by Izzy Shows
Every inch of my body ached, or at least, some of it just ached; the rest of it was screaming at me for putting it through such torture.
I looked down at my arms and legs, taking stock of the wounds I'd received. My arms looked like some maniac had drawn random lines with a knife up and down, and my legs sported several stab wounds as well as those same glancing lines from a razor-sharp beak that hadn't found purchase. My hands were all torn up, and my feet were spotted with blood. My poor t-shirt was completely fucked.
I was going to have to retire it permanently, because the thing was shredded to the point that it barely covered me. A wide strip of it was intact to cover my breasts, and the bottom was littered with holes, but was mostly together enough to cover the point of my sex. .
My face felt like shite. I touched a hand to it tentatively and winced; I was pretty sure my cheekbone was broken, and I had several cuts.
Bloody miracle I didn't lose an eye in all of that.
I didn't know who to thank for that, but I sent up a silent prayer to anyone who might be listening. The healers at the Order were damned good, but I doubted they could regrow an eye, no matter how powerful they were.
The night was silent as I caught my breath, finally having catalogued all of my wounds. I was close to my breaking point, where nothing would keep me conscious and I would black out for at least a day. That had happened to me before, I didn't doubt it would happen again if I wasn't careful.
But I didn't have the luxury of being careful. I didn't have any of my foci available to handle the heavy lifting. I didn't have any backup, either.
I'd begun to depend on Weylyn over the past two years. He was a constant in my life, and I went almost nowhere without him. I couldn't remember the last fight I'd been in when he hadn't been at my side.
I looked around at the empty night, at the bodies on the ground and the blood splattered around the area where I'd been fighting, and groaned.
Maybe this would be it. Maybe now that the Slaugh had been beaten back, the Dullahan wouldn't come. It was the Slaugh that controlled it, after all, so maybe they wouldn't drive the damn creature at me this time. Maybe I'd scared them enough.
I held out that hope for the next half-hour or so as I sat under the twinkling stars with my back pressed against the door to the Shrine. Eventually, it started to seem like I was right and everything would be OK.
I'll give it another hour or two, and if the Dullahan doesn't show, I'll tell the villagers that the coast is clear.
And as soon as I had that thought, the sound of creaking wheels cut through the night, somehow louder than it had a right to be.
I stiffened, knowing exactly what that sound meant.
It was familiar to me, though I didn't know how it possibly could be. I'd never had a run-in with a Dullahan before. I hadn't even known they existed, but I knew that sound.
My body went cold and I began to tremble, aware that I was weak from the fight with the Slaugh, that I had almost nothing left in me to fight the Dullahan with, and I didn't know what I was going to do about it.
And then the Dullahan came into view on the little dirt road leading up to the village, a good distance away from the gate I had blockaded earlier in the day.
Just looking at the Dullahan, it felt like my soul was somehow weakened, like someone had cut away a piece of it, even more than I had already done by giving it up to the Shrine. It was a terrifying sensation, and I fought back the panic that threatened to overwhelm me.
I forced myself to stand, wobbled on my feet for a moment before I found my stance, and watched as the Dullahan approached. Just as the villagers had said, he was riding on a chariot led by a black horse and bedecked in funeral regalia. In one hand he was carrying the spine of some hapless victim, and under the other arm he was carrying his head, the lips of which were twisted into a gruesome smile that stretched from one ear to the other, which shouldn't have been possible. He was dressed all in black, and his skin had the color of the dead, a sort of greenish-blue tint.
I couldn't stop raking my eyes over him, taking in every inch of his appearance, and I couldn't shake the familiar sensation that came from looking at him. It was as if I knew him, but that was impossible.
At last the Dullahan reached the gate to the village. The rocks behind it flew out of the way, and the gate swung open to allow him passage. He rattled through the village, and the same thing happened with the gate to the Shrine.
Only now did I notice that his eyes were locked on me, not on the Shrine. As soon as I realized that, I couldn't look away from those yellowed eyes and stared back at him as he approached.
They said he kills those who watch him. Is he going to kill me? He won't even fight me! He'll just name me, and I'll fall down dead. What the fuck was I thinking? I'm as good as dead.
What seemed like only seconds later, the Dullahan came to a stop in front of me, and his horse pawed nervously at the ground.
His macabre grin turned into a frown.
A sensation of being weighed and judged filled me.
Oh, gods above and below, I'm going to die.
Twelve
I don't know where I found the strength, but somehow I drew myself up to my full height and lifted my chin as I stared back into the eyes of the Dullahan.
Let him judge me. Tonight wasn't the night I would die. I wouldn't let it be.
"Be gone from here," I said, and to my joy, my voice didn't waver even a bit. I managed to sound commanding, and that gave me the courage to continue. "You have been enthralled by the Slaugh, forced to do their bidding. Your purpose has been tainted by those too evil to be named. I know what you are, Dullahan. You are an emissary of death, a reaper come to take those whose time has come, and no more than that. You are not a monster who kills indiscriminately. You act on orders. Your duty is honorable and not to be denied. This Shrine that protects these villagers is not slated for destruction. Not yet."
