She cocked her head, listening for a moment.
I closed my eyes and I could hear what she heard.
A rustling in the leaves, of whisper on the wind. The slow scent of bonfire smoke wafted through the air, coiling around us like an elemental beckoning us to follow.
The smell of cinnamon and apples, of smoke and soot and charcoal, of cold frosty nights, and the slow descent of the golden sun in afternoon.
The first apples beginning to fall from the trees, the shiver of leaves in the brisk chill night.
It stirred my blood with wondrous delight. I caught my breath, a ripple of hunger racing down my back. I wasn’t sure what I was hungry for, but Panther raised her head, pacing within my heart.
Greta stood, dusting her hands on the skirt of her dress. “He’s coming. I’ll leave you now, to speak with him.” She motioned to my sister. “Come, Arial, and walk with me back to Haseofon.” She glanced at me. “We’ll see you in a while, Delilah.”
And with that, they left me alone in the garden.
I SAT STILL as night, still as a statue, shivering in the west wind that whistled past. I could hear his footsteps as he made his way toward me, striding across the land, a lacework of frost falling from his boots. With every step he left a trail of frozen gossamer webs across the grass. He was Lord of the Autumn, King of the Harvestmen, Lord of Fire and Flame, tempered with the chill of winter’s first kiss.
As he entered the garden from the west, the wind whistled through his cape, sending it flowing behind him in a black trail. His hair draped over his shoulders, coiling black strands of jet, dark as coal, dark as night. Around his forehead a wreath of maple leaves illuminated his face, the leaves glowing with the burnished fires of the season. A pendant hung from a golden cord around his neck. The pendant was that of a skull, about the size of a small fist.
He held out his hand to me, a golden flame flickering from his palm. I took hold of his fingers, the fire crackling through my body, making me aware of every cell, of every nerve in my being. As he pulled me to him, I gasped, unable to breathe. He pressed his lips to mine, kissing me so deep that he sucked the breath out of my body.
I was floating in the middle of the sky with only the frosty stars to keep my company. And then, as I began to drift farther out, he breathed into my mouth, and my life force flowed back to fill my lungs and my blood, saturating me with both my own essence and his. The heat of his hands on my back burned through my dress, and everywhere he touched sang with its own orgasm, sending me into a climax the likes of which I had never felt.
I came hard, tears flowing down my face as I let out a scream, a pent-up ache mingling sadness and sorrow and worry and joy. As I shuddered, he held me tight, murmuring softly in my ear. I wasn’t sure what he said, but his voice was comforting, soothing me back into my body, until finally he stepped back. He kept hold of my hands as he looked down at me.
“My Lord, I need your help.”
“I know what has happened. Shade is part of me, he is my proxy. I’m all too aware of what happened.” He motioned for me to sit on the bench, then took his place beside me. As he held my hand, tracing designs on my palm, I shivered. Being around the Autumn Lord’s energy was taxing, even as much as it intoxicated me. He could never love me in physical form like this; his very presence would destroy my body—he burned so brightly with the fires of autumn. But on this realm, in spirit, he could take me and make me his own.
“What should I do? How can we return him to his body?”
“There is a way. What the old shaman told you is true. Shade is trapped in the Land of Wandering Souls. It exists within a realm closely connected to this, my realm. But I cannot return him to you. I am forbidden to enter. Even though technically, the dimension belongs to the Harvestmen, we cannot take action once someone has been sucked into it. But I can send you there. I can send you and your sisters there, and you can search for him. But it’s a dangerous proposition.”
My heart skittered in my chest. “We can go there? I thought my sisters couldn’t come over here.”
“They cannot enter Haseofon itself.” He tipped my chin up. “But Delilah, if you stay too long, there’s a chance you will be lost as well. You cannot go in body. I will have to send your souls there. And all who go must agree to it. I will not do it without permission.”
“What exactly is the Land of Wandering Souls?”
“When a soul is separated from the body, but the body still lives, the soul often ends up lost. As you know, the Harvestmen are the reapers of souls. A few of the gods participate—Hel, Papa Legba, Kali, and others like them. But ultimately, we Harvestmen and our servants are responsible for the reaping of the souls. It’s a complicated issue, with so many exceptions that I don’t want to get into it.”
“How does that play into Shade’s situation?”
“At times, certain spells, or in Shade’s case—magical weapons—can detach the soul from the body. If the body is not critically injured, it lives on, even though the soul can’t find its way back to the host. The silver cord that connects it to the body has been severed, but the body still lives. In a number of cases, the soul ends up in the Land of Wandering Souls. And there it will stay, unless it’s retrieved and returned to its body. Usually the victim is so confused that they don’t know where they are, and that’s one way they manage to lose themselves within the realm.”
“So you’re saying that Shade has no idea where he is?”
“Most likely. He may not even know that he’s out of his body. Humans would call it something like a bad acid trip, but unfortunately there isn’t an end to this. He’ll stay there until his body dies or unless someone brings him back.” Hi’ran’s expression was grave. He was staring at the fountain in the center of the garden. “This was not meant to happen. If I could go get him, I would.”
