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Chapter 14 Lillith
Bry glanced at me, asking with his eyes if I remembered that this was the law, and I nodded my reply. It was the law, though there was something that I was missing. It didn't much matter though, I was desperate to sit down and sleep. Yawning, I waved him on to his confrontation. Stubbornness kept me on my feet, but I felt displaced, as though I was watching through someone else's eyes as the scene unfolded.
Bry blinked down to the floor in front of Lillith and the battle began. Magick filled the air like a heavy blanket as her form surged with a blazing white light. I had to turn my head to avoid being blinded, and again found myself wanting sleep. I was so tired.
Bry began the dance of battle, but was interrupted. He wasn't ready. Lillith threw him about like a rag doll, and for the life of me I couldn't find the energy to care. His battered body left trails of crimson with every impact and landing. She didn't even bother placing her hands on him. She swung her arms and controlled his movement like a sadistic puppeteer raising him and slamming him repeatedly into the floor.
As each moment passed, fatigue claimed more and more of my body and finally the weight of my own limbs pulled me to the floor of the outcropping. I didn't care any more. I just wanted sleep.
There were words from a voice I didn't recognize or bother to acknowledge as the Gypsies began to circle. They started their voyage around me and it reminded me of a child's mobile that was used to lull one to sleep.
Sleep nearly claimed me when I felt a sharp twinge in my shin. Someone had kicked me. I heard my own grunt but ignored the pain and drifted deeper into myself. Next I felt a blow to my head and I sat upright blinking away my sleep.
"Ow damnit, watch where you're walking!" I had barely finished speaking when I felt another blow to my back.
"WHAT THE HELL!?" Pain and anger roused me and I jumped to my feet trying to discern who my assailant was.
Now... I was pissed! My head was clearing. "She uses magick on you and yours to cloud your mind young druid. Lillith has invited you into the battle by action if not by word." It was the voice of an older man, but I didn't recognize it.
"Huh?" I spun around trying to find the source of the words but couldn't place a face that matched the sound.
"She's cheating!" Kevin leaned in again and kicked me in the shin.
"Owww! You little son of a..." It was at that moment my mind finally began to grasp what was going on.
I looked out amongst the crowd and found Bry floating in the air battered and bloody. "You BITCH!" I cast down several bolts of lightning. Raging light erupted from the darkness above and the first bolt struck her shoulder sending her stumbling backwards.
"You'll pay for your interference" Lillith's almond shaped honey colored eyes glanced upward to where we stood, though I think her rage was directed mostly at the Gypsies. The intense gaze of her strange shaped eyes seemed to focus on us and gaze through us at the same time.
Only the first bolt of lightning made contact and Lillith batted away the rest like one might an annoying insect. Her loss of concentration caused Bry's floating body to crumple to the floor. I blinked to his side and grabbed his hand and sent as much healing energy as I could. His wounds faded almost instantly.
Lillith held out her hand and fire consumed her body like a rolling violent sunset shooting outward in our direction as well as toward the Gypsies. It raged around her like a second skin feeding a line toward both our groups. It seemed to lope along as if walking or hopping in our direction, though I knew the only consciousness behind it belonged to Lillith herself.
Bry recovered enough to harness the wind to fight against the advancing fire, while I invoked a storm above. The gypsies had finished casting their circle and soon the flames surged around them like water over a globe.
The winds weren't strong enough to stop the advancing blaze and I thrust out my hand and my mind to create a shield to protect us from the blow. It was too late. The fire ate at the palm of my hand and I screamed! The flesh pealed away leaving only bone as the plume ate hungrily.
I didn't know if the Gypsies were having better luck protecting themselves from this 'Lillith' creature than we were, but I could barely focus beyond the blinding pain to push the shield outward against the rolling fire. I was frantic and nearly desperate with my actions and struggled to regain my composure.
As I pushed the shield forward the tendons, ligaments and muscle began to reform over the bones of my left hand. New nerves were forming and the pain was so intense I didn't know if I was going to throw up or pass out first. I knew I didn't have time for either, but I wasn't sure if I was going to have a choice in the matter.
