Rise of the Gryphon (Belador #4)

by Sherrilyn Kenyon

  She struggled to lift her head and chest. The space where the castle doors had stood was only a few feet away, but she’d have to heal first, and Boomer was rousing.

  Someone raced toward them from outside, yelling, “Brinnnaaaa!   ”

  Evalle shouted telepathically, I’m Evalle. Cut off the head on the floor.

  Lightning exploded around the entrance when the warrior broke the threshold. The warrior screamed in agony.

  Boomer’s eyes glowed with power.

  A sword blade slashed down across Boomer’s neck, killing the power in his eyes.

  Evalle shuddered with relief and took a breath, ready to heal when her vision cleared.

  Tzader collapsed on the ground next to Boomer, gasping. Dying. Tzader was immortal, and the ward on this castle killed any immortals who were not Brina or Macha.

  Evalle cried into his mind, Tzader, nooo!

  He said, Protect . . . Brina.

  That’s your job. Evalle opened the link between them, but Tzader was too weak to connect. Or refused to open his link. Gryphons were more powerful. She just kept telling herself that and drove harder to open the link between them.

  Tzader’s thin voice said, Don’t. You’ll die with me. Brina. Tell her . . . I love her.

  Refusing to quit, Evalle pushed more power into the link and the connection formed.

  She could immediately feel her life essence flooding out, fast and hard. Not like the other two times. Maybe she was too damaged to regenerate, especially connected to another dying body.

  She called on her beast and felt nothing, not even the link to Tzader that had gone cold and quiet. No! Don’t die, Z!

  The void swallowed her. No pinpoint of light.

  She’d die with a clear conscience that she’d upheld her Belador oath to the end.

  It’s not your time, a female voice whispered in her mind.

  Not you again. Evalle hoped this voice didn’t follow her into the afterlife.

  A feminine chuckle bubbled across her senses. Tired, hurt, disappointed and alone, Evalle snapped, What do you want from me?

  Maybe I want to give you something.

  So now you’re my Secret Santa? Where were you for the past twenty-three years?

  Evalle sensed sadness in the silence and felt bad for berating someone who had annoyed her and given her unwanted advice but had never caused her harm.

  The voice said, I’m sorry you never had birthdays or celebrated holidays, but you can have that with Storm.

  How do you know Storm?

  Through you. He is your other half.

  Great. Now a voice was making her depressed, as if dying with Tzader wasn’t enough. Feeling guilty, Evalle said, Didn’t mean to take my bad mood out on you. Side effect of dying, I guess.

  The chuckle was back. You must return to the living.

  I don’t know that I have to, but I’d like to go back.

  No, you must, because Storm needs you. Sending you back is my gift to you.

  Storm needed her? Evalle’s heart thumped with worry. But how could her heart thump if she was dead? A tiny light beamed in her mind’s eye and started to glow brighter.

  Pain—feeling—crawled through her body, stinging and burning as energy surged into her legs, wings and arms. Her heartbeat picked up speed, stomping against her chest. Power burst from her core, raging across her senses.

  She opened her eyes and stared at twenty sword points.

  Panicked, she yelled at every Belador present, I’m Evalle. Don’t touch me or you’ll kill Tzader! We’re linked!

  All eyes shifted to Tzader, who didn’t move. Not even a breath. Come on, Z. Nothing. She refused to let him go.

  She closed her eyes, searching for the link. She found it. Cold. Quiet. Careful with her energy, she forced a slow stream of healing power into the link, waiting for a sign.

  He twitched.

  She opened her eyes and kept sending him the constant flow of life energy.

  He groaned. No sweeter sound had she ever heard. He drew a breath. Another.

  Tears pooled in her eyes when he slid his palms forward and pushed up, shaking his head.

  He twisted, his gaze searching hers. Evalle?

  Yes. The tears fell, running free.

  I heard you in my mind. How did you save me?

  Long story that I’ll tell you soon, but call off the guards first.

  That’s when Tzader looked up. He must have sent a telepathic message, because every sword pulled back and the guards stood down.

