Catch & Hold-Legend (Legend series) (25 page)

“You are going to the Tuatha Dé Council as soon as we leave for Monlow. You will be our liaison, and I won’t argue, Trevor. It is your duty,” Danté told him roughly.

Trevor frowned, but he was a loyal Seelie Fae and nodded his head. “As you wish, brother.”

I heard a small, satisfied grunt escape Danté’s lips. We were in serious straits, no time for giggles, I kept telling myself, though this made me want to burst out laughing as well. How odd it is that life, in spite of threats and dangers, can still make you giggle.

And then I saw Trevor lean into Lana and say something in her ear. She smiled warmly and blushed, and that made me smile. They were adorable, only a few years younger than I actually, and so completely innocent still. I didn’t feel innocent and knew I never would ever again.

When this was all over, I decided, I would ask Danté to take me off to our own private island … when it was over.

And then reality struck at us with a boom and a clap of thunder the likes of which I never want to experience again.

Breslyn called for help!

* * *

Breslyn’s call had come in loud and clear, and after a quick exchange of explanations with Rysdale, whom we left to work his magic, we were about to shift when Chance detained us as he tried to get his sister to return to Dravo.

She would not, however, and held her sword high. “I killed a Dark Royal, didn’t I? Think I can handle myself, Chance.”

He grunted and told her, “That was pure luck.”

She shrugged. “Mostly skill, and I am joining in this fight. It was what Da has trained me for.”

And then we were there, on the bridge at the River Liffey. We found Breslyn, Ete, Shee Willow, and Shayne working against a horde of Unseelie, trying to hold back a battalion of the Dark Fae that had just emerged from a small portal—and it wasn’t Gaiscioch leading them, but Pestale and his brothers. The scene looked like something I had imagined hell would look like.

There was no time to do anything but jump into battle. I looked around for Pestale, but he and his brothers were suddenly nowhere to be seen as we slashed through the screaming, howling uglies. We were so outnumbered, but we had death weapons, and the monsters did not.

Traffic had stopped because there hadn’t been an opportunity to ‘spell’ the battle. People were getting out of their cars and complaining, apparently thinking it was a Hollywood movie—until a few uglies got past us and managed to get their appendages on the humans and suck them dry.

At that point people stopped yelling and shouting and stared hard in a silence that was deafening as a ‘new dawning’ took over their comprehension. Then they began to scream, and the screams were picked up by other groups who didn’t even know or see what was happening. Terror filled their hearts, and they began moving without thought or direction; cars collided into one another in drivers’ attempts to U-turn and get out of the immediate area. Some people left their cars and took to the streets, crying and screaming at the top of their lungs.

Chaos worked its power over the humans, and we strove hard to keep the battle contained. Shee Willow went after a few of the Dark Fae that escaped us, because even in the midst of the battle these uglies wanted—needed—a quick meal.

Her mate Shayne was immortal (I didn’t have that story yet), but he couldn’t shift, so he stayed back to back with Ete and was fighting like a demon.

Chance and Lana fought side by side, and Trevor had his back to them, taking on the strays as they moved in and tried to use numbers in lieu of skill and weaponry.

I did what worked best for me. I shifted in, slashed, killed, shifted out and repeated the series of motions over and over and until I felt like a spinning top. If I’d thought about it, I think I would have been exhausted, but I shut off my human and was totally in Daoine Fae warrior mode.

I realized suddenly I was a killing machine. Not sure I liked that. These things, these uglies were created through no fault of their own … and although they needed to be killed before they killed and fed on innocents, one should not lose oneself in the action. I wanted to take them down, and I wanted to acknowledge it from a human perspective.

No time for philosophy like that
. A spider goes to bite you, you make sure it doesn’t. That was what I was doing: squashing danger and blood and gore and guts and brains, ugh … everywhere.

I knew what this was—a diversion—and suddenly I saw Pestale; he was looking at Lana with pure hatred on his face. Something in the pit of my stomach sent an awful feeling through me—just awful.

I shifted to her side and screamed for Chance, “Get her away …
now!
Pestale is here, and he means her harm.”

“I’ll take her,” Trevor said and immediately had her hand and shifted off, and I knew he’d taken her to the Isle of Tir, where we were certain the Dark Royals could but would not dare go just yet. They still feared what the Seelie Fae could do to them.

Chance nodded to me, and I saw the gratefulness in his eyes, but then there was no time for more as we tried to stop the numbers of Dark Fae from getting into the city.

They didn’t stand a chance. Their thought process was limited. They had no weapons of import they could use against us. They only had numbers and a hunger that made their desires put them in direct danger. I know it’s ludicrous, but I felt a twinge of pity, though I quickly banished it. They were what they were—soulless, heartless, feeding machines. They were as the Fae had always called them—
abominations.

We fought for what seemed hours but was in fact only thirty minutes. At some point when we had their numbers under control, both Danté and Breslyn went to the portal. It took their combined powers to manage to shut it down. It spluttered into lifelessness, and because it was a small portal, they were able to transport it elsewhere. This done, Breslyn grinned, slapped Danté on the back, and said, “Well then, old man, one more portal down … who knows how many more …”

It was no laughing matter, and yet we laughed hard, I suppose because the tension was so great it needed release.

“How did you do it?” I asked, as I had thought only the queen had the power to close the portals.

“An old spell the queen taught us,” Danté said, and then we all grew serious once more.

Danté turned to Bres and said, “We have to return to Rysdale … can you manage the disposal of corpses and stray runaways without us?”

“Aye … go on, find our queen,” Breslyn said gravely.

“What of Pestale?”

