“Scribe!” he shouted and watched as all of the scribes heads jerked up at the same time.
“Yes Lord Faolan.” All had stopped their writing and bowed their heads to him.
“Send my squire to summon me when the monk arrives and make certain he is persuaded to cooperate. Use one of the guards if you have to. I have no use for this incoherent babbling.”
Lord Faolan watched as Firnir settled himself into a small wooden chair in the corner. He was about to open the door and walk out when the seer began to speak again in words that he could understand. He came to an abrupt halt and turn to face her.
“A child has been born. A descendant of Badb. The child is of another place and time. Through the portal its choice will affect us all. The child is the key to whether good or evil will prevail in this realm.”
She began to speak again in the ancient tongue. If Faolan would have taken a closer look he would have seen the slight smile hidden underneath the veil of hair in front of her face. Kiara, the seer, had been able to keep parts of the vision hidden from Lord Faolan by using the ancient language. The knowledge of when the descendant was born and that she will have a son he cannot know. She quickly hid the smile as Faolan strode up to her.
Grabbing under her chin he forced her head up making her long hair flow away from her face so she would look up at him. The Seer stared straight into his eyes looking at him as if her clear blue eyes could see through them into his soul. Faolan quickly forced the uneasiness of her piercing stare out of his head.
“I have heard all of this before, Seer.” he said as he tightened his grip around her chin.
“I cannot help it if the Gods make me repeat myself.” she said looking him in the eyes ignoring the pain.
Faolan cringed inwardly. The Seers surprisingly strong voice for a five year old always threw him off. He grew irritated at how uncomfortable she made him and shoved her chin so hard she fell backwards onto the bed. Faolan swept away back towards the door and paused sweeping his eyes around the room as if something had caught his notice.
“Is there something else?” The Seer asked.
Faolan gave her a sharp look and shook his head as he stepped out of the room. Kiara watched Faolan leave and her eyes swept the room. She noticed the faint flicker of a shadow undetected by anyone else in the room. Folding her hands and lowering her head she said a prayer to the one God under her breath.
“Please God grant Eion the knowledge to decipher the portal before the evil in this realm. Help him find the descendant and her son. The son is the only one who will take me from this place if he chooses to rescue me. They are the ones who will bring peace to this land.”
The Druid shifted standing in the shadows looking over the scene. Four scribes, a squire and two possible guards at the door. The guards would surely come barging in if they heard a commotion. If he used his powers Faolan would know and the entire palace would be alerted to his presence. The Druid Eion studied the Seer as she sat herself upright on the bed and pulled a pillow to her hugging it. She looked straight at him for the slightest second and looked away.
Eion gave her a wink when she glanced at him again. He knew that she was able to control the languages of her visions. She could not control her speaking when a vision came on and it was a good thing his brother had recognized her as a Seer when she was three. He insisted she be taught the ancient War Goddess tongue. Eion knew that the descendant had indeed been born and had to move forward with his plan if he was to reach her before Faolan.
Eion assessed the situation further and decided to rescue her. While readying himself to fight out of the corner of his eye he saw Kiara give him a slight signal with her hand and shake her head no. She looked directly at him and mouthed the word Portal.
Understanding, he gained control of his emotions and started thinking with his head and not his heart. Instead of fighting his way through the room to rescue her Eion slipped out like a wraith in the night.
Chapter 2
(Eighteen Years Later)
Two days had gone by and she had not shown up. Aodhan started to feel himself grow weary and impatient. This strange world he had entered threw him off and the contraptions that zoomed by on four wheels while he waited always made him jump. He crouched outside the door of the carriage house that he had taken shelter in looking around. It was placed a few paces behind a huge Victorian house that the descendant supposedly lived in. Studying the bright full moon and clouds shifting in the sky he closed his eyes and stood as the light rain started to fall onto his face. Now that was familiar. This realm was not for him.
No one in the tiny enclosure of houses nearby had noticed that he broke into and set himself up for a short stay. The houses on either side were far enough away where he could easily sneak through the shadows. Aodhan was trained to move unnoticed, not the top in his ranking, although good enough for this realm and its unobservetive, self absorbed inhabitants. This realm may be advanced in what is called technology however he would rather have his own simple life back. The sooner she showed. The sooner he could leave.
Attempting to take away from his boredom he examined the house and its creamy white wraparound porch with its light and dark green accents that formed into Celtic knot work. The porch extended from one corner of the back side of the house to the other. The back of the house had a small covered white deck with a dark green door. Its steps ended at the hard surface that led to the converted carriage house. On the second story part of the house jutted out like a castle spire.
His eyes moved up to the balcony that protruded off of one of the rooms above. Rain had left a light mist on the metal and glass table and chairs that were set out on it. The thought of breaking into the house or climbing onto the balcony was still an option. Aodhan sensed that there was something strange about the house when he observed some lights flashing inside. He had a feeling that it was something that would draw unwanted attention to him. Something he did not want to chance.
