39. Maeve

39

Maeve

I f not for her psychic abilities telling her where everyone was, Maeve would have been utterly without the ability to see her fellows. But she could touch their minds, even Ankou, though he often shielded against her in a method she had rarely been able to penetrate. She could still tell where he was.

"Here," her father said in a low rumble, and next she knew blue flame flickered to life.

It did not have the reach it should have, the fire atop that mighty staff. High Priestess Thea gasped to see it and almost fell to her knees in benediction before Rodan growled something about this not being the time. The glow barely hit the faces of those assembled around Ankou, and they had very little sense of their surroundings after about a foot from the tight circle they were in.

Maeve unsheathed her dagger and made the blade come alight with the blue fire she had taken from Ankou, and Rodan did something of the same, though his flame was normal, shades of orange and yellow. Combined, they could at last see more of where they were.

The hall was long, vast, and empty.

The entire place stank. The same oily, smoky scent the Nyx had exuded under the lake.

"Do you think they're here?" Maeve murmured, her lips numb.

"If they are, they are making themselves scarce," Rodan returned, spinning in a slow circle. "This place feels… neglected. Despite the smell."

"My brother has very little need of servants. His shadows do his bidding, as do the Nyx, unfortunately, but he never kept a court. Never had need of companions, he said." Ankou started to move further into the mountain. "Come. He and his plans will be near the peak."

He lead them, and Maeve stayed in the middle, Rodan pulling up the rear guard. Her heart was thundering thinking of where they were. She worried she had Jen with her. And Gladys? Gladys had no mark protecting her, no magic of her own. She was nearly defenseless aside from the minor glamour Rodan had given her.

What were we thinking, bringing her with us? She thought, keeping them to herself. She hoped that, whatever the cost, the human would survive to tell the tale of whatever happened here. Maeve did not think she could stand it if the woman fell.

And Thea, she may have been a conduit of the gods but Maeve had never seen much magic out of her, not sensed any major power.

Are we bringing lambs to the slaughter? She wondered, letting the thought flow down the link between her and Rodan.

There was a long beat of silence before he said, ever-so-gently, Like it or not, my love, this is battle. This is war. You know there are costs.

She knew.

Sebastian's hate-filled eyes filled her vision for a moment, and she stumbled, catching herself on the glass-like walls.

Her reflection, hazy and watery, lunged for her.

Maeve yelped, skipping back, and her reflection cackled silently, head thrown back and hands on her hips. She wagged a finger at Maeve while she got her breathing under control.

"Everyone, keep yourselves away from the walls," she warned, grateful her voice remained steady instead of laced with panic. "I don't think our reflections are our friends here."

"Interesting," Ankou noted, waving to his own watery image which scowled back at him and beckoned him forward, to touch. "I wonder what would happen if they came through."

His twin tilted its head to the side in a caricature of deep thought, then put up a pointer finger, and dragged it across their throat.

"Ah," the god said, sounding more amused than anything. "That answers that."

Maeve tried not to let fear overtake her, but there was still a part of her, a part that remembered, very well, being human and largely defenseless. That part felt like some kind of rat in a maze. With nowhere to go but forward, and nothing but traps along the way. An instinctual, deep part of her was screaming, run, run away!

But she could not heed it. She was a Queen. She belonged to her people now. The Realms. She had to return to them, and be able to assure them that the threat had passed, that they were safe. Even though she did not truly believe in the word, she wanted her subjects to feel it. Always.

They found a sloping, circular ramp going up and up the interior of the mountain. Though the spiral was wide, it began to narrow as they climbed, and by the time they had gone what Maeve had perceived of as at least ten levels, her thighs and calves were burning. Gladys and Jen were grumbling. Lydia seemed out of breath, as did Thea. "Let's stop here for a moment," Maeve suggested when they got to a landing before the spiral took an even sharper turn upward, the slope at a much higher degree. Just looking at it made her thirsty.

She did not wait for her father, but stopped and made enough water bottles for everyone, passing them around. She was so grateful for the gift, thankful it was shared through the bond, and told Rodan so through their link. Feeling his rumbled agreement sent a shiver down her back.

Despite herself, Maeve leaned over the railing that looked down the spiral. All that met her eyes beyond the feeble light the flames cast was oppressive, infinite dark. Dark so thick her eyes strained, pupils blown so she could see any hint of light.

