Veil of Stars Read online

  I nodded, still absorbing the fact that Raven had been babysitting three spirits for nearly forty years. She was a collector of strays, I thought. She gathered unwanted and tormented strays to her, and took them under her wing. And that seemed a beautiful thing.

  As we passed Talia’s and Yutani’s office, they joined us. Viktor jogged down the hall from where he had been inventorying the stock room, and I poked him in the arm.

  “We got our bridesmaids’ dresses hemmed today.”

  He snorted. “I bet that was fun for Miss Evelyn. And before you ask, yes, everybody calls her that. She’s a whiz with the needle and sewing machine, and makes all of Sheila’s regalia for her magic. She’s also making my tux.”

  The thought of Miss Evelyn ordering Viktor to hold still or she’d jab him with a pin made me laugh. Viktor gave me a long look, but said nothing as we entered the break room.

  Herne was there and he gave me a quick kiss, motioning for me to sit beside him. On the other side of the table sat his father and mother—Cernunnos, who was Lord of the Forest, and Morgana, Lady of the Fae and the Sea. Cernunnos was dressed as normally for being outside of Annwn as he ever could be, wearing jeans, a pair of motorcycle boots, and a muscle shirt, with a bulky bear fur cloak over his shoulders. His dreadlocks were caught back by a thick tie, and his eyes glowed, gleaming like a cat’s.

  Morgana, on the other hand, was wearing a pair of white jeans with a long, cold-shoulder tunic of swirling violets and blues over the top. She had belted it with a silver belt, and her jacket was military-style, to mid-thigh. She had on knee-high leather boots with a thick platform heel, and her abundant hair was caught up in a high ponytail.

  They waited for us to sit down, and Angel brought in the pizzas. As we served ourselves, no one made small talk. The tension in the room was so thick that it made it hard to breathe. Both god and goddess politely refused food, their impatience showing.

  Once we were all settled, Cernunnos motioned to Herne. “Go ahead, son. Tell them what we told you.”

  Herne cleared his throat. I could tell that he was nervous—he glanced at his father a couple times before beginning. “Echidna is ready to go against Typhon. We’re at the eve of battle. She’s called him out, trying to lure him over the Puget Sound so their battle won’t endanger the city. The question is, will he respond? Will he launch an attack before she can maneuver out over the water? Because she called him out, he’s allowed to pick the place of combat, which is a worry.”

  I stared at him. “Why does he get to set any rules at all?”

  “Because among the Dragonni this is considered a duel, which means that the loser will be bound by the winner’s desire. If someone tried to attack Typhon without a formal declaration, all the other Dragonni who choose to follow him could demand blood payment if he lost. And if he didn’t lose, he could go back against his opponent with all gloves off.” Herne frowned. “It’s complicated, but setting it within the parameter of a duel means that Typhon can’t claim revenge if Echidna wins. He’d have to yield and bow to her conditions.”

  “So if the fight isn’t defined in the beginning, then it’s all gloves off and damned be collateral damage. But if it’s set as a duel, that will minimize collateral damage.” I was beginning to get the picture.

  “Right. If he loses, he must accede to her demands. But he won’t surrender. He’ll fight as long as he can. Neither can die, but they can be hurt so gravely that it would take them years to recover.”

  Angel rubbed her temple. “What if she loses?”

  Cernunnos lowered his chin, his eyes solemn. “Then we’ll have a massive problem because he will be without mercy.”

  “So what do we do?” I asked.

  “Be prepared. We still don’t know if he knew that she was around. It seems a hard thing to hide, but who knows? Maybe if he didn’t, the summons will throw a scare into him and he’ll leave. I doubt it, but we can hope. You will all be responsible for cleaning up collateral damage as best as you can.”

  “What about the Dragonni Village?” The theme park had been started by the Luminous Warriors—those dragons who aligned themselves with Typhon—and it was now up and running. The mayor had cleared the way for it, oblivious to the danger. Or maybe she was getting paid off, but whatever the case, they had insinuated themselves into society and had been chipping away at the fear surrounding them.

