Fear exploding through her mind, she turned back to her digging. The shroud was her only hope. Perhaps with its added power, she might best Oighear. Just a little while longer, and the shroud would be hers. She frantically pushed her fingers through the soil and hit soft fabric. Her heart jumping in her throat, she wrapped her fingers around the silky textile and pulled upward. The shroud came free from the earth as she stood, littering the ground with specks of fresh soil. She stared awestruck at the magical garment dangling from her hand, not quite believing she’d actually found it.
She slowly turned her gaze away from the shroud, feeling like she was in a dream. The riders thundered toward her, their hoofbeats seeming louder than they really were. Loinnir stomped in agitation, but remained faithfully at her side. She stood with the tattered shroud in her hands, ready to protect herself, then dizziness hit her. Her breath slowed. She blinked as the riders came in and out of focus, moving impossibly slow. Suddenly she found herself in a different place. No, she wasn’t in a new place. Her body had not left the meadow. She was only in a memory, sealed deep within her mind.
Her daughter’s small body, limp in her arms, covered in blood. She’d long since grown cold, but Finn refused to let her go. Finn’s mother, Móirne, stood at her back in the windowless, candle-lit room, unspeaking.
Finn’s entire body shook with tears. She had never wanted any part in the dealings of the Cavari, their treaties nor their wars. She did not care about her birthright, the Faie shroud, or the Aos Sí. The endless battles for power were futile.
Now, because of their wars, she’d lost the only thing she truly cared about. Those lowly sailors had killed her little girl to send a message to the Cavari. A message received solely by her. Her people cared not for her loss. It did not affect them.
She staggered to her feet, her lifeless child still in her arms, and moved toward her mother. Their eyes met.
“Tend to her,” Finn ordered, forcing her tears to still.
“What will you do?” Móirne asked, taking the dead child from Finn’s arms. Tears threatened her blue eyes. While Móirne held little love for their clan, she feared them. She had remained obedient, playing her part in their games while her own granddaughter paid the price.
“They have taken my heart,” Finn heard herself say. “My soul. Now I’m going to take theirs.”
She turned away from Móirne, still cradling Finn’s lifeless daughter, and took the Faie Queen’s shroud in her hands. The people of Uí Néid would pay for what they’d done, even if it killed her.
“Finn!” Iseult shouted, arms chained to his sides. The Aos Sí rider holding the reins to his horse drew the animal to an abrupt halt, nearly dislodging him from the animal’s back.
As soon as she’d stood with the shroud, she’d gone utterly still. Her gaze was distant, as if she wasn’t really there.
Beside him, Oighear dismounted and handed Naoki’s tether to one of the mounted Aos Sí. The dragon struggled against her tether, shrieking through the bindings on her beak, desperately clawing at the ground.
Two more Aos Sí approached on foot and pulled Iseult from his mount, throwing him to the hard soil, pressing his face in the dirt. He struggled, cutting his cheek on the rocky ground, turning his head just enough to see Finn. He heard another thump and a scream as the same treatment was given to Bedelia.
With a smirk back at him, Oighear began to sway toward Finn on foot. As Iseult watched, she extended her arms, dropping her white coat to the ground. Snow fell all around her, blending her into the scenery. She lifted her palms skyward like she’d summon the entire sky down upon them, her dress glittering in the odd mixture of sun and snow.
The ice increased, swirling around Finn while a white horse pranced back and forth behind her, clearly distressed
“Finn!” Iseult shouted again, only to get a boot to the side of his face, grinding his cheek into the dirt painfully. He grunted in agony as his vision went momentarily dark, but he refused to lose consciousness.
Slowly, his sight returned through the pain. The snow around Finn left her barely visible. She was still unmoving, clutching the shroud in both hands. Oighear was going to freeze her to death while she just stood there, deep in some sort of trance.
He struggled against his chains and captors as Oighear reached out her pale hand and placed it on the shroud, still in Finn’s grasp. She began to tug, but Finn’s hands gripped the fabric tightly. If Oighear managed to claim the shroud, it would all be over. Her magic was already the most frightening he had ever seen. With the extra power of the shroud, no one would be able to defeat her.
