Authors: Rain Oxford
Nano rolled the ladder out and secured one end to the
platform. Vivian handed Sammy to Mordon and then started to climb. Nano jumped
down, took Sammy, then jumped back up while Mordon climbed up quickly. Nano
handed the baby back to Mordon and put the ladder away.
The log cabin was very small, only about six-by-six,
with a small window beside the door that I couldn’t see in through. I was
entirely unsurprised when Nano opened the door to reveal a lavish interior that
was about twelve-by-eight. The floor was covered in soft furs, the couch was
wood and leather, and there was a nice wooden coffee table. On the far side of
the room was a hammock. It was an open floor plan to the kitchen, which was
just a sink, a white icebox, and a stove.
“What do you think?” Nano asked Vivian.
She smiled at him. “It’s nice.”
This from the woman who couldn’t go a week without
a trip to the mall.
“Are you going to be okay missing work?” I ask.
She shrugged. “No, I’ll probably lose my job, but
Sammy is more important.”
Mordon stood over by the sink, away from Nano and
Vivian, and seeing that he wanted to talk, I went to him.
“Do you really
trust Nano?”
he asked in my head.
“I do. Let’s go talk outside.”
Vivian and Nano
ignored us as we went out onto the platform and shut the door. “Nano seems to
be very in touch with the gods. He knows things he shouldn’t. However, he’s
never done anything to hurt me even when he could have. Vivian trusts him,
Edward didn’t have a problem with him, and neither does Divina. I’ve never
gotten a bad vibe from him. But you’re the one who can smell intentions, so you
tell me.”
He hesitated. “He’s worried about something. Not like
there’s a monster after us, but like he isn’t sure if he should tell us
something or not.”
“Well, he does have his child to worry about.”
“That’s another thing. He didn’t flinch when Vivian
handed Sammy to me, but did you notice he never went to hand Sammy to you? I
think he would be more comfortable handing his baby to a friend than a
stranger. He’s cautious around you.”
“Okay. So Nano might have the same idea as you; that
I shouldn’t get too close to Sammy in case our magic interacts badly. And maybe
he has some information about these weird occurrences that only the gods are
supposed to know. I don’t think the two are connected. I think Sammy has nothing
to do with this weirdness.”
“The demon?”
“Maybe. There’s an excess of things happening that
isn’t normal… and we can’t be sure what is connected right now. We don’t know
if the abnormal events like Blood showing up are because of the demon… or if the
demon is a side effect. What does the demon have to do with the dragon? What
opened Sammy’s window last night? Who sent that bag to us at the hotel? Why did
the draxuni not attack you?”
“Nano said that you destroying Vretial caused a
ripple. You think the strange events
and
the demon might be because of
that?”
“I don’t have enough information yet. But if Vretial
is the cause of everything… I’m going to be so irritated. You’re only supposed
to have to vanquish a dark god once in your lifetime.”
“Well, you’re always saying it was Tiamat who
destroyed Vretial,” he said optimistically.
“Shut up. Is there any change in Sammy or Vivian?”
He snorted. “Vivian is very in love with Nano. Sammy
seems to recognize his father. Hey, we have company,” he said.
I followed his gaze to the ground and froze.
There was a little girl, about seven, standing on the
ground. She was watching us. Even though I couldn’t really make out her eyes at
this distance, I would recognize her anywhere. With her white lacy nightgown
and her white-blond hair, I knew closer inspection would reveal dark blue eyes.
“I know her,” I said, my voice shaky.
Mordon frowned at me. “Is she another person who
shouldn’t be here? I can’t really get a scent for her over the forest and
Blood.”
“No, she isn’t supposed to be here. I have seen her
twice before at the springs on Shomodii.” I looked at him. “She was dead. A
ghost, wearing the same gown she is now.”
His eyes widened. “She’s alive now.” We both looked
back at her to make sure, but she was gone.
“Nice to see being alive hasn’t slowed her down.”
At that moment, Nano stuck his head out the door.
“What’s keeping you two? Come inside before it starts to rain. What are you two
talking about?” he asked.
Mordon and I looked at each other, then answered,
“Nothing,” at the same time.
