Dark Strike, page 20
“That’s what?” laughed Gareth. The sound would have made my heart patter if I had one in this place. He had such a great laugh, and I’d missed it.
Reeling in my emotions, I said, “The walls. Whatever it is that confines us.” I knew I was onto something. I didn’t know how I knew this, but I was certain it was our way out. I beamed at them. “That’s our way out.”
“We’ve already tried that,” said the elf and he looked at Marla. “We can’t break them.”
“You can’t. But maybe I can.” I turned towards the fake mountain. “We need to break the illusion.” I looked back at them. “It’s the only thing keeping you trapped here.” It made sense. “This place is just a glass box. A container with a tight lid to keep you in here. We don’t need a door. We’re going to make one.”
At that precise moment, a bell rang out. Not like a beautiful church bell but a more morbid, solemn sound that made me think of a funeral. It gave me the creeps.
Gareth stiffened, and his gaze fixed on something behind me. I hated the panicked look that crossed his face. “He’s here.”
I didn’t have to look to know who he meant by “he.” But I turned and looked anyway.
A misshapen shadow congealed not two hundred feet from us. It was ten or twelve feet tall, the body bleeding a pool of darkness. He had no shape now, but I could make out semi-human features in the flash of his darkness—eyes of white fire and a yawning mouth that was lined with burning coals.
The power coming from him pulsed in waves, lifting my hair from my head.
I knew my demons. This wasn’t one of them. This was a god.
This was Derrigor.
Oh.
Shit.
CHAPTER 30
Derrigor was the most terrifying creature I’d ever seen. If I’d had my mortal organs right now, I would have peed myself.
A rolling wave of nausea went through me along with his power. The darkness around him was a shimmering blur, the glow of his eyes too piercing, his power suffocating. I found myself taking several steps back until that awful tide of feeling had receded, but I had to fight to stay standing.
Marla made a squeak that would have made a mouse proud as her body shifted and then collapsed into a ball of light. Marla the soul zipped high into the air and away from Derrigor. I didn’t blame her. I would have done the same if I could transform into a pixie-like ball.
The other souls didn’t make a sound, but they were zooming around like thousands of frenzied fireflies, flying behind me and Gareth.
Derrigor opened his mouth and spoke. “Come forward, little grasshopper. Hippity-hop-hop,” he said, his voice a deep rumble. It was eerie, throbbing in strange tones while emitting a human sound from an inhuman throat. His white-hot eyes were focused on me. Yeah. Totally creepy.
“A curious little grasshopper, you are,” said the god. “I sense a strong lifeforce in you. Curious indeed. But different. Yes. Different. You are not like the others. Perhaps I shall eat you now. Yes. That sounds about right. Come. Hippity-hop. Let me see into your soul, little grasshopper.” Derrigor laughed then, a sound like a match igniting. There was an unmistakable note of pleasure in his voice.
I loosened whatever fake muscles I had in this body. “How fast can he run?” I whispered to Gareth.
The elf shook his head. “No idea.”
“Little grasshopper? Come now. It is rude to ignore the host,” continued Derrigor. “I let you into my home. If I did not want you to enter, I would have denied you entry. I let you in. I was curious. I wanted to see how you would fair in my world. I made this body for you. Do you like it?” When I didn’t answer, he continued. “You will do as I say, and you will come to me. Come now, little grasshopper. Come play with me.”
Yeah, right. Like I was going to obey this a-hole god.
I met Gareth’s worried expression and said, “I have an idea.”
“A good one, I hope.”
“I guess we’ll find out.” I looked up to the souls. “Everybody! Run!” I shot forward, knowing Gareth was right behind me, and aimed for the mountain, where I knew one of the walls was. The souls whipped past me in a blur of white lights.
Derrigor’s deep laugh followed behind me. “There is nowhere to run, little grasshopper. You are trapped. And your soul will be mine. Forever.”
I don’t think so. I ran faster. There was no adrenaline to help me, no supernatural strength. There was only my will. My will to live. My will to save Gareth and the others.
