The Witch (2 page)

And Jushua had to respect that.

“What business?” He looked at Nalik again. Two other males walked at his side, which Jushua vaguely recognized. Barlaam, the Dardaptoan Healer, and a Lupoiux alpha named Taniss.  They spent most of their time at the castle of the High King.

It was taking Jushua a bit of time getting used to the idea that demons—beings he had once battled ferociously in his previous land—ruled the land he now occupied. Where he’d recently brought the tribe of four hundred that had grown to number over two hundred thousand. 

Demons were now allies. Friends.

It would take him some time to get used to that.

“A return trip to the Gaian world. There are rumored to be some of our Kinds left behind. A few tribes. We return to Dardanos to retrieve some things for Kennera, as well,” Nalik said. “Some souls that she wishes to make reborn.”

The other males’ unease with such a task was clear on their faces. Jushua leaned against the handle of his sword, and studied them. For the first time in a while he felt a small stirring of intrigue.

He had never been to the Gaian world. The land of humans had a reputation amongst the worlds he had traveled.

And it wasn’t a good one.

Filth, rot, misuse—he’d heard all sort of such allegations. And some of the younger Dardaptoans who had been born in the last century in that human world had not impressed him overly much. He’d welcome the chance to ascertain why. “When do we go?”

Nalik looked at him, his eyes hooded. “I knew you would want to go. But it is Dekimos Kennera states can bring back the souls.”

Jushua smirked. “Then I shall go along and protect my elder brothers. It is my solemn duty.”

“Flying rat’s ass, it is.” Nalik had his measure, and Jushua knew it. “You just don’t want to stay here.”

Jushua would not deny it. Not with the reborned brother and the…well…the reformed one. They could both read him far too well, even in the short time since they had bene reunited. “There is too much cooing. Babes and females and the like.”

“And that settles upon you, like it does me as well,” Dekimos said.  “We all know how fleeting it can be. Know what we have lost.”

“Yes, we do.” Nalik said no more. Jushua knew some of his history. It was common gossip amongst the people that Nalik led.

Nalik ruled the city of Thrun with a fair way, he and his female witchie, the plantling Cassandra. Jushua had taken a week from his own new home of Galaosis to speak with Nalik and some others of things.

Things they all knew were to come. Like battles and wars led by dark sorcerers who should have been long ago defeated, yet somehow still weren’t.

And…to handle mundane things like adequate water systems and food stores for two sister cities that totaled nearly six hundred thousand Dardaptoans now. A good half of those Dardaptoans who were used to the finer things from the worlds and who spent much of their days complaining.

Six hundred thousand who looked to Jushua and Nalik to lead them in the dark days that were coming.

Dekimos spent most of his days in a different world, preparing the Healing city led by young Bronwen to receive the wounded they all knew were to come.

But Jushua knew that his reborned sister Bronwen was destined to fail. There would be so little wounded sent to her.

Most would simply be dead. Burned to ash beneath that dark bastard’s fire from the Three Hells.

Jushua would never wish that fate on anyone—except the Dark Sorcerer himself.

In five thousand years, he had never learned the bastard’s name. He had searched for some clue of the monster’s origins but had found nothing.

Jushua feared he would never get the answers he sought.

“To the human world, then.”

Loren wasn’t exactly certain what it was she was looking for in the city of Dardanos. But there had been many times, in many lifetimes, where she had traveled without knowing exactly what it was the Four Fates had in store for her. She knew only to follow. And that all would be revealed to her when it was supposed to. It had taken her first fifty lifetimes to figure that out, but for the last thirty she’d followed the Four Fates’ guiding hands whenever she’d had to make a choice.

She and her mother picked their way through the ruins as carefully as possible.

Something was waiting for her.

She didn’t know what.

“What are we doing here again?” her mother asked. “I thought this was supposed to be a simple day shopping trip for supplies. Not an excursion into a disaster zone.”

“I don’t know. There is something here I am meant to find.” But what? And where was she supposed to go first?

“Well, better find it, then. I don’t like being out here this late. Anything can happen.”

Her mother would always worry. Especially now.

This lifetime she had gotten lucky in the mother she’d been given. And Loren knew it. There had been more than a few who had thought nothing of abusing the child she had been. There had been a few who had died early and Loren hadn’t gotten to know them. She’d always felt that loss, and probably always would.

There had been a few lifetimes where she had been the one to pass early.

Most, she had loved. But she’d known that she would lose them, eventually. That they would just be memories of loved ones she’d lost. That she would grieve for. Hundreds of years later, and she still grieved some of those mothers.

It was just the way her particular curse worked.

Death would find her, everywhere. But she would remember…

That was what the Dark Sorcerer had vowed as he’d killed her.

Sometimes she wished she’d had the foresight to sling mud at his mouth or something before he’d attacked and cursed her.

Other times she knew that the events of all those years ago had happened for a reason.

And a destiny.

If she believed in such a thing.

Which she always had.

“So…?” Her mother’s question was pointed, and Loren realized her attention had wandered inward again.

“I’m sorry, Mama.” She smiled at her mother. “I just…”

“Heavy thoughts, I know. So…”

So.

They were there. And there wasn’t much of anything left to look at.

The once glorious hotel where two of her best friends had gotten married was mostly destroyed. Barely a brick remained of the once marvelous portico. In fact, the entire west wing of the building was nothing but rubble.