  Evalle relaxed, tired of fighting. Tired of being a gryphon right this moment. Her body started changing before she realized the shift had come over her.

  Tzader glanced down, did a double take, then ordered, “Everyone face away. Now.”

  Then he whipped off his T-shirt and handed it to her as she stood. She shrugged it on, thankful it was long enough to cover the important parts. Looking around, she asked, “Where’s Brina? I can’t believe she actually did as I asked and found somewhere safe to hide.”

  Tzader snapped alert. “Which way did she go?”

  A warrior answered, “Down the back hallway.”

  He called for a sword. One of his men tossed him the weapon, and Tzader took off running. Evalle followed with a herd of boot heels pounding right behind her.

  When Tzader skidded to a stop and turned into a room, Evalle smelled Noirre majik heavy in the air.

  Horace stood with his back to the door, chanting and tossing dust at Lanna and Brina.

  Tzader shoved his sword into Horace. The old guy screamed and dropped a bag that smelled of rotten limes.

  Evalle raced over just as Lanna and Brina disappeared, leaving a holographic image of Brina.

  Evalle reached toward it, then pulled back.

  Tzader was next to her in an instant, his voice hollow when he whispered, “Where’d they go?”

  “I don’t know.”

  FORTY-EIGHT

  With no idea what to do for Brina and Lanna, Evalle finally shook herself loose from the numb feeling of too many shocks at one time. Someone had to deal with the battle still raging on Treoir.

  With Boomer can’t-come-back dead and Evalle having regenerated three times, she’d become the most powerful gryphon.

  She ordered the gryphons to stand down from any fight and fly to where they could circle the castle.

  Seven answered her, which meant they had another dead gryphon besides Boomer.

  Who had managed that? The only way one of the gryphons would not have gone through three cycles was if the head had been cut off.

  Evalle told Tzader, “All the gryphons are under my control. I’ve called them in to circle the castle, and I need you to tell the Beladors to stop attacking. Once you do, I can turn the gryphons on the witches and warlocks.”

  Tzader looked at her with unfocused eyes, still paralyzed by terror at seeing Brina’s lifeless hologram wrapped in a Noirre spell.

  Evalle said as gently as she could, “Z, we need you.”

  The warrior in him shuddered back into place. He nodded, his eyes fixed on a distant spot for a moment, then he said, “It’s done. I’ve told our warriors the gryphons now belong to us and to fight beside them.”

  Evalle sent the gryphons orders to drive the Medb from the island, confident that the five thousand Beladors and seven gryphons outside would be successful.

  Green power ripped across the room and Macha appeared, not looking as fresh as usual.

  Holding the ward must have really zapped her.

  Macha stared at the hologram with a sinking look of horror. “Where’s Brina?”

  Tzader told her what he’d found right before Brina and Lanna had disappeared. His voice came out gutshot. “I failed her, and I failed you.”

  Macha gave Tzader a thorough look. “How are you standing here inside this castle alive?”

  He sighed and explained how he’d rushed in with no thought for his life, needing only to protect Brina.

  Evalle could
practically hear his heart shattering. Evalle said, “We’ll find her, Z. Lanna was caught with her. She’s Quinn’s cousin and pretty powerful. Quinn may have family who can track Lanna. When I get back to Atlanta, I’ll get Storm. He has other gifts and may be able to tell us more once we bring him here. If not for him, you wouldn’t have gotten my note to know what was coming.”

  “He didn’t give us the note,” Tzader said.

  “What do you mean? How’d you get it if he didn’t?”

  “I went looking for you.” Tzader cut his eyes over at Macha to find her glaring at him. “You made me Maistir because you trust me to watch over all the Beladors and to know who I can trust and who I can’t. I have never doubted Evalle and you shouldn’t either, especially when she’s the reason you still hold Treoir.”

  “We don’t have Brina.”

  “That’s not Evalle’s fault, and she’ll help us find her.”

  Evalle still wanted to know about the note. “What about Storm?”

