Rise of the Magi (12 page)

Her thin face lifted, and she aimed giant almond-shaped eyes down toward him. Ghosts of her agony stirred within them. “I will not have the fate of another people upon my shoulders. I can help you if you will permit me.”

Silence fell again as Gallagher led her into the room by the hand, dwarfed by her height. She faced Richard for a long time, probably telepathically absorbing all he was through his memories. It seemed as if the world took a breath, waiting for her to speak. “I am Laerni, the last remaining dark elf mistress. Do not fear your faith, Richard Noble, for what happens here will not change who you are, nor where you hail from. Not all of human kind was mothered by the Magi.”

Thank Goddess for giant miracles.
When Laerni swayed, I took her elbow and guided her to the chair Gallagher had vacated. Parthalan leaned forward as if readying himself to come to her defence if necessary. Months had gone by since I’d gotten to know the new Parthalan, and he still took me by surprise on a daily basis.

Laerni’s gaze fell inward as she gripped the edge of the table. “The Magi grew lonely and sought companionship with the first men who came from across the sea many centuries ago. They bore children, and some left the woods, choosing to live among the growing human population. With each passing generation, their magic began to fade until only the original daughters remembered the forest and their duty to protect it, once again leaving the Magi alone. And the children they bore are now in the very group threatening their existence. Approximately, half of the people from this region and in the southern parts of this continent are at least partly Magi, and the other came by evolution and whatever divine being gave life to them.” She remained motionless for several minutes, and to my surprise, not one of us made a sound. “They grew bitter and lonely, striking out at humans and elves alike, to the point the Goddess began creating separate realms for the elves and fae—for protection. But the children have outsmarted the mother. And now the Magi have seen fit to take my people away from me.”

Shoulders began to relax. Richard, who’d been standing by the door, reclaimed his seat beside Meline.

“I’m not understanding what this all has to do with the rest of us,” Meline said. “No offense to you, Laerni. I can’t imagine what you’re going through right now.”

“You never answered my question, blind man,” Grenick said. “What do the Magi want, and why don’t we just give it to them?” More murmurs filtered from the others around the room.

I cleared my throat, ignoring Liam’s head-shaking in my direction.
“They deserve the truth,”
I told him mind-to-mind. To the rest, I said, “They want me, apparently, and they’re not above killing the rest of you to get me.”

The room erupted, and, very suddenly, went still. I gaped at those of us Andrew hadn’t frozen in time as he scooped me out of my seat and placed me behind his solid form. The rippling of his muscles beneath his suit threatened to tear it at the seams. Rasped breaths escaped in time with the heaving of his shoulders.

Liam claimed me, leading me a few feet away from the table and nodded for Andrew to do his thing.

“… her that they want, then I say let’s give her to them!” Moug hollered and stopped as everyone’s heads turned, probably noticing I was no longer sitting with them.

“What happened?” Richard faced my empty seat with a renewed glitter of fear in his eyes.

Gallagher explained what had Andrew had done. James, Willa and the witch all smiled as if we’d impressed them, while the other three scowled, all but Parthalan who remained intent on the elf mistress. Laerni continued to stare into space.

“I agree with Moug,” Grenick said after a few moments of silence.

I strode over to him with my Andrew-shadow and glowered down at the little punk of an elf. “Do you not think if it was as simple as handing myself over to them that I wouldn’t sacrifice my life to save everyone?” At their wide-eyed stares, I added, “If I could even find them, that might be an option, except they want to use me and my power for something much bigger, something that could mean the end of everything everywhere. For all of us.”

“This fight has nothing to do with us, if there even is a fight,” Richard said. “How do we know what you say is even true? Your people tried to destroy us once and came close to succeeding.” His heated glance at Parthalan suggested he knew the Host lord had been involved in the whole bleak affair. “Maybe this is just another way you’re trying to trick us into destroying ourselves.”

Before I could launch any words at the man, Gallagher said, “Perhaps a demonstration is needed to clear up the doubt about what we say?”

Both Richard and the elf scrambled away from the table as if expecting it to eat them. “What sort of demonstration?” Grenick asked, peeking around the other man’s leg.

