Lily harper complete s.., p.201
lily harper - complete series, page 201
While I didn’t know much about the Bible, there was no way I couldn’t recognize that particular tree. “As i… the one smack dab in the Garden of Eden?”
Bill shrugged and expanded his hands. “The only and one, Lils.”
That’s when I realized Tallis had said something… off. “Wait, shouldn’t the waters be feeding the Tree instead of the other way around?”
Gwydion waved away my question with an accompanying “da, da, da”. “Surely you’ve been down here enough times, milady, to know how the rules differ from what you know on Earth?”
I shrugged. “Every time I think I’ve got a handle on those so called ‘rules’, I learn something new. Makes it hard to keep up.”
He tossed me a grin to go with his own shrug. “So it does. Even I can be astounded by the unexpected loopholes I discover.”
“Says the smartass who actuates like he knows everything, yo,” Bill spat back.
While Gwydion was smiling insufferably at my guardian angel’s insult, Tallis was staring at the screen in deep thought. “Assumin’ ye are tellin’ us the truth, Welshman,” he said slowly. “That’d explain a lot, seein’ as that particular Tree is cousin to Yggsdrasil.”
“The tree we recovered the Apple from in the Wood of Suicides?” Asterion asked with interest.
“The very one, man-bull. Like its cousin, this Tree has a map o’ all Creation woven into its roots, bark and limbs.”
Bill gave out a loud “ah” sound while opening his mouth wide enough to expose his tonsils. “And the onsite hack-grammers can tap into that tree or the water or whatever and know where everybody and everything is, yo.”
“And that makes it the ideal location to find the current whereabouts of the Princes,” Gwydion concluded, looking pleased as punch. He reminded me of a teacher I’d had in grade school when my entire class had managed to score an A on a test.
“There is one detail that confuses me,” Asterion said as he shook his head. “With such a vast well of knowledge this publicly known, how is it that Alaire, Afterlife Enterprises or any of our other enemies aren’t already tapped into such?”
Gwydion lifted an eyebrow while he smirked. “That would be owing to the Oasis’ literal angel investor.”
Bill’s ears perked up at the word “angel”. “Anybody I know?”
The smirk on the Welshman’s face got bigger. “Maybe... though he’s an archangel, not everyone’s heard of Metatron.”
“Megatron?” Bill asked, pulling his head back in disgust. “C’mon, yo, you pulling my halo! That’s the name of some cheesy Big Bad from that show about robots in disguise!”
Tallis rolled his eyes in disgust while Asterion told my guardian angel, “No, Bill. Gwydion is speaking of an angel who began his existence as human, one of a small, select few.”
That cryptic bit of information was enough to make Bill’s eyes light up with recognition. “Wait, wait, wait... you’re talking about Enoch, right?”
“Yes, that was his name as a mortal man,” Asterion said, trying his best to be patient.
“Oh, hell yeah!” Bill said with a clap and laugh. “Enoch N Roll is the tits, yo! He always threw the best parties in the whole Kingdom! Didn’t matter where you ranked up or down on the celes-kill-all food chain. You were at one of his bashes, he made sure you had a good time!”
“One could argue he’s still doing as much for all the Oasis’ guests,” Gwydion said. “At least if they stay on the lower floors.”
“I’m guessing it’s a different story on the top floor of this grand resort?” I asked.
“As big a change as the sun is from the moon,” Gwydion assured me. “While several fortunes of mortal and immortal treasures are won and lost below, the top floor is strictly the info-gathering side of things. The constantly updating details are fed into a vast database that is deci-bytes large.”
Tallis looked at Gwydion like he’d just heard one of Bill’s made-up words. “Deci-what?”
Gwydion went back to his chin-stroking. “How best to explain this... imagine the largest number you possibly can and multiply that number by a million. That’s a deci-byte.”
I all but slapped my hands on my face. “And just how the hell are we supposed to find what we’re looking for in that much data?”
Gwydion shrugged. “Well, to state the obvious, if it were easy, everyone would have done it long before now.”
“This location is extremely well-fortified?” Asterion asked.
