Sword of the Raven (9 page)

A third nod.

“So…if I find a couple of heavy boulders, you can fly me down there to break the altar, and pick up my brother? Can you carry both of us?”

Another affirmative caw, proud and sure.

Delaney shut out all the horrendous “what ifs” as she quickly searched for two boulders weighty enough to do the job. The Bon Jovi song, “Blaze of Glory” tripped through her mind. A comforting slice of real life she could cling to in this whole freak show.

Singing the refrain bolstered her flagging courage while she heaved boulders onto the raven’s shoulders, with the bird using her beak to assist. Then Delaney cautiously clambered aboard.

If she was checking out, she’d go out spectacularly, trying to save someone she loved. As Morrigan lifted her magnificent wings and soared into the gray sky, Delaney sang a little louder…and swore she felt the bird laughing.

The raven climbed, circled, climbed higher. Wind blew Delaney’s hood off and blood rushed to her cheeks. Hair streaming behind her, she gazed down at the panoramic view of the valley speeding past, and adrenaline sizzled through her.
Get ready. Blaze of glory!

Shag me!
Rowan’s faint, startled exclamation buzzing in her ears almost made her lose her grip.
Delaney?
What the bloody hell…you doing?

Oh,
now
he showed up? She hated to admit her relief.
Interesting you should ask. Because that’s exactly where I am.

Come again…?

She strained to hear him through the crackling, tenuous connection.
I’m in Hell. You know, butt-deep ashes, power-sucking altars, army of monsters. Only it’s freezing cold!

Sounds like…Abyss. Nay…cannot be. Get back here,
he demanded.

Yeah, that’s the plan.

You’re…way over your head…MIA three days.

Impossible! It’s been three hours at the most!

Time…not the same in shadow realms.
Rowan’s voice faded out, then back in.
…your body could very well die. Must find…way back.

Oh, there’s a newsflash. Climb down off your high horse and help me.

I cannot.
Frustration gritted his reply.
The quest…for you alone.

Then you’re a distraction I don’t need.
She booted him out and slammed down a mental blockade. For once, the headache was minimal. Maybe because of the weak connection. Hell must not have a lot of cell towers.

Morrigan tensed beneath her, and Delaney focused on her goal. She leaned forward as they careened into a steep dive. “Say when.”

His Ugliness had paused between victims, the altar momentarily vacant. The raven coasted high above the shiny black surface and shrieked a shrill war cry. Delaney looked down into hundreds of startled monsters’ upturned faces and rolled the first boulder off, followed closely by the second.

Other laws of physics might not function in Hell, but gravity worked fine. Boulders smashed into the crystal, and the altar rent the air with unearthly screams as it burst into shards.

The beast roared in pain and crumpled to the ground.

“Yeah!” Delaney yelled. Her dream had just turned
awesome.

A foul mushroom cloud boiled up, the earth rumbling like she’d detonated an atomic bomb. Grinding of stone-on-stone echoed in the valley as the palace and surrounding walls shook, started to topple.

Shouting monsters bolted in panic. The prisoners dashed for freedom. The raven glided in low and hit a perfect landing in front of her astonished brother, who was fighting against being dragged through the melee by his female jailer.

Delaney dismounted. Some of the monsters swarmed the raven, who battled viciously, tearing into them with beak and claws.

The other woman skidded to a halt. Up close, her pale irises weren’t any definable color.
“Morrigan?”
Those soulless eyes narrowed in astonished hatred, first at the bird, then at Delaney. “You bitch! How—? It’s not possible—”

Delaney threw back her cloak, and the woman flinched away from the brilliant golden light. “It’s
Morgan, bitch.”
She drew her sword, and the humming weapon lit up. “And I’m kicking your skanky ass.”

In spite of her awkward two-handed chop, the gleaming sword cleaved Connor’s chain in one blow. With her second swing, she managed to smack the slut with the flat of the blade and send her flying.

Delaney snatched her knife from its thigh sheath and thrust the hilt at Connor. “Take this!”

“Delaney?”
He blinked. “How…why are you here? Wearing
that?”

“You’re the Xena fan, you tell me. Snap to it, bro.”

As he palmed the dagger, his glow brightened. He parried an assault from his left, then pivoted to protect her. “Never thought I’d see you again.”

