by Jodi McIsaac
Cedar was speechless for a few heartbeats. She remembered that horrible night and how much comfort that small bundle of fur had brought her. She felt her eyes well up at the memory. “I’m not angry at all,” she said. “It was very thoughtful of her. She hardly knew me at the time.”
Just then a roar of rage from Felix brought them back to the present. Abhartach was no longer lapping up Jane’s blood from his hands—he had his mouth firmly planted against the open wound on her arm. Felix had grabbed him and tried to tear him off, but he stopped at Jane’s wail of pain. “You’re ripping my arm off!” she screamed.
“He’s going to drain her!” Felix yelled. “Finn, help me!”
“Stay back!” Finn yelled at Cedar and Eden as he ran forward. Felix was saying something in the dwarf’s language, but Abhartach seemed oblivious to everything but Jane’s forearm. Felix held Jane’s body down while Finn tried to loosen the dwarf’s grip, but after a moment he fell back, panting.
“I can’t loosen it,” he said. “I’ve never seen such a strong hold.”
Jane was lying limp on the grass, her eyelids fluttering. She was quickly losing color.
“He’s using some sort of magic,” Felix said. “Damn it, where is that druid when we need him?”
Finn looked around frantically. “I need a yew tree… he said that’s what killed him.”
“Just knock his head off!” Felix yelled.
“Right,” Finn said, and Cedar held Eden close as he transformed into his dragon form and let out a great roar. He took one lunge toward Abhartach, his jaws opening wide to reveal rows of sharp teeth the length of Cedar’s forearm. But before he could close them around Abhartach’s head, the dwarf finally lifted his mouth from Jane and flung out one hand. Finn froze, immediately immobilized.
Felix immediately gathered Jane into his arms and pressed his lips to her forehead. “She’s still alive,” he said to Cedar, and then said some things to Abhartach that required no translation. The dwarf raised his bushy eyebrows and said something back.
“What’s he saying?” Cedar asked. She was pressing Eden’s face into her stomach so that she wouldn’t be able to take in the gruesome scene. Abhartach’s beard was rust-colored with Jane’s blood, and Jane was as white as a corpse. Eden squirmed and tried to break free. “Mum, I can’t breathe,” she said. Cedar loosened her grip but didn’t let go.
“He says it was taking too long. And that you should call off your dragon. Then he will tell us where the Lia Fáil is,” Felix said. He pressed his forehead to Jane’s and started singing softly, so low Cedar could barely hear him.
“Finn,” Cedar said softly, “Don’t attack him.”
Abhartach nodded at her, then waved his hand again. The dragon gave one last snort, and then Finn was beside her, glaring at the dwarf with undisguised venom.
“Mummy?” Eden asked. “What’s happening?”
“The dwarf took too much of Jane’s blood,” Cedar explained. “But Felix thinks she’ll be okay… right?” She looked at Felix and breathed out a sigh of relief when he nodded, though he didn’t take his eyes off Jane. He pulled a roll of white cloth out of one of the backpacks and wrapped it around Jane’s arm, then opened a jar of herbs and placed a small gray leaf on her tongue. “Tell him he got what he wanted,” Cedar told Felix. “Where is the Lia Fáil?”
Felix translated, and Abhartach walked a few paces away and then sat down. He put his hands on the ground and closed his eyes, breathing steadily and deeply.
After several minutes, Abhartach opened his eyes and stood. He spoke to Felix, and then, without another word, spun around once and disappeared.
“Did he tell you?” Cedar demanded.
Felix nodded. “Maggie was right. It is in Tara… inside the Mound of Hostages.”
“I’m fine…,” Jane mumbled as Felix carried her up the hill toward the farmhouse. “Want to go with you…”
“Absolutely not,” he answered firmly.
“Jane, you can’t even walk,” Cedar said.
Jane opened her eyes and gave Felix a look that was probably intended to be flirty. She was so weak it looked more like she was drunk. “Aren’t you going to fix me again?” she said.
Felix grinned down at her. “Most definitely,” he said. “I just need to make a list of all the things that are wrong with you. Your taste in music, for example. And the fact that you watch Doctor Who.”
