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

the good fight since before many of us were born,” Yenifer explained, eyes roaming the areas above for trouble. “The day she’s gone from this world is the day I’ll truly worry for my safety. Until then, not a concern.”

“Is that why you fight so ferociously?” I asked. “Not worried about taking a killing blow?”

Yenifer chuckled. “I fight like I do because it’s what I love. What I know. It’s not the only thing I put my all into.”

This time it was her turn to wink, and I couldn’t help but notice the jealousy with which Riland eyed me after she had turned back. No time to dive into it, though, because we came to a ledge that led down to an area of red stones that bottomed out and then peaked again. Here, the clouds moved in, hovering just under the edge of the hills and giving the area an atmosphere of peaceful calm.

“The heart,” Aerona said, sharing a look of excitement with Gertrude. “This is it.”

“On me,” Gertrude called out, leading the way.

With each step closer, the area in the center became clearer, until we were close enough to see that there were rings in the stone around the heart.

Gertrude was the first to enter the ring, but immediately her feet sank into the stone. The two men rushed forward to pull her free, and now all three of them were sinking fast. I held my hands out to keep the rest back, not sure what to do.

“It’s a curse!” Ebrill shouted, hands thrust out and glowing green as she apparently tried to counter it. “My power’s not enough.”

“They knew this would be our only move,”

“We did,” a voice said from behind, and we spun to see Fatiha standing there. Not the Fatiha from my time, but one with tendrils of shadow magic streaming from her like a long dress as she floated above her army. It was the same woman, but somehow way more powerful. “None of you will ever leave this spot.”

A mage at her side thrust out his staff and rings of red rose from the ground, hitting the two men and Gertrude. All three were consumed by the rocky ground, becoming one with it, merging until they were gone and in their place the rocks jutted out, sharp.

I shouted, enraged and confused. Gertrude was supposed to live, to be there when I showed up at the house. She was supposed to help me figure out how to use the Liahona, to save everyone.

Now she was gone and it was up to me.

“If I can just…” Ebrill charged forward, pushing against an invisible force, hands stopping the curse from taking her, and from letting the ground absorb us as it had the others. As it had my aunt.

“Maybe I can help,” I said and accessed my transmutation power, attempting to transform the curse, to use it to our advantage. Indeed, it transformed, but even as it did I realized the irony in the situation. Instead of killing us, the curse was transforming us. Or rather, them. I pulled out the Liahona, gusts of wind and debris flowing around me as the curse hit the others. Ebrill was still pushing forward but her fingers were growing claws, and horns emerged from her head.

A thought made my gut clench—I was the one who turned them into this!

But we were through, charging past the now-visible rings carved into the stone. We had made it past their barrier and overcome the mage’s spell—at the cost that those remaining looked like demons with their horns and tails, and skin in purple and blue. One piece of the puzzle didn’t make sense, though, or didn’t until I heard the words Fatiha spoke next.

“You can’t keep my magic from working,” Fatiha shouted after me. “My magic is strong, and with the last of it my curse will see them changed to stone. Wait and see!”

How little did she know, while I was well aware of what would happen next. They would be stone, all right, until I managed to wake them far in the future. Even then, they would be stone each day, only flesh at night.

It was the price they paid to get me here, so I made the most of it.

“I’ll find you,” I shouted to Ebrill. To all of them, really. “Trust me. I’ll find you and wake you.”

The last of them turned back on the enemy, now in full gargoyle mode as they fought to keep me safe. Like the eye of a storm, the winds and debris continued to blow all around me, pushing even Fatiha and her army back. They dared not enter the nearby area, now that they had seen what happened to my team. Or was it something else? I took a step forward, moving for the center of what appeared to be a room carved out of stone with openings on one side and water visible far below.

Only, it wasn’t so far below, I realized. It had been but was now rising fast.

Waves crashed up against the side of the mountain and sent water spraying past the caves and the openings. Some of it flowed in, so that my knees were wet as I knelt and began to chant. I wasn’t sure what, exactly, as I touched upon my transfiguration power and let it flow. It felt like I was speaking in tongues as the words emerged and created a spell of their own accord.

In a flash, the water rose around me, the land folding, spinning, and expanding, and then a burst of magic shot out from the Liahona. A doorway opened and it all froze. Light hovered in the air and the water stopped mid-flow. Only I was moving. A glance around showed that the ladies, poised in their defensive positions and ready for anything, had completed their transformation to stone.

If not for my knowledge from my timeline where I had first met Ebrill and Kordelia in the exact poses I saw