God of the Abyss (50 page)

I sent my magic, as calm as I could. I focused on the
springs. Even in the winter, when snow would fall and accumulate on the rocks,
the water would be hot. Even in drought, when there was no water in the well,
the springs would run. It was a place of magic and peace where I could focus on
my studies. I went there often as Edward’s apprentice, but afterwards it was
mostly because Sammy loved to swim so much.

I focused on the springs so strongly that I didn’t
realize Mordon had stopped growing until he had shrunk back to normal. It
occurred to me too late that I could have just flashed him somewhere that he
could shift.

“Are you okay now?” I asked.

He was breathing heavily, but was calm enough to
shift his eyes and teeth back. I wasn’t going to fault him for keeping his
claws. “I’m okay.”

I let my shield over the boys disintegrate. It was a
testament to how much I had grown that I could keep the energy shield up in the
back of my mind while focusing on something completely different. It was also
dangerous, because if I could do something so powerful without a thought…

“It is your most natural instinct to protect and
heal,”
Mordon said in my mind. I didn’t know if he knew my thoughts or just
me.

I went to Emrys, who was badly burned, and healed
him. After all, Mordon was right. “Why do you try so hard to kill Samorde? I
thought you were kind and wise,” I said. “Maybe a bit daft, but a trustworthy
person at least.”

His expression was somewhere between ashamed and
furious. “He killed my mate and daughter.”

“It was self-defense!” Samorde pleaded, remorsefully.

I had no right to stick my nose in their business. I
had nothing to do with it and should keep it that way… but I am who I am and I
never keep my nose out of it. All I could think of was Rojan’s mate being taken
from him, and what my life would be like without Divina. “You had to
kill
them to defend yourself?”

“Emrys’s mate had been enthralled by a witch who was
angry with Samorde for not wanting her,” Ghidorah explained. “She would have
killed him until her last breath. When she failed, Emrys’s daughter was easily
convinced to seek revenge. Magic is not innately good or bad.
People
are
innately good or bad. Samorde is good. He takes a punishment upon himself to
relieve others, even when he did nothing wrong, and has never taken life unless
it was necessary.”

I locked eyes with Ghidorah. There was another reason
I let the boys come with Mordon and me. Divina was a god, so her magic was
undeniably powerful, but Sammy wasn’t even half Iadnah. I had to know if his
protection over Ron was strong. This was more important to me than Samorde.

Ghidorah studied Ron for a moment, and then glared.
He glared long enough that worry settled in my gut, before he turned back to
me. “Are you doing this deliberately to drive me insane? I said I would not
judge your child; you didn’t need to block him like that. Are you going to do it
one by one, where every time I meet you, someone else is hidden?”

Mordon laughed. “Now he knows how to get to you,” he
warned Ghidorah. Then he sneezed. “I thought your cure fixed me!” He scowled at
me as if I were the one to make him allergic.

“No, of course not. That little poison? I mean
potion? No… That was a temporary fix… well… maybe more like an experiment. A
test. And you passed.”

“I’m still allergic to him. How did I pass?” he
asked.

I slapped his shoulder. “You’re still alive, aren’t
you?”

“Did you poison me?” he asked. I should have been
upset, for he didn’t seem surprised. I couldn’t believe Mordon would suspect me
of poisoning him.

“No… maybe a little… but not all at once. A bunch of
times, really.” I was teasing him; I could no more endanger him than he could
me.

“What was in that bottle you gave me?” he asked.

“You really don’t want to know. I mean, seriously,
you don’t. However, I couldn’t let you get yourself killed to save your
girlfriend.” I pulled a bottle out of my bag. “This is a potion Divina and I
came up with. When mixed with a plant that you are allergic to, it can work as
an allergy medication. When mixed with a poison, it creates an antidote. I used
it to build up your immunity to the dragon poison.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me?” he asked.

“Because you would ask what’s in it.”

“What’s in it?”

I shook my head. “You don’t want to know,” I warned.

“I really do.”

I sighed. “Plants, magic, sugar, antihistamines,
pseudoephedrine sulfate, and… just a little tiny bit of… miniscule really…” He
glared at me. “Dragon blood,” I said. I could hear Rojan growling inside my
friend, not at me but at the spilled blood of his kind. “Dragon blood has
always been used in magic for healing potions. The dragon doesn’t need to be
killed for a little of their blood.”

