by Vanessa Skye
He thrusts his sword in arcing attacks as I scurry to defend while my mind spins in shock over his revelation.
“Baird, of course, went running to Nuadha. He had no choice. I followed you through the rift and arranged our meeting at the forest fae community. Then, it was a simple matter of manipulating Aife. You were so quick to defend that pathetic Talentless. It worked better than I ever could have imagined!” He moves in for the kill.
“You killed my messengers, not Nuadha!”
“Of course.”
A few of his skilled blows come close to landing before I deflect them with loud clangs as our swords meet. He has me on the back foot, and he knows it.
The grim smirk spreads as he pushes forward. “You have never beaten me, sister. Give up now, and I will spare your life.” Bright blood from the gash in his skull drips down his forehead and into his eyes, temporarily blinding him.
I don’t hesitate, feinting with my sword before landing a solid boot to his solar plexus and forcing the air out of his lungs with a whoosh. Offering no chance at recovery, I follow the kick with another, then another.
Each blow is punctuated with a pained yelp as he staggers back and lowers his sword.
I bring my weapon down in a vicious arc and sever his hand. “That’s for Nuadha,” I mutter.
Screaming, he clutches his mutilated stump and falls to the sandy floor. “Alys, please!” Aiden staggers to his knees, grabbing his wrist in an attempt to stop the copious bleeding. “Don’t kill the brother who loves you.” He gasps, and his green eyes, so similar to mine, tear over, his expression pleading.
“Don’t you dare speak to me of something you know nothing about!” I purse my lips and bring the hilt of my sword down hard on his skull, knocking him out this time.
His shield flickers like a dying fluorescent bulb then goes out.
Immediately, his magic drains and fades into the tear.
In moments, nearly a quarter of the considerable magic that once surrounded him is gone.
With the dead or unconscious bodies of four men lying on the floor of the cave and no idea how many others might be on the way, including Bres, I look around trying to figure out what to do with them.
The tear!
I run to Aiden and gasp. His dark hair turns gray as if an invisible hand is painting the long strands while I watch. His firm skin crumples, wrinkling and sagging. The tear is so powerful it is draining the life out of him. Just like my mother. Only her power as a goddess has allowed her to survive as long as she has. Aiden will not be so lucky.
I drag Aiden toward the tear and push him into the gray void while taking care not to get sucked in myself. I am sweating and breathing hard by the time the second of his large booted feet disappears into the tear. I have no idea where he will end up, but given his appalling treatment of Danu, who hangs limp with electric currents flashing around her body as if feeding from her, it would be poetic justice if he were caught between our two worlds for eternity.
Unlike Aiden, the humans’ appearances remain unchanged, and I figure it’s because they never had any magic making them immortal in the first place.
Gritting my teeth, I use all my strength and manage to push the men through the tear one at a time.
I quickly collect any evidence of the fight, throw the weapons into a corner, and smooth out the sandy floor of the cavern as best I can. It’s all I can do in the time I have left.
Mandrake?
Yes?
Are you near? Once I get out of here, we need to run, and quickly.
Are you in peril?
I feel his immediate decision to search for me. Stay there. I’m fine. I’ll explain once I find my way out of here. Easier said than done.
I am near a waterfall and a lake that seem to originate from within the caves.
And? Mandrake, I don’t have time for this!
You are water fae. Find the water and follow it to freedom.
Brilliant!
I spare one last look at my mother. She hasn’t moved or even opened her eyes since we spoke. She is so still that I wonder if I imagined our entire conversation.
I race along an uphill passageway. For a moment, I consider asking Lir for help, but I quickly dismiss it. He made his price clear, and it’s not one I’m willing to pay. There is no way in hell I’m going to be his wife.
