The Star Child (The Star Child Series) (14 page)

“But who?” Calienta asked. “One of the Sídhe?”

“They definitely know, but Arawn would never set them free. They’re trapped.”

“What about this Arawn, then?” I wished I hadn’t spoken at first. Calienta met her father’s eye. I’d hit a mark.

Calienta’s face betrayed her alarm. “How would Arawn be able to breach our lands?”

“I don’t know,” Lugh admitted.

“All this over a girl?”

Calienta’s eyes flashed.

“If only I’d made him mortal. Now his heartbreak has turned him. He isn’t the same as he once was. He’s not thinking the way he should. What makes matters worse is that he probably hates you almost as much as he hates me.”

“But I’ve never met him and he hates me. How does that make sense?” I ran my hands through my hair.

Calienta spoke up. “You’ve never met him, but remember, Cabhan has dwelled on his hatred for so long. If he’s seen the Pagan drawings, he’ll know about the prophecy.”

“What’re you looking for me to do? You’ve obviously been watching me, seeking me out. You’ve been visitors here since I was a child, perhaps longer. You say that I’m supposed to help you, but how? I’m not a fighter. I have no skills in battle, no abilities that would help me fight your kind.” I walked away from both of them and began to pace back and forth.

Lugh threw up his hands. “Kellen, all I know is that the two of you must be together for this to work. I’m sure of it.”

I turned to face him. “That’s another thing. You seem all too ready to pass off your daughter to me, a mortal, when you didn’t want your own son to meet the same fate.”

“I’m not ‘passing off’ my daughter, as you say. However, this is a different situation. Your life together has been ordained. I cannot dispute what has been foretold. Besides, the drawings show the two of you together, married and united. Your bond is a strong one. We will need that strength to beat Cabhan.”

Why should I risk my life to stop Cabhan?
But the answer was there, in my mind, before I could speak the question.
Calienta. I’d risk my life for Calienta.
I’d have done so when I first met her as a child. That reality freaked me out enough. Her father, however, was another matter.

Then Lugh spelled it out for me. “If it is Arawn behind this, his power alone won’t be enough to rule the Earth. However, with Cabhan’s power, the two of them could take me. They will unleash the Cwn Annwn and every evil creature in his command. The world as we know it will be lost.”

“What’s the Cwn Annwn?”

Calienta shuddered. “They are the Hounds of Hell, the spectral dogs of the underworld.”

I’d no idea what the deal was with spectral dogs, but no good could come of it.

“They are basically Arawn’s lapdogs. He is the reason that I couldn’t save my family,” Lugh explained.

This wasn’t new information. It had been told to me in the cave already. However, I was interested in Lugh’s point of view.

He continued. “I fought Arawn in combat for their release, but he didn’t fight fairly and turned my family, or what was my family, on me. I escaped with barely my life and returned to the Green Lands to heal.”

“Greenland—like the country?”

“The Green Lands are what we call our home,” Calienta explained.

Lugh smiled affectionately at his daughter. “If Arawn is behind this, he and Cabhan could overcome me. Together, they would have enough power to challenge me, and an army at their disposal to help destroy the world.”

“But you’re a god. Can’t you destroy all of them with a wave of your hand?”

Lugh shook his head. “No, I won’t destroy my son. As for the army, you can’t kill them when they are already dead.”

I must have looked slightly horrified, but if anyone noticed they didn’t comment. “When will they attack?” If I was going to play my part in this, I’d better have as much information as possible.

“I don’t know that yet,” Lugh admitted.

“But he knows about me. How can we be safe? Why doesn’t he attack now?”

“I imagine that if it is Arawn that’s involved, he’s trying to figure out whether it’s worth the risk. You’re an unknown to him, so I can only guess that he is considering his options right now.”

“He is, Father,” a new voice answered. We all turned as Cabhan appeared. He was wild, unkempt, not at all the love-struck young man I was first introduced to in the cave.

His eyes were fierce, the rims red, his pupils appearing to glow a pale red. “And now that we know your warrior king is nothing more than a confused and frightened young man, I think Arawn will agree that it is worth the risk.”

