Threat of Magic (Dragon's Gift: The Amazon Book 4) Read online

  Someone was out there.

  I kept my eyes peeled on the forest around us. When I caught sight of an animal's legs in the distance, I frowned.

  Was that a goat?

  Goats weren’t predators.

  It appeared again, darting from the shelter of one tree trunk to the next.

  Nope. That was not a goat.

  That was a man.

  With goat legs.

  He was definitely a creature straight from Greek myth, with the legs of a goat and the top half of a man. He wore no shirt despite the fact that the night was brisk. Horns protruded from his head, but that was all the detail I could spot through the darkness. He was careful to keep the trees between himself and us. He shifted, and I caught a glimpse of his bow and arrow.

  Pointed straight at us.

  Another twig broke, this time on the other side of the forest. Closer to Maximus.

  I swallowed hard and looked at Maximus. He nodded silently, gaze intense. The message was clear.

  We were being hunted.

  I reached into the ether and withdrew a shield. Maximus followed my lead, and conjured his own shield. We walked side by side through the forest, each holding our shield between us and the goat man.

  Were they satyrs? Were all goat men satyrs?

  There were so many elements to Greek myth that I really needed to study. But whatever he was, it was bad news.

  Quietly, we continued through the forest. When the goat man stopped, I felt it more than heard it. There was a sudden stillness, and my heart began to pound. Adrenaline flooded my muscles, and I felt like prey.

  No joke, I might as well have been a rabbit caught in the gaze of a fox.

  "Duck!” I hissed.

  I dropped to my knees, holding the shield in front of my entire body. Maximus did the same, thrusting his shield in front of me.

  The arrow smashed into my shield.

  I looked at Maximus. "You’re supposed to protect yourself with your shield.”

  “Shields are for protecting what we find valuable."

  If there’d been time for my heart to melt, it would've been in a puddle somewhere around my feet. Now was not the time, however.

  "We’re just trying to pass peacefully through your forest," I shouted. "We’re looking for Tiresias. We need to ask him some questions."

  "The prey speaks?" The goat man's voice had a strange intonation. Like he was bleating.

  I'm not prey! I stood, reaching into the sack that hung over my back and yanking out a potion bomb. I raised my shield in front of my torso, and sprinted toward the goat man. I ran full out, barreling into the forest. For effect, I added a roar. The primal scream unnerved even me.

  Soon, I was close enough to get a good look at him. More importantly, I had a good shot.

  I raised the potion bomb, a stunner, and threw it at him. For the briefest moment, he blinked stupidly, staring at me like a moron. At the last minute, he ducked, and the bomb sailed over his head.

  From behind, I could hear Maximus charge across the forest floor. Then the sound of clashing steel. I wanted to turn and watch the fight, to make sure that Maximus was okay. But there was no need. He could handle himself. And frankly, I didn't have the time. The goat man was raising his bow and arrow again.

  I reached into my bag and withdrew another potion bomb. The blue glass gleamed in the light of the setting sun, and I chucked it at the goat man. He was too busy aiming his bow, and by the time he spotted the blue glass ball flying toward him, the potion bomb crashed against his chest, spraying blue liquid everywhere.

  His eyes widened briefly.

  “Not used to your prey attacking?” I asked. “And here I thought goats were vegetarians.”

  He toppled over backwards, hitting the ground with a loud thud.

  I crouched low to make a smaller target of myself and searched the forest for another attacker. I could hear no one, but the hair on the back of my neck stood up. It was almost like I could feel someone in the distance off to my left.

  They watched me.

  They wanted to kill me.

  They wanted to eat me.

  Holy fates, the power that Artemis had given me was amazing. I’d never felt this before, but I was damned certain I’d developed the instinct of a prey animal.

  It was creepy. I didn't like how it made my heart race and adrenaline fill my body. I didn't like how my skin chilled, or the hair on my arms stood on end. But I appreciated it.

  This was a power that could save my life.

