by Grace Martin
Chapter Twenty-Two
We slept well that night, exhausted from dancing (and, in my case, fighting, typical). There was a companionable rumble as snores blended into each other and were muted by the constant crackling of the fire. I drowsed rather than slept. Each time I woke, when the fire was a little lower and a little lower, I looked across at all the people I loved. I named them. Sparrow. Rhiannon. Aine. Andras. Gwydion. I named those absent, too. David. Caradoc. Cuchulainn. Ronan. I repeated the names over and over as the firelight dwindled and dawn stained the sky.
Ce’deira was only another day’s flight away. We would reach there by evening.
The southernmost border of the Thousand Counties was famously beautiful, and, in the south-east, famously haunted. Sir Cai had brought us in this direction, I realised, as we flew over Rheged and continued east.
It was hard not to linger over the city. We’d seen devastation in the villages, but it was nothing compared to what had happened in the city. In my time it was practically deserted, buildings still crumbled and cobblestones blackened by soot.
I’d been responsible for most of it.
When I’d been in my dragon form fighting Darragh, the tornadoes used by the massive use of magic had destroyed most of the city. What he hadn’t ruined, I had. The White Queen had made her capital from the rebuilt ruins of Cairastel. There was little left of Rheged to save.
But, on we flew, on to Ce’deira. As in the north-east, where Cairastel towered over the sea on its mountaintops, Ce’deira lay nestled into the side of a mountain, by a river with a secret source that flowed out from a cave and around the fortress.
Even as we approached the massive, grey-stoned stronghold. I saw Aoife’s vanguard approaching. She was very visible, in the white and silver gown that made her famous as the White Queen. I could spot her, even from so far above.
And she complained that I made myself conspicuous.
I took hope. She wasn’t there yet. And she wasn’t the only one on the way. Approaching from the north were troops that Oisin’s fine eyesight identified as Camiri. Cuchulainn? I wondered? Would they be able to delay Aoife?
Oh, God. Would Cuchulainn survive? I needed him to survive. The tiny heart of a bird beats fast, but it beats faster when besieged by such fears.
The Wild Ones separated from us as we approached. They would form a line Aoife would have to break, to enter Ce’deira. They flew on, seemingly untouched by any fear, and I girded my swiftly-beating heart.
Oisin directed us to land on the mountain above Ce’deira and we returned to our own forms. We were on a rocky outcrop with the bare stone of the mountain rising sharply behind us and two towers, one either side of us. I reached out. As I’d suspected, a magical shield stretched between the towers. Oisin pulled me back.
‘You must move swiftly, Bach Chwaer, but surely. There are three terrors that guard Ce’deira. I will guard you against the first, but I cannot guard you against the others.’
‘No! What? I need you!’
He shook his head. ‘My father, Darragh, has placed a curse on this land that I may not enter. And so, I have lived my long life as an exile. You destroyed his glamours when you forced him to consume the Seeds of Truth, but because the enchantment was not enacted completely, this geas remains. I may not enter.’ He indicated the towers at either side of us. ‘This shield marks the entrance to Ce’deira. I can get you through, but the guardians will wake and will attack.’
‘What guardians?’
‘My half-brothers. Draceni, like our father, but without the natural human form granted me by my mother, who is also a prisoner in the fortress. Three dragons will arise and attack any who dare to breach the first ward. I will change to my dragon form to fight them, but the only way to defeat them is if someone will enter the cave below the highest tower and destroy the crystal that gives them their strength.’
‘I will go.’
‘Andras…’ my voice trailed off. I should have loved him. I never regretted it more than when I saw him so willing to put his life on the line. This was the man who would become the Black Knight, who would become terror itself, if I did not succeed.
Gwydion stepped up beside Andras and put his hand on Andras’s shoulder. ‘And I will go with you, my brother, my truest friend.’
Tears filled my eyes, but I didn’t turn away. I went up to them both and held out my hands and they each took one.
‘My blessings on you both,’ I said, knowing it was woefully inadequate. They each raised my hand to kiss it with a natural gallantry I could never match. ‘Return safely,’ I whispered.
‘At your service, Bach Chwaer,’ Gwydion said, his grey eyes intense.