Lillith threw her head back and laughed maniacally. Her cackling was like broken glass and jagged fingernails raked across a chalk board. The retched sound traveled up my spine and I shivered as I fought to concentrate and ignore the absolute anguish in the flesh that was forming around my hand and along my fingertips.
My storm had finally formed to completion and I glanced upward for only a second. The flashes of lightning lit the hidden ceiling of the cavern and long stalactites winked back at me from the hovering distance. If what I had planned wouldn't finish her, they might.
I pulled the rain from the raging storm above down upon us like a crashing tidal wave. 'Tornado' I glanced at Bry for the second it took to convey the thought to his mind, and he commanded the winds again. The air wrapped around Lillith like a clenching fist but it didn't seem to affect her in the slightest.
The rain fell from above and I took a moment to see into her heart. It was a cold desolate place and that was when I fed the water and air with icy power. The cyclone that centered on her being began to slow and finally stopped solidifying to a mammoth frozen twister that stretched upward and outward toward the ceiling. Had it not been so beautiful from the refracting lights that played across its surface, the frozen tornado of water and wind might have been enough to send anyone running for the hills.
A deafening silence filled the room as we all gazed at the apex of the frozen torrent and tried to spy Lillith's form beneath the jagged facets of ice. I was ready to breathe a sigh of relief when the first crack in the ice echoed against the walls.
An orange glow formed at the center and the ice cracked again before bursting outward in a spray of white mist. "Inflamme!" Lillith screeched and her clawed hand stretched outward toward the gypsies.
"For my family!" Daniel leapt in front of his sister and little brother and took the full force of the attack.
Daniel's painful cry was cut short as flames engulfed him. What was left of his burning body slumped to the floor of the outcropping that overlooked the area. Aurora screamed and fell to her knees aching to cradle her brother, but unable to touch the smoldering remains.
"Well then witch. I guess it's left to us." Kevin stepped forward and waited. The voice wasn't his, but wasn't any I recognized either. It drifted along the currents of air as if having been whispered in my ear.
"Gladly you abomination... Inflamme!" Lillith clawed at Kevin and another human pyre erupted on the outcropping.
Only this time... it withered and faded. Kevin had burst into flame, but it seemed to coalesce and then merge into his skin making him glow. It was if there was so much magick in his form that it was bursting to get out, but only writhed beneath his skin.
"Impossible!" Lillith's voice raged through the room and she began a barrage of spells and attacks that would have entertained and dazzled an unknowing crowd. Unfortunately for us, we knew it was real and not the special affects one sees on tv.
Each spell and attack surged from her and seemed to be devoured by Kevin's being. It looked as though it fueled him though he never moved. His skin glowed brighter and brighter and I wondered if I kept looking if I might be blinded.
"Enough!" Kevin stretched out his hand and backhanded Lillith as though she were in front of him as he stood on the platform.
The effect was the same. She spun around and staggered backward. Lillith caught her fall and landed on hands and knees facing away from us. Her body seemed to fade if only a little. Each delicate line of her face and curve of her body blurred. It was like what you would see when a ghost would pass. Her form wavered in existence like an object spied in a sideways glance and she spun around quickly to face Kevin, who now stood directly in front of her.
Lillith looked crazed and for once... unsure. Every curse I had learned in the past, and was told should never be uttered, flowed from her like an endless spring of magick. Each incantation rolled over Kevin like a gentle wind making him glow even brighter.
"Mirare!" Kevin took a step forward and Lillith's eyes widened in terror.
A blaze of white light pulsed outward from Kevin and seemed to touch every corner of the room. I had never encountered such a release of complete and total power in my life. Had I not seen it with my own eyes, I would never have believed it possible from anyone let alone someone so young.
Kevin stepped forward and nodded.
"Ever mind you the rule of three"
"Three times what thou givest returns to thee"
"This lesson well thou must learn."
"Thee gets only what thou dost earn"
I watched in horror as every evil Lillith presented to the world folded in upon her being. She had not been a kind lady. Her bones cracked loudly and she seemed to cave in upon herself as her screams filled the air. Her skin melted away and her body was wracked with the assault of too many blows making her sway oddly from left to right.
