by Bonnie Lamer
And Taz. “It’s about bloody time,” he gripes.
I ignore him. “What’s going on?” I ask Kallen and Isla as I approach them.
“Dagda has discovered the location of Tana,” Isla says evenly.
“Not before I did,” Taz grumbles. He must have followed her scent all the way to wherever she is staying. I still choose to ignore him.
I nod. “I know. I was there when he found out.”
Isla’s brows draw together. “Then why are you not with him and his lackeys?”
Was I just insulted? I’m not really sure. So, I’ll ignore it. “He didn’t want me to come with him.”
“He said that?” Kallen asks.
I shrug. “Not those exact words, but he made it pretty clear.”
“Then where have you been?” he asks.
“I went to cure Alita.”
He’s surprised. “Were you able to get close enough to her?”
I nod and smile. “She is alive and well and thoroughly enjoying making out with Kegan.” A throat clearing from Isla makes my cheeks pink. I probably should have waited until later to tell Kallen that last part. “Anyway, the darkness on my aura is gone. I could touch her without causing her any pain.”
Kallen smiles. “I am glad to hear that, Angel.” He pulls me into a warm hug. I could stay like this all night long.
Dryly, Isla says, “Do you think we can get on with what we need to do?”
If she would give in and let herself love Garren again, I bet she wouldn’t be so touchy about the whole PDA thing. I’ll keep that thought to myself, though. No need to get her pissed at me before we go into battle.
“Where is the house we need to get to?” I ask.
“Not far from here,” Kallen says, loosening his arms and letting me step back from his embrace. He takes my hand in his and begins to walk in a direction that will bring us away from the center of the village. Isla walks with us.
On the outskirts of the village, after we pass the streets where most of the Fairies live, there are a handful of large houses. They could probably be considered mansions, but none of them are quite as big as Isla’s. Among them, it’s easy to pick out the house that has been harboring Tana. It’s the one being surrounded by a large army of angry Fairies who are following orders from the angriest Fairy of all. My biological father. This is not going to go well at all.
I’m not really sure what’s happening, but I get the impression that Dagda’s plan is to just storm the place with magic flying. That is not going to be the best approach. I don’t know the Fairies Dagda brought, but I still don’t want to see them die, and I believe Tana is capable of making that happen. Best case scenario, they catch her by surprise and she feels outnumbered and gives up. Yeah, right. Worst case scenario, she kills them and then comes outside to kill the growing crowd of Fairies. There has to be a different way.
A rush of magic being pulled from several different directions forces me to act. Separating myself from Kallen and Isla, I speed forward and throw out a magical wall around the house, preventing the Fairies from using the magic they’ve pulled. Unfortunately, everyone knows I did it. I get a lot of eyes turning my way and I don’t like the look in some of them. Nor do I like the rumblings I’m beginning to hear about me protecting the one trying to kill the King. Oh for god’s sake, if I have to get over my issues then they should have to get over theirs. It seems only fair. That’s an argument for another day, though.
It doesn’t take long for my menacing biological father to find me and begin stalking towards me. “What the hell do you think you are doing?” he hisses when he’s within earshot.
“Preventing you from doing something you’ll regret,” I say, unmoved by his anger.
“What gives you the right?” he demands. I bet if I grew up with him as my dad, he would’ve been a spanker because I think that’s what he wants to do to me right now.
“This does,” I say evenly. Letting the magical net go, I push every bit of their magic back into the army of Fairies. Each Fairy feels the burn of my magic running through them, which is why a cacophony of screams emerges from their mouths. Wow, that’s really loud. If Tana didn’t already know we were here, she sure does now. I pull my magic back and the Fairies drop to their knees.
My eyes still trained on my homicidal father, I continue. In a hushed voice so hopefully no one else hears me, I say, “I know damn well that you still love this woman and if she ends up dead, you would never forgive yourself. So stop trying to prove to all these people that you’re ruthless enough that you’ll even kill your wife if she gets out of line.” The crowd has given us a wide berth now so I don’t think we have to worry about being overheard anymore. I guess both of our tempers are legendary and no one wants to be caught in the crossfire.
Dagda moves closer. “Do you truly consider trying to murder the both of us to be simply ‘out of line’?” he spits out.
It takes everything I have to not rub away the tiny spray of saliva that came along with his words. For some reason, I feel like that would be a show of weakness. “Okay, so maybe she’s a little more than out of line, but that doesn’t change the fact that you still love her. What if she can be stopped without violence? Maybe we can even talk her into some semblance of her old self.”
Disbelief oozes from his pores. “I realize you know nothing of what she was once like, but I can assure you that that Fairy,” he points towards the house, “is not the same Fairy that once resided in that body. There is nothing of my wife left.”
“How do you know that for sure?” I counter. “Do you have a Geiger counter or something that you’ve waved in front of her and confirmed that?” I wonder if they have Geiger counters here. “If not, then I say let’s give diplomacy a shot.” Yes, those words came out of my mouth. Halleluiah, I’m maturing.
