08 Alaska Kingdom Page 4

  Gideon didn’t know how this Dragonsoul was still standing, given the horrific nature of his wounds. And yet, Zothora had blessed Gideon with a second life. Gideon reached out with his mind to feel at the core of the figure. Inside him, there was an Animus core, not just that of a Dragonskin or a lucky human, but that of a Dragonsoul, a Dragonlord.

  The knight spoke. “So, Gideon Scaramanga and Karlos Butcher, Mother says you might want me in the gang.”

  Butcher lumbered over and sniffed at the newcomer. The snuffling was as loud as the chatter of Ulita’s wings in her Shaze form.

  The knight petted the bug bear’s spiny hide. Poison coated the gauntlets.

  You are Terror Trio once more. Zothora touched both Gideon’s and Butcher’s minds.

  Gideon grinned, showing his needle teeth. “What would you have us do, Mother?”

  Ulita answered. “We are creating a new Prosha to replace Tara Heridan. You will find her. You will kill her. You will find the Drokharis child. You will kill him. And if you find any humans in your hunt, you will kill them as well.”

  “Every fucker we kill will be a gift to Mother,” the Dragonknight said.

  Gideon liked their new member. He had power Kai Charon could never have possibly even dreamed of having.

  Chapter Five

  THAT NIGHT, WHEN STEVEN returned to the main terminal of DIA with Uchiko and Sabina, he found the rest of his Escort in the main lobby, the receiving area, near the two escalators that led down to the train tracks below. They’d made the lobby comfortable with nice chairs, plenty of snacks, and bottles of water. Tessa had enchanted lamps to give the place a warm light. They’d made sure to cover any windows to keep themselves hidden.

  Their bedrooms were a level above, in the old offices, on the west side of the terminal. They were eleven people in all, including the two women in enchanted handcuffs, Nefri and Heridan.

  They’d taken Nefri’s weapons from her, the carbon fiber compound bow, her arrows, and a wide variety of knives. Two were interesting, dark steel in the shape of broad leaves.

  Heridan stood when Steven approached.

  She ran to him, tackled him, and looked into his eyes. Her auburn hair, a beautiful red-brown color, was clean, washed with care, by Tessa, of course, who had babied the new woman. Heridan’s eyes were green with flecks of brown. “I must talk with you.”

  Hard black skin erupted around her face, and small, inch-long horns broke from her scalp.

  “I must kill you,” she hissed.

  Steven shifted into his True Form. He seized her in his claws. “I’ll be back!” he thundered.

  He pumped his wings and carried the woman out of the lobby, soared above a walkway near the Taco Bang and the Senor Chang’s, and landed on the entryway of the bridge that connected the main terminal to the A Gates.

  He set her down, turned into a Homo Draconis, and walked her through the remnants of the security station, until they stood in front of the windows that showed them the tarmac below. Decaying planes sat on flat tires.

  Steven shifted human. “What’s it going to be, Tara, kill me or talk to me?”

  The black chitin and horns were gone from her face. “Steven, Nefri is like us. She has”—her lips trembled—“Morta.”

  Steven went to speak.

  Heridan raised a hand and backed away. “Steven. That name. Steven. I knew the Steven Drokharis of this world.”

  She meant Gaia Beta’s Steven, not Spider Finger, who’d sacrificed himself to give them a fighting chance on the Battle World.

  “No, I can’t talk about him, not yet,” she whispered.

  “Tara, we need your help.”

  The woman gulped in a breath. “Heridan. I’m not Tara. I can’t be Tara. Not with what I’ve become.”

  She was the most lucid he’d ever seen her. Intelligence was back in her eyes, after weeks of that blank look.

  “Heridan then.” Steven thought about going to her, holding her hand. He stayed back. This strange woman looked like she wanted space.

  “Nefri is like us,” Heridan repeated. She looked at her hands, maybe wondering why they weren’t claws, and then she touched her face, feeling at her scalp. “I don’t have my horns. I’m me for the moment. It’s impossible, Steven, I want Zothora to come to me. I’m afraid she’ll come.”

  Steven recalled Sabina had said Heridan was being torn in two. “You’re afraid of her. And yet, there’s a part of you that loves her.”