  We couldn’t come out and tell the populace what the dragons were up to because…well…panic. But we had tried to convince the governments that it was dangerous to allow the dragons leeway. So far, half the officials believed us and the other half thought “dragon” equaled “treasure hoard” and their greed was winning out.

  The vampires, on the other hand, had retreated far out of the dragons’ reach. Typhon’s father was a god of the dead, and so when Typhon had reentered this world, the dead had begun to rise and walk, spurred on by his presence. There were questions as to whether the Father of All Dragons could control the vamps, so the Vampire Nation, in its wisdom, had ordered the vampires to retreat into the underground, leaving the upper levels of the cities in case Typhon could actually wield power over them.

  I sighed. “What if he wins? What if Typhon manages to kill Echidna?”

  “He cannot kill her, since they’re both immortal. But he might be able to defeat her.” Morgana, who was not only my future mother-in-law but my goddess, held my gaze. “Then we will have work to do. And you and the members of this agency will retreat to Annwn.”

  With that, we all fell silent, thinking about the battle and what the future might hold for all of us.

  Chapter Two

  After what seemed like forever, Morgana finally spoke again. “I know this is a shock. Even when you know something is barreling down the road toward you, when it arrives it still feels new and overwhelming.”

  “What about my brother?” Angel set down her notepad. “I don’t want DJ at Cooper’s while this happens. What if the dragons strike there?”

  “The fight will be over Seattle,” Herne said. “It would be more dangerous for DJ if he still lived here. Cooper can keep him safe better than we can, Angel.”

  She looked like she wanted to argue, but then sat back in her chair, biting her lip. “Will you make me a promise?” she asked.

  Herne was good at reading people. He leaned forward, elbows on the table. “I promise you that if anything goes wrong, we’ll take him to Annwn and look after him.”

  Relief flooded her face. “I believe you,” she said. Even though she had taken an elixir to extend her life, she was still mostly human and vulnerable. And with Rafé’s death, we had all seen how easily life was snuffed out, regardless of life expectancy.

  “What do we do now? How do we prepare?” I racked my brain, trying to figure out how to prep for a battle like this. We wouldn’t be fighting Typhon—that would be a suicide mission for anybody but the gods. But when Cernunnos said we were responsible for taking care of collateral damage, I had no clue what to expect.

  “You get ready for incoming dead. When Typhon enters the skies, it will wake more skeletal walkers, ghouls, zombies, whatever happens to be around, and they’ll respond. They’ll be coming out of the graves, looking for their master.” Morgana pursed her lips. “It’s going to be Night of the Living Dead all over again.”

  “What about the vamps? Has somebody warned them?” Viktor asked. The half-ogre was a soft-spoken man, a gentle giant, but now the grim look on his face said he was ready to kick some undead butt.

  “I have,” Herne said. “I called Dormant Reins and he informed me that the vampires have retreated deep into the lower levels of the Catacombs. They’ll stay there, and hopefully Typhon’s presence won’t reach down through that many layers. Though if the Father of All Dragons can summon the dead out of their graves…” He left the thought unfinished.

  “Yes, but the dead are buried in shallow graves—the vampires will be hundreds of feet belowground. The levels in the Catacombs descend farther
than anybody knows, from what I understand.” I played with my stylus, tapping it on the table until Yutani reached over and grabbed hold of it.

  “You’ll break it if you keep that up. Just because it has the name ‘pencil’ doesn’t mean it is one,” he said. He turned to Herne. “What do we do? Ember’s right—if we’re supposed to take care of collateral damage, shouldn’t we be gathering weapons? And what time does this go down tomorrow?”

  “It goes down, as you say, at sunrise. Echidna is on her way now. Typhon has received the challenge. If he doesn’t show, he forfeits the battle.” Cernunnos shook his head. “I’m concerned about something, however. I made my concerns about the upcoming battle known to the council of gods who have been working on this, but they didn’t take it seriously.”

  The thought of anybody not taking Cernunnos seriously seemed incredibly stupid. Before I could ask which gods, however, Morgana spoke up.

  “They’re fools, my love,” she said. That was one of the first times I had heard her use an endearment with Cernunnos, even though I knew they loved each other deeply.

