《Guardian》


 Chapter 1

    Grey clouds were blowing in from the east on a chill breeze and promising an evening rain to break the unseasonable dry spell. I shut the car door, swore to myself, and opened it again to pull the keys from the ignition. I grabbed my carry case before locking the doors and walked up the driveway to my front door. My home is a new four-bedroom, two story house in the middle of Divide, Colorado, which gives me the solitude I prefer without making trips into town a problem. Some guy from California had started building it a few years back and run out of funds leaving it partially completed. The place was perfect for someone with a modest budget wanting a bit of space and able to do the work themselves. The twenty acres of land it sat on had helped in my choice to buy the property though. The roof was gray shingles with smooth river stone covering the bottom half of the walls and faux wood siding painted an off blue-white color covering the second floor. A large porch wrapped around the house with a roof on the front area that had been painted red before I ever got the place. I''d had to install the siding on the upper floor myself, along with most of the mud work and dry walling on the interior which probably accounted for my pride in the house despite the fact that the whole placed looked more than a bit ridiculous.


    Three of the rooms were on the top floor along with one of the bathrooms. The first floor was split by an extra wide hall that ran between the last bedroom which I had converted to a work room for my computer repair work and random scholastic pursuits. The second bathroom, and the dining area on one side. On the other side was the industrial sized kitchen done in white granite and stainless steel with a small breakfast nook slipped into the corner by the back door. The hallway felt narrow from the collection of book shelves that lined it opposite the large island of the kitchen with its barstools. The hall ended in the oversized living room with a woodburning stove and the entrance area which had come with an overly elaborate antler chandelier hanging beside the stairs. The building itself was on the squat side in appearance since the first two feet of it were below ground level but it was mine both in legal terms and in the sense that I¡¯d had a hand in building it.


    A medium sized shed built from corrugated steel with a line of exhaust fans along the top could be seen on the far side of the house on the other end of the greenhouse and garden. The massive field that fronted the house had been left alone and a dense stand of aspen trees was backed up against the back of the house. Their late autumn leaves making them look like living fire. Between the blades I forged and the computer repair work I did, I managed to keep ahead of my bills and still pay for my hobbies. The garden helped supplement things since what I didn''t eat was given or traded to friends and neighbors for goods and their garden food. Say what you want about the rest of the country but the barter system is still alive and well in the Colorado Rockies.


    Ten feet from the door I came to an abrupt halt and looked up. I wasn¡¯t stopping because of the enormous white furred Siberian tiger that had jumped down from my porch. Though it was fortunate that most people couldn¡¯t see him. I imagine even in the Colorado Rockies the sight of a brown striped, white tiger, large enough to look me in the eyes despite my height would have incited a panic. What caused me to halt was the fact that the wards I had layered around my home had been reinforced and it wasn¡¯t mine, Khan¡¯s, or even my sister¡¯s energy that had been used. I searched my mind for a few moments trying to place where I recognized the traces of energy and drew a blank. I made a few covert gestures with the hand hidden behind my carry bag accompanied by an effort of will to disarm some of the more volatile wards long enough to get inside and nodded in greeting to Khan before stepping onto the porch. Wards were at their most basic form energy constructs designed to react in preset ways to events. A skilled individual could let them stop functioning and restart with the right stimulus, in this case the specific application of will combined with predefined hand gestures.


    ¡°Greetings my old friend. What brings you to earth?¡± Khan leaned his face closer towards me and let out a growling chuckle. His pale, tawny, yellow eyes meeting mine with a warm weight.


    ¡°Business I¡¯m sorry to say Cathal. The seals around earth are failing rapidly in what Council thinks is an intentional manner. Synbel sent a couple of people he thought might be able to help you with stabilizing them and finding out what¡¯s causing the problem.¡±


    I frowned at the reply. Khan¡¯s answer had been intentionally vague. Either he¡¯d been ordered not to tell me who they were or he was worried that the people inside were going to either upset me or trigger unwanted memories if I knew who they were in advance. Synbel was considered my commander in the eyes of the High council of Magic. We had carefully hidden who I was from them and gotten me assigned as the person in charge of keeping Earth from being overrun by any unwanted nasty creatures as well as making sure that some idiot didn¡¯t destabilize the Earth¡¯s already shaky leyline system. I sighed and rubbed at my temples. I had a list of computers I had to finish repairs on for customers and now I got to add fixing the planet to my worries.


    ¡°Alright I won¡¯t push you for details. Do me a favor though and next time you bring someone into my home that I haven¡¯t already had here don¡¯t let them touch the wards. In the past I would have just gone for broke, assumed the worst, and killed everything inside I didn¡¯t immediately recognize¡­ and you know it.¡± Khan snorted and shook his head.


    ¡°I told him that, but he insisted that you two were on good enough terms that you would recognize his touch even without all your memories.¡± I paused as I opened the door and looked at Khan who had apparently decided to ignore the existence of the wall and was walking through it.


    ¡°He¡¯s right. I did find it familiar. But I can¡¯t place it.¡± I reached towards my side unconsciously checking for the sword that wasn¡¯t there; a habit I¡¯d picked up since my memories had started coming back.


    ¡°Do me a favor? Go out and settle the local wild life. I¡¯m fond of the creatures that hang out around here. And no offense, you¡¯re a great friend and all but you have a knack for scaring away the animals until they get to know you.¡± Khan made a rolling motion with his shoulders that was his approximation of a shrug before walking back through the wall, his tail lashing sideways to hit me across the chest staggering me backwards. A gray ball of fur went flashing past my legs behind him. My tom cat, Bluff, was literally radiating waves of fear and disgruntlement.


    That was odd, Bluff always lived up to his name. I¡¯d watched him stalk elk for fun and play tag with the foxes that lived in a nearby field. The crazy cat even dragged in an owl one day. He never let his fear show and yet I could see the sickly yellow glow around him of the emotion¡¯s energy despite the mental shields I held in place to prevent that sort of thing. Whoever was in my living room was a big deal to spook my cat. I walked into the room noted the three gentlemen, their attires, and appearance while casually feeling out their energy and then turned and walked into my kitchen. I disarmed as I walked to the fridge pulling off both wrist sheaths and taking out the foot-long blade that hung down the inside of my pants where I¡¯d cut out the pocket so it was easy to hide and draw in a rush if needed. I put the trio of blades on the counter and pulled a case of beer from the fridge and headed back to the living room.


    I used the small window the action gave me to run through a list of scenarios I had planned for in my head. The fact that I¡¯d actually planned several ways to handle something like this proved how drastically the last year had changed me from the relatively average person I¡¯d been. It also displayed how strange my life had become that I could spend my spare time imagining situations like this and then have them come true. I finally settled on ignoring diplomacy, I hadn¡¯t invited them and nobody had claimed guest privileges so I didn¡¯t need to watch my P¡¯s and Q¡¯s.


    I walked back to my living room and set the beer down in front of the massive muscle-bound blond-haired man. He was dressed in a pair of blue coveralls and a leather apron that was stained with gods only knew what sorts of fluids, I idly noted the iron prosthetic hand before handing him the bottle. He was tall enough that even slouching he made the recliner he was sitting in seem small. His shoulders were another foot over the back of the chair and he looked cramped in the oversized Lazy Boy. His blond hair was pulled back into a ponytail that he''d tossed over the back of the chair so it hung down to the floor. His beard although neatly trimmed and combed was thick enough it made the heavy leather apron it was tucked under bulge out a few inches from his chest. He had clear blue eyes that shone with wisdom above a shaved upper lip and a nose that had obviously been broken and poorly set several times.


    ¡°Sorry if it¡¯s not your preferred brew I don¡¯t keep much ale or larger on hand.¡±


    I glanced to the other two, one had a distinctly Mediterranean complexion with a fall of shaggy unkempt midnight black hair falling over the left half of his face and dressed in a similar fashion to the first though with more stains and had elected to go barefoot revealing a clubbed foot. His darkly tanned hands were marked with the small tracery of white scars I took as the mark of an experienced blacksmith who rarely wore gloves while forging.


    The third man¡¯s appearance was a study in contrast. He was dressed in a charcoal grey three-piece suit that probably cost more than a house on Pennsylvania avenue and his cufflinks looked to be made from diamond and gold. The clean lines of his suit were at odds with the ink stains on the elbows and cuffs. His black hair had been trimmed close to his head and slicked down with gel to make it lay flat to frame his face. A set of old fashion reading glasses sat crookedly on his delicate looking nose and a dark smear of ink showed where he constantly pushed them back up his nose when reading. The rest of him though, looked like a carving of an Egyptian pharaoh done in blackened ivory.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to be blunt here. I¡¯m not one of your worshipers, I know you''re all gods of one flavor or another simply from the taste and feel of your energy and if you decide to start a pissing contest about my manners, I will literally eat you alive.¡± I sat down and collected a beer of my own. Killian¡¯s Irish red, one of the few decent store bought beers you could find in my opinion. I held it out and smiled as Tyr tapped his bottle against mine.


    ¡°I thought you¡¯d recognize me. I¡¯m guessing that your memories still aren¡¯t fully back?¡± He sipped at the beer demonstrating a remarkable amount of dexterity with his fake hand. I supposed it was a good sign that Fenrir hadn¡¯t spit out the real one yet, that whole myth about it being a sign of the end of the world and all.


    ¡°Thanks for not using my old name, I go by Cathal now, Tyr. And you¡¯re right about my memories. It seems the human brain isn¡¯t as flexible or adaptive as they claim. My memories are slow to come back and what has come back is in bits and pieces. Even the time where Synbel pulled me away from Earth and I had full access to my abilities is dimly recalled and mostly just disjointed fragments. I keep doing things without knowing how or why I do them until after the fact and sometimes not even then.¡±


    I gestured to the other two deities with my beer both of which were looking at the bottles with disdain. ¡°Mind introducing the other two? I¡¯d hate to let human mythology cloud my judgment, and while effective, having to take a bite out of a god¡¯s energy to settle arguments can be tedious. That, and it¡¯s been so long since I¡¯ve properly fed that I might kill one of them and they probably couldn¡¯t stop me. I¡¯d feel a bit embarrassed if I had to pay reparations to their families because of an accident.¡±


    Both of the gods stood up in anger, finally giving into the constant small insults. The shaggier of the two conjured a hammer from thin air and a ball of shimmering silver power formed between the cupped hands of the other.


    I gestured towards the ball first reaching out with a tendril of my own power and simply consumed it. I have an aptitude for subverting other people¡¯s energy into my own thanks to the part of my nature that made me a psychic vampire. The sudden disappearance of the orb made them both hesitate for a moment. Maybe I was a bit drunk from the sudden power rush or simply the fact that I had just shocked not one, but two gods. Unfortunately, I can only absorb certain forms of energy without at least a few moments preparation and even then, it¡¯s not a good idea to let it sit around. Redirecting what I can¡¯t digest on the other hand, isn¡¯t a problem. I barely paused in turning the stolen energy around and casting an energy construct at the smith that shattered his hammer to dust and slammed him down onto my couch. I winced at the crack of wood from the couch as he was forced back down on it. I hadn¡¯t intended to use THAT much force. Even if I was trying to pin a man large enough to palm my head, it was a bit excessive. Besides, I liked that couch, it was comfortable and didn¡¯t heat up when I pulled it close to the fireplace.


    ¡°I warned you two not to test him. Odin treats him with courtesy as much because of what he has done for us and how he treats us as what he can do when given cause. Just because his capabilities are reduced on earth does not mean he can¡¯t be a threat to you.¡± The Egyptian settled down sheepishly and picked up the bottle waving it absently at the air and turning it into a beaten gold chalice. The other was shaking his head in embarrassment.


    ¡°Cathal. It is my pleasure to introduce you to Hephaestus of the Greek pantheon; patron of smiths and craftsmen. As well as Thoth of the Egyptian pantheon; patron of scribes, magic, wisdom, the sciences and a bunch of other boring stuff.¡± He gestured to each in turn and waggled a finger at Hephaestus. ¡°You should learn to watch your temper friend, even Ares can¡¯t get a rise out of you that easily and Cathal here is no bully.¡±


    ¡°My apologies for angering you, but if you¡¯ve watched this planet¡¯s recent history you may understand my intolerance for deities of any sort coming into my home uninvited. As well as a certain need to verify who you were. Were it not for the feel of Tyr¡¯s energy earlier, before I came in, triggering vague memories, and Khan¡¯s warning I may have decided to play it safe and trigger my more destructive wards and killed anything that doesn¡¯t live in my home. Feel free to help yourself to my food and drink, within reason please, I do not have a limitless budget and have to pay for the things you use.¡±


    I offered a beer to Hephaestus and he took it gingerly once I dismissed the energy construct that was holding him in place. ¡°Now Khan has informed me that someone or something has been causing a failure with the wards Council placed over Earth. Now I have a talent for energy constructs, Tyr and Hephaestus are smiths which means making and repairing things is something of a specialty for them. But what I need to know is what you can contribute Thoth?¡± The Egyptian sipped at his wine and smiled.


    ¡°Knowledge is invaluable to any pursuit. Given your past I thought you would value that fact. While they approach it from the perspective of a broken object, I can look for similar historical events, research potential individuals and groups that could be likely culprits, and even isolate methods to reverse or contain the damage. As a matter of fact, if you accept the price Hephaestus and I are asking for our assistance I can even give you some prime suggestions on locations to use as anchors for mitigating and slowing the damage right now.¡±


    I nodded in consideration of what he was saying. Knowledge was power and a god of scholars would be able to save me the leg work of digging through records while I tried to physically track down the cause of the problem. The only question was price, and if I was willing to pay it. They couldn¡¯t by tradition and the standards of their culture demand or request a price outside my ability to pay or they¡¯d be coming to the negotiations with ill intent which neither had a reputation for.


    ¡°That would depend on your price, but if it¡¯s reasonable then I believe we can work together.¡± I frowned at my suddenly empty beer and reached for the last bottle, directing a harsh scowl at Tyr. I¡¯ll never understand the rate at which the ?sir can make any form of alcohol vanish down their throats. He¡¯d managed to drink twenty bottles of beer in half as many minutes.


    ¡°Actually, it¡¯s a simple request; we¡¯d like to have temporary use of the Frost Forge.¡±


    Tyr sputtered and crushed the bottle he was drinking and looked mournfully at the spilled beer and blood that was dripping on the floor. I frowned for a moment before the memory came to me. The Frost Forge was a unique place that I had created long ago. Unlike most blacksmith forges the Frost Forge actually used cold to warp and shape the metal. The forge was filled with pure cold to a point where no other form of energy could exist inside it, the weapons and armor made in it were among the most potent and powerful artifacts in existence. The sword I kept wrapped in layers of wards and shields inside a gun safe and guarded by a powerful spirit would make Excalibur look like a rusty letter opener and wasn¡¯t even among the more powerful objects to come out of the Frost Forge. I considered the possibilities for a few moments and settled on a decision.


    ¡°My memories may be incomplete Thoth, but I¡¯m not stupid. I know how large that request is. However, because of the gravity of the situation I accept with three conditions. First; you make no weapons or objects designed for aggressive uses. Second; you only access the forge in the presence of both Tyr and Khan who will monitor what you do and also make sure you only use the forge and none of the objects stored with it. And third; you will only have access to it for a period of three earth months starting from when you first enter. I warn you that Khan can only take himself through the wards around there alone. He will need Tyr with him to take you safely in. If you try to force your way in your respective families and pantheons may find themselves suddenly lacking a member.¡±


    I watched the two of them consider the offer and mull it over. Tyr looked at me with a clear expression that asked if I was completely insane. He knew that without me, Khan couldn¡¯t get anybody but himself through the maze of defenses around the cave system that the Frost forge was in. I was going to have to figure out how to get there and modify the shields tonight without the two of them noticing. I tried to give him a look that said shut up and play along. Apparently, the message was understood because he got up and went to help himself to my liquor cabinet.


    ¡°Very well Cathal I think those terms are acceptable.¡± Thoth slipped out a thick roll of what appeared to be authentic papyrus from behind his back and set it on the table. ¡°This is my notes on what¡¯s been discovered so far about the collapse of the wards and suggestions about your potential options for stabilizing them. As well as possible routes we could take to reverse the damage if you decide to do so, Cathal. Don¡¯t worry I put them down in English.¡±


    He wrinkled his nose with obvious distaste at the mention of the language while I winced at the unintended reminder that I had been subconsciously filtering their words through a construct of energy to translate the three languages they were speaking. I¡¯d likely pay a physical and mental toll for that mistake later. The human mind and body just weren¡¯t designed to handle a sustained major energy construct like that and it burned through energy in a rush. I opened the papyrus scroll and skimmed through the neat script before rolling it back up.


    ¡°I¡¯m surprised Cathal. You¡¯ve yet to ask how we are here in our real forms¡± I glanced at Tyr when he made the comment.


    ¡°I¡¯m aware that normally deities would need to possess mortal bodies or appear as little more than apparitions. I¡¯d assumed appearing as you are with access to the majority of your power was a result of the wards failing.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not a bad conclusion but, no.¡± Thoth leaned forward and nodded. ¡°Synbel brought us here. He can only do that because of a certain item that allows him to ignore the effects of the wards, and until this issue is resolved he¡¯s permitted to allow others to use the same sort of item if necessary.¡± Thoth waved his hand and Hephaestus took out a small silver ring and placed it on the table between us silently.


    ¡°What Thoth isn¡¯t mentioning, Cathal is that it will also make you a beacon to anyone that¡¯s even mildly sensitive to energy, even people on other planes will be able to pick you out from the masses.¡± I nodded at Hephaestus, the comment made sense, even if it was just for a second it would be like someone in Russia suddenly turning on a lightbulb brighter than the sun. Even an astronaut on the dark side of the moon would notice something was up.


    ¡°I¡¯ll only use it when necessary. Very well, with that settled Thoth, I¡¯ll leave you to your research. Hephaestus, if you could look into methods of repairing or at least patching the wards I think that will be the best application of your talents. Please use the front door on your way out. And the next time you visit I advise you to use the front door and wait for an invitation inside. The active wards will have a lethal response to someone that doesn¡¯t live here; I have a few tasks I need to go over with Tyr and a favor to ask of Khan.¡±


    And if I keep burning through my energy like this, I¡¯m going to have to find some pour soul or crowd to feed from.

 Chapter 2

    I watched the two deities vanish as they walked into the woods, a faint stirring in the local power currents letting me know they had gone off to whatever other planes and dimensions they planned to work in.


    ¡°Tyr, I appreciate your help. Whatever your reasons are I know you would have mentioned it if I was expected to pay for the help.¡± He stumbled up and belched taking a swig out of a bottle of rum.


    ¡°Odin¡¯s orders, he figures we¡¯ll never repay the debt owed you and your friends. Though he¡¯s still pissed at your first wife about his eye.¡± I watched Khan race across the field fronting my house followed closely by my cat and two of the kits from the family of foxes that had made a burrow nearby.