  Heridan nodded miserably. “I haven’t told her I’m here. You’re going to kill her, aren’t you?”

  “We’re going to try. We’re not ready yet. We have Icharaam’s Orb, but we need help first. I’m trusting what Spider Finger told us.” He was careful not to mention Quinnestri or the Lyra.

  “I will continue to fight. Have you accessed your Morta core yet?” she asked.

  “Not yet,” Steven admitted. “It’s different from my Animus.”

  “You gave me Animus energy. I gave you a Morta core.” The woman’s unexpected smile seemed genuine. “That’s not fair.”

  Steven had to laugh. “I don’t think much of what happened to you has been fair. Can you help me?”

  Heridan’s lip trembled. “I can’t even help myself. Don’t kill me yet.”

  “If I did, Tessa would shoot me.”

  “She would.” Heridan closed her eyes. When she opened them, her eyes were black. “If Nefri has Morta inside her, she is evil. She will turn on you. You can’t trust her.”

  “That’s what everyone keeps saying. But she wants what we want—to kill Zothora and end the Zothoric. The enemy of our enemy is our friend.”

  “I hope that’s true,” Heridan whispered. Her black eyes pierced him. “What do you see when you try and access your Morta core?”

  Steven paused, and he pulled up the Morta skill tree.

  HE SAW THE GENERAL shape, he saw where his abilities would be, but there was nothing there. Even seeing the Morta skill trees put a bad feeling in him.

  “Link minds with me,” Heridan urged. “Let me see what you are seeing.”

  As an act of good faith, he cast a Divination spell and then brought in AnimusChain, joining their consciousnesses together.

  BlackBlood. Heridan’s voice in his head was full of emotion. That is the first ability. I don’t know how I know, but I know. I haven’t tried it. I don’t trust myself.

  Thank you, Steven sent. Thank you for being strong and fighting yourself for us.

  Let me see your Animus skill tree.

  He switched to the Path of the Twin-Souled Dragon.

  HE’D HAD TROUBLE PULLING it up after the fight at the Leadville Cruxis, but now, it came up easily.

  He’d mastered all the abilities on most of the branches, but he’d not tried StellarFlight yet. And there was the issue of his Exhalants. He’d struggled with each and every one of them. In the past weeks, he’d finally learned how to use Toxicity in his fighting the Shaze, since it was powerful weapon that killed multiple targets. He was in the process of learning ArcticWind, yet that was a challenge. He had to turn the fire inside him into ice.

  Heridan let out a sob. You have skills I’ve not seen. Two heads on the dragon, but they are beyond me. I was a Magician, I had access to the Veneficium abilities, the right wing of the dragon. Never Porta, not Porta, never again. Cracks, cracks in the world, in the universe. We’ll all die.

  We won’t. Steven made sure she felt his strength, his faith, in himself and his Escort. We have Icharaam’s Orb. Tessa has started studying it, and already, we are one step closer. The Animus issue we’ve had on the Battle World will be taken care of. We can win this war.

  Heridan held him, and he felt so close to her. She kissed him, and she tasted wonderfully human. He smelled the bath soaps Tessa had used to wash her. Her lips were soft, slightly wet.

  Steven felt her energy, a strange mixture of Animus and Morta; both of his cores reacted to the kiss. They were passing energy between them.

  Heridan felt it, and sighed. Her voice had calmed down in his mind. I feel the connection with you. I feel as I did when I was in the Cruxis, being remade. You offer me a home. But you are only a Dragonsoul, not even a full Alpheros. Zothora is a goddess, Steven, ageless, timeless, everywhere. She is everywhere.

  She’s not here. Thanks to you.

  Heridan held him tightly, and then she relaxed. I’m going to go away again. Keep me handcuffed. Keep me safe from myself. I am fighting for you, Steven, and for now, I see I might be able to win. You’ve given me hope. Thank you.

  Then she went limp. Chitin covered her skin. Her hair receded, disappearing into her scalp as her hands became cruel claws. She grew three times heavier as her exoskeleton thickened.

  Steven turned into a Homo Draconis and carried her all the way back to the lobby, then thought against it.

  “Divinatio,” he muttered. He called to Uchiko, asking her to keep watch over Heridan while he and the rest of his Escort talked about their next steps. He felt bad about the request, since they’d brought the ninja from outside to be a part of their meeting.

