Goddess Rising

by Alisha Ashton

  Fight for our lives together? Skye asked incredulously.

  Precisely! Isn’t it exhilarating? he asked as he released the Wolf, dropping her to the ground in the predetermined place. Now, what do you want me to do? I’m open to anything… And I do mean ANYTHING.

  Shocking, Skye scoffed. Get back to me, she answered, sending him an image of the Woman and her sense that she was the most vulnerable point of the trio.

  Brandubh clicked his tongue at that and let out an incredulous, hmm… He watched to ensure the Wolf had landed well and could fend off the creatures heading her way before returning to the Woman.

  “Stay behind me,” the Woman urged as he landed.

  Brandubh nodded, taking a few steps away from her, then watched curiously to see what she had planned. The gargantuan monster was looking a bit steadier now, its sight having mostly returned. Brandubh used his power to hold off the creatures that were attempting to reach Skye’s three manifestations.

  The Woman, Wolf, and Goddess each extended their arms toward their counterparts and closed their eyes. A cord of power flashed into view and joined them together. A radiant triangle of light surrounded the beast.

  Brandubh grinned in anticipation as her power grew brighter.

  With a thunderous boom, light rushed inward from each of the three, striking the creature. It screamed and writhed as her magic danced across its skin like electricity. It could not escape her grasp. She was purifying the power it contained. Reclaiming it.

  The power rushed outward from the creature, slamming into the Woman, Wolf, and Goddess. They screamed in unison – a terrible, unsettling sound – with the Woman giving a furious battle cry, the Wolf letting out a deafening roar, and the Goddess shrieking like a banshee. The three glowed intensely as they absorbed the recovered magic.

  Brandubh clapped excitedly and bounced in place.

  The towering beast collapsed like a marionette with its strings cut. All three aspects of Skye turned away from the monster as fast as it crashed to the ground, each moving on to the next obstacles standing between them and their goals.

  40: A Bit Deeper

  Aiyana, Miko, and Drostan looked up worriedly at the jarringly panicked tones of the faoil around them. Something had changed. While they had been focused on Ciaran, the battle had been growing more intense by the minute, drawing rapidly closer. The faoil surrounding them had been able to keep the threats at bay so far, but things had clearly just taken a turn for the worse.

  Elijah, in faol form, was abruptly shoved in alongside them by Ailean. While Eli growled in frustration at being benched, he did not disobey the snarled, direct orders of his Maker.

  “They're a' wi' ye noo, brother!” Ailean shouted frantically to Drostan.

  Frowning severely at the distress in Ailean’s voice, Drostan looked around trying to see what was wrong. He quickly caught sight of a massive, troll-like beast lumbering toward them, cutting through waves of abominations and faoil alike. It swatted the random faoil trying to bring it down aside like flies, determined to reach the fògaraich attacking the barrier. Unfortunately, Drostan and the others were directly in its path.

  “JESUS… SUFFERING… FUCK!” Drostan bellowed, leaping to his feet and shifting into faol form. Miko followed suit without hesitation. Along with Elijah, the three of them formed a wall of muscle in front of Aiyana and Ciaran.

  “We wull dae a' we kin tae halt it,” Ailean assured. “Bade safe, th' lot o' ye.” He cast a final, deeply conflicted glance at them all. He did not want to leave them. They had vowed to protect their youngest and most vulnerable family members together. He simply had no other choice. If the threat was allowed to continue on its current course, they would all surely die. At least this way they stood a chance of preventing it from reaching the pups, Aiyana, and Ciaran. With a heavy heart, he turned and raced back into the fray with Aodh hot on his trail.

  Aiyana cried out in alarm when she got her first glimpse of the colossal creature. She released Ciaran’s hand, pulled her rifle strap down off of her shoulder, and got to her feet.

  “SHOULD WE MOVE?” she shouted, glancing down at Ciaran’s incapacitated state. Ciaran wasn’t too big – only a few inches taller than her and maybe 20-30 lbs. heavier. She knew – if push came to shove – that she could firefighter carry, Ranger roll, or even straight up drag his ass to safety as a last resort. But he was still crying out and writhing in anguish. He was in absolutely no condition to be moved.