Soon, all that was left was a puddle of black liquid that reflected the light.
"Finish it Druid. Heal her wounds." I heard the words but my skin crawled.
I hold a lot of sympathy in my heart, but this thing had killed, and had every intention of destroying us all.
"I can't." My quavering voice made me blush with embarrassment. I couldn't disguise my guilt and hope; that this one creature, would cease to be. I didn't have it in me to end another life no matter how retched it might be.
"Do it... Do it now!" Kevin screamed with a mix of voices I knew weren't his.
I fell forward and my hand landed in the puddle that was Lillith. The black liquid seemed to crawl away from my touch and then surged forward and soaked into my skin like a sponge.
"No!" I screamed as the liquid was absorbed into my hand and the color of my skin changed from a faded tan to an ashen grey.
It wound its way up to my shoulder like a spreading cancer before I was able to slow the progression. My arm swung out as I heard her words screech past my lips. "Get away from me you little bastard!"
A ripple in the ground burst outward from me in all directions. A pebble in a pond would create no less destruction than that one movement. Kevin flew off his feet and into the crowd. The stone flooring seemed almost liquid as it rolled outward. Those that could, flew upward to avoid the stone shock wave, and those that were left on the ground were tossed upward to meet them.
I was more a witness to what was happening now than a participant. The infection of Lillith surged across my skin and threatened to evict my mind and soul. The storm I had created above now billowed and surged and grew so thick that it made the air damp and heavy making every breath an effort.
"Ahhhh Such power!" Lillith stole my voice and laughed as my eyes now stared at the angry ceiling.
Bolts of lightning crashed down and exploded around me carving deep holes and white hot stone erupted in all directions.
"On your knees!" A concussion of wind burst outward and threw those that hovered above the ground flying out of control deeper into the crowd.
My vision had changed and I wondered if this was how Lillith viewed the world. Each inanimate surface had an almost blinding glow, and every bit of what I considered, real life, appeared to be black and void of color. It was like a negative of light that filled my mind with a panorama of the world around me. It reminded me of the little strips of film I found in packets of old pictures the uncles had taken long before my time.
I wondered why and how she hadn't been banished behind the veil and why she was left to roam the earth.
Sister was the only reply that reached what was left of my tattered mind. In that moment I learned another name that should never be spoken. Lillith was the darker half of the oldest of things.... The Mother. She has been called Goddess, Ammachi, Isis, Kuan Yin, Gaia, and many other names throughout time. Lillith was the dark younger sister of all that I considered good in the universe, though even she dared not speak her oldest sister's name.
"Lillith! Get out of there right now!" The strange voice I heard earlier echoed against the stone walls and filled my ears.
"Suppose you try and make me!" Lillith cackled and I felt a sinister smile stretch my lips.
She had control of my body and with every word I felt a push trying to evict me from myself.
"Lillith! I'm not going to ask you again." A familiar but unknown voice announced, and the crowd parted.
Between the throng of people, stood a man, or at least what I thought was a man. The black-light vision made it difficult to know for sure. The low timber of the voice told me it belonged to a 'him' and not a 'her' and I strained to see his face in the distance.
Memories flooded my mind as I focused on his face. Like so many, his features were flawless. Delicate supple lips met mine in kiss after sensuous kiss. I could taste him on my tongue and I felt a heat rise through my body that wasn't my own. Longing ached in the pit of my stomach and I felt the familiar damp collect along my body as I sweat 'passion'. If I hadn't just experienced it, I wouldn't have believed it was possible. It seemed as though every pore of my body opened and yearned for him. The 'want' was fueled by a fire so deep I thought it might have no end.
As fast as the heat rode over my body I felt her close off as if a door had been slammed shut. Our vision blurred and a face appeared only a fraction of an inch from ours. We raised our hand and he paused.... frozen in place. The image of Destiny lingered in the black-light of her mind and I felt our hand trust forward through his chest.
At first the shape morphed and I recognized the gentle curves of his face. Lillith's mind touched mine and I knew in that instant I had killed my love. The flutter of his heart tickled my palm before my fist clamped shut and dead meat surged between my fingers like mud between toes.
