The Last Guardian (3 page)

But she still had the vial on the chain around her neck. If she and Gehan were killed and the Soul Eater got the vial, would he be powerful enough to break the circle?

“Yes,” the monster said, as if reading her mind.

Her gaze narrowed. Well then. They had no choice but to win.

The Soul Eater chuckled, a sound like an earthquake. “You cannot win. You have forgotten too much.”

“I haven’t,” Gehan said.

Neeka felt the surge of power from him just as the blackness moved toward him. The creature stopped and let loose a roar so deep it vibrated through her bones. The struggle between Gehan and the monster was eerily silent after that. No sound came to her from beyond the circle, either. The rasp of her own breathing sounded painfully loud in the quiet.

When Gehan stumbled back a step, clutched at his chest, she nearly screamed.

She wrapped an arm around his waist, bracing him. “What is it? How can I help?”

“He’s trying for my soul, through the wards. He won’t get it.” Gehan’s eyes glowed with dark power, his face set in hard lines.

But Neeka had seen too many people lose their souls to the monster in the last weeks. She wouldn’t be able to stand it if Gehan were killed that way.

She gripped the dagger she still held and poured what was left of her power into it, recited the spells she’d learned from Gehan and the other guardians. It was all she had left, and not strong enough—as the previous confrontations with the Soul Eater had proved—but it might give Gehan an advantage.

Once done, she’d be as helpless as a babe. It was a risk she was willing to take. For Gehan.

She waited, watching as the silent struggle continued. She could no longer feel the push and pull of their powerful magics. She was too drained, what was left of her own powers now pulsing gently in the steel of the blade. She had only instinct and hope to guide her.

As she watched, the blackness seemed to get smaller, sucking inward. The solid cloud of shadow didn’t disappear—the thing inside remained hidden—but it was an opening, maybe her only chance.

Using Gehan’s body to hide her movements, she flipped the dagger in her hand so she held the pointed tip. With a flick of her wrist she hurled the knife into the center of the blackness.

There was a moment of absolute stillness. The circle emptied of sound, motion, scent, feel, no sensation at all for a heartbeat of time. And then an ear-shattering screech filled the silence.

Neeka screamed. She dropped to her knees, hands over her ears in a futile attempt to block the sound. Through eyes watering from pain, she looked up to see Gehan braced, his hands in front of him, the tips of his fingers glowing. He ignored the shrieks, never flinched, his entire being focused on the monster. The glow on his fingertips expanded to fill his hands. The light got brighter, blinding in the dark night.

She dropped her gaze to the grass and could see the shadow of Gehan above her. She watched the shadow, still with her hands clamped over her ears. The shrieking grew louder. Black spots swam through her vision. The light in the circle increased until it was bright as daylight.

Her stomach churned as the pain in her head got worse. She had to clench her eyes closed when the light in the circle got too bright to bear. Her chest started to ache.

And then she felt the tug.

Oh gods, the monster was pulling at her soul. She had no defense against it any more. Not that her defenses had ever been strong enough. But now she was helpless. She didn’t want to die like this, not now when she had so much to live for.

And the goddess. Who would protect her?

The weight of the Soul Eater’s powers drove her to the ground. She crawled away from it, from Gehan, to the edge of the circle. Her eyes narrowed to slits against the glare of Gehan’s spell, her body screamed in pain. Then her fingers brushed against one of the circling power stones.

With her hand pressed against the stone, the pain dimmed. It didn’t vanish, but the pull from the Soul Eater wasn’t so strong and the shrieking almost bearable. She braced her upper body against the stone, took a deep breath, steeling herself against the nausea rolling through her stomach. If she could get the charm outside the circle, beyond the reach of the Soul Eater, then she could die knowing she’d upheld her oaths as a guardian. She only hoped Baudowa would come for his daughter.

She probed gently at the spells Gehan had set up around the circle. They were strong enough to shock her if she tried to reach through them. She swallowed, glanced back at Gehan. The light had grown so bright around him it blocked him and the Soul Eater from view. If she breeched the circle, would it distract him? Did she have a choice?

