Endless Knight (Darkling Mage 9)

I glanced around me. What else could we try? Maybe the Hands had some way of joining their forces to create something explosively spectacular, something that could truly blow Agatha out of the water. We certainly couldn’t afford another sniper shot from the Heart. That thing needed time to recharge. It drew energy directly from the Scions, and as far as I knew, said Scions were presently involved in getting Agatha to roll over and quit her bullshit.

And like an answered prayer, the pressure we needed came careening out of the sky, like a burning meteor. I shielded my eyes as I caught sight of the unidentified flaming object. Shouts erupted from the gathered mages, and a few stray spells went up in the direction of the new threat, but I finally made out what it was through the haze of golden fire.

“Stop!” I shouted, flailing my arms over my head. “They’re here to help.” Cautious eyes flitted towards me, but the spells stopped. Then those same eyes swiveled upwards to observe the meteor-thing, and several mouths dropped open. I turned to face the flaming chariot, waving my arms again. “Holy shit, you guys. Thanks for coming.”

Artemis stood on one end of the chariot, Apollo taking the reins, six blazing white horses keeping them suspended in the sky. They’d discarded their modern garb in favor of how they were depicted in more traditional imagery, all loincloths and togas. Artemis twiddled her fingers at me in a casual wave. Apollo grinned and flexed his biceps, then winked at me. He seemed a little shinier than usual, which was when I noticed that he’d oiled himself up just for the occasion. Cheeky fucker.

“What’s up, loser,” Artemis said. “We’re here to save the day.”

Apollo cupped one hand to the side of his mouth. “Hey Dustin. Dustin! You like my wheels? This is what my baby really looks like. I’ll take you on a ride one of these days.” He winked again, leering at me. “Bring your boyfriend.”

I blushed, both over the lurid comment and the fact that I wasn’t even sure I had a boyfriend anymore. Herald answered for both of us, his fingers engaged in firing an endless cannonade of frost at the Agathas. “Will you guys just fucking help already?”

Apollo threw the reins and laughed. Artemis rolled her eyes, flipped her hair, and readied her bow, nocking a single arrow. I felt a tug on my sleeve, then turned my head, surprised to find myself face to face with Frau Helena.

“We’ve heard of you even on our side of the pond, boy,” she said, her face hard, but only just disguising the fact that she was more than a little impressed. “But we didn’t know that you had friends in such high places.”

I shrugged, trying my hardest to remain modest. “I did them some favors. You know how it is.”

Frau Helena’s mouth set into a grim line, and she nodded firmly. “Let us pray that it will be enough.” I nodded in agreement as a high-pitched whistle split the air. Artemis had loosed her arrow.

I followed its flight, golden and glimmering, as it flew for the ritual circle. Apollo flicked his wrist at it, and then the arrow was ablaze, glowing gold with the blessing of sunfire.

The Agathas swiftly took notice, their heads eerily whipping in the same direction as the barrage of arrows whistled for their hearts. All at once, they held out their hands, erecting shields to protect themselves.

Then somehow the arrow produced a sister, then another, until the missiles had multiplied in number, until the needle had turned into a storm. The arrows reproduced so quickly and thickly that they blotted the circle of witches out of view, shrouding them in a cloud of deadly flaming spines.

Agatha’s screams filled the night. The arrows that shredded past the circle disappeared, leaving a single bolt thudding into the dirt. Artemis and Apollo had done a number on Agatha, all right. The thirteen witches were bloodied and burned. The problem was that they didn’t look any weaker.

The twins had only made them angrier.

Chapter 29

Artemis shook her hair, letting the wind carry it. I had the very keen sense that she was trying to impress us humans. I heard some oohs and ahs from the bank of mages behind me. It sort of worked, then.

“And now we must be off,” she said heroically. “Our father sends his regards.”

“Well, that, and something else,” Apollo said, grinning. “Wink.”

“Spoilers.” Artemis elbowed him hard in the ribs. “Will you shut up?”

Apollo clutched his side, eyes huge and pitiful, wounded in more ways than one. “What did I say?”

“Too much,” she snarled. “Also, you said ‘Wink.’”

“So?”

Artemis leaned back into her seat on the chariot, put her feet up on the – I guess you could call it the dashboard? – and folded her arms. “Just drive.”

Apollo shrugged, threw the reins, then blew kisses at us sad, sad mortals as he reared his chariot back into the skies. Surreal. I waved back, to be polite. To either side of me, suitably charmed women, as well as a fair few men, mirrored my gesture, their eyes starry. I groaned.

Then a tremendous bolt of lightning crashed from out of the sky. The humongous roar of thunder that followed rocked the earth and rattled my teeth. There was no warning this time, but I was pretty sure the lightning was headed directly for Agatha Black and her sisters.

I was right. With the lightning cleared, but the smell of ozone still in the air, the witches were turning their heads frantically, seemingly looking at each other, like they were counting. I counted along, my heart leaping when I found only twelve copies of Agatha Black remaining. Where the thirteenth should have been was just a pile of ashes.

Well, hot damn. Zeus actually delivered. I turned my head to the skies, silently mouthing my thanks to the god I least expected to help us.

The bad thing about it was that pruning their numbers didn’t actually do much to diminish their power. If anything, it felt as though the remaining twelve witches were compensating for their fallen sister with more ferocity. Still, the mages around me gave a ragged cheer as they resumed their bombardment of spells. Knowing that the Agathas could be killed was obviously a huge boost to morale.