Goddesses of War (The Guardians of Tara Book 4)

by S. M. Schmitz

  “You have got to be kidding me,” London mumbled.

  “Okay,” Cameron responded. “A pencil will work.”

  Badb shot Selena a beseeching look and begged, “Please make him stop.”

  Selena handed him a pencil instead.

  Cameron scratched Hel’s name at the bottom of the list and smiled at Badb. “Want to see if I’m missing anyone?”

  “Can we get on with searching for Koschei’s soul?” London asked. “Hel’s probably on her way back already.”

  Cameron ignored her and turned to Thor as he refolded his list. “Does Hel have an army? I mean, we’ve been there, so I know she has warriors, but can they fight us outside of her world?”

  Thor shrugged, but Cameron thought his mind was still trapped with his father’s accusations that he was responsible for his death. “She might. Guess that means we should start digging.”

  “We need minions,” Cameron decided. “This is definitely a job for minions.”

  “Hel gave up awfully easily,” Badb said. “Anybody else suspect she’s not actually gone? I mean… for the first time in millennia, she’s left her realm. This isn’t a goddess who’s going to get spooked by one spear.”

  London grunted in response and rubbed her eyes. “Then what exactly are you suggesting we do? Just leave and not even look for Koschei’s soul?”

  “No, I’m suggesting we get help,” Badb said.

  Before she could even finish speaking, Tyr appeared in their midst. He lifted an eyebrow at Thor who offered him a crooked grin. “You’ll never guess who’s trying to kill us now,” Thor said.

  “Um… the entire supernatural world, apparently,” Tyr replied.

  “Turns out, semi-evil goddesses of the dead don’t like it when not-at-all-evil gods break into their realms and free their prisoners,” Cameron explained.

  Tyr blinked at him then sighed. “Great. More of Loki’s freakish offspring to deal with.”

  “Didn’t the Aesir force her into your underworld to begin with?” Selena asked. “Can you banish her again?”

  “Odin did,” Tyr answered.

  Cameron thought he saw Thor flinch at the mention of his father.

  “And he was the only one among us who knew spells like that,” Tyr continued.

  “How did she break free then?” Cameron asked.

  “Maybe spells weaken over time?” Tyr guessed.

  “What are you even doing here?” London asked Tyr. “Aren’t you supposed to be babysitting Loki and some human?”

  “Got bored,” Tyr replied with a half-hearted shrug. “So I got Magni to babysit for a while.”

  “I’d still like to know how Hel even got out of Hel,” Cameron said.

  “Maybe,” Badb snapped, “we should figure this out later. Right now, I’d like to dig around the lighthouse, see if we can find an asshole god’s soul, and get the hell out of here.”

  “You should turn into an old woman,” Cameron said. “Because you’re being cranky Badb again.”

  The Irish war goddess narrowed her eyes and flipped him off then turned on her heels and headed toward the lighthouse.

  “Still don’t have shovels,” Thor pointed out.

  “Still think Lugh should be able to give us some magical tool so we don’t have to dig up whatever’s left of an ancient temple,” Cameron also pointed out.

  Badb glanced over her shoulder and said, “Move.”

  “Make me,” Cameron called back.

  “Selena,” she shouted.

  “I hate you,” he shouted back.

  Selena smiled at him and grabbed his hand. “Digging up the foundation of a temple can’t be as hard as invading Hel, right?”

  “Actually,” Cameron argued, “invading Hel wasn’t that difficult. Getting out of Hel was the tricky part.”

  Thor nodded in agreement. “Apparently, she really hates losing her prisoners too.”

  Cameron pretended to shudder. “I don’t even want to know what she does with her prisoners.”

  “Walk, Sun God,” Badb yelled again.

  Cameron sighed and relented. Truthfully, he was anxious to leave Snake Island anyway, just in case it really did get its name from an abundance of reptilian inhabitants. As they neared the lighthouse, each of the gods realized it wouldn’t be as difficult to find the ruins of the temple as they’d feared. It had already been excavated, and the remaining structure stood as a monument to the island’s contentious past.

