Demon's Cradle (Devany Miller Book 3)

by Ponce, Jen

  “I did what I thought was best for my people. I won’t apologize for it. Not even to that nice young woman.

  Nice young woman. Bossy, moral woman maybe. Okay, also nice. But not as often as she was bossy. I started to speak when Kroshtuka’s ring hummed against my chest. He’d found Ellison. My stomach lurched and my thoughts went immediately to Jasper.

  All will be well, he said, but offered nothing else.

  “What’s wrong?”

  I shook my head, forcing the emotion back down. Took a deep breath. “I have to go again, Dad. I have to take care of the Rider once and for all. Will you—?”

  “My grandkids are safe with me. And your brother. And Arsinua. Go. Do what you have to.” His eyes gleamed and I thought maybe he was forcing some emotion back down too. “Your mother would have been so proud of you.”

  “Thanks Dad.” I grabbed his hand and we squeezed each other tight.

  ***

  The kids were still sleeping, so I contented myself with blowing a quiet kiss to each of them before leaving. I hated the idea that one of these times I might not get back to them. Every time I left to go to Midia or the Slip, the likelihood I wouldn’t return increased.

  With my hand on Kroshtuka’s ring, I shut my eyes and concentrated on him. The thread connecting us was a shimmering gold and it tingled when I held it in my imaginary hand. He and his folk were outside Banishwinds, on the edge of the Wilds. I slipped into his arms and smelled him, grounding myself in his strong, steady presence. “Where is he?”

  “He is hiding in Basin.”

  From his tone, I could tell this wasn’t a good thing, even though the word “basin” held no dire implications. “How far away?”

  “It isn’t a distance away. It’s an idea away.” He smiled at me. “That isn’t the worst part of it.”

  “Of course not.”

  “How much do you know about the Wilds?”

  I shrugged. “Very little. Just what I saw when I traveled with the Carnicus and hunted with you.” We walked together to the small fire and I nodded at the group of Wydlings as I settled on the ground next to Kroshtuka.

  “It’s a beautiful place,” he said, as if he had to defend it. I suppose he felt he did; the witches certainly viewed it with disgust and horror. “It’s alive, though not in the way you or I are alive.”

  Like the Omphalos, I thought. I wondered if all magic was similar. Alive but not alive. I hadn’t felt anything weird off the rashn, but I’d been a little preoccupied when I first encountered it at the bottom of the fleshcrawler kingdom. Hadn’t had the presence of mind to chat with it, you might say.

  “It moves; you know this. It also directs things.” He put his arm around me and I leaned into him. “I think it brought you to Odd Silver.”

  I thought it had, too.

  “And I think that it protects us, the People, because we honor it and try to live with it, rather than against it. But even so, there’s a part of it that has been broken and those parts are dangerous. The auroras that crackle across the land are one manifestation of this brokenness. I believe this is how the Ringmaster was so tainted by wild magic.”

  “He said a group of Wydlings tortured him and left him to die.”

  Kroshtuka’s eyes were grave. “He killed a little Wydling girl when he was but a boy, hurt her in ways no little girl should be hurt. Her family caught him, yes. They tried to bring him to life in the way of our kind. They took him to the gathering circle and brought blessings to him. They encouraged him to talk about his past. They sang to him. They shared their kindness with him in the hope it would fill the dark void inside him. Even before he was tainted by the magic he wasn’t right. Boy that he was, he was already broken. The wild magic, the aurora that is the wild magic’s shadowed-heart, just fed off that darkness in his soul and helped it grow.”

  How had Sharps ended up in his hands? I shuddered to think of her in his custody all her young life. Kroshtuka’s gentle touch brought me back from the dark thoughts.

  “The Basin is like the aurora. It’s a broken place, full of teeth and blood.”

  “And that’s where he’s hiding.”

  He nodded. “I know not if his Skriven self is affected by the wild magic. I would imagine so.”

  “Then how are we going to get him out without being destroyed ourselves? Or warped. Tainted. Whatever.”

  “We need to visit the goddess.”

  I blinked. “Uh, what?”

  “She may be able to protect us. She was alive before the magic was broken, and she might have something from Before that would shield us.”