  Tzader said, “When I got to his house, no one was there. Your note was sitting on the nightstand.”

  “Was it a whole piece of paper or . . .”

  “All of it. The part you wrote to Storm was still attached.”

  “Where was he?” She hadn’t intended for that to come out panicked, but some emotions couldn’t be controlled.

  “I found a note he left you in the kitchen. The room smelled like licorice incense.” Tzader pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to her. “You know what the note means?”

  Evalle nodded, eyes blurring. Why had Storm gone after the witch doctor without waiting for her?

  She wasn’t sure she could restart her heart anymore today, but it was pounding in the danger zone.

  Had the witch doctor tricked Storm?

  FORTY-NINE

  Cathbad stared in horror at the scrying wall, then turned on Flaevynn. “How could ya send our daughter out there with no way ta heal herself?”

  Flaevynn’s lips trembled. “She failed. They all failed.”

  “Ya whore. Ya killed your own child, and now ya will die.”

  Trembling, she turned to Cathbad, voice jumping. “Fix this. You . . . you know the curse. Make it . . . do something.”

  “Die, ya miserable waste of life.”

  Flaevynn railed at him. “This is all your fault!” She tried to strike him with her black fingernail, but she staggered back.

  All at once, her body began warping and shriveling, then spinning until she turned into a human tornado of sparkling purple dust.

  Cathbad stepped back, not too sure about this. He’d thought the old witch would just dry up and poof away like the others before her.

  When the dust settled, Flaevynn was definitely gone, but another woman, a far more beautiful creature, stood in her place. Hair as black as sin fell around her shoulders, and eyes as green as a new leaf studied what should have been Flaevynn’s body. She seemed as surprised as Cathbad was to see her slender arms and fine shape in a purple gown fit for a queen.

  Cathbad scratched his head. That had not happened in recorded history. “I do no understand.”

  The gorgeous female laughed, a full, throaty sound. “That’s because the prophecy has been fulfilled. I have returned.”

  “Who are ya?”

  “Maeve, the first and only true Medb queen.”

  “How can ya be here? The prophecy—”

  She nodded, her eyes twinkling with mirth. “—said birth before death and death before birth. The Alterants were born, then died, then were reborn as gryphons.”

  Cathbad still battled to understand. “But the immortal queen . . . ?”

  “That would be me.”

  “How?”

  She sighed. “You don’t have time for all of this, so I shall be quick. The female gryphon had to evolve by rising a third time, which she must have, because she fulfilled the prophecy and brought me back to life.”

  Cathbad processed everything at blinding speed. Now he understood what he had not seen coming. The curse had not been about gaining immortality for the reigning queen. It had been about reincarnating the original one.

  But wrapping his head around that meant . . . “If ’tis so, then . . .” His body twisted and warped, going through the same gyrations. He yelled, but his voice sucked away with his life.

  “I told you that you didn’t have much time.” Maeve waved at him, laughing over the prophecy actually coming true. She had certainly hoped so when she and her greedy partner had come up with this plan.

  When the druid’s form stopped spinning, a breathtaking man with searing brown eyes gave her an admiring once-over. “Hello, Maeve.”

  “Good to see you again, Cathbad. It’s been too long.” She grinned at her own joke. “Can you believe that fool managed to figure it all out but never realized the whole point was for the two of us to be reincarnated?”

  Returning her grin with a dazzling one, the original Cathbad the Druid said, “Now we’ll show this world what a real queen and powerful druid can do.”

  FIFTY

  Evalle couldn’t take another heartbreak, or so she thought until she walked outside to find Quinn carrying Kizira’s body toward the castle.

  Behind him, gryphons were coming in to land across the open field. The warlocks and witches had been driven out of Treoir.

  Evalle called to Tristan telepathically. I’ll meet with you before I leave, but I need you to keep the gryphons back where you are until I can come and talk to them.

  I’ll do that, Tristan answered. As long as Macha doesn’t try to screw with us.

