Fear filled me up and already I found myself pulling back, trying to somehow stop our headlong rush into the waves below. A single breath—then my fingers split the water and we were submerged, our momentum driving us deep.
As the speed began to slow I started to fight, memories and panic stripping me of any cohesive thought. I had to get out of the water. Now.
I spun and kicked hard, all my muscles focused on one task. Getting the hell out of the water and back to dry land as fast as possible.
But Bres wasn’t about to let me go. He kept a hand clamped around my waist and started to swim downwards, the fight between us took us into cold, dark waters. Very quickly the light from the surface was lost, and we were swimming blind. With each stroke he took I tried to reach back to the surface, praying he would tire and I could get away. His power swirled out around me again, binding my limbs so that I could no longer fight him.
Panic clawed at me. Though Cora had said I didn’t need to worry about holding my breath, I wanted to breathe. I didn’t know how much longer I could hold my breath and the darkness was disorienting me, the pressure on my eardrums intensifying. Something circled around my ankles.
I fought like a wild animal, every memory of the shark attack hitting me at once, my body and mind fighting to stay alive.
A light bloomed and Bres held a globe of fire—how it managed to stay alight in the water I didn’t know, but it showed my attacker clearly. A Fomorii clung to my leg, its mouth open and ready to chomp down on my calf.
Do not make that mistake. I am bringing her to Balor. He will decide what to do with her. Bres’ voice filled my mind—and, obviously, the mind of the Fomorii as well since it shrank away from him, releasing my leg. Maybe I wasn’t supposed to hear that? Bres was a traitor; the Tuatha should have known, he was Balor’s son, how could he be trusted? Maybe he was trying to fool the Fomorii?
Two Fomorii snaked towards us, their bodies undulating through the black water, mouths open, claws outstretched.
Bres started to swim towards them; his attention wavered and with it the bindings on me suddenly gave way. I jerked out of his arms.
With everything I had I swam upwards—away from Bres, away from the Fomorii. My heart cried out at the coward I was, that I didn’t have it in me to save Ashling, no matter how I said I wanted to. I would plead for her with the Council; surely they had the strength to bring her back.
Grab her. The command was simple—Bres giving orders to his Fomorii brethren. Hands and claws gripped each of my limbs and started to tow me back to the depths
With the Fomorii hanging off me and Bres leading the way I was dragged into the ocean’s depths, fighting them every second. Fear dug at me, sharper than the Fomorii clawed hands; the panic so bad that at one point I passed out. I don’t know how long we went downwards, I only knew that the pressure on my ears was increasing; the darkness seemed to be pressing in on us and the small globe that Bres held afloat.
Leave her to me. Bres commanded and the Fomorii obeyed. I was exhausted from fighting the Fomorii and Bres; the fear that had ridden me so hard was only a bare flicker in my belly. Bres grabbed my hand and dragged me forward. I kicked, helping us along. Bres turned surprised eyes my way; I tipped my face away from his. I was here now. I would try to free Ashling and Mom.
I reached to take another stroke and my hand broke the surface of the water, my head popping out right behind. Though I didn’t seem to need to breathe while under water, no matter the length of time, I still found myself gasping for air now that I could breathe. The world swayed and this time it was no earthquake. Lightheaded from holding my breath so long, I struggled to pull myself to the edge of the cavern.
Bres tread water beside me and I took a deep breath and asked, “How long have you been playing both sides?”
I stared at him, my temper rising even more as he answered in clipped tones.
“Perhaps you should think twice before speaking. Maybe, just maybe, we should try to get in, find Ashling and your mom and escape with as few Fomorii knowing we be here as possible. Hmm?”
He hoisted himself out of the water, bent and pulled me up, holding me so that my feet dangled in the air and my face was right in his.
“You aren’t on my side, you’re a traitor.” I said.
“I am on your side. Remember that you wanted to be here, that you said you trusted Cora. She thought this was best for you and I agreed.” His eyes now flashed with temper too. He let go of me unceremoniously and I hit the ground hard, my feet stinging with the impact.
