by Eric Asher
She offered me a wicked grin, a break in her formal façade, as she turned back to the throne. “This one sat in the center of Atlantis. The head of a round table.” She didn’t turn back at me to see my raised finger, or my half-open mouth before she said, “Shut up.” I lowered my arm and the Old Man chuckled.
“It was not a round table of equals. The chairs had meaning. The leaders of our separate clans, unified and still obedient to the throne. I would not demand that of my people, not that kind of obedience. Only that they do not drown the innocent of this world. And that they no longer war among themselves.”
The water witches and Fae in the room slammed their closed right fists against their chests. It gave me goosebumps, and I wasn’t sure if it was for appreciation of their loyalty, or the outright creepiness of how synchronized the gesture was.
“So it was raised from the wreckage,” Nixie said. She met my eyes. “As my people will be, too.”
The call of a great raven filled the silence that followed. Morrigan’s winged form swept into the tent before a black vortex obscured her form and the old crone stood before us once more. “The necromancer is right.”
It didn’t really even bother me anymore that Morrigan just called me “the necromancer.” It was a hell of a lot nicer than what some of the other Fae called me. Hell, it was nicer than what Foster called me sometimes.
“There was a battle,” Morrigan said. “I don’t think some of those armies understood that it was all for show. I saw more than one empty suit of armor on the ground. And what I am fairly sure was the helmet of a dark-touched.”
“Would you recommend we strike?” Nixie asked. “We are not fully prepared, and Ward has many more discs to create.”
“Nudd’s deception is foiled,” Morrigan said. “His people are on alert, and their focus is no longer on the battle he chided them into. His plot is foiled, as is the secrecy of this place.”
The thundering alarm of the owl knights erupted a moment later. The drawn-out hoots of the owls echoed around the camp, raising a warning that I suspected I didn’t need to ask about.
“He comes,” Morrigan said.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Nixie followed Morrigan to the entrance of the tent, and I stepped behind the old crone. On the ridge that led to the woods stood a lone figure, shrouded by the dying sun, but unmistakable in his horned silhouette. Slowly, the negative space around him filled with the Fae and other creatures I could not identify against the darkness of the forest.
The Smith’s Hammer rang like an enormous gong in the nearby forge. Mike had to have heard the alarm, but I wondered if he continued working with Ward simply to make his presence known. Ezekiel had once pulled trolls from the Burning Lands and Unseelie Fae to fight his battles. But he’d lost with help from the Fallen Smith. And Mike was leaving no doubt that he was with Nixie.
“Where is Lewena?” Nixie asked. “I seek only her head.”
Nudd’s antlered helmet tilted slightly to the side. “You are in no position to make demands. I come with an offer of peace. Surrender and I will—”
Surprise at Nixie’s use of the queen’s name gave way to the voices buried in my head. Millions of dead from the Gettysburg cataclysm rose in one calamitous screaming mass. They understood who Nudd was. Their cries overwhelmed me as they crawled their way up into my head, and I had to give them a release, or surrender my sanity.
The souls surged out into the world around me, calling to the mass of gravemakers that had been drawn to Ward’s barrier. I hadn’t felt them before, hidden as they had been by runic charms. But now that I understood, it was the easiest thing in the world to make the Hand of Anubis rise on either side of Nudd and slam down on him and his nearest allies, crushing them into so much mulch.
Nudd took a hesitant step backward from the nearest Hand of Anubis, righting himself and crossing his arms. If I hadn’t been watching him, I might not have seen the trepidation. His voice showed no surprise or concern.
“We are here to establish an accord,” Nudd said as the dead Fae beside him began screaming, their destroyed bodies siphoning away into the nearby ley lines. “I made no such threat.”
“You tried,” Nixie said. “And if you make another, you won’t leave this place alive.”
Nudd laughed.
“You do not understand what you have lost,” Morrigan said, stepping up beside Nixie. “No songs will be sung of the great and fallen king.”
“You go too far, Morrigan,” Nudd said, his laugh dying.
