by Hazel Hunter
“There are thousands of calpa surrounding the island,” I reminded him. “We have maybe a couple hundred. Even with our powers, and the strongest of the druids and the villagers, we just don’t have the numbers.”
“Aye,” Ellar chimed in. “And they’ve the advantage in water.”
Gill nodded. “’Tis how Sorley and I reckon they’ll siege the castle. We must turn that into a weapon to use against them.” He brought a map scroll over to the big table, and rolled it out before he began relating what he wanted to do.
The plan was pretty outrageous. It also required a lot of the Angels to do the heavy lifting, and they’d be risking their lives for the duration. Griogair would have absolutely nixed it, and I think Isabel would have, too. This wasn’t a safe plan, and if we tried it some of us were going to die. Maybe a lot of us.
I looked across the table at Gill. “The Angels will be reborn, but you know Kendric and his crew can’t bring you guys back from the dead a second time.”
He nodded. “’Tis weighed on me, to ask such. Only if we’re ever finished, Ruith and the calpa willnae stop with our clan. I vow next they’ll go to the mainland.”
He was right; the dark druidess might have brought all her crap down on herself, but she would never stop making humanity pay the tab. Eyeing the pale faces of my friends, my sisters, my squad, I wondered what Coach would say to them. She’d always been protective of us, but this was about more than the Angels or the McGilleans.
The future of Scotland might depend on what we decided to do tonight. I liked Scotland. Scotland mattered.
“I cannae ask so much.” Gill looked around at everyone. “You must choose. Aye or Nay.”
The first ‘aye” was mine. Hearing it startled the McGillean, but didn’t seem to surprise the girls.
“Aye.” Val immediately raised her hand, and then nudged her husband, who did the same.
Reggie winked at me. “Aye-aye, Captain Coco.”
Our base and our tumbler had always had my back, and I smiled at them. A moment later every other Angel and clansman spoke their ayes and raised their hands in unison, and that’s when I realized they all did.
“Aye, then.” The laird still looked like hell, but I saw something new in his eyes. “We shall begin tonight.”
Chapter 35
Cursed
I held the lass’s limp body against my chest as I crawled through the narrow passage between the rocks. The clean, salt scent of the sea beckoned to me, but I resisted its lure. Remaining on land for so long had weakened me, as had the attack by the halfling. Iloren had used a spell to take me by surprise, and then nearly ripped me apart before taking on my form and leaving me to die. That was when I’d felt her slipping around me, as soft as a midnight breeze.
Sinclair. You can’t give up. I haven’t.
The McGillean Clan had proven to be courageous and clever in their war against the shape-shifters, as had their lady Angels, but they did not understand their enemy. My clan and I had been hunting the calpa for many centuries, and knew what they would do when they gathered in such great numbers, as they had here. Come the dawn after they attacked there would be not one thing left alive on the island.
I could not ask for their help, for they would not believe who and what I truly was. They had lived too short a time, and the history of the Still People had become naught but myths to them.
At last I found the entrance to the old opening among the rocky boulders by the waterfall, and tucked the lass against me as I ducked my head and made my way inside the tunnel. Falling water streamed down the walls, eroding away the stone in places to reveal the marks my people had long ago carved into them. If the dark druidess ever found them all, and learned how to wield their magic, there would be nothing on this world to stop her.
We would all be cursed to live in darkness for eternity.
Deeper and deeper into the earth I went, until a draft of air brought the scent of madness to my nose. I stopped and crouched down, cradling the lass in my arms as I looked through a gap in the wall ahead of me. On the other side I saw myself and Deborah, the woman of my dreams, whose body had been possessed by the stuff of nightmares—her evil sister, Ruith.
“You must aid me now, my son,” the dark druidess said to the shifter posing as me. “Since the old laird of the island bound me to stone and flung me in the loch, I’ve sworn to take my vengeance. ’Tis within my grasp now.”
The halfling’s face seemed to melt, changing the features and form he’d copied from me into the visage and body of a young, sly-looking druid.
