Earth, Sun, and Moon Saga Ch. 06

Gwen grabbed Ash and pulled her into the cistern room. The narrow tunnel that the flowing water disappeared into was certainly wide enough for them but still, Gwen didn't relish the thought of going into it.

Whatever was after them, it reached the stairs and barreled down them, howling in rage.

"C'mon," Gwen urged Ash.

Ash pulled her arm away. "No. I'm not going in there. It's yucky. Besides, I'm not leaving our friends."

"We can't help them if we're dead."

Too late.

A horrifying figure filled the doorway.

She stood on all fours, golden front legs ending in the powerful retractable paws of a lion while the back were the heavily muscled hunches of a hippopotamus; gold fur giving way to shiny gray skin. The head was crested in a great mane which gave way to the long, narrow snout of a Nile crocodile. In her true form, the goddess was the size of a grizzly bear.

"Hello, my little hearts," Ammit growled.

Gwen held out the statue in front of her. "Don't you fucking move or I'll destroy this."

Ammit growled again, her throat rumbling low and deep. "You wouldn't dare, little heart. But I do wonder why you're here. Why interfere with power you cannot possibly understand?"

"We're here to stop you from hurting our friends!" Ash said, her fists balled at her sides.

Ammit sniffed the air. "You're not human. What are you?"

"Mad. That's what I am!"

Ammit entered the room but didn't move from the doorway. "No matter. Tell you what. I am a generous goddess. Hand over the idol and I'll let you leave this room alive. Unlike your undead consort, we don't need you."

"Counter offer," Gwen said. "We just infiltrated your party, got past your protection barrier, and stole the object that tethers your boss to this plane of existence. You let us go, or I smash this fucking thing on the ground."

"Then there is nothing to prevent me from ripping you apart."

Gwen sneered at the goddess, defiant. Her magic was weak in this city of stone and steel but she was not powerless. She gathered what energy she could through the soles of her feet and the air around her, readying for the attack.

"Make your choice then," Gwen challenged. "You are not welcome on my island."

She and Ammit locked gazes, all but ignoring Ash.

Though her hair was still partially pinned up, neither saw when stray locks began to float up.

Ammit growled and snapped her jaws menacingly.

Then she charged.

And the selkie screamed.

Blinding light filled the chamber, forcing Gwen to squeeze her eyes shut and cover her ears.

When she opened them again, Ammit was across the room, splayed out in the channel of water, but already struggling to stand.

Asari's eyes glowed in electric blue-gray, the color of a white squall.

"You may be gods of death," Ash said, her voice echoing otherworldly. "But I serve life at its source."

She pulled the water around Ammit with a great sweep of her arms. A wave crashed over the goddess' back but didn't break. Instead, it held her like a drop of dew holding an ant.

Ammit thrashed and struggled but it was as if she were trapped in a fishbowl.

Gwen saw the golden amulet around the beast's thick neck. The ankh shimmered in the water, its power obvious. It was the idol that tethered her here.

Gwen pulled the amulet toward her. It was no easy feat, as she had to work partially against Ash's water magic to reach it and against the amulet itself which wanted to stay connected to its ward. But Gwen was no mere witch. She gasped the ankh with her mind, her very soul, and pulled.

The clasp snapped and the amulet flew out of the bubble of water and into her open hand.

Ammit screamed inside her prison of water. She was under no threat of drowning but Gwen knew Ash couldn't keep her there indefinitely.

"I can't hold her forever!" Ash yelled, echoing her own thought, and clenching her teeth from the strain.

"I just need a little time!" Gwen threw the amulet on the ground.

If she had time she could destroy the damned thing but she didn't, so she would have to improvise.

Gwen had sewn several pockets into the folds of the dress Lenore lent her. She never went anywhere without a traveling apothecary on her.

She knelt, pulling vials out of those hidden pockets: salt, blessed earth, crushed topaz, the powdered shell of a great tortoise.

Gwen was a flurry of movement. She poured the salt in a ring around the amulet. She pulled a small blade from her sleeve and made a slice to her palm. She squeezed blood onto the amulet and then dumped the blessed earth on her laceration. A sprinkle of crushed topaz on the blood and the amulet began to sizzle.

"This land," Gwendolyn said, "is closed to you. You are not welcome. I bind you. You are to leave and never return. To this, I seal you." Then she spoke the ancient words of her ancestors, a language so old it was never written down.

