by Love, Dianna
From behind her, Daegan said, “’Tis not good news?”
She jumped aside and shouted, “Don’t sneak up on me! You’re lucky I didn’t have my sword.”
“Not lucky.” He held up her backpack. “Wise to keep it from your easy reach. What did ya learn?”
Her shoulders dropped with a heavy sense of failure. This was her expertise. If she couldn’t figure it out, no one in close proximity to her could.
She returned to a seated position. “We’re screwed. It’s a poem or a cryptic message. I won’t be able to fully understand it unless I have time to research more. Somethin’ I can’t do on top of a damn mountain in the middle of nowhere.” Tired and frustrated at constantly feeling she was inches from grasping information she needed so often, she turned on Daegan. “Not unless you can pull that information out of the air.”
“What does it say?” He squatted next to her again.
She repeated the words. “Some of the words are from different time periods. Like the word definire. I think it originated in maybe the fourteenth or fifteenth century. It means—”
“Define,” he said. “I read Latin as a child and heard the word used in the fourteenth century by warlocks entering TÅμr Medb.”
His quiet admission sickened her unexpectedly. He’d been captured and imprisoned to remain in one shape, unmoving, for thousands of years.
Herrick had spent that same time confined to a small area in the Caucasus mountain range, but at least he’d been free to live and fly as he pleased.
Daegan made it difficult for her to harbor the ugly feelings she’d gained from a lifetime of having history imparted to her by the Luigsech squires and the Connell squires.
Who should she care more about? Her family or the dragon that destroyed Herrick’s family?
She carried so much on her soul at the moment, she couldn’t allocate the time needed to sort through the confusion being this close to Daegan had created.
He stood and walked around a moment, then stilled. He held up a hand, asking for silence as he stared into the forest.
She twisted to look at the same spot and saw nothing except more woods. Did he sense a demon or Imortik? Tossing a second look at him, she realized he was staring at nothing at all, probably communicating by telepathy.
Sweat trickled down the side of her face. She swiped it with her hand, which came back dirty. No telling what her face looked like after climbing a damn mountain then falling through a rock rabbit hole.
After a few minutes, Daegan’s unfocused eyes sharpened with a flash of intelligence. He nodded, then turned to her. “I may have more information to help us.”
“Whoa. Where’d you get this information?”
“From someone whose knowledge is bottomless on many subjects.”
“I don’t believe you.”
He gave her an incredulous look. “Why would I lie when time to save my people is slippin’ through my fingers?”
He had her there, but ... “What did you find out?”
“A short history of Laverna.”
She offered in a tired voice, “A Greek goddess, seems like she was of the underworld and catered to pirates, uh ... ?” She lifted her eyebrows at him as in what else?
Daegan picked up that thread. “True. She protected pirates and thieves. Among supernaturals, she has been suspected of stealin’ a king’s treasure to appease a debt she believed owed to her by a Roman ruler.”
“Great,” she groused. “Now we’re huntin’ a Greek goddess and a scepter?”
He gave her a long look. “Ya lack patience for this work.”
That just pissed her off. “Me? You’re the one complainin’ every other word about how I’m not findin’ the grimoire fast enough.”
“’Tis the truth, but I am now helpin’. This will be much faster.”
Was he pulling her leg or serious? She crossed her arms for his benefit. Otherwise, she’d pull out her sword and stab him.
Nope. He had her backpack out of reach.
She’d just have to stab him with words. “Can we get to the part on how to find the scepter or has old age addled your mind?”
Shaking his head at her, he said, “’Tis believed once Laverna found the scepter and stole it, she gave it to her lover, a sorcerer known as Nicabar, as a treat. She bore him a female child, but Nicabar had no use for children, especially females. Rejection of her child angered Laverna, who is believed to have created a home in a special place for Hadrianna. The person I asked did not know what Laverna had stolen from a king. Once I told him about the scepter, he said it was possible Laverna gave Nicabar the scepter until he made her angry about their child. Then she took it back.”
