A Witch's Quest

by Leigh Ann Edwards

  “Why tonight?” Killian needed to know.

  “She, too, apparently believed I might be driven to throw myself over the cliffs.”

  Killian’s eyes were filled with utter disbelief.

  “Why would all these people and spirits believe you were in danger here on the cliffs if there were not some truth to it?” Killian quizzed as he continued to hold his hand to the wound on her head.

  “I did indeed stand near the edge of the cliffs, and I did contemplate taking a step over the edge, but I believe it was only to discover if the gods or the demon might save me. I wanted to know if the demon was so intent on getting my powers that he would prevent my death, and by the same token, I wanted to know if I was important enough to the gods to determine if they would prevent my death or simply allow me to live this life over again as Danhoul claims had happened many times before.”

  Conner finally stood and although he appeared unsteady, he shook his head.

  “If I didn’t know you could do magic, Lady Alainn, I would think you, your husband and Danhoul had either drank far too much ale this night or that you’d maybe all gone daft, for the lot of you sound as though you’re not quite right in the head, ye ken. Speaking of demons and gods and seeing spirits as though it was a common occurrence.”

  “This bein’ said by a man who fears fairies and even tales of such!” she accused as she glowered at Conner, but then addressed her husband.

  “Killian, I do believe you owe Conner an apology, in truth he was only hoping to protect me.”

  “I suppose I do, but any other man would have drawn just such a conclusion if they’d come across the sight I did. Tell me you wouldn’t have reacted in such a manner, Conner MacLain?”

  “I canna say I wouldn’t have,” he admitted, and Killian held out his hand and the Scot shook it.

  “You’ve a strong right hook for someone who favors their left.”

  “Aye, well it’d not been quite as it should be since it was injured those months ago. And you can throw a punch with either arm equally well. That’s a rare talent, indeed.”

  “It’s referred to as ambidextrous, or will be,” Danhoul absent-mindedly added although he appeared to be staring at Alainn and perhaps trying to discover why he wasn’t able to see the other spirit or determine why she was there.

  Alainn once more shook her head at these men who now appeared to be commending each other’s prowess in battle when just a few moments ago it seemed they were intent on killing one another.

  Killian once more questioned Alainn.

  “I am not certain I understand much of what you’re saying. I am your husband, the person who should know you better than any other, who only but an hour ago felt you beside me warm in the bed we share, and I had no notion you were contemplating moving from our bed much less attempting such a drastic endeavor. I know you’ve seemed preoccupied recently, but I believed it was only because of the journey to Scotland we are to embark upon and the possibility of locating your father.”

  His green eyes filled with a notable seriousness and Alainn sighed deeply as she gazed at him, but then soon turned her eyes away.

  “It is as I have said, Killian, I wanted to know if the gods or the demon would protect me and save me from harm this night. I have sensed the demon ever-near, and if I am to fulfill an alleged purpose to the gods, I needed to know what they would do should I decide something drastic.”

  “Would you truly have stepped off that cliff?” Killian’s voice was filled with doubt.

  Alainn noted the spirit of Killian’s grandmother and her hollow eyes filled with fear and she shook her head again in warning.

  In answer Alainn stared up at the full moon in the sky now visible since the clouds had cleared. She closed her eyes and soon began to float above the others and soon over the edge of the cliffs. Killian’s eyes revealed some uncertainty and Conner crossed himself, and backed away. Danhoul shook his head with impatience. Shylie simply seemed to find it amusing and soon joined Alainn hovering near the cliffs.

  “You can fly!” Conner stated as he continued to back away.

  “Not always, but aye, often during the night of the full moon when my powers are the strongest.”

  “So you would not have fallen to the rocks even if you’d taken that step or thrown yourself over the edge. It was you who ensured we did not fall to our deaths when the wind caught us and pulled us over the edge?”

  “Well I wasn’t certain it could see us both safe, but apparently some form of magic saved us.”

