by N. K. Vir
“No, you’re all out,” Robert chimed in. “I have spent too many hours underground and honestly I miss the sun. This dank hallway and basement are playing havoc with my allergies and my nose is so itchy that it’s driving me mad. Kat make way I’ll lead.”
When she tried to protest he held up his hand and surprisingly silenced her. “I will take the hit if and I stress if, we find a booby trap. Then you can say I told you so.”
Kat sighed dramatically before stepping aside and allowing Robert to take the lead. Robert wasted no time assuming his position at the head of the group, followed by Griffin and Kat. Annie and Duncan remained in the back with Knackers, Autie and Failinis sandwiched between them. The line had just begun to move again when Autie decided to speak up.
“Ye ken that an itchy nose means we’re headin’ for a fight right?” he whispered loudly to Knackers
Annie saw Knackers nod his head in agreement as he shuffled his combat boot clad feet in the dirt. “Me nose itched for days afore the battle at the Wharf,” he informed Autie.
“It did not,” Annie challenged. She had heard of the old superstition. It was one her father used whenever she had wanted to plant a small plant. He claimed his allergies would be bothered and cause his nose to itch and he did not want to get into a fight, especially with his know-it-all students.
“Did so,” Knackers volleyed back. “Thought it would never stop. Then again,” he mused absently scratching his heavily whiskered chin. “It could have been stinky Pete.”
“Who be stinky Pete?” asked Autie.
Annie was happy for the distraction. They continued idly chatting as they ventured further down the passage that Patrick had told them existed. Autie was fascinated by Pete and his three stench producing brothers. “Never met a Fir Darrig,” he admitted. “Least not that I be aware of.”
“Trust me, you’d remember,” Annie muttered. “It’s a smell thing,” she explained when Autie shot her a questioning look over his shoulder.
“Aye,” Duncan agreed. “But Pete was smellier than most.”
Annie was glad he was speaking again. Ever since Kat had taken control over the group he had been silent. Annie had tried talking quietly to him, but he would only nod and grunt in response. She hoped he was just concerned about Finn and not still angry at her. Finn had not looked good when she had seen him when they first entered the basement. He had not fared well in his battle with the Nightflyers and if Finn had not been able to defeat them what chance did a handful of humans, two tiny fae, and a puppy stand?
Duncan was fierce in battle. Annie remembered well the hordes of goblins, hell hounds and the ferocious Redcap that he had defeated, seemingly single handedly. According to Knackers Duncan was second in combat skills to only one person, Finn. After his display at the Wharf Annie thought that was unlikely; Duncan was more skilled, stronger and definitely quicker than Finn. Even with Duncan fighting on their side she still couldn’t help but think that in this fight they would be massively outmatched.
Fear was beginning to creep into her thoughts. She was afraid, not for herself, but for everyone else. She came to a quick and silent decision. Once they reached the end of this unending tunnel she would run for the hill of Tara herself leaving everyone behind, and hopefully safe. She couldn’t risk them encountering one of those vicious sounding Nightflyers, they would never survive. She would either make it to the hill, or not. She just hoped if she died the rest wouldn’t be stupid enough to get killed themselves. She was convinced that the plan they had come up with earlier that day would not work. She was so wrapped in her own thoughts that she hadn’t felt someone grab a hold of her hand until she was being pulled to a stop.
“Yer thinkin’ too loudly princess,” Duncan whispered down into her ear.
Knackers realized that Annie was no longer directly behind him stopped and looked back at her. Duncan waved his hand at him, encouraging him to continue on with the others. Knackers needed no further encouragement and turned around pushing Autie further down the passage and out of earshot when the Knocker tried to protest Knackers resorted to shoving which started a minor dispute between the two old friends.
“Don’t call me that,” she whispered angrily up at Duncan once the curious ears of Knackers and Autie were out of the way.
“Doona call ye what? Princess? Alright how a‘boot bhanphrionsa?” he said slightly mockingly. Annie sighed in agitation and crossed her arms defensively over her chest in response to his tone. “Doona forget that is exactly what ye are. Ta them,” he said pointing to the steadily disappearing line of her friends. “An’ everything else that may or may no’ be waitin’ for us out there.” His accent was thick with anger and Annie had to struggle to understand what he was saying to her.
“I haven’t heard from the princess since last night,” she admitted
“What?”
“I’ve haven’t heard from Her, since my battle with the mirror, and even now I’m not sure it was her laughing at me in the mirror.”
Her confession shocked him and his attitude shifted from really angry to really, really angry. He gripped her shoulders tightly and pinned her to the earthen wall. Annie tried hard not to think about the creepy crawlies that could be slithering down her shirt and instead focused on Duncan’s swirling furious eyes. She should have stayed focused on the bugs; because his eyes in the dimly lit space were more terrifying than a stray spider.
“I never asked a’boot the mirror. I assumed ye were fightin’ wit yerself,” he said squeezing her shoulders tighter and sparing a quick glance down the passage to make sure no one had circled back towards them. “What did ye see Annie?”
