Balance Of The Worlds (16 page)

His words were prophetic. He was yanked from sleep where he lay curled up around Nelciana mere hours after the first foray of the sorcerer.

“They come again.” Acylias’s words were harsh. “And they are not planning to stop until they get your babes. You have maybe an hour to act. Three times as many as this morning. They will get to the castle. We cannot stop them.”

“Then we’ll do what we must.”

“Eiophon is busy defending his people’s city. He cannot take them into Gaia.”

Lothonos looked at his cousin. “Then you. Take them, deep in the forests of a place called Canada. Hide them well. It is not my first choice, and one their mother will fight against…”

“No. If it needs to be done to protect them, then do it.” She was awake, looking at the two of them. “He will not try Gaia so soon. If we follow Loren’s theory that he is feeding on Nellana and Dardaptoans, there are none left for him there to feed on. It may buy us the time we need. Please, Acylias. Take the babes and go.”

“I will return to you as soon as it is done. I am sorry about this, Nelciana. I know your heart is hurting. And the dark asshole will pay for this soon. I can promise you that.”

“Thank you, Aki. Take care of them, please…” Her tears were in her voice, and in Lothonos heart. The idea of his babes alone in Gaia terrified him. Completely.

Watching her prepare a small bag for the wolf girls to take with the babes was the hardest thing he had ever had to do.

Her pain was so strong, he could almost touch it.

It took him a long time to realize it was because it was his own pain he was feeling.

When it was time, Acylias and the wolf girls who’d refused to leave the babes’ sides pulled their cloaks around their shoulders and the females strapped the babes to their chests.

Lothonos touched each of his children just once on their heads, saying a small blessing over them. It wasn’t much, but it would make them appear human for as long as they were in the Gaian world. It was a trick his people had mastered millennia ago. And it would work until he stopped this latest threat.

He would bring his children home as quickly as possible. “Go, Acylias. And know you are forever in my debt.”

The sword burned at her side, but it wasn’t anything special. Not like the blade Estacles had been ensorcelled within for so long. It was just one her mother wore in ceremonies when required.

Nelciana had had it in her possession on the day she was preparing to be wed. Her mother had handed it over to her and told her she loved her. Those were the last words they’d ever spoken. The sword was so infinitely precious for that alone.

It didn’t deserve the blood that would soon coat it. That had coated it yesterday. It would be forever altered when she one day passed it down to Nella.

The battle raged and raged, twice as bloody as it was yesterday. And it wasn’t just Midreno and Rhacshas. It was others, kinds she had never witnessed before. What worlds had the Dark Sorcerer pulled them from? Were they ever going to be able to stop them all?

Finally, as the sun sank behind the trees, there was a break in the sheer number of invaders. A break in the battles and deaths.

She walked through the fallen and injured, Lothonos and Loren at her side.

Every bone in her body ached, but that was nothing compared to how she felt in her heart. The only joy she had at the moment was the knowledge that neither her children nor Kennera’s were in Levia to be endangered by this evil.

Phaenna had returned through the barriers to Relaklonos to request reinforcements. It was just a matter of time until the demon warriors arrived. Just a matter of time.

She had to remind herself of that.

Her people had died today; so many of them sacrificed before the Dark Sorcerer’s creatures. Many more had been sent to the healer’s city of Dekimos. Only the magic and gifts that ran through them kept them alive this long. So many…

She could feel their souls and those of the lost ones swirling through her heart. Would the pain ever go away?

It was hard to feel triumphant that they had pushed back the sorcerer’s army when so many of her own had been lost.

Everywhere she turned there were witches and warriors and Druids—of both Kinds—suffering. Some were treating the minor injuries of their comrades; others were tasked with the gruesome job of collecting the bodies of the fallen.

Each soul would have to be dedicated to the next life by Nellana priestesses.

By her. She had asked them to fight for her; and they had headed the call. Willingly. Courageously.

When she felt like nothing more than a coward.

Her hand tightened on the sword. She wished she could just wave it around for a moment, and heal everyone. Make everything the way it once was. No pain, no war, no death.

But the Dark Sorcerer always meant death. However she remembered it, he meant loss.

