Myka's Tail Ch. 05

The fear that I felt come off of her when I made that final threat was as sharp as any knife, and I knew that this round had been won by me. As implausible as it sounded, I had beaten back the Betrayer, but if I could end this here and now, I was going to try my damnedest to do so.

With just a thought, I called the earth to move up from the ground and to surround her body. Once in place, another thought from me was all it took to cause the earth to form itself into solid rock, which was inching its way up the Betrayer's body as she struggled. I loosened the vines surrounding her as the unforgiving stone continued its inexorable march to my enemy's neck, and used them to support what would soon be her tomb.

I thought for a moment about using one of the receding vines to pull off her hood and try to identify who she was, but the inky blackness that filled the opening of her hood meant that she was most likely using magic to conceal herself. As nice as it would have been to unmask her, she would not be a problem for much longer, so I just concentrated on what I was doing.

Once the stone had made its way up to her chest, and all the Betrayer could move was her head, I began to have some doubts about what I was doing. True, she had tried to mess with me and my family, and had also given Mathias the assistance and resources he needed in his attempts to subjugate me, but I had her now at my mercy, and there appeared to be little that she could do about it. I hesitated and asked myself if I could actually kill someone in cold blood, even if it was only in the dream world. I had killed the mercenaries during the last attack, but they had been killing the wildlife and were actively hunting me, and my primal self had defended everything that I loved. I was becoming unsure with each passing moment, and I didn't realize until it was too late, that my hesitation had cost me the one chance I had to end things right here.

"Mark me well, slave," the Betrayer hissed as the stone was creeping above her cloaked shoulders. "You and those poor excuses for practitioners of witchcraft will never lay claim to this locus of power. None of you have the ability, nor the spine to do all that is necessary to keep and maintain a power such as this. If you try, I will be there to take it from you and the only recourse you will have will be to weep over the dead after I am finished. And if you thought that your feeble attempts to destroy me here were sufficient, then you are not as bright as I was starting to think you were."

I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could speak the Betrayer shouted out a word of power and the clearing was rocked by a thundering explosion. It knocked me into the air and tossed my body like a piece of garbage, causing me to strike one of the large trees that made up the border of this space. All the air in my lungs was forced out in a whoosh and starburst flashes went off in my vision. I called upon the strength of the earth to steady myself as I staggered to my feet, and shook my head to try and clear the ringing in my ears.

The Betrayer was pushing her way out of the pile of rubble that my stone prison had become, and like me, she appeared to be less than steady on her feet. I knew then that I should not have been so complacent, and that by second guessing my actions I had allowed her the perfect opportunity to escape.

"You were lucky this time, little Neko," she coughed as she turned to face me. "But luck will only get you so far. It will not be long before my preparations to take from you everything that you are will be complete, and then I will have access to all that has been denied me for so long. Cross me at your own peril."

Before I could recover enough to rush her, or try to trap her again, she pulled her cloak about her naked form and seemed to twist into strange, contorted shapes before disappearing. Once she had gone, I was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief. I had beaten her, and had almost eliminated her as a threat, much to my surprise. Now I just had to get back to where I started and let Kelli, my family, and the Circle know what had happened, and what I had learned.

Since I had started this little adventure into the reflection of our world at the bottom of our pond, I decided to return there as a good place to start making my way back. The cool touch of the water against my skin was like a soothing balm that reached into my soul to calm the worries and fears that I had ignored during my confrontation with the Betrayer. I couldn't help but smile as I once again sank below the surface in communion with one of my elements.

Reaching the bottom, I relaxed my body and let my mind wander as I usually did when I would think here, and within what seemed like a few minutes I felt a strange pull latch onto something inside of me. A moment later I realized that my lungs were on fire, and my chest felt like someone was squeezing what little breath I had left out of me. This was the first time I could recall ever having to breathe, let alone this badly, before I returned to the land. Panic almost set in as I pushed up from the bottom of the pond, and once I had broached the surface, my mouth opened and I inhaled a gulp of precious air with a hoarse cry.