But there was none.

Despite the general eeriness and unease their surroundings inspired, Maeve could not help feeling like this was easy. Too damn easy. Ninack must have something planned for them. Must know.

Yet there was no other way to go but forward, but confrontation. If they did nothing, he would do whatever he wanted unchallenged.

She could not allow that to happen.

"Gods I'm going to collapse," Gladys said, hands splayed above her knees as she knelt. There was sweat on her brow, though the air was cool. "This armor is sweltering."

"Apologies, young Gladys, but to make it more breathable would make it less effective. It's some of the lightest of the company as-is," Rodan said.

"Think of it as leg day at the gym," Jen panted, grinning and half-mad looking. "You're going to hate us in the morning, but you can do it."

If we all make it to morning , Maeve thought.

They all continued to climb, slower this time. More breaks. Though they each went to grab at the rail at some point or another, they all recoiled as the smaller reflections started toying with them, trying to reach back out through that black glass.

Maeve and Rodan made them walking sticks and poles of various types, Jen getting the hiking style that were two-handed. Gladys received a pair as well as Thea, the others opting for single poles so they could keep their other hand open for weapons.

They made a lot more noise than what she was comfortable with, ascending that last bit of the spiral where the incline got to a forty-five-degree incline, sending them all but Ankou and Rodan into spats of huffing and puffing. Maeve glared at her bondmate. "How—" she gasped softly. "Do you," she had to stop again for another breath. "Do that?"

He smiled at her. "Long practice, my young love. You'll get there."

She stuck her tongue out at him, and he gave a soft laugh.

They were on a landing, and before them was a grand half-circle of black marble floor inlaid with onyx and chips of garnet so deep they might as well be black. There were double-doors of the same material, carved intricately with what looked, to Maeve, like a stylized version—albeit from the point of view of Darkness—of what Ankou had shown them at the dining table that morning. The beginning of everything. Starting with chaos, coalescing into four entities bound by a stronger, a first among them all, here represented only by a carved, reaching hand.

And then the four kingdoms, represented in four panels, but the final one?—

The final one showed darkness swallowing them all.

Maeve looked at her father, who was similarly studying the doors and all they implied. His face was stony with wrath. I am going to remind you to call to Him, especially if I fall. His voice clanged through her mind.

Her eyes widened. You would fall? She was unsure if he would hear her, but?—

I might , he said back, and she knew they had managed to communicate. Mind to mind. It was far different in sensation than what she experienced with the bond, with Rodan. That was more of a sense of the other person. This was mere words, though the power behind everything Ankou did meant that they came through as potent as punches. There is the possibility that all could end very badly.

Maeve swallowed, and looked to the others. We have to do this.

Yes, we do, he agreed, and the connection went cold.

Ankou walked forward, and pushed open the doors. They must have weighed hundreds if not thousands of pounds, and yet he pushed them open as if they were pressboard. The doors banged on the walls on either side of the inner chamber, the boom drawing the attention of the figure sitting upon a massive, spiked black obsidian and onyx throne.

Ninack was larger here, in his sanctum. When standing he would top fifteen feet at the least of it, but for now he was sprawled lazily across the throne, one leg cast out and the other up over the arm of the thing, despite the spikes that were everywhere. None seemed to skewer him.

Unfortunate , Maeve could not help but think.

"Why, brother," Ninack said, the words slow and honeyed. "Whatever are you doing here?"

"I am here to put an end to whatever foolishness you're up to," Ankou snapped, his own form growing until he was of a size with Ninack. Maeve stepped back, as did the others, in a crescent behind her father. Poles and walking sticks clattered to the ground and weapons were unsheathed.

The light from Ankou's staff, so much larger now, provided enough illumination they could see the whole of the throne room. Its emptiness.

Ninack smiled.

Maeve did not know how she could tell, exactly, only there was a sense of triumph radiating from that nothingness, that void given breath who was the god of darkness.

Smiled, then began to laugh. Low, slow, then great and boisterous, but so enormous in sound Maeve had to cover her ears. She saw the others do the same. All but her father, who simply said, "Enough."

There was a force of power there, and Ninack's attention sharpened. "You think to command me, brother? You think, you called Anubis, Lutem, Hades… you think you have some supremacy over me, don't you? You always have."

"No, you known as Chernobog, as Ahiriman and Tezcatilpoca. I merely adhere to the balance. Unlike you."