Nelciana may not be able to heal all the wounded—she was not a healer by nature like Eaudne or Kennera—but she could help those near her. No matter what she had to give.

She closed her eyes and slammed the sword’s tip against the ground. She spoke in the ancient Evelanedean she’d learned from her mother so many years ago.

A thin blue mist shot out around her. It bathed the warriors closest to her quickly. Some exclaimed, others wept.

The cloud spread.

Nelciana kept her grip on the sword, though it wanted to soar on its own. She knew the truth; she was just a conduit to the real power contained within it.

The cloud spread. Minor injuries were healed quickly, those that were more complicated were at least closing, starting the basic act of repairs.

She healed, and healed until she collapsed on the ground with nothing else left to give.

She felt Lothonos’ strong arms lifting her, and he carried into what remained of the castle. The half Kennera had lived in for so long was gone. Just rubble all around them.

Rubble. Would that be what the once peaceful world of Levia became? He lifted her, but it was clear to her that her healing had done so little good.

The battles began raging around her all over again.

What remained of Eiophon’s side of the castle exploded around them.

A force unlike any she had ever known tore her out of Lothonos’ arms and darkness consumed her.

He landed hard, right in the midst of the battling warriors. He lay there for a moment, stunned by what had happened. Had Kennera and Eiophon survived?

Where was Nelciana? She had been in his arms, hadn’t she?

He sought her soul. It took him a moment, but he eventually found her. Near the cliffs that ran behind the west side of the city. How had she gotten so far away?

She was out there somewhere; and she needed him. He tried to move himself through space and time to get to her, but his injuries prevented it.

It took him far too long to reach the edge of the cliffs running. Where was she?

Logic told him that the bastard sorcerer would be at the top of the rocks, where he could see the damage his creatures wrought.

Lothonos clawed his way to the top. When the world righted itself, he saw them.

Fear froze him to the ground where he stood. Nelciana battled the Dark Sorcerer too damned near the edge. Where was her sword? How had the Dark Sorcerer pulled her to him over such a great distance?

He watched as she clawed at the sorcerer’s face. The male backhanded her and smiled. The sorcerer was toying with her, wasn’t he? Why?

And how badly was she injured?

Her cheek scraped the ground, her shoulder landed on a rock. There was no doubt the Dark Sorcerer was so much stronger than Nelciana was. What was she doing?
How had he pulled her from the castle ruins the way he had?

He was strong, wasn’t he? Had the babes still been there, he could have dragged them to him with barely an effort. Thank the great stars Lothonos had planned and schemed to keep them safe.

She could not fight Haliophux; better warriors and witches had tried many times before. She would not stand a chance. It would take a Laquazzeana to defeat him; maybe more than one. She was just a minor irritant to him.

A toy for him to enjoy.

And she could feel the lust wafting off of him. He wanted her, and not just her soul. He planned to take her body and everything that she was.

Nelciana forced herself back to her feet. He was doing something to the atmosphere around them; she couldn’t breathe. And he was taking away all of her
hope.

Her sword was right there; fifteen feet away. She clawed at the ground, dragging herself across it.

Her hands wrapped around the hilt, just as the Dark Sorcerer’s booted foot stepped on it, pinning it to the ground. “No. This is mine, now. I meant to take it from the bitch who whelped you, but she stopped me. Didn’t stop me from taking her soul, though. She was rather delicious. Do you know what I did to her that day? When I removed her robes? Yes, I wanted her to know everything about me. And she did. And when I was finished I pulled her soul and consumed her. You’ll go the same way she did. You look so much like her; more than your sisters did. Do you know that?”

The metal heated beneath her grasp. Her power, her mother’s, Nelciana didn’t have a clue. It was just there. Ready and waiting for her. “You’ll never touch me.”

“Oh? How do you plan to stop me? You are just a weak female, a goddess now, but nothing more. Just as your sisters were.”

“But you did not manage to kill us all, did you?” No, he hadn’t. She had escaped him once. Loren’s soul had. As had Dekimos and Estacles and Jushua. And Eaudne.

The Dark Sorcerer had planned to kill them all, to erase all Nellana and Dardaptoan blood from the worlds.