Gallagher stood behind Laerni, resting his hands on her shoulders, which, even with her seated, still came up to his chest. “You have witnessed Brígh’s vision, have you not?”

She squeezed her eyes tight and nodded.

“Would you grant me access to all you know so that we might yet save some of these stubborn fools?”

“This once I will think of it, then never again, lest it kill me with grief.”

I reclaimed my seat as Gallagher cast the first image in the middle of the table. Reaching behind me, I took Andrew’s hand. Although he initially tried to pull away, he gave up and squeezed mine back, stepping in on my right. Before us, trees appeared. The size of them and the giant moons let me know Gallagher had begun with Freymoor Wood. Liam must have sensed my immediate unease because his hands slid over my left shoulder.

Oaks erupted out of the ground. The groaning and cracking sounds crashed into the room. Gasps and horrified whispers carried around our group as dark elves fled in every direction from vines that moved like thick snakes across the ground. One female went for a door, but was caught before she’d reached it. Hoisted into the air by her leg, she squealed until it slammed her against the bark of the nearest trunk and wrapped around, securing her to it. We all watched, me in pained silence, as the bark grew around her. It consumed her until nothing remained but a writhing lump casting muted cries.

“Jesus save us.” Richard draped one hand over the back of his neck, the other rigid at his side. “But that isn’t our world. It looks too strange. How do we know they will come here?”

The vision changed to a lush one. Hills jutted out of the earth, covered with shiny green leaves and dotted with towering, unnaturally tall trees of all kinds. A small island sat in the middle of a bay. Something green showed through a mess of foliage in its center. Andrew must have identified the landmark before I did since he nearly crushed my fingers in his.

“What are we looking at?” Meline’s face had gone ashen. “Please tell me that’s not … a city?”

“New York City, to be precise,” Gallagher said. “Sometime in the near future. It could be months, or a year at most, but soon.” Other images flashed before us: London, Toronto, Paris—the Eiffel Tower turned to a green monster—Tokyo. “Do you believe us now?”

“It has to be a trick.” Richard spoke quietly as if he didn’t believe his own words. His brown skin had morphed into a nasty shade of olive green.

“How can this be?” Meline’s chin quivered once before her composure returned. “What do we do? How do we stop this from happening, Lila?”

All eyes found me, most conveying a desperate hope I’d save them from our doomed future.

“I wish I knew. I’ve been using all of our talent and resources, but I still haven’t been able to find them.” An idea had me leaning toward Meline, afraid to hope. “There was magic in the air during the attack. I’m betting we’ll find the same in Talawen’s glen, where some of our people were taken recently. Would you be willing to see if you can identify it? Maybe tell us what it’s used for and possibly counteract it? Our fae abilities are useless around it.”

“Absolutely. Maybe a few of us should go and see if we can get a better read on it. Probably not today, because we need to prepare, but tomorrow. The longer we get from the initial casting, the more the power of the spell will fade.” She rose and started for the door. “I’ll make the arrangements now.”

Moug shoved his chair back with a screech and lumbered after her. “Let your cities rot for all I care,” he said. “We live in the Rockies. These dryads cannot reach us there.” With that, he left.

“Good riddance,” Andrew muttered.

I shot him a nasty look even though I agreed with him.

“We live in the trees!” Grenick screeched as if what he’d seen had just made it through his thick skull into his brain. “How will we survive this?”

“When the selkies were about to be attacked, we offered to let them stay in our fae city until the threat was over,” I said. “Iress created a saltwater lake for the selkies, and I’m sure if your people are up for it, Iress could build you a temporary forest.”

His mouth bobbed open a few times, indecision passing across his eyes before he said, “I must confer,” and left.

“What can we do?” James turned in his chair. Most of the color had gone out of his face, leaving it grey. “Where can we go to ride this out?”

With the prejudices and fear over what Parthalan had done to them, I wasn’t sure I wanted them in our city. “I know you have most of your survivors congregated near farms and stuff, but I’m thinking you need to get them back into the city where there are fewer trees.”

He nodded as the hunch of his shoulders flattened out a little. “We can do that. Anything else?”

“Fire is your friend. I’d suggest burning anything green within a twenty mile radius of where you’re going to set up your base.”