  Slowly, I turned toward the sense of danger, reaching into my potion bag and gripping another bomb. I withdrew it, squinting through the darkness.

  In the distance, the bare branches of the trees rustled. I looked up, squinting. Could a goat man climb?

  Then I spotted the eyes through the tree limbs, peering down at me.

  Yup. Goat men can climb.

  He raised his bow and arrow, sighting it toward me.

  Before he could fire, I hurled my potion bomb at him, knowing that my aim would be true. I could just feel it.

  A second later, it crashed against his shoulder. With any luck, he wouldn't break his neck when he fell from the tree. I’d chosen a weaker stunner, and I wanted to grill him. The other goat man would be out for hours, but not this guy. As long as he didn't break his neck.

  He hit the ground with a heavy thud. I took a moment to survey my surroundings, but I could neither see nor sense any kind of threat. To my left, the sound of battle ceased.

  "Maximus?"

  "I'm fine."

  “Good. I’m going to grill this one over here." I hurried toward the fallen goat man, keeping my senses alert. Just because there weren't any more threats didn't mean they wouldn't show up in a minute.

  The goat man was sprawled beneath the tree, his bow and arrow scattered. Fortunately, he wore a little loincloth. If I knew one thing in this world, it was that I did not want to see a goat’s dangly bits.

  I knelt at his side, inspecting his fallen body. Neck looked okay, and nothing else was at a particularly weird angle.

  I poked him in the shoulder. "Hey, wake up."

  He groaned, and it sounded a hell of a lot like bleating.

  Maximus knelt on the other side of the goat man, his blue eyes meeting mine. "What did you hit him with?"

  “A light sedative. He should be sort of out of it, but still able to answer questions. As long as we can convince him to."

  "That won't be a problem." Maximus conjured a small dagger, and pressed the tip to the base of the goat man's throat.

  "Dude! Wake up." I shook the prostrate man's shoulder, and his eyes fluttered open.

  He had no whites to his eyes, and they flickered a strange greenish brown. The pupils were slanted like a goat’s. His gaze met mine.

  "What the hell is your problem, dude? I thought goats were vegetarians. Why were you trying to kill us?"

  "On our land." His words were garbled and slow.

  "So, it's an automatic death sentence?"

  He didn't answer. And honestly, I didn't care. Not really. “Do you know where Tiresias is?"

  The goat man tightened his jaw, and it was pretty clear he didn't want to talk.

  Maximus pressed the dagger closer to his neck, and a small bead of blood welled. "Answer the lady."

  "Honestly, I'm the scary one." I grinned at the goat man, trying to make myself look crazy. It wasn't that hard.

  His eyes widened. "Women should not be fighters."

  I growled. "I forgot how sexist the ancient Greeks were.”

  Maximus nodded sagely and looked down at the goat man. "Friend, I suggest that you not say such things in the future. She objects. And when she objects, well, I don't think you want to know what happens."

  I drew a dagger from the ether and twirled it in my fingers. The goat man's eyes followed the glinting steel.

  I tapped it against my lips. “Now, tell me where Tiresias is. We’re not gonna hurt him. But if you don't tell me, I will hur
t you."

  Frankly, the idea of hurting him while he was down like this made my stomach turn. But he didn't need to know that. Whether or not I was going to live up to my threats didn't matter as long as the threat itself was convincing.

  Apparently it worked, because he opened his mouth. "There is an island near the shore. He spends time there."

  "Any tricks on how to get there? Anything to look out for?" Maximus asked.

  The goat man shook his head.

  I wasn't sure if I believed him. Maximus didn't seem sure either. He pressed his dagger into the goat man's skin. It didn't go deep, but the goat man's eyes widened again.

  “Ignore the trees," he said.

  "Ignore the trees?" I frowned at him.

  "That's what I said, isn't it?"

  "Why?"

  "Because—" The goat man choked, the words no longer able to leave his throat.

  I squinted at him, then looked Maximus. “I think he's been cursed not to speak of it.”

  "Agreed."

