Spears' Challenge (The White Dragon Series Book 2) Read online

  Spears’ Challenge

  Bonnie Watts

  SPEARS’ CHALLENGE

  Copyright © 2016 by Bonnie Watts

  All rights reserved

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to public or private institutions, corporations, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the author, except brief quotes used in reviews.

  Cover and interior art done by Buzz Erlinger-Ford from 99designs.com, who brought Jerrie and the crew alive..

  ISBN-10: 1539898989

  ISBN-13: 978-1539898986

  DEDICATION

  This is dedicated to my friend Lisa White, who has given me a new understanding of the joy in life

  CONTENTS

  Acknowledgments

  i

  Chapter 1

  1

  Chapter 2

  21

  Chapter 3

  46

  Chapter 4

  61

  Chapter 5

  76

  Chapter 6

  85

  Chapter 7

  103

  Chapter 8

  123

  Chapter 9

  134

  Chapter 10

  151

  Chapter 11

  164

  Chapter 12

  174

  Chapter 13

  181

  Chapter 14

  188

  -1-

  “W

  e want you to be the next High Priestess of the Council of Avalon, Jerrie. The council members voted, and the majority agreed.”

  I stare at my brownie friend in annoyance. Talk about inappropriate timing! I’d just barely survived a magical duel against their previous High Priestess a few minutes ago. Morgana Le Fey had served as High Priestess in the sanctuary of Avalon for centuries. Over time, though, she had gradually slipped into madness, becoming a wicked egomaniac that the Avalon Council should have put down before a lot of people, including children, were hurt.

  Despite their stupid vote, I’m not priestess material, that’s for certain.

  My name is Jerrie Spears, and I came to Avalon requesting sanctuary after being stalked by an evil witch who murdered my family and tried to steal their powers. When I saw the madness and evil inside the High Priestess and the harm she had caused, I knew it was time for her to die. I just got stuck doing the dirty work that everyone else in Avalon was either too afraid or too corrupt or to whatever else was going on here to do themselves.

  You need to give them some type of answer, Jerrie.

  That’s my sword talking in my head. He’s sentient and used to be a wizard called Torlean. He’s the Sword of Power, A.K.A Excalibur, and belongs to the deceased Founder of the Order of the Knight Protectors, Lord Frederick Gallows. Through a trial called the Gallows Test, named after Sir Frederick Gallows, the Founder of the Order of Knight Protecters, I plunged the spiritual aspect of the sword through my spiritual heart in order to bond with it. I’m not into ritual suicide. Plunging that flaming sword into my chest hurt like the real thing. It was necessary in order to quickly learn how to use the magic of a Champion Knight Protector. The magic that my murdered twin sister Georgie risked her soul and withstood four hours of torture to send to me. So Jerrie Spears sword flambé it was.

  I look over at my-hope-to-be-as-soon-as-we-can-get-some-time-boyfriend, selkie shape-shifter and Knight Protector Jeff Siniocor in mute appeal. How do I get out of this one without hurting anyone’s feelings?

  Jeff speaks up for me and I could kiss him for it. Well, I could kiss him anyways, but thank you, my sweet-talking archeologist!

  “Maggie, now isn’t the time for this discussion. We’re all in shock. Jerrie’s just been through two difficult and traumatic magical events, and you need to bury your high priestess. Morgana had her issues late in her life, but as Dragon pointed out, she did serve Avalon faithfully for many centuries. She deserves to be buried with all honors.”

  Issues? Mad as the proverbial hatter, actually, and evil by choice.

  He put his arm protectively around me.

  “I’m taking Jerrie home to get her something to eat and some rest. We’ll set up a meeting after the funeral, okay?”

  Maggie nods, blushing. “Of course. You’re right, Jeffrey. I’m sorry, Jerrie.”

  I blurt out before we leave the brownie councilwoman, “Maggie! Can you send that seeley Houndmaster to see us sometime soon?”

  She grins a sharp-toothed grin. “That I can do. Maybe tomorrow. I’m sure he’ll be curious to see yon wee monster.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Yon wee monster” is my Familiar, who is capering around us chasing his tail, since I have a rope leash on him and won’t let him chase people like he’s been trained to do. Lucifer is four hundred pounds of adolescent Hellhound, who broke out of his kennel in the Hell dimension, made it through Avalon’s impressive magical protections somehow, and bonded with me yesterday. I thought he was just a very large abused puppy who’d broken loose from a cruel master. I had no idea that he was the teenaged version of the prized hounds used by the top demons in Hell to keep order in their domains. The hounds did this by acting essentially the same as sheepherding dogs, only for dead souls. They form telepathic bonds with their demons and can locate souls by mentally hunting them down through dimensional travels. Lucifer is still too young to have developed the hunting skill, thank goodness. But other skills, like eating dead bodies and chasing people, are unfortunately already a part of his repertoire.

  Maggie Neverstill had mentioned that a banished Master of Hounds from the seeley Court had taken sanctuary here in Avalon, and his last fairy hound had died many decades ago. Without the company of his beloved hounds, the bitter old elf was slowly fading, the only way his kind can die. The brownie thought that he might be persuaded to train Lucifer, named after the top demon of Hell, just to have another hound to care for.