    ¡°Marriage of politics, I think. She was a real ball buster from what I recall. Oh, you¡¯re replacing my liquor supply or I will personally freeze everything you try to drink for the next year and will figure out how to bribe Loki into making you his butt monkey. You ?sir drink liquor like others breathe and forget that someone has to pay for it.¡±


    I waved Khan over from across the front field and knelt down to pet Bluff as he butted up against me pushing aside the images of him and Khan stalking and being stalked by the local fox family.


    ¡°Alright guys, I need to call my sister and arrange things here to be taken care of for a few days; then we three need to visit the Frost Forge. After that I see which old contact will share information with me. When that¡¯s done, I¡¯ll need to visit some of the locations that Thoth has suggested.¡±


    Tyr finished off a second bottle of rum and produced a bottle of whiskey. I glanced at the bottle and took it away from him, puzzled about how he¡¯d gotten it out of the locked liquor cabinet. A scarlet ¡¯86 mustang convertible pulled up behind my significantly less classy and significantly worse off little Kia. A woman I suppose most men would call beautiful, stepped out of the car.


    We were a study in contrast physically. I¡¯m a few hairs over six foot with facial features that managed to look rough and unfinished on a rounded face. My eyes are the dull brown of moist dirt that match my plain brown hair which occasionally takes on copper highlights if I work outside in the sun long enough and a slightly flattened nose. I was built large with the kind of broad shoulders that I¡¯d been told belonged on a football jock not a scholar. My hobby of studying any form of martial arts I could find a free teacher for growing up had kept me in good shape and my muscles well-toned. Even a decade of working a forge every evening doing heavy labor had only added definition instead of bulk, making me look somewhat out of shape in my usual slacks and button up shirts.


    My sister on the other hand was five foot seven and checked in at maybe one hundred and sixty pounds of athletic muscles with slender features, red hair, and eyes that changed colors more often than the local weather. Melisande¡¯s eyes were currently a flickering green rimmed in red that told me she was beating a warpath. I could sense the enchantments laid on more than a dozen knives she''d managed to expertly conceal in the deep crimson, low cut, midriff top that her significant endowments were threatening to pop out of, the low-slung black jeans, and the black steel tipped combat boots. I also noted a leather strap running from her right shoulder to her hip that looked suspiciously like a baldric. I felt a sudden flash of guilt about what I did as I grabbed Tyr by his shoulder and threw him towards her. Hey, she was out for blood. There were two of us there and I hadn¡¯t done anything to piss her off this much, even if I wasn¡¯t sure about how she knew him.


    My sister barely lost stride as she grabbed his collar and pulled him to the ground. I almost didn¡¯t see her whip the short sword out of the scabbard over her shoulder and thrust it down pining Tyr to the ground by his good hand. A small crimson sphere of flame burst to life over her other hand as she bent down.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    ¡°If you do not tell me where my husband is, I will roast your arm off.¡±


    The threat was delivered without menace but as a simple statement of fact despite the obvious waves of anger I could feel radiating off her. Where I embody the element of ice my sister is fire, and when her temper flared like this, I had no doubt that she could do exactly what she was threatening to do to Tyr. I wasn¡¯t terribly surprised that she recognized Tyr, she wasn¡¯t lacking in metaphysical power, and individuals with a certain level of power tend to recognize each other if they cross paths more than once.  What surprised me was that she was asking after her husband. I turned and glanced at Khan raising an eyebrow in question. He took a tentative step toward Melisande and gave a rough chest tearing cough.


    ¡°Queen Katarena, I beg you to check your temper. Before you further maim the All-father¡¯s Right Hand, would you mind telling us which of your husbands is missing?¡±


    ¡°Better yet try telling me when she got married.¡± I commented, until that moment I hadn¡¯t even realized Khan or the others I associated with even knew of my sister except for her relation to me. Hell, I hadn¡¯t even known she had another name or title.


    ¡°I¡¯m looking for Loki, he informed me he was going to speak with Tyr and has not been seen since. And dear brother I married him long before either of us were born.¡± She paused and the look on her face told me she was searching for a way to phrase the words that wouldn¡¯t annoy or anger me. ¡°I requested the others not to mention my ties to them or our ties to you for reasons you should understand.¡±


    I grunted. She had a point. Giving someone information about their past could color their memories. The wrong bit of information could create the basis for a false set of memories. If I¡¯d known a year ago when my memories first started coming back that I was on friendly terms with Odin himself, it wouldn¡¯t have been hard for my mind to create a false set of memories around that. Hells, the false belief I was Odin¡¯s bastard son would have been a pleasant alternative to the truth in some ways.


    ¡°I did nothing to the trickster. He told me he wanted me to repair a few things but never appeared to give me the items.¡± Tyr¡¯s voice was noticeably strained and it was hard not to notice the smell of burning meat.


    ¡°Sis, if it¡¯s all the same to you, Tyr is helping me with a problem for the High Council so I need his help right now. Will you please stop cooking his arm from the inside out? I¡¯m not sure how you knew he was here but I needed to talk to you anyways. Can you watch things here for a few days while I try to prevent the planet from falling apart?¡± I paused looking at the prized bottle of whiskey that I had taken away from Tyr. ¡°Of course, when this is done if he doesn¡¯t replace the liquor he drank today I may let you carve him into as many steaks as you want.¡± Melisande''s eye¡¯s shifted to a clear blue as she looked at Khan.


    ¡°Him! The council placed my brother as the Guardian of Earth? Do they have a death wish? That¡¯s, that¡¯s, that¡¯s like a bird asking a cat to watch its nest!¡± She was laughing full out with her head thrown back causing her considerable chest to bounce and had finally pulled her sword out of Tyr¡¯s arm. Her mirth, like the emotions of any powerful broadcasting empath, was infectious, and so despite the bleeding wound on his arm Tyr was laughing as well. I reached out and smacked his head, forcing his eyes down. Something I''d been doing to men around my sister since she had been in sixth grade.


    ¡°I¡¯m a bit fuzzy on the details, but Synbel hasn¡¯t told them my actual identity and I¡¯m still waiting on my memories to fully reemerge. Essentially he¡¯s just told them that I¡¯m a talented earthbound soul.¡±


    The High council was one of the most powerful governing bodies in existence, and were responsible for the current order of things to some degree. For a lot of reasons including my habit of making a few of them look like idiots whenever I could, they had an intense, dislike, if not outright hatred, for me. I also suspected there was more to my sister¡¯s comment than that but I wasn¡¯t going to push for details. I¡¯d just get a lot of vague answers that would equate to black is black, white is white, and I know nothing. When Synbel had found me, and triggered the return of my past lives¡¯ memories, he had lied to the Council to keep me on earth and hidden the fact that I had resurfaced with some of my memories. Something that I knew that Khan, Tyr, and the other gods like him, would be happy to keep secret as long as possible just to piss them off. I gestured and everybody headed back into my house, this time through the kitchen door so Tyr wouldn''t bleed on my carpets.

 Chapter 3

    We divided the labor with Khan speaking to Melisande to calm her down and try to get more information from her and me cleaning and applying first aid to Tyr''s hand. Personally, I would have preferred to switch roles, less because she was my sister, and more because I was better at investigative interrogation than Khan. Mostly though, I wanted to switch because despite being a near immortal god Tyr was a baby about being doctored. Admittedly I had to make the injury worse to fix it first. Melisande had somehow heated her sword enough when she stabbed him that it partially cauterized the wound. I''d started by cutting out the pieces of burned flesh and then had to pack a handful of herbs into the wound to slow the bleeding. The entire time he kept jerking his arm around and swearing in just about every Slavic and Norwegian dialect known to man and a few languages I was sure had never been used on Earth. I was glad I''d finally found the part of my subconscious that controlled the translating energy construct and shut it down, I wasn''t sure I wanted to know what accusations he was making about me or my lineage. I felt justified in taking the opportunity to feed off of his energy while I worked. He could survive without the amount of energy I would be using tonight and possibly over the next few days, on the other hand it was entirely possible that the energy of a whole human city wouldn''t be enough to satisfy my hunger or my needs.


    ¡°Tyr, if you don''t stop moving I will cut off your arm and use the most painful methods I can find to regrow it from the outside in. As it stands my plans for the night are already going to be delayed by having to go to Asgard first and speak with Freyja about healing the wound so you won''t be useless to me.¡±


    Melisande finally stood up and came over. Once inside the house I had relaxed enough that now I could see the room¡¯s interplay of energy as well as the nearly constantly flowing energy of my wards inside the walls. Outside of mine or Melisande''s homes, I had to constantly shield or run the risk of going insane from watching the constant movement and interaction of energy. Being a psychic vampire was a two-edge sword. I was more aware of others¡¯ emotions and could feel their emotions almost as keenly as my own and I saw the interaction of different energies overlaying the physical world. Some people spent their lives just learning how to sense the things I dedicated an inordinate amount of effort to not seeing and were willing to spend twice as much power as I did to not see. At the same time though that sensitivity gave me an aptitude for manipulating energy and power that was nearly unrivaled, I often joked with Melisande that it was fate''s private joke on us that people that hated dealing with others were forced to do so or risk dying of starvation.


    ¡°I''ll take care of things here little brother. I hear you have to go save the world, better get to it. I''ll leave some food out for the foxes and those raccoons and take Bluff to my place. I''m sure the girls will be happy to have another play mate for a few days.¡±


    I nodded and gave an unnecessarily rough poke to the flesh around Tyr''s hand before tying off the bandage around it. I¡¯m not above petty cruelties for vengeance; I was a bit miffed that he''d drank half the liquor I''d been collecting for the last ten years though he''d avoided my wines which was nice since some of them were nearly impossible to find.


    ¡°Thanks sis try not to burn anyone important while I¡¯m gone. Would you mind giving me a ride to the top of the Peak? I''ll need to take some of my bags and I don''t want to leave the truck on the mountain. Just let me get ready and pack some tools up. Also, Thoth or Hephaestus may stop by with information for me at some point if you can hold onto it for me, I''d be appreciative.¡±


    I headed up the stairs beside the front door and into the spare bedroom I had turned into a personal armory. I pushed aside a table covered in a variety of arrow heads and shafts to reach the gun safe in the back corner. I knelt down and began carefully disarming each layer of wards on the gun safe before opening it. None of those were lethal but they could freeze a person where they stood and send out a warning until I had time to come investigate. The next set was trickier, I let my eyes wander over the brilliant neon patterns of the energy surrounding the bundle that was the only thing in the gun safe and found the right spot before slipping out a pocket knife and slicing my thumb open with a slight wince of pain and pressed it to the key point to unravel the first layer then took a deep breath.


    ¡°Ddeffr-gwarcheidwad, I Mewn''r enwa chan''r Hia Dadogi ddeffro a gollwng ata ''ch beichia.¡± The worlds rolled off my tongue smoothly though I was sure any Welshman would be embarrassed at my butchering of the language, but it was close enough for what I needed. There was a sudden sense of awareness and what before had been a bundle of cloth turned into a small, blue colored, dragon like, creature that stretched and yawned before blinking its eyes at me and vanishing with a puff of snow that covered me and most of the room in a thin layer of powder.


    Note to self, ice drakes make temperamental guards for objects. At least he''d settled for dusting the room in snow instead of conjuring a blizzard down on the area. I carefully picked up the sword and belt that the drake had been wrapped around and then turned to retrieve a set of chainmail armor from a nearby foot locker. Ever since the trip last year that had taken me to another dimension and kick started my past life recollections, I had filled the room with a small army''s worth of swords, spears, and maces I¡¯d crafted. There was also armor stored either in trunks, on racks, on the wall, or in display cases. After a few moments I was dressed and inspecting myself in the long mirror that occupied a corner of my bedroom.


    The armor was a work of art. The rings were miniscule in size and so finely woven together that only a detailed examination with a good microscope would show the individual rings that had each been welded together rather than the more common one in three method I had learned. To a naked eye the chest guard, sleeves, hood and even the leggings appeared to be made of woven silver and had been wrapped and doubled over to encase a heavy set of surprisingly flexible but thick leather armor so that it was actually three layers of protection.


    Despite the high quality of metal used in the construction and the thick leather in the center layer the whole thing weighed perhaps two pounds and was barely more than an inch thick- heavy enough to turn aside a blade or stop a crossbow bolt but still thin enough to be hidden under a shirt. The blade belted at my waist in a silver and crystal inlaid sheath was even more impressive and was the only object I had brought back with me from my time physically away from Earth, aside from the armor. My personal emblem: an eight-pointed star bound in a circle and the Norse rune Isa in its center was on both the belt buckle and the breast of the armor.


    The sword was a wondrous thing both to gaze on and to wield. Its balance was so precise it could be stood on its tip without moving or rest on a razor edge without tipping. A simple enchantment left it free of rust and corrosion and made sure it always shone like silver. The edge was sharp enough to cut through even the finest of steels with ease, the hilt and cross guard formed a standing angel with its wings spread wide, head thrown back, and arms raised over its head to support the base of the blade where the enchanted steel merged seamlessly with the smooth silver of the angel¡¯s body. The angel itself stood upon a spherical pommel of perfectly clear quartz crystal the size of a half dollar coin. On one side of the pommel inlaid with crushed sapphires was the Norse rune Isa, on the opposite, inlaid with crushed rubies this time, was the Norse rune Kenaz. At the bottom of it was the eight-pointed star bound within a circle that symbolized the family that was my soul¡¯s origin. Each major line was made of inlaid crushed black diamond, the point of each star a different color gemstone to represent each of the eight prime elements.


    As I grasped the hilt, I was amazed again at how smooth the hilt was and yet I knew it would never slip no matter how wet or blood slicked it became. I¡¯d out on a set of leather bracers I''d developed for throwing spikes that let me hurl the small metal tips with a flick of my wrist and then a set of wrist sheaths under the bracers that each held three more knives of differing metals that were stamped with runes along the center. A nylon mesh harness supported the sheaths of two more plain short swords based on the roman gladii and held the hilts just above my hips so I could draw them by crossing my arms.


    The uniform made me look like some sort of avenging knight about to descend on the wicked, which after I considered it might not be far from the truth. I sighed as I realized I still had more packing to do. I snatched an empty set of old fashioned courier bags from a rack in the corner, tossed my dirty clothes in the hamper and headed back down stairs.


    Khan was sitting on Tyr''s stomach with a paw on my sister''s head beside him. Tyr had Melisande''s sword a few inches from her throat and she''d managed to drive two of her knives into his wrist between the delicate bones there. I''ll give my sister this much; she knows her way around the human body better than most doctors and could put a knife just about anywhere she wanted for the desired result. As long as those two knives stayed in place Tyr wouldn''t be able to move his wrist without cutting off his good hand.


    I sighed, pulled out a heavy leather traveler''s cloak I''d gotten during the local renaissance festival a few years ago, and nodded to Khan as I went back to my overly cluttered and under organized work room. (Don''t look at me like that. You try and figure out a system that accounts for a customer¡¯s gaming system and yeti slaying implements at the same time.) I began piling various items into the bags and multitude of coat pockets.


    A small cupboard held a stash of dried fruit and meat that went into an inside coat pocket, the rations would last me about a week if I ate small meals. I filled one of the bags with a collection of crystals that would make most rock collectors drool and the other was stuffed full of packages filled with herbs each wrapped in combinations of colored cloth and string so I could identify them with a glance. I filled more coat pockets with a collection of vials filled with different alchemy ingredients and potions I thought might be handy. After that it came down to which knives and focus items to bring.


    I rolled aside a few work benches stacked with computers in various states of assembly and repair and started sorting through the items. A set of crystal and blue wire arm bands that boosted my defensive shields as well as my control over my energy went on each arm. I stuffed a dozen more metal and crystal items in my pocket that I''d used as the physical anchors for a dozen really nasty energy constructs I''d developed over the last year and made a mental note of what was where. It would be rude and inconvenient to blow someone up if I sat down on something by accident. Five minutes later and I was loaded for lion, bear, alien or god. The whole process of preparation from selecting gear to packing it only took me ten minutes.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    I walked out to the kitchen noted the steady billow of anger and rage from Tyr and Melisande. Khan, for his part just felt mildly annoyed. I pulled a Mt. Dew and a sandwich out of the fridge, sat down in the breakfast nook, and ate my afternoon snack quietly while I broadcast waves of calm and relaxation at the two. I washed down the last bite with a swig of caffeine and approached the trio. After a few awkward moments and some inappropriate hand placement on my sister, I''d taken away the other thirteen blades, gotten the sword from Tyr, and removed the two blades from his wrist. I tossed the lot of them across the room in a jumble of sharp edges that I was sure played hell on my hardwood floors.


    ¡°Melisande this is twice in one day you''ve resorted to violence first. For someone with your diplomatic skills I''m disappointed. And Tyr you¡¯re a guest. I would expect a Norse deity especially, to behave better as such than to take another guest¡¯s weapon and attack them with it. If I find you''ve violated my hospitality again, I will feed your balls to Fenrir, put a yew spear in your heart, bury you weapon and armor-less without an alu, and be quit of you till Ragnar?k comes, are we clear?¡± He made an audible gulping sound and Melisande looked suitably abashed so I nodded to Khan who withdrew his paw from my sister''s head and got off of Tyr. I gestured and both found seats on the couches in the living room, Tyr sitting stiffly and Melisande sprawling artfully as though posing for a photo shoot.


    ¡°So, who wants to tell me what happened?¡±


    ¡°She claimed I was inadequate!¡±


    ¡°He propositioned me and accused Loki of being a liar!¡±


    They shouted over each other and I waved a hand for silence. Frustration clear in my expression and the emotions I was radiating. I didn''t give a damn if my shields were low enough to let anyone in the room with an ounce of awareness know what I was feeling, I did not need this.


    ¡°Khan? You seem to be the only witness present with a cool head would you mind explaining things to me?¡± The large tiger batted a few large tasseled pillows that were strewn about on the floor and furniture of the room into a pile walked in a circle around it and plopped down on them.


    ¡°Tyr asked when she was going to get rid of the worthless upstart and the foolish liar she was married to now and shack up with a real god- his exact words. Melisande informed him that when a real god with something to offer in bed proposed she might consider it. He grabbed her sword, she stabbed him, and I interceded before you had a corpse.¡±


    I sighed, for some reason most war gods were worse than frat boys about taking offense when you implied they were less than well-endowed even if it was true. When it came to matters of honor and pride people like me, Tyr, and my sister had the original view on the matter; namely any implication that either was less than perfect was valid grounds to be called out for a duel to the death. Granted with the gods it was more like a duel to the exhaustion, duels to the death got a bit harder when you could pick your head up and put it back on after it was lopped off. The fact that both Tyr and my sister had started by insulting and Tyr had escalated to violence was not conductive to me staying in a good mood.


