Gameboard of the Gods

“Wait—”

Dominic had astonishingly taken out four of the six active Pan-Celts and was advancing on a fifth. The tall man with the silver dagger was preoccupied trying to fend off Magnus and Horatio. At one point, his blade clipped Horatio’s wing, and Justin staggered as excruciating pain—far more violent than when the ravens had departed—ripped through him. Like that, the birds vanished from sight, and he felt their presence settle back into his mind, though the pain remained.

Sorry, said Horatio. The Morrigan blessed the blade.

You did a good job, Justin assured him.

Justin’s initial intent had been to grab Mae in the fray and carry her away from all of this, but with the ravens gone, the tall man was advancing on Dominic. Without further thought, Justin threw himself against the man’s back, making him stumble and mess up his attack. Justin hadn’t seen any makeshift weapons and had no idea how one really attempted an unarmed attack. He’d just figured his body weight would be enough to throw the man off balance. And it was—but not for long.

The man spun around and gave Justin a glancing blow with the dagger, which cut his cheek. More searing pain shot through him, stronger than what he would’ve expected.

See? asked Magnus.

The man recognized Justin and strode forward. “The servitor. How unexpected.”

“Why? Did you think your assassin would take me out?” Behind his adversary, Justin saw that the man Dominic fought held the second gun. Dominic was still doing fine, but keeping clear of it meant this wasn’t as easy a fight as the others. Justin was on his own.

“Assassin?” The Morrigan’s servant looked comically clueless.

“The fake Nordic jaguar one.”

The man shook his head. “I wouldn’t waste my time sending an assassin after you. Your god, whoever he is, is too weak for my mistress to care about. Maybe some other god hates you.”

“Yeah? Then how come—”

Justin’s words died as Mae suddenly leapt up from the altar. With no hesitation, she threw herself on the tall man, destruction in her eyes. He fell but shifted to smoke and darted away before she could pin him down. He reappeared in his human form, standing opposite her. The mockery he’d shown to Justin was gone. Only anger was there now, as he circled around with Mae. Each watched every move, no matter how small, of the other. Justin had the sense of something monumental happening. Even the divine force in the room seemed to be holding its breath.

Dominic’s words about Mae’s recovery had proven true. She showed no signs of her earlier distress. Her eyes narrowed as she assessed the man, and then, unexpectedly, she moved backward—throwing her weight into the altar. It was composed of a large piece of stone resting on two others, and she hit it in just the right way to make the whole thing topple over. A tremor went through the air, and the Morrigan’s man gasped.

“Is that a problem, Emil?” Mae asked. She backed up farther, almost to the wall. Eyes still on him, she grabbed one of the masks and hurled it to the floor. It shattered. “What about this?”

The man—Emil—flushed an angry red. “You’ll die for this desecration.”

“I’m not dying today,” she replied evenly. “And even if I did, I wouldn’t go to your goddess.”

“She created you! You belong to her.”

“She doesn’t have a claim on me anymore.” She destroyed another mask. “Or any of the others. Enough blood’s been paid.”

Until now, everything Emil had done had been very calculated and controlled, but his emotions were obviously getting the best of him. He attacked, turning to smoke—only it was short-lived. He looked surprised to rematerialize so quickly but still managed to come dangerously close to her with the Morrigan-blessed dagger.

Dominic had finally finished with the others and had his confiscated gun pointing at Emil. Justin hurried over. “No, let her finish him.”

“She’s unarmed,” said Dominic.

Mae was leading Emil on a merry chase, destroying things as she went. It should’ve given him more openings, but with each part of the temple she took out, he seemed to falter even more. He also no longer shifted form. He was still fast and sharp but not in a superhuman way. Certainly not in a prætorian way.

“Just wait,” Justin told Dominic. “She needs to do it.”

Mae was moving toward the middle of the room now, with Emil in hot pursuit. Too late, Justin saw what she didn’t catch in her periphery: One of the Pan-Celts who’d been incapacitated had come to. The woman managed to sit up and grabbed hold of Mae’s leg when the deadly dance was close enough. Mae stumbled, and Emil made his big move, throwing himself at Mae with the dagger aimed right for her heart. Justin had no idea if the charm that had protected her earlier was still in effect—nor did he have need to find out.

