Luathara - Book Three of the Otherworld Trilogy

by Johnson, Jenna Elizabeth

  "Briant!" I shouted, dropping my bow and rushing over.

  "You know him?" someone asked.

  "Yes," I breathed, "he's Cade's steward. What are you doing here Briant? Did something happen at Luathara?"

  The steward turned to look at me and the stress in his eyes made me cringe. Oh no . . . Had the Morrigan attacked them? What about his wife, his kids . . . ?

  Before my mind could go into full blown panic mode, he held out a shaky hand. I blinked and looked down at a crumpled piece of paper clasped between his fingers.

  I swallowed and took it, my eyes flying over the words.

  Strayling,

  I hope you are enjoying your time hiding away in the Weald with my dear boy, but I am tired of your cowardice. Since you refuse to face me like a true Faelorehn of noble blood, I took the initiative to entice you out into the open. I am just returned from visiting that hovel you once called home in the mortal world and I now have in my possession something I believe is rather precious to you. The next move is yours.

  My hands were shaking by the time I reached the end of the note. It wasn't signed, but that made no difference. There was no question who the letter had come from.

  "I'm sorry Lady Meghan," Briant said, his voice hoarse.

  I didn't ask where he had found the letter, or whether it had been given to him. None of that mattered. I took a deep breath and I felt my magic swell with my emotions.

  Cade! I called out using shil-sciar. I tinged the words with my anxiety, letting him know it was an emergency.

  Meghan, he sent back right away, are you hurt?

  No, Briant is here. He's brought a letter from the Morrigan. She has taken something from my home in the mortal world . . . We have to go see my family.

  I let my words trail off as I fought down a sob, but my anger helped burn it away. It would do me no good to lose it now.

  I’ll be right there, Cade replied.

  I let the letter slip through my fingers, and before I knew what I was doing, I felt my knees hit the cold, wet, earth. Briant and Enorah dove for me, shouting my name, their voices strained. The overwhelming black cloud that threatened to take over lingered for a moment, but I clenched my teeth and forced it back to where it had come from. If I was to stand any sort of chance against the Morrigan, I needed to keep a level head.

  The hunting party must have been close, because it seemed like only moments passed before Cade had me wrapped up in his arms. He cupped the back of my head with his hand and pressed me against his chest.

  "What happened?" he demanded over my shoulder.

  No one spoke, but I heard the distinct rustle of paper and knew that someone had passed him the note. After several seconds, he cursed harshly in the language of Eile.

  He sighed deeply and I felt some of the strength leave his body. "We were waiting for a sign," he murmured. "Looks like we got it."

  Cade released me and tucked me into his side, then gave his sister a grave look.

  "We're going to the mortal world right now, but I want you and those you have chosen to fight to head to Erintara. We'll meet you there as soon as we can."

  -Eighteen-

  Acknowledgment

  An hour later Cade and I were racing towards the dolmarehn that would take us to the swamp. We urged Lasair and Speirling on until even Meridian and Fergus had trouble keeping up. When we reached the point where the horses could no longer pass, I threw myself off Lasair’s back and nearly hit the ground running. Cade was right behind me, his mind and voice silent.

  On the other side of the gateway, the swamp was characteristically silent and a light mist worked its way through the treetops. We ran up the equestrian trail, bypassing the backyard and squeezing through the fence with the ‘dead end’ sign. I hadn't been home in weeks, having been so caught up in my new life in Eile, and being back so suddenly like this felt strange. It was as if I'd been gone for years. Without even pausing to knock on the front door, I turned the knob as if I was coming home from school.

  Mom was sitting on the couch, Logan and Bradley and the twins trying to comfort her, while Dad paced in front of them. Their heads jerked up in surprise when they heard me come through the door. Mom reacted first.

  “Meghan!” she screamed. And then she began to sob.

  I hated to see my mom lose control like that, so I went to her and wrapped her up in my arms. My brothers piled in on top of us.

  “What’s wrong? What happened?”

