Caelihn

by Jenna Elizabeth Johnson

  As we flew across the grassy earth, a monstrous figure came into view. At least eight feet tall, it looked like some oversized super hero bulked up on steroids, shredded clothes and all. The man-monster was struggling against a pack of even nastier-looking creatures. Faelah. I had only seen a scant handful of the foul, Otherworldly beasts in my life, but I knew what they were instantly. Just beyond the skirmish, I spotted another figure lying unconscious on the ground. It took me less than a second to recognize the pale hair and clothing.

  “Devlin,” I breathed, then screamed, “Devlin!”

  I kicked Spiora harder this time, and she reacted immediately, bolting past Meghan and Lasair. The mare cut wide to avoid the berserker and the faelah, but she must have known my intended destination because once she’d skirted the fight, she headed straight for Devlin. Before Spiora even came to a stop, I jumped clear of the saddle and crashed to the ground, the pain of the impact barely rattling me. I crawled through the damp grass and mud, reaching out for Devlin’s hand. My own hand continued to pulse with barely-contained glamour, and at the last minute I drew back. What if my magic hurt him? But was he okay?

  “Devlin!” I said, tears forming in the corners of my eyes and falling down my cheeks to join the pelting rain. “Devlin, please be okay!”

  The sound of battle distracted me for a moment, and I glanced up to see that the monster fighting the faelah was beginning to falter. Several feet away lay a line of bodies, all the dark, half-rotten corpses of the evil creatures once controlled by the Morrigan. Good gods, there were at least fifty of them. I blinked up at the giant, really taking him in for the first time. Something about him seemed familiar. His muscles bulged, and his red hair was spiked like a video game character’s might be. Deep gashes and lacerations crisscrossed his back and torso, and blood poured from a cut in his head. He turned in my direction, trying to throw off one of the faelah who had managed to leap onto his back and hold on with its claws. His eyes met mine, and although his were those of a feral beast, I suddenly recognized them. My mouth dropped open. Cade. This horrendous creature was Cade!?

  I turned my head to find Meghan. She had left Lasair as well, but now she was on the ground, her bow strung and arrows at the ready, taking down faelah with fluid ease. Dang. She wasn’t half bad with a bow, after all. A hazy blue aura surrounded her, and I realized it was her glamour building up. I wanted to just lie there in the wet grass and watch her, to see what she was doing differently to get her glamour to obey her, but Devlin needed me.

  A few feet away, Spiora danced and whickered in agitation. Wincing, I pushed myself to my feet and walked, no, limped, over to her. She calmed enough for me to strip Venom and the spare bolts from her saddle.

  “Good girl,” I murmured, before falling back to the ground. I must have hurt myself jumping earlier, because I found it less painful to sit than stand.

  I got to work quickly, ignoring the purple glimmer to my skin. It had changed again and now resembled the dense glow of a black light with little flickers of electricity shimmering down my arms in waves. Finally, I managed to ready a bolt and lifted Venom up to take aim. I found one of the faelah on the outskirts of the group and pulled the trigger, hitting it in the eye. Perfect shot! I readied and let loose five more bolts, each one finding its target. When most of the monsters had been taken care of, I set Venom aside and rolled over onto my stomach, seeking out Devlin.

  There he was, ten feet away. I crawled over to him, moving as quickly as possible, until I was practically on top of him. Gods, he was as pale as death and covered in blood. His shirt was torn and fresh, ragged gashes trailed from his collarbone down to his armpit on one side. Despite the tight rein I’d kept on my hysteria, a sob broke free. I brought my hand up to cover my mouth, but stopped when I noticed the spider web of violet electricity coursing over it. Both my arms were completely numb now, not just tingling, and that only added fuel to the flames of my panic.

  “Devlin!” I hissed, wanting more than anything to wipe the blood from his face. But I was afraid to touch anything. Hell, I was even afraid to check his pulse, but that was due more to my fear of discovering no heartbeat present than hurting him with my weird glamour.

  I resigned myself to standing guard over him until Meghan and Cade could dispatch the remaining monsters. There were only ten or so left, and they weren’t particularly large. Above, the rain had lightened, but the clouds had grown, if at all possible, darker and denser. And then, arising as suddenly as this accursed storm had risen, a strange sensation began building in my chest, just beside my heart. The odd feeling started to throb and flare, the source growing like a pulsating star.

