Blood Finale (God Wars #5) (28 page)

"Stop worrying about me," he said. "I just want to be inebriated for a short while."

"I have no problem with that," I said. "In fact, I'll join you."

Charles slid the bottle toward me with power.
Pulling
a highball glass to me, I lifted the bottle and poured out four fingers' worth.

"Trying to catch up?"

"As quickly as possible." I downed the whiskey in two swallows and poured more. "Kay's asleep, thank goodness. We had to tell her about the children. She was understandably upset."

"At least those two women are dead."

"She took small comfort in that."

"We were never going to get out of this with no losses," Charles sighed.

"I know. I just wasn't prepared for the losses we've had already, with more expected."

"Agreed. There really isn't a way around it, you know."

"That's what worries me."

"I know."

"What do you think the General's next move might be?"

"You don't want to know."

"Yes I do."

"No you don't."

"You don't want to tell me, do you?"

"No. And I won't."

"Fine. Keep it to yourself, then." I drank my second glass of bourbon and poured a third.

"Thank you. I will. Hand the bottle back, please." I pushed the bottle toward him, with a tiny bit of power. It slid into his hand, like a bottle sliding on the bar in an old western.

"This universe ain't big enough for the both of us, General," I quipped and lifted my glass.

"Exactly," Charles agreed and drank straight from the bottle.

* * *

"Where are Moxas and Saxom?" Calhoun snapped. "I ordered you to guard them." He glared at Reedy.

"I was asked to run an errand by Saxom. He ordered dinner. I went to get it," Reedy mumbled.

"Faugh, you have compulsion in your eyes," Calhoun growled. "I should have known to rid him of that talent. They have escaped, probably because they were tampered with, just as the Sirenali was. This will not please the General."

"What do you want me to do?" Reedy whined.

"You? Come with me. I can set you on the population," Calhoun shrugged. "That's all you're good for now. If you find Saxom and Moxas, kill them."

* * *

"Saxom and Moxas have also been altered, although they managed to escape before we discovered it," Calhoun groveled before the General.

"Then the enemy will pay," the General replied. "Where is Quislus? I ordered him to bring the Hidden to me."

"I will search for him, General."

"Look no further. The Hidden have been taken by the enemy," Quislus dropped to his knees before the General. "Just as Jarnis and Hydel were taken."

"We will prepare a message," the General hissed.

* * *

Lissa's Journal

We were all wakened. There was no need for anyone to tell us—we knew immediately. All of us gathered in the kitchen at SouthStar. Most of us wept. Le-Ath Veronis, Campiaa, Wyyld, Falchan, Refizan, Tulgalan and Earth had all been destroyed—blasted to atoms by the General's wrath.

Chapter 16
 

Ashe's Journal

"All news outlets have received the same message," Kooper handed a comp-vid to me. He and Trevor had managed to get away from Le-Ath Veronis, but everyone else, including Aryn, Perdil and Cheedas, had perished.

"It's from the General," Charles appeared and read the message with me.

Choose your battlefield
, the message read. The journalists reported the message, but they had little information regarding what it meant. The destruction of seven worlds terrified them, too. They had no idea what to do against an invisible foe. Ildevar and Tybus had already done several interviews, calling for calm, but there was little of that precious item anywhere.

"We need a meeting," Charles said.

"How do we get a message to the General?" Kooper growled.

"That's the easy part," Charles replied cryptically.

* * *

"I will let you live—for now."

Saxom cowered with his brother. If he hadn't provided information as to which worlds would most harm the enemy if they were destroyed, he and his brother would be dead already. They hadn't gotten far after their escape—Calhoun had found them easily.

"I will do anything you ask." Saxom worked to keep the quiver from his voice.

* * *

Breanne's Journal

"This is for messing with Saxom, Moxas and one Sirenali?" Kay asked. She shivered in Ashe's embrace.

"Sweetheart, it would have come anyway. He was likely looking for any excuse to hurt us like this."

"It would have happened, no matter what," Charles soothed.

"Did you hear? Seven hundred worlds destroyed by spawn," Trevor walked in and sat beside me. We'd chosen Ashe's solarium for the meeting. Sunlight, uncaring that so many had died, shone brightly on rows of gishi trees below the house.

"The gates of hell are opening everywhere," Macy wiped tears away after Kooper folded her, Elizabeth, Luanne, Philip and Keith in. "Dragon is holding the High Demons back—he says they'd be ineffective against such a widespread attack."

