by Jaye Shields
From where she was crushed against his form, Sparrow couldn’t see his face, but his voice was tormented, angry, and fearful all at once.
“Sparrow, they will torture you.” His voice broke. “You can’t let them see you in human form. Get free and fly north toward the portal. Rowen will take care of you.”
She wished she wasn’t in bird form. She had no idea where north was, and that was the least of the questions flying through her mind.
And then the sound of hoofs became loud as thunder. Her captors had arrived.
Flurried, angry speech surrounded her in a guttural dialect that she neither recognized nor understood. The tiny heart inside her feather-covered chest pounded with fear. In that moment, she recalled Rowen’s final words to her.
He’d said he loved her.
Sparrow was afraid for Pyrrhus, but she was also afraid for herself. If she didn’t get free, she’d never know if so many things he said were true. She still longed to know what had happened with her mom. But Sparrow also longed to kiss Rowen and test the honesty of his words. Because now, as many men hefted net high and she was squished closer against Pyrrhus, all she could think about was how much she wished Rowen’s words were true.
She somersaulted as the netted bundle was tossed into a carriage of some sort. As they were carried across the landscape, Sparrow could see nothing save for the darkness of Pyrrhus’s side. All that was left were images of happiness that haunted her like a lost dream.
Sparrow lay within Rowen’s arms in the middle of a grassy, flower-dotted field. His gaze had been full of amazement when they looked into her own. She wouldn’t have doubted him then had he told her he loved her. Sure, she might have commitment phobia, but there wasn’t a man on earth like Rowen. She wouldn’t have minded spending an immortal life with him at all. Not at all.
She smiled inside, lost in the happy memories that were a bright contrast to the eerie darkness around her. And then she recalled her last words to Rowen. She had professed the exact opposite.
This is how much I don’t want immortality, and how much I don’t want to be a part of your world.
The words stung her like a scorpion tail through the heart. And then she remembered that she wasn’t even wearing her fancy new ring. Grand. She’d just have to do her damndest to survive, after all.
The traveling cart came to a sudden halt.
“Don’t forget what I said, Sparrow. Get free, and don’t let them see you in human form.”
The foreign tongue of their captors was accompanied by various grunts and jeers. Pyrrhus flinched against her as someone shoved a knife into his skin through the net.
With her acute owl hearing, she heard various groans and screams coming from inside a building that she could not yet see. A prison? Pyrrhus had warned her of as much.
Pyrrhus jerked once more from an impact piercing his thick skin. “It’s a paralyzer, Sparrow, fly.” His voice was a whisper before his body became limp, crushing her even more.
Suddenly she was lurched forward as the net was released, sending her and her friend’s tranquilized body rolling toward the ground. At the contact, Sparrow couldn’t help the magickal transformation. One more, she flickered from an owl to a human.
As her eyes opened and she regained her sense of smell, she was accosted by the acrid stench of sweat and the haunting metallic scent of blood. Just as she prepared to flash into a bird once more, the tranquilizer needle burrowed into her skin.
The world became a blur. Dizzied, Sparrow desperately tried to stand or transform as savage looking men advanced on her. Excitement hung like a black cloud in their eyes.
This was not good.
• • •
In the kingdom of Hy-Breasal, Egret Reed sat nestled into the arms of her long-lost love.
“So I won’t get swept away again this time?”
“No, my love.” Brennus took her lips with his own and kissed her slowly. She melted into him, kissing a man for the first time in forever. Except Brennus wasn’t just a man, he was the everything she had been missing since she returned from Ireland with her sisters. And he was something more as well.
Egret ended the kiss. “I am so excited to tell Sparrow she finally has a father.”
Brennus smiled. “Sparrow is an incredible woman. I saw your spirit in her the first time she stepped foot in my realm. I would be happy to be there for her as a father.”
Egret realized there was kindness, but no recognition in his loving gaze. She squeezed his palm and sucked in a nervous breath. “Brennus, you are her father.”
