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

saw Ali Baba behind her give me a wave, two gold bracers on his wrists. It was time. Also, she’d just grossed me out.

“I hate to be a party pooper, but fuck that,” I said, and then charged. As her flames burst forth, I knew the shield wouldn’t be enough so pulled on another strength—my Tempest powers. The glass was down, water out there from the hot tub, and I thrust, pulling on it with everything I had.

Flames were inches from my face by the time the water hit, flooding over her and sending the dragon sputtering backwards while I slid down, going across the ground and rolling. When I came up swinging, she spun and knocked me down with her wings. I sliced, blade hitting scales and leaving her unharmed.

She opened her mouth to breathe flames again, but none came. Only a gargling, choking sound.

“We got what we came for,” Ali Baba shouted, darting insanely fast past me and dragging me along the way. How he was moving like that was beyond me, but he had the feather in his free hand. A long, beautiful golden feather.

He was right, there was no point risking our lives to kill this dragon lady right then, not if we could escape with what we needed. Flee the battle to win the war.

“Rain check, then?” she called out after me, and I paused at the edge of the roof.

“For which? The eating me part, or a good fuck?” I shouted back.

She tilted her head. “I still don’t see why we can’t do both.”

“You’ve got issues,” I yelled, as I leaped, calling for my lion. A moment later, Ali Baba and I were back on Roar, soaring toward Ali’s apartment. A screech sounded above and I turned to see the dragon growing in size, flapping her wings, and moving in pursuit.

“Fuck me,” I muttered, and leaned forward, close to Roar, watching with anticipation as we closed on the open wall, the portal beyond.

The dragon soared overhead, Ali Baba shouting that we needed to hurry, and then we were in, Roar collapsing into my chest, and the two of us tumbling toward the portal. Only, it was closing!

I leaped, triggering all sorts of traps as I threw myself at the portal but knew I wasn’t going to make it. Ali Baba was suddenly at my side, purple smoke surrounding us as we were hurtled through the portal and came tumbling out the other side.

As soon as we were through, I saw why the portal was closing. Hekate was on her side, holding her head. The walls beside us had been blasted away, and the rest of my team was in the courtyard in the heat of battle.

62

“We’re here, close it!” I shouted, running to make sure Hekate was okay.

She rolled over, saw me and the gold feather, and nodded. The portal faded with a puff of smoke, I imagined from fire on the other side.

“Get out there, I’ll be fine,” she said. “Just took a bit of a beating there.”

“Hekate,” Ali Baba said, giving her a brief nod, joining me to make our way to the fight below. From what I could see—illusions gone and all—a Pucky was doing a good job holding off the enemy with her massive rifle, and Elisa made shields of white light when needed.

“Care to explain your little magic display back there?” I asked as we ran.

Ali Baba grinned, holding up his arms and the gold. “Got these a while back—gives me the power of being a genie, basically, as long as I wear them. Only problem, they’re draining. Wear them too long, and I risk actually becoming one.”

“Damn.” I glanced over, glad I wasn’t relying on powers with such a risk. “And your son? The trap?”

He grimaced, but shook his head. “No, he wouldn’t go back. He’s smart enough to know that, ever since that wife of his saved my ass back in the day, I’ve learned to fend for myself. There’s not a situation I can’t get out of.”

“With my help,” I reminded him.

“And you only got out of there with mine,” he replied with a wink.

“Touché.”

We reached a point where he could use his genie power to lower me down. While I could’ve done it with Roar, this was faster and I hadn’t relied on Roar enough to know if there was any sort of price for calling on him too often, so figured letting him rest wouldn’t be the worst idea.

Hekate followed a moment later, reaching out and saying, “The feather. I’ll get the tracking spell going.”

“Roger that,” I replied, trying to sound formal but earning a laugh from her.

“Here in Witch World, we prefer ‘fuck yeah,’ or ‘here you go, dipshit.’”

I chuckled, trying to figure out a good point to interject myself into the fight. “What’re we dealing with, exactly?”

“Persephone, for one,” Hekate said, indicating a line of witches, one tall and floating, swirling with a tornado of darkness forming. “The rest of the witches, at least any that weren’t out on the front lines.”

“And I see an old enemy,” Ali Baba grunted, suddenly taking off and clashing with a man who’d been about to attack Red.

“Looks like he found the Mouse King,” Hekate said, cringing. She turned to cast a spell of silvery blast that sent two incoming witches to the ground.

I circled up against a man with a wand that kept sending out green sparks my way, but my shield handled them well enough. When I ended him with my sword, a red ball of ichor flew over.

Quickly checking to see what skills I could add, I saw one that allowed me to summon my sword if it had fallen away. While I had been able to in the water with Arthur, that had been because of the water. Now, anywhere, anyhow, if I could get that skill. It could come in very handy, and since I didn’t have much time to analyze the various paths, decided that worked. I applied