He sat down on the floor of the sea cave and smiled up at Ruith. “They shall all die after my brother, Màthair. I will strip the flesh from his corpse and fashion daggers from his bones. Each one I shall drive into the hearts of mortals.”
“Aye, so you shall, my bonny lad, only not yet,” Ruith said, her tone curiously wheedling. “Our subjects shall attack the castle on the morrow with us, Iloren. We must ride with them and use our magics to protect them from those wretched sluts and their druid powers.”
Iloren frowned at her. “You mean the calpa? Oh, no, Màthair. They’re no’ our subjects. They’re your killers.”
Dismayed now, his mother shook her head. “You dinnae ken what you say.”
“I ken they used you to breed my brother when they knew he would tear you apart. After you died, they chained me and left me to starve. All of the calpa shall bleed in my hands.” His expression turned dreamy. “After we shall go to the mainland, and there end all mortal and druid and calpa alike, and then Britannia, and then all the realms of the world, until they are all ash, and no more may be born to permit them return.”
Ruith crouched down next to him. “Iloren, please. Find your way back to me now. I need you, my son.”
He caressed her cheek. “You shall have me always, Màthair. When they are dead, ’twill be no one to ever again betray us. ’Twill be but you and me forever.”
His madness sickened me, but seeing how the dark druidess embraced him and murmured her love made me want to puke. The halfling clung to her, and then uttered a strange sound as his mother cast a spell. A lurid green light rose from his body and dashed itself against the sea cave walls as it tried to find a way out. Deep within the stones my people’s marks awakened, and sucked Iloren’s spirit into the cracks and crevices until it vanished.
Ruith’s own spirit then poured from Deborah’s lips into the halfling’s sagging mouth, and then her body slumped over.
Iloren slowly stood, the insanity gone from his face as he beheld his arms and hands.
“We shall always be together now, my son,” he said in the dark druidess’s voice, and then strode out of the sea cave.
Once I felt sure that Ruith would not be returning, I lifted my hand to touch the wall of stone between the tunnel and the sea cave chamber, and murmured the words of a spell so ancient it had not been spoken aloud in a thousand years.
The gap in the wall widened as the stone drew back into the sides of the tunnel, and an arch of symbols appeared. I ducked under them and carried the lass to lay her gently beside Deborah’s lifeless body.
“Forgive me, Hannah,” I said as I gently brushed the pale hair from her sightless eyes. “’Twas the only way I could save my lady.”
I took Deborah’s limp hand in mine, and touched the marks on our palms together before I rested my palm on Hannah’s cold brow and cast the final spell to release the spirit I had bound to her corpse. I felt the cool rush of my lady’s spirit as she left the lass’s body and passed through me back into her own form. As she traveled through me my slashed eye burned as if being gouged out by a red-hot poker, but I held on until the last words of the incantation left my lips.
Deborah’s body shook, and she heaved in air as she jerked up and stared at me. “Sinclair.”
“Aye, lass.” Wearily I released her and Hannah, and leaned back against the sea cave wall. “’Tis done.”
She stood, turning slowly as she saw
the marks glowing in the stone walls around us. “Not yet, Pirate.”
Her dark hair lifted and danced around her face as her body began to glow with the cool white light of druid power. Her feet left the floor of the cave as she floated on the air and held out her hands, releasing energy over me and Hannah. The magic of her caressed my face, tugging away the patch covering my ruined eye before it kissed me there. Then it settled over Hannah, wrapping around her like a snowy cloak before it sank into her body.
My people had foreseen her coming as the Druidess of Light, born and stolen from her time to be protected until the day came that she would return to fight the Druidess of Darkness. I had always believed in the prophecy, but to bear witness to her becoming brought tears to my eyes. I had waited so long, and loved her so dearly in my dreams. Now the hour was upon us, and she would have to do battle to save us all.
My tears spilled as I realized I could see her with both of my eyes. She had healed me—and not only me.