“You mean — ”
“I’ve never had another, Brennus. We have a daughter together.”
His lips crushed hers and his arms wrapped her in a tight embrace. He halted for an instance. “We have a beautiful daughter.” The words were spoken almost as if he couldn’t fathom his luck. “I love you so much.”
Brennus embraced her once more, but Egret’s skin tingled from a chill. She shuddered as a sick feeling washed over her. “Something is wrong.” A vision slammed into her, but all Egret saw was smoke and fire as screams filled her ears. “Sparrow?”
Brennus’s calming hands pulled her close. “What’s wrong?”
“Sparrow’s in trouble.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
The sounds of screaming woke Sparrow with a start. The next sensation was the freezing chill of the prison air against her skin. She grimaced at the gnawing pain of the deep puncture from where she had been shot with the tranquilizer gun.
How long had she been out?
Screams continued, echoing all around her, rebounding off the cold stone walls. She wasn’t cuffed, but the tiny blood-smeared cell was a reminder that she was a prisoner. Beside the stone, a heavily-dented steel door completed her tiny five-by-five foot cell. Three eyes looked through a tiny window in the door, and then it was being unlocked.
Sparrow immediately flashed into a hummingbird, hoping she would be small and fast enough to escape through the opening door. Just when she thought success was hers, she crashed into a mystical barrier and fell to the floor. Her feathers became skin once more.
The grotesque, three-eyed monster grabbed her up off the floor with beefy hands.
“Pyrrhus!” Sparrow screamed and flailed within the beast’s grip, but all it did was make her limbs ache. Within the firm hold, her arms felt as fragile as a doll’s, ready to be ripped out of the sockets at any moment.
The beast didn’t bother to speak, but was full of various grunts as he hauled Sparrow down the hall. She tried to kick him in the groin, but only found a gigantic rock-like formation. Three-eyed beast boy wasn’t fazed, and his meaty hands grabbed her by the hair and slammed her head against a stone wall.
Pain exploded and she wondered if her eyeball had popped out of its socket. Dazed, Sparrow touched her face to survey the damage, but all she found were painful tingles. The hallway was a disorienting twirl before her eyes as she was pulled forward.
Too pained to hold its own, her head sagged. The floor passed by beneath her, smeared with various shades of crimson, green, and black. Various bodily fluids, she supposed.
“Sparrow!” The sound of Pyrrhus’ roar convinced her to try to raise her pounding head. To her left, Pyrrhus was chained to a wall, his body mangled and bleeding. Several knives were stuck deep into his abdomen. “Gods, Sparrow, I’m sorry. I’ll get free, and when I do, I’ll come for you.”
The desperation in his voice convinced Sparrow that she may be in more trouble than she thought. Or maybe she had been too concussed for reality to set in and realize how truly grim her situation was.
Pyrrhus’ mangled body disappeared from view. Slowly, her consciousness became stronger. Pyrrhus wasn’t getting free any time soon. She had to take care of herself.
The tattoos on her back bu
rned, and she welcomed the feeling as she became a hummingbird once more. Disappearing into her captor’s fist, she drove her pointy beak into his thick flesh.
He released her with a roar and she flitted away at top speed.
“Go!” Pyrrhus obviously heard the altercation and rooted her on, pain still dripping from his voice as he called out her name.
Victory was short-lived, and a ninja-quick fist shot up out of nowhere and clutched her within its palm. She tried to use her beak as a dagger once more, but her captor only squeezed harder, her beak shoving forward through his skin until her mouth ached.
Becoming a woman once more, Sparrow found her neck firmly in the man’s grasp. He squeezed so hard she coughed, choking on pain as he crushed her airway.
“You are a pretty woman.” His English was thickly accented, but he loosened his grip on her throat when he spoke. “That will make this all the more fun.”