My legs were wobbly but they would hold me up. I took a few steps away from him and wrung out my hair, squeezing as much water as I could from my curls and clothes.
“Why are you helping, if it can be called that. What did Cora say to you?”I wished it was Luke, not this virtual stranger with the disturbing eyes that stood across from me, helping me.
Bres scrubbed his fingers though his dark hair. “Look, you don’t have ta strength yet to save your family without help. Plus, if we get caught I may be able to talk us out of it. I am ta son of Balor, remember?” He held his hand up and the glowing ball of fire appeared over his fingertips. “Cora convinced me that this be a part of your destiny, that you must be here now, that you must be allowed to follow your heart. But she was concerned your fears would hold you back and that you would need help to get this far.”
I flushed. They were right; I couldn’t have come this far on my own, my fears crippling my ability to move forward. Even if I’d found my own way through the Barrier I doubted if I could have made myself go in the water. No, not doubted—I knew I wouldn’t have been able to go in the water.
A large boom sounded deep with the cave and the underwater cave we’d just swam out of sealed off, a cap of rock sliding over the opening. Bres stared at me. “We’ll be lucky if we survive it.”
I frowned, my heart picking up speed. “Survive what?
He laughed at me and started walking. “We’re in the Labyrinth, Quinn. It’s designed to keep people out; those that enter uninvited are never seen again.”
~~
15
The Labyrinth’s walls were lit from within and the illumination was enough to see by, though not well. The ground was wet and slippery with algae, and it took a lot of concentration not to stumble with every step. On a closer inspection, it wasn’t the walls that were glowing but the algae itself, a soft green glow that gave everything a fuzzy and indistinct quality.
Bres kept up a running commentary as we navigated our way. “There be a number of challenges we could face. Fire, poison, temptations and, of course, ta more twisted Fomorii are kept here. With each challenge we pass ta next will be more difficult. I know of only one person who ever made it all ta way through ta Labyrinth and he was nearly dead when he crawled out. That made it easy for my da to kill him.”
I didn’t want to think about Balor right now. “Tell me about the Tuatha, how is it that they’ve hid from the world all these years?”
Bres shrugged and helped me over a pile of rubble where the roof had started to cave in. “Like anything with magic, there requires a certain amount of belief and faith to keep it alive. Ta Fomorii have flourished because ta world has continued to produce monsters and darkness of varying kinds, which feeds their power. Ta Tuatha are, for ta most part, full of light and compassion. That’s still in ta world, of course, but not to the extent that fear is.”
We came to a T junction, our first decision. “Why are you being so up front with me now?” I asked. “Before I could barely get you to say two words to me.”
Bres laughed, took my hand and rolled it over, exposing my wrist. Very slowly, his eyes never leaving mine, he lowered his head and placed a kiss on the sensitive skin, his tongue trailing a pattern of fire over me. I jerked my hand away, a feeling of guilt following the flush of heat his tongue imbibed me with. It was Luke that I wanted, not Bres. Why was he doing this?
He lifted his head and I blushed; there was no way
he could miss the way my heart was hammering out of control. It seemed to me to be echoing between the walls.
“Prophecy or not, I don’t think you even know what you truly want. Why not give you some options? As Cora suggested, you should be following your heart to your destiny, not what others ‘spect of you.” Bres gave me a long slow wink that stole the moisture from my mouth.
My clothing was suddenly too tight and I had an insane desire to see if he had a tattoo like I suspected Luke did.
I let out a shuddering breath, quelling my suddenly raging hormones. “What about this training I’m supposed to get, how does that work?” If I just kept asking questions, maybe I could keep his mind occupied on other things. Safer, mundane things. My heart was still beating wildly, a horse in a full out gallop down a winding hillside. All from that one little kiss on the wrist. What would it be like if he put his lips to mine?
Forcing myself to look away from his violet eyes I leaned into the junction and looked down one way and then the other. Both were dark, both held no hint as to what lay in their shadows.
