A Warrior's Quest (11 page)

“I
’m sorry. I don’t understand.” What was this creature? She wasn’t human, demon, Dardaptoan, or Lupoiux. Or deity. Of that Aureliana was certain. Witch or Druid, perhaps? Some of them were extremely old, after all. “Him who?”

The woman turned around and stepped closer to the fireplace that burned with a cheery fire. The cottage was so...homey. Welcoming. Was it all an illusion? Some sort of trap? The woman bent and retrieved something from somewhere Aureliana couldn
’t quite see due to the table blocking her view.

And then the woman carried the bundle toward the bed, a smile on her wrinkled face. “
Him
. A special child who holds great power. And who holds the worlds—all eighteen of them—in his tiny fists.”

She laid the bundle on Aureliana
’s lap, and unwrapped the soft blanket. A babe, no more than a day or two old, slept peacefully. One tiny fist was tucked to his cheek.

“All of those orphans and foundlings you have rescued, found loving homes for, and watched over from afar
for so many years were in preparation for this day, Aureliana Marisan Elestria Adrastos. For you have raised none from mere babe, not even the girl Bronwen, but this child shall need you the way a child needs a
mother
. From the very beginning. He is now
your
son, whereas those other babes
always
had someone else. He has none but you to love him. And love him you will. Raise him as your son. For if he is raised in love and strength, he will grow in love and strength and other things, but if he is raised in
hate
the worlds will be filled with nothing but hate and pain. So, my dear girl, the fates of the worlds rests in
your
hands now.”

The babe opened his eyes, the strangest blue she had ever seen. He blinked at Aureliana in that expression typical of newborns of any Kind. He looked much like Danae
’s young daughter, all red and wrinkled from birth. “Who is his mother? His father? He had to come from someone.”

“You need not concern yourself with them. They are not of the worlds any longer. Their destiny was to bring forth this child, and that is what they have done. Now that the time was when it should be. They had waited four thousand years to birth their only child to give to you. Honor them well.”

“But why me? How do I know this isn’t some sort of odd trick?” Or a dream, a hallucination?

“Is it? Do you not feel the truth of things in your heart? In your very depths you know this is your son. I have watched you, child, for four hundred plus years. I know what your heart longs for, and I know you will protect him and raise him correctly. And you will have young Cerridwen to help you.”

“I will?” How much help could a five-year-old be in raising a babe?

“Yes. Auri, I gots powers now.” The little girl threw back the blankets and
levitated
three inches off the bed.

“Cerridwen was chosen because of her connection
to
you, and was rewarded for her part. She was granted certain gifts, to aid you in the raising of the male child. Gifts she and her progeny will retain throughout their lives.”

“I
’m supposed to look after him. To be his big sister. That makes you my momma, too!” Tiny arms wrapped around Aureliana’s neck, but Cerridwen was careful of the babe. He was still blinking, looking around like he was taking everything in. Aureliana tightened her hold on him.

“That
’s...wonderful, sweetheart.” Aureliana looked at the old woman. “Does he have a name?”

“Arthaios Arkhun. It means ancient beginning. But you may shorten it to whatever you like, perhaps Thas? Thas would fit him beautifully when he becomes a man.”

The babe nuzzled her. Auri brushed a finger down his soft cheek. “What do I
feed
him?
What
is he? Demon, deity? How will I know what to do for him?”

“He is those things and all others. He holds the wisdom of many Kinds. And you will know what to feed him, when the time comes to feed him. This will be true in all things.”

“Where are we? What realm? How do I get him and Cerridwen home?” She
would
take this babe, could not imagine doing anything else. He did belong with her, for as long as she was living. And when the inevitable happened and the Beansidhe stole her soul she would ensure Kindara or Aodhan raised him well. He would be loved and protected no matter what creature or Kind he actually was.

How could she not?

He had no one else.

The old woman—whatever she was—was gone.

Aureliana found some cloth—lightweight but sturdy—in a trunk near the fireplace. She used it
to fashion a crude sling for the babe to ride in. “Cerridwen, we will need food and water. Can you look for water for me? Did the lady say where we are, exactly?”

“Un
-uh. Just that we’d be going home to daddy soon. Do you think he misses me yet? I miss him when he goes away. This is my first go-away. I bet he misses me.”

“I bet he does, too.” She settled the babe in the sling, and then searched the rest of the cabin. She had her sword, but no money—if this world
even used money—no coats, if it was a cold one. And it must be—why else would there be a fire burning to heat the cabin? And she desperately wished for a map of some sort.

Or a passage key in the particular color that signified an entrance to Relaklonos or Levia. Not Gaia, not with the Beansidhe waiting.
She could not risk the babes. “Cerri, we need passage keys. They are little balls the size of those cottleberries you like so much. But they are funny colors like blue or purple.” Cottleberries were the size of blueberries and perfectly rounded. They only grew in Lothicano, and Cerridwen loved them. “And they are kind of slimy when you touch them.”

As if someone was still watching them, the next small cabinet Aureliana opened contained a bowl of passage keys.

“Take them. You will need them someday soon.” The voice came again. Auri bit off another scream, and placed one hand on the babe’s back, and grabbed Cerridwen with the other. She took a second piece of the cloth and fashioned a harness. She slipped it over Cerridwen’s shoulders, then knotted it behind the little girl’s back. She tied the other end around her own waist. “Now I won’t lose you, baby.”

