Myths and Gargoyles by Jamie Hawke (interesting books to read in english txt) 📕

He stepped back into the shadows, starting to fade, but Bastet was fast, darting over and encircling him, casting a purple glow upon him that brought him back. Sekhmet closed the distance in three strides, grabbing him by one of his horns and slamming his head into the wall behind, so that it broke the edifice, creating a hole. We followed him through, into a narrow alley. Bastet darted behind us, throwing up another of her purple barriers that, I imagined, made none of this visible.

Sure enough, people kept on walking, nobody paying any attention to us.

“Now,” Sekhmet said, still holding Tore by the horn, one of her curved blades at his neck. “I’m not going to ask nicely this time, because you’re standing between me and freedom. Where is Arthur?”

“This isn’t my fight, but if you insist on dragging me in, I’ll see that you regret it.”

“Try your worst.” Sekhmet kneed him in the gut and threw him to the ground, and was about to leap on him to show him she meant business, when two wolves darted out, tackling her. Before she hit the ground she was a lioness, Bastet at her side, and the four animals were going at each other.

That left me and Tore, and he was up, starting to run away!

I charged, drawing my sword and shouting for him to stop, only to find three ninjas swooping down. Yeah, fucking ninjas!

“What the fuck fairy tale are you from?” I asked, skidding to a halt and preparing to go up against the closest.

“Fuck you, that’s what,” that one said, and leaped for me. Thank God, Sekhmet charged in at that moment, plowing through him and giving me room to move to the outside and pursue Tore.

Or so I thought—but as soon as I’d made it two steps, a throwing star lodged in the wall by my head, chipping stone, and then one of the ninjas was charging me with sword held high. Damn, there was no way I was going to be able to stand toe-to-toe in a swordfight against a ninja… but I’d been leveling up and maybe, just maybe, I’d be able to outrun the fucker.

So I ran for Tore, going all out. When I glanced back I saw with relief that Bastet had managed to block off the ninja, and now all three were dealing with Sekhmet, along with the two wolves, and she was holding her own.

Damn, that lady was badass!

But as I moved into the back alley and then turned a corner, the bull of a man plowed into me. His horns caught my arm. They didn’t puncture skin, but landed on each side so that Excalibur flew from my grip, clattering to the cobblestone road.

He slammed me against a wall and pulled back, eyes furious, and landed two good punches.

“Our kind aren’t involved!” he shouted, then punched me a third time. I thought my ribs were going to break if he got another hit in, so I wrapped my legs around the back of his and threw my weight onto him, taking out his knees. We rolled to the ground and I used what little wrestling they’d taught me to move around to his back and, improvising, grabbed him by the horns, pulling back.

“By fighting us, you’ve chosen a side,” I said, and slammed his face into the ground, hard.

“Fuck you!” he shouted, and then I slammed his face down hard again.

When I pulled him up again, twisting his head by the horns, he held out a hand and said, “The golden statue of the Madonnina.”

I glanced around, expecting there to be a Madonna—the singer—statue around, then wanted to slap myself. Of course he meant the statue of the Virgin Mary, the one at the top of the cathedral.

Sekhmet was there in a flash, blade held at Tore’s throat. She looked like she’d actually cut him.

“No need,” I said to her, releasing Tore. “Arthur’s at the Duomo di Milano.”

“He said so?” She backed off, standing as Bastet arrived, circling her feet. Behind them, a purple wall of light blocked the others from pursuing.

“But you’re likely too late, aren’t you?” Tore snorted.

“Meaning what?”

“You’ve used the sword, no? Not like you did before, I’m guessing, but—to have escaped the Lady, you must have truly called upon its powers. I’m quite certain Morganna will be able to find you now.”

“If we discover you’ve led us astray,” Sekhmet said, bringing her blade up to the base of the horn. “I’ll have your horns ground up and served in my next soup. Got it?”

He glared, nostrils flaring, but replied, “You’ll find him there. It’s the only spot she could find that would restrain him.

That gave me pause. Why would she have wanted to restrain Arthur? But Sekhmet released Tore and strode past me, through her sister’s spell, and back into the now increasingly crowded throng of people.

I ran to catch up, and when I reached her she started running too, Bastet at her side. We didn’t have time to waste, not with my team taken and Morganna likely coming for me next.

“How is he not an enemy at this point?” I asked, trying to understand why he would have led us astray to begin with.

“They follow their own code,” Sekhmet said. “I’ve come across his type in my day—in my mind, it’s better to go evil, because then at least we know who to fight. Those like him hide in the shadows and play both sides, when convenient.”

“No offense, but—”

“Am I the same?” She scoffed, but her eyes betrayed her uncertainty. Finally, she muttered, “We’ll see.”

We ran along streets crowded with shoppers and tourists. If I was going to spend my life seeing cities in this way, so be it, but I certainly hoped there’d be some of the more relaxing variety of sightseeing in my not-too-distant future. Making love to these ladies while looking out over the Coliseum in Rome, for one, would be a nice way to spend an afternoon—while