See How She Fights (10 page)

I headed out the door after leaving
Kennan a detailed note. I knew he would want to know where I was, and I wasn’t
about to pull an Ian and write ‘went for a walk.’  I opened the door
soundlessly and slipped outside.

**********

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“Good morning.” Conall startled me,
making me about jump out of my skin.

“Cheese on a cracker, Conall, you
scared me,” I said, trying to calm my galloping heart.

“Sorry. I thought you expected me.
We are supposed to train this morning, are we not?”

“Yeah, but I need to go to the
library first. I know the rest of the runes on the bodies.”

We made our way to the library,
talking about what sort of training Conall had planned for me. Apparently the
whole training bit wasn’t just a cover for us having a talk. I wasn’t sure what
I should be prepared for.

“Have you done much sword
fighting?” Conall asked.

“Oh yeah. Totally. I just killed a
few dragons last week. Oh, and then there was the fight over Kennan’s honor. I
couldn’t let that trollop get away with calling him such foul names.”

“I take that as a no,” he grumbled
as we entered the library. We made our way over to the table we had been at the
night before. Lying with her face mashed into the pages of a book, was a
sleeping Eleanor.

“Eleanor, wake up.  I have some
more information that might help,” I said, gently shaking her back.

“What, I am so sorry. I must have
dozed off for a moment,” she said groggily. “What do you have for me?” she
asked, reaching up to pat my face gently.

“I know what the runes look like.
Also, Ren said something about Xavier meeting with the foggy woman. They talked
about him getting better. So maybe whoever she is, she is using these
sacrifices to restore his health. He seemed stronger last night in the
dreaming.”

“Well goodness, let’s get a look at
this then. Can you point out the runes you saw?”

I nodded as she flipped back to the
Norse symbols in the book.

“Fehu, Uruz, Kenaz, Gebo, Hagalaz,
and Laguz were all carved on the arms. On the chest was this symbol here,
Perthro. Oh, and do you know anything about runes that only glow to people
without eyes in the dreaming?” I asked hopefully. I was weirded out beyond
belief by that one.

“I do,” Conall chimed in.  I
suddenly found myself being pulled out of the library in his wake.

“Hey, why didn’t you let me stay
and talk to her? I could have helped her look that stuff up,” I said, rubbing
my arm where he had pulled me.

“Because, you and I need to have a
very serious, private conversation.” He grabbed my arm again and started
pulling.

“Ouch, you are hurting me, Conall.
Stop,” I said, using one of the moves Ian had taught me to get out of his
grasp.

He stopped and stared at the
ground, trying to calm his breathing. “We don’t have time for your tantrums.
Follow me and hear what I have to say, or keep going the way you are and die.
It matters not to me either way. I would just hate to see my Brother suffer the
same fate as I.” He walked out towards the field we had trained in the morning
before leaving me staring at his back.

“Fine, I am coming. You don’t have
to be so grabby though,” I mumbled, stomping after him. He made it to the top
of the hill before sitting down. I plopped down beside him angrily. We sat
staring at the house silently for a small eternity.

“Her name was Cait and she was to
be my Seer,” he started as his voice caught in his throat. “I think the easiest
thing would be for me to show you. Just promise you won’t go looking at
anything else.”

“I swear it.” I knew that whatever
I was about to see was beyond personal.

“Alright, here you are,” Conall
said, reaching out and grabbing my hand. I was swept away into the past. It had
to have been at least a hundred years ago.

**********

I looked around, trying to gain
my bearings. I immediately knew that this was more than a memory. I was having
another vision that wasn’t quite a vision, but something more. I wished I could
go back to the simple ones. I was wary of whatever I would see. I knew that if
it made Conall unsure that it must be something terrifying. I followed a path down
to a village where I found Conall and Kennan talking.

“She has more marks, Brother,”
Conall said.

“How is she getting them? I
don’t understand. She is escorted everywhere, never left alone,” Kennan
replied.

“I think they are coming from
the dreaming. It is the only place I cannot follow her. I need you to try and
get into her dreams. I would not ask if I thought there was any other way,”
Conall begged Kennan.

“You know how much I despise
doing that. I feel like I am twisting something meant to be good into evil.”

“You are not your brother. 
Xavier may use the dreaming for his own ends, but this is not about that. I
can’t do it, Kennan.  If I could, I would have done so already. I am out of
paths to take. This is the only course that remains available,” Conall sighed,
turning to pace away from Kennan.

“Fine, I will do it,” he said
before walking away toward a cottage. I chased after him, flipping forward
through the memory as I went.

 I focused on the girl’s name in
my mind and found her. She lay on a bed, shivering. Her arms had three runes
dug deep into the flesh. I saw it then, the glow that Ren and Isabelle had seen
on me. I moved toward her bed and leaned over her.

