Herne dropped a key in Gage’s hand. “Take care of her. We’ll be back in a few days.”
He motioned for us to follow him and we went around back of the mammoth house. It really wasn’t that big, I thought, just tall and narrow. Behind the house, in the backyard, we found the oaks. They were scarlet oaks, like several other portals I had seen, and they were crackling with energy, the sparks flowing off them like water off a duck’s back.
Herne paused as we neared the portal. “Everybody but Angel’s been over in Annwn before. The portal won’t hurt you, Angel, though it will feel weird…as though your body is shifting in all directions at once. Try not to panic, because it will just take a few seconds and you’ll find yourself back together again.”
Gage approached the portal and held out his hands. A brilliant light shot from his palms toward the center of the oaks, and within seconds, a vortex appeared between the trees, like a web of energy that was flashing brightly.
Herne motioned to me. “You and Viktor go through, then Talia and Yutani, and I’ll bring Angel with me, since she’s new at this. Take your gear with you.”
I nodded, turning to Angel. “It will be fine. Don’t be afraid.” I slung my pack over my shoulder, along with my purse, and then took a deep breath. Next to me, Viktor followed suit, donning his backpack. He handed me a walking stick, which I was grateful for, given I always forgot to bring one and inevitably, I would end up needing it.
We approached the vortex and I caught my breath. It made it easier to go through after letting out a big breath, so I held it for a moment, then let the air whistle through my teeth and walked into the portal. Next to me, Viktor did the same.
Walking into a portal is a little like walking into a Cuisinart, except the blades don’t sever you in half, they just scramble you up. Maybe it’s more like walking into a blender, I suppose.
Either way, the moment I stepped through the vortex, I felt like I was stretching a million miles, from the tip of my head to the bottoms of my soles. Then, every atom in my body seemed to vibrate and dance, and I was in a dozen places at once. The next step brought me out of the vortex and I squeezed through, stumbling out into a dark woodland laden with snow.
As I stepped aside from the entrance to the portal, I looked around, taking note of where we were. Unlike the forests that surrounded Cernunnos’s palace, the trees here were massive oaks and maple, devoid of their leaves. The undergrowth was sparse, here and there a berry bush, and some bracken and fern, but there were wide walkways between the trees, and it looked more like a well-tended estate rather than a wildwood.
The portal stood to one side of the trail. While the trail also had snow on it, it was compacted, with what looked like wagon tracks carving through the snow and ice. The snow wasn’t deep, perhaps eight or nine inches, and overhead, the sun glimmered down, cold and frosty, but it cast a glow of light across the field. The terrain was so different than what I was used to that I couldn’t help but gape at the barren beauty of the landscape. I imagined that this must be what parts of the East Coast looked like back home, where most of the trees were deciduous and the forest floor was relatively easier to walk through.
Beside me, Viktor let out a low whistle. “We aren’t in Kansas anymore, Toto.”
“Seattle, either,” I said laughing. “It’s beautiful, but it seems so groomed.”
“That’s because we live in an area that has a lot of wild tangled into it. Even in the cities, the ravines in the parks are filled with a massive amount of undergrowth. I wonder where we’re at? We certainly aren’t near Cernunnos’s palace, not that I can tell.”
I shook my head. “I have no clue either.”
The next moment, the portal shimmered again, and Talia and Yutani appeared. Both of them had been through the portals numerous times, and it only took them a moment to regain their equilibrium. They stepped to the side beside Viktor and me.
“Well, it’s certainly chilly enough. But at least the sun is shining,” Yutani said, glancing at the sky.
Yet another minute, and Herne and Angel appeared. Angel wavered, but Herne caught her by the elbow as she started to collapse. I crunched my way through the snow over to her side, but she was faring better than I expected.
“Are you all right?” I took her other arm, helping support her.
“Yes, I’m just a little dizzy. That’s like the wildest carnival ride I’ve ever been on. I feel like everything pulled apart and then slammed together again.” She shook her head, holding tight to my hand.
