Stronger Together chapter 90 (Patreon)

Making that big decision and committing to a plan felt like the  climactic moment, like we were about to join the battle and finally do  what we came here for. Unfortunately life is rarely so accommodating. We  were at the foot of the mountain now, which meant we were close enough  for the potion Harry had made, but we still had to use it and subvert  any of the Skinwalker's probably horrifying traps.

Knowing  how unpleasant the monster was I suspected those would be the slow and  painful death kind rather than the kill you before you see it coming  kind so avoiding them was a must. Aura stopped direct attacks mostly but  who knew what poison gas toxic magic bullshit that asshole would put in  his traps. We would need River and the wizards working together to get  past this part, that wizards sight would sure come in handy here.

Withe  the potions help we made it to the entrance of a cave, and River once  again held up a hand to bring us to a halt. This time he waved Joe,  Liberty, and Ebenezar forward to look with him and I knew the older  wizards were employing their wizards sight. Harry hung back with us as  the Senior Council members stepped up to examine the cave entrance and  he motioned for us to step back a bit but stay in range of the cave. "I  want you two to activate your magic eye spell here. You won't catch all  of it but you can learn plenty from watching them work."

Barb  and I both activated our spells to watch the older wizards work. We  wouldn't see them actually obseve the forces at work but we would be  able to watch how they countered the traps, something much more  applicable to us than River's more unique method of casting. The hallway  was...weird. The security system had looked natural and blended, like  it was a part of the world, but it was obvious what River meant when he  said the Skinwalker had piggy backed on the native magic of the tribal  lands.

The  difference between the natural feel of that magic and this was clear to  see. Around the edges it had the same general feel, of blending into the  world, but the core of these spells was the opposite of natural. It  looked wrong and sick, like someone had violated my concept of reality  at a basic level. Even the world looked sickened bruises and distortions  stringing the hall interrupting the blended parts at the edges of the  spells. The final effect was nauseating, like someone had tried to sew  pieces of meat into an antique tapestry to patch the holes in the  fabric.

Without  seeming to communicate at all the wizards and River split up, each  turning to a different spot and starting to defuse one of the sick  patches. As Harry said i focused on the wizards this time, trying to see  some of the ways they used their powers and understand it to help  further my own study of magic. Liberty was the closest to me, so I  watched her first. As I watched, she flicked her hands and with a mutter  a web or amethyst light spilled out, she tossed it lightly as if she  was throwing a tarp over the distortion, then with delicate fingers, she  started to pull the threads.

When  the web hit the wound in the world it stuck fast, not freezing the  space itself in a delicate hold that somehow gave the impression of  extreme finesse. As Liberty pulled the thread, the parts of space it  stuck too warped and pulled like she was pulling them across one of  those sliding tile puzzles but without the gaps. With quick deft motions  she strummed the web, kneading the space into smooth emptiness and  erasing the magic entirely from even my mystical sight. I gaped at the  display of skill and concepts I hadn't even considered.

I'd  been keeping an eye out of my peripheral vision watching Joe as well  and once Liberty finished I turned quickly hoping to catch the show  before it ended. Where Liberty used finesse and delicacy though, Joe  used a sort of clinical efficiency. His spell had whipped out and as I  turned I saw him literally stitching the thing together with a spell  that acted as a magic suture. He tugged and pulled in just the right  spaces weaving the thread not just into the air, but into the magic,  weaving it through the power in subtle ways as he stitched it closed.

Finally  he finished his work and with a flourish he flicked out a slicing blade  of arcane force, cutting all the threads he'd just stitched in. As the  threads fell away and faded from existence though, the power they'd been  woven through was pulled along with them. The hole in the air sat there  for a moment independent of the forces that caused the damage, looking  strange and alien without the magic to explain it but it slowly healed  itself, as if the world wanted to be whole and knitted it's own flesh  together like a healing scrape.

I  turned to the Blackstaff, figuring he would take the longest and  excited to see him exercise his massive power. I was both disappointed  and proven correct. Ebenezar was still dealing with his wound in the  world but he wasn't showing off. His hand was extended toward the thing,  a cold look on his face, and as I watched he just squeezed,  constricting the space around it. It was still going on even as I turned  from seeing the others and he just watched dispassionately as the  warped magic suffocated, cut off from whatever powered it as it died.

Watching  the wizard version of John Wick choke a spell to death was less of a  lesson in magic and more of a lesson in not fucking with Ebenezar. I had  a whole new appreciation for the stout old man and silently  congratulated myself on not spilling the beans to Harry and blowing his  cover early. I was perfectly fine not being crushed by eldritch  telekinetic force chokes thank you. As we turned we saw River Shoulders  close up his third and final rupture in the air and finally clear the  access to the hallway beyond.

