Fairy Tale: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Lillim Callina Chronicles Book 3) (16 page)

I reached out and grabbed the muddy hilt of Isis. The blade thrummed in my hand as I slashed outward with two quick strikes. The ends of Sobek’s spear fell away like broken kindling, leaving a piece of golden steel protruding only a couple inches on either side of me.

With one breath that rippled down my body like magma, I hoisted myself to my feet. “Okay.” I licked my lips and the coppery taste of blood filled my mouth. “Let’s try this one more time.”

“What are you trying to prove? That you’re tough? Done. That you’re brave? Noted. That you’re strong? I believe you,” Sobek pleaded. “Please do not make me kill you to prove a point.”

I held out my left hand and with a force of will that left my head spinning Set ripped free from Sobek’s grip and came shooting through the air toward me. I caught it in my outstretched hand and staggered back half a step. My body swayed woozily as the Egyptian deity shook his head.

“I can’t give up,” I said, taking a step toward him. The water under my foot solidified into a hard surface of pure white. I didn’t have the power or control to make the entire lagoon solid again, but the area under my feet, I could manage that. For now.

“Why not?” Sobek asked as he reached to the side and pulled a gleaming khopesh out of thin air. The Egyptian sickle-sword sparkled like hammered silver in the light of the sun, so bright that I could barely look at it. “Why do you persist when you cannot win?”

I gestured toward the walls. “Because they cannot win. Because they are too weak to stand before you.” I swallowed. My mouth was so dry that it was like trying to swallow a mouthful of sand. “Because if I stop fighting, then they will be defeated that much sooner. Every moment I stand here gives them just one more moment of breath.”

Sobek almost smiled but his eyes held a sadness unbefitting a crocodile. “They would kill you, and yet, you would throw your life away to buy them a few more seconds? It sounds noble, but it also sounds stupid.”

“Noble is just stupid when it counts.” I drove the twin blades of Shirajirashii into the ground. “Hankyouran Shinibana.”

White slammed down on us like a hammer, covering the pond and surroundings once more and stretching far beyond. The sky above faded into a pure white sheet so immense in its emptiness that it felt claustrophobic, even for me. Sobek stood looking at me, head half-cocked to the side as the white spread out around us like a living thing, swallowing us entirely. Everything else faded from view so that it was just the two of us standing there in an endless sea of white.

“Interesting,” Sobek murmured almost to himself. His crocodile eyes swept around for a moment. “Where have you taken me?”

Before I could reply, a roar echoed across the landscape. I turned my head toward the sound, and my jaw dropped. Standing before us was a huge upright hippopotamus with the tail of a crocodile. Her giant belly bulged beneath her pink linen mu-mu as she took a menacing step toward Sobek, anger burning in her dark eyes.

“What are you doing here with her?” she cried, pointing at me with one lion paw of a hand. She narrowed her eyes. “Are you cheating on me?”

I glanced at Sobek who seemed as stunned as I did. A look of horror flashed across his face as he took a step back.

“You think I’m fat don’t you,” the creature wailed, putting her hands to her swollen stomach and shaking herself. “I can’t even see my feet anymore, and you think I’m fat, and you’re leaving me for a little girl.”

“Um…” I said, not sure what to do but the hippo sent one glance in my direction, and I suddenly wished I could make myself very small.

“It isn’t like that at all, Taweret,” Sobek raised his hands palm outward. “She’s just some girl. I don’t even know her name.”

I wanted to say something along the lines of “wrong answer” and make a buzzing noise, but Taweret’s bellow made my knees weak and my heart threaten to burst out of my chest. She surged forward in an instant and slapped Sobek across the face. Crocodile teeth flew from his mouth as he stumbled backward.

“You’re leaving me for a girl, and you don’t even know her name?” Taweret squawked before turning narrowed eyes on me. Actual flames seemed to pour down her cheeks, and the claws on her lion-like paws extended. “Well… after I’m done with her, she won’t be quite so pretty,” she snarled.

“No!” Sobek cried and lunged forward wrapping his arms around the pregnant hippo-goddess and tackling her to the floor. They landed together in a heap that made me cringe away from them.

Taweret whirled on him and bit down on his shoulder tearing away a chunk of flesh in a spray of gore. Sobek screamed and backhanded her across the face with his good hand. The blow seemed to stun both of them, and they just stopped and looked at each other for a long time.