  Crab apples. If I went back, I’d have to take Tytan. If I took Tytan, I did not want to take Kroshtuka. “Us, huh?”

  “I would not want you to go alone into the Basin. I know you are a warrior, but there are some things that are best done with your family and not alone.”

  Family? The word made me feel all warm and squishy inside and I told myself to pay attention. I could feel mushy later. “I’ll have to bring Tytan.” He didn’t question me, just waited. I sighed. “She asked me to bring him to her. I haven’t exactly told him about it. Which means it will be a big production. And he won’t like you,” I added.

  Kroshtuka smiled, flashing a glimpse of his very sharp hyena teeth. “That is all right. I can take care of myself.”

  “He’s a Skriven,” I said, even as I realized if Ty got sassy I could magically neuter him. So there, Witch’s Council, I thought. I could do dirty deeds too. “Okay. I’ll get him. We’ll go visit the goddess.” I slouched a little, feeling nervous and not knowing exactly why. Okay, I knew why. Geez. “You sure there’s not another fix? Protection bubbles set on super thick?”

  “We could,” he said, slowly. “It would be dangerous. I’m not sure how long the bubbles would hold or if we could even use them in the Basin. I’ve never met anyone who came out of there with any sense in their heads.”

  Raving lunatics. Right. I stood and brushed off my butt. “Fine. I’ll go get him. Explain things. Be prepared for ... well. Anything, I guess.” I kissed him and then hooked away, going first to my home to pick up the obsidian emiliometer that would take me directly to Tempest Peaks. Then I concentrated on Tytan. When I found him, he had a skinny witch pressed tight against a tavern wall, his hand at the man’s throat.

  “Hello Devany.”

  The man at Tytan’s mercy kicked ineffectually and made gagging noises. “What are you doing?”

  “Looking for Ellison. This gentleman says he had a run in with a Midian-bound Skriven.”

  I eyed the witch and caught a glimpse of a black tattoo peeking out from the neck of his shirt. Theleoni. “I know where Ellison is.”

  Tytan dropped the man, who fell to the floor at his feet, choking and spluttering. “Oh?” His nostrils flared and I knew he was smelling Kroshtuka on me.

  I poked my hands into my pockets. “I have something to tell you. About your mom.” He laughed. And laughed. My eyes narrowed the longer it went until he became blurred by my squint. Since we were drawing too much attention, I stepped close to Ty and hooked us to his manse. He shook me off as soon as we stepped inside.

  “What could you possibly know about her? That she died thousands of years ago?”

  “That she’s the goddess in Tempest Peaks and she wants you to return to her.” I watched his face for explosions. “She holds your soul, Tytan. Your true soul.”

  If I’d ever seen him shaken, I couldn’t remember it. He looked it now. “It can’t be.”

  “It is. She wants you home. She wants to meet you.”

  His eyes burned into mine. “You’ve talked with her.”

  “I have.” He was in front of me in two quick strides, his fingers digging into my shoulders.

  “You met her and didn’t tell me?”

  “No. And if you don’t get your damn hands off me, I’m going to throw you into the sun.” I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and turned. “Hi Nex.”

  “Devany.
”

  Ty dropped his hands, anger radiating from him in white-hot waves. “Ravana kept her from me all those years,” he bit out, his words careful and low.

  Saying the wrong thing might make him explode, so I went for an uber casual response. “So? You want to meet her or not?”

  My too-casual response knocked him out of the blinding anger. He blinked, his jaw jumping. Then he nodded. “I’m sorry I touched you.”

  “Whatever. You don’t know how to keep your hands to yourself.” I looked at Nex. “You want to come along for the ride? It’ll be a lot more fun than hanging around here.”

  “I do believe I would like to go. Thank you.”

  “Of course.” To Ty, I said, “I’ll need you to behave yourself.”

  “Why? Because your hyena boyfriend will be there?”

  It was a shame he wasn’t close enough for me to kick him in the knee. He could do with a good knee kicking. “Yes. And if you start shit I’ll cut off your magical balls.”

  He snorted and the last of the anger evaporated. “Magical balls?”

  I shrugged. “It was a good metaphor.”

  “Right.” He walked over to me, stopping too close. “Shall we?”