Ammit howled, bubbles from her screams seeming to boil her watery prison.

Gwen picked up the amulet and rubbed the powdered tortoise shell across the golden cross of the ankh.

Then she spit on it.

It was done.

Ammit melted.

Her features distorted inside the bubble. Asari couldn't hold her any longer and collapsed to her knees. The bubble burst, water splashing outward. Ammit collapsed too, her predatory features folding back on themselves, a broken mirror whose reflection recurved and then shattered and then recurved again. Smaller and smaller as she was pulled across realities.

With a crack of thunder, Ammit was gone. Water had splashed them both, soaking their elegant dresses but only Asari was truly affected. The water caused her legs to transform back to a tail and she lay on the stone floor with her chest heaving.

The two were silent for a long moment.

"See? I knew that wasn't really a crocodile!" Asari said.

***

Anubis continued the ritual.

It was unclear to Edward whether or not he needed Ammit to finish it but he certainly didn't seem to need her to kill Lenore. He picked up the thin metal implement and was poised to pick up where she left off.

Edward grabbed the two teenagers, pulling them off his cock.

"Ladies," he said, pulling them close, making eye contact with each as he spoke, and focusing his words the way Gwen taught him. "It's a shame to spend all your talents on just me. Your lips and tongues are truly the stuff of the divine." He pointed to the jackal god. "That one there is a god worthy of your gifts. Pray at his loins and surely he will bless you."

The two girls gasped, actually seeing Anubis for the first time. Margaret, more inclined to Edward's power of suggestion, nodded gravely. She turned to her friend. "We should attend to him, my love."

Anabella nodded as well. "He hasn't gotten any attention, has he?"

"Aye, he does require your ministrations," Edward agreed. "But go quickly now."

With that, he turned the girls loose. They wasted no time and crawled on their hands and knees toward him, ignoring Lenore.

Before Anubis could spear Lenore's brain with that nasty-looking implement, Margaret reached under his loincloth and tugged on his thick member.

"What's this?" Anubis asked, clearly surprised.

"Master," Anabella said. "We wish to serve you."

Margaret already had her mouth over the god's fat glans and sucked greedily. Anubis appeared like he might push them away, but he hesitated. It seemed the oral ministrations of a pair of English maidens were too great for even a god to resist.

Edward pulled his pants back on. He wasn't sure how much time he'd bought Lenore but he was giving her a fighting chance. She looked at him and he put a finger to his lips.

Edward moved around the room, hoping that he'd go unnoticed with Anubis distracted. A maid was still enthusiastically fucking herself with their host's cane, working nearly nine inches of the smooth silver cap in and out of her sopping pussy. She was still mostly clothed, but her demure black dress was pushed down revealing soft, pillowy breasts.

"Miss," he said, whispering in her ear.

She immediately turned to kiss him, forcing her tongue into his mouth and moaning. He pulled away but grabbed the shaft of the cane and slid it into her a few inches. She squealed in delight.

"Miss," he said again, turning her head so he could gaze into her eyes. "Wouldn't you rather have the real thing?"

"Mmm, that'd be right lovely," she purred.

Edward pointed to Anubis, who had fully acquiesced to the ministrations of Margaret and Anabella. "You wouldn't want to miss out on your chance to bed a god, now would you?"

"Most certainly not!" the maid agreed.

Edward helped her to her feet and she practically threw herself at Anubis.

The god made no move to stop the ministrations of his new fan club, with the three women jockeying for position to fuck him. The maid won out initially, hiking up her dress, and backing her round ass up to him. Soon, he was fucking her earnestly, his giant cock only able to go in about halfway. The maid didn't seem to mind, as she was pushing back on it with great enthusiasm.

With Anubis now reasonably distracted, Edward moved next to Lenore.

"This party is a little dull," Edward said. "Want to get out of here?"

"I'd love to but I can't move. I'm paralyzed somehow." Lenore struggled for emphasis, but only her head and neck were able to move.

Edward tried picking her up but it was like trying to move a boulder.

"I'm stuck until Anubis passes judgment on me," Lenore said. "At least now I know how he murdered my coven."

Edward looked around. Even though Anubis was distracted, the rest of the orgy had mostly died down. The gangbang of Mrs. Wright had ended with several of the men collapsing where they stood, making a human pile upon which the cum-covered young matron curled on top. Her husband had found an unoccupied chair and passed out in it unceremoniously. Mrs. Thomas had finally reunited with her own husband, and the two were spooning on the floor, their mutual infidelity seemingly ignored.