“In addition to the formidable sands outside, dectuple maximum security at minimum,” Gwydion answered. “Even the lower floors can muster forces strong enough to repulse anything short of the Forsaken himself.”
“Oh, this just keeps getting better and better,” I moaned while my fingers gradually slid off my face.
“Hey, yo,” Bill said, gesturing like Gwydion was a waiter who still hadn’t gotten to his order. “I’m still waitin’ on the part where you tell us this ain’t un-impossible.”
“Oh, it’s very possible,” Gwydion continued to tease. “It’s just there’s only been one successful data heist in all the Oasis’ history.”
“Which ye were part of, I’d wager,” Tallis accused him, sounding like he was a prosecutor before Minos’ court.
“There’s no wager in betting on the sure thing,” the Welshman admitted with a grin.
“An’ lemme guess,” Tallis went on, glowering with each new word that came out of his mouth. “You’re the only one who can make it happen again, aye?”
That made Gwydion give out another long sigh. “Oh, how I do appreciate the flattery, Bladesmith. But no... sadly, another was the key figure of that successful heist. And I daresay that she is your only hope for an encore performance.”
“So you gonna give us the name o’ this chick or are we gonna have to play Twenty-Thousand Questions?” Bill asked, waving his hands for emphasis.
For some reason, Gwydion’s mocking smile lost some of its shine. When he said the name, I understood why.
“Annice Harper.”
And right like that, I felt my heart drop back into my stomach. A lot of guilt, anguish and recriminations went down that same route after it. With none of his usual mockery, Gwydion quickly stepped up to me to give my shoulder a quick squeeze.
“I know she’s your aunt,” he said in a gentle tone. “I also know about your meeting her for the first time at the inn before it was overrun by Alaire’s Lemures.”
“Aye, thank that bastard Fletcher for being the one who took her,” Tallis snapped, his fists tightening up into hard balls of bone. “If I ever see that…”
Gwydion’s eyes widened in surprise as he whirled back around to cut Tallis and his rant off. “Wait, did you say Fletcher? As in one of Alaire’s favorite AE catspaws?”
Tallis shrugged his broad shoulders. “Less ye know another one, Gwydion.”
“I saw him up close,” I chimed in. “Looked like Lurch from the Addams Family: pale skin, big build, nice suit. Talked like a bored bureaucrat.”
“That’d be Fletcher, alright,” Gwydion said, ignoring all of us in favor of the laptop. Once he was close enough, he started furiously typing away on it. The screen changed over from the brochure style pic of the Oasis to walls of text scrolling up too fast for me to read them. About ten seconds later, he was still typing but he was smiling too.
“Ah, this is perfect. Lemures need a special request to be authorized for use, subject to Alaire’s approval. Fletcher’s attached to the request for the inn assault.”
“The way you’re talking about Mr. Walking Dead,” Bill noted. “Sounds like you must have really pissed him off.”
“I can actually say just that with some pride, little angel,” Gwydion told him while his eyes stayed on the screen and fingers on the keyboard. “In fact, at one time or another, I’ve earned the wrath of everyone in the Kingdom and Underground City.”
The text slowed down, and started turning into a picture. “But Mr. Fletcher,” the Welshman went on. “He’s a very special case. Everything I hate about order seems to have been distilled within that cadaverous frame. That fool has such a lack of imagination, it’s a minor miracle he doesn’t fail more often than he does.”
“So how exactly does this help us?” I asked. By this point, the picture on the laptop had turned into an ultra-modern city skyline. It looked cross between the Jetsons and some cyberpunk writer’s idea of heaven. That last part was appropriate, considering we were looking at a picture of the Kingdom.
“He’s such an unbending creature of habit,” Gwydion explained while the screen panned down to the streets below. “Always uses the same procedures and locations to carry out his missions.” Meanwhile, the picture onscreen was taking us through less-appealing streets. Even in a perfect celestial city, the Kingdom had its fair share of slums—and that’s exactly what we were now looking at.
“So Fletcher stashed Nip’s Aunt Annie somewhere in my hood?” Bill asked with genuine interest.
