Sorceress Rising (A Gargoyle and Sorceress Tale Book 2) (25 page)

“We all make
mistakes,” Gregory agreed. “I have committed more than my share in this
lifetime already, and no doubt will make many more.” His tone darkened, “But
should you attempt to betray my trust, know that I will set both you and your
mate before the Lord of the Underworld’s throne. As a personal favor to me, he
will grind your bones under his hooves until they are dust.”

The pooka
trotted up to Gregory and rubbed is head against the gargoyle’s shoulder in
what could only be called a loving manner. Gregory met Lillian’s gaze while
absently returning the pooka’s show of affection with a good scratch along his
neck, just under the fall of his mane.

A soft whine
pulled Gregory’s gaze away from hers as he tracked the sound. Lillian wasn’t
the only one disturbed by her love’s fierce ultimatum. Shadowlight paced closer
to Gregory on all fours, and whined a second time, his tone a clear plead.

Gregory’s
expression softened, and he reached down and ran his fingers through the
smaller gargoyle’s mane. “Be at ease, young one. Your parents will not betray
me of their own free will. But it had to be said as a promise and a deterrent
to anyone here who would betray me.”

Shadowlight’s
ears perked back up, and he licked at the older gargoyle’s fingers, happy and
reassured once more.

While she was
glad Gregory wasn’t going to indiscriminately execute members of her family
just yet, recent events had ensured that she wasn’t quite as young or trusting
as she’d been six months ago, so she wondered what his next move might be.
However, the night was chilled and so was she now that she was merely a dryad
again. Deciding that was excuse enough, she covered the six feet separating
them and bumped her shoulder against Gregory’s until he took her under the
shelter of one wing.

It had been a
hell of a night and it still wasn’t over. They needed to find Gran and then
deal with Tethys.

Gregory held her
close and pressed her cheek against his chest. His heart thrummed out its deep,
familiar rhythm. She listened to the sound and let her eyes drift close.

Bliss.

“There are still
other Riven headed toward Tethys’ location,” said a voice Lillian identified as
her father’s.

And just like
that Lillian was tossed back into the here and now. She straightened to stand
taller as she faced her father. “Tell us all you know about the Riven. We know
they came from the Magic Realm, likely at the fringes of the Battle Goddess’
domain. My understanding was that only a few were able to follow Gregory’s
trail here after he rescued me from the Lady of Battles. Those ones I killed,
or thought I’d killed, when they tried to sacrifice me for my magic three
months ago. Yet now it seems like their numbers are greater than ever before.”

“Yes, you are
correct on all counts,” River said. “But we must explain on the way or risk
having the Riven score a victory.”

With a rumble of
ascent from Gregory, and a nod in the general direction of the waiting Fae, the
Wild Hunt shifted back into its deadly, predatory readiness.

Gregory glanced
at her smaller form but didn’t say anything about what possible reason the magic
might have had for stripping away her gargoyle form.

But Lillian
could guess. There were no female gargoyles for reasons not fully known to her.
As such, she was somehow in violation of the natural laws, and apparently the
Divine Ones didn’t care for the new look.

While Lillian
woolgathered, the rest of the Wild Hunt had moved off a little ways, leaving
only her parents and little brother in their immediate area. As she watched,
her brother vanished into the shadows, his trajectory taking him toward the
head of the hunt.

Her gaze
returning to her mother, she found the other dryad already mounted on
Darkness’s back. She sat on him like it came naturally to her. Well, she
probably had lots of experience.

Her parents did
another of their silent exchanges, which she couldn’t fault them for since
Gregory utilized that gargoyle trait frequently, but it did leave her wondering
what they discussed. Apparently, she wouldn’t have to wait long for an answer
since Darkness approached her location less than a minute later.

When he was a
stride distant, River reached out and handed Lillian a long knife, hilt first.
Lillian took it after a slight hesitation. On a closer examination, she decided
‘short sword’ was a more adept description for the lethal looking blade. She
looked up from her study of the blade to find her mother holding out a second
blade, a twin to the one already in her hand. From out of the air, River
produced an accompanying shoulder harness with scabbards for the two short
swords.

Lillian’s
eyebrow rose at the show of magic. If she wasn’t mistaken, River had been
drawing on a handy bit of Darkness’s gargoyle magic. Later, she would question
that relationship in more detail. By the slight tremor in the tip of Gregory’s
one ear, he planned to do the same thing.