Though I hadn't been sure what I would say to him, somehow the words felt right. In speaking them, I felt in my heart that they were true.
The villagers regarded the Dullahan as a monster that killed whomever he wanted, that he acted of his own volition, but I didn't think that was true. It seemed obvious, now that I was looking him in the eye, that he only did what had to be done. It was a fact of life that everyone had their time to die, and it was the Dullahan who took the people in this area to their deaths.
I didn't know if he escorted them into the afterworld after the job was done, but I did know that this naming of the dead when their time came and snuffing out their lives like that was his true purpose, and nothing more.
The Dullahan opened his mouth, and from it came a death rattle that scraped against my mind. It was all I could do not to recoil from that sound.
I thought for sure that he would speak, perhaps even name me to get me out of the way so he could go about his business of getting rid of the Shrine. Instead, he shut his mouth without saying anything.
The frown remained in place. Clearly, he was unhappy to see me and didn't know what to do about me. He should have killed me and moved along, but he seemed to regard me as the real blockade in his path, not the stones we had spent so much time arranging.
I was standing in his way, and I was going to have to use that to my advantage as best I could.
"Be gone, Dullahan," I said again, although I felt a little less confident this time.
His lips twitched, but he said nothing, did nothing, and the horse pawed at the ground again, letting loose a nervous whinny. It didn't know what was going on, and it didn't like that.
I could feel myself running out of time. I was stopping the Dullahan for the moment, but if I didn't figure out what to do next, and quickly, he was surely going to make the decision to get rid of me.
Maybe he was battling the Slaugh in his mind, and if I didn't do something to aid him, he would lose, and he would be compelled to kill me.
Acting on impulse, I did what I probably shouldn't
have: I reached inside myself and pulled out a bit of my power. Instead of turning it to flame or ice, instead of lashing out, I gave it to my voice.
"You must leave this place, Dullahan. It is not for you," I said, and the words echoed as though three voices were speaking through my mouth instead of one.
The Dullahan snarled, and his horse reared and pawed at the ground again. I knew I had done something right to have evoked such a reaction.
Again, I reached inside myself for my power, feeling the way it drained me as I did, fearing the way my stance wavered as I pulled from it, and this time I reached out with it in its purest form, into the mind of the Dullahan.
The Dullahan screamed, a horrible sound that grated on my ears and threatened to drive me mad. The horse reared again, screaming as if I had touched it too, and the Dullahan yanked on its reins, trying to wheel the horse about and leave.
That should have been what I wanted, but somehow, I knew it wasn't right. I couldn't settle for sending the Dullahan away.
I held tight to him with my power, as if I had created a cord between the two of us. I visualized my hands clamping down on it and pulling it against my body so he couldn't escape me. At the same time, I reached deeper into the mind of the Dullahan with my magic and felt the contamination inside him.
What the Slaugh had done to him.
Without hesitation, I set my magic upon it and burned it away like the infection it was, dead-set on curing the Dullahan and setting it free.
All the while I worked on him, the Dullahan screamed, venting his anger and pain into the world. I hated to wonder what the villagers were thinking right now, since they had no way of knowing what was happening. They couldn't even look out their windows to see if I was alive, and I had to hope they would have faith in me.
At last, the last vestiges of the contamination were gone from his mind, and I let go of him. I was sure that now he would turn and run away, as he had been trying to do, or perhaps he would come at me at last, but he did neither of those things.
He dismounted from the chariot and walked in a jerky fashion until he was standing at his horse's side, right in front of me. I knew true terror in my heart at that point, for certainly this was the end.
But he knelt in front of me instead of touching me or saying my name. He continued to stare at me, but his position was a clear sign of submission. I'd seen it once before, when I'd battled the vampires at Dudley's side, and I recognized the look in his eyes.
What in the world?
Swallowing the anxious energy inside me, I straightened my shoulders again.
"It's time for you to leave this place, Dullahan. Go back and resume your true mission."
He stared at me for what felt like ages, and I could have sworn I saw something in his eyes, something I couldn't quite name. I stared back at him, trying to figure it out, but the it wouldn't come to me.
Recognition? Maybe, but it was more than that.
He shouldn't have recognized me, since we had never met before, but I couldn't deny that I felt a sense of familiarity to him and it wasn't beyond possibility that he would feel the same as I.
But what else was in his eyes?
I didn't get to find out, because at last he stood and walked back to his chariot, took the reins in one hand and wheeled the horse away. I watched as he disappeared down the dirt path away from the village until he was out of sight entirely.
When he was gone, I collapsed on the steps of the Shrine, buried my face in my hands, and breathed in a sigh of relief.
Thank you. Whoever is out there, whoever is listening, thank you for letting that be the end of this. Thank you for letting me set him free without having to battle him. I know he's an honorable creature and he didn't deserve to die for the crimes of the Slaugh.
