The small girl like spirit bows to me. “I am well dealt in your hand.”
“And I can even kill demons with you.” She’s right, I do have time to think. These aren’t demons though, they’re angels, the blade can’t kill an angel.
“You’re not going to be able to help me in this fight, are you?”
“I will be of little use as a blade in this fight,” she confirms.
She’s not continuing. In the way of the Faerie peoples, she letting me find my own way. A picture of the last moments comes back to my mind. Pulania! I saw Pulania die!
A small hand comes to my chest. “I cannot help you as a blade, but I give you a heart of black stone, so that you may do what has to be done.”
As her hand recedes from my chest, the near panic I had felt when thinking of Pulania has gone. I can see the memory, but in a totally academic way, I’m viewing what happened as an uninvolved observer might. My heart is stone, it’s obsidian. “She didn’t tell them anything before she died, they’re angels, they took the thoughts from her mind.”
The spirit nods in agreement.
I feel no comfort from my realisation, because I feel no grief. It’s merely another observation.
“Ruby is dead too. She must be.”
“My sister is gone,” the spirit confirms.
I wonder if she means her real sister, or one of her sisterhood. She might mean her real sister, they were both the most ancient spirits of their people.
“She died giving you time,” the spirit continues. “Time is everything, and as one who studied the art of time with my people, you may bend it. Time is the key.”
That’s a hint if ever I heard one, Ruby was very concerned with time too, and my ability to wield it. But how? I don’t know what to do.
“You must return now, Amura, you have the weapons at hand to determine the fate of Susan, every second will count. You must not stop fighting, until death comes. I must return you now, you are ready.”
But I’m not.
Chapter 53: Heart of stone
‘Until death comes’, well seeing as I now have a heart of stone, that seems like a purely emotionless outcome for me. I don’t live, it’s no big deal. My heart of stone has not taken away my logic, I have no feeling for Susan, but I do have an obligation to her, and to the world, and I guess that will have to be enough to drive me. It is enough, in fact, more than enough.
The two angels are back across from me, harassed by White witch spirits, which is useful for me as they dart around the two demon-like characters, clearly distracting them from their target. They’re giving me valuable seconds. Seconds to do what exactly? Yeah, I can speed up time, but how does that help? If I speed up the fight, I’ll just die quicker, so that doesn’t help Susan. Oh, I get it, some distant memory of my time spent with the Seelies learning the intricacy of time has returned, in fact a great many things are returning to me, very useful things indeed.
The demon who had tried to stall my knife is looking a bit surprised that the obsidian blade is raised in my hand, though it does me very little good. I need time, I hope they don’t notice what I’ve done. They’re about to end this, I can see their sinews tensing for the attack.
“Hey, you guys, you’re not demons at all, I can see straight through those phoney disguises. You guys have wings of light.”
The two demons look at each other, seemingly surprised – more seconds I’ve bought. Then their outer shells are cast aside and creatures of light with beautiful white wings confront me.
“So you see who we are? Little good it will do thee,” one of them taunts me.
“Gog and Magog, I take it.” One of the many memories returning to me, these guys are the fallen angels bound to end our world, or at least, that’s what they’re trying to do, but with some luck, not on my watch, baby.
Again, they’re startled, and hesitate, looking at one and other, so I take initiative.
“You know you can’t harm Susan, that would invalidate the test.”
It’s an ugly smile for such a beautiful creature. “We will not do the killing of the daughter of Gaea, we have many others of your kind waiting to do that for us. We will take her to them.”
I kind of sense that if I had a normal beating heart of flesh and blood, I might have said something lame, like ‘over my dead body’, but having no heart, my mind is focused on gaining every second I can.
“You do that, and you’ll still invalidate the test.” I’m hoping for conversation.
“Who are you to decide such, we are here to end this abomination that has been called life,” one of them calls.
“Brother, she has deceived us, the daughter of Gaea is accelerated in time! We must attack now.”