Jane tried to laugh, but it came out as a snort. Felix hoisted her more securely in his arms and said, “I’ve already fixed you; your body just needs to regain some energy. But I think we’re done taking chances with you. Brighid is an excellent healer. She’ll watch over you while you finish recovering and try to keep you out of trouble—if she can.”
Cedar looked at him sharply. “She’s a healer? I didn’t know that.”
He nodded. “There’s not a whole lot Brighid can’t do. She’s not limited to one or two specific abilities like the rest of us. Music, poetry, healing, growing things… you name it, and she’s mastered it.”
“Yeah, but can she turn into a dragon and a housecat on the same day?” Finn asked. He was walking beside them, Eden riding happily on his back.
“You’ve got her beat there,” Felix laughed.
“Listen, I’ve been thinking,” Cedar said, examining the bandage Felix had wrapped around her injured hand. He had healed the wound with a few words but Finn had insisted she wrap it up for good measure. “Brighid’s place is probably the safest place we’re going to find. I definitely think Jane should go back to Brighid, but I also think Eden should go there too. She can open the sidh to Tara from there.”
“Mummy, no…,” Eden started complaining. “I want to be with you and Daddy.”
“It’s too dangerous, baby,” Cedar said. “I wish you could stay with us too, but I think you’ll be safest with Brighid and Jane. I should have made you stay there in the first place.”
They had reached the farmhouse, and Finn motioned for them to be quiet as he slipped Eden off his back and crept toward a small shed with her. There was a padlock on it, but Finn snapped it off easily with one hand. “Back to Brighid’s, okay?” he whispered to Eden. “Let’s go straight inside, to the foyer with the big staircase.” Eden nodded and pulled open the door. But instead of Brighid’s imposing entryway, all they saw was the inside of the shed, complete with a few shovels, an empty barrel, and a rusty lawnmower. Cedar frowned.
“Why didn’t it work?” she asked.
“I forgot. Brighid has protections on her place that make it impossible to create a sidh into the house.” He reached out and closed the door, looking over his shoulder to make sure they were still alone. “Let’s try it again; the beach this time.” Eden opened the door again, and again they all stared into the musty darkness of the shed. Cedar looked around nervously.
“I don’t like this,” she said. Finn pulled a phone out of the backpack Cedar was wearing and dialed a number. Then he shook his head and hung up.
“If she’s there, she’s not answering,” he said. “It might be nothing. Maybe she just decided to increase her security after we left. She might be worried that the druids will come looking for us. Or… maybe she’s just in the shower. Brighid is impossible to predict.”
“But she must have known that there was a chance that we’d need to come back!” Cedar exclaimed.
“Maybe,” he said, but he looked uncertain. “But one of the reasons she’s survived this long is that she always puts her own needs first.” He looked sadly at Cedar. “I don’t like it either. But there’s nothing we can do right now if the sidh won’t open. We have no choice but to go on to Tara. All of us.”
Cedar took a deep breath and tried to calm the panic that licked at the edge of her nerves like a flame. “Okay,” she said. “Eden, stay close to Daddy. Remember the spot we looked at—the one with the big ditch.”
They had looked at photos of Tara at Brighid’s house while they had access to her several large computer screens. Fi
nn had pointed out a secluded area on the south end of the expansive hill where they could appear without attracting attention from any tourists visiting the ancient site.
When Eden pulled the door open this time, they were greeted by the telltale shimmering air of a sidh. “Cool!” she said, taking a big step toward the sidh before Finn grabbed her, yanking her back to his side.
“Wait,” he said sternly. “I’ll go through first.”
He walked through the doorway. Cedar watched him as he looked around furtively and then turned and beckoned for the rest of them to follow. As she walked through the sidh, Eden’s hand clasped tightly in hers, Cedar could hear Jane mumbling, “You can put me down.…” But Felix held her tightly to him as he followed them.