"Ineffective doesn't describe it properly." Dragon walked in, followed by Crane, Crane Trevor, Caylon, Sali and Dragon's sons. Tory followed Sali. Both looked exhausted. "We just moved our High Demon troops into the southern reaches of SouthStar, and I've asked Jayd and Glinda to move the rest of theirs, plus the Greater Demons in as well. They'll have to occupy jungles for a short time, but it's better than being obliterated."

"You think Kifirin will be next?" I asked.

"I think Kifirin will be next," Kifirin appeared, blowing angry smoke. Hank was with him.

"Quislus will likely name it a target," Hank agreed. "We just sent a message his way—he's been calling for the Hidden among us, and he recently discovered that they're all dead. Kifirin heard the call. I told him to answer and let his former parent know his rogue underlings are dead and that we are searching for him, now."

"So he knows Kifirin is alive, then?"

"Yes."

"Good. At least he knows we have some power against him," I said.

"How will we answer the General?" Lissa asked. Her voice was thick with tears as she walked in, followed by Gavin, Tony, Rigo and several others.

"We do what he says," Charles replied. "We choose our battlefield. Not just where, but when."

Kal?
I sent.

What, Love?

I need that meeting with the Larentii Council. Now. And we don't have a lot of time.

I understand. Come now. We will be ready.

"I'm going to run an errand," I announced and stood to stretch.

"Where?" Hank turned dark eyes toward me.

"The Larentii homeworld. You sort out the battlefield. I'll be back in a few."

* * *

Lissa's Journal

All my people, wiped away in an instant of the General's anger. Aryn, Cheedas and so many others that I loved—all gone. I felt helpless against what the General could do. He had no care for anything, except his own bloated power.

He recognized the need for underlings, but that's all they were to him—underlings—to do what he had no desire to do for himself. He could reject them at a moment's notice if they displeased him in any way. Likely, he might destroy them, too—but I didn't know that for certain. Again, I wondered what he was and how he'd been created.

Acrimus had a hand in it, if my suspicions were correct, but how had the General grown so strong? Other godlings that had been created were all less than their parent—none of them could create an equal or something greater than themselves.

"I believe we should choose a battlefield—and a battle—that has already been fought," Charles said, breaking into my thoughts.

"What do you mean by that?" Dragon asked.

"What was the last real battle we fought?" Charles asked.

"The battle against the rogue elves and all the creatures they'd summoned from the Dark Realm of the past," Edward replied as he walked in with Reah. She'd been grieving too—for Tulgalan and all the other worlds destroyed.

"Exactly. I say we choose that place and time," Charles said. "Most of you are already there. The powerful can be in the same place at the same time. This will serve to double our forces, will it not? As long as you are alive now, you can go back. The General's forces who are dead cannot be brought back to stand beside themselves and fight again."

"Will that be enough?" I asked.

"It is my hope that we will stand against them until they are all gone," Charles shrugged.

"Then we'll pull up that battle in a three dimensional hologram and begin to study it," Dragon said. "We need every advantage, and if our enemies join those who are there already, we will have our hands full."

"Remember, many of you were not as strong then as you are now," Charles pointed out as Dragon formed an image of the battlefield in the middle of Ashe's solarium.

"The shield is here, separating armies," Dragon began, pointing a finger at the proper spot.

* * *

"I wasn't able to be there before, Gavin. I was pregnant with Travis and Trent, remember?" He and I walked through rows of gishi trees to discuss the meeting—and the subsequent decisions. We had three days. Charles and Ashe had left afterward, to deliver the message. At least that's what they said they were doing. Hank and Kifirin went with them.

"Reah came in at the end, with Edward. They bent time to do so," Gavin nodded. "The battle would have been lost, had they not done that."

"I know. But it's as Charles said; most of us are stronger now than we were before. I just don't know how," I wiped tears away. I couldn't finish.

"Because Gavril was there before. I know this," Gavin nodded, his face paling. "I may find it extremely difficult as well."

"And Norian," I mumbled.

"Tybus will go back with us instead, giving us two—at least for a while."

"I still don't like the odds," I wiped away more tears. Gavin pulled me to a stop and I melted into his embrace.

"Cara, remember that I love you, no matter what the outcome might be," he murmured against my hair.

"Gavin, I love you so much," I sobbed.

* * *

Adam's Journal

"I suspect that Saxom and Moxas still have cards to play," Merrill said. "We managed to get Kiarra out of their sight, but they repaid that debt by giving the General a list of which worlds to destroy to harm us most."