"Oh goddess," I heard Kelli cry as I stood up, my lungs still greedily gulping breath after breath of fresh air. "Myka, what happened, and are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm much better now," I replied once I had pulled in enough air to start feeling more like myself. "Why are you so...?"

What I was about to say was driven from my chest as Kelli pulled me into a bone crushing embrace the moment my feet were on dry land. The emotions that she was projecting over our bond were filled with an intense worry and concern for my well-being. She was also somewhat angry at me, and I didn't understand why. And to top it all off, I realized that Kelli was weeping as she whispered into my ear.

"Don't ever leave me like that again," she hissed so that only I could hear. "I didn't know if you were coming back or not."

"What happened while I was down at the bottom of the pond," I asked, confused at how frightened that Kelli was. "I've been down there a lot, and you must have felt that I was ok."

"No, I didn't feel that you were ok," she almost hollered. "I had a sense that you were alive, but it was like you were walled off from me, and I have had to sit here and just wait, for what seemed like forever, for you to come back."

"How long was I under this time?"

"We got here a little over an hour ago," Kelli answered, letting me go and taking a deep breath. "And our dads said you had been under for a while before that. Why did you not come up, or let us know you were ok."

She had said we when she was letting me know how long it had been since I had surfaced, and I realized that there were more people here than just us and our dads. Gina and Mary were both moving around the perimeter of the clearing, doing whatever it was that they did to detect magic, and Ali was sitting on a fallen log on the other side of the tree line using a globe of light so that she could see to read from the large book that she had. I was surprised that Ali was here at all because she was maintaining minimal contact with her sisters in the Circle.

She was still very angry about the things she had learned when we last had an encounter with Mathias, and as far as I knew, she was still not speaking to her mother. Looking at her now, I could still see the golden cords that connected her to everyone here, but they appeared strained and brittle, and I knew that we would all need to be careful so that we did not strain our relationships with her any further.

"What have you all been doing since you got here," I asked.

"The others have been doing what they could to figure out what it was that affected you so badly, and I have been pacing back and forth with worry, trying to decide whether to dive in after you or just stick it out. Both Mary and Gina wouldn't let me go in after you so I was stuck up here. Our dads are out making another sweep of the area in case there were any other threats out here, and Kita is with them. That about covers it."

"Well, there is a lot that I need to tell you all, and I think I got some really useful information."

"It would be best if you waited Myka," Gina said as she came over to see how I was. "Your fathers will be back soon, and we are waiting on two others to arrive, and I am guessing that it would be best if you only had to go over things once."

"You're right," I agreed, as I pulled Kelli down to sit next to me. "I really don't want to have to talk about this more than once. How long do we have?"

"Perhaps ten minutes, but likely less. You were very lucky tonight Myka, and I hope what you have discovered is worth it."

While we waited I laid my head down in Kelli's lap and let her stroke my hair. I could tell it was very calming for her to have physical contact with me right now, and I wanted to do what I could to relieve her of the troubling emotions she was still feeling. I rolled so that I could look up at her face and smile, hoping that she would understand that I was ok now, and that she had no more need to worry. Within a couple of minutes, our dads came back from their search of the perimeter, and saw me there with Kelli.

"Oh my god baby! Are you ok," dad cried as he and Kelli's dad both rushed in from the tree line. "You didn't come up, and we were panicking until Kelli showed up and said it should be fine. Then she started panicking and I just about lost it. Please don't do that to me again."

"Or me," Kelli's dad added. "At least let us know you are still doing some weird magic or power kind of shit so we at least think it could be normal. You really scared us."

Both of them had dropped down to the ground where Kelli and I were sitting and they both pulled us into a hug. This lasted for several moments, and I allowed myself to find comfort in their arms before a glaring issue made things uncomfortable again. The fact was that I was still naked, and with me being both a fully grown woman and their daughter, things got a bit awkward.