  This was probably as much as we were going to get out of him. "Can you conjure some rope, Maximus?”

  He nodded, and his magic swelled on the air. I drew in the scent of cedar, loving the hell out of Maximus’s scent. A moment later, several lengths of rope appeared on the ground next to me.

  “I’ll get this one,” Maximus said.

  “Thanks.” I took a couple pieces, then hurried over to the first goat man that I’d hit with the longer-acting sedative.

  Quickly, I bound his limbs. If he woke up before we were out of the forest, I didn’t want to run into him again. Or his arrows.

  By the time I returned to Maximus, he’d bound the semiconscious goat man and was waiting for me.

  "What about the other one?"

  He shook his head. "No need."

  "All right, then. Let's go."

  We started through the forest again, heading towards the shore. As we walked, I kept my senses alert. Dark was falling, and my night vision kicked in. It was strange, almost like I was seeing the world in black and white. But I could see almost as well as I could in the daylight now. Without question, I liked Artemis’s gifts the best.

  As we walked through the trees, noise floated through the leaves. Something like whispers.

  I blinked, looking around. "Do you hear that?"

  "The whispers?" Maximus nodded. "But what are they saying?"

  I tilted my head, listening harder. At first, the noise was indistinguishable from wind. In fact, the whispers sounded so much like wind that I wouldn't have thought them out of place in a forest.

  But there was something almost human about them. Like there was life to them.

  And then the words became clear.

  Help me.

  Help me.

  Help me.

  I shivered, fear icing my skin. I reached for Maximus's hand.

  I'd faced down demons, giants, witches, monsters. Even Titans.

  But this? The sound of somebody so miserable, so in distress. This frightened me.

  I stopped abruptly, dragging Maximus to a halt. I turned around, twisting myself to see the entire forest. I didn't let go of Maximus's hand, and he had to follow me around in a circle. He didn’t let go, though, as if he knew how freaked out I was. Spiders crawled up my back, fear given form.

  "Do you hear that?" I looked at Maximus.

  His skin whitened. "I do now."

  "Where are they?"

  "I can't see them."

  The only thing in the forest I could see were the trees. There weren’t even bushes or scrub brush or ferns or flowers. Just trees. Ancient and dead-looking.

  It sounded like the whispers were coming from the trees.

  "The goat man said to ignore the trees." I shook my head, not liking the sound of that.

  We couldn’t ignore them.

  Not when they were so miserable.

  I let go of Maximus's hand, approaching one of the trees on shaky legs. There was something terrible here, something I didn't want to face.

  Help me.

  Something I had to face.

  I raised a trembling hand and pressed it to the rough bark of the tree. It poked the tender skin of my palm. Two life forces pounded in the tree, and I gasped, jerking my hand away.

  I turned back to Maximus to find that he was right behind me.

  Concern shadowed his eyes. “What is it? You look like you’ve seen a ghost."

  "Not a ghost. A possession." I turned back, studying the bark as my heart thundered in my ears. I pressed my palm to the bark again. I shuddered as two life forces bombarded me. "Someone is trapped in the tree."

  "How is that possible?”

  "The Greek gods did this all the time." I shook my head, disgust shooting through me. "They often turned women into trees. Usually when she incited the lust of a god and ran from him. They considered it protection for her. Better to turn her into a damned tree than tell the jerk to stop being creepy.”

  “What bastards.” Maximus frowned. “Can we get her out?”

  “We have to.”

  "How, though? It's not like a regular prison."

  "No, it's some horrible magic that binds her to the tree." I pressed my other hand to the bark, closing my eyes. If I focused very hard, I could feel the difference between the two lifeforms. One was clearly arboreal—that was the tree. But the other—that was human.

  I was going to have to use my power to suck the life out of the tree without hurting the human life. It would be like performing surgery, the hardest thing I'd ever done with my power.

  Why was it that the power I hated the most was the one that could do the most good? It should be an evil gift, but somehow, when I forced myself to use it, it could do great things.