“Quite so, little angel,” Gwydion said as the screen stopped in front of a rundown apartment building that looked like it was on the verge of collapse.
I felt torn by this information. While I now knew where to possibly find my mother’s sister, she was in one place I knew I wouldn’t be welcome.
Asterion gave the reason why a voice. “Going back to the Kingdom would be extraordinarily dangerous for us.”
“While I truly sympathize with that fact, Asterion,” Gwydion said in that serious tone again. “Name me one place where that circumstance doesn’t apply to any of you right now.”
All four of us looked at each other, and saw the same dejected answer staring back in the others’ face. I sighed in resignation. “Guess there’s no such place as Switzerland for us.”
Gwydion clapped his hands again before rubbing them together. “Still, all’s far from lost,” he said, that roguish smile coming back to his face. “Being the nephew of Mag the Ancient does give me a few handy Kingdom connections. I’ll get in touch with them to verify that dear Annice is indeed Fletcher’s newest tenant.”
When he shut the laptop, I got confused. “Wait, aren’t you going to send them an email or…”
“And have them trace it back to an unauthorized cellular signal in the Dark Woods?” Gwydion asked with shock. “The sisters are good, but even they have limits.” He began walking towards the door.
“Yo, where you goin’?” Bill asked, sounding as confused as I felt.
“Somewhere I can send out a text message in relative privacy,” the Welshman said as he opened the door. “I’ll text you when I’m on my way back.”
“Just outta sheer idle curiosity, Welshman,” Tallis said, his voice making it clear there was nothing idle about it. “How many people have ever escaped this secret dungeon ye mentioned?”
“Oh, everyone who’s tried has failed,” Gwydion said. His tone was so casual, he could have been talking about how it might rain tomorrow.
Once the horror had set in good and deep on our faces, he laughed again. “But seeing as I’m talking to the sole champions of the Trials, I have a good feeling about your chances.”
As he shut the door behind him, I really wished I could have felt that same level of confidence.
TEN
TALLIS
After the Welshman took off, we were left with naught to do but stare at the redecorated walls for a while. It was hard to believe this fairly comfortable cabin had once been the hovel I’d squatted in. How many centuries had I spent hiding here, letting the spirit beast inside me drive me to loneliness and madness? That made me flash back to a day not long past where I’d succumbed to Donnchadh completely. Only the stubbornness of me Besom had pulled me out of that pit.
Predictably, it was the stookie angel who got fed up with the staring first. Jumping up from his spot in front of the fire, he said, “Hell with it! The longer I sit there, the hangrier I get.”
“Last time I checked,” Lily said as she sat in me lap on the bed. “The Flammels packed us a few protein bars.”
The angel looked at her as though she’d just proposed he eat the logs next to the fire. “Maybe that’s your idea of nutritionment, Lils, but it sure ain’t mine.” He took a careful look at the walls and furniture before muttering, “That trickshyster’s gotta have something tastier around here.”
The man-bull grunted in deep thought as he leaned against the door frame. In the time we’d been waiting, he’d returned to his man-bull form. Thankfully, he’d gotten his shirt off before the change could destroy it. His wide nostrils started taking tentative sniffs, eventually pointing towards the bed.
“I’m getting a scent of dried meat from the back right corner, Bill.”
The stookie angel looked at him dubiously before looking in the corner. Then his eyes lit up when spotted something.
“Good call, Kemosabe!” he said, running over to the spot. He reached into a wide space in the boards and yanked something up. The waft of meat spread all over the cabin like it was smoke. The stookie angel returned with a stick of meat in his hand.
Besom’s eyes got thoughtful as she suddenly stood up. “You know, seeing as how I’m not hungry, maybe we could do a bit of training while we wait on Gwydion.”
I glanced at the door with unease. “Doin’ it outside would nae be wise, me lovely.”
She gestured at the space in the cabin’s center. “Well, why not in here? It’s a little tighter, but there’s enough room to spar.”
I gave the cabin a close look before nodding. “Aye, jist enough by me reckonin’.” I looked over at the man-bull. “Ye think ye can move to the side, man-bull?”