"Sorry little girl," dad apologized, as both he and Kelli's dad turned around to give me some privacy. "We were just so glad to see you ok."

"It's not a problem," I responded, slightly amused by their embarrassment. "However, does someone here have my clothes, or something I can use to cover up?"

"I have a covering you may use, child," said a familiar voice as both Millicent and Cassandra made their way into the clearing.

I was overjoyed to see Millicent again after such a long time, so much so that I leapt up and bounded over to wrap my arms around her, heedless once again of the lack of clothing in front of my dads. She too seemed very happy to see me, and it was wonderful to bask in the light of the happiness of our reunion.

"I've missed you Nana," I almost cried, as Millicent placed her overly large shawl around my shoulders which covered me like a dress.

"There little one. That should be sufficient covering until you can get something more substantial, and I am most pleased to see you as well."

She gave me a soft and tender kiss on the forehead, and the warmth of her affection seemed to spread throughout my body in a wave, banishing my fears and worries as it went. It was always amazing to witness or be touched by her power, and it made me wish that she could be around to teach me and give me advice a little more.

"Now that we are all here it is time to discuss the happenings that brought us all together," Millicent began, and the weight of command in her voice caused us all to pay attention. "And you Aliara, you will take your place in this discussion as a full member of the Circle. You and your mother can deal with your problems on your own time and in your own way. Know this, however. I am losing patience with you both and you will figure things out, or I shall intervene. Am I clear? And that goes for you too Cassandra."

While Millicent was addressing the both of them, I noticed that Ali had been gathering her things to leave before she had been instructed to stay. Even so, both of the women stayed as far apart from each other as they could. Ali's anger with her mother was clear enough that I was sure even my dads could sense it, and Cassandra looked like she had been through the wringer, sadness visible in what few lines she had on her face. I looked for anything that I could sense between the two of them, some little thing that I could use to help speed up the emotional healing that they both needed, but nothing existed but anger and sadness.

"Now little one," Millicent addressed me, once Ali and her mother had accepted her commands. "Please go over what happened to you this night, and leave nothing out. Even the slightest bit of information could prove to be important."

With a nod of my head I stood so that everyone could face me, pulling Millicent's shawl a bit tighter about my small frame. I began with the sudden and oppressive weight of the call the earth had put upon me, and I described the pain I felt because of it in great detail. No one had any questions for me yet, and I continued relating my experiences of the evening, doing my best to remember as much detail as I could.

The shocked gasps that came from everyone there as I told them about my second encounter with the one we knew as the Betrayer indicated that all of them were surprised at this turn of events. I described my conflict with her down to the feeling of the passage of her fists as I dodged, and the desperation that I was feeling until I had had my epiphany of the elements. As I told them about her defeat once I realized that we were in a place of power attuned to me, the utter surprise mixed with a new found admiration coming from the women of the Circle made me blush.

"So, to me, the most important thing I noticed was that The Betrayer has both the powers of a witch, and the abilities of a Neko," I said, explaining my conclusions. "Though it was like these two powers are somewhat exclusive of each other."

"What do you mean," Gina asked, with her boundless curiosity.

"Well, during our fight she was not using much magic while she was matching my speed, my reflexes, and my skill. I could feel her trying to access and blunt my link to the earth and water, but it had little effect on my connection. But when she quit fighting and using Neko abilities, it was a tough mental struggle to keep her locked down. I was strong enough, but it was a challenge."

"What you have described, and your conclusions about it, does fit with what I know about differing types of magic," Millicent agreed. "That this witch has somehow found a way to tap into, or even steal, the nature spirit magic of the Neko, and to use it to her own ends, makes her the worst sort of betrayer possible. Long ago, witches were given charge over shepherding and guiding Neko in this world, and it was a solemn responsibility gladly accepted. To violate a magical duty of that nature for selfish reasons takes a black heart indeed."