I keep running but start to suspect I am running in circles. With my breath coming in quick gasps and tears streaming down my face, I force myself to stop in a dark tunnel for cover. Bending over and putting my hands on my knees, I try to calm down enough to not only find my way out of here but to also make sense of everything that has happened in the last two hours. How could I be so wrong? How could a brother I barely knew have so easily manipulated me? How could I have been so stupid?
Taking a deep breath, I resolve to beat myself up later. Should I live long enough. I close my eyes, force a few more slow breaths into my lungs, and concentrate on lowering my frantic heart rate. First thing is getting out of here before Bres or his humans notice Aiden and the others are missing and sound the alarm.
I have no idea how to find the water, as Mandrake so blithely put it, but keeping my eyes closed, I fill my mind with images of water—ponds, loughs, oceans, and even the underground mineral lake I discovered. I picture myself submerged in water, floating undisturbed by noise or other concerns and allowing the current to take me where it will.
After a few minutes, I am completely relaxed. I smell rain and feel a cool breeze touching my face—a breeze that’s completely out of place in the still, warm depths of the caves.
I walk toward the source of the damp gusts, through the lit tunnel, and take a sharp left into an unused passage.
I hit a sudden rise in the narrow path and stumble over fallen rocks. The scent of rain gets stronger as I carefully place my hands and feet in the darkness. I can’t tell if I am far enough away from the void to lower my shield and create a fireball, but I can’t risk it.
There!
The sound of rushing water is the most welcome sound I have ever heard, and I clamber toward it greedily. Ripples of light reflect off the walls in front of me, and I smile, using the soft illumination to crawl onto a ledge overlooking what looks like an underground river.
A few meager rays of daylight seep in and bounce off the water.
It’s morning? I have been down here for longer than I thought. Taking a deep breath, I jump into the swirling water below. It’s just as cold as I anticipated, and the freezing current wastes no time hurtling my body toward the opening in the rock face and into the waiting canal. Even with the benefit of gills and underwater vision, I see nothing but swirling white bubbles as the rapids me up, toss me through a rocky shaft, and shove me toward the daylight beckoning like a beacon beyond.
Without warning, the earth spits me out halfway up the cliff face.
Just like one of the old Saturday morning cartoons, I hang suspended for several seconds in painfully bright sunlight before I swallow the first hints of a scream, my stomachs plunges, and I become an inevitable part of the mighty waterfall that ends in a deep blue lake below.
The drop seems to take an eternity, and I plummet into the water like a stone before being shoved to the nethermost regions of the lake by tons of freezing water pouring out of the caves. Without gills, I’d be dead for sure.
I swim along the rocky bottom of the lake to escape the drag of the waterfall then surface and paddle toward the nearest grassy ledge.
I hoist myself half out, coughing and spluttering, heaving water from my lungs.
Using his long horn and strong neck, Mandrake fishes me out of the water and deposits me on the dry grass nearby.
“That…was not…fun,” I say through gasping breaths.
Mandrake kneels beside me and nudges me gently with his soft muzzle. I wouldn’t assume so.
Shaking from residual adrenaline and exhaustion, I push up onto trembling hands and knees and haul myself onto his back. “We
need to get to my people, as quickly as you can.”
He lunges forward as I grasp his dreadlocks with my remaining strength.
After a few miles, I lie across his muscular shoulders and neck, trying to use some of his body heat to stop my chattering and shivers.
An hour or so later, the feeling returns to my fingers and toes.
I give Mandrake a quick rundown of what I learned underground.
You cannot save fae from war. It is too late.
“It’s not too late!” I yell. “I can get them out of the caves, a—”
And where will they go? They have no home, no peoples to welcome them.
“I’ll hide them…somewhere.”
A force that large cannot be hidden. They will be rounded up by Bres and the humans as they flee, as will you. The war has already started.
“What else can I do? I have to try!”
You must go to him.
“Who? Bres?”
No. You must go to Nuadha.
“Are you crazy? I can’t. He won’t listen to me. He wants this war. There is no way he’ll stop it, even if he believed me, which he won’t.”
