The Last Guardian of Tara (The Guardians of Tara Book 5)

by S. M. Schmitz

  “She’s a primordial goddess and quite powerful,” Lugh explained. “Her legend claims Marduk killed her, but that’s obviously not true. As far as I know, she’s always lived in the sea rather than the heaven where An, one of her children, ruled.”

  “Um…” Athena stammered. “We’re kind of responsible for killing her son then.”

  Lugh shrugged and pointed to the book in Cameron’s hands. “I don’t think she cares. She cares about her sea and her existence, and it’s possible Enlil has made some sort of deal with her that if she doesn’t interfere with his plans to take back Mesopotamia, he’ll ensure none of the water gods bother her.”

  “If they made a deal, why would she tell us anything?” Selena asked.

  “Primordial deities are extremely old, far older than any of us or even humans. They don’t like change, especially sudden changes. If you can maintain the status quo, she might be willing to help you.”

  “Might?” Cameron snapped. “You want me to fight a sea serpent over might?”

  “Actually, I want you to fight her just because she’s a giant sea serpent.”

  “I hate you,” Cameron said.

  “No, you don’t,” Lugh responded.

  “How do we find her?” Hanna interjected.

  “Go to the Gulf and summon her,” Lugh answered.

  Cameron spun around and scowled at Thor. “You’ve been suspiciously quiet.”

  “Damn it,” Thor muttered. “I was hoping you’d forget I’m here.”

  “Consider it practice for Jörmungandr.”

  “I’ve reconsidered. You can help me with that when the time comes.”

  “For God’s sake,” Hanna exclaimed and narrowed her eyes at Cameron and added, “Your sake, obviously. I’ll battle both sea serpents if you and Thor just shut up and let us question Tiamat.”

  “Deal,” Cameron said, and once again, their surroundings vanished, replaced by the scorching heat of the Arabian Peninsula. Everyone scowled at Cameron again, so again, he grinned and said, “Time crunch.”

  “You are not allowed to claim we’re in a hurry since it’s almost always your fault we’re delayed anyway,” London told him.

  “Technically,” Cameron started, but Prometheus interrupted him.

  “Found her.”

  The rhythmic, rolling waves parted as a dark shape beneath the surface of the water torpedoed toward them. All of the gods instinctively retreated, but their eyes remained fixed on the long, serpentine shape in the gulf.

  “Finders keepers?” Cameron asked hopefully.

  “Maybe she’s a gentle sea monster?” Prometheus also asked hopefully.

  “I think the word ‘monster’ implies a certain degree of ungentleness,” Cameron said smartly.

  “Ungentleness isn’t a word,” Selena pointed out.

  Tiamat’s head burst through the water, her large serpentine eyes scanning the gods assembled on the shore then settling on Prometheus who’d summoned her. She hissed angrily then two wings rose from the water, lifting her from the sea as the dragon ascended into the sky and took aim toward the Titan who’d been foolish enough to disturb her.

  Chapter Ten

  Cameron’s Spear sailed past Prometheus and hit Tiamat’s jaw, but the flying serpent shook her head and his Spear fell to the surface of the sea. He blinked at his weapon then glanced at Hanna. “Can I go home yet?”

  “You threaten to go home every time we have to fight a giant snake,” Thor said.

  “Can you blame me?”

  “No, I just want you to take me with you.”

  Hanna rolled her eyes and produced her own spear but lit hers on fire before throwing it at the goddess. Ares’s spear followed closely behind, but Tiamat’s body shivered and those spears fell to the ground as well.

  “Okay,” Cameron said, “time to consult Wikipedia. Someone distract her.”

  “You’re joking, right?” Prometheus cried.

  Cameron had already pulled his phone from his pocket, though, and was busily searching for information on how to incapacitate Tiamat.

  “We’re not supposed to kill her,” Hanna reminded him. “We need to calm her down though so we can talk to her.”

  “Working on it,” he insisted.

  Prometheus forced the wind to change directions, and Tiamat was briefly caught in the draft. She flapped her wings and struggled against the air current, so Prometheus concentrated on a stronger wind, but the ancient goddess screeched loudly and dove toward him. Hanna ignited a wall of fire between them and the dragon, but she flew through it.