Before any of us could react, Cabhan lunged at his father. When they hit the ground, both of them disappeared from sight.

“Father!” Calienta’s cries fell on deaf ears as we stared at the empty space.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

KIDNAPPING

“What the heck just happened?”

“This is worse than I thought. I’d no idea that he’d take action this soon.” Calienta’s wide eyes conveyed her horror.

“What do we do? What’s the plan?”

Her eyes welled up with unshed tears. “Maybe I shouldn’t have come here. I told you all about the tales of my family and our stories, our challenges, but I am nothing to you. If it wasn’t for the prophecy I would never have come here. We wouldn’t have met. I shouldn’t have dragged you into the middle of all of this. It wasn’t fair of me.” She turned and started running toward the steps.

I stared after her for a moment, contemplating what she was saying. I didn’t like the sound of it. Positioning my hands around my mouth, I yelled after her, “You’re not ‘nothing’ to me. Are you actually thinking of leaving?”

Bolting after her, I lunged for the first step, stumbling as panic coursed through me. I couldn’t believe the words that I was hearing. She’d sworn that she couldn’t stop her brother without me. Now she was willing to leave me behind?

She stopped at the head of the staircase and turned. “I think it’s best if I leave you alone and go and find my father on my own.” Her voice sounded disengaged as she turned away from me, running again in the same direction, though more slowly.

None of this was making sense, unless she was trying to protect me. I ran after her, increasing my speed (she wasn’t running at her full capacity) then reached out and grabbed her arm, whipping her around.

Her eyes blazed. There was a small explosion to my right; turf flew up into the air.

However, I wouldn’t be deterred. “I feel it too, you know. Don’t push me away when you need me the most.” My words were soft and sincere, but she simply looked on as I spoke them.

“You don’t have a choice. None of us has a choice in all of this. We’re connected by more than a prophecy.” Her hair whipped around her in the wind caused by the turmoil of her own emotions.

“You know,” my voice broke, “you may not be able to protect me if I go with you.” Her eyes flashed to mine; now we were hitting on it. “But I can’t protect you if I stay here. There’s no easy way out for either of us.”

This time a look of tentative hope crossed her face. “I know, Kellen. I’m afraid, not only for you and my family but for the entire world. You have no idea what could be unleashed on mortals if my brother is allowed to succeed.”

“Now that that’s over with, what do we
do
?” I was hoping she had some idea; I was coming up empty.

“You’ll need to come with me.” She grabbed my hand.

“Always.” My word was a promise.

***

Movement caught my attention and I looked to my right, back in the direction from which we’d come. A woman had appeared. Her hair was a dark burgundy color. It fell in a cloud of waist-length curls that framed her face, which was a picture of worry. Her skin was fair, with a blush at her cheeks that projected her angst as clearly as if she’d picked up a megaphone and announced it.

“That’s my mother.” It was a whisper on Calienta’s lips. As soon as both women saw one another, they were at each other’s side in a flash.

Calienta’s mother held her close, stroking her hair. They both fought to get their words out in a rush.

“I was hoping you were all right. I escaped just as Arawn arrived.”

“I’m glad you came, Mother. Cabhan took Father. I have no idea where.”

Thunder shook the ground as the weather began to turn. I moved forward to take them by the elbows. “Let’s get inside.”

No sooner had I spoken the words than it started to rain. I suddenly realized that my feet were no longer on solid ground. Both Calienta and Brigid had taken one of my arms and we were flying through the air.

My stomach dropped as we ascended into the air at a rapid pace. I’d only ever flown on an airplane before and had hated it. I was afraid of heights, so this experience should’ve made me feel nauseated, but the result was exactly the opposite.

We reached Gran’s cottage in a quarter of the time that it would have taken us to run. Making my way inside the house, I shut the door against the wind. Soaked through, I dried off; both of the women had already “changed” into dry clothes.

I looked at Calienta. “You really weren’t kidding, were you? You
can
fly!” Despite my fears, there was no denying that the experience was cool.

“I told you.” She winked, but then the light quickly faded from her eyes as concern for her father seeped through.