“And yet you still live,” Morrigan said, a sneer edging its way across the old crone’s face.
I adjusted my feet as my boots slipped on the grass at the edge of the tent. I glanced down, surprised to see a pool of water coalescing beside me.
A voice whispered, so quiet it could have been a distant wind. “Say nothing.”
All along the base of the hill, blades of grass moved the wrong way with the coming of the wind.
Nudd raised his right hand, and his army drew their weapons. Or so they tried.
The voice that had been no more than a whisper grew into a cry, and became a voice I recognized. The pained shout of Ward. “It is done!”
I stumbled away from Ward as his cloak caught fire. A brilliant light lanced down into the earth, exploding outward into the shadows of the forest. The Fae on the hill screamed when the light reached them. It froze them in place, and I could hear the sizzle of power cutting into flesh from where I stood.
“This was never your trap,” Nixie snarled. “Attack!”
The field around us turned inside out as water witches rose from a body of water that I couldn’t see. In the blazing light of Ward’s incantation, I could see the shock on Nudd’s face. Whatever he’d expected, this wasn’t it. I stared in stunned awe for a few seconds as Nixie’s army dove into the enemy lines.
I understood the price the undines were paying, then. For as their swords and daggers pierced their enemy, they became a victim of Ward’s trap just as much as the ones they had slain. It drew the attention of Nudd, who slowly lifted a leg from the earth. The power that held it in place cracked and fell away.
“You dare!” He raised his hand as the thick golden bond that had held him a moment before fell away. “You. Dare.”
Nudd raised a mighty sword to strike out at his assailants. A volley of arrows erupted from the camp, sending a dozen Fae into a crumpled heap on the ground. Another volley, another dozen. The screams grew into a roar, and Nudd’s army began to fail.
“I can’t,” Ward huffed. “I can’t hold them.”
I didn’t need to hear more. Ward’s warning jarred me out of my stunned silence, and I raced forward with the Old Man. A shield formed on his left arm, and I mimicked it. But the surge of power called out to the cacophony inside my head, and my shield became something else. The rusted flesh of a gravemaker surged out of the ground, covering my shield with damned darkness.
“Use it!” the Old Man shouted. The flesh along his right arm rippled and split, and the terrible power the Old Man kept bottled up inside rushed to cover his arm. As the nauseating, rolling tide subsided, he was left with a hand as black as onyx, and a sword formed of a gravemaker.
“Drake!” Nudd shouted. “I know this was your doing!”
Nudd snarled at me as I closed. It wasn’t me he should’ve been focused on. The earth beside him spiraled up, and the Fae king doubled over as Nixie’s sword flashed up, finding the seam in his armpit.
Nudd roared. It was not the sound of any Fae I’d ever heard. It was the sound of something primal, with the kind of power no being was ever meant to wield. Nudd reared back to strike at Nixie, and I had little doubt it would be a killing blow.
“Drop it, Ward,” I snarled. My voice twisted as the flesh of the gravemaker crawled over my face. I fought back, keeping my line of sight open. I couldn’t afford to slow down, one wrong move, one wrong move… The king had taken enough.
I reached forward my left arm, and the s
hield distended, expanding out like some comically large sword. Nudd’s strike sank deep into the gravemaker flesh as Ward dropped the trap. Nixie fell to the ground as my soulsword arced up through the spot she had been standing a moment before. Nudd saw the attack at the last moment and lowered his helmet. The blade erupted as it struck his antlers, a blinding flash of power and souls and death.
“Now,” Nudd began.
The corrupted sword in my left arm fell away to reveal the barrels of the pepperbox leveled at Nudd’s face. His eyes didn’t even widen as six rounds of hellfire detonated across his skull. He fell backward, but I raised the Hand of Anubis to catch him, wrap around him, and lock him into my mercy.
“This ends now!” Nixie snarled. Foot by foot the skirmish died away.
Morrigan stepped up beside Nixie and studied the king trapped inside the Hand of Anubis. “This is not Nudd.”
“Who is it?” Nixie asked.
