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

“I never went to the other side,” Megha said, sitting, holding her chest. “It was an undercover mission for Rianne.”

Yenifer stood there, studying each of us in turn, including Riland, then her eyes slowly moved back to Megha. A slow grin appeared. “Why didn’t you say so before I knocked you on your ass?”

“Fucking funny.” Megha stood, nearly collapsed, and reached out for Ebrill. “A little help. Punctured… maybe. Something.”

Ebrill ran over, helping her to stand and healing her, while the rest of us stood there, eyes darting between Yenifer and Mizoa.

“Just so it’s out there,” Mizoa said, “yes, Yenifer, I released you but under a spell where you were essentially my avatar, and I was using your connection to where you’ve been in a hunt for specific items related to the temple of the Liahona.”

“You what?” Yenifer turned on her, voice low.

“Yes. But, good news—we don’t need you for that anymore. We have Aerona.”

“How does that make sense?” Kordelia asked. “Wait, first…” She walked over and embraced Yenifer. “I should tell you, first, welcome. It’s good to see you. Second, your breasts are hanging out for the world to see.”

Yenifer looked down, grunted, and then looked first at me, then Riland. “Don’t look at my breasts.”

Riland looked away, eyes on Mizoa again, but… come on—someone tells you not to look at something, your first instinct is to look. So, my eyes went straight to her tits.

“Who’s this guy?” she said, but then laughed. “Wait, the little man from… holy hell, that’s you!”

She stomped over, picked me up in a hug that left my face right in those breasts, and then set me down. Finally, I was able to take my eyes away.

“We can get you a shirt,” I offered, and shrugged.

“Or, you could walk around fighting with your cock out,” she countered.

“The shirt might be more practical.”

She laughed. “Not necessary. This body, it feels so… not mine, it doesn’t matter anyway.”

“Yenifer,” Kordelia chided, but was smiling, apparently finding it amusing as well.

“Wait…” Ebrill turned to Aerona, whose wings had pulled back, but who was still kneeling. Addressing both her and Mizoa, Ebrill asked, “I feel like I’m still missing a big part of this picture.”

“As am I,” Aerona said.

“Most of it, I imagine, you still are.” Mizoa stepped over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. “We thought we’d lost you.”

“Sorry, what?” Ebrill folded her arms. “How would you two possibly know each other?”

Mizoa and Aerona stared at each other in silence.

It was Megha who spoke up. “I saw some of what Aerona recalled just now. It’s not entirely clear, although I imagine Mizoa can fill in some of the blanks.” When neither interrupted, she continued. “Aerona wasn’t in Avalon the entire time—in fact, she was used as Yenifer here was being used, until they got too close to their goal.”

“Ask me, ‘used’ is a strong term,” Mizoa interjected. “But… yes. She was always special, the legends said. We figured she would have the best chance of going against the magic wards setup to keep others out, to locate the stones and, we had hoped, the Liahona. When she got close, she was whisked away, back to Avalon, and out of our reach.”

“Because the Liahona was there,” I said, getting it. “In a sense—or didn’t exist in your world during that time.”

“It transcends time.”

With a nod, I turned to the others, and figured I would explain for those who hadn’t been along for the journey. “I went back in time once I had woken Ebrill, using a strange dream-magic, I guess. Rianne gave me the Liahona to protect, and I returned to this time. So, in theory there simply was no Liahona during the time that I left the past to the time that I returned to the present.”

“Intense,” Riland said in awe.

“And who’s the ‘we’ you speak of?” Kordelia asked Mizoa.

“Glitonea and I worked together,” Mizoa replied. “It was during all of this that she went a little… overboard. With the runes, losing herself, her sanity.”

“That’s why you want to find her, too,” I said. “You feel responsible for that.”

“And I believe she’s still reachable. If I could connect with her, one-on-one, I believe she could see reason.”

“So do I,” I replied, considering what I had seen of the lady.

Aerona stood tall, jaw clenched. Suddenly, she turned and stormed off.

“Where are you going?” Ebrill asked.

“Out.”

With a wave of her hand and a magical chant, Aerona leaped up onto the ledge of the roof, spread her wings, and then flew.

“Is she going to be safe out there by herself?” I asked.

“She cast a spell that should keep her hidden,” Ebrill answered.

“Still, I’ll keep an eye on her,” Megha said, then pointed and summoned three of those shimmering, nearly invisible flying creatures. With a soft chant of “Gwylio,” she sent them out after Aerona. “They’ll keep their distance, and if they see anything, let us know.”

Her eyes were tinted with an unsettling sheen of rainbow, which I assumed gave her the ability to either see through those creatures’ eyes, or was simply a symbol of her magical connection to them.

“Right, so…” Steph waved off the wraith knights she’d had at the ready. “You’re going to work with us, wonderful. Where do we start?”

“There’s a reason I’m here in D.C., along with Yenifer,” Mizoa replied. “We’re looking for Fatiha, for somewhere she might be storing magical artifacts. We need to figure out where this could b—”

“The coven,” I interrupted.

“You know where it is?” she asked, hope shining through.

“We do.”

She smiled, a good look on her. “Then we have our destination.”

140

We moved down to the main dining room to discuss the plans for infiltrating the coven, with the idea that they had a clue Mizoa could use to help us find the legendary stones or something related to the temple the Liahona had been affiliated with. It was a good spot to chat, too, because some of us were hungry. As they snacked, I went