by J. M. Briggs
“Yeah, all that work to put down the blood protection spells and he just…” Bran shuddered, and the truck fell silent again.
Lance shifted nervously in the driver’s seat and glanced up towards his visor. There was a photo of his family stashed up there, and while he couldn’t see it, Lance knew it well enough. His mom was smiling and his step-father had an arm around her while his younger siblings stood in the front. The relief he’d enjoyed when Alex had made a point of casting the blood spell on Portland to keep his family safe was now twisting into dread. Part of him knew that he wouldn’t be Arthur’s primary target, but then again, he and Jenny had thrown their lot in with the mages. He might not have any magic himself, but he hadn’t stopped trying to help where he could.
“I can’t believe she’s going to classes tomorrow,” Bran said. His voice was sad and distant. “Seems too soon.”
“Yeah, but I don’t think she wants to have time to think about it,” Nicki replied. She sounded just as sad and Lance risked a glance back at her in the rearview mirror. The redhead was collapsed in her seat with a deep frown that made her look much older. “Alex has already decided that she’s going to class tomorrow. She’s insisting that she’s alright every time that I talk to her.”
“But Morgana hinted that Alex saw it happen.” Aiden shuddered and pressed his lips together. Lance was afraid that he might just get sick. “That’s just horrible.”
“Alex hasn’t told me.” Nicki’s frown somehow deepened. “I’m not sure if she’s coming back to the dorm. Morgana made some noises that she’s going to ask Alex to stay with her.”
“That might be for the best,” Lance heard himself say.
“Yeah, but living with a professor might draw attention,” Bran countered. His jaw was tense and Lance recognized that Bran was mulling something over. “Still, we probably already spend too much time around the professors by most people’s standards. Our outside social lives have been slowly vanishing.”
“I’m not sure Alex cares,” Nicki sighed. “I’m worried about her.”
“When my mom first died I didn’t react too much at first,” Jenny said. His girlfriend twisted around in the passenger seat to look back at the others. “I didn’t want to talk about it or acknowledge it. Mom had been ill for a while. We just need to be here for Alex and let her try to process everything on her own terms.” Lance nodded in agreement at the statement but couldn’t help but notice that Bran didn’t look convinced when he looked back at the others.
Aiden straightened up and forced a smile. “Well, when she gets back to school, we’ll all support her.” His expression turned more serious. “Hopefully Arthur won’t try anything else like that.”
“I don’t like knowing that there’s a way around the blood protection,” Nicki said. “Sure, in Ravenslake my Gran is probably safe since Arthur probably won’t try anything so close by, but we haven’t even gone to California-” Nicki cut herself off quickly.
“I know,” Jenny said. “Hopefully Alex will be willing to go down there soon. Maybe the blood protection spell isn’t perfect, but I’d rather have it near my dad. Besides, it couldn’t hurt to mess with the Pendreds a bit.” There was an icy bite to that last part and Lance smiled a little. Jenny caught his eye and gave him a smirk. “We need to utilize every weapon we have against Arthur.”
“The issue is, how do we deal with Arthur?” Aiden asked. “He’s proven many times that murder is an option for him.”
“We have to kill him,” Nicki said bluntly. “He almost killed Alex, and when you saved her it nearly killed you. He and the Queen enslaved all the creatures from the Sídhe branch of the Tree Reality and now he’s murdered Alex’s parents. We have to kill him.”
“I won’t argue with that,” Aiden replied. “But we need a plan of attack. He’s good at slipping away in water tunnels. He escaped last time and then killed Alex’s parents. We need a better plan than just kill him.”
“He’s half Sídhe like Merlin and Morgana,” Nicki said. “Honestly I’m not sure if normal weapons would work on him. The professors have never been very frank about the extent of their immortality.”
“I’m pretty sure they can be hurt,” Bran offered. “The issue is that Arthur is at least some kind of mage, thanks to being made with the Iron Chain.” They all shuddered at the mention of the dangerous artifact. “So he probably has the same boost to his durability that we do. That said, we know that we can be injured.”
“Yeah, he shoved a sword through Alex’s gut,” Nicki said bluntly. Jenny suddenly twisted next to him and looked back at her. “It won’t do us any good to sugarcoat what Arthur is capable of. He can hurt us and we can hurt him.”
Silence gripped the truck once more. Lance debated turning up the music, but this was the first time they’d really talked about all this. He didn’t like it, but his gut said that the mages needed a chance to verbally work through this. A car passed them on the highway, its headlights illuminating Jenny’s features. She glanced his ways, catching his brown eyes with her own.
“So have you two thought about next year?” Aiden asked. It thankfully provided a new topic. “I know that things are weird at university. Are you coming back next year?”
Lance barely kept himself from looking at Jenny as she tensed. They hadn’t talked about it. Originally when everything had come out, that they were reincarnations and that the others were mages, she’d wanted to transfer. Lance had just wanted her to give them a chance. Now that she had, he’d been guilty of not even thinking about the future.
