Page 52 of Destiny of the Witch

Benjamin paused. ‘In truth, I was hoping he would wake up so he could attack Ria for us. In the meantime I played possum, but I saw the opportunity and I knew I had to seize it.’ He flashed an uncharacteristic grin. ‘I find I now understand a little more about the human pre-occupation with violence. Boxing now makes some sense to me. It is rather fun.’

‘I’m glad you’re enjoying it,’ I said drily. ‘Can we focus? Can you help Frogmatch fight the chimera whilst I get us out of these warding runes that are locking us in here?’

‘Why, of course, Miss Amber. I’m a-fixin’ to kick some chimera butt.’

I looked at him dubiously. He’d done okay with the chair but I wasn’t so confident about his skills against the chimera. However, I had no time to waste and Frogmatch was still growing, so Benjamin was up.

I pulled out my potions and paintbrushes. As I touched the walls and the wards lit up, I stared aghast at the forbidden black runes. This wouldn’t be a quick fix. I mentally rolled up my sleeves and got painting. I tried hard not to get distracted from the sounds behind me. There was a crash and another yowl.

Benjamin laughed. ‘Why, take that you little kitty-cat!’

I tried to tune him out and focus on the runes. One misstep and I’d make the whole room explode. No pressure.

‘Benji!’ Benjamin said aloud. ‘It’s good to have you back, my friend. We’re fighting a chimera! Would you like to take over? I feel this is more in your skillset than mine.’

‘Of course,’ Benji replied politely. ‘We are immune to her fire so it’s only her claws we really need to worry about!’

‘Oh my, I wish I’d known that. That sure is handy,’ Benjamin crowed.

‘The witches tried to think of everything when they made us. I gather there was an incident once with a chimera getting into the Coven chambers. Since then, all golems have been immune to their fire.’

‘All right,’ Frogmatch said. ‘Let me at her! It’s my turn.’

There were more yowls then Frogmatch let out a filthy string of swear words that would have made a sailor wince. ‘That hurt, you damned big pussycat!’ he complained.

I gritted my teeth and focused; I had to trust the men to deal with the chimera and keep it away from me. I kept painting. When I was certain I’d deactivated everything, I pulled my magic through the wards and ripped them down. My shoulders slumped with relief when no explosions followed. ‘Okay.’ I turned around. ‘We can go.’

I blinked at the sight before me. Naturally, it wasn’t going to be as easy as just walking out.

Chapter 46

Benji had his stone arms around the lion’s throat and was choking it out, Frogmatch was doing the same to the snake head, and both chimera heads were gasping and thrashing. The goat head was rearing side to side, trying to get Benji or Frogmatch with her deadly horns so she could free her other heads.

I picked up another of the rickety chairs and slammed it down on her goat head with as much force as I could muster. The goat head slumped down, and the lion and snake quickly followed suit as Frogmatch and Benji strangled them. The chimera slid to the ground, unconscious.

I blew out a breath. ‘Okay, let’s go. Grab her.’ I pointed to the still unconscious Ria; ‘We’ll take her with us.’ Benji obligingly swung the teen onto his shoulder.

We’d already spent far too long in this room. I prayed that Oscar and my mum had managed to find the harkan –and that Mum hadn’t done anything stupid with it, like try and destroy it without me.

We ran out of the doorway then skidded to a halt. If I’d thought about it before, I would have wondered how Ria had clearly known the winding corridors so well that she’d unerringly threaded her way through them. Staring at the corridors stretching out before us, I had absolutely no idea how to get back to the library.

The pendant! I gave a mental head thunk and clutched at it.Sisters!I entreated urgently.A little help!

We will always assist, Princess,Abigay’s warm voice reassured me.But you need to brace yourself for what is coming.

Whatiscoming?

You saw the Goddess’s vision. You know what must be done.Her voice was gentle.

I shook my head stubbornly. Just because I had seen myself crying with a blade in my hand, and just because a seer had told me I would kill my mother, didn’t mean it was going to happen. I didn’t believe in destiny, dammit.

The pendant glowed with a white light and rose up around my neck, gently tugging me forward, guiding me to the harkan.

All around us were the sights and sounds of fighting. The evil witches and the griffins were battling fiercely. I saw Apollinaire fighting with three necromantic-seized vampyrs and conceded that he was definitely on our side. Anway, now I knew why my father had lied about it; he’d given us a scapegoat, so that Ria could remain undetected.

I gritted my teeth. That lying bastard! Some small, desperate, part of me had wanted to believe him, wanted to trust him. He was my father, after all. I shouldn’t have had the memory clearing broken because it had made the distant past so fresh. It had skewed my perception of him.

I wondered if Jeb had done something to my reclaimed memories of my father. They were still so strong; they should have weathered and settled in my mind but they hadn’t. They’d been so present that I hadn’t been thinking clearly. Well, I was thinking clearly now.

---