“Hippity-hop. Hippity-hop. Come out and play, little grasshopper,” I heard Derrigor say. The god was clearly mad. It explained his choice of crib.
“Rowyn. Where are we going like this?” Gareth ran next to me, his feet never truly touching the ground and leaving no puffs of sand clouds or footprints.
I tried not to look. The more I looked the more likely I was to fall on my face again. “To the wall.” I looked up to see the souls, hovering like Christmas lights, at what I thought was the edge of the wall.
“And then?” asked Gareth.
“Then we’ll see if my plan works.” Or we all die.
We reached the wall and the souls all gathered around, darting in fear and jittering in what I came to understand as impatience. They all wanted to see if I truly could get us out. Me too.
“Hippity-hop-hop-hop, little grasshopper,” came the god’s voice from somewhere behind me. “Hop, hop, hop. But you will be mine.”
I looked over my shoulder. Derrigor was strolling his way towards us, his pace slow like he was out for a stroll in the park, admiring his screwed-up creation. The dude was really in love with himself. He didn’t have to have a god complex. He was a god. His leisurely pace meant he didn’t think we could get out. Good. It would give me the added precious seconds I needed. I was going to use that too.
Gareth stood next to me. “I won’t be able to help you.”
“You will.” I loosened the necromancer blade from my weapons belt. “Keep an eye on the big guy and tell me if he gets close.”
The elf stared at the blade. “A blade won’t do anything to him. He’s not mortal.”
I pulled the blade up. “It’s not for him. It’s for us.” My mind raced, matching the speed of the souls that were darting around my head, like annoying giant mosquitoes.
The necromancer blade had traveled to this realm with me. That had to mean something. Why that particular blade and not my soul blade? Because either Derrigor had forged it, or he had poured some of his power into it. The ferro ex mortuis was linked to this place. I was sure of it.
If I was right, it was also why the necromancer Rath had been pissed that I never gave it back. This blade was special. And now, I was going to test my theory.
I edged toward the wall, a quick glance behind me telling me that Derrigor was still too far away to see what I was about to do.
I stiffened with the necromancer blade held tightly in my grasp. “Guys, get ready,” I told the souls.
And with all of my will and my desire to go home, I struck at the wall.
An explosion of brilliant white light detonated into a blinding blaze followed by a blast of kinetic force that blew outward in a cloud of sand. It hissed and I was propelled back to land on my butt, hard, legs splayed in the air and all.
I pushed myself up. Gareth hadn’t even moved. He was staring at a spot on the wall.
I rushed over. Where I’d hit the wall with the blade, there was a tiny black hole, a slit the size of my thumb. Our way out.
“Yes! It worked!” I coughed, both exhilarated and shocked that I’d been right. The souls circled my head excited, and I had to resist the urge to swat them away.
I had expected the shattering of glass, but it was more like cutting through cardboard.
Derrigor let out a howl. “Grasshopper! What are you doing?”
I looked over my shoulder.
Obviously, he’d dropped the slow pace and was now in a full-fledged fury run. He was still quite far, but he’d be on us in less than thirty seconds.
Oh, crapper.
Gareth’s smile froze in place. “You did it, Rowyn. You really did it.”
“Don’t get too excited just yet. I need to cut more.” I’d only punctured a small hole. I needed to make a damn doorway to get us out. Me included.
I threw myself against the wall, hitting and slicing at the hole as fast as I could. Hell, I was even sawing it, slicing back and forth. It seemed to work better. The realm unleashed the light again, this time so brilliant I could barely see what I was doing. But the more I cut, the more darkness appeared through the hole.
“Stop her!” The words pounded across this realm, like the rumble of thunder. There was power and command in those words.
I couldn’t resist looking over my shoulder. And then I wished I hadn’t. Ten wraiths had surrounded us, their long cloaks rippling behind them as they charged.
“Keep cutting. Don’t stop.” Gareth and a group of souls broke apart and went for the wraiths.