    ¡°Okay. First off, I won¡¯t broke an argument on this Melisande. Tyr, I want you to tell this to everyone: My sister, regardless of whoever or whatever else she may be, is off limits unless she¡¯s involved with them already or she starts it. That or they can duel me on my world. And second, I don''t need all my memories to know that a god of tricks, subterfuge, and mischief will be better in bed than any but a god of sex. Let it go, if you don''t I will give you to Odin bound and hobbled and stripped naked hanging from a spear and inform him you violated guest rights.¡±


    I shifted around in my chair and fixed my sister with a scowl. ¡°And if you ever again attack or provoke an attack from someone I''m treating as a guest I will find a way to strip you, hog tie you, and drop you stark naked and helpless in the middle of Dante''s second circle of hell. I give even you less than a week before you''re begging for a change of scenery or the last few strands of your sanity snap. Now both of you. Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear.¡±


    Tyr was pale and looking for a corner to crawl into, and while I loved my sister the look of terror on her face was nearly priceless. While I couldn''t say how I knew instinctively that I could make good on the threats they both nodded and I stood.


    ¡°Good. Tyr, I''m going to trust you to find your own way home. I''ll meet you there. Tell Freyja that I''ll be coming along shortly. Mel, you and me need to drive up to Devil''s Playground, it''s the nearest Starpath I''ve been able to identify.¡±


    I picked up my bags and grabbed the keys to my old banged and battered, but still trusty, suburban that I¡¯d nicknamed Kodiak and headed out to the back of the house where it was parked. I tossed my bags in the back of the car and glanced at the sun to check the time. Me and watches haven¡¯t gotten along well since I was a teenager. For some reason, they just keep dying on me. A well-meaning friend had bought me an old-fashioned pocket watch that had to be wound regularly and somehow after a few days around me its guts were welded together, I gave up on watches after that.


    Melisande came out a few minutes later while I was doing breathing exercises and drawing together both my mental and physical shields. I nodded as she jumped into the driver''s seat and looked back at the storage area with a low whistle. I glanced back as Khan jumped through the back window and grinned.


    Okay so maybe my memories of my past lives were a fragmented jumble, maybe what I could recall was more pain and warfare than happy moments. But I was human now with human ingenuity and every now and then that meant I came up with some really cool stuff. For example, the back of the Kodiak may look normal if you were looking at it from the outside but if you were inside it was a lot bigger. I didn''t need my shields lowered to feel the low thrum of the wards and constructs that were layered around the thing. I''d stocked it with enough camping and survival gear to supply a good size Boy Scout troop, and one side of it was filled with old military ammo boxes that contained more crystals for focusing and ritual work, at least a hundred knives, and some canned and dried food stuff for emergencies. Between the supplies stuffed in the back and the layers of shields, wards, and constructs I''d spent months working into the frame of the suburban and in a few places carving into the metal under the carpet in the back, the thing could survive just about anything shy of a nuclear assault without batting an eye.


    ¡°Planning an assault on Fort Knox? I''ve seen siege engines with less defenses.¡±


    ¡°No though you would not believe the amount of effort and ritual work I had to commit to embedding the wards and seals into the metal, and faking injuries so I could get blood transfusions. Actually, I''m surprised that you didn''t feel it at home. Mainly I made it figuring it would be a good idea to have a kinda, home away from home, safe haven I could take on the road if I had to go out of town for a long time.¡± We buckled up fighting the touchy seat belt reels. The Kodiak was large and powerful and built like a small tank but it had its flaws. The temperamental belts and lack of a radio being the main ones.


    ¡°So how long?¡±


    ¡°Since my memories were triggered or I started serving as guardian? About a year, I think. Two or three months before I came to you about restarting our old training regimen. Synbel had chased a trollkin here. I stumbled across the fight a few hundred yards off the millennium trail near Cripple Creek. After we realized who I was I came back here as fast as possible.¡± I paused to turn around in the seat and grab a bottle of water for myself.


    ¡°He used his position with among the guardians to get me listed on the roster as Earth''s guardian. Mostly I''ve been doing damage control. An unlucky group of teens in San Francisco managed to summon one of the fallen that I barely banished. There was a trip to India where I managed to fake the execution of a Naga after it was convicted of stealing a museum exhibit on rare pearls. I had a tussle with a pack of hell hounds that was hunting in Toronto, and then there was that Rakshasa that started rampaging around in Turkey. That last one was hard, remember that programming convention in Albuquerque I had you spend a few weeks house sitting for?¡± I knocked back half my water and twisted the cap back on.


    ¡°I was wondering about that actually you haven''t left this place since you first got it, then suddenly you start going out of town all the time. That month away kinda made me twitch. I mean you computer geeks have always been prone to loosing time but that was excessive. How have you been getting around anyways? I know you haven''t been flying, you would have needed a ride to the airport and you''ve been leaving The Kodiak and Blue Bird at home.¡± I winced my chest and arms were still a bit sore when I thought about that last fight.


    ¡°Yeah, I was actually down in Albuquerque, staged a mugging with myself as the victim, stashed my wallet and gear, faked memory loss about who I was, altered my finger prints so that they didn''t have a match in the police database, and spent the time in the hospital recuperating with eight cracked ribs, a collapsed lung, a cracked skull, and my leg broken in four places. I had to blow most of my energy repairing the chunk of flesh the damn thing ate out of the side of my stomach. After a few weeks in the hospital, I started taking walks and feeding off the people in ER to speed up my healing. Then, after I was well enough to move about and didn''t need drugs to keep from wincing with every breath, I vanished and collected my gear and spent some time on a local reservation healing up the rest of the way. As for the travel, I''ve actually had to use leyline walking to get around. I found a few doorways, but turns out that thanks to the seals Council has crisscrossing this planet for whatever bizarre reason they have, the blighted things are so unstable it''s like jumping under a guillotine as it drops and hoping that you keep your head.¡± I dropped my mater in a cup holder and reached back to pry another from the plastic case.


    ¡°I could have told you that. Still I''m surprised you were able to pull together the power to merge with a leyline for even a hundred miles, let alone long enough to jump across international borders or oceans.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not easy to do, fortunately I can use Khan to reinforce my mental image, so all I really need to do is focus on shielding and gathering enough energy.¡± I didn¡¯t comment on the fact that of all the constructs I knew shields were my best, I¡¯d taken a natural talent for shaping them and turned it into an art form. I finally freed a second bottle and held it out to her.


    ¡°So tell me, all this time running around the world fighting and saving creatures making sure the world doesn¡¯t go into a panic when it learns that the myths and legends it''s been trying to forget are still alive and real, how¡¯s Marisa doing?¡± She ignored the offered bottle of water as we finally left the back roads and turned onto highway 24. I used the distraction of her merging into traffic to push aside old memories.


    ¡°Don''t mention her again please. And no, I haven''t visited her I can¡¯t appear out of thin air and say hi to a normal person.¡± I finished off the last of my water and tossed the bottle into an empty trash bag. ¡°It took me a few months to figure out a viable shield to hold my mind and body together during the merge when I leyline walk. Like you said the planet wide wards make accumulating the necessary energy problematic, and no I''m not showing you how you can figure it out on your own. Now, I''m going to try and get some rest. Wake me when we get to Devil''s Playground.¡± I crawled over the seat into the back area and unrolled a sleeping bag.

 Chapter 4

    I came awake at a nudge to my shoulder. The knife was in my hand and at Melisande''s throat before I was fully awake. My sister glared at me and then shifted her gaze down to the blade.


    ¡°Would you mind?¡± I pulled the knife back and slid it back into the wrist sheath.


    ¡°Sorry, old habits are coming back. We there?¡± She shook her head and crawled the eight feet to get out of the storage area from the back where I¡¯d been sleeping. I stretched and adjusted the armor and weapons so they weren¡¯t digging into my back and sides. I pulled the travelers cloak back on and climbed out the open door following Melisande into the Glen Cove Inn. Glen Cove Inn had been built by some historic figure or other as a personal retreat. Since then it had become the type of tourist trap you''d expect to find on one of America¡¯s most popular fourteeners. The place was stocked with long sleeve shirts, pants, and winter jackets for tourist that didn''t consider that a warm sixty in Colorado Springs didn''t mean it wasn''t frigid at nearly eleven and a half thousand feet above sea level, by the time most people got there they had figured out it would be a lot colder at the fourteen thousand and some change feet the summit boasted. We both got the largest cup of coffee they had to offer and I let Melisande pay.


    ¡°Still drinking it straight? How can you stand that?¡± She took a few sips warming her hands around the cup as she juggled the key chain.


    ¡°I would have preferred tea, but frankly the selection they had was a travesty and I''m not going to poison even this piss poor excuse for coffee like you did. Can we go already?¡± I climbed in careful not to flash the sword at my side and reached over to push her door open. I frowned as I looked at the guard houses ahead of us. Melisande spoke before I did.


    ¡°They''re closing access to the peak due to a storm. Any ideas or do I get my choice?¡±


    ¡°Sis, your choice probably involves bodies, ER visits, morgues and questions. If you can just put them to sleep long enough to get us through¡­ or do you want me to try something subtler by messing with their heads? Besides the storm will make opening the Starpath easier on me.¡±


    ¡°I''m not so good with subtle, maybe knock out the entire mountain for the next twenty hours but that''s it. If you can fiddle with the rangers¡¯ heads enough for them to think we¡¯re paramedics doing a run for someone at the summit with elevation sickness¡­¡± I unbuckled and climbed back into the storage area fumbling through the old ammo boxes until I found one that had a pale blue and purple star on top. I flipped it open and pulled out a transparent green pyramid shaped chunk of apophyllite.


    ¡°Not sure how much this is gonna take out of me, there''s a reason the Ute''s named this ¡®The God''s Mountain¡¯, the space back here is built to be used as a ritual area on top of other things, still messing with a person¡¯s perception is tricky. Vanishing us would be easier since they haven¡¯t dropped the bars.¡±


    I closed my eyes and focused on the crystal reaching my senses through it to feel the surrounding area, invisibility is hard to pull off and there are a lot of ways to get the same effect. I usually opt for a tricky type of shield that makes people reluctant to look at whatever I¡¯m hiding and puts an image of whatever is on the other side of me in front of me. It¡¯s a lot easier for me than trying to change how everyone around me sees something. Khan was a reassuring phantom weight at my back as he watched, helping to lessen the mental strain of the task, even my cat was purring audibly where he slept in his carrier. After what felt like eons I was reasonably confident I had a solid image of the surrounding area and projected the image around the car letting the crystal in my hands do most of the heavy lifting


    ¡°Go, I don''t know how long it will last before I run out of energy.¡±


    The park ranger didn¡¯t even glance up from his book as Melisande drove past despite the audible sound of the suburban¡¯s engine. I had Melisande pull over on the side of the road at the pull off just before Devil¡¯s Playground. It was rare that the snow in this stretch fully melted which was handy for me. When you have hundreds of people a day passing the same spot and a few thousand years of the indigenous people worshiping a site it begins to hold a sort of power all to itself. I clambered out, my heavy metal tipped boots clicking on the stone despite the driving snow and heavy thunder while lightning played through the sky.


    I put a hand to the ice and snow feeling its tie to the mountain and the area around it. There was a sense of presence to the mountain as though it was alive and thinking. A trait I¡¯d come to associate with any of the old sacred sites on Earth. Focus enough energy into a place long enough and it can develop a mind of its own. It was more common with sacred sites but even normal places have them. On Pikes Peak it was a general sleepy awareness but other places had full personalities that could get a bit picky. It¡¯s one of the reasons I never want to go to New Orleans.


    Ice is like a quality clear quartz crystal; it''s good at holding and soaking up the energy it''s exposed to but it takes time to get a decent charge. Fortunately top of a major ley line intersection on a mountain that had been worshiped as the home of gods for thousands of years with tourist passing by it every day a few feet of snow could soak up as much emotional energy as a normal person carried around with them. I pushed my bare hand into the cold snow. We¡¯d had a couple harsh and long winters and this patch of snow was several years old. As I touched the snow I reached into the energy trapped in it and drew it into me refining it and replenishing all the energy I¡¯d spent today and then some. I finally drew myself away from the rush of emotions trapped in ice and stumbled away from the snow drift. I could feel the storm play across the sky a scant thousand feet above me like an echo of the storm of power inside me that made my skin feel like it was vibrating. I walked back to the Kodiak a little unstably, okay so I wasn''t just full of energy I was drunk on it, it happens sometimes when I feed on a major amount of energy and I loved the feeling. Granted nearly a hundred bucks in road tolls and gas was a bit steep for a good energy high and it was rare that the snow would last more than a month or two. I climbed in and turned the rear view mirror to look at my eyes which had turned to storm cloud gray with flakes of snow falling through them. Yeah my energy was definitely running at an all-time high for my time on earth.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°Gods above and below remind me never to piss you off when we¡¯re near old ice Cathal.¡±


    ¡°Just get me up there, Sis. I want this done and over with as soon as possible once you get me to the Playground you can go home.¡± A few minutes later we pulled over at the overlook on Devil''s Playground named not just for the way lightning strikes would jump from spot to spot but also because it was one of the most electrically active zones on the planet, experiencing thousands of lightning strikes every year. I climbed out of the Kodiak grabbing a focusing rod that looked suspiciously like a tuning fork with copper wire wrapped around the tines and crisscrossing the straps of my courier bags over my shoulders and headed out across the empty field beside Pikes Peak highway.


    The landscape of Devil''s Playground is barren as can be expected for being over twelve thousand feet above sea level and blasted by the constant lightning strikes despite the efforts of a few hearty tundra plants to carve out a living in the harsh climate. I threw pure unaltered power into the storm now only a few hundred feet above my head and felt the primal forces clashing above me take the fuel and fight harder with it as I strode across the blighted landscape. I closed my eyes and let my metaphysical senses expand out in a sphere around me. I could sense Melisande and Khan a dozen yards behind me. I finally found what I was looking for, a light almost melodic humming feel accompanied by what could best be described as a thinness in reality maybe a hundred yards from what I assumed was the anchor of one of the major wards on earth. I walked a circle around the space a few times and determined the center of the space before driving the focusing wand into the earth.


    ¡°Okay I''m stashing this here and I''ll call you when I get back. Hopefully Khan can remind me of whatever memory I forget when I get back.¡± I pulled out my cellphone and a fake rock shutting the phone off before putting it in the oversized hide-a-key. After covering it with a bit of dirt and dust to look a bit more natural I blew on the marks made by my fingers scraping the ground so they wouldn''t be spotted. ¡°Okay you may want to stand back.¡±


    Doorways are used for traveling from one spot to another on a single planet, portals between dimensions, but Starpaths were a lot rarer, there were only three or four on any planet and they could be used to reach any planet or dimension as long as you knew where you were in relation to where you were going. Unfortunately, things had a habit of shifting around over time and I only remembered a few coordinates for other planets and planes and of those maybe three were still viable. I thought about Asgard and the celestial bodies and dimensions that bordered it trying to dredge the coordinates for it out of my brain.


    Energy work is a lot like magic except it''s all in the head. In Europe and some parts of America witches and wizards used spells and rituals to shape and form the energy of life. In Asia and most of the orient they used herbs, calligraphy, talismans, and martial arts for the same purpose. I don''t have that sort of mindset I just go straight to the source and manipulate it directly however I still needed symbols to accomplish some stuff. Usually I can just form an image in my mind of what I want and my subconscious manipulates energy to accomplish what I need, it¡¯s all in the visualization. If I want a ball of energy I just imagine it forming and invest energy into the mental image till it forms, if I want to create something, I think about how the energy is going to conform to the shape. As long as I have the knowledge and mental focus to shape and hold what I want the energy to do in my mind and the raw energy to see it happen I can do it.


    I¡¯d learned to use different things as focusing objects by associating meaning and purpose with them so that I didn¡¯t have to constantly imagine the same thing over and over and I¡¯d figured out early on that the less I had to imagine the less energy I had to invest of myself. I suppose it was the same principle that the spells a witch or wizard worked on and sometimes it could save time but it was a pain if you had to always drag around the right crystals, memorize thousands of arcane words or hand gestures, or make sure you always had a big stick with random carvings on it nearby.


    For something like this though I needed the symbolic items because I not only lacked enough power to open the path but I had to contend with the fact that the wards and seals layered around earth tended to crush and redistribute any significantly large concentration of metaphysical energy. I could try using the ring that Thoth had given me but that was a last resort if this ritual didn¡¯t pan out. Despite how things had been in ancient times, Asgard wasn''t close to earth and it was going to take more raw power than the energy suppressing wards (which I was about to try repairing despite how much of a hindrance I found them) would allow me to draw into myself.


    I drew out a bronze blade from the sheath strapped to my wrist and sliced a shallow cut across the back of my hand and began tracing runes and symbols in the air around the rod. As I finished each one a bolt of lightning would streak down from the sky and become trapped in the shape I¡¯d drawn. I took a deep breath to focus, and then began digging through my mind for a memory of what Asgard looked like. I finally hit on it and breathed a sigh of relief. The whole effort would be a waste of time and power if I didn¡¯t have a clear mental image of the place. Once I had the memory on hand I focused on it, making the mental image feel as real as the barren and rocky mountain side around me. I looked around me at the spectacle of more than a dozen lightning bolts that were trapped in the shapes of the various runes and sigils I used for manipulating energy. I pushed back the dull constant ache I¡¯d felt since I started the ritual while I fought the effects of the Seals off and reached out to the Starpath with one last spike of energy. The Starpath opened releasing a hot summer breeze filled with the warm scent of apples and wild flowers. I reached through and felt around for a moment before grabbing a fist sized chunk of gold and tossing it to Melisande.


    ¡°That should cover expenses for the next few months for both of us. I don''t think Odin will mind me borrowing a bit from his treasury. Get going and I''ll call you when I get back. Let''s hope the storm doesn¡¯t kill my phone.¡± With that I stepped through the vague heat shimmer of the open Starpath and into a world of gods.

 Chapter 5

    I felt a rough bumping as we came through the Starpath someone must have messed up when they set up the coordinates opening it. It took me a moment to orient myself. I was draped over Khan''s back, Tyr''s hand holding me in place. I blinked, there were streaks of red on the white and brown striped fur. Phone, something about a phone.


    ¡°Phone. Need to check in.¡± Tyr gave me a worried look.


    ¡°Cathal? Can you hear me? Your memories are distorted from coming back to Midgard. Do you have a way home? We need to get you behind your wards and get you a healer you¡¯re seriously injured.¡± I rolled my eyes trying to look around and reached towards a rock on the ground. Khan pawed the rock over.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    ¡°Can you open this up Tyr? He hid a phone in it before we left. We need to,¡± He stopped as Tyr picked up the fake stone and crushed it and the phone in his hand. ¡°Never mind you just broke it.¡±


    ¡°Girls, Khan, get one of the girls.¡± Gods it was getting dark fast, my head was pounding harder also, not to mention that searing pain in my side and why did it taste like I had pennies in my mouth? I spat out a mouth full of blood, and carefully slid myself down off Khan and landed painfully on a sharp edged rock jamming itself into another wound I hadn''t realized I had in my shoulder. I didn''t bother trying to prevent myself from passing out. Given the amount of pain I was in being unconscious was actually a blessing.

