Page 55 of Winter Goddess
"That's a tiny bit scary," Frost mutters. "Let's try not to make that public knowledge. We don't want our allies to fear you."
I look down at the dead Goddess and nod. "Yes, I don't really want to think about it myself. I have no intention of killing any other Gods unless I need to."
"Except for the Morrigan," Crispin corrects.
"Yes, except for her." I concentrate on my magic. "The castle is mostly empty. It would be the perfect time to capture it, but it's not like we're here to conquer this Realm. To be honest, I'm happy to leave it to the demons once the Morrigan is defeated."
"Yes, Queen of the Underworld doesn't suit you," Frost snickers. "Let's stick to the nicer Realms."
I'm about to reply, but darkness falls and I'm back in the black room that's become so familiar.
"Hey," I say lightly. "How are things?"
"The Morrigan just commanded me to come to her aid," Angus says, glee swinging in his voice. "I'm going to follow her call, but not like she thinks."
"Where is she?" I ask immediately.
"With me," Flora whispers weakly. She sounds like she’s in pain, even though we’re in this safe place.
“What is she doing?” I try to sound calm and keep the fear at bay. If Flora is harmed, everything could be lost. We need all four of us to keep the balance.
“Playing,” Flora replies grimly. “She’s having fun.”
I don’t ask any more. If Flora doesn’t want to tell us the specifics, that’s fine. We all deserve privacy in our pain. There’s one thing that doesn’t quite make sense though.
“Angus, how did she command you to come to her when she’s torturing Flora right now?”
“She spoke to me a few minutes ago, I swear. The same way she always does, in my mind. She seemed very angry.”
“That’s because we’re attacking her from all sides.” I’m pushing my suspicions of Angus’s statement to one side for the moment. There’s nothing I can do about it now. If he wants to betray us, I can’t stop him. I just have to hope that there’s a logical explanation of how the Morrigan was doing both things at the same time.
I turn my attention to Flora again. “Don’t worry, she won’t be able to stay with you for much longer. There are more than twenty forces invading her Realm at the same time. She’ll have to coordinate her defences once she realises the scale of the attack.”
“Good.” She sounds exhausted. “Are you coming for me?”
“We are,” Dewi confirms, speaking for the first time. “I’m following the connection between us. You were right, Spring and Autumn attract each other. I can feel you, faintly, and I’m flying there as soon as possible. Don’t be scared if a flock of dragon suddenly appears.”
Flora laughs softly. “I’m in a dungeon, I’m afraid I won’t be able to see you.”
“You will, after,” Dewi promises.”
“Dewi, I need to go there too, but I don’t have a connection like you have. If you send me an image of your location though I’ll be able to teleport and follow you.”
“Dragons fly faster than Guardians,” Dewi says but sends me a mental image nonetheless. There are mountains beneath her, high and sharp, not covered in snow but in a red dust that seems to suck in the light from the burning skies. There’s a black lake that they’re flying towards. That seems a good landmark to zone in on.
“I’ll meet you at the lake. If we can’t fly fast enough, we can always ride on you.”
I can feel Dewi’s outrage, but the blackness disappears and I’m back with my Guardians.
They must have noticed that I was gone because they’re all staring at me. In the past, I was only gone for a second or two when these strange meetings occurred, but I guess the Guardians know me well enough to notice any change in my behaviour.
“How do you feel about a little race against dragons?” I ask them with a grin.
All of their auras light up in anticipation at that challenge.
“Dewi is heading to Flora and we’re going to follow her. I know where she is, so we can teleport there. Ready?”
“Will we appear on land or in the air?” Storm asks. I hadn’t actually thought about the possibility of teleporting us into thin air.