  Technically, the gryphons had to follow Evalle’s orders regardless, but she understood Tristan’s concerns. Macha isn’t going to bother you because she needs you right now.

  How do you see that?

  Brina is missing, but her hologram is still inside the castle, which is affecting the Beladors. She’d finally gotten Tzader to walk away from Brina’s hologram that hovered in the solar like a grand effigy. He had a sick, kicked-in-the-nuts look, but Tzader still commanded a force of Belador warriors whose powers were now in question.

  Do the warriors have any powers? Tristan asked.

  Some have limited use of their powers, but they can’t link, and telepathy is spotty. Not having a Treoir descendant physically in the castle doesn’t seem to be affecting our gryphon powers.

  Tristan chuckled, but not in a nice way.

  Evalle ignored it. The gryphons will become a new security force—

  What?

  Will you work with me for once, Tristan? I got you out of TÅμr Medb, with your sister and your two Rías buddies. Alive, I might add.

  After a grumbling noise, Tristan said, Macha better feed us well.

  Evalle smiled. She will. Just bunch up everyone and I’ll come see you after I talk to her.

  Quinn reached Evalle. His legs moved as if he trudged through quicksand. Eyes swollen and red. His mouth sagged.

  Evalle walked down the steps to meet him. “I’m sorry, Quinn. We had a plan that was going to save Brina and Treoir, plus get Kizira out of the Medb.”

  Tears trickled down his face. “She did a better job of protecting me than I did of protecting her.”

  There was nothing Evalle could say that would make anything he was feeling go away. She swallowed, and it hurt. She couldn’t bring herself to tell him that Lanna was missing. Not yet.

  Tzader stepped down beside her, silent and staring at Quinn before he finally said, “I’ll convince Macha to let you take her body back to bury.”

  Quinn nodded his thanks. His Adam’s apple moved hard against his throat.

  Tzader angled his head at Evalle. “Macha wants to see you.”

  Walking over to Quinn, Evalle gave him a hug and held him a minute, fighting back tears that wouldn’t help Kizira. She bent and kissed Kizira on the forehead. “Thank you for wanting peace and for loving Quinn.”

  She turned and climbed the steps, then waded through the destruction and
a cluster of warriors to find Macha still standing in the solar, staring at Brina’s hologram.

  Macha didn’t acknowledge Evalle’s presence.

  Evalle was in no mood to waste time. “The gryphons will remain to protect the island. There are two Rías, but they have control of their beast and will do whatever Tristan tells them.”

  Turning to her, the goddess said, “Why would we trust these gryphons?”

  Evalle had used up her allotment of patience. “Because they have to follow the orders of their leader, the most powerful gryphon.”

  “Who is that?”

  “Me.”

  “Very well, they can stay.”

  That wasn’t enough for Evalle. Not after what every one of them had done to save Treoir. “And they are to be treated like the guardian protectors they are, not like outsiders. Every gryphon out there has Belador blood coursing through his or her veins and just fought next to our warriors to run the Medb witches and warlocks off of Treoir.”

  Macha lifted her chin with an astonished look, but when the goddess didn’t threaten to turn Evalle into ashes, Evalle added in a nicer tone, “I’ll explain their duties to them before I leave.”

  “Very well. And your duty is simple. You do nothing but hunt for Brina. That takes top priority.”

  “Actually, I’m going after the one person I know who can help me find her.”

  “Who?”

  “Storm.”

  “I heard Tzader mention finding your note in Storm’s house, on his nightstand. You’ve lain with him without permission.” The goddess dropped that with plenty of accusation.

  “That’s my business.”

  “I will not approve of you mating with him.”

  “Again, my business, and this conversation is not helping to find Brina.”

  Macha studied Evalle for a moment. “Where is this Skinwalker?”

  “To tell you the truth, I don’t know everything yet, but I think he’s hunting a witch doctor.”

  It took a lot to shock Macha, but that evidently did it. “A witch doctor? If he’s tangled up with her, he’s lost to everyone.”

  Evalle answered with force. “Not. To. Me. I’m going to find him.”