by Rhavensfyre
Frustrated beyond belief, Bellaria turned, seeking some outlet for her anger and finding none. She called for her witches to attend her, but they failed to move, nor did they speak to her. “What is this?” she whispered, reaching out to touch the nearest woman. Her fingertips found nothing but stone, hard and cold and beyond her ability to reclaim.
“What is this?” she asked again, but there was no one left to answer her. Thirteen stones stood motionless in a circle around her, as tall and twisted as if they had been teased from the earth beneath them. Bellaria’s frustration turned into black horror.
The newly formed standing stones stood cold and still, but their shadows still danced behind them. Thirteen black souls stood caught beneath the weight of their stone bodies. Unable to flee their punishment, they screamed silently into the night.
***
Alex woke to the sound of rumbling thunder crashing down around her and cold rain blowing in sideways through the forge room door. She had no idea how long she had been out but she knew it hadn’t been long. The coals still burned in the forge, and the room still glowed a dim ruby red, but the storm made it difficult to say if it was day or night. Inside the forge room, it was eerily silent, except for the occasional sizzling hiss from the raindrops that found their way to the fire.
“Ugh, my head.” Alex pulled herself up from the floor, her body protesting every movement. The dirt floor made a terrible bed. While she stretched her stiff muscles, she took a quick inventory of the rest of her body. Her ribs and forehead still hurt but not as bad as before. The headache was fading rapidly, but now an annoying ringing in her ears was taking its place. She scrubbed at her wrist, then rotated her shoulder until she heard it pop. Her left arm ached terribly but everything seemed to be working okay.
Water was her next thought. She desperately needed something to drink, which struck her as funny since she was half soaked by the rain.
Stumbling into the main house, Alex grabbed a bottle of water and drank until the bottle was empty. Lightning flashed wildly, illuminating the house with odd black and white images of the room around her. The next crash of thunder shook the rafters above her so hard she fought the instinct to duck.
“That one was close.” Shyann’s disembodied voice spilled out of the darkness.
Alex almost jumped out of her skin. After what happened in the forge room, her reactions were primed and stripped bare of any restraint.
“Shyann! Don’t do that. I almost took your head off.”
“That might be harder than you think,” Shyann said. She actually sounded amused until she turned on the light. “Are you okay?”
“I think so.”
“Really?” Shyann pointed at Alex’s arm. “Then perhaps you wouldn’t mind explaining that?”
Alex looked down at her forearm. Her eyes widened.
The ornate tattoo along her left wrist now travelled halfway up her forearm. More importantly, the tattoo was no longer dull and lifeless. It blazed, a living thing that moved restlessly beneath her skin, like a serpent swimming slowly across a smooth lake. In addition to the deep blue, shades of magenta and gold accentuated the complex knot work.
“Great Goddess, what is this?” Alex whispered. An echo of a voice answered her question. “I give to you your birthright. I fear it is no gentle gift.” Lightning crashed above the house again, and the tattoo flared even brighter. The two women stared at each other, then spun in unison towards the front door. The frame shook with the force of something slamming hard against it.
Shyann raised a warning finger to her lips then padded silently to the door. She looked back and Alex nodded, expecting the worst. Shyann opened the door. Alex was ready for anything except what they found waiting for them on the other side of that door.
“Rohanna!”
Soaked to the bone and shaking like a leaf, Rohanna stood in the pouring rain. Both arms wrapped tightly around her middle, she could barely hold her head up, let alone stand. She swayed dangerously, then. She held a hand out towards Alex and before collapsing. Alex managed to catch her before she hit the floor. Shyann was a close second behind her.
“She’s freezing cold. We need to get her warmed up and out of these wet clothes,” Alex said. She easily picked the smaller woman up and carried her to the living room sofa.
“How the hell did she get here?” Shyann asked.
“That’s not important right now. Just get the fire stoked and grab some dry clothes from my room,” Alex said, unable to tear her gaze away from Ro’s face. Her lips were blue, and she was incredibly pale.