“I’m sorry,” Sobek said breaking a silence that made me so uncomfortable that I had the sudden urge to run and hide.

“No you’re not,” Taweret cried. “You’re always going off and leaving me. Always ignoring me for this war or that fertility goddess.”

“It’s my job. I’m the god of war and fertility. You know that.” Sobek shook his head and sighed. Very slowly, he stood and pulled Taweret to her feet. The giant hippo swayed for a moment, her enormous belly straining against the mu-mu.

“I know, but I’m just done being pregnant. I’m ready for this baby to get out of me. I can’t even fit into any of my clothes. I’m like a beached whale,” she cried and threw herself against Sobek in a flood of tears.

“Aren’t you the Egyptian pregnancy deity?” I asked, and they both turned to look at me.

“Sort of… not really,” Taweret said, looking at me and wiping a tear from her eye with one clawed hand.

I shook my head. “Okay… but haven’t you been pregnant for like five thousand years?”

“Yes, and I’m tired of it.” She swallowed a sob and rubbed at her stomach. “You humans whine about nine months, try carrying this around for five millennia and see how you like it.”

“Sweetie, we’ve been through this,” Sobek said, putting his hand on her shoulder. “It’s not really in the cards for you to give birth.”

Taweret dropped her head and made a mewling sound. “I know.”

“How about I take you home and get you some chocolate?” he asked.

“Okay. But I want french fries too.”

“I can manage that.” He grinned at her, and she put her head against his shoulder. There was a flash of light, and the wound she inflicted earlier just healed over. One second blood was dripping down his left arm and the next moment he was perfectly fine.

“With extra salt?” she asked with a sniff.

“You know the doctors said you have to watch your salt,” Sobek replied in a voice entirely too comforting to be coming from a crocodile. “But I’m sure it will be fine this one time.”

She grinned up at him, and the look she gave him made my heart twist up. I’m not quite sure why but my eyes teared up a little. I must have gotten some dust in them or something. I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand, which was when I noticed the hilts of Shirajirashii. The snakes… were gone.

Sobek glanced at me and shook his head. “I need to end this quickly,” he said, shoving Taweret behind him and taking an ominous step toward me.

“Sobek!” Taweret screamed as Apep burst from, well, everywhere. His skin gleamed like oil as his body unfurled itself, impossibly huge even in the opaque emptiness of the white. Apep’s head reared back, hood huge against the black backdrop, tongue snaking out of his enormous mouth to taste the air.

He darted forward at Taweret, man-sized teeth gleaming as froth spilled from his lips. Sobek snarled, leaping between the two of them in an instant, khopesh slicing through the air… and passing straight through Apep. The big snake’s tail whipped out, wrapping around Sobek and hoisted him into the air.

“Flee, tiny god!” Apep snarled, voice like the noise that wakes you in the middle of the night. “Flee and I won’t crush your beloved.”

Sobek swallowed, the sound of it so loud that I could hear it from where I was standing a few meters away. “No!” Sobek cried. Apep’s tail flexed, cinching down on him. The sound of shrieking metal filled the air.

“No or yes?” Apep asked, flicking his head toward Taweret. Thousands of shadowy creatures sprang forth from every which way, all glowing red eyes and sharp claws. Their features seemed to swirl, never quite becoming visible as they swarmed over Taweret. Burying her beneath a swarm of snarling bodies.

“Well? What is it going to be Sobek?” Apep asked.

Sobek grunted, eyes bugging out as the muscles in Apep’s body contracted.

“I can’t hear you, crocodile. Speak so that we may hear you and know your cowardice.”

“Spare her!” Sobek cried, voice cracking part way. “Spare her, and I will leave!”

“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Apep replied, releasing Sobek with a flick of his tail. The crocodile god smacked into the white with an empty thump as the shadow-creatures vanished.

Sobek’s clawed hands clenched in fury as he stood and limped toward Taweret’s fallen form. Blood covered her body, dripping from numerous tiny wounds.

“You will pay for this, Apep!” Sobek snarled, but he was looking right at me, reptilian eyes boring into my soul. My heart sped up, leaping against the inside of my chest like a crazed rabbit. Sobek snatched Taweret’s hand, and with a flash of light, they were gone.