Hannah stirred, and then opened her eyes and touched her head. “What happened to me?” She stiffened as she saw my lady float back down. “Deb?”
“It’s all right, sweetie.” Deborah helped her to her feet, and then held her hand out to me. As I took it and stood she pressed my palm to her cheek. “Thank you for trusting me.”
“I don’t understand.” Hannah pressed her palms to the sides of her head. “I’m not like I was. I feel happy, and I want to hug you. I want to hug you both, and laugh, and dance around, and this is crazy.” She gave my lady a wild look. “You fixed my brain?”
Deborah smiled. “The Gods did. I’m only one tool in a very big box.” She met my gaze. “We have to go back to the castle right now. Ruith is summoning her army from the sea to attack the clan and the Angels.”
I nodded, and took their hands in mine. “Come with me.”
Chapter 36
Where Might We Fly?
After I finished in the great hall, I went up to my chamber to look in on my wife. I sent Gayla down to join the Angels, and then sat beside Isabel and held her hand between mine. In the candlelight she looked peaceful, as if she were only sleeping. As laird of the McGillean, I had immortal life, enormous power, a formidable castle, and a loyal clan who would serve me for eternity. Yet for the woman I loved more than life itself, I could do nothing.
Would she ever again awaken?
“I’ve readied our clan for battle,” I told her. “They’ll fight the dark druidess and her demons to the last, my lady.”
I did not know if she could even hear me. The wound to her head that Iloren had inflicted had been grave, and should have ended her. That she clung to life still left me in awe of her yet again. She had survived two trips through time and a plane crash, all for love of me and her girls. Instead of the happy life I had promised her, she had been forced to fight alongside me and my clan against hordes of monstrous shape-shifting calpa and their hateful queen, a dark druidess so powerful, so evil that we now faced almost certain defeat.
Isabel had never complained once. She remained at my side, steady and true, always seeking to protect and defend what we held dear.
“I love you, Wife.” I pressed my mouth to her brow, and cheek and her lips. “If I fall, ken that I go with you as my only dream, Isabel. Ken that I shall wait until we may find each other again, always with you in my heart.”
I tucked the blankets around her, and smoothed the hair back from her pretty face. She had ever been the stronger of the two of us, sure that good would prevail, her faith in me unshakeable. I would be the same for her now.
I knelt beside the bed, bowing my head as I prayed. Not for my life, but for hers, and that of the family that we had built together. I would fight to the death to stop Ruith and the calpa, but for my woman and her lasses and my men I would gladly give up my soul, and any chance of seeing Isabel again.
If only the Gods would hear me. If only they would take me as sacrifice, and let them live.
As Sinclair led Hannah and I out of the tunnel, I felt the fine spray from the waterfall mist my face, and the sunlight pouring its warmth over me. Being able to live again in my own body felt like the only gift I’d ever want for the rest of my life. Not having Ruith’s toxic spirit poisoning mine made me feel clean, too, although that was probably due to the new power humming inside me. I didn’t know where the healing light I had used on the laird and Hannah had come from—the sea cave, the McMaren himself, or the Gods I had forgotten—but it lived in me now.
With it had come an understanding of my strange, unhappy life. So many terrible mistakes had been made, and so many sacrifices. I’d also just watched my sister murder Iloren—her son, and my nephew—so she could steal his body and use it to kill everyone who mattered to me. I don’t know why that had shocked me so much. She’d tried to do the exact same thing to me.
Ruith wasn’t just evil, she was Sick AF Evil.
“Deb?” Hannah gave me a worried look. “You okay?”
I didn’t know if I could stop this apocalypse, or if I’d survive trying to. As strong as I’d become, Ruith had twice as much power. Then there was Sinclair, who looked at me like I was his only for-life gift. He had a lot of secrets he was still trying to hide from everyone, even me. Passing through him from Hannah to my body, however, had shown me all of them.
“I will be,” I told my cheerleading sister. “Come on.”