  Drostan and Miko growled replies, but she had no hope of understanding them. Neither made a move to leave, though, so she took it they were standing their ground. Just as well, she supposed. After surveying the area, she had not seen a single safe location to which they could retreat.

  “Here’s hoping you won’t remember this shit, Ciaran,” she muttered as she shouldered her rifle and stepped over him. She stood with a foot pressed against each of his hips, straddling him to ensure nothing was able to reach him without her notice.

  Drostan could see Ailean and Aodh, along with many of their brothers, doing their best to take out the beast’s legs. They were not having any luck so far. Drostan sighed in relief when he saw Taran in the distance racing toward the beast. Their King was roaring commands, rallying the faoil to attack as one, to use the strength of the pack to bring it down. The faoil followed his instruction to the letter, coordinating their attacks. The difference was immediate. The monster shrieked and thrashed as they surrounded and swarmed it, taking out its legs and going for its throat.

  With the vast majority of faoil following Taran’s commands, Drostan and the others were left far more vulnerable to attack. Aiyana fought to keep her breathing steady as creatures began taking notice and leaping at them from all sides. Drostan raced in a circle around them, frantically taking out the largest threats. Miko and Elijah moved to either side of Aiyana and tore through any that made it that far.

  Aiyana, standing at the center of the slaughter, gripped her gun to keep her hands from shaking as the fighting grew closer, louder, more violent. Blood and gore sprayed her face and soaked her clothes, but she kept still, minded her breathing, and watched for anything that might manage to slip through the ranks.

  A rapid cluster of deafening discharges from her rifle announced the first few to come close.

  The Woman and the Wolf stopped and turned in alarm toward the sound of gunfire.

  Aiyana… Miko… she whispered in her mind, unaware that she was broadcasting it.

  Your mortal lass and pup? Brandubh asked, startling her. She could hear the smile in his voice as he offered, Ya ‘ve only to say the word, dear, and I can see to it they are protected.

  Skye hated the glee he was taking in this, but grudgingly agreed. She was already in Brandubh’s debt – she was willing to go a bit deeper if it meant saving her family.

  Aiyana’s eyes hurt from holding them open for so long, but she could barely afford the luxury of blinking. In addition to the creatures coming at them from the sides, they were now being attacked from above. Her ears were throbbing from the constant gunfire. Her shoulder and wrists were aching from firing off so many rounds, but she did not dare pause for anything other than reloads.

  She held her breath as the bullet tally in her head rapidly dwindled. She had started with 30 rounds on this latest fresh clip. She had 3 left. She tried to steady her nerves for the inevitable swap. She willed her hands to be sure, not to fumble the clip. She willed her gun to be on its best behavior because she could NOT afford a jam.

  BANG.

  2 shots left.

  BANG.

  1 shot…

  BANG.

  Fuck.

  With perfectly terrible timing, likely because it could sense her fright reaching a crescendo, a winged creature chose that exact second to shriek and dive for her.

  “Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God,” Aiyana breathed like a mantra as she ejected the spent clip and reached into her side pack for a replacement. She watched the inbound creature with wid
e, panicked eyes as she freed the new clip and brought it up to her rifle.

  The creature was closing in fast, and she knew that for her to reload, aim, and fire in time, it would take nothing short of a miracle. The clip slid home and she brought her rifle up… then yelped in surprise as a separate winged blur intercepted her would-be attacker. She watched in astonishment as an armored fògaraich effortlessly tore the creature to pieces mid-air. The undead man then flew back over her and studied her for a second, assessing whether she had been harmed.

  Aiyana gaped up at him, unsure of how to react. Should she say, ‘thank you’?

  No, screw that.

  Another of his kind joined him and the two remained overhead, defending them against threats from above. They even joined Drostan a few times to take down the larger beasts.