“Finn!” a voice called, drawing Iseult’s limited gaze. A rider galloped toward them from the snowy road, bow raised. The Aos Sí turned to observe the new threat as one, releasing the pressure on Iseult’s back. Half of the Aos Sí rushed toward the rider, but would be too late. Galloping at full speed, the rider let loose an arrow to slice through the air.
Oighear turned a moment before it struck her chest. She looked down at it in shock, dropping her hand from the shroud. With a furious growl, she wrapped one pale hand around the arrow’s fletching and pulled, removing it from her chest with a gruesome spray of blood. Dropping the arrow to the ground, she reached for Finn.
As the first half of the Aos Sí intercepted Kai, those remaining rushed toward their queen, abandoning Iseult and Bedelia where they lay. Now free of her captor, Naoki rolled on the ground, attempting to remove the tether from her wings.
Iseult watched helplessly as Oighear renewed her grasp on the shroud, tugging hard despite her injuries. Her warriors neared her back cautiously, clearly unsure of what to do. Iseult’s heart gave a nervous skip as Finn blinked several times, then finally came back into reality. Noticing Oighear, rage sparkled in her dark eyes, an emotion he thought to never see on her normally innocent face.
Maintaining her grip on the shroud with one hand, Finn held out the other. As one, the Aos Sí collapsed to the ground behind their queen, as if a giant hand had crushed them to the earth. Their bodies trembled as they struggled in vain to regain their footing, but could not. This time, neither roots, nor other forces of nature pinned the warriors, just sheer power. Iseult struggled to his feet, straining against the chains binding his arms to his body. Barely able to stand, he began to stumble toward the scene.
Glancing back at her felled warriors, Oighear gave another hearty tug to the shroud in Finn’s grasp, but to no avail. She lifted her free arm skyward to mirror Finn. Hail suddenly pelleted the earth, pounding Iseult so powerfully he was forced back to the ground. Distantly he heard the Aos Sí detaining Kai cry out in pain. Somewhere behind him near Bedelia’s grunts of agony, Naoki shrieked through her bound beak.
Flat on his chest, Iseult desperately wanted to stand and take action, but hammered with hail, he could not even lift his face to view the scene at hand.
A shrill scream pierced the air from Finn’s direction. The hail suddenly stopped falling.
His heart in his throat, Iseult rolled to his shoulder and opened his eyes, dreading what he might find. As his vision cleared, he slumped in temporary relief. Finn had summoned her roots from the earth to snake around Oighear and suspend her in the air. Her warriors stumbled to their feet, battered and bruised from the unnatural hail.
Iseult forced himself to a seated position, but struggled to stand. All he could do was watch as the roots around Oighear became encased in ice. Oighear struggled, and all at once the roots shattered, dropping her to the ground on her side, tangled in her bloody gown. She unraveled herself and climbed to her feet, her angry eyes set on Finn.
Finn watched her warily, her shoulders hunched in residual pain from the unnatural hail.
Oighear staggered toward Finn. Her warriors watched on silently, awaiting their orders. Iseult could hardly breathe watching her snow white hand glide to her belt to withdraw a dagger.
“It seems we are evenly matched,” Iseult heard her say, “and so, I will dispatch you through more
mundane means.”
Wet and shivering from the melting hail, Finn lifted the shroud in both hands. “Do not make me become who I once was,” she growled. “If you will not desist, I will trap your soul with all the others.”
Oighear continued to stagger toward her.
Iseult could barely force himself to watch. The last time Finn had stolen away someone’s soul, she’d become a tree for one hundred years. He could not bear to consider what might happen now.
The Aos Sí warriors were utterly silent as Finn began to chant in a language unknown to Iseult, and he’d traveled enough to hear many. Oighear was only a few steps away, dagger raised desperately against Finn’s magic.