  Badb put her hands on her hips and glared at the temple as if it should just uproot itself and reveal any hidden secrets. When it neither uprooted itself nor revealed any secrets it may be hiding, she let her hands fall by her sides and sighed. “Shovel?”

  Cameron crossed his arms and retorted, “What do I look like? Home Depot?”

  But he hadn’t even finished his smartass response when Tyr reached past him to give Badb a shovel. Cameron turned to the Norse war god and arched an eyebrow at him. “So, apparently, you’re Home Depot. Good to know in case my faucet starts leaking.”

  Tyr just smiled at him then handed him a shovel.

  “Where are you getting these?” Cameron mumbled.

  “Dig,” Badb ordered.

  “Make me,” he shot back, but before Badb could call on Selena to make him, he added, “Shut up, Crow.”

  They dug in silence for a while before Cameron couldn’t take it anymore. “How much of this island are we going to dig up before admitting Koschei’s soul isn’t here?”

  “What makes you think it isn’t?” Tyr asked.

  “If it were, his entire soulless army would be here to stop us, right?” Cameron reasoned. “And so far, only Nergal and Hel have shown up.”

  “Why did you say that?” Badb groaned.

  Cameron flinched and shook his head. “I have no idea.”

  “He has a point though,” London said. “Either it’s not here, or it’s so well hidden, he’s not worried about us finding it.”

  Badb stuck her shovel into the ground and grunted at it, but Cameron doubted it had really pissed her off. “I was thinking the same thing,” she admitted. “But what else are we supposed to do?”

  “Don’t know,” Cameron said. “But we’re either wasting our time or just standing around this island as Huitzilopochtli and his allies are planning a massive assault. Either way, this isn’t working out for us.”

  “Are you always this optimistic?” London retorted.

  “Come on,” he replied. “Tell me this doesn’t worry you too.”

  “Yeah, but…” London’s eyebrows pulled together as something unnerving joined them on the island. All of the gods attempted to find the source of that unsettling sensation, but so far, it hadn’t shown itself and Koschei was still interfering with their abilities to sense who and what was around them.

  Their visitor announced himself though when it hissed angrily at them all.

  “You have got to be kidding me,” Cameron complained. “I thought I killed all these bastards.”

  A giant serpent that partially dragged its long body on two forelimbs hissed again in response.

  “What the hell is that thing?” Cameron shouted.

  “Um… I think that might be Nidhogg,” Thor said.

  “Isn’t it supposed to be busy eating the roots of your stupid world tree?” Cameron snapped.

  “Hey,” Tyr protested. “First of all, if Yggdrasil existed, it wouldn’t be stupid. And secondly, it doesn’t, but I’ll give you one guess where this genetically confused serpent-dragon is supposed to live.”

  “You two shut up,” Badb ordered. “We just need to know how to kill it.”

  “Kill it?” Hel taunted. “What makes you think you can kill a creature that isn’t even alive?”

  “That’s it,” Cameron decided. “I’m burning the whole island.”

  “People live here,” Selena pointed out.

  “And fire apparently won’t kill it anyway,” Thor also pointed out.

  “Would you stop pointing out
the problems in my plan to get rid of this thing?” Cameron insisted.

  “Sure, if you actually came up with a plan that would work,” London told him.

  Cameron narrowed his eyes at her but agreed. “Conceded.”

  “Don’t worry, Sun God,” Hel said. “I only intend to kill you, not kidnap you. There’s no way I want you in my realm.”

  Cameron nodded seriously. “Don’t blame you.”

  Hel flicked her wrist and Nidhogg slithered toward them. It was surprisingly fast for a two-legged serpent-dragon hybrid. Cameron and Thor both grimaced and backed farther away from it then Thor threw Mjölnir at it even though Hel had warned them it wasn’t alive. His hammer hit the scales beneath the giant serpent’s head, and its long tongue reached toward the thunder god as if mocking him.

  “Remind me again why I decided to be friends with you?” Thor groaned.

  “Selena,” Cameron answered.

  “Right,” he sighed.

  With the mutant serpent so close to them now, Cameron lit a fire in front of it anyway, hoping to at least slow it down.

  “If we can’t kill it, there has to be a way to get rid of it,” Selena exclaimed.