  Drostan grudgingly accepted the help. He might not like it, but the truce was in place and he would do whatever was necessary to protect them.

  They are safe, Brandubh assured. I have two of my very best guarding over them. They arrived just in the nick of time, from what I hear. Quite the epic rescue. But really, your gratitude is all the payment I require.

  Skye exhaled slowly through the mouths of all three of her incarnations in equal parts relief and irritation. Thank you, she answered simply, and while it rubbed her the wrong way to accept his help, she was truly appreciative for it.

  They continued on as they had been, with Brandubh passing along blood from time to time, and her Goddess aspect consuming it before purifying and reclaiming it. With each surge of power, Skye’s strength grew. The stronger she became, the weaker the spells swirling within Teàrlach’s boundary became by comparison. They were losing their hold, losing their abilities to restrict Skye. In the receding limitations, the three thrived. Like interlocking gears finally slipping into their proper positions, they worked together and autonomously.

  The Goddess gripped the Wolf’s hand and lifted her high above their enemies before releasing her. As she descended, the Wolf transformed completely into faol form. She landed as a beauteous and terrifying beast, roaring triumphantly before mowing down Teàrlach’s abominations.

  The Goddess defended the Woman with blasts of power from a distance until she came upon several creatures she had not seen before. They were relatively small, low to the ground, but the majority of their bodies were made up of fang-ringed mouths. In her focus on defending the Woman, the Goddess made the mistake of underestimating the creatures. She dismissed the danger they posed and allowed them within 20 feet of her. That was close enough. Before she realized what was happening, one opened its horrid mouth impossibly wide, inhaling deeply and latching onto her light. The Goddess struggled to fly away, but she was caught as it syphoned her power. Several more of the leech-like creatures took advantage of her distraction and joined in, each latching onto her. The Goddess screamed in fury and fought to get away.

  She did not have to fight long before her attackers were cleaved in half by the Woman’s sword. The second she was released, Brandubh ushered the Goddess swiftly up into the sky. They each kept an eye peeled for that type of creature, determined to avoid another such assault. Several winged abominations tried their luck against them there, but they were all either blasted by the Goddess’ light or drained by Brandubh and dropped to the ground.

  Once he had fed upon a dozen of the foul creatures, Brandubh flew to the Goddess. Do ya want this? he asked in a slur.

  Skye could feel that he was becoming disoriented and sickened by all of the tainted blood he had consumed.

  Are you all right? Skye asked worriedly.

  The flying ones… are particularly potent, he answered. If ya don’t want any more, I am going to spit this poison back out.

  The Goddess flew to him then and gripped him by the throat. She hauled him forward and kissed him roughly, drawing all of the blood from him. But she took more than that.

  From across the field, the Woman frowned deeply at what she could feel. Brandubh was growing weaker the longer the Goddess held him. Their link was growing quieter.

  Release him, the Woman commanded her Goddess aspect. She was surprised to feel hesitation in that part of herself before compliance. She watched in alarm as the Goddess – having received what she needed – simply let go of Brandubh and allowed his limp body to plummet helplessly to the ground.

  The Woman’s eyes widened, and, without hesitation, she was off at a dead run to reach him. The Wolf raced toward him as well, meeting up with the Woman and moving directly into her path. The Woman leapt up onto the Wolf’s back, riding her beastly counterpart through the swarms of creatures.

  When they reached Brandubh, they found him desperately trying to crawl away from the creatures that were clawing and biting him. The Woman raced the rest of the way up the Wolf’s back and – with her sword swung back high overhead – launched herself down in front of Brandubh. She and the Wolf quickly tore through his attackers, then took up defensive positions. They worked together, driving back all of the enemies that were so eager to devour Brandubh before he regained his strength.

  From high above, the Goddess shrieked suddenly. The Wolf and Woman cried out with her, their eyes flashing with light as the power from the newly purified blood surged through them.

  Heal him, the Woman commanded.

  The Goddess looked down at Brandubh in disinterest.

  He is not mine, the Goddess replied coldly.