  I am unbelievably tired as my body drags all the way back to our suite. Dragon, who is the last of the shape-shifting dragons, stays with us, and I can sense his concern for my well-being.

  I reach out and take his hand.

  “I’m okay, Dragon, or, at least, I’ll be fine after I eat and have some time to assimilate everything. I haven’t had a chance to brief you guys on what’s happened, what the cost was for passing that test. I don’t regret it, but it is a big change, and right on top of that, Lucifer…”

  “Arooooooo!”

  “I know that’s you, boy. We’ll get you something to eat soon.”

  Dragon’s eyes narrow as he looks from me to the dog and back. “He’s bonded with you, hasn’t he?”

  “Yes. Right after I bonded with Torlean. It’s overwhelming to have two voices in my head. He wanted to eat Morgana’s body!”

  “Of course he did. He’s a Hellhound. He’s probably been trained to eat long pig from the day he was whelped.”

  Jeff stiffens, glaring at the dragon shape-shifter. “I wish you wouldn’t do that.”

  “Do what?”

  “Call humans long pig like that.”

  “Why? It is a perfectly literal Chinese translation.”

  Dragon is a black Imperial Chinese Dragon shape-shifter, the last of his kind.

  I touch Jeff’s arm so he will let me handle it.

  “Using that terminology for men and women who aren’t dragons or Chinese dehumanizes them, Dragon. It makes it sound as though you think people like Jeff and I, and others like us, are
nothing but food to you, like pork would be to us.”

  The dragon-shifter stares at me for a moment with his peridot-colored eyes. Finally he bows, one of his elegant old-world bows. He is 4000 years old and acts like it sometimes.

  “My apologies to both of you for my rudeness. I will try not to use that term again.”

  I looked at Jeff expectantly.

  The selkie, fortunately, catches on to what I want. He smiles at Dragon. “We appreciate it, Dragon, we really do.”

  You were right about the selkie, Jerrie. He is quick on the mark. Good-looking too. Have you and he…

  Shut up, Tor, that isn’t any of your business.

  Hey, I’m a sword! I have to get my gratification any way I can get it!

  Not any more, Wizard Torlean. This White Dragon can send you to the otherworld to be ‘gratified’ to your heart’s content by your sugar bear Sir Frederick. It’s a bennie from having a necromantic healer bonded to you. I wonder if I can make it permanent?

  Are you trying to get rid of me?

  The sword, which I was holding in my hand since I didn’t have a sheath for it yet, turns a hurt ebony blue color.

  “Jerrie, why is Excalibur turning black?” asks Dragon.

  “It’s actually a dark blue. The sword changes colors to match his moods once he’s bonded to someone. I don’t have a mood ring, I have a mood sword. Great.”

  “He thought I was gay bashing the Founder when I met him and he glowed orange at me.” Jeff points out, which isn’t especially helpful at the moment.

  “Gay bashing? Why would you hit someone who is happy, and what does that have to do with Lord Frederick Gallows?” Dragon looks really confused now.

  Jeff opens his mouth to explain, but I stop him.

  “Let me do it, Jeff, you’ll just make it worse.”

  I stop walking and face Dragon, holding up the sword.

  “Dragon, I’d like to introduce you to the Wizard Torlean. Tor, meet the last and the greatest of the dragon shifters, the black Imperial Chinese dragon, Tsu Ching Tso. Dragon, as I told Maggie earlier, Tor gave up his body and took over Sir Frederick’s sword so they could fight evil together. He is also Sir Frederick’s partner and soulmate. He turned that ebony color because I hurt his feelings since I was wondering if I am now or will I be powerful enough later to remove his spirit from the sword.”

  Dragon bows to Tor. “I am pleased to meet you formally at last, Wizard. I apologize for not realizing you were sentient and sending you back where you belonged. I owe you a boon for that mistake.”

  Jeff and I both look at the ancient shifter in shock. No supernatural likes to put themselves in debt to another. It is unheard of for a powerful one like Dragon to do so voluntarily.

  I listen to Tor for a moment, then translate.

  “He says thank you, but refuses to take your boon. His reason for that is because it was your visits to the tomb, and your monologs to Arthur’s sarcophagus, that kept him entertained for centuries. You saved his sanity. It is you who is owed the boon. But since he is only a sword, there is no way to repay it.”

  Tor turns a bright pink now.

  I smile. “I think he’s had a crush on you for a while, Dragon, see, he’s blushing!”

  “Stop teasing him, Jerrie!” Orders a blushing Dragon.

  “Why would you want to kill him by removing him from the sword, Jerrie?” Asks Jeff.

  “I was just thinking that maybe he has served long enough, is why. If he wanted me to do it, and if I had the power after I learn how to use all the magic t I had, I could neutralize the spell keeping his spirit in the sword. That way their spirits could be together forever. But only if Tor wants me to do it.”

  I’m sorry I jumped to the wrong conclusion, Jerrie. It’s been a while since I’ve been bonded to a White Dragon. I forgot how they think.