“Come on, Rowyn!” I told myself. I struggled with the blade. Sudden fear made my hand slip, and I nearly dropped it through to whatever existed on the other side.
Not cool. Panicked. I struggled to keep it together. I couldn’t fail now. I couldn’t. People were depending upon me. I had to fight. I had to do this.
Using both hands, I pressed as hard as I could, slicing my way downward through our containment wall. After a few hits, I cursed. I’d only managed to make a small gap the size of my arm. Maybe it was enough for the souls but not for me.
I peeked over my shoulder. Gareth stood with his back to me in a protective stance, and the souls hit the wraiths like a swarm of bees on steroids. It was helping. But when I glanced over Gareth’s shoulder, Derrigor was almost upon us.
I had ten seconds left. Tops.
“Hurry Rowyn. He’s almost here!”
“I know,” I shouted. Shaking, I put all my weight into it. I cried out as I cut as hard as I could.
Finally, a gap that could fit a person.
“There.” I stepped back, the necromancer blade in my hand. “It’s open.”
I barely had the words out of my mouth before a trail of brilliant globes zipped past me and disappeared through the opening. I watched as the last of the souls swarmed away like a troop of overgrown fireflies and vanished from view. They were free.
“Okay. They’ve all gone,” I said, turning to Gareth just as the last soul disappeared through the gap. The wraiths were gone or had been vanquished by the souls. I didn’t know and I didn’t care right now.
The ground shook beneath my feet. Strange black and white lightning flashed along the realm, outlining the walls and top of the massive cage that was the realm. The ground all around us lit with a sudden angry blue fire that rose from giant crevices.
“What’s happening?” I asked Gareth.
“The souls.” He turned, his eyes wide. “The souls must have been powering this place. Without them…”
“It’s going to collapse.” Great. The realm of Death was crumbling around us, and the looming darkness that was Derrigor was vastly approaching. I loved my life.
“What about Derrigor?” the elf was watching the advancing god.
I shook my head. “Who cares. I didn’t come here for him. I came here for you and the souls. Let’s go.”
“He’s going to get his hands on more souls. The necromancers won’t just stop at us.”
“That’s why we need to get out of here and stop them.”
Gareth lifted his hand toward my face. I couldn’t feel his touch, but I could imagine it.
“Gareth. Go.”
The elf dropped his hand and shook his head stubbornly. “No. I’m not going until I know you can go through it too.”
I gritted my teeth. “Seriously? We don’t have time to argue. I came here to get you back. You don’t get a say in this.”
Gareth planted himself. “Ladies first.”
He was stubborn. I was worse. And he knew it.
“I’m not a lady.” I gave him a wicked smile. “In you go,” I ordered. “I’ll be right behind you.”
The elf flashed me a goofy grin, and then his body collapsed into a brilliant white ball, his soul, and with a blur of light, he disappeared into the gap.
The moment he was gone, I felt an enormous sense of relief, but the feeling didn’t last.
I whirled around at the other more dominating feeling. Fear.
Derrigor was so close now I could appreciate what he looked like. And it wasn’t good. He was huge, and equally powerful, a dark tower of twisting, whirling energies. I didn’t think mortal eyes were meant to look upon him. Good thing I was in my astral projection vessel.
The pulsing of power coming from him intensified, nearly sending me to my knees. I stood staring against my own mind, telling me to run, to flee. But I wanted to look at him, just one last time. This guy, this god, was powerful enough to create all of this. A new reality. A new realm. To him, I was just a grasshopper. Go figure.
“You might have found a way to set them free, little grasshopper,” said Derrigor, as he slowed his pace into a confident gait. “But my souls will soon replenish. This was nothing. I’ll have more than ever before until all of your world will bend to my will. Until every last mortal soul… will be mine.”
“You’re very full of yourself.”
Derrigor’s mouth spread into a wide grin. “I am a god.”
“Tell me about it.”
The god’s face twisted in a manic glee. “I think I will eat your soul now.”
And that was my cue to split.
