Unless Valentina had beaten me there and was already wreaking havoc.
I swore and tried not to panic. If she had an entire town to sacrifice to open the portal, she could do it easily. I didn’t want my people sacrificed for any reason, and I sure as hell didn’t want the Demon King brought back into the mortal realm.
Turning my head, I looked at the mages who were already casting wind spells to hurry the ship along. We were going as fast as physically possible. Any faster than this and we risked tearing the rigging right out. We’d still get there a half day faster than normal, but right now, it felt too slow. Like I was already late as it was.
The sea wind beat at me, brine in my mouth from all the sea spray, but I ignored both. My mind churned with possibilities and what to do, and I wasn’t sure of the right answer. I’d just have to go with my best judgement.
“Rexword, disconnect and call Edwin.” The rings would still work, but right now I wanted to see him, and the connection via mirror would be much stronger and easier to hear.
Apparently, my husband was hovering near a mirror, as he answered immediately.
“James, how fare you?”
“I’m fine, but I can’t reach my knights stationed at the portal.”
His expression closed down into one of worry. To anyone who didn’t know him well, it would look like he was thinking deeply, his brows drawn into a line. I knew him well enough to see the anxiety underlying it all.
“Perhaps they’re too busy to answer?I’ll call a neighboring town to see if they’ve retreated there and report back.” Edwin gave me a soft, encouraging smile.“Conserve your mages’ strength; you’ll likely need it soon.It’ll be all right, dearest. We’re not too late to stop her.”
“I pray you’re right. I don’t want a pitched battle with the armies of darkness.” Not again.
Edwin turned his head, lighting up with a smile. “Lila!”
“I’m here, I’m here!I’ve got it!”
Here? Oh, the spell! Thank Vuheia, I really needed that.
Lila abruptly came into view of the mirror, smiling tiredly. Definite circles shadowed her eyes, but she looked victorious in her exhaustion. “I’ll recite it for you in a minute, but first let me explain. It’s a true sealing spell, unlike what’s on the portal. The wording at points might be a bit tricky, but it’s as close to the original as we could get. I had a high priest look over it, and he’s in awe over the whole thing, said it’s a strongly worded divine prayer. He’s going to put it back into circulation immediately. So I know it’ll work. Memorize it as quickly as you can.”
“I will. How do I use it?”
“Start the invocation right as you start fighting the Demon King. The spell will dampen his energy and make it easier to fight him. Or so the instructions in the book said. It’ll be tricky to say the spell and fight, so defend and use the spell if you must make a choice.”
“Got it.” I called for paper and pen and immediately put them to use as Lila read me the spell. Then I read it back to her, had to make two corrections, then read it back a second time.
With divine spells like this, I wanted to make sure I had it right. Who knew the consequences of saying the wrong word. All that said… “Er, this spell seems to summon a god?”
“Basically, you’re summoning a god to possess you,” Lila explained. “It’s incredibly temporary—the god is only in you long enough to quell the demons and seal them back in the demon realm. To be honest, I’m not sure entirely how it works, as we’re only halfway through translating the instructions. We skipped over them to get the spell done for you. I’m not sure ifit summons a specific god, but it’ll summon someone, that’s for sure. It is perfectly safe for you to use it, though.”
That was…comforting? I think? Not sure how I felt about being even temporarily possessed, even by my own goddess, but it seemed I didn’t have much choice in the matter.
“There is one vital clue we learned from the book. We know the Demon King’s name!” Lila looked incredibly shocked and pleased, smile stretching from ear to ear. “It’s Zag’druren.”
“Spell that.”
She did so and pronounced it for me again.
Now this…this I could use to my advantage. Knowing a demon’s name meant having a certain amount of power over them, and I’d take that ace up my sleeve any day. “Thank you so much, Lila. You’ve done amazing work, and I owe you massive favors.”
“Make my brother happy and defeat a demon king so I don’t get killed in the backlash, and we’ll call it even.”
This was why she and I had always gotten along. I laughed softly. “Consider it done.”
Edwin seemed satisfied as he said, “I want you to memorize this to the point you can recite it backward. Your troops know how to defend against the demonic?”
“Not well enough for battle.” I heard what he was trying to tell me. Focus on what I could do instead of worrying. And he was right. “I’ll go do that. Update me once you have contacted people.”
“I will.” Edwin blew me a kiss and cut the call.
