AO 6 Ch 40

"Thor, your hammer." Freya held out her hand, and a bolt of lightning zipped from Thor into Freya's outstretched hand before she spun it around and threw it straight for Missy. 

I knew I was supposed to sit quietly by the side and be a good spectator. But the sudden action looked like it had caught everyone off guard, including Missy. So, I acted. 

Ardenium chains snaked out from around me, flying to intercept the hammer.

The hammer struck the chains with a muffled ring, the chains holding firm and the lightning siphoning off the hammer through the chains and directly to me.

Apparently the rest of the room was shocked based on the brief pause in the fight. I watched the jumping blue bolts with a faint feeling of dread.

"Is this gonna hurt?" I grunted as I braced myself, only for the lightning to jump happily inside of my body, following the chains back, all the way back to the Ardenium Palace, where it soaked up Thor's magic like the dry, barren Badlands would soak up a rainstorm. 

There was strange resonance with that magic and the spear currently chained in the palace. The two were part and parcel to the same god's powers, and there was a function between them that helped the Ardenium Palace soak up the other half of Thor's aspects with ease. 

I slowly retracted the chains all the way back to my person before the hammer disappeared inside of me. But I watched Thor go slack in his shackles, a look of defeat wiping away his rage.

Bad Kitty slowly turned her head towards me, a new look of disbelief in her eyes. "Have you always been able to do that?" she asked. 

"I don't know," I shrugged. "I just really don't like Thor. Decided to see if there was anything I could do about him." I smiled, not wanting to let Freya or Hades have any idea of what I was and wasn't capable of doing. Luckily, I was not sure what I was doing anyway. So, it was rather easy to hide from others what I didn’t even know myself.

The cloaked god's eyes narrowed dangerously at me. "It seems we were all mistaken. The little mortal you brought with you is actually a hidden demigod. It's a good thing you sent your monster, Freya. I don't think anything else would be able to defeat him." He then glanced at Thor, who was clearly weakened. 

Suddenly, Hades' form exploded and enveloped the other god. Dark bars pressed against Thor, compressing his much larger form, squishing his flesh between the bars until his skin popped and his bones crunched. The god of the underworld shrank back down as the bars and the gloom faded away and the cloaked Hades took his place.

My mouth dropped open. A god just died. This is what Missy and Ditzy meant when these battles too a certain level of trust, even from your allies.

"What are you doing?" Freya snapped. 

"Taking a weak piece off of the board. Clearly, he's nothing but a problem. Me taking his aspects and his power will only make your reign stronger, Freya," Hades spoke slowly, dipping his head in deference to her. 

Cowtits glared at him for a moment before returning to her fight with Missy. Their magic erupted through the hall. A sly smile spread across Freya's lips as she snapped her fingers.

"Hades, support me," she commanded. 

The cloaked god threw a two-pronged spear over to her, only for a look of confusion to mar his face and Freya to grin wider.

"I knew you couldn't resist that morsel laid in front of you," she cackled as she held the spear. The spirits that were flying through Missy's domain began to pelt Freya’s magic, but then they parted like water before her. "And now, Hades, you are mine." 

The cloaked god looked like he had just swallowed a frog, and I wondered what the heck was happening. Suddenly, three more gods appeared behind Freya, reinforcing her even further. 

"Thank you, Hecate, for giving me the conflict I so needed to replace my loyal dog with another, and for bringing me two other delicious goddesses to devour. Once I have claimed you three, my beauty and power will be unparalleled." She stated as she lifted Hades' weapon and all of Missy’s spirits turned to spin around Freya spiraling up like a giant fountain of power.

“That doesn’t look great.” I said. It seemed she was scheming against her allies and the fight with Missy hadn’t even been her focus… that was until now.

Freya’s eyes shifted to me, and I could sense a trace of doubt and concern before she fixed Missy with a haughty expression once again. Her power redoubled and sealed off the sides of the gilded hall, giving Missy only a circle of domain around her.

