by C. J. Parker
The ash storm subsided.
“That’s right!” Lexie shouted.
Without warning, Lexie doubled over and flew across the yard, hitting the newly built barricade. She sat and shook her head. “Ouch, that hurt.”
The pressure in Bobbie’s head grew until she was sure it would burst. The scream that escaped her spewed her rage on anyone near. “Who do you think you are, attacking my daughter, the future Queen of Moran?” She drew her dagger and sliced her palm. Blood Pooled. “Want my blood? I can spill it here or on the pit.”
Once again, the ashes burst into the air, but appeared unable to pass the border of their prison. She heard their cries, felt their desperate hunger. The dark curtain parted, forming a pathway to the center. Soon, human shapes separated from the mass, lining up in a formation not unlike a military inspection.
“Does Tabatha Gray come with me, or do I deny you a body for the battle?” You selfish bastards. “That’s it, isn’t it? You long for the battle. You want this to end as much as I do.”
The pathway widened, and the gray forms lowered their heads.
Aetheria gasped. “No. This is not the way the prophecy says it should be.”
“Prophecies are written as warnings, not as things have to be. You said we should pool our resources. That’s what we’re doing.” Bobbie reached out and took Rhonda’s hand. “You will stay at the edge. If those bastards come back, you will surround us with your power. Keep them away until we have the Spirit Warriors ready.”
“That’s fine.” Rhonda raised her chin. “But I’m not raising no dead.”
Aetheria released what sounded to be a growl. “Do you want the words, or are you going to depend on Tabatha Gray’s floundering banter?”
Bobbie saw the fear shining from Aetheria’s eyes and knew she wasn’t simply being difficult. She was protecting them. For the first time in her life, Aetheria looked old to her. That, above all else, scared Bobbie to death.
Tabatha laid her hands on Aetheria’s arms. “I want any help you have to offer. We didn’t mean to leave you out of this. Bobbie needed me only for comfort. I’ve done this before. She hasn’t. She’s scared, Aetheria.”
The old woman looked down her nose at Tabatha for a brief moment then lowered her chin to her chest. Tears glistened in her eyes. “She is like a daughter to me.”
“Good. Now, what are the words? And please tell me they aren’t some long hokey poem.”
Aetheria shook her head with a half grin. “Battle scarred and loyal, hear my plea. My blood I give freely for yours taken by force. Soul to body, body to soul. Join again in battle, to end Cain’s banishment. Then rest in a peaceful lull until end of time.”
The elderly woman glanced at Bobbie and then at Tabatha. “You must keep physical contact at all times, Tabatha, or they will attack you. As long as you touch, you are one.” Aetheria faced her again. “No protective circle is needed. No wanderers would come near a Spirit Warrior.”
Bobbie and Tabatha stood at the edge of the pit, grasping each other’s hands. Each turned back and met the gaze of their chosen. Unspoken words were exchanged. They turned as one to the opening and stepped forward.
“Are they touching your ankles?” Tabatha’s eyes were wide with fear.
“Yeah.” Bobbie shuddered. “Yours?”
“Yeah.”
“Guess that’s why they’re whispering ‘true necromancer’ in my head.” Bobbie swallowed the lump of emotions threatening to cut off her airway. “Are you ready?”
“Stop worrying about me. Let’s get this started.” Tabatha smiled at Derek and winked. “Derek is scared out of his mind. I think Kangee is too. So let’s end this for them.”
“On the count of three?” Bobbie stared down at her feet, repulsed by the special fingers grabbing at them.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Bobbie.” Tabatha yanked Bobbie’s arm. “Now.”
Bobbie made sure she and Tabatha moved forward as one onto the ash plain. The scent of burnt cypress drifted up, coating Bobbie’s sinuses. Instantly the dark cloud spun around their legs and inched upward.
“Let us go.” Bobbie kicked at them.
One long tendril continued upward, winding up Bobbie’s body until it reached her wrist. She yanked it away, brushing at the phantom hand. As if by force, it was pulled away. Their path once again clear, Bobbie and Tabatha continued until they reached the center and halted.
