Harvest of the Gods

by Sumida, Amy

  “Aoife,” I nodded and she watched me warily, looking like she might bolt at any second. Then it occurred to me that she actually might be more afraid of me than of her niece and nephews. “I have no issue with you. The ones you have to worry about are waiting outside.”

  “Really?” She looked me over intently, then visibly relaxed and even smirked. “Well then, Queen of Fire, lead the way.”

  I glanced at Trevor, who was doing a kind of wheezing werewolf chuckle. He shrugged and we all turned to lead the woman to her doom. Well, I at least hoped it was her doom because if I had to watch Finn and his siblings die, I was going to be royally pissed. Another thought occurred to me and almost as if she read my mind, Aoife spoke it.

  “Tell me right now that you'll not avenge your friends if I win this challenge.”

  Fuck, that was actually fair. “Alright, you have my word. I won't avenge them if you win. Today. If you pull any sneaky shit in the future though,” I stopped and turned to face her. “I will pluck those wings off your back and shove them down your throat. We clear?”

  She nodded and swallowed hard, so I turned back around and led her out and around the side of the palace, to the sandy area used by the Intare to train. Speaking of the Intare, they were all there, come to watch the show, and I had a fleeting thought of Fenrir and how he'd probably be pissed that we didn't call him so he could get a ringside seat too.

  The Intare looked pretty intimidating, standing around the edges like a gorgeous man-boundary and staring at Aoife in a way that clearly proclaimed their hatred of her. I kind of loved them for that, that they'd take Finn's anger as their own and support him without explanation. When I glanced at Aoife, I saw she wasn't immune to their animosity, had in fact stopped walking to stare over the assemblage.

  I felt a little sympathy for her then. It was pretty brave of her to come walking into my lion's den with only a promise of a fair fight and her confidence in her own abilities to back her. She was a horrible woman who had done some really mean things, but did she deserve to be terrorized before she got her ass handed to her? Maybe not.

  I put a hand on her forearm and her gaze shot to mine. I gave her a squeeze and an honest stare. “They won't interfere either, you have the word of their Tima.”

  She blinked, her mouth falling open a little and her face softening just slightly. “I see now why he loves you,” she whispered. “Your honor is humbling, startling, and a little irritating. I wouldn't have shown you the same courtesy and I think you know that. I also think it doesn't make a difference to you. I almost regret having to kill your friends.”

  She had me liking her a little until that last bit. I sighed and shook my head, gesturing her forward. She walked regally into the sunlight, glittering in her fey glory. Her pale pink hair glowed almost as white as her skin, trailing down to her feet and hovering just above the ground. Her bright blue butterfly wings matched her eyes(which sparkled with malicious glee once she set eyes on Finn and family) and shimmered when she fluttered them. She looked delicate, ethereal; and standing there before the children of Lir, who were garbed in black leather and grim countenances, she seemed to be a fair damsel in distress.

  I knew better than to judge by appearances though, and I assumed Finn did also. So I hoped he had some way to fight fey magic, some trick up his sleeve that would give him an edge over Aoife. Then I noticed the blades they were all holding and I nodded. That would do, metal kills air fey if used properly. All they had to do was get one good stab in and Aoife would be a goner. Getting that close to a fey who didn't want you close to them though, could be a problem. Especially when she was an air-sidhe.

  The expressions on the faces of Finn and his siblings stayed stoic but I could see the surprise in their eyes. Aoife's beauty was magnificent, even among gods, and you couldn't help but be impressed by it. I don't think they expected the monster who had worn their Aunt's face to look so much like a fantasy come to life.

  The fey don't fight like gods. God magic gives a warning, lets you know it was building up and coming for you. For instance, if Thor had been attacking with lightning, the sky would have filled with storm clouds first. There would have been rain, wind, something. Aoife gave no warning. In fact, she seemed to sense their moment of surprise and used it for an advantage.