Which also happened to cut all four of us off from the portal out of here.

*****

Emlyn stood atop the cliff, surveying her surroundings. A bad feeling twisted in her gut.

Ard had run off with the goddesses to deal with the other goddesses. Yet, she felt more on guard than when they were stuck in the Badlands. 

"I don't like this. I don't like this one bit," she muttered to herself. 

Aurelia came over to check on her. "What don't you like?" she asked. 

"This. All of this. I just have a very bad feeling." Emlyn was always one to trust her gut. While there might be far more scholarly or tactical ways to identify risk, Emlyn's gut never led her wrong. Or if it did, it was entirely Ard's fault.

The one thing that could get around her gut, and her gut should have warned her, was to never fall in love with him in the first place. He was the definition of trouble. And she loved him far too much to ever walk away or do anything other than bail him out. It was both a curse and a blessing she was happy to take on for him. 

As she stared out, keeping watch, something appeared on the horizon. It was only a single spec, flying through the air. 

Aurelia pulled Emlyn back closer to the cave wall that Ard had carved for them while he went on a quick trip through souls.

Emlyn suddenly had a feeling the trip wasn't going to be so quick, especially when a second dot joined the first, and a third joined shortly thereafter. In the far distance they were gathering to a single point.

"Interesting place to have a meeting," Aurelia muttered. 

"They're looking for us," Emlyn said with a certainty that came from her gut. 

"How could they? No one knows we're here." Aurelia answered.

"Yeah, well, Ard can look at the future, and we know someone was able to divine that he was going to come into his powers back in our village. There are people that can figure this shit out. I don't know." Emlyn was searching for an excuse. 

The Virel anchor grasped her battle axe a moment later. It was like the woman had been born with a battle axe in her hands. Aurelia didn’t go anywhere without it, like some favorite blanket or toy.

Emlyn glanced at her out of the corner of her eyes. It would completely fit the Virel family if they were given a little weapon to bond with as kids. Emlyn bet the other anchor had a little toy axe or sword that she slept with when she was a baby. 

"What is it?" Aurelia asked. 

"Nothing, just Ard-level nonsense." Emlyn prided herself that she at least had a filter between her thoughts and her mouth. Ard could really use that particular skill. 

"Looks like they're gathering more," Aurelia offered as several more dots joined the horizon. Some of them were slightly larger than others. Emlyn knew that not every dot represented a single person. 

"I think they know we're here, but not where exactly," Emlyn said, observing their movements. 

"That might make sense. Let me get the others up," Aurelia said after a moment and rushed back into the cave, leaving Emlyn to stare out at the slowly gathering forces. 

"What have you gotten yourself into, Ard?" Emlyn muttered to herself.

When he came back with those two goddesses, she was going to give them a piece of her mind, even if they were goddesses. No one puts Ard in danger without getting an earful from her.

It was her job, and her job alone, to cause trouble for Ard. She wouldn't let a goddess get between her and her role in Ard's life.

The other anchors rushed out from the back of the cave. Zuri came to a sliding stop as she spotted the dots in the distance. 

"How?" she spat. 

"The 'how' doesn't quite matter at this point, Zuri," Emlyn gestured. "The facts before us tell me that, somehow, King Martin or that goddess associated with him, have sent a hit squad after Ard’s body." Emlyn's eyes became hard. "And that means we are going to fuck them up." 

"Absolutely," Aurelia agreed. 

Maribelle flashed two knives out of her dress.

The only one who didn't seem overly murderous was Eva, who had joined the group last. 

"Perhaps we could run with him," Eva offered, staring out at the gathering storm of enemies. 

"And go where?" Emlyn shook her head. "We're still in Garrish territory. Can you fly as fast as Ard?" 

"I could fly him and myself," Eva offered. "I can't carry all of you. And I could do it with light. So it would be decently fast." 

Emlyn glanced at Zuri. "Thoughts? Ard trusts you to make the tactical decisions. So even if he's unconscious, I think he'd still want you to make the plan.”

