Wicked Rage of the Moon: Book Three of the Airendell Chronicles (10 page)

“Please don’t tell me that you want me to kill you?  I am not willing to do that.  We can surely devise something that you can’t escape from when the change is upon you.  I can’t kill you because of what you might do,” Morna says sincerely.

“Morna I am not asking you to kill me, or even to devise a method to keep me from murdering innocents. But both would be preferable if you are unable to help me with the cure.”  Rodrigo says quietly.

“What cure?  I am not a powerful healer.  We do have many powerful healers in our Guild, and I could enlist the aid of healers from Asgard…” Morna is quickly warming up to this when Rodrigo holds up his hand.

“Forgive me, Madam.  Let me finish my explanation.  I have been having visions for six months of a valiant warrior who cures me.  Over the last two months the visions have become more defined, I was seeing a valiant woman warrior leading a small but powerful force.  When I saw you here in this glen after you battled the Trolls, I knew that you were the one who could cure me.  I nearly came forward that day, but I saw George and was reluctant to come to him in front of strangers.  My absence has hurt my son a great deal over the years, and I confess I was cowardly about seeing him.”  Rodrigo looks solemnly at his son and falls silent for a moment.

The tormented Stone Breaker sighs and continues; “I wasn’t sure how you could cure me until last night, I received the final bit of information about the cure in yet another vision.” 

Rodrigo sighs again and looks at his mother, “I can’t ask this of her, Mother.  I have no right.  I should leave.  The full moon will be upon me in five days.  I should go make arrangements to keep me from harming anyone.” 

Rodrigo starts to stand up when Maria orders, “Sit down Rodrigo.  I am not just your mother, I am your spiritual leader, and I am telling you, she will want to help.  Tell her what you need.”

Morna takes Rodrigo’s hands and pulls gently until he is again sitting beside her.  “We are bound by your connection to Odin.  More importantly we are bound by your connection to George and Maria.  I love them deeply and value their power and wisdom.  If they think I can help, I want to help.  Besides, it is my duty to protect the mortals of Eire and Wales.  At the very least, I must keep you restrained when the change comes upon you,” Morna says quietly.

Rodrigo looks at Luca and gulps.  Morna quickly understands and places a calming hand on her beloved.  “Luca will not harm you.  Tell us what you need.”

“I am not afraid of him hurting me.  I am troubled that I must ask something like this of the one that he loves as he loves you.  I have never felt a love so strong as what I feel between you two,” Rodrigo says honestly.

“Rodrigo, I promised Morna I would hear you out.  You have nothing to fear from me for speaking of your need.  Just don’t expect me to allow anything that is harmful to her or our babe.  I heard enough from you earlier as you spoke to your mother to have a very good idea what you plan to ask for,” Luca says flatly, unemotionally.

“Astounding!  I have never met anyone that could completely just shut their emotions off like that.  But you don’t shut them off do you?  You shut them away… Amazing.  Sorry, I am so very intrigued by the both of you.”  Rodrigo confesses.  He takes a deep breath and looks at Morna, “Madam, if I were to feed on your blood as you carry this child, I would be cured.”

Morna nods and says, “How much of my blood would you need to drink and by what method would you need to drink the blood.  I mean would you have to bite me, or could we simply extract the blood and allow you to drink it like I do, from a cup?”

“In the vision I…”  Rodrigo looks at Luca and then says, “I should not need to drink it from your body, drinking your donated blood from a cup should suffice.  As to how much?  Well, I am not sure about that.  I just know that in my visions, I drank your blood three days in a row.” Rodrigo says quietly.  “In my visions, you perform a healing rite, cut your arm and I drink deeply.”

“No, that is too much for Morna to do safely,” Luca says flatly.

Rodrigo ducks his head and says, “Sir, I understand completely.”

Morna turns to Luca and says, “Darling, you have the final decision in this matter.  I will not argue with your final decision.  But at this moment, we do not have all the facts, all the information we need to decide.  If we cannot safely do this, I will abide by your decision to refuse to help Rodrigo.  But we simply don’t know enough right now to refuse.” 

