The Eighth Warden Bk. 03 Ch. 31-32

She couldn't be everywhere at once. Then she remembered the day they'd fought the zombies. She'd done something to the zombies, but she'd done something else that day, too. If she could just remember how ...

Taking a deep breath, she gathered as much healing magic as she could, then thrust her arms out to the sides, trying to extend her spell as wide as possible.

There was no bell tone this time, but the pulses of light still came, washing over her allies. As the first reached Josip, he drew in a sharp breath and opened his eyes, looking more alert.

The pulses continued emanating from Treya's body even after she lowered her arms to her sides. It was a healing spell, of sorts. Without an intelligence to guide it, she doubted it was as good as directly healing someone, but it would continue on its own and work at a distance.

It would have to do. Even with Ellerie's help, Corec and Sarette were close to being overwhelmed as they tried to fight off dozens of the mercenaries. Treya would have to take Josip's place on this side of the battle, leaving Boktar and Razai to manage on their own. Hopefully Shavala and Katrin would be able to help them.

But even if they did, she wasn't sure it would be enough.

#

Fox watched the battle from the roof of an empty building, waiting for the right moment.

He'd been anticipating this day for months, ever since he'd first learned Snake might still be alive. Now, the evidence was here before his eyes, and he could no longer deny it. The two priests below bore his brother's scent.

That meant there was a new player in the game, a player who'd remained hidden for thousands of years. It changed the delicate balance between the other players, throwing all the potential futures into chaos. What did Snake want?

Up until now, Fox had tried to stay out of the game, making only tiny adjustments when they were needed. He'd taken direct action just once, when he, Bear, and Raven had determined that The Lady's plan had to be stopped. She'd been so blinded by her hatred for Pallisur, she hadn't seen that she'd be creating something even worse—a semi-immortal godling unbound by either the rules the gods placed on themselves or by the strictures that governed the connections between the realms.

Fox hoped The Lady had found wisdom since that day, but he doubted it. After all, it was she who had killed Wisdom.

Ironically, her plan would have reinforced the structural integrity of the Collision, at least for a while. That should have been Fox's primary concern, ensuring the realms remained stable. But he'd watched the mortal world for millennia, since the people were first learning to use tools. He'd constructed his identity based on one of the creatures that lived there. Without stimuli to provoke change and creation, his own world had once been a featureless void consisting only of thought, but within the mortal realm, he and his brothers had found purpose.

His first duty was to safeguard the Collision, but if it was possible, he would save the mortal world too—at least from the worst of the potential fates that might befall it. And with any luck, neither the demon lords nor these new gods would ever realize the truth about their linked realms. The demons were too destructive to be trusted with the knowledge, while the gods seemed intent on taking power for themselves without bothering to first understand the consequences.

But that was a worry for another day.

Today, in this place, the fight was much smaller—a tiny piece of a very large puzzle. The first part of Fox's plan to counter Snake had already been put in place, though he hoped it would never be needed.

The second part was needed now.

He chose his target and struck.