"Arden…we're on Gypsy land." Kyle looked at her with wide eyes.
"Yes we are," She said as she arched a brow at Kyle. "And that bastard's going to regret trespassing when I get through with him." She looked around and saw three openings, each lit with more orbs. "Oh great. Pick one."
But Tas was already moving to the one behind them. They followed her as she knelt down beside something just inside the tunnel's entrance.
It was Levi.
Tas had her hands on the Revenants' chest, her eyes closed. After a few seconds, she said. "He's alive. So is the demon. They're…" now she frowned and looked up at them where they stood over her. "They're both sleeping."
Kyle said, "My guess is Thorn did this to stop Ashur's interference. He is a demon, and quite powerful."
"It wasn't Thorn," came a voice behind them.
Bastien was on all fours, Arden had her hands out, as did Kyle as they turned to see Ivan standing by the wall. He looked bruised and battered and held his arm to his side as he stumble-walked to them. Tas ran to him first and grabbed hold of him as he nearly fell forward on top of her. She helped him over to where Levi lay.
"Are you all right?" Arden had her hand on his chest, examining him just as she had Levi.
"I'm okay. But I think my arm's broken." He looked around. "Where's Dharma?"
"She's back in the Cleric Office."
Relief washed over his face. "Oh thank the Goddess." He winced. "Some of the Clerics did that. Hit him with some kind of sleep spell. I got here just before it happened, just when a group of Clerics descended on us. We fought, but I got overrun with magic and Levi was knocked out. Crwys and Thea acted like some kind of tanks and lured all the Clerics to follow them. I pretended I was unconscious, which wasn't that far off, and stayed in the shadows."
"Which way did they go?"
Screams and the sounds of crumbling rock came from deeper into the tunnel. Ivan nodded in that direction. "They wall went down there. I snuck in and saw—" he looked at Tas. "You've got to help them. They met him, just like he set up, but once he got the necklace… He put it on and became even more powerful. He wasn't going to let Dáinn go. They're fighting as best they can, but the pendant I made—"
"No matter if it came from something else, Ivan," Arden said. "It's still raw Arcane, and exactly what Thorn wanted. Only this Arcane is infused with all those spells."
"I thought about that…and then I dismissed it."
She touched his cheek. "Always, as a Witch, go with your heart. Listen to the still voice inside. Otherwise you won't be regretting not listening to it later."
"We need to go," Tas said as she helped Ivan lean against the rock wall. "You should get back into the Cleric Office. Get to Dharma."
"I'll try. I just," and he looked back down the tunnel.
"You have a strange magic," Bastien said as he put his own hand on Ivan's uninjured shoulder. "But it's not something that can be used here. Go to your mate."
To have an Alpha tell you to withdraw was enough to convince Ivan. He agreed as Arden, Kyle and Bastien ran down the tunnel to the sounds of battle.
TWENTY
The tunnel abruptly opened up into a high ceilinged amphitheater with a platform in the middle. Flashing lights, funnels of water, flares of fire and bellows of Dragons greeted them as Thea and Crwys in their Dragon forms fought a much, much larger Dragon. This one was purple and shot lightning from his mouth when he roared, scorching the dirt and rock around them as the great beasts dodged and rolled.
Lady Darksome, Kyle thought as he followed behind Tas.
"There's Dáinn!" Arden pointed to a figure hanging from his ankles to the right. Unlike the set up the Faeries had for Crwys, Dáinn hung a few feet from the ground and below him was a bucket, brimming over with blood, as it ran from the arrow sticking out of his chest. She headed toward him but Bastien grabbed her wrist.
"Not yet, Chérie," he said to her over the chaotic sounds and lights. "You don't want them to see you." He nodded to the Dragons.
Kyle looked at them. "Is that purple one…is that Thorn?"
“It’s an illusion,” Arden said. “He’s created an avatar to fight for him.”