“You let her talk you into this,” he growled, turning
away.

Figures, Mordon would blame Divina for corrupting me.
“Just because I hate the way animals are raised and butchered on Earth doesn’t
mean I want to be a vegetarian. Divina herself never…” I trailed off. She was a
god, so I didn’t know that she had never killed a dragon for any reason. “She
never killed a dragon for magic.”

He studied me for a moment before sighing. “How would
you feel if it were human blood?”

“I donated blood before, and I received donated
blood. What does it matter if the blood goes into the body from the IV or is
used in a healing potion? I know blood sacrifices aren’t the same thing, but
it’s the wrong of the person who kills, not the blood itself. I would be okay.”
Besides, I would have to be okay with it; I
have
volunteered my own
blood for Divina’s potions.

“Then I will be. But the next time you give me a
poison or potion, leave out the blood,” he said. I nodded. He looked like he
was going to forget about it for a second, and then he frowned. “What does this
have to do with the dragon poison?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” I asked. Everyone, not just
Mordon, shook their heads. “Ghidorah, I have been to Skrev twice. Never once
was I offered water. Neither was Mordon, even when a village wolf was trying to
get into his pants. I never saw water anywhere.”

“The people of Skrev are survivors. We need little
water.”

“What do you use to wash your clothes?”

“Oils from antibacterial plants.”

“What do you use to bathe?”

“The same oils. When it rains, we capture the water
for drinking and cooking. Otherwise we have little use for water. Sometimes, we
even need to use the plants for the water we drink.”

“These plants don’t have a strong smell? You don’t
exactly smell like someone who never washed with water before.”

“Of course not. We would be prey if we smelled.
Instead they mask our scent, kill harmful germs and parasites, and keep us
clean.”

“Were these plants ever exported?”

He shrugged. “I suppose. I don’t know why they would be;
people of other worlds prefer to use water and soap.”

“And one final question.”

“Promise?”

“Are there any dragons on Skrev?”

“No way. Dragons would be an ecological disaster on
Skrev.”

I pointed to Ghidorah and smiled at Mordon’s
astonishment. “Meet your dragon poison.”

“But we were there nearly five years ago and nobody
caused me to have a sneezing fit,” he argued.

“Actually, I think he might be right,” Ghidorah
acknowledged thoughtfully. “While the entire surface of the world provides
little water and we all use plants to clean ourselves, the same plants do not
grow worldwide. Vaksen is a preferred plant where I live. But you knew those
people, correct? The woman and the man whose powers you stripped. You had met
them before?” he asked. We both nodded. “I assume that is the only area you
visited. Those lands do not grow the vaksen. It is more like a cactus of Earth
than the jungle plants you were exposed to.”

“We visited a snake village, too.”

“Most snakes are jungle dwellers. It is very likely
that you were not far from where we met.”

Mordon considered that for a minute, so I turned my
attention to Sammy. He looked like he wanted to talk to Vivian and Nano, but
Ron held his hand tightly. Vivian and Nano were avoiding their son’s gaze.

“The gates have been closed,” I said.

“Do the gods still suspect us?” Shiloh asked.

“Who was attacking us? Was it Vretial? Who opened the
gates?” Azyle asked.

“The gods shouldn’t suspect you anymore. It wasn’t a
person attacking you or opening the gates, it was the natural force of the
universe. And Vretial…”

I couldn’t really tell them he was the good guy now.
I was too young for them to believe in; they needed to hear it from their own
gods in their own time. Vretial was no longer an enemy, but they wouldn’t take
my word for it. If I told them what Ron told me, that there was another threat,
they would assume it is Vretial.

Right now, the dark god can be of more help to me
if the others aren’t aware of him.

“Who is a better ally? The Guardians who pledged
to save the worlds, or the god who killed your father?”
Mordon asked,
obviously having heard my thoughts.

“Right now, I don’t know who this enemy is. I need
all the allies I can get, and if that means playing both sides…”

“Can you do that?”

