by Nhys Glover
I should wait for the others before confronting him. That would be the sensible thing to do. But I had lightning now. If he threatened me or Shardra I could zing him with that.
Could I use fire magic against a fire elemental? I guess I was about to find out.
I brought Spot down a short distance from the couple and dismounted to approach them.
Shardra was radiant. That was the only word to describe her. And though she was a tall willowy woman, beside the hulking size of the silver daemon she was tiny, the top of her head not even reaching his shoulder. That difference in size made her look prized and protected, with her hand clasped tightly in the daemon’s big hand; not threatened.
I turned to study the creature more closely. His torso was bare, revealing tarnished silver muscles not even Prior could compete with. His silver grey hair fell, straight and flowing, down his chest, reaching all the way to his rippling abdomen. On the bottom half of his body he wore some kind of square of leather that just covered his genitals. As a red-blooded woman, I had to wonder what lay beneath that scrap of leather.
Arching over the whole glorious package was a pair of folded wings, one of which was slightly unfurled so it could wrap like an arm around the tiny shoulder of the female human at his side.
It would be hard to imagine two more different beings. Yet, despite myself, I saw it. They fit.
“You have to be Flame,” the daemon said with a welcoming smile and no sign of an accent. “Thank you for bringing my love to me. I am forever in your debt.”
His voice was a deep rumble and it stroked over my being like a velvet glove. How could I not be calmed by it?
“And you are?” I challenged him, nevertheless.
“Shardra calls me her comforter. My mother and her people called me daemon. I have no other name. Names are used to distinguish you from others, and there are no others like me.”
“A halfling?”
He nodded his head regally.
I heard the wings overhead and felt relieved when my men joined me.
The halfling looked on with interest as I became part of The Five.
“Ah, now I see it. You are the ones the Goddess wants me to assist,” he rumbled amiably.
“You are the key that can unlock the door to the underworld?” Zem asked, equally amiably, though I could feel his tension. Feel him readying himself for a fight if necessary.
The half daemon looked suddenly very sad. Though I couldn’t read his thoughts I could read his feelings. And his expression was a genuine reflection of his emotions.
“I will not fight you, human. Why would I? You have freed me from my hiding place and brought my love to me. And, yes, I am capable of not only opening the gateway to the underworld but creating a whirlpool of energy so powerful it can suck the entity known as The Jayger into it. I have done it once, I can do it again.”
“If necessary. It may not be– ”
Shardra suddenly collapsed. Only her comforter’s fast reflexes kept her from reaching the sand. He swept her up in his arms in concern.
“Is this how it happens?” he demanded anxiously.
And aye, he was genuinely anxious for the woman in his arms. My doubts about him were beginning to fade.
“She is having a vision,” I told him. “This is how they happen. At first I thought she was being taken by the hag, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. This is her magic.”
He looked around, as if for somewhere to lay her. But nothing seemed to suit him so he widened his stance and held her against his chest, waiting, concern radiating off him in waves.
By the time she started coming around Redin was racing down the beach toward us. Short of breathe and panting, he gasped out his news as he stared up at the creature before him. I could read fear for Shardra in his thoughts, but it was secondary to his more overriding concern.
“They did it. Gods, she had just hauled me in to find us in the scrying pool when it happened. I heard the chanting and was aware of the Godling cutting his palm over a stone disc marked with unintelligible symbols. He was adding his blood to that of the human sacrifice laid out, spread-eagle, across the disc. That poor wretch was already bleeding out.
“The hag wasn’t expecting it to work. It had not been successful any other time. But this time... Gods, suddenly the disc exploded into a million pieces and water gushed out of the hole, flooding the whole tunnel, washing the Devourers away.
“The last thing I saw and felt before I came back to myself, freed from my bonds, was the hag being swallowed up by the water. I felt her shock and her sense of betrayal. I was supposed to be spared! Why am I not being spared? They were her final thoughts.”
He fell to his knees in the sand, his whole body shuddering under the onslaught of what he’d witnessed. It was more than any man should ever have to see, especially a dreamy, harmless one such as this. I placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
Shardra stirred in her comforter’s arms and he put her down gently. On shaky legs, Shardra went to the man and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. I expected the daemon to pull her away or at least to show some sign of possessive jealousy. He didn’t. All he did was look on sadly.