"I agree," Pheligar said. "That is my conclusion as well. Who knew the fangless serpent would have one last bit of poison to fling in our direction?"

"And he may have more. I curse the day he was formed," Merrill growled. "Breanne and Kay saved lives in that restaurant, only to see them destroyed when the General discovered their subterfuge."

"Meanwhile, worlds are overrun and destroyed by spawn, which no doubt count in the trillions," I said, shaking my head at the complexity of the General's attacks. "We don't have enough to do battle against the army at his command."

"Which of the Mighty is responsible for the deaths of the Hidden? I don't believe it is Breanne," Pheligar said.

"Wisdom, most likely," Merrill observed. "Remember, we saw two killed before Breanne and Ashe were strong enough corporeally to return."

"Very true. Wisdom has had to employ stealth, no doubt, to take those he has without the General's knowledge."

"At least until now," I said. "The General certainly knows now."

"The worlds taken by spawn are mostly those that do not belong to either Alliance, and are generally warring amongst themselves," Pheligar said. "I will not miss many of those, they were so destructive."

"That doesn't make complete sense to me," I said. "I'd assume those to be the ones the General might want to keep."

"Regardless, he has taken seven worlds we hold dear, and Saxom may supply more names in the coming hours. He offered no promise to hold destruction at bay before we meet on the battlefield."

"That is not comforting in the least," I jerked my head at Merrill.

"I understand, but that doesn't alter the possibility."

* * *

Charles's Journal

"After you get this taken care of," I told Griffin, "I want you and Thurlow to show up on the battlefield and speak with Breanne."

"You want me to grovel before my daughter?"

"I know it makes you uncomfortable, but yes. Offer apologies or whatever you think might persuade her to talk to you."

"I'll do it, but only because you command it."

"Good. Go now, we don't have much time left."

I watched while Griffin and Thurlow disappeared. I'd thrown the dice, now it was a waiting game—to see if the numbers I wanted came up.

* * *

Reah's Journal

"Promise to keep her safe," I begged. "If we don't come back."

Aedan Evans looked over Adele's shoulder as she cradled Lexsi in her arms. "Do you think we might survive, if you do not?" Aedan studied me with concern in his dark-gray eyes.

"I hope so. I have to believe that you will." I wanted to weep. I forced back tears instead. "I hope Ashe's shield will hold," I added. "It has held so far."

"I will have faith in his strength, if nothing else," Adele murmured as she rocked my youngest to soothe her.

"Ashe has always done his best to protect us, even when we didn't deserve it," Aedan agreed.

"Then I hope he is able to protect us in the future," I said. "For my children and their children."

"Hope," Adele crooned at Lexsi. "Hope is exactly what we need."

* * *

Breanne's Journal

"Will it come to this?" Kal asked.

"I hope not, but that's all it is at this point—hope."

"Then I hope it works, should it come to this."

"Me, too."

"Will we be together, for more than a few moments at a time, if we are successful?" Kal watched me carefully.

"Honey, I can't make any guarantees. You ought to know that. Will Nefrigar keep my secret?"

"Nefrigar is the most reliable and secretive Larentii, should it prove necessary."

"Good. I'm gambling, here, Kal. I hope you understand that."

"There's that word again—hope. I will hold hope in my heart as long as you survive, my love."

"Hold that thought," I sighed. "I need some time to think."

"You may do that here, on the Larentii homeworld."

"I'll consider it," I said and folded away.

* * *

I didn't stay on the Larentii homeworld. Instead, I went to find Kay. "We have something to do," I said after waking her from a healing sleep.

"What's that?" she asked, yawning.

"Come with me; I'll show you," I helped her sit up. "We need a few other folks to back us up, but that shouldn't be difficult."

It wouldn't be difficult—if we bent time to appear at the proper place and time.

* * *

"This is SouthStar in the past, isn't it?" Kay looked around us.

"It most certainly is in the past," Renegar nodded congenially at me when he appeared. Several who'd lived in Cloud Chief in the past gathered about us as well. I recognized Marco and Cori, Ace, Wynn, Amos and Flossie Thompson—those who'd be waiting when the teens walked through the gate that a young Ashe would form on the other side. This required my talent of butting two timelines together, and this act would be crucial to the future.

"Is everyone ready?" I asked.

"Ready," Amos Thompson nodded. "Bring 'em."

Nodding to Kay, I stepped away from her—she'd be the first one Ashe would notice when he opened the gate. Light formed before us and the gate opened. I held the gate open from my side while a thirteen-year-old Ashe held it open in an Oklahoma field in the past.