  “Can you read a little faster?” Hanna yelled.

  “Screw it,” Thor decided. “I’m just going to grab her and hold her down.”

  All of the other gods stopped staring at Tiamat to stare at Thor, so he shrugged and told Cameron to help him.

  “You want me to grab a giant snake goddess and hold her down?” Cameron exclaimed. “Are you trying to kill me?”

  “We’ve done it before,” Thor reminded him.

  “That snake in Hel wasn’t a god.”

  Tiamat screeched again, and as she dove toward them, Thor put Mjölnir back on his belt and said, “Get ready.”

  Cameron groaned but sent his Spear back to Murias. “Selena, I really hope you can heal getting eaten by a primordial sea serpent goddess.”

  “I healed Anita after she was swallowed by Caoranach.”

  Prometheus grimaced but said, “I’ll get the midsection. In the future, let’s not allow Thor to make decisions.”

  “Never again,” Cameron agreed.

  Thor reached for Tiamat’s neck and pulled her to the ground, where Prometheus and Cameron immediately jumped on her and held her down. Her body thrashed wildly, knocking Prometheus over, and the other gods rushed to Tiamat to take his place. Selena knelt by the Titan and asked, “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah, just winded,” he assured her.

  As the gods struggled to keep the giant serpent still, Hanna stood in front of her and demanded, “Stop fighting us, Tiamat, and we’ll allow you to return home.”

  “You,” she hissed, “have made a tragic mistake.”

  “We need to find Enlil’s vessel,” Hanna said, but Tiamat didn’t want to hear that either. She flicked her tail, and Cameron slipped but managed to hang on but not before Hanna’s heart leapt painfully into her throat. Her anger boiled over and she glared at the primordial goddess and shouted, “Enough!”

  Tiamat stilled, paralyzed by Hanna’s power over her. The gods carefully and reluctantly loosened their grips and backed away from her. This hadn’t been how Hanna wanted to talk to the goddess. She’d hoped to avoid pissing her off and demonstrating that she was so much more powerful, because Tiamat’s jealousy wouldn’t help them get answers. Hanna nervously twisted the ring on her right hand, the blue stone rippling like the waves on the gulf before them.

  “Enlil,” she repeated. “Where is his vessel, and where is he?”

  “Foolish girl,” Tiamat hissed in response.

  “I’m going to smite her,” Cameron announced.

  Thor nodded in agreement.

  “Enlil is rebuilding his kingdom on Earth,” Hanna continued. “Except he’s doing it by force. You’ve left people alone for millennia, so I have no intention of harming you. I have to stop Enlil though. He’ll subjugate more humans and turn them into slaves.”

  “Why should I care about the fate of humans?” Tiamat asked.

  “You should care about your own fate,” Hanna retorted. “And what I can do if you refuse to help us.”

  Tiamat made a slithering sound that was almost laughter, and Cameron cringed. “That’s incredibly disturbing,” he murmured.

  Thor nodded and whispered, “Remind me to kick Lugh’s ass when we get back to Findias.”

  “I heard that,” Badb said.

  Hanna approached the serpent goddess and placed a hand on her face, leaching some of the power within her. She could sense Tiamat struggling internally as she tr
ied to break free from her control, but even a primordial deity was no match for Hanna. “If you want to retain any of your power, stop fighting me. I can turn you into a freak of nature and toss you back into the sea to die as a mortal monster.”

  “What are you?” Tiamat demanded.

  “The Last Guardian of Tara,” Hanna answered.

  “I have no business with Tara.”

  “But you do with Earth, and it’s this planet I protect. Plus, it’s my first day on the job, and I really want to impress my boss.”

  Cameron snorted and said, “Pretty sure Fate thinks you’re doing great. I also don’t think she’ll care if you kill this asshole, because it’s our duty to rid the world of giant serpents.”

  Thor just nodded in agreement again then stood up straighter and exclaimed, “We can probably get Hanna to find Jörmungandr. Without him, Ragnarok is far less terrifying.”

  “Totally adding that to our to-do list.”

