Chapter Fifty-Four

 

 

“Krishna!” Karni-Mata shouted as the vimana landed in the courtyard.

The demons who had survived the locust attack had run off, and Abaddon sent his army buzzing after them. Karni ran toward the palace, but Teharon grabbed her around the waist and held her back.

“We need to ward the city, Karni,” Teharon said gently as she struggled. “We can't stop him now.”

“Get on that flying saucer, Karni!” I shouted. “Thor! Finn! Help me with Trevor and Kirill!”

Thor and Finn rushed over and grabbed my husbands in a fireman's carry. They took them onto the vimana and laid them down; propping Kirill and Trevor against the railing. Karni finally let Teharon lead her onto the vimana, and when we had everyone aboard the giant, flying chariot, Brahma took it back up into the sky. Abaddon leapt up after us; his wings catching the air easily. Odin and Arach joined us; the dragons flying abreast of the vimana. We'd have a monstrous royal escort back to shore.

That was when I saw the Japanese Shinto gods.

The texts I had made after I called in the Squad had been to Abaddon, Athena, and Amy; or the A-listers as I had been calling them in my head. It looked as if they had all come through for me. The Oni were falling under the strike of superior magic, and the Buddhist gods were abandoning their demi-gods to the Shinto. I saw Amaterasu shining with the power of the Sun as she strode through the streets of Dvārakā; her light magnified back to her by the golden walls. I saw Sakuya and Sakuya's husband, Ninigi, fighting beside Amy, along with Hachiman and Shinno—who I had once worked with—and several gods who were unfamiliar to me.  Shinno waved at us as we drew abreast of them.

“Get back to the island!” I shouted to them. “Krishna is destroying the city and we need to ward it!”

Amaterasu nodded and then shouted something in Japanese. The Japanese gods—who were cutting down their enemies with deadly precision—nodded crisply to Amy and fought there way back to a line of boats that were waiting for them at the Dvārakā docks. I called out the same warning to Luke and Azrael—who had already been advised of the plan by Brahma. Angels flew off in all directions and spread the word that it was time to seal the city.

Our enemies floundered in confusion as all of our allies drew back; appearing to retreat. But we were only forming a ring around the enormous city. It took nearly all of us to do it, but we managed to border Dvārakā completely. As soon as the ring was complete, every god on our side—Japanese, Christian, Greek, and Hindu—set their magic into warding Dvārakā. The ward closed in just as the city started to tremble.

The enemy gods started to look concerned as towers began to topple; buildings crumbling to the streets and into the ocean. But the pieces which fell outward hit the barrier of the rising ward, and most ricocheted back into Dvārakā. The bouncing debris registered with the enemy gods and they finally noticed the shimmering ward going up around them. Those who could fly deserted the others and abandoned the city; shooting through the closing hole at the top.

The ward was a sphere; going beneath the water and into the sky; to completely encase the city. From what I had gleaned, it was necessary. It was also necessary for all of our allied gods to contribute; including Odin in his dragon form. So, Arach was the only one left to chase the escaping enemy gods. Except Arach refused to leave me unguarded in my vulnerable state; he hovered behind our vimana to protect us as our enemies fled.

Nyx and Macaria were among the gods who managed to escape before the ward closed; Nyx flying her wing-less daughter her daughter to safety. Hades closed his burning eyes briefly in relief after he saw them get away. No matter how bad your children turn out to be, they're still yours, and a good parent never stops loving their child. I couldn't fault Hades for being happy that his daughter lived, even knowing how Macaria had betrayed us. It wasn't like this was the first time that a friend's daughter had done something horrible to me. It didn't change my love for Hades or my regret for his pain.

Motion on my right caught my attention, and I glanced to the side to see Abaddon hovering beside us; tears streaming down his cheeks as he stared at Dvārakā. I did a double take, but I couldn't give him more than another look. I needed to focus on helping everyone with the ward.

Then a great cracking roar vibrated out from the city, and as  I—and the rest of our allies—continued to fuel the ward, the streets of Dvārakā began to break apart. Krishna's palace exploded and pieces of it went flying through the ruins of the once stunning city seconds before a blinding light burst out from it. I watched the trapped gods scream, but I couldn't hear them; the ward muffled everything. Their fear was obvious but brief; the blast took out the entire city within moments. Fire and smoke hit the ward with so much energy and heat that it sent shock waves through the barrier.