Casidhe’s mind got back on track. “If that’s true, where would it be now?”
“In the Land of Hadrianna, the home Laverna created for her child so that Hadrianna could live in a safe world and visit the human world when she wanted.”
Jumping to her feet, Casidhe moved around, too anxious to be still. Could this be the breakthrough they’d been hoping for? “That would be a world in a world. A parallel world or realm.”
“Possibly,” Daegan allowed.
Casidhe pulled at loose strands of hair, thinking. “Still, it’s going to be tough to find a gateway to that world.”
“Ya have little faith.” He shook his head. “I shall find the gateway, but I wish to return ya to the centre and go forth on my own.”
She swung her head slowly from side to side and smiled up at him. “You’re the one who said we were goin’ to be joined at the hip.”
“I said no such thing.”
She waved her hand. “It’s a sayin’. Basically, you can’t do this without me and I’m not lettin’ you out of my sight until I get Fenella back.”
“I do not need ya, lass,” he declared.
“Really? Who is goin’ to identify the grimoire? Can you read any ancient text?” She crossed her arms. “I’ll wait while you answer that one.”
A tense muscle jumped in his jaw.
She lifted an eyebrow in challenge.
“You are a most irritatin’ lass,” he muttered.
“Always nice to have somethin’ in common. With that out of the way, what do you propose next since I didn’t get to ask your secret resource anythin’?”
“’Tis difficult for one with no telepathy to speak to a bein’ in another realm.”
Her mouth opened and closed. He spoke to someone in another realm? “Who was it?”
“Someone old and cherished. I will not divulge his name. ’Tis not necessary.” Daegan twisted, looking around. “He told me we may not have to hunt this gateway. It may come to us.”
“How?”
“By offerin’ somethin’ Hadrianna’s world would welcome.”
Casidhe had no response to that. She waited for Daegan to expound.
“When Laverna created the world, she gave the world the power to steal one treasure a year, but it can accept as many gifts as are offered.”
That was freaking unbelievable. “What do we give it?”
“That I do not know, but I have words to use to draw the attention of the world Laverna created.”
She would say this was the strangest day in her life, but hard to find a suitable comparison after growing up in a hidden castle with a dragon. “I’m game. What have we got to offer as a gift?”
“What do ya have in that backpack?”
Was he insane? “I am not givin’ up my sword!”
“I did not ask that of ya,” he countered, annoyed. “I am merely takin’ note of all we have to offer. What of a book?”
“No. I, uh, I can’t lose Cathbad’s. I have two others that took me years to find and acquire.” Her conscience pinched her over not offering something. But dammit, she had so little in life. Her books were everything.
“I understand. I shall search for somethin’ I can offer.” Daegan became very still again. He held out his hands, palms up. His gaze went to his hands, then he frowne
d.
“What’s wrong, Daegan?”
Lowering his arms, he sounded hollow. “My teleportin’ is not workin’. I had intended to bring a chalice that had been in my family for many generations before I was born to offer as a gift. I would have someone in that location teleport it, but my presence is required to expose the treasure.”
Now she really felt like crap. Would she give up anything Herrick had given her? No. But Daegan had been willing to hand over a family heirloom, which took on a whole new depth of meaning when passed down in a dragon clan.
Pushing the hurt down this already caused her, Casidhe held her hand out. “Please give me the backpack.”
When Daegan handed it over, she dropped to her knees and dug through her pack. She hesitated, trying to choose her least favorite journal. They were only books, but to her, selecting one of these books would be the same as choosing between children.
In the end, she closed her eyes and pulled out one. Opening her eyes, she offered it to Daegan. “See if this will open the door.”
Daegan took the tome and held it carefully. “Are ya sure, lass? If I could teleport any of the treasure, I could bring a king’s ransom in gold.”
Of course he could. He had a damn dragon hoard.
She had a library.
