by Ann Gimpel
Cuts opened all over his body. Blood dripped into his eyes. At least D’Chel looked as ragged as him. If I could only disable him for a few minutes, I could jump all of us to safety. It worried him that Aislinn hadn’t moved. What had Perrikus done to her?
Fionn cast about for a solution. He had a small window of opportunity. Once Perrikus returned—assuming he did—the gig would be up. He’d be imprisoned right along with Bran and Gwydion and Aislinn, and the animals were as good as dead.
D’Chel screeched something incomprehensible. He shook his fist at the sky and launched himself at Fionn. “It’s just you and me, Celt,” he growled. “Die.”
Fionn twirled from his grasp. He redirected power and resurrected his warding. Hope burned bright. Dewi must have injured Perrikus. “I have no intention of dying,” he snarled and raised his weary arms to direct magic. They were both near exhaustion. Maybe, just maybe, he’d get lucky.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Dewi flew as fast as she could and still remain relatively hidden. The dark gods could scry where she was if they tried. Her lungs filled with tainted air. Until now, she’d taken care to keep the bottom half of her chambered lungs clear of what passed for an atmosphere, but the time for caution had passed. She would sacrifice herself if it meant Nidhogg could fly free.
Her hooded eyes flooded with sudden tears. They were the last of the dragons. She’d been warming a clutch of eggs when Nidhogg left on what both of them thought was a trivial mission. He’d merely planned to overfly the border worlds to help Gwydion map the location of each of the dark gods—and make certain none had escaped the boundaries of their worlds. Weeks passed. When he didn’t return, she tried to contact him telepathically. He never answered.
Dewi snorted and steam plumed upward. It would be visible if anyone was looking, but she didn’t care. She’d begged Gwydion and a few of the other gods to go after Nidhogg. Since no one could contact him, they were convinced he was dead and refused. It got harder and harder to spend her days sitting on her eggs. Young dragons took the better part of a year to hatch, which meant she had a couple more months to go. By then, Nidhogg might truly be dead.
One desperate spring day, Dewi made a decision that still haunted her. She’d left her clutch, knowing her brood would die, and gone in search of her mate.
It had taken years before she finally found him, alive but in a sort of stasis. When she’d tried to free him, the dark gods nearly captured her, too. Sore and weary, with rents in both wings, she’d made her way back to Inishowen. Surely the other Celts would return with her and help free her love. They hadn’t. The Crusades had been in full swing, and non-Christian sects were under fire. Gwydion, Fionn, and the rest were fighting for the right to exist outside the Dreaming. They’d told her they were extremely sorry, but they had their hands full.
Fire streamed from her mouth. She was still angry with all of them. They had lovers and children; she had nothing and never would. She’d returned to her clutch of eggs. No one had disturbed them. Oh, how she’d keened over those eggs. Dewi’s heart had broken while she looked inside each shell with magic; she’d castigated herself for abandoning her children while she ran off on a fool’s errand. If she’d had even one youngling, it would have made such a difference.
She’d kept to herself for hundreds of years. It was a relief when Fionn had assigned her to spy on the Lemurians from beneath Taltos… With a quick shake that rattled her scales, Dewi dragged her thoughts from the past.
She narrowed her eyes and peered intently ahead. Though still quite distant, Nidhogg’s prison came into view. She remembered it well. The structure looked like an American fort out of their Old West. Built from large logs, it must have been constructed before all the trees on this world died. She reached out with her magic, but couldn’t get near enough to sense how Nidhogg was guarded. She’d have to fly closer. The spell that hid her presence was a real power hog. It was hard to hold it in place and do much else.
She eyed a grove of dead trees and furled her wings. She needed to scope out what she faced before she marched in and tore Nidhogg’s prison to toothpicks. If she made the same mistakes she’d made last time, she may as well have remained with Fionn, Bella, and Rune.
A flutter of worry for Aislinn nagged her, but she pushed it aside. The MacLochlainn had a competent warrior, a raven, and a wolf to rescue her. Dewi landed, settled her wings, and lumbered deep into what remained of an evergreen forest. It wouldn’t do a very good job hiding her bulk, but she couldn’t be choosy.