  “She’s not right in the head. The stories about her? Whatever else they got wrong, the crazy part is kind of true.”

  “Kind of.”

  I nodded. She’d been coherent when I met her but the crackle of not-quite-right had run just under the surface. “I didn’t want you going in blind.”

  “Thank you,” he said. He leaned close, wanting, I suppose, to capture my lips with his.

  I put my hand on his chest to keep him at bay. “Hyena boyfriend.”

  “You weren’t thinking of him the other day when I was kissing you.”

  “Yeah well, I’m not going to say you aren’t appealing and that I’m not tempted. I’m just going to say no.”

  He sighed. “You tedious humans and your morals.”

  “Not a human,” I said as I formed the hook and we traveled back to Midia and whatever came next.

  ***

  Kroshtuka and Tytan took the other’s measure without too much posturing. The Wydlings bristled at Ty’s presence but otherwise the meeting was uneventful. I introduced Ty around and then we all stood silent for a moment, contemplating each other.

  It was too weird. I spoke up. “Why don’t we get this taken care of as soon as possible? I have kids waiting for me, after all.”

  Kroshtuka nodded. The four of us: Krosh, Ty, Nex, and I vanished from the campsite through a hook that spit us out a far pace from Tempest Peaks. The tornado still raged in the dark sky and being there at night did nothing to lessen the creepiness of the place. I looked around, wondering if Margolis would be somewhere nearby but I saw no one on the orange hardpan that stretched away into the shadows.

  Ty stared at our distant goal, a hungry look in his eyes. I hoped I wasn’t making a mistake bringing him here. Surely it wouldn’t destroy the world. But who knew? Repairing the Omphalos would have some horrible repercussions, I could tell. I didn’t know what they were, but shit would fly, of that I had no doubt.

  I was Pessimistic Percy anymore.

  “Ready?”

  Kroshtuka smiled and I took his hand. Together we followed Ty, Nex floating alongside the broody Skriven as we walked to our date with destiny. It took about an hour, or close to, and by the time we arrived, I was wishing I’d remembered to wear better shoes. I glanced down and saw that Krosh was wearing moccasins, which had to be no protection at all from the rough rock and was very glad I hadn’t whined before I noticed. I was a mighty hunter, not a whiny weak-footed lame-o.

  We are hunter. The world is our prey.

  ‘Getting a little dramatic, aren’t you?’

  It was disconcerting to have an assassin spider smile slyly in my mind’s eye.

  We all stopped at the edge of the path that led to the stabby cleft of rock leading into the goddess’ lair. “Don’t stray,” I said, remembering the certainty I’d felt last time, that straying would be bad. Really bad.

  Just as before, things calmed as long as we were on the trail, though outside the storm raged. Ty, of course, slipped through the obsidian death trap with nary a slice. I made a bubble again and Kroshtuka followed suit, his gold energy mingling with mine. Nex managed to lose a piece of gut. It dropped to the ground like a deflated sausage and when I bent to retrieve it, I caught my scalp on a jagged shard of rock and opened up a hole that bled with alarming vigor. Krosh healed me with a soft word and his leader magic tingled through me as it healed my wound.

  “So sweet,” Ty said under his breath, and smiled a tight little smile when I glared at him.

  The walk to the top of the hill didn’t seem so long with Kroshtuka and Nex there. Ty wasn’t much of a companion, but I could see the tension through every line of his taut body, and knew he wouldn’t have been talking even if Krosh hadn’t been there.

  He was nervous.

  So was I.

  When we got to the top of the hill, the burnt warrior still stood sentinel. Ty stepped over to him, slightly taller than the thing that used to be a man—and who was, I suspected, Ty’s father.

  He shot me a glance over his shoulder, telling me he was still in the very bad habit of eavesdropping on my thoughts. Then his eyes went back to the man.

  We stayed there, not talking, for a long while. Then Ty nodded. “I think I’m ready to meet her.”

  Dear lord. I hoped she was ready for him. I hoped the world wouldn’t end. I hope they liked each other.

  Kroshtuka stepped up to the warrior and said a few words in a language I didn’t recognize. The warrior’s eyes moved to his. Ash sifted from the man’s form. A sound, not quite a sigh, came from the ruin. Then Krosh walked past him, following Ty.