Our vision cleared, and dying blue eyes stared back at us. Bry's eyes are green!
"Destiny!" Lillith screamed and I was pushed aside and out of myself almost as if I was suddenly taking up too much space.
As my head slammed against the stone floor, I knew it was more than just my soul that had been evicted. I was free of Lillith. I could see her as clearly as I had from the outcropping, though now she was hunched over the man from the crowd.
"I have work for them love..." Destiny thrust his hand upward and I felt a shadow of it enter me as well.
I felt his grip around my heart and an explosion of loss pulsed through me like some distant remnant. It was a shadow I felt, though I didn't know it then. I knew I was alive, but somehow, a part of me felt the death of Lillith and Destiny as they passed beyond.
Most people would liken the feeling of death to an exhale. For me, it has always been a hiccup. Most of the souls I have met in this world seemed to jump to their next destination.
Movement from the corner of my eye caught my attention as I saw Bry clutch his chest and fall to his knees behind the fading forms of Destiny and Lillith. I wanted to jump up and race to his side, but I was too weak from the ordeal and could only barely lift my head to call to him.
"Bry!" I moaned and he looked up at me.
An expression of pain mixed with fear stared back at me and I wondered if he had some how felt their passing. The spells faded, the rain stopped, and I watched as Bry gasped for breath as though he had just run a marathon. One final roar of thunder rocketed across the ceiling as Lillith and Destiny faded completely from our existence. I say 'our' existence, because I knew they were not truly gone. They moved forward to another place.
"May the next world bring you the joy this one did not." I whispered the silent prayer and meant it with every fiber of my being.
It's not our way to wish evil on any being, no matter what the consequences, and the whispered words reverberated against the walls like a growing wind. Somehow my wishes had become a spell, and it traveled through the cavernous space around the creatures that had been witness to the battle. It grew into a thousand hushed voices and then faded as the scent of lilac and vanilla filled the air.
I could hear Aurora's anguished sobs in the distance and blinked to the ledge beside her and the charred remains of her younger brother Daniel. Kevin stood behind her in silence with tears streaming down his cheeks.
Had it not been for the shape of his body, I would never have guessed the blackened form that lay in front of me was once human. The stone floor was charred and black with soot from the battle and still I couldn't seem to pull my eyes from Daniel's remains. I placed my hand on his chest and shivered at the cold dry feel of crumbling flesh.
There was no soul. Nothing remained now but the shell that once held a new friend. I couldn't bring him back, but I could restore his body. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly before pushing the flow of my life's energy through my fingertips and into Daniel. Eyes closed, I concentrated and built the cells one by one to what they once were. I could see them in my mind forming and growing and becoming whole again, though I knew in the end... we would be left with a body to bury.
"You can bring him back right?" Aurora's voice pleaded as I drew back my hand and opened my eyes.
Kevin's body was restored, but I could do no more. Brethren provided a sheet and I wrapped his body to protect his modesty. At this point I doubt he would have cared, but still there was a certain respect that needed to be obliged.
"He's gone. I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do. He has moved on to another place." I raised my hand and wiped the trails of tears from her cheek.
"He can't be gone! I promised! He can't be! Heal him! Please heal him! Bring him back! I'll do anything!" Aurora sobbed and pulled her dead brother into her arms rocking him like you might a sleeping child. "I'll do anything! Please bring him back!"
Her sorrow washed over me in vicious waves of torment and I felt hot tears trail down my cheeks. There was an ache in her chest. It filled me with such emptiness and despair that my mind reeled, and I had to brace my hands against the stone floor to keep from falling. My stomach churned and I lurched to the side to throw up. How I had managed this long without losing the contents of my stomach, I don't know... but it seemed as though I had finally hit my limit. I retched and my abdomen cramped trying to push up even more bile long after the last remnants of my previous meal splattered against the cold stone beneath me.
"I cannot bring him back to you. I'm sorry." I panted my reply as I gasped for breath.
"There's a spell... I know there is. Our parents mentioned it once. It can be done! I'll do it myself if I have to! I promised!" Aurora clutched her dead brother closer to her chest as she begged.
