by Cory Huff
She put her foot on Nia’s chest, next to the blade, and pushed her off of the sword. Nia slumped to the ground, blood quickly spilling from her mortal chest wound and pooling on the floor. Her mouth moved, twitched, and then stopped as blood dripped out there too.
Aidan walked into the burning building only barely registering that it was Liam’s place. He knew that he needed to make sure Nia was safe. They had shared too many experiences. He needed her to be safe.
He walked into the smoke, holding the axe and short sword, and watched Nia slide off of a sword. A woman Aidan didn’t know saw him walk in and turned. “One more,” she said.
Part of Aidan screamed out in horror. Nia was grievously injured. He didn’t want to think she was dead. He wanted to go to her and heal her. But the healing had stopped working.
The other part of Aidan, the hardened part that had protected himself and his brother for years, the part that was hurting from the death of his father, raged for vengeance. He struggled internally with what to do.
The conflict between his two parts only lasted a moment. The rage for vengeance won and Aidan charged forward, screaming. Aidan swung the axe and the shortsword wide, coming at her from two different angles. This mysterious woman moved like a cat, springing forward with a straightforward lunge at Aidan’s unguarded midsection.
Somehow Aidan managed to twist his body just enough, throwing his left arm out wide, to not be run through. Mindee still scored a deep, painful cut along his upper left ribcage. His axe, however, continued its momentum and bit deeply into her back. Her normally perfectly poised feet were set to allow her to retract her lunge, but the axe in her back prevented that and she fell forward into Aidan. They both stumbled and pushed the other. They separated and circled each other, sizing each other up.
“Why?” asked Aidan in a flat voice, devoid of emotion.
“Because I want to have a life,” said the pointy-eared woman. She stepped forward again, swinging her sword at Aidan’s head. He parried her high cut and she suddenly spun along the inside of his extended arm. He saw the knife in her off-hand just in time and back stepped, bringing the axe down to knock the knife aside. But he had to duck as he was backing up because she kept spinning, bringing her sword back around. She was so fast Aidan could barely keep up and he threw himself into a backward roll. But he hit a wall, interrupting his somersault.
Nia saw the fight as she lay dying. Aidan was outmatched. This woman was a trained killer, and Aidan was just a beginning warrior. Nia wondered why the Spirits hadn’t protected her.
A stocky older man with red hair was standing in the back, off to the side of the fight, watching Nia. He was standing in the fire itself, untouched by the flames. They made eye contact and Nia knew him. She was suddenly more afraid. He spoke, and it was like they were in a quiet, private room. She heard his words clearly.
“Nia, you would serve the spirits?”
She nodded, or she tried to, but her body wouldn’t move.
“Then you will pay the blood price?”
She mouthed the word yes. She looked at Aidan who had just slammed into a wall. The fire could stop the woman. As her vision faded into the void, could she will it to stop her?
Aidan knew in an instant he was dead. His legs weren’t under him, he was on the ground, and he would never get his weapons up in time. The angle was too awkward and she was too good. He would look her in the eyes though, and he twisted his body to face her.
When a fire is burning a large log there will sometimes sound a large crack as the heat breaks the log in half while consuming it. There was a crack in the burning house as loud as any fire that Aidan had ever heard. Just as he made eye contact with the pointy eared assassin, a massive, flaming beam fell on her, striking her to the ground. Flaming rubble fell in with it as the house began collapsing.
Given the extra moment Aidan was able to get his feet under him. He saw that the beam had pinned Mindee to the ground. It was heavy and the flames were burning her flesh as she screamed. The rubble covered the area where Nia laid. There was nothing he could do for her. Nobody survived a sword to the chest. She was already dead.
He saw Liam uncurling from the fetal position. The house groaned as it shifted and threatened to completely collapse. He quick stepped to Liam and grabbed his outstretched hands, lifting him to his feet and supporting him as they headed for the door.
As they hobbled past Mindee’s pinned form, she spat at them. “Now you know what they don’t know. My pain is your pain.” She screamed again wordlessly as they continued past, and then in a chillingly calm voice she spoke, “Your world is an illusion and you don’t even know it. I curse you to learn the truth.”