There must have been too quick a movement visible from Gil or Susan. I had been thinking it out all wrong before, I didn’t need to speed up me, I needed to speed up Susan, trouble is quick movements catch the eye, so I had to distract the two angels so that they didn’t know what was going on.
“She is nearly and easily overcome.”
But I still have some tricks I can use to stall with. “I am Thanatos Moerae, the left hand of the goddess. You will not be allowed to desecrate this sacred testing.” With that, I bring my black wings into the real world. Let them think on that.
And they do hesitate, if only for another valuable second or two, but wings or no, they attack. I’m ready for them though. My hand goes to the ground, and from the earth I summon roots and vines to impede them. However, they only waste a second or so ripping through those, because, dah, they’re angels. Still every second is valuable. I have accelerated Gil and Susan so that in their time, a second is minutes passing. It’s the best I can do, as I’m not a true Tuatha de Danann, I’ve only studied under them.
I have another party trick, Eppy showed it to me, and it means total release from my side. I had once feared becoming an Elemental, as I believed I would lose myself in becoming one, but Eppy showed me that wasn’t the truth. From the earth, from the spirits of the White witches, from everything I can, save Susan and Gil, I gather the power needed, and then summon wind. I’ve never done it before, and it could have gone terribly wrong, but my mind is focussed, without any emotional distraction. The wind I call comes in a hurricane. Eppy pushed Arawan against a wall with a lesser amount of such force, but she had taken it easy, only tapping a very small potential of the world. I know that now, because I am pulling every strength I can, and buffeting Gog and Magog with cyclones, and it’s slowed them, but they’re still coming. All I can do is focus on projecting the forces that are keeping them at bay, but inch on inch, slowly, but surely, they’re getting closer. Damn, even the bottle of Champagne serves a purpose other than I had expected, as it blows into the faces of the angels, keeping them back a few precious feet.
I have one last bitch move, it may not do much, but I know the obsidian dagger made Master uncomfortable when I slashed him with it. I still have it in my hand and I figure I can ram it into the eye of the first of these unholy angels that makes it to me. It may give us a second or more.
I push as hard as I can, making myself a conduit for the powers of the Earth, but still, they approach, soon they’re only inches away, I can’t hold them much longer. Every second counts, until death comes. I push them with all the might of powers given, but then, death does come.
Chapter 54: The coming of death
I had misinterpreted both the words of Ruby and the spirit of the obsidian blade, but I think that’s because they couldn’t give me a straight forward explanation. Something stops them from being able to do that, most likely, some ancient pact that they had sealed once upon a time. I must ask them about that… sometime.
Death comes as my father, the Angel of Death. As the tainted hand of a fallen angel grabs my arm, and my other plunges the obsidian dagger as deeply and fiercely as I can into his eye, he lets go, and two blurs of light and power barrel into Gog and Magog, sending them sprawling into the far cavern wall. It’s my fat
her, and Master. A battle ensues that is so fast, I have to time slip myself just to see it. In a way, I’m honoured and awestruck to see the power and beauty of such a battle. Master is fighting valiantly, but is not a match for his opponent, whereas my father has the best of the angel he’s fighting, being far and away the stronger of the two. In seconds, the one fallen angel has flown, and with two against one, the other quickly follows.
Behind me, shadowed and protected by the time summoning I had cast, a child is born, and has begun to cry. Seconds had mattered.
Master has been injured very badly by the battle. When the time attack ends, I can see that. His wings are broken, his body slashed open by injuries that could kill an immortal being. Without a word, or thought, with no emotion at all, and without a hope of success, I move to his side and begin administering creation magiks to heal him. It shouldn’t work, the magiks I have were created for the healing of humans, not angels, but being half-angel, there is a gray area in all things related to me, and that is enough, I am able to heal him. Once done, I stand up, and realise that I need to immediately be elsewhere.