Morrigan frowned and reached out to remove the helmet. What waited inside horrified me. The dripping snout of a dark-touched vampire loomed inside the shadow.
We’d fought the dark-touched enough that I knew the Hand of Anubis shouldn’t have been enough to trap it. “Why isn’t it breaking free?” I asked.
“It is bound inside the armor,” Morrigan said. “Destroy it. It is still a vessel of the king, and he can likely hear all we’ve said.”
The dark-touched shook. Laughter echoed out of the damned thing’s face, though its lips did not move. “Clever, clever Morrigan. I do not know how you realized what I intended, but I am impressed.”
“If you are done,” Morrigan said, “I will carry your creature off this field.”
Ward hobbled forward, taking several deep breaths. He studied the flickering lights around the dark-touched’s head, which had been hidden behind the helmet. “He cannot merely communicate,” Ward said. “He can feel.”
Nixie struck like lightning. Her dagger slid into the dark-touched’s eye, and Nudd’s voice boomed in agony. She slammed the dagger home until the hilt was flush with the dark-touched’s skull, and the vampire was still and silent.
“Are his people under compulsion?” Nixie asked.
“Not that I can see,” Morrigan said.
“Me either,” Ward said. He finally slid to the ground, and crossed his legs, hanging his head in exhaustion.
Nixie raised her head to the few survivors left on the hill. “Take your wounded, and those who did not brave the forest. Tell them of our mercy, and know that our doors are open. We welcome all who would stand against Nudd.”
“You should not do this,” Morrigan said. “It portrays weakness.”
“Compassion is not weakness,” Nixie said.
Nudd’s Fae didn’t move for a time. They exchanged glances, and flexed their wings, as if waiting for the ax to fall. They trailed off into the woods, leaving the armor of their fallen behind.
“I’ll take the armor,” Mike said. “You might want to change some of the imagery,” he said as he held up and studied a picture of Nudd impaling the Mad King with his antlers. “But the craftsmanship’s solid enough.”
“The queen was not here,” Nixie said.
“Neither was Nudd,” Morrigan said. She turned her gaze to me. “Tell me again what happened with the attack in Saint Charles.”
I told her once more of the wave, and how it swept out and curled around the soldiers.
“It is not like her,” Morrigan said.
“I know,” Nixie said. “She would’ve gone after more civilians, to throw the soldiers off their game.”
I smiled when Nixie used modern slang, until the harsh reality of what she was saying sank in.
“She’d draw us out by killing bystanders?” I asked.
“Of course she would,” Nixie said. “The fact that wave didn’t hit deeper into the city means she wasn’t there. And if she wasn’t there, and she wasn’t here.”
“Rivercene.”
“It will take us hours to get there,” Nixie said.
“I can carry you,” Morrigan said.
I held up a finger, silently asking the Morrigan to give me a moment. The potential consequences of that disrespect hit me a moment later, and I gave her a nervous smile. “Does anybody have a phone?” I asked, turning away from Morrigan and the last of the fairies vanishing into the woods.
“They are forbidden here,” one of the owl knights said, brushing the back of his mount’s head. “They proved too easy to detect.”
“I do,” Ward said. “It’s not as if it matters now.” He held out an old brick of a phone and slid a battery into the back. Until he’d done that, it might as well have been another piece of plastic he’d been carrying in his pocket without a signal for anyone, or anything, to detect.
I punched in Sam’s number and waited. One of the fairies started arguing with Ward about why he’d had the phone. Listening to Ward try to explain that the battery wasn’t in it, and that’s why it didn’t matter, made me want to laugh.
Sam answered. “Demon? What’s going on?” The wind howled in the background, creating a constant buzz of static.
“Are you still in Saint Charles?”
“No, we’re on Graybeard’s ship. We’re headed toward Falias.”
“Have him turn around. This entire thing has been a misdirection. They’re either targeting Rivercene or Saint Charles.”
Sam cursed. Her voice became muffled as she shouted something and I heard the rapid staccato of a crewman replying. “I told them.”