They were standing in a deep ditch in a wide, open field. The ground beneath Cedar’s feet was covered in thin, scraggly grass. It was slightly muddy, as though it had just rained. “This part of Tara is called Rath Laoghaire,” Felix told them as they climbed up the steep embankment. He set Jane down but kept an arm protectively around her waist. “King Laoghaire was the High King of Ireland who was converted to Christianity by Saint Patrick. They say the king is buried here.” He snorted. “I never liked Patrick much, though some of the monks were all right.”
“Jesus, Felix, how old are you?” Jane sputtered.
“Older than Jesus,” he said with a smile. “What, you think I should act my age?”
“Ugh. No, thanks. You’re fine just the way you are,” Jane said quickly.
They had reached the top of the embankment, and Cedar gazed around them in open wonder. Finn hadn’t been exaggerating when he’d said Tara was huge. The hilltop seemed to go on forever, a vast expanse of green rippled with deep furrows that she knew looked like giant rings from the air. She turned slowly in a circle, taking in the view. The sun was hanging low in the sky, and the few trees on the hilltop cast long shadows that lent an eerie feel to the ancient hilltop. Around them, the Irish countryside opened up for miles and miles, hills and valleys and forests and church spires decorating the landscape as far as she could see. Finn followed her gaze. “They say you can see almost a third of the island from here on a clear day,” he said. “It’s no wonder this site was the seat of the High King.”
“Sheep!” Eden yelled, the strong wind whipping her hair in her face. A flock of sheep were grazing on the other side of the embankment they had just climbed. Eden started to run toward them, but Finn reached out and caught her arm.
“You have to stay close,” he warned her. Cedar shook herself. This wasn’t the time to be taking in the view—the druids could be upon them at any moment.
“Where’s the Mound of Hostages?” she asked.
“That way,” Finn answered, pointing to the north. They pulled their jackets close against the wind and headed in that direction.
“Is that the fake Lia Fáil you mentioned?” Cedar asked, indicating a large phallic-shaped standing stone on top of a mound in the distance.
“It is,” Finn answered, though he was only half paying attention to her. His gaze was sharp as he constantly swept the area around them with his eyes. “The Mound of Hostages is just beyond it.”
“Mum, I just stepped in sheep poo,” Eden complained, trying to wriggle her hand out of Cedar’s grasp.
“Shh, baby, we’re almost there,” Cedar said in what she hoped was a soothing voice even as she tightened her grip. They had yet to see anyone else on the hill, which struck Cedar as odd. A chill ran up her spine that had nothing to do with the biting wind. “Isn’t Tara kind of a tourist attraction?” she asked. “I’m just surprised we seem to be the only ones around.”
“Well, it is getting close to dark,” Jane said hesitantly.
“Cedar’s right,” Felix said, frowning. “It shouldn’t be this empty. I don’t like it.” They were nearing the deep ditches that ringed the large standing stone Cedar had seen in the distance. Eden wrenched her hand from Cedar’s and sprinted down into the ditch and then up on the other side, whooping triumphantly when she reached the top. Puffing with the effort, Cedar caught up with her. She was about to start reprimanding her daughter when she noticed Finn suddenly stand up stock straight, the muscles in his neck straining.
“What is it?” she asked, alarmed. Felix, too, was standing so still it looked as though he had stopped breathing.
“It’s calling to me,” Finn said in a hushed voice.
Cedar moved so that she was standing right in front of him. His head was turned toward the west; his eyes fixated on a small copse of trees a couple hundred yards away. Cedar strained her eyes to see what he was looking at. One of the trees appeared to be covered in thin strips of colorful cloth tied to its branches. The colors were dancing with the leaves in the wind. It was beautiful, Cedar thought, but that didn’t explain why Finn was so fixated.
“What’s calling to you?” she asked, placing her hand gently on his arm. At her touch he stared down at her in surprise, as though he had just realized she was there.
“The tree,” he answered. “Can’t you hear it?”
“Finn,” Felix said in a sharp voice. “Snap out of it.”
Finn shook his head, like a dog shaking off after a bath. He looked again at Cedar, slightly abashed. “Sorry,” he said.
“What was that all about?” she asked.