You know what I say is truth, Alys. Nuadha seeing reason is the only chance Tír na nÓg has.
“Then we might as well surrender now,” I mutter.
Do not let a broken heart blind you to the best course of action.
We fall silent as he runs the final few miles, and I see my caves in the distance.
Did you know Danu was still alive?
No. Once she was no longer my fae, I no longer felt her upon Tír na nÓg. I thought her lost.
Did you know she is my mother? Is that why you chose me?
We chose each other. And no, I did not know, but…I suspected. Your power is great, with a certain familiarity to it.
You could go back to her now. I wouldn’t stop you.
Danu raised me for her daughter. She and I were not linked for eternity.
We are unable to continue the conversation as we reach entrance hidden in the thicket of trees.
I dismount, place my hands on either side of Mandrake’s head, and stare into his eyes. Wait here.
This course of action is without merit!
I ignore him as I rush inside, unchallenged. I take it as a good sign. If Bres was already here, surely he would have had his human forces waiting.
I follow the familiar network of dark tunnels with the aid of a fireball.
“My queen!” Rowan says, rushing toward me with an expression of extreme relief. “We thought you and Aiden captured by Nuadha’s fae! We were about to assemble a search party.”
I shake my head and tug Rowan into a small nearby cave.
“Listen to me,” I whisper furiously. “We have been betrayed, all of us. We are being led to certain death.”
“But…I don’t understand,” she replies, frowning. “Are the fae coming for us? Do they know we are here?”
“No, not the fae. Aiden is with Bres.”
Rowan stumbles back in shock, her eyes wide. “But…it cannot be!”
I nod sadly with tears in my eyes. “I know. I wish is wasn’t true.”
Her expression becomes increasingly fierce as I explain what happened.
“Did you have any idea Bres was behind all this?” I ask.
“No. Aiden spoke of your father but never mentioned his name. And it is no wonder. Not even the most desperate Talentless would follow that tyrant. He is no friend to us!”
I wince at the pure look of fear on her face.
“What are we going to do?”
“It’s not feasible to get everyone out of here and hide you…” I rub my face as I think. “The search party you were forming, use them. Have them gather all the children and pregnant women, and take them to one of the lower caves. Hide them there, at my command. As far as the rest of Talentless fae are concerned, they prepare for war as planned.”
She nods. “What are you going to do, my queen?”
“I’m going to stop this,” I say with determination.
She nods. “I trust you. I know you will do what’s best for your people.” The pride on her face is obvious as she gives me a quick, fierce hug.
I turn away, eager to conceal new tears. Her words are like a knife in my heart. I have no idea how I am going to stop a war and save the lives of all the fae.
As I hurry out of the caves, I see the fear on the faces of the men and women as they strap on armor and loosen cold muscles by practicing with their swords. I realize they fight, not for independence or glory, but because they have no choice.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
I hurry out of the caves and jump onto Mandrake’s sleek back. How quickly can you get us to Chathair Mhór? I know the city is usually a hard three-day ride.
I can get us there in one.
I have no idea if he will listen to me, but I pray to my mother that Nuadha has not yet begun the march to war. At the very least, I need to warn him that he’s riding into an ambush that decides not only his fate and mine but also the fate of Tír na nÓg.
My heart skips at the thought of seeing him again. It has been months since I snuck out. Has he moved on? Or does he regret that night every waking moment like me?
Mandrake springs forward as the landscape rushes past me in a blur.
“Please hurry,” I whisper. Please let there still be time…
***
I kick the door open and Nuadha looks up as I burst into the war room. His gaze lingers briefly on my face and lips before he slowly takes in my fitted leather armor, ample cleavage, and long red dreadlocks tumbling down my back. Then, he blinks and any admiration is replaced by fury. “You!”
If possible, he looks even taller and broader than when I last saw him, and even more heartbreakingly beautiful. My memories didn’t do him justice.
