Stone Cold Mage 2: Of Witches and Gargoyles Read online

  About to give up on this idea, I felt a warmth in my heart. It lingered a moment, then pulled, so I followed. The others asked what was going on, but I motioned them along and they followed. A moment later we were cresting a nearby ridge and there was a light coming our way.

  “Rianne,” Aerona said, and bowed her head. The rest of us followed her lead, and when we looked up Rianne was there, light fading until she looked almost as she had when we last saw her.

  “You’ve accomplished much,” she said, eyeing me with pride. “But there is much left to do.”

  “I’m ready,” I said.

  “How can I help you?” She turned to each of us, eyeing Steph with curiosity, but lastly turning to Aerona. “Ah, I see that you felt the connection.”

  “We’d hoped returning here would lead us to the others,” Aerona said.

  “If they hadn’t been taken already, it would have,” Rianne replied. “Alas, you are too late. The enemy has been hard at work, although I am happy to see that Gertrude managed to bring two of you to her before they could.”

  “And me?” Aerona asked. “Why didn’t I end up somewhere else?”

  “You have always had the strongest connection to Avalon. That is, until he used the Liahona.” She nodded at me. “You have it now?”

  I pulled it out, holding it in my hand for her to see.

  “Very good.” She nodded. “Continue to keep it safe. It will be the key to accessing the power of this world, you will see soon enough. But… now that the connection is open, I have a secret way of helping you with its security.”

  With a wave of her hand, the Liahona vanished. I opened my mouth, confused, but she held up her hands to stop me. “Don’t worry. Whenever you want it, think the thought and it will appear for you. Want it gone? Same. The connection between you and the Liahona is strong enough to transcend worlds. It will be ready for action.”

  “And you?” I asked. “Will you be… joining us?”

  I hadn’t meant for that last part to sound off, but as the words left my lips I realized what ‘joining us’ could mean, considering the nature of our group and how the others were all either with me or considering being with me, in that special way.

  She offered me a pleasant smile. “Alas, I cannot. My place is here.”

  “You can’t leave… can you?” Ebrill asked.

  “No, dear, I cannot.” She motioned to the land around her. “As much as I would love to join you all, in the final moments that led to me helping you all reach the Heart, I made a sacrifice that tied my energy to this place. I will be here when you need solace or more, but cannot join in your fight in the other world.”

  I nodded in understanding, words not coming.

  “One moment, if you would,” Rianne said, gesturing to Aerona, and the two started walking, discussing something that I assumed related to our quest and I would learn about in time.

  “We need to go soon,” Ebrill reminded us. “Too much time has passed already.”

  “But we don’t have much more than we did before we started,” Kordelia pointed out.

  “We know someone was involved,” I said. “Maybe Aerona’s connection she felt here will work back there? If we’re close enough… maybe?”

  “Agreed,” Aerona said, walking back over. “It’s worth trying. Back at the house, we have much to figure out. Keep the magical connection open, but it’s too much if we stay here.”

  “Be safe,” Rianne said. “I look forward to hearing about your progress.”

  We thanked her and wished her well, then we joined hands and were whisked out of there, and back to the house.

  5

  “At least Rianne is still around,” I said, stepping into the room. My hand instinctively went to my jacket to check for the Liahona, only then remembering that it wasn’t there. Testing, I held out my hand and willed the Liahona to come to me—it appeared in my hand, a rush of energy surging through my body. When I dismissed it, the energy went, too. “Whoa.”

  “I sensed it,” Aerona said. “Like bringing it here flooded you with Avalon magic. Could be damn useful, when the gamble is right.”

  “What use is Rianne if she’s not here helping?” Steph asked.

  “Excuse me?” Kordelia turned on her, the others also jerking their heads around to glare.

  “Steph,” I said, stepping between them, back to the others. “You don’t know Rianne like they do, or even I do. Actually, do you even know who Rianne is?”

  “No.”

  “Ah…” I chuckled, glancing back at the others. “See?”