But there was no sign of Gwen or Asari.

Edward momentarily considered leaving Lenore's side to go find them but rejected the idea almost as quickly. He didn't know where they were or how long Anubis would be distracted.

A low moan came from the open sarcophagus.

The sound went unnoticed by Anubis. The jackal god barked with pleasure as he railed the maid and then Anabella, lifting the recently devirginized strumpet up and fucking her while standing. He buried his snout between her breasts and was giving both tits a generous tongue bath.

The moan came again, this time followed by a bandaged hand gripping the lip of the sarcophagus.

The mummy pulled itself up.

Sickly yellow bandages hung off it, partially concealing healthy bronze skin underneath.

It was a woman--some sort of high priestess, Edward remembered from Lord Vane's introduction.

She moaned again, searching the room with blazing golden eyes. She locked her gaze on Lenore, clearly understanding her role as an organ donor for the recently resurrected.

She snarled and began crawling out of the sarcophagus toward them.

Lenore turned to Edward, her fear genuine. "Please, Edward. Please do something."

Edward steeled himself to act. He couldn't move Lenore but he could move the mummy. Most of the nature magic he'd learned from Gwendolyn wasn't of use here. He couldn't summon animals or create sinkholes or grow plants. But he could push.

He gathered what energy he could, pulling it into his chest, and then, in a great exhalation, pushed it down his arms and out from the palms of his hands.

There was no bolt of energy, no flash of light, just directed force at the partially resurrected mummy.

She flew off the table as if thrown, striking the far wall and causing a painting to crash down.

If Anubis wasn't paying attention before, he was now.

"No!" he roared. "Blasphemer!"

He pulled Anabella off his cock and tossed her away like garbage. She tumbled into her friend, Margaret and both fell on the pile of resting bodies. This action seemed to finally break the spell over the room and people began coming out of their sex-addled stupor.

A maid screamed at the site of Anubis and ran out of the drawing room without bothering to find her clothes. This triggered others to start moving away, alternatively confused and horrified, attempting to dress on the move. Most couldn't seem to decide whether to be ashamed of their own nakedness or horrified at the monstrous scene playing out around them.

Anubis ignored them, crossing over to the mummy and kneeling by her side.

"My love," he said, stroking the mummy's head. When he was satisfied that she wasn't damaged, he stood, turning his gaze to Edward. "Fiend," he growled.

Edward stood between Lenore and Anubis as people filed out around them.

His hands were ready.

"Back, devil!" he screamed. "You cannot have her!"

The mummy staggered to her feet. Many of her bandages, thousands of years old, had disintegrated from the impact, revealing the hauntingly beautiful woman underneath. She looked at Lenore, held out her hands longingly, and moaned.

"Patience, my love," Anubis told her. "It won't be long now."

He turned back to Edward just as Gwen reached the room. She was dripping wet, her eyes wild and beautiful.

"Stop!" the druidess demanded, holding up a black object in both hands. The idol of Anubis, Edward realized.

Nude guests flowed out around her--fleeing the scene in confusion.

Anubis curled his lips back in a full snarl. "Foolish wench! You know not what you do!"

"I know enough to send you back to your god plane," Gwen said, her determination clear. Edward resisted the urge to cheer the arrival of his mistress.

Lenore had no such compunction. "Oh, you're screwed now, Annie!"

Anubis held out his hand and the idol was yanked out of Gwen's hands. He caught it easily, placing it on the table next to him.

"Did you really think you could threaten me with my own tether? Foolish human! Your magic is sleight-of-hand compared to god-magic."

Undeterred, Gwen pulled energy into herself. "You're not welcome here! This is our realm! I already banished your assistant. I don't mind doing so again."

"You cannot stop what is foretold," Anubis said, taking a threatening step forward. He raised the golden ankh and Edward saw it not as a talisman, or some ritual object, but as a blunt weapon. He meant to club Lenore with it. "These foul things feast on the living and you would defend them?"

"She's our friend," Edward said, defiantly. "You can't have her."

Anubis flicked his wrist and sent Edward flying, slamming him into the far wall. He took the brunt to his shoulder before falling to the ground. His chest heaved as he tried to stand, as all the wind had been knocked out of him.