Seeing no flashing lights in the carriage house he had decided it was the better option. Much to his relief nothing happened. He had been in the elements far too long and let out a sigh of relief when he saw there was a couch and chairs.
The thought that this may not even be the right place and the fact that she had not shown up yet worried him. He wanted to finish his mission and was running out of time.
Twirling a long dagger through his fingers Aodhan thought of his father. His head was racing wondering if his father was still alive, if they would make it back in time, if she would show and if he could find the missing Druid. It seemed too much for one man to accomplish on his own.
Running a hand through his damp hair he turned and walked back into the carriage house looking around at the room. His eyes moved to the two locked doors that he had not bothered with since he only needed shelter. If he got bored enough he would mess with the locks and check out those rooms. For now he decided to let them be and flicked the odd switch that he had found by the door. Light flooded the room and he quickly flicked it back off and was tempted to push it again. He shook his head knowing that it would bring attention if he did not quit.
The two doors on the side of the room directly across from the locked doors stood open when he first arrived. By the look of the cans of colored paint he had found in one room he came to the conclusion that the main house had been recently restored. The other was a bathroom complete with a small shower that he quickly figured out how to work and took full advantage of.
A quick glance around the room confirmed that he was ready to head out if she happened to, correct that, when she shows up. As he walked up to the sofa flanked by two chairs he instinctively hit the floor as lights flashed through the curtains of the two tiny windows.
Quickly sheathing his dagger and grabbing the bag off of the couch he moved to the shadows and peered out the small window in the door. Neither of the two people he observed noticed the slight shadow move in the cottage. Or the penetrating eyes that followed as they
quickly moved to the covered deck behind the house.
Chapter 3
As the rain began to fall to a heavy downpour Lara and Kedryn moved quicker grabbing a duffle each from the jeep and ran onto the small covered deck. She unlocked the door stepping through onto the entry way landing and quickly punched in the code for the alarm.
As soon as she entered the code, out of habit, Lara picked up the mail that had been slid through the slot and started to sort through it. Bills, junk mail, Biblical Archeology and Archeology magazines and a letter from the Smithsonian. She tucked the letter in her back pocket and threw the rest on the dining room table.
Kedryn ran back out to the car and came back in with his backpack setting it by the bags. Over the weekend while she gave a lecture on Roman legion strategy and set up an area for an archeological dig her son had studied for midterms. He took off his jacket shaking the rain off of it and draped it over a chair. Kedryn pulled his laptop out of his backpack and headed to the living room sitting down in his favorite leather cushioned chair.
Lara took off her field jacket and examined the damp dusting of dirt from the dig on it. She let out a sigh remembering her leather bomber jacket that was lost at a dig in Greece. She had been looking all over for a similar jacket only to find out it was discontinued. Lara would not have even thought about buying a military style field jacket until Kedryn saw a character on one of his favorite TV shows wearing one and he just had to have it.
Being somewhat practical she made sure that her field jacket was fashionable yet functional. The jacket had a removable lining with a multitude of pockets and was also waterproof. Much like the rest of her wardrobe it was made for comfort and convenience. Lara’s closet was full of cargo pants, baby doll T’s and zip up sweatshirts. The baby doll she had on at the moment read Everything’s Shiny. The one dressy item she did have was a pant suit which was now at the dry cleaners. Lara smacked the jacket and clumps of wet dust flew off of the back of it and splattered against her. She wiped some dirt off of her face. “That was brilliant.” Lara said as she brushed a drop of rain that was running from her hair to her chin.
She turned and punched play on the answering machine set on top of a small delicately caved antique desk off to her side. Two messages from her mother, one from work, three from Kedryn’s girlfriend Lisa, she rolled her eyes at that one, and the ever present solicitation.
“We really should get the rest out of the car.” she said and watched as he typed on his computer he had set out on the leather footstool in front of him.
He looked over his shoulder as he hit send on his Yahoo messenger. “There are only the two frame packs left. Do we have to get them right at this moment?”
Lara looked at him and over to Kedryn’s duffle bag and back pack he had set down by the door. “I guess not. I’ll get those in a minute. Have you seen the umbrella?” she asked and watched as he shook his head no.
“Here take these.” she said and picked up the bag and duffle. “You can go to your room and start unpacking. I’ll get the frame packs.”
Kedryn let out a long dramatic sigh. He got up out of the chair and closed his laptop. Walking over to his mom he took his backpack and duffle and headed to the staircase leading to the second story of the house. He stopped at the first step and turned to her.
“Can’t I take a quick break?” he asked.
It was her turn to sigh and answer as she walked over to her duffle and pulled out her laptop. Lara ignored his question for a moment and walked into the living room setting her laptop on a carved wooden trunk that was used as a coffee table.
“No. We’ve had a break all weekend. You can take one after you unpacked. If you want you could go back out in the rain and get the frame packs instead of unpacking.”
He grimaced and gave her a huge grin. “Um…I’ll unpack. If you call listening to your lecture, digging for bones, shards of pottery and studying for midterms a break.” He said with a little sarcasm in his voice.