“Hey Faie Queen!” someone called from the direction opposite the warriors.
Iseult turned to the voice. It was Kai, beaten badly by the Aos Sí warriors and missing his bow. He cocked back his arm, launching a large stone to sail through the air. It connected with Oighear’s temple, just as she had turned to address the insolent disrupter.
She dropped to the ground and did not move.
Iseult finally managed to regain his feet and began stumbling forward once more through the remaining hail and snow, though his body was on the brink of collapse. Before he could reach the crumpled queen, Finn stepped toward her, eyes cast downward. He was just close enough to hear her shaky, breathless words.
“My quarrel was not with you, Oighear the White. You should have stayed in your forest.”
Oighear did not reply, and instead remained deathly still. Stepping away from the Faie Queen, Finn turned an angry glare to the waiting Aos Sí.
“Your queen is dead,” she announced. “I would advise against any further action.”
As one, they dropped to their knees and bowed their heads to her.
Kai jogged toward Finn the same moment as Naoki, her wings now free. Iseult felt sick as he made slow progress toward them. Finn seemed . . . different. Had she been changed by the shroud? Had she regained her memories, recalling her lost child? Would she now lash out at her friends as she had the Aos Sí? She’d come so close to stealing Oighear’s soul. If it weren’t for Kai, Iseult was not sure what would have happened.
Finn gasped in surprise as she noticed Naoki. She crouched down, then lifted the dragon up in a loving embrace. She pulled the binding from her beak, and stroked the dragon’s head to quiet its high pitched keening.
As the dragon quieted, Finn looked to Kai with a warm, open grin lighting up her bruised and bloody face, streaked by the tears pouring from her eyes. The shroud remained in her left hand where it clutched Naoki, all but forgotten.
Iseult nearly staggered, so relieved to see Finn as he knew her to be. Her smile for Kai hinted she had not been changed by her memories. She had not become like the other Cavari, but . . . would she have the same smile for him?
Kai knelt beside Oighear and placed two fingers at her throat, checking for her heartbeat. “Dead,” he announced as he rose away from the corpse.
Finn smiled sadly at Kai. “It appears you were the ones to find me after all,” she mused. She turned her smile to Iseult as he reached her. She removed one hand from Naoki to reach up and cradle his bloody cheek. “You’ll always find me, won’t you?”
“Always,” he rasped, barely able to speak.
Observing his chains, and those on Bedelia, who was attempting to climb to her feet back where Iseult started, Finn turned to the silently waiting Aos Sí. “Remove their chains,” she ordered.
“Yes, my queen,” they said in unison. They stood, and two warriors branched off from the group, jogging toward their milling horses for the keys.
Soon enough, Iseult and Bedelia were both free, and the Aos Sí all knelt around Oighear’s corpse, muttering in awe. They had likely thought their queen invincible. Iseult had almost agreed with them, before Kai and Finn had proven the notion incorrect.
The sun revealed itself fully, wiping away the last of Oighear’s snow and hail. Finn set Naoki on the ground to bounce around happily, then turned back to Iseult, her expression suddenly crumbling. “I remember everything,” she breathed.
He couldn’t imagine what she was feeling, remembering the death of her child. Overcome with emotion, he pulled her into an embrace, feeling her body tremble, and her tears wet on his shoulder. His embrace tightened, even in his weakened state. He longed to relieve her pain. He felt her arms slip around his lower back, with the shroud yet clutched in one hand. He soaked in her touch, easing the fear in his heart.
After a few moments she seemed to compose herself and pulled away. He reluctantly released her, then watched as she turned her attention to Bedelia, standing a few paces away.
At the loss of her touch, his shoulders slumped in an odd mixture of relief and sadness. He knew Finn needed her memories, but he had desperately wished she would not have to feel the pain of losing her child again.
While Finn fussed over Bedelia’s injuries, Kai looked Iseult up and down with a wry grin. “It’s killing you, isn’t it?”
Iseult glared at him. “What?”
“That I was the one to save the day instead of you.” He waggled his eyebrows.