Once we climbed to the top of the cliff Sinclair untethered two horses waiting there, and had me and Hannah ride on one while he led the way back to Dun Dorchas on the other. At the edge of the big glen he reined in and gestured for us to stop, and then waved us over to an ash grove where he dismounted and helped us down. I heard shouts, and through the trees I could see a huge herd of calpa in their horse form stampeding after a group of girls running for the castle.
“The battle, ’tis beginning,” Sinclair murmured, reaching for his sword.
“Wait.” As I felt my sister’s magic slithering through the air I put my hand on his. “They’re not Ruith’s weapon.” I turned my head toward the loch, where the shining waters began to seethe and boil, and a wave of ugly yellow light spread beneath the churning waves, stretching out as it engulfed everything in its path. “That is.”
I’d just gotten the last of the Angels into formation for our final practice when I heard Griogair outside shouting for archers to ready their bows. My husband would not be holding a drill now, so my shamaness power went to Defcon 5.
Gayla stepped out of line and peered at my face. “Coco, your eyes just turned black. Like black with stars. That is so cool, can you teach me to do that?”
I looked at her.
“Okay, okay, chill.” She stepped back into position.
As Doc Ivers passed by me she met my gaze, her own steady. Frost bloomed in Andrea’s footprints as she headed for the stairs, and then melted as her mate, Kendric Gowan, passed her with a brush of the back of his hand against hers. He went out the other way, leaving a trail of magic and heat in the air.
Seeing the same determination in the face of all the Angels with me, I nodded to the girls. “All right, ladies. Show time.”
I led the squad single-file out of the courtyard and through the narrow entry guarded by the brawniest of our guys. As I passed him Roxanne’s husband lifted his ham-size fist and began striking the iron armor covering his chest, and then all the guards did the same. We marched to that cadence as we spread out, forming a wall between the castle and the loch.
I took a moment to look back at the battlements, where my husband was striding along the walk lighting the archers’ braziers with a torch. He saw me and pressed his hand over his heart, and then smiled as I did the same.
Love you. That was all we needed to ever say to each other.
Heavy vibrations shook the ground under my feet, but when I looked out toward the loch I didn’t see horses charging at us. I saw Reggie, Caroline, Tory, Miranda, and every other member of the squad—including me.
“O
h, hell, no,” I heard the Lola next to me mutter.
The calpa had shifted into exact duplicates of all the Angels. Now the clan wouldn’t know who to fight and who to protect.
Behind them I saw more shape-shifters in horse form being led by Iloren, Velvet’s halfling brother—but not him. With my shamaness eyes I could see the dark aura of Ruith’s spirit radiating from his form. She’d snatched her own son’s body, and as she came to a halt she transformed into his druid human form and raised her hands.
“As once I was cast to drown in your embrace, now I bid you swallow up and choke the breath from my enemies,” she shouted. “Take them from the face of the earth into your depths. Avenge me and mine and crush the life from them all.”
Beyond the Angels charging us the magic-polluted loch waters began to rise up from the banks, cresting higher and higher as they formed a towering, terrifying wave. Fish flopped around the now-dry loch bed around it as it began to curl over, and then turned into a huge flood heading straight for Dun Dorchas.
“Now,” I shouted to the girls, who turned and ran with me into the castle. The guards followed us inside, slamming down the barriers Smith had erected over all the openings.
Roxanne’s husband gave me a grim look. “’Twillnae hold against so much water, Lady Gabrielle.”
“It won’t have to,” I promised him.
I went to the window, where I saw the tsunami-size wave reach the calpa who had shifted into Angels. As the water rushed around them they shifted into their horse forms, and slid beneath the waves.
“Everyone, into the courtyard,” I called to the squad. “Reggie, you’re up.”
Our tumbler grabbed a wool tartan, wrapping it around her as she ran out through one of the arches.
Sweat trickled down my face as I closed my eyes, and focused on the druid magic seething inside me. Please, Gods, don’t bail on me now.
