Myths and Gargoyles Jamie Hawke (i read a book .TXT) 📖

“I thought Avalon was back?” I said. “Back… where?”

“You opened the connection again,” Aerona said. “Brought it back to the point of being accessible. But back like it once was, actually part of your world? Rianne had never intended that. It’s too… dangerous, in a sense.”

“I see.”

At a point where the rocks and grassy slopes converged below, I saw what had once been the Heart of the Mountain—the spot where we had been led into a curse. Where I had taken the Liahona, left this land and time for mine, and in so doing exiled the dark forces that had been aligned against us.

Now, it was nothing more than a mound of rocks with a lone tree growing from the top, moss and patches of grass on one side, the other bare. Beyond, the hills rose high in jagged formations, wisps of clouds swirling over them and a lake at their base.

“It’s more beautiful than I remember,” I noted, watching the clouds move gently toward us.

“It can never be as beautiful as I remember,” Ebrill replied, voice deep with sorrow. Her fellow gargoyles’ expressions conveyed that same emotion.

“Come,” Aerona said, leading the way down toward the Heart. We descended the rocky hillside, finally coming to the end and pausing to look around again. I sensed it now, too, the reason for their sorrow. This place was like a graveyard to them. While some had made it and others, like them, had been turned into gargoyles, many had been lost. The enemy, who one could always hope might come over to your side in the end if left alive long enough, had suffered a large defeat that day.

We found that the ground had been carved up in patterns that spiraled outward from the center where I had been. Maybe from the water, or perhaps it was the magic that had caused the deep grooves in the stone. Walking among them, we came to a spot where Aerona knelt, indicating clawed footprints in the stone.

“Some sort of…” I started.

“Animal?” She grinned, looking up at me. I had already realized my mistake halfway through the sentence, which is why I had stopped. With a shake of her head, she let it go. “Only if you consider me one. This was my spot. Which means,” she stood, eyes scouring the surrounding area. “Come.”

Going along the channel and turning right, we crossed several more before finding a spot that dipped into a cavern below, the water lapping at slick stone. The gargoyles couldn’t fit in there with their wings, but I lowered myself, almost falling in.

“Do you see anyone?” Ebrill asked, face appearing in the opening above. “Anything?”

“No,” I said, eyes moving along the stone wall, the way it curved down and then broke off into the water. Nothing else. Kneeling at the stone’s edge, I looked over to see if it was any different down there.

Turquoise water, dark. Movement like a shadow… then eyes flashing red and robes flowing. I stumbled back, landing on my ass and cursing. When I looked again, though, it was gone.

“What was it?” Ebrill asked.

“I thought I saw something, but… it’s gone.”

“Might not be,” Aerona’s voice chimed in. “In the water?”

“That’s right.”

“This was one of the energies that I felt but in a disconnected way.” She appeared now, nudging Ebrill aside. “Can you… make contact?”

“You mean go into the water?”

“Touch it, at any rate.”

I groaned. “You’re saying there’s something in the water… and you want me to put my hand in there to see what happens?”

“Magic works in specific ways. If you can make a connection, you might be able to channel some energy that lets you communicate with whoever it is or—”

“Okay, okay.” I sighed, hating that I had to get wet by lying down on the rocks to do this. A moment later though, I had my hand over the side, reaching to feel the water. Warm, pleasant. At first. A surge of cold ran through it and then up my arm, which I withdrew immediately.

“I await your visit,” a voice said in a whisper, the chill leaving me.

“It’s gone,” Aerona said. “What’d you do?”

“A voice,” I told her, repeating the words.

She growled, then moved out of the way so Kordelia could help me back up.

“What do you make of it?” Ebrill asked Aerona.

“Part of someone stayed behind, but they moved on,” Aerona said. “Might be like splitting a soul, or might be that they knew something was summoning them, so left only a small part in hopes of us coming along and using that as a clue. I don’t know.”

The other locations where Aerona had felt a presence were empty, not even offering us as much as whatever it was that had been in the water. At least one more stone set of footprints had been there, meaning another gargoyle had been pulled from this place, although we didn’t know where he or she would be or whether the enemy had managed to wake it.

About to give up on this idea, I felt a warmth in my heart. It lingered a moment, then pulled, so I followed. The others asked what was going on, but I motioned them along and they followed. A moment later we were cresting a nearby ridge and there was a light coming our way.

“Rianne,” Aerona said, and bowed her head. The rest of us followed her lead, and when we looked up Rianne was there, light fading until she looked almost as she had when we last saw her.

“You’ve accomplished much,” she said, eyeing me with pride. “But there is much left to do.”

“I’m ready,” I said.

“How can I help you?” She turned to each of us, eyeing Steph with curiosity, but lastly turning to Aerona. “Ah, I see that you felt the connection.”

“We’d hoped returning here would lead us to the others,” Aerona said.

“If they hadn’t been taken already, it would have,” Rianne replied. “Alas, you are too late. The enemy has been