“Take the traitor into custody!”
Nuadha’s troops surround me as I stride toward the king, but I blow them off their feet with nothing more than a flick of my wrist. “You’ll hear me out first.”
The men scramble to their feet as I form a fireball and stand my ground—I don’t want to hurt them unless I have to, and they look between Nuadha and me as if unsure what they should do next.
The king’s eyes narrow and he laughs. “I will do no such thing. You made it clear whose side you are on. And your fireballs do not scare me, child.”
“I’m no child, as you can well attest, Nuadha. I am a grown woman.”
“Who behaves like a petulant faeling when she doesn’t get her way.” He stalks so close we are almost touching. “This is your last chance. Leave us and go back to your lover before I—”
“Bres has returned.”
My unexpected blurt stops him cold.
He shakes his head as if that will somehow change the truth. “Bres is dead! He was banished to the mortal realm to die a mortal death thousands of years ago.”
“He is not dead. He found the Bailitheoir and used it to rob Danu of her power. He’s been traveling between worlds for centur—”
“Impossible! I hid the Bailitheoir on Earth!”
“Yes, and you banished Bres to the same place! Not the smartest decision you’ve ever made.”
“I hid it so deeply it could never be found!”
“Do you know what the humans have been doing to the planet since time began?”
He shakes his head, stepping away.
“Mining it, you idiot! The humans have scarred the earth so thoroughly…it was only a matter of time. Bres had nothing but time! Danu did not desert you. She is Bres’ prisoner.”
He gapes and gasps, like a fish struggling for air. So much to say but no words to say it, and when he finds his voice again, his stubborn arrogance returns. “What you speak is impossible!”
“And yet he is here, masterminding a war! He returned to take possession of this world, strip it of its precious resources, and sell them to the humans for profit. Killing you and all other fae is a bonus.”
“Am I supposed to believe a traitor?” Nuadha squints and scowls. “If Bres is indeed back, then you have been assisting him.”
“I did not know he was behind the attacks. I thought I was defending bullied and broken fae from those who would slaughter them simply for being born different! It was never my intention to seize Tír na nÓg from you. Estrild’s prophecy didn’t mean I would be your queen. It meant I would be queen of Talentless fae. That has been my only intention, to protect th—”
“Enough of your lies! You returned my gift and left here with your lover—”
“Aiden is my brother.” Or was. I have no idea if he is even alive.
“Your what?”
“My brother, you dick! He was never competition for you, Nuadha. Never! Even when I had no idea—”
“He cannot be your brother.”
“We share a father.” And a mother, but I keep that quiet of the moment. “Bres. So yes, he is.”
He gasps. “Bres is your father? And Aiden’s?”
“Yes. And believe me when I say, you are walking into a trap! Your army will be slaughtered.”
His gaze softens and he steps forward as if he wants to touch me before, with eyes flashing again, clenching his teeth and ripping his hand away. “My army is far superior to any Talentless strays Bres managed to collect, child!”
“It is not the Talentless. Talentless fae have nothing to do with this. They are not the ones raiding fae communities. Bres has hu—”
“Enough! I can bear no more of your lies. Your true nature has been revealed. If you are the offspring of Bres, then betrayal is in your blood!” He turns to walk away.
A stream of curses fly out of my mouth, and Nuadha spins around, glaring.
“I don’t know what a twatwaffle is, but from your tone, it is not flattering!”
I grab his arm and feel an instant jolt when my skin touches his. “Listen to me! I escaped. I left Bres, my mother, and my brother to warn you. You are walking into a trap.”
He rips his arm out of my grasp. “I do not believe you.”
“Think about it! Your army has been sent to different corners of Éire. Your force is at half strength, at best. You received some convenient information about where the Talentless army is amassing, and you ride to meet them without thinking of the battle terrain or where the information comes from. You and your army will be trapped and slaughtered at Bres’ leisure!”