It  was actually a hallway too, the inside of this cave had been rigorously  carved into an ancient temple. It was rough and unfinished, and I  stared in stupefaction at the carved floors and etched walls, turning to  gape at River. "How the hell has no one found this place? An ancient  Native American holy site remaining undiscovered is one thing, but this  is a fucking building carved into the mountain." The design wasn't  exactly modern architecture but it was a beautiful and powerful sight  nonetheless. I would have figured it would be a tourist attraction.

River  chuckled darkly "I imagine many have found their way into this place  over the years, friend Cameron. Any who were unlucky enough to stumble  on it most likely died terrible deaths. Do not forget the traps we just  disabled, but even without those the creature would have ways of  monitoring it's lair. No, the magic of this place is stained with blood  and pain, any who managed to find their way down here did not leave to  speak of it." His voice was, for one of the only times since I'd known  him, angry. River was genuinely enraged by what had been done here.

I  didn't mention that my magical senses didn't detect any blood or pain,  and turned off the magic eye spell because it clearly wasn't of too much  use down here, not with this crowd around. We made our way into the  structure, finally coming to a large open chamber. Inside the chamber  was an altar, and standing at the altar was...a thing. Harry had  mentioned in the books that he never got a good look at Shagnasty, but  he described his brief glimpse of it as a humanoid creature with matted  urine yellow fur.

The  Naagloshi wasn't humanoid. Not really. It looked primordial and basic.  Somehow both sickeningly unfinished and much more advance than a person.  If anything I'd say somehow humans were Naagloshi-oid. In some ways  though it was also completely alien, anathema and twisted. It gave the  impression someone had taken a futuristic hold being, a homo erectus,  and a monkey, and melted the result together in a microwave and somehow  gotten the features in roughly the right place.

It  was sitting on the altar crouched over a set of bloody remains that  were unrecognizable as being anything but destroyed meat. Could have  been a crocodile or a bodybuilder, but my guess was on person  unfortunately. I knew humans were good for sacrifices. As we came in it  stopped rummaging around in the mess and looked up. The matted fur on  its face was stained with blood and it's mouth was open showing teeth  like shattered ivory shards. Oddly when we showed up and it saw us it  froze like it had been caught with it's hand in the cookie jar and  dropped a heart, swallowing subtly.

It  cleared it's throat, or I assume that was what it was doing because it  sounded like gravel in a garbage disposal but it put its fist in front  of it's mouth like a person would. It leapt smoothly forward shifting  from crouching to standing as it flew forward by shifting its shape,  managing to get to a standing position without actually changing it's  position exactly. The action made my head hurt. It snickered at us,  another sound like stone over sharp blades as it took us in. Then, in a  voice like sandpaper on a cheese grater it spoke. "Well, look what the  cat dragged in. I suppose you were hoping to get me before I got too  strong. Those pathetic water babies talk too much. I'll have to pay them  a visit."

River  snarled at him, the sound more animalistic than I'd ever heard from the  big Sasquatch. "You won't be leaving this place, monster. You are an  abomination. An infected wound on this world left to fester too long.  You've become septic and need to be cleansed." His tone was thick with  rage and hatred, and it was jarring to see this primal destructive side  of River Shoulders. I genuinely never wanted to meet the Genoskwa if he  was anything like this. I trusted River not to murder me but that psycho  scared me enough before I saw a preview.

The  horrible laugh ground out again "One of the tree monkeys. How quaint. I  was picking my teeth with the bones of your kinds greatest warriors  before the man apes began to walk upright. You've all devolved even  further since then, pathetic shadows of an already pathetic race. I  suspected a game or ploy in your halfhearted attempts to engage me this  past month, but I admit to being curious what you had to offer. I didn't  expect you tonight, but still this is a pathetic showing. Some old  humans, a tree monkey, and a couple of children?"

As  it spoke though, rather than being scared or intimidated, I was elated.  Shagnasty, or who I hoped was the same Naagloshi anyway because  fighting another was nightmarish to consider, didn't sense Kara's  nature. He didn't know that Harry was Starborn (though it might not  matter here) he didn't know who Ebenezar was. He didn't know about  Cinder or me or any of us. He was insanely powerful and monstrous and  the scariest thing I'd ever seen sure. But he was also an arrogant bag  of tools.

I knew for a fact Joe  had managed to keep him on the back foot, granted that was weakened and  away from his power base but we had a hell of a lot more than just Joe  here. This stupid son of a bitch was gloating already and he didn't even  know what was coming. I eyed the pile of bloody meat on the altar where  he had been crouching and my heart firmed as I made my decision,  confirming it once again. This motherfucker was going to die here.