Ninack chuckled. "Shall we call upon them, then? To settle this? To see who among us is the greatest?"

The hair on the back of Maeve's neck stood on end. Rizor and Tegal, here? She glanced at Gladys, who so far seemed to have evaded notice. Everyone had, however, aside from Ankou. She did not think it would remain that way if the other gods deigned to show up.

What have I done , she thought to herself, and only to herself. Gods, I should get every one of them out of here. Except Rodan. But the rest? They were all so small-seeming, beside the might of the two gods before them. And they had barely unleashed a shred of their powers, only enough to appear so large.

Maeve angled up to Jen and placed a hand on her shoulder, sure Troy would not object to her getting their mate out first. But when she reached for the pathways and tugged there was—nothing.

Eyes widening, Maeve sent down the bond, can you access the pathways?

Rodan showed nothing on his face to indicate he had heard her, but a moment later his response came. No, I cannot.

What about your library?

Another pause, then, No. It is similar to how Icarus shut down my access, on Tartarus.

Heart hammering, Maeve tried to breathe past the panic. Jen was looking at her, wondering why she had a hand on her shoulder probably, and Maeve dropped it. Jen reached out and squeezed her fingers briefly, as though thinking this had been an attempt to gain comfort.

She would not tell her friend their escape route was effectively cut off.

"I think your daughter has realized one facet of my trap," Ninack purred, and Maeve bared her teeth to hear it. Rodan had shown her his dream, and heard all the god wanted from her bondmate. Over my dead body , she thought.

"You cannot escape in that way, can you? And, oh, dear, look at that."

The doors behind them slammed shut, and there was the clunk of several locks sliding into place.

"It seems you can't go out that way, either. A shame."

It was Ankou's turn to laugh. "You think to keep me here? How?"

Ninack's response was to snap his fingers, and a thrum of power went through the chamber. The walls turned from solid stone to translucent, though they were still there, Maeve knew. It was just that he had removed the sight of them.

They were very near the peak of the mountain, with clouds swirling feet above their heads in a constant, moving spiral. Maeve had seen footage of hurricanes and even experienced one or two during her travels and tours, but this was… quite different. More like a tornado in speed, though the whipping winds and spiderwebbing lightning kept to that level of sky, going no lower. Picking up nothing from the rooftop decks it swirled over.

It was ever-expanding, spreading far across the city. It was beyond the reaches of the park by now.

"What are you doing?" Ankou hissed. "We cannot directly interfere with?—"

"This planet is a Nexus. Fitting, it was where your bastard daughter was brought to be raised. It took me no time at all to find her, you know, despite all you two did to try and hide her. It was child's play to break through the enchantments. To do what needed doing, to ensure she was always partially in this realm. For, niece, do you not feel it? The call to darkness." Ninack motioned at her, a coaxing gesture that made her take a single step forward before she sucked in a breath and staggered back, shocked.

The god of darkness laughed. "She is part of this. Those souls you freed would have been a part of this, too. I had bespelled them to come back to flesh and blood once we were at this stage. Your nephews, you killed them in truth."

"You trapped them in stone," Ankou argued. "They were alive and aware that entire time, thousands of years. You tortured them. They are broken things, even after drinking of the river Lethe."

Ninack shrugged. "Torture, or an invitation to the darkness? To the deep well of madness that lives within us all." He rose from his throne, and shadows spread from his position, eclipsing the view from behind him. "You see, brother, I have seen clearly for eons now that I have a place in every mind, in every soul, and all kernels of life. They belong to me. It all belongs to me." He stood tall, and his voice boomed with power. "Even you. Now kneel."

The tightening grip on his staff was Maeve's only indication Ankou may be struggling against that tide of might and magic. She felt her own knees buckle, but the command had not been said to her. If it had been she would have crashed to her knees before a thought passed her mind.

"You are a fool," her father said once more. "We are equals, not?—"

Ninack reached into his robes, and pulled forth a great chain. Its many links, each the span of her hand, shone with golden, pale green, and blue light in alternating positions. As it unfolded, he wrapped the links around his dark hand, which Maeve now saw was tipped with sharp nails like talons.

Ankou had gone quite still, and very pale. "What have you done?"

"Taken and made mine," was the response, a cruel and vicious sounding whisper. "You feel it now, don't you? Now I have brought it before you? The rope is gone and has become the chain. And with it?" A low cackle. "Kneel."