“Things have changed,” Jenny said carefully. Her voice was strong despite her caution. “When I originally expressed my intention to transfer we still thought Arthur was on our side and that he was the Iron Soul. Now we know that Alex is the real Iron Soul. I’m not sure I’m comfortable leaving her. I know that she has all of you, but with the death of her parents…” Jenny’s confidence faltered. “It doesn’t seem right to leave now.”
Letting out the breath he hadn’t known he was holding, Lance nodded in agreement. He hadn’t been aware of how much he didn’t want to leave Ravenslake until Aiden had asked. In truth, he probably needed to examine that. Alex wasn’t Arto: he’d never betrayed her and had tried to be a friend, so it wasn’t like he actually owed her for anything. Not in this life anyway, and Alex hadn’t expressed much interest in rehashing out hurts from prior lives. In fact, she’d been happy when he and Jenny got together properly and openly in this life.
“I know we’re not mages,” Jenny added. “But I’d like to help. Anyway, if we leave Arthur might decide that we’re good targets.”
“He still might” Bran said. He leaned forward from the back and put a hand on Jenny’s shoulder. “You don’t have magic to protect yourselves.”
“Then I’ll have to practice with that dagger Alex gave me,” Jenny replied. Lance smiled at the tone of her voice. She was sexy when she was like this. “I’m not going to let Arthur drive me off.”
“There’s a lot to think about for next year,” Nicki said. Her voice radiated approval and bit of excitement. “We’re planning to rent a house so that we’re together. It may or might not be a good idea for you to join us.”
“There’s a lot to sort out,” Bran agreed. “But no point in trying to do so now. We have to see what happens with Alex first.”
“Yeah, what happens with Alex,” Nicki sighed.
And they were back to the darker and more depressing topic. Lance wanted to say something, to try and soothe the tense emotions in the truck but wasn’t sure what he could say. It was late and they were tired. Up ahead Morgana’s car suddenly slammed on the brakes and swerved in the road. Lance hit the brakes, shouting for the others to hold on as something silvery rushed out into the road. Lance steered the truck as calmly as he could as more silver shapes leapt out of the darkness. Gripping the wheel tightly, he pulled the truck over.
Behind him the mages were shouting and his eyes jumped past the silver figures to Morgana�
��s car. Two figures had come out of the car and were rushing towards the silver shapes. Lance’s heart was racing as the back doors of his truck opened. One of the figures turned to them, revealing golden armor that gleamed in the light of his headlights. Long horns curved out of its forehead and he could see pointed ears where its long translucent hair parted. It was a Síd. Not one of the modern descendants that had lived in this world, but one of the originals. They were back.
“Stay in the truck!” Nicki ordered.
Nodding, Lance blinked as a fireball collided with the chest of the Síd he’d been staring at. It shouted something even as it stumbled back. A large silvery hound, the first thing that had run out into the road, jumped forward only to be hit with another fireball. The hound fell and the Síd drew a long golden sword. A lance made of ice lodged itself in the creature’s chest and it dissolved into golden dust.
Lance forced himself to breathe and scanned what he could see in the light of the headlights. There were several Sídhe, but they were all on foot with hounds circling around the mags. Bran moved his right hand as yellow magic flared around him, and several of the hounds were thrown back into the darkness. Aiden shouted something and a wave of fire erupted from his hands, blasting forward like a flamethrower. Another of the Sídhe and a hound vanished in the flames, but more kept coming down the hill.
He wasn’t sure how many there were. Jenny made a small sound of fear and pressed against him. Suddenly her door was pulled open and a hand in a golden gauntlet reached in to grab Jenny. She shrieked and began to kick frantically. Lance leaned forward in the driver’s seat and fumbled for the iron dagger he kept strapped to the back of his jeans. Jenny ripped hers from her purse with an angry cry.
Lance couldn’t breathe as his girlfriend stabbed at the Síd’s hands with the dagger. An odd mix of pride and relief filled him as the creature shrieked and let go. Jenny shifted faster than he’d even seen before and shoved the dagger into the Síd’s neck. The Síd froze in place, agony on all of its features for a moment before it began to crumble into dust. With a huff, Jenny grabbed the door and pulled it closed. Lance hit the lock button. He reached over to wrap an arm around her even as Jenny panted for air.
“That was a bit scary,” Jenny said. She looked down at her dagger. Already the thin layer of silver blood was disappearing. “Maybe I’m better with it than I thought.”
Nodding, Lance glanced outside where whips of silver light were lashing through the air. He remembered that silver was the color of Morgana’s magic. Lightning hit another Síd approaching the truck and Jenny gave a small cheer at the sight of Alex’s magic.
“We must still be outside the blood protection,” Lance said softly. He looked around at the side of the road. “If you see a mile marker let me know.”
“Right; the mages need to build a new gate,” Jenny agreed.
She panted softly and made a small sound of alarm as a Síd hit her side of the truck and began to dissolve. Outside, Bran nodded to them before shoving a wave of magic at a lunging hound. Lance nodded vaguely in return, knowing that the mages weren’t really paying attention to them, but grateful that they were looking out for them. He tightened his fingers around the hilt of his dagger and grit his teeth. Irritation and frustration were building up in his chest as he watched Alex scream something and blast another Síd with her lightning.