Minos’ stepson nodded and pushed himself off the wall. “The meat does smell succulent.” But then he looked over at our packs. “However, I have yet to try a protein bar.”
“Ah, c’mon, Taurus-zan!” the angel whined as he tore into the strip. “You’re letting the carnage-vores of the universe down by going for that horse feed!”
The man-bull shrugged as he reached the pack on the bed. “My stomach, little one, my choice.”
While I did not doubt his sincerity, I could think of one other good reason to avoid meat. If trouble came, he’d better off in man-bull form.
###
When you’ve fought alongside someone long enough, you get sensitive to their moods and rhythms. It’s a closeness that’s so strong, it can be like that of a lover—which may be why some comrades-in-arms even wind up as such. Your intuition tells you how the other is doing. That’s how I knew something was wrong when Besom failed to block me overhead blow for the third time.
“Dammit, lass!” I growled in frustration, pulling me blade off hers. “Where’s yer head right now?”
Lily shook her head like there were cobwebs stuck in it. “Sorry, Tallis. I’m just... I’ve got a lot on my mind.”
“Normally, I’d recommend food to fix that problem,” the angel said from the corner, shutting the larder door shut after three strips. “But all this demon meat, yo, it seriously tastes like ass.”
“If the taste is as foul as you say,” the man-bull said between chomps on the protein bar. “Then it sounds like the perfect thing to take Lily’s mind off her troubles.”
Lily threw her sword on the floor in frustration. “God, it’s not that big a deal!” Lily all but barked, collapsing on the bed next to the Minotaur. “It’s just...”
Rather than finish, she stared down, her eyes showing the struggle to find the right words. I couldn’t get over how beautiful she looked. It was more than just her changed features, which she made far too much fuss over. The sheer innocence I could see shining through those eyes was the clincher and always had been. That she still had her innocence after all the terrors she’d endured amazed me.
I knelt in front of her, leaning against me blade. Gently stroking her cheek, I asked, “What’s yer trouble, Besom?”
Both she and the man-bull looked at me in surprise.
“Isn’t this usually the time when you tell me to just get over it?” she asked, surprising me, in turn.
The Minotaur had the good sense not to say anything. Neither did the stookie angel.
“If it’s bothering ye this bad, it’s obvious ye cannae look beyond it, lass. So...” I licked me lips before saying, “So maybe talkin’ on it might help.”
For just a second, I thought I saw Sorcha staring back at me in her smile. I shoved that notion aside as hard as I could. Sorcha was gone and Lily needed me in the here and now.
“I keep thinking about all the others,” she finally said. When she saw how none of us understood her, she clarified, “All the others who helped us... they’re just as much on Alaire’s shit list as we are.”
“Well, Nips,” the angel said, speaking with his mouth full of the last of the meat. “A lot of them were kinda already on it to start, you know?”
“But like this?” Besom pushed back. “I mean, I’m glad the Flammels, Dr. Jung and the sisters are okay... at least, for right now. But what about Coatilique, Tiresias and Ulm, Cassandra...?” Her eyes drifted from me to the man-bull. “Or Minos?”
As his eyes softened, I did what I could to ignore the stab in me heart. Let the two of them protest all they wanted. Let Besom speak of her dream that would be key to unlocking control of her power. They wanted each other as badly as any two people have. If the bull of Minos had been anyone else, I’d have long since fought him in a duel over her. But knowing Besom, she’d have probably told us to quit our squabbling and let her decide. Me greatest fear remained that she’d eventually choose him.
“My mother’s husband has long been on the receiving end of Alaire’s wrath,” the man-bull said in a quiet tone. “As Bill pointed out, the same can be said for many of the others you named.”
“Well, what about those Soul Retrievers Polly and Sally took in?” Lily asked, not willing to let the point go. “Sure, they’re officially part of the Department of Requisitions. But since when has that stopped Alaire from…”
I put a steadying hand on her shoulder. “Yer goin’ in circles, Besom. The more ye think on it, the less ye have a mind on what needs doin’.”