Forcing out the words, she said, “Let’s do this before I change my mind, but you had better get the scepter and grimoire volume for that.”
“I vow to do all in my power to retrieve both.”
“Okay, what did your secret source say to do next?”
“He told me to find a safe place, somewhere we will not be disturbed. The darker the better.”
“Why?”
“He said we need somewhere no one will see us. Then we must close our eyes and open our minds to Hadrianna’s world and offer the gift.”
Chapter 19
Quinn washed the blood from his face and hands. He gave the cracked mirror in the gas station restroom a half-assed glance. He didn’t need a mirror to tell him that last battle hadn’t gone well.
The troll hadn’t been a local. A bruiser from some troll gang two states away.
That being had been stupid to think Atlanta humans would be easy pickings with Beladors battling exposure to humans and demons stalking around the city, many in human form.
The good news? The demons wanted trolls, too.
Oh, they lusted after Reese’s demon energy, but she was tucked deep inside one of Quinn’s buildings guarded by Beladors.
He dried his face with paper from the towel bin and wiped his hands. If not for outdoor bathrooms still around in old gas stations, he’d have nowhere to clean up before heading to meet with Reese.
He stepped from the small room heavy with the scent of ammonia and urine, welcoming a gulp of fresh air and a dark landscape. He still needed information on Luigsech’s phone for Daegan.
Speaking of phones, he checked his. He had a half hour until nine, Reese’s deadline for their talk.
That would be his next stop. He had to find some way to convince her to give him a chance to save her and the baby. He opened his phone to call for a car when power flushed around him.
What the hell now?
Sen.
Could there be any being Quinn wanted to see less? “What?”
“The Tribunal has called you in for a meeting.” Sen always had a surly attitude, but the raw spot on his scalp had not regrown hair from the Imortik attack earlier. His forearm had a jagged wound.
Had Sen, a demigod, been unable to heal himself yet?
“What’s this about?” Normally, Quinn would give more credence to a request from a Tribunal summons, but he was damned tired and had to get to Reese.
“I must not have made myself clear,” Sen said, eyebrows dropped low over his hard gaze. “This was not a request open to conversation, but an order.”
Pushing his fury down, Quinn stood with arms dangling free. His ready mode for an attack. “For a Tribunal to order the North American Belador Maistir to show up without advance notice, I would expect an explanation first.”
Sen lifted one shoulder. “Suit yourself. They told me to bring you or they’d call in Daegan.”
Bastard. Sen understood enough about the Beladors to know Quinn would not call in Daegan for something that fell under Quinn’s responsibility.
The longer he debated with Sen, the less time Quinn had to meet with Reese. “Let’s go.”
In the blink of an eye, Quinn stood in the Tribunal realm. Thick grass beneath his feet ran a hundred yards in every direction, forming a circular surface he stood upon. Above him in a dome shape, the night sky sparkled with thousands of stars, reaching from edge to edge of the circular land. It reminded him of a giant snow globe, sans the snow.
Tribunals were a trio of different gods and goddesses from different pantheons, but all in alliance with VIPER. Loki, Justitia, and Hermes stood upon the raised dais in the middle of the realm.
Wearing a simple white robe with a belt, Justitia held the scales of justice in one hand. A gold blindfold wrapped her head. The rest of her face visible above and below the blindfold held the beauty expected of a goddess. A person should never underestimate Justitia or think being blindfolded would mean she missed anything that went on in one of these meetings.
Hermes strummed his tortoiseshell lyre, something resembling a U-shaped ukulele. Shaggy brown curls poked out from beneath his skull helmet, complete with small wings. He had a thousand-yard stare, lost in his own little musical world, though he could be also dangerous.
Quinn expected fairness from Justitia and nothing from Hermes, leaving Loki as his main concern.
Wearing a suit equal to the best in the human world, Loki had probably conjured it up. He could be depended upon to make life as difficult as possible. That god found his enjoyment in other people’s misery.