She gripped the vial and jerked, breaking the chain around her neck. She stared at the glowing pink and gold charm for a moment, prayed to every god she could think of that it would be safe. Second thoughts tugged at her. What if the magic in the vial wouldn’t allow it to go through the wards? What if it was somehow damaged?

She turned back to Gehan and the Soul Eater again, covering her eyes with her free hand to try to see into the glare. The pull of the monster was getting stronger, despite the power of the stone she leaned on. Did that mean Gehan was losing? A tear trickled down her cheek. Not Gehan, she thought. Please don’t let it have him.

She had an instant to regret her mistakes, coming here now and bringing the monster to him, not coming here sooner and letting him know how she felt. Then she gripped the charm, said one final prayer, and tossed it beyond the stone circle.

It landed with a soft thump in a clump of grass.

Neeka smiled, relieved. Now she could let go.

But a flickering of light from the vial caught her attention. It pulsed from pink, to purple, to blue, boiling and bubbling through colors, spreading like spilled water onto the grass.

No!

The vial had broken. The primordial essence of Baudowa’s daughter spilled out onto the ground.

Tears filled Neeka’s eyes. After all their work, their struggle, the lost lives…Gehan would die, she would die, and it would all have been for nothing. The goddess was dead.

No, not nothing, she told herself, because at least the Soul Eater could never have the goddess now. She was beyond its reach.

But as Neeka watched, the bubbling colors expanded instead of fading away into the soil. The iridescence flowed through more rainbow shades, now yellow, red, orange. Blue and green. Violet and black. Then white and gold and silver, like the sun sparkling on a stream. There was beauty and power there. But the colors contorted into shapes she couldn’t bear to look at, things that made her mind balk.

She turned away and her gaze fell on Gehan. The light around him had dimmed so she could see him again. His shoulders were hunched, his head bowed. Beyond him, the dark shadow of the Soul Eater was smaller. But it wasn’t gone. And Gehan looked about to collapse.

She crawled back to him, dragging herself to her knees beside him. He swayed and she gripped his thigh, trying to brace him. She didn’t have much strength left, but what she had was for him.

She looked up at him, caught the sadness in his eyes as he looked down at her. Her throat ached.

“I love you,” he said, his voice barely audible above the still screaming monster. He dropped to one knee beside her, unable to stand any longer.

She leaned in close and pressed her lips to his cheek. “I love you, too,” she murmured in his ear. “I’m sorry I brought this to you. I’m sorry I didn’t come to you sooner.”

He reached up and cupped her cheek. “No regrets,” he said, and turned back to face the monster.

The blackness grew, even as Gehan’s light faded. She felt the monster tugging at her again. There was nothing she could do about it anymore—she barely had the strength to stay conscious, much less resist the Soul Eater’s pull.

She felt a tingling along her spine and thought it must be the final battle of her soul against being dragged into the monster. But the feeling was strangely soothing. If this was how she would die, maybe it wasn’t so bad.

The sensation spread through her tired limbs, coating her skin like warm water. She sighed, glad after all the pain the end was this peaceful.

But the death of the other guardians hadn’t been peaceful. Their deaths had been horrible and terrifying.

She lifted her head, saw Gehan’s eyes wide and startled. He looked over his shoulder and his expression froze. She followed his gaze.

She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting—some other horror to rival the Soul Eater maybe. What she saw stole her breath.

Beauty so pure it made her want to weep; a light so serene her heart ached; power so intense the hair on the nape of her neck stood up.

The circle stones exploded outward. Pearlescent light filled the clearing. And then blackness so deep, Neeka thought she’d gone blind. She groped in the darkness for Gehan’s hand. Found it strong and warm. His arm circled her shoulders, pulling her close. They clung to each other in the darkness, waiting.

Slowly shapes began to form, at first just shadowy silhouettes, then more light, and the trees separated from the darkness. Finally, she blinked, and the night was clear and fresh, the stars above sparkling in velvet blackness, the half-moon just dipping below the mountaintop.

She looked around the clearing. There was no sign of the Soul Eater. She couldn’t even feel it. There was also no sign of the other.

“What happened?” she whispered, her voice ragged and harsh in the quiet night.