  “But your powers are not always dependable or consistent, Alainn. I cannot believe you would attempt such a foolish notion. Now the gods will be alerted, and the demon will know what you are capable of. The gods will surely be less inclined to assist you and the demon will be even more interested in taking you to Odhran or taking your powers,” Danhoul warned.

  “Get back here on solid ground,” Killian ordered authoritatively, “For you are causing much unrest for all of us and I think it’s time all here finally get back to our beds. Have you forgotten we are to set off on our journey to Scotland by dawn’s first light? I agree with Danhoul, I think it was truly not the best of nights to attempt such a foolish deed.”

  “I cannot control the phases of the moon, so it had to be tonight.”

  He shook his head and she assumed he was forced to yield to the logic of something completely illogical.

  Alainn’s explanation only held partial truths as the horrendous dream still filled her mind and her memory with certain terror. She knew Killian saw the uncertainty in her eyes and recognized she wasn’t being entirely straightforward with him. She floated back to stand beside him and placed her hand to his swollen lip. It healed as though the injury had never happened.

  “You go back to our chambers, Killian. I will be there straightaway. Allow me to heal Conner’s injuries as well, and I have a matter I must discuss with Shylie. I promise I shall be back with you in only a short while.”

  “Aye, heal him, see it done then, but I’ll not be headin’ down those steps this night until you are beside me,” he said as he bent over and left a gentle kiss on her lips.

  Danhoul stood and it was obvious he was favoring his right leg.

  “You might heal me as well, especially since it was you who caused my injury for no good reason other than being vexed at me.”

  An apparently love-struck Shylie nodded. “Sure you must do what you might to ease Danhoul’s pain, Alainn,” she gushed.

  Killian glanced from Danhoul to Shylie and then to Alainn.

  She nodded her head in agreement of his assumption.

  “I think I should like to accompany you on your journey on the morrow as well,” Shylie declared and then added, “I never left Ireland in all my three and ten years while I lived so I think it is high time. And if you go in search of my brother, Teige, then perhaps I might lend a hand for I know him well.”

  Killian once more set his gaze on Alainn, but spoke to the spirit girl.

  “We couldn’t actually prevent you from so doing even if we tried, am I correct in that assumption?”

  Shylie stubbornly shook her head in defiance when the spirit of Brendolyn O’Donnel materialized so that this time all present were now able to see her.

  “’Tis untrue. If you don’t care to have this spirit accompany you your wife with her unprecedented powerful magic could simply put a binding spell upon her and make her unable to venture only miles from where she met her death. I should know, for sure it was done to me.”

  “You were a witch in life?” Alainn announced now undeniably intrigued for she hadn’t sensed the spirit had possessed supernatural abilities.

  “Aye, and it was another witch who took my life and bound me to this location soon after.”

  “This is my grandmother?” Killian who was much accustomed to magic and spirits and the like appeared taken back by finally seeing his own spectral grandmother and learning she had possessed magical abilities.

  �
��If you were a witch in life, if you were capable of magic, was my mother also so inclined? Was she gifted with the ability to do magic?”

  “Young Killian, my grandson, you bear a stronger likeness to your father than my dear daughter, Eilis, but you have inherited the height of my husband’s line, and you do possess my Eilis’s enchanting green eyes and more importantly her dauntless spirit. Your mother did claim magical abilities, but they were never developed as they might have been had I lived to guide and instruct her in magic. Alas, perhaps that benefitted her much for she never drew the interest of the demons or the witch who took my life.”

  Killian was apparently struck dumb by this information for he opened his mouth to speak several times, but could find no words.

  “It was a witch who killed you?” Alainn gasped.

  “Who was the witch who took your life?” Killian finally managed.

  “The one who sent me plunging to my death? It was someone you have already seen, and her own daughter has caused much pain and discord for you as well.”