Mae rolled in a way that let her break free of the grasping woman while simultaneously pulling the amber dagger from its boot sheath. Emil was so fixated on his attack that he never saw Mae’s dagger—not even when he threw himself onto her. The weight of his body knocked her down, but it was too late. Her dagger pierced his thigh, causing him to scream and recoil in pain. He dropped his own blade and actually tried to move off of her. She was more than accommodating, rolling him over onto his back so that she could hover over him and drive the amber dagger down for a second strike—into his heart. Justin saw the man’s eyes widen in shock, no scream coming out of his mouth this time. Mae waited a few moments and then jerked her dagger out and got to her feet, standing and watching without expression as her victim twitched and bled. After several horrific seconds passed, Emil stilled. A crackle of power rippled through the air, and then the tingling Justin had felt against his skin vanished.

“No one ever expects the knife,” Mae said flatly. She studied Emil’s body a few moments more and then suddenly looked up in surprise. “The Morrigan’s gone.” She caught Justin’s arm in excitement. “Can’t you feel it? The air…it’s lighter. She was here earlier, pressing down, trying to get into me. But she couldn’t. That was because of you, wasn’t it? What you did to me earlier?”

“I…don’t know,” he admitted, somewhat enchanted with the joy and light in her eyes. “It’s just something I learned.”

“Keep learning it,” she said. “Maybe we can continue to keep her out.”

No need, said Horatio. Mae is free. The Morrigan has been undone. She may gather strength again and return someday, but all her old ties have been broken. You felt her being cut loose from the world. The destruction of the temple and her followers struck her hard, and that guy in particular was probably one of her highest servants.

Using that dagger was extra devastating, added Magnus.

What makes you say that? asked Justin. The part where it pierced his heart and killed him?

The amber dagger is empowered by a deity, just like the silver ones were, explained Magnus. Probably by the god—or goddess—of the person who gave it to her.

Callista’s god?

No.

Justin told Mae what the ravens said about the Morrigan’s leaving and decided to edit out the part about how that pretty dagger was sacred to some deity.

The police arrived soon thereafter, astonished at the grisly scene before them. Leo had waited outside until they arrived, and only then did Justin notice that Dominic was gone. “Where is he?”

Leo’s face was bland. “He was never here.”

“The hell he wasn’t! Half of those bodies are his. I saw it.”

“So did I,” said Mae, a small frown appearing on her face. “Part of it, at least. He was…good.”

“We didn’t think he’d get involved in anything like that when he came along,” said Leo. He cast an anxious glance over at the officers organizing the scene and dropped his voice. “If you have any respect for our friendship, you won’t say a word to anyone about him being here. All the casualties are Mae’s. I’ll swear to whatever story you want—that there really were smoke people or that we didn’t see them. Just do not mention Dominic.”

The earnestness in his voice caught Justin off guard. Out of habit, he exchanged glances with Mae, who looked just as surprised. Justin didn’t like Dominic, but he’d saved their lives tonight, and many years of friendship with Leo carried a lot of weight.

“Okay,” Justin said slowly. “Dominic was never here.”

Mae opened her mouth to protest, but Justin shot her a warning look that kept her silent. Leo grasped his hand, nearly sagging in relief. “Thank you. I owe you.”

Justin shook his head. “I don’t know. I think I owe you for getting us here.”

When Leo left to get some air, Mae immediately approached Justin. “Was that a good idea? You’re going to lie about Dominic.”

“I’m going to lie about you too,” he said in a low voice. “When I say you had no choice but to stab that guy in the heart—after giving him a debilitating thigh wound.”

Mae’s face darkened. “I had to. He would’ve kept coming after me and others. She wouldn’t have been banished. I’d never be free—”

Justin put an arm around her and led her to the stairs. “You don’t have to convince me. I’m just saying, we’ve all got our reasons tonight. Once Internal Security matches those daggers and gets witnesses to verify Emil was stalking victims, no one’s going to care how this case was closed.”

The night was warm and breezy, the air thick and humid. The earlier clouds had passed, revealing a night brilliant with moon and stars. Being outside felt good and eased a little of Justin’s throbbing headache and other pains, though he was still counting the moments until he could hunt down a real painkiller. He’d had good intentions to lay off some of his vices, but then, he’d never expected to be part of a supernatural battle.

Mae, for her part, appeared to be in peak condition. In fact, he thought she looked exceptionally beautiful as she gazed upward. Radiant, even.