Sorceress Rising (A Gargoyle and Sorceress Tale Book 2) (6 page)

“Major Resnick,
of the 48
^th
Highlanders of Canada,” he supplied. “4
^th
Division, Joint Task Force Central. And no, I’m not hunting for a yeti.”

Lillian started
to laugh. “Glad to hear it. I wouldn’t like to think I’ve been exploring the
forest for all these years when there might have been something else studying
me in return.”

“However, while
I have you here. Have you ever seen or heard something out of the ordinary in
all your exploring? Anything at all. It might not have seemed like much at the
time, but anything you remember might have importance. We’ve been interviewing
many of the locals.”

While he used
the word ‘interviewed’ Lillian imagined ‘interrogated’ would have been a more
accurate one. She frowned, and pretended to think for several moments. “My
family runs a spa, and we’ve had some unusual patrons from time to time, but I
can’t think of having seen anything out of the ordinary.”
If
you
don’t count a gargoyle, and numerous Clan and Coven members.

The pooka
nickered.

“However,”
Lillian continued with more authority. “I saw some signs of bear, a mother and
cub by the tracks—the bears might have been what spooked the horses in the
first place. And I certainly don’t want to lose the one I just found…so if you
don’t have any more questions…”

A rustling in
the underbrush along the path saved Lillian from having to continue. The small,
wiry haired terrier burst out from behind cover and bolted between Lillian and
Major Resnick and then continued to run full out, all four legs churning at
maximum speed. Two seconds later, the dog was well up the path and out of
sight.

Everyone stared
after the dog for a few seconds more than turned to look the way it had come.
Lillian turned too, fervently hoping not to see Gregory pursuing it. He wasn’t
and she released the breath she’d been holding. All her plausible lies would
have been for nothing if there had been a gargoyle galloping up the trail in
pursuit of the dog.

The terrier’s
handler jogged up the path, cursing as he came. He stumbled into their midst
holding his side and sucking back deep breaths. “Something big spooked
Socrates. Didn’t get a good look, but it was a damned big son of a bitch.”

“Bear,” Lillian
commented nervously, but for different reasons than the handler. Gregory must
have finished with his spell.

“Gregory,”
Lillian sent,
“I assume you just scared a year off that man’s
life on purpose.”

He sent a
grumbling huff in answer. All the humans twitched and their hands darted to
their weapons in a way that made Lillian genuinely nervous.

“Don’t come
any closer. The humans are twitchy enough as it is. Let me handle this.”

Gregory’s
thoughts touched hers, confirming what she feared.
“I do not care for the
emotions I’m picking up from the humans. Extract yourself now or I will deal
with them myself.”

“Dammit. I
love you, but you can be such a pain in my ass! At present, I’m not in any
immediate danger.”

“Yes you are.
Their leader is thinking of taking you to a secure site where there are many
more of his kind. I can see it clear in his thoughts.”
Another huffing rumble issued from the darkness behind her.

“Stay out of
this. I’m leaving. They don’t have any reason to hold me at the moment. Don’t
give them one.”
Out loud she cried, “Bear!” As she
hoped, it was enough to draw everyone’s attention away from the area where
Gregory was making a tree shake. She bolted for the pooka and worked loose the knot
that tied him to the thick branch.

The pooka arched
his neck and sniffed at her fingers.
“In the future, I’ll instruct you on
how to create a proper safety knot. You wouldn’t be having trouble if you’d
done what I told you.”

“Stop fussing
with the pooka and get out of there now,”
Gregory
injected from an unknown location.

“Quiet! Both
of you.”

Lillian jerked
on the knot until it came free and then she hauled the pooka around by his
head, uncaring if she was being rude. As she and the pooka made it past Major
Resnick’s position, she glared at him. “Tell your men to fall back. It’s
probably the same mother bear I saw earlier. Don’t have your men shoot the poor
bear just because she’s protecting her young.”

She didn’t wait
to see what they would do, instead storming on down the path that led to
civilization, and probably more uniformed military types, but she didn’t have
any choice. Not if she wanted to find a peaceful end to tonight’s outing.

“Let her pass,”
Major Resnick called, “Everyone fall back, nice and slow. Get the other dog out
of here, and then bring up the tranquilizer guns.”

The forest
around Lillian came alive as a second military team she hadn’t even known was
there eased out of their hiding spots. She didn’t even try to hide her shock,
it probably looked innocent enough. Beside her, the pooka started trotting, his
motion more up and down than forward in his excitement. Lillian didn’t think
his agitation was an act. She had the impression of big guns, night vision
goggles, and more camouflaged fatigues.

As Resnick
continued to call out orders, the military unit split in two. Four men spread
out to take up the rear and guard the others’ retreat, always keeping
themselves between the main group and Lillian’s ‘bear’. Presently, her ‘bear’
was following a few paces behind the last human. While Gregory was actively
cloaking himself in shadows and magic, he didn’t bother to hide his presence or
his simmering displeasure from her, and she had a difficult time keeping her
eyes forward.