“Helluva reunion.” She clumsily poked back a spider critter with gnashing fangs. They seemed to be afraid of her shiny sword. “Now click your heels together and wish us
home.”

She and Connor were way outnumbered. More and more of the monsters swarmed between them and Morrigan.
Now would be a great time to send in the dream cavalry.

The raven screeched another bloodcurdling war cry. Delaney nearly dropped her sword when Uilleann pipes answered, skirling above the din.

A rag-tag band of translucent, human warriors poured over the broken walls. Dressed in hide breeches, boots, and scarlet mantles, they brandished hand-hewn wooden shields and rough metal swords, knives and spears. Their lights gleamed as brilliantly as hers, but instead of her own gold, or the captives’ clear, they blazed dazzling white.

Several herded the prisoners outside through jagged fissures in the walls. The rest charged into the fray with fervent yells and bristling weapons.

Delaney dodged left, batted her sword to deflect a slashing claw, and nearly mowed down the platoon’s big, shaggy blond leader.

Features stiff with shock, he gasped. “At last!” he exclaimed in a lilting Irish accent. In the middle of life-or-death warfare, he dropped to one knee, fisted his hand over his heart. “My sword. My blood. My life…for my Queen.”

“Why does everybody keep— I’m
not—”

He bounded upright. “There’s no mistaking
you,
m’lady. We’ve been waiting eighteen centuries.” Grinning, he sliced an attacking monster’s head off its body, black ooze gushing everywhere. Oh,
ick.

“Finn’s the name, smiting demons is the game. Follow me.” The intrepid warrior, with Connor battling at his side, hacked a gruesome path through the chaos to reach the raven.

“Up you go, then.” Offering his cupped hands as a stepladder, Finn hoisted Delaney onto the bird’s back. He spoke intense, private words with her brother, then boosted Connor behind her.

“Slàinte mhor!”
Finn saluted Delaney with his blade. “My regards to the MacLachlan. Tell the lucky bastard to be yanking his head from his arse and begin looking upward.”

The raven launched into flight. Just as they’d nearly cleared the battle, a lethal scorpion stinger whipped toward Connor’s face. Delaney twisted, chopped with her sword. The stinger sliced off, the barb grazing her right thigh with a cold burn before it tumbled to the ground.

They soared into the sky. “Connor, is this a dream?”

“Afraid not.”

“But even if it is, the dreaming me might have you say it isn’t.
Argh,
never mind. Where are we?”

“I’m not exactly sure, but it seems to be a mutant parallel universe.”

Her leg was really starting to throb. “How’d you get here?”

“Screwing around with crap I hadn’t a clue about.” Her brother’s low reply vibrated with fury. “And I stupidly got you messed up in it. I should’ve known you wouldn’t listen, wouldn’t stay away from me.”

“Like you’d abandon
me
if our positions were reversed. So you brought yourself here?”

“Not on purpose…but…I suspect so.”

“Then you know how to go home?”

Tense silence behind her, frigid wind howling past her ears. The bird banked sharply, wheeling over a dark, jagged canyon that appeared to be a bottomless crack in the ash.

Ice crept up her leg, into her right side. Was it getting colder? She started shivering. Couldn’t stop. “Connor?”

“Yeah.” His arms tightened around her waist as the raven swooped in to land between bony remains of burnt trees at the canyon’s edge. “I know what I have to do.”

He jumped off the raven’s back. Reached to help her down. When she tried to stand, her right leg gave out, and she stumbled, mere inches from the ravine.

“Careful!” Connor caught her, hugged her close. “You okay?”

“Fine.” Delaney gritted chattering teeth against the freezing ache spreading through her and forced herself to stand up straight. “Are we going home now?”

“You are.”

“What do you mean? What about you?”

“Believe me, I want to go…but I can’t. Balor and his witch have spellbound the perimeters, and my essence will burn to nothing. I’m joining Finn and his men.”

Horror assaulted her. “But I killed that Balor thing.”

His laugh held no humor. “Hurt him some, maybe. Pissed him off, definitely. But ending
him
is gonna take a whole lot more than a couple of rocks.”

She clung to her brother. “I came clear to Hell to get you, and I’m
not
leaving without you. I’ll stay and fight, too.”