“Fire.” His fingers paled where they gripped the arm of his chair. “We can do fire.”

“That won’t help them if trees erupt out of the ground like they did in Freymoor,” Andrew chimed in.

Crap.
I’d forgotten about that
.
“Let me talk to the witches. Maybe they can suggest some sort of concentrated ward we can put around your perimeter.”

James gave a slow nod. “In the meantime, what do we do if they attack?”

“You run. Run like hell as far away from the trees as fast as you can.” I caught Gallagher’s nod. “Would you be willing to keep one of our telepaths with you so Gallagher can know instantly if anything’s happening? It happens fast, so the sooner we can get to you, the better.”

Richard snorted, though it held hesitation. “You’re insane if you think I’m going to let one of your psychic spies into FBI business.”

“Telepath, not psychic,” Gallagher said with a you’re-such-an-idiot tone.

I came to my feet, a sigh leaking out of my throat. “You know what, Richard? Whether you do or don’t is your business. You’ve been duly warned and given an offer to help keep your citizens from being murdered. If you don’t want it, that’s on you. Now, get lost before I run out of patience.”

Liam pressed his hands to my shoulders, snickering along with Cas. “Down, girl. Don’t chew the poor man’s face off.”

It would have been so satisfying, though.

“What would you have of the Host, Mistress?” Parthalan’s wings settled under his cloak as he rose with that eerie grace only the undead seemed to manage.

“For now, just keep your people safe and let me know if you see anything off.”

His formal bow sent his feather hair forward. “We are yours, always.”

I wanted to protest the finality of that statement—I had no desire to own anyone—but it wasn’t the time or place. Instead, I said, “I know. Thank you.”

Wearing a peaceful smile, he turned and engaged Laerni in low conversation.

Wilting with exhaustion, I glanced at Gallagher over my shoulder as I made for the door. “Can you please set up a way for those here who want to live”—I pointed a half-lidded stare at Richard—“to reach us? Especially the covens, and find one of the witches to ask them about the wards for James and Richard.”

Gallagher gave a little bow, a smile on his face.

“Sweet. Now take me home, funny man,” I said to Liam, “before I fall down and squish our kid.”

12

Before we made it out the door, Willa sped across the room to us. “Can we go back with yeh, Quinn and me? The rest’ve already gone to Iress.” Arms wrapped around her stomach, she stared toward my feet. Her body swayed with what I imagined to be suppressed shivers.

I’d seen her appear that way before—like a skittish deer about to cross a busy highway—when I’d found her working for Parthalan, in his bedroom of all places. It didn’t hurt my heart any less seeing it a second time.

“Yeah, of course you can.” I slipped my arm around her shoulders and summoned enough Light to encompass her.

“I’m scared, Lila. Not of dyin’ so much, if the world’d continue on without the likes of me, but the end of everythin’? I cannae bear it.”

“We’re all scared.” Liam leaned down close to her ear as he added his energy to join with mine, completing a circle of brightness around the three of us. “Even Lila, though she probably won’t admit it to you.” His wink didn’t take the edge off the jab.

Lips parted, I gave him a squinty-eyed glare. “I’m not that bad … anymore … most of the time.”

Cas, who’d moved into the open doorway, burst out laughing. Even Andrew managed a tight smile that I wanted to hold on to.

Willa snickered and curved into me. I hugged her before taking her hand and leading her out into the hallway.

On our way to the portal, Meline, a blonde woman and an equally fair man—the brute who’d deferred to Meline when we were playing musical coalition seats—stepped out from one of the side rooms with Quinn, Brígh and Neve. “Can you take us to one of the attack sites in the morning?” Meline asked.

I blinked at her, thinking, dreading having to go to Talawen’s wood again where so many of ours had gone missing. “If you can help us with this, then we’ll do whatever you need. I’ll let Neve figure out who all needs to go with us.”

“Do you have a place to stay until then?” Liam asked, making me feel silly for not thinking to offer.

“We’re from Toronto, which is a good four hour drive, so not really. None of the hotels around here have started up business again, and we have nothing to camp with.” She drew her bottom lip between her teeth, excitement shining in her eyes.