She wasn’t sure how to respond. When she had woken up this morning she had convinced herself it was just a bizarre waking dream brought on from being over tired. Then she saw the thick bandage on her wrist and realized that it had happened. At least she had smashed a mirror because she saw, or rather thought she had seen something. She had been running on empty at the time and had not only been possessed by a magickal and very pissed off whirlwind but she had just had a very memorable wrestling lip lock match with the man who currently stood before her filled with a different emotion.
When she didn’t answer him right away he gave her a slight shake to get her attention. “What did ye see Annie?” he demanded again.
“A woman,” she shouted out the first word that popped into her rattled brains. “She looked like me but she was different,” she continued quickly lowering her voice.
“How was she different Annie?” he asked as he loosened his grip on her.
“Her hair was darker than mine,” she explained trying to recall the image she had been trying to forget. “It was almost black, no it was black. Her eyes were almost the same color as her hair and her skin tone was also darker than mine. She was me just darker,” Annie said in exasperation as descriptive words failed to adequately describe the image she had seen in the mirror. Like a dream her recollection of the woman was hazy.
Duncan’s grip softened as he exhaled and looked towards the dark earthy ceiling. Annie could almost feel the anger escaping him. It encouraged her to speak further.
“It wasn’t what she looked like that bothered me it was what she said.”
Duncan’s head snapped back down to look her once again in the eyes. “What did she say?”
“She laughed at me, which was terrifying,” she said barely suppressing a shudder that threatened to run through her. The laughter had been frightening; it had rattled her body and her bones causing her to vibrate, literally, with anger. That had been why she had smashed the mirror; to make that sound stop.
“What else did she say,” he asked gently this time as he began running his hands up and down her arms in an attempt to soothe the words out of her.
“Something about none of this being easy, that there would be loss or death,” Annie said shaking her head as she was not completely sure what her darker image had said.
“No battle is without l
oss a ghrá mo chroí, she knows this. She was tryin’ ta prepare ya. She knows, as do I what scares ye the most.”
“I-I can’t,”
“Shh,” he whispered wiping away a tear that had strayed from her watery eyes. “It rests heavy on my mind as well,” he admitted. “Back there I thought-,” she watched as his eyes glazed over as he relieved what had transpired only moments before.
He had thought she was dead.
He was just as afraid as she was. She took some comfort from that.
“I’m sorry,” she apologized. His arms wrapped around her pulling her close and holding her tight. It felt amazing. He was warm and solid, strong and reassuring. It was by far the best hug, the best embrace she had ever had the pleasure of receiving. It settled her nerves slightly.
She wanted to put aside the thought of death and loss. She needed to be brave and finish what she had insisted they start. She had one question left. “Who was she? Was she Áine?”
Duncan pulled away from her albeit reluctantly and stared into her drying eyes. “No mo grádh, that was yer mother.”
“My mother?”
“Aye,” he said nodding his head. “Your mother, the Battle Queen, the Morrighan.”
Annie was too dumbfounded to say anything that would have made sense in that moment. Instead her broken filter let slip out the first thought that popped into her head. “You said her name!”
“Aye,” he agreed with a snicker that lightened the look of fear and anger that had been controlling his face. “Considerin’ what we may be facin’ tis no’ a thing wrong with callin’ on the Morrighan. We’re headin’ into battle Annie, we could use her blessin’.”
Annie glanced down quickly at her watch and realized that they had wasted too much time. They had less than twenty minutes before the sun set and brought with it the in between time of twilight. If they hurried they just might be able to avoid the battle they both thought was coming. She pushed Duncan away and tried to rush down the darkened passage way to join the others and hurry them along. Duncan, not ready to let her escape just yet reached out and seized her wrist dragging her back to him.
“Duncan we have to hurry,” she protested when she tugged and he refused to let go.
“I know,” he said looking deeply into her eyes. “I’ll take ye back. But remember stay next ta me. As a matter of fact,” he said grasping her hand tightly. “Doona let go of me hand,” he said giving her hand a tight squeeze before raising it to his lips and gave it a lingering kiss. She was suddenly very jealous of that hand.
“That does not seem practical once we leave this passage.”
“I’ve fought wit one arm before,” he said with a shrug of his shoulder as he led her back down the passage to meet up with the others. “Besides, it’s given me an idea.”
The soft light of the others up ahead had just come into view when Duncan finished explaining his new idea to Annie. She hated it. She had dug her heels into the dirt and tried tugging her arm out of his grasp; he simply dragged her along behind him. She leveled every threat at him she could think of if he did not release her.
He had laughed.
She quickly switched tactics and threatened to sleep in the passage until morning, then walk to the hill and put her hand on the stone in front of thousands of visitors so they could watch her disappear then leave him behind to explain to the human witnesses what had just happened to the redheaded girl.
He had laughed again.
In truth none of them were sure what would happen when Annie touched the Lia Fáils. It could scream, it could sing, it may vibrate or hum; a strange glow might appear from the heavens or from the bowels of the earth. She might be the only one to see, hear or feel anything. No one knew what would happen. Only Annie was convinced that she would disappear. Although as the only true entrance into the Otherworld it was not beyond the realm of possibility.
