Stone Cold Mage 2: Of Witches and Gargoyles Page 7

  “Or… Maybe it was put here before her time.”

  “That doesn’t make sense,” I countered, turning to look at the runes around us on the ground, trying to scan the area for my digital display and analysis. “She came to it by chance?”

  “It was put here… to draw her… to it.”

  I turned to see why Steph was talking weird, then noticed that she was standing in the light, starting to float. Her hands went out to the side, her eyes rolling back until only white showed, her skirt fluttering as if there was a wind. I felt no wind.

  “Oh, fuck,” I said as I ran to her, grabbing hold to pull her out of the light.

  Movement. Something large coming at me. It hit like a sledgehammer to the gut and tossed me over, slamming me into the wall. I rolled, expecting another attack, then pushed myself up to face what I was certain had to be Glitonea.

  It wasn’t.

  Standing in front of me, wings spread and talons at the ready, was Ebrill. I blinked, confused.

  “What—” I started, but she slammed into me again, the force of her attack nearly knocking me to the ground. My attempts to throw her off failed, and in a flash she had an arm around my throat, spinning me.

  From this new angle, I saw Steph on the floor, wraith knights all around her, with swords held high but not attacking. Why weren’t they attacking? Steph sat up and threw a fireball to my left, out of my sight, but still the knights didn’t move.

  She wheeled around, but I couldn’t see what came next because Ebrill lurched sideways, pulling as I attempted to get my chin between her arm and my neck.

  “Why…?” I tried asking, but got only a grunt.

  This didn’t make sense—it was still daytime. Had to be! To say nothing of the fact that Ebrill wouldn’t attack me like this. Unless Glitonea had found a way to turn them against us, to confuse them… and wake them during the day?

  Oxygen was getting thin in my brain and my muscles cramped with exertion, but I gambled and cast frost footing beneath us. My hope had been that it would cause Ebrill to slip, but no such luck. Instead, I slipped and managed to break out of her grip, so that I landed on the ice and rolled aside, then stood, hands ready.

  “I’ll blast you,” I bluffed. “Don’t do it. This is me.”

  The red in her eyes flared, and she took a step toward me. My hands raised again as I glanced over to see Steph dive behind a pillar and cringe. I still didn’t see her attacker, but knew I needed to get Ebrill under control so we could go and help.

  “It’s me,” I said to the gargoyle. “Jericho. I went back in time, found you, saved magic—in a weird way. It is me.”

  The corner of her mouth curled, a voice very not her own emitting. “How pitiful, little Jericho. You think that highly of yourself, when all you’ve been is a puppet?”

  “You’re not Ebrill,” I said, rethinking my attack strategy.

  A hint of humor. “I’m not… but I took her body.”

  “Glitonea,” I said, eyeing the runes. There had to be a way to reverse this. If she had taken over Ebrill’s body, that meant the gargoyle was still in there, somewhere. Hurting her wasn’t an option, but how could I win, here?

  Part of what I had been learning recently was that I could control quite a lot about my surroundings with my transmutation power. It was all mental, in that I had to believe I could do something before being able to do it. In theory, there wasn’t much I couldn’t change or do, but my mind had a hard time grasping that.

  Applying such thought to this scenario, I realized such powers had to be the answer. Focusing on Glitonea up in her room somehow affecting Ebrill, I concentrated on pushing her out. My thought process involved imagining Glitonea and her glowing runes on her flesh, then drawing a string down here to Ebrill and cutting it free.

  Only, it was like taking a step only to find no ground beneath your foot. I mentally fell, caught myself, and shook my head clear—in time to catch one of Ebrill’s knees with my face. Pain, blood, me staggering backward. If it came down to hurting this woman I’d grown to care for or letting a possessed version of her kick the shit out of me, which would it be?

  My hand went to the ground, an idea taking over. Focusing on creating a hole, I smirked, waiting. Nothing happened. No hole.

