Through Time-Slamming (8 page)

“I like it. If and when we fight them, I don’t just plan to bring them down or keep them in check. I mean to put them in the ground, so there won’t be a next time,” Radzia said looking at Danté who stroked her cheek. She smiled warmly at her massive mate and turned back to the Queens. “Where do you want me and Danté to go, and how many warriors do we take with us?”

“Wait!” Trevor said with a darkling frown. “I haven’t had a chance to speak with you my Queen, but you have to be told. When we were in the Dark Realm, I spoke with the Dark King’s consort, Crystal. Jazmine Decker told me something as she lay dying in her retreat in the Dark Realm. She said you will need
Twalla
to re-thread the walls of the Dark Realm and contain its evil within. She said it was used by Queen Bridget when the wall was first created. It is the missing ingredient we have lacked all this time.”

Suddenly, the occupants of the room could almost touch the magic that vibrated off both Queens. Jazz was sure the air was actually pulsating with the force of the power emanating from the matriarchs.

“Twalla?”
Aaibhe said softly and closed her eyes. “But of course. Bridget used
Twalla,
which none but a pure royal can touch. Twalla which can be woven by magic to make an invincible wall that can only be cracked by time. That is why we have had problems with the wall.
Time
.” She frowned and looked at Trevor. “But
Twalla
was lost to us when Danu was destroyed.”

“Crystal seemed to believe that it was within your grasp. She said you needed to search for it and that only you or a Royal could find it,” Trevor shrugged.

Aaibhe frowned, held her head up and said, “Then by Danu we shall. Crystal has never lied to me. If she gave you such a message then so be it.” She took a moment while everyone quieted and then her voice edged with resignation said, “Nevertheless, in the meantime we must deal with the situation as it stands.”

Aaibhe regarded them thoughtfully, “I am afraid that each of you will be needed at different portals. I am going to have to ask you to separate so that all our powers can be used at maximum efficiency.” She turned to Jazz. “Jazmine, because you are new to this I am sending you with Ete to Inverness. Ete knows where to go and the correct spell needed to transport the dolmens to what Queen Mab and I call the Wasteland. Ete knows Inverness well. She knows where the dolmens stand in the River Liffey.” She turned to Trevor and said, “You my prince, will take fifty of our warriors and go to Edinburgh Castle and remove the invisible dolmens hidden on the castle’s hillside.”

She turned to Breslyn and Danté. “My dear Breslyn, you are for Belfast and Danté you are for Dublin. Radzia, take Nuad and his Royal Trackers and guard the Portal dolmens at your MacDaun.” She sighed heavily. “Chancemont with some of his army covers London at the Bloody Tower and Princess Royce and Morgan LeBlanc are at Stonehenge with the rest of the Milesian army. Queen Mab has already dispatched her Royals and her smaller army to various cities where we have monoliths large enough to be utilized by the Dark Princes.” She sighed heavily, “I know you don’t like being spread out like this, but at the moment we don’t have a choice. Princess Aida and her mate Desmond are already monitoring Killarney, but the three Lakes there make it difficult to do this without help. Shee Willow and her Druid mate Shayne will cover the upper Lake. I can not put our mortal Druids and their mates at risk, so I have asked Maxine and Julian to do no more but keep watch on the MacTalbot dolmens. BJ and Daremont also mortals they will monitor the dolmens on their land.” She sighed heavily, “I believe that covers any and all monoliths large enough to transport an army the size Pestale means to throw at us.” Aaibhe put up her hands, “All of you must be spread out if we are going to be successful.”

Aaibhe looked to Queen Mab she nodded and added her thoughts, “The Daoine Royals are already moving to remove portals and have reported to me that three major portals have been sent to the Wasteland and are now out of reach. We will also be ready with my warriors to join you whenever and wherever needed. You have but to use the mind link to your Queen who is linked to me and my warriors will assist.”

“No,” said Trevor quietly everyone turned and looked in his direction. He had gone rigid after he heard the Queen give orders for Jazz to go off with Ete and his tone now was passionate as he added, “Jazmine Decker goes with me, Ete doesn’t need her.”

“Not this time, my Prince,” said Queen Aaibhe. “Jazmine has special qualities that she needs to explore and Ete, with her Daoine blood, can guide her through her new abilities
and
keep her safe
.
They are for Inverness.”

Trevor stood tall as though forgetting he was addressing his queen. “
No
! she is newly transitioned my Queen.”

“I see,” Aaibhe tilted her head thoughtfully and then sighed heavily. “I understand your concerns my young prince, but we don’t have time for this. Princess Ete is perfectly capable of keeping Jazmine safe. I understand you are newly bonded and as such your emotions are presently outweighing your good sense.” She turned to Jazz who was frowning darkly over Trevor’s outburst. Jazz was in fact, both embarrassed and annoyed by Trevor’s remarks. Did he think her incapable of taking care of herself?

The Queen regarded her quietly and asked, “My dear, do you feel up to the task? It will be most dangerous.”

“I do!
I shall go where you feel that I am most needed.” Jazz returned and did not look at Trev as she stood straight and proud.

Trevor took her arm,
“I forbid it.”

“You what?
Forbid?
” He had said the wrong thing to her. “
Forbid?”
She lost all control. She poked him hard in the chest. She could see the reflection of her anger in his eyes. “You are many things to me, but you do not have the right, now or ever to
forbid
me anything!” She raised her chin and turned her back to him.

“Enough!” said the Queen. She went silent for a moment and suddenly, the Queen’s voice was in Jazz’s head. She received the Queen’s marching orders. She realized each one was silently being given their mission through mind links.