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  “It was Oonagh, Glynnis the healer’s daughter. It was said Glynnis was raped by someone with dark magical abilities and with Glynnis possessing some powers of her own and dabbling in the dark arts, a strong dark witch was produced. It has been said Oonagh’sdaughter Ciara was fathered by a druid with supernatural powers. I am aware that Ciara has been the cause of much contention for you and my grandson.”

  “So Fergus did not sire Ciara then? He isn’t her true father?”

  Alainn stood digesting the disturbing information that brought about far more questions than answers, and she felt filled with doubt and uncertainty.

  “But if I have estimated and deducted correctly, Oonagh would have been only a child when you met your ill fate. How would she have accomplished such a horrendous feat?”

  “And why?” Killian wondered aloud though by the apprehensive expression he wore, it appeared he might not actually care to hear the truth.

  “Aye, she was all of five years of age when she took my life. She used her unnatural abilities to send me to my death. Although I possessed abilities as well, she caught me off guard. I had just placed my wee newborn daughter in her cradle. I’d gone to the window to gaze out at the large harvest moon when I noticed the contemptuous child stood watching me from below. I was immediately put off for she wore an indescribably evil grin and she simply stared at me and then held her arms out toward me. I did not jump from the window, I was not pushed from the window, but pulled out of the window by the child’s powers. Even with my abilities I was unable to fight her powers. She was a demented child, filled with evil all her life, and her mother, Glynnis the healer protected her, shielded her even though she had a distinct darkness about her from the time she was born. Hers was a malevolent and evil line of witches, though Glynnis mostly attempted to quieten her dark abilities. I knew Oonagh was displeased to learn I knew of magic and possessed abilities and knowledge of spells and curses. It worsened when I married a noble and bore a child, but I had no warning, no premonitions and no indication she would consider such an atrocious deed.”

  “Well though it’s pleased I am that my grandfather didn’t murder you, his own wife as it was rumored to be, I must admit the thought of a young child being capable of such devious behavior is most disturbing. To think Ciara was born from such darkness, leads me to believe we truly may not be through with dealing with her either.”

  “I do not sense she is near, for it is likely she has gone elsewhere with the evil coven, but I agree, she will return one day and sure not for a benevolent purpose,” the spirit concurred.

  Killian glanced up at the sky and clearly noted the hour grew late.

  “Perhaps we might delay our journey for none of us will be in a refreshed state with so little sleep this night.”

  Although the prospect of finding her father was undeniably appealing to Alainn, especially if he possessed knowledge of how she might best deal with her present predicament, something about the journey left her wondering if they should cancel their plans entirely to travel north to Scotland.

  She shivered and both Killian and Danhoul noticed.

  “You’ve had a premonition or sense something untoward, Alainn?” Killian questioned.

  She shook her head. “Nothing I can clearly determine, simply an ill wind that comes to mind when I dwell upon the journey.”

  “But you’ve said you believe in Scotland we will find your father and mine?”

  “Aye, I believe that to be truth.”

  “We’ve spent much time discussing this and anticipating finding them both. We must proceed with our intended course. Are you not in agreement?”

  “I suppose we must.”

  “Then we’ll leave on the morrow as planned, best we get what sleep we can before dawn breaks.”

  Alainn looked at each of them. Her eyes went to Conner, with his own blackened eyes and proven loyalty to her, willing to go with them to the land of his birth where he was both feared and hated, and in some areas he remained a wanted man. He would set off with them although his heart would undoubtedly remain here with Mary knowing she would give birth to Riley’s child in only a few weeks.

  She stared at Danhoul who seemed unusually grim and untypically given to temper. She wondered if he knew or had foreseen something she had not regarding their journey. Perhaps it was only his fear for her because of the child she carried, or he had caught glimpses of her disturbing and frightening dream earlier this night. Had he learned something during his recent time in the realm of the gods that had left him wary, or was it that in the other times they had lived this life together, he knew this was perhaps an ill-fated journey?