  Ebrill stepped forward, then glitched! Like a holograph, she cut out for a moment, then was back. Something was very off here. I moved the ground again. This time, she vanished completely, replaced with an image of the Little Mermaid floating in front of me as if in the water, breasts exposed and lasers shooting out of her nipples.

  Okay, now I knew this was way off. For one, as ridiculous as it sounded, I’d drawn that exact image once when I was twelve. Don’t judge me—twelve, I said. If you thought I was horny all the time with my group of gargoyles and Steph, you can’t begin to imagine how sexed-up my brain was at twelve.

  Point being, this was familiar, but not many would know about it.

  Even the mermaid herself seemed to think she was a gargoyle still, as she laughed, Glitonea’s voice coming through to say, “You coward. In the face of your worst nightmare, you can’t stand and fight?”

  “My worst…”

  A shooting pain went through my eyes. My mind was pounding, stomach spinning. None of this made sense. I had to use the runes, figure out… Wait a minute. They were there, on my screen. As I willed myself to be able to understand them, it happened—briefly, barely, but it worked.

  “Illusion,” I said, recognizing the pattern. “It’s all an illusion!”

  Understanding what it was, I was able to focus on the specific runes causing the illusion and shut it off. The rune I’d affected when trying to make a hole was integral. Another nearby showed a connection. Activating some, while deactivating others, created more scenarios, more tricks of the mind.

  Steph screamed, calling for me, and for a moment I saw through her eyes, then was pulled back into myself but able to see her illusions, too. The knights were facing a monstrous serpent, some of them freezing as stone, others turning to ash. Flames leaped up around them.

  Then the gargoyle faded, the fire was gone, the ashes and frozen wraiths… all gone. Steph fell to her knees, a whimper escaping her lips, and I ran to her side, holding her close.

  “It’s over.”

  At least, for us. Now my screen was showing a pattern, the words ‘illusion’ written in the upper right-hand corner. I had learned a rune spell, and saw which runes gave it direction.

  “Here,” I said, looking at the runes on the ground and those on the digital map floating before me. With them overlaid I was able to see that there were similar patterns, and the ones glowing at the moment might have been others activated by Glitonea. At least, that was my guess.

  Focusing on my map and then trying to use my powers to deactivate specific runes, I wanted to test the magic, see what the effects were.

  “Nothing?” Steph asked.

  I shook my head, but then had an idea. The runes on Glitonea’s body hadn’t been flat like on my display, but curved around her body. What if there was a connection there, like they paired up in different ways, like Chinese symbols in writing? It wasn’t only the symbols and which were used, but in what order.

  Considering this, I made my screens compute different combinations, seeing if it would tell me how to use them. It made the combinations, but left the rest up to me. I was left feeling like A Boy and His Blob for the NES, and these combinations were my jelly beans. If you don’t get the reference, seriously, go look it up. One of the best games ever, along with the old-school Zelda, Contra—the list goes on.

  Suddenly, another rune lit up across the way! I deactivated it, then another, this one causing my back to ache. It was like playing whack-a-mole, except the mole had some voodoo effect type magic.

  Finally, I’d had enough of this and simply turned off all runes. The result was that I felt naked. Worse than that, all eyes throughout the world were turning in my direction, like the Eye of Sauron in the Lord o
f the Rings movies. I’d be spotted soon. That wouldn’t do.

  I couldn’t make much more sense of the runes, but there were clear patterns like with the illusion spell. All I had to do was figure out how to understand the rest of the patterns, and we’d be set. For now, I activated the runes again, setting up that barrier to keep the magic eyes from seeing us.

  Using the rune spell I’d just learned, I redirected the illusion spell up to where we had left Glitonea. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the shrieks of terror that came down from her moments later.

  Distant, echoing shrieks.

  Steph looked at me with confusion, then summoned her wraith knights. All were there, all looking down on us with their faces of darkness, hidden under their helmets. Then they were gone.

  “Make it stop,” Steph said, clearly referring to the screams.

  I nodded, then sent illusions to Glitonea not of her greatest nightmares, but of simply being cast out, sent into a prison of space and emptiness. Floating, forever. In reality she was still in the house, but unless she could look beyond the illusion, she wouldn’t know that.