  Aodh was simply standing one moment and flying the next. Aoife lifted him with a simple hand gesture and threw him so far, I didn't see him fall. The remaining three ran for her but before they could get even remotely close, they were blown back with a sudden gust of wind. This was not god magic controlling the weather, this was the weather. It was fey magic, pure elemental, and it didn't need to roll in as a breeze or a gust, it simply was what Aoife needed, exactly when she needed it.

  At least she didn't laugh or taunt them. I'd kind of been expecting some kind of villainous display of superiority. She didn't bother with all that though, she just kept pummeling my friends into the ground. I bit my lip, my muscles tensing as I watched them helplessly.

  Trevor's hand slid into mine and I felt the presence of Odin and Kirill at my back. We were all tense, frustrated by our self-inflicted impotence. The Intare were growling, several of them pacing the edges of the fighting area while they snarled at Aoife. The faerie paid them no mind, just kept attacking Finn and his siblings with the very air around them. And she had the nerve to look fabulous as she did it. The woman didn't even break a sweat but if she had, it probably would have sparkled.

  Then Finn started to choke. His weapons fell from his hands and his siblings ran to his side, even Aodh who'd finally made it back from wherever she'd blown him. Finn clawed at his throat, dropping to his knees as he gasped for air. Aoife stood in front of him, making a pulling gesture with her hand. That was it, that was all she had to do to yank the air right out of his lungs.

  “No,” I whispered and almost broke my word by running into the fight, but Odin put his arms around my waist and held me to him. “Finn.”

  “This is his battle,” Odin laid his cheek along mine. “You must let him fight it.”

  “Now you know how we felt,” Trevor glanced at me, “watching you fight Balder.”

  “This is so not the time for that,” I gave Trevor a glare and he had the grace to look sheepish.

  Then Finn suddenly stopped choking, his whole body shimmering in gold light. The gold darkened and feathers emerged from his skin, black feathers. With a flapping of wings, Finn shot up into the sky as a black swan. In seconds, his siblings followed suit, flying up into the bright sky, right into the sun so that we could barely see them. I wondered if they were making a run for it and how we'd handle Aoife in such a situation but honestly, I'd rather have them run than die and my heart was beginning to slow back to its normal rhythm.

  Then they all came diving out of the sky at once, zipping down toward Aoife like feathered torpedoes. Sunlight glinted off something in their beaks and I squinted till I was able to make out the knives they were all holding. Aoife saw it too and frowned but when she made to flick them away, the swans split and surrounded her. Three of them hovered around her face, flapping their huge wings and effectively blinding her. They must have been cutting at her too because Aoife was shrieking and holding her arms up defensively.

  The fourth bird circled around and then came straight at her, like an arrow made of feathers and steel. His dagger slid into Aoife's slight chest, lodging in her up to its hilt. The other three swans fell back as Aoife let out a pitiful scream that was cut short suddenly, as if death couldn't wait for her to finish her cry before claiming her. She fell limply to the ground and the black swans settled before her like a line of mourners, graceful necks curved down, eyes fixed on the fey corpse.

  Then they stepped back as one, and lifted their wings. Their necks extended and the golden shimmer returned, lightening this time until four bodies were revealed, all very naked. I looked over my shoulder at Kirill and he nodded, running off to collect some clothing for the swans.

  They barely n
oticed their own nudity though, they were too focused on the dead fey before them. The siblings took each other's hands and approached the body together, faces grim but satisfied. They just stood there, above Aoife's body, looking down on her as if to imprint the picture in their minds forever.

  I knew all about that, had my own share of nightmares relieved by the images of a dead villain, so I stayed silent as well and let them absorb the fact that their monster was dead. They wouldn't have to look under the bed for her, or in their closets, and they wouldn't have to worry about seeing her face when they finally made it to sleep.

  Kirill came back with cotton robes and I gave him another nod, they'd had enough time to wallow. So he approached them slowly and handed them each a robe. They covered themselves automatically, looking a little shell-shocked, and I went forward to help them.

  “Finn?” I had my hands on his shoulders while I looked over his face. “Let's all go inside, okay?”