 Chapter 6

    I woke up propped against a mound of pillows under a red bed set, the walls and furniture were all darkly stained wood matched by black carpets which set off all sorts of alarms in my mind. My color schemes ran high on warm wood tones with white and pale blues. The only reassurance came from Khan being on the bed beside me albeit a bit exhausted looking, on the floor were my sister¡¯s companions; a wolf and black panther of equally large proportions to him that had the same partially transparent look that said they were more spirit than body. My armor and sword were lying across the room on an old dresser. I winced at the gashes and the nicks in my gear, whatever had happened was pretty nasty I just wished I knew what it was.


    Khan and I had taken to calling this ¡°transition amnesia¡±. When I went to other planets or planes of existence, I became what I used to be, which was far above and beyond human. When I came back though I reverted to being human, it was the same problem I had with regaining the memories of my past lives; I was like a squirrel trying to comprehend the perceptions and memories of a human. Some of it clicked into place but most of it was so foreign and alien that my mind rejected it. It''s why I had taken Khan with me in the first place, he was supposed to act as a note taker and tell me the highlights when we got back. I struggled to sit up and found that most of my upper body was swathed in bandages. A few tentative sniffs at the air told me that the white gauze was holding some sort of herbal concoction in place.


    Melisande came in dressed in a blood red plush bathrobe and a pair of elbow length surgical gloves. She looked at me and the sleeping animals and typed out a quick text message on her phone and then started changing my bandages quietly. I noted that most of my injuries were from claws and teeth as she did. Well at least now I knew where I was, the black and red decor fit my sister''s taste, granted I didn''t spend a lot of time in my sister''s bedroom, I just didn''t know how I ended up in this shape. I tried to talk and had to suck my tongue for a few seconds before my throat was moist enough to work.


    ¡°Khan, report please.¡± He lifted his massive head and opened one sleep dulled eye and glared at me.


    ¡°Canine therianthropes ambushed us on way back. You held them off, me and Tyr did a rush on opening a ''path. Moron crushed phone. I contacted Khalea, the wolf got Melisande, she brought us here. Now leave me alone I''m tired.¡±


    ¡°You''d better listen to him, discounting the physical wounds you managed to drain your energy reserves fairly low. Khan told me how to invert the shields on the Kodiak to turn the storage space into a containment field so I could keep you from draining the life from everyone in Teller County. Hold on for a little bit. I can''t do anything for Khan, he just needs rest. Opening a Starpath on the fly in unison with someone else like he did is fast but it¡¯s exhausting and apparently you guys were on the move for the better part of four days without break. I managed to convince Cassandra to come out here and do some work on you though. I''m guessing your still at the stage where you don''t have any memory left when you switch between here and other places?¡± She rolled me over to put more of some foul-smelling green ointment on my back and shoulder and wrapped it. I tried to limit my protests to as few half-heard whimpers of pain as possible.


    ¡°Yeah, we think in another four or five years my mind should have adjusted enough to remember stuff accurately. In the meantime, Khan goes with me for any trips to other planets or planes of existence as a kind of backup memory and personal assistant. So, Cassandra, your friend from Grand Junction I take it? She can actually heal this kind of damage?¡±


    ¡°Normally no, but with the condition of the seals it¡¯s possible. She''s a psychic battery so you can pull a lot of energy from her and she¡¯s adapted Reiki and Healing Touch into something that actually works consistently. She landed in the Springs about ten minutes ago. So she should be getting here in another fifty if she sticks to the speed limits and takes the passes slow. I need to go look in on Tyr, he managed to get injured covering Khan when they pulled you back through the Starpath. You took the brunt of the damage so he¡¯s better off than you but he¡¯s still not in good shape. Now get some rest.¡± I was about to protest that I had things to take care of, people to contact, and a whole planet that was still on the verge of plunging into the dark ages when I saw one of her small dainty seeming fist smashing into my head out of the corner of my eye and the world went black again.


    When I came around again someone was prying my eyes open and shining a penlight into them. The light shifted to the other eye as long gentle fingers pried it open, or at least I think it was supposed to feel gentle. Cassandra was tall, made of all long, lean willowy lines, and soft textures with honey yellow hair cut shoulder length and blue eyes that shone with compassion.


    ¡°You gave him a concussion and made my job harder. It looks like the compress I gave you helped speed up the healing though. I can feel signs that one of his lungs was compressed and possibly ruptured when the rib was shattered but if it was punctured, he sealed the hole with ice so I can¡¯t say, the spare ribs were fractured and his whole rib cage was dislocated along with his jaw. I¡¯m surprised he was even able to breathe at all when he arrived. Those stabs on his thighs punctured the arteries a couple times, and that slash across his wrist looks to have sliced open the artery before he froze both shut. And there is a web work of cracks on his scapula coming off what looks like a set of punctures from claws. Fortunately, whatever took that bite out of his side seems to have just missed hitting anything vital.¡± I felt the slight tingle of her probing at my body with energy as she ran her hands over my stomach and chest then down along my legs and back up over my arms.


    ¡°There is also some deep tissue bruising along his abdominal wall if it was anyone else he¡¯d probably have frostbite on his insides with everything he froze shut. My compliments on the stitches you did by the way, they seem to be holding and good. Frankly if anyone else came to me in this condition I¡¯d tell you to take them to a morgue but I realize this isn¡¯t a normal set of circumstance. I tried doing a scan on his body to see if anything was still causing damage and he seems clean of that sort of working but,¡± There was a brief pause as she glanced at me before shaking her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know, something is different about his body. Either him or someone else has altered it, and it¡¯s been recent, I would have noticed if he was like this just being in the room when I was out for your birthday. His entire body from his cells, his bones, even his organs are heartier and more resilient than even yours, Melisande and it seems better at repairing itself. Your brother may not be in perfect health but he''s in better health than any other person I''ve worked with whose been through similar events. Normally without my help I¡¯d say he¡¯d need a year to recover from all the injuries and that¡¯s accounting for the natural healing boost being psychic vampires gives you two, he can probably cut it down to about six months to repair everything without medical help as long as he rests and feeds on enough people with sufficient energy maybe even less it¡¯s hard to say.¡±


    I opened my eyes and turned to look at her. ¡°I don¡¯t have that much time I need to be out of this bed and back on my feet by the end of the day.¡± I paused as I realized how stupid that sounded. ¡°It¡¯s not a matter of pride Cassandra. I¡¯m trying to avert a disaster, the fact that Tyr is sitting in the other room in his own body instead of possessing a stranger should tell you how dire the situation is.¡± She nodded and then turned to Melisande with a look of resignation.


    ¡°If you get me killed healing you, I¡¯m going to haunt the both of you. Mel can you get my bag and pour two cups of that tea I brewed while you¡¯re at it?¡± My sister walked out and Cassandra settled down on the bed beside me and took out a quartz pendant meticulously wrapping the chain around her hand. The crystal hung suspended from her hand by the delicate silver chain and was trapped in a casing of silver wire scroll work that formed a collection of Celtic knots I didn''t recognize the meaning of.


    ¡°Do I have to worry about any figures from mythology that are tied to you, or are you just a normal person?¡± I wanted to make sure I didn¡¯t end up owing anyone a favor down the line because of this.


    Cassandra smiled and gave the crystal a spin holding it over my solar plexus. I dropped my shields enough to see the lime green healing energy flowing from her and being amplified by the crystal and surrounding my body. She smiled wryly and used her other hand to push a few of the energy flows towards different spots.


    ¡°I bar the way to death until the body has mended and provide the raw vitality for the body to set itself to rights. And what do you know of normal people Ice Father? You''ve been farther from human since birth than any other being to reincarnate on earth I''ve ever heard of. Unlike you and Melisande, I did not escape the chains of human mythology in the past though. I was, and I suppose to some degree, still am Persephone. Now hold still your body is still a mess despite your creative use of ice as a bandage and before I can even think about letting you feed off me, I need to start mending some of the damage. Whoever set your bones would make a field medic look like a surgeon. As soon as Mel gets back with the tea for us I want you to drink it, without complaints please, and we can move on to the easier part.¡± She moved the crystal farther down my body and the focus of the energy she was weaving around me moved while the bindings around my chest and arms stayed in place. A constant low level hum began to surround my body.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    ¡°So your husband keeps the dead and you prevent souls from going to his realm? Doesn¡¯t he get mad about that?¡± I focused and shifted some of the bindings that were encircling my back directing them away from the areas where vague memories told me that a set of wings could emerge when I traveled to other planes.


    ¡°Contrary to the myths, I do love my husband and he me. As long as I only interfere with his and the other death deities work on occasion, and only if they happen to have a lot of friends in high and low places, am I allowed free reign to stop people from dying. Let me know before you shift things again. Is there something about your back I should know about?¡± The pendant kept its steady spin as she moved it lower again, this time hanging over my gut as it spun out more lines of power.


    ¡°Vague memories and instincts mostly. I have a feeling that it would be a bad idea to do anything that could lock the muscles there in a fixed state.¡± Melisande came in with an old fashion tea pot and two cups and set them down, pouring the brown fluid out for both of us and then retreated to the far corner of the room. Cassandra finally moved the crystal down past my feet and then hung it back around her neck and tucked it under her shit before picking up the two tea cups. While she offered me one cup and drank the other with a bitter frown.


    ¡°Drink up. Once the tea takes effect it will boost our senses and lower our defenses. I suggest drinking it as fast as possible.¡± I nodded, took the tea cup, and tossed it back trying to ignore the horrendous gag inducing smell. Imagine taking mineral spring water, boiling jock straps in it and then straining the resulting mixture through old socks into raw sewage and you might get a close idea of what the stuff tasted like. The effect was instant though, the shields I usually kept in place without effort fell apart. I saw the deep nearly blazing verdant emerald of Cassandra''s aura, the constant flickering red-orange flames of Melisande''s, my own solid aura was the constant blue-white of glacial ice. Even the wards that shrouded Melisande''s home had a shifting and pulsating life of their own that I could see. Whatever was in the tea had broken down even the subconscious shields and I could feel the effects of the Seals on Earth stifling my power without them like a thousand wet blankets draped over me. Cassandra snapped her fingers in front of my face.


    ¡°Focus Cathal, I know it can be distracting but I need you to focus. Now what makes feeding easiest for you?¡± I reached up with what felt like a drug numbed hand and grabbed Cassandra''s wrist and closed my eyes focusing on the feel and texture of her energy and let myself sink into the sensations. She had so much power in her, I felt like I had bit down on an electrical line. I drew in more of her energy drawing deeper and deeper as the energy directed itself through my body finding the half aches and injuries I hadn¡¯t even been aware of. As I drew deeper and the energy poured into me faster I exerted more of my will on Cassandra''s energy. I kept pushing until I heard the faint audible thumping that told me I was drawing directly from the core of her power. It¡¯s hard to explain the feeling of feeding off the energy of a goddess, each one is different and Persephone was a goddess of spring. Which meant Cassandra¡¯s power was linked to life and growth almost as much as mine was to the cold. Imagine being drunk, while high with every drug known to man in your system and none of the downfalls. I heard a gasp from somewhere and a distant part of my brain reminded me that when I fed this deeply from a person it was a two-way street. I could feel her energy in a way only a vampire like me could, but she would feel me the same way.


    After a few moments of floating in a deep purple void I began to see flashes of a great palace. Highly polished black marble was broken by arched glassless windows that looked out on lovingly tended gardens populated with the stubby shapes of pomegranate trees under a sky that was perpetually overcast. A man strode down a broad hallway, his strides echoing off the cathedral style ceilings. A warm jolt of love and joy shot through me at the sight of his sapphire blue eyes. The long wavy hair the color of a raven¡¯s wing matched a neatly trimmed and manicured beard. Hades was far from the tallest of the Olympians but he had a quality of character that made him seem larger than his physical size. The myths portrayed him as cruel and callus but the personality that shone from those gem like eyes was one filled with passion and warmth. He picked me up in arms that made me feel safe and wanted and hugged me close as he kissed me.


    ¡°Cathal! Cassandra!¡± A bolt of searing agony shot through my brain and down my spine arching my back and tearing my hand away from Cassandra''s as she let out a scream of pain severing both the physical and metaphysical connection between us. I pulled the world into focus again a little at a time. First getting control of my breathing and then slowing my pulse down from somewhere around the speed of light to something closer to my average forty beats a minute. I took a few more calming breaths and started piecing together the rest of the world. Melisande had a hand pressed against the center of both our chests her eyes closed and brow furrowed with a mixed look of intense concentration and anger on it. Cassandra was sitting on the chair she''d placed next to the bed and crying quietly and not the silent tears of joy and happiness I felt.


    ¡°What the hell happened?¡± Okay so my voice was a bit shaky and hoarse sounding despite the angry tone. But given that it felt like I¡¯d just been hit with a bolt of lightning that should be expected.


    ¡°You were feeding too deep from her. You started exchanging emotions and memories; if I didn''t step in when I did you could have killed her or caused permanent damage.¡± She let her hands drop and looked at Cassandra who was still weeping on the floor. ¡°You still manage to do harm everywhere you go.¡±


    ¡°How. How can you live like that? So much pain, the hunger and emptiness should drive you mad. And you¡¯re so lonely. And the pain, gods above and below. Cathal, the weight of your burdens alone should break you.¡± She heaved another sob and bent her head down again. I closed my eyes and ignored the emotions that pushed up from the back of my mind, some things were better left buried.


    ¡°I don''t know what you saw or felt Cassandra. I saw Hades as you know him; I felt the love you have for him and the compassion you see in him. The fact that you still feel that way about him after millions of years is nothing short of miraculous. Think of that, just focus on what you two have and try to forget what you felt in me.¡±


    ¡°They do have their fights, Cathal.¡± Melisande pitched in, her posture showing her frustrations.


    ¡°So do you and I, but at the end of the day I still love you as my family. Every relationship has its tensions but to keep the kind of love going that they do¡­¡± I rolled my shoulders, I couldn¡¯t say a lot about what made relationships function. I was in my late twenties and I¡¯d only really fallen for two women and both times it had ended in disaster. ¡°Never mind I need to get home and get my spare gear. Did any of my other weapons make it back with me?¡± I sat up wrapping the bed sheet around me as I got out of the bed still stiff and sore despite Cassandra¡¯s obvious talent for healing. Even the greatest healers couldn¡¯t just erase the sort of damage I¡¯d suffered and if I hadn¡¯t just had one of the most intense and potent feedings I could remember I¡¯d probably have been sleeping sounder than the dead right then. I walked across the room wobbling a little drunkenly as I went. I put a hand on the two relics on the dresser and sent some of the excess energy into them.


    ¡°Take me to Tyr, I need know what we learned. Khan is too tired and it will take time for the bond between us to transfer enough energy to him for him to be functional. Cassandra, I don''t know what you saw in me but I need to know if you can help me get Tyr back on his feet? I¡¯d be in your debt. He should be able to tell me what we found out on our trip before things went sideways.¡± Cassandra looked up and nodded. A part of me couldn''t help but notice that she was not a woman that stayed beautiful when she cried. Her eyes were puffy and red and the tears had left streaks down her face while her eyes still held glints of the pain and sorrow that had caused the break down, hopefully Hades didn¡¯t decide to pick a fight over me accidentally causing emotional damage to his wife. She nodded and stood up hanging the crystal pendant back around her neck.


    ¡°Still as stubborn as ever I see. Well I suppose you''re healed enough and I certainly have enough strength left to help him, his condition isn''t as bad as yours, mostly bruising now aside from one major cut and some breaks from when he got thrown into something stubborner than him. Come on, I can handle piecing his humerus back together while you repair the tearing in his abdominal wall. Unlike you he didn¡¯t exhaust himself throwing his power around.¡± She walked out of the room on legs that were only slightly shaky. I glanced down at the sword and armor making sure they had begun to repair themselves and looked around the room before looking at my sister.


    ¡°I need some pants. Think you can help me out?¡± She shook her head with a smile and walked over to the closet pulling out a pair of black leather pants. I pulled on the tight fit pants and tried not to think about who might have been in them last.

 Chapter 7

    I walked into my sister¡¯s spare bedroom and found that Tyr had been recuperating from his injuries in the typical ?sir manner, which is to say by drinking as much as he could as quickly as possible. Melisande had managed to mostly keep ahead of him on throwing away empty bottles. There were about five bags of containers on one side of the bed and the nightstand beside him was still covered with an overflowing pile beside the unopened ones. Cassandra was already sitting cross legged on the bed beside him leaving an empty chair on his other side beside the bed.


    Not surprisingly the king size bed was too small for him and his legs hung off the end of it. Melisande had fixed his already maimed arm in place with lengths of wood and some ace wrap and he had a bandage similar to mine wrapped around his stomach. His iron hand was sitting on the nightstand under the bottles. The stump where Fenrir had bitten his hand off remained raw despite the eons that had passed. According to Fenrir he could still feel Tyr''s fingers twitching in his stomach on occasion. There was no way he was sober enough or healthy enough to be answering questions about what we¡¯d been doing the last several days.


    I settled down on the chair beside Tyr and nodded to Cassandra before resting my hands against the bandages around Tyr''s stomach at the same time she rested her hands over his shoulder. I took a deep breath and sent my energy questing out into his body until I found the three diagonal claw wounds that had torn through the heavy layers of muscle. If it had not been for the sheer size of the ?sir the claws would have gone considerably deeper and likely cut through the arteries there. It wasn''t hard to realize that if those same claws had hit me like that I''d have lost my guts. I slowly started pulling the edges of the wounds together and running strands of his own energy across the wound to hold it closed and increase the healing, without a talent for healing arts the best I could do was patch him back together and let his body do the rest, he¡¯d still be unable to fight for a few days without tearing open the wound again. I could feel Cassandra at work as well and tried to match my energy to hers. After a few minutes I felt a tap on my arm and settled back as Tyr himself heaved a sigh of relief.


    ¡°Okay he should be good for now Cathal. Give him some time to rest. A tandem healing like that places a strain on the patient even if it is more efficient and quicker in the long run.¡± She paused long enough to climb off the bed and move around it to the bedroom door. ¡°Besides it will give the two of us a chance to get something to eat. Between being healed and then performing a healing of your own you need something more solid than energy. That and I haven''t had anything to eat since yesterday morning, I''m afraid flying on a full stomach doesn¡¯t sit well with me.¡± I nodded looking at the sleeping Tyr and stood walking towards the door.


    ¡°Yeah food sounds good let''s go see if Mel has anything in her kitchen I can cook. No offense but I remember your cooking and I don''t think that''s considered food.¡± I led the way down the stairs and into the kitchen. While still large and spacious with a lot of counter space Melisande''s kitchen was full of dark black marble and matte black appliances that made it feel dark despite the ample lighting. I rummaged through the cabinets, fridge, and freezer for a few minutes before finally settling on a decision and pulling out a cast iron skillet and setting it on the gas stove.