  Hel laughed and shook her head, her long dark hair framing her pale face. “Go ahead and try, little fairy.”

  “I really wish everyone would stop calling us fairies,” Badb muttered.

  “Oh, because that’s our biggest problem right now?” Cameron snapped.

  “Please tell me I’m just seeing double,” Tyr begged, pointing to a warbled shape barely visible through the wall of flames that had at least caused Nidhogg to pause.

  “I really never signed up to fight demon snakes,” London added. “I’ll let Jasper fire me.”

  Cameron nodded and told her, “Don’t blame you.”

  But London didn’t leave. Thor moved in front of her and said, “I have a feeling spears will be useless. And we have no idea what just joined Nidhogg.”

  The fire Cameron had ignited suddenly extinguished and the gods shot him looks that he roughly translated as, “Why the hell did you do that, you crazy bastard?”

  So Cameron shook his head and protested, “I didn’t!”

  “Oh my God,” Badb groaned. “I know this other snake creature.”

  “Which god?” Cameron asked. “Need to know so I can kill him if he doesn’t take his evil lapdog home.”

  “Ahriman,” Badb said. “I’ve encountered Aži Dahaka before, and we couldn’t kill it either.”

  “Yep, time for us to go,” Cameron decided.

  The serpent monsters had inexplicably stopped as if waiting for some signal to attack the gods. Cameron tried not to look at the three heads of Aži Dahaka, but the only thing worse than having to fight giant snakes was having to fight giant multi-headed snakes. A god appeared beside Hel, one he didn’t recognize and with Koschei still interfering with their senses somehow, he couldn’t even tell what pantheon this new god was from.

  But Badb apparently recognized him. “Ahriman,” she whispered.

  “Um… isn’t he supposed to be the Devil?” London asked.

  Badb nodded. “Koschei must be here, because I can’t even summon Ahura Mazda.”

  “You’re going to tell me that’s the only way you defeated him last time you met him, aren’t you?” Cameron said.

  Badb nodded again, so Cameron flipped off Ahriman, partly for bringing another huge serpent and partly because Koschei remained hidden and he couldn’t flip him off.

  Ahriman just smiled in return.

  “How did you get out of Basri?” Badb asked him. “Ahura Mazda assured us he’d keep you there permanently.”

  “He assured you,” Ahriman replied, “that I’d be confined to Basri until the end of times. And since those days have come, here I am.”

  “Have I mentioned I really wish we’d just killed Loki?” Tyr sighed.

  “I really wish you’d just killed Loki too,” Cameron agreed.

  “Have I mentioned,” Badb added, “that the last time we tried to kill Aži Dahaka, we discovered piercing its body just allowed more snakes and rats to fall out?”

  Cameron stopped scowling at Hel and Ahriman to scowl at Badb, who shrugged at him and told him it hadn’t been her idea to create such a monstrosity.

  “The entire supernatural world has been buzzing about you, Sun God,” Hel called out to him. “Claiming you can’t be defeated. And yet, here I am… about to kill you.”

  “I can’t leave,” Selena whispered. “They’re preventing us from leaving.”

  Ever since he’d become a god, situations like this had brought out that destructive anger, but if it still existed within him, he’d apparently buried it so deeply that it remained hidden and quiet. Mostly, he was only afraid because he didn’t know how to protect Selena and Hanna.

  Whatever signal Nidhogg and Aži Dahaka were waiting on must have been given because both serpents charged forward, their mouths stretching, baring long, sharp fangs. He ran his fingers through his hair, and once again panicked like in Mexico City. He wasn’t even sure what burst out of him, but the world froze, including the snake monsters that had almost reached them.

  Hel and Ahriman gasped and narrowed their eyes at the young sun god, but Cameron had grabbed his Spear and threw it into Nidhogg’s eye. The Norse dragon couldn’t move or react, but its other eye changed and turned glassy and vacant.

  “Holy shit,” Thor muttered. “I think you just killed Nidhogg.”

  “Impossible!” Hel screeched.

  “Oh,” Selena breathed. “I think I know why Koschei is able to interfere with our powers even though he doesn’t seem to be here. It’s his soul. Lugh must have been right. His soul is here.”

  “He’s always right,” Badb agreed.