  “Someone important, clearly,” Steph said. “In her own right, and to each of you.”

  Aerona grunted. “That’s right. Very important.”

  When they started to back down, I wrapped an arm around Steph’s waist. “She is the magical leader of their group. If she was gone, I don’t know—I barely knew her at all, but I’d feel like Avalon had lost its soul.”

  “Exactly,” Ebrill agreed.

  I told Steph a brief version of the story, of my interactions with Rianne, and her eyes went wide, taking it in. When I was done, she looked at the others. “I’m sorry.”

  “We’ve all suffered losses,” Ebrill replied, and put a hand on Steph’s shoulder. But, as she did so there was a spark like static electricity, only it ended in a trailing red light.

  “The connection,” Aerona said. “You still have it open, right?”

  I nodded.

  “Well, there you go. As long as you have us connected, it’s like our powers are on overdrive.”

  “But…” Ebrill looked at me, head cocked. “To be clear, Jericho is the only one who can open the way to Avalon, but…”

  “Others might be able to use the portals, too, if they find them,” Aerona explained. “This is all in theory. But yes, the risk is contained for now… until someone with powerful enough magic is able to find these lights in the dark. Finding them should be less difficult with more frequent or prolonged use. When the Liahona is in Avalon, it’s worse.”

  “That’s heavy,” I said, trying to process it. “Is the risk…?”

  “Worth it?” Aerona scrunched her nose as she debated, then shrugged. “I don’t suppose there’s any other way.”

  Damn, the way she looked when scrunching her nose was cute. I kind of wanted to say something else, find another way to get her to scrunch her nose again.

  “But to be as ready as we can, to move fast…” She looked around, then to the door. “Is there a room here we can mess up? Get in some training?”

  Damn, opportunity for scrunched nose Aerona missed, for now.

  I put my hand on the wall, rearranging the old family room. “There is now.”

  She laughed. “Perfect. We should try it out. Know what we’re capable of, so when it’s time to use this connection, we’ll be ready.”

  “But I shouldn’t keep it open long, right?”

  “Just long enough for us to see how this works.”

  Steph gave me a curious glance, then held out her hand while we headed for the door. Suddenly, she burst into flames—her entire body! She yelped and then put it out, but not before it spread to the rug. I was there with my ice blasts, which luckily did the trick of putting out the fire.

  “Shit,” Steph said, and then laughed. “I like this extra power deal!”

  “Keep it under control, please.”

  “Sure thing.”

  We made it through the door to see the others sniffing and glancing back.

  “Just a little fire,” I said. “Nothing to worry about. Keep it moving.”

  Steph chuckled, and we took the lead. The gargoyles made loud thuds with each step, shaking the walls, and Shisa came running halfway up the stairs to meet us. I knelt to rub its head, then told it to come along for training. ‘It’? Maybe I’d start referring to the little guy as a ‘he,’ because that made it seem more real.

  “I’d love to see what else you’re capable of, when your magic is enhanced,” I tol
d Shisa. The little lion-dog gave a bit of a bark-growl in excitement.

  “You’re starting to communicate!” Steph said, and laughed.

  We made it into the old family room, and I glanced around, deciding to try something else. Usually, my transmutation didn’t extend to changing actual materials like real alchemy, or maybe I was limited by my mental ability to grasp such changes. But with the Avalon connection, I felt confident. My hand on the wall, I grinned as I felt the wood transform so that whatever substance I put there held a metallic gleam. My goal was something akin to the X-Men animated series version of their training room—although I couldn’t remember what it had been called or made of. Regardless, this seemed to work well enough. I stopped short of creating sentinels and the whole simulation aspect of their training room. We had real gargoyles and magic, after all.

  “Holy hell,” Steph said, and glanced my way as if asking permission.

  “Try,” I said, figuring I had a good notion of where she was going with that look.

  She held up a hand and thrust, sending a massive blast of fire at the wall. It roared and the heat was intense, but when she ceased, there wasn’t even a scorch mark.

