The Phoenix Dawning #5
I knew he was just trying to keep our spirits up, but I couldn’t manage to find any humor in the situation.
I wouldn’t emit another laugh until I was certain Casey was all right, because nothing in this universe was funny at the moment.
All I cared about was figuring out exactly where my son was, and who had him in their clutches right now.
As we flew, the cold began to ease up, the atmosphere becoming more temperate. Eventually, the snow stopped completely, and Ethan called, “Descend here!”
I turned downward. My feet touched down onto an array of long, soft grass.
Mist coated my scales as I landed, and as I breathed, moisture filled my lungs.
We’d entered some sort of thick fog. I changed back, listening closely to my surroundings, but all I heard was the sound of birds in the vast distance. Nothing else was out here.
“We are close to the boundary that separates the rest of Edinmyre from the Great Hunting Grounds,” Ethan said. “This is where Stefan and I leave you.”
“You aren’t coming with us to the boundary?” I asked.
“They aren’t going to be able to get close enough,” Emma said. “There are griffin guards that protect the silver gates that lead into the afterlife, but we’re going to avoid them.”
“We’ll patrol the area until you get back,” Stefan said, spreading his wings wide again. “Be careful. There are a lot of nasty things roaming about, even within the Great Hunting Grounds.”
He and Ethan took off again. Marcus conjured Ava’s all-terrain wheelchair, and this time, she let me help her. I guided her off of Oberi and back into her chair, feeling ripples of longing caress my skin as my hands skimmed over her body.
I figured after signing those divorce papers, we’d go our separate ways and Ava would never let me touch her again, but by the ancestors, she still welcomed my caress.
In the midst of everything happening right now, it was profound to be this close to her.
Divorced or not, we were still both Casey’s parents, and we needed each other now more than ever to get through this.
I assumed Ava experienced nothing, and was simply accepting my help so she could dismount Oberi and keep moving. But she must’ve felt something, because she grasped my hand for a moment, squeezing it tight as she settled into her chair.
It was terrible she was reassuring me right now, when I should’ve been doing that for her.
“You don’t need to worry about me. I can handle it,” I forced out. “You should be focusing on nothing but Casey. You’re his mom, after all.”
“He’s our son, but you’ve been the one taking care of him since he was born. You’ve grown a bond with him.” Slowly, she let my hand go. “If I know anything, it’s that you’ll do whatever it takes to bring him home.”
I heard the unspoken words she didn’t say.
Ava didn’t share that bond with Casey, although she’d tried to form it.
What she felt for him wasn’t exactly love, as I did, though she desperately wanted to get him back despite being unable to form an attachment.
I could read her well enough that I saw her intentions clearly.
She thought I was suffering more than she was right now, and wanted to comfort me.
Her compassion nearly brought me to my knees, but I remained standing.
“How do you know we’ll find him?” Tears burned at the edges of my eyes again as I fought with myself to hold it together.
“Because I’m his mother, and I said so.” She maneuvered her chair forward. “Come on.”
Oberi changed back into a husky, coming close to my side. Emma walked deeper into the fog, leading us onward. I found it hard to breathe through the thickness of the mist as we headed in.
“You’ll need to be careful once the boundary is crossed. Anything could strike at any time,” Emma said. The fog was so thick now it coated our clothes, making them damp.
“Monsters and other dangerous creatures don’t attack inside the Great Hunting Grounds. They live in harmony beside the fae that have passed on,” Kallie said, sounding confused.
“Not anymore,” Emma responded grimly. “Since the Warden started the war in the Blessed Haven, the peace that’s supposed to exist in the fae afterlife is gone. If Ava’s visions are any indication, it’s become a place of violence rather than a place of rest, which is why we need to be cautious.”
The Warden was ruining everything. The afterlife was supposed to be a place without suffering, but he’d brought suffering here to all the spiritual realms. He’d continue to destroy if we didn’t do something about him, but if I didn’t find my son, the Warden could have the universe.
I just didn’t care anymore, because nothing mattered unless my child was with me.
Emma came to a halt. “Here we are.”
There was a musical humming that resonated all around us.
I dared to reach out, and my hand met something solid that pulsed with immense power.
Emma had taken us to a massive spiritual wall that stretched in both directions.