“Tab, wrap your arm around my waist, but don’t turn lose of my hand until you have contact.” Stepping behind Bobbie, Tabatha slid her arm around Bobbie’s waist, a band of heat somehow comforting in spite of the situation they were in.
“It’s going to be okay. Can you feel them? It’s like their spirits are already looking for the right body.” Tabatha’s voice held a measure of awe. “Think how excited they must be. After so long a time, they will live again, if only for a short time. They are the chosen ones. Then to know they will at last find peace. They must be…”
“Ready,” Bobbie finished for her. “So am I. Do you remember the lines?”
Bobbie tipped her palm, now filled with her blood. It trickled over the edge in a dark trail, until hitting the ash and soaking in. “Say it.”
“Battle scared and loyal, hear my plea,” Tabatha began. “My blood I give freely for yours taken by force.” With the last word spoken, the spirits began an excited wail.
Tabatha whispered the next line into her ear and Bobbie spoke them aloud. “Soul to body, body to soul.”
One by one, the gray matter shapes changed around and surrounded them. Bones arose around the misty forms, swinging and snapping into joints. Pop, snap, grind, the sounds and movements resembled a macabre bone dance. Muscles lengthened, sinew webbed them together. Limbs bent and stretched. Skin in hues of cinnamon to copper slid over the length of them. Long black hair grew from scalps. Eyes gazed around.
“Join again in battle to end Cain’s banishment.” Tabatha’s voice grew stronger, more confident. “Then rest in a peaceful lull until end of time.”
Bobbie and Tabatha were lifted off their feet and placed on solid ground outside the ash pit. Thousands upon thousands of men filed out. Tall and short, narrow and wide, all rippled with muscles in places it didn’t seem decent to have them. Some in their animal form some in the human, returning in the form they had held at the time of their deaths.
Tabatha leaned in, her mouth next to Bobbie’s ear. “Look at Kangee and Derek. They look like they want to crawl in a hole somewhere. Have you ever seen anything like this? Your Spirit Warriors are gorgeous.”
“Oh, God.” Bobbie felt tears form.
“What?” Tabatha’s stance change to that of expectant battle. “What’s wrong?”
Bobbie pointed toward a young man, long dark hair, sienna eyes, full lips pulled back into a grin. “That’s my brother, Elsu.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Bobbie’s brain tried to twist around the realization that her brother stood not twenty-feet away, smiling at her as if he’d wandered back home from a fishing trip. Gone were the scars of knife wounds on his chest and hands, the sparkle of happiness in his eyes real.
“Are you going to speak to him, Robertina?” Aetheria took her by the hand.
But Bobbie yanked her hand away. “Tab?”
“I’m here.” Tabatha ran her fingertips over Bobbie’s back.
“Can I touch him?” Bobbie’s pulse race with happiness with the thought.
Tabatha placed her mouth close to Bobbie’s ear. “I’ve only touched one of the resurrected. It wasn’t a pleasant experience. I saw how they were killed, felt their fear.”
“This is not one of your soulless bodies. They are as whole as when they walked the earth the first time. You can touch him, Robertina. Now, go. He waits for you.” Aetheria walked away and returned to her tree house.
Bobbie broke into a dead run, not stopping until she flung herself into Elsu’s arms.
“I’m sorry, Elsu,” she cried. “I’m so sorry. I
should have listened to you. If I’d left with you, you’d still be…”
“Alive?” He hugged her tightly. “But look at me. I am alive. Now stop the tears. There is too much to be said and done in a short time. What has happened since we parted?”
She waved a hand around the village. “Everything is destroyed. Another hurricane.”
“Back up. Start¾” he paused as if in thought, “¾when you left New York to come home.”
Bobbie didn’t want to think of that time. “I had to sneak your body out of the morgue. I managed to get it to a crematorium without too many questions.”
“Boris.” He smiled. “Boris is one of us. He worked at the crematorium. I’m sure he took care of all the questions. Go on.”
Lexie walked up to Bobbie’s side and grasped her upper arm. “Mom.”
“Mom?” Elsu’s eyebrows shot up and his face registered his confusion. “Aren’t you Oriel’s daughter?”