Aurora raised her hand to the darkness above and spoke. "I call to the soul of.."
"NO!" Kevin placed his hand on her shoulder and Aurora turned to see who interrupted her spell.
"The empty promise of safety is something a parent gives their children so they can sleep at night. Don't do this. Let him go." Once again multiple voices pushed past the lips of the young boy and stalled Aurora's actions.
In that instant Kevin's body seemed to divide. Bursts of light separated and hovered on either side of him.
"Aurora, my sweet daughter, Daniel is with us now. Thank you so much for protecting them. We are so proud of you." The light pulsed with each word and echoed through the room.
"Mom? But I failed!" Aurora gazed from one hovering light to the next and then turned her head to hide her shame and sobbed.
The blaze of hovering lights faded and moved to each side of Aurora. Each gave one final pulse of light and then formed into two translucent forms that I knew were her parents.
"You must let him go 'Raven Eyes'." Aurora's father moved in closer and hugged her. "You've done a wonderful job, but it's time to let these other fine people watch over you. We left too much on your shoulders and for that we're sorry."
"Dad? I haven't been called that in such a long time." Her body relaxed into his arms and she seemed to become such a small fragile thing. "I miss you so much. Are you going to leave me again?"
This time her mother spoke. Her voice was soft and soothing, and reminded me of when one of the uncles would comfort me after waking from a terrible dream in the night. "We've always been here for you and your brothers. We watch over you now in a way we could never have before."
Kevin moved closer into his mothers beckoning arms and they hugged each other deeply. It was a knot of love wrapped in arms and sorrow and the parents began to fade.
"We love you, but we must go greet Daniel now. Remember, we are always with you, and soon, you will have a family so large, that you'll never be alone. Open your hearts, and give your trust to these Druids." The apparitions spoke in unison and glanced to Bry and Me as we stood away from their huddle.
"Take care of our children Druids. Latcho Drom." The final words of farewell were heavy with accent and they faded into nothingness.
"Latcho Drom." Bry and I whispered in return.
It means 'Safe Journey' though I had never heard the words before. I suppose it was another benefit of having joined minds with Galen and Doris. An eternity of information slid around in our minds and I was thankful I didn't have to think about it any longer than I did. There was work to do, and a burial to attend to. I wasn't looking forward to either.
"Let's lay him to rest little brother." Aurora grasped Kevin's hand and the three of them wavered disappearing from our sight.
For a moment I felt the tension rise in me as well as Bry. They left and I wasn't sure where they had gone! My heart began to pound and I was quickly beginning to panic. "Where are they?!" I whispered to Bry.
He nodded out toward the crowd. Many were phasing out as the gypsies had done, but the mass majority remained. There were more Gypsie's in the crowd than I had realized and with a waver in space, they disappeared. It was subtle, but they went to join in the burial ritual without a single thought. Kevin and Aurora wouldn't be alone, but still I didn't like being separated from them. I would have to trust their clan to keep them safe.
"Don't intrude. They're surrounded by a virtual army of their own kind. They'll be fine." Bry leaned into me and I relented, though every fiber of my being told me to track them down and watch if only from a distance to see that they were okay.
"I suppose it's time we go to Asher." I breathed a deep sigh and looked into Bry's emerald eyes.
"Meet me at the sacred Oak." I didn't hesitate, and blinked to the cold crisp ground of our grove that grew above Brethren.
I was almost finished with the spell when Bry appeared beside me. I asked the land, and trees to be my eyes. To watch over the gypsies and alert me in case something went wrong. I couldn't be there, but I could at least keep an eye on things in one fashion or another.
Bry chuckled and nudged me with his elbow. "You'll make a great mom some day."
I elbowed him back and grinned. "Very funny. Now... let's go."
It's been a long time coming and I hope that you all enjoy the latest chapter of The Druid. I will have more out soon for the series. Any and all comments/criticisms are more than appreciated. It's what keeps us writers motivated, so give me a yell. You can contact me at gaywriter72@yahoo.com. As always, many thank to Dr. Grant for his invaluable editing.