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

“This might hurt,” Ebrill said. “Standing by to heal.”

“It won’t,” I replied, and braced myself, analyzing the runes, seeing if there was one last way I could adjust them.

Fatiha shot at me like an explosion, but I was ready, having found the necessary adjustment to the runes. In a flash, the portal reappeared directly in front of us, only this time it was going in the opposite direction. Fatiha and all of her magical power shot into it, the sound of her shouting in frustration and anger echoing even as the portal vanished.

All of the others fell away, gone to the Dark Lands. My screen popped up, showing that I had leveled up to eleven. It now read:

Level 11 MAGE

Statistics

Strength: 35

Speed: 33

Luck: 30

Charisma: 27

Mana: 980

New Spells

Gorffwys (sleep); Frost Footing; Ice Wall; Ice Claw; Frost Bite; Flurries; Freeze; Frost Remnant; Carreg (stone skin)

New Magic Type

Access to Avalon

Rune Magic: Illusion Breaking, Cloaking

It was done. For now. I had no doubt that Fatiha would find a way out of the Dark Lands, and knew Glitonea was out there working to bring the rest of the remaining Nine back. Until either of those was an immediate threat, though, we were going to get some well-earned rest.

We looked up to see Yenifer there, climbing what I was pretty sure was one of the art museums, judging by the large posters of paintings. She stood there, crouched, looking down at us. Did she recognize us at all? Was there some part of her that knew where she belonged, but for some reason wasn’t ready?

As if in answer, she turned and took off, leaping into the night and gliding off. The barrier had gone away with the portal, so she could go.

“Yenifer!” I shouted after her, but soon she was simply a dot in the sky. Gone.

“We’ll find her,” Megha said.

“And then what?” Ebrill shook her head, staring after the gargoyle. “She’s gone. Mentally.”

Kordelia took a step as if to pursue. “We’ll see about that.”

A hand on her arm, from Megha. “She’s right, partially. But so are you—we will find her, when she’s ready.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I have a connection with her. Small, not very strong, but it’s there. Why do you think she showed up to help us? I was able to call to her, but you’re right… there’s something not there right now. We’ll find her and bring her back. But not today.”

It broke my heart to see them like this, but if Megha said so, we had to listen to her. She had the connection, she knew those Dark Lands and all of this better than I.

“And Glitonea?” I asked. “The Nine?”

“Worrisome,” Aerona chimed in.

Megha nodded. “More so than Fatiha, perhaps.”

“But only if they’re able to summon the others,” I countered. “And Fatiha, I mean, couldn’t we let them fight each other, then take on the victor?”

“If that victor was Fatiha with all of their powers in one, we would really be in trouble.”

“Then we have to stop them. Save Yenifer, stop Fatiha once and for all… and maybe go up against the remaining Nine.”

“There are one or two we might convince to join us,” Aerona pointed out. “I’d say that’s our first step.”

123

In the hours that followed the saving of D.C., and quite possibly the world, we had a lot to deal with. Somewhere out there, Yenifer was flying around or hiding in dark comers. She had, it seemed, been sleeping all these years. Now awake but confused and for some reason not recognizing her friends, she needed our help. Megha was with us, at least, but our enemy was damn strong and threatening to get stronger.

Our first step was to get off the streets since people were congregating. We still had a couple of hours of night left, I figured, but couldn’t move out in the open until the crowd died away. While we tried to figure out a plan, we ducked into a small bar with barely anyone inside.

Ebrill cast an illusion over herself and the other gargoyles, and the ladies took a booth while Shisa, Riland, and I went to order drinks for everyone. We got our beers and a couple of margaritas for them, but the ladies were all laughing and loving their company with each other, hardly noticing us.

Kordelia took a drink, then spat it out and shouted, “What is this shit? Bring me mead!”

I laughed, and quickly went back to see what we could do. To my relief, the bar had mead! Who knew? The other ladies quickly replaced their sugar-shit margaritas with mead, and I was taught a valuable lesson about badass women and their drinking habits.

I had a Guinness. Taking it with Riland, we moved back to a table in the middle of the bar. I took a gulp of beer and foam, closing my eyes to savor the moment. Fucking A, Guinness could not be matched in my book.

He was watching me, not drinking yet, and I realized maybe he was waiting for a toast or cheers.

“Thank you,” I said, and held out my glass to him.

He clanked his glass against mine, then nodded.

“You’re… doing okay?” I asked.

“I’ll find her. My princess. But, for now…” He took a swig of his beer.

“Whatever I can do to help, name it.”

“When the time comes, I will.” He eyed my group. “Not that you need any help in that department.”

“No, I don’t suppose I do.”

We cheered with our glasses, shared a look with the ladies at their table in the corner, then laughed.

“If I wasn’t so stricken…” he said.

“What, you’d go for one of them?”

He considered it, then shook his head. “No, not likely. Steph is clearly smitten with you, as are the others, really. Additionally, they are like sisters to me. As attractive as they are, I can’t see myself doing it.”

I nodded, then said, “Wait, not all the others. Only Ebrill, and maybe Kordelia.”

He cocked his head. “You really believe that?”

“I just met Megha, and—”

“It doesn’t matter. You’ll see.”

I