“I adopted her.” Bobbie looked in his eyes and waited to see acceptance there. “She was being shuffled around the village as hired help, Elsu. I wasn’t going to take that.”
Nodding, he ran a searching gaze over the throng of Spirit Warriors. He placed his fingertips under Lexie’s chin and turned her face to the right. “He may have something to say about this.” He yelled across the yard. “Oriel, someone is looking for you.”
A man slowly turned and looked their way. He was the tallest of the Spirit Warriors, with shoulders as wide as a yardstick, and ebony hair hanging past his narrow waist. His chest rippled with hard muscles that collided with a firm flat stomach. He dropped to one knee and spread his arms wide. “Alexandra!”
“Daddy?” Lexie’s voice held a hint of disbelief. Her eyes filled with tears and a short sob escaped. “Is it him?”
“Go to your daddy, Lexie.” Bobbie’s emotions tripped over each other for dominance. Fear of losing the daughter she’d gown to love and accept as her own warred with happiness for Lexie. Seeing Oriel pick her up and swing her around, laughing at her senseless blubbering, Bobbie knew Lexie could never love her in such a way.
“She loves you, Bobbie, and she will be yours again later. Give her this. Let her be Oriel’s daughter for now.”
Bobbie spun around, her gaze sweeping the crowd for the voice. “Father?”
“I am here.”
“I didn’t get to say goodbye.” Bobbie waited, hoping he would make the first move. She remembered so few smiles on her father’s face in his lifetime and never had seen a smile as happy as the one he gave her now.
He took one long striding step toward her, hauling her into his arms. “You must stop blaming yourself. You did what the fates planned for you.”
Elsu came up behind her and wrapped his arms as far around them as he could reach, enveloping her in a cocoon of love. “Do not blame yourself for my death, little sister. If I had not left when I did, the Guardians would have found the village, and we could not have stopped them from killing us all. I’d discovered Verdun had hired a man to follow me from town on my next supply trip. Instead of coming home, I went to New York. I thought if I could stay long enough, Verdun would give up. I was wrong. He sent the man to kill me instead.”
He kissed her temple. “So, I would have died either way. This way, you came home, and the battle has begun. Father thought it was I who would be the one, but I knew, Bobbie. I knew you were the chosen one.”
Bobbie looked for Tabatha and Derek, seeing them standing on the outskirts of all the commotion. “I want you to meet some friends. Derek’s a homicide cop for the New Orleans police department. Tabatha is¾”
Before Bobbie could finish, Ionna ran up to explain. “Mr. Uriah, they got the special mark like Bobbie. And Tabatha she can raise those gone for a long time, like you. She helped Bobbie do the ceremony.” The girl paused as if thinking how to continue. “She can make things move without touching them too. She’s real special. Aetheria offered to let me have the special mark too, but…” She lowered her eyes out of view. “I was afraid.”
Bobbie ran her hand over Ionna’s arm. “No, honey, you were smart. It’s a lot of responsibility and that mark hurts like the dickens. So you did the right thing. I’m proud of you.”
Ionna’s eyes widened. “You are?”
“Yes, honey, I am.”
The sound of laughter reached Bobbie’s ears, and she glanced away to look for Kangee. He stood talking to one of the Spirit Warriors. Hands on forearms they gripped each other, and slapped each other on the back. “Who is that?”
“Ashe Ansgar, Kangee’s father,” Elsu answered.
Joy ran its course though her veins. The sound of Kangee’s laughter was like an elixir to her soul. “Aetheria!” Bobbie sprinted toward the tree house, but stopped when the door opened and the old woman stood at the railing with tears in her eyes.
“He is still young. I am old and wrinkled.”
The sound of Aetheria’s sadness yanked at Bobbie’s heart. “He won’t care, Aetheria. Go to him. He’s come back to you.”
“He’s been sent to fight the battle. He does not remember me.”
“Old woman, get your butt down here, or I’ll drag it down myself.” Sorrow and frustration burned deep in Bobbie’s gut. For all that Aetheria had been to her, how could Bobbie stand there and allow her to let this moment pass? “How could he not remember you, Aetheria? You gave him Kangee. You gave him his son. Go to Ashe. Hear his voice. Feel his skin. How could you deny yourself at least that much? This is a gift, Aetheria.”