When Shyann didn’t move right away, Alex grabbed her shoulder and shook her. “Now, Shyann. Move.”
Alex pulled a blanket around Ro’s shoulders, then wrapped her arms around her, hoping to share some of her body heat. “Rohanna? Ro, baby? Talk to me, sweetie.”
“Alex,” Rohanna moaned.
Her teeth chattered violently and she could barely speak but she managed to make herself heard. “I heard you, in the thunder, calling to me. It showed me what I needed to do. I told it to take me to you.”
“Told who what, Ro?” Alex asked, rubbing the color back into Rohanna’s hands. She sounded delirious.
“The circle. I told the circle to take me to you.” Rohanna opened her eyes and smiled at Alex in a way that made her heart want to break. “I love you, Alex.”
Rohanna’s words faded to the barest of a whisper. It faded like her smile as she lost consciousness, but that moment would be engraved in Alex’s memory forever. Those words and that smile were hers, and she would do everything in her power to see them over and over again.
Alex ran the back of her hand over Rohanna’s forehead, then snatched it away. She had gone from freezing to boiling hot in a flash.
“Shyann! Maeve! Get in here now,” Alex roared. She felt her skin shift, her Mere restless in its need to seek vengeance for hurting the one she loved. Not now, she muttered, gritting her teeth against the urge to course through the night in search of the one who did this. Ro needed her here.
“What’s wrong?” Maeve ran into the room with Shyann close on her heels. She took one look at Alex and stopped in her tracks. “Great Mother of All, Alexandria.”
Shyann was not as eloquent, borrowing a common human expletive. “Holy fuck, Alex.”
“She’s sick, Maeve. A fever, I think,” Alex said, her attention on Rohanna’s face. “Something’s not right. She’s Fae…she shouldn’t have a fever.”
When neither woman moved to help, she looked up to find both of them staring at her.
“What is wrong with you two?” Alex demanded to know.
“Your eyes, Alex…they’ve bled out,” Shyann said, shifting nervously from one foot to the other.
“I know. I can feel it,” Alex growled. “You know what I am, why does this surprise you?”
Maeve stepped forward.
“I’ve seen NightMeres before, Alex…on the Great Hunt.” She shivered at the memory. “Gleaming black hides that make the darkest night seem pale in comparison and eyes that glowed like the hottest coals.”
“So?” Alex frowned. “Are you afraid of me?”
“No.” Maeve and Shyann exchanged glances while Alex fussed over Rohanna.
“Then help me,” Alex pleaded with them, sure that they had no idea how hard that was for her to do. She closed her eyes and willfully shoved down the power coiling inside of her. When she opened her eyes again, her skin felt like her own and she could no longer sense the dream world that existed within and under the world around them. She cast a contemptuous glance at her visitors. “Better?”
Maeve could claim lack of fear all she wanted, but it took that show of self-discipline to get the woman moving, and she did…she took over immediately, much to Alex’s relief. Ro looked so very human lying there, so frail and weak and fragile. It scared her more than she would like to admit.
Maeve kneeled at Rohanna’s side and practically pushed Alex away. After a moment she sent Shyann scu
rrying into the kitchen for supplies. “You too, Alex. Hovering over her won’t help but she’ll need the tea Shyann is making. Help Shyann. I’ll stay with Rohanna.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Ro’s body healed quickly in the days following her escape, but her mind remained lost in the fog and pain of her ordeal. Alex’s heart ached to the point of breaking. The fiery woman she had fallen in love with sat listlessly before her, dull eyed and uninterested in the food she tried to tempt her with. Rohanna had lost weight; her hair felt brittle and appeared washed out, no longer the color of spun gold that seemed to shine like the sun itself. Now that sun lay behind dark clouds, leaving only a shadow of Ro’s former self.
Alex gave up trying to get food into her and led Ro over to the overstuffed sofa. Ro took wooden, automatic steps, going where she was directed but no farther. Once on the sofa, Ro curled up in a small ball and hugged herself with too thin arms. Alex gently brushed the hair out of her eyes, then kissed her forehead.