The magical rebound sent our vimana tumbling through the air; along with the other gods who had been fueling the ward. Odin and Arach snatched our chariot with their mighty claws and guided our descent back to land. But the ripples of energy forced them into a hard landing, and we crashed into the beach; tumbling out of the toppled vimana and into the sand.

I wound up beneath Kirill and Trevor; staring up at the ironically blue sky, past their wide, bare shoulders. As I recovered, angels flew overhead; carrying demons in their arms. I smiled wistfully up at them.

“Are you smiling?” Trevor asked in surprise as the chaos died down.

“Angels protecting demons,” I mused. “It's not the way I expected this day to go.”

Trevor chuckled, and then Kirill started to laugh. But when we got to our feet, we stared out across the water and went grim. Smoke drifted up in heavy sheets; away from the bubbling sea. Nothing was left of Dvārakā; after a few minutes, even the bubbles disappeared.

“Krishna, I will remember you, my friend.” Karni-Mata bowed her head both sadly and respectfully.

“He was the only one who could do it,” Brahma said as he stared out at the calming ocean. “And he was brave enough to make that decision. He took responsibility for his creation.”

“Despite the fact that he had nothing to do with it rising,” Karni growled. “All Kris ever did was try to help people. He was one of the most honorable men I've ever known. He wanted the best for humans. Kris tried to share our advances with them, and when he saw that they couldn't use our technology wisely, he hid it from them. Krishna even hid himself so that the other gods couldn't use him to get to the city.”

“And they found it anyway,” Blue said sadly. “Sometimes, even the best of intentions results in tragedy. All we can do is manage the mess.”

“Like the mess there's going to be when the humans start talking about what happened here,” I said. “How are we going to manage that?”

“As you said, V; never underestimate the human ability to explain away what they don't want to believe in,” Hekate said. “I bet if we just let this lie, the humans will handle it for us.”

“What if there are videos?” Torrent asked. “They could even now be uploading them onto the Internet.”

“Are they?” I asked him.

Torrent frowned and then his bright green eyes started to jump around as if he were reading. After a few minutes, he shook his head. “Not yet.”

“We'll deal with that if it arises,” Odin said. He shifted into a weredragon form. “But even a video could be explained away as special effects.”

“I can influence the local government to squash any stories that emerge,” Brahma offered.

“I can't believe that something of this magnitude can just be swept under the rug,” Torrent huffed.

“It's been happening since the beginning,” Teharon said as he stroked Karni's arm tenderly. “Humans will believe what they want to; it's how we came into power in the first place.”

“Amazing,” Torrent whispered.

Then I saw Abaddon. He was standing near the shore; staring forlornly at the water. I went over to him and laid a hand gently on his shoulder.

“Are you all right?” I asked.

Abaddon turned his sad stare my way. “I ordered them to stay,” he whispered.

I blinked in shock. “The locusts?”

He nodded. “I couldn't put them back in that hole, and yet, I couldn't set them free.”

“You gave them another type of freedom,” I said softly.

“Did I do it for them or for me?” He asked.

“Does it matter?” I countered. “They aren't suffering anymore; nor did they suffer when they died. That blast was nearly instantaneous.”

“And they died valiantly,” Trevor added as he joined us. “You gave them honor that they could never have achieved on their own.”

Abaddon took a deep breath and nodded. “I think I need some time to mourn. They weren't my friends, but they were my soldiers.”

“I understand,” I whispered.

“Goodbye, Vervain.” Abaddon bowed to me, then nodded to Trevor. “And it was nice to meet you, Wolf Prince. Please convey my farewells to the others. I don't think I'm ready to celebrate.”

I nodded, and Abaddon leapt into the sky. As I watched him fly away, Arach strode over to us in his weredragon form. He took my hand and kissed it.

“That was a fantastic battle, A Thaisce. But now I must return to our sons,” Arach declared.

“Thank you for coming to help us, Arach.” I hugged him tightly.

Arach hugged me back warmly before releasing me and turning to Odin. He held out his hand and said, “It was an honor to fly with you today, Odin.”

“And with you, King Arach.” Odin shook Arach's hand. “Thank you for showing me the ropes.”

“Which ropes?” Arach's crimson brows lifted.

“It's an expression,” I said. “He means that you taught him some dragon techniques.”

“Ah!” Arach declared. “Excellent. Perhaps you can use those lessons to take look after our wife while she's away from Faerie.”

“She doesn't need me to look after her, but I will anyway.” Odin smirked.

“Good answer,” I muttered.

“I'll see you in a second, A Thaisce,” Arach said before he disappeared.