Had he the energy, Iseult would have punched him.
Bedelia gave Finn a million assurances that she would be fine, and finally, Finn walked a few steps toward Iseult and held out the shroud, still clutched in her left hand.
He found it odd, finally seeing it. After all that had happened, it seemed a simple, dirty piece of fabric. He looked up from the shroud and met her gaze, wanting to ask a million different questions.
She took a step toward him and forced the shroud into his hand.
He took it reluctantly.
Her lips curved into a small smile. “I realize now, my people are the ones to blame for my daughter’s death. I will right my wrongs and fulfill my promise to you, then I will crush the Cavari.”
He smiled, then took her hand, placing the edge of the shroud back in her grip. “There will be time to discuss that later.” He glanced back at the ten Aos Sí warriors, now finished gawking at Oighear. “First, let us find an inn and a hot meal.”
“One more thing,” Kai interrupted from behind Finn. She turned as he lifted his hands to his throat, then removed a gold locket from around his neck. He held it out to her. “When you go about this Cavari crushing, perhaps go easy on your mother.”
She took the locket in her free hand. Something about it brought her tears back to the surface, and she nodded, then pulled Kai into a hug. “I would never have gotten this far without you,” she sobbed, then reached blindly back for Iseult. He went to her and took her hand. “I would never have made it without either of you.” She sniffled, then pulled away from Kai to look between them. “Thank you.”
Kai patted her shoulder, then laughed. “Don’t worry about it. I needed a good adventure.”
Iseult smirked, though it pained his face. “As did I,” he consoled. “There are no thanks necessary.”
She smiled, encompassing Bedelia in her gaze. “Where are Anna and Sativola?”
“Back in Garenoch with-” Kai cut himself off and glanced at Iseult. “Maarav and Ealasaid.”
Finn grinned even wider, making Iseult decide against the venomous comment he had in mind for Maarav. Instead, they gathered their horses and prepared to depart. Finding no quarrel with the warriors, Finn sent the Aos Sí on their way. They did not carry their Snow Queen away for burial, a testament to their true feelings for her.
Iseult was glad to let her to rot just where she lay.
Chapter Sixteen
Kai was the first to notice the smoke as they approached Garenoch. Closer observation revealed funeral pyres. Many of them. With Bedelia and Iseult battered and sore, they’d taken their time on the return journey, allowing everyone to rest along the way. They’d stood no chance of returning in time to aid in the battle against the Cavari. It was long since over.
Now, the midday sun illuminated the burgh sharply. In addition to th
e pyres, the wide expanse of dead grass leading up to the town was interspersed with puddles of blood. There was no way of telling who had won the fight, and who had died, though the people still bustling around the streets of the distant burgh brought him a measure of comfort. Still, the amount of blood spilled was disconcerting. He needed to find Anna.
He glanced at his companions, feeling reluctant to ride ahead. Every portion of Iseult’s skin showing was black and blue. His clothes now seemed slightly too big for his hunched form. Bedelia was in much the same shape, her expression never shifting from a morose pout.
Yet, it was Finn who worried him the most. She hadn’t divulged the memories she’d regained, but he had a feeling they were dark. She’d mentioned something to Iseult about the death of her daughter. She had to mean in her previous life, but that was the first he’d heard of it.
She now wore the gold locket her mother had given him, and reached up to rub her fingers across its face every so often. Naoki was curled up in her lap, wrapped in Kai’s cloak, which he’d sacrificed to keep the dragon hidden. Though the Aos Sí had offered Finn one of their saddles and a bridle for her white horse, it didn’t seem to need any guidance from her, which was fortunate, as she didn’t seem entirely there. Her bruised hands didn’t even touch the reins.
Seeming to startle into awareness, she glanced at Kai, then followed his gaze to the pyres. “Is this because of me?” she asked distantly.
Outwardly he replied, “It’s because of the Cavari. They forced these deaths, not you.” Inwardly, however, he thought Please, oh please don’t let Anna be among the dead.
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