  I looked up and scanned the living room, trying to think of what the Morrigan could have taken. I wondered if she'd visited my room and rifled through my things. The only thing of worth to me in there would be some old pictures, and as much as I treasured them, they were here in the mortal world and hardly the type of thing that would draw me out into the open. I wasn't about to offer myself up to the Morrigan over some old photos.

  I sighed and pulled away from Mom, sniffling a little and glancing around at my siblings. Logan and Bradley looked shell-shocked, Dad was still pacing and the twins were subdued. Wait . . . Someone was missing. My heart froze in place despite the sudden rushing sensation of fear and my magic surging forth.

  “Where’s Aiden?”

  Oh, but I knew the answer to my questions. I already knew . . .

  For an unbearable moment, the room went deadly silent. Then, in a small voice that was far from normal for him, Bradley whispered harshly, “We were playing down on the trail when this lady walked up to us. We thought we should just head back to the house, but she seemed so nice, so we waited a bit. Aiden was the first one to start pulling on us, as if she was a zombie or something. She tried to get us to come with her, but we told her no.”

  A strange, sick prickling sensation started creeping down my spine, joining in with the pounding of my heart and the flaring of my glamour. Next to it, the rose began to peel open. I bit my lip and forced the magic back where it belonged. I'd held onto Cernunnos's gift this long and I wasn't about to let it free, not when I knew I'd really be needing it soon.

  Bradley took a quick, deep breath and continued, “She said she was from the Otherworld and that you needed our help, so we started to change our minds. But Aiden screamed, as if someone had burned him, and started pulling harder on us. I thought it was weird, but before I could tell him to knock it off, the strangest thing happened. The woman,” he paled a little before finishing, “she started to do something like magic. Her eyes got red and the sky got darker. We all turned to run but then she grabbed Aiden.”

  Bradley sniffed as his eyes filled with tears. “We held on as long as we could and we screamed and screamed, but she was too strong.”

  “Dad heard us and came running out of the house,” Logan cut in, “but the strange lady was already going back down into the swamp. Aiden wasn’t making a sound or struggling any more but his eyes were huge.”

  Fear and anger churned in my stomach and I so desperately wanted to scream or hit something or both. The Morrigan. The Morrigan had come to our world and had taken my little brother.

  Meghan.

  I could hear Cade’s words, feel his presence in my mind and I jumped a little. In the rush to get here, with the revelation of what had happened, I'd forgotten he'd been behind me the entire way. Now that my mind was open to his, I knew that he was just as angry as I was.

  I turned to my mom, fighting back my rage and despair so that I could get as much information as possible.

  Mom still looked rattled, but she was able to tell me the rest of what had happened.

  “Meghan, your father followed her down there, down into that swamp. He said she disappeared into some sort of cave, but when he went in after her, it just dead-ended.”

  I looked back at Cade, confusion written all over my face. Aiden was mortal. How could she take him into the Otherworld?

  Cade must have been thinking the same thing because his face looked uncertain. He glanced over at Dad and asked, his tone quiet, “A cave at the end of a culvert littered with fallen trees? A
bout a mile from here? She went in with Aiden and never came out?”

  Dad could only nod and I felt that fear and anger that was swelling in my stomach take on one more emotion: disbelief. Only the sobbing of the person next to me drew me away from my stunned silence.

  “The dolmarehn,” Cade said, loud enough for everyone to hear him.

  He didn’t have to elaborate. Everyone in my family knew what a dolmarehn was and where it led. Ever since their daughter had told them she was from the Otherworld.

  My mom became hysterical and I couldn’t blame her. My head was spinning and it was becoming hard to breathe. I could feel my well of magic reacting to my emotions and I had to fight to keep it under control. What my family was telling me was impossible.

  Mom grabbed my hands, her own shaking and cold. She looked up at me with frantic eyes and cried, “I thought you said we couldn’t cross over into the Otherworld!”

  “No,” I answered, my throat growing dry, “no, you can’t. It isn’t possible for humans to enter Eile.”

  “Then how?!” she cried.