I stared at the gap in this world, wondering if it would work for me or if it would actually kill me. I had a split-second thought of leaving the necromancer dagger but changed my mind. It had saved us. It might come in handy.
“Grasshopper! I will come for you, little grasshopper!”
That last claim was all I heard as I threw myself, headfirst, through the hole in Death.
CHAPTER 31
The trip back wasn’t as fun and exciting as the trip into Death had been.
It was like my body was an elastic band, my limbs stretched to impossible lengths, my body squeezed into an impossibly thin size. I mean, we all want to lose a few extra pounds, but having my body crushed and yanked into a spaghetti noodle wasn’t the way I wanted to do it.
When I felt pain on my cheek, I knew I was back.
I took a deep breath. Then another. Next, I blinked into the blue eyes of a Siamese cat and felt a weight on my chest and his warm paw on my face. His eyes were dilated and had the focused look of a cat about to pounce.
“She’s back! She’s back!” shrilled Tyrius. And then he hit me across the face with his paw. “Don’t. You. Ever. Do. That. Again!”
Being slapped across the face by a cat when just returning from a journey in Death was not the welcome committee I’d expected. But he was so damn cute when he was worried, with his tiny mouth pouting and his nose scrunched up, I just wanted to squeeze him.
So I did.
I sat up in my bed and grabbed my furry friend, squeezing him tightly against my chest. “I missed you too, Tyrius,” I said as I kissed the top of his head. “But why are you here? I thought you were with Kora and the kids.”
The cat squirmed out of my arms and gave me the stink eye. “Lance came to get me because they thought you were dead.”
I looked around the room. Lance sat on the floor, panting with his tongue hanging out and wagging his tail like a real dog. Layla stood with her mouth hanging open yet still managed to look sexy. Shane still sat in the chair next to my bed where I’d last seen him. He looked the same, apart from the tiny smile that quirked his lips.
“How so?” I asked Tyrius. I was glad to feel my beating heart, and having saliva back in my mouth was golden.
The cat lowered his ears. “You stopped breathing, that’s how.”
I shrugged. “Well. I’m not dead.”
“No shit.” Tyrius shook his head.
“Your skin was so cold, Rowyn,” said Layla coming forward. “Like a corpse.”
“You even looked like a corpse by the time I got here,” added Tyrius. “You went all pale… clammy… totally freaked us out. You were gone a long time, Rowyn. Too long. I didn’t think you’d make it back.”
My heart clenched at the worry in his voice. “How long was I gone?” To me it felt like hours, but knowing how time is different in other worlds like Horizon, it could have been days for all I knew.
“An hour and twenty-six minutes,” answered the cat.
“Really? That’s not that long.”
“That’s an hour and twenty-six minutes of hell!” Tyrius sighed. “My delicate heart can’t take that again. Look.” He lifted his paw with something long and thin clutched between his toes. “I lost two whiskers.”
I rubbed under his chin. “You big baby. They’ll grow back. I’m fine. See?” I swung my legs off the bed and stood. “I feel awesome. Like I just took a big nap.”
The cat made a face and flicked the whiskers from his paw. “Yeah, well, you nearly took the nap of the century.”
True, if Derrigor had his way. But he didn’t.
Shane stood up. “Did it work? Did you free the souls?” he asked, his voice low with a little tension in it.
I glanced at the angel, feeling the smile on my face. “It did. I did. Wait—I think I did…” I needed to check on Gareth to be sure.
Tyrius smacked his forehead. “I think she left her brain in Death.”
I made to move out of the room and halted. “No. I mean yes.” Jeez. I did sound a little loony. “Start over—I mean, yes, I managed to free the souls. All of them.”
“Including Gareth?” asked the cat.
“Him too.” The thought of the elf made my heart patter faster. “It was an odd place.” A tingle of apprehension curled around my neck at the memory of the god, as though his hands grabbed ahold of my neck. “Derrigor is mad.”
Tyrius snorted. “I’d be mad too if you took away all my catnip.”
Lance laughed. “Bet you would.”