  “Can we please focus on Enlil first?” Hanna begged.

  “I’m focused,” Cameron insisted. “I’m just multi-tasking.”

  “You’re not even capable of tasking, let alone multi-tasking,” Badb teased.

  “I’m tasking,” Cameron said. “And once I send you to find my reindeer, I’ll be multi-tasking.”

  “Hanna,” Badb pleaded.

  “Dad,” Hanna sighed, “don’t send her to Ellesmere Island. Badb, don’t antagonize him. Mom… please make them stop.”

  “Tired of listening to them yet?” Prometheus asked Tiamat.

  The giant serpent’s eyes flickered to the Titan then back to Hanna. “What do you want?”

  “Enlil. He hid a vessel that contains his soul somewhere, and we need to find it before we can defeat him,” Hanna explained.

  “And what makes you think I know where this vessel is?”

  “What kind of agreement do you have with him?” Hanna asked. “He must have offered something to you in exchange for allowing him to rebuild his empire.”

  “No god interferes with my sea,” Tiamat said. “In exchange, I don’t interfere with the land. Enlil isn’t stupid. It’s unlikely he told anyone where he hid the only thing that could lead to his downfall.”

  “Somebody has to be helping him,” Athena said. “There are too many gods around the world who would challenge him without an army.”

  “I never said he didn’t have allies,” Tiamat countered. “Only that they most likely don’t know where this vessel is either.”

  “Who are his allies then?” Hanna asked. “Veles?”

  “He may be one of them,” Tiamat answered. “All I know about Veles is that he plans to rebuild his own kingdom in Eastern Europe, just as your god will take back Ireland.”

  “What?” Badb whispered.

  Tiamat’s mouth curled into a serpentine smile and her long, forked tongue darted between her teeth. Hanna shuddered but refused to back away. “Don’t you know,” she hissed, her voice taunting the Irish gods, “that you have a traitor among you still?”

  “The third traitor,” Selena breathed. “We never found him.”

  “And what a traitor he is,” Tiamat sang. “You’re so worried about Enlil when perhaps, Children of Danu, you should be more concerned about your own fates. After all, he’s not just any god.”

  “Who?” Badb growled, unsheathing her sword and pointing it toward the Mesopotamian goddess. “Who has betrayed us?”

  Tiamat made that slippery laughing sound again, and this time, Hanna let her hand fall and backed away from her. But the giant snake kept her attention on Badb and that serpentine smile pulled higher. “He will reclaim his throne over Tara and your pantheon, even if it means killing his own brother. And the god who once saved the Tuatha Dé from him is dead. What will you do without Lugh to defend you?”

  “Bres,” Badb gasped. “Oh, my God. He plans to murder the Dagda.”

  Cameron handed Hanna a piece of paper and told her, “I think you’re going to need this.”

  She unfolded it and glanced at the three names written on it then looked up at her father. “Are you seriously giving me a list of the gods we need to find?”

  “Yep. Trust me: These lists have a way of getting ridiculously long.”

  Hanna snickered and tucked the piece of paper into her pocket. “Presumably, Bres still has his soul at least.”

  Cameron nodded and pulled a chair away from their table so he could sit down. “All Tiamat did was add to our list. You should have let me smite her.”

  “Knowing who our traitor is helps us,” Hanna argued.

  “Not that helpful when the bastard isn’t even on Earth,” Cameron mumbled.

  Selena entered the room and put a hand on her husband’s shoulder, offering him a sympathetic smile because they’d all been frustrated when they’d attempted to summon Bres and discovered he wasn’t on Earth. He wasn’t in the Otherworld either, and the Sumerian heaven had been destroyed centuries before. No one had any idea where he could be hiding.

  “How’s it going with the Dagda?” Hanna asked.

  Her mother shrugged. “Badb is still there trying to calm him down. He’s not overly surprised, but that doesn’t make the sting of betrayal hurt any less.”

  “Does he know where to find Bres?” Cameron asked.

  “No,” Selena replied. “And his only known allies no longer have a realm of their own.”

  Cameron pointed to the same pocket Hanna had slipped the piece of paper into. “Told you that list would come in handy.”