  “Why on earth wouldn’t they listen to you? And what’s concerning you?” Talia asked.

  “Some of the gods prefer to take the optimistic route. I do not. I look at all sides of the issue.” Cernunnos turned to Kipa. “Mielikki was not one of them, however. She fears the same thing I do. Perhaps it’s only the gods of the forests who can see into the future.”

  Herne let out a long sigh, then crossed to the counter to bring back the coffee pot. “More, anyone?” He emptied the pot refilling coffee, and Angel took it from him, quickly fixing a new pot. Herne stirred cream and sugar into his cup and then said, “My father’s right. There’s a danger no one is looking at here. Perhaps it’s because the Wild Hunt—my father and mother included—and Mielikki’s Arrow have worked with humans for so long that we can see the potential for betrayal and dishonor to win out.”

  “What I foresee happening,” Cernunnos said, interrupting, “is that Typhon may lose but not honor the rules of the duel. That he will be bested and continue to fight Echidna. Or that he will lose by the rules of the game and the Luminous Warriors will continue the fight. Also, remember, Typhon can’t be killed. Neither can Echidna, since they were both birthed by the Titans. So there’s no endgame where either one can be destroyed. They cannot be unmade. None of the gods can.”

  The thought of Typhon simply refusing to accept defeat hit deep and hard. We had seen it many times in humankind, but usually there was some method of stopping the aggressor. With the dragons it wouldn’t be so easy.

  Another thought occurred to me. “Given the dragons are all descended from Typhon and Echidna, who are immortal, are all the dragons immortal? Can we even kill a dragon?” I wasn’t all that sure of the answer.

  Cernunnos sighed. “We don’t really know. Nobody that I’ve known has ever managed to kill one. But your reasoning is logical, although I pray, faulty.” He paused, then said, “There is one possible way. Even if it will not kill them, it will disable them.”

  I immediately knew what he was talking about. “The allentar bolts.”

  Morgana straightened. “You still have them, don’t you?”

  Herne motioned to Viktor. “Bring them out, would you?”

  We had locked the allentar arrows away, keeping them hidden for the time we might need them. Six months back, Cernunnos had received them from Echidna and he had given them to us to keep for emergencies. The rare magical metal could pierce dragon scales, and could bring a dragon down out of the sky. But each bolt would be destroyed upon use, and there weren’t many of them. The arrows—and for me, crossbow bolts—were thicker than the usual arrow, and so we each had twenty of them, filling the quiver. But Echidna had not said whether they could kill a dragon.

  “What do we know about allentar?” I asked.

  “Let me call Ginty,” Herne said. “He’ll know the most about it. Dwarves are the only ones who know how to craft it.” He stepped away from the table to call the dwarf. Ginty McClintock owned Ginty’s Waystation Bar & Grill. He was a fair man, and he acted as the mediator during parleys, especially between Saílle, queen of TirNaNog, and Névé, queen of Navane.

  While Herne was on the phone, Viktor brought in both Herne’s quiver of allentar arrows and my quiver of allentar bolts. He set them on the table and I withdrew one of the bolts from my quiver, shivering as it throbbed in my hands.

  “This thing feels alive,” I said.

  “It should,” Cernunnos said. “Once it was alive. Allentar is made from dragon scales.”

  I brushed my hand over the smooth metal of the shaft. The metal was cool under my fingertips, and the throbbing continued as I brushed my fingers onto the fletching. There, another energy seemed to join in with the throbbing from the metal. The fletching was made of feathers, that much was obvious, but the feathers were stiff, brilliant blue and orange, and a shiver raced down my spine as I brushed my fingers over them.

  “What bird are these from?”

  Morgana smiled. “I thought you would feel the power in those feathers. They’re from a phoenix.”

  I stared at her. “Really? A phoenix?”

  “Yes. And the tips are made from the fangs of dinosaurs that have been coated with the allentar.” Cernunnos held his hand out and I handed him the bolt. “These are worth more than all the gold and jewels in my vaults. These could save your life if you run into a dragon.”