    ¡°Do you want to talk about it?¡± I looked up from scrubbing potatoes and set them to the side when Cassandra came in. I thought about the memories that I''d regained over the last year and the emotions they invoked as I pulled out a clove of garlic and started dicing it. A wise old man once accused me of hiding from my past because of the amount of pain and suffering it held and I''d started to understand what he meant. I''d done a lot of pretty terrible things, and I don''t mean kicking babies and torturing fuzzy critters terrible. I mean the backstabbing, mass murdering, and world destroying kind of terrible; that stuff still didn¡¯t feel like the worst of my mistakes though. The fact that for all intents and purposes I was a different person now and there were more millennia separating the me of now from the me of then than I could count made no difference to me, nor did the fact that it was a war I didn''t start and didn''t want and I had been acting on the best intentions. I¡¯d learned in the time since then that good intentions didn¡¯t justify doing things at any cost.


    ¡°Honestly Cassandra I don''t know if I ever will. I''m not proud or happy about the things I did back then. I hurt a lot of people¡­not just my enemies, and not just innocent bystanders. I hurt and betrayed my friends, my allies, and the people that trusted me. You know the true history of the Olympians and they¡¯re one of the younger pantheons. The Titans and the ?sir are millennium older than even what their mythologies claim. Still even they were not yet born by the time existence began to heal from the scars of the last war I was involved in. By the time my family was cast down I¡¯d become harsher, and I hadn¡¯t just gained power but experience using it to hurt others. Even some of the tamer things I did could make the worst war criminals in human history look like saints, and every little flash of memory gives me one more nightmare to carry around.¡± I finished mincing the last of the potatoes and tossed them into the skillet with a bit of butter.


    ¡°So that''s why the pain was so deep, you''ve been carrying it for so long that it has become integral to your identity.¡± I shrugged as I cut up the last bits of sliced ham and corned beef from Melisande''s meat drawer and started on mincing the garlic and onion.


    ¡°I try not to poke at those emotions very much. Even if I didn¡¯t really understand until years later what was really happening to me, I¡¯d already distanced myself from my emotions as a kid because of the empathy my vampirism causes. The time I spent with my biological father did the rest because I shut out my emotions completely to handle the emotional abuse. You haven¡¯t seen me much since I was thirteen so you don¡¯t know how bad it was. For a while there was some concern that I might have developed full sociopathy. I was almost eighteen before I really started to feel anything again. I barely have a handle on dealing with my human emotions. I''m not sure I would be capable of handling emotions that have been festering for eons on top of the ones I already fight to keep in check.¡± I set a whisk along with a bowl and eggs on the table in front of her. ¡°Mix these please?¡± She took the bowl and whisk without complaint.


    ¡°I think I can do that. So I''m guessing by the emotions you fight to keep in check you mean the loneliness? She''s beautiful,¡±


    ¡°Don''t try talking to him about her, Cass. He may be more mentally stable than I am but talking about her is a good way to unhinge him. Cathal may wear his heart on his sleeve sometimes but he won¡¯t tell me what sort of bad blood got between them.¡± Melisande used a spatula to turn the contents of the skillet and smiled. ¡°Making more of your hash omelets again?¡±


    ¡°Yes and I don¡¯t tell you because it¡¯s none of your business, if I wanted you to fix my mistakes I¡¯d let you live my life and give you my job.¡± I paused setting aside the chef¡¯s knife long enough to hug my sister and move away from the stove. ¡°You can handle the rest from here. Cassandra would you like tea or coffee?¡±


    ¡°Coffee.¡± I opened the freezer pulling out a bag of fresh beans and began the comforting ritual of grinding beans and brewing coffee. Neither Melisande nor I spared expense on our beverages. The few visitors and guests we had usually ended up feeling thirsty as a result of being fed on. It wasn¡¯t intentional on our part and I hadn¡¯t been able to figure out a cause. There weren¡¯t exactly a lot of groups lining up to do research on metaphysics and the results of having the life sucked out of you, although there was no shortage of people claiming to be experts on the subject despite not having a lick of actual power. As Melisande served up the omelets, I pulled out the sugar and cream she kept on hand for coffee, along with a mix of cups from the rack hanging on the wall.


    The mugs weren''t fancy. Melisande''s cup was black with red letters that said ''I always listen carefully to your opinion before I mock it'', Cassandra''s said ''I''m really easy to get along with once you people learn to worship me'', and I was left with another one that said ''I''m not insulting you, I''m describing you with extreme accuracy''. My sister found the mugs amusing, and while I¡¯d never admit it out loud to her, I did too. The omelets tasted great with just enough roasted garlic and onion in the mix to help enhance the flavors of the meat.


    ¡°Hmm, perhaps I should have added cheese. So are you going to be staying in town for long Cassandra or was an hour flight a reasonable house call?¡± I refilled my cup and took another bite.


    ¡°Actually, it was four hours, I was in California with friends. As for staying, well Mel told me the gist of what''s going on. I agree that the seals can''t come down uncontrolled. Nobody is really sure about why The Council placed the seals and they aren¡¯t exactly the sort of group to share their secrets. But I know that if they fail like they have been for the last week then it''s going to be pandemonium. That sort of situation means more work for Hades dealing with the recently dead and I don¡¯t get to see him enough as it is. I''ll stay here in case of anymore emergences.¡± I thought about what she said. If the seals collapsed uncontrolled it wouldn''t just be easier to manipulate energy on earth, every metaphysical doorway and portal would be active again, every person would start regaining their old memories and abilities and the sudden influx of energy would likely overload electronic technology and render it useless.


    If it weren''t for the shields I constantly wrapped around myself to contain my energy, I could blow out every light on a city block just by being there. An entire planet of people with a fraction of my power would make the dark ages look like a kindergarten art class. Emotions always gave a boost to the strength of a person¡¯s power and made it act erratically, suddenly breaking the seals without even a little prep work would be cause for mass hysteria. And even once they settled in, until people learned control, even common things like a lover¡¯s quarrel could trigger anything from rainstorms, to small earthquakes, or continent-wide firestorms. Hell, if there was anyone else wandering around earth with even half the power I could bring to bear without the seals interfering and they lost control, humanity would be keeping company with the dinosaurs, and that would be without the kind of interference that would cause the spontaneous conversion of every atheist on the planet. As it was it would only take a couple hundred people with minor talents to wipe out over half the population on accident.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    ¡°You''re correct about that Perseph-Cassandra, fortunately I think it''s the work of an individual and that means it can be stopped. Unfortunately, we need to take a risk with your mind Cathal, the group that ambushed us at the Starpath was targeting you; whoever is behind this knows who you are and has a grudge against you personally. We didn¡¯t get a lot of information from the trip and whoever it is that¡¯s orchestrating this is able to protect himself from Heimdall¡¯s sight. I don¡¯t know who else you talked to either. They wouldn¡¯t let me or the tiger see them, just you but they couldn¡¯t tell us much either.¡± Tyr walked into the room; his large frame hunched partially to avoid hitting light fixtures.


    Melisande left the room and came back with a bed sheet that she threw at him. Regardless of what pantheon they come from deities have a somewhat disturbing lack of modesty, and even covered in old battle scars as he was Tyr still had the sort of body that would make a Calvin Klein model insecure. Tyr was built large in all aspects and could give a horse a run for its money. I like to think I¡¯m confident and pretty secure but everyone has their limits, and Tyr was built in a way to make the best endowed man feel insecure.


    ¡°I know what your suggesting Tyr and the answer is no. I''m not letting anyone, not you, not Khan, not even Melisande dive into my head and try and pull out old memories. If someone is targeting me, it could just as easily be because I''m the acting guardian for Earth and not for personal reasons. Even if it was for personal reasons, I don¡¯t need my memories intact to know you could populate a small planet just with the people I know personally that would have a reason to hold a grudge against me. Not to mention the ones with the resources to know about me, and that was in my last life. If you start accounting for the people I don¡¯t know that have a reason to hold a grudge against me, or who would have had time to accumulate the knowledge and resources then our suspect pool could include anyone. Besides we haven''t heard back from Thoth yet.¡± There was the sound of a dainty throat clearing at the other end of the room and a gorgeous woman with dark skin and hair, literally stepped out of the shadows.


    ¡°You likely won''t for a while yet, I''m afraid my husband has become quite consumed with his work again. The last time I saw him he was digging around in one of his libraries for some obscure reference tome he half recalled seeing during a previous era that he thought might have a reference to the calculations on planet wide protective shields and their energy requirements. I do have something for you that he thought might help if anyone can read it; I''m not familiar with whatever language or dialect this is and his translation attempts were unsuccessful.¡±


    I stood up as she walked towards the table as much from courtesy as anything else. Her eyes were slightly canted, chartreuse colored jewels, which contrasted sharply against her ebony toned skin and the long floor length black hair with its shimmering blue and purple highlights. She had less muscle tone than my sister though they were about the same height, and while they both moved with grace, Melisande¡¯s was that of a trained and skilled fighter. This woman though, moved with a sway to her body that matched the sensual purr of her voice and displayed her curves in a way that would have left Hugh Hefner stammering. Cassandra and Melisande were both looking at me expectantly waiting for my reaction. Once the woman reached the table I gave a polite bow feeling the texture and flavor of the energy that drifted off her like a heady perfume and took a hazard at guessing her identity. My knowledge of the Egyptians was sketchy at best but there were only so many feline goddesses that would call Thoth her husband to my knowledge.


    ¡°Greetings Bastet, Daughter of Ra, wife of Thoth. I''m sorry my work has deprived you of your husband.¡± I moved my plate and cup out of place before gesturing to the chair.


    ¡°A classical Gentleman, how precious.¡± Her voice had a slight purr to it. She seemed to turn every word into an erotic statement. ¡°I can see why you didn''t want me meeting him before now, Melisande. Don''t apologize for my husband¡¯s shortcomings though, Cathal. If not this, it would be some other research project. At least I don''t have to worry about him blowing anything up with this. He agreed to leave the hazardous work to Hephaestus this time.¡± She settled herself in the chair allowing me to push the chair in before taking my coffee cup for herself and refilling it. She set what looked like a leather-bound journal down on the table as I took the last seat. She laid a hand on my arm and smiled, the gesture causing my hormones to revert back to puberty.


    ¡°Oh, I''m not a gentleman all the time. Try to bespell me again little kitten we''ll see how much of your power I can eat. Now, let me look at this book Thoth found.¡± I drew on the energy Bastet was using against me and sent a pulse of cold into her hand until she jerked it back with a hiss. I smiled politely when I noticed the mist coming off the cold blisters. I flipped open the book and frowned at the symbols scrawled across the heavy material, unless I missed my guess the sheets were some kind of animal hide that had been scrapped thin and stitched together. I thumbed through the pages and finally shook my head and closed my eyes drawing and focusing energy into my eyes and brain shaping it into the construct I''d developed to translate languages. I opened my eyes and flipped through the pages again and frowned.


    ¡°Mel what do you make of this?¡± I turned the book around and pushed it across the table to my sister dismissing the energy construct as I did so. She thumbed through it and frowned before handing it over her shoulder to Tyr, he shook his head and handed it to Cassandra who did the same after looking through it.


    ¡°I don''t know, I don''t even recognize this and I can translate most everything ever spoken or written in Europe.¡± She handed me the book and I looked at it pensively for a few moments while I finished off the last few bites of my meal and refilled a new coffee cup for my third refill. This cup was another classic of my sister¡¯s, ¡®Conversation before my first cup of coffee constitutes murder¡¯. I didn''t know much about Thoth personally, but I doubted a deity devoted to knowledge would offer to help me and then give me a book that I couldn''t read.


    ¡°Bastet did Thoth say anything about the book or give you anything else with it that might be of help?¡± She looked at me for a moment and then pulled the book over before flipping open the back cover and tapping it eight times. After the eighth tap my personal emblem shimmered into appearance in its usual blue overlaying a shield with the crossed hammers and anvil of a blacksmith done in green.


    ¡°He doesn¡¯t recall how it came into his possession. It was in a stack of other old tomes that predate Earth awaiting categorizing and shelving. According to him the symbols belong to a language that is older than us and may be written in a cypher as well. He spent two days trying to translate it and all he could do was find those emblems embedded in the back cover. Now if you''ll excuse me, I have to stand in for my husband again and record the results of weighing hearts and make sure Anubis hasn''t changed the weight of the feather while we weren''t looking again.¡±


    She nodded to my sister and vanished, no smoke, no sound, just here and then gone. I sat and stared at the two overlapping symbols. The only reason my personal crest would have been hidden on a book like that was if I wrote it, it was something like an autograph. Now that I knew it was there, I could feel the familiar cold buzz of my own energy resonating with the book. I even knew that hiding the symbol the way it had been meant it wasn¡¯t a cypher but that the book had a complex energy construct hidden in it that distorted the words so that only someone with the right knowledge could read it. If that was the case I should be able to reverse the construct, I reached out a finger and traced a delicate trail of energy over the emblem, and then several more as each one failed.


    ¡°Crap, crap, and double crap. Cassandra, Tyr, can I have a moment alone with my sister?¡± They both nodded and left the room Cassandra muttering something about checking on Khan. I turned the book around and fixed my sister with the harshest glare I could manage. ¡°Tell me about the emblem.¡± Melisande pulled the book over and traced the lines of the two symbols separately. She sat quietly for a few moments without looking at me before getting up and starting another pot of coffee. After a few minutes of staring out the window she began to move around refilling her sugar dish and then the cream before filling the sink with hot water and putting the dirty dishes in it before sitting back down.


    ¡°When''s the last time you spoke with your father?¡± The question was so unexpected that it nearly knocked me out of my chair. I pushed down the anger that came to the surface whenever I thought about the man and took a few deep breaths to calm myself counting down from ten and then again from twenty.


    ¡°You were on the line for the phone call with me. It''s been almost fifteen years,¡±


    ¡°I don''t mean Cray, Cathal, I mean the individual that raised you before this.¡± She sipped at her coffee and gave a vague gesture over her head and pointed at the air.


    ¡°I don''t know if I remember those lives really, I have names, a few scattered and disjointed memories that are so blurred they might as well be burned out films, and then the memories of war but that''s all.¡± I stood up and put the rest of the dishes in the sink before getting another cup of coffee. ¡°Is that what the other symbol is from? My last lives?¡±


    ¡°Talk to Khan, Cathal. If Thoth is right and that book can help you he may be the only one you know now that might be able to help you without a memory regression.¡± She walked out and left me alone in the room with the book.


    I sighed tucking the book under my arm and went outside and sat on the porch. I breathed in the autumn air and smiled at the promise of snow the smell carried. I''d been given two reasons in the last hour to start poking around inside my subconscious mind to try and find a buried memory that may or may not help. The idea of doing that scared me, my first and only time I had ever done that had nearly killed me and the person guiding me. Doing it now when I had more fears and emotional pitfalls to feed my inner demons would make it worse. I went inside, found a notepad and pen to leave a message on, and left the book sitting on the counter beside the note. I needed to think and the best way for me to do that wasn''t by sitting around, I grabbed a loose fit shirt out of the closet by the front door and left.

 Chapter 8

    I''ve never been good at staying still. In fact, I''m so bad at it that my body''s general reaction to staying still and doing nothing but thinking is to go to sleep, which is great because I''ve learned to fall asleep and wake up really fast just about anytime and anywhere, but kinda sucks for thinking about things. So instead of sitting perfectly still focusing on one thing for hours on end to meditate, I do simple repetitive things like walking, smithing, or even taking a shower when I''m pressed for time. Today I walked, I thought about the problem working in reverse. What would be needed to break or weaken wards and seals designed by thirteen of the most powerful beings in existence working in unison, what kinds of people would have the knowledge needed to do it, I ran math formulas through my head that I only understood a small portion of consciously and kept hitting dead ends.


    I''d been walking on the back trails of Pike National Forest absentmindedly letting my feet pick the path on their own, only occasionally stopping to make a small gesture of greeting to any wildlife I passed. I was somewhat surprised when I stepped out of the woods into my own yard. I shrugged out of the loose-fitting shirt and hung it on a hook by the smithy door and pulled on the heavy leather apron and went inside. Walking wasn''t working so I''d try something more physically demanding, besides I had gear that needed to be replaced.


    I refilled the forge with coal and got it heated up thankful for the simple crank fan I used as a bellows. I pulled a few of the high-quality steal bar stocks from the storage rack and pushed them into the coals along with a partially finished dagger before I started about the task of picking out the tools I needed. My eighty-pound anvil was pulled out and set in an indent on the low granite cube next to the forge, several hammers were dropped onto the hanging rack next to it along with a set of tongs and the chisel tipped hammer I used to trim excess metal. As soon as I started sweating from the heat I felt along the wall to flip on the fans that lined the ceiling drawing out the smoke and turned back to the forge. I pushed the two largest bars deeper into the coals and picked up the lightest hammer to begin the process of pounding out the rough shape of a dagger from the already stretched and folded bar I¡¯d had. I kept working until it cooled to a dull red and returned it to the fire.


    I pulled out the next bar, now a bright yellow and started off with gentle strikes of the heaviest hammer watching as the metal warped and flowed easily. I let my mind drift as I worked the metal rotating my time between the three bars. The only light to work with was what little came in through the fan vents overhead and the flames of the coal and the glow of heated metal. If Tyr was right, someone was breaking some of the most complex and sophisticated seals and wards ever created simply to get to me.


    I had done a lot of nasty thing to a lot of people but no one I could think of that would have this level of hatred for me should know where I was. It was possible that some or all of the members of the High Council of Magic had figured out who I really was, there wasn''t an overabundance of psychic vampires running around that also happened to be Ice elementals. It just didn''t track that they would spend the time and effort needed to sync the energy of all thirteen members to do a working like the seals on Earth only to break them just to attack me. Not when it would be easier to yank my soul and consciousness across the boundaries between the realms to somewhere where they''d not only have the upper hand but could keep it without having to undo their own hard work. I went back to where I had started, what would you need to break the seals.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    Energy work didn¡¯t have a lot of hard and fast rules which is what makes it hard for science to understand, but some things were consistent. To undo something like the wards you¡¯d be limited in options. They would either need more power than whoever made the seals which didn¡¯t track, if they did they could have just broken the strongest points in the web of seals and they would have shattered all together instead of slowly crumbling. You could do it with an energy similar to the wards but they were created by a group so it would take someone similar to the entire group so the whole group would have to do it to undermine them. Which left someone that could undermine them, and that meant a working that was using energy that was naturally aligned to disrupting the order of something.


    That still didn¡¯t follow suit, not many entities had that sort of natural inclination and the power to do something like this and the few that did were deities. Sure I¡¯d annoyed a lot of those but despite most trickster deities being able to do something like this they generally didn¡¯t go in for wholesale death and carnage, they typically expressed their displeasure by making you the receiving end of their sense of humor until they got bored of tormenting you. And any deity could foresee the outcome of their actions enough to know how this would end. I was still missing a piece of the puzzle.


    I felt the forge door open and close silently sending a cooling breeze across my bare back. I kept at the work in front of me, small scraps of metal littering the floor around me covered where runes and wards had been etched into the bare stone floor to warn me if someone came too close. I folded the length of steel I was working with back on itself again and used rapid heavy strikes of the ten-pound hammer to weld the piece together again.