“My vision was of storms, wild raging storms, and the sea boiling up and washing over the land; washing away homes as if they were kindling; washing away whole towns as if they were a childling’s playthings.” Shardra shuddered as she finished sharing her vision with us.
“How long have we got?” I asked her.
“It will not happen all at once,” the halfling said. “The last time it took a full moon cycle for the end to come. It needs to build on itself. The Jayger needs to build itself up.”
“Yes, that is exactly how it felt,” Shardra agreed. “Like he was weak when he came from the underworld and he must rebuild his strength with the storms. More water, he needs to create more water energy. To disrupt the balance. What I saw felt like the first assault on the land and the Goddess’ creations. And it will come in about half a moon cycle. That was when my vision will occur.”
I felt fear and helplessness wash over me as surely as The Jayger had washed over his minions as he sought his freedom from the underworld. Airsha hadn’t reached them in time. If she and her people couldn’t stop this happening, how were we going to reverse it?
Gods, if the Goddess’ Chosen One hadn’t been enough, how were we going to be?
“The Goddess knew this was coming and she got us here in time,” Landor said. “She knows we can do this, Flame! Look at that incredible being we have released from his hiding place to help us? Everything is happening as it should!”
I looked at the stalwart faces of my men. We were not complete. Not quite. But we were together and we had crossed an unknown ocean, one step ahead of the Devourers, and found the being that could create the elemental circle that would defeat this devouring fiend.
Tears stung my eyes, but they were no longer tears of helplessness and fear. I felt overwhelmed with purpose. This was my destiny. This was our destiny!
“Then we’d better start making our plans. We have a bare half-moon to stop this bastard before he begins destroying our world!” I said fiercely, meeting the gaze of each of my beloved men. Pale and bright blue eyes, light and dark brown eyes, met my own changeable hazel-green gaze. And something stirred between us. Something began to awaken. I felt it.
And I saw it in their expressions that my men felt it too.
“Whatever you need. Whatever it takes to save my love,” the daemon intoned.
“To save us all, Sky! To save us all,” Shardra said with more passion than I had ever seen in her.
“Sky?” the daemon questioned her in confusion.
“All beings need a name. And you need a name that reflects your essence. You have clouds for wings and eyes the colour of the sky. I would like to call you Sky,” she said a little nervously this time.
The daemon mulled it over for a moment and then smiled. “My mother’s people would be furious
that I was known by such a name. That pleases me greatly. Sky I am, then, sweet love.”
I laughed. “Will you share a meal with us, Sky, while we begin our planning? You do eat as we do?”
“Not quite. I am a meat eater like you, but I eat it fresh and raw. I will need to find food soon, as my body has been in hibernation for a very long time. It might be better if I do that now.”
“You can’t have the airlings or any of our men,” Zem spoke up stiffly.
The daemon—Sky—smiled. “Human flesh is gamey and unpleasant. And I would never think to feed on your friends.” His elegant hand gestured toward our circling airlings. “The like of which I have never seen before. I give you my word.”
And with that the huge elemental being kissed Shardra chastely on the lips and took to the skies.
I had to hope there were enough creatures on the island to meet his needs. And ours, as we would need to hunt to restock our supplies.
I turned back to my men and sighed. “This is really happening, isn’t it?”
Zem placed an arm around my shoulder and kissed the side of my head. The others clustered around me, their still-naked torsos pressed distractingly close.
I couldn’t help it, I had to kiss one bare shoulder. I looked up to find it belonged to Laric. He grinned cheekily down at me.
“Guess my dry spell is about to be over,” he said.
I leaned up and kissed his lips. “With a primordial water monster on his way to flood the world, I think that’s a safe bet.”
He shook his head in annoyance. “You know that wasn’t what I meant.”
I grinned, just as cheekily as he had. “Oh you mean the other dry spell. I think that might be possible.” I turned to the others. “Are you all on board with Laric getting laid?” I used the term he’d used a hundred years ago when we were about to set out on this challenging quest.
“You can light him up with your magic,” Prior said with a laugh. “Believe me, those little shocks running up and down your skin are... quite something.”
I looked at Zem and he smiled at me. “We are one. No one gets to have a dry spell anymore. Hope you’re up to it.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “Because I think sex is going to be the only way we can build our power while The Jayger is building his.”
I made much of swallowing anxiously, but my grin of anticipation was hard to hide.
Up to it? I was made for it!