If he didn’t know that my magic is stronger than his, I would be toast right now. Crossing his arms over his chest, he says, “Those are funny words coming from you.”
I’m going to ignore that comment, only because it’s true. “Well, maybe we both should give it a shot. What can it hurt?”
“Every Fairy between her and us,” he growls.
Good point. “Then we need to privatize the fight.” I have no idea if that sentence was grammatically correct, but he gets my point.
“How do you propose we do that?” he demands.
I roll my eyes and am about to make a smart comment regarding my ability to teleport when screams make my eardrums vibrate painfully. Before I turn around, I know that Tana has already decided to make the fight public. Very public.
Rings of fire have begun to surround groups of Fairies, including Fairy children. Why in the world would parents bring their kids to someplace like this? Are they really that stupid that they didn’t consider the fact that taking down a practitioner of black magic could lead to collateral damage? Especially that of the ‘small children who can’t protect themselves’ kind? I just shake my head at them, but regardless of what their IQ scores may be, I am not going to let them get hurt. Pulling magic, I push it in the direction of the flames, tamping them down until they are simply puffs of smoke.
I don’t think that Tana realized how easily I would be able to trump her magic when she is no longer being aided by Hades. Good. One thing that Dagda has taught me, it’s always better to have your opponent underestimate you.
She’s not down for the count, though. She has other tricks and she begins tossing them out. A black, acrid cloud descends around all of us, making it difficult to see more than a foot from our bodies. On top of that, tiny zaps of electricity start tearing at our skin. The sounds of mothers trying to protect their children from the pain can be heard all around us. Again, this wasn’t the best place for a family night out. I feel badly for the kids, though. It’s not their fault they’re here.
Reaching out an arm, my hand bumps into Dagda’s chest. “Meet me at Isla’s,” I say.
I barely hear his angry reply. I’m already moving
through the crowd, trying hard not to run into anyone. That’s impossible, of course. So I focus on not knocking anyone down.
I can feel when I’m getting closer to Tana. I was worried she would try to escape, but I guess she’s more interested in hurting anyone around her than saving her own hide at this point. The buzzing of her magic in my mind is strong and getting stronger. She must be only a few feet away from me now. Pulling magic again, I use it to clear a space in the cloud, and there she is. Her sores on her scalp have grown and they’re oozing something greenish now and her sallow skin has become something more like old, yellowed tissue paper. She’s looking rough. Or rougher, I should say.
“Get away from me,” she hisses. “You are nothing but a half-breed bastard born from a stupid, whorish Witch. Your presence disgusts me.”
“Have you looked in the mirror lately?” I ask. Then, in a voice that reeks of violence, I say, “And if you say one more thing about my mother, I will take everything I said to Dagda about having mercy and understanding and let him kill you on the spot after I’ve had fun torturing you. Trust me, without Hades your magic doesn’t come anywhere near the power of mine.”
That gets her to shut up. I must have finally mastered the look that says ‘I’m ready to do exactly what I just threatened and I’ll like doing it’. The bravado Tana had a minute ago is dwindling. So much so, she turns and tries to run. Yeah, I don’t think so.
Reaching out, I catch her ugly black cloak, stopping her. Her magic may be strong, but her body is weak. I am easily able to pull her back to me so I can wrap my hand painfully around her arm. “Let the magic go,” I growl. “You are hurting children.” I could dissipate the cloud myself, but it seems important that Tana do it. I guess I need some sign that there’s still at least a kernel of humanity in her. I wonder what the Fairy term for humanity would be. Fairyanity? Fairydom? I don’t know.
After a long pause, the black fog begins to clear. The screams in the crowd are replaced by crying. Mothers and fathers are pulling their kids close and checking them for any lasting damage as they quickly lead them back to their homes. Meanwhile, my eyes are glued to Tana. When I am sure she has pulled all the magic back, I teleport the two of us out of here.
Chapter 28
Tana tumbles in the sand when we appear in front of Isla’s mansion. I would offer her a hand to help her to her feet, but I don’t want to. I may want to save her, but it’s hard to separate that from all the things she has done. I’m still trying to get the right mind set to do so. So, I let her pick her haggard body up herself. God, she moves like she’s as old as the scribe now. Which reminds me, “Did you kill the scribe?”
She has to shake her head once or twice to make sure she heard me correctly. I guess the question was out of the blue. Standing up taller, she finally says, “I have killed no one.”
“Yet,” I clarify. “And that’s only because I’ve stopped you.”
She knows it’s the truth but she argues anyway. “If I had truly wanted someone dead, they would be dead. Regardless of your egomaniacal idea of being all powerful.”
Egomaniacal? Me? I don’t think I’d go quite that far. “You can believe that if you want,” I say with a shrug.
Looking around, I think Tana is unnerved by the fact that it’s just her and me at the moment. “I suppose you will kill me now.” I’m impressed, her voice is pretty steady.