  “While you’re at it,” Kordelia said, eyeing the wall and then Steph, “might as well do the whole house like that.”

  Sometimes I hated when a badass idea wasn’t mine. Such as in that moment. I nodded, impressed, and said, “You all start training, but see that you don’t hurt each other. I’ll be a couple of seconds.”

  “If anyone does get hurt, I can simply heal them,” Ebrill pointed out. “Usually, it isn’t too strong, but with this amplification, it shouldn’t be an issue.”

  “There you go.”

  I watched them form pairs and start sparring, lightly at first and then harder as they tried fire and other spells to see how much amplification there was. After a moment of this, I went ahead and started making changes to the house. My gut instinct said to change it up and make it look as much like the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland or something while I was at it, but I had to curb myself—this was not for cosmetic reasons, it was vital defense of the house. And I couldn’t change the outside much, or passersby would get suspicious. Still, I decided to have a little fun and redecorate. I imagined a room that had reliefs in the walls that showed the story of our adventures and fights so far, and made the rugs rearrange themselves into tapestries to show my ladies in all their beauty. I wondered what they would think of that! The fun kept going until I heard an ‘Oomph’ from behind me and remembered the training, so I quickly finished changing the walls and whatnot to fortress mode.

  Ebrill was on her back, wings pushing her up, and Kordelia circled her with a grin.

  “Even our physical strength is amplified when tapped into Avalon,” Aerona said.

  “Apparently,” Ebrill added, cracking her neck and flexing her arms. Watching her muscles like that, this almost nude, beautiful gargoyle, I felt something else amplified. The power seemed to be affecting my sex drive, or maybe I was just getting turned on by these hot women kicking each other’s asses. Steph and Aerona went up against each other next, going spell-for-spell, and sure enough, I was like a horny teenager by the time they were done.

  “You’re up,” Kordelia said, motioning me forward.

  “Um, yeah… sorry.” I adjusted my pants.

  She laughed. Ebrill smiled, and Aerona groaned.

  “She meant ‘you’re up’ as in it’s your turn,” Steph explained, passing me and grabbing my package for emphasis.

  “I can’t fight with this.” I gestured to my crotch.

  “You think the enemy will care if there’s extra blood in your cock when it’s time to fight?” Kordelia retorted. “Now get out here and try not to poke out any eyes with that thing.”

  I laughed, but held up a hand. “Let Shisa show us what he’s got first. If I haven’t had a downsizing by then, sure.”

  They must’ve been curious, because they all stopped giving me a hard time and turned to Shisa instead.

  “Do your thing,” I told the lion-dog.

  Shisa shook its head, a mixture of stone and fur, and then stepped out into the middle of the room. It looked at each of us, waiting.

  “Oh, we should send an attack,” I said. “Got it.”

  Throwing out an ice blast, I watched as Shisa braced and an energy wall shot out around it, deflecting the attack right back at me! Steph hit the ice with fire, so that the result was me simply getting drenched as the remaining water hit.

  “Your turn,” I told Steph, wringing out my shirt.

  She shot out fire and dodged immediately, so that when it rebounded, it hit the wall and didn’t do any damage. We went at this a few more times, trying with Aerona and then seeing that the shield worked on us, too, and then watched as Shisa shot out energy attacks from its mouth and performed a wicked claw strike that left my shirt torn and some cuts that Ebrill had to heal.

  “I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” I said, glad to feel that the water and pain had caused my boner to subside.

  “What you’re ready for is a change of clothes and some rest,” Kordelia said with a laugh. “But… let’s see what you’re made of.”

  I stepped into my best defensive stance. “Bring it.”

  “Jericho,” Steph said, clearly trying to stifle a laugh. “You’re not going to be able to take her without magic.”

  “But my magic would tear her up,” I replied.

  “Fuck you.” Kordelia charged me, picking me up and slamming me into the far wall with a thud that knocked the wind out of me. “Do your worst.”