Aureliana didn
’t see any of the particular teal and gray passage keys that would lead her to Levia’s first opening—the realm of the gods had two—but she found one that she thought meant Relaklonos. She scooped the rest of the thirty-plus passage keys into a small bag and tucked it into the deep pocket of her
pardus
. “We need to get outside, sweetie. Are you ready for this?”

“Are we going home?”

“I hope so.” Unless she’d grabbed the wrong key, the deep red ball she’d kept out
should
take them to Cerridwen’s home realm. Hopefully.

She opened the door to the cottage and grabbed Cerridwen
’s hand. The babe slept peacefully against her chest.

The door
jerked fully open, and the vacuum sucked them all three into another cloud of nothingness.

Cerridwen screamed, and Aureliana fought the winds pulling them away from each other. She wrapped her arms around the little girl, the babe tucked between her chest and Cerridwen
’s.

And then she knew nothing at all.

***

Renakletos had his
forty best Warriors gathered and prepped for battle. Whatever and wherever that battle might be. He had sent an emissary to the Dardaptoan girl goddess, hoping maybe
she
could find her warrior girl.

They were waiting for return word before he and his men set out to where he thought the purple cloud passage key had taken his females. He would not rest until he had them where they belonged.

Rathan understood. Ren had told him what the Wolf god had told him concerning the warrior girl, and Ren’s vow to protect her. Rathan had been angry Ren had not told him sooner. But that mattered little to Ren. What mattered were his daughter and the warrior girl. They must be found, safely, and quickly.

If anything were to happen to the two of them...

Someone in the central hall was shouting, fear and screams again filling his brother’s home. He ran, his men just steps behind him.

Purple mist was filling the
main hall. Mist he had seen before. “Get back! Everyone, back!” Before someone else was swallowed by the mist.

He had his sword ready for whomever this passage key was bringing to his world.

The cloud was as gone as quickly as it had arrived.

At his brother
’s feet, dropped carelessly by some unseen wind, was the warrior girl.

His daughter was clutched to her chest.

He dropped his sword, not caring about any damage that he might have done to the priceless weapon. He scooped Cerridwen into his arms and hugged her for a few seconds. His daughter seemed quite unharmed, and was holding his neck and laughing, calling for her pup. He cut the cloth tethering her to the warrior girl and thrust her into the nearest arms—Rathan’s.

The
warrior girl wasn’t moving.

But something strapped to her chest was.

He rolled her more completely onto her back, careful not to hurt her any more than she already was.

She looked at him, but didn
’t recognize him. She hissed and bit, like one of her Kind was wont to do. He yanked her off the floor and into his arms. Ren held her as tightly as he had his daughter until she stopped fighting him. Did she realize where she was? What was clutched against her chest?  Did she know it was he who held her? “You are safe,
pet.
You are safe, you are safe. I have you now.”

Her narrow fingers clenched in the cloth covering his shoulder. “Ren.
Ren
. It is
you.
”

He had never heard her so vulnerable. He sank his fingers into her hair and kissed her forehead. “Yes, it is I. You are safe. You are both safe. You are home now,
my kitten.”

“Three.” Her grip was still tight on his shirt but she pulled back a bit. “Three.”

Ren looked down between them, at the bundle in her arms.

An infant squalled up at him.
An infant
without
horn nubs.

“What in the five hells is
that
?”

She yanked out of his arms so fast she almost fell. “He isn
’t a
that;
he’s a babe. And he’s
mine
now.”

“But where did he come from?” He pulled the bundling back and looked at the infant again. He supposed it could be a male. It had the generic appearance of any newborn.
Definitely wasn’t demon. But what Kind? “And what Kind is he?”

She soothed the child, brushed a kiss against his forehead. How bonded could she have gotten with this babe when she
’d yet been gone ten hours? “I’m not sure. I need Kindara or Thad to examine him. I’m not even sure how old he is.”

“Does he at least have a name?” Rathan asked, his hand on the warrior girl
’s shoulder as he too looked down at the spawn-of-whatever.

“Arthaios. I am calling him
Thas
.”

The prognosticator and his quiet mate were there. Kindara, her body heavy with the spawn a few weeks short of his date of deliver. Her worry and relief plain on her face for all to see. She hugged the warrior girl and clucked over the spawn in the girl
’s arms.

A spawn. He
’d been worried that something had happened to her and his daughter and they returned with a
spawn-of-whatever.

Was this part of the girl
’s destiny the Wolf god had warned him about? A spawn? Or was there more coming?

“Oh, Auri. He is beautiful.” Mickey, Theo’s mate, cuddled Thas close, her own belly protruding before her. She was due in two months; though Theo claimed she would deliver closer to a month out. Her daughter was healthy and strong, and Rathan’s healers said the same. Theo had also proclaimed it was his daughter’s destiny to be born in the demon realm. “I cannot wait until my daughter gets here.”

“She will come in her own time.” Kindara rested against Aureliana
’s pillows, far more cranky—and far less glowing—than Mickey. “And probably before mine own. Aureliana, I’d say he is only a day or two old at the most. Unless the Kind he is runs to smaller babes. Other than that, he appears perfect. I’m not so sure of his manner of arrival.”

Aureliana resisted the urge to take Thas back, to hold him close. “I am not so sure of that, either. But I know he is meant to be
mine
. At least for now.” She knew not how long she had left, but she would speak of that with no one. Not yet, not until after Kindara was delivered of her own babe. “But I am not sure what he is, or what to feed him. Or anything about him at all. I was hoping you could tell me.”