Gregory worried
for her safety, and she in turn worried for the humans should he decide they
were an immediate threat, or they were simply too close to her.

“They most
certainly are too close.”
Gregory’s annoyance came
clear across their mind link.
“You said you would extract yourself from
them.”

“I tried.
They followed. They’re not going to just let me walk off into the forest.
They’re like burrs or gum; I think I’m stuck with them.”

“Find a way.”
Gregory’s thoughts were almost a shout.

She covered her
flinch by pretending to swat a mosquito.
“Something else is wrong. I know if
I was in immediate danger, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, and the
poor soldiers wouldn’t know what hit them. They’re not the enemy; they simply
have a job to do. But you know that, or they would already be smoking black
smudges on the forest floor. So what’s really bothering you? Are they leading
me to a prison cell?”

“No.”
His short answer told her nothing useful.

“Then what?”

“Some of them
watch you.”

“They are
probably bored after tromping around the forest day after day for the last
three months.”

“Their
thoughts are not the thoughts of a ‘bored’ male.”
His clipped tone told her much more than his earlier one word answer.

Oh boy.

“Merciful
Mother, he’ll annihilate them.”
The pooka loosed a
distressed whinny.
“My Lady, your gargoyle is enraged by their lack of
respect. He’s never had to deal with people who do not know to respect the
Avatars.”

She didn’t need
the pooka’s commentary to tell her how bad the situation could get.
“Gregory,
my love. It doesn’t matter. It means nothing.”
Lillian kept walking, she
and the pooka doing their best to keep the soldiers to a fast pace. The sooner
they could part company, the safer everyone would be.

“It is not
nothing! Their leader thinks about detaining you, taking you back for more
questioning. But there’s more. One of them shows even greater disrespect for
the Mother’s Avatar, Her mortal vessel. His thoughts started out as mild
appreciation of your female…charms, but before I’d arrived they had changed
to…to…outright….”
Gregory roared.

Every gun jerked
up as the soldiers reacted to the unknown danger.

“Bear, my ass,”
Resnick said, then started shouting orders. “Get the civilian and her pony out
of here. Daniels, call for back up. I think we found something.”

Hoping to
distract the snipers, Lillian loosed a terrified shriek, but the pooka one-upped
her, and bolted forward, knocking into the soldier directly in his path. She
kept a tight grip on the lead rope and allowed the pooka to drag her along.

The pooka rolled
an eye in her direction.
“Gregory knows how to get the humans thinking about
something else other than your assets, I suppose.”

She might have
found the pony’s comment humorous if she wasn’t worried about Gregory being
riddled by bullets.
“Dammit, Gregory! Was that really necessary?”

“Yes!”

Gregory glowered
at the humans circling his lady, blocking him from going to her side. Even the
pooka, a creature he’d normally dispatch long before it could even scent his Sorceress,
was presently closer to Lillian than he could manage. His rage building, he
sent his magic outward. It rustled in the leaves and caused branches to moan.
The humans twitched badly and he smiled.

His actions were
petty, spiteful even, and out of character. But he couldn’t help himself. This
world was nothing like he’d ever experienced. His relatively short time here
was not enough for him to adapt to this Realm’s….ignorance.

When he’d first
awakened to Lillian’s desperate call, it was to the sight of a Riven
threatening his lady. Evil he knew how to handle. The endless battle between
light and dark was familiar to him. It gave him purpose in this strange new
world, and allowed him to ignore what he secretly found distressing about the
Mortal Realm. There were far too many humans, far too out of balance with the
natural world. Too much noise, too many bodies clustered together, too many
chaotic thoughts and emotions bombarding him from all directions. The soul of
the earth was bruised, he could feel her pain. And it was a great evil brought
about by the humans of this Realm. Part of him wanted to restore the balance.

But he couldn’t,
for it would mean the deaths of millions of humans. His Sorceress of old would
have understood, would have aided him with what needed doing if they were ever
ordered to complete such an unpleasant task, but Lillian was like a creature
newly made, innocent, gentle, naïve. She’d already made it clear she sided with
the humans, and she expected him to—if not protect them—at least tolerate them.

And she was
correct—these humans, even the male who had gazed upon Lillian with lustful
thoughts, were not evil. In their own way, they served the light—protecting,
bringing peace when they could. What little he knew about the humans of this
world he’d gathered from touching Lillian’s thoughts. He’d gleaned most of the
destruction the humans caused was brought about due to ignorance, greed, and
neglect more than willfully serving evil. It was a common failing with a young
species.

The vast
majority of humans still had potential.

So he
should
view them with the tolerance he would grant any youngling.

But being
rational was difficult when others were surrounding Lillian, keeping him from
her side.