Apep turned toward me and grinned, which was weird on the face of a thousand meter long serpent. “They always say that, don’t be worried,” Apep replied before disintegrating into formless black smoke. The twin swords of Shirajirashii throbbed once, the handles returning to normal as the smoke wrapped itself around them.

I stood there alone in the empty void of Hankyouran Shinibana and sighed.

“That was a dirty trick even for you guys,” I said as the white fell apart around me, shattering like an eggshell. “I can’t believe you summoned an ancient hormonal girlfriend just to attack her.”

There was a loud cheer from behind me, and I turned to find myself standing in the dry bed of the lagoon. Evidently, without Sobek here to animate the thing with his power, the pool dried up. The denizens of Fairy were on their feet cheering and laughing as they rushed toward me.

“How’d you do that? One minute you were both standing there looking at each other. Then he just left…” Kishi said.

“Hankyouran Shinibana has the power to show you what you fear the most. Evidently, even Sobek has something to fear,” Warthor Ein said glancing at her over his shoulder as he put one hand on my shoulder. “Are you okay, Lillim?”

“Yeah I’m fi—”

Chapter 19

“Ow! Stop doing that! It hurts,” I yelled, my eyes fluttering open to see Mattoc’s face hovering just a few inches above mine.

“Oh, so you’re awake?” Mattoc asked. “It’s about damn time.”

I turned my head to glare at him and pain shot through my body. He was standing next to me, one finger extended slightly above my chest. I was in a room with golden walls, and, as near as I could tell, was lying on a bed. I tried to sit up, but it hurt so much that I had to bite my lip to keep from screaming.

“Be careful. You’ve been unconscious for a couple days, and even with fairy magic, it’s going to take time to heal a gaping chest wound,” Mattoc said, reaching out to help me ease into a sitting position.

“This?” I said, tapping the bandaged area that covered the right side of my chest. Just touching it hurt so much that spots danced past my eyes. “This is barely a flesh wound,” I finished through clenched teeth.

Mattoc smirked and ran one hand back through his short, black hair. “Even if it’s a paper cut, you still need to rest. Even Dirge only used Hankyouran Shinibana a couple times in actual battles. Have you even done it before, at all?” he asked, concern etched onto his face.

“Well no,” I said sheepishly. To be fair, I had only been able to do the spell because I remembered Dirge using it before. Like most of the powers she gained with Shirajirashii, I hadn’t really used many of them… ever.

“If you’re going to cast spells like Hankyouran Shinibana, you need to practice them first. You need to spend some time with those swords if you’re going to keep pulling out moves like that.” Mattoc’s voice was firm now, like a teacher reprimanding a disobedient student.

“They scare me, okay? Using that kind of power is what killed Dirge. I don’t want to go out that way. I don’t want to explode in the night because I was practicing some new move,” I cried, pushing myself toward him. The movement made my chest feel like a thousand fire ants decided to gnaw at my flesh.

“Using that kind of power is not what killed Dirge. You using that power without practicing is
much
more likely to kill you. I swear to god, I am this close to telling your mother to just take your swords away and lock you in a deep, dark hole until you grow up.” He was glaring at me now, dark gray eyes twisted in fury that I didn’t quite understand.

I forced myself to meet his gaze and took a deep breath. Pain surged through my body again, but I was getting used to it, and I threw a mental shield around the throbbing, gut-wrenching agony. I put up wall after wall inside my head, shutting out the wound entirely until it was little more than a dull ache.

“I don’t see why you care so much,” I snarled and tried to push him, but he stepped to the side and seized my wrist. The chill of his touch traveled down my arm like a bucket of ice water.

“I don’t want to die, you hapless twit. I may be a ghost, but you’re my anchor. What do you think happens to me if you bite the big one? One way ticket to Nowheresville.” Mattoc let me go and put his hand on my shoulder. “Look, I’m not saying to put a lid on it. I’m saying to practice these kinds of spells before you use them in battle for the first time on Vampire Founders, Fairy Queens, and Egyptian Gods. Even you have to admit that using them for the first time in those situations is a terrible idea.”

He was right, but I didn’t want to admit it. Pulling power like that through Shirajirashii was something I could do because I remembered how Dirge did it. But when I did it, well, it was more like that one time in your life when you needed to use algebra. You know you need to find X, but you don’t really remember exactly how to do that.