One tiny concession, but she'd take that over none at all. "What about these warlocks?"
Storm glanced around. "Tell Sen two of his Medb buddies cornered a demon over here and they need his help."
Had that been a touch of Storm's wry humor?
"Workers will show up as soon as daylight hits."
Storm huffed out a sigh, his gaze taking in the building. "I don't have time to ward this place but I can put a spell on it that will make a worker not recognize it as the building he's looking for. That'll last about fifteen minutes."
"That should do it." She was only a one-minute walk from Woodruff Park. Once they were back on the sidewalk and Storm had put a spell on the ground floor concrete, she used Storm's cellphone to call Trey. He confirmed that he was still able to reach Sen by telepathy.
Before she hung up, Evalle added, "Would you ask Sen to bring my Gixxer back with him?"
"I'll ask, but do you really expect Sen to do anything for you?"
"Good point. Tell him Tzader wants my Gixxer returned. I'm sure I can get that backed up."
Trey chuckled. "I like the way you're thinking." Then his voice turned gruff. "Good luck with Brina. We're all pulling for you and Storm."
She glanced over at Storm and hoped she wasn't putting Storm and all the Beladors at risk. In the end, she just said, "Thanks."
Trey said he'd send Sen to meet her in five minutes and he'd try to find Quinn, who had been in the area earlier.
By the time she reached the park, her stomach felt as if scorpions were chewing their way out. Sweat ran down the sides of her face. Storm kept glancing over, but offered no more help, which told her he had used whatever Navajo healing powers he could call up.
She squinted against the brightness. She hadn't needed eye protection on the drive over or the last time she was in the sun, but even humans needed sunglasses. She'd get another pair to wear when she came back from Treoir.
Tiny rays of sunlight were stabbing the park and sidewalk. She'd covered this same area on foot so many times close to daybreak that she knew exactly where sunlight would strike all throughout the year. She could dodge the pattern between here and the next intersection of Five Points with the agility of a jewel thief weaving through security lasers.
Like that spot just ahead of her on the sidewalk where two cracks intersected that she'd reach in ten more steps. The sun would make a laser thin strike any moment now.
Right on time, a bright finger of light touched the sidewalk.
No different than people walking past a "wet paint" sign who felt the need to test it, Evalle just had to swipe a finger through the sunbeam and prove the dark no longer owned her.
Burning pain ripped across her finger.
She shrieked and snatched her hand protectively to her stomach. Tears stung her eyes.
Storm spun around, searching for a threat. "What's wrong?"
Evalle uncurled her hand to find the skin burned to the bone on her finger. She shivered. "I thought ..." She looked up at him. "I ... the sun burned me."
"You said that wasn't a problem any more."
"It shouldn't be. It wasn't when ..." She caught herself. The last time she'd been in sunlight was right before Adrianna had sent Evalle in astral projection to find Storm.
Adrianna had warned her that the trip would come at a price.
Evalle had offered anything from her as she stood there, thinking she might lose her powers. They'd taken her ability to walk in the sun. The freedom to live like anyone else.
"What happened?" Storm asked.
"Nothing. I was wrong."
"That's a lie. What. Happened?"
She jerked at his cold tone, in too much pain to guard her words. "You want the truth? I had to make a sacrifice to travel to Mitnal the first time to find you. Looks like the spirits who played tour guide to the underworld finally figured out what they wanted in payment."
"Evalle, I-" "Don't care," she finished for him. "So let's just drop it."
"But-"
His words were cut off by energy sweeping briskly around them, stirring leaves and loose sand.
Sen had arrived.
The six-foot-seven bane of her existence. His hair that sometimes grew several feet overnight was now a half-inch long. All that did was accentuate the square jaw and blue eyes that didn't belong in his Asian-influenced face.
He ruled VIPER headquarters located in a mountain in North Georgia, where no sign of it was obvious from the outside, because Sen could literally move a mountain if he chose. One day she would find out where he came from, or more importantly, who held the hammer over Sen's head to make him play liaison between VIPER agents and Tribunals.
