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“Come here, we have need of one of your feathers. Please, if you would find us worthy.” I sang to it, charming it, enchanting it, bewitching it, supplicating myself. Morio buoyed me up with his strength, and together we wooed the creature.
It flew over us, then circled the entire scene. Bilocating, both in my body and outside myself, I could see that the guys were in a desperate fight with the Lord of Ghosts. Smoky was heaving his grandfather’s sword, slashing at the snakes atop Gulakah’s head. Roz was darting in with a serrated short sword. His face was bloody, and I caught sight of a gash along one cheek. Cripes, he’d been hurt.
Vanzir had managed to latch onto him with several of the feelers that spread out from his hands, and he was feeding—siphoning off the energy in massive waves. He threw back his head, laughing, and his eyes spun wildly.
Smoky landed another blow to the top of Gulakah’s head, and the Lord of Ghosts let out a scream of anger and slapped my dragon, sending him sprawling across the ground, into the mists. But the moment Gulakah’s back was turned, Shade came in, also carrying a silver sword, and stabbed at him from the back.
“We have to hurry. They can’t hold him much longer.” I turned back to the phoenix. “Please, we so need your help. We must right an imbalance. In the name of Pentangle, the Mistress of Magic, may we please have one of your feathers?”
The bird paused, hovered over us, and then zoomed off, but as it flew away, it shook its tail and one of the feathers drifted down to land on my shoulder. I whispered a Thank you as Morio grabbed it.
He let go of my hands and pulled a bottle out of his bag. Opening it, he dropped the feather inside and shook it up, then handed it to me. I hesitated, but only a second, before taking a good-sized swig of the potion. I handed the bottle back to him and he capped it, putting it away before resting his hands on my shoulders as I stood in front of him.
“I’m ready, my love.”
“So am I. We must do this. You understand?”
“Yes, I do.” I raised my arms, so that my palms were facing front, as we matched our breathing to a pace. Once again, our energies merged, and there was no beginning, no end to where his fingers touched my shoulders.
Spirits of the soul, spirits of the night,
Spirits of the dark, spirits of the light.
Spirits of the mad, spirits of the sane,
Spirits who were good, spirits of the bane.
Spirits long ascended, spirits who long fell,
Spirits who are fleeting, spirits who do dwell.
The fight picked up as Gulakah once again slashed Roz on one of his passes. Roz let out a shout as a bloodstain blossomed across the back of his coat. Smoky echoed a thundering call and the Lord of Ghosts answered, rearing around to engage him.
Smoky’s sword cut through one of the snakes on Gulakah’s head and the serpent fell, slithering and hissing toward Vanzir, who stomped on its head. Shade darted in, landing another blow, but the god was just too strong for them to bring down with weapons, and none of them had the magic to entangle with him.
Shade drew back and began to transform into his natural form—the skeletal dragon, with darkened bones that creaked and moaned every time he moved. Gulakah let out another hiss and stumbled as Shade swept his wings toward the Lord of Ghosts, knocking him off balance.
Morio and I continued, building the energy, driving the spell forward, focusing on Gulakah as we wove the words, and the words wove the power flowing from Morio into me. A lattice of energy, a skeleton of power, rose into the air in the shape of a flaming violet arrow.
Spirits of forever, spirits who are no more,
Spirits of the world, we call you to death’s door.
The flames, they whirl ’round you,
The dreams, they haunt your thoughts,
Our summoning to abyss’s edge,
You will ignore it not.
Gulakah must have sensed what we were doing, because he turned in our direction and for the first time seemed to hesitate. He wavered, and during that moment, Vanzir took the opportunity to latch onto him with another set of the neon tentacles that writhed out from the palms of his hands. Startled, Gulakah turned back to him, slashing through several of the waving fronds.
Vanzir stumbled back. “Motherfucker!” He darted out of the way as Shade swept in, again, disrupting the Lord of Ghosts to give Vanzir time to retreat. The dream-chaser demon’s hands were bleeding profusely.
We turned back to our work, and I focused as the energy was beginning to reverberate in my palms. I knew what I had to do, and it scared the fuck out of me, but there was no other way.
Of all the spirits round us, one alone shall fall,
