Blackbird Broken (The Witch King's Crown #2) - Keri Arthur Page 0,87
keys. “I take it you want to drive?”
She nodded and opened the car. “It’ll be easier if I do, given I know the way and you don’t.”
I waited until she’d reversed out of the parking spot and we were on our way again before asking, “So if Mary isn’t a mage, what are her powers? Besides being able to talk to the dead.”
“Not just any dead,” Mo said. “But the ancient druidic council. Or the six masters of mayhem, as we like to call them.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Why? Or shouldn’t I ask?”
“They had a nasty habit of stirring up trouble to justify their own existence.” She shook her head. “We butted heads many a time with them.”
“‘We’ being you and Mary?”
“And Mryddin, Dyddy, and any other soul soldiers who happen to be around in that century.”
“Dyddy?”
“Gwendydd.” She glanced at me. “You were named after her, you know.”
I raised an eyebrow. “I thought I was named after Gwenhwyfar?”
“Your mother never knew about Gwenhwyfar or that you were her soul reborn. Hell, I didn’t realize it for far too many years.” She neatly avoided an idiot in a van who stopped for no good reason that I could see. “She found an ancient tome about Dyddy’s exploits and declared her first daughter would be named Gwen. She was eight at the time.”
“Why on earth was she thinking about children when she was eight?” I wasn’t even thinking about them now, and I was nearly thirty.
“She was always determined to have kids young,” Mo said, with soft regret. “I often wonder now if she knew her life would not be a long one.”
I didn’t say anything. The only clear memories I had of my mother were of her dying in the hospital after the car crash that had already taken my father’s life. Which was sad, I supposed, but not unexpected given I’d only been three.
“Aside from spirit talking,” Mo continued, “Mary’s a strong spell caster.”
“I’m not entirely sure the ability to raise limp dicks will be much help when we’re battling Darkside.”
Mo laughed. “She can do more than that, trust me.”
“I would hope so.” I studied the long row of red-brick terraces that lined either side of the street for a minute. “Is she the only soul soldier born into this timeline?”
“They generally work in pairs, at the very least, but we don’t have a lot of contact until trouble rises.” Mo shrugged. “They have to hide their presence because Darkside hunts them down.”
“How would they even know a soul soldier from a regular reincarnation?”
“It’s all about the aura and smell—Tartarus hounds are specifically trained to hunt them.”
“What is a Tartarus hound? Or don’t I want to know?”
Her lips twitched. “Probably the latter, but given they’ll undoubtedly be unleashed before all this has ended, they’re basically the mythic hellhound. Only bigger.”
“Well, isn’t that something to look forward to?” And I couldn’t help wondering how many other nightmare creatures I’d learn about before this fight was over. “What kills them?”
Nex and Vita obviously would, but on the off chance I couldn’t access their power, it’d be handy to know.
“Anything sharp and silver.”
“Note to self—start collecting all things sharp and silver.”
“No need—there’s a cache of demon-killing weapons hidden in the King’s Tower.”
I frowned. “Where? I didn’t see it when we were down there.”
“Well, it’d hardly be hidden if you could see it, would it?”
We were approaching another bridge, and my breath caught in my throat. Nothing happened, of course, but it was nevertheless a relief once we were on the other side.
“Does the fact Darkside hunts soul soldiers down mean they can’t be reborn into the same century?” Then, before she could answer, I added, “I guess it does, thanks to the whole ‘having to grow up before you can fight’ problem.”
“Actually, soul soldiers are born into the bodies of the freshly dead and inherit whatever personality and magical abilities their meat case has.”
“Meat case? That’s seriously gross.”
“But nothing more than the truth once the original soul has left.”
“What happened to the real Mary? And what’s the current version’s actual name? Or were they never born human in the first place?”
“Mary had an allergic reaction and passed before medical help could get to her.” Mo flicked on the blinker and turned onto the road leading to North Glasgow and Edinburgh. “Soul soldiers are chosen from those who made a vast difference to the lives around them. I believe she was christened Kwyn.”