  HEAL HIM! the Woman commanded again, and this time held out a hand toward the Goddess. She pulled her divine aspect back to herself, pulled it back inside and took control. The Wolf defended them as the Goddess and Woman joined temporarily into one being. She placed her hands over Brandubh’s heart, using her light to return him to his former, wretched, undead state.

  Brandubh gasped as he recovered. He watched as the Goddess slid out into her own being and eyed him in distaste. She quickly flew up into the sky and returned to the battle.

  The Woman stayed at his side, looking him over worriedly.

  “Are you okay to fight?” she asked.

  Brandubh studied her in awe. “It’s you,” he whispered.

  The Woman quirked a thickly scarred brow. “Riiiiggghttt… I’ll just give you a minute,” she commented as she moved to stand.

  Brandubh reached up and gripped her hand tightly where it remained on his chest, preventing her from leaving. The Woman looked down at him sternly, silently demanding an explanation for his grip.

  “Ya think your human side is the weakest part of ya.” He laughed and shook his head. “Ya’ve got it all wrong, girl. It’s your greatest strength. Your fierce, loyal, human heart is the anchor. It nah only commands but earns allegiance and respect. It’s the part Sorcha lacks. The part she lacks…” he added, glancing up in the direction of the cold, pitiless Goddess overhead. He looked back to the Woman. “It’s why ya can command so much raw power when your ancestors never could. It’s the reason your Goddess and Wolf submit to your will as they do. They have waited all this time for YOU to take the helm, as ya were destined to. It’s you.”

  The Woman considered Brandubh’s words for a moment before nodding to him. Her eyes scanned the fighting going on around them, the creatures falling to dust and decomposition as the Wolf and Goddess put them down. But there was no end in sight. This war would drag on for days at this rate.

  The wind played at errant strands of her hair as she viewed the scene through the Goddess’ eyes. She could see her clansmen fighting – hundreds of fearsome faoil waiting to come to her aid. She could see Brandubh’s ancient fògaraich working to weaken the barrier. So many reinforcements were so close – if only they could reach them. Her eyes moved to the sky, to the full moon above and all its power, just out of grasp. She considered all of the factors, assessed the power she currently held, weighed out her options, then smiled.

  She looked over at Brandubh and asked, “Can you fly yet?”

  He tilted his head to the side, studying the glint in her eye befor
e smiling in reply. He nodded and spread out his wings as he stood, taking her hand and guiding her up with him.

  “What d’ya have in mind?” he asked.

  The Woman’s eyes moved to the barrier overhead.

  “We’re gonna throw a Hail Mary. Hit that thing with everything we’ve got,” she answered. She looked back to Brandubh as she asked, “You in?”

  Brandubh grinned from ear to ear. He waved his hands, eager to get the show on the road. “Aye! Yes! Of course, I’m in! What shall I do?”

  “Your men out there working on the barrier – can you tell them what we’re planning?” The Woman asked, and Brandubh nodded. “Good. Get them to be ready to hit it as hard as they can. If we all work together, I think we can bring it down.”

  “Bold move, Queen,” Brandubh commented with a whistle. “It suits ya.”

  Taran was right in the middle of taking out all of his frustration on a particularly warped creature when he heard an out of place sound.

  “King! Wolf King!” an unfamiliar voice called urgently from high overhead, seeking Taran out among the sea of faoil fighting in the area.

  Taran quickly dispatched the creature he had been battling and spun toward the voice. He was surprised to find one of the fògaraich flying toward him. His heart clenched at the possible reason. Transforming as he walked, Taran stepped over the bodies of his enemies. He felt a few of his brothers shifting and following closely behind, eager for word on Skye’s status.

  “What news?” Taran asked eagerly.

  The tall, lean, blonde, ancient blood-drinker landed in front of him and spoke in a surprisingly respectful tone. Taran narrowed his gaze on the man. He was strange for a fògarach – as were all of Brandubh’s personal guard. Something about them was… off. It was difficult to define. Had they the time, Taran would have been focused on trying to figure out what made them different.