“You can’t, sis.” His quiet reply was steady. “There’s no food. No water. My essence doesn’t need them anymore, but you’re embodied and you do. And if Balor caught you— He rapes and tortures for sport.” Connor shuddered. “He
obliterates
souls—no Heaven, no Hell—
forever.”

“I don’t care.” Hot tears spilled down her face. “I’m staying.”

“I’m sorry, Lanie.” Connor smoothed back her hair. “I love you. So much.” He kissed her forehead. “Remember me in your dreams.”

Then he grabbed her arms and pushed her away. Hard.

She staggered, toppling backward into the black chasm.

The raven shrieked, or maybe it was her own scream echoing in her ears as she plummeted in an endless freefall.

Until once more, a rippling seismic boom shattered her apart.

* * *

Delaney peeled open swollen eyelids. Dark nighttime sky wheeled over her, stars glimmering between the clouds. A giant glowing cross towered on a nearby pedestal.

Okay. She’d traveled in the right direction this time.

Then why did every inch of her body hurt? Why still so cold?

When she tried to move, pain ripped through every nerve. Her moan died in the cool, damp air. “Connor,” she whispered. “Where are you? Can you hear me? Talk to me, Connor!”

Silence from her brother.

She became aware of whooshing traffic, wailing sirens. A jet trailed through the bejeweled clouds above. Hell had giant ravens. Heaven had 747’s?

Delaney cautiously eased her head to one side and spied the top half of the familiar Portland skyline.

She was sprawled on a large flat rooftop, again wearing her own clothes. Best guess…atop Sisters of Mercy Hospital’s helipad. That explained the lighted cross.

Thick, salty warmth dripped down the back of her throat, trickled out her nostrils. Her nose was bleeding. Warm liquid also seeped out both ears, trailing down the chilled skin of her neck.

Never a good sign.

Did I go to the roof after visiting Connor, needing air, or privacy to cry…and get mugged? Did a concussion cause the hellish hallucinations?

Why can’t I remember?

Delaney tried again to sit up. Paralyzing torment shrieked through her muscles. Inch by agonizing inch, she slid tentative fingertips across the pebbled asphalt, searching for her purse containing her cell phone. The mugger had probably jacked it.

Irony: dying mere steps from Portland’s crack trauma unit.

Sighing, she closed her eyes and tried the only route she had left to summon help. If the mental communication
was
a delusion…well…at least she wouldn’t cash in her chips just laying here, not even trying to save herself.

Rowan?

And if MacLachlan truly was the Angel of Death, maybe she could talk him out of taking her. After all, she’d saved
him
on the beach…although…what sort of scary entity could beat up an angel?

Rowan? I’m on Mercy’s roof. I’m not feeling too healthy.

Miserable time elapsed. It may have been minutes.

It dragged past like hours.

A door slammed. Pounding bootsteps. Then Rowan knelt beside her, leaned over her.

Thank God.
Illusion or no, she’d never been so glad to see anyone. The paralysis seemed to have spread to her vocal chords, because she couldn’t tell him so. Breathing wasn’t so easy, either.

“Well, you’ve had a rough go of it, haven’t you, luv? I’m glad to see you, too.” Holding her gaze, he cupped her face between his hands and began to chant.

She started.
What are—?

Shh…
He crooned softly in a language she’d never heard before, an exquisite, lyrical refrain. Sea green spilled into his irises. Warm energy washed through her, easing her pain, soothing her chilled body.

Okay, definitely an angel. If this was dying, it wasn’t so bad.

Another slam. More rapid, heavy bootsteps. “Delaney!” Archer’s deep bass shouted. “Where are you?” His stunned expression swam into view as he squatted down. “Oh
shit,
baby girl.”

Where had Archer been while she was getting mugged?

Rowan’s concerned features superimposed Archer’s. “Hang on, lass. I’m going to pick you up.”

“Over my dead body,” Archer growled.

“If you insist.” Rowan’s voice was as cold and smooth as glass. “I’ll be finished with her shortly. Get in the queue.”

No!
She couldn’t speak, but their unique link flared open.
Don’t hurt Archer!

Close your eyes, now.
Rowan’s hands holding her face trembled, and the splashing music of a waterfall sang in her ears. Heat lapped inside her belly, flooded her veins. Her bleeding stopped. Peace stole over her, and her eyelids fluttered.
Sleep. This confrontation must happen. It’ll be over quickly.