“You must go, you are not meant
to be here,” Cait said to me.

“How can you see me?” I asked.
She was still very much alive.

“Because we are bound, you and
I. My past shall be your future unless you can fight what is coming. Now go,
before he sees you,” Cait said, pushing me out of the memory. I was starting to
get sick of people doing that to me.

I looked around and saw that I
was, once again, standing on the battlefield where Kennan and Conall had fought
the monster. I looked to find them standing over a fallen body. It was Cait.
She was breathing her last breaths as Conall wept over her broken form. There
was a blood-soaked scrap of cloth tied around his face.

“Don’t you dare leave me, Cait.
I just found you,” Conall yelled at her.

“It was the only way to stop it.
I was the sacrifice needed to send it back where it belonged. We both know there
was no other way. You will find another, Conall. I promise you that,” she
whispered as the last of her breath faded from her body. Conall screamed and
threw his body over hers. Kennan moved towards him trying to rip him away. It
was the same as the theater. I could see the moment the soul separated from the
body.

Cait’s spirit moved toward me.
She stopped just short of where I was standing and began to speak.

“You are marked, Izzy, by a
great evil. Someone is trying to make you a bridge between planes. If you do
not stop it, and sever the connection, this is what will come. Promise me
something,” she said calmly.

“Anything,” I didn’t think I
could deny her anything. She’d just died.

“Find him his true Seer. It was
never meant to be me. I never found a way to really tell him though.” She
reached her arms around me and hugged tightly. “Be well, my sister, and live.”
With that her spirit drifted away. She was no longer bound to this plane.

**********

I opened my eyes to find myself
lying in Isadora’s office.

“How did I get here?” I asked,
rubbing my eyes. I heard men yelling in the background and sat up to find
Kennan about to beat the hell out of Conall.

“Hey, stop it! Put him down,
Kennan!” I yelled as the room went still.

“What the hell was that?” Conall
asked, moving toward me. He started to crouch down in front of me before Kennan
moved him out of the way.

“I don’t know, you tell me. That
was your memory,” I said groggily.

“No, you left my memories. I felt
it when you severed the connection and then you just went catatonic. You’ve
been like this for four hours,” Conall said.

“Oh,” I said, trying to catch my
bearings. That explained why my stomach was growling so loudly.

“You need to stop running off on
me, Izzy. I swear to the gods I am going to lock you to my person at all
times,” Kennan said, getting up to pace the room.

“I would like to ask you gentlemen
to leave the room for a moment,” Isadora spoke from the corner.

“I…” Kennan began but stopped as
she gently shook her head. “I will be right outside that door. Don’t you dare
try and leave through a window either, Izzy. No more. Until this is over you
stay where I can see you at all times.”

“Okay,” I said with wide eyes. I
really hadn’t meant to run off that time. We both had residual fears left over
from our last adventure. The guys left with Kennan quick on Conall’s heels. I
kind of felt bad that I’d gotten Conall in trouble.

“I take it you saw our dear Cait?”
Isadora asked.

“Seriously, how do you do that?
It’s just creepy,” I grumbled. I really wished she would give me a heads up
about this stuff. But like Eleanor, I knew she followed the whole “don’t reveal
things before their time” thing seriously.

“Was she well? Did she move on? She
has been waiting for so long for you to come.”

“Wait, she was stuck like that
until I showed up?”

“Yes, well time moves differently
on that plane so I am sure she did not feel as though she had been waiting at
all.”

“She moved on. She told me that if
I didn’t stop whatever was coming I would end up like her. Then she made me
promise to find Conall’s true Seer. She said that it wasn’t her.”

“Well, I knew that.”

“Then why didn’t you tell him? He
is still mourning her loss,” I said, realizing the truth of my words.

“I’m not at the luxury of doing
what is best for the moment, my dear, and neither are you. We are the keepers
of the future. With that comes the gravest of responsibilities. No matter how
much we may want to change things to stop the hurt of the present, we cannot.
We must suffer the pain of those around us to ensure that the intended future
stays on course.”

“Well that just sucks,” I said,
leaning back against the seat. I was going to make a terrible leader. Isadora
handled it all with such grace and here I was moping.

“Indeed,” she said before sitting
next to me. “It sucks quite a lot.”

“I need to ask you about
something.”

“Anything, my dear. My door is
always open to you.”

“Ren said something about a
protection mark. Is that a thing ya’ll do?”

“Oh, my,” Isadora said, looking
stunned. “That hasn’t been done in ages.”

“Well, she mentioned that I might
need it. When a spook tells me to get something, I listen.”

