“How could you possibly be more aware of his character than I, Adramelech?”
The arch demon finally noticed his mistake. His wings expanded to their full stretch. All around him, his hornet army appeared, sending the monkeys scrambling to safety and the pythos slithering away in search of refuge. Only the hellhounds remained on guard, hackles raised.
“Step aside, Eolonde. This is now court business.”
“Was it court business when you sent your hornets into my home to kill my husband?” his mother asked. “I found a dead creature there that day. It was too mangled by my husband’s spell to be certain it was a hornet, but I had my suspicions. What I couldn’t understand was why you came to the upper world to attack us when we weren’t acquainted.”
“I do my lord’s bidding, but on this occasion, being given permission to court you made it the sweetest of chores, my queen.” Adramelech’s lips stretched in a macabre smile. His malicious glance flicked toward Dewer. “By the way, where was the tyke hiding? I looked everywhere and could not locate him.”
“My husband expended the last of his magic to render the boy invisible to your eye. I barely discovered where he had been concealed.”
That was news. Dewer had not realized his father had died trying to save him. He remembered asking his mother about that day but she refused to say a word about what happened to his father. He thought she hated her husband for being too weak to live. Instead, like her son, his mother. too, was out for vengeance.
“Why?” his mother asked the demon. “Why target my husband?”
“Your husband was an interfering fool who had befriended a water god that had been a thorn in my lord’s side for centuries.”
Dewer hurried Grace toward the far doorway. “Adramelech will not be leaving this house alive,” he whispered. “Stay shielded until this fight is over.”
“If you wish to fight him,” she replied, “your mother has beaten you to the first punch.”
He swung around to find the large audience chamber had expanded to three times its size, along with his mother, who now resembled a mammoth with curved tusks, her trunk flinging hornets against the walls. His mother had routed her snake men from their hiding places to swarm the demon but they were held back by the remaining airborne hornets.
The arch demon matched the queen’s growth, towering until he filled the high-ceilinged chamber. His tusks gleamed white and his eyes glowed red as he roared in fury.
She rose on her giant hind limbs and, ripping off a beam, she swung at the demon. He ducked but she clipped his already injured right wing.
Adramelech howled in pain and charged, head down, aiming his tusks at the queen’s heart.
Dewer flung a bolt of fire. It struck the demon on his right side, flinging him backwards. Dewer had barely taken a breath to crow in triumph when his mother pounced on Adramelech. In an instant, she was stomping on him and tearing at his wings.
Dewer cheered, whooping at her furious attack while he readied a new deadly ball of fire in his fist.
His mother didn’t need any encouragement or help as she vented her pent-up fury at her husband’s murder on the demon.
Adramelech suddenly swung around and gored his sharp tusk into the queen’s side and she screamed in agony.
Dewer cringed as if he had been struck. He was ready to fire but they were so closely entangled, what if his retaliatory strike hit his mother?
Adramelech shoved her away and lowered his head to make a final lunge and finish her.
Dewer released his spell, skimming the energy along the floor until it met its mark in a furious blue flare that consumed the demon, blowing him to smithereens. In that instant, all the buzzing hornets fell as one, and lay on the floor, senseless. They were greedily set upon by his mother’s pythos.
Dewer raced to his mother’s side. She lay motionless, having changed back to her human form. A gaping hole at her side bled profusely.
GRACE HURRIED TO MOTHER and son. One look at the queen and she knew Eolonde was dying. She was covered in slashes, but the deep hole at her side was too close to her heart. She pushed Dewer aside and tried to stem the queen’s blood flow. Her whole hand sank into the queen’s side.
Eolonde’s hand gripped wrist and pushed her away, “My time is over.”
“I can help.” Grace prayed that was true.
“No,” the queen said. Her hellhounds growled.
“Silence,” Dewer said to the hounds before turning to his mother. “Please, allow Grace to help.”
