Chapter 36 #3
Yuless’s eyes widened. “I don’t want any more brushes with death this week.”
“Everyone except them will be fine.”
The promise in the Devil’s tone worried me, and I drew upon the weave to quietly whisper to the alligators and other native life to retreat to the safety of the lake’s cool waters.
“A wise decision. And do not worry for the one Hagnar holds. She will be the safest of us all.”
“Well, now I’m really worried,” I confessed.
“Do not be. It is his moment to shine. He’s just angry over more than a few things. You’ll see.”
Hagnar leaned over and placed the alligator on his foot, and she settled in to snuggle against his leg. After clearing his throat, he said, “You will find her in this location should you go on a wander towards the lakefront. The cash, please.”
Mr. Mortani huffed and puffed, but he pulled out a sizable cash bag, which appeared to have been stuffed full. “I assume you will check the bills?”
“I will, but I will use magic to do so, as we discussed.” Hagnar held out his hand.
To my surprise, Mr. Mortani, who had put on some weight since I’d last seen him, along with having allowed his personal grooming habits to slide, stepped forward and gave him the bag.
With a practiced hand, Hagnar unzipped the bag, peered inside, and waved his other hand over the top. A warm melody filled the air, and after a few moments, he nodded his satisfaction. “Excellent. Your target is over there.”
Hagnar pointed in my direction.
The instant the men turned our way, Hagnar placed the bag on the ground, placed the alligator on top, and clapped his hands together.
A golden glow infused him, and a few moments later, he transformed into a giant golden serpent with wings of fire.
Thin pillars of flame descended from the clear skies, spearing through the skulls of each of the men.
After issuing a long and low hiss, Hagnar said, “You have chosen… poorly.”
* * *
Long after death, the bodies burned with gold-white flames. I found some comfort in that flesh had charred away to nothing and left behind only the bones. Hagnar, still in his serpent form, viewed the corpses with disdain. “Unfit for any god.”
“What’s unfit this time?” Yuless asked, emerging from the foliage. He strolled over to the bag of cash. After picking up the baby alligator and relocating her to his shoulder, he closed the bag. “Dare I ask how much her death was worth?”
“They offered two hundred thousand for her location,” Hagnar reported. “Lucifer, I ask that you present the funds I requested of you to them as a horse each of equal value. Turn their petty offering into a lasting legacy.”
The Devil followed Yuless, and he nodded. With a gentle smile, he reached up and stroked the serpent’s flaming nose. “I am sorry that your gods are no more.”
“They passed on long ago, allowed to rest in earnest. Do their portfolios still exist?”
There was something sad about the way the Devil shook his head.
“You are the last of those descended from those divine. Much like the circle of life, they thrived for a time, and then they allowed the circle of life to continue, and they accepted their deaths. Those who had believed them into life had passed on along with the magic required for them to remain. They did not have nodes, nor did they wish for them. You had a reason to persist when the others did not—but you were, in many ways, the reason those beliefs were birthed despite not being a divine.”
“Is he like me, as close to what it is to be divine without being one?” I asked, joining everyone near Hagnar. Despite the living flames coiling around him, I detected no heat.
“I am,” Hagnar replied. “Mine is a different role. I am a guardian. A custodian. When needed, I am a weapon. I was born to safeguard and to protect. When there were no people left for me to protect, I turned to the dragons. They are frustrating creatures, but they are grateful enough, and their belief is unwavering once they give you their regard.”
Yuless reached up to pet Hagnar’s little girl, only to earn a nip on the finger for his efforts.
Laughing, I caught her with my free hand, held her in such a way she wouldn’t take a bite out of me, and shrugged.
Once certain the pair of babies wouldn’t kill each other, I introduced them.
They hissed and chirped at each other before settling in to bump noses.
“I shouldn’t be at all surprised. You are more than welcome to continue your duties within my home.
Dragons are something I have in plenty, and they require a great deal of care.
You can make certain their nests do not destroy my trees—and you can help plant sufficient groves for each dragon to have one of their one.
In time, perhaps a node for each grove and each dragon. ”
“That is a good solution for many problems,” Lucifer said.
“I recommend that you wait for after your wedding. Hagnar, while the paperwork will surely irritate you, you should be the officiator—in the form you are in now. Some of your people still live, and while your presence will not renew your gods, for they have earned their rest, there may, given some time, be new divines with old names to take their place. Your temple can be moved to here along with your maze. I know a woman who can handle the work, and it would be well for her growing family to know of this refuge. Her daughter-in-law’s son is the child of a divine, and much like you, the divine is waning.
All his children have perished except for the young man, and the loss of the young man would break him beyond salvation. That is a fate I wish to be avoided.”
“For what reason?” Hagnar hissed, and he settled back, coiling until only his wings and head remained raised. “You do nothing without a reason.”
“He is a father who loves children, and he has never seen a child of his reach adulthood. I have come to learn the truth of the pain of that. I can, so I will.”
Most thought of Lucifer as the greatest of evil, but the Lord of the Morning remained, and where he went, hope eventually followed.