He looked at us suspiciously for a moment before
turning and reentering the cabin. We followed. “So, how do we get ahold of the
other Guardians?” I asked.
Nano shrugged as I sat on the couch. “I honestly
don’t know. Some are in hiding, some are impossible to contact, and the gods
are filtering any messages between us. I was only able to get to you because of
my genetic bond with Sammy.”
I jumped up. “How? I have a genetic bond with Edward!
He’s my uncle! How do I get to him?”
“Kiro is missing or hiding. He’s also on a world you
have no access to. I signed your book when it was Ronez’s, so I had access to
Earth. You only have access to Duran, Earth, and Dios. He’s not on any of those
for sure. You could tear yourself apart trying to reach him, and the last thing
you want to do is draw attention to him.”
“But what if he needs me?”
“He’s a survivor. He’s more likely to be safe than
you.”
“But if he was safe, he would be trying to save me.
So because he isn’t here, he must not be safe.”
“Or he’s trying to save you from where he is. At this
point, I don’t want to draw any attention to us that we don’t have to while
trying to find more Guardians.”
* * *
I was woken by a small thump and muffled curse. My
first thought was that Vivian and Nano were getting reacquainted, but I
realized that the curse was in Sudo. I opened my eyes to see Mordon quietly
shutting the door. Sitting up, I could see that everyone else was asleep. I got
up and followed Mordon out. It had rained and, in the early morning hours
before the sun had turned on, it was cold.
Mordon had already made it down the ladder and was
sneaking into the woods. I didn’t bother with the ladder, instead jumping from
the platform and twisting the air to cushion my fall so that I landed right
behind him. He turned to attack and I grabbed his arm to block a blow to my
neck.
“Don’t sneak up on me,” he said.
“Don’t sneak out without me,” I answered. “Why are
you sneaking out anyway?”
He hesitated. “I guess I should have woken you up. I
just really feel like I need to check on Blood. I want to know why he’s here.”
“I don’t think he can tell you.” We hiked through the
forest to where we last saw him. He was lying there, waiting for us. “Hello,
buddy,” I said.
After a leisurely stretch, he sat on his hunches and
regarded us with entirely too much intelligence in his eyes to be a mere
animal. Then, with no warning, he blew a stream of fire at Mordon. As the flames
licked his clothes, he didn’t react at all. “Yeah, I can do that, too,” he told
the dragon.
“Do what?” I asked. He didn’t look burned in the
slightest, and neither did his clothes.
“He just blew warm fire at me. Not hot at all. We can
regulate the temperature of our fire.”
“How?” I asked.
He frowned. “I’m not sure. I could just always do
it.”
I sat down. I needed to. My head hurt enough I didn’t
even care that I was sitting in mud. Mordon crouched down next to me.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“What isn’t? We have made like, a million discoveries
in the last few days. Things that make no sense just keep happening. The rain,
the little girl, people vanishing… My ex-girlfriend is a mother with another
Guardian. The gods have turned against their Guardians. I don’t know who to
trust. Actually, the only ones I trust are you and Edward. You seem less and
less sago every minute and Edward is missing, possibly in danger.”
“I know the claws were weird, but I am sago. My
mother was a seer, but she was sago, and my father is, too. What about Divina
and Nano? I thought you trusted them?”
“I love Divina, but I know she can’t always tell me
things. And yeah, I trust Nano not to kill us, but if he told me that you were
evil I wouldn’t believe him. If you said we needed to get away from him, I
would believe you. Despite the fact you are far more mysterious than him, and
he is a fellow Guardian, you are my best friend.”
“I’m glad to have someone at my back.”
“You really don’t even have to be in this. We could
drop you back off on Duran and you’ll be safe.”
He smirked. “I get the feeling this stuff is
happening everywhere. Besides, I have your back. If my nose, fire, and newfound
claws can help you, I’ll put them to good use. Never been much use at the…”
“Estate,” I supplied.
“Yes, the estate. Too bad you can’t use your book’s
powers to talk to Blood. Maybe he has an idea what’s happening. Do you feel
that?” he asked.
I hadn’t until he said it.