Fear stilled her body. The man’s free hand yanked one of her arms behind her back. Pain exploded in her limb as his force dislocated her shoulder. A sob escaped her, but was cut off as her tormentor squeezed hard on her throat once more.
Pyrrhus continued to scream her name from down the prison hall.
“My name is Agmundr, and I oversee the treatment here. You will come to know me well. So well, that you will tell me all truths.”
His voice was a low rasp, a middle-aged man who reeked of strength and power. And who knew if he was immortal — she was screwed either way.
As she was dragged down the hall to who the hell knew where, Sparrow noticed many other beings held in cells or strapped to the wall as Pyrrhus had been. Many of them were Quetzalem, some of them children. But before she could even respond with sympathy, she was being hauled by her hair into a mirrored room.
“So I can better enjoy the view.”
Her captor yanked her head upward to look down at her. Her neck ached and her stomach heaved as she took in the face behind so much terror.
“You are a shape shifter. I wonder why you chose only a puny form to try to best me.”
The reflection haunted Sparrow. As the man questioned her, his fists still held her by the hair, forcing her to look at her own bleeding image. A dark purple ring was already beginning to form around her throat.
“I spoke to you!” The reflection in the mirror became a haze as he jerked her head back and forth like a rag doll. Just when she thought her hair might rip right from her scalp, he released her. A second later his fist was flying toward her face.
The ground came in a mortifying rush. Her cheek shattered under the force, and as soon as Sparrow landed on the cold ground, he began kicking the air out of her lungs. “Turn into a bear and challenge me woman. I dare you.”
She tried to speak, but no words could escape through her breathless lungs. Silent pain escaped only in a shallow wheeze.
“Not … a … shifter.” She barely heard her own voice.
“Now we are getting somewhere. The truth will come later I’m sure. For now, I am happy with lies, because it will only fuel our session together.” His hands went to her hair once more, and he yanked her off the ground. Pressing his back against her body, he forced her to look into the mirrored wall once more as his hand slithered under her shirt.
Tears of revulsion streamed down her cheeks, and she fought through the pain to try to change. The tattoos on her back burned, but her image only flickered within his grip.
“I thought I could make you change.” Agmundr removed his hand and placed it around her throat once more. She’d never felt happier to be choked. She’d rather have the life choked out of her than feel his hand on her skin like that again.
Okay, if there’s a time to tap into natural-born Wiccan powers, this is it.
But pain left Sparrow weak, and since her mom discouraged her from practicing, she was left at a disadvantage. Suddenly, she recalled her grandma’s favorite subtle spell to drive away unwanted company.
Closing her eyes, Sparrow focused on the skin of her neck where Agmundr held her. Letting everything fade away, she went to a place where there was peace. The kind of serenity she’d found lying in Rowen’s arms in the meadow in Hy-Breasal. Sparrow felt her spirit becoming stronger, and she imagined her skin becoming hotter and hotter. A bright white light burned in her mind like a flame lighting her within.
“Ah, Daimonous!” Her attacker screamed and peeled his hand away from her neck. Sparrow smelled smoke from where her skin had branded him, but her weakened body slumped to the floor.
A heavily booted foot connected with her abdomen. “Why were you with the dragon demon?” Another kick.
The force caused Sparrow to bite her tongue, and blood began filling her mouth.
“What do you know of the Dragon King?”
He yanked her up once more. Her legs were jelly and Sparrow’s body was at the mercy of her torturer’s powerful grip. The way he held her left her no choice but to meet his psychotic gaze.
“Speak or the torture will begin.” This isn’t the torture? The hot metallic taste in her mouth was disgusting. Feeling suddenly bold, she spat the crimson liquid at Agmundr.
She watched him smile slowly, revealing yellowish teeth. His pink tongue darted out of a wide sneer and tasted the blood she had spit on him.
“You will learn that I have quite the affection for blood. Not like vampires. Let us just say it is an obsession to taste my enemy’s weakness.” He smiled as Sparrow, and she thought she’d vomit again, but there was nothing left. “Soon woman, if you do not tell me what I want, your weakness will be all over the floor.”
