Second, she needed the power of Orion’s trident. The electrical energy contained within the trident would disrupt the creature’s ability to communicate with, not only her, but also with the unnatural creatures it had created from itself with the help of her magic, like the Hellhounds and the living vines.
The third element she needed was a weapon not of her world. This had been the trickiest part of her plan. She had opened a portal between the Seven Kingdoms and another world using a spell she had discovered in King Oray’s library. The portal had allowed the arrival of Carly Tate which had resulted in a series of events that had led to today’s final battle.
The final element was the spell she had carefully crafted. The alien had to have a host to thrive. The only way to kill it was to release the bonds she had crafted so long ago, allowing the creature to leave her body. Currently it was incapable of leaving her body – unless she died, and then, she feared, the creature would merely find another host.
Timing was everything. She needed to release her bond on the creature inside her and utter the spell to kill it while the alien was still within a few feet of herself. At the same time, she needed the others to attack the alien, disrupting its powers and distracting it, while continuing to prevent the creature from finding another host. She had to do this while giving everyone else in the room enough time to escape. Anyone remaining with her and the alien would perish from the power of the spell.
There were so many factors which could go wrong that she was beginning to have serious doubts about being successful. She ruthlessly pushed them away. Each horrible thing she had been forced to do, each day of torture she had endured since that night so long ago, and each desperate ploy had led to today. She refused to give up and concede defeat.
She didn’t wince when the doors to the throne room exploded inward, the burning body of a Hellhound collapsing under the scorching heat. From where she stood in the shadows behind the throne, she saw two figures cautiously enter the room. She recognized the woman as a witch from the Isle of Magic, but it was the man with her who drew her attention. He was from the other world, the one that Carly Tate had come from, and the one who would unwittingly help her machinations succeed.
She lifted her chin and breathed deeply in an effort to quiet her eagerness. Orion and Drago were not far behind the man and witch. Inside her, she could feel the creature trying to command its minions to coalesce in the throne room. There were few remaining. Vast sections of its vines stationed outside and most of the Hellhounds had already been destroyed. The creature’s extensions who persisted inside the palace came closer to the throne room, covering the ceiling with a thin film of black ooze.
Prepare to attack, the malicious voice whispered in her head.
I am ready, she dutifully replied.
You will unleash all of your power on them. Our combined strength will not be defeated, the alien vowed. Without their leaders, the Kingdoms will be ours. It is time to destroy them all!
Yes, Magna agreed.
Do not fail me this time or the pain you feel will be unlike any I have given you before, the alien warned.
I will not fail, Magna quietly vowed.
The creature sensed the resolve inside her, unaware of the true reason behind it. The alien’s arrogance was a tumor, rapidly growing out of its own control, much like its tentacles. Keeping a tight grip on her own emotions, she patiently watched and waited for her opportunity. Her eyes drifted to the throne where King Oray, the King of the Isle of Magic, sat. His body was unnaturally stiff and frail; the spell he had cast to protect himself and the kingdom was slowly draining the life from him. Once again, a shaft of remorse swept through her at the pain and suffering she had been forced to cause.
Taking a deep breath, she waited until the witch and man neared the throne before she stepped out from behind it. She inwardly grimaced at the high-pitched laugh that escaped her and echoed throughout the room. Sliding one hand along the back of the throne, she drew a long, curved dagger from the sheath strapped to her waist.
The witch was the first to straighten when she saw her. Magna caught and held the woman’s intense gaze.
“Release him, Sea Witch,” the female demanded, her face and voice filled with fury. Magna’s head tilted to the side and a sardonic smile twisted her lips in a silent reply. “We are not alone. The Sea King and Drago have joined with my people to stop you.”
“I tremble at the mere thought,” Magna drawled sarcastically, looking at the woman with utter disdain.
She turned her head slightly to the side so that the witch couldn’t see the flash of grief in her eyes. She focused her attention on the bent form of King Oray. He looked ashen and listless. His continued fight against the alien had drained him of most of his power. It was time to free him and the others as well.
It shouldn’t be too difficult to convince the others to attack me, she thought with morbid self-loathing.
Taking a deep breath, she returned her gaze to the woman and raised the curved dagger. With a quick motion of her hand, she cut a thin, shallow line across the king’s throat. The alien inside her grew excited by her bold move. A soft hiss slipped from her parted lips when the creature surged forward for the next action.
Not yet, she murmured.
Kill him! He will be the first to die. I no longer need him, the alien entity ordered.
If I kill him, the others will have no reason to come closer. We must wait until they are all close enough before we strike, she insisted, keeping the swirling mass along the ceiling in her peripheral vision.
Magna released another shrill laugh before she addressed the witch. “The Sea King is bound by the laws of his people. He is weak and unable to harm me,” she goaded with a shrug of one slender shoulder.
“He might be, but I’m not,” a loud voice retorted from the entrance to the throne room.
Her eyes shifted to the doorway. Inside, she felt the alien recoil. She could almost taste the creature’s fear and craving for the overwhelming power of the dragon. She took in Drago’s massive form with a surge of satisfaction and anticipation.