He did not care if she suddenly vanished before thousands of onlookers. He actually was in favor of waiting until the morrow. But the thought of spending a night, during the time the Unseelie were at the height of their power on the eve of the when they would be more powerful than the Seelie, in a basement with only one good sword and no real escape route did not thrill him. Of course he did not tell her that, he convinced her he would be only too happy to wait one more day. Let her disappear in front of the masses. They gathered on this hill every year probably hopping to see more than the sun set in the horizon. They wanted to witness magick. He would be only too glad to let them see real magick.
What he had in mind was dangerous. He knew it, and so did she. That was why she was still protesting when they finally caught up with the rest of Annie’s little band of misfits.
They had stopped. Some sort of obstacle was prohibiting them from going any further. Kat and Robert were arguing. Griffin stood with his back against the wall his arms crossed over his chest waiting patiently for the two of them to stop. Autie and Knackers stood on tiptoe trying to get a better look at Kat and Robert as their verbal argument escalated into a shoving match.
“Me monies on the Kat burglar, she’s little but feisty,” Autie said as he elbowed Knackers in the side.
“No’ a chance! I trained that boy meself,” Knackers said proudly thumping himself on the chest.
“Kat always wins, she cheats,” Annie informed them alerting the group to their return.
Autie stuck his tongue out at Knackers who retaliated by shoving the Knocker hard knocking him into the wall as another scuffle threatened to breakout.
“Enough!” Duncan bellowed gaining him the full attention of everyone.
“I tried that a few minutes ago,” Griffin said quietly as he moved away from the wall and wrapped his arms around Kat who was threatening to go after Robert again judging by her body language. “It worked too for about five seconds. Glad you too could join us. We’ve, I’ve,” he said correcting himself, “Missed you.”
Duncan stepped in between Knackers and Autie who were still shoving each other, and reached a hand out to stop Robert from responding to a missed kick Kat had launched towards him. All the while his grip on Annie’s hand never loosened.
“How about ye let Annie and me take a quick look?” he asked his head bouncing between Robert and Kat.
Since Kat was restrained by Griffin and Robert had been neutralized he did not wait for either of them to respond. He pulled Annie along behind him pushing the others out of the way and pretended to study the earthen dead end in their way.
He was stumped.
Of course those words would never leave his mouth. He was just giving Annie time to figure out how to move the wall of dirt that blocked their path. She had found the passage, she had found the clue that Patrick had given them, and although it was possible that centuries of digging had caused a cave in he doubted Patrick would steer them down the wrong path.
“All the excavation they’ve done on the site over the years must have resulted in the passage sealing itself off,” Robert explained.
Kat tried to respond but was silenced by Griffin covering her mouth with his hand. In return she renewed her attack, but now focused the force of it on Griffin as her legs tried and failed to connect to his soft spots.
“Oh no she-devil,” Griffin said laughing. “I know that trick you’ve gotten me with it before.”
Duncan snickered. Kat it seemed needed a refresher course in how to defend herself. Duncan would be happy to train her in some tricks and moves that might just be unheard of in this century. If they all escaped this tunnel and made it through the night he promised to do just that. He promised to train them all. They could not rely on magick and luck against the Unseelie. His own doubt and fear began to creep in threatening to dislodge his current good humor.
He had gone into battle many times before, but never with fear riding his back the way it was now. He too was afraid of losing even one of them. They were not soldiers, none of them save Robert had even trained with a real weapon before and he still had many years
of practice before him until he would be ready to fight alongside any member of the Green Riders. These were the very people he usually defended; and yet they chose to fight on. They fought not only for Annie but for a race of beings that refused to offer even a minor helping hand. Where were the riders? Where were the Sidhe now? They were hiding out of sight and allowing humans, a race that was inferior in their eyes, to give their blood, their lives for the survival of their own selfish kind.
“I can feel your anger and it is starting to distract me,” Annie informed him quietly.
“Are we that connected now?” he asked trying to infuse some humor into his words.
“No,” she said quickly trying to hide a smile. “Maybe,” she admitted with a shake of her head. “Your hand is squeezing the feeling out of mine.”
He glanced down at their joined hands and saw what she meant. His hand was indeed gripping hers too tightly as her hand was beginning to turn white. “Sorry,” he muttered raising her hand and giving her white knuckles a quick kiss of forgiveness.
She snorted in an attempt to hide her laughter. “I thought that would convince you to let go of my hand.”
“No,” he said shaking her head and rewarding her with, what he hoped was a devastating smile.
She sighed dramatically before returning her full attention to their current problem like he had asked her to do moments before they had rejoined the others. “Got it,” she announced right as earthen wall before them evaporated without a sound. She turned around to face the others, a big smile adorned her face and laughter was dancing a wild jig in her eyes.
“What?” she asked as she innocently batted her eyes at them. “You didn’t see the triquetra etched on one of the stones?”
No one answered.
She shrugged her shoulders and pulled Duncan along behind her and stepped out into the fading light of the day. Twilight was coming. They had very little time left.