  I moved away from Devlin, terrified that this new anomaly would somehow hurt him further. As I stumbled to my feet, I caught another glimpse of my hands. Oh, crap. The spider web was flickering, the pulses of violet magic coming faster and working in time with the sensation growing inside of me. And, that wasn’t the worst of it. The tendrils of electricity were now covering my arms up past my elbows. One of the vines of light broke loose from the surface of my skin and arced out violently, only to be drawn back to the web of glamour like a solar flare. I gasped and fell back, nearly tripping over the uneven earth.

  “Robyn!” Meghan screamed. “Get down! The lightning’s building up directly above us!”

  I blinked up, noticing my surroundings for the first time in several minutes. In my distress over my feral glamour, I had almost forgotten about where I was. The faelah were all dead, their black, putrid bodies littering the damp earth like spots of tar. Meghan was crouching low beside a half-naked Cade who looked about as energetic as Devlin at the moment. She had her arm around his waist and was clearly trying to support him. Whatever magic had taken over during his killing rampage was long gone. Fergus stood on Cade’s other side, and Meridian clung to Meghan’s shoulder. The ever loyal spirit guides.

  “We have to get out of the open!” I managed to answer back, frantically looking around for shelter.

  The trees were the closest thing, about a hundred yards away. Not only were they too far away, but taking cover beneath a copse of trees in a lightning storm was like taking a bath with a toaster perched precariously on the edge of the tub. Not a brilliant idea. We had nowhere to go.

  “Just lie down! Get as flat as you can!” Meghan cried, trying to push Cade to the earth. He complied without complaint, practically collapsing.

  Farther down near the road, I could see the horses, whinnying in distress and pacing back and forth. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say they wanted to bolt but couldn’t find it in them to leave us. Two other horses had joined them. Cade’s and Devlin’s stallions. Yes, there was definitely something different about Otherworldly horses.

  I shook my head and glanced back down at Devlin. If he was still alive, a lightning strike would end him. It would end all of us. If only there was a way to divert it. I glanced down at my electrified arms and a strange feeling, different from the tingling and throbbing from before, took over. Suddenly, I grew unnaturally calm. An inner voice I couldn’t hear but could still understand; a compulsion coming from that egg of magic beside my heart perhaps, took control of my body and one thought bloomed in my mind: I had to get to high ground. Without a backward glance, I started limping up the small slope just behind me. I had to get to the top. I had to get there before the lightning dispersed and trapped my friends like a deadly net. Nothing was as important as reaching my new destination.

  “Robyn! What are you doing?!” Meghan screeched. “Get down! You’ll get struck!”

  But her words just bounced off of me like mosquitoes hitting a bug zapper. As I made the gentle climb, I took deep, lung-clearing breaths. My arms, of their own volition, stretched away from my sides. I hardly even noticed the arcing flares of deep violet curling away from my skin. Ten more steps. Seven. Four ...

  I was at the top of the knoll, the black clouds hovering angrily above me. Tilting my head skyward, I drew in a deep breath and said i
n a voice raw with simmering bravado, “That’s right, bitch, I’m not afraid of you!”

  I am Robyn Dunbarre, hear my suicidal death cry as I try to push Mother Nature around.

  Funny thing was, the terror I had felt up until that point was no longer there. Leaving the storm to make of my words what it would, I slowly turned around and surveyed the field stretching out below me. Devlin was still pale and unmoving, Cade as well. Meghan had pressed herself against the ground, but I could tell she was still screaming at me. I couldn’t hear her anymore. My mind had become engulfed in a flourish of calm sounds: the rush of wind over a wheat field, the sweeping sound of a gentle surf washing away sand from a beach, the soft patter of rain in a thick forest ...