Drago stood in the center of the now destroyed door frame, his face and body taut with rage. Magna bit her lip. The alien inside her was still too strong for her to release her bonds. Before Drago’s fire could be effective enough, she needed the last element of her plan – Orion and his trident.
“It is time to die, Sea Witch! I have waited far too long for this moment. You should be thankful that I will make it swift. I would love nothing more than to make you feel a measure of the agony that you have caused others,” Drago sneered as he stepped into the room.
His eyes blazed with a ghost of his dragon-fire. Vengeance burned so brightly within him that his chest glowed a dark, blood red through the fabric of his shirt. His features were hard, and his long black hair flowed around him as he strode toward her. The intent was clear in his eyes – death.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the movement of long threads of the black, thorny tentacles reaching downward to wrap around Drago. Her hand reached out in warning, and a cry slipped from her lips.
“Watch out!” she cried.
You defy me! the creature hissed inside her.
It was time. She could not wait any longer.
“Goddess, please… give me the strength I need to finish this,” she whispered.
Her eyes teared with the sudden intense pain that swept through her. Fire burned through her veins. Her lips parted in a scream of agony when another intense wave hit her, but she swallowed it. She had to do what she could to distract the alien so that Drago or one of the others could strike at her.
A shuddering breath hissed from her. “Yesssss! You will never be able to defeat Drago and Orion,” she whispered to the being inside her as she fought for control.
I will destroy them all. Then, I will take care of you, the creature inside her hissed in fury.
“I… will not… allow you to harm… them,” she vowed.
/> She fought, but the creature forced the hand holding the knife to rise. She knew exactly what it was intending to do – kill King Oray. She wrapped her other hand around the wrist of the hand holding the knife, pushing against the movement with both hands.
“No!” she screamed, her body twisting away from the King.
The alien creature sent shards of electrical charges through her body, and her body bowed, her heart stuttering. She straightened like a puppet on a string and the knife again headed for the king’s throat. At the same time, the sound of an explosion resonated throughout the chamber. Magna felt a mind-shattering pain rip through her left shoulder. The knife fell to the floor as the force of the blow violently jerked her body backward, forced to turn from the impact on her shoulder, and she collapsed onto the floor.
She lay dazed on the cold stone near the throne. She could feel the warmth of her blood seeping through her clothing and beginning to pool under her. As she panted, the alien strained to free itself from her body, and she instinctively tightened her hold on the spell binding it close to her, but the alien surged through the spell-less path which had been created with the weapon’s gaping wound.
She issued a long, pain-filled gasp and her body arched as the dark entity poured out of her body through the wound in her shoulder. A shudder ran through her and she watched as the black cloud rose above her in a swirling mass. She sank back to the floor as the last of the entity vacated her body. A strange feeling, as if there were a huge, cavernous void inside of her, left her feeling momentarily confused and weak.
The feeling was quickly replaced with one that was all too familiar – fear. It burned through her, leaving her fingers and toes numb with it and her lungs constricted when she realized that the alien was now searching for a new host. It was too soon for it to be unbound; Orion hadn’t yet hit her with the Trident’s power. The alien was still fully in control of all of its own power.
The creature turned its attention to King Oray. Lifting her right hand, she whispered the spell that had bound them. Her body jerked when the spell hooked the entity, compelling it away from the frail King.
On the other side of the throne, she heard her cousin’s voice. Tears filled her eyes at the sound of it. There was so much she wanted to tell him. She would give anything to be able to beg for his forgiveness for everything that she had been unwillingly forced to do.
“Fire on it,” Orion shouted.
Release me, the alien hissed, wrathfully twisting and turning as Orion and Drago attacked it. I will destroy you!
Magna ignored the threat, knowing that she would be the one doing the destroying. She held the slender thread of connection between herself and the alien that had controlled her for the last two centuries with an iron will born of hope, desperation, and grief.
Closing her eyes, she focused on that link, slowly wrapping a second spell around it. The spells would hold the alien suspended in place above the throne, preventing it from moving away from her while also stopping it from returning to her body. A shudder ran through her when she felt the touch of a warm hand under her chin. She opened her eyes and stared up at the man who had injured her with his strange weapon. Tears slowly trailed down from the corners of her eyes at his look of concern.
“Go!” she ordered, licking her dry lips. “You have to… go,” she repeated, forcing the whispered words past the tight lump in her throat.
The man shook his head. “Not without you,” he replied in a grim tone.
He started to slide his arm around her shoulder and lift her. Her face contorted at the intense pain threatening to drown her in its fierce waves. Her right hand reached up to push against the man’s shoulder. She shook her head in regret.
“What is your name?” she asked, needing to know.
The man gave her a startled look. “Mike Hallbrook. I have to get you out of here,” he replied with a frown.
Her gaze moved to the ceiling above them again. He turned his head to see what she was looking at. Now was the time to strike. The creature was being torn apart by Drago’s dragon-fire and the disrupting bolts of power from the tridents of Orion and his men. She would kill the alien creature once and for all.