Could I? Would I be hurting the Guardians to lie
and keep secrets?
I scanned the faces of the distressed, hopeful Noquodi. I
trusted them to protect their own worlds, but there was one thing this entire
mess taught me; the Guardians were not a team. We could work together, even
fight together for the same cause, but only time would tell if things could
change. Until then, I would never trust them.

“I can,”
I told him. “Vretial isn’t going to
be attacking anyone any time soon. You are all free to get back to your lives,”
I said. Mordon nudged me and I rolled my eyes. “However, I am in agreement with
the Guardian council. I know there will be many arguments; we are men. And I
know I’m a small fry in the age department, but I think all of us together will
be able to do anything, when individually we could not. And even though my son
isn’t a Guardian yet, I want him to know there will be someone at his side
besides his immediate family.”

I wasn’t lying. I would work with them and help them
when I could. Mostly, I wanted Sammy to have backup. However, I wouldn’t put
all my eggs in one basket. If one of them knew more than they stated, they
would slip up eventually, and I would be watching.

Discussion broke out after that and I was able to
single Emrys and Ghidorah out for a private talk in Edward’s cabin. I asked
Mordon to watch the door and keep anyone from listening in. “I need a favor,” I
said when I was alone with the two Guardians. “When Emrys came to get us, there
was a man, the mage king.”

“Maslye, the arch mage and king of Treslen,” Emrys
supplied.

“Right.” I regarded Ghidorah. “He hurt Mordon and
Mordon’s girlfriend and she asked me to kill him. I had the chance and I
couldn’t do it. It wasn’t because of the killing, but because I thought a quick
death was too good for him. Though what he did was unforgivable, I don’t know
what the right punishment is.”

“You want me to judge him,” Ghidorah guessed.

“Please.”

“I will do it, but you may not like my judgment.”

“Azyle was right when he told me you were all putting
a lot of trust in me. Well, I trust you and your judgment. I just don’t want to
know what it is.”

“I will take him there,” Emrys said.

“Thank you.” I hesitated, realizing I was
overstepping, but I had to know. “Do you ever regret your decisions?”

“I have very little choice over what I judge. It is
what I am, and I cannot regret that. My power is to make and execute judgments,
but they are never personal. My own opinions never influence my judgments. My
power tells me what I am to do to them, so there is no decision making or
debating.”

“What about the wolf alpha?”

“Had I taken his power, he would have been killed by
his own pack. I could have killed him myself or left him for dead. As far as
the fate was concerned, it didn’t matter how I dealt the punishment, as long as
it resulted in his death.”

“I wouldn’t want to be in your place. I’m sorry to
ask this of you.” Emrys grabbed Ghidorah’s arm and they vanished. I went to the
door and opened it to see Mordon leaning against the wall. “Please send in
Vivian and Nano.”

“Will they ever be seen again?” he smirked. He didn’t
have to look to know Emrys and Ghidorah were gone. I went inside and took a
seat at the table. A minute later, the couple entered. Vivian was as pretty as
she ever was, but she looked tired. Nano was clearly worried about what I had
to tell them.

Seeing as how Ron was Sammy’s “brother,” I felt
obligated to inform them about the balance. Particularly about it possessing
Ron. Of course, Vivian didn’t like it, but Nano calmed her down.

“We decided to give Sammy up for his own good. He is
better with Dylan and Divina. We have to trust them to make parental decisions
for him,” he told his wife.

“Was it really for my own good?” Sammy asked. The
boys were standing in the doorway. “It wasn’t because I was bad? Or too weird?”

“Sammy needs to understand that he wasn’t
abandoned,”
Mordon advised.

“A warning would have been nice.”

“We never thought you were weird, and you were never
bad,” Vivian said, kneeling in front of him. “But you are powerful and we knew
we weren’t right for you. I knew Dylan when he was just a human, going through
life day to day. Even then, he was special. I saw that in you and I knew you
would grow up just like him.” She stroked his hair. “Dylan and I both had sad
and lonely lives. He never fit in on Earth; he was always weird. No matter what
I did, you would never have fit in with us, even though Nano and I love you.
Here, you have two parents powerful enough to teach you, who love you enough to
fight the gods to keep you, and who can protect you. You have a brother. You
have a good life here, better than we could ever offer you. We can’t take that
away from you.”