The town behind it wasn’t as destroyed. It looked like a few buildings still stood.

One look at it and she knew that was where she was supposed to go. “This way.”

Jushua picked is way through the rubble of the Gaian City, finding it no more intriguing than any other ruined city he’d had explored. Why had the healer Barlaam sought this place out again? Just for the lost souls to be reborned?

Where once it might have been a decent place—although nothing like some of the places seen in Evalanedea even five thousand years ago—now it was just…trash.

Most of the houses, wooden boxes of no special design, were burned and destroyed. Most of the other buildings, as well.

One in particular actually piqued his interest and he headed up the stone steps. It at least looked like something he may have seen before. It had the curved columns that reminded him of his ancient home and it was inviting and beautiful.

From the inscription on the front in letters as tall as he, he knew it was a temple. To his twin.

Hard to believe that she was worshiped by her people, but she was. He used to tease her when they were children, used to call her and Nelci the great pampered princesses.

In a way, that was exactly what they had become, wasn’t it?

Most of the temple was still intact, though it had sustained some damage in the attack the healer Barlaam had told him about.

Nalik and a few others had been targeted by a Gaian Dardaptoan who had sought out the powerful relics that his sister had ordered contained within the city. Nalik had been poisoned by some seriously strong Druidic magic. Had he not been a Laquazzeana of some serious strength, Nalik would still be paralyzed by that poison.

He and those with him has survived the attack, but the city had not.

The attacker had possessed a small bit of the Dark Sorcerer’s fire. That had been what had truly drawn Jushua to this world this day. Curiosity and a thirst for the knowledge to one day quench that flame.

How had the Dardaptoan scum found such a thing? In all of Jushua’s knowledge no one but the Dark Sorcerer had ever been able to command the fires of the Three Hells.

That a weak Gaian Dardaptoan had managed it with the help of an unknown Druid concerned him.

Greatly.

**

Loren knew exactly where she was going the minute she stepped into the center of what had once been the town. “There. The temple.”

“This is where your friends ended up, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Becca and Jade married Dardaptoans.”

“And just what exactly are Dardaptoans? You’ve never told me.”

“Because it was safer if you didn’t know. At least, it used to be safer. The world has changed recently.”

“Why?”

“That answer I don’t have. And Mom…Dardaptoans are vampires, I guess you’d call them. They won’t kill you. But they do drink human blood. On occasion.”

Her mother’s eyes widened and her face paled, making her dark hair even more of a contrast. “Vampires are real?”

“So are werewolves. And Druids. Dad was a Druid, I think.” How much did her mother know, anyway? “Did he ever say anything?”

Her mother was quiet while they walked toward the temple at least a quarter mile in the distance. It sat upon a small hill, making it visible for a long distance. It drew her, that building, though she could not explain why. “I knew there was something different about your father. But I didn’t care. I loved him so much. And he loved us. When he was killed, I…just fell apart.”

“No, you didn’t. I always thought you held it together for me.”

“Of course I did. When you could see me. But at night…I missed him so much. I still do. That same difference he had in him, I see it in you. But it is more in you, too. And that terrifies me. And now you tell me werewolves and vampires are real. Talk about turning my world on its side.”

“I’m sorry. If there was a way to protect you from all of this somehow, I would. You know that, right?”

“Do me a favor, sweetheart. Don’t protect me. Because if you even try I’m going to freak out more. It’s kind of what mothers do. Especially when their children disappear for three weeks, with only a cryptic note.
Dear Mom, have some things to do in another world. I’ll be back as fast as I can. PS, feed the goldfish.
Just doesn’t cut it. At least not with this mom.”

“I was trying to keep you safe, and I wasn’t given much warning. Technically, I’m still supposed to be there. I just came back because I knew you were alone. And no matter what, I love you most of all. Remember that forever, will you?”

“Someday you’ll find a man you’ll love even more than you do me, you know.”

Loren smiled. “Probably not. Guys are just too much trouble.” Especially with what she was afraid she was about to do. How would she even explain it?
Dear hot guy, I need to go to another realm, so I can’t join you at the football game?
Yeah, so not going to happen. And those that she had met in the other realm, Levia, had not exactly impressed her. They were mostly Lupoiux werewolves and a few Dardaptoans, and all were as different from her as any Kind could be. She was Druid Witch, and they were most content with their own Kind. Isolated, loners, quiet and appreciative of the natural world around them. That’s who she was, who the people she came from was.

It was just the way of things. Besides, Lupoiux and Dardaptoan were fated bond types. The Four Fates had picked out each mate for every Lupoiux and Dardaptoan ever born.

And she knew she was not to be the mate of one of those.

No, as far as she knew, she did not have a mate in this lifetime. She had far too much at stake to be distracted by a man. Even a destined one.

**

The temple was beautiful. They didn’t enter the front, but headed toward the back of the building. Loren didn’t know how she knew, but she was able to easily lead the way to the hidden back entrance.

Once inside she knew her mother felt the same awe that Loren did. The temple was relatively untouched by whatever fire had ravaged the town. It was one huge cavern, with ceilings at least fifty feet high. Curved columns decorated with carved leaves of some type of palm she didn’t recognize held up the ceiling. There was an odd map painted in gold—probably real gold—and black on that ceiling. The map was familiar to her, and she studied it for a moment, knowing it was important. And that she had seen it many times before.