He pointed to the left and I took the lead, determined to prove I wasn’t a complete coward.
“Your training will come at ta hands of ta Council. Until then you’ll fumble along, picking up tricks to use your abilities as you go. Many times if you be put in a place of need your abilities will manifest and you’ll be able to use them on instinct,” he said, the wavering patterns of his glowing bulb of fire dancing on the walls around us.
“How do you make that fire ball? Maybe I could hold one too; it would give us more light,.” I said.
Bres opened his mouth to answer me, but was interrupted by a low growl from a tunnel off to the left of us. The noise was followed swiftly by the scrabble of claws on the rock.
As far as I was concerned that made the decision for us. “Let’s go!” I yelped, my eyes wide as I leaped forward.
“No, Quinn!” Bres yelled after me, but it was too late; the darkness swallowed me completely, the dim light from the walls vanishing. I ran as fast as I dared with one hand on the wall and one hand out in front of me. Minutes passed before I slowed to listen. It was then that I realized Bres wasn’t with me.
“Crap.”
I spun slowly, facing what I thought was the way I’d come. There was no noise, no heavy breathing of a monster about to chew me up and spit me out. Nothing. The sound of my own panting and the hammering of my heart in my ears was all that filled the silence. With my hand on the wall, I began to work my way back towards the start of the Labyrinth. But after a half an hour of walking in the dark I knew I was stuck in some sort of merry-go-round. One that had no off switch.
Unable to even see my own hand, there was no way to even tell if there was an offshoot from the other side of the tunnel. I put my back against the wall and slid down till my butt was on the cold rock floor. I needed to think this through, otherwise, without any effort on their part, the Fomorii had won. They would have bested me with the simplest of tricks; not even a single monster for me to fight off—not that I was complaining about that.
Anger at myself and my stupid decision started to burn low in my gut. I couldn’t let the Fomorii win but how was I supposed to find my way out of here? I needed something, some help, some light. Anything.
“Ashling,” I whispered her name, my anger fading as sorrow filled me. Bres wouldn’t go after her; neither would Luke or the Council. She only had me to depend on and I sure was doing a bang up job of rescuing her. I thumped my head back into the wall. I was an idiot. A coward and an idiot. If Cora hadn’t made Bres grab me and jump I wouldn’t even be this far. Tears trickled down my cheeks in the darkness, the smell of stale seawater filling my nose. I didn’t bother to wipe the tears away; there was no one to see them anyway. My cell phone was jabbing me from my back pocket. I pulled it out, but it was dead from being submerged. I wished I could just call Ashling the way I used to. Wait, maybe I could. . .
“All or nothing,” I said, my voice echoing through the tunnels. I took a deep breath that exhaled past my lips in a shudder. I focused all my energy on her name.
ASHLING?
I waited for a minute then did a mental call again. There was nothing. Maybe we weren’t close enough? I stood and started to jog down the tunnel, always keeping a hand in front and a hand on the slimy wall, periodically calling out.
Why did Bres think this Labyrinth was so bad? Sure it was dark, which was totally disconcerting, but other than that original beastie there had been nothing dangerous or even frightening. No traps, no fire-breathing dragons. My hand on the wall suddenly encountered empty space. I stopped, the breeze flowing in towards me smelling like a BBQ. My mouth watered.
ASHLING?
Very distantly she replied. I can hear you. Hurry, I’m here.
She sounded like she was down the tunnel that brought me the smell of fire-roasted steaks. Suddenly ravenous, I found myself running down the side tunnel heading towards a small glimmer of light. Finally!
The light grew and by the time I could see I was stepping into a massive well lit cavern with stalactites hanging above my head, the tips of them glowing bright like halogens. In the center of the room there was a table that would have easily seated thirty people, and it was completely covered with food. Twenty feet to the left of the table was a deep pit over which roasted an entire pig. To the right was a king-sized, four-poster bed draped in filmy gauze and covered in a pile of pillows and blankets.
