Last Car to Annwn Station

by Michael Merriam

  Gwynn ap Nudd was not the first lord of this place. And he had fallen, the Champion of the Tylwyth Teg. Mae knew the myths. A fallen Champion had to be replaced. She understood now.

  Mae frowned and looked back down to the red-haired woman. The woman’s eyes were closed, her chest rising and falling in an irregular rhythm. Tears stained her face. Mae knelt next to her and touched her blood-covered arm. There were things she wanted to know. Mae needed to understand why. The woman opened her eyes.

  “What’s your name?”

  The woman swallowed and grimaced as she took a breath. “Lara, Lara Campbell. Please help me.”

  Mae reached out and brushed Lara’s hair from her face. “I will. I will help you, Lara Campbell, but first I need to know something. I want you to answer some questions for me.”

  Lara nodded.

  “What was Hodgins planning to do to my sister?”

  Lara’s eyes became confused. “The faerie child? She is your sister?”

  “Yes. I want you to tell me what Hodgins planned for my sister.”

  The woman lay quietly for several seconds as Mae gently stroked her head and waited. Mae knew the woman was trying to decide how loyal she felt to Hodgins, or perhaps how afraid of him she was.

  “William Hodgins and the others will not be able to hurt you. You’re dead, Lara Campbell. All that matters now is what you do with the rest of eternity.”

  The woman swallowed again and took a ragged breath. “He planned to place his daughter’s spirit in the faerie child’s body.”

  Mae nodded solemnly. “Go on.”

  “William and Marie were trying to attune their daughter to the magic. She had reached puberty, and it was time to discover if she had any power or aptitude. There was an accident. Something went wrong with the casting. None of us were told the whole story, but most of us thought it was because Marie could not handle the power properly. Everyone knew she had a drug problem, and everyone knew she could barely control the magic she wielded.” The woman frowned and tried to shake her head. “And Chrysandra seemed to attract ill-luck when it came to magic. She was always getting injured by stray bits of rituals and workings, no matter how well we shielded the space.”

  Mae nodded. It made sense and it dovetailed nicely with the reports of injuries to Chrysandra that had been filed with Child Protective Services over the years. Lara coughed, dry and raspy. Mae gathered some clean snow and pressed it to the woman’s mouth. Lara stopped speaking. She took two hard and ragged breaths. “Then the hounds caught the faerie child and brought her to Hodgins. That’s when he started working on a way to save his daughter. It presented him with the perfect opportunity to keep Marie sane long enough to save his child and convince the rest of us to expend the power needed to keep Chrysandra in one piece for an extended period.”

  “What was the plan? I mean besides saving his daughter’s life?”

  Lara gasped. “Once Chrysandra was firmly inside her new body, he planned to use his daughter to destroy the rest of the faerie folk. Any magic we burned up would be gained five-fold once we gained access to their stronghold.”

  Mae kept her voice calm as she asked, “And what would have happened to my sister?”

  Lara hesitated before she answered. “She would have been trapped in Chrysandra’s dead body. I suspect Hodgins planned to withdraw the magic keeping his daughter’s body running after that.”

  Mae nodded, showing no emotion. “One more thing, Lara Campbell. Why were you going to sacrifice Jill?”

  Again the red-haired woman was silent for several moments before answering. Her eyes flicked to Jill and back to Mae. “She was the blood sacrifice needed to power the ritual. As she bled to death, her fear and the power of her soul leaving her body would make it easier for the rest of us to work the transfer.” The woman smiled grimly. “The fact that she was Robert’s sister would make the magic stronger and solidify his position in the circle. He considered his sister a disgrace to his family. Killing her and destroying her soul would have put him nearly in the same league as Hodgins in magical power.”

  Mae felt her insides chill. She had come perilously close to losing her sister and her lover.

  Lara reached up and touched Mae’s arm with a bloody hand. “Please, you promised me.”

  “That I did.”

  Mae looked over her shoulder at Death. He stood watching with an impassive expression. Mae realized he would be no help. She would need to figure out what to do on her own. Mae looked into the frightened and pain-filled eyes of Lara Campbell. “You understand that by dying here, your spirit will be trapped in Annwn forever?”

  “Yes.”

