31. Chapter 31
Chapter 31
I raced out, my mind blank with no plan in mind. At the threshold, my mouth dropped open when I saw the beast in front of me.
A chimera. Oh shit – we were in trouble. The chimera was somehow genetically linked to the griffins; because of that, griffins had no immunity to her brand of purple fire, and her scorching burns couldn’t be healed in a shift. That was evident from the blistered forepaw that Charlize was holding tightly to her body. Still in human form, Haiku had run to her side to check the extent of the damage.
The chimera roared and the building shook. She was a tri-beast and had three heads: a lion’s in the centre, a goat’s to the left and a snake’s to the right. Goddess, I hated reptiles. As well as her three hulking heads, she had sharpened cloven hooves and a goat-like body with a lethal scaled tail that Emory would have been proud of .
She turned her heads towards Oscar and let out a burst of flame from her gigantic lion’s maw. I wished Lucy was here to pipe her; perhaps she could have talked sense into the creature. Then again, perhaps not.
‘Fuck!’ Oscar swore. He dived to the ground and most of the flames passed over him, but a few stray ones licked at his shirt and set it on fire.
‘Roll!’ I screamed. As he rolled on the ground, the giant chimera thundered towards him.
Flames extinguished, Oscar got to his feet again. He pulled air around him, his greying hair caught in the blast, then he chucked the ball of air towards the chimera. It hit her full in the chest and she stumbled backwards, screaming in outrage. Her tail whipped around her, trying to strike at Oscar.
Bastion, now in griffin form, plunged towards the striking tail, his talons extended as he rent into the chimera’s flesh. She bellowed again and blew great billows of deadly purple fire towards him. He rolled out of the way of the flames – but only just.
My heart clenched with fear. This was one of the few beasts that offered a true threat to Bastion. I palmed the small vial of final-defence potion that rested permanently in my left pocket. My potion bomb was in my right pocket, and I wouldn’t have wanted to mix those up in the heat of the moment. Left pocket for healing, right pocket for harming.
Frogmatch gave a battle cry and ran into the melee, growing in size as he went. ‘Come and get me, goaty!’ he challenged. The chimera gave another scream of rage and turned her attention to the imp.
He was still not much taller than a metre. ‘Oops,’ Frogmatch muttered. ‘A bit premature, that.’ He threw a bawdy wink at me. ‘It’s the only thing I’m premature in, I promise.’
‘Watch out!’ I shouted at the now medium-sized imp. A ball of flames rolled towards him and my breath caught in my throat as they struck his small red body.
‘Frogmatch!’ I screamed. Bastion dived towards him, but I need not have worried. Frogmatch’s red skin danced with purple flames but they didn’t seem to affect him one whit. He was immune to her fire!
‘Thank the Goddess,’ I murmured in relief, leaning on the doorway.
A voice spoke next to me. ‘You’ll find that the Goddess has very little to do with it,’ my father said drily. It was his voice as Shaun, not as John .
I whirled around but he wasn’t there, not physically. It was another audio-astral projection. I resisted the urge to ask how it was done.
‘Now Amber, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way,’ his voice said calmly.
‘Could you be any more clichéd?’ I huffed at him.
He considered it. ‘I could disfigure my face horribly and laugh like a maniac, if you prefer?’ His tone was humorous.
I folded my arms; I didn’t want to joke with my father whilst his minion was breathing fire at my friends and the man I loved. ‘What do you want?’ I snarled harshly.
‘We need your help, Amber. We need the potion that you concocted for Lucille.’
I knew all about the plight of the evil witches’ familiars and I might even have felt a shred of sympathy; after all, it wasn’t the familiars’ choice to be linked to a witch that had turned down the path of torture and death.
I hardened my heart; they had made their choices, and I wouldn’t do anything to help evil witches that continued to hurt and kill. ‘No,’ I said simply. I wouldn’t help them, even at the expense of their familiars. The familiars were a weak point, one I could use to put pressure on the witches and I wasn’t giving away that advantage .
