Of Gaea Read online

  “You should go get the guild; this cannot end well withoutmore help than we have here.” Nasya stated.

  “What will you do?” Kleisthenes asked.

  “I will be close by. I do not think my siblings will come, but I can try. For now Sasha is enough, but very soon he will not be. We must be ready for that.”

  “She’s not ready.”

  “She has to be.”

  A deafening clap and roar cut off whatever Sasha was going to say next. One minute he was next to her; the next they were in a ditch next to the road. Sasha draped over her protectively. And rather disturbingly pressed her into suspiciously slimy water.

  The thunderous noise ended as fast as it occurred though Sasha didn’t move instantly.

  “If you don’t let me out of this nasty water Sasha…”

  “You don’t know what’s out there.”

  “I don’t know what’s in here, either. And quite frankly, I’d rather deal with something I can see than worry about parasites.”

  He edged off slowly and crawled up the side of the ditch. “Wait here.”

  “As if. We’re a team. We’re going to do this as a team.”

  He reached his hand down and pulled her up next to him. “Fine, but stay close.”

  They peeped over the edge of the ditch. Nothing stood out in the street. In fact, it was eerily empty.

  “Where did all the people go?”

  “They were smart and took cover. Look there.” Sasha pointed in the direction they had been walking.

  Smoke billowed in thick almost black clouds. Sirens wailed for a moment then were abruptly cut off. Another explosion and more smoke from a different source filled the air.

  “Someone is setting the houses on fire.”

  “I would more aptly say they’re blowing them up.” Sasha quipped dryly.

  “We need to get in there. I need my bow, and you don’t even have your sword.” Ari hissed.

  “I know. Let me think.”

  “Here’s what I think.” Ari wasn’t about to wait on him. There were more lives than just one at risk now. She could have tried spiriting them into the backyard but that still left a lot of defenseless people between here and there. The better idea was to face the problem head on and eliminate it.

  “The smoke is there, right? And the new column is there. So whoever it is, is working down the street not up it. We can go in from MacArthur Blvd. Come up behind whoever it is.”

  “They’re working their way down to our houses, Ari.”

  “Which is why we move now.”

  “Stay close.” He jumped out of the ditch and took off at a full run down the street.

  Ari was right on his heels.

  Two more explosions went off before they reached the street. It was as quiet as a cemetery when they arrived. At first, the only sound was the fire’s roar. They were forced to move slowly as the smoke clogged the street like a thick blanket of fog. It was impossible to see through.

  Sasha held her hand tightly. He was afraid to lose her in the mess. There was no telling what they faced and Ari being unprotected was not an option.

  As they neared their houses, a child’s eerie singing filled the air.

  “Won’t you touch my wretched soul? Won’t you heal my bleeding heart? Feel me with your frozen dead body.”

  Ari shivered. She recognized the lyrics from a song she had heard once, but the child didn’t sing it to the beat of the song. She sang it in that sing song way that children liked to do.

  Sasha pulled her down to a crouch behind some metal trash cans. He moved so his lips were right up against her ear when he spoke. “I can’t see anything but smoke and fire. We may have to make a run for it.”

  Ari shook her head. They’d be sitting ducks. There had to be a way to even the field.

  A stream of fire drew her eyes to the metal can. Aluminum can to be precise. Aluminum was a periodic element which meant it was a pure element. Ari silently thanked her Advanced Chemistry teacher and cautiously and silently lifted the lid off.

  “Ari.” Sasha hissed.

  She put a finger to her lips quickly and pointed to the other can. She needed both lids if this was going to work. Testing she began folding the aluminum like paper and it obeyed.

  Sasha handed her the other lid when she was done. He probably had no idea what she was doing, but he trusted her. She wouldn’t let him down.

  When Ari had finished her origami lids she held them up for inspection. It had been so easily to manipulate the metal. Gaea’s Script scrolled around the edges strengthening it. The palm fans gleamed beautifully and would do exactly what she wanted them to. They would do very nicely. If Sasha cooperated.