  She would figure it out soon enough, I was sure, but didn’t think she would be able to counter the runes I had put in place.

  As far as I was concerned, I’d figured out the trick to keep her out of our hair for the time being.

  But, if I had learned one new rune spell, I could learn more. In time.

  “You… hungry?” I asked.

  Steph laughed uneasily, clearly trying to push out the horrible images she had seen, and gladly took my hand as I helped her up. We made our way upstairs, discussing the various possible uses of the rune magic, and soon had downed some juice and chicken skewers. Steph found a couple of dark chocolates in one cabinet, and we sat on the couch, sharing those and simply being with each other, enjoying it.

  “Come on, let’s get some rest,” Steph said, curling up next to me on the fancy cushions. She hadn’t even finished the words, when her deep breathing started, showing that she had already drifted off to sleep.

  I considered getting up and carrying her to the bed, but hell, I was damn tired, too. Instead, I leaned my head back, closed my eyes, and drifted off to sleep.

  10

  We slept the rest of the afternoon, waking just before sunrise. Using the rest of the chicken skewers to make tacos, I couldn’t help but feel anxiety welling up in me at the thought of Aerona asking me to go back to that place in my dream.

  “You’ll be fine,” Steph said, pouring two glasses of wine. “Here. I’d guess each glass is worth more than we can possibly comprehend wine being worth.”

  “As least it won’t be that illusion bullshit again,” I replied.

  Accepting the wine, I took a couple of sips and tried to focus on the taste—a bit earthy, but pure and rich—but mostly couldn’t take my focus from thoughts of Glitonea and the Drow.

  “I want to think on the runes,” I said, handing her back the glass and heading for the door.

  “You’ll be on the roof?”

  “Yes, thinking… waiting.”

  “I’ll be the welcoming committee.” She winked when I glanced back. “Let them know what to expect.”

  “Sure, do that.”

  I exited, moving the house again to create easy access to the roof. Fun, when you don’t have to go to the stairs, but can make the stairs come to you. The little moments in life, right?

  Shisa was waiting for me on the roof, and glanced back with a welcoming wag of his little curled tail.

  “Thanks for the help,” I said, kneeling and rubbing him behind the ears. “Let me guess, rune magic doesn’t alert you?”

  Shisa cocked his head at me. That innocent look was too much. I chuckled, stood, and looked out over the city. Trees swayed gently in the cool breeze—a welcome thing on this warm evening. One of our neighbors, a large man, was exiting his car, lugging a box out from the back seat and heading inside. As I watched, he dropped the box and peaches rolled out, and then he set about trying to collect them.

  “Don’t forget to get ‘em all,” I said softly, earning a confused look from Shisa. “It’s a bit much, sometimes. And I’ve barely just begun. Imagine what sort of craziness we’ll get into over the years?”

  Apparently, that was enough for Shisa, because he turned and walked off, heading back inside.

  “Thanks for listening,” I mumbled, then pulled up the rune screens, looking them over. As I did, I found there were two that I could activate easily, even from here. The illusion one—which I didn’t want to touch for now—and the protective one that turned magic on or off in the vicinity.

  Nothing else was working for now. Instead I pulled up the llyfr sillafu, or spell book. The spells I had learned were highlighted, both the ones from the book and the new ones I had added on my own through fighting and experimentation. There was “gorffwys” for sleep, “hurtio” for stun, “tarian” for defensive boosts, “elfenol streic” for elemental weapon, and more. Then there were the easy ones, ones I could make happen without speaking the words, such as frost bite, ice wall, and… Frost Remnant. I still hadn’t had a chance to try the last one, and glanced around, wondering if I could make it work here.

  I gave it a try, but nothing happened. To ensure the magic of the place wasn’t blocked, I cast an ice claw and watched as it snapped out, tearing into the night air. It was a beauty, making me even more excited to see how the Frost Remnant spell would work. In battle, I would likely have the opportunity.

