The Dragon Legion Collection 9 (28 page)

“Did you do this deed?” Hades demanded of Damien, gesturing to the lifeless Erinye at his feet.

“She attacked me,” Damien said. “I had no choice.”

“No choice but to die,” Hades said. “And you were already in the realm of the dead.” He bent down and touched the cheek of the ancient hag. Even the snakes of her hair had stilled. “She was always a loyal servant.”

The other two Erinyes began to wail, and the blood flowed more quickly from their eyes. Hades spared them a glance, then granted Damien a stern look. “You will pay a price for this.”

“I apologize for killing one of your own,” Damien said tightly.

Hades smiled. “The price will be higher than that.” He straightened then reached out one hand in obvious expectation. A servant leapt forward and put a chalice into his outstretched hand. Petra assumed it was wine or another refreshment, but Hades only sniffed the contents. He then poured the dark liquid over the body of Tisiphone. “Tisiphone, the face of retaliation and the avenger of murder, take life again and exact your own vengeance upon your murderer and his kind. Pursue them through all eternity, until your thirst for revenge is sated.”

As Petra watched, the body of Tisiphone began to change. She shifted shape from a winged harridan to a cobra then to a lithe woman with red hair. In the blink of an eye, she was a harridan again, the rotation between forms becoming faster and faster until her form blurred.

And then she disappeared.

“Where did she go?” one of her sisters asked.

“You all three have walked in whichever realm you chose. Tisiphone will live only in the realm of the living until her vengeance is served.” He gave Damien a hard look. “She will strike among the living, even as she abides in secret. His kind will never know of her vendetta until her vengeance is served.”

Petra was appalled. She could see Damien’s consternation and knew of his loyalty to the
Pyr
. “But they have to be warned!” she said, even as her womb tightened for a contraction.

“I see no reason for it,” Hades said.

“Let her go,” Damien begged the god. “Let her go so our son can live.”

“It could be argued that he’s dead already,” Hades replied mildly.

“Take me instead,” Damien said with a vigor that shocked Petra. “Take me instead.”

“You just want her to warn the
Pyr
.”

“Forbid her to do that, but let her go!” Damien appealed, and Petra was amazed that he was more concerned for her than his fellows. “Let her have our child in the world. I’ll stay here instead.”

“Forever?” Hades asked.

“Forever,” Damien said with resolve.

“Snakes and all?” Petra whispered.

Damien swallowed, then looked her in the eye. “Even with the snakes.”

“There’s no guarantee she’ll survive childbirth, even if I do agree,” Hades observed. “Your son might not even survive. You could be sacrificing yourself for nothing.”

“I don’t care. I want to give her the chance.” Damien was resolute. “She gave me a chance and I didn’t deserve it.”

Hades considered them for a long moment and Petra found herself breathing quickly as the pain rose within her.

“No,” he said flatly. “It would set a precedent. It’s far simpler for both of you to stay.”

“You can’t keep Damien here,” Petra argued. “He’s not dead.”

“It’s only a matter of time before that’s resolved,” Hades said. “And we have nothing but time in this realm.”

Petra felt her womb tighten even as her fury rose. She called to the earth, to the stones, to the rocks and roots of the world. She felt the tumult build even as her own contraction grew. She summoned it and gathered it and drew it unto herself to wield it.

“Petra,” Damien whispered in awe.

“What is this?” Hades demanded, even as the ground underfoot trembled. “Stop this immediately!” he cried.

“No! We will not stay!” Petra opened her mouth and roared, commanding the earth to move just as her womb contracted. “We have sacrificed! We have paid! And we are alive!” She felt her son move and channeled the pain with her powers, compelling the element of earth to respond to her command.

The ground underfoot shook hard. It buckled and rolled, then suddenly cracked wide. A large dark fissure opened between them and the ruler of the realm, and snakes spewed from it to scatter in every direction. Damien muttered an oath, but held fast to Petra’s hand. There was a rumble of moving rock.

Petra summoned her strength and pushed harder, directing her efforts upward. The entire realm shook, like a straw house in the wind. There was a deafening boom and the darkness overhead split wide open.

A ray of sunlight stabbed into the underworld. The dead shouted in mingled dismay and delight, but Petra wasn’t done. Their escape path was clear, but they weren’t through it yet. She called to the earth, she drew upon her powers and the land beneath their feet rippled.

It convulsed.

Another contraction began deep in her body and she used it, clenching her fists to drive the power as she wished. The ground folded and shifted, and shoved them high into the sky. Damien caught her close so she wouldn’t lose her footing, and she held on to him tightly.

“No one leaves this realm!” Hades cried in dismay.

“Try to stop us,” Damien muttered, resolve making his eyes shine. “Come on, Petra. One more good shove.”

“Yes,” she agreed, and mustered her strength again. She was tired, but she had to save Damien and their son. She pushed hard, closing her eyes as she gave her all.

Suddenly, there was a thunderclap. The crack began to close overhead, sealing the underworld once again.

“No!” Damien cried and leapt upward.

He might have called to the shaft of sunlight. It pierced the darkness as if targeting him and struck him like a bolt of lightning. Petra saw the shimmer of blue-green darkfire roll over Damien’s body and feared Hades had claimed his life, after all.

Then Damien shouted with joy and her relief made her tremble.

“Yes!” he bellowed and Petra knew what would happen. She laughed when she saw the pale blue shimmer of light surround his body and squeezed her eyes shut. Damien shifted shape with glorious speed, and she thrilled as always at the beauty of his dragon form. She opened her eyes to find herself securely in his grasp, his scales cool and hard beneath her hands. She could feel his muscled strength and she delighted in the power of his wings and tail.