 
“We will have to get a fix on him…”

They locked opposite arms, and their eyes met in a silent vow for a moment. Then Danté put an arm around my waist, thought us both clean, and shifted us back to the wizard’s abode.

We stepped out of the ‘wormhole’ so to speak and into the wizard’s weaponry room.

He stood with that sweet smile of his as a greeting, but I saw something in his eyes—sadness—and I felt a deep misgiving.

“Are you ready to give us the coordinates?” Danté asked at once.

“No … in fact, your queen seems to be blocking all my efforts to do so.” He shook his head. “However, I think I may have a shield designed to protect you from the dust trap.”

* * *

“Gaiscioch,” Queen Aaibhe said softly. “Your Dark Royals are free and roaming the Ireland you say you love so much. They will leave it a wasteland if you let them.”

“Free? How?” I stopped my pacing and scanned her face. She wasn’t lying to me. I could always tell when Aaibhe tried to dissimilate.

“Pestale has been keeping secrets from you,” she answered quietly.

“How do you know?”

“You know very well … I have the ‘sight’, and it came to me earlier, when you left me to do whatever it is you had to do.”

“It is not always accurate—this
‘sight’
of yours,” I told her roughly, but I knew that it was.

“It does not always forewarn me, if that is what you mean. If it did, I would have known my Conall was in danger. I would have known that you were a traitor to me and to our Realm. I would have—”

“Shut up
! You know nothing. I was yours …
all yours
. I would have given my life for you. And you repaid my loyalty by turning your back on me—and for what?
For a human!
Love? You call what you had with him
love
?” I felt my control break into a thousand pieces as I slapped my chest and felt the old hurt permeate my mind. “Here … inside of me was love, and devotion—but you threw it all away. Now, I shall make you forget him. You will drink from the Cauldron and forget everything save me … I shall be your world, and you will have none before me.”

“Ah, so that has been your plan—to make me drink from the Cauldron and forget?” She smiled sadly. “Do you not know, Gais? Have you not wondered how I maintained my sanity without drinking from the Cauldron? I am the queen and immune to the libation of the Cauldron.
I cannot be made to forget
.”

She stopped me in my tracks. I had not thought of that. I had just thought she was strong enough—like me—to withhold against the madness. Oh, I knew they thought me mad, and perhaps my single-mindedness had sent me over the edge, but I was not mad. My reason remained intact. I stared hard at her and felt anger well up against her, and in spite of what I knew was true I told her harshly, “You will forget everyone else—by Danu, you will forget all save me.” I clutched the gold weave of her prison wall and shook it at her. “You are here to stay, Aaibhe, and in the end …
I am
all you will have.”

“Pestale has set his plan in motion, even now as you waste precious time with me, your plans will be for naught as Pestale reigns supreme. He is much stronger than you because he is a Royal.”

“
Damn you
, I will return to you and throw his head at your feet. Royal, is he? But nothing next to me. I will show you who is stronger!” I told her and shifted away from the golden threads of her prison. I damn well meant to do just what I promised. I was after Pestale’s head, and I was going to deliver it to her dainty feet! Then we would see who true royalty was. I would show her, and by damn I was going to have her grovel at my feet and beg for my kisses, and my love.

* * *

“What do you mean—she is blocking your efforts? How can she do that—no, never mind that,
why
would she do that?” Danté’s face was drawn in dark lines of concern.

“I have no idea what her reasoning is, but I do know Queen Aaibhe always has a reason,” Rysdale said gently.

“Then it is true—she means to sacrifice herself to kill him,” I whispered. “There is no other explanation.”

“I am inclined to agree with you, but perhaps, just perhaps, that might yet be avoided,” the wizard offered with a touch of excitement.

“What do you have in mind?” Danté inquired hopefully.

“As I said, I believe I have developed a shield against the fatal dust, but, of course, we won’t know that until you are actually faced with it.”

“Oh great,” I said, but no one was paying any attention to me.

“Come with me … let us look at this map I have put together.” Rysdale went ahead, and Danté followed.

I hung back. I had an idea all my own, and it was taking root. Danté turned to me. “Don’t you want to join us,
enfant?
”

“Yes, yes … in a moment …”

He looked at me for a second and then turned and followed the wizard out of the room. I went to the garden window and stared out onto the vast forest just past the wizard’s manicured lawn. Something called to me. It whispered a plan just beyond my imagination, and I was trying hard to grasp hold when I was diverted by the touch of a hand on my shoulder. Startled, I turned, and a small gasp escaped me.

“Oh … I am sorry, dear,” Charm said in that gentle manner that was all her own. Faded and yet darkly hued amber eyes twinkled at me.

I waved away my concern. “No … my fault. I was off in never never land.”

“Ah, just the sort of place I have always thought it would be wonderful to explore,” she said lightly.

I laughed. “Hmm … I go there a lot.”

She went to the sofa at her back, sat down with a sigh, and patted a place beside herself. “Do sit with me.”

I smiled and did what she asked.

“You are working on something in your head. I feel it,” she said with a nod of her own.

“I am.” I sighed and shrugged. “Don’t know just how to manage though.”

“Quietly, my dear,” she said, patting my hand. “You are not just part of the prophecy. You are the prophecy, as I think you have already been told. Without you, even your queen’s sacrifice will be for nothing.”

“Great … just great,” I said, aware that I had been saying that a whole lot lately. I bit my bottom lip. No, chewed my bottom lip would be a better description.

“You will need the quiet of another dimension to show you what you need to do, but you will be alone and without help. Do you think you can manage?”

“How do you know all this?”

“I have certain abilities, and I believe Rysdale, for all his amazing might, will not be able to break through and find the queen. She does not wish it. However, there is a way that
you
can find her.”