“Why can’t you? You said the Harvestmen are not allowed into the Land of Wandering Souls.”
“I claim the dead. Shade isn’t dead. Whatever balance or order created our existence, it ensured that we would not be able to claim the souls of those who were still alive but separated from their body. I have a feeling the Hags of Fate may be responsible for the prohibition.”
“But you can send us over there?” The thought of being detached from my body to enter a realm where souls were easily trapped wasn’t all that appealing, but if it was the only way I could save Shade, I’d do it.
“Yes, I can send you. But you’ll have to work fast once you cross over. The longer you stay there, the better the chance you’ll have of being trapped. Think carefully as to whom you choose to take with you. They’ll need to be strong-willed and have powerful egos, because one thing that I do know is that the Land of Wandering Souls is filled with the monsters created out of your own fear and imagination.”
I caught my breath and let it out slowly. So it wasn’t just a matter of wandering around until we bumped into Shade. “But if we’re not in our bodies, how can they destroy us?” I already knew the answer, but I wanted to make sure.
“They can destroy your essence. They can destroy you as surely as you—a Death Maiden—destroy others. You’ll feel like you’re in your body, so I suggest you carry weaponry on your actual bodies when you enter the stasis. As long as you have it on your body when you transfer over, your soul will be able to utilize the essence of that tool.”
I had fought enough creatures in enough battles to know that the mind was one of the most powerful weapons available. I wasn’t about to dispute him or question him.
“How many can you transfer over with me? How many people can I take?”
“I suggest you travel with two or three others. No more. Otherwise, you risk losing them as well as Shade.”
I didn’t want to ask the next question, but I had to know. “What happens if we can’t find Shade? What happens if I can’t bring him back?”
“Then he will remain there, and I will find you a new mate.”
; I wanted to protest that I didn’t want anybody else. Then I remembered what Greta had said. No begging. And I knew what Hi’ran’s answer would be. He cared for me, and he might be bestowing a great honor on me, but when it came down to it, his will was my will.
After a moment, I said, “How do we get out of there once we find him? Because I will find him.”
“I’ll give you a token, a talisman. You will each have one. When you are ready to leave, you will activate them. Do not lose these charms, since they are the only way you’ll be able to leave the realm. I’ll give you one for Shade. But understand, this will not be easy. He may not even recognize you. You may have to remind him of who he is, and who you are. How you do that is up to you.”
Hi’ran glanced at the sky. “I’m going to send you back now, to your body. Don’t take too long to make a decision on who to take with you. The sooner you start, the better for Shade. Talk to Camille’s healers. They will prepare you. When you are ready, touch the mark on your forehead and whisper my name. I’ll come.”
And with that, he leaned down and kissed my forehead on the mark that bound me to him. When I opened my eyes, I was back in the parlor, lying on the sofa.
RATHER THAN REPEAT myself twice, I motioned for Menolly, Camille, and Iris to follow me and went back into the living room, where I told everybody what the Autumn Lord had said.
“Have any of you ever heard of the Land of Wandering Souls?”
Most of them shook their heads, except for Morio.
“We have legends of it in Japan, although we have a different name for it. A dangerous journey, it is. Very few ever return from being lost there. When I first began learning death magic, my teacher told us about a spell designed to sever the soul from the body without killing the physical form. It was in preparation of creating a host for a walk-in.”
Camille gave him a long look, but I had the feeling she knew what he was talking about.
“Have you ever performed that spell?” Iris asked, her voice wary.
Morio shifted his gaze away from her. “I know how perform it, but I never have. And I never will. To me it’s one of the utmost violations—stealing someone’s body while committing their soul to an eternity of confusion.”
Unsettled that he actually had that much power and that I had never known about it, I framed my next question carefully. “Have you ever been party to retrieving a soul?”
He stared at me, his gaze direct. “No, but I’ve seen the ritual performed. And in case you were wondering, I’ve never participated in stealing somebody’s body like that. As I said, I know how to perform the spell, but I’ve never taken part in any ritual. In fact, I was kicked out of one of my orders. My teacher cast me out because I refused to do so.”
Menolly spoke for us all. “You can’t leave the story hanging, not after telling us that much.”
With a little shrug, Morio said, “As I grew up, I realized that I had a talent for minor death magic. You know, the kind you can learn without going into training for it. Grandmother Coyote decided that I should take up the specialty. She hooked me up with a teacher and I learned quickly, and was doing extremely well. But then, many years later, we came to the part in training where he taught me the spell to cleave a soul from its body. He wanted me to prove that I knew it, so he asked me to perform it with him. You have to understand, those who work in death magic work in shades of gray. Some veer into darker territories, and some try and stay on the lighter side, but all in all, death magic is a dark art. Isn’t that so, Wilbur?”
Wilbur, who had stuck around, nodded. “No matter how you pretty it up, the discipline is a harsh one. Where you specialized in the more purely magical aspects, I chose the more practical ones.” He looked at the rest of us. “Necromancers understand death magic just as much as Morio does, if not more so. But we put it to use in the physical realm, rather than using the energetic forms.”