Luca nods, conceding her point and Morna stands to speak to Ingrid.  “We need to assemble our most powerful healers at the Healer’s Hall in Asgard.  Please get permission from Odin and Mordir for this.  And then summon Elias, Gullveig, Micah, Reagan, Breena, Rinda, Aideen, Kylor, and Collingwood to the Healer’s Hall.  Obviously, Maria and George will need to be there.  Also, I think Nora, Aiden, Kyle and Sammy should be there as well.  If nothing else, they should have an opportunity to voice their opinions.  I will call Fionn, Carrick, Brian and Shamus the Elder and ask them to help us keep him from harming anyone, either by devising a spell that he cannot get out of or to stand guard over him during the change should we not be able to help with the cure.”

Morna takes Luca’s hand and says, “Love?  Are you alright with my plans?”

“Yes Morna, especially the latter part.”  He takes her hand and says, “Okay Baby, let us get this show on the road.”

Morna kisses her mate and turns to offer her hand to her distant Uncle.  “Come Rodrigo.  The healers will want to examine both of us, extensively.  We only have five days until the full moon, and according to our daughter Nora, we only have seven days until Madigan is born.  We have twenty four hours to make a decision before we need to start the treatments.”

Ingrid says, “Annie will be here in a minute to travel to Asgard with you.  I will follow behind when I have contacted everyone you requested, and have gotten Brynhold started on returning your glen to its former unspoiled glory.”

Morna laughs and says, “I am sure that Brynhold doesn’t need you to get him started, but I understand what it is like to be afflicted with the Wonder Woman complex.”

“I am like a comic book character?” Ingrid says in disbelief.

“I am too, my friend.  We try to be all things to all people, and are determined to make sure everyone is doing what they are supposed to do, and doing it in the right way.  You have no idea how hard I have struggled as I allowed you to handle so many matters for me,” Morna admits with a self-deprecating laugh.

Ingrid looks at Luca and he nods his agreement.  “She has always been thus.  It has amazed me how much she has relied on you.  It is a testament to your abilities that she is so confident in you.”  Luca says with an open smile.  “She doesn’t consider you a comic book character.  Not at all.”

Ingrid smiles and says, “Well, three cheers for the sisterhood of the Wonder Women!”  She winks at Morna and walks out of the tent to see to her duties without giving another thought to the matter.

Annie arrives several seconds later.  She is wearing jeans and an old ratty concert tee shirt with a large, leather gym bag hanging off of her shoulder.  Morna smiles because she knows that the bag contains her sword, and shield and probably her leather breastplate.

Morna moves to introduce Annie to Rodrigo, but he speaks up.  “We met.  She challenged me when I arrived earlier to speak to my mother.  If Archer had not been with me and Maria had not spoken up for me, she would have chased me back through the gateway.  She is a warrior worthy to serve with you, Madam.”

Morna chuckles and says, “Yes, she is also my friend and my niece.  And your distant niece as well.  She is Valliant’s granddaughter.  In fact, she is actually biologically related to you, whereas I am not.  In my last incarnation I was not born of a bloodline descended from Odin.  We are not blood kin, but kin nonetheless.”  Morna smiles when Rodrigo smiles with shy pride. 

The group quickly makes their way to the Healer’s Hall after requesting permission from Heimdall.  Mordir eagerly meets them.  “Ingrid explained the basics of what we are looking for, but I need more information.”  He leads them into the hall and a team of Asgardian healers descend and begins drawing blood from both subjects, and examining them.  Reagan, Elias and Gullveig take over the examinations of Morna.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After two hours Annie brings Morna some more blood.  She had been listening to the healers examining Rodrigo and the healers that have been examining Morna.  “Morna, may I make a suggestion?”  When Morna nods, Annie continues, “Lou should be here, too.  He is not a medical doctor, but he is fascinated by nanobot technology.  Anything that Lou is fascinated by, he makes a point of becoming very knowledgeable about.  Some of the things they have been saying about your blood reminds me of the things he says about nanobots.” 