Brigid turned to face me. “Greetings, Kellen. I am Brigid.”

Remembering Lugh’s words, I bowed slightly. She laughed, but didn’t correct me. Clearly, this was the level of greeting that Brigid was used to.

“Hello, ma’am.” I was unsure of whether or not it would be appropriate to use her name. Normally when meeting new adults, I’d add a "Mr." or "Mrs." to the front of every greeting. However, I didn’t know if she had a last name, or if Calienta did for that matter.

“What do we do now?” I’d been asking that same question the entire afternoon.

“
You
are not going to do anything. This is not a fight for mortals. You will die if you go near Cabhan.” This last part clearly saddened Brigid. I couldn’t imagine that she’d have wanted this fate for her only son.

“Mother, I want him to remain safe as well, but the prophecy–”

“The prophecy was written many years ago. I am not convinced that it tells us the truth.”

Calienta’s face showed no emotion, but she took my hand and pulled me closer. “One part of the prophecy has already come true: we have pledged ourselves. However, there is more to this, as you are well aware. Kellen needs to be the one to stop Cabhan, he needs to see this through. You should know better than anyone not to stand in the way of fate.”

Although I appreciated Calienta’s backing, I wanted to speak for myself. “I’m not going anywhere unless she goes with me. I promised that I would help her. Just let me keep that promise.”

Brigid stared at me. “Kellen, I do not doubt your sincerity, truly I do not. I have been with you when you suffered over your mother’s death and from your father’s cruel ambivalence. I have often thought of myself as a surrogate mother of sorts. I have always been with you.”

That sentiment caught me off guard. My impression of the gods in mythology was that they were a little self-involved. I didn’t know what the appropriate words were in this situation, but I decided to take a gamble.

“Thank you. That’s more than I ever could have hoped for. However, your daughter was meant for me–I believe that now.”

She considered my response for a moment before speaking. “Fate’s loom weaves many connections.” She seemed amazed. “So be it, then. If you are truly bound, then into battle you must go. Kellen, I am so sorry that you had to get involved in this. However, I will be forever grateful that you have chosen to stand beside my family.”

Although Brigid looked resigned, she didn’t argue further with either of us. I was still reflecting about the part where I might die.

“You had better be going then. There is no time to waste and we have already used some of it.” Brigid clasped my hands in her own for a moment before turning and hugging Calienta.

Once their embrace ended, Calienta turned to me and rattled off a list of items that we should take with us. It wasn’t a long one and I was easily able to commit it to memory. After searching the house, I managed to collect the black-handled knife, as much iron as I could find, and a container of salt. My list mostly consisted of food, none of it healthy and all of it designed to keep my blood sugar level up. These items, along with my iPod music player, were added to a small backpack.

For some reason, I remembered something at the last minute. Sprinting upstairs, I reached into the pants pocket of a discarded pair of jeans on the floor of my room. Instantly, my hand clasped around the pendant and I pulled it out. Resolutely, I put the chain over my head and tucked the pendant under my light sweater. Grabbing my bag, I headed back downstairs.

When I returned to the living room, Calienta was having a disagreement with her mother. “It’s the only way. He’ll know that we’re coming, otherwise. We’ll have no chance at all.”

“No. It is too dangerous for both of you. We do not even know if the rumors are true, if a back way exists. What if both of you make this foolhardy journey and find yourselves trapped there for eternity?”

“Father would argue that a back way exists,” Calienta insisted.

“Yes, isn’t that how Arawn got into the heavens and murdered Lugh’s parents?” Both women turned and looked at me, clearly annoyed at the interruption. “Okay, I’ll be quiet now.”

“You have a good memory, Kellen. We have, over the years, been told tales of another path, another way to the heavens. But we do not know if it is still there or if Arawn destroyed it, even if it truly exists,” Brigid answered me before turning to Calienta. “If your father lives…” She trailed off, taking a moment to gain her composure. “He will not be able to get you out. We have tried that. He already attempted to reason with Arawn when the Children of Danu were trapped. What salvation will there be if you do not get through?”