“We’ll stand by you for a moment until you regain your balance.” Herne looked around. “Everybody else okay?”
“Yes,” I said. “Where are we? We aren’t near your father’s palace, are we?”
Herne shook his head. “No, actually. We’re about a quarter-mile from Brighid’s palace. There should be a carriage coming to meet us soon. I gave them our approximate time of arrival.”
Brighid’s palace? That surprised me. I hadn’t expected that we would be visiting her, especially not in Annwn.
“How far are we from your father’s place?” I asked.
“I suppose, if you measure in miles, about a hundred fifty? Something like that. Most of the gods make their homes near one another. Cernunnos lives on the border of a massive wild forest, but that forest runs parallel to a lot of the gods’ homes, including Brighid’s. In a sense, his place is the last civilized domain in Annwn, at least this part. Annwn’s a massive realm, and the home of the gods occupies only a fraction of it. Think of it as another world entirely, connected to your realm, but separate.”
“Is it like a different dimension? Like a parallel universe?” Angel let go of my hand. She wavered a little, but seemed capable of standing on her own.
“Not if you’re thinking overlapping universes. Annwn does not mirror Earth per se. But the two are connected, like neighbors, only Annwn lives in a different dimension than Earth does. It’s as if your neighbor Joffrey’s house was in a different dimension. It’s not on top of your house, but it’s still connected to your land, in a sense.” Herne frowned, then laughed. “Any discussion of parallel universes and dimensions is fraught with the chance of driving you crazy. Nobody really knows how it all works. Not the gods, not scientists, not metaphysicians. We just know that it does work. Although some of your scientists are really beginning to understand how vast the universe is, in terms of multiple dimensions and realms. But they always want to put limitations on them. Eventually, they’ll realize that they only understand a fraction of what there is to know. Hell, not even the gods know most of what there is to know about the universe. No god is omnipotent, though a few crazed buggers think they are. And none of us really know what’s out there.”
As he finished speaking, a noise sounded from up ahead. We looked up. In the middle of the trail, a carriage was rounding the bend. The carriage was built of white wood, like birch, and it was decked out with ornate bronze and brass trim. There were green velvet curtains in the windows.
The carriage was drawn by eight magnificent white horses, each wearing bronze and green bridles and blankets, and bells that jingled as they clopped along.
The horses looked to be Andalusians, and they held their heads up proudly as the driver guided them along. The driver of the carriage was dressed in a rich green cloak, and a white tunic and pants. His hair was flaming red, bound back in a long braid, and two guards who looked enough like him to be brothers sat on either side of his bench.
They drew to a halt in front of us. The guards jumped off of the carriage, kneeling before Herne, bowing their heads before they rose once again, shoulders back in attention.
“Lord Herne, Lord of the Hunt, in the name of the Lady Brighid, we welcome you to Brigantia. Please come with us. The Exalted One awaits your arrival.”
One of the guards opened the carriage doors, and they unfolded a short set of stairs. Then the two men stood on either side, waiting to usher us in.
Herne motioned for us to get in
first. As I approached the guards, they held out their hands to steady me as I stepped up into the carriage. It was roomy inside, with more than enough room for the six of us. Like most carriages, there were two long seats facing each other, and they were covered in the same green velvet of the men’s cloaks and the blankets on the horses. I took a seat by the opposite window, wanting to be able to see out as we drove along.
Angel joined me next, and then Talia. The three of us sat on one side, while the three men sat on the other. Once we were all inside, the guards folded up the stairs again and firmly shut the carriage doors. They climbed back atop the carriage to flank the driver and we took off, heading down the road the way the carriage had come.
I peeked out the window. As we rode along, the trees began to thin out, the white fields covered with snow. At one point, we caught sight of a herd of deer who stopped to watch as we were passing by. I glanced over at Herne and he smiled tenderly as he looked at them. At that moment, I suddenly wondered if he could talk to the deer. We never really discussed it much, but I wonder just how much he knew about their daily lives. Not these deer in particular, necessarily, but in general.