Evalle had to calm down or she'd never reach Treoir. One wrong word to Sen and he'd find a reason to drag her to a Tribunal court.
If the goddess was still at a Tribunal meeting, Evalle getting dragged in during the middle of it would only make things worse.
Before Evalle turned to Sen, she shoved her hand into her pocket, biting her lip against the pain of anything touching her ravaged finger. She was in no mood to get into a verbal throwdown with Sen or to give him time to figure out that Storm had changed into a demon.
She managed to sound calm. "We're ready to go to Treoir."
Sen gave her a look reserved for small, ugly insects. "I didn't ask."
Storm made a slight move toward him and even though Evalle appreciated the show of protection it was nothing more than Storm defending his master, which she didn't need or want right now.
Two dead warlocks had to be dealt with and Evalle had more to worry about than Sen being his usual jockstrap self. "By the way, I left two of your Medb friends in the building being constructed a block that way." She pointed behind her.
"I don't have friends."
"True, but you have a mess those warlocks created on the second floor. They specifically said they were performing duties sanctioned by you."
Sen's face tightened with threat. "I've been cleaning up Belador crap all day. What the hell did you do now?"
"Me? The way I see it, I did you a favor by keeping that little issue away from the public," she quipped then looked around for her motorcycle. "By the way, where's my Gixxer?"
Sen lifted a thumb he pointed over his shoulder. "Up there."
She took in the area behind him and the roof of a two-story building that sat on a triangle piece of property right at the intersection of five roads. Thus the reason for the area named Five Points. A huge Coca-Cola sign with scrolling neon and flashing lights rose fifty feet above the roof.
She could just see the tops of her motorcycle handlebars. Her Gixxer had been deposited inside the parapet wall of the roof.
You jerk. "Did you have to put it on top of a building?"
"The way I see it, you're lucky I brought it at all." He wasn't smiling.
Just toss in the shovel and stop giving Sen more opportunities to screw with me. "I'd love to stay and chat, but we're getting later by the minute and I'd hate to tell Macha that you held us up."
Sen flipped his hand at her and Storm, spinning her world with gut-twisting speed. Her stomach was already miserable from the burning pain and now she held her charred finger tucked close to her body.
She closed her eyes against the sudden vertigo.
Her stomach lurched at realizing she hadn't specified where to send her and Storm on Treoir.
Chapter 29
Maeve materialized in the queen's chamber of TAmr Medb and waited for Cathbad to arrive next to her before she noted, "It appears we can teleport in and out of the tower any time we choose."
Devilment sparkled in Cathbad's brown eyes. "Oh, aye. That was a productive trip for our first time back in the mortal world."
"Absolutely." She rubbed her hands together. "I haven't enjoyed myself this much in, oh, a couple of thousand years." She laughed at her personal joke, and the way she was assimilating the modern use of language, then swung around to take in the chamber. "I really hate wh
at Flaevynn, or maybe her predecessors, did with this room."
"Don't tell me you'll be spending your time redecorating."
She smiled. "All in good time. First, I have to break the warding on that scrying wall." With a blink, she crossed the room to float in front of the wall built of rare gems. "From what I heard today, Flaevynn wasn't stupid, but neither was she an intellectual giant. This can't be that difficult to figure out."
Cathbad joined her, but remained on the ground. "Come down here, Maeve."
She dropped slowly until she stood beside him. "Did you find something?"
"Not exactly." He turned his head to one side and back to the other. "I do believe this might have been warded by one of my descendants instead of Flaevynn."
Maeve had hesitated once to join forces with this druid, but he'd proven his ability to be shrewd and powerful when dealing with entities. Just as he had today. "Do you think you can break it?"
"No, I would not do that."
"Why?"
"Because that might destroy the wall." He leaned forward, placing a hand over one specific stone, and runic inscriptions appeared, etched into a ruby the size of a loaf of bread. "If we damage the wall, we have no way to find out what happened before we arrived in this tower."
Yet again, he earned his place with her.
She held the power of an entire pantheon, but every ruler needed a right-hand man. She asked, "Can you take control?"
"I'm doin' it as we speak."