  Careful not to clank the fans together, Ari handed him the cane. Taking his hand, she led him out into the middle of the street. He stood there bemused as she took the cane and set it at his feet then linked his fingers together and cupped them. She pointed a few yards away then pointed to him then up. Her meaning was clear, or at least, she thought it was.

  She was going to run and use him as a booster. He was going to help by pushing her into the air. The rest was up to her.

  Sasha frowned but nodded slowly.

  Ari gestured to him, his interlaced fingers and the sky, again.

  He rolled his eyes and nodded. He got it.

  She strode a few feet away and turned to face him. He gave her thumbs up before he got into position. He even crouched slightly so she wouldn’t have to jump so much as step into his hands.

  With a fan in each hand, Ari ran. Her foot slid into his waiting hands without incident. As soon as her foot was firm in his hands, Sasha threw her upwards.

  She already knew what flying felt like, that wasn’t the purpose. As she came down, she put all the force she could behind the fans. The wind roared louder than the fires as it swept down the street clearing all the smoke and fascinatingly enough, putting out all the fires.

  She landed in a crouch one knee down and one knee up. Ari stood slowly and Sasha rushed to her side. He had the cane drawn and pointed.

  Half the block away, a pale grey horse stood in the middle of the street. He was gorgeous and huge. His tail flicked annoyed but that was the only sign he had felt the wind.

  A woman sat side saddle on his back. Her all too familiar face showed the same annoyance the horse had. Her hair was coiled in perfect spirals and her skin was flawlessly painted. It was an all too familiar sight. Damia.

  “You’ve interrupted my song.” Damia looked away and Ari followed her gaze.

  A few feet beyond her a fire truck lay overturned. From its charred twisted husk Ari could tell it had been burning. From the lack of visible firefighters she knew they were still inside.

  “What do you think you’re doing, Damia?” Sasha stepped forward and leaned casually on the cane.

  “Damia?” She turned back to them and tilted her head as if she was puzzled. “Oh, the vessel. It was in terrible shape when I found it, you know. On the brink of madness and death.” She smiled and tapped the side of her head. “Damia isn’t home anymore. The lovely child vacated the premises for me.”

  “Who are you?” Ari changed her grip on the fans and they automatically changed shape into twin hook swords. The script remained scrolled along the blades.

  Damia watched her a moment and her feral grin made Ari’s blood run cold. “You must be Gaea. I’ve never met the Goddess before; she is, unfortunately, the only one of the immortals that can be one with a host. Such a pity, really, but then, they are her creatures.” Damia dismounted the horse and Ari realized what she mistook for a huge skirt were in fact split pants.

  “I am Bathin. I serve the Tainted King.” She made air quotes around Tainted and giggled. “What a ridiculous term, isn’t it?”

  She turned to the horse and reached over the saddle to draw something from the other side. The sword was made of a red material Ari had never seen before and seemed to gleam with an unholy light.

  “Ari. I need you to go
get my sword; you know which one and your things. And be quick about it.” Sasha murmured.

  “I’m stronger than you; you go.” Ari countered back.

  “You’re faster than I am and have a better chance of getting back before anything serious happens.”

  Ari couldn’t argue with that logic. She put the hook swords together to form a makeshift long sword. “Here, I don’t know how long it will last without me holding it.”

  He took the sword in one hand but still held the cane in the other. “Go.”

  Ari hated leaving him there but she nodded, stepped back and ran into a side yard. She would go around back. It wasn’t as direct, but it would be faster than trying to dodge Bathin and Sasha.

  “How chivalrous.” Ari heard Bathin say. “Before I kill you, I think I’ll tell you a secret. You’re the reason Damia came to us. She wanted you but you wanted Ari. Sad world isn’t it?”

  Ari couldn’t hear Sasha’s answer; she was already too far away. It felt like it took forever to run the half a block to his house. She was ever mindful of the time.

  She shouldn’t have left him. She should have given him a shield not a sword. She should have done a lot of things.