“If Lucifer fears her,” Eolonde breathed in shivering gasps, “as he did your father, this witch will be the death of you. Leave her here and flee this realm forever.”
There was little time left to help Eolonde survive. Grace touched Dewer’s arm to catch his attention. “I need a moment alone with her. Please?”
He nodded and backed away into the courtyard. Grace’s heart ached at his devastation. His mother might annoy him, but he was as devoted to her as she was to him. Ifan and Dewer’s two hellhounds ran to keep their grieving master company.
As he stepped out of view, Eolonde’s grip on Grace’s wrist tightened. “I will not allow you to win my son’s favor by saving me.”
“I have already won his favor, Your Majesty. He does, however, want your blessing on our union.”
“He will never have it. You are unsuitable. He needs someone with a fiercer heart and a cleverer wit.”
“Do you not wish him to be happy?”
“I want him to live. He is all I have left of my husband.” She glanced at her pythos who had gathered around them. “Finish her.”
Be still! Grace growled at the snakes in a sound of authority. Her words reverberated as they spread across the chamber. Every creature paused, deep instinctive fear clear in their gazes. Satisfied she would not be attacked, Grace checked on Eolonde. For a split second, she spotted a hint of admiration in the queen’s gaze. That light was quickly shadowed by contempt.
“You best me because I am weak,” the queen gurgled her words, “but you will never win. Save me and I will haunt you for the rest of your life.”
Not much time left to help. Grace was not finished delving into her bag of tricks, however. Pretending to be startled, she glanced toward the courtyard. “Dewer, what are you doing?”
Predictably, his mother followed her lead, searching for her son.
At that moment of distraction, Grace touched her patient’s forehead and broke a witch’s major covenant. She used mind magic to put the queen to sleep. Her majesty’s eyes fluttered close.
All the pythos also slumped to the ground, unconscious, as did the queen’s hellhounds. With one startling thump after thump, her monkey men then hit the floor and lay supine.
Wyhcan mind magic always had an unexpected reaction on Earth. That was why it was forbidden. This time, Grace approved of the surprising consequence.
Dewer ran back into the chamber. “Did you call me?” Then he noticed the chamber littered with comatose creatures. “What’s happened here?” he asked, sounding panicked.
“Your mother’s not dead. Just asleep.” Grace focused entirely on the wounded queen. She wove her healing spell over the gaping hole at her side, pulling in the torn flesh, weaving the blood vessels together, willing Queen Eolonde’s body to mend. She worked quietly, feeling her strength deplete.
Dewer’s hand came to rest on Grace’s back and his extraordinary strength flowed into her as he supported her flagging energy. When he laid his staff across her lap, the water god’s power flowed into her, as well. A raging river of energy refreshing her.
No time to think. She used every bit of knowledge she possessed to keep the queen alive and then to bring her back to full strength. Grace did not notice the passage of time. When she finally finished her work, she leaned back into Dewer’s arms and slumped into a sleep as deep as the one she had set on her patient.
When Grace next awoke, it was to find herself on Ifan’s back, with Dewer holding her steady. I
t was night-time. The two hellhounds were racing ahead, blurring figures of fur, barely visible in the dull light of a darkly glowing sky. There was no moon or even stars in the underworld, it seemed
She reached up and kissed Dewer’s cheek. “Thank you.”
“Grace, it is I who owe you a debt of gratitude I can never repay.”
“Thank you for being here when I woke up,” she whispered, resting against him. “I hope you always will be.” Then she asked, “Where’s your mother? Jonas?”
Dewer raised his staff – its apex stone now pulsing in intermittent rays of red and blue. “I could not revive her from the sleep you put her into. I asked the water god to guard her until we reach the upper world.”
“Whoop-whoop-whoop,” a bird called from far ahead.
“Jonas came with us?” Grace sat up straighter, warm contentment reviving her flagging spirit.
“He has been my pet for decades. He always comes when I call.” There was deep sorrow in Dewer’s voice. He was mourning a friendship cut off in its prime.