  Mae leaned forward and placed a hand over the woman’s heart. “Then come with me, Lara Campbell, and leave this ruined shell behind.” As Mae stood, the spirit of Lara Campbell stood with her.

  The spirit looked around. “Is this hell, then?” she asked sadly.

  Mae frowned. “Perhaps for you it is. Do you think you deserve any less?”

  Lara knelt next to her own dead body. She touched the place on herself where the sword had stabbed her. “No. I suppose this is my punishment.” She stood and glanced at Mae. “What now?”

  Mae turned to ask Death. He was gone. Mae sighed. His business in this place was apparently finished.

  “Mae…” Jill whispered.

  Mae turned to her, grabbing Jill by the arm to steady her. It was obvious Jill was barely staying upright. There was no way Jill would be able to keep up, and Mae refused to leave either Jill or Fay behind and alone in Annwn as long as Hodgins was alive. She lifted her chin and spoke into the empty air.

  “Now would be a good time for some transport, Mr. Lowry. A nice streetcar ride would do us all.”

  The yellow streetcar came at her call, rolling down metal tracks as they materialized in front of it. Mae read the sign over the top of the motorman’s window. Annwn Limited. The big machine stopped next to Mae. The red door opened.

  “That’s a beautiful sight,” Jill muttered.

  Mae stepped into the car, leading Jill to a seat and paying Jill’s fare. “I need you to stay on the car when I confront Hodgins.”

  “Mae, your eyes, they’re—they’re full of stars.”

  Mae nodded. “I know. I’ll explain later. Promise me you’ll stay on the streetcar.”

  “Mae—”

  Mae grabbed Jill by the arms. “I need you to do this. You’re in no shape to fight, and I need to know you’re safe while I deal with Hodgins.”

  Jill frowned. “I want to go with you.”

  “I know.” Mae released Jill’s arms and stepped away from her companion. “I’ll get Fay back from Hodgins and we’ll go home.”

  “Promise?”

  Mae smiled gently. “I promise.” Mae took a quick step toward Jill and kissed her, soft and gentle. “I love you.”

  “And I love you. Now go do whatever it is you need to do to the bad guy and get your ass back to me in one piece.”

  Mae kissed Jill again and backed away. She looked at the conductor and the motorman. “Follow me,” she said, stepping out of the streetcar.

  The shade of Lara Campbell stood waiting for her. She locked her eyes on the spirit of the woman. “Now, Lara Campbell, you run with the Wild Hunt.”

  Before the newly dead spirit could answer, Mae turned, adjusted the messenger bag on her shoulder and started toward the forest. She knew Hodgins would be there. Mae knew the forest was where she needed to be.

  She began to run, first in a slow jog, but she gathered speed as she went, her short legs pumping hard. Around her, mist and spray rose up from the windswept snow. Shapes began to loom, low to the ground, four-legged.

  The Cn Annwn, red-tipped ears flattened against sleek white bodies, gathered around Mae, running with her, surrounding her. Mae laughed aloud and pushed herself harder. She looked over her shoulder to find the spirit of Lara Campbell running among the hounds and the big yellow streetcar carrying Jill following along on tracks that ap
peared before its wheels in the white snow.

  Mae’s gaze returned to her goal. She increased her pace again, running effortlessly across the snow and ice of Annwn. She felt a wild joy well up in her chest and gave it leave to lead her where it may. Around her, the pack bayed and howled as they crashed into the forest in search of their prey.

  Mae found Hodgins in the only logical place for him to run to. She slowed her pace to a brisk walk as she entered the clearing. The white hounds spread out in a circle, surrounding the Great Oak of Annwn. Lara Campbell and the yellow streetcar were nowhere in sight.

  The mage stood behind the wooden throne of Gwynn ap Nudd, his bloody right hand on the shoulder of the fallen Lord of Annwn and Champion of the Tylwyth Teg. In his left hand he held a curved knife, similar to the weapon Ilona had used to wound Mae. Its blade was covered in bright blood.

  Gwynn ap Nudd, pale and thin, sat on his throne blinking in confusion. The antlered man gave Mae a bewildered look, his eyes asking a question Mae could not answer. His long gray hair was struck through with brown and lay lank and flat on his head. Bloody symbols adorned his face.