But he had failed. And new blood from those lines had been born recently, in her own babes and Kennera’s. Their families continued, didn’t they? But he wanted them. Wanted
her
babes.

He had failed in his goals once. He could fail again. He
would
fail in this. Because her mate had prepared and protected.

There was hope.
Always
hope.

Hadn’t Eaudne told her just that? As long as her babes lived, there would be
hope.

She pulled the power from within her chest, from the sword that was burning its shape into her palms and forced it up and out.

And toward the monster who sought only to destroy.

The sword was heavy with the power that ran through it. Nelciana held on, though her arms ached, and blood dripped into her eyes.

The battle raged behind her; her sister was down there, sword clanging as she fought, tried to get to Nelciana’s side. She did not know if Lothonos or Kennera and Eiophon still lived. But her babes did. Kennera’s did. They had been sent back to Eaudne and Cass to be cared for while Levia was under attack.

And the rest of the Laquazzeana would be coming with reinforcements soon.

Nelciana refused to look at Loren, knowing that if she did the first instinct would be to rush to her sister and protect.

But Loren was a Laquazzeana now. A mere battle with demons would not hurt her sister in the long term. But it would hurt the city of Av and the Lupoiux city near it, wouldn’t it?

And Nelciana could do her part to keep this battle from getting to those cities any more than it already had.

Levia had never known such atrocities as war. The home she had grown to love despite the pain she’d suffered upon arrival was a peaceful place. And she had vowed to keep it that way for her children.

Renewed determination strengthened her hold on the sword.

She closed her eyes, and let the power flow through her.

Nelciana could almost feel her mother’s touch upon her skin, hear her voice in her ears. “Mama…, guide me. Show me the way.”

She had not implored her mother’s soul for nearly five thousand years.

But now…now it was the time.

She knew what to do.

Lothonos felt the dirt beneath him shift. Levia was a world founded on power and magic; the spirit of both ran through the ground as gold did in the Gaian world.

A strong mage could tap those veins and pull from them. Nelciana had apparently mastered that difficult skill. But he did not think her skills would be enough.

The Dark Sorcerer reached down for her just as green fire shot from the sword. The Dark Sorcerer’s robes caught fire. Strange, green flames shot toward the sky.

Nelciana dove at him, driving the sword deep into his gut.

She followed its path, clawing and fighting him. His own heart stuttered at how fierce she looked.

The flames deepened. Caught hold of the red cloak he’d wrapped around her himself in the makeshift healer’s hall.

The fire engulfed the Dark Sorcerer and Lothonos heard the creature’s scream. Heard Nelciana’s.

A fissure formed in the ground between Nelciana and the Dark Sorcerer, knocking her back from the burning male.

She rolled, toward Lothonos. Toward the edge of the cliffs and the rocks below.

He ran. He had to get to her before the Dark Sorcerer recovered. The creature was Laquazzeana. Nelciana’s flames would not kill him. But the sorcerer could still turn on
her.

The Dark Sorcerer’s scream continued, rising in strength until the sound drowned out all others.

Dark clouds rolled overhead. The demon army below them echoed their master’s screams.

Lothonos eardrums burst, but he kept going. His fingers were broken from the force of his grip on the rocks.

Screams of pain from the Druids and Witches and the warriors sent by their allies rose as the Dark Sorcerer’s magic traveled from his mouth to their ears.

Nelciana had hurt him, though, hadn’t she?

Had she gravely wounded him? Pride in his mate filled him for a moment. Pride and fear and desperation and love—so many damned emotions filled him he almost choked on them.

The Dark Sorcerer wasn’t attacking her again. Just the scream. Constant screaming Lothonos didn’t stop to think about what it meant.

The fissure widened between her and Haliophux. She lay on the ground unmoving. Lothonos reached her, just as the Dark Sorcerer disappeared in a strange cloud of ash and ether. Where he went, Lothonos didn’t know. Whether he would live was unclear as well.

But it didn’t matter. Only she did.

She was unconscious now; had she came toward him of her own free will or had it been a trick of the rolling earth beneath her?

Lothonos scooped her into his arms and used the best skill he had ever learned.

He flashed them both to the healer’s city of Dekimos in the world just recently named.

To a city in utter chaos.