Page 82 of Hidden By the Gargoyle

Immediately, the agony eased. I could breathe again. I embraced the magic, bringing it deeper into my psyche. The power built further, growing more than it ever had before.

My upper body flew back, and my arms opened wide as I looked up at the ceiling. I could hear Sommerton speaking but couldn’t understand what he was saying over the roar inside my head.

Wake.

The thought echoed in my mind, drifting through the magic filling me up.

I focused every fiber of my being on Talant, insisting that he wake up, that he rise from his prison.

“Wake,” I said, reaching out for him.

There. He was stirring beneath the rock I knelt on. His magic twined with mine, winding through the cracks in the rock.

“Wake,” I demanded, louder.

The slab beneath me trembled. The rock snapped and cracked as it shifted.

“Wake!” I screamed, shoving every bit of the power spilling through me down into the slab, willing Talant to rise from the depths of the stone.

A huge crack appeared beneath me, running from the front of the slab to the back. The white light of my magic glowed as it flowed from my body and deeper into the mountain. It felt like my body was cracking along with the stone. I convulsed on the slab of rock, my back arching and my neck stretching. Now that I’d pulled on the magic filling me, it was flowing, no, exploding through me. I had no control over the force within me. I could only ride the tsunami that was about to devastate me.

My magic crashed around the spell surrounding Talant’s form. It was the same reddish-gold as his eyes and his magic, but it vanished at the first touch of mine.

My body rose above the rock, floating in mid-air as the slab crumbled and disintegrated beneath me. I moved back until I hovered over the solid part of the floor. My feet touched the ground as Talant’s power spiraled out of the hole forming in the floor, his magic the color of blood and gold as it overtook the white light of mine.

The wind howled through the cave, blowing my hair back, as the floor continued to split. I felt him rising, faster and faster, until his body flew through the hole. There was a loud roar of rock and magic, and the cave went completely dark.

I rocked back on my heels, my balance wavering now that I didn’t have the insane amount of power running through my veins.

My magic was still there, humming beneath my skin, but it was gentle and calm. A warm glow that filled me rather than a maelstrom that threatened to swallow me whole.

“Ally.”

My name echoed in the cave, the whispered word resonating all around me.

I blinked, trying to focus my eyes in the darkness after all the bright lights that had filled the cave moments before.

Then, I saw him, standing only a few feet from me. Naked as a damn jaybird again.

I turned my back to him. “Gah! Put some pants on.”

“Where am I supposed to find pants?” he asked, amusement clear in his voice.

“Conjure some up. You’re a god, after all.”

Talant laughed. “Done.”

I turned to face him again, finding him much closer to me. The cave was also brighter. I realized that he must have conjured up some candles and lamps as well.

“I can’t believe you’re here,” I said.

I reached out and hugged him, so glad to finally see him in person.

Thunderous footsteps echoed in the cave and Talant was yanked from my arms. He went flying across the space, somehow managing to land on his feet. I stumbled back, tripping over my bare feet, yelping when my heel landed on a sharp stone.

Dax was there, in full gargoyle form. He towered over me even more than usual, at least seven and a half feet tall. Maybe even eight. His skin was grey and stretched over muscles that swelled and tensed beneath. His wings flared behind him, spiked and curved, the membrane over them black as pitch but they gleamed like leather. Black horns spiraled over his head and his eyes glowed like molten silver. His mouth formed a snarl, showing his fangs.

Violet magic slammed into his back, rocking him forward. Dax whirled and roared at Sommerton.

---