Alex’s movements were fast and smooth, almost practiced in a way that he didn’t think they’d been before. After each strike, her face was going almost completely blank. Something about it added to his unease. Three Sídhe rushed for her. A wave of dark gray magic rolled out from Alex, slicing into all three of them and filling the air with a sharp ozone smell.
“I wish we could help,” Jenny said softly.
Another Sídhe ran out of the shadows, a golden sword in hand. A soft gasp escaped Jenny, but yellow magic picked it up and held it in the air. Seconds later, a fireball collided with it. The golden armor dissolved and the being fell apart into golden dust.
“Me too,” Lance agreed. “But us running out there right now would only be a distraction.”
“Yeah,” Jenny sighed.
They were quiet for another few moments. One of the Sídhe hit the front of the truck, making the whole thing jolt before a lightning bolt struck it down. A hound rushed Alex only for a whip of silver light to catch the thing and rip it apart.
“Will you stay, Lance?” Jenny asked. “Even with all of this?” She gestured out the window with a weak half-chuckle.
“I will if you do.”
“It’s not that I have any lingering feeling for Alex,” Jenny said. Her voice was soft and she sounded embarrassed. “It just seems wrong to leave, and I do care about her, but not like that.”
“I know,” Lance assured her. He chuckled a little despite the seriousness of the conversation and the strangeness of having it while the mages battled outside his truck. “And I do get it. After everything that’s happened walking away just seems wrong. Even if there isn’t much we can do to help.”
“Yeah,” Jenny agreed. She sighed loudly, the sound filling the truck cab. “Still, we’ve been able to help here and there. And depending on what’s going on with Alex she might need some non-magical friends.”
“Even with our history?” Lance asked. He wasn’t so sure about that. “We might not be mages Jenny, but it’s still messy.”
“We’re the good thing that came from all of this,” Jenny reminded him. “Maybe seeing that will help Alex with everything she’s dealing with.”
Lance wasn’t sure about Jenny’s theory, but Alex did seem fine with seeing them together. She’d just lost her parents and was still reeling from the ugly discovery of one of her prior lives being a slave ship captain and creating the Iron Chain. They might not remember everything, but he and Jenny did know a thing or two about coping with the reality of being a reincarnation. Maybe, just maybe they could help.
Someone knocked on the window, making them both jump. Aiden was just outside, a bit sweaty, but smiling. Lance unlocked the truck doors and leaned forward to check on the others. Morgana was speaking to Alex, both of them standing in the headlights of his truck. The expression on Alex’s face was that same vacant one she’d been wearing all through the funeral. Even as Aiden, Bran, and Nicki climbed into the back safe and sound, Lance couldn’t help but worry.
3
Irish Morning
465 B.C.E. The Golden Vale, Ireland
The long grasses of the rolling hills caught the wind and swayed before him. Overhead the sky was clear and bright blue with only a few stray wisps of clouds. The sun had only just risen and was spreading a warm golden glow across the landscape. A small group of trees cast long twisting shadows over the edge of the pasture. Earthen walls marked the boundaries and made him wonder, not for the first time, why they insisted he stand guard.
His eyes traced the landscape absentmindedly from his seat on a lower section of the overgrown earthen wall. A short distance away the sheep were grazing peacefully with a few baas being exchanged from time to time. It was a quiet and utterly dull day. Holding back a sigh, he pushed some loose strands of brown hair from his eyes and scanned the horizon again. He could just see the small artificial hill looming beyond the fields.
He tilted his head as he tied back his hair and considered it thoughtfully. According to the stories, it was a home of the Sídhe. The Fair Folk lived down below the Earth in their realm of gold and magic. He wasn’t sure he believed it, but he’d never gone poking around. Another sheep bleated and moved closer to him as it grazed. A soft laugh escaped him and three of the sheep looked up at him.
The summer heat was rolling over his skin. Even at night, it stayed warm enough that mornings were pleasant. He bent down to the simple hide sack and pulled out a rough biscuit wrapped in woven reeds. Taking a bite, he watched the sheep. It didn’t take long for boredom to set in. The sheep were all in good health and moving well, if slowly, as they grazed. The only reason he wa
s here was to be on alert for predators or a rival tribe coming after the sheep. Neither seemed likely this morning and he quickly finished his biscuit.
Picking up his cruit, he gently plucked one of the horsehair strings. A soft note hung in the air and made him smile. The triangular frame wasn’t very solid, but it kept the horsehairs strung tightly enough that even the softest brush released a musical note. There were small carvings in the wood, nothing fancy of course, but little things he’d done when bored. His favorite was a deer with long curving antlers. He plucked the strings in the beginning of a song and let his mind wander.
“Leugio!”
The voice pulled him out of his thoughts and he straightened up. Looking around, Leugio caught sight of a man waving to him and rushing through the fields. It took him only a moment to recognize the figure in his green tunic. Standing up, Leugio frowned and set his bag and the cruit down gently. He gave a warning look to the nearest sheep and strode across the pasture as the other young man half collapsed against the far wall.