I sent up the prayer to anyone and everyone that might hear me, though in truth I didn't believe in any god. I never had, but that didn't stop me from thanking them anyway when something went my way. I felt it was only fair.
Taking in another breath, I looked up out of my hands at all that was around me, and a feeling of wonder and amazement swept through me.
Somehow, some way, I had made it out of this more or less in one piece.
And I couldn't shake the feeling that I had done something important with the Dullahan.
Thirteen
The night burst into a cacophony of sound as the villagers came scrambling out of their homes, cheering my name. I didn't know how they knew it was over, but they hadn't come out a moment too soon.
I smiled weakly as they came charging through the village to the Shrine to see me.
My vision was dark around the edges again because I had used even more of my power to heal the Dullahan, and my body was urging me to take time to sleep. But I fought to keep going, to get through the rest of this, however long that took.
I could do this. I had lived through the attack of the Slaugh and healed the Dullahan. I could certainly keep myself on my feet now that the fighting was over.
I needed to get back home before I gave in.
"You're safe," I told the crowd in a weak voice. "It's time for me to go home now. There's nothing for any of you to worry about."
Jameson was at the front of the crowd again. He shook his head fiercely, and the others mimicked him. They burst into protest as soon as the words were out of my mouth, and it took Jameson a while to get them calmed down so he could speak.
"You can't leave us, my lady," he said, frowning. "We must have a celebration in your honor! This day will be marked forever, and we will host many feasts in honor of the strange woman who came through time to save us from the Slaugh. But you must honor us at this first feast, so that we can show you our gratitude for all you have done for us."
I laughed. "Listen, I'm no hero. I'm just a crazy woman who doesn't know when to call it quits. Don't mark your calendars for me. I'm not worth it."
"But, my lady! You are deserving of all the praise we can possibly give you. You saved us from a great horror, and that is deserving of many thanks. Please, allow us to demonstrate how much we adore you. Stay with us but one day, and we will host you in our homes and feed you and celebrate all you have done."
"You don't know how sweet that is, Jameson," I said, smiling despite myself. "I don't get a lot of thanks for what I do where I'm from. No one really knows that I'm protecting them, so it really does my heart good to hear you say thank you at all. I don't need a celebration to feel your gratitude. Your thanks are all I need. But it's time for me to go. I have people waiting for me back in my time, and I don't want to worry them. Besides, I gave of myself to the Shrine. It'll be in there to protect you for a long time to come, and if you need me, I'll know."
Moira hadn't told me that, but I didn't think she needed to. A piece of my soul was in that Shrine. I was pretty sure that if a part of me was in danger, the rest of me would know about it.
Besides, after the show I had put on just now, it was safe to say that Moira wouldn't have a problem calling on me again in the future.
"Please, won't you even consider staying?" Jameson tried one last time.
"I really appreciate it, but I have other things to do, other people to protect, and it's time to go."
"Very well," Jameson said. "If you must insist on leaving, I will not stand in your way. But I hope you will come back to us one day."
"Who knows," I said with a shrug. "Anything's possible in this crazy world. Apparently, even time travel. I guess I can't rule it out that I'll come back here someday."
He seemed pleased enough with that. "It would mean much if you came back to us, for even an evening, so that we might give you the celebration you so richly deserve. But you wish to leave now, and that is all right. All you must do is enter the Shrine, touch the idol once more, and tell it what you need of it. It will transport you back to your home, just as it brought you here."
"Thanks," I said. "Again, I really appreciate your gratitude. I hope you have many happy years to come."
With that, I walked into the Shrine again and took a good long look at the burning orb. Jameson had said I just had to touch it and tell it that I needed to go, but every other time I'd touched it, I'd been transported to the realm where Moira lived.
Eh, what could it hurt?
I placed a hand on the orb, not even hesitating because of the fire this time. The world swam around me, and I found myself in the sacred grove again.
I frowned. "Well, this isn't what was supposed to happen."
Moira entered the grove from the line of trees surrounding it. "What were you expecting, Blair?"
"To go home, of course. Jameson told me that to go home, I had to touch the orb and tell it what I need."
She smiled. "He meant me. The villagers don't truly understand how the Shrine works, for they cannot visit me as you have. So, you have made it through the battle with the Slaugh, and it is time to go home?"
"Yup," I said, shifting my weight to one leg. "I got through it just fine."
"You don't look well," she said, frowning as she took in my battered appearance.
"It looks worse than it is," I said, and winced at the tingle in the back of my head at the half-truth I'd told. I really was in a lot of pain, and it was beginning to weigh on me. I didn't know how much I had left in me, but I was hoping I could make it home. "Really, I'm not too bad off. I made it, though, and isn't that what counts?"
"You have a truly strong spirit, Blair Sheach," she said with respect in her eyes. "I underestimated you."
"Thanks for admitting it. Don't worry, no hard feelings."
"I only wonder what would have happened if you had come as I intended you to be," she murmured, more to herself than to me.
"What do you mean?"
"Never you mind, child," she said, shaking her head. "It will become apparent in time. It is time for you to go, yes?"
"Yeah, it is."