  Ahriman slowly approached the group of gods, and Cameron lifted his Spear again but the Zoroastrian god shook his head. “You can’t kill me. No spear or weapon can kill me, boy.”

  “God,” Cameron corrected. “And you may be right, but I know what can.”

  “Doubtful,” Ahriman scoffed, but he was cut off when Ahura Mazda appeared in front of him.

  “Holy shit,” Thor muttered again.

  Ahura Mazda raised his hand, but Ahriman disappeared, taking his unholy serpent creature with him. He let his hand fall and glared at Hel instead, who’d crossed her arms angrily but kept her attention on the young Irish god.

  “You think this parlor trick is going to give you an advantage in killing gods?” she demanded.

  Cameron shrugged even though he didn’t actually know how he was stopping time, let alone if it would help him kill the gods they’d been pursuing for months now. “Can’t hurt.”

  “You’ve only succeeded in giving your enemies more allies,” Hel told him. She finally glanced at Ahura Mazda and said, “And you should stay out of this unless you want your followers to lose their only benevolent god.”

  Ahura Mazda opened his mouth to respond to her, but Hel vanished, so instead, he complained, “Well, she’s annoying.”

  With the immediate threats gone, some of the tension coiled inside Cameron relaxed and the world around them was set in motion again. Nidhogg’s body collapsed and the waves crashing against the shoreline resumed.

  Ahura Mazda looked around the island, puzzled. “How did you do that?”

  “Don’t know,” Cameron admitted. “Apparently, my go-to response to panicking is stopping time.”

  “But that’s impossible,” Ahura Mazda insisted.

  “Obviously not. What apparently is impossible is finding Koschei’s soul though. How the hell are we supposed to dig up an entire island?”

  Ahura Mazda blinked at him, watching him with some combination of bewilderment and awe, then studied the ground. “Surely, Hel and Angra Mainyu have run off to tell Koschei you’re close to unearthing his soul and making him vulnerable again. Hel mentioned enemies… how many do you have?”

  “Uh… how much time do you have?” Cameron asked.
r />   “That bad?”

  “At least thirteen,” Badb answered. “Not including Hel and Ahriman.”

  “Last time we met, Badb” Ahura Mazda said, “you were planning an invasion of Asgard, and now you’re fighting with the Norse? What exactly have I been missing?”

  “Okay, long story short,” Cameron offered. “We already did the whole second Battle of the Gods with the Norse, after which we agreed on a new friendship and alliance. But Selena is the most powerful healer that’s ever lived, and Huitzilopochtli wants to eat her heart and mine as well so he can have our power. Needless to say, we’re not cool with that, so—”

  “Wait,” Ahura Mazda interrupted, “forget I asked. Let’s just find Koschei’s soul.”

  “How did you even know Ahriman was here?” Badb asked. “Do you have some supernatural tracking device on him?”

  “I didn’t,” Ahura Mazda said, looking puzzled again. “I was summoned.”

  Thor shook his head and insisted, “We wanted to summon you, but we can’t. Not with Koschei interfering with our powers.”

  “Not you,” Ahura Mazda said then pointed at Cameron. “Him.”

  “Holy shit,” Thor muttered for the third time.

  “Please stop saying that,” Cameron begged.

  “How?” London asked. “How did you summon him here?”

  “I don’t know,” Cameron exclaimed. “I’ve told you all before to stop asking me how I do things. I’ll never know.”

  “Oh my God,” Selena exclaimed back. “Cameron… you have to figure out how you did it, because that’s how we’re going to win this war. You’re the key. Only you can summon Huitzilopochtli.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  After digging for hours around the temple that had once been dedicated to Achilles, Cameron’s shovel finally hit something hard and metallic. The other gods hurried to his side and helped him unearth the small bronze box. As he set it on the ground, he shot a nervous glance in Badb’s direction and asked, “If I unleash his soul, it can’t possess me, right?”

  Badb blinked at him then snapped, “Open the damn box, dumbass.”

  “If I get possessed, I’m blaming you.”

  Badb rolled her eyes and knelt beside the box so she could pry it open, but the lid wouldn’t budge. “Great,” she muttered. “Enchanted.”