She dropped her shielding and sent a cautious tendril of magic outward. Nidhogg’s energy pulsed against it. Dewi’s mind raced. Maybe there’s something I can do from here to destabilize the spell holding him. She focused her magic and looked closely at the weave of the casting surrounding her love. It was much weaker than it had been a thousand years before. She clamped her double rows of teeth together. The dark ones probably hadn’t so much as looked in on Nidhogg for a very long time.
She blew out a breath, careful to keep smoke and fire to a bare minimum. Fionn had been right about one thing. If it were possible to revive Nidhogg, he would need food and water and time to regain his strength. Truth dawned. Assuming she could free him, her best bet would be to jump both of them back to Earth—immediately.
Damn it! I do not like those choices. It’s much the same as when I left my younglings to go after my love. Fionn and Aislinn need me, too. She thought about the wolf and raven. They were self-sufficient creatures. No reason to waste time worrying about them.
Dewi sheathed her magic. She had what she needed. Her next move would be to dismantle Nidhogg’s two prisons: magical first, then physical. She readied a casting and then hesitated. Abandoning Fionn and Aislinn didn’t sit well. She didn’t want another mistake like her clutch weighting her conscience for the next few hundred years. Options flashed through her mind. It might have been better to rescue Aislinn first. Then all of them could have freed Nidhogg and left this accursed place.
She shook her head; scales rattled. It would take too much time to go back, find Fionn, and do this over again. No help for it. I will do what I can to free Nidhogg, transport him to safety, and then return here. It was a relief to have arrived at a decision, though it felt flawed. The only way her plan could work was if Perrikus and D’Chel didn’t attack. She was as vulnerable by herself as Fionn and Aislinn were. Dewi sent up a prayer to the goddess to watch over them all.
She crept closer to the building. At one point, the forest had butted against its back wall. She wanted to be as close as she could get. Once she severed the first thread in the weave holding Nidhogg ensorcelled, it would alert someone. She’d have very little time after that. Her ancient heart pounded in her scaled body. I must do this right. I will not get another opportunity.
Dewi threw her magic wide open. She plowed through the casting holding Nidhogg and called to him. He didn’t answer, but she hadn’t expected he would. Fire blazed from her mouth. The dry timbers caught like a well-oiled torch. Fire wouldn’t hurt Nidhogg. It might even help him remember what he was. Dragons had been conceived in fire when the Earth was young.
Dewi strode through the burning building. She kicked open the door to the back room where Nidhogg had been. Her second eyelid was closed to protect her from smoke, but she saw at a glance that the chamber was not only empty, but hadn’t been occupied for eons. She trumpeted her dismay. Where is he? I sense him. I unlocked the magic surrounding him. He must be here.
An answering trumpet sounded weakly from below her. “What?” she shrieked. “Those bastards buried you?”
Dewi focused magic and blew a hole in the timbered floor. She kicked shards of wood out of the way with her powerful hind legs and sent more magic after her first blast. After a few tries, the opening was big enough. She fanned magic around the burning building. She wouldn’t be able to fight while she was in the tunnel she’d just made. The dark gods must know what she was about. Why hadn’t they interceded yet?
> “Dewi.” Nidhogg’s dear voice, a voice she never thought she’d hear again, sounded deep in her mind. “Do not come down here. I will crawl out.”
She tried to answer, but her emotions were too close to the surface. All she managed was, “Hurry.”
A taint of evil cut through the smoke and fire. At least one of the dark ones was closing in on them. “Hurry,” she repeated. “They come.”
Nidhogg snorted. He’d been a master of dry humor. That he could dredge it up now gave her hope. “Of course they’re coming. They laid this trap to snare you long ago. The only reason we’ve done as well as we have is because they’re lazy bastards and didn’t bother to renew the spell.”
A black-scaled snout came into view. Dewi bent and touched it with hers. She scrabbled in the hole for his taloned forelegs and tugged. “I’m jumping us to safety.”
“Don’t tell me. Goddess’s breath, just do it.” Green eyes whirled. “I am too weak to be much help in a fight.” Nidhogg dragged the rest of his body out of the hole. He tried to rise on his haunches, but fell back to the ground.