"So we essentially know that she can match Myka in a straight up fight," Kelli said. "Or she can use witch's magic against her, but not at the same time. The other thing we know is that her current goal is to somehow tap into and exclusively use the power of this potential locus for her own ends. And ultimately to take Myka's aspect and power from her."

"Thwarting the formation of this locus appears to be the next step in the game that she is playing," Millicent replied, a hint of frustration in her voice. "I apologize to those who did not know about this center of power that Myka and Gina discovered, but I had hoped to keep things undiscovered for a while longer. Now we must act in order to deny the Betrayer access to such magic that might very well shake the foundations of the world."

"So what is involved in keeping power out of her hands," my dad asked the group, causing many surprised glances.

"The simplest action, and the one most likely to succeed, would be to ritually destroy the locus and render it useless for all time."

"NO! Not while I still breathe," I hissed at her, and to my surprise I also felt Kelli's anger at this suggestion.

"Absolutely not," Kelli almost shouted. "It nearly killed Myka tonight when the Betrayer was poking around in the dream reality. Can you even imagine the damage it would do to her if we attempt destroying this locus?"

"Calm yourselves," Millicent replied, doing her best to soothe the burst of anger she had caused. "My intention was not to suggest that course of action. I was merely stating fact. The only other options open to us are to leave this place untouched as it is, or to move ahead and swiftly build a new locus and add in whatever safeguards we can."

"The problem with leaving it alone is that some of us would have to guard it constantly," Ali commented, finally managing to speak to the group. "And if we could not defend it, the power would be lost. Building the locus, however, lets us put up more defenses, but while the ritual is being performed it can be interrupted and stolen."

"That is my fear Aliara," Millicent agreed. "Neither of those options are ideal, but I feel that it would be in our best interests to build the locus and defend the ritual. The chances of our losing the power here is quite significant, but for Myka's sake it is the correct course of action."

"How could this new power center, or locus, or whatever it is be stolen from you," my dad asked, and it was Gina that turned to answer him.

"Essentially, the locus is created by placing a series of stones in a magically conducive geometric pattern."

"Like Stonehenge," Kelli's dad interrupted.

"Yes. Or, more like the ring of stones in Scotland. Once placed, magic circles and other ritual spells will be applied that allow the power that resides in the earth to be tapped through the correct use of the stones. If the Betrayer were to intervene in the ritual, and cast certain spells herself, she could cause the stones to only recognize her or those she allowed."

"Shit," dad breathed, shaking his head. "And if you complete this ritual, could she just come in and tap the power like hacking a computer?"

"It would be extraordinarily difficult," Millicent replied. "And we would put in the best protections we could to prevent it, but a witch with sufficient power and skill would be able to break through our spells with time and effort."

"You know, I can only look at this from my experience in computer security, but will your protections be strong enough?"

"The protection spells will be as strong as the witch who casts them," Gina answered. "That is really the best that we can do."

"But a while ago, Kelli and I came up with a solution to a spell that had locked down information in a computer system. We figured it out using principles from both of our respective disciplines. Could you maybe use similar architecture as I use when defending a network system from outside intrusion?"

"Can you explain your thoughts to us Daniel," Millicent asked. "In a way that a mind as old as mine can understand."

"I would bet you understand a lot more than you let on ma'am," dad answered with a chuckle. "But yes. I think I can."

"Proceed then."

"So working with computer systems we use multi-level architecture for defense. A firewall to keep intruders out, encryption and passwords in case they manage to get in, and various defense programs that can block attempts to steal information or plant malicious programs. That sounds a lot like your spells, but if you planned them right, I think it would make it much harder for those not meant to use this power to access it."

"I think that kind of an approach will work," Kelli added, and I could see a glint of excitement flashing in her eyes. "Almost two years ago we combined magic and software engineering to break through Mathias' information block, and I don't see why the same principles can't be applied here. I would need Gina's help to figure out the rituals, and she knows way more about the elemental magics than I do."