“What an unmitigated disaster you’ve whipped up, sister dearest,” Queen Morrigan of the Winter Court said by way of greeting as she stepped out of thin air with her troll bodyguard and deadly daughter in tow.
Fire and smoke surrounded the royal party, the magical shield of Zinnia’s power keeping the air fresh even as it was lit up with occasional beams of azure light flaring in blue pools at various spots on the arc.
Jungle burned and steamed. The ground still shook and rumbled as regular eruptions of magma continued to provide both protection from assault as well as concealing steam and smoke. Ash fell like snow.
“Just get me out of here,” Zinnia said, her face covered with dirt and soot.
“Us out of here,” her daughter Eirwen said urgently.
“Yes, well I see you’ve taken things to a whole new level, even for you, Zinnia. And now you demand my assistance? How do I know those metal horrors won’t follow you back to my realm?” Morrigan asked.
“Because you already have an agreement with the witch. The machine will abide his wishes,” Zinnia explained.
“Yes, the wisdom of my choices versus yours are clear as the purest ice, are they not? You saw a young man with too much power and failed to realize the enormous force of allies he has accumulated. Two fallen angels, the oldest vampire or vampires on Earth, and a machine that rivals the very best of the Ancient Enemy’s. And that machine is its own entity, completely and utterly. My guess, from the looks of things,” Morrigan said, looking around, “is that it objects to you sending agents of Hell to abduct its parental unit. Even if Declan O’Carroll requests it to cease hostile action, my understanding is that he has no real control over it. This is a major risk you ask me to take, sister mine.”
“What are your terms, you hateful bitch?” Zinnia asked, earning her a hard stare from the deadly Princess of the Winter Court. Morrigan, on the other hand, just smiled.
“You will gift your connection to that rather impressive elemental that is cooking this section of what’s left of your realm.”
“Morrigan, it is one of my last remaining elementals of significant power. And it lives in the heart of my realm,” Zinnia protested.
“Which would give me incentive to help you protect what is left. Otherwise we will just step back to the delightful cool of the north,” Morrigan said, fanning herself with a big leaf she plucked from a nearby plant.
Zinnia stared at her, green eyes hard. An explosion erupted only a short distance away, making most of the elves nearby flinch.
“I will have expended my last stored crystal and be down to just a very few elementals. I will be weak.”
“You are already weak. You will just be weaker. Enough. Despite your diversion, the Earth machine will not be thwarted for long. My observers note it has the powers of the Enemy. I will not meet my end because of your inability to make decisions, no matter what accord we came to all those millennia ago,” Morrigan said, turning and nodding to her giant troll.
“Agreed,” Zinnia said with reluctance. The instant smile of triumph on her Winter sister’s face cemented the regret Zinnia was already feeling. But she hastily formed the linkage to the Fire elemental, releasing the ancient being’s name to her sister, her control immediately diluted.
Instantly, the eruptions of liquid hot stone ceased. At the same time, the troll opened a rip in space and time with the ease that only one of his kind could. Morrigan went through first, followed closely by Zinnia, and then Eirwen. Neeve and the troll stepped through last, the gap in reality closing behind them like a zipper. The magical shield fell with the absence of its creator and moments later, so did the last of Summer’s loyal Royal Guards, as beams of sapphire-pierced skulls, hearts, and spines. Gradually the steaming, burning jungle fell silent, with waves of heat rippling upward and ripples of somethings green moving over the destroyed clearing and circle of debris. After a moment, one big silver orb and five tiny ones popped into visibility, all of them slowly scanning the destruction for signs of life.