  She attempted to clear her mind of such dismal thoughts and smiled in spite of herself when she looked at Shylie who couldn’t seem to pull her eyes from Danhoul. She hadn’t been aware spirits could fall in love, but she was certain young Shylie O’Rorke was irrefutably most smitten with the young druid, and obviously intent on making this journey with them. Though she was relatively certain Danhoul wasn’t overly eager to have the love-struck spirit following his every move, Alainn would not place a binding spell on her as Brendolyn O’Donnel had suggested. If Shylie desired to make this intended journey, far be it for her to decide she shouldn’t. The girl had been cheated of a life beyond her three and ten years so if her intent was to travel with them to Scotland, Alainn would not object.

  She glanced at the spirit of Brendolyn O’Donnel and she stared back at her. She, too, had her life taken, ended at an early age and by a child who clearly possessed evil qualities and dark magic. Alainn felt great empathy toward the spirit of Killian’s own grandmother. Alainn recalled only too well seeing Oonagh, not as a child, but as an adult, half dead, half alive in the realm of utter hopelessness. She recalled Eibhein’s recounted tale of her being brought back from the dead by her grief-stricken mother. Knowing she was in allegiance with the demon and therefore with Odhran, and that they were apparently capable of a spell that would create another the same as Ciara, or perhaps many others, frightened her to the core. Alainn shuddered for she knew well they would one day be made to face Oonagh and Ciara again, for in her mind and her heart she did not believe Ciara or the coven had been killed by the fire in the stones. But she could not allow any of this to deter them from beginning their intended journey.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Back in the security of their bedchamber with the heath fire burning, the precariousness of this night and even the uncertainty of the future seemed unable to touch them. Killian stared down at her with relief. He took her in his arms and held her to him, but neither one of them spoke for some time. Part of her wanted to scream out the truth to him about the child she carried, and let it all be revealed so they might start the journey with no deception. But she well knew of Killian’s oppositional opinion of women who attempted to prevent themselves from conceiving, how could she tell him she intended to take the life of th
e child that already grew within her, the child fathered by another man? She allowed herself to imagine his reaction should she inform him the child she carried was so filled with evil it may bring about death and destruction should it be born and grow to be a man? How could she make him be a part of that sordidness when it went against his morality? When the deed was done and the child no longer within her, then she would finally tell him of her time with the king, for she could not live with this deception much longer. It grieved her heart to know she kept it from him, yet nearly each time she had attempted to speak of it, dared to approach the undesirable topic, he appeared to dissuade her from speaking of anything that might cause discord for them and their marriage. Had he known the truth all along that she carried a child that was not his and could not bear to dwell upon it? Yet he remained here with her, was setting out on an adventure with her. Surely he didn’t know.

  As Killian gazed down at her, she saw the uncertainty in his startling green eyes, the same uncertainty she felt within her heart.

  “I am much relieved you are back here with me, Lainna.”

  “And I with you, Killian.”

  “It appears you caused a good many to be fearful, and I admit full well I was among them. Tell me what lies within your heart my Lainna.” He questioned her with his eyes, but then verbalized his concern as well.

  “Was it truly a test to see if the gods or the demon would see you safe that you stood upon those cliffs this night?” The seriousness in his eyes and his voice tore at her heart.

  “You know I am able to fly, Killian; sure I wouldn’t actually have been in harm’s way.”

  Now would be the time to tell him all, but he had been so hopeful of locating his father, if she told him now, everything would be changed between them, perhaps forever. How could she dash his hopes and destroy his world with the truth of all she had kept concealed?

  “I needed to know for certain that I am protected to some measure, and I am content in discovering someone is looking out for me for it was not my own magic that pulled Conner and me back over the cliffs this night. Perhaps a guardian or the gods, I am not certain. But for now, I am simply happy to be here with you, my only love, in our chamber and in your arms. Tomorrow we begin searching for our fathers. Finally, we will surely learn so many unanswered questions and long hidden truths.”