She turned her head and before Trevor could object again, she squeezed Frankie’s hand and told her to stay with the Queen. She then turned to Ete. Ete who had been stroking Breslyn’s face and whispering private words, gave him one last smile and turned to Jazz and took her hand.

Jazz knew she was walking into a life and death situation. She didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye to Trevor, but she had to nip this
control thing
in the bud. She had to teach him that he couldn’t order her about. Her heart objected and screamed for her to run to him, but suddenly she knew that if she did he would shift her away. It would be safely out of danger and she couldn’t allow him to do that. She held her profile stern and did not turn to him as she smiled at Ete and said, “Let’s go do this.”

“Do you not wish to bid Trevor…”

“I can’t—I know him too well. He will try and stop me,” Jazz said cutting her off.

Ete eyed her, sighed and said, “Very well then.” And they were off.

At their backs Danté was attempting to calm his younger brother who had reached out at the last moment to stop Jazz from leaving.

“I shall go mad,” Trev said to his older brother. “I can’t bear it. Danté, if anything were to happen to her existence for me would be over. Let me go to her.”

“You have a duty. Do you mean to shirk it?” his brother admonished.

“What of my duty to keep my beloved safe?”

“She is safe with Princess Ete, but you do know that don’t you?” Danté raised his brows once more toward Breslyn obviously looking for help.

Z sighed impatiently over this and kissed Danté soundly before saying, “Nuad and his Trackers are here and we’re off, my love.”

Danté hugged her fiercely. “
Enfant
, promise me that you will not allow yourself to be hurt.”

“I don’t want to be, so that is an easy promise,” she said as she laughed and then she was gone.

Breslyn obviously relenting, moved over to Trev and nudged him to say, “Not a brilliant move, doing the ‘forbidding thing’.” Breslyn shook his head, “That word, ‘forbid’ will never get you anywhere with a lass like you’ve got. Your mate doesn’t look to me like someone who will take orders easily.” So saying he laughed out loud and then because of Trevor’s miserable expression added, “Don’t worry. She is with my Ete. No harm will come to either of them.” He added proudly, “None wiser than Ete.”

A moment later the room was empty but for the two Queens and little Frankie who threw herself at Queen Aaibhe and began to sob.

Aaibhe patted Frankie’s back and held her comfortingly. “My Fae child,
you
are a Daoine. Your father is a great warrior. Trevor and Jazmine are both brilliant and mighty so none will get near any of them. We will defeat the beasts.”

Frankie looked up at her and said, “Aye then, but I want to help.”

“And you shall. You must stay safe so they don’t have to worry about you” Aaibhe dropped a kiss on the child’s forehead.

Frankie agreed to it, but Aaibhe could see the child’s mind was working the matter through. She wasn’t so sure Frankie would stay put for too long. She had to keep her diverted because she had to come into her own slowly and ease into what she was going to be.

Chapter Ten

JAZZ LOOKED UP the avenue that led to the Inverness Castle overlooking the gray water of Inverness River. The red sandstone structure was massive. Once an 11
^th
century defensive stronghold, it had been built to withstand an army and time. She remembered reading that Shakespeare had used this castle as his setting for Macbeth.

Inverness Castle
—here she was
in Scotland.
How long ago was it when she was simply human with human dreams?

She looked around warily. Her eyes were no longer those of a tourist, but of a warrior. Her Fae senses clicked in on what was present and what was not.

Only the grounds of the castle were open to the public. She could see from the bus load of people in the parking lot that there were quite a few who meant to enjoy the extensive landscaped beauty of the castle.

She watched as the tourists disembarked from the bus. They were all chattering and excited to look back into the past and imagine what it was like to live in another time. For a while, she had done that…

Jazz would never have thought that she, a Fios, would be in Scotland fighting a war against a race of monsters, and not only standing beside Fae Royals, but finding herself desperately in love with one. Jazz, Ete, and the warriors were invisible to the humans. It was an odd sensation knowing that she couldn’t be seen. When she was still human, she would have seen past the Féth Fiada and would have been terrified at the sight And now, ha, she was part of that sight--
weird.
It seemed like not too long ago, she was working as a tour guide for seniors to waste away the summer before she began her job in the fall as a Marine Biologist. She had wondered where that girl had gone, and what happened to her life.

Ete broke into her thoughts, “Do you see them—the monoliths. They are beautiful are they not? It’s so sad that they should be used for such evil.”

“I agree. I wonder how they are floating like that above the river. Is Pestale causing that?”

“No. They aren’t floating Jazmine. If you look closer, you will see that they are at the water’s edge. The monoliths have an aura that only Fae can see. That is what makes you think they are floating.” She smiled at Jazz. “Your transition must be near completion if you can see the aura of the monoliths.”

“That’s good, right? I gotta tell you I don’t feel like I’m Fae. I mean, I can sense a new power just like when I sense my Fios. I still feel like…
well
… like me,” Jazz said frowning over it.

“You are still you, Jazmine. You will always still be you and I have no doubt that while the Seelie Fae in you will be dominant in most respects, your human side will always drive your nature.” Ete shrugged. “How could it not? We are what we are because of many things, life experiences being top on that list.” Ete looked around and suddenly said on a very sad note, “We didn’t arrive in time. The abominations are almost here. They are already in the web of the portal. It will start spitting them out, but our first priority is to contain the creatures and spare the humans.” She took Jazz’s hand. “Repeat what I say, but don’t just say the ancient Danu words. Concentrate on all of your abilities in giving those words meaning.”

Jazz licked her bottom lip. Before she was able to ask Ete how she was supposed to understand, Danu started translating for her as Ete spoke.

Jazz heard Ete and repeated each word with feeling, and a deeper understanding.
“
ballai cloiche a chaomhau, greilli agus treilis, beartoidh mé, ni, aon, ni, coimeadam.”