Sorceress Hunting (A Gargoyle and Sorceress Tale Book 3) (26 page)

From her position underneath the boughs of her
hamadryad, Lillian watched and waited.

And waited some more.

Dropping to all fours, she paced around the tree’s
perimeter, the weight of her new armor and swords shifted slightly as she
moved, but as promised, they made no noise. At first, the change in her balance
had felt strange to her, but she’d grown used to it quickly enough.

When her feet made to wander even as her mind was,
Gregory huffed out a warning growl. She tilted her head in acknowledgement and
stalked back to the tree’s base.

Gregory had commanded her to wait at the hamadryad’s
base, saying the tree would protect her from Commander Gryton.

Lillian wasn’t so sure. What she felt from the tree
was vague, confusing, but it didn’t feel like a warning or alarm. She’d already
told him of her concerns more than once, and he denied them flat out. She was
debating revisiting that conversation again. If there was even a slim chance
her hamadryad and Gryton were working together, it was just too important to
ignore.

“Gregory,”
she called to his
mind.
“Link with me. You need to feel my tree’s emotions.”

He turned an ear back in her direction but didn’t move
from his spot next to the stone pillar marking the north entrance to the maze.
Darkness was guarding the south entrance. They both claimed Gryton would likely
navigate the maze instead of going through it or over it since the cedar maze
had a taste for blood and magic, thanks to the leshii.

If they got through the next few hours, she planned to
thank Greenborrow for planting and designing the maze all those years ago.

Long after Lillian had given up on getting a response
from Gregory, he answered her earlier inquiry.
“The hamadryad is alert,
sensing our battle readiness, but she is not concerned. She does not consider
Gryton a dire threat to us and trusts me to be able to dispatch him.”

Lillian decided Gregory was a little rusty on
hamadryad speech.
“I think you might be a little overconfident there.”

“That is why we have Darkness,
Greenborrow, River, two dozen Fae archers, and many more human snipers.”

Lillian didn’t correct him on any of it, not even the
snipers. The soldiers, while they did carry big guns and looked like they knew
how to use them, weren’t snipers. Then again, maybe the snipers were far enough
off she couldn’t sense them.

That was all well and good, but the hamadryad might
not consider Gryton a threat because she had brought him here for some purpose.

Lillian liked her tree better before she started
thinking and waving all her magic around.

She could feel the steady current of magic as it
flowed away from the tree and on out into the Mortal Realm. Not for the first
time she wondered if the tree was planning on converting the Mortal Realm into
a second Magic Realm.

“As much as I didn’t like having command of all that
power, I think I still preferred me being the Sorceress instead of you,” she
mumbled to her tree. “At least that way, when everything goes sideways I’ll
know who to blame.” But now?

Perhaps sensing her agitation or understanding her
words, the hamadryad’s branches shuddered, and three of the closest reached out
to touch her on the shoulder.

It was a pat of reassurance.

She wasn’t reassured.

All will be as it should be.

Lillian jerked back in surprise.
Ha, and Gregory
says hamadryads can’t talk—bullshit.

The hamadryad retracted her branches and Lillian was
still mulling over the words when the tree added something else.

The bright warmth has come.

That one took her off guard for a second before she
deciphered the meaning.

Gregory had said Gryton was some kind of a fire
elemental, beyond that no one seemed to know what he was.

But bright warmth might refer to the warmth of a fire.

“Gregory! Gryton is coming. I think he’s already
within the maze.” Then as an afterthought, she shouted a final order at him.
“Do anything you must to kill Gryton.”

*****

Lillian’s words of warning and final order spurred
Gregory into a higher level of battle readiness.

Shadows and the intense power from the Magic Realm
swirled around him in a strong half-seen current. The abundance of raw power
was waiting for him to shape it into whatever spells he would require.

In truth, he didn’t know what Gryton was, or what it
would take to stop him.

He just hoped magic from the Spirit Realm wasn’t
required. Lillian’s fears about that power might actually be warranted. To call
it a second time would probably kill him. The scars were still visible against
his dark skin from his last near-fatal attempt.

There was a slight click and then a short sound of
static from the humans’ radios, and then silence again.

But it was enough to signal Gryton had been spotted.

Gran had said that was how the humans would know when
Gryton was almost upon them.

Stretching his senses out beyond the glade’s center, he
scanned for the commander within the maze’s corridors. As he’d expected, there
was no sign of his opponent.

Lips curling back from his teeth, he growled softly.
Darkness heard and answered from his position at the other end of the glade.

Whitethorn had demanded to be present though Gregory
thought it might just be to guard against any human treachery.

The other’s distrust and tension crawled across his
skin and Gregory’s wings shuddered at the prickly sensation. Jaws agape
slightly, he tasted the breeze, seeking information on his enemy. Nothing.

His ears tracked every little sound, every little
shift the humans and Fae made—though the humans were louder. Each heartbeat,
each breath, each rustle of the leaves, he looked for what didn’t belong.

Still nothing.

He sent another wave of magic outward, seeking his
prey’s thoughts, hunting intentions as he would any target. It had never failed
him before.

Why could he not sense their enemy when the hamadryad
already had?

It made no sense.

Then with a sudden dreadful understanding, he knew why
he couldn’t sense Gryton. The slave collar had another master besides Lillian.

Gryton had created them, he might be able to use it to
hide his presence. Panic threatened to steal his confidence, but he forced the
useless flood of emotions back. Reason returned. If Gryton had the power to
command him as Lillian could, his opponent wouldn’t risk a fight here, nor
would he have attempted to use Shadowlight as bait. He’d simply have commanded
Gregory to take Lillian and return with her to the Lady of Battles’ temple.