Without a moment’s hesitation, he soared toward the sky, holding her safely against his chest as his powerful wings beat hard. Petra felt a waft of fresh wind on her face, smelled the green of the hills and dared to hope that they would succeed.

The crack was closing steadily, as if it would cheat them of freedom right at the last. Petra knew that if they were trapped in the underworld, Hades would make them pay for their transgression for all eternity. She could hear him shouting far below and willed the earth to shake violently in the hope of silencing him.

“Faster,” she whispered to her dragon, even though she knew Damien was already testing his limits.

The crack began to close even more quickly. Petra was afraid it was already too narrow for Damien’s width. He surged forward, his wings beating furiously. He leapt through the crack with a final burst of speed, twisting as he flew to work himself through the narrowing gap.

The fissure snapped shut behind them and he shouted as it claimed the tip of his tail.

Against all expectation, they were free.

“Are you all right?” Petra demanded and Damien laughed.

“Never better.” He soared high in the midday sky, clearly reveling in the return of his powers. The sunlight glinted on his scales, making him sparkle like a gem.

“Your scales,” she said with wonder.

Damien looked over himself, then grinned with pride. “Like it?”

The color of his scales had changed, from deep green dipped in gold to gold dipped in green. He was magnificent in the sunlight, like a piece of jewelry designed to dazzle.

“It must be because you survived the realm of the dead.” Petra couldn’t help thinking that one day they would both return there.

“I sacrificed the tip of my tail, Petra,” Damien said, his eyes dancing. “And we will spend the rest of our days paying homage to Hades in gratitude for our release.”

“You think that will appease him?”

“I plan to spend a lot of years working at it.” He smiled at her, and his confidence was infectious. “I think we have a very good chance of fulfilling the prophecy, Petra.”

Her heart clenched tightly. Claiming the firestorm’s promise sounded wonderful to her, but her son had a more immediate plan. She held tightly to Damien as another contraction rolled through her body. He watched in concern, keeping them airborne.

“A mountaintop?” he asked her. “The soft soil of a clearing? Tell me where you want to be, Petra, and I’ll get you there.”

“With the Mothers,” she said softly. Petra opened her eyes and saw immediately that Damien was missing a scale on his chest. She’d never noticed that before, but there was no time to ask him for details.

Petra surveyed their surroundings and was thrilled to recognize the land. “There,” she said, pointing to a peak crested with stones.

“You’re sure?”

“Very sure. We’re near the Mothers, Damien, which is exactly where I had hoped to be.”

He didn’t bother with questions, although she could see his curiosity. He flew toward the peak she’d indicated, moving more quickly and surely than she’d imagined possible. Petra’s chest tightened as she saw the familiar circle of stones cresting the peak, the clearing in the middle thick with green plants.

She directed Damien to the spot and he circled with caution before he landed, checking their safety. As he deposited Petra with care on the thick greenery, the ground shifted slightly to one side, startling him.

Petra smiled, having anticipated that the Mothers would take care of her. A spring bubbled from the crack in the ground, trickling beside her.

“But where are the Mothers?” he asked, glancing around himself in confusion.

“All around you,” Petra said, indicating the standing stones that encircled them. “You’ll see.”

Chapter Five

Damien shifted back to his human form in time to watch Petra endure another contraction. It was hard to watch her in such pain, yet he felt lucky to be in her presence. He was amazed that his son might be saved, after all, and terrified that the infant might not survive. It seemed that Petra always prompted a mix of emotions in him, all powerful, all impressive. He watched as Petra clenched her teeth at the pain and he hoped their son would arrive quickly. She was panting when this one was completed, her fingers dug into the moss and sweat on her brow.

Damien tried to distract her with a comment.

“You knew that spring would spout,” he said as he knelt beside her.

“It’s the gift of the Mothers,” Petra said, gesturing again to the circle of stones around them.

Damien barely spared the stones a glance. If she wanted to call stones by a particular name, that was fine by him. He was more concerned that he knew nothing about the arrival of children and they were on an isolated mountaintop.

Surely he couldn’t make another mistake that would cost him Petra?

“This is where you intended to come?” he asked as she caught her breath.

“I thought it superstition that Earthdaughters should give birth in the presence of the Mothers. I thought the rules didn’t apply, not if I’d found a man who was more than a man.”

“But when the baby stilled...”

Petra nodded. “I feared that I’d broken the rules. I tried to come here then.”

Damien took her hand, because he didn’t know what else to do. He tried to hide his concern and speak calmly. “But Petra, we’re on the top of a mountain and I know nothing about the birth of children. Should I find someone to help?”

“The Mothers are here,” Petra said through her teeth. He could tell from her expression that another contraction was coming.

“But...”

Petra cast him a smile. “Look, Damien.
Look
at the forebears of my kind.”

And Damien looked. To his astonishment, he saw faces in the standing stones that surrounded them. Women. Old women. Wise women. Kindly women. As the next contraction ripped through her, Petra gripped his hand hard. Damien saw that the Mothers had moved closer, as if they bent over one of their own. He could see concern in those frozen faces, a concern that hadn’t been there a moment before.

He looked at Petra in amazement.

She laughed a little at him. “You think you have all the marvels?” she teased and he was embarrassed that he had thought as much. “They come out of their stones for a birth,” she said, bracing herself for another contraction. “They ensure that all is well. I can see them and those of my kind can see them.” She spared him a look, then asked a quick question. “Can you see them?”

Damien smiled. “It’s like the stones are melting,” he whispered. “They’re breaking free of the rock.”