The Curse of Deadman's Forest by Victoria Laurie Read Free Book Online

the child either lives or has perished, but tread carefully, Medea.”
    The hellhound raised her nose, sniffed the wind, and, with a swiftness that defied her size, raced forward onto the icy bridge.
    Some time later, and much to Magus’s relief, his beast returned unharmed, carrying one small shoe, which she dropped at her master’s feet.
    Magus bent to pick it up and his black eyes smoldered. “The girl is dead?” he asked the beast, still doubting it could have been that easy.
    The hellhound gave a rough shake of her head, adding agrowl as her hackles rose. Magus turned angrily to Atroposa. “You have failed!” he snapped. “Medea has confirmed the girl lives.”
    “Impossible!” the sorceress howled. “Your pet is wrong! No mortal could have escaped my wrath!”
    Beside them Caphiera the Cold began to cackle, her laugh like giant icebergs grating against each another. “It seems that all your plans for slaying this child end in failure, my brother.”
    Even though Atroposa had sent the cyclone, the idea had been Magus’s, so Caphiera’s words made him bristle. Thin streams of smoke trailed out of his nostrils, curling about the sides of his head like ram’s horns. “Careful, Sister,” he cautioned.
    But Caphiera was hardly put off by his warning. “You know the prophecy you stole from that dim-witted archeologist in Greece as well as I do, Magus,” she sneered. “You waste time here when Laodamia has already given you the answer to your dilemma. The great Oracle herself has described exactly how to go about destroying the One.”
    Magus’s eyes simmered with anger while his frosty sister recited, “‘A time of grave danger shall come when the sorceress of earth shall arise from her stony tomb to take the life of the Guardian. And with the Guardian’s demise, the One shall quickly fall, for none alive can stall this fate. If the Guardian perishes and the One falls before the time of gathering is complete, no hope can be given to the way of man.’ Do you not remember?”
    “I remember,” Magus growled, irritated.
    “We must leave the task of slaying this child to our other sister, I’m afraid,” said Caphiera with a tsk.
    “But that would require
finding
Lachestia,” whined Atroposa with a shudder. “No one has seen her in over three millennia.”
    Caphiera nodded, folding her long bony arms across her chest. “Yes, but find her we must, dear Sister. The prophecy requires it.”
    “Do we have to?” Atroposa moaned. “Caphiera, you
know
what she’s like.”
    Magus fully understood his sister’s dread. Lachestia was unquestionably the most temperamental and unpredictable of all Demogorgon’s children. In times past, Lachestia had sought to kill each of her siblings at least once, but she’d shown a particular malice toward Atroposa, who’d barely escaped their last few encounters with her life. Lachestia could be relentless in her malevolent pursuits, not to mention that Magus was certain she was quite mad. Lachestia was lethal, not just to her enemies, but to everyone she came in contact with—her siblings included. That made this pesky business of obtaining her cooperation to fulfill the prophecy all the more problematic.
    “We’ve little choice, Atroposa. We must locate Lachestia, convince her to join us, and employ her to find and kill this Guardian,” Caphiera insisted.
    Atroposa’s bony face looked miserable. “I don’t think it wise for me to attend the search for her.”
    Embers flared at the edge of Magus’s cloak. Leave it to hissimpering sister to try to wiggle her way out of an unpleasant duty. He looked at Caphiera, who stared coolly at the sorceress of air. Magus nearly smiled. He’d let Caphiera put Atroposa in her place.
    But what Caphiera said was, “Of course
you
cannot search for her, dear Sister. Lachestia would surely kill you the moment she spotted you.”
    At first Magus was angry that Caphiera was allowing Atroposa to bow out, but the more he thought