With no thought to those I leave behind, as I know that those that live can look after themselves, I make my way to exit back toward the Faerie path in front of Pulania’s… , no, not Pulania’s, Susan and my home. I briefly pause as I’m about to leave the chamber, as some unexpected movement catches my eye, looking back toward Pulania’s body I’m in time to see my father gathering the spirit of my mother into his arms. Even the dead are cared for, or so it seems. I feel nothing on seeing this though, and turn to continue on. As I make my way through the underground passages, I can sense Master following a few dozen metres behind. I know that he is not allowed to help me, this is my journey to make, I don’t look back as he follows.
When I come out from the Faerie path onto the Hill of Tara, the mayhem of the recent battle is keenly evident, a group of badly injured and dying Ravens have been placed in the entrance to the passage tomb. Taking energies from the Earth, I quickly heal them all before moving out to the hill site. Jonathon is among them, and grateful when I tell him that Gil is fine, but his obvious relief means nothing to me, and before he can finish speaking, I move away, a living wraith, wandering the Hill site, healing those I can. Master follows, always a few metres behind, but always there. I can sense him.
Among those I can’t help is Hatchesput, she had perished defending the Hill. Her glazed eyes are open, and without any remorse, I close them for her. She had been amongst the most evil of Dark Witches, but she had her good points too, and had lead the coven for close to three hundred years keeping a motley group of undesirables safe from a world that hadn’t wanted us. There is also the fact that she died saving the world, and us. My mind tells me that I had liked her, and would miss her, though that thought is hollow and meaningless to me.
Nearby, I see Bríghe lying on the ground with an open head injury, it appears that she had fought hard at Hatchesput’s side. Humph, the other pretty, she’s no match for me, but she had been number three in the coven. No one would dare stand beside her if I wanted the coven now. It could be mine, but I know I don’t want it. As I heal her I let her know.
“Pulania was killed, the coven is yours now, I am no longer a dark witch.” I am Thanatos Moerae, still dark, but I’m not just a witch, with Pulania and Hatchesput gone, there’s nothing left to hold me to the coven. As Bríghe begins to gush an astonished response of some sort, I cut her short. “We are allies in the future.” I leave her with a stunned expression on her face and move on.
As I work, the evening light drifts to darkness broken by halogen flood-lamps and lit torches. Seelie and Unseelie healers are busy tending others all over the site, and a few witches with healing powers are also being kept busy, the cries of the injured and dying are everywhere. There may be as many as a thousand dead who cannot be helped, but there are several hundred injured, and for them, there is much to do. As I work, my angel continues to shadow me, waiting and watching. I try to ignore him, and pretty much succeed. Some of the covenant breakers are there amongst those needing help. I have no antipathy toward them, no feeling at all, I heal them too and tell them that a granddaughter of Gaea has been born. The message is quickly spreading. Others know that I am here, and have brought the news. There is a sense of growing jubilation amongst the misery. The Battle of Tara was a bloody one, for both sides, but the world is safe because of it.
I’m working toward the centre of the Hill, where Ruby had been. I know that she did not survive, the spirit of my blade told me so. The Seelies and Unseelies are largely immortal, but not quite so. As I discovered from Arawan, they can be killed without any possibility of being revived by their magik cauldron. I don’t think Ruby can be revived, but there are others I need to know the fate of: Eppy, Arawan, Jimmy, and Áine. In the outer areas between the hastily made sand bagged bunkers where Ruby would have been, I eventually come across my sister, she’s alive and directing the Unseelie in the care of others. She’s covered in dirt and blood, but it’s not her own. She sees me, and her eyes show her exhaustion as she moves toward me.
Out beyond the confines of our defences, I had seen the havoc she had created, hundreds of Fae had fallen to her elemental power. It hadn’t stopped them all though.
“Arawan?” I ask.
“He can be revived, the British Princess survived too. We directed the outer defences with the Unseelies, the Ravens and the loyal covens, but it wasn’t enough, a group of demons broke the perimeter. The Seelies protected the centre, but some of the demons and Fae made it there.”
“Two of the demons made it to us, but were driven away by our father and Master.” My hollow voice replies. “I must go to where the demons broke through.”