  At the Son of Nudd’s feet lay Marie Arneson. Her chest was cut open, her internal organs strewn about in the snow. She turned her head to look at Mae with horror-filled eyes.

  Mae scanned the area for some sign of Fay or even Chrysandra and found neither. “Where is my sister?” she demanded.

  Hodgins stood with sweat pouring off his body and steaming in the cold air. “Fled into the snows with the aid of my rebellious child. But no matter, you’re too late, Mae. I’ve sacrificed Marie to bind the lord of this place to my will, and he shall do my bidding. Once you are dead it will be a simple matter for the hounds to find them. Then I shall sacrifice the master of the Hunt himself to save Chrysandra.” Hodgins looked at the Lord of the Tylwyth Teg and pointed at Mae. “Kill her,” he commanded in a raspy, labored voice.

  Gwynn ap Nudd stood and lifted his long spear, holding it in thin, bony hands. His hunting leathers sagged on his frail frame like an overlarge sack. He took a shaky step toward Mae.

  “Your daughter is dead,” Mae said, though whether to Hodgins or the master of the Wild Hunt she was unsure. It was a truth for both of them.

  Marie Arneson screamed the name of her child to the uncaring sky above, screamed her pain and sorrow as her ruined body writhed helplessly in the crimson-stained snow.

  The Lord of Annwn lowered his spear and lunged. The spear pierced Mae between her breasts and exited out her back. The antlered man’s ragged face filled with rage as he pulled the spear back through her body. He paused with the broad tip of the spear in Mae’s chest, and then twisted the shaft before withdrawing the rest of the tip. Mae swayed on her feet from the force of the blow and withdrawal of the brutal weapon.

  Hodgins’s pale, sweaty face twisted up in malicious glee. “I told you to stay out of the affairs of your betters, Mae. I warned you, you silly little girl.”

  Mae frowned, looking down at the place the spear had pierced her body. Gwynn ap Nudd had struck true, straight into her heart, exactly where she had been impaled on the Great Oak. She pulled the collar forward to look down her sweatshirt, checking herself for injury. There was a wound, but no blood. As she watched, the wound closed itself, leaving a thick new scar over the previously healed injury. Mae looked up at the tired and worn face of Gwynn ap Nudd.

  Mae stepped forward and touched the Lord of Annwn on the cheek. “I’m sorry,” she said. Mae ran a gentle hand along his face.

  For a moment his star-filled eyes cleared of their confusion. “Bebhinn?”

  “No.”

  Gwynn ap Nudd looked down at Mae. “Who are you?”

  “My name is Maeve.”

  He sighed. “Then at least I am undone by a warrior of my people, not by some mortal serpent.”

  “Kill her!” Hodgins rasped out.

  Mae looked up to find the man holding a small round crystal, his eyes wide in panic. He was gasping for breath, his free hand holding his chest. She turned her eyes back to Gwynn ap Nudd. He seemed disoriented again. For a moment he swayed on his feet, and then he drew his knife from his belt.

  Mae reached out and gripped his wrist, holding the knife down at his side. She leaned up on her toes and kissed him on the brow. As her lips touched his forehead, Gwynn ap Nudd’s aspect changed, becoming that of an elderly stag. The creature’s once-brown fur had turned gray and silver, its antlers twisted and growing back on themselves.

  Mae stepped away from the former Champion of the Tylwyth Teg. “Run, Son of Nudd. Die a free creature.”

  For an instant the stag stared at her with soulful brown eyes, eyes that showed the stewardship of Annwn had truly passed from him to Mae. The stag dipped its massive antlers in a small bow. It turned to face the pack of hounds, which had gathered and were fairly vibrating in anticipation of the chase to come.

  The stag snorted once, rose onto its hind legs for a moment, then crashed through the line of hounds and into the snow-covered forest, bounding away with surprising speed. The hounds looked to Mae for a moment. She gave them a nod of permission. The pack turned as a group and charged into the forest, seeking their prey.

  Mae watched them disappear into the trees. She turned back to Hodgins and Marie. The woman had stopped struggling and screaming. Now she simply lay on her back and cried. Hodgins had fallen to his knees, clutching his chest. The crystal sphere lay on the ground.