  Sabina’s mind reached into his. Uchiko will talk with you all. I will watch over Heridan. She showed you things, didn’t she?

  She did. I don’t understand everything, but I have some ideas. Steven reached his room and laid her on the king-sized bed.

  Sabina walked in, her eyes glowing green. She is with us. I told you. She smiled at being right.

  She’s a fighter, Steven agreed.

  She is. She has to be. We all have to be warriors. This is the Battle World after all.

  Not you, Sabina. I won’t risk you and Reggie again. I won’t.

  If all goes like I think it will, you won’t have to. Sabina sat on the bed, caressing the carapace covering the woman. The Latina Magician sang her child’s song. Steven never got tired of it.

  He left her, knowing he was one thought away if Heridan caused them any more trouble.

  On his way back to the lobby, he went over his conversation with Heridan. She wouldn’t be able to help him with his Morta core, not yet, but that kiss had caused a reaction. If Nefri’s touch brought similar results, he might be able to use that to gain control of his new abilities. He imagined himself covered in the Baxter armor, winging tentacles around him, lashing out with the dark energy. It would be a nice new skill to have, part armor, part weapon.

  Other thoughts came to him. Heridan had known Steven Drokharis. That wasn’t hard to believe. She’d been a vassal, a Magician, working for the Battle World’s Stefan Drokharis. Steven hoped, one day, he’d be able to meet that Dragonlord in person, if he was still alive. He thought he was.

  And what was his other self like in this world? Heridan hadn’t wanted to talk about him, and Steven wondered what that might mean. Good or bad, it was definitely a mystery.

  He was feeling good until he reached the lobby.

  Uchiko had Nefri by the robes. The ninja was back, about to punch the smirk off the dark elf’s face. How could Uchiko be so upset when Nefri couldn’t talk?

  Tessa’s hands flashed pink, and Uchiko was lifted up in the air.

  The Wayne twins were doing their nails, files working in unison. The women had strawberry-blonde hair, freckled skin, and eyes the color of cedar. Each wore a single golden vambrace on a slim arm. Those weren’t just jewelry, but Icharaam’s Vambraces, and they helped them do amazing things. Not that they were springing into action at that moment.

  Nefri leapt to her feet and raised the handcuffs over her head. Black smoke swept out of her robes, coalescing into tendrils that took hold of the chain. The runes on the handcuffs flashed pink and winked off. Nefri’s Morta coils ripped the metal chains apart.

  Aria was already on her feet, going for the dark elf. A tentacle caught her and flung her back. By the time the Indian woman turned into her True Form, Nefri had already rolled away. Back on her feet, she threw out a hand. A coil of smoke—or was that BlackBlood?—snatched the Hellstring out of Uchiko’s grip.

  Steven also turned into his True Form, stepping back and readying ArcticWind, if he could manage it. A wall of ice would stop Aria from blasting Nefri with fire. And it would stop the dark elf’s arrow from finding its mark.

  Mouse whipped the Slayer Blade out of its sheath. “For the love of biscuits, we invited the enemy in for dinner. Well, looks like dark elf sushi is on the menu!”

  She went forward until she too was grabbed by Tessa’s pink telekinesis, a form of Magica Defensio the barista had perfected.

  “Oh, come on!” Mouse complained. Her cloak wrestled around her, trying to break Tessa’s hold on her.

  Uchiko also wrestled against the magic.

  Zoey stood back, eyes going from Mouse, to Tessa, to the dark elf, who had the Hellstring pulled back, a shaft of darkness aimed at Aria, who stood getting ready to bathe Nefri in flames.

  The twins continued to file their nails.

  Pru turned to her sister. “Pandore, carnal red, or her majesty’s red?”

  Chazzie made a face. “You always make it too hard, sis.”

  “Uh-huh. That’s what all the boys say,” Pru purred. “I want red, red. I’m gonna try pandore. You try carnal red. That suits you.”

  “Like a carnalian?”

  “Like meat.”

  “This don’t look like a rare steak to me. These human cosmetic companies don’t make no kind of sense.” Chazzie clicked her tongue. “And carnal has to do with sexual appetites.”