    ¡°Talk while I work, I don''t want to have to restart the forge and it''s a nuisance to get the heating on the metal right if you stop midway through on the folding steps.¡± I returned the unified length of steel to the forge and pulled out the nearly completed dagger again and began pounding out the point and edges with a lightweight hammer.


    ¡°I remember. You always went to the smithy when you were troubled after you were healed; none of us ever really understood your methods. I can''t stay long Bran. Synbel came to me and told me the situation. All I can say to help, son of my heart, is that you¡¯re the only one who can stop him. He blames you for Corena''s death and is seeking retribution.¡± I turned in a sudden flash of rage dropping the hammer and reaching for a completed dagger that was waiting for the finishing touches as the man vanished leaving nothing but the memory of his rough voice. I paused and replayed the words in my mind trying to figure out what had triggered the sudden and intense flash of anger.


    Corena. Just like that, as soon as I focused on the name, I felt the dam break and emotions and memories started pouring back faster than I could grasp them. I collapsed to the floor in a heap and crawled around the granite cube to the back of it. I fumbled with the dagger I was holding before finally managing to slice my hand open. I pressed my palm against the quartz stone embedded in the inert stone and breathed a sigh of relief as I felt the shields snap into place as well as the enchanted sleep take effect along with the sudden drop in temperature. My last thought before my safety net from the memories killing me took effect was that I was tired of surprise visits.

 Chapter 9

    ¡°I don''t know what happened Mel. I can''t sense an actual injury but I can feel that he''s hurt.¡±


    ¡°Don''t look at me. I''ve got a massive headache from whatever is affecting him. Whatever caused it, he had warning. The wards he triggered were designed to put anything in the forge to sleep, protect him, and chill the room, something like an emergency shut down for the forge I suppose.¡±


    I tried to focus through the tone-deaf brass orchestra that was managing to mutilate Beethoven in new and innovative ways.


    ¡°Could it have been a purely mental attack?¡± Tyr''s deep baritone made the blasted orchestra play louder. Khan snorted in response.


    ¡°Not to get through his wards and shields. I think whatever is hurting him is internal, and that worries me more than the thought of him being attacked in his forge.¡± Khan''s steady growl had added a quartet of yowling cats to the damned orchestra. I pushed myself up off the floor and noted that only Cassandra was near me.


    ¡°Khan''s right, if this is the result of a personality from his previous life trying to take control it could be a problem.¡±


    I realized that the shields were still active and my entire forge had a thin layer of ice. Great I''d overcharged the wards and probably ruined all the metal that wasn''t tempered.


    ¡°Sis, I need you to get a package from the back of my tea cabinet, black box with green ribbon. Synbel sent some moonroot back with me and I need it.¡± I poked at the shield and frowned. ¡°If you can get it through the shield, um Cassandra how did you get through it?¡±


    ¡°I borrowed a cap from Hades. Khan let out a scream loud enough to wake a giant and told us we had to come here. Want to tell me what happened?¡± I rubbed at my temples and she pulled my hands out of the way and put her fingers there instead, pushing tendrils of energy into my mind. I flinched a bit. ¡°Sorry. I can''t seem to find any injury which is odd as much pain as Khan was reporting.¡±


    ¡°Memory overload I think. Someone showed up and said something that triggered a cascade of recall; I''m still sifting through the memories trying to fit everything together. Not sure if you can heal this sort of pain or not. I think my brain was just force fed a hundred years or more worth of memory. Apparently even my brain can''t open that many new pathways and connections without some damage.¡± Cassandra frowned and looked at the door.


    ¡°And you think Valerian is going to help that? Cathal sleep won''t heal a memory overload like that, you need to untangle your energy, think about the memories and process them, all that takes time.¡± I nodded and shifted so I was sitting on my own away from the wall wincing as I felt a few layers of skin peel off when my back came away from the frozen metal.


    ¡°He''s not talking about Valerian, Cassandra. Actual moonroot is a fairly rare plant that can be cultivated in maybe half a dozen locations in existence and nowhere on earth. Demeter tried transplanting a few clippings to Olympus once and they withered to dust in a few hours. Nobody that has access to it is really certain of what makes it grow, each spot is different and rarely more than a few square feet in size. But if he really does have some stored here then chewing it straight or making a tea of it could help, Synbel actually makes soup from it, though it tastes terrible. Still moonroot is good for correcting energy imbalances and can help with repairing damaged energy channels in the body.¡±


    ¡°Khan, stop talking, your voice feels like a cheese grater on my brain right now.¡± I reached out towards the shield and tried to will it down only to be met with resistance. That was odd. ¡°I can''t take the shield down. Can you Khan?¡±


    ¡°You activated it with blood. If you can''t bring it down it means you have to wait for it to come down on its own, tear it down with brute force, or fix the imbalance to your energy from when you mind was overloaded. Can you tell me what triggered it?¡± I looked at Cassandra sitting inside the protective bubble of the shield with me and Tyr where he stood outside it leaning against the wall of the forge beside the open door. Someone had brought an old camp lantern in for light. I considered the question for a moment, I thought I knew who was tearing down the Councils wards on earth now, and I even had a vague idea of why he might be doing it but I couldn''t be sure of how.


    The problem was that the information was fairly personal in nature and as much as I might trust the two of them, it wasn''t something I wanted widely known. I closed my eyes for a moment and focused inward trying to sense the bond between me and Khan. After a moment I finally latched onto it and sent him the brief message that had triggered the memories along with my ideas. I opened my eyes to see him stumble a bit to the side and right himself again and then cock his head sideways at me.


    ¡°I''ll be back as soon as I can Cathal. I want to go see if I can confirm any of this.¡± He vanished with a faint shimmer leaving me alone with the other two until Melisande came back in. She set the small box down at the border of the shield and backed up looking at me. I frowned at it, and then looked to Cassandra.


    ¡°Would you be able to get that for me? If Hades¡¯ Helm can get you through the shield and back in, once I''ve had a chance to eat some of the stuff and it¡¯s taken effect I should be able to drop the shield. While we''re waiting for that though, Tyr, if you can get a hold of Hephaestus? I need the two of you to start working on how to anchor the remaining wards like Thoth suggested. After that I want both of you to come back here.¡±


    Cassandra pulled an old folded leather cap from her pocket and tugged it on vanishing from sight. I frowned and reached out with my other senses only to find that even the feel of her energy had vanished. A moment later the box vanished as well and then she reappeared pulling the cap off and holding the box. I took it gently and untied the silk knot unable to stop myself from wrinkling my nose at the bitter astringent smell when I opened the box. The contents were a tough, stringy looking, purplish blue that looked like dried ginger except for the color. I popped a piece in my mouth and started chewing the tough substance, ignoring the rotten taste that no method of preparation seemed to remove from the root.


    I felt the shift in my energy almost immediately; as healing herbs went moonroot was one of the best for correcting energy imbalances and replenishing energy when it was low. The fact that it seemed to work universally was nice. Though the few people that knew about it didn''t share the information often and safeguarded where they got it from. I finished chewing the first piece and swallowed it before closing the box and retying the ribbon around it. The moonroot wasn''t really a cure so much as a band aid measure, I''d have to confront the new memories soon or they would tear me apart. I touched the base of the shield and willed it away.


    ¡°Come on. Cass, you and Mel can make yourselves at home, I need to take care of something.¡± I led the way back up to my house snuffing out the lantern on my way out. I nodded towards the kitchen for Cassandra and headed into my workroom. I pushed aside the computer stuff again and rummaged around until I found a mirror with runes etched into the wooded frame. I pulled over a stool and sat down and focused on the new memories.


    ¡°Corena¡± I drew power out with the name and thrust it into the mirror along with the emotions it conjured shaping the energy into patterns for a construct to display memories. Slowly an image materialized of a woman lying on her side in a bed, soft brown hair that matched the sheets around her; warm hazel eyes and sun kissed skin the color of a sandy beach. I remembered what it felt like to be wrapped in her arms, to have her pressed against me as I fell asleep, the almost touchable quality of her laughter when she heard a good joke and the odd quirk of her mouth when she fought not to smile at something. I used the scrying mirror to let the memories and emotions flood over and through me. Thousands of happy memories and hundreds of fights over stupid things. Everything from the first meeting when she found me laying on the ground after a battle, bleeding to death from more wounds than I could recall, to that last catastrophic moment as I pulled a sword out of her.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    That had been the start of my final fall. I had let one mistake dictate my actions and allowed my grief over the loss of the woman I loved, the woman to whom I had bound my heart and soul, to dictate my actions and caused more damage to others trying to hide from the mistake. Some of the memories were still incomplete. That was a given, even a normal person¡¯s memories had gaps, but at least if the message from earlier was correct it was someone that blamed me for her death seeking revenge that was causing the wards destruction. I sat back, the image of Corena still frozen in the mirror, and stared at the ceiling.


    ¡°Everything turns out for the best in the end, even when the end is out of sight.¡± I muttered the line uncertain where I¡¯d first heard it. I picked up the papyrus scrolls Thoth had given me on his first visit and read through them. Most of the locations he mentioned made sense as such things went. They were already unstable and anchoring the wards there would allow them to stabilize and provide the raw power needed to fuel the wards. The Bermuda triangle wouldn''t be hard to manage since it was in a relatively neutral territory as far as the deities that still interacted with earth cared, though I was reluctant to tie anything to it given that it was a massive natural gateway and tended to open and close sporadically. The pyramids I could get permission to use with Thoth''s help. I''d have to get Hephaestus and Cassandra to arrange for the use of the Acropolis in Greece and I''d have to speak with Gwynn ap Nudd about using one of the Gates of Arawnn or another point in his territory as an anchor point. The trick was going to be the suggestion for the site in the Yucatan which Thoth had been oddly specific about but hadn¡¯t elaborated on his reasons for.


    I wrinkled my nose as I considered one; faeries were always annoying to deal with. The Welsh Tylwyth Teg were the worst in my opinion, unlike most faeries they were more inclined to want to trade gifts than make pacts and bargains like the other Fae and turning down a gift the wrong way could make them feel justified in calling for a duel. Of course, if I was unlucky Gwynn could decide he wanted to be my friend, dealing with him was always a bit of a lottery. Not that I would ever accuse an egotistical death deity of being bipolar to his face. But this was the guy who¡¯d punished someone for killing one of his hounds by trading kingdoms for a year, although the myths always seemed to leave out the aftermath in both realms of that particular event.


    I¡¯d also need someone to act as a guide to get me in and out of his domain once I got to Wales which would mean finding a local spirit or practitioner that was friendly, or dealing with another old acquaintance. It was more than that though, if I was going to deal with him it meant going to his territory and that posed another type of risk for me. I closed my eyes and let down another of the shields in my mind and felt the warm beacon of light to the north east in my mind. How well would my vitally important self-control hold if I was that close to its source, and how much did I want it to?


    I reached up onto the top shelf by the door and pulled down a small picture I had printed out years ago. The young woman was only a year younger than me with black hair cut short at her shoulders and skin tanned dark by a mix of genetics and hours spent in the sun. Even now looking at the picture made me smile. I''d never actually had the pleasure of talking to her in person, we''d met online when both of us were a lot younger and talking to her had helped me through some fairly hard times in my life. At some point I''d started feeling and thinking of her as more than a friend though. When I started regaining my memories I¡¯d distanced myself and eventually started a fight. I''d said a lot of things that I hadn''t meant and had no right to say in the first place it had been months since we¡¯d spoken at all and I was reasonably certain she hated me.


    I slid the picture into my wallet. I needed to get ready to travel around the world and the only fast way to do that wasn¡¯t going to be easy. Half a dozen deities and mystery figures from my past, a major crisis for the world, and a potential personal crisis; it never rains when it can pour. I dug an old military jacket with a couple extra pockets sewn into the lining out and started pilling more potions, crystals and metal objects into the pockets. I didn¡¯t bother looking when I heard the door open and someone come in.


    ¡°Mel left the book on the counter for you, she figured it would be best for you to keep it on hand till you can figure out how to read it.¡±


    ¡°Thanks Cassandra. I¡¯m going to need to ask for your help negotiating with Athena for us to use the acropolis as an anchor point for the Council¡¯s remaining Seals. I''ll trust you to settle on a fair price and to stress the significance of the need for us to do this. You¡¯re welcome to take Melisande with you if you need. Take Tyr with you when you go to Olympus as well, I want him and Hephaestus to get to work as soon as possible on the prep work for anchoring the wards to the spot in Mexico that Thoth suggested, and I need to go to Wales and speak with the king of the Tylwyth Teg about using part of his territory for another anchor point.¡±


    ¡°You need to rest Cathal, and you need to deal with your problems. I¡¯ve spent the last few years studying medicine and psychology, not to mention countless years of personal experience in this life and centuries before this dealing with trauma and injuries. What you¡¯re holding onto, the burdens you¡¯re carrying, are going to wear you down if you keep pushing yourself this hard. You have friends and family you can trust, talk to them and let them help you more.¡±


    I turned around and leaned against the work bench behind me as I looked at Cassandra, I didn¡¯t bother to say anything at first. I just thought about the memories that I had just regained. I thought about the pain that had come with them, I recalled all the pain and damage I had inflicted on others both in my past lives and in my current life. I let my feelings about that bleed through the control I¡¯d fought for over the last year. She rubbed at her arms as goose bumps formed.


    ¡°You want me to trust other people with my problems? You want me to share my burdens? I''ve done that Cassandra. Every time it¡¯s gotten the people I cared about hurt, killed or worse. I can¡¯t just ask someone to help shoulder my burdens. You think that one little flash of insight gives you an idea of what I feel? You may be a goddess, you may have been worshipped once, but if I let you see inside even for a second it would break you, the barest brush against my emotions was enough to make you weep and you think you have the RIGHT to tell me what is best for me.¡± I heard glass crackling in the suddenly freezing room as frost spread across the computer monitors and windows. Working with energy the way I do means you have to stay in control, when you¡¯re emotional it does what it wants, this time though that suited my purpose.


    ¡°I had someone! I shared my burdens with her and because she tried to help me, in my arrogant belief that I could protect her, I killed her with my own hands! Because I couldn¡¯t live with my mistakes, I ordered men that trusted me to lead them into hell and expected to come out the other side covered in jewels, into a death trap! I know what it¡¯s going to cost me to keep blocking out what I feel, I¡¯ve been here before and I¡¯ve done it before and I¡¯d damn myself until Oblivion claims all things before I risked harming one more person because I wanted the simple pleasure of companionship!¡± I¡¯d started moving towards her as I spoke my voice rising in anger. She stepped back as my voice reached a low roar and echoed in the small room making bits of frost fall from the ceiling like snow. I took a deep breath and walked to the far side of the room and picked up a piece of mica snapping the fragile mineral in half and feeling the construct in it pour out of the fragile container and force my rampaging energy back into my body.


    ¡°If that¡¯s the way you think Cathal then nobody can help you. I¡¯ll go speak with Mel and Tyr about going to Olympus. Do you need a guide to enter Arawnn?¡±


    ¡°No, as much as I dislike dealing with him I have someone in mind more suited to the task that will likely show up when I get there anyways. Please if you want to help me just do as I asked. I may be damned but that doesn¡¯t mean that everyone else on this planet needs to be as well.¡± I turned away from her and waited till I heard the door close before I bent my head down and allowed myself to start crying.


    Emotions are how we relate to life, they are an integral part of us and cutting ourselves off from them, good or bad, comes at a price. When you stop feeling you start dying little by little until eventually you''re just a shell with nothing left. I remember what it was like to be that shell, I also remembered what it had been like to be crushed under the weight of my emotions. I sat alone in my workroom for a long time pulling myself together, getting my head back in place and putting back together the mental shields that kept not just my energy in check but also kept me from sensing the things that made it harder to pretend I didn¡¯t feel. Maybe Cassandra was right and it would be better to let the people that cared for me try to shoulder some of the burden, but she could also be wrong and I wasn¡¯t sure I could survive being responsible for getting someone else I cared for killed.

 Chapter 10

    I waited until the others had left to change clothes and go back to Melisande''s house. I had pulled on a plain white t-shirt, a pair of black slacks, my steel toe boots and covered it all with the old surplus army jacket from my work room to replace the lost cloak. I''ll admit the jacket looked a bit ridiculous and was mildly uncomfortable with all of its pockets stuffed full of stones and various vials of liquid but it''s hard to replace a coat with two dozen odd pockets on short notice.


    I let myself in with my copy of the house key and collected my gear. Melisande had done me the courtesy of replacing the lost weapons which gave me a brief pause, note to self: ask sister where she was getting her weapons from. It would be nice to have a supply other than what I could make or buy and I knew she didn''t have the cash on hand to replace two daggers and a sword with less than a day¡¯s notice. I ran a hand over my armor and inspected my main sword breathing a sigh of relief when I found that they had finished repairing themselves. The energy I''d drawn from Cassandra earlier and pushed into the relics seemed to have been enough to fix them and mend the wards and enchantments worked into them. My set of arm bands and rings were all there in a shielded cloth bag and their added weight was reassuring once I had them on. I walked out of the house a few minutes later feeling slightly more secure and dressed again in full battle gear and found Khan sitting on top of my car sunning himself.


    ¡°Find what you were looking for?¡± I asked as I opened the door and climbed in trying to ignore the disorienting sight of watching him sink through the Kia''s roof. He stared out the window gloomily for a minute and then nodded.


    ¡°I found enough. So you have more of your memories back?¡± The look he gave me had enough sympathy in it that I had to focus on suppressing the urge to cry. ¡°I don''t know what''s been going on today but you''re an emotional wreck, Cathal.¡±


    ¡°I''d be less of a wreck if people would quit trying to be my shrink and let me work. It''s been done and over with for several millennia at least, the fact that the memory is as fresh as if it was this morning doesn¡¯t change that. Are you going to tell me what was so urgent for you to check on?¡± I settled down a bit as I performed the simple and familiar act of driving home.


    ¡°I wanted to verify the message you got.¡± He shifted and settled his head on the back of the passenger seat. ¡°I''m still a bit unsure of why your former brother-in-law wants to destroy the wards to get revenge on you but his logic has always been a bit baffling to me.¡±


    ¡°Well, this is awkward. I think I remember him, but what¡¯s the deal with him anyways? I mean as far as I recall he pretty much hated anything that breathed and wasn¡¯t related to him but that¡¯s about it.¡± I turned back down the drive to my house and parked letting the car idle a few minutes.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°Nasty fighter without many scruples about how he wins, and willing to make deals with just about anything to get what he wants. He can turn into something close to what you¡¯d think of as a wolfman, he¡¯s also fond of using poison.¡± I grumbled a few words that made me feel a bit better despite not being useful and got out of the car.


    ¡°Great, so I have a homicidal bloodthirsty idiot with a penchant for making pacts with people worse than him and a taste for poisons that wants my head and for some reason thinks that destroying the seals around earth will help him get it.¡± I pushed my way through the underbrush behind my house into the small clearing in the stand of aspen where I¡¯d laid down a circle of stones and started drawing in my energy and forming the shield around my mind and body that would hold me together for what I was about to do.