  Mae lifted the spear and approached them.

  She stepped past Marie Arneson. The woman was already dead. There was nothing more for Mae to do to her except release her from her ravaged body. As cold as it seemed, Marie Arneson’s turn would have to wait. There was more dangerous prey to contend with.

  William Hodgins’s breaths were labored, thin and reedy. His face was the cold pale color of the dead and covered in sweat. He looked up at her with bloodshot eyes. The last bit of color drained from his face as his gray eyes met Mae’s star-filled ones.

  “What will you do now, Malveaux? Are you going to strike me down in cold blood?”

  Mae felt the feral thing rise up in her chest. She wanted to kill him. She wanted to lift the spear and end his life. He deserved death—worse than death for all the pain and misery he had caused over the decades. Mae hefted the spear and struck down hard, putting all her strength and pent-up anger into the blow.

  The spear point shattered the crystal sphere. It hissed and smoked in the snow. In the forest, the howling voices of the Cn Annwn rose up in a victory cry. Mae glared at her helpless opponent.

  “No, Bill. I’m not going to kill you. I don’t want your spirit roaming around in Annwn. This place is going to be a paradise again. You don’t deserve to dwell here.”

  “Truer words were never spoken.”

  Mae turned to face Death. She gave him a friendly nod. She heard Hodgins make a strangled cry of fear behind her.

  “Any suggestions?” Mae asked.

  Her answer came with a ringing bell and the click-clack of wheels on rails. Mae looked up as the streetcar rolled into the clearing. She quietly chuckled at the streetcar’s placard of Annwn to Minneapolis via Llysllyn.

  She turned to Death. “You know, I was just wondering if I would need a steed.”

  The red door opened. Jill stepped out into the clearing, still wearing Death’s jacket over her shoulders. She was followed by an angry, shivering Fay and a confused Chrysandra, both girls still covered in gore and blood.

  “Look what I found wandering around in the forest,” Jill said cheerfully.

  Fay turned and looked up at her. Mae could see the resemblance to both her mother and herself in the young woman’s face.

  “You did come for me,” Fay said.

  Mae nodded. “Yes. We came for you.” Mae swallowed. There was no way to soften the blow. “Fay. Fay, I’m sorry—”

  “I know,” Fay whispered. She narrowed her eyes and glared at Hodgins with an evil smile. She held out a hand. The man stood
on shaky legs. “You made a mistake using my blood to heal yourself, Mr. Hodgins. Or should I call you William Jefferson Hodgins?”

  Mae stepped up to her sister. “Don’t kill him.”

  “Why? Why shouldn’t I? He killed my—our—mother!”

  “Look around you. Look at what’s happening.”

  Mae watched as Fay took in the sight of Annwn. The snow and ice were melting and vanishing into the soil. The Great Oak was beginning to bud, new leaves bursting into life after the long winter.

  “We don’t want him here. We don’t want him in our world,” Mae said.

  Fay looked into her eyes. Mae knew she was trying to come to a decision of some kind.

  “Are you really my sister?” Fay asked in a whisper.

  “Yes, I’m really your sister. I promise to explain everything once we’re done here.”

  “He killed Mother,” Fay said. Her eyes were filling with tears. “She’s gone.”

  Mae nodded, her own eyes blurry with moisture. “I know. I know.” Mae gathered her sister into a hug. “I know I can’t replace her. I know we’ve never been together. But I’m here now and I promise you’re not alone.” Mae squeezed Fay tightly. “I’ll take care of you, sister, and I need you to take care of me too.”

  Fay pushed herself out of the hug and took a deep breath. She nodded at Mae. “Of course I’ll take care of you.”

  Mae smiled at her. “Good.”

  Fay turned to Hodgins and pointed at the streetcar. “Get on,” she commanded.

  Mae stood and watched Hodgins climb aboard, the terror in his eyes plain. She understood Hodgins had no choice. He had their blood in his veins and he was Fay’s to command in this place.

  The possible future implications of that fact worried Mae. She was not sure what would happen once he was back in the mortal world. She wondered if it was wrong to hope his heart would stop once he was out of her realm.

  As she watched Hodgins vanish through the red doors of the streetcar, the full implication of her thought struck her.