The wall of stones came alive. Scenes were drifting in and out. Maeve caught a flash of mountains that rose from a mist, then a battle being waged with gryphons.
Her gryphons.
Just as the Alterants were hers. There had to be more Alterants to change into gryphons and she would find those as well.
Cathbad waved his hands quickly above several stones. Each time his palms passed over a stone, the runic inscriptions would glow.
He slowed his hands, staring up at the virtual screen as the images emerged one at a time, following the speed of his hand movement.
A woman and a man came into view. Maeve said, "There! Stop on that scene."
"Just a moment," Cathbad murmured, maneuvering the images with the skill of a captain piloting a ship in calm seas. "That one?"
Maeve studied the scene where a man held a young woman in his arms. He was crying. And he was clearly a Belador based on the aura surrounding him.
She looked closer and said, "That woman ... would that be Kizira? I saw her father for a moment just before you returned to take his place, and this young woman favors him."
Cathbad gave it a long review. "I do believe it is her." He leaned in, squinting at Kizira dying next to a Belador. "Strange pair, those two. Why would a Belador be holdin' her as if she were precious to him?"
Good question. Maeve said, "Go back to see if you can find the gryphon attack that happened just before Flaevynn died."
He did. They watched what Flaevynn must have seen once she released her gryphons to attack Treoir. First there had been a squadron of ten gryphons flying toward an opening in the Belador defenses on the island. That had to be the work of the Belador traitor she'd been informed of, who'd died that day. The woman riding one of the gryphons was the same one that had been dying in the arms of a Belador.
Cathbad scrunched up his face in a frown. "Why did Kizira die? A priestess can heal herself."
"True, but the bigger question is, why did Kizira throw herself in front of a gryphon attacking a Belador and protect him?" Maeve pondered that and asked, "Can you give us sounds?"
"Not yet, but soon." The images were flying faster again then stopped abruptly. "That's as far as Flaevynn's scrying went. Probably stopped at her death."
That had been enough to show Maeve that some of the gryphons had continued to fight until they were ordered to stand down. Who had that power once Kizira had died? She had clearly controlled her attack team until then.
The last scene included that Belador carrying Kizira's body toward the castle.
Maeve had never been one to wait for an opportunity to come to her. She believed in grasping it by the balls any chance she could. "We need sound for those scrying images, but in the meantime I want that Belador warrior found." She started toward her throne and turned back. "In fact, where is Kizira's body?"
"That's another good question we can't answer until we either have sound, or him."
"The images stop too soon to find out where he took her. We need to find him and her body. I'll get answers from one of them."
Cathbad scratched his chin. "We should be able to gain one answer now." He turned toward the open area near Maeve's throne and lifted his hand, moving his fingers quickly.
Ossian appeared, this time as a warlock in a robe. His head was smooth now, covered only with the tattoo of a snake. The diamond eyes and snout of the snake stopped above the bridge of his nose. "Yes, Lord Cathbad and Goddess?"
Maeve gave Cathbad a nod.
The druid held out his hand. A three-dimensional image appeared in his palm. It was the Belador last seen with Kizira on the scrying wall. Cathbad asked, "Can you identify this Belador?"
"I can. He's known as Vladimir Quinn who possesses the most powerful mind lock ability. He is the one who crushed the mind of our warlock in Atlanta."
"What else can you tell us?" Maeve asked.
"This Belador is close friends with the Maistir of North America and one of the Alterants."
Cathbad perked up at that. "Was it an Alterant captured by Flaevynn?"
"Yes, my lord. She's known as Evalle and one of the five who had a golden head when shifted into a gryphon."
"What happened to her?"
"She flew to Treoir with the others. That's all I know."
Scratching his chin, Cathbad nodded. "You'll find out more when we need it."
"Of course, my lord."
Maeve was having a great day. She turned to Cathbad. "Have him pull together a team capable of capturing this Vladimir Quinn."
"Consider it done. When do you want to send them?"
"With the next wave of witches and warlocks going to Atlanta." She added, "And I will reward the first person to bring me this Quinn, regardless of who it is, but they must be able to capture him without drawing the attention of the Tribunal."