“I’m on my way,” I said, turning to Nixie. “Come through the Abyss. Gaia will help.”
“How many can she take?” Nixie asked.
“If you’re wrong,” Morrigan said. “They die.”
“She’s taken at least two before,” I said. “Come with me. The others can find their way.”
Nixie turned to Euphemia. “I charge you to protect the Obsidian Inn.”
“It shall be done,” Euphemia said. “My queen, it shall be done.”
“Morrigan,” Nixie said. “Please, aid Euphemia. Without Ward’s circle, this place is vulnerable. We cannot lose the front to Nudd’s men while we defend another from the queen.”
Morrigan stood a little straighter. “You can be a fool, undine, but I will do this thing for you. May you ride upon the blood of the slain.”
I pulled the hand of Gaia out of my backpack, not sure exactly what to make of Morrigan’s words. I put one arm around Nixie and laced the other into Gaia’s dead flesh. Both hands tightened around me, and we stepped into the Abyss.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
“Welcome, benevolent queen,” Gaia said.
“Thank you for welcoming me into your realm,” Nixie said, nodding at Gaia as if it were the most normal thing ever.
“What did I miss?” I asked.
“It is an old greeting,” Gaia said. “One that should be reserved for true royalty.”
“We need to get to Saint Charles,” I said.
“And check on Alexandra.” Nixie squeezed my hand.
“We don’t have time,” I said. “You sent her with a full company of water witches. Do you really think there’s anything they can’t handle?”
“A larger force of water witches,” Nixie said.
I grimaced, and hoped she couldn’t see the expression in the dim light of the Abyss.
“I can’t leave her to her fate,” Nixie said.
The thought of delaying a return to Saint Charles tightened the knot in my chest. But not only was Alexandra at Rivercene, so were Ashley and Beth. The words felt dry and wrong. “We need to make it fast.”
“Fine,” Nixie said. “I haven’t heard from her, and I need to know what happened.”
“Has the time of my awakening come?” Gaia asked.
“I rather hope not,” I said. “Get us there fast.”
“I warn you the jump will be unpleasant,” Gaia said. “To walk through the Abyss twice in such a short time will not do you well.”
“It can be a little disorienting,” I said in agreement.
Nixie gasped. I turned my head to find one of the mountainous beaks of the leviathan known as Croatoan.
“It’s maybe not as dead as the Old Man thinks,” I said.
“No shit,” Nixie said.
“I have a safe target for you,” Gaia said. “But I warn you it is over the river.”
“Hold on,” Nixie said, squeezing me tighter.
Gaia gave no other warning. The distant stars of the Abyss streaked around us before spiraling into chaos. We stayed silent when the portal opened on the other side, and the river rushed up to greet us.
* * *
I didn’t understand what had happened at first. I waited for the cold water, the loud splash, or for the landing Gaia had designated as safe to be significantly less than that. When I opened my eyes, I realized we were underwater. Nixie had somehow silenced our splash, and now we were racing through the shallow waters of the Missouri River.
“I can actually talk in this thing?” I said, staring around the bubble Nixie had stuck my head in.
“You don’t have much air. You can tell me all about it later. I promise I’ll act interested.”
I grinned at her translucent face above me as we rose onto the edge of the river bank. “I don’t understand how that could’ve been safe.”
“Agreed. No river is safe when it’s plagued by the queen’s witches.”
We hadn’t yet exited the river when a voice boomed, “Be still your fleshy forms, or be crushed beneath the might of…”
I blinked up at Stump’s imposing silhouette. The Green Man froze, glancing between me and Nixie. “You are not the threat we expected to see here. We have had many unwelcome guests,” Stump said as he reached down into the river.
I cursed as the Green Man plucked me from the waters and set me gently on the bank. He extended an arm to Nixie, and she leveraged herself up beside me.
“Is Alexandra here?” Nixie asked.
“She has left this place to continue her journey elsewhere, and one was must wonder what sights she will encounter. What lies beyond the borders of these rivers and woods, and how I would enjoy the sight of your oceans.”