  “Nu-huh.” Pru admired her fingers. “Comes from the Latin root of carnis. You can look it up.”

  “No, I can’t. We ain’t got the goddamned internet on this planet.”

  Pru exhaled a disheartened sigh. “I know. I hate not being on our own Earth. Hate it like I hate thin gravy.”

  Steven cast a Divination spell and reached out to the dark elf. Stop, Nefri.

  That Nipponese woman. She hates me. I did nothing. She was going to strike me! The dark elf took her firing hand off the Hellstring. The dark arrow vanished, as did her tentacles.

  Tessa set Uchiko and Mouse on the floor. Zoey went and held Mouse, who gently pushed the bear girl away. “I’m okay, Zoey. But nobody sends their vomit fingers at my girl Aria. Nobody.”

  Nefri glared at Mouse. But then, she had glares for everyone.

  Aria shifted into her human form, dressed in a red gown with matching red heels. “Steven, it is obvious she doesn’t want to be here. Why are we risking our lives having her here?”

  “Easy, Aria,” Tessa said. “We need her. And I saw the whole thing. Nefri kept smiling at Uchiko, and not in a very nice way.

  Steven stood above them as a huge black dragon. Is this true, Nefri?

  I wanted to see what she would do. I found it entertaining. Fun. That is a word. I will use it. It is shorter. Smiling at her was fun.

  No more of that.

  Nefri made a kissy face at him.

  Uchiko took an aggressive step to smack the archer again.

  Tessa was ready. “Defensio!” She grabbed the ninja again in a pink force field.

  “Everyone stop!” Zoey marched into the middle of them. “I hate this. We are a family, and families don’t fight.” She went up to Nefri and actually sniffed her. “You smell good, but I don’t know if you are good. Are you?”

  Nefri rolled her eyes. She lifted a hand and waved as if to say, fifty-fifty.

  Are you good? Steven asked.

  Nefri had an eye roll for him. I am bored. We wait here when we could be finding a place. To ambush Zothora. We have the Hellstring. We have Icharaam’s Orb. We can kill her.

  Mouse went and took Uchiko’s hand. “Listen, I’m not crazy about Lady Drizzt, but we can’t go around punching each other. Believe me, it doesn’t go well. I nearly beat the twins bloody when they first got here.”

  Pru pointed her file at Chazzie. “Do you remember Mouse ever coming at us?”

  “Mouse? Small blonde girl? Does Steven have a blonde wife? I have no memory of that.”

  Mouse went, grabbed both women’s heads, and squished their faces against hers. “See? Now we’re best friends.”

  “We’re gonna have to shoot her now,” Pru said.

  “Mouse? Oh, you mean Melissa! Yeah, we’ll have to shoot her.”

  Mouse stepped back, laughing.

  “Everyone stop!” Tessa called out. She set Uchiko in her own chair and removed the pink fingers holding her.

  Nefri returned to her seat, still holding the Hellstring, until Tessa grabbed it with her spell and gave it back to Uchiko.

  Aria sat, legs crossed, knees to the side. She was frowning.

  Mouse took a seat next to Uchiko. Zoey pushed herself, not too subtly, into the same seat as Mouse. It was like watching a golden retriever take over an already crowded couch. Zoey wanted to be next to her best friend.

  Steven shifted human, stepped forward, and stayed standing. He crossed his arms. Tessa walked into the middle of the room. “Something important just happened. Mouse made some sort of reference that I didn’t get. This concerns me, deeply.”

  Mouse grinned. “Oh, Tessa, R.A. Salvatore’s books are amazing. You are missing out.”

  Tessa inhaled and exhaled. “Okay, so not only do I have to unlock the inner workings of Icharaam’s Orb, I now need to find a bookstore and hope they carry R.A. Salvatore books in this version of Earth. Wonderful.”

  “Why did we bring that thing here?” Uchiko spat.

  Nefri fluttered her eyes at the ninja.

  You’re not helping, Steven sent to the dark elf.

  What? I have something in my eyes. They are purple. Aren’t they a gorgeous color purple? I am very pretty.

  “Why are we wasting our time on his troublesome elf?” Aria asked.

  “Ugh.” Chazzie shook a bottle of fingernail polish. “Come on, ladies, isn’t it obvious?”