“If you would like it, we can make
it happen. Just understand that it is not a pleasant thing you are asking to
do.”

“What is it I am asking to do
exactly?”

“The protection mark is a large
tattoo that covers the entirety of your back, Izzy. It is a sort of old magic
that has been transmuted into a Celtic Shield Knot.”

“Well, now I see why no one has
done it in so long,” I sighed. I knew deep inside that it was a step I needed
to take. Whatever was happening, I needed every bit of help I could get. “So,
can we make it happen?”

“If that is your wish, we can start
it this evening. I just have to gather the supplies and the Symbol-smith.”  A
look crossed over her face that would have been imperceptible had I not been
paying such close attention.  It was part dread and part anticipation.

“I don’t think it is really my wish
to be in more pain, but I think that it is something that needs to happen.”

“I will make the necessary
arrangements. Return with a full stomach at eight this evening and we will
begin the process. Be sure to inform Kennan that this was your choice. He seems
a bit unkempt this afternoon and I don’t wish to cause any more problems,”
Isadora said before moving back to her desk.

“Okay. I will see you at eight,” I
slowly made my way toward the door, wondering what in the heck I was getting
myself into.

**********

CHAPTER TWELVE

“Izzy, I swear to the gods you have
got to stop scaring me,” Kennan said, pulling me into his arms as I left the
office.

“It isn’t like I mean to do it.
Besides, Conall said he would clear the whole training thing with you,” I
nodded in Conall’s direction. I noticed him studying the carpet quite closely.
Awesome, he had pulled an Ian. “Well, at least I left a detailed note this
time. You knew where I was.”

“True, but that doesn’t mean I
wanted your head filled with the terror of a hundred years ago,” Kennan griped,
letting me out of his embrace.

“She needed to know,” Conall said
simply.

“I did need to know. I think it
will be important. At least Cait said so. She sent a message for you Conall.
When you’re ready to hear it let me know.” He looked up at me with surprise and
hesitation on his face and nodded once.

“Now, I would like to know now.”

“She said that she was never meant
to be your Seer; that yours is yet to come. She tasked me with helping you,” I
said, moving to wrap my arms around him. I had wanted to wrap him in my arms
since witnessing his heartbreak back in the vision. He let me hug him for a
moment before pulling away.

“Are you sure?” he asked simply.

“I would never have told you that
if I wasn’t,” I promised. With that, Conall left us. He walked off mulling over
the past hundred years. I was sure he would visit his mother soon to discover
the truth.

“As for you, we need to talk about
something. It is non-negotiable,” I said before pulling Kennan toward the
dining area. I was starved. We headed in and sat down to eat as I braced myself

“What is it now? What did you and
Isadora discuss?”

“Mostly we discussed Cait and the
rune on my arm. But we also discussed something else, something that I am going
to have done this evening. Ren spoke to me in my last vision about a mark of
protection. She said I needed it and quickly. When I mentioned it to Isadora
she was quite surprised. So, basically, I am getting tattooed tonight,” I
finished as Kennan pulled us to a stop.

“Are you sure? Do you know how
painful that process is?” he asked warily.

“It is a tattoo covering my entire
back, I am pretty sure I get that it will be painful.”

“It isn’t just the tattoo, Izzy.
Every line contains magic. When the Symbol-smith applies the marks, he is also
bonding the magic with your soul,” Kennan finished with a look of trepidation
in his eyes.

“Are yours like that? Do they have
wards built into them?”

“Yes. Getting them was the most
pain I have ever felt in my entire life. Are you sure this is the path you wish
to take?”

“I am sure this is the path I must
take. Like Isadora said to me earlier, I am not granted the luxury of wants
anymore. This is more of a need anyway. When a ghost tells me to do something,
I do it.”

“Well, if you are determined, I
will see if Ian and Molly would like to join us for the ceremony. It helps to
have loved ones close. We may be able to siphon some of the pain away.”

“Will you guys feel it though?
Because I really don’t want to put anyone else through that sort of pain if I
don’t have to,” I said, hoping that Kennan wouldn’t try and take my pain away
just to inflict it upon someone else.

“It doesn’t work that way. No one
quite knows why, but having loved ones around serves as a dampener to the pain.
Kind of like a numbing cream.”

“So, why didn’t you have loved ones
around you when you got yours done?” I asked, wondering why Ian or my father
had not been there to help him.

“Because I got mine done quickly.
Right after Xavier killed my mother, I found a Symbol-smith to ward me,” Kennan
said with a sense of finality. I knew not to push him any further. For now, we
would eat and enjoy a few moments of relative peace. I wasn’t looking forward
to the pain awaiting me, but I knew that it might be the only thing that would
protect me from whatever had burned the rune into my arm.

