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

on their way to find us. They fell in a matter of seconds. We moved on until Shisa finally stopped in a round, tall room, growled, and started circling, eyes looking up.

I followed his gaze and saw why. A form appeared as a silhouette against a ceiling that was half there, half not, but stabilized as the figure passed through it.

It was Fatiha, I saw as the light from our glow lit up her features.

“You think you’re so clever,” Fatiha said, drifting down toward us, dress fluttering about her, eyes glowing red. She landed and let her silver hair down so that it flowed around her shoulders. Despite her age, it wasn’t hard to see why I had once found her attractive. Although, now she was purely evil in my eyes, and that dimmed the attraction level quite a bit. She landed and gestured around us. “But, what sort of idiot would enter the lair of one of the Nine Ladies?”

“The nine witches of Ystawingun,” Ebrill said, eyeing her. “I should have known.”

“Not me, but I serve those who remain loyal.” Fatiha smiled, spread her arms, and looked like she was about to hiss, when instead, a stream of fire emerged and circled around her before vanishing. “There was a time when I could do so much more than that. A time before… you.” She glared at me. “That magic will be mine again, once you are disposed of.”

All of this was a bit much to process, along with the idea that there was someone in this place more powerful than her. And if so, that meant this other was likely guarding the tree and Gertrude. It only made sense, so I had to go out on a limb.

“We demand an audience.”

“What?” Fatiha frowned, put off.

“An audience with the witch who this hideout belongs to.”

“The Nine Ladies, we called them,” Kordelia said. “Not the type to take audiences, at least.”

“You know nothing of my mistresses,” Fatiha spat out.

“Don’t I?” Kordelia laughed. “Apparently, you don’t know, do you? About Rianne, about where she came from?” Fatiha’s frown made that clear, so Kordelia continued, “Surely you’re familiar with the two who abandoned the rest.”

“The traitors.” Fatiha nodded, curious now.

“Morgen was the well-known one, although she went back and forth, didn’t she?” Kordelia eyed the older woman, waiting to see if she would catch on.

“Mizoa!” Fatiha said, eyes going wide. “But… how? Rianne, she was before, no?”

“Not Mizoa, exactly. Rianne wasn’t one of the Nine Ladies but was Mizoa’s mother. In fact, it was learning of the betrayal by the rest of the Nine against her mother that drove Mizoa to abandon the group.”

“What’s your point with all this, Kordelia?” Fatiha asked. “You, who have been known to wade in both sides of the pond yourself.”

“Not anymore. And my point is simply this—your master, whoever it is… She will see us, one way or another.”

“In her time and place.” Fatiha’s fire suddenly went out as a wind blew through the passages and up to flow over her. She bowed her head.

“That time is now,” a voice said, one I was sure I recognized from earlier battles, or maybe it had been in my head before? Either way, it wasn’t new.

The wind picked up and then a ring of fire came together, nearly burning all of us but for quick spells cast by Ebrill and me. The fire formed one entity in the middle—a tall woman in a black gown singed by flames, with black eyes and hair held by a net of embers that glowed but did not burn.

“You requested an audience,” the fiery woman said. “Granted. Now surrender or turn to ash. Your choice.”

96

None of us moved, unsure whether to attack or run. Even Fatiha was frozen in place.

“Thiten,” Ebrill said, nodding. “I know you all too well. Or, of your legend, at any rate.”

“Well, then, we are off to a good start. I only know you as a statue, so…” Thiten grinned, wickedly. “What will it be? I’m guessing ash.”

“If you mean, do we refuse to surrender?” I stood tall, as best I could. “You bet your ass.”

She frowned, cocked her head. “It’s been long since the Powers That Be have allowed me to roam out of my dark holding, but language sure is strange these days.”

“This isn’t possible,” Steph said, fists clenched in a way that made small sparks trace her knuckles.

“What’s that?”

“She…” Steph turned to Thiten. “You can’t be here. I’ve read all about you, studied the same spells, and turned away when I read how they had contained you.”

“Clearly, I am free,” Thiten replied, and then sighed. “Enough toying with you. Ash it will be.”

Without another moment’s hesitation, the woman surged toward me, once again becoming the flames that had forged her. I thrust out with my newest ice spells, only to watch them shatter on the wall behind her as flames threatened to burn my skin. My saving grace was the ice wall I cast at the last second. It almost melted instantly but gave me enough protection that I wasn’t completely fucked. When the next attack nearly hit Ebrill, I cast more ice walls, and Kordelia deflected flames with her wings as she worked to get in close. A good hit, almost, but instead of making contact she ended up on the other side, slammed into the wall.

“Obliterate them!” Fatiha shouted from where she stood watching.

“Gorffwys,” I muttered, indicating her in hopes of the spell putting her to sleep. I shouldn’t have let her distract me, though. In the moment it took me to cast that and her shield spell to throw it off, I was under siege by a string of fire spells. Each one grew in power over the last. I dodged, threw ice walls before me, and gladly took Ebrill’s hand so that she could pull me out of the path of the last one.

Then I was on the attack, trying every spell I could. My ice sword nearly caught this ancient