A true sadist at heart since Tribunal meetings generally weren’t called to thank someone for a job well done.
Everyone here understood this sometimes trickster god held the ultimate power in a Tribunal. Other deities aligned with VIPER stepped in to take their turn from time to time, but Loki missed few meetings.
“What can I do for the Tribunal?” Quinn asked in as even a tone as he could muster.
For the first time in many meetings, Loki did not play with some toy or smile with glee of anticipation over what he prepared to unload on an unsuspecting soul.
Loki lifted a hand and the music stopped. Hermes tucked his lyre to his chest and stared at Loki.
Unease crawled up Quinn’s neck.
“We want the Immortuos Grimoire volume returned,” Loki said with the same intensity as demanding a blood sacrifice.
“What volume do you reference as there were supposedly three?”
“The one locked in a VIPER vault for a thousand years.”
Cold washed over Quinn’s skin. What the hell? “That volume is gone?” Daegan would not be happy with this news.
Loki speared him with a glowing white gaze. “Do not play with us!”
Air in the realm pulsed with a turbulent power.
“Wait a damn minute,” Quinn shot back. “We don’t have it. I’m under the impression no one can breach VIPER’s vault. Are you telling me someone broke into the vault?”
Sen spoke to Loki. “I told you they would act clueless.”
Quinn wheeled around on Sen. “I fought here earlier today to protect everyone in the headquarters. My people arrived even before I was called. How can you pretend that we know anything about the vault being broken into? How did that even happen on your watch?”
In the past, Sen rarely spoke in a Tribunal. He normally stood by as an enforcer for whatever they pointed him at to handle. But he didn’t back down from giving his opinion this time.
“We thought at first the Imortik-possessed Beladors were drawing in more Imortiks. The invasion appeared at first to be an attempt to reach those Beladors in lockdown, but we now believe it was a Trojan horse execution.
”
“Our people are not fully possessed,” Quinn argued.
Sen ignored him. He started to speak then grimaced and pushed ahead. “We believe I was set up to drag Imortiks in when I teleported what I thought was a Belador capture to the holding cells. While I was distracted keeping your people alive, someone entered the vault.”
Quinn sorted through that information. “Again, do you think I did that?”
Loki called out, “We have not accused you of such. Yet.”
Turning back to face the greater threat, Quinn asked, “Wouldn’t someone have to be able to teleport to access that vault?”
Loki gave a stern nod. “Daegan has that ability.”
“He’s doing all he can to shut down the Imortiks,” Quinn replied, raising his voice.
Justitia turned her blind gaze to him. “Take care with your tone.”
She had criticized him? That was another bad sign.
“No insult intended, Justitia, but this is an insult to accuse Daegan of stealing that grimoire.” Quinn had another thought. “What family had been responsible for hiding that particular volume?”
“Is that not obvious by now?” Loki’s lips spread in a sinister smile. “The Treoirs. The volume we had was found in the twelfth century and contained. Then it was locked away in VIPER’s vault. As you can see, the Treoirs have either been very careless with their volume or are intentionally trying to use it.”
This was incredibly messed up.
Forced to hold his temper and find a way out of this for Daegan, Quinn countered. “Let’s look at the timeline. Daegan was imprisoned in TÅμr Medb when that volume was discovered. Macha was in charge. She teleports. Why not go after her instead? The Beladors did not start any of this mess with the Imortiks. Our people are killing themselves trying to protect everyone from demons and Imortiks.”
“You also exposed supernatural beings to humans.” Loki had gathered plenty to throw at Daegan and the Beladors.
Quinn argued, “The Imortiks set traps for our people, including Daegan. It couldn’t be avoided.”
Justitia stepped in. “If that is so, why did the red dragon burn a power plant in northern Spain until it exploded?”
Quinn couldn’t find his voice. Daegan would never do such a thing, but some being had impersonated him. Had there been casualties? A sickening possibility. He had to get out of here and find out more.