  Ari didn’t waste time in the shed. She strapped on a full quiver of the arrows Kleisthenes had once said were for emergencies only, shoved her rattan sticks into her boots and then yanked her bow off the wall. The sword Sasha wanted was stupid heavy. Ari didn’t know what kind of metal it was made from, but she could see and feel the script that protected it. Ari slung its belt over her shoulder like a satchel and with her bow in her free hand; she left the shed.

  She ran as fast as could and used the momentum to jump onto the porch railing then the roof of the patio then the house roof. Her feet slipped a bit and she began to jump down but movement caught her eye. Ari froze at the sight below.

  Sasha had managed to lure Bathin closer. They were relatively close to Ari’s house with Bathin’s back to her. Sasha was on his back on the ground.

  The aluminum sword laid too far away for Sasha to reach, and the cane was out of sight. He struggled up and managed to push to his knees. Even from the distance Ari could see the blood.

  Ari ran and jumped to the neighbor’s house and took position. Bathin hadn’t seen her yet. Her back was still to Ari. Though from this distance, Ari could hear her talking to him and it put a new kind of fear in her.

  Bathin crouched down in front of Sasha and he looked like he wanted to pull away but didn’t have the strength. “It will only hurt for a moment. Then the only thing you will remember is me. And how very much you want to please me.” Her hand stretched out and cupped Sasha’s cheek.

  His scream jolted Ari out of shock and terror.

  “BATHIN!” Ari shouted even as she drew, fired and jumped off the roof. She fired a second shot at the rising figure even before her feet touched the ground. Sasha’s scream had ended but it still echoed in her ears. As soon as her feet landed she was up with a third arrow knocked to the bow.

  Bathin stood motionless with face of complete surprise and her hands wrapped around the arrow protruding from just under her chest bone. The first arrow stuck out of her back and from where Ari stood looked like it had punctured a lung.

  “I don’t understand.” She whispered and blood trickled out of her mouth to stain her lips. She fell to her knees.

  “The body is still mortal, Bathin. You may not be but that does not change your vessel.” Ari walked up beside her and held the arrow tip inches from her head. “Any last words.”

  Her eyes shifted up to Ari. “You will rot in hell.”

  “You first.” Ari released the arrow and watched it strike the asphalt on the other side. The arrow splattered black blood around it when it embedded into the road.

  Bathin slumped forward and fell to the ground. Her body discolored instantly to gray then black then flaked like ash. It was done.

  Ari hurried to Sasha. His eyes were closed and his head was bleeding. His breathing was rapid, like he was having a nightmare. He twitched and moaned in pain.

  “Sasha. Sasha, you’re okay.” Ari bit her lip as her voice cracked and cleared her throat. Ari reached out and took his hand in hers and lent him some of her strength. “Sasha, it’s okay. You did a great job.”

  He relaxed and his eyes fluttered. His face scrunched up and his nose wrinkled. Then his eyes opened. It was the most beautiful sight. He pushed himself slowly up and looked at her carefully and confusedly.

  “Sasha? It’s Ari.” Had she been too late? Had she managed to erase him in the second Ari had hesitated?

  “I know that. But why are you here? Where’s Bathin?”

  Ari lunged and wrapped her arms around him. She couldn’t stop the tears. She just sobbed into him.

  “Ari, it’s okay. Whatever it is it is okay. It’s done.” He wrapped his arms around her and let her cry. He didn’t say anything until she had stopped and was more or less just sniffling. “We still need to find Leonidas and we have about an hour and a half left before the sun sets.”

  “Right.” Ari sniffed and then as an afterthought kissed the wound on his head. “All better.”

  He smiled. “It feels better.”

  Ari watched the wound close as he stood. “Of course it does. I kissed it.” She pulled off his sword. “Take this heavy ass thing.”

  He buckled the belt and Ari saw his eyes fall on the bloody arrow and the almost nonexistent body. He didn’t say anything but she saw him frown and try to put the pieces together.

  Ari took his hand and drew him away. “I was there.” She pointed to the roof. “And I heard her tell you that the only thing you would remember is her and how much you want to please her. I shot the first from up there. The second from the air on the way down, and the third point blank.”