“Only if I have to,” I say trying to keep my own voice even.
Her vacant eyes turn back towards me. “Just get it over with. I am all but dead already.”
“Have a death wish?” I ask. “Is that what all this has been about?”
Her eyes turn towards the ocean. “What do I have to live for?”
“Well, let’s see – you have a husband who loves you.”
Her eyes are full of hate now. “A husband who betrayed me and brought a bastard into the world.” She’s smart enough not to include my mother in the equation again.
“You were once a beloved Queen.”
She shakes her head. “An empty title.”
That’s kind of how I feel about Princess so I’ll let that one go. “You have family and friends who love you.”
Her face twists in rage. “Where were those friends and family when I was tossed aside like an old rag? They were urging their King on in his plan of tyranny and murder, pressuring him to betray me.”
I bet most of them were. “You have a nephew who never felt that way.”
She shakes her head. “I had no one.”
Kallen was probably pretty young when this all came about, so I can see her point. But still. “Just because your husband was an ass didn’t mean you had to become a decrepit hag bent on desecration of an entire realm.”
I expect a heated retort but I don’t get one. “I became nothing. I am nothing.”
I’ll skip the philosophical part of what she just said and focus on the here and now, hoping to steer her in a different direction. “Are you saying you always looked this way?”
With a hollow laugh, she says, “Who cares what I have become physically. What does it matter? When you are lost in a sea of misery, you take any lifeboat offered.”
My brow becomes lined in my confusion. “What do you mean?”
Staring at the ocean like she’s considering drowning herself in the depths, I’m convinced she either didn’t hear me or she’s not going to bother answering. I remain quiet, giving her time to explain if she will. My silence pays off when she replies with stilted sentences.
“I was a lost soul. I could not move forward, nor could I go back. I was no longer tied to this plane.” She is quiet again for a moment. “I wandered aimlessly in a transcendental state. Until I came upon an obsidian abyss. Then I was saved.”
I assume that black abyss was the opening to the Underworld. “By Hades?” I already know the answer to that.
She nods. “He showed me another way.”
“What a saint,” I mutter. I don’t think Tana heard me though. She’s lost in her own thoughts. “He convinced you to do all this?”
“After a while,” she says.
“What made you finally give in?”
Tana’s voice is soft when she says, “You.”
Yeah, I always seem to be a great motivator of evil. Great. “Why me?”
“He did not kill you. Instead, he loves you.”
Whoa. My relationship with Dagda has improved significantly, I’ll admit that, but I don’t think it’s gone that far. “I don’t think so.”
That brings her eyes back to me. “He has loved you since the first moment he laid eyes on you. You are so much like him. Your brashness and your power, those are like opiates to him and he has allowed you to do things others would have been killed for.”
That I do believe. “He loves you.”
That hollow laugh again. “He may have once. But who could love me now?”
“I do,” a deep, velvety voice says. Dagda has been here for some time. I felt him approach, but I don’t think Tana did. That’s apparent by the way she starts when she hears his voice.
“I want none of your pity. Leave me to my misery, your Highness.” The bitterness in her voice is enough to stop Dagda in his tracks.
“I do not pity you,” he says quietly.
I’m starting to feel awkward now. This seems like a private conversation. Until Tana rears on him and sends enough dark magic at him to send him flying. It’s not quite the same magic I have used in the past to basically melt beings from the inside out, but it’s close. Dagda is now writhing in agony on the sand some twenty feet away from us.
I guess I do still need to be here. As a referee. Sending out my own magic, I draw hers out of my biological father. What surprises me, though, is the fact that Dagda wasn’t trying to defend himself at all from the onslaught of her magic. Is that because of guilt? Now that there are no witnesses, he doesn’t need to make a show of strength? I think he may actually believe he deserves this from her. I guess in some way, h
e does. No matter the outcome – fulfilling a prophecy, my birth, etc., it still comes down to the fact that he betrayed the woman who loved him desperately. And, I believe, still does somewhere deep down inside. But her need to make him suffer as she just did gives me an idea how deep that betrayal was for her. Her love isn’t going to surface anytime soon.
When all of her magic has been drawn from Dagda, I turn to Tana. “You will not hurt him, or anyone else ever again. Are we clear?”
“I do not understand why you care,” she says through a voice broken by emotion.
“Me either,” I say with a shrug. “But no matter what the stupid ass Fairy has done in the past, I do. I also know that he cares about me.” I’m still not convinced of the whole love thing, though. “I don’t know for sure when it happened, but we’ve buried most of the bad stuff between us. Sure, it may come up sometimes in an argument, but my blood doesn’t boil when I see him anymore. I don’t have a burning desire to cause him pain. He’s…” How do I say this? “He’s slowly becoming like a second father to me.” I can’t believe those words came out of my mouth. I didn’t even choke on them. I think I may be more shocked than the two of them put together.