  A White Dragon is a legendary heroine (they are always female) who is made or born occasionally when the world faces a great threat. Dragon has decided that, with all the magic my murdered sister sent to me plus my own three skills of mind and body healing and necromancy, I was becoming a White Dragon. To be chosen by a Familiar like a Hellhound was the last proof of that fact.

  It’s okay, Tor. I’m not sure that I can even do it.

  Really Hungry Mamma! Food!

  Right then, two people walk by us, and Lucifer takes off after them. He almost yanks my arm out of its socket when his rope leash tightens.

  “Lucifer, NO!”

  Jeff helps me reel the Hellhound back in.

  “Come on, let’s get home and get this thing fed before he eats someone!”

  Needless to say, we hurry after that.

  Liam the brownie has house duty again. He just sighs when he sees Lucifer and materializes a huge dog bowl about the size of a row boat in the kitchen filled with what looks like dog kibble mixed with ground meat. Another bowl sits next to it filled with water.

  “Liam, where in the world did you get the dog food?”

  He shrugs his narrow shoulders.

  “Ask Oraghuht in supply. He heard about your new pet, and about fifty bags of the stuff was delivered to us sometime during the morning.” The brownie gives the Hellhound the stink eye. “The way this thing eats, that will last only a few days. I don’t think the feeding directions on the bag were right for Hellhounds even when augmented with meat. He’ll be going after brownie next, if I run out too soon. I’ll call Oraghuht and triple the order. Them ribs sticks out too much for my likings. Ain’t no one’s going to say that anyone from the home I serves is not getting enough to eat! Hmph!”

  “I wonder if you will soon have the first fat Hellhound in the history of the breed, Jerrie.” Dragon whispers, eyeing the determined brownie.

  “I heard that, Dragon!” Liam gives Dragon a dirty look.

  Jeff and I just smile at each other. Oraghuht is a dwarf in supply who I’d thought was a lady that Jeff had used his charms on to get us some supplies. I’d been pretty jealous until I found out that the supply she was a gay he, a dwarf who has a hobgoblin boyfriend that is a fan of my media persona, the ghostbusting Spears witch. My jealousy had finally pushed Jeff to kiss me, and we both admitted the affection that had built up between us.

  “I really need to meet Oraghuht and his partner and thank them.”

  “I’ll set it up soon.”

  Liam looks at me. “I expect you’re hungry again?”

  I sigh, and my stomach rumbles at the thought of food.

  “Starving. I used a lot of magic. I glance at my companions. “What about you two?”

  “I’m hungry too. Dragon?”

  “No, the meal I had earlier was sufficient.”

  The ‘meal’ he is talking about was when he killed and ate ten of Morgana’s thugs she’d sent to attack and delay us from getting to Arthur’s tomb. She wanted this because she was gathering an army to go against me.

  I can hear Lucifer gobbling up his dinner in the kitchen as Jeff and I do the same in the dining room. Dragon has reassured himself that I not going to die right in front of him and has excused himself to go help with the plans for the funeral.

  “I’m surprised that Dragon wants to help with the funeral arrangements, considering he fought on our side against her.”

  I thought about it for a minute.

  “It doesn’t surprise me. If Dragon had really wanted Morgana taken out, Jeff, he could have done it at any time. He didn’t need me to do it for him. I think she had been his friend and ally at one time, and he didn’t want to be the one to end her reign here, even though he knew it needed to be done. My coming here was the catalyst to clean up the place, and he felt he needed to assist in doing the right thing. Now he needs to say goodbye to her, how did he put it, to sing her song of passing. I don’t think those are easy for Dragon any more. He’s done it too many times in his long life.”

  “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

  Lucifer came bounding in the room, having finished eating and drinking to his s
atisfaction.

  I was finished as well and wiped my face with the napkin.

  “I’m going to take him out for a walk to do his business and then go to bed. I’m exhausted.”

  “I’ll come with you. It might not be safe. Morgana’s thugs could be setting up an ambush or something.”

  I kiss him. “I have my protector here, and I think I need to be alone, or as alone as I can be with a sword and a telepathic dog in my mind.”

  “Before you go out, the brownies dropped this off for you.”

  Jeff hands me a beautifully tooled leather harness that contains a back sheath with the Sword of Power in it.

  “You might as well get used to wearing it.”

  “Thanks. You know I have no idea how to use a sword.”

  “We’ll start lessons as soon as we get a few minutes.”

  “Great.” I didn’t sound very enthusiastic, and he leans down and kisses me again.

  I head out into the fog with Lucifer by my side on his leash and Tor on my back.

  You’re quiet.

  I’ve been thinking about your offer to remove me from the sword when this crisis is done.

  Are you considering it?

  I would have to talk it over with Fred, but maybe it might be approaching the time for us to let the world handle its own problems. They didn’t do so bad without me while I was locked up in that cursed tomb.

  I’ll think about what type of magic I’ll need. You two deserve some peace. You also deserve to go to the real otherworld, not to that pocket piece that Sir Frederick is in now. You both deserve to see your loved ones and families again.