Sparrow tried to focus any remaining energy she had left on healing herself. The various injuries left her overwhelmed, and she cried out.
“Good.” The satisfied voice of her foe wreaked havoc on her mind as her body writhed in pain. “Now, I can see that you’re not accustomed to such pain. Clearly you are not a shape shifter, for you would have a higher tolerance. I will give you time to regain use of your jaw.” He dropped her on the floor for the umpteenth time. She was becoming quite intimate with the cold, bloodied stone.
Her assailant turned to leave, but turned back with one last sneer packaged up nicely with a lustful gaze. “I look forward to seeing what you can do with that mouth. Should you decide not to reveal the truths I’m after, I can think of other useful things you can do with those lips.”
And then he was gone. Whether from shock, or blood loss, she’d never know, but darkness claimed Sparrow once more.
• • •
“I’m so worried about Sparrow.” Tera’s brows were knit in a deep vee as she squeezed her husband’s hand. They had only been on their honeymoon a week when Tera received a flood of voicemails from her best friend. Sparrow had been worried frantic about her mom, yet when Tera called Alameda, California, from Greece, Morgana had revealed that Sparrow took off.
“We’ll find her, my dryad.” Sabin clutched her softly and pulled her in for a lingering kiss. As they stood at the Acropolis with the Grecian sunset afire behind them, the two lovers prepared to travel through the ancient portal.
“But how will we know where she’s gone?”
“I know every inch of the Portal Realm — it’s my duty. And any of the other knights will have taken note of Sparrow’s whereabouts. Let’s go find her.” Taking her hand, Sabin led Tera around the south porch of the Erechtheion. “Between these two caryatids, we’ll find the portal.”
“Ah yes, between two gigantic carved bosoms. I should have known.” Tera winked at her man as he guided her through two columns in the shape of beautiful maidens.
“Gigantic bosoms carved after maidens that worshipped your mother.”
Tera smiled at the mention of the goddess Artemis. “Alright then, lead me where you will — let’s find Sparrow.”
Sabin pl
aced a gentle palm over Tera’s eyes and together they stepped over the ledge. Instead of a free fall, they simply disappeared. Sabin removed his hand. “We are here, my love.”
Tera opened her eyes to recognize the Portal Realm that she had only recently become familiar with.
“Sparrow is in Canicus, the realm that was once home to the Quetzalem.”
Tera was happier than ever about her husband’s telepathic abilities when he was in the Portal Realm. “Okay, let’s go.”
Sabin pulled her through the thick fog that hovered in the travel plane. All around them demons and various creatures bustled about. “Rowen went to the same realm not long after her. Brennus, too.”
“The king?”
“Yes. And he wasn’t alone. He’s summoned Sodor and Zeth with him as well.”
Sabin pulled Tera into a run toward the portal door to the Canicus realm. For the king to leave Hy-Breasal, something had to be very, wrong.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Rowen reached the stone fortress and wasted no time. Since he had no tools to try to scale the towering walls, he’d just have to walk right in.
Leaping from his horse, he whispered for it to wait for him within the cover of the trees. Rowen would return and he would bring another rider with him, or else he would not return at all.
Leaving the astral gun in its holster, he strode up to the prisoner’s entrance. He pulled the cloak he’d stolen from the village closer around his face so that he wouldn’t be recognized as a knight.
“Gebjlieasta?” A gruff voice inquired of Rowen through the barred gate.
“I am the Quetzalem king that you seek,” he answered in the same human language of the area. “Now, let me in.”
“Show me your face.”
Instead, Rowen turned to leave. He heard the quick opening of the door and smiled. Human men were so easily manipulated.
Rowen turned and rushed the man, snapping his neck before he could make a sound. Two more guards ran at Rowen. Throwing back his hood, Rowen pulled out his astral gun and fired two bullets glittering toward their targets.