  As carefully as I could, I began to draw the tree’s life force out of the bark. It flowed up my arms and into my chest, seeming to suffuse my soul with its strength. But there was something almost dirty about it. Not nearly as bad as the life that I had sucked out of the Stryx, but this was a life-form that had been used to trap another. One of the gods, maybe Zeus since he was a real bastard, had given this tree a bit of his magic in order to trap whatever nymph or beautiful woman was locked in there.

  Slowly the magic traveled from the tree into my body. Strength flowed through me, followed by nausea that roiled in my stomach.

  As I continued to work, my knees buckled, and I nearly went to the ground.

  Chapter Three

  Maximus gripped my waist, holding me upright. I leaned into his strength, grateful to have him here.

  As my magic flowed into the tree, I began to feel the life force of the woman even stronger. It took intense concentration not to steal her energy, and I used everything I'd learned while practicing this power to keep her safe.

  By the time I'd taken most of the tree’s life force, the bark began to fall away. It turned to dust before it hit the ground, and I breathed shallowly to avoid drawing it into my lungs.

  "I think you’re almost there." Maximus kept his hands gripped around my waist as I worked, supporting me. The strength of the tree was flowing through me, but taking such icky magic made me ill.

  The last of the bark fell away, revealing the shape of a woman. She was made of wood, but as I sucked the last of the power out of the tree, magic began to swirl around her form. Swoops of gold floated around her, sparkling and bright.

  The magic flared, and the woman gasped. When the light faded, I blinked.

  The tree was gone, and in its place stood a beautiful woman. She was so gorgeous it almost hurt to look at her.

  "Thank you." She gripped my arm, her emerald eyes gleaming. Her flame-red hair was bright despite the darkness, and if she needed a job in modern day, I was 1000 percent certain that she could be a swimsuit model.

  "Who are you? How did you become trapped in the tree?" I ran my gaze up and down her body, making sure there were no wounds or any part of her that was still made of wood.

  Thank fates, but she l
ooked whole and healthy.

  “Apollo was chasing me, and he would not cease. Nothing could make him stop. To save me, my father, Peneus, the river god, trapped me within that tree."

  "Are you Daphne?”

  She nodded. "How did you know?"

  "You're pretty famous."

  "Not for the right reasons.” She scowled. “Famous for becoming a tree. The gods are bastards. Even my father.”

  “Bastards is right.” I squeezed her arm, hoping the gesture was comforting. She seemed to appreciate it.

  "Why did the goat man tell us to ignore the trees?" Maximus asked.

  Her scowl deepened. “Those bastards? They’re called the Panes. You can't trust a single word from their lips. They liked having us trapped in this forest."

  "They were jerks." I looked around the forest. “Are there more of you in here?"

  Daphne pointed to a twisted tree about twenty yards away. "Lotus is in there."

  "Can you speak to her? Tell her what I'm going to do?"

  "I don't need to. She knows what you're going to do. We could communicate while we were trees. Once I figured out that you were saving me, she became very excited as well."

  "I don't blame her." Anger at Peneus seeped through me. "Being trapped in there for two thousand years sounds awful."

  "Longer than that." Worry creased her brow. "I don't know what I will do now, though. My whole life is gone. Everyone I knew is dead."

  "I'm so sorry."

  She shrugged, though her face still looked sad. “I didn't have any close family. And a few thousand years is long enough to ease the sting of losing your friends. But what will I do now?”

  "We can help you," Maximus said. "I came from the past as well. Transitioning isn’t easy, but this is a better world than the one you left behind.”

  “As long as no one thinks it’s acceptable to turn me into a tree to save me from rape, I’ll consider it an improvement.” Daphne's eyes drifted down my form, taking in my pants. “And I can see that fashion has changed." She grinned. “I think I like it."

  "I work for a place called the Protectorate. They’ll help you. But first, let's get Lotus out of that tree."

  This time, it was a little bit easier to separate the tree from the woman trapped within. Practice, practice, practice, yada yada yada. But it really did work.