As the trees thinned out, we rounded yet another curve in the road. Up ahead, the road led to a massive castle wall, surrounded by what looked to be a thriving village. I wasn’t sure what I had expected, but a part of me had thought that we would find Brighid living inside a castle made of silver or gold. But this was solid stone, and the castle rising from behind the wall looked to be at least five stories high. The fortress sprawled across the open land, looking like it might be able to house a small town inside its walls as well.
As we passed through the village, it spread out on either side of the road. People stopped to watch us as we passed by. Most of them looked tidy and fit, and several of them waved at the carriage. Children were running through the village, dashing here and there, and I realized that the villagers weren’t human. They were Fae, with some elves mixed in.
“That’s right,” I whispered to myself.
Herne looked at me quizzically. “What?”
“I just noticed that the villagers are Fae, although I see a few elves as well.” I glanced back out the window. “Brighid is a goddess of the Tuatha de Dannan, isn’t she? Like Morgana?”
“Yes, Brighid is a goddess of the Light Fae. Only she herself doesn’t discriminate between Light and Dark. Morgana is a goddess of the Dark Fae who stayed over in our realm. While they are of the same stock, the Fae here call themselves the Tuatha de Dannan, although they do—as always—make the distinction between Light and Dark. You think the skirmishes are bad over on Earth? Over here, TirNaNog and Navane are constantly at war. And I do mean war.”
“Do you have any agencies over here like the Wild Hunt that try to keep peace between them?” Angel asked.
Herne shook his head. “Over here, they’re free to do as much damage to each other as they want. The fallout isn’t going to hurt anybody who isn’t already part of it.” He scratched his head. “That’s why the Wild Hunt was formed, and the other agencies. While in some cultures the Fae don’t fight each other as much as others, we needed agencies around the world because the Fae live everywhere. So we approached the gods of the other pantheons and asked them to help.”
“So there are actual wars raging here?” Viktor said.
Herne nodded, a bleak expression on his face. “Yes, and magic is used as a weapon. While they can’t annihilate Annwn, like the possibility of nuclear war over in your world, the damage is stark and harsh, and the death toll will just keep rising through time. But the Fae here breed fast, and there is never an end to willing soldiers signing up.”
He paused for a moment, then added, “I believe both TirNaNog and Navane—the cities in Annwn—have mandatory military service. Make no mistake—they’re truly out to destroy one another. The only time they ever fight on the same side is when they’re fighting the Fomorians. If you think it’s bad back over on Earth, you haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen the Fae go against each other here.”
We fell silent at that, and I glanced out at the village again. They looked so peaceful, and so happy. “What about the Fae under the watch of Brighid’s Castle, or some of the other goddesses of Fae? Do they ever go to war?”
Herne shook his head. “They are the exceptions. It’s a given that if you live in a village watched over by one of the gods, you are protected by that god or goddess, and you are not allowed to start any fights unless the gods specifically order it. The queens of TirNaNog and Navane—the cities here—have accepted this.”
“What happens to one of the Fae who might want to be a pacifist?” Angel asked.
“A few who do choose a more pacifistic route, or who want to intermarry, specifically seek out positions within the gods’ villages. That way, they have protection, and they don’t have to go to war. And some take off on their own. Rogues and loners, mostly. But that can be problematic if they happen to meet a warring party from one of the other sides. For example, if a raiding party from the Autumn’s Bane happens on a solitary Light Fae family, there’s not much hope. It makes sense to band together, if you have any sort of vulnerability.”
We fell silent, watching out the window as the path disappeared under the wheels of the carriage. If we had been in a car we would have been to the castle by now, but the carriage made good time and the horses were fast.
As we neared the castle, heading toward the entrance, I saw a large number of guards standing outside the gates. I wondered if that was usual, but decided to ask later because Herne told us to get ready. We gathered our gear, and as the carriage clattered through the massive gates of the castle wall, we entered a wide square.
