A Pirate for the Dead Goddess (Legends of Rahasia Book 2)

Chapter Thirty-Four

            Ode rounds the corner to the hall, just seeing the Mother Goddess limping into a self-created rift. Kaliya had made it possible for all of us to avoid the time spell's effects, and Ode wastes no time or rage to throw her scimitar at the Matriarch's back.

Too late. The blade clatters down just as the rift closes.

"Dammit all!"

I bend down and cover Kali's ears with my hands as her mother goes on a tirade. The little goddess turns back and sticks her tongue out at me.

Captain Lucky Dice

Just call me glorified babysitter.

"Making an ass of myself, just getting here before she disappears like the cowardly wretch she is." Ode slams her fist into one of the palatial pillars. The rose petals, carved in stone, seem to quiver beneath her anger. "Dammit! And you.Who in the hell are you and why are you holding down Aziz? Show yourself."

I glance over her shoulder and thank the gods I'm already on the ground helping Kaliya.

Because if I wasn't...

I would've fallen already in shock.

"Hello there," the witch Farzaneh grins at me, looking the worse for wear from fighting the time spell. Blood running down her face, but still...

I let go of Kaliya, stumbling towards Farzaneh like I've lost all function of my limbs. Jun holds Xander in her ghoulish embrace. Kura minds Sol's chained wrists, making sure her godly axe doesn't kill all of us. And the Witch Queen, Ratu, and Ali just watch it all, judging in silence. I'm even past the astonishment of seeing how Farzaneh's pinned down Aziz, a god from the First Divine War who we all thought was locked away forever.

Ode strides forwards, wrenches Aziz upwards with one arm. They have burn marks, a severe ring, around their neck, shaped like Fari's fingerprints. "It's been a while."

"You're still every bit as bitchy as I remember," Aziz counters smugly, "more wrinkles though."

"I prefer the term battle scars." Ode reaches down and wraps her hands around Aziz's, forming golden shackles that gleam with heavy magic, manacles around their ankles follow. The beauty hobbles in front of the terrifying death goddess. "Seems like my mother-in-law took care to restore all your power. That means you can set to work restoring my husband."

"I'd kill him first." They spit back.

"Ah, you fight me." Ode leans closer, until her nose brushes against theirs, all while she's smiling sweetly. "Then I will tear each finger from your hand, each hand from your wrist, elbow from shoulder, and shoulder from arm, in that order, until you obey me." She throws them to the ground. "Malika, watch this wretch in the private quarantine infirmary. They should be subdued thanks to the chains..." Ode grimaces, wiping away gold-red blood from her nose from exerting herself. "Enchant them if they try and escape out of sheer stupidity. The Godkiller gets the same treatment, but leave her to the Pit."

Malika nods instead of a formal curtsy. She snaps her fingers, and Aziz limps along beside her, the air compressed to shove them nearly off their feet.

"The rest of you..." Ode whirls around, rubbing her hands together. "May leave."

We can leave?

Is she mad?

The war isn't even done.

I step forwards, Kali beaming like the little madwoman she is. "You can't mean it, goddess. With such dangerous forces having just escaped?"

"I do mean it, Captain." Ode shoots back, her voice made all the more terrifying by the strict, monotone control she has over it. "I'm not doing this again." She swallows, wipes away more blood. Farzaneh tears off a piece of bandage from her own wrappings, gods know how she got to the palace infirmary, and then continues. "The old system, having mortals fight in godly war. It must end. Too many died last time, nearly all the imperial army. Now, if the Divine squabble, our problems should be kept amongst the Divine."

She steps closer to me, taking away the dice.

"The time for Champions is over."

***

Pirates,

ME: Well shoot. What are the gods without their champions? Boring, that's what.

ODE: Excuse me, author, did you say something?

ME: o_0 Nothing...

-Sophia