With a bit of
instruction from her mother, Lillian was able to wiggle into the harness and
secure the blades so they would come free easily, but wouldn’t bump against her
back when Gregory ran. Throughout the whole exchange, Gregory merely looked on
with what Lillian couldn’t mistake for anything other than approval.

Her sword skills
were limited to fencing, and these were slashing weapons, their weight and
balance nothing alike, yet it still felt good to have the weapons, rather like
she had a purpose. Which brought her to her next challenge as she eyed
Gregory’s back in dismay. He’d conveniently dropped to all fours and arched his
one wing out of her way so she could mount with ease.

She only
hesitated a moment before she mounted in silence, but inwardly she mourned the
loss of her gargoyle body. After all, she felt so much more secure when it was
her own feet doing all the work.

Alas, the day
hadn’t gone her way so far and wasn’t likely to start now.

Leaning forward,
she wrapped her arms around Gregory’s neck and prayed she didn’t fall off. He
leaped forward, her father and brother taking up flanking positions, and then
Gregory was out in front of the Hunt, leading them back toward civilization,
the siren, and most probably a whole host of Riven rabid for blood and magic.

A tendril of
familiar power brushed her mind a moment before Gregory’s essence joined their
thoughts.
“It’s good to have you on my back again. Do not misinterpret my
words, you made a lovely gargoyle, but I missed my dryad.”
His tone held
hints of his old self, which she hadn’t heard since before he’d been taken by
the siren.

“It’s good to
have you back, too. I’ll figure a way to get us out of this mess.”

He twisted
enough to brush a quick gargoyle kiss against her shoulder. With her arms
around his neck, it was the only part of her he could reach.
“We’ll work
together to solve this. I think that is where we have failed. We each keep
trying to do things apart, to protect the other, but that is what allows harm
to find us.”
Gregory paused and then glanced back to where the rest of the
Hunt ran at their heels.
“The Lady of Battles may have made a mistake with
the collars, for in tying us even closer together neither of us will be able to
get into trouble without the other knowing.”

Lillian laughed.
“That’s one way of putting a positive spin on winning the shitstorm
sweepstakes.” She pressed a kiss to the back of his one shoulder, then
straightened up enough so she could twist her upper body and look behind. She
met her mother’s gaze.

River gave a
slight nod and then whispered something in Darkness’s ear. In reply, he
lengthened his stride and came along side Gregory.

Lillian tilted
her head in River’s direction. “You said you would tell me more about where the
Riven are coming from, and why they’re headed back toward the spa if they’re
not interested in Tethys.”

Her mother
pressed her lips together in a thoughtful line. “In fact, they probably are
after the siren as well, though that won’t be their primary goal. They want
your hamadryad.”

That made
horrible sense. “Because she’s now the Sorceress and they want that power?”

“No, actually,”
her mother countered and then clarified a moment later. “They want to use the
bridge your hamadryads can form between Mortal and Magic Realms.”

Lillian felt
Gregory stiffen under her. So she wasn’t the only one surprised by that bit of
news. She prompted, “Hamadryads. Plural?”

“Naturally.” Her
mother quirked an eyebrow. “You know there are two, surely? The one in this
Realm, and the original in the Magic Realm—the one you took the cutting from in
the first place.”

In fact Lillian
did remember Gran mentioning something about a cutting. Cuttings only came from
other plants, and Gregory had mentioned about a first hamadryad. But she hadn’t
put anymore thought into it—mostly for lack of time.

“It lives?”

“Your tree is
very strong and is in fact flourishing. She’s almost twice as large as the one
growing here. Though that shouldn’t surprise you either since she’s had an
extra eight years to grow and absorb power from the Magic Realm.”

“Hmm, I really
don’t like the idea of a part of me still trapped there,” Lillian mumbled more
to herself than any particular person. “What’s to stop the Lady of Battles from
somehow using the hamadryad against me?”

Gregory rumbled
at her question, clearly not liking the thought any better than she did, though
he’d probably thought of that angle long before her.

“Hamadryads,
being a hybrid of tree and Faeblood, are not something our enemy can influence.
As a tree spirit, a hamadryad lacks thoughts or emotions that the Battle
Goddess can grasp, understand, or corrupt.”

That might be
true, but it didn’t mean she liked the idea any better.

“However, there
is a way to exploit both your hamadryads, and I think the Riven plan to try.”
Her mother frowned darkly. “They may have already done so once. It would
explain why there are so many of them already in this Realm.”