When they got outside the door, a few more people ran forward and helped carry Liam further out into the street. There was a ripple as the crowd parted and they set him down. People were concerned about Liam. Several others noticed that Aidan had saved someone, yet again.
Sophronia approached, “What happened?” Aidan looked at the shop without responding. She was pale, holding her bloody stomach, but walking ok. Liam responded, “That elf woman. She was inside. She tried to kill me again, but the house collapsed on her.”
Sophronia looked at Aidan. He seemed to be barely registering what was happening around him. He was covered in soot and blood. So much blood. Tear tracks through that blood on his face made him look like a horrifying sad clown.
The workshop collapsed on itself and continued burning.
As darkness fell, Kaufman strode down the street. The crowd greeted him as he approached, all trying to explain what happened. He listened. He asked questions. He let them know that he cared and that the Elder’s Council would get to the bottom of whatever happened.
After several minutes of assuaging their fears, he turned and found Liam and Sophronia.
Of course.
This was very bad.
The Sidhe had awakened. They knew what had happened here. They might have caused it. But if that were the case, these two shouldn’t be alive any more.
He smoothed his angry scowl to a placid calm as he walked over. They watched him approach. “Are you hurt?” He sensed more of the Ogham at work.
Sophronia spoke up, “She attacked us. Again. She’s dead, thanks to him.” She pointed at a young man covered in blood, obviously suffering from battle shock.
Kaufman understood who “she” was. The Tuatha who had tried to kill them before. He nodded.
Sophronia kept talking, “We were attacked right before that too. Some large men with black raven tattoos were hurting Aidan’s family. When we tried to stop them, they attacked us. Nia and Aidan killed them too.” Sophronia sounded a touch bitter, “Why are people trying to kill us?”
Kaufman looked at her a moment. “The Sidhe have awoken to what you’re doing. They’ve sent the Cumhneantach. The only way for you to survive is to flee. As long as you’re here in the city, they know they can keep searching and finding you. You need some distance. As soon as you can, you need to leave.”
Aidan nodded and spoke quietly, “I will go with you.”
Sophronia nodded. “We were planning on leaving.”
“My house is right over there,” said Aidan. “We can spend the night there and leave in the morning.”
Kaufman stared at Aidan as if measuring his worth. Aidan met Kaufman’s gaze and thought that no one had ever looked at him so intensely or seen him so deeply. Kaufman said, “Very well. I will direct people to keep others away from your house for the night, and I will come and collect you in the morning to help you get out of Atania.”
Kaufman turned and walked off.
Liam and Sophronia walked into the front room of Aidan’s house and collapsed on the floor. Everyone was exhausted. They would leave in the morning.
Aidan headed to the washroom to clean himself off. He didn’t say a word as he closed the door behind himself. He took a washcloth and dipped it in the bucket of cold water that usually sat here. He looked in the mirro
r and saw for the first time how bloody he really was. It shook him. He had killed a man today. Not just killed him, but hacked his body to pieces. He had been blind with rage. His hands shook now as he cleaned himself.
His father’s death hit him like a tidal wave of emotion. He fell to the floor, unable to draw breath. His heart felt like it was going to burst.
After some time his vision cleared. He realized he was breathing heavily, like he had been running at full speed for miles. He shook himself. He gritted his teeth and stood up. The blood and the tears were still there, the tears fresh and gleaming. He wiped more blood off of his face.
And that woman. She had been attacking Nia and Liam. He didn’t know who she was. He had charged in intending to help get Liam out and his Squire training had kicked in when he had seen the battle. It had been easy to leave her there. Why had she attacked his friends?
She had pointed ears. Why did she have pointed ears?
Was he imagining this? Was he going crazy?
His little brother was missing. Nobody knew where he had gone. No waves of guilt this time. Just … nothing. No feeling. Aidan’s entire family was gone. He was alone. His training had done nothing to stop it. But he could get revenge. He would have his revenge.