Eppy nods, and leads me through a string of hastily dug trenches. There are many dead Seelie soldiers along the way, but I think they can all be revived by morning. As we come toward the central bunker, something strikes me. I think I can hear Susan’s baby crying, but as we come into the bunker, it’s roof collapsed to the ground, and a ring of dead from both sides blasted and torn apart by the fierceness of the fighting, I realise that it’s another child entirely, one with a small mock of red hair plastered to her head: Ruby’s child. A badly injured Jimmy is there, lying on the ground, the child held protectively against his side. He hasn’t the strength to move or speak as I approach him. He sees me though, as I lean forward to heal him, a look of relief is in those eyes.
“I’m sorry for your mother,” he whispers as his strength begins to return. “It was two demons that took her, demons like we had never seen or fought before. They broke in with a horde of others. Ruby, who we thought was Susan, had already given birth, but when the wee bairn was born, Ruby lifted the enchantment she had woven. The demons went berserk when they realised they had been tricked, and had not found the daughter of Gaea, they tore poor wee Ruby to pieces, she can never be revived.”
“Pulania died,” I tell him, but I know he already knew that, never-the-less, a tear comes to his eye. “They weren’t demons at all, but fallen angels, Gog and Magog, that’s why they were able to overwhelm you.”
“You defeated them then?” And there’s some sense of wonder in Jimmy’s words.
“No, I held them back, they broke the magiks of the testing for the Daughter of Gaea. The goddess sent two angels to smite them.”
“The other wee bairn has been born then?” I nod my head at his question. “Well, that at least be worth something for all the losses this day.”
I have nothing to say to that, as I feel nothing of those losses. Jimmy is looking at me rather strangely now though, from the corner of his eyes.
“What happened to Áine?” I ask him. “And Ardan, he’s only mortal.” With all the devastation, I expect he’s probably dead.
Jimmy nods to the far end of the bunker, where I can see a pair of broken legs sticking out from beneath parts of the collapsed ceiling. They’re Áine’s.
“It not be as
bad as it looks, she will be revived by morning. She shielded the young mortal, he’s there under that rubble, and will need some digging out, but I believe he has survived.”
As I continue to look toward the battered remains, I nod my head with a purely analytical understanding.
I start as a hand is placed over my left breast. It’s Jimmy’s hand, he’s not groping me, he’s placed it there lightly, and there’s a stern look about him.
“What are you doing Jimmy? I have to go and heal others now.”
“No.” It’s an order, not a suggestion. “Ye’ve been given a heart of stone, lassie. You must heal yourself, or you risk the loss of your soul forever, you will wander eternally, without purpose, without meaning in anything that ye do.”
Again, in a purely analytical way, I consider what he says, and come to the conclusion that it might not be a good thing to be like that. He actually doesn’t have to tell me what to do. With the death of Pulania and Ruby, the memories that I had lost from their double compulsion are returning to me. I know that only the spirit that turned my heart to stone can turn it back to flesh.
I stand up in the centre of the fallen bunker, behind me I can sense Master there in the shadows. I take one look at Jimmy and Eppy, then cut my hand with the obsidian blade. Instantly, I’m standing in stillness, alone, apart from the small female spirit of the knife. I note how quiet it is, I cannot hear the moaning of the injured, and realise that the spirit has frozen time again.
“You have done well, Amura. You may not realise the sacrifice you have made, as I’m afraid, that price is about to be paid.”
As I stand there puzzling what she has told me, she reaches forward, and a coldness that had been in my chest stirs to a tingling warmth, I can feel the flesh returning to me, and other things - emotions. In those moments, the memory of Pulania’s death, the shock of seeing Hatchesput’s body, the realisation that Ruby is dead, my own near death at the hands of the fallen angels, the hundreds of dead and injured, horror upon horror, upon horror. And then they come, emotions that my heart of stone had protected me from, not those of the recent day, but those long lost emotions from hundreds of years that, until recently, I had not remembered. They come all at once, overwhelming me. It is more than I can possibly endure, or absorb. I collapse.
The Dark Witch and the Elemental Page 20