“No,” she said with a slight shake of her head when he started to lift her again. “No, I know how to… how to kill it now. Go! What I have to do will kill you all if you don’t. Go, Mike Hallbrook. Save my king and the Isles. Take the others with you. There is no hope for me. I would be sentenced to death anyway. Let me at least have some purpose to my life,” she pleaded in a tired voice.
She watched Mike’s eyes darken with indecision. Fear and determination gave her the strength she needed to push him to the side. She unsteadily rose to her feet. Taking a deep breath, she pulled on the last dwindling ounce of her strength and lifted her head. She ignored the agonizing pain in her shoulder as she raised her arms above her head and began chanting in a clear voice filled with determination.
Magic flooded her body, and she could feel the energy from the Isle of Magic seep into her, giving her the added strength she needed to cast the final blow that would free them all. Bright red blood ran down from her shoulder, staining the front of her white gown. She ignored everything but the magic of the spell building inside her and the black swarm of the alien near the ceiling.
I will not fail, she vowed to herself.
In the background, she could hear the urgent sound of Mike yelling for Drago and Orion to retreat. Mike had King Oray over his shoulder and was hurrying toward the burnt-out entrance of the throne room. Drago and Orion stopped their attacks to leave with him, and the alien refocused all its remaining strength to fighting against her hold.
“Let the light of truth guide me and be my sword,” she chanted.
Bright light flared out from around her as the spell she cast ignited the air in the room. Surging waves of power rolled through the room like a thick fog, sucking the air out of it. She could hear the sizzle of the alien’s body as the power swept over it, igniting its body with the bright light.
The creature struck out at her, but the blinding power of the light radiating from her prevented it from reaching her. Magna felt her body rising above the stone floor. Closing her eyes, she thought of the vast ocean that was her home and wished its cool liquid was surrounding her, extinguishing the flames that were scorching her tired body. As the air around her blazed with power, she felt her body being ripped apart until the void of blackness finally gave her relief.
It is over, she thought. I am free.
Chapter 2
Off the coast of Yachats, Oregon:
Gabe Lightcloud powered his thirty-two-foot trawler along the rocky coast. He took a deep breath of the crisp salty air. Today had been a good day.
He glanced at the time on the depth finder. No wonder my stomach is protesting, he thought. It was nearly seven o’clock in the evening. Turning the wheel, he started the long trip back to the docks. He had left the house just before sunrise and had spent most of the day doing catch and release for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. A new program at the University of Oregon had given him an opportunity to combine work with research. The University of Oregon’s grant was part of an on-going research program backed by the USFWS to study the migratory patterns of Chinook Salmon.
As far as Gabe was concerned, he’d been assigned the fun part of the research – tagging, releasing, and not having to deal with people. He enjoyed the peace and quiet of working offshore. The sound of the motor, the waves slapping against the hull of his boat, and the high-pitched cries of seagulls hoping for an easy meal were his companions. He preferred them above anything else. He rolled his shoulders, glad he had finished his last catch for the day.
He hadn’t had anything to eat except an egg sandwich and a thermos of coffee this morning. He grinned as he stared out at the water. A nice shrimp dinner sounded pretty good right about now. If he couldn’t snag any, he’d settle for a nice grilled halibut. His mouth started watering at the thought of the
m cooking on the grill. Either one would be a welcome treat and was just what he needed to quiet his rebelling stomach. Hell, he might even be nice and see if Kane wanted to come over to watch the football game.
He turned the wheel when he saw a school of fish on the depth finder and pushed the throttle to neutral. Stepping out of the wheelhouse, he released the lock on the winch and lowered the net into the water. He made sure it wasn’t tangled before he turned back to the helm. Checking the settings on the depth finder, he searched the bottom for any structures that might be an issue before he pushed the throttle forward. He decided he’d troll for half an hour before pulling everything in and heading back home.
The time was almost up when he felt a slight drag on the boat. He turned in time to see the buoy attached to the net violently dip below the surface. He quickly pushed the throttle back into neutral. He muttered a curse and sighed in frustration. He should have quit while he was ahead. If the net was caught on the bottom or worse, tangled around some floating garbage, it could mean a long night, which meant it would be even longer before he had anything to eat.
Gabe grabbed the net and began pulling it in. The one thing that bugged him more than anything else was when people decided to use the ocean as their own private garbage dump. He was always finding shit that someone had thrown out.
He frowned when he felt the net shift. Afraid it might have caught on something, he looked over the side, but didn’t see any sign that it was snagged. He hoped it wasn’t, because the net was a pain in the ass to patch. Shifting the winch into gear again, he continued reeling in the net. Then he heard a moan.
“What the hell?” he muttered, pressing the stop button on the winch control. “Shit!”
Muttering under his breath, he decided he must have snagged some unsuspecting seal pup. He grabbed the net and continued pulling it in by hand. His eyes widened in shock when he saw a person caught in the net. Moving swiftly, he finished pulling the net in. He lowered it and his unexpected catch to the deck of the rocking boat. Grabbing the side of the net, he released it from the rigging and knelt next to the still, cold body.