Now Cathbad rubbed his hands together. "Ah, just like the old times. This will be fun. Oh, and I have also Ossian's Medb scent."
Maeve smiled in response and took another glance at the screen where Vladimir Quinn carried Kizira's body. That was genuine pain that came from caring for someone. This Quinn warrior was not in agony over just any Medb protecting him, and that pain was not just because she was female.
Unraveling a mystery such as that one would be far more than fun. The Beladors had another weakness that she intended to exploit.
Chapter 30
Tzader circled Brina's hologram, trying to will her back. Why couldn't he have that ability instead of immortality? No physical torture could ever equal living forever without Brina in his world.
He'd lost track of how many times he'd walked around what was left of her image, searching for any glimmer of life.
Any reason to hope.
Energy sifted into the room from over by the door.
He turned, prepared to send Allyn on his way again, and found Macha. He'd never seen her when she hadn't carried a cockiness that came with being at the top of the power food chain.
But the Celtic goddess over all Beladors stared back from eyes wracked with despair. Her lively hair that normally moved of its own accord and changed colors from blond to auburn to coal black with her shifting moods, now fell over her shoulders in limp strands of dull brunette.
Macha studied the hologram. "Has it shown any improvement?"
"No."
Her throat moved with a thick swallow. "We need to warn the entire tribe."
"But they know about Brina," Tzader said, surprised that he had to remind the goddess.
Shaking herself out of whatever had held her attention prisoner, she walked deeper into the room when she would normally float around or zip in and out of view by teleporting. Her eyes locked on the hologram with so much intensity that Tzader expected the filmy image to respond in some way.
Macha once again tore her gaze from the pieces left of Brina's face and neck. She told Tzader, "We need to warn the tribe about the Medb."
"Every Maistir has been put on alert. Quinn is keeping check on our forces in Atlanta and-"
She raised her hand in a silent order to stop speaking. "I've been in meetings nonstop at the Tribunal. I stretched them out as long as I could, but in the end I lost my argument against the Medb joining VIPER."
"They what? How could VIPER allow them to join the coalition when the Medb have not been allowed in our territories for centuries? The original Tribunal passed that decree. Now the Medb are not only allowed to enter the mortal world unchecked, but we have to stand beside them as part of the coalition?" He stopped himself when he realized something was missing in all this. "Wait? Who's in charge if Flaevynn died? Did Cathbad live?"
Macha's lips twisted with bitterness. "Oh, they both vanished. In their place, the goddess Maeve and the original Cathbad the Druid were reincarnated. Maeve and her druid faced the Tribunal and argued that she should not be held responsible for anything the coven did in her absence. That she had not been controlling the Medb warlocks and witches over all this time."
Tzader couldn't wrap his head around this. "The Tribunal agreed?"
"Not at first, especially when I argued that the Medb coven had attacked us as part of the prophecy Maeve and Cathbad could not deny instigating in the first place. But Maeve had Cathbad read the prophecy word by word. It never specifically said to attack Treoir or Brina. Those two claimed that Flaevynn strayed from the vision they'd left of a peaceful coexistence between our groups."
"Oh, sure. Maeve and Cathbad never planned to extinguish the entire Belador tribe," Tzader muttered, clenching his fists. "I'm sorely disappointed in the Tribunal allowing that flimsy argument to sway them."
Macha floated around this time, following the same path that Tzader had been walking. "That wasn't the deciding point. By coalition rules, voting to accept a new member into the VIPER alliance requires the entire group of deities."
There had not been a gathering of every deity in one place that Tzader knew of in his time. "How'd they manage that many shoved together in one spot without a confrontation?"Macha gave him a wry glance. "It was testy at times, but I think they behaved only because they were all more curious to see what would transpire between my pantheon and Maeve's. It was the perfect setting for her. Maeve challenged each deity to admit that if he or she had died as Maeve and Cathbad had, would any of them agree, upon being reincarnated, to be held responsible for actions of their pantheons." Macha stopped moving and faced Tzader. "There is no precedent for this, so even I would not agree to that."