I licked my lips and swallowed the rush of saliva that filled my mouth. I looked around the room. It was empty of anyone else. Where was Ashling?
I am here. The voice seemed to come from behind me.
I spun to see a hulking Fomorii hopping towards me. It only had a single leg with a wide flat foot but it used its overlong arms to leverage itself across the ground, like a person on crutches. Dark blue skin mottled with open sores, greasy long hair looked like seaweed in dreadlocks and it had the familiar open mouth full of teeth. It easily stood over twelve feet tall, far larger than any of the other Fomorii I’d encountered so far.
It started to laugh. “You were so easy to draw in, almost as easy as your man.” It flicked one clawed hand towards the pit and I stopped myself from turning to stare.
“That is not Bres and he’s not my man,” I said, forcing myself to believe it, nausea replacing the hunger I’d felt only moments before. “He knows this place. He wouldn’t be caught by you.”
The Fomorii snorted. “Bres, he doesn’t know this place as he once did. Nor was he as safe as he believed himself to be.”
I frowned at the beast as it settled itself in the long table, easily taking up the one side. It motioned for me join it.
“I get so little company; if you don’t mind, before I kill you I’d like to chat. Tell me, what is going on topside? Hmm?” The Fomorii reached for a platter of raw squid and poured the entire trencher into its gullet, teeth slicing and slashing at the squiggly snack.
I didn’t think anymore about it. I just ran. Sprinting towards the door my heart sank. Bars slid downwards to block my escape. If I was going to make it, the move I’d have to employ would make Indiana Jones proud.
The Fomorii roared as I drew close to the doorway. I was going to make it. A deep breath and I started to adjust my angle so I could slide under the lowering bars. This was going to be close.
A foot from the doorway the Fomorii grabbed me from behind, its oversized hand circling my body, its claws piercing my side. I screamed with sudden pain as my flesh popped like a grape skin. I called my knife to my hand and used it to slash at the fingers that were driving what felt like daggers into me.
The Fomorii howled and reared its head back to strike. There was no way I could defend myself from this, Bres was right. I had no idea what I was getting into; I was going to die in this Labyrinth, leaving Ashling and Mom to fend for themselves against Balor.
In slow motion I watched as the Fomorian’s mouth descended then I turned my head, no
t wanting that gaping maw to be the last thing I saw. My eyes caught a glimmer of movement on the other side of the bars. Out of the darkness of the tunnel, through the bars, a long sword came hurtling towards us. I closed my eyes and felt the Fomorii jerk, its claws digging hard into my body. Turning my head back around, I could see the handle of the sword sticking out of the Fomorian’s mouth, the steel tip out the back of its head, ending its bingeing spree along with its life.
Trapped in the Fomorian’s hand with three claws still stuck in me, I fell to the ground with the monster, slumping onto my side. There was a voice calling to me but there was something wrong. He sounded worried, scared even.
I tried to open my eyes, tried to see him, because if I was remembering right he was worth looking at, though he bothered me a lot. But it was no use; I could no longer stay in the moment, the Fomorii had won.
~~
16
There were hands on my bare skin, rubbing something slick and minty smelling into it. I lifted my nose to breathe deep and a sharp pain in my side drew a groan from me; I slowly opened my eyes. A shirtless Bres, his hands covered in a clear, slick poultice, sat in front of me and the pain seemed to fade in the distance. My eyes travelled over his sculpted torso, a tattoo that curled up his ribcage, Celtic designs I didn’t understand and yet . . .I reached out and slid my hand across his skin, tracing the pattern. Similar to the ones I’d imagined on Luke, but these were darker and held more dangerous meanings in them. Of that at least I was sure, though how I knew I couldn’t tell. They were so familiar to me, like a long forgotten memory. I felt like I should be able to understand what they meant. Bres’ muscles tightened under my hand.
“Stop that.” He said the words, but he didn’t push me away.
“Where’s your shirt?” I asked, my voice husky.
“I used it to staunch the blood. Does it bother you?” His eyes were steady on mine.
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