  Ahhh, bliss. I was so relaxed that I just wanted to fall asleep. I closed my eyes and tilted my head skyward, stretching my arms out even more, as if offering my soul up to the heavens. There was no way for me to see my glamour any longer, and the space between my waist and neck had gone completely numb. I imagined the brilliant electrical magic pulling away from my fingertips and meeting to form a neon violet arc over my head. Yes, this was crazy, and I was pretty sure I was going to die at any moment, but at least it would only be me. If I was lucky, the lightning would be attracted to my own sparkly, dysfunctional glamour, and it would leave my friends alone. If I was really lucky, Devlin would simply be unconscious, and he would survive this.

  Strangely, these thoughts no longer disturbed me. I had always known moving to Eile would be dangerous, and that I might die some strange, unnatural death. Mostly, I imagined eventually being hunted down by Mikael and Moira for another game of sacrifice the Lorehnin girl. Who would have thought I’d go out like this? A living, breathing lightning rod, calmly accepting my fate like some maiden meekly submitting to her martyrdom. I almost snorted. I guess I could start kicking and screaming if I wanted to. Then again, it might be nice to die with some dignity intact.

  The darkness behind my eyelids began to brighten, and a sudden rush of intense tingling returned to my tired arms. I drew in a deep breath, my eyes still squeezed shut, and the world flared white-hot. After that, there was nothing.

  -Chapter Twelve-

  Aftermath

  This wasn’t my first trip to the afterlife. I had been here once before, after the Daramorr and his sister plunged a knife into my heart. During that visit, I had caught glimpses of memories I had long ago buried. For the first time in my life, I got to see what my mom and dad looked like. Dying for a second time was different. There were no greeting card scenes of my toddler self, running around in the park while my parents looked on. Instead, I was suspended in a world of white, and for some reason, my forehead felt clammy, and I was wrapped up in a collection of uncomfortably hot sheets. I gritted my teeth. Really? One would think the afterlife would be comfortable. Weren’t people always saying how the ones they’d lost were no longer suffering once they passed? Was it all a lie or was I just unlucky?

  “Come on, Robyn, you’ve been out for three days.”

  Oh, great. I was going to hear voices, too. I turned my head from side to side, but something pressed against my forehead, keeping me from moving. I growled in frustration.

  “Robyn! That’s it. Wake up!”

  I am awake! I wanted to shout. Apparently, that wasn’t enough for my tormentor. I guess I had to prove I was awake. How did you do that again? Oh, yeah! I had to lift my eyelids ...

  My eyes flew open, and suddenly, I was overwhelmed by the vivid colors of the living world. I drew in a great breath, but it sounded more like a gasp.

  “Easy!” Meghan hissed above me, removing a washcloth from my head.

  Oh, so it was her who had been pinning me down. Some friend! I lifted up my arms, meaning to push Meghan away, but they didn’t get very far. Molten lead erupted from my shoulder sockets and poured down the center of my bones, replacing the marrow. Ow. That hurt!

  I must have made some sound of distress, because Meghan huffed.

  “Robyn, lie still! You’ve been struck by lightning, for goodness sake! You’re lucky to be alive.”

  Her voice shook a little. I took three deep breaths, trying to calm my racing thoughts and come to terms with being alive once again. That’s when the memories flooded back to me: riding the horses out into the storm, finding Cade and Devlin in a field, the army of creepy-as-hell Otherworldly monsters, both living and dead, Cade looking like some freak survivor of a radiation disaster, the build-up of electricity in the air, Devlin, lying motionless on the ground ... That last thought wrapped around my mind like a whip, grabbing it and jerking it to a stop.

  “Devlin,” I murmured.

  I gave up my pathetic struggle against Meghan and let my head fall back onto the pillow.

  “He’s okay. He’d only been knocked unconscious,” Meghan reassured me.

  A deep sigh spilled from my lungs, followed swiftly by a sob. And then the tears came, like a rushing tide, impossible to stop and embarrassingly prolific. Fabulous.

  “Shhh,” Meghan crooned, taking one of my hands and squeezing my fingers. “Everyone is fine! Me, Cade, Devlin, even the horses and the spirit guides. And you.”

  Meghan’s voice faltered again. Just peachy. The two of us were about to completely lose it. Fortunately, my friend managed to get a hold of herself and continued talking to me.

  “Stop crying, Robyn! You’ve been fried by Otherworldly lightning, and you can’t afford to lose any more liquids. If you keep this up, you just might dry up into a piece of jerky.”