She plugged in her laptop to charge and glanced up at him. “I know it’s not as exciting as the other digs. It’s back to reality for both of us tomorrow.” She looked at his fake excitement on his face “Look. Even if this dig was not as exciting as Rome, Egypt or Greece it’s still nice to get away.”
Kedryn stood unmoving by the stairs not wanting to head up to unpack yet. He wanted to stall the inevitable but on the other hand also wanted to get up the stairs to make a phone call since Lisa wasn’t on-line to chat.
“Did you see the moon tonight on the way back? It’s a full blood red moon like your painting in the hall. My teacher said it’s the Harvest moon or something like that was going to be this weekend.”
Lara looked out the kitchen window at the slanting rain. “Is that what you are being taught in high school these days? And smarty pants, it’s not completely full, it’s on the second day of its cycle. Weren’t you listening to me at all during the dig? It was one of the oddball questions that were asked.”
Kedryn spread his arms out with a mock look of disbelief along with a lopsided grin. Lara couldn’t stifle the laugh she tried to hold in.
“I saw it just before it started to rain. Now please take your bag to your room and unpack. I guess the frame packs can wait a bit.” Lara said as she felt a couple of drops from her hair hit her arm and glanced to the open door.
“Got to love the rain.” Lara said shivering as she walked over to the landing to close the door. As she reached the door a strong wind blew it open further knocking her back. Rain poured onto the landing and she rushed to push the door shut feeling the cold rain splash on her face.
As soon as she had the door almost shut it slammed against Lara nearly knocking her over. A man, dripping wet with rain was shoving his way in. Lara turned in shock and felt the pain of her hair getting caught on the burglar chain.
It seemed as if in slow motion as she watched her hair pins fall to the floor. Lara snapped back into the moment and let out a surprised shriek.
“Get out!” she yelled and pushed as hard as she could on the door to close it on him and he managed to sidestep around it. She shoved and threw punches at him trying to get him to back away out the door. He was too strong for her.
“Kedryn call 911!” Lara hoped her son would hear the shout.
The shout for someone else distracted the man enough that she finally connected a punch and clocked him good on the chin. It felt as if her hand had cracked.
“God. Are you made of steel?” she asked more to herself than to him as she shook her hand.
Lara swung with an uppercut to punch him again. She slipped in a puddle of water and fell right into him. He quickly yanked her arms down to her side and pulled her close so she could not get in another punch. Lara’s face was smashed against his shoulder and she could hear him breathing in her ear. She tried to wiggle out of his grasp and could not move.
His eyes roamed the rooms looking for the man who entered with her. He loosened his grip a little and tightened it right back up when she tried to lift her knee.
“Let me go! What are you crazy?” her voice was muffled against him.
Aodhan decided that he should have approached the situation differently. He had felt the others were close and had grown impatient. He thought of his father’s advice. Not to handle any situation with carelessness and do as he pleased like he was used to. Aodhan let go of her with one of his arms lifted Lara’s chin and making her look into his eyes.
“Lara Eve O’Broin?” he asked.
She looked at him puzzled and noting the Irish accent. “Who are you?”
“I am Aodhan MacCionaoith of the Danann. I apologize. That was not the way I should have approached you. I have to get you out of here quickly. The others may only be about a half of an hour to get completely away and cover out tracks.”
Lara stared at him confused for a couple of seconds and her anger snapped her out of it as she tried to take in a deep breath. The man’s grip was too tight.
“Dana
nn? What in the hell is going on? Can you at least loosen your grip so I can breathe?” she asked trying to control the shakiness in her voice.
Aodhan studied her to make sure she was calm. He released his grip so that she could draw in a deep breath. “I will let you go if you will not hit me again.” His eyes pleaded with her. “Please I will explain what I can.”
Lara did not know if it was the truth in his eyes or accent that hit home. It reminded her of the family visits she took with Kedryn to Ireland. Knowing she could not break his grip she relaxed.
“How did you know my name?” she asked seriously shaken that he knew it. Many people knew her name she tried to reason with herself.
“Can I release you now?” Aodhan asked and slowly walked her further away from the open door and rain. She nodded her head yes.
“Let me go and explain yourself.” she said and felt him slowly release his grip. Lara took in a deep breath. She took two steps back to where her purse was thrown on the table and crossed her arms. Taking hold of her emotions like her father had taught her Lara calmed herself the best she could.
“Explain.”
“My father is a friend of the Druid Eion McGrath.” He reached up and rubbed the five o’clock shadow on his chin where her fist hit. “Nice jab by the way.”
She made an impatient gesture and glanced through the arch separating the dining room from the living room to the stairway. “Enough small talk.”
He followed her eyes to the stairs again wondering where the man was. Aodhan wanted to look around the house to make certain it was secure however decided on dealing with Lara first. He had a feeling she would get in the way if he tried.
Celtic Rain (The Battle Raven Series) Page 2