There was a noxious presence in the forest. It was
either becoming stronger or closer because it was getting more nauseating.
Blood started growling in a direction behind us. Mordon flinched, then gasped
and covered his nose.
“What is it? Other than radioactive.”
“It’s the demon.”
“No. No, no, no. It’s not supposed to be able to
follow us. Tiamat told me.”
“Yeah, well, nothing else is going as it should,
either. I think we should run.”
“Where?” I asked. We didn’t even know the way out of
the forest. Besides, I knew the dangerous creatures on Shomodii and how to
escape them. I knew nothing about the beasts on Dios.
The closer it got, the shakier I felt. I could feel
the forest cringing from the malicious power of the demon. The ground started
to rumble, then build until it shook violently. The dragon was able to stay
standing, but not us.
The demon entered the dragon-made clearing in the
body of a Dios guard; a huge mountain of muscles. It actually looked strange to
see the powerful beast in a heavily muscled body. It wasn’t an Arnold Schwarzenegger
build; he was bigger and taller than that.
He grinned at us as the air started to become thin;
he was taking the oxygen out of the air. Between the nausea, the shaking
ground, and now suffocating, I couldn’t think of any magic to use. Mordon was
on the ground next to me, having just as much trouble. Fortunately, dragons
must need less oxygen than humans and sago. With a flap of his great wings, he
leaped over us to pounce on the demon. Mordon made a breathless cry, but it was
too late. The instant Blood touched the demon, he disappeared.
Vanished without a sound.
Just as quickly as it had drained, the oxygen rushed
back into the air. Within a few moments, we were able to sit up. The broken,
painful cry brought my attention to the mountainous man on the ground. I
crawled over to him to find him grunting and bloody on the ground with a scorch
mark on his neck.
“Where did he go?!” Mordon asked. Our dragon was
gone.
“I don’t know, but he took the demon with him,” I
answered. “I think I can save this man. The demon must not have been in him for
very long. Does he smell demonic?”
Mordon sniffed and wrinkled his nose. “An aftertaste
only. He smells burnt.”
“I’m sure he would be fine with some barbeque sauce,”
I said.
I put one hand on the man’s forehead and the other on
his chest. Divina told me this was to protect the brain and heart from energy
snapping back into them. I gathered my energy and poured it into him delicately
out through my hands. Feeling his injuries with my magic, I could map out where
and what needed to be fixed. I could even see old injuries, like his healing
rib. Most of the damage was burns, which were most severe in his organs. He
would have died without medical attention.
Forcing my nominal energy to bond with the physical
energy, I soothed and healed the burns. Edward had taught me how to do it the
Guardian way, but for me, it was much easier to use physical energy.
Unfortunately for the Guardians, I seemed to be the only one who could do that.
I learned to not talk about it.
I realigned the broken rib and healed it correctly,
not without a grunt of agony on his part. Out of breath and drained of energy,
I stood up and looked at Mordon. “I would like to go back to bed now,” I said.
Another thing I didn’t talk about; I felt phantom pains for a little while
after healing people.
“What about the demon? What if it comes back? What
about Blood? Can’t we help him?”
I couldn’t answer him. He followed me back to the
cabin as both of us ignored the man’s calls. There was no warning before
everything went black.
* * *
I was once again in Divina’s dream-like,
not-really-there cabin. “Divina, can’t you find another way to talk to me? I’m
going to get a concussion.”
“When I told you that the gods are not against
you… I was wrong. You need to get off Dios. Now, Dylan. Zer is very
spontaneous. He has decided the end of all troubles is the end of you. I can
only keep him preoccupied for a little while.”
“So I need to return to Duran?”
“No! Erono has turned his blame on you now that
Kiro is missing. Avoli and Madus can protect you if you can get to Malta. Avoli
is trying to get
Emrys to you, but Zer is keeping him out.”
“This is starting to sound a lot like war, but no one
is on anyone else’s side.”
“It may come to war, Dylan, but I am on your side.
So are Avoli, Madus, and all of the Guardians. But it gets worse. The creature
is no longer bound to the void. It can rip a hole into the worlds and will
destroy all life to find the child.”