The terrain
forced Gregory and her father to veer around the opposite sides of an ancient
oak, following two different game trails. To Lillian’s dismay, she couldn’t
continue the conversation for several strides. When Gregory and Darkness
finally merged back onto the same trail, Lillian sought her mother’s gaze.
“Tell me what you mean”

“You’re aware
that travel between the Realms is difficult, yes? Though it is
disproportionate. The trip here to the Mortal Realm is less strenuous than the
return journey. In fact, besides gargoyles, only dragons, phoenix, and gryphons
have enough inherent natural power to return to the Magic Realm. Of those, only
the most elite of their kind could make the return journey without damaging
themselves. All others would require aid directly from the Magic Realm or some
form of talisman that could enhance their natural magic.”

Lillian thought
she knew where this was going without needing more details. “And somehow my
hamadryads can offer that help.”

“Offer is
perhaps incorrect, provide is a better one. Since she doesn’t, in fact, need to
allow travelers to access the bridge.”

Lillian quirked
an eyebrow.

“Your two
hamadryads already form a bridge between Magic and Mortal Realms, allowing
those with the knowledge to travel between with relative ease.”

That revelation
made sense, but opened up a whole other branch of questions.

“You’re saying
the Riven are planning to use my hamadryads to span the two Realms?”

“I think some
have already done so. It’s the only explanation why they are already so
numerous here. This Realm is so poor in magic, there is no way so many could
have been spawned here by their normal mode of reproduction.”

“Dare I ask?”
Lillian truly didn’t want to know if some Riven actually took children as hosts
or if they shape shifted to look that way. She’d intentionally forgotten to ask
Gregory that little detail.

But she was done
being squeamish. Her lack of knowledge was going to get someone she loved
killed. “Tell me anyway. I need to know.”

Her mother gave
a very slight nod in acknowledgement. “You might call the Riven a plague, and
it would be true in a literal sense. At their core, they began as a speck of
evil, liken it to a seed if you wish. Once housed in a suitable host, that seed
of evil grows. It multiplies and infects all parts of the host body, tainting
it and warping it to the Riven’s needs. As the speck becomes a flood, it
overwhelms the host and the Riven becomes a sentient, thinking, reasoning
being.”

“Gods above.
It’s like a virus or a cancer.” Lillian shivered in horror as another thought
occurred. “An intelligent cancer that consumes you, body and soul.”

Her father
flicked an ear in her direction and suddenly his voice was in her mind.
“A
soul belongs to the divine and cannot actually be consumed, but it can be
enslaved. The Riven traps the host’s soul and uses it as a link to the body.
Being more of the spiritual than the physical, without the soul to act as an
anchor, the Riven couldn’t remain in the host and would drift away and be torn
apart by the cleansing power of the elements.”

It was too
horrible for words so she said nothing, merely tightening her hold on Gregory.

Perhaps sensing
her distress Gregory interjected,
“It’s all right, love. When we destroy a
Riven, we are freeing the soul to return to the Spirit Realm where it can be
cleansed and healed of all scars. And we will kill all the Riven, take peace in
that.”
Gregory twisted to nuzzle her shoulder. It was a small gesture, but
eased the tension in her spine.

Yes, they would
destroy the Riven to the last bloody one. She was hardily sick of them always
sneaking around and then striking when one was weak.

Well, she’d show
them what a coward’s reward was. “You said they have used my hamadryad as a
bridge. How does that work? Because I’ve never seen a horde of Riven suddenly
appear within my maze. I would have noticed that. And the protective spells on
the glade like the Riven no better than I do.”

“As your
mother mentioned,”
Darkness continued,
“the
return journey is much more difficult unless one had a bridge. To return to the
Magic Realm from here, one must have direct contact with the hamadryad, be
potent with magic, and be willing to shed a bit of one’s own blood in payment.
However, coming here is much easier. Think of it as a river or stream, the
hamadryad in the Magic Realm feeds magic to the one here; that current is ever
flowing and directional. Swimming against a current is difficult and requires
much strength and skill. But the other way—simply jump into the current
anywhere within a morning’s walk of the hamadryad and follow the flow of power
here to the Mortal Realm. And as far as avoiding the stone circle protecting
your grove, all the traveler needs to do is ‘jump’ out of the stream before
they arrive at the destination and they will wash ashore somewhere else in this
Realm.”

“Just like
that?”

Gregory coughed.
“It’s a bit more difficult than that, but yes, I understand your father’s
meaning. Some Riven may have slipped through while I slept. If they were far
away when they arrived here, they wouldn’t necessarily register as an immediate
threat.”