Sometimes, it just took time.
“Is that all?” Hagnar challenged. “What is so special about this divine?”
“Once upon a time, in Africa, there was a tribe of people. They came from the Cradle of Life and moved north into what is now known as Uganda. They were, many years ago, wiped out. In their belief system, there was one god who ruled over all other gods, who existed to do his work, for he did not meddle directly in the affairs of humanity. The tribe that killed his people knew of his existence, and they respected his role in the defeated tribe’s beliefs.
They revered him for a time, and while all of his people had been killed, they carried with them the genuine wish that this divine thrive among men and remain a creator-god, preserved for the ages.
And so he wandered the world, creating in the only way he could, through willing women harboring a desire in their heart for children.
But it was as much a curse as a preservation.
” Lucifer considered me with a solemn expression.
“The curse that kills his children has weakened to the point it can be gently broken with no harm. You will sense the curse the instant the child comes into your presence, and you will unravel it because it will inevitably annoy you. What child should die because of consequences from thousands of years ago?”
My heart broke for the divine. “He’s been living among people for thousands of years, destined to watch all his children die before adulthood?”
“That is correct—and he would make certain he was with every last one of them in their dying moments. He is one of the very first divine wished into being by humanity. Echoes of him appear in many African mythologies, and some of his nature made it to even the Greeks and Romans. But he is, much like you, Hagnar, the last of his kind. Right now, he is truly an unbalanced being, forced to suffer through thousands of years of grief and misfortune, incapable of forming any lasting bonds. He goes from woman to woman, unwilling to love her in all ways because he believes he knows how the story goes. In reality, that conquering tribe accidentally cursed him. Back then, belief had lasting power.”
“Does he have a name?” I asked.
“He currently goes by Gavin. Should he wish to tell you more of who and what he was—and still is—he will. But I will not take the specifics from him. I simply wish to help him find his way back to joy. The foundation is there, but the curse will yank it away from him sooner than later.”
I considered Hagnar. “How much would you charge to kidnap the son of a divine? It will be a catch and release program, and I will bake pie. Lucifer, I will need the Four Horses and any other equine willing to assist with this. That is one curse I will see unraveled, and I’d rather see it unraveled now. ”
“No charge,” Hagnar replied, and he turned his nose to point at the female alligator I held. “When I cannot care for her, you will on my behalf.”
I smiled at that. “You have a deal. Lucifer, are our babies related?”
“They are not.”
“We can plan playdates for them when you cannot be here, Hagnar. If their children fill my lake, everybody is happy. How soon can you have the boy here?”
“I will bring him to the final race of the Triple Crown, assuming he has that much time,” Hagnar said, eyeing Lucifer. “Will that work? We can lure the divine to their union, and that should help appease some of his nature.”
“Yes, that will work nicely. How are you planning to bring him to the race?” the Devil asked.
“That is for me to know and you to find out, unless you opt to cheat. Don’t cheat. This is far more entertaining.”
“So it is, so it will be. Just don’t bite off more than you can chew.”
“I never chew, I swallow whole. Chewing is far too much work,” Hagnar replied in a solemn tone. “Then it is settled. I shall handle the child and his father, and I will try to do so in as gentle a fashion as possible. Anything else, Crystal?”
“That should do. Thank you. Yuless? Let’s go home. It’s time for you to pamper me, as I feel I have earned a great deal of pampering.”
“Would you enjoy a punting session first? I’m sure Lucifer can handle getting you actually home.”
“As a matter of fact, yes. I would enjoy punting something. I’m not getting any satisfaction out of those bodies or from those who placed that curse on that poor divine. But Lucifer, why couldn’t he remove it himself?”
“It is all he has left of his people,” the Devil replied in a gentle voice.
“And he does not realize his misfortunes target his children as much as himself. He is not a perfect divine, for the people in that era acknowledged there was no such thing as perfection. That is a more recent conceit. I will not be telling him of that bitter truth, and I recommend that we all remain silent on it. He has more grief than any soul deserves.”
That I could easily believe. “Then it’s a plan. Yuless?”
“Yes?”
“It seems my old employer has a bunch of critical openings. When you’re not busy being conquered, you should make certain that corporation is crumbled to dust. That is not an empire worth owning.”
“Anything else?”
“Tomorrow, we should beat Lucifer until he shows us all those acres he bought for us. Then we can plan our venture into his many hells with Aramathea so we can afford to build all our future horses paradise.”
“We’re going on that trip for our honeymoon,” he informed me. “My hoard already has the best woman, so I need many more gems in it. I need gems, Crystal.”
All I needed was him, but he’d figure that out soon enough.
I would love my horses and chase my dreams, but as long as he remained in the picture that was my life, I would be happy for even a thousand years.
I smiled at him, cuddled with both of the alligators I held, and marveled over how I could have become so lucky and blessed.
“We can do that, and we’ll finish our honeymoon taking Belinda’s ashes to Mount Everest. And yes, Lucifer, I know she doesn’t know, but I do, and Anthony needs this even more than I do. ”
“All shall be as you wish,” my fiancé promised.