“Once he is back to his human form,” Grace said in gentle encouragement, “perhaps you could become friends again.”
“Why would he want a relationship with a warlock whose mother stole and entrapped him?” Dewer unknowingly used the same scoffing tone his mother had used earlier.
“Your mother promised to bedevil me for the rest of my life if I attempted to save her life. Yet, that has not affected our close relationship. You never know what people are capable of until they are put to the test.”
He kissed her, a gentle silent thank you. It was all the confirmation Grace needed to know she had done the right thing. She returned his kiss, wanting to show him that he was more loveable than he believed possible.
“I have asked Jonas to stay with the hounds,” he said, coming up for air. “He will follow them into the upper world.”
“How will we return home?” Grace asked. “I thought you had permanently shut Adramelech’s gate.”
“Building a new door to the upper world would take too long and employ too much power that might draw Lucifer to our activities. Our best bet is to re-open that demon’s doorway. With a little push, there should be enough remnant energy in it to open.”
Grace faced Dewer. It was awkward to perch like that but she wanted to see him face-to-face for this next bit of conversation. “We will have another problem once we are back in Britain.”
She told him of the dark entity she had found at the bottom of the Tower of London. The one polluting Britain’s waters with deadly black spores. That poison was dispersing, a threat to humankind as well as every plant and creature that depended on the rivers for survival.
“This sounds like Lucifer’s handiwork,” Dewer said. “Adramelech’s invasion of London was likely a distraction from this greater threat. The long plan the demon hinted at, and why they wished to rid Britain of its protective water god. Lucifer has obviously been working toward this goal since my father was alive. Now we know why he sent Adramelech after you. Grace, you not only discovered his dark entity, but have seen some success in maiming the thing.”
At the reminder of Lucifer being on her trail, Grace checked the dark bushes surrounding them, wondering why they had not been attacked yet. When she had travelled alone, there had been monsters aplenty that had tried to accost her. “Dewer, have you noticed that there seems to be a lack of monsters in our path? Did you cast a spell to keep them away?”
“I wove an invisibility spell around us,” he said. “Even if they cannot see us, there should be plenty of monsters roaming, looking for trouble.”
Grace travelled from that point on with a keener sense of alertness. Their surrounding’s unnatural stillness invaded her inner peace like a pervasive illness. Along the way, they discussed and discarded plans on how they could defeat the dark entity. It resided in the underworld while establishing a foothold in the upper world, as if it drew succor from one to exist in the other.
Finally, they settled on a divide-and-conquer campaign. One that unsettled Grace for it meant that one of them must remain behind while the other went on.
She clutched at Dewer’s coat, afraid to let go. What if she never saw him again? Was this moment to be their last?
Ifan came to a halt and the two hellhounds returned to their side. Overhead, thunder crackled.
“Word has spread of our arrival,” Dewer whispered. “Once I open the gate, I want you to rush in.” He pressed a hot pebble into her hand. “Once through, throw this into the gateway and the opening will shut.”
“Permanently?” Grace’s fear of leaving Dewer spiked.
He brushed her cheek with the back of his hand. “Yes.”
“How will you come home?” She pressed against his chest. His heart was beating as rapidly as hers. Were they saying goodbye?
“I know all of my mother’s doorways into the upper world. I’ll find another way out. Wish me luck?”
Desperation more than faith drove her next words. “Dewer, I believe the Creator led me to the dark entity beneath the Tower of London. We are being watched over. You will be helped in this fight. You will be shown how to find your way back to me. I am certain of it.”
She kissed him then, long and passionately. Imprinting him to her, as if by touch alone she could meld with him so they would never again be parted.
He returned her kiss, marking his own claim. Don’t give up on me, his kiss said. As had everyone else in his life?
He was breathless and clinging to her when she pulled back. “Come find me if you want more of that,” she whispered against his warm swollen lips, mimicking his earlier plea.