The old woman gazed across the battered common ground and starred at the young, strong warrior with her son. Bobbie had never seen the look of defeat in her friend’s eyes and it scared her to see it now. “No.” Aetheria shook her head. “I can’t. I would rather be labeled as a coward, than go to the only man I ever loved and have him not know me.” She looked away shutting out any more talk between them, leaving Bobbie confused and disappointed. Bobbie returned to the center of the village, and took in all the familiar faces from her past.
Derek, Kangee and Troy sprinted across the open ground, as Rhonda and Tabatha joined Bobbie and her family.
Bobbie rubbed her arms chasing away a sudden chill. “I’ll introduce you later. I need to call everyone together and have some sort of strategy meeting. Verdun won’t stay gone much longer.”
“No need for that. They know what to do.” Less than a second later, Aetheria returned to the doorway of her tree house and closed it behind her.
Bobbie’s heart ached. She turned back to the common ground. A strained silence spread over the village, the atmosphere tense. The Spirit Warriors spread out encompassing the village twenty deep, placing the cats in the center of their group, forming a protective barrier around them. The Warriors vanished into the trees, leaving behind the scent of hot cinders.
The first of Verdun’s men stepped out of the woodland, calling out, “One.”
More and more came each calling out the next number, until they had reached over two hundred in number. Verdun was the last to make himself known, making an exaggerated point of ticking off each of the people standing around Bobbie.
“What? Only six members to your army, Queenie? Where are your men, Robertina? Cowards all?”
From her right, Bobbie saw Elsu materialized out of the trees. “One.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
“No.” The wind brought the whispered word to Bobbie’s ears as if it had ripped it from Verdun’s throat. His face grew pale as though all the blood had been drained from his body while he stared at Elsu.
He glanced at Tabatha. “What kind of evil magic is this, Witch? This isn’t possible. You’re dead, Elsu. Dead.” He slowly retreated, backing away to the tree line only to discover the Spirit Warriors blocking him.
“No magic, Verdun,” Hylton purred. “Prophecy.”
Bobbie inched forward, cautiously watching every move Verdun made. With his free hand, he clutched at the bandaged stump. His eyes shifted from side to side. He
smiled, but his lips twitched.
“I’m going to make you a very generous offer.” Bobbie stared unflinching into his eyes.
Verdun snorted. “You are in no shape to be making deals, woman. We still outnumber you.”
“Two.” She looked over her shoulder toward the voice. To Elsu’s left Ashe walked from beside the Council House. His smile ran cold chills down Bobbie’s spine. She wondered if it had the same effect on Verdun.
Verdun’s gaze shifted to Tabatha. “What have you done? Omeda told me about you, but I thought she was exaggerating. Do you have no respect for the dead?”
“Verdun, did you have any respect for them when they were alive? Stop stalling. Here’s the deal.” Bobbie waited to gain his full attention. “Gather your followers, leave this place. Go far away and never come back here again. This is your last chance, Uncle Verdun. You can live and let live. Start a new life somewhere else. Or…”
“Or what?” Verdun snorted a vicious snarl. “Do you think I fear you because you have added two more men? No. Not men, only Shades of men.”
“Or you can die.” Bobbie lifted her hand into the air and shouted, “Come forward, Spirit Warriors. Show yourself.”
As the clearing filled with Warriors, with a wave of her hand Bobbie guided the others to the far end of the common ground so Verdun and his men could see the full extent of the trouble they were in.
“This isn’t real,” he shouted to his men who stood around him, shaking and looking around with horror-filled eyes. “Don’t let them fool you. Not a dozen mystics could do this. It’s an illusion.”
Elsu stepped past Bobbie and slapped Verdun hard on the cheek. “Does that feel like an illusion? We are real, and our patience is running thin. Leave or fight. But either way, we have a score to settle. This time you won’t be able to hide behind a hired killer.”
Verdun shoved him away. “Kill the Outsiders. Leave the impostor queen to me.” With that said, he took a step back and was surrounded by his followers.