**********

We ate quickly and when we
finished, we headed to find Ian and Molly to see if they would be willing to
come to the ceremony, if that is what it was. It really was a shame that I was
going to be in charge someday but had no idea what was really going on. I was
so lost in the sauce. When we arrived at Molly’s door we heard a man and woman
having a heated discussion. We looked at one another and shrugged before
knocking. The two of them arguing was nothing new to us.

“Molly, let me in. I need to ask
you for yet another favor,” I said against the door.

“Um, be right there,” she said in a
panic.

“Well, that is new,” Kennan said
with a snicker.

“So, what do you need?” she asked
from a bare crack in the door.

“Can we come in please?” Kennan
asked barely masking a smile.

“Sure,” she said with trepidation.
As we entered the room I noticed Ian putting a shirt back on quickly. I looked
over to Molly to find her hair slightly mussed. I raised an eyebrow in her
direction. She looked in any direction but mine.

“So, favor. What do you need?”
Molly asked, trying to smooth her hair down.

“Izzy has decided to get the mark
of protection this evening. We wanted to know if the two of you would attend
the ceremony,” Kennan said, eyeing the duo skeptically. So, it was a ceremony.
I hadn’t been wrong about that. One point Izzy. I really shouldn’t have kept
score though. The universe won every time.

“For reals? You know how much that
is gonna suck, Pip Squeak?” Ian said running his hand through his hair.

“Yes, for reals. Ren told me to do
it, so I should probably do it. Well, she more insinuated that I needed to ask
about it, but you get the gist. Isadora said that we could do it tonight, so
that is the plan. We’re getting ready to head down there now to see if they
need any help getting ready. I would really appreciate having the moral
support,” I smiled brightly at the two of them. I knew I probably looked more
manic than excited, but there was honestly no way I could get stoked about
crazy amounts of pain.

“Give us a few minutes and we will
be right down,” Ian said, looking at Molly.

“Actually, I am ready now. So yeah,
let’s go,” Molly said, skirting out of the room quickly.

“This is so not over, Molly!” Ian
shouted at her back.

“Care to share with the rest of the
class?” I asked.

“Nope,” he said.

“Well, looks like we are ready.
Should we grab anyone else?” I asked the guys.

“I think Conall might want to be
there,” Kennan said with a bit of reservation.

“Why?” I couldn’t imagine why
Conall would want to be there. I mean, we were getting closer but we were still
far from being bosom buddies.

“Because you remind him of Cait and
he will do anything he can to save you from the fate she suffered,” Kennan said
as we left the room.

“Yeah, but after I dropped the
whole ‘Cait-isn’t-your-Seer’ bomb on him earlier, I figured he would need some
time. You know, to adjust to the idea that he still has someone out there.” I
looked between Ian and Kennan as they started snickering. I turned back around
to find Conall waiting at the foot of the stairs. “So, adjustment period
finished then I presume?”

“No, but I have a duty to perform
and I will not neglect it for my own petty problems,” he said, walking halfway
up the stairs to meet us.

“You don’t have to come tonight,
you know? I have plenty of backup here,” I said, looking at his strained eye.
Seriously, it was so hard to look at his one eye. It felt like my vision was
always shifted to the periphery.

“I have been assigned to you until
this whole mess is over, so I will do what I must to ensure your safety.”

Man, he was just a ball of laughs.
He was quite possibly the most literal person I’d ever met. He had started out
being all rogue-like but had ended up as serious as his father. That was quite
the transformation for just a few days’ time.

“Well, don’t come if you are going
to be such a stick in the mud. This is a party, Bro,” Ian said, roughing my
hair. We made our way to the bottom of the stairs and I saw Molly standing
nearby trying to straighten her hair in the mirror.

“Ready, Molly?” I asked.

“Yep, right as rain,” she said,
walking to my side and looping her arm in mine. “We need to talk and soon,” she
added in my head so the others couldn’t hear.

“Spill, I need the distraction,” I
answered silently.

“We kissed. I mean like fireworks
exploding, kissed. Then I got mad at him for kissing me and freaked out. Then
he yelled at me,” she said in my mind. She looked at me and her eyes were
filled with terror.

“You need to stop yanking the poor
guy around, Molly. He loves you, surely you know that,” I said back, eyeing her
steadily.

“Not ready to deal with that yet,”
she said silently before Kennan interrupted.

“What are you girls talking about?”

We were so busted.

“Nothing,” we said in unison.

“Sure, that’s not suspicious
behavior at all,” Kennan said.

“Whatever. Where are we supposed to
be going for this thing?” I asked the group. Surely one of them would have some
sort of idea where we were supposed to be.

“If you will follow me,” Conall
said. He walked down the hall that led to the gardens.

**********