Dewi forced her gaze away. Her heart ached. Nidhogg’s once robust form had shriveled; he was a third his former size. “Fire is our friend. The dark ones will not be able to get too close.”
A blast of magic rocked her. How the hell? And then she realized the dark gods must be targeting them from outside the burning building. It wouldn’t be hard to zero in on their energy. She summoned magic to jump them out of the inferno. She didn’t need long, but there would still be an interval when they were vulnerable to attack.
“What are you waiting for?”
Dewi didn’t answer. She clamped her long jaws together. There’d never be a better opportunity to injure whichever of the dark ones was close. “Can you hold the traveling magic?”
“Yes.”
She shoved it off to one side, pleased when Nidhogg gathered it close. Dewi waited until the next jolt bounced off her scales. She judged its trajectory and sent a killing blow back along its path. She didn’t hold back. She hit the dark god with everything she had. Part of her wanted to see what damage she’d done, but that was foolhardy. It didn’t matter. He wasn’t dead. No one killed the dark ones, but if she’d injured him, it would help Fionn and Aislinn.
She opened her mind to Nidhogg’s, reclaimed the magic to jump them to safety, and set the traveling spell in motion. Soon, the smoke and fire fell away. The airless vacuum between Earth and the border world clawed at her lungs. She hoped Nidhogg was strong enough to withstand the journey, but there hadn’t been any choice. Not really.
They rolled out into Marta’s yard. Dewi had picked it because she hoped Arawn had returned. She’d stay just long enough to fill him in and get him to take care of Nidhogg. She wanted to screech her triumph to the skies. Finally. After long years and against steep odds, Nidhogg was free.
Arawn loped down the back steps before she had a chance to close off her traveling portal. “What’s this?” he began, and then his dark eyes widened. “Och aye, and ye’ve brought Nidhogg home after all this time.” Arawn bent over the dragon; his long dark hair mingled with Nidhogg’s black scales. He laid gentle hands on either side of the dragon’s head. “Aye, and he’ll be needing food and water and Healing.”
Relief made Dewi weak. For once, she’d guessed right. Someone would care for her love. “I must return,” she said and hurriedly sketched out what had happened.
“I should go with you,” Arawn murmured. “’Twill even the odds.”
“Did you bring other gods from the Old Country?” Dewi scanned the empty yard.
“They are coming, but aren’t here yet.” Arawn thinned his lips into a hard line.
Nidhogg raised his head. Shakily, he used his forelegs to push himself upright on his haunches. “I understand, my love.” Eyes like green pools shone at Dewi. “My safety is meaningless if you die on that world we just left. I would return with you, but I’d be naught but a liability.” He inhaled deeply. “The air here is clean, clear of taint. If you could but settle me near fresh, clean water and perhaps lay a bit of food nearby, I will be fine until you return. Or until the other gods come.”
Arawn nodded. “Let us do that. A spring is verra close. Ye will be comfortable there. The grass is soft and fragrant. I doona know about food.” He eyed Dewi.
“Meat,” she said succinctly. “He needs meat.”
“Simple enough. I shall beg the goddess’s pardon this once and use magic. Game is plentiful here.”
It took a while, but between the two of them, Nidhogg rested comfortably next to water, with several dead deer near to hand. He bent his head and drank long and deep, then looked up. “By the time I work my way through what you have left for me, I shall be strong enough to hunt on my own.” His second eyelid covered one lambent eye. It took her a moment to understand he’d just winked at her.
“I love you,” Dewi murmured. “Grow strong.”
“I never stopped loving you,” he said simply. “Or hoping we’d find a way to be reunited.”
“Enough talking.” Arawn raised his hands to call magic. “We must hurry. If Gwydion and Bran are not reunited with their bodies soon, they willna be able to effect the merger.”
Dewi dragged her gaze from Nidhogg. Her soul ached to remain with him, but Arawn was right to hustle them along. She crooked a talon at him. “Come close. We will travel with my magic since I know where we are going.”
She brought them out near where she’d left Fionn and Rune.