“So cold,” Rohanna chattered, shivering despite the heat. This lingering chill troubled Alex. Ro’s fever had responded well to Maeve’s treatment, there was no reason she was still so cold. Alex laid a thick woolen blanket over Ro’s body and threw another log on the already blazing fire. Rohanna closed her eyes, passively accepting Alex’s gentle ministrations before drifting back to sleep
Alex collapsed on the floor beneath the crushing weight of what felt like an overwhelming hopelessness. The bruised circles beneath Ro’s eyes grew darker every day. Overly pale cheekbones stood out in stark relief, leaving her face etched in deep shadows that only served to illustrate the obvious. Rohanna was not getting better.
Alex took Rohanna’s hands in hers and closed her eyes, following the path of sleep until she reached Rohanna’s dreams. A cold, hard lump of despair settled deep inside Alex’s belly. Her throat burned with the sour taste of failure.
Rohanna’s soul felt thin. Her dreams were one-dimensional. Like images on a movie screen, they slid through memories of the past, not the future. Swallowing hard against a sudden wave of nausea, Alex realized that Rohanna, the one woman she loved more than her own life, was slowly dying. Too much of who Ro was had been damaged by Bellaria. Her body was strong, but the injuries sustained by her soul were proving to be insurmountable.
Covering her face in her hands, Alex pushed back the tears that threatened to come. She pressed the heel of her hands firmly against eyes reddened by too many sleepless nights. The cool, firm edge of her leather bracer pressed hard against her cheek.
She had taken to wearing it again since that night at the forge, slipping it on while the confusion around Rohanna’s unexpected arrival kept everyone occupied. Maeve hadn’t noticed the marking when she took over Rohanna’s care, and Alex had acted purely on instinct. No other reason guided her action and she couldn’t even be sure that Shyann hadn’t told her. Something told her she hadn’t.
“I should just take the damn thing off, there’s no one here to see anything they shouldn’t.” Both Shyann and Maeve were gone now. She had sent them away in a burst of overwhelming rage. They were the nearest targets, and she cared nothing for their own pain, only that their weak excuses and half-answers had infuriated her. Her actions only added to the guilt she was feeling now.
A flash of lightning and the subsequent roll of thunder heralded the beginning of another summer storm. They had been frequent and violent over the last week and were a constant reminder of finding Rohanna shivering and wet in her doorway. Ro moaned in her sleep, shifting restlessly beneath the blankets. Alex was at her side in an instant, comforting her the best she could. She sandwiched Rohanna’s hand between her own, then searched her face for any sign that she felt her touch.
“Fool woman, you couldn’t even give me the chance to rescue you, could you? You had to go and do it yourself,” Alex whispered. Like something alive and full of teeth actively chewing on her insides, her guilt fed on her self-doubt and assailed her with a dozen what if questions.
What if she had gone to her that night? What if she had ignored Maeve’s warning and done as she had wanted, attacking Bellaria head on? Would Rohanna be like this now? Those questions sliced apart her self-confidence. If they had a physical presence, her skin would be bleeding from a hundred wounds.
Another lightning strike crashed around them. Blinding in its intensity, it was followed by another furious roll of thunder that shook the timbers of the house. Momentarily stunned by the bright flash, Alex blinked against the after images burned into her retinas, flashing balls of light dancing across her field of vision. The logs in the fireplace sputtered and hissed, then died a moment before the lights flickered and the power went out completely, plunging the house into complete darkness.
Unable to see, Alex’s other senses took over. She could hear the heavy patter of rain striking the metal roof above her. It had started raining again. Underneath the smell of rain and damp smoke, she caught the acrid scent of magic, a sulphur like smell that made her nose twitch in irritation. She moved rapidly, standing in front of Ro to protect her from the unseen presence. Another flash of lightning momentarily silhouetted a still figure in the doorway. Hidden in shadow, it made no move towards them.