  I didn’t know. I looked up at Cade. Could it be possible? Could there be some humans who were able to cross into the Otherworld?

  He shook his head infinitesimally. No. There are a few who have both mortal and Otherworldly blood in their veins, but they contain the essence of our world and can pass through the boundary. But no human being has ever entered Eile.

  Maybe she’s taken him somewhere here, in the mortal world. Maybe she used her magic to hide from Dad when she was in the cave.

  I don't know. But her note said she had something precious to you, and Aiden definitely fits that description. And my instincts tell me that if she entered the cave, then she was returning to Eile.

  But how? I felt my eyes fill with tears once again.

  Cade sighed, then sent, I don’t know Meghan, but I think we should get back and start planning. The Morrigan has finally made her declaration of war and if we wish to get Aiden back, we'll have to inform the queen and the Tuatha De of what has happened.

  I nodded, gritted my teeth, and looked my mom in the eye. She was a mess and my heart broke again at the sight of everyone looking so defeated.

  I stood and glanced at all of them in turn. “We’ll find him, Mom, Dad. We’ll find him and bring him back.”

  Everyone remained quiet, but they nodded. I turned to leave but Mom reached out and grabbed my hand.

  “Be careful Meggy,” she whispered.

  I squeezed her hand back and strode to the door where Cade waited for me. We returned to the dolmarehn in silence, both of us thinking furiously about what we had heard and what we were now going to do. According to my family, the Morrigan had carried Aiden into the Otherworld. I knew she intended to use him as a pawn to control me, but strangely, that wasn’t what bothered me. What troubled me was that she had done it in the first place. Mortals could not enter the Otherworld, so how on earth had the Morrigan managed to get Aiden through the dolmarehn?

  * * *

  We returned to Luathara, feeling dejected and emotionally drained. The clouds that had been building that morning had finally arrived, and we decided that stopping for lunch was a good idea. Yes, it meant we'd most likely be traveling in the dark by the time we reached my mother's castle, but we couldn't afford to take the time to stay overnight. The Tuatha De needed to know about the Morrigan's recent move so they could start organizing their troops. We needed to arrive in Erintara as soon as possible.

  The door to Cade's room creaked open and Briant's daughter walked in with a tray full of food. For some reason or another, my mind flashed back to the first time I had met her and my heart let out a pang of regret. If not for the Morrigan and her selfish, vindictive obsession with power, Birgit and I might be good friends by now, tending to the kitchen garden and laughing over frivolous things. Not that I was one who did much of that, but it would be far better than carrying around all the secrets and fears that had been weighing me down of late.

  Birgit set the tray on a table and the tantalizing scent of roast beef greeted my nose. Too bad my stomach was too upset to enjoy it. I felt like tearing my hair out and screaming at the same time. I paced back and forth over the beautiful rugs, imagining I was wearing them out as I wracked my brain, trying to puzzle out how the Morrigan had done it. How had she brought my brother with her to the Otherworld? It was impossible for mortals to come to Eile. Had she employed some unknown form of magic? And if so, what did that mean for us when we finally confronted her?

  “Meghan, please sit down, you’ll wear yourself out.”

  Cade walked over to me and tried to take me in his arms.

  “No,” I hissed, batting his hands away, “I can’t stay still. I have to keep moving, keep thinking.”

  Nodding grimly, he returned to the windowsill where he’d been leaning and gazed through the rain-speckled panes. The fire crackled and popped in the fireplace and I detected the smallest flinch in Cade's shoulders. Sighing heavily, he braced his hands against the stone ledge and let his head hang as if trying to regain some misplaced strength.

  I frowned, regretting the way I had pushed him away, but my emotions were too frantic to worry about Cade's feelings right now.

  Think Meghan, think! I told myself. How did she do it?

  Part of the problem was that I was angry, furious really, and I had to fight to keep my power from overwhelming me again. If that happened, I might finally lose control of Cernunnos's magic and end up breaking my geis. As if I needed any other disasters at the moment . . .