  I snorted and drew in a deep breath. Even that hurt, but at least Meghan’s pep talk brought me out of my downward spiral. Again, I tried opening my eyes, this time slowly, so the glorious world wouldn’t blind me. I blinked and turned my head, realizing I was in the room Devlin and I had been sharing at Luathara Castle. Mid-afternoon light, obscured by clouds the color of old bruises, filtered in through the tall windows on the northwestern side of the castle.

  My head turned in the other direction, that hot pain coursing through my bones once again, only not nearly as intense as before. I glanced up at Meghan’s face. She looked paler than usual, the corners of her eyes and mouth pinched with worry. She tried a small smile, and I returned the gesture. I think. It was hard to tell, since I hadn’t really felt my lips move at all.

  Casting aside all the questions fluttering around in my head, I focused on the most important one. “Where’s Devlin?” I asked, my voice a raspy whisper.

  Meghan let go of a breath she had obviously been holding. “Downstairs with Cade.”

  That stung a little. If it had been him who’d been struck by lightning, I’d be right here lying next to him, waiting for him to wake up. My feelings must have shown on my face, because Meghan lifted a hand to stave off my distress.

  “He was up here all night and through half the day with you. Cade and I only got him to move because I promised to stay with you and come get him the moment you woke up.”

  I grinned, and this time I felt it. “He’s going to be ticked.”

  Meghan looked taken aback. “Why?”

  “You broke your promise. I’ve been awake a good five minutes now, and you haven’t moved from your chair.”

  Meghan snorted and quipped, “I’d smack you if you weren’t barely alive.”

  For some reason, Meghan’s sudden cheer had me feeling much better. I struggled against my worthless arms and bit my cheek as the molten pain spiked and jabbed at my bones again, until I was sitting up. My entire body ached, as if someone had ripped all my joints out of place, then jammed them back in.

  “Barely alive?” I said, my forehead breaking out in a sweat. “I’m ready to take on the next lightning bolt!”

  Meghan smiled, but it faded quickly, her face growing grim. I had a feeling my own expression was just as gaunt.

  I cleared my throat a little, trying to ignore the raw burn that action left behind. “How did I survive a lightning strike, by the way?”

  I had seen just ho
w bad Eile’s lightning was first hand. I’d had plenty of time on our break-neck ride to Kellston to develop a healthy fear and respect for its deadly power. I also remembered how my own magic had been acting during the lightning storm. Could it be because of my Lorehnin glamour that I survived?

  Meghan shook her head and stood from her chair and answered my question. “We don’t know.”

  My eyebrow arched. “We?”

  “Cade and I stayed up late into the night trying to figure out how. Perhaps you have stronger glamour than we thought, or maybe it was an unusual case. But, Robyn, no one, not even the most powerful Faelorehn, should have survived a lightning strike of that magnitude.”

  Cold shivers skittered over my skin like spiders. Thoughts of my ordeal with Mikael and Moira, blossomed into my mind and I gritted my teeth. They had gone to a lot of trouble to sacrifice me, despite the fact that they had failed. There had to be a reason for it.

  “You said Cade and Devlin are downstairs?” I asked.

  “Yes. They are in the library, trying to figure it out.”

  I gathered what strength I had left and scooted to the edge of the bed.

  “What are you doing?” Meghan asked, turning to stop me from my progress.

  I batted her hand away and tore the sheets back with one arm. Even that effort left me winded for a few moments.

  “I want to be part of their conversation.”

  “What? Why? You need to rest. We can fill you in later.”

  I gritted my teeth. No. I needed to be there now. Ever since arriving in Eile and moving in with Devlin in the Weald, he had avoided most of the questions I’d asked regarding my possible heritage. Not enough to be outwardly obvious, but enough for me to realize he was keeping something from me. I had trusted him, believing he’d tell me in time. Something told me that whatever he was keeping secret had to do with my glamour, and I had decided it was time for me to know.

  I told Meghan as much, and she stood listening to me, her arms crossed above her stomach, her hands clasping her elbows. She was wearing one of the simple yet elegant dresses she’d worn around the castle before the incident in Kellston.