  For the time being, I went over by the garden and leaned against the tool shed, arms folded, and closed my eyes. There on the rooftop with the breeze rustling my hair and caressing my cheek, all I wanted was to remember simpler times, to go back to those days of ignorance and feel what it was like once more.

  Laughter. My mom’s pleasant smile as she served her famous oatmeal-chocolate-chip cookies. Me and a friend, Max, riding bikes along a dirt path in the woods, trying to find jumps to go off. My first blowjob in a dark closet with a girl while her friends played some dance game just outside, oblivious.

  A trip to Six Flags, zipping along roller coasters, overindulging on nachos smothered in fake cheese. I assume it was fake—that stuff in the pump machines couldn’t be legit. Getting ready for college, bent over SAT study books. My celebratory dance the day I had gotten in, and then time spent with Steph, telling her I would miss her. Funny, how that part turned out.

  It had been my life. A good life. One that had brought me to this point.

  As pleasant as that all felt, one word kept floating up—boring.

  Fuck, that life before all of this magic and mayhem was boring. I laughed, then I laughed again, louder, until I was standing there laughing at the darkening sky and streaks of sunset, still laughing as the sky turned blue and then black.

  Laughing as Kordelia and Ebrill emerged, each of them staring at me like I was crazy.

  Kordelia chuckled, then Ebrill giggled.

  We were crazy, standing up there and laughing, and I loved it. Not boring at all. Soon it subsided, and I took both of their hands, lifting them to my lips for a welcoming kiss to each.

  “The others?”

  “On their way,” Ebrill said.

  “What exactly was that?” Kordelia asked. “It came out of nowhere and your laughter was contagious. I couldn’t help but join in.”

  “I don’t know.” I wiped away a tear of laughter. “Sometimes you just gotta let go, right?”

  “Sure enough,” Ebrill answered.

  I stepped over to the railing, leaning against it and watching headlights in the distance, then turned to the cathedral. “You think you’d ever get bored with this view?”

  “Please.” Ebrill leaned against the railing with me. “Never.”

  “It’s nothing compared to Avalon.” Kordelia wrapped an arm around my shoulders and kissed the top of my head. It was such an odd gesture, her being so large and therefore making it feel like I was her bitch or child or something. Yet,
it was comforting, and I appreciated it. “Still,” she admitted, “the place has its own sense of magic.”

  Glancing around and noting Steph and Aerona’s absence, I couldn’t stop my mind from wandering back to the dream land I had visited last night.

  “And that place… what was it?”

  “Aerona told you,” Ebrill replied. “You’re trying to get to something else, wondering if it’s what you think of as Hell, right? I can’t help you there, but I doubt it.”

  “That concept was around in our time,” Kordelia said. When I gave them a confused look, she added, “Been talking to Steph, trying to catch up on the world.”

  “Okay, so maybe not Hell,” I conceded, glad to be done with that train of thought. “But it sure felt like it. How do we even know there’s something in that place for us?”

  “Because,” Aerona said, and I turned to see that she and Steph had climbed up to join us. “I have a connection to the others, one the rest don’t have, exactly.”

  “A mental connection,” Ebrill explained. “As if, she’s the hub… and we’re spokes on a wheel.”

  “And what’s the wheel?” I asked.

  “You. This world… maybe the next. All of it, as long as we can keep it together. The minute it falls apart, we’re all fucked.”

  I nodded, watching as Aerona held out her hand, my gaze locked on her golden fingers.

  “Please,” she said.

  That’s all it took. I sighed and took her hand as the other three ladies watched.

  “Come on, then.” She guided me by the hand back down inside, pulling me into the bedroom. Steph looked uncertain, somewhat confused, even. At least I could understand that emotion.

  11

  Lying in bed this time, Aerona leaned up onto me, bit her lip, and said, “Thank you.”

  Her cleavage was pressed together, almost begging me to look down at it, but I held her gaze. “I trust you.”

  With that, she moved up on me, gave me a light kiss on the cheek, and then laid her head on my chest. The others stayed out of the room this time, and I lay there with images of demons in my head.