“Go now,” he said in an agonized voice, and dismounted.
From Ifan’s back, Grace leaned down to touch Dewer’s shoulder. “I plan to wake your mother before I leave. You might need her assistance.”
He nodded agreement and then pulled her close. “Grace, when this is over, be prepared to match my mother’s deviousness. That will be the only way to win her favor.”
Then he vanished from her sight.
Before her, the gateway swirled open. Shelving Dewer’s comments for later study, she whistled for Jonas, replicating his call. The moment the bird landed on her arm, she tethered him to her wrist with a magical cord. She would not risk losing track of him in that corridor between worlds. The hellhounds were on either side of Ifan.
Grace then lifted her spell rendering Dewer’s mother unconscious. She hoped the dark fae queen and the water god could help Dewer, if they could refrain from killing each other. She then urged Ifan to race forward.
Just as she neared the gate, flames shot up, forcing her to pull back on the reins.
A man’s face appeared within the fire and he spoke in a beguiling tone, flashing her a welcoming smile. “His Highness requests an audience.”
Her heart thundered in fear. Dewer was not nearby to ask what to do. She clung to his previous advice about all things underworld. Down here, nothing is ever what it seems.
“I have a prior engagement.” With that, she spurred Ifan straight into the flames.
Grace raced through the tunnel separating the two realms and entered the White Tower’s basement. The room was empty. She quickly flung the stone Dewer gave her into the underworld gate and it winked out of existence, leaving her in utter darkness. She sent up a globe light and discovered Ifan, Jonas and Bartos were with her.
“Where’s Farfur?” Had Lucifer taken him? Then another thought occurred. “Did Farfur choose to remain behind?” she asked Bartos. “To stay with Dewer?”
The hellhound scraped the floor in affirmation, Yes. He looked as worried about his friend as she did. Knowing Farfur would be with Dewer, however, gave Grace a great deal of comfort. They could guard each other’s backs.
Grace took out her message stone and used it to send an urgent call spinning its way to her mother on when and where to meet her, and then she headed upstairs. She ordered the church guards she encountered to co
ntact Braden and Merryn and have them come to the bank of the Thames west of the castle. There was little time to spare. Who knew if the dark entity she’d left trapped near the underwater wall was still confined or had broken loose to infect all of Britain’s waterways?
DEWER SENSED HIS SPELL shivering like icicles through his bloodstream as Grace entered the portal to the upper world. Then the door slammed shut and he sighed with relief. She was safe. For now. Would she survive an encounter with a creature designed to drain a victim’s spirit until even its will to live succumbed? That was apparently what had happened to the eel she revived in the River Thames.
Even the water god, Lleland, had been on his death bed until Grace chased out the dark particles infesting his bloodstream. According to her, the source of those deadly particles was a dark entity that, like a cork in a bottle, was currently partly in the underworld and partly in the upper world. Now it was up to Grace and her family to harass the dark entity until it scurried back into this realm.
Once they did, Dewer must be ready. His immediate task was to locate where the back end of the dark entity could be found on this side of the Thames. Then he must come up with a way to eradicate it.
Trouble was, under a moonless iridescent sky, the surrounding landscape appeared eerily barren, as it had been all the way from his mother’s house. No demons loitered behind bushes and no cries of terror echoed in the distance. In thoroughly shielding himself from Lucifer, had he somehow also lost touch with familiar landmarks? A sudden prick on his nape had Dewer crouching before he checked behind. Someone was trailing him. Not Lucifer, he would not be cowering in the darkness afraid to face Dewer.
A shot of flame erupted right beside him. He leaped aside, landing behind a large tree. He lay perfectly still, heart pounding in fright while roots poked into his side. Slowly he sat up to see where the strike had hit. The ground was scorched close to where he had been standing. A second flare erupted, but further away this time. Then another right behind him, sending Dewer scrambling to the other side of the tree.
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