Gwen drew symbols in the air. Her hands moved in a flurry but Edward could see her layering wards atop each other, her powers on full display. It was a calligraphy made up of Gwen's primal magic--golden glyphs layered in the air, held there by the very fabric of reality.

She pulled her arms in a wide arc, turning the layered wards like a wheel, the clockwork gears of her magic clicking and twisting around itself.

"Hear me, death god," Gwen's voice boomed. Her feet left the ground as she floated upward. "I am the Watcher of the Wood. The Seer of Dreams. I am she that walks with time. I am Maiden, Mother, and Crone. You are a trespasser to this land, a god without a house. I lock this realm from your powers."

With that, she pushed the whole ward at Anubis.

It exploded in a dance of light, bathing the room in a kaleidoscope of color that faded just as quickly as it came.

"That all?" Anubis sneered, seemingly unaffected by the display. "A show of lights?"

He waved his hand at Gwen as he had with Edward but nothing happened. He tried again but she was unmoved.

"That all?" Gwen asked, her grin challenging. She was already writing more glyphs, building another ward.

Anubis snorted and closed the distance between him and Gwendolyn in three great steps. He seized her by the throat, snatching her from the air.

"That's all," he barked, then threw her through the window.

Edward tried to scream as glass shattered outward but his voice was caught in his throat. Gwen disappeared in the spray of shards. His mistress. His savior.

Anubis turned back to Lenore. "Now where were we?" He raised the golden ankh over his head like a hammer.

Edward, not knowing what else to do, charged.

He ran full-force into Anubis in a low tackle. If he could at least put him off balance, maybe he could buy time. Time for what, exactly, he wasn't sure.

It was like running head-first into a tree trunk.

But Anubis was caught unawares enough that he was thrown off balance, stepping back as Edward wrapped himself around his legs. They stumbled, then fell.

Edward realized he was in trouble as soon as they began falling. He could see the result of this battle as clearly as could see his own reflection: Anubis would grab him with his free hand and crush his skull before he could so much as stand.

Stupid, he thought.

Edward tumbled on top of Anubis in a flurry of limbs as the god attempted to brace himself while still holding the solid gold ankh.

Instead of grabbing Edward, Anubis bit him. He grabbed Edward at his trapezius, where his neck met his shoulder, clamping down with wicked canine teeth, his lower incisors hooking him under his collarbone.

Edward howled in pain and beat at Anubis' head but to no avail.

Anubis stood without letting go, growling violently, and lifted Edward in the air as if he were a mere chew toy.

Edward felt muscle and skin tear in response, the pain growing so intense that he became nauseous. Through squinted vision, Edward saw the idol on the table.

Despite the searing pain, he reached out.

And pulled.

The idol flew to his open hand just as the jackal god shook him like a ragdoll.

Edward's bones cracked and his vision blurred. But he held on to it.

Anubis threw him.

Edward crashed across the table, knocking off the now-empty canopic jars, sending them shattering on the floor, and bounced off the heavy wood of the sarcophagus, finally rolling off the table, and landing on the wet shards.

His vision went black around the edges, pain the only thing keeping him conscious. His hands gripped the ebony wood of the idol. Anubis in miniature. It was a simple, silly thing and if Edward had seen it in a shop, he would have scoffed at it as a piece of clap-trap.

These thoughts came in a haze. He didn't know where he was or what he was supposed to be doing.

"You mortals are all the same," Anubis growled, blood around his snout. His blood. "Placing yourselves in situations you don't understand and acting shocked when you're bested by your betters."

Edward regarded the idol in his hands.

Destroy it, a dimly aware part of him said.

Destroy it.

Why? It didn't make sense.

But his current circumstance came to him in a flood of pain. He thought of dead vampires and broken glass and carriage rides and of harvesting carrots from the warm earth in the garden of a witch. He thought of his mother, laying dead from cholera in their one-room house, his withered father not far behind. He thought of what Gwendolyn had said to him, mere days after she'd caught him trying to steal food.

You don't have to be scared. But if you are scared, be brave too.

He could push out with his hands. But if he pushed out while they were together...

With a focus of energy that felt impossibly far away and small, he pushed out, through hands that held that stupid, kitschy statue. He couldn't seem to hold on to it though, energy slipping through his fingers.

Another voice told him not to resist. Not to react.