That gave him a tiny bit of comfort. Lillian started
toward him again. He glowered at her, and she halted but didn’t return to her
spot. At least she was still within the protection of the hamadryad’s branches.

His gaze was just sliding away from Lillian when
Darkness burst into motion, leaping toward the maze entrance he was guarding.

Shadows raced ten feet before him and collided with a
wall of fire which exploded outward from the maze’s opening to meet the
gargoyle’s magical attack.

Bright light seared Gregory’s eyes when the two
opposing forces met.

His vision was still obscured by dark spots, but he
was already summoning a spear of magic to penetrate his enemy’s shields.

A loud explosion of sound abused his ears as the human
soldiers nearest Gryton’s position found a target.

A shard of fire broke away from the wall and raced
toward the humans. Gregory was faster. A wall of his own power deflecting
Gryton’s away from the human soldiers and into the green cedar walls beside
them.

The cedars burst into flame. Gregory didn’t have time
to worry about the maze, but raced toward it, calling more shadow magic to mix
with the smoke and flames. When it was a sufficient churning mass to hide his
energy spears, he sent it ahead as he raced toward Gryton.

Gregory circled to the right, avoiding Gryton’s
shifting wall of flames and sent a spear of power at his enemy. Swatting the
spear aside at the last moment, Commander Gryton lunged to the side and nearly
into Darkness’ drawn sword.

Gryton deflected the point, and sidestepped away from
the gargoyle and took several steps into the glade before a rain of arrows and
bullets diverted him back toward Darkness.

Gregory leaped toward the enemy fire elemental just as
he lashed out.

Somewhere behind him, a massive ball of fire and
molten heat rose up from the ground, shaking it hard enough to lift Gregory off
his feet. He tumbled sideways through the air until he collided with the tall
cedar walls of the maze. Their springy growth softened his landing, but it took
a few precious seconds to free himself. Each second he expected to feel
Gryton’s punishing fire upon his skin.

Finally free of his green prison, he dropped to the
ground and sought out Gryton. He was only twenty feet away, still close to the
maze’s south entrance. Darkness was doggedly hounding him with little, sharp
bits of shadow magic, preventing him from getting closer to the hamadryad.

The other gargoyle was not without injury. One wing
membrane was split and blackened by fire, and he was favoring his left foreleg.
Other oozing burnt patches crisscrossed his hide.

Gryton was not without his injuries either. One of the
Fae had managed to land an arrow. The shaft went straight through Gryton’s
thigh where the armor was missing from the earlier attack on Shadowlight.

It had probably been the Fae’s last act in this life.
A glance behind confirmed what his other senses had already told him.

Many of the Fae and human soldiers had been killed,
Gryton’s formidable power having incinerated all the magical protections he and
Darkness had erected.

Gregory stalked Gryton, calling on more magic from the
Magic Realm, but fearing it wouldn’t be enough to stop this fire elemental.

The hamadryad was also summoning power. This from the
Spirit Realm, he felt its renewing chill against his skin. That cold power
might be the only thing capable of extinguishing Gryton’s fiery magic. At least
Lillian was safe, protected by the Sorceress.

He thanked the hamadryad silently and then reassured
of Lillian’s safety, he turned his full attention back to the lethal enemy who
must be destroyed at all cost.

Gryton was not some low-level servant of the Battle
Goddess. He had to be one of the last surviving fire demons from the ancient
time.

Gregory had thought he and the Sorceress had
eradicated ones such as him long ago. They must have missed one, or he had been
hiding behind the Battle Goddess’ power all this time.

Either way, it was past time Gryton return to the
Spirit Realm.

Gregory and Darkness lunged at the same time. Gryton
lashed out with a howl of pain or rage, and another wave of burning power
slammed him. Gregory returned the magic blast for blast.

What would have vaporized almost any other enemy had
little effect on this one. Worse, Gregory could feel himself weakening faster
than his enemy.

It had to be the tattoo, draining some of his magic
away harmlessly, so it wasn’t reaching Gryton with full strength.

Gregory was pondering this new problem when Darkness
raced past him and shouted. “Protect my children!”

“Stop!”

But Darkness had already raced into the river of
Gregory’s magic and together, their combined power was enough for Darkness to
slip past Gryton’s defensive shields. Gregory lunged after him, clearing the
swirling mist, fire, and smoke in time to see Darkness impale himself upon
Gryton’s sword.

The visor of Gryton’s helmet was up, and Gregory saw
his enemy’s startled expression.

Darkness snatched at Gryton’s wrist, locking them
together and Gregory realized what the other gargoyle was trying to do.

Chilled power from the Spirit Realm rushed toward
them, turning Darkness’s skin to stone, as his soul prepared to depart.

All gargoyles returned to Lord Death upon their own
demise, and Darkness was planning on taking Gryton with him.

If Gryton was an ancient fire demon as Gregory
speculated, Darkness’ sacrifice might not be sufficient to drag their enemy
along with him.

Lillian screamed her father’s name as she started
toward them.

Darkness fought to hold onto Gryton, but he was losing
the battle.

Jerking with a desperate strength, Gryton freed
himself.

Gregory attacked, driving his sword’s point forward,
but the commander’s second blade deflected his own. In retaliation, he used his
blade-tipped tail to slash at Gryton’s unprotected face. The fire elemental
proved to be just a hair faster.