"Not actually Thorn," Tas said and her voice deepened. The subtle changes in her hands, her fingers extending and the extending of her face revealed she was losing her Dragon Fury and shifting to join the melee. "He's controlling it. Find him. And kill him." They scattered as she transformed, roared and stomped into the arena. The dirt and rock beneath her lifted into a swirling mass, just as water came from the rocks and created a funnel.
And fire…so much fire flew from Crwy's belching maw. All three of the Elements waged war with the thing fighting them. As Kyle and Bastien and Arden watched, the three real Dragons had an advantage, but the longer the minutes ticked by, the more obvious it became to them that Thorn's Dragon was matching their power. No one was losing, and no one was winning.
Arden finally broke away toward Dáinn and Kyle and Bastien followed her. She kicked the bucket away, spilling blood everywhere just as Kyle found the release and Bastien leapt into the air and grabbed at Dáinn. They eased him down to the ground and dragged him to the side, away from the fighting. Kyle remembered the fight for Crwys, and remembered the little Boggart who helped them, pulling the arrow from his chest.
But he couldn't remember what happened to Cordelia after that.
Arden grabbed the arrow when he hesitated, so he grabbed her hand and pulled it away. "I've got this!" he said, and while holding his breath, yanked the arrow from Dáinn's body.
The man arched and screamed as the arrow exploded in Kyle's hand, melting the metal to his flesh. He cried out as well and tucked his burned hand under his arm. His eyes burned as he tried not to cry.
"Let me see your hand!" Arden yelled over the battle, her own hand out to him. Dáinn lay quiet on the ground between she and Bastien.
Kyle shook his head. He didn't want to move it. He didn't want to see it.
Bastien wrenched it out, grabbing his wrist and pulled him in closer so Arden could see. Her Water Elemental appeared and dumped cooling water on it. He watched the Elemental, and not his hand.
"It's gonna be just fine," Arden said.
"This battle," Bastien said. "Is not moving. It's a draw."
"I know. Which means we have to find Thorn and distract him. He's the one controlling that Dragon."
"How do we know that is not actually him?" He pointed to the big purple monster.
"Because in the end, he's just a man," Arden said. "Humans can't become Dragons."
Oh, I don't know about that.
Kyle blinked at the voice in his head. He jerked to the left, looking at the fight. Was…was that Tas? It didn't sound like her. Then he looked at Arden who frowned back at him.
"Are you okay?"
Just a sec…I'm coming.
He opened his mouth and then closed it.
He knew that voice but he couldn't put a name to it.
Water splashed down from the funnel as Thea was knocked back, sending a mini tidal wave in their direction. Arden and Bastien dove to protect Dáinn as Kyle threw up a shield of water and air.
You're getting better at that.
"Who the hell is that?!" Kyle yelled out as he released the shield and stood, tucking his injured hand under the opposite arm. Though he'd been able to prevent the bulk of the water from hitting them, they still got doused. "Where are you?"
Another wave of water headed their way as Thea's funnel was dispelled by Thorn's Dragon. Kyle's eyes widened as he tried to cast another shield and realized he wasn't ready, his energy still replenishing.
Something ice-cold like a strong gust of wind moved past him on his left and he ducked back into the alcove where Arden and Bastien hovered over Dáinn. He looked up in time to see the wave of water freeze in mid movement, forming a lovely ice sculpture all over the arena. In fact Thea slipped and rolled onto her wings just as Tas did something similar. Crwys breathe
d fire on the ice around him and melted it.
"Did you do that?" Arden called out.
Kyle shook his head. "Goddess no…I don't have that kind of…"
The ground beneath them vibrated, a different step than the thumping of the battling Dragons. Kyle moved around the ice to look down the tunnel and his eyes nearly bugged out of his head as he spotted a Dragon's snout coming their way. "It's another Dragon!"
"What?" Arden said as she scrambled to her feet. "What other Dragon? They're all here!"
"Mon due!" Bastien cried out as he pulled the other two back towards him. "It's Lethe!"
Kyle's jaw dropped as the edges of the tunnel broke and rocks crashed to the ground as the Dragon fit through the opening. He recognized the aqua scales, the blues, the greens and indigos… He'd gotten a good look at Lethe during their last encounter and this did look like her.