This time Ankou hit the floor, his expression shocked beyond anything Maeve had seen before.

Ninack's attention turned to the rest of them, and her breath seemed to freeze in her lungs. "Niece," he called. "I see you filled with your fathers fire. None of that, now."

He snapped the fingers on the hand with the chain, and Maeve sensed all that great sea within her dry up, gutter and die. The blue flames upon her sword wiped away, and she was left feeling so very, incredibly vulnerable.

She had to get Gladys and Jen out, at least. She had to make sure they made it.

The others? Everyone had gone so utterly still the moment the god started to rise from his throne, and now Maeve felt the touch on their minds, keeping them still and non-threatening, all but Rodan, Maeve, and Lydia.

Lydia, who Ninack now focused on. "Who are you, little one?" he purred.

Maeve moved in front of her, blocking his view. The god of darkness chuckled and waved a hand. She felt an immense pressure to move, like a block of wind pushing at her side, but she stayed firm, gritting her teeth against the sensation. She snarled, "Stay away from her."

Behind, she could sense Rodan now acting as a secondary buffer, his presence like a line of heat at her back.

"Oh," the god of darkness said, and the pressure eased so suddenly Maeve almost toppled over as she overcompensated. "I see. So you're the reason the cracks are here, and this place is such a grand stage for my designs." He laughed, long and low. "It's all so beautiful, isn't it? The patterns that are made on behalf of the darkness."

Maeve gritted her teeth. She had so many things she wanted to spit at the god, but she was also paralyzed with a fear born not from self-preservation, but from knowing she was one of the best hopes of getting the others out alive.

And something was happening, out there in the sky.

Fissures of glowing, deep red were spreading from the very tip of the mountain, skewering through the dark clouds and filling with trembling, clustered orbs of lightning. Lightning reflecting the colors of the chain Ninack held.

"Very soon now, the Ascension will complete," Ninack purred, stalking toward them. Maeve backed up, but there was nowhere to go. "And all will be the beautiful dark. No more of this… endless hope." He spat the last word.

"Apep," Ankou breathed from behind him. "Please."

"Shut up," he said casually. "Summon our brothers, would you? I don't want the trouble." The attention of the god remained fixed between Maeve, Rodan, and Lydia. "I feel as though I should offer you something, sweet Lydia LaBlanc. You are technically family, after all." His head tilted. "Why do you have Tegal's mark?"

There was a flash of intense light, so bright and sudden Maeve cried out, shielding her eyes. Even though the others in the room were held, they also reacted, hunching and hissing against the brilliance.

A brilliance that soon coalesced into the form of a man, one the same general size as the other two gods.

Then, before she could take him in, the room filled with the scent of spring, of warm loam and growing things. A figure, no larger than Pike, stood on the opposite end of the one made of pure light, the thrum of intense power coming from him the only indication he was anything other than human.

"Brothers!" cried this last one in a thick surfer accent, wearing a Hawaiian shirt with grinning neon Tiki heads amongst the brilliant tropical foliage, bright orange board shorts, and flip flops. He flung his arms out as though he would embrace them, small as he was in comparison. "Bring it in!"

Ninack scowled and stalked to the center of the room, shadows and darkness trailing in his wake. "You have always been the most odious of us," he said, gripping the chain tighter. "Kneel, brother."

The one who must have been Tegal slid to his knees casually, still grinning wide. He had thick chestnut brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, and eyes the same color as turquoise island sea. "Neat trick." He looked around, seemingly seeing the rest of them. "A priestess? And Lydia, my dearest, how are you?"

Lydia crept further behind her father and Maeve.

"What are they doing here? What are you doing here?" The figure of light demanded, the sound of his voice like the crackling snap of flames. "This is going to upset the balance."

"Can't have that," sang Tegal.

"Quiet, all of you. On your knees, Rizor." Ninack snapped.

It could have been Maeve's imagination, or her damnable hope, but she could have sworn it took longer for Rizor to follow the command, as though there was only so much power in that chain to go around. "So it was you who killed Horus," Rizor said to the god of darkness. "I felt him die."

"It was Lutem who killed your son, in truth," Ninack said sweetly. "I kept him safe for millennia. Now," he swept to the center of the room, surveying them all. "Who shall I take first?"