    ¡°Hey this wasn¡¯t my idea; you pretty much volunteered for the job. So where are we going?¡± I closed my eyes and pictured myself as I was and then reached into the leyline flowing beneath me.


    ¡°I need to speak with Gwynn ap Nudd. I can¡¯t just summon him up though so I need to go to his territory and that means Wales first and then getting a guide. I¡¯m thinking the old Castle Narbreth should be a good starting spot.¡± Khan nodded and I felt him pull together his own power in the same preparations and wrapping a shield around my mind for me as I added the images I¡¯d pulled up online a few months ago as background to the one of myself and then forced myself down into the flow of the leyline.


    Let me just say leyline walking is not my preferred method of travel, it¡¯s not easy and requires a lot of concentration. You start off by keeping a firm grip of who and what you are in your mind, then you wrap all of that in a shield of power, add in more mental focus on where you want to go and merge yourself into the nearest leyline. Then you have the slight matter of accuracy; you can only travel to the same type of leyline you touch, if you use an air leyline you have to step out of an air leyline, step into a water leyline and you have to come out of a water leyline. Since earth leylines are the most common and run pretty much everywhere they get used the most but judging exact location is a bit hard when you''re inside the earth. Once you¡¯re merged with the Earth leyline your perceptions tend to expand in all directions and there is a sense of crushing weight and a heaviness to your body that makes determining your direction difficult until you get the hang of it. My first time trying it eight months ago I had intended to go from Colorado to Washington State and ended up in Peru. It took me about a week to finally get home and I probably contributed to a few urban myths in the process. Having a mental image of where you wanted to go prepared in advance helped but it was still pretty hard to show up where you wanted instead of a hundred miles away. I just hoped I didn¡¯t come out of the leyline at the bottom of the ocean.

 Chapter 11

    I missed my mark and hurtled out of the ground with all the grace of a drunken ox tossed by a giant and landed in the middle of a pond. The suddenly overwhelming pressure of emotions that weren¡¯t mine and were so loud in my mind I could almost hear the thoughts behind them, while at the same time feeling them as a physical weight that pressed against my mind, kept me from concentrating enough to save myself. I barely had enough time to draw in a gasp of air and then sank like a lead brick. My armor was intended to be durable and relatively lightweight for the protection it offered but it was still on the far side of eighty pounds and was never intended as swim wear. As I sank, I focused on my heart rate slowing it down to something around fifteen or twenty beats a minute. I fell back on an old exercise to control emotions regardless of if they were my own or foreign. I began by imagining a brick building, then focused on forcing each emotion into it one at a time until I couldn¡¯t feel any of them. Then gradually let them leak back out identifying the ones that were mine and allowing them to stay and forcing the ones that felt like someone else¡¯s back into the brick building of my imagination. While I held my breath and waited, I hoped that I hadn¡¯t landed too far from wherever Khan ended up at, or that someone had spotted my inexplicable appearance and would come to investigate.


    I¡¯d fought off at least thirty creatures out of a nightmare while traveling to the far side of another universe and survived only to drown in a pond practically in my own backyard, and I hadn¡¯t even gotten to the risky part yet. Of course, I wasn''t sure if I was going to drown before I froze to death first. I felt someone grab my belt and opened my eyes and looked through the murky water to see a small boy tugging me out of the water. I did my best to try and swim keeping myself as buoyant as possible until he finally pulled me up on shore. I spit out a lung full of rancid pond water and focused on breathing in the clean air for a few minutes.


    ¡°Good to see you again Gramps. You know you should really take the armor off before swimming, wouldn''t want something that good to rust.¡± I tried to wring the water out of my hair as best I could and looked at my rescuer. The boy looked to be about eleven or twelve with nearly white hair and pale blue eyes. His impish smile was the sort that would make any parent immediately peg him as a troublemaker, his slightly too long arms and legs that reminded me of my own ungainly awkwardness in puberty didn¡¯t hide the toned nature of muscles that were the result of spending far too much time climbing and running. His white t-shirt and simple blue jeans were marred by grass and dirt stains and his sneakers were even more dirty and ragged adding to the impression of a troublesome teen more interested in playing outside and pulling pranks than listening to his parents or teachers.


    ¡°You know Jackual, one of these days you¡¯re going to make fun of the wrong person and you won¡¯t be able to talk your way out of it.¡± He grinned and twirled his fingers making a small stiletto shaped shard of ice appear in his hands.


    ¡°Isn''t that why you taught me how to fight?¡± I frowned at him and gestured towards a stand of trees that would give us a bit of cover from passerby.


    ¡°We trained you so you could protect yourself from our enemies not so you could avoid paying for the trouble you caused.¡± I pulled off my jacket and worked my shirt out from under the armor, ringing it out before hanging it over a branch while I emptied the jacket pockets. I ignored the whistle of admiration from the boyish spirit behind me. ¡°I need to speak to Gwynn ap Nudd as soon as possible, think you can behave long enough to act as my guide?¡±


    ¡°Hey! It''s still protecting myself, I can''t be blamed if nobody likes my jokes.¡± He reached for a tennis ball sized sphere of obsidian and I knocked his hand away as I set about the delicate work of coaxing the water out of my clothing. ¡°Fine. I can take you gramps, but I don''t think he''s gonna be happy about you bringing this much firepower with you.¡±


    ¡°Stop calling me that or I''ll start using your embarrassing names.¡± I waved as I saw Khan''s form crest the gentle slope across the lake from us and he broke into a run. ¡°Ap Nudd is going to have to deal with it. I''ve been attacked once this week already and nearly killed, I don''t plan to be caught flat footed. Now show me where to get into Arawnn at, I want to get out of this area as quick as possible.¡± I managed to pull on my now only slightly wet shirt and got my coat back on and the items put back only having to take a few back from the other ice elemental present.


    Jackual Frost was an anomaly, his energy had the same undeniable feel that marked a pure ice elemental that mine did, but he couldn''t remember anything about his origins. I''d asked Khan and apparently the two of us had dedicated several centuries in the distant past to determining his parentage and come up short, somewhere along the line though he''d decided that since I was the first elemental of ice and he definitely wasn''t my son I was his grandfather. It was unnerving as hell to have a figure out of myth call me ¡°gramps¡± though. Jackual had the mind of a trouble-making prepubescent teenager, a frighteningly lack of comprehension of morality, and an unfortunate case of kleptomania. Somehow those personality flaws rarely got mentioned in the few myths about him, though.


    ¡°Hey old man I got a question for you. I''ve been catching a whiff of your energy around the Dorset area occasionally for a while now but any time I try getting close to it the trail vanishes. You want to tell me what that''s about?¡± I sighed and ran a hand over the wire and crystal band on my arm. This close it was impossible not to feel the bundle of emotions from the mental beacon even with them boosting my mental defenses. I swallowed and nodded as Khan came closer.


    ¡°As far as I can figure I accidentally forged some sort of bond with someone in the area. I keep wandering into her dreams on accident and haven¡¯t figured out a way to block it. I tried sending some stones to her to keep me out but I don¡¯t know if she¡¯s not keeping them with her or they just aren¡¯t working.¡± I heard Khan let out a hiss at the comment and pointedly ignored the flash of disapproval I felt from him. He didn¡¯t believe I¡¯d created a bond this strong accidentally and thought I enjoyed randomly tripping into a woman¡¯s mind and dreams.


    ¡°Hey Khan, you won¡¯t like it, but the only way the King''s going to let you in is if you give him your real name. Ever since the Christians came to the land he''s been a bit touchy about letting people in and will turn away petitions if they don''t show a sign of faith.¡± I glanced at Khan hoping he could come up with an alternative. Just using my true name in any setting ran a risk of drawing unwanted attention, what Jackual was proposing would mean declaring my identity openly and practically painting a target on my back for every soul since the dawn of time that had a grudge against me.


    ¡°Jackual, if we declare Cathal''s true name it will mean a fight. You and I would be safe but Gwynn will need to settle for flesh and blood from him.¡± Old things like the Fae of any flavor and even gods would take blood as payment in place of a lot of things but it didn''t really make it any more pleasant to have to open a vein. At least I could count on the rules of hospitality to require them to heal it afterward.


    We followed Jackual back to the ancient ruins and soon ended up back at the remains of what had been Castle Narbreth''s western gate. I didn''t want to consider where the sandwiches Jackual gave us had come from, some deli was probably wondering how its inventory had vanished. But hey at least the food tasted good and I needed something to replace at least some of the energy I''d used holding my mind and body together traveling through the leylines halfway around the planet. Jackual also surprised me by producing a beautifully crafted if unadorned long bow carved from yew and a quiver of arrows that he handed to me. While we ate Jackual alternated glances between a silver pocket watch and the sinking sun.


    ¡°Stupid farmer''s almanac said sunset was supposed to be twenty minutes ago.¡± He slipped the pocket watch away and stepped up to the edge of the ruined Castle gate.


    A small flute made of ice appeared in his hands and he played a short melancholy tune on it before setting it down. I slid a knife out enough to draw a quick shallow slice across the back of my hand letting my blood drip on the ground as he and Khan both let out a litany of titles that identified them. Everyone thinks true names are something mystical, when really it¡¯s the first name you ever used as a soul and the titles that are bound to it. For most people, calling their true name isn¡¯t a big deal because they don¡¯t do enough to make it known and forge a link with it. For someone like Khan it wasn¡¯t just a major source of power from him and over him, but it took a long time for an introduction. We could and did use a short version for most things; the last time I¡¯d heard someone use his full true name it had taken us over a month with pauses for meals to get through it all.


    When both of them finished speaking their names, Jackual raised his arms to the sky and his voice carried out over the hillside filled with the silvery ring of his power. ¡°Gwynn ap Nudd, lord of Arawnn, three travelers seek audience with you! Gwynn ap Nudd, Leader of the wild hunt, three souls seek entrance to your realm! Gwynn ap Nudd, Lord of the Tylwyth Teg, we three wish to meet with you!¡±


    There was a slight shift as if the whole world had taken an abrupt step to the side without us and we were standing on an empty hilltop. I immediately felt the pressure of someone else¡¯s emotions vanish and heaved a sigh of relief before looking around. The nearest trees could just barely be seen on the horizon to the east. Off to the west there was an enormous castle that an unpracticed eye would have called needlessly flamboyant due to the amount of marble and silver that liberally decorated it''s crenellations and parapets. After a moment''s inspection, I noted from the way the sun hit the stone that the walls had been smoothed and polished to prevent a climber from gaining any purchase and that the outer layers of defensive walls were shorter to allow archers positioned farther back to shoot over their allies¡¯ heads. Even from what must have been half a mile away I thought I could see movement in the water of the moat.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    At the sound of hounds baying the three of us spun toward the source of the sound and I had my sword drawn and was set in a low fighting stance before the pack of Cwn Arawnn, the blood red at the tips of their tails and ears contrasting sharply against the pristine white of their bodies, ran towards and then past us at a panicked run. That gave me a moment of pause, there were very few things that could make even a portion of the wild hunt, let alone the infamous Hell Hounds, ignore potential prey in favor of running away. None of those things were something I was particularly interested in facing with only Khan and Jackual at my side.


    ¡°Run or fight? I doubt we can out pace a pack of hell hounds.¡± Khan nodded and pawed at the ground, his claws digging furrows in the soft earth.


    ¡°We''re on a slight rise and the footing¡¯s good here. I''d rather fight here than on flat ground with anything the Fae lands could throw at us.¡± I noted and looked at Jackual who simply nodded and conjured two daggers of ice from the air.


    I sheathed my sword and pulled the bow Jackual had given me earlier off my shoulder and notched an arrow. A moment later the cause of the hounds¡¯ panic came into sight. Fifty-five dark furred shapes moving in a tight arrow formation. I drew back on the bow, gauging the distance and then angling the bow to get the most range when the front of the line raised their heads in unison and released a deep wolf like howl of anticipation. Right, an entire battle pack of therianthropic wolves, yeah that would scare off a pack of hell hounds. Heck, I was starting to wish I had run away with them now, either this was the kind that was a little stronger than human with canine senses or, well honestly the level of how bad just got depressingly worse till it reached the point of wiped out with a thought bad. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and exhaled to calm myself, and released. The shaft arched into the air and came down at a sharp angle driving itself into the group and breaking the ranks up as the injured warrior faltered in its run. I drew the next shaft and released again, the arrow falling short and landing in the ground.


    ¡°Khan while I try to slow them why don''t you and Jack see about prepping this little hillock of ours for a defense? Anything is better than nothing and even a sheet of ice will slow them down.¡± I was running on empty for energy. True, what I''d drawn from Cassandra that morning had been enough to qualify me as a demigod, but after mending my gear, fixing my head after an influx of memory, and then a major leyline walk I was tapped out metaphysically and if I didn''t get a solid bit of rest soon I might physically collapse as well. On the other hand whoever was coming for me probably had a full night¡¯s rest and a comparatively short jog to warm up on their side.


    I drew and released another shaft. Hollywood makes a big deal about master archers being able to hit the eye of a charging target from hundreds of yards off, but it''s a tricky sort of shot. Maybe some of the greats could do it with a little help but frankly arrows are pretty picky as ranged weapons go, a gust of wind will blow them off course, a slight irregularity in the shaft can make it wobble and if the fletching is too soft or too rigid it won''t fly right either. And firing them in rapid succession, even with training, is a good way to wear out your body fast. Well it would be if I didn''t cheat, I loosed shaft after shaft as fast as I could and kept the energy in my shoulders, back, and arms constantly circulating with a minor bit of concentration. I couldn''t throw around arctic gales, freeze my enemies, or conjure weapons of ice like Jackual was without spending the energy keeping me alive but it barely took any energy to keep my body in prime condition.


    Fortunately, I wasn''t trying to win a target shooting competition. When you¡¯re eight-hundred pounds of muscle wearing at least a hundred pounds of armor, carrying another forty in weapons and running at a full charge, an arrow piercing anything is going to ruin your day. For example, the two charging wolf men that got tangled up by a pack mate taking an arrow in the hip. A few shots fell into the ground between running bodies and some simply struck armor and broke but most managed to inflict damage if not casualties. By the time I''d exhausted my supply of arrows I''d taken down ten of the approaching targets, the ones that should have been wounded though had already caught back up to the main group as it slowed and spread into a line to sweep out and surround us. I slung the bow back over my shoulder and drew my sword again. I started digging through my pockets to find what I wanted with my free hand as the group formed into a collapsing ring around the base of the hill. My fingers finally brushed across the four-inch length of wire wrapped crystal I wanted. I settled into a balanced stance, my sword arm out with my back a few inches from Khan and Jackual''s and waited. The circle finally collapsed down to the base of the small hill and a squat barrel-chested looking wolf man sniffed at the air for a few moments before pointing to me.


    ¡°Bring him, kill the others.¡± I shifted my stance. If they wanted me alive, they were going to be less likely to aim for killing strikes which would be in my favor. The first wolf man rushed forward and the ground erupted in narrow spikes of ice several inches long through his foot pitching him forward and causing more of the delicate spikes to spring up as he hit the ground. I let out a low whistle of appreciation.


    ¡°That looked painful, beautiful work you two.¡±


    ¡°Thanks. Modeled it after those Vietnamese punji traps.¡± One of Jackual¡¯s ice daggers flicked past my face and sprouted out of the injured warriors leg making the rest take a few steps back from the frost covered ground. The apparent leader of the group reached forward and pulled his man up and back behind himself and the others.


    ¡°Pull yourself together Iapetos you¡¯re disgracing me. I am pack leader S¨¦aghdha, you murdered my brother¡¯s pack, for that I''ve declared blood feud with you human.¡± Which meant he wanted to kill Khan and Jackual and drag me home to kill me in front of everyone personally one on one. I needed to stall him on some chance the Tylwyth Teg knew we were here and Gwynn ap Nudd was likely to send someone out once he found out what was out here from the hounds. Taking down one or two more people would help appease the local nobility anyways.


    ¡°Well sorry Shay old boy, but if your brother was leading the last pack that came after me you should probably go get some help and come back later. After all I have help this time. I wiped the floor with him and his whole pack alone without help last time and walked away with barely a scratch and a few dents on my gear, I barely had to polish my sword afterward.¡± The wolf shuffled forward cautiously and squatted down at the edge of the frost covered ground and eyed me.


    ¡°Careful with your words, mortal. I smelled the ?sir that helped you on the battlefield, no human warrior could take out a pack alone.¡±


    ¡°I''d reconsider that then puppy. Tyr and the tiger here just held the door open while I stretched my muscles.¡± I glanced at the unfortunate Iapetos and noted that most of his bleeding had stopped already.


    Crap stronger than me and healing to make comic book characters envious, I''d have to aim for major injuries and killing blows. ¡°Your brother¡¯s pack was a joke. I''ve had yearling units that performed better, hell we haven''t even started fighting and already you''ve got casualties. So think long and hard before you pick a fight with me or the next person I talk to may be standing in front of a battalion. Your tribe lost one pack leader already don''t add another to the pile.¡± I didn''t even look before bringing my arm up, my thumb snapped the first wire wrapped around the crystal I was holding and an ax aimed at my head bounced harmlessly off a faint shimmering teardrop shield that appeared on my arm.


    ¡°Oh I really wish you hadn''t done that. Khan, Jackual, make it messy.¡± I flicked my sword and knocked another ax out of the air. I ducked under the first sword swing driving the point of my shield into the wonderfully sensitive paw in front of me as I snapped my sword up around the shield¡¯s edge and under the edge of the breast plate before jerking the blade back out and splitting the armor open. I raised the shield barely a second before a second sword took my head off. I pushed back on the shield and snapped the crystal¡¯s second wire ring and the energy around my arm transformed into a Scottish targe in time for the center spike to pierce the wolf man''s heart. I took a half step back and fell into the formation with Jackual and Khan again. I leaned into the blow of another sword deflecting it wide and drove the tip of my blade forward and into the wolf man''s head cringing as another warrior¡¯s blow slammed against my arm only to be stopped by my armor.


    I was moving too slow to counter them all and not only were they slowly working themselves into a frenzy but I wasn''t even taking the brunt of the attack. I snarled as I sliced the arm off another attacker and closed my eyes letting my awareness of the energy around me expand and take the place of my sight. At the same time, I let my energy flow into the blade in my hand and then back into me and lashed out at the well of dark energy that approached me. The targe was too cumbersome, I saw the wave of bloodlust focused on my friend and grandson behind me and needed more than a single blade. I snapped the last two wire bands on the crystal and the targe transformed into a sword. I stepped forward into the press of darkness and sank into the part of my mind I avoided most of the time.


    I think everyone has a place like this somewhere in them. It''s where we put our darkest urges, where all the things that scare us about ourselves are locked away. I didn''t like the fact that I was capable of some of the things I could do. I didn''t like to admit even to myself that a part of me reveled in fighting, that part of me enjoyed throwing my skill and power against another''s and leaving a mangled corpse behind. I hated that sometimes I wanted to drain all the energy from something instead of just enough to get by just to see what it would do to a person when I ripped all the life from them. Not many people had to consider what would happen to the world if they cut loose and decided to reshape it as they saw fit, there was a small part of me that sometimes wondered if it wouldn''t be better if I did that. I didn¡¯t want to admit that any of that was in me. At my core I took pride in creating and building things, but you can''t create without destroying and right now I needed all the destruction I could manage so I let out every dark impulse I had and gave it free reign.