But she was dead. Sam had been certain of it.
"Get back!" Arden shouted at Kyle and pulled at his shirt.
But he watched as the Dragon stomped by, a behemoth in this small space, wings folded back as its claws crunched the ice around them. It paused and cast one iridescent eye down at him—
And winked.
Kyle stepped back.
It…winked?
I now knew the reality of the saying of fitting a square peg into a round hole cause this…this was painful. The rocks were sharp as I pushed my way through that tunnel and I wanted to turn back. But Zephyros insisted he'd help me clear a path, and as long as I had him with me, my confidence strengthened.
Until I heard Kyle's voice in my mind. His thoughts were a jumble of things. Worry about Jack, about himself, about Crwys and Dáinn, and his Aunt Arden. I could sense all of them around now, see them in my mind's eyes if I thought of them. I saw them through their Dreams. And each had a color and a taste.
Especially the bastard hiding nearby in a small cave, watching his creation decimate my friends.
And my family.
I could also sense Arcane as well. A large concentration of it. And it was familiar. I focused on that, trying not to let my mind wander to the large, red Dragon fighting on the platform to my right. If they saw me, or sensed me, there was no sign as Tas, Thea and Crwys fought that abomination. And that's exactly what it was. It was borrowed power, and it was being abused.
But what had been bothering me since getting into these caves was, why. Why go through all of this to possess so much Arcane? When I'd been infected with it, I'd been told it was a curse. And there were those in the Parliament that wanted it ripped from me. Or me killed. They'd managed to Warlock me for a time.
Didn't like thinking about that.
So I focused on the Arcane and moved to the left, away from the others and stopped in front of a rock wall. Kingsley Thorn was behind that wall, and he was watching his battle, laughing in his head, thinking of all the people he would seek revenge on as he put himself at the top of the Witch's Parliament.
As he would make himself a God.
I thought you didn't believe in God. Or even the God Mother. I put my thoughts in his head. It was easy because he had no shields. He thought himself invincible, unbeatable, and smarter than everyone else. He didn't think he needed protection.
The purple Dragon missed a step and his lightning went wild, blasting a hole in the rock above.
"Who…who said that?" Thorn said aloud in his little piece of universe, his shadow realm.
This is where you like to work best, isn't it? Unseen and unnoticed. Why else puppet a Dragon instead of actually becoming one?
His panic surged through the wall separating them. I felt it. Tasted it. And with that panic I found a hole, a tiny way in. But it needed to be bigger.
"I demand to know who is talking? How are you talking? Is that you, Kyle Kendrick? I'll have you Warlocked!"
Like you had me Warlocked, Kingsley? Yes I know it was you pulling the strings. And I know this because I do believe in the God Mother. The All Mother. The Universe that penetrates us. Unlike you…I have faith.
His confusion only intensified his panic as he saw my face reflected in his memories. He knew it was me, but he didn't want to believe. He couldn't believe. "You're dead…I know you're dead!"
The Purple Dragon stopped fighting and stood still as the other three looked around.
I opened my mind, opened my focus on his memories. I picked each of them, everyone in the cave, and connected them together. I melded his thoughts, sync'd his dreams with theirs, and tied them into a single mind so that they could see what I did. They could know what Thorn knew.
They could see the truth.
A scene cuts to a young man in love with an older Witch. She's his teacher and he has a crush. But she's happily married and she doesn't see him the same way he sees her. He wants her. He craves her.
And then they see her dead, her staring eyes accusing him. And in his hand is the knife that felled her. He uses his magic to clean the scene of his crime and frames the husband. Makes whispers, rumors, innuendo, and even fabricates a love for him. A man who was faithful and loving, is convicted of killing his wife and Warlocked.
He kills himself in less than a year.
The young man grows into an older man. He's got power now, and he uses it. But he's always afraid they'll find the truth. He's paranoid they're always looking at him, accusing him, blaming him for that Witch's death. If someone looks at him in an odd sort of way, they vanish. If someone disagrees with him, it's because they knew what he did, and they vanish as well.