  Herne returned then, and he stared at the arrows. “They might save our asses tomorrow. They won’t work on Typhon, but if his children decide to interfere, we may need to use them.” He set the bolt back down on the table and held up his phone. “Ginty is on his way. He’s the only one I’ve told about the arrows because I don’t trust anybody else not to try to steal them. They’re worth a fortune. Literally.”

  “I take it we’ll be at the site of the battle?” I didn’t want him to say yes. The last thing I wanted was to be near a dragon fight, but given we might hold the key in helping Echidna to win this war—and a war it was, no doubt about it—I couldn’t see any other choice. Right then, I wished that Herne and I had already married and that I had undergone the Gadawnoin ritual. Once I was a goddess, I’d be immortal. Walking into a battle between two immortal dragons didn’t seem like a good recipe for coming out alive.

  “Yeah, we will. Kipa—did Mielikki give you some of her arrows?”

  Kipa nodded. “I’ve said nothing because, like you, it seemed to be wisest to keep them under wraps. But I will be there, by your side, along with the Huntress herself.”

  “The rest of you will also be there,” Herne said. “We’ll gather here and go down together. Raven, you, Viktor, and Yutani need to be ready to take on the undead that are sure to rise. If anything goes wrong, if Echidna cannot drive him into submission, then we’ll implement Plan B.”

  “What plan is that?” I asked. This was the first time I had heard of a secret plan. And it had to be secret, otherwise Herne would have shared it with me.

  Herne glanced at Viktor, then said, “If things go south, to ensure the safety of everyone in the agency, including DJ. If I give the signal, Talia will immediately notify Cooper, Ginty, Saílle and Névé, Dormant Reins, and the deputy mayor. They will then begin evacuating all necessary personnel to safe havens. If the Luminous Warriors think Typhon is losing, I don’t trust them not to immediately implement their plans to enslave this world. And if he wins, the same.”

  “Where will everyone go?” Angel asked.

  “We will journey to Annwn, and Cooper will bring his family and DJ there. Ginty will evacuate those who have sought sanctuary, and he will return to his people. I expect the dwarves will retreat to their cities in Wildemoone—a different realm. The dwarves have much to fear from the Luminous Warriors. They’re grasping and greedy, and the dwarves are known for their fortunes they amass.”

  “What about the vampires?” Angel asked.

  “Dormant Reins has plans for the v
ampires, though I’m not sure what they are. Saílle and Névé will probably evacuate to Annwn, though I doubt they’ll be happy about it. There, they will have to step down from their reign and hand over their people to the ancient Fae Queens. As for the deputy mayor, Maria and I’ve held a few secret talks and if the dragons take over, she’s planning to stage a coup, overthrow the mayor, and take control of the city. Mayor Neskan publicly supports the dragons, and when faced with an actual crisis, I have a feeling that she’ll be useless. At least Maria Serenades understands the danger.”

  “There’s no way to drive the dragons back to the Forgotten Kingdom, is there?” Yutani asked.

  The Dragonni had been trapped in their kingdom and kept out of our realm since Typhon was first forced into stasis by the gods. But when he managed to break out, his children—both good- and ill-natured—were also freed.

  I shook my head. “If there was, we would have tried it by now, I think.”

  “Even if Echidna can wound him deeply enough to put him back into stasis, she won’t be able to seal them behind the gates to the Forgotten Kingdom again. The situation now is vastly different than the first time,” Morgana said. “Apparently, the dragons had settled in their realm back then, and very few had remained here. The few that were still here returned to the Forgotten Kingdom when they heard about the battle, and Echidna was able to seal the portal, trapping them there. Her children weren’t able to open it by themselves, but when their father started to wake, they were able to draw on his power. When he broke open the stasis field, it sent a shockwave through the seal to the Forgotten Kingdom.”

  “So, even if the gods and Echidna can return him to stasis…”

  “Yes, the dragons will still be here,” Morgana said. “And the Luminous Warriors will do what they can to carry out their father’s plans.”

  “So we’ll still be up shit creek without a paddle,” Viktor said.

  Yutani was typing away on his laptop. “One thing we have going for us, at least right now, is they haven’t fully grasped how to use technology. But you know they’ll find humans—or Fae—who are experts, and they’ll use it to their advantage.”