“Who’s there, show yourself.” Alex’s challenge was answered by a voice as deep as the rumbling thunder. It rolled through Alex’s consciousness, speaking a word of power that echoed through the room. The knot work hidden beneath her bracer blazed to life, its heat trapped beneath the thick leather.
“Holy hells,” Alex roared, grabbing at her wrist. It felt like her entire forearm had caught fire. She yanked at the laces, managing to loosen it enough to pull it off despite the pain. The scorched leather fell to the floor, a lone tendril of smoke let her know how close the tough hide had come to igniting.
Alex held her hand up in front of her, expecting to see charred flesh. She gasped and stumbled back, almost falling over the couch and onto Rohanna.
Shining like a beacon, electric blue lines pulsed and danced across her skin, flaring with each lightning strike. The fine hairs on her arms stood on end, sensitized to the subtle currents of air and power that surrounded her.
“Father,” Alex nodded at her visitor. She recognized that voice now.
“Hush, child. There isn’t much time. You can still save her but it won’t be easy.”
“I’m listening,” Alex said.
As much as she hated being ignorant of her own past and of her mother’s life, she had to put aside her anger and bitterness. She had to, if Rohanna was to survive long enough to see another sunrise. She bowed her head and listened, not because she forgave him for years of absence, but because his presence here tonight had nothing to do with the two of them.
Tonight he came as a God offering the chance at accomplishing the impossible, and when the Gods chose to be so generous, it was wise to pay attention.
***
“Alex? What’s happening?” Ro asked weakly, “It’s so dark in here.”
“What?” Alex shook her head, trying to clear it. She stood in the middle of the living room with no memory of how long she had been there and only a vague sense of how much time had passed. Had she been called into a dream? She didn’t think so. As surreal as the experience had been, it did not bear the hallmarks of the dream world.
“Alex?” Ro called out again. Her voice trembled and faded at the end, but it was more than she had said in a week. Alex rushed to her side.
“I’m here, Love. The storm knocked out the power.”
“Oh,” Rohanna sighed. Red rimmed eyes squinted up at her then closed again. “I thought someone was here.”
“No, Sweetheart, it was just the lightning.”
Rohanna’s breathing slowed until it was so shallow Alex had to strain to see her chest rise and fall. She was about to move away when Rohanna took a deep breath and fidgeted beneath the blanket.
“I’m so cold, Alex.”
Alex’s heart nearly broke. “I’ll wa
rm you, Love. Here, let me hold you.”
Alex settled on the couch and pulled Rohanna up on her lap. Ro curled up against her, then promptly fell asleep with her head tucked under Alex’s chin. With nothing left to do, Alex stared blindly at the low flames eating at the logs in the fireplace. She didn’t need the light to see; her mind was elsewhere. Light and sound would only distract her.
All her life, she had known she was different from the rest of her tribe. A throwback to the time when it was more common for Mere and Greater Fae to intermingle. It had been enough to mark her as different, subject to the constant taunts of her childhood peers. Wearing the face of their oppressor did not make her popular, not when they had sacrificed so much to be free of them, neither did her Fae nature. Cruel and capricious, the Greater Fae never apologized for their appetites…and she had many of the same desires. Desires she spent many years tempering with her own moral code.
I thought choosing to live apart from the tribe and working the forge was an act of rebellion. Now, I am not so sure.
All her life, Alex had clung to that bit of humanity her father’s blood gave her as if it was a shield against her Fae nature. That shield was now shattered, and within those shards lay a lifetime of lies. She had spent so much energy trying to convince her tribe that there was no shame in love…that they didn’t have to follow the old ways. Now she felt like a fool. Her father was not human. She had been fighting the wrong fight. No wonder Kaleigh had fought her so vehemently…and no wonder that she took advantage of the first valid excuse to kick me out of the tribe. It’s pretty clear to me now that she would have never let me ascend to her position. Epona blessed or not.
She gazed down at her arm and shuddered.
Goddess help me. I know what I need to do, but can I bring myself to do it? Alex looked down at Ro and her heart started to pound again. Will Rohanna let me do what is necessary?