Now he has people to do his work for him, and he's certain the only way to stop anyone from knowing the truth is to make them all powerless. Witches should have their powers governed. Harnessed. They shouldn't be allowed to use it as they want. So he heads a campaign to inflict a sort of martial law against the free use of magic. A man named Dryden wins the election and Thorn is silenced.
But Thorn has plans and people in place. And soon Dryden is framed and removed, and Cosgrove is put in his place. It's easy to take Circe because so many fear her, but no one fears the feeble old woman she's become, the one in the nursing home in Picayune. And no one recognizes her.
And then there was Samantha. The daughter of a Tracker, an Elemental Witch, now flirting with a Dragon. It was unseemly and he knew she'd see through him. So he works from the shadows to get rid of her, her friends, and especially Arden Vervain. Busy body of a Witch. They would all need to go as he manipulates his new puppet Cosgrove and begins to set up a way to get Samantha handed over to him.
But then she marries the Dragon.
She loses her powers. She dies.
The plans fall apart.
He must have her Arcane! With her strength, he can stop them all from learning the truth.
As I moved my mind from his, she showed them all the broken man Kingsley Thorn had become. All of them knew the truth. And he knews, that everyone else does now as well.
"No…" he says as he stumbles from his hiding place, dressed in Cleric robes and wearing the silver pendant around his neck. "It's not possible. I didn't mean to…she just laughed at me. She didn't want me."
A light forms in front of him as I carefully moved away. I was aware everyone was watching, with Crwys, Tas and the one I think is Thea in their Dragon forms. Everyone was close as a woman with snow white hair, a white gown and white staff appeared in front of Thorn. His eyes widened as he saw her and tears brimmed over onto his cheeks. "No…you can't be real."
"I am real, Kingsley. I have always been here, and I have always known the truth. And I have never abandoned you."
He reached a hand out to her and she took it. And in that moment I was pretty sure I saw something fizzle inside of him.
God Mother removed the pendant from his neck and with a nod to me, lifted her staff.
There was a flash, and she was gone. So was the Purple Dragon.
Thorn was on his knees, his face in his hands, sobbing. Emily Pearson appeared and walked very calmly, unharm
ed, past me to Kingsley and put her hand on his shoulder. "You're forgiven, my son. But it is time to serve for your deeds."
Thorn disappeared.
I narrowed my eyes at Emily. Is that you…God Mother?
Emily looked up at me and winked. "How else did you think I was able to mitigate the damage that silly man kept doing? But you're the only one who sees me like this. So keep it under your scales, okay?"
I nodded. I didn't really understand but…Hookay.
And then Emily was no longer there. It was God Mother, in her former form, visible to everyone, looking up at me. "It's time to go home now."
TWENTY ONE
They were all looking at me, and the God Mother as I sort of half stood, half sat beside her. She didn't say anything. And neither did I.
Tas and Bastien helped an injured youngish man stumble closer and I knew that was Dáinn. I knew Thea as well. Levi and Ivan and Dharma approached and stood behind the others. I looked at each of them and then finally my gaze rested on Crwys. He was staring at me, his eyes so wide and red rimmed. I wanted to tell him I loved him, but I was afraid too. I mean…I wasn't my usual svelte self now was I?
Crwys took a few steps toward me and I lowered my head to look into his eyes. He put his hand on my nose and sobbed.
"Careful…" Bastien said. "Remember that's Lethe."
"No," Crwys said. "It's not Lethe."
"Mate, use Dragon Fury. Be sure," Dáinn called out.
I resettled myself so I wasn't looking down at all of them and tried to get on their level, but that was hard since me sitting was still a medium sized building's height. Crwys raised his arms and recited words in a language I didn't recognize. But somehow I remembered them as I heard them. They etched themselves on me, as if becoming a part of my soul. And once those words were with me, my stomach grew queasy and I was pretty sure I was gonna throw up.
Elemental Dreams: An Urban Fantasy Series (The Eldritch Files Book 9) Page 14