  He nodded and I put an arm around him to lead him into the palace. Kirill, Trevor, and Odin took charge of the remaining swans and we escorted them to the dining room. Once we got them seated, Kirill went off to make tea, which he said would be better for them than coffee. I nodded and left it up to him. Honestly, I didn't think it made a difference what we gave them to drink, as long as it was either hot, or alcoholic, or both.

  “She'd dead,” Fionnuala finally whispered and the three brothers looked over at her startled, like they hadn't even realized what they'd done.

  “Yep,” I said a little loudly, thinking that the shock might do them good. “You all did it. I'm surprised, it really looked like she was going to win for awhile there.”

  “We should 'ave attacked 'er as swans first,” Conn said grimly. “I think she was weaker when we were swans. It felt easier then.”

  “I don't know if she was weaker,” Finn frowned, “but there was definitely a difference. It was almost as if we were attacking her with her own magic.”

  “Huh,” I smiled, “it's kind of like me and the gods. It was easier for me to kill gods because you all held magic taken from humans. Maybe it does work in a similar way, you know all magic has a price. It looks like the price of Aoife turning you all into swans was that she became vulnerable to you when you were in swan form.”

  “I don't know what it is and frankly,” Aodh took a steaming cup of tea from Kirill with a nod of thanks, “I don't care. She's dead and I'm finally going to be able to get a good night's sleep.”

  “Speaking of which,” I took my own cup from Kirill. “You're all more than welcome to relax here for today, and even stay the night, we have plenty of room.”

  “Thanks, Vervain,” Finn reached across the table to take my hand.

  “No biggie,” I shrugged.

  “No, about Aoife,” Finn sighed and let go of me. “About bringing her here and giving this closure to me and my family.”

  “Finn,” I gave him a wide grin, “you're a part of my family too. I'll always help you if I can.”

  “And we consider you family now as well,” Aodh winked at me. “You ever need anything, just give us a call.”

  “Uh, I hate to break up your Cum Yaya moment but I need to take Aoife's body back to Faerie,” Roarke said from the end of the table.

  “I'm sorry,” I blinked at him. “Our... our what moment?”

  “Your Cum Yayas,” Roarke frowned. “You know, you celebrate and sing Cum Yaya, Cum Yaya? I don't know who this Yaya person is but I'd like to meet her. She sounds like a lot of fun.”

  Kirill was choking on laughter, a hand partially covering his spasming face, and we all stared hard at him until he finally got himself under control. He looked around at us all with glittering eyes.

  “He means kumbaya,” Kirill laughed again, “your kumbaya moment.”

  “Roarke,” I groaned, “maybe you should run everything by me before you use all the new sayings you learn from the Intare.”

  “These were the wrong words again?” Roarke didn't look as upset as he usually did when he got something wrong, and I had a sneaking suspicion that this one was done on purpose to lighten the mood. It would be totally like the cat-sidhe to turn around a joke played on him.

  “You sneaky kitty,” I accused and he shrugged. “Okay, do you need help taking Aoife home?”

  “No, Queen Vervain,” Roarke got serious. “I think it's best you stay out of this one. It could start a war if done improperly.”

  “But she came willingly,” I frowned. “Will you be okay to handle this? Maybe you should stop by the Fire Kingdom and take some red caps with you.”

  “I'll be fine,” Roarke shrugged. “In Faerie we don't shoot the messenger and I'm a Prince of Cats, they won't hold this against me. We can't help but get into trouble. It's in our natures.”

  “Okay,” I gave him a hug goodbye. “But be careful and please come back when you're done, so we know you're okay.”

  “Okay, Mom,” he rolled his eyes. “I'm not one of your lions, you know. I'm over two-thousand years old. I think I can take care of myself.”

  “Yeah but you're technically the youngest sidhe there is,” I smirked at him, “so you're still the baby.”

  “Maybe I'm not as old as some,” he gave me a meaningful look and I remembered that Arach was over fifteen-thousand years old, “but I can hold my own.”