Arawn looked about them. “’Tis quite barren here. I sense Fionn’s presence—and Aislinn’s wolf as well. What plan did ye have?”
“I thought we could track them.”
“’Tis as good as any other. I doona have a good feeling about this, though. Mayhap, ’twould be best—”
“No one has good feelings here,” she interrupted, not liking her peevish tone. “We should use mind speech.”
“Why? They know we’re here.”
“How could you possibly know that?”
Arawn shrugged and settled his battle leathers more firmly about himself. “I just do. Give me a moment.”
Power radiated from the god of the dead, revenge, and terror. It was so potent, it surprised her. He opened his eyes. They were dark as night, whirling and bottomless like dragon’s eyes. “They are beset. Join your magic to mine.”
Dewi recognized the urgency in Arawn’s tone. For once, she didn’t argue. She’d given the Celts a hard time because of her anger over their refusal to help free Nidhogg, but the time for fury and retribution was over. She opened her mind to Arawn so she could see through his eyes.
Fury rattled her scales. Fionn bled from a hundred places. Aislinn lay on the ground behind him. Rune stood over her. It was clear both would die before they’d give her up. “How far?” Dewi asked.
“Minutes. Shall we?” Arawn opened a portal and they jumped through.
Dewi rolled out of their gateway moments later. Fire spouted from her mouth.
Arawn raced to Fionn’s side. “Need a wee spot of aid, brother?”
“Why would ye be thinking that?” Fionn managed a lopsided smile. The two gods stood shoulder to shoulder and lobbed deadly magic at D’Chel. The dark god was adept at sidestepping and redirecting, but his margin of safety shrank as he tired.
Too bad it’s not ten against one, Dewi thought sourly and added a few blows of her own to the fray.
She focused her magic. Perrikus was nowhere in sight. A small satisfaction burned in her heart. That must have been who stood outside Nidhogg’s prison. Maybe she’d hurt him worse than she thought. Fionn and Arawn had things under control, so she reached for Aislinn’s energy. The girl was so still, Dewi worried she might be beyond help. Rune raised his hackles and growled at her.
“I understand you’re worried, but I’m not going to hurt her,” the dragon reassured him. She focused an envelope of magic around Aislinn while searching for signs of life. Yes! Dewi was exultant.
Things were getting better and better. The MacLochlainn lives. She wanted to race to Aislinn’s side and check her more closely—or better yet, bring her back to Earth—but that would have to wait.
“So.” Dewi stepped to Fionn’s other side and aimed her words at D’Chel. “How’s Perrikus these days?”
D’Chel twisted his handsome features into a grimace and snarled, “He’ll live, no thanks to you, you meddling reptile.”
“Meddling reptile, is it?” To hell with magic. Fire roared from her mouth.
The dark god’s robe smoldered and burst into flame. D’Chel slid out of it and batted at his long tresses. The stench of burning fabric and hair filled the air. He raised his hands.
Dewi warded herself and waited, girding herself for the blow she was certain would come.
“Doona bother,” Arawn spat. “The dirty yellowbelly is leaving.”
“Guess he dinna like the odds,” Fionn snarked.
Sure enough, the air flickered; black light shot through it. When it cleared, they were alone. Fionn raced to Aislinn’s side, dropped to his knees, and clasped her against his chest, crooning in Gaelic.
Her eyes fluttered open. She wound her arms around him. “I’m sorry—”
“Time enough for that later,” Arawn snapped. “Get moving, Fionn. We must see to Gwydion and Bran.”
“Aye, I hadna forgotten.” Fionn kissed Aislinn’s forehead tenderly and murmured, “I love you, mo croi. Dewi will see you safely back.”
“I will go with them.” Bella flew to Rune and settled on his back.
Fionn snorted. “Good call.” He straightened and strode to Arawn’s side. Magic sweetened the stale air. It shone brightly, and the two Celts disappeared.
Rune limped to the dragon. “Take us home.”
“Indeed. I will take us all.” Dewi bent, picked Aislinn up, and cradled her between her forelegs and her scaled chest. The dragon furled her wings and eyed the wolf and raven. “Stand next to me, against my body. It would be easier if you were on my back, but I can manage.”