‘I have another chimera,’ Shaun said calmly. ‘This one’s mate. Oscar and Bastion may survive one, but they definitely won’t survive two. Alternatively, you can come with me and I’ll call off the chimera when we’re a sufficient distance away. Everyone gets to live.’
My heart plummeted. Two chimeras! Goddess, Oscar and Bastion wouldn’t survive that.
Even as Bastion was fighting, I saw him turn to check on me as he felt my fear. Seeing nothing and no one around me, he clearly assumed I was scared for him. He sent me a wave of reassurance and turned to battle the chimera again. I watched, heart in my throat, as deadly flame roared past him again. This time it was entirely too close for my liking.
‘If you don’t come with me,’ Shaun said lightly, like we were discussing tea and cake, ‘I’ll tell her to stop playing nicely. You’ll notice that the only one who’s been hurt so far is Charlize. A little warning shot, so they know my chimera is serious. But if I tell her to pull out the stops, that all changes, Amber. I know you’re fond of Bastion, so I’m trying to be nice here.’
‘You’re failing,’ I said bluntly.
He laughed. ‘Maybe so, my dear, maybe so. But whether I’m nice or not, you really don’t have much choice, do you? We both know that you love Bastion. One word from me and we’ll have another chimera here flame-grilling him.’
‘You’re supposed to offer me my heart’s desire,’ I bitched. ‘That’s what the bad guys do. They offer wealth or the power to resurrect a loved one. You’re not doing very well.’
‘You’ve already got your heart’s desire, Amber. My daughter – the Crone! I’m ever so proud.’
‘Fuck off,’ I snarled. ‘You have no right to be proud of me, John.’ Dammit, I hadn’t meant to let his current alias slip out, but my anger at his pride had made it fall from my lips.
There was a pause. ‘Ah,’ he said lightly, as if my knowing his new identity was of no importance. ‘The beans have been spilled, have they? All the more reason to crack on. Tick-tock, Amber. What will you decide? A second chimera coming out to play, or are you coming with me?’
My jaw clenched. I hated the idea of co-operating with him, but I hated the idea of Bastion dying even more. ‘Where do I go?’ I asked tightly.
He didn’t crow in triumph. ‘Into the red car that is idling at the front of the house. Go quickly. We don’t want Bastion noticing you’ve slipped away or I’ll have to distract him.’ The threat was clear. I took a step backwards towards the house.
I heard an angry kraa . I looked up and met Fehu’s eyes. Don’t, I pleaded with him. Don’t tell Bastion I’m going. I have to keep him safe. Don’t tell him I’m leaving or my father will kill him.
Fehu screamed in rage and I felt his anger like a hot blast across my skin. He hated not being able to help us both. Please , I whispered again. He had been Bastion’s familiar for two centuries and mine for a hot minute, so I hoped he would want to protect him a shade more than me. Please , I entreated and felt his assent.
I reached into my left pocket and set my vial of final-defence on the ground. Make sure he gets it. I wasn’t taking something so valuable into the arms of our enemies. On the black market that little vial would go for a hefty seven-figure price tag. I wasn’t giving them revenue to buy more dark objects.
After a moment’s hesitation, I left my athame there, too. My enemies weren’t going to leave me armed, and I didn’t want to give them my family heirloom. I had my potion bomb in my right pocket. Here’s hoping my enemies overlooked it .
Intending to take it off, I touched the pendant around my neck but it wouldn’t budge. No matter how I tugged at it, it wouldn’t lift higher than my eyeline. I guessed it was coming with me.
Above me, Fehu let out another angry kraa . The furious raven turned back to the chimera, flying at her eyes, claws extended. ‘Raven!’ Bastion cried, horrified, ‘Get back!’
Whilst my clever little familiar drew everyone’s focus onto him, I slunk away to my own private doom.