  My turn. I glanced ahead then at the warrior. “I brought him. Haven’t had time to figure out how to help you, but maybe this will do something. You know, since he’s your son.” I watched the eyes carefully, but there was no movement in his eyes, and I stepped away, disappointed. Not every problem could be fixed. I had to remember that.

  Inside the goddess was raging. Lightning, thunder, wind gusts that would’ve sent us all ass over toes if we got caught by them. Tytan yelled at her. Soon Krosh and I joined in, even Nex, trying to get her attention. It was too loud and she didn’t hear us, didn’t even look our way. Then Tytan stepped into the bowl of insanity. I lurched to catch him, but Krosh’s arm went around my waist and saved me from getting sucked into the whirlwind as it roared past.

  He held me and all I could do was watch as Tytan walked toward the woman holding the baby, her arm overhead as she directed the weather. The cyclone passed by him harmlessly. Was he immune because he was her son, or because he was Skriven? Either way, he looked pretty damn bad-ass walking next to a tornado.

  When she saw him, the weather stopped. Everything just stopped. The silence was filled with music that I recognized as Slip Song. Tytan’s soul was calling to him, and everything in him was answering. It was beautiful.

  They stared at each other, this goddess and her long, lost son, he dark and she light. The baby in her arms cooed and held out his hands to Ty. I tensed. Still Krosh held me, keeping me from doing something stupid, since my legs were straining to propel me to the center and pry the two apart before something bad happened.

  And then Ty took the baby.

  TWENTY

  “Devany.”

  I dared open my eye a crack. “Did the world end?”

  “No. Look.”

  I did and saw a shining man where Ty once stood. The goddess was crying, but in happiness—I hoped. The baby was nowhere in sight and I realized that he’d taken his soul into him. Maybe. This is what happened when I was too chickenshit to look, I told myself.

  The light burned for a long time and when it went out, Ty collapsed at his mother’s feet, crying. She dropped to her knees and gathered him up in her arms and held him. I bit my lip, tighteni
ng my own arms around Kroshtuka. It was weirdly intimate and I wished I could step away and give them privacy, but we were here for a purpose. I didn’t want to leave without at least trying to protect us both from the broken magic in the Basin.

  Finally, the goddess rose, Ty still curled on the ground. Her face was shining as she walked to us, delicate silver footsteps left in her wake. “Thank you,” she said, holding out her arms to me. I didn’t want to go into her embrace, remembering the last time she touched me, but I didn’t want to turn her away either, so I hugged her. Nothing horrid happened, thank heavens. When she pulled away, I saw that her tears were liquid silver running down her cheeks. “You fulfilled your promise.”

  “Of course.”

  “I will never be able to repay you.”

  “Well, I did come to ask your help.”

  Her eyes went to Kroshtuka and they sharpened in interest, then her mouth made a silent ‘O.’ “He looks like my father,” she whispered. “Yes. I will help you both. What can I do for you?”

  I explained what we needed. She didn’t know about the broken magic, seemed confused by it, but she had something that would hold us in a bubble of the Time Before, that would keep us safe from the effects of any present magic. “You must hold them on your tongues and keep them there for them to work.” She placed smooth river rocks in our palms. Eight of them, as if she knew how many we needed. Odd, the way her goddess’ mind worked.

  I looked at Krosh, who was studying one of the stones curiously, rubbing his big thumb over the carving on the top: a circle with eight radiating legs rotating around the middle. “It is the glyph of the Spider Queen,” he said and Neutria stirred with interest inside me.

  “Yes. Do you know her?”

  He looked bemused. “I know of her.

  “Oh.” The goddess seemed disappointed. “On your tongues. If you swallow them, they will not work. If you talk, they will not work. The Spider Queen’s magic is a silent thing.”

  Silent but deadly.

  I snorted with laughter, causing Krosh and the goddess both to look at me curiously. Neutria hissed, realizing her attempt at being bad-ass had failed big time. ‘Like a fart,” I giggled, and she spat menacingly before retreating deep into my head. Oh god, deadly spider in my head mad at me, but it was so worth it. “Sorry. Inside joke,” I said, which then sent me into another fit of giggles that didn’t want to abate.