“I don’t know.” Gehan stood and helped her to her feet.

“Was that…? Do you think that was…?”

“Me.” The voice was musical and quiet, a gentle caress on Neeka’s damaged ears. She felt the soothing flood of warmth again. She blinked, and before her stood the newly born goddess.

The goddess had the body of a human-sized cat covered in lavender fur that glinted with sparkling light. Her face was a young girl’s with pale blue skin and long pink hair hanging around her in intricate plaits. She stared at the surrounding woods with wide, midnight blue eyes glinting with silver and gold specks like stars.

The goddess sat and her tail curled around her feet as she turned her white-less eyes on Neeka and Gehan.

“This is an interesting world,” she said, a slight smile on her heart-shaped mouth. “I think I shall like it. You will be My first worshipers?”

There was both question and command in the goddess’s new voice, as if she wanted to demand their following but wasn’t sure if she should.

“We bear witness to your birth and will remember you always,” Neeka said with deference and diplomacy. It wasn’t a good idea to anger a new goddess. Whether they would honor her or not would depend on her actions as she took up her place in the pantheon.

A sudden, joyful smile lit the little girl face and her body changed to the shape of a horse—a purple spotted horse.

“That is good. You shall be rewarded. For your part in guarding Me. And for your worship.” She glanced up suddenly, as if something had caught her attention.

Gehan reached out and took Neeka’s hand, squeezing. She held tight, grateful for his support. It wasn’t every day you faced a new goddess, and she wasn’t sure what to do. The goddess was Baudowa’s daughter. She deserved respect. And her birth had somehow banished the Soul Eater, saving Neeka and Gehan’s lives.

Though whether the goddess had banished the monster on purpose or not, Neeka couldn’t be sure. She was afraid to ask and tempt the new deity’s wrath. The goddess wielded a dangerous power and this was a precarious time for her.

“Thank you, my lady,” she said as a way to answer the goddess’s generous offer of a reward without actually committing to worship her. “By what name will you be known?”

A laugh like the tinkling of bells came from the goddess and her body shifted again, this time to the shape of a dragon, though a small dragon, with iridescent wings.

“A name, a name,” she chanted. “I will have a Name. You shall name Me Alee’an, and I will grant you whatever you like, My first acolytes.”

Neeka swallowed, not sure what to say. Gehan saved her the effort.

“I would ask but one thing of you, Alee’an.”

“Ask, My mage, and you shall have.” The goddess grinned.

Gehan smiled back, and the expression took Neeka’s breath away. He looked happy, relaxed. It was the first time she’d seen him look so carefree. Her own sense of peace seemed to spread, making her feel lighter, happier than she’d been in months. Maybe years. She felt a laugh bubbling up from deep inside and struggled to hold the laughter in.

“What would you have of Me, My mage?” Alee’an asked again, her head tilted to one side on top her dragon’s body.

“I want to spend the rest of my life with Neeka, my lady. However long that life is to be.”

The goddess nodded, her smile growing. “You were the Trickster’s. You are Mine now. He will have to come to Me if He disagrees. The Trickster gave you a long life. Which would you choose, both of you—long life together or one mortal life? I give you whichever you want.”

Neeka’s eyes widened. Was Alee’an saying what she thought she was saying? Would she extend Neeka’s life to the near immortality of Gehan’s if that were their choice?

She turned to Gehan, wondering if he would want to live another several centuries, or would he prefer just one lifetime? She wanted longer. She would take forever with him if she could have it. But she hadn’t already lived for three centuries. What did she know about forever?

“Would you consider being with me for longer than a mortal lifetime?” he asked, his voice quiet.

She laughed and threw her arms around his neck. “I will be with you for as many lifetimes as you’ll have me.” She turned back to the goddess. “Could I still have children, if we live so long?”

Alee’an laughed. “I would insist you did have children. I will need more acolytes. Your children will be blessed in My eyes.”

Neeka’s heart pounded as a joy she’d never imagined washed through her. She looked into Gehan’s eyes, saw an echoing joy, and knew this new goddess would have not only her respect but her love if she gave them this future together.