God heads went flying, separated from their bodies by Froekn claws. The enormous werewolves howled with every victory. Lions leapt through the air and brought down their victims to tear into tender throats with strong jaws. Greeks in traditional, leather armor and elaborate helmets launched spears, arrows, and magic into the air, all aflame. The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse rode above the danger zone, directing the troops as they shot their own magic and missiles into the mass of Mesopotamians.
Egyptians fought beside Demons, the latter looking even more terrifying beside the golden, pristine glory of the former. The Wild Hunt was the most horrifying of all, though, and my blood ignited with pride. Beautiful Leanan-Sidhe glided across the grass among giant Red Caps, snarling Phookas, and cackling Hags. The glow of Fey magic boiled around them, echoing with diabolical laughter and canine howls. Amid them all, on land and in air, came the Hidden Ones with their nightmarish forms, spreading terror through our enemies like the plague. I roared my encouragement, and they shouted back gleefully.
No one needed my help. Not the Valkyries who flew around Odin or the Ghouls who feasted as they fought. Not the Hinn who leapt among Anubis' Jackals, teaming up to bring down gods, nor the Vetala who drank greedily from Mesopotamian throats, or even the Marid who crashed into their victims like linebackers. All of my troops were doing well, surrounding the palace and vanquishing the gods who started surging out of it.
The Mesopotamians had rallied and armed themselves. They poured out of the palace with a resounding battle cry. No one traced away to save themselves. They refused to give up something they'd waited so long for, and I couldn't help admiring that. Then Marduk came running down the steps in his armor. He stared around himself furiously then angled his head back toward the sky. His stare found and focused on me.
“You traitorous bitch!” Marduk shouted at me as he called lightning from the sky. With a fist around a crackling lightning bolt, Marduk pulled himself up into the air before me. “I would have let you be, but you dare to attack me again? Haven't you learned your lesson?”
Marduk had the Tablet of Destinies harnessed to his chest as usual. I expected him to reach for it, and I shot forward to literally bite his head off before he could. But Marduk didn't reach for the Tablet. Instead, he made the smallest gesture and the golden dome that Arach had torn off the palace came flying at me. The metal hit me in the belly and sent me tumbling to the ground, wings bent forward with the speed of my fall. I landed on a few Mesopotamians, but Marduk didn't seem to care. He rode the lightning down to the ground beside me with a triumphant look on his face as I scrambled off the groaning bodies and onto my feet.
“You didn't think I could do it, did you?” He sneered at me. “You didn't think I could figure out how to use my territory magic. But I create such things every time I touch the Tablet of Destinies. I must focus on the future I want to change and weave it into something new. It's very similar to this.”
Marduk lifted his hand again and the ground beneath me rose up in long ribbons that swung over and around me, trapping me within an earthen cage. I struggled and rocks crumbled, but they quickly hardened into steel bands. Enormous bands thick enough to hold a dragon.
“You're in my territory now, dragon whore,” Marduk growled.
Arach roared and dove for us. A tree uprooted nearby and went hurtling toward my husband. It transformed midway into massive chains that twirled around Arach, pinning his wings to his body. He went crashing into the palace then laid limply in the rubble. I roared as more of our troops ran and flew forward to help me, including Luke and Odin in their dragon forms. Marduk flung them all away, earth rolling like the sea as pieces of the palace shot through the sky. They all went tumbling away as he strode forward and grinned at me.
“Never attack a god in his own territory,” Marduk announced.
The land beneath us rose, forming a column that lifted Marduk and me into the air. As I continued to struggle against my bonds, Marduk went to the edge of our circle of stone and stared down at the battle below. Like the conductor of an orchestra, he lifted his hands and started to direct his territory to defend itself. Wolves whined, Lions made pitiful shrieks, and Jackals whimpered. Gods and Goddesses shouted as they tried to rally their troops but among those battle cries were the moans of injured soldiers.
“You fucking bastard!” I shouted. “You were the one who broke your vow, not I. You forced me into this when you attacked Sin.”
Marduk blinked and frowned over at me with narrowed eyes. “Your lies won't work on me, harlot.”
“Spin it all you want, but I care about Sin; he was included in our bargain!” I growled.
Marduk gave me another scowl then went back to bashing my friends with pieces of my old territory. A boulder hurtled through the air and knocked a cluster of Valkyries out of the sky. Hades launched hellfire at Marduk but a swirling circle of water appeared before us and it sizzled into nothing. Persephone was completely crippled, none of her earth magic working for her in a place where the land responded only to its master. Horus and Re teamed up; Horus laying his hand on Re's shoulder to magnify my husband's