  “No wonder he's so damn annoying,” Trevor grumbled and I hit him on the shoulder. “What?”

  “If I have annoyed,” Roarke gave my men an elegant bow, “I can leave feeling satisfied. For I live to annoy, when I'm not clawing something up, that is.”

  “That was you?” I started to growl as I focused my glare back on him. “You were the one who clawed up the upholstery in the sitting room?”

  “Uh, gotta go,” he ran out the door before I could get him in hand.

  “Damn cat,” I growled.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  We were all in the common room, watching TV while we waited for Fenrir to arrive, when a shooting pain filled my chest and I fell off of the couch, onto my knees. I gasped through it, Trevor's hands on my shoulders while he knelt before me and shouted something into my face that I couldn't make out. I was too focused on the tie that had just been severed from my lioness magic.

  “Ethan,” I gasped as I stumbled to my feet, pushing Trevor away. “Ethan's dead,” I began to run, not caring if the others followed me or not, straight to the tracing wall.

  “Vervain!” Trevor shouted but I just kept running.

  My lion was dead and nothing was going to stop me from getting to him. I barely paused to ask the Aether to take me to Ethan, I just ran straight into the wall and luckily, it opened for me and took me where I wanted to go.

  I came out onto a patch of grass surrounded by a few trees. It was dark but the moon illuminated the scene clearly. We were in some kind of small park or maybe it was someone's garden. Just a little patch of land surrounded by soaring buildings on all sides. There were three of my lions in the center of it all, cringing together on their knees in front of Ethan's corpse. Before them was Andrasta, standing amidst a thick black mist, her hands raised like an avenging angel. The mist swirled around her and tendrils had already flowed out to encircle my Intare.

  I screamed with rage and ran forward, right through a tentacle of Darkness, though it didn't seem to have an affect on me. I settled between my men and Andrasta, baring my teeth and claws at the goddess as I was overtaken by simple animal rage. She looked shocked for about a second but then she recovered and sent more of the Darkness straight toward me.

  It seemed to pulse happily, having found more nourishing fare, and gathered more weight into itself before slinking forward to fortify the tendrils already surrounding us. The dark thickened and I saw things in it that had not been formed naturally. Things with too many teeth and greedy eyes focused on me. Impossible things which I assumed to be the manifestation of fear.

  I had a moment's panic, remembering that I had no defense against this m
agic, but love knows no limits and I would have done anything to protect my lions. Even if it meant being consumed by the Darkness. It was my duty to protect them and I had already failed Ethan. I wouldn't fail these three.

  The lions behind me had crept closer and I felt their hands reach out and grasp my legs. I don't know if they had thought to give me comfort and support, or if they just needed to connect with their heart, but I felt my lioness magic surge up to touch them and the bond we shared reassured me, it gave me strength.

  Then it flared in a wash of heat through my body and I suddenly felt the connection to all of my lions come alive, felt their awareness of me and what was happening. I felt the pound of their feet as they rushed to trace to us but I quickly forbade them from coming to our aid, they would only end up becoming more casualties.

  They fell back with angry frustration and I heard their roars echoing in my mind. Then I felt them band together and down the connection came their strength and love. They poured it into me with everything they had, trying to stand with us, even though they were not physically there. They had found a loophole around my order and I loved them for it even as I shook my head over their rebellious cunning.

  I took a deep breath, feeling stronger, calmer, and held my hands up to the Darkness as if I could stop it with my will alone. I was drunk with power from the Intare and possibly a bit foolish but I always said that the fool can accomplish anything because he doesn't know that he can't. So I stood there like a fool and refused to acknowledge the fact that the Darkness was unstoppable.

  It barely even paused, just continued to flow forward and then over us, but it couldn't seem to reach us. It hovered around us in the air, a dome of darkness, and I could feel its frustration pushing in against me like a living thing. I heard the Intare gasp and when I glanced over my shoulder I saw them staring at me with wide eyes. That was when I noticed the glow.