Mordir overhears that comment and says, “Of course!  Why did I not see that before?  Morna your blood is making antibodies that function much like nanobots.  They are destroying things that are harmful to you and the baby, but are building up the baby and strengthening your body.  These antibodies are wholly organic and magical in origin, but their function amaze and confound me.  I would be very interested to see what someone more knowledgeable about nanobots would have to say about your blood.  I really want to understand by what mechanism her blood might cure Rodrigo.”

“Fine!  Do what you will so that you understand.” snaps Luca.  “But I must know, will donating that much blood be dangerous for Morna?”

“Well yes, but to a very manageable degree.  She is incredibly strong and heals at an amazing rate.  She would most likely come through it without any lasting ill effects.  I suspect that she would suffer some discomfort and some weakness from it, but I don’t think it poses any real threat to Morna,” Mordir says.

“What of our child?”  Morna asks.

Reagan laughs and says, “Madam, if you were to die at this moment, the child would survive.  He simply grows stronger the longer he stays in your womb.  I am supremely confident that the child would not suffer a bit if you donated the blood needed to attempt the cure.”

Luca snorts and calls Kylor to him.  “Son, I need two things from you, right now.  First, enter Rodrigo’s mind and review the visions exactly.  Memorize them so that you can replay them to me, image by image, nuance by nuance.  Can you do that?”

“Certainly, if Rodrigo consents.”  Kylor says quietly.

“He will, if he wants my mate to help him.”  Luca says with finality.  “Second, I need you to teach me the mechanism by which you enter a mind.  I don’t want to enter a mind, but I think I can modify your technique to attach my consciousness to Morna’s antibodies to see what they do in her body and in his body.  I want to make sure that drinking her blood is actually the most efficient way to deliver the cure,” Luca says excitedly.  He is hopeful that he can devise another way for Morna to help him without posing any significant risk to her or to their child.

Mordir gasps and claps his hands together.  “Lucian that would be amazing if you can do it.  You must come and study with us and teach us when matters calm down for your family and Guild.  If you can do this it would revolutionize medicine for our kind and eventually for mankind as well.”

“Sorry Mordir, I had not thought about it that way.  I am simply seeking to protect my mate and yet allow her to help Rodrigo.  I know how much she wants to help, and I know that if I don’t find a safer solution, I will consent to the more dangerous method just because she really wants to do this.  I am a weak man in that regard, I can deny my mate nothing that she really wants or needs.  And she needs to cure this man.  It is essential to her to accomplish this,” Luca admits flatly, unemotionally.

Mordir looks at Luca with obvious admiration and says; “You are not weak, Sir.  You simply love your mate and know that she is a wise and decent leader.”

“She is indeed.”  Luca says with finality.  He sees Morna open her mouth to say something and then snap it shut and look at her hands.  “Amazing!” he whispers in her ear, “Thank you for not dismissing my praise of you.”  He kisses her quickly and walks off with Kylor to discuss the process of entering a mind.

Morna yawns and says, “I need to sleep soon, but first I have a few questions for you Mordir.”  When Mordir nods she asks, “Have you identified the specific mechanism through which the curse turns Rodrigo into this blood thirsty beast?”

“Yes, Lady Morna, we have.  Some foreign agent, presumably from the blood wolf, has attached itself to Rodrigo’s mitochondrial DNA.  We assume that that is why the trait was not passed on to George.  The foreign agent has actually modified that DNA that it is attached to.  We theorize that your blood, especially the antibodies that are present in it right now, will attack those foreign bodies on Rodrigo’s DNA,” Mordir says excitedly as he rubs his hands together.  “I am sorry, I can’t help myself, and this is ground breaking stuff that we are working on here right now.  Very exciting.”

“Yes Mordir it certainly is,” Morna says with a chuckle.  “Please help Luca figure out a way to make it happen.  I promised Luca that he had final say as to whether or not I would help, because he feared the risk to my life to donate that much blood.  Help him figure out a way to make it happen.  I can’t stand the idea of being able to help Rodrigo and not doing it.”  Morna says sincerely.

“Madam, I am honestly confident that you could safely donate two pints of blood a day for three days in a row without causing you permanent harm.  But it will be very demanding for you physically, and it will be a hard sell to convince your mate,” Mordir says honestly.