook said with a salute in his tone.

  Lord Draydrak turned next to ponder Anna. “It is time my Rasoren and Kyrsu test their skills in a real battle.”

  “As my Lord wishes.” Obsidian echoed Anna’s own words.

  They thought as one, now it was time to discover just how well they fought as one.

  Chapter 50

  ANNA CROUCHED LOW, almost hugging the ground. With her shadow magic a cloaking pressure around her, she was more concerned with disturbing the underbrush or some bird than having an advanced scout see through her disguise.

  Ten feet to her right, Obsidian was waiting with his back pressed against a tree with shaggy bark. To others, he’d appear as part of the tree.

  So far, they hadn’t been discovered. The Battle Goddess’s scouts continued into the ambush. The first scout made her way past Anna’s position without so much as a flicker of unease.

  The female’s nearest companion, a lightly armored male, glided through the forest a couple hundred feet to the woman’s right.

  Another scout on the female’s opposite side was walking very close to where Thayn waited, but the elder remained undiscovered.

  Anna’s gaze tracked farther back, deeper into the forest where she could even now hear other enemy soldiers approaching.

  Ah. There. Three more scouts. According to the legion’s scouting party, these six were the total number of advance scouts.

  When the rearmost scout was even with Obsidian, Anna picked out her target. A large male in light armor less than twenty feet from her position.

  “Now,” Rook broadcasted out across the shared link.

  Anna lunged, covering the distance in two long strides and then, before the male knew what was happening, she sent a spear of shadow magic thrusting through his neck.

  She caught the body before it hit the ground, then swiftly dragged the dead weight backward, away from the wide dry gully that the enemies were using as a roadway.

  As silently as her own, the five other enemy scouts vanished.

  Dryads rose up out of hiding spots and made their way down the gentle slopes of the gully. A few subtle spells, a rustle of a breeze among the underbrush, and all signs that a struggle had occurred vanished.

  Anna spotted Meadow and Lark among the group. Along the link, she could sense where Obsidian was keeping tabs on all his friends, but he didn’t allow his concerns to divide his focus.

  With the scouts taken care of, they all settled back to wait. Though it wasn’t long before she heard the distant sound of booted feet on the gully’s stony ground.

  A short time later, the first row of combatants came in sight. She knew from dryad and gargoyle scouts that this group was three hundred strong.

  A tiny group compared to the might the Battle Goddess could summon, but this was just a raiding party. Designed to slip in, snatch their spy under cover of a raid, and then slip out again.

  Rook’s company of gargoyles and dryads were much smaller. Just a hundred and fifty, but enough for this task. Many more were still guarding Death’s Temple and the time portal while still others were preparing to evacuate Haven.

  In the lead was one of the captains to judge by the armor, but Anna didn’t recognize this one, and while she hadn’t interacted with each of the captains during her time in the Battle Goddess’s kingdom, she did know each of the emblems. The red crossbow bolts on an ebony field wasn’t heraldry she recognized.

  “He’s new, I think,” Anna said as she touched Obsidian’s mind. “Can you get a whiff of him? Discover what he is?”

  “No, there are too many scents, but I agree, I don’t think this fellow was a captain the last time we were among the demigoddess’s army.”

  “Rook said when the Avatars attacked some of the captains had been killed. This fellow must be a replacement for someone. I wonder who?” Anna’s lips compressed. “Do you think Vaspara or Sorac might have been killed? I would have thought at least one of them would have been trusted with such an important mission as this.”

  “I won’t even hazard a guess, but we’ll proceed with caution since we don’t know this newcomer’s skills or his magical strength. It won’t be a paltry thing, though. Not if the goddess deemed him worthy to lead as one of her captains.”

  “I agree.”

  During their silent exchange, the enemy soldiers had come closer. Entering the trap, unaware. Still, Anna waited. Obsidian too.

  More enemy soldiers ghosted by her position. Almost two-thirds of the line had entered the trap when a questioning shout rang out. A moment of heavy silence followed while the soldiers at the head of the line waited for the scouts to respond in some way.

  The scouts would never be answering.

  But Rook responded for them, rising from his hiding spot almost two miles down the gully. Then he raised his horn to his lips.

  At the crisp, clear sound, the one hundred and fifty dryads and gargoyles surged out from their hiding places and raced down the slopes to engage the enemy.

  The trap didn’t spring perfectly. A third of the enemy fighters, almost a hundred by Anna’s eye, were outside the encircling dryads and gargoyles.

  “Time to earn our keep,” Anna called as she raced toward the closest enemy.

  “Fifty for each of us,” Obsidian agreed in all seriousness.

  “Our friends might expect us to share.”

  Obsidian chuckled. “I’ll share if they’re fast enough.”

  Ten feet from the first enemy, Anna shifted to run on two feet, sword in one hand and shadow magic shield in the other.

  Their link flared brighter, growing to encompass their minds in response to the presence of danger. There was no longer a need to speak as both Anna and Obsidian transformed into Rasoren-Kyrsu—twin souls guided by one unified will.

  Blades dripping with blood, talons covered in gore, shadowy shards of magic shifting around them as they danced. The lethal brutality of a berserker’s battle rage rose up within their souls, strengthening their bodies and quickening their strikes.

  It did not make them mindless, though. They still had a hyper clear focus: destroy their enemies.

  During their deadly, splendid dance, they accomplished much, cutting down thirty opponents in a blur of minutes. Sometimes she would distract the enemy and her Rasoren would make the kill. Other times, he would engage, and his Kyrsu would slide up lik
e an assassin from the shadows to end their enemy’s life.

  And during yet other times, they fought back to back or shoulder to shoulder. The clash of their sword strikes rained down upon shields and enemy swords until it formed its own sharp-edged music.

  Rasoren-Kyrsu danced, destroying all in their path.

  “You both are truly breathtaking.”

  The familiar voice jarred Anna out of their link, and she was once again alone in her own body. An expired opponent dangled from her talons. Obsidian was panting beside her, a second warrior raised above his body, shadow magic shimmering with deadly promise.

  With barely a look at the soldier, Obsidian finished him off with a spear of magic, then discarded the body as he stepped toward the familiar voice. Anna followed, circling around to stand at his shoulder.

  She blinked at finding herself facing Captain Vaspara. After a sea of unknown enemies, seeing a familiar visage caused a small curl of surprise in Anna’s stomach and perhaps even a little uneasy dread.

  “I see the Lord of the Underworld managed what his sister could not. The cub’s fully grown and lethal.” She glanced at Anna. “So too is his little mother bear.”

  “What are you doing in gargoyle territory with such small numbers, Vaspara? I thought you were more intelligent,” Anna shot back.

  “I assure you, I wouldn’t be here given a choice,” she said in that ultra-calm tone Anna remembered. “Alas, I don’t command this expedition. After the losses we’ve suffered, the Battle Goddess needed to replenish her pool of captains.”

  “You and Sorac fallen out of favor?” Anna asked as she tapped the tip of Vaspara’s blade.

  “Something like that. Though I’d rather face a horde of ravaging gargoyles than remain behind to be food for a blood witch’s spells. Death upon a gargoyle’s talons is quick and clean at least.”

  Anna and Obsidian snorted, both knowing Vaspara was as lethal as most gargoyles.

  Obsidian tapped his sword against the succubus’ next, and Anna allowed her partner to take over. She settled for killing enemy soldiers that got too close to the pair. But Anna could still track their full conversation through the link.