They’d only had
a handful of days between when she’d first called him from his stone sleep, to
when she’d had to merge with her hamadryad to heal. It wasn’t enough time.
Under normal circumstances when they were reborn, they grew up side by side,
studying and training until they matured into their full strength.

Until this last
time when the Lady of Battles interfered. He hadn’t realized how vital
childhood was to them—it gave them both a chance to adapt, to relearn how to
function as two separate beings, when they’d recently been one being in the Spirit
Realm.

“Oh,
Gregory,”
Lillian’s thoughts merged fully with his.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t remember what our childhood was supposed to be like.
I only knew I needed to be near my gargoyle statue, I couldn’t remember
anything else.”

Gregory jerked
in surprise, his wings twitching so hard he snagged one in a low hanging spruce
bough, causing the whole tree to shake. He darted off to the left as three of
the soldiers aimed their guns where he’d just been.

“Gregory, are
you all right?”

“Yes,”
he admitted a touch sheepishly.
“I was distracted and gave my
position away.”

“Now that I
know why you’ve been distracted,”
Lillian mused,
“I’ve
a better idea how to help us adapt. I may not have much magic, but I have
myself. I’ll make time for us even if I have to barricade us in the wine
cellar.”

The accompanying
image her words inspired gained a chuckle from him. While he’d never been fond
of fermented drinks, he didn’t doubt Lillian could still entertain him even in
such a dark and chilled place.

With her
promise, he found he could tolerate the humans with some semblance of
benevolence even if they were closer to Lillian than he’d wished. He even
dropped back a few paces so he wasn’t tempted to antagonize the nearest male.
Which, he mused, was rather generous of him, since the man was the one who had
entertained the offensive thoughts.

The humans’
leader made subtle gestures with his hands, which Gregory interpreted as silent
orders. As the soldiers spread out, hastening to obey in a coordinated fashion,
he moved out of the way of any soldier who settled too close to his position.
Once the soldiers became stationary and the forest was quiet again, he
acknowledged with a touch of respect they were very good at blending in with
their environment. They had arranged themselves in a loose circle, with Lillian
and the pooka once again in the center. Neither one looked happy to be there.
But with the soldiers’ weapons pointed out into the surrounding forest, it was
the safest place for his dryad mistress.

He hunched down
near the base of a great old spruce, its wide trunk offered enough cover to
hide him even if he wasn’t cloaked in his own magic. He thought he understood
Resnick’s reasoning. By ordering his men to dig in, they could set up a
defensive perimeter, use Lillian and the pony as bait, and wait to see what
came sniffing after them. It was the safest strategy until reinforcements made
it to their location.

He didn’t have
long to wait to confirm his theory. Silent, black shadows eased through the
trees to the south. They moved with a smooth, deadly grace Gregory admired. Not
as elegant as a sidhe warrior, but as close as a human could come. The
newcomers merged seamlessly with the soldiers already in position.

Resnick and
another officer, a female by her scent, conversed with each other in hushed
tones. Gregory held his position and waited for the two leaders to come to a
decision. Calling a trickle of magic, he sent it outward, scouting the
newcomers, looking for even a hint of evil. It flirted from human to human, brushing
against bare skin as it passed. More than one shifted uneasily at the touch of
magic, but none seemed overly suspicious. To them it should feel like nothing
more than a particularly chilly breeze gusting through the forest.

Lillian arched
an eyebrow in his direction.

“Do not
worry. It was only a small spell to learn their intentions.”
He dropped to all fours and padded out from behind the tree.
“I
detect no evil in these ones.”

“Good. We’re
in enough trouble as it is. We don’t need more.”
Lillian narrowed her eyes.
“Speaking of trouble—are you intentionally trying
to find some?”

“No,”
Gregory replied but didn’t deviate from his route.

“Then why are
you making a beeline for me?”
Her frustration and
worry bled across her thoughts.
“Use common sense for five minutes or you’re
going to get your ass shot off.”

“They cannot
see me.”
Moving silent and swift among the
soldiers, he stalked Lillian as if she was his prey.

“What if they
have some piece of technology which can see through your spells?”

“They would
have already attempted to take me down.”

Lillian muttered
a curse under her breath, but gave into Gregory’s wishes. She couldn’t stop him
anyway.

Obeying another
silent command, the soldiers rose to their feet. Some broke away from the group
guarding Lillian, quickly replaced by the same number of newcomers. When they
had sorted themselves out, he studied the newcomers’ weapons—they were of a
different type.

“Those are
tranquilizer guns,”
Lillian said into his mind,
“They
fire a dart filled with a substance which puts its target to sleep. Better than
bullets, I suppose, but I don’t know what effect they would have on a gargoyle.
Let’s not find out.”

Gregory
acknowledge her words with a nod, knowing she was the only one present able to
see him.

When the humans guarding
Lillian moved out, he followed, leaving Resnick and the other soldiers to hunt
for a ghost. They wouldn’t even find tracks.