  “That’s not what I was frowning about.” He reached over and pulled an arrow out of the quiver and handed it to her. “There’s a reason Da only wants these used for emergencies.”

  Ari studied the Script spiraling down the shaft as Sasha walked a few feet away into the neighbor’s yard and picked up the sheath of the cane then walked down the street some more. He was probably searching for the blade.

  It was Gaea Script but a much older form than what Leonidas had taught her. Holding the arrow Ari could almost see herself sitting on a stump humming and whittling the shaft. The realization came at once.

  “These were hers. The original Gaea. From her first form, from the beginning. She made these. This is by her hand.” Ari snatched up the other two loosed arrows from the pile of ash and chased after him. She didn’t bother with the blackened one. “Sasha. Answer me.”

  “You didn’t ask a question.” He picked up the blade from a flower bed and put it back in the cane.

  “You know what I’m talking about.” She huffed.

  “I do, but I don’t know if what you say is true. I do know the arrows have the oldest recorded form of Gaea Script on them if that helps.”

  Ari shoved the arrows back into the quiver. “Come on. If you’re done frustrating me, we have to find Leonidas. I know how to do it.”

  He smiled mischievously and nodded without speaking. Ari was afraid to ask him what that smile meant.

  Ari took his hand and dragged him to the backyard of her house. “Or at least you told me how to do it.”

  “Told you what?”

  She let him go once they were within the white picket fence. Her circle still rested where she had left it. All the items seemed completely untouched.

  She stepped into the circle and stretched lazily. Energy swirled in the circle and embraced her like an old friend. Ari felt refreshed and renewed.

  “Ari,” Sasha stepped forward but did not enter the circle. “I told you what? And why are we out in the open in your backyard?”

  Ari turned to him. “You told me, that Leonidas could pinpoint my location no matter where in the world I was at, right?”

  Sasha nodded and spoke slowly. “It’s
one of the strengths of being a guardian. You still haven’t answered the backyard question.”

  “They can’t enter the picket fence. There’s too much of me, just from this circle. We are, for the moment, completely safe.”

  He looked skeptical but nodded.

  Ari continued. “If Leonidas is linked so closely with me that he can find me wherever I am, whenever he wants, I should be able to use that same link and find him.”

  Sasha pursed his lips a moment. A face, she had never seen before, but his face of frustration would mean leaving his guard down. For him to pinch the bridge of his nose and close his eyes would leave him way too exposed. At least in his mind.

  “Okay,” he said finally, “it’s the best theory we have to go on so far. What do you need?”

  She shook her head. “Nothing.” She turned to the unlit candle and set it to flame with a thought. Fire walked hand in hand with sight. And she needed to see. Ari took a deep breath, exhaled slowly and thought of what she wanted.

  She wanted to see Leonidas. Not necessarily from his point of view. From above or next to him as long as she could tell to where find him the viewpoint didn’t matter.

  Ari hadn’t anticipated the rush of cold or the sudden pain. It took a minute before she realized the pain was his. The only idea she had on the cold was the darkness of the Tainted around him.

  “Where are you, Leonidas?” she murmured and for a moment she felt his eyes lock with hers. Then felt like she got socked in the face. Her head snapped back and she took a few steps back. She could feel the stickiness of blood running from her nose.

  “Ari!” Sasha moved around the circle to look at her. “Are you okay?”

  She wiped at the blood angrily. “I think he hit me. I really do think he broke the connection on purpose.”

  “You saw him?”

  “Yeah, but I didn’t get much further than that before he sucker punched me.”

  “You sure it was him?”

  “He was looking at me when he did it.” Ari grumbled.

  “He obviously doesn’t want you saving him then.”

  “Well he’s got another thing coming. Gaea said I needed him for something so he’s just going to have to deal.” Ari wiped off the rest of the blood and refocused, but nothing came. She put more thought behind it and still nothing. She sighed. “He’s blocked me somehow. I can’t see him anymore.”