  “Seriously,” Hanna agreed. “Is there anyone who doesn’t hate us so much they’d risk annihilation?”

  “It’s jealousy,” Selena explained. “We still have the power they’ve lost.”

  “I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but… I think I know where we should go next,” Cameron said.

  Selena and Hanna waited as Cameron grimaced and told them, “The New Pantheon might be able to help us track down Bres. Someone should check with Jasper. And no way—I’m not doing it.”

  “I’ll ask him, but you are coming with me,” Hanna responded.

  Cameron squinted at her and asked, “This is because I made you eat your peas when you were a kid, isn’t it?”

  Hanna laughed and shook her head. “I’ll get the others. If the Dagda can’t help us, there’s no point in hanging around the Otherworld.” As she stepped outside her parents’ palace, which had been built near the stream in Murias filled with colorful stones, it seemed unusually empty and quiet. She would have to leave this world behind soon, and with it, the only home she’d ever known.

  Hanna knelt beside the stream her mother loved so much and pulled one of the blue stones from beneath the clear water. She twisted it between her fingers, but it didn’t ripple like the stone in her ring. His now familiar presence alerted her that she was no longer alone, and she smiled to herself then realized they hadn’t yet been alone, and she suddenly felt nervous again.

  “Fishing?” Prometheus teased.

  Her smile faltered, and he immediately apologized, assuming he’d somehow said or done something to upset her. “It’s my father,” she explained. “He does love to fish, both here in the Otherworld and on Earth with my grandfather and uncle. He would always take me with him, and everything is happening so quickly now. I’m not ready to leave…”

  Hanna took a deep breath and tossed the stone back into the stream. If this was the way she was hoping to impress the Titan, she was surely failing miserably. But Prometheus knelt beside her and plucked an emerald green stone from the water, rubbing it against the leg of his jeans to dry it then handing it to her.

  She thought it was a perfect match for the color of his eyes, and her cheeks warmed as they flushed.

  “It is a tremendous sacrifice to live on Earth,” he said. “But it’s the only way to ensure you’re always aware of what’s taking place there. Before the Titan War, I chose to live among humans, and my love for humanity angered not only Zeus but the leader of my own pa
ntheon, Cronus. Earth may lack the magic of this world, but you’ll find a different kind of magic among the people who live there.”

  An airy laugh escaped, and she stuffed the stone Prometheus had given her into the same pocket as the list from her father. “I’ve seen what humans do.”

  Prometheus tilted his head as he looked up at her and he asked, “Have you?”

  Hanna crossed her arms and snapped, “My grandparents and uncle and cousins are part-human. Do you really think I’ve spent so little time on Earth that I don’t know what I have to give up now and what future awaits me?”

  If her outburst upset him, he hid it well. Prometheus just smiled and stood up, nodding as if he’d forgotten her past. “This world won’t change, Hanna. Every time you come home to see your family and friends, it will be here just as it is now. There’s a permanence to the realms of the gods that has never existed on Earth. I’ve always liked the frenetic changes man creates. Gods will do the same things everyday for eternity; humans will think they can do it better and faster than the day before.”

  Hanna swallowed the painful burning in her throat and lowered her eyes, both ashamed of her weakness but wanting to tell this god she’d just met everything, even secrets she couldn’t admit to the parents she couldn’t bear to disappoint. “What if I can’t do it?” she asked quietly. “Everyone thinks I’m going to save the world, but my mom and dad are so brave and strong. I feel like I’m just pretending, and truthfully, I’m terrified.”

  “Hanna,” he said gently as he placed a hand on her shoulder. “I’m scared, too. And I’m willing to bet even your father is.”

  Hanna snorted and shook her head. “I think the only time he’s ever really been scared is when Ninurta almost killed my mother.”

  “I think he just hides it well beneath sarcasm and silly jokes.”

  “Maybe I should try that then.”

  “Um… I’m not sure we can really handle two Camerons.”

  Hanna stood up straighter and grabbed his hand as an idea struck her. “My father might have saved the world from Ragnarok, but he made a few enemies in the process. And I think I know where Bres is hiding.”