“It’s what they call a fairy tree,” he started to explain. “I could hear it. Tara is a very ancient, very magical place—”
“There’s someone over there,” Jane said, cutting him off. Cedar looked again and saw that her friend was right. Standing near the tree was a middle-aged woman, complete with baseball hat and fanny pack. “Looks like just a tourist,” Jane said.
Finn and Felix exchanged glances. “I’ll go check it out,” Finn said.
“Are you sure?” Cedar said, grabbing his arm. “She’s right by that fairy tree.…”
“I’ll be fine,” he said. “We’re close to the Mound of Hostages. We don’t know what will happen when we find the stone—best not to have any tourists about. I’ll tell her we’re doing an archeological survey and that the hill is closing to visitors for the rest of the evening.”
Cedar watched him trot off toward to the lone tourist, her lips pressed together.
“This place is starting to creep me out,” Jane said, and no one disagreed with her.
“Mummy, what’s this big rock for?” Eden asked, and Cedar took her eyes off Finn as he approached the tourist. Eden had her arms wrapped around the stone that was in the center of the mound, though she couldn’t quite reach all the way around.
“Feel anything strange there, little one?” Felix asked her.
“Nope,” Eden answered. “Feels just like a normal rock.”
He grinned. “That’s because it is a normal rock. They call it the Lia Fáil, but we all know it isn’t the real thing. It’s probably been here for a very long time, but it wasn’t always in this position on top of the hill. They moved it here a couple hundred years ago to honor some soldiers who died in one of the rebellions.”
Cedar walked around the stone, which came up to her shoulders, and ran her hands across the rough, rounded top. It was cold, just as she’d expected. Felix reached out to touch the stone too, but shook his head. “It doesn’t look at all like how Brighid described the Lia Fáil,” Cedar said. “Or the stone in Maggie’s story for that matter. How could a person even stand on it?”
“Let’s find out,” Felix said, a playful smile on his face. He lifted her as though she weighed no more than Eden and held her above his head. She set her feet on top of the stone but it was impossible to keep her balance without Felix holding on to her. As expected, the stone stayed silent, and Cedar jumped down after a moment.
“I wish Liam were here,” she said. “I’d like to know his thoughts on all of this. I wonder if he’s been here before—he didn’t say anything about it when we were talking about Tara back at Logheryman’s house.”
“I’m sure he has,�
� Felix answered. “Tara is a powerful place to do magic.”
“Do you think he’s a powerful druid?”
Felix looked at her thoughtfully. “I don’t know, to be honest. But you really care about him, don’t you?”
“I do,” Cedar answered truthfully. “I know it sounds strange, since I’ve only just met him, but I feel like he’s… kind of a father figure. I’ve never had a father figure in my life before, and I like it.”
“I like him too,” Jane said with an affectionate smile. “And you deserve to have someone like that in your life. I see many long conversations between the two of you in your future.”
Cedar smiled at that thought, but then realized that Finn had yet to return. “Why is Finn taking so long?” she asked. She walked a few paces forward and squinted at the fairy tree. There was no sign of Finn or the tourist. “Something must be wrong.” She started running toward where she had last seen him. Felix scooped Eden up in his arms and followed behind her, Jane trailing behind. The cloth-laden fairy tree was on another ridge surrounded by deep trenches. Cedar crested the ridge and then stopped in her tracks as she stared down into the trench below. The baseball hat-and-fanny-pack-wearing tourist was gone. In her place was a strange woman in a long skintight dress the color of blood. Finn’s arms were wrapped around her, and he was kissing her passionately.
Cedar felt the blood drain from her face, and for a heart-stopping moment she believed that Finn was a willing participant in the kiss. But then the blood rushed back through her veins with a pounding force, and she let out a snarl and ran down the hill. “Hey!” she yelled. “Get away from him!” Finn and the woman acted like they couldn’t hear her.
Felix dropped Eden and ran after her. “Cedar, no!” he yelled, but she kept right on running. The woman in the red dress had glowing skin and toned arms that were wrapped tightly around Finn’s neck. The tops of her breasts were heaving as she pulled him in closer. Cedar was about to reach out and rip the woman away from him when Felix grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back. “She’ll kill you,” he hissed. “It’s a leannán sí—a succubus.”