“Anyway,” Morio continued, “I refused to take part. He had chosen one of the village girls for our practice victim. I knew that he was angry at her because she had refused his advances. When he wasn’t watching, I freed her and told her to get the hell out of the village before he found out. I stalled as long as I could to give her time to get away. Finally I told him I wasn’t going to perform the spell.”
I was riveted. “What happened? Did she get away?”
Morio smiled. “Yes, she escaped. My teacher was so pissed that he beat me until I was black and blue. You have to understand, we were trained never to lash back at our teachers. So I let him beat me, because it was the appropriate thing to do. I had refused my training. After he finished, he headed back to his home to where he had locked up the girl, but she was long gone. I packed my things and ran away. My parents didn’t live in the village, so I wasn’t worried that he would try to take it out on my family. He’d have Grandmother Coyote breathing down his back if he did. But I made myself scarce. He didn’t bother coming after me—I suppose he thought I wasn’t worth the energy. For that, I’m grateful.”
We were all staring at the youkai-kitsune.
“Well, that’s more than I expected to hear.” I thought for a moment, then asked, “I need a few volunteers to go with me. I don’t feel like it’s my place to request that any specific one of you go, because of the chance we might be lost there. But I need help. I don’t think I can do this myself.” I glanced over at Iris. “And you are not in the running. You don’t get to volunteer. Your children need you.”
She gave me a smile. “As much as I love you and Shade, I wasn’t going to. My children come first. I’ll fight in the demonic war, because their lives are at stake if Shadow Wing breaks through. But I’m afraid that their well-being and my ability to be here for them come before Shade.”
I knew she was just being honest, but it still hurt to hear. But there was no way I could fault her for it.
“I’ll join you,” Morio said.
Camille started to volunteer, but Smoky shouted her down.
“You know very well that Aeval and Titania will never allow you to go. You cannot jeopardize yourself in that manner. I’m sorry. Camille, but your kingdom—and it is a kingdom—relies on you too heavily.” He looked over to Morio. “Think twice about volunteering. You are her priest.”
“I think it better if you stay home,” Trillian said. “But I can go. Camille needs me the least—and I’m not asking people to contradict me. The fact is that Morio is her priest under the Moon Mother’s watch. They work powerful magic together as a team. And Smoky, you big lizard, you can guard them better than I ever can. So I volunteer to go with Delilah in place of you, Camille.”
Camille teared up, but merely fluttered her fingers to her lips. I could tell it wrenched her heart that she couldn’t volunteer to help me. We stuck together, no matter what.
Menolly cleared her throat. “I’d go, except I’d be a liability during the daylight.”
“I can go,” Nerissa said. “People volunteered to save my life when I was trapped in the Sub-Realms. I’d like to pay it back in some way. I’ve been doing a lot of training, and I’m a pretty good fighter now. And I’m a werepuma.”
A pained look crossed Menolly’s face, but she merely said, “Bless you, love. I won’t try to talk you out of it. You’ve trained under Venus, and that counts for a lot.”
“I can take one other person with me. The Autumn Lord told me to bring no more than three others.” It distressed me that neither of my sisters could go, but I knew that whatever help I had, it would only add to our chances to find Shade.
“I’ll go,” Rozurial said. “Vanzir’s about to be a father—well, in a few months. I doubt if Aeval would take kindly to him going. But I’m happy to help. Shade’s a good friend, and I don’t like thinking about him being trapped there. Will that work, Delilah? Nerissa, Trillian, and me?”
I gratefully nodded. “I’m just so glad that I’ve got somebody going with me. To tell you the truth, I’m afraid. I don’t go messi
ng around in other realms much.”
“Of course you do,” Camille said. “You’re a Death Maiden—you go off into the astral all the time.”
I hadn’t thought of it that way. It made the prospect of wandering off into a realm where souls got trapped a little less frightening.
“When you put it that way, it doesn’t sound so bad. All right, we need to leave as soon as we can. Our bodies will stay in this realm, so I’d like to know we’re being protected and watched over. The Autumn Lord told me that your healers can help, Camille.”
“Of course,” Camille said. “We’re all going back to my Barrow anyway, and there, we can watch over you and make certain that you’re all right. You’ll all be safe.” She looked at Wilbur, then her gaze flickered to Martin. “Did you want to come back with us?”
Wilbur let out a snort. “I can hear in your voice just how much you want me back there, sweet cheeks. But no, I appreciate the offer, but Martin and I will just head home and watch Jeopardy. I always DVR it just in case we miss it because Martin gets agitated if we don’t watch.”
At that, we all broke out into a laugh. Part of me wanted to tell Wilbur that the soul of his brother was watching over him, that he really didn’t give a damn about Jeopardy. That it was just some routine function left behind in his body. But I decided not to bother. Martin the ghoul gave Wilbur a lot of comfort, and I didn’t want to take that away from him.
We gathered our things, and Vanzir and Rozurial, along with several guards, escorted Iris to her house, where she and Bruce and the Duchess could gather everything that they and the twins would need for the next week or so. I hoped it wouldn’t take that long to find Yerghan the Blade, but at least everyone would be safe out at Talamh Lonrach Oll.