    On some dim level I felt sorry about what it meant for me to let that part free. Then again battle packs like this would do any job for whoever could meet the price and they tended to work for some very unsavory people and do the kind of things that would make hardened career soldiers run for the latrine. The shimmering phantom sword met its first target and slid through the armor without resistance bringing a wave of energy with it as the crystal that anchored the construct pulled in the warrior''s energy and filtered out all but what I could use. I sunk farther into my mind letting my memories of countless battles and hours of training dictate my movements and focused my mind on the task of moving the energy in my body, keeping it flowing in the two blades and my limbs, making me stronger and faster as each strike against an enemy let me drain a bit of their strength. A slow cadence of movements started running in the back of my mind; duck, slash up, thrust, step forward, deflect, follow through, kick, thrust up, swing down, sidestep, thrust, spin, block¡­ Each time I drew blood I drew more power into me making me swifter and faster, and healing the minor wounds I took as quickly as they were inflicted. The cycle of feeding as I fought created a steady pace for the battle that I knew I could maintain indefinitely as I pushed aside thoughts of Khan and Jackual trusting them to protect each other.

 Chapter 12

    By the time I heard the pounding of hooves approaching and felt the cool shimmering energy with a slight feel of death approaching, the ground around me was saturated in the deep maroon of the wolfmen''s blood and I could only faintly feel Khan and Jackual''s energy. I realized what I was about to do too late to reclaim control of my body from my subconscious. I dropped the crystal and sliced open the back of my hand using the blood to form a dome of ice that protected me from the wave of energy as it washed over the wolf men. My thoughts clawed their way back to the forefront of my mind and my sword tumbled from my fingers as every muscle and bone in my body instantly reported its distaste with the amount of abuse inflicted by what, I realized, must have been more than half an hour of fighting.


    My training sessions with Melisande usually lasted hours if not all day but even that kind of practice couldn''t prepare a body for half an hour of continuous combat against multiple enemies. The dome of ice had drained away all the energy I''d managed to steal in the fighting and I couldn''t hold together the mental blocks that had prevented the pain and exhaustion from overwhelming me. Someone started pounding on the side of the blood ice dome while I knelt trying to pull together enough strength. I couldn''t lift a sword, but I still had at least two dozen potions in my pockets. If I was going to die, I was going to make whoever killed me bear the marks of it. I struggled to my feet and pulled a small vial of purple liquid out of a pocket as someone started knocking harder on the side of the dome of red tinted ice.


    ¡°It''s no use Lady Arianrhod, the ice won''t melt or crack unless he wants it to.¡±


    ¡°Jackual? When this is over I''m kicking your ass. You were supposed to take us to Gwynn''s court and instead we end up in her realm? Your aim is worse than a drunken Olympian''s. Bad aim aside Lady, he''s right though, it''s not going away unless I want it to. And don''t bother threatening. I know your reputation, Arianrhod. However, I''ll make you a deal. Walk away and let us depart in peace and I won''t use all the potions and enchanted crystals I have with me to slaughter your army and scar your pretty face. I always find it a waste to have to maim a woman as attractive as yourself.¡±


    ¡°Gwirionyn llanc! If I wanted you and yours dead, I could have waited until after your fight with the battle pack to attack. Your grandson was quite successful in getting the Lord of Arawnn''s attention, however he sent you here first. I would have arrived sooner were I not speaking with him about his request. He''s arranged a deal with me if you¡¯re willing to accept what he''s offering before you see him. However, I will not speak to you through a wall of ice like some leper to be shunned!¡±


    Crap, I was going to have a few choice words for Gwynn when I saw him. The last thing I wanted was to involve anymore deities in my life right now, and if I kept the dome in place she was more than capable of out waiting me. That and pissing off a goddess of reincarnation probably wasn¡¯t something that ended in anyone¡¯s favor, there¡¯s a reason you don¡¯t hear many legends about mortals angering them- the ones that do generally don¡¯t live long enough to brag about it.


    ¡°My apologies then. Khan, what''s the condition of our company?¡±


    ¡°Sleeping. I think. Whatever she did has them all out cold though they seem to be breathing. A lot of them don''t seem to be healing from that sword of yours anymore.¡± I grunted and picked up the dropped crystal, with a little work the enchantments on it could be reversed and I didn¡¯t like sharing novel weapons with others. Satisfied I hadn¡¯t left any other items in my immediate vicinity I tapped the side of the dome; letting it crumble as I reclaimed the energy I¡¯d used to make it. Khan was right, most of the wolfmen were sleeping and it looked like the mix of cutting and feeding on them through the crystal had slowed or stopped their healing. I''d have to remember that if another group came after me. Both Jackual and Khan had seen better days and bore a number of minor injuries that I could see were taking a toll on them and now that the shock of battle and adrenaline were fading, I could feel a number of injuries on my own body as well that hadn¡¯t properly or fully healed.


    Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    ¡°Alright Arianrhod, tell me about this offer of Gwynn''s. I don''t have a lot of time. I still need to speak with the man himself about an impending crisis.¡± I couldn''t help but notice that the legends hadn''t done Arianrhod much justice. True she was beautiful but there was an almost delicate quality to her that the masterfully crafted suit of armor she wore managed to highlight rather than hide, the armor was functional rather than the form fitting sort that filled modern fantasy artwork. It was still a work of beauty with faintly visible blue and green shimmers moved lazily across its surface almost mimicking an aurora. Her skin was the pale cream of polished ivory the contrast it made against the faint ribbons of color dancing in the deep twilight blue of her eyes and the silver hair she¡¯d left loose under the simple braided silver circlet she wore was almost hypnotic. Despite their moniker as ¡°the little people¡± few of the Tylwyth Teg were short and Arianrhod herself would have been able to look me in the eyes without tilting her head if she wasn¡¯t currently looking down at me from horseback.


    ¡°I''d like to offer you the hospitality of Caer Arianrhod. My cousin is on his way to meet you here. We can discuss the details of his offer while we wait and you rest. My guards should be along shortly to finish these off, poor fools are close to death anyways. It seems some enterprising Guardian felt the need to poison them with their own energy. A pity it won''t take longer. I detest trespassers onto my lands.¡± I shook my head and tried to push aside a dizzying wave of exhaustion. Something told me falling down in front of a vengeful goddess of reincarnation could be bad.


    ¡°We would be honored to accept your offer of hospitality Lady, I believe all of us could do with some rest, and it would seem my companions are in need of healing as well.¡± I glanced behind her to the group of mounted soldiers. ¡°I don''t suppose you brought spare mounts? I''m not sure Jackual is able to walk that far in his condition. First however I have something to finish.¡±


    I walked across the field turning over the occasional face down wolfman until I found S¨¦aghdha and Iapetos lying unconscious near each other, both their weapons shattered and their armor scored and dented, apparently they had been the most zealous of the fighters until they were overwhelmed. I riffled through my pockets until I found a small carved blue jade dragon holding a tiny quartz marble. I held the small carving with my mouth and grabbed the two wolfmens'' arms and started feeding until I had enough energy for what I wanted, then sent a pulse of power into both of them to wake them up.


    ¡°Welcome back to the land of the living. I''ve had a pretty bad week so far and your clan''s actions are making it worse. Fortunately for them I have better things to spend my time on then fighting battles against you. So here''s the deal I''m going to offer you. One of you is going to take a message back. You get to decide which one of you is making it back mostly in one piece.¡± I looked at the two of them and waited. I shouldn''t have been surprised that it was S¨¦aghdha that spoke first.


    ¡°I''ll see you dead for this human. The next group we bring against you will be greater than any force you can imagine.¡± I rolled my eyes and slapped the Jade dragon against his head.


    ¡°I know how you operate, thirty failed, so you sent fifty-five for me. This force failed so the next group is going to be a full battalion. It doesn¡¯t matter to you now though.¡± I reached through the crystal in the small figure and pulled all the energy I could from S¨¦aghdha until I felt the quivering snap of tension that told me he was dead, fortunately the filters I¡¯d built into the crystal worked and all I took was his life instead of taking his memories and personality into myself.


    ¡°Congratulations Iapetos, you get to live. You''re going to take your pack leader¡¯s corpse back with you. Tell your elders that the contract isn''t worth the cost. If they send another pack after me I will hunt them down and kill them. Tell them that the head of the First Tactical will bring all of his power and allies against them. This is a family matter to be handled between me and the person who issued the contract.¡± I stood and gestured behind me to Khan before turning and walking back to face Arianrhod.


    ¡°You know what to do Khan. I want the message to be clear. Lady Arianrhod, my apologies for any inconvenience I may have caused you by bringing my problems with me to your realm. Perhaps we should leave before matters here become much messier.¡± The goddess smiled bemusedly and tilted her head.


    ¡°My cousin brought the trouble, not you old one. I appreciate the gesture, not many guests will resolve their problems with so brilliant a display of martial prowess. Come then. We can leave your companion to his gruesome work while we discuss the matters at hand.¡± Nobody bothered looking back when Iapetos started to scream.


    <hr>

 Chapter 13

    The ride back to Caer Arianrhod was a silent one. The guards stayed well back after Khan caught up with us, though none of the horses spooked at the great cat''s presence or the smell of fresh blood where his front legs and muzzle had been dyed a deep red by his work. I could torture a person for information or mangle them to deliver a message but not happily and it always gave me nightmares, Khan was more pragmatic about it if he viewed something as a necessity then that was all there was to the matter, he did the deed and moved on to the next task. It was a cold blooded and possibly sociopathic way of dealing with life but it worked for him. At least he wasn¡¯t out killing people for amusement or eating babies.


    We left the horses with an innocuous looking stable hand and followed Arianrhod through the front doors of the central keep and through several polished granite hallways. Like the outside, the inside was designed for function and not appearance. Although a strip of carpet had been laid down and tapestries had been hung along the wall. We finally entered what could only be the grand hall. Crystals in the ceiling took in and refracted the light back across the pristine white walls creating a miniature version of the aurora borealis, or quite possibly it was a reflection of the actual aurora given where I was. At the far end beyond a breathtaking banquet table carved with trees and birds was a silver throne adorned only by a sheet of white wool across the seat. Arianrhod took the seat at the head of the table and gestured to the chair beside her.


    ¡°Please sit. Food should be ready soon and we can pass the time in pleasant conversation while we wait.¡± I made a small show of taking off my coat and sword belt and setting them both on the table beside the seat where the sword would be easy to reach. Arianrhod had been polite so far but I would be foolish to let her think I was complacent or felt safe. Of course, I didn''t feel either of those things and I don''t like to be in a position where my weapons are hard to reach when I''m in hostile territory.


    ¡°I appreciate the offer. Will Jackual be joining us or have your attendants already found a room for him?¡±


    ¡°The guardsmen gave him a bed in the barracks to rest. I''d just as soon not trust him around my handmaidens.¡±


    ¡°Understandable, I love the child as much as any of my kin but that would be as wise as trusting a fox in your henhouse. I know it¡¯s customary to wait till after a meal, my host, but time may be short and while I fed a considerable amount during the battle most of the energy was expended at the time and nothing is a substitute for true sleep after that form of work. Will you excuse my poor manners and allow me to discuss business while we eat?¡± I watched as the first of the servants brought in pitchers and two cups for us along with what looked like a beaten gold bowl for Khan and a set of washcloths.


    ¡°I suppose this once we can forego proper manners, Cathal. After all my cousin began it by sending you to me without warning first. Gwynn ap Nudd has requested that, provided you are willing, I help ease your process of recalling the past as well as speed it up a bit. The cost he claims will be shouldered by him alone. He simply does not wish to try bargaining with someone whose memory of the pact won''t last long.¡± I nodded in understanding and waved for her to continue.


    A young man wearing loose fit leather pants and a white tunic with gold embroidery along the edges stomped his foot to announce himself before stepping up beside me on my right side and pouring a chalice of something sweet smelling that had a vaguely amber color.


    ¡°It¡¯s a valid concern and while I would normally be willing to accept the word of someone like the Lord of Arawnn on such a thing I doubt I¡¯d be here if he could do it himself. Which means, that he has only partial or no control of the cost. I also have concerns about the method that would be used to accomplish such a thing. I¡¯m by no means a fool and while I may not have full access to the memories of my past lives I am quite capable of understanding that doing what he¡¯s proposing would be hazardous at best without some form of tool or artifact. Which means even as the one performing the task you wouldn¡¯t have the final say in who pays any cost that may arise.¡±


    ¡°You would be right in the need of a powerful aid, and the cost can be great for some. You will have to face your past alone. Do you remember what I was before the Goddess of Reincarnation and Karma, or why of all the Celtic deities with lands of their own my realm sits closest to earth? Closer even then Arawnn where the souls of our dead followers go.¡±


    I cast about in my memory for a few moments before glancing at Khan who was trying to be tolerant of the servants that were using warm water and towels to clean the blood out of his fur. I¡¯d like to say they were doing a decent job but his fur was still red and turning pink where blood hadn¡¯t been while the water they had brought to clean him was already crimson. His eyes were closed and there was a sense of resignation from him that told me he was too busy trying not to snap at the well-meaning attendants to be helpful. I finally shook my head.


    ¡°I began as the patron of crafts, spinning, weaving, painting and other such things. However, I was entrusted by the Guild of Life Makers to safeguard a soul vault, overtime the responsibility took too much time and others took over my roles. I was left only with the one task. I established my home here and built Caer Sidi around it. When the Irish and then the Scots invaded and pushed back the Cymru they adopted the worship of me, but took to naming the place after me.¡± I thought about that for a moment, if she actually had access to a soul vault that could change things, I didn¡¯t really know much about the things or even where they came from. I was also reasonably certain the only person that did know more than minor details about them had long since cut themselves out of the cycle of reincarnation.


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    Soul vaults are essentially automated collectors for the Akashic Archive. When something died, its spirit was supposed to be drawn to the nearest soul vault and all of its life experience was recorded and put into the Archives. From the first conscious moment to death, every memory and bit of knowledge committed to a perfect and incorruptible archive that was so jealously guarded it made getting into Fort Knox look like a stroll down Main Street. Aside from those devoted to religions that had a land or lands of death and a few rare and exceptional exceptions most souls stayed in the soul vaults until they had found a new life and were reincarnated. Something like that would certainly give Arianrhod the power necessary for what she proposed.


    ¡°Khan I realize you¡¯re busy being pampered but I would appreciate your opinions on this matter.¡±


    ¡°I can only offer you so much advice, Cathal. You know as much as I about the soul vaults and that when dealing with something so old and powerful the cost can be hard to predict. I have no doubt that Gwynn will pay whatever price our fair host requires of us for the favor but the vault may well have a mind of its own and demand a price that you yourself must pay. However, I won¡¯t lie and say it wouldn¡¯t be beneficial if you could remember enough of your business for me to attend to matters elsewhere whilst you do things without needing me to be your shadow.¡±


    I settled back in my chair and sipped at the wine in my cup as I thought about it. I¡¯d spent a lot of time trying to pry free my old memories since I¡¯d first started remembering my past. I had made more enemies than I had allies, in what seemed like an endless progression of millennia, I could only recall a handful of friends and allies by comparison, and it seemed like I made enemies more frequently than I ate meals. I had more knowledge locked away in my memory than the human race had accumulated and forgotten. More than that though was a simple need to KNOW. I remembered doing things that I hated to think I was capable of and I held some dim hope that there was some memory locked away that would let me find some way to forgive myself. More than being able to remember who my enemies were, or help me find peace of mind, my old memories might hold the key to controlling not just my abilities by the instincts that came with my innate natures.


    ¡°Alright Arianrhod, I¡¯ll take the deal. When can we do this?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll send for you in the morning after I¡¯ve had time to prepare. In the meantime, I¡¯ll arrange for someone to show you to a guest room. Feel free to avail yourself of my hospitality. I like you like this you know, I¡¯m as fond of good manners as any of my kin but you used to be so stuffy when it came to politics it was almost unbearable.¡± I nodded and stood as she did before sitting back down and a plate of roasted meat and some kind of glazed vegetables was set down in front of me, drawing a slight gurgle of hunger from my stomach. I picked up the knife and fork and settled in to eat. Tomorrow would bring a new day and I didn¡¯t want to face my past on an empty stomach.


    I ate quietly focusing on the motions of eating to calm the thoughts spinning through my mind. Despite Pop Culture¡¯s attempts to make vampires and were-creatures seem attractive it¡¯s not always glamorous in the twentieth century. I can barely look at a person without thinking of them as food on some level of my mind. I have to fight the urge to chase, tackle, and eat anyone that runs past me on the street, and that¡¯s just accounting for the instincts I shared with Khan because of our close bond. I also had an insatiable hunger for living energy from my vampiric nature and the empathy that was entwined with it meant going into a room with more than two people necessitated resisting the urge to drain the life out of someone while at the same time trying to keep my emotions separated enough to keep from drowning in other people¡¯s emotions and acting psychotic. I also had to worry about dropping room temperatures noticeably and on bad days when my emotions are running high, I¡¯ve caused storms of my own when I lost control.


    ¡°If you¡¯re done with your meal sir, my mistress has instructed me to guide you to your rooms and see to your needs for the night.¡± The young woman who spoke approached when I finished my meal and curtsied low enough that I idly wondered if she was employing her own form of magic to avoid falling over.


    Unlike the more conservative dress of the male servants her attire was loose fit and while covering, the white fabric with its delicate golden embroidery was sheer enough that you could see the freckles across her shoulders and upper chest even through her shift. Unlike most of Arianrhod¡¯s servants her waist length braid of hair was a midnight black and she had a sleek athletic figure and a bearing both in her posture and her features that suggested she was less docile than most of the goddesses¡¯ handmaidens. Which also suggested that my host had chosen her for the duty knowing my preference in women. I sighed inwardly and tried not to show my distaste for the old practice.


    ¡°Show me to my chambers for the night that¡¯s all.¡±


    ¡°As you wish my lord, shall I send for another of the handmaidens to see to your needs then? I¡¯m sure we can find someone more to your liking if I don¡¯t suit you.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t call me ¡®lord¡¯, any claim I may have had to a title I either renounced or lost through misdeeds long before you were born. And don¡¯t worry even when such practices were common, I wasn¡¯t the sort to accept such offers. I have nothing against you and under other circumstances I¡¯m sure you¡¯re the type of woman I would be interested in, but I¡¯m not the type to take a woman to my bed when I¡¯ve just met her. Besides I¡¯m sure you would rather spend the night doing something other than keeping a stranger¡¯s bed warm.  Simply show myself and Khan to our chambers for the night. I¡¯ll tell your mistress that you fulfilled your duties admirably if asked and let her draw her own conclusion.¡±


    ¡°Thank you. If you¡¯ll follow me, your chambers have been prepared.¡±