  My eyes bugged, my lungs burning as I gasped for air. They couldn’t seriously want me to hit her with my magic, could they? She slammed me again, and this time it was instinctive—the Liahona appeared in my hand, the ice claw shooting out. It went for her arm but she released me, rolling back. As the Liahona formed into a glowing ball, my next attack came as a burst of those ice claws, shooting out at her and attacking from multiple directions with what looked like glowing chains connected to me.

  She spun, knocking some aside with her wings while others hit her, covering her in sections with ice and scraping flesh in others. Her roar filled me with dread and I cancelled the spell.

  Ebrill was there in a flash, hand to Kordelia’s head and green light pulsating between them. Kordelia’s wounds healed, the ice gone, and both looked at me with wide eyes.

  “I—I’m sorry,” I said, hand gripping the Liahona tight.

  “Don’t be,” Kordelia replied. “That was exactly what I wanted from you.”

  “It was badass,” Steph added, nodding enthusiastically. “Even Aerona was impressed.”

  Aerona nodded, stepping over to me, hand going to the Liahona. She ran her finger along it, then met my eyes. Apparently, she had realized how suggestive the situation was, and pulled her hand away as her golden cheeks turned rosy. I dismissed the ball.

  “Again,” Aerona said. “Let’s see how it does against all of us.”

  “It?” I shook my head. “Me.”

  “Sure, okay.” She winked, stepped back, and then chanted a spell. Blasts of fire and striking light shot out at me, while Kordelia and Ebrill took the hint and leaped up, circling around me to follow up on the attack.

  I had the Liahona again in an instant, parrying magic and shooting out a wall of ice, followed by yet another, then causing crackling electricity to leap from it with my elemental strike power. The electricity shot out and took Aerona in the chest to send her spiraling back, and then I turned to block a strike from a wraith knight.

  “Not fair,” I said as six other wraith knights came at me, Kordelia and Ebrill along with them. Then again, it was pretty fair I realized as my magic energy surged. With a blast of energy, I sent them all back to the walls, where my magic held them in place.

  “What now?” I shouted, playfully. Seeing that they weren’t looking amused at all at being frozen in place like that, I released the energy and the
n, awkwardly, the Liahona. The wraith knights faded.

  Ebrill stretched her wings, glanced my way, and chuckled. “With that sort of power, I don’t think we’ll have much to worry about.”

  “Never underestimate the enemy,” Aerona said.

  6

  Following the ass-whupping I had given my team, I would have thought they would be annoyed, or maybe timid. Instead, they were all eyeing me with curiosity or lust, depending on the lady. A bit of both, mostly.

  “Maybe,” Steph started, but then shook her head. “Nah, it’s stupid.”

  “What?” I asked.

  “I was just thinking, wouldn’t it be cool if you could somehow use the Liahona without that awkward way you hold it?” She glanced around, noticing the remnants of a desk in the corner. “Like if you had it attached to a staff.”

  “A true mage’s staff!” I exclaimed, loving the idea already. Kneeling beside the desk, I caused two legs to morph together and then twist until it looked like a proper staff, and this time when I summoned the Liahona, I made it so that the metal ball affixed to the end of the staff. The same amount of power surged through me, then a bit more.

  “It’s helping you focus,” Aerona said, nodding at Steph with respect. “I should’ve thought of that.”

  “It’s nothing,” Steph replied with a blush.

  Wand waving, I created a circle of ice above my head, then let it burst out to slam into the walls like spears. This was going to be so epic. But for now, I released the Liahona, keeping the staff because it was fun to hold. Gave me a sense of mage-ness.

  “That was… hot,” Kordelia admitted.

  “We should rest,” Ebrill said, stepping close and then running her hand along my waist. “The enemy could fall into our trap at any minute.”

  “I could watch,” Aerona said, then bit her lip, followed by a laugh. “I mean, keep watch. For the enemy.”

  “You and Shisa,” Kordelia said.

  My eyes snapped to Kordelia with a confused excitement. “You…?”

  “You’ll join us?” Ebrill asked.

  Steph eyed the large gargoyle, clearly as excited by the prospect of her joining as I was.