These murderers had come from outside of Atania. They were warriors of the Thir. He had never met them before, but he recognized them from the stories. He would leave Atania with the others and find more of these warriors. He would find out who sent them.
Then he would kill them. He picked up the axe that he had taken from the dead warrior and hefted it. He would bathe in blood one more time.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Epilogue
“Where are the Sidhe?” Asked Liam. “I mean, I know they’re the spirits of the trees, rocks, and clouds, but…what does that mean?”
“They only show themselves when they want something from humans.” Sophronia started. She was tired and afraid, but also excited to be on a journey. More than any of them, she had been striving to leave the city. She wanted to see the wider world, to meet the Sidhe and to learn more about magic. “The books say that they live in a realm that is separate from humans. A world that parallels our own, but where time flows differently. The Sidhe are named after their land, which only a handful of people have ever been to. I guess.”
Liam wondered, “If they only spring forth when they want something, and they live in a different world, how are we supposed to get their help in Ghealdar?”
Sophronia shrugged her shoulders, “Elder Kaufman obviously knows more than we do. If he says we need to go there, we should go there. You saw what he did.” Liam nodded and Sophronia continued, “There are places where the barriers between our worlds are thinner, where a person can cross over. The books seemed to imply that there are stone gateways that use the Ogham to allow people to step between worlds. Perhaps there’s an Ogham gateway in Ghealdar.”
Aidan came in the door. He had been out, arranging for the burial of his father. He hadn’t wanted to stay and wait for the burial. He had turned away Strom, Garrick, and others from the church who had come to convince him to stay and mourn. If he stopped to think about it too much, he might change his mind. Nia was… Nia was dead. Sophronia had been Nia’s friend, and any friend of Nia’s was a friend of Aidan’s. Sophronia was still in danger and still needed help. Aidan would not just walk away from that when he had nothing but pain left for him here in Atania.
“Are we all ready?” asked Aidan. Elder Kaufman had helped track down Aidan’s brother Auley. Not even his brother could convince him to stay. It hurt too much to look at Auley. Kaufman had smoothed things over with Goodwife Smith so that Auley could stay with her while Aidan was gone. Aidan was strangely focused on leaving as soon as possible.
Everyone nodded and they headed out the door.
****
Aidan, Liam, and Sophronia were all watched as they left Atania, walking East into the sunrise, past the Atanian walls, onto the Thir plains, towards Ghealdar.
The church elders were concerned that Aidan was leaving so soon after having lost so much. He was a promising young man. Strom and Garrick watched him leave with a heavy heart.
Liam was overwhelmed. He had seen people die. His family home and business went up in flames. He had nothing left but to go to Ghealdar and get the answers to his question: why was this happening?
Sophronia wanted to live a story, to be the protagonist. She now had two supporting characters with her on the journey. She knew there were enemies out there waiting for her. She was sad that Nia had died in that fire. She was nervous but excited to see where the story would lead. It was the first time in a long time that she didn’t know what the next chapter would hold.
Sophronia couldn’t know that Cumhneantach wanted them dead, but wasn’t willing to risk discovery. She couldn’t know that Kaufman was watching to make sure they left. She couldn’t know that the Winter Queen was murderous with rage that such a breach in the gaeas had been allowed. She was allowing the Cumhneantach one final chance, once Sophronia and her friends left the city, to do as they were bade to do under the terms of the gaeas.
The End
Thanks for reading An Argument of Fairies, the first book in The Ogham Chronicles. If you’d like to read the next book in the series, you can sign up for the Ogham Chronicles Newsletter at CoryHuff.com/Ogham
Table of Contents
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter One - Liam
Chapter Two - Aidan
Chapter Three - Nia
Chapter Four - Cùmhnantach
Chapter Five - The Spirits
Chapter Six - Invisible Becomes Visible
Chapter Seven - Death
Chapter Eight - Hidden Atania
Chapter Nine - Aidan's Second Miracle
Chapter Ten - Friends in Need
Chapter Eleven - Fire
Chapter Twelve - Epilogue
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