Zuri quickly contemplated the options. “No, if she runs and gets away from us, none of us are fast enough. Should a light mage break away and chase her, we'd just be left in the dust, unable to do anything to protect Ard. No offense Eva, but even if you can outrun them, they can tire you out." 

"Well, then that settles it," Emlyn dusted off her hands. "Eva, I want you to make something back there." She gestured at the cave. "To keep Ard safe. Meanwhile, the rest of us are going to face them head-on. We'll wait until they clearly know where we are before we act.”

Zuri spoke up, “We simply cannot allow them to get behind us. Otherwise..." She hesitated. 

"Oh, you can say it," Emlyn crossed her arms.

"Otherwise, Ard will die." Zuri deadpanned.

Emlyn wanted to growl hearing those words, but instead, she unsheathed her sword. The bluesteel weapon was familiar in her hands, comforting even. Because with it, she could make a difference. 

"No more morbid talk like that. Not in front of me," Emlyn glanced at the other anchors. "We've all sworn an oath to Ard. It's one of equals. But regardless he's down for the count right now, dealing with a motherfucking goddess. The least we can do is step up and deal with a few mages that have come to throw their lives away." 

"Well said," Zuri began unpacking her bow. "Our mage and husband is in danger. Like hell they're getting through us. Not while we draw breath." 

Maribelle grunted and swiped two knives together. "I would like to see them try and get close to him. In fact, I think their heads will make a perfect present."

Eva shook her head. "You won't be leaving me out of this. Let me work on a trick I was hoping to surprise Ard with later. After that, I will join you four up front. To get to Ard, they go through me too."

Aurelia gave Eva a slap on her shoulder. "Nothing will happen to him. Not if we all work together."

Eva nodded and hurried back into the cave. Ever since Ard had been working on his shadow bag, she had started to consider a potential in soul magic that she hadn't seen before. She wasn't nearly as good as Ard, so she had not yet shown him what she was working on. If she had tried it and it had failed, she’d be embarrassed.

Ard would mean well, but he had a habit of teasing.

She had however, tested it on a few living things and found it didn’t kill them.

Ard's body lay on a bed, his hands folded over neatly as shadows crept away from the cave walls and picked him up to place him in one of the shadowed corners.

Eva then concentrated as his body slowly sank into the shadow, becoming one with it. After a moment, she let out a heavy breath.

"It's not as good as yours, Ard. I can't walk around with my shadow full of things, but I can hide something in a shadow and then pull it out of that shadow later. You'll have to thank me when we're done." Eva wanted to lean down and kiss him, but there was no more time.

Eva rushed back to the anchors. "Good news. Even if they collapse the mountain, Ard will be fine. He can probably get out himself. But if I'm around too, I can pull him out of the shadow I put him into."

Several of the anchors raised an eyebrow at her words. However, their focus was pulled back towards the floating enemies in the distance.

"What do you think they're waiting for?" Eva asked. Ard must have rubbed off on her if his words were true. While nervous, she felt the need to fill the silence with a little chatter.

"Either they've got a mage scanning the mountain," Zuri offered, "or they're waiting for more forces."

Eva concentrated for a moment, trying to sense if any mage was picking about the shadows before she shook her head. "No one's using dark magic, at least not around here.”

“Then they are waiting for somebody. A chancellor, no doubt," Aurelia guessed.

"Sorry to break this to you, but I think those are chancellors," Eva pointed at the dots in front of them. "You guys might not be able to sense it, but there's a lot of magic being used to keep them floating in the air."

Emlyn cursed under her breath. "All of those are chancellors?" She asked for confirmation.

Eva nodded weakly. "Or very powerful mages.”

“If all the chancellors are gathered," Zuri let out a soft sigh, "then that can only mean King Martin himself is coming. Likely he’s coming with more than a few of those vampyrs he's been employing." The expressions around the group dropped.