It domed upward like a colossal shield, glowing with Spirit magic that the eyes of my soul could see.
It was completely impenetrable… until my Elf magic found a small opening just big enough for one person to venture through at a time.
That hole was already closing, healing itself bit by bit.
Emma stood by the entrance. “The boundary is going to keep trying to heal itself unless I stop it. I have to stay here to keep this hole open until you’ve passed through.
Once you do, the hole will close behind you.
When you’re safely on the other side, I’ll head back to Ilamanthe and await your return via the mutabeecha. ”
I felt the glow of her palm as it gleamed with power, and the hole in the boundary stopped closing.
She was confident, but even I heard the strain in her tone.
Emma couldn’t sustain the spell for much longer, due to her magic being stretched to its limits.
The fact that she and Lucas had even managed to accomplish putting a hole in an afterlife boundary was exceptional, and shouldn’t be possible, yet they’d managed to find a way through.
But even the Worldweaver’s powers had limits, and Emma wasn’t infinitely powerful. We had to move quickly, before that hole sealed and Casey was lost to us forever.
“Go, now,” Emma demanded. “Before you miss your chance.”
Ava moved to go through the boundary first, but she didn’t make it through before harsh screeches cut through the air— the high-pitched cries of birds, mingled with the screams of women.
“Godsdammit!” Emma yanked her sword out of its sheath. “Vy sala alkanosty!”
“What?” I asked, not catching a single word of Malovian.
“Alkonosts. They’re harpies, half-bird, half-woman,” Kallie explained, drawing her own blade. “There’s a whole flock of them.”
“Weren’t Ethan and Stefan supposed to be patrolling?” Marcus asked, sounding panicked.
“Some of them are bleeding. I’m guessing my dad and uncle fought them already, but half of the flock must’ve escaped.” Kallie braced herself. “Get ready. They’re tough to beat.”
“Alkonosts are the servants of the dark fae goddess Gabriella,” Emma snarled. “She just can’t leave me alone, can she?”
“She’s helping the Warden?” I questioned.
“She only helps herself, and gets in my way.” Emma’s words came out through her teeth. Apparently, she had a sick history with this dark goddess. She emitted a shieldmaiden’s cry as she charged ahead.
I figured we were done talking. Marcus blasted Death magic straight at the harpies, and they dropped out of the sky upon impact. Kallie used illusion magic to create fireworks that caught the harpies’ feathers on fire, smoldering them to cinders in mid-air.
Ava’s arrows whooshed through the air as she fired at the harpies.
She must’ve hit one or two, because I heard heavy bodies smash into the dirt in front of me.
Oberi roared, striking out his wyvern fangs to tear them in two.
Blood splattered across the ground. I summoned my Air magic and whipped up a whirlwind, using my powerful gales to pick up harpies in flight and smash them against each other, breaking all of their bones.
To avoid my windstorm, the harpies landed. Emma immediately set to dispatching them. Gore splattered across my clothes as she swung her blade. Harpies gave shrieks of agony as Emma cut their wings away from their bodies, lopping off their heads.
My Elf magic alerted me to the presence of three harpies, which had surrounded me. I opened up caverns in the earth underneath them, then once they slid inside, slammed the rock back together. The satisfying crunch of bone could be heard as I shattered their forms within the crevices.
I was knocked down as a heavy weight slammed into me from above. Talons closed around my neck, suffocating the air from my lungs. One of the harpies had landed on top of me, and she was so heavy I couldn’t push her off. She’d crush me before I could even try.
I managed to lift my hand. A massive tree sprouted up from the ground, growing in seconds due to my Earth magic.
Using my Elf powers, I conjured an illusion rope, which wrapped around the thickest branch of the tree.
The rope made a noose around the harpy’s neck and yanked her backward.
I felt the smothering weight of the harpy lift off my chest as it became strangled upon the rope, and jumped onto my feet.
A couple of the harpies had crawled out of the holes I’d crushed them in, and even though their bones were broken, they managed to hobble my way and continue the attack.
They dove at me with their beaks and drew blood.
I gasped as they tore gashes in my side, casting spells as quickly as I could think them up.
Though I’d killed three harpies in minutes, I was circled by even more.