Inside, the castle rose at least one hundred feet into the air. Inside, there were wide lawns and snow-covered rose gardens, as well as a small grove of trees. Behind the castle, a row of houses had been built against the wall, probably for the servants. What looked like a hedge maze spiraled in the northeast corner of the grounds. We were higher up in elevation than the labyrinth, and I could see the top of it crusted over with snow, the greenery peeking through.
In front of the castle rose a massive holly tree, and cardinals, crimson red against the snow and the greenery, fluttered around the boughs. Ten large steps led up to a stone walkway, which led into the castle. There was a ramp on one side. People were scurrying around, scarcely taking note of us as they went about the day.
The carriage made a beeline for the castle, pulling up in front of the massive structure. A moment later the guards opened the door, once again helping us as we stepped out into the courtyard. It was cold, probably around thirty-one degrees, and I cinched my jacket tighter around me, slinging my backpack over my shoulder. Angel scooted closer to me, her eyes wide.
“We really are in a different world, aren’t we?”
I nodded. “Follow the rules. Remember, all the laws back home can’t help us here. Do what you’re told.” I glanced over at Herne, waiting for him to take the lead.
“Are we all ready? Do you all have your gear?” he asked, shouldering his pack.
We nodded, almost in unison.
“All right. Follow me then.”
As Herne moved forward toward the doors leading into the castle, there was a sudden flurry of activity and four footmen appeared, along with several maidservants. Behind them, a large, imposing woman turned the corner. Like many of the others, she had blondish hair, and her eyes were ringed with thick black liner. She was beautiful, but I had a feeling that she took no guff from anybody. She stepped forward, and the footmen and maidservants parted, making way for her. As she stopped in front of Herne, she curtsied low.
“The Lord of the Hunt does us honor with his presence.” As she stood, she met his gaze, ignoring the rest of us. “I am Lady Aimee, and I am milady Brighid’s assistant. I was sent to greet you and take you to your quarters. Her Ladyship will meet you for luncheon.”
The footmen immediately took our
gear from us and they followed behind us. The maidservants followed them. It felt like we were checking into a theme hotel, I thought, as we followed Aimee into the castle.
Chapter Fourteen
The inside of the castle was as beautiful as the outside. Massive tapestries covered the walls, embroidered scenes of battles and forests and events that I knew nothing about. They were exquisitely woven as my gaze darted from scene to scene.
The castle itself was brighter than I had expected, yet another surprise. I had expected it to be dark and gloomy but lights glimmered from wall sconces, looking like brilliantly tinted LEDs, only instead of bulbs, there were sparkling spheres that darted here and there within the glass. Some were pink, others blue and pale green, and still others pale yellow.
I turned to Herne. “The lights? Are they Lightning Flits?”
I remembered the orbs from Cernunnos’s palace. Lightning Flits were created from shattered lightning, and while they weren’t alive in the sense that we were alive, they darted here and there, or stayed put as ordered. If you put them in a sconce, they would stay if you told them to. They almost seemed sentient, but Herne had assured me they weren’t.
Herne nodded. “My father supplies most of the gods with their Lightning Flits. He seems to be best at catching lightning bolts. But if you really want to talk about somebody who’s not only able to catch a bolt but conjure one up at will, go to Olympus and watch Zeus.”
Angel’s jaw dropped, and she hastily closed her mouth. Then, coughing delicately, she asked, “Watch Zeus? Does he give demonstrations?”
Herne snorted. “You know what I mean, but yes, there are times when the gods from different pantheons meet and talk. I tell you one thing, though,” he added, lowering his voice. “I suggest that you hope you never catch his eye. You, Ember, Talia…any woman. All the rumors are true. Zeus is a predator when it comes to women. And Hera gets extremely pissed when he flirts, especially with mortals. Zeus has long been known to force himself on unwilling women, and nobody can do a damned thing about it. Which is one reason I won’t have anything to do with him. My father doesn’t like him, either.”
A Sacred Magic: A Wild Hunt Novel, Book 9 Page 14