  Calm down Meghan, calm down . . . But that bitch had taken Aiden. Aiden, of all my brothers! He was the most helpless, and the closest one to my heart. My small, autistic brother who had trouble letting the world know what he felt. He was so vulnerable and reminded me so much of myself when I was his age, what with his mumblings of sometimes seeing things that weren’t there, and his dark hair and pale eyes and . . .

  I stopped dead in my tracks and gasped so loudly Cade was beside me in an instant.

  “Meghan! Alright, enough, you are going to lie down right now.”

  Cade grabbed my elbows and started leading me to the bed.

  “No,” I said, feeling my knees nearly buckle. My voice was a rasp and my skin felt clammy. “Cade!”

  I looked him straight in the eye and I was sure my face was a haunting picture. The idea that had so suddenly bloomed in my mind was a shocking one. Yet, the strange tingling sensation that prickled along my spine told me my instincts were correct.

  “Cade,” I said softly as I allowed him to support me, “we need to go see my mother.”

  “Meghan, we were just in the mortal world,” he said, his voice sounding tired. "And we need to get to Erintara."

  “No.” I shook my head, then added bitterly, “No, we need to go see Danua. Right now. I have some questions to ask her.”

  * * *

  Our lunch turned cold in Cade's room as we flew to Erintara, driving our horses as fast as they would go. Kellston was quiet as we passed through, everyone locking themselves away from a sky that promised rain, and as we passed through the dolmarehn on the opposite end of town, I found it appropriate that the weather should match my own dismal thoughts.

  When we reached the castle, we were ushered in by Danua’s guards. Dusk had settled in and Erintara's hallways were gloomy despite the freshly lit candles and lamps. The only sounds that accompanied us as we made our way towards my mother's throne room were the cracking of our heels against the stone floors, a tempo that kept in time with my heart. Once we'd reached our destination, I burst through the great doors leading into Danua's throne room. As the huge planks of solid oak slammed against the stone walls, everyone turned to stare at me. Epona, Nuadu, Lugh, Goibniu. Even the Dagda looked annoyed. Lovely. I'd rudely interrupted a meeting with all the Tuatha De. So, they'd all decided to take advantage of my mother's hospitality and stuck around. Good. It would take us less time to get ready for an attack this way.r />
  The gods of the Celts glared at me and Cade, taking in our mud-stained clothing and disheveled appearance.

  "What in Eile has possessed you two to burst in here like this?" Nuadu asked, his dark eyes flashing.

  “I need to speak with my mother,” I snarled. "Right now."

  How strange it was that I could so easily throw my weight around like an all-powerful monarch. Even more shocking was the silent but obedient response I received from the men and women who had enough power to squash me like a gnat should they wish. Once everyone had shuffled from the room, I spun around and faced Danua, pain, worry and anger molding my face into a contorted mask.

  Cade murmured somewhere behind me, “I'm going to go see if my sister has arrived yet,” then made to exit.

  I turned just enough to reach out and grasp his fingers in mine. We still wore our riding gloves, but I could feel his strength through the leather barrier.

  “No,” I whispered, “stay.”

  Memories from earlier that morning fought their way to the surface, pushing away my fear and anger for a split second. I had been far too agitated earlier to think straight and had pushed Cade away. But now I needed his strength if I were to face Danua, high queen of Eile, my blood mother, and ask her the questions that fluttered around in my head like panicked birds thrashing against a confining cage.

  He nodded and moved to the side of the room, his presence obvious, but giving my mother and me the space we needed. I turned towards Danua once again.

  She stood waiting for me, standing tall and elegant and as cold and beautiful as a marble statue on her dais. Her hands were clasped just above her waist and her brilliant eyes shone with challenge, as if she knew the reason behind my abrupt appearance and was daring me to demand answers from her.

  “You lied to me,” I ground out, my hands curling into fists.

  She didn’t even bat an eyelash.

  “You lied to me!” I repeated. “I am not your only child, am I? You have a son, younger than me, and you abandoned him to the world of mortals as well.”