Andras was slower, forcing my unwilling gaze to rise to his. There was no recrimination in that face, no anger. Whatever happened, we were not parting with bitterness. ‘At your service, Bach Chwaer.’
They released my hands, drew their swords and saluted me, then began their way through the scree to the highest tower. Now only Aine, Sparrow and Rhiannon remained.
Oisin went on. ‘We will do what we must to support you, Bach Chwaer. Beware. Beyond this shield, you must face the forestmaids and the watermaids. For the centuries of his long life, Darragh harvested the magic and the life force of the girls who came to the fortress seeking employment. And so did his ancestors. Ce’deira is a place where the souls of the helpless are tethered to the trees and to the river, ever running downstream, but never reaching the sea.’
‘Those poor girls,’ I murmured. ‘They don’t sound very terrifying.’
‘The souls tethered to the trees and the river hunger for the life that was stolen from them. They are not evil, but they seek justice and they will take retribution on any who enter herein.’ He shook his head. ‘I do not know how to appease the forestmaids or the watermaids. I have never been able to breach their defences. One touch from the water or from their branches will steal your soul from your body, allowing the maid to take your body.’
‘But if I can’t get in, surely Aoife can’t get in?’
Oisin shook his head and I was starting to hate him, because I couldn’t reach back into time and kill Master Darragh again out of sheer spite for making this so difficult. ‘We have heard that the White Queen carries with her a locket. This locket was owned by my brother, Cai, and contains a spark from each of the maids. It is the only thing that will control them.
‘But you cannot wait for the White Queen to breach their defences. You must reach the deepest heart of the fortress first, and claim the throne of Ce’deira. Then, and only then, will you be master of all its powers and all its secrets. Then you will be able to free the prisoners and loose the wards. Then you will be able to defeat the White Queen and grant us all a future where we have a chance to be free.’
Freedom. That was supposedly what all this was about. But for me, it wasn’t some conceptual battle for generic liberty. This was about my friends. My family. A future for the people I loved. So, I nodded. I would do whatever I had to do. Give whatever I have to give.
‘Very well. May you be blessed in your endeavour, Oisin, King of the Draceni. May you be reunited with your mate and live in joy.’
Oisin took my hand, very gravely, and kissed it, as the others had done. ‘And may you find the same joy, Bach Chwaer. I am, as ever, at your service.’
I reached out my hand to Sparrow. I couldn’t do this on my own. All my life, I’d thought of her as my sister, and even now, when I knew that she was biologically my cousin, that was unchanged. She was my sister. We’d been through hell together. We’d shared all our joys. She was a part of me. We may not have entered this world together, but I would give my life for her. And if she was with me, if she had a chance of happiness, I would face any fear.
She took my hand and smiled encouragingly. ‘I love you, Emer. I believe in you.’ She kissed my cheek.
Aine took my other hand. ‘I’m with you, my daughter, my sister, my friend. Never have I seen you defeated by any foe.
I believe in you.’
Rhiannon just took Sparrow’s other hand. ‘This isn’t our worst moment,’ she commented.
I laughed, surprising Aine and Sparrow, but although Rhiannon kept a straight face, I knew she was pleased.
‘All right, then,’ I said. ‘Death to the White Queen, I suppose.’
We stepped through the shield together. It felt like I was filled with fire for a moment before it faded away, but the shield was no barrier. It was only an alarm.
Aine dropped my hand when we heard the trumpet sound, deep and bellowing, far below our feet.
‘Let’s get moving,’ I urged. ‘I want to put as much distance between them and us as possible. They’re risking their lives. We must honour that sacrifice.’
We hurried down the mountain. The gold dragon that rose above us I recognised as Oisin, but he wasn’t alone for long. From a cave, hidden by an outcrop of rock, emerged three dragons, all a deep, sapphire blue. Oisin threw back his head and trumpeted his own welcome.
The four of us ran for our lives. There was no protection on the open hillside, no trees, no large rocks to hide behind. Nothing, until we reached the other side of the river, flowing down through a deep crevasse.
The dragons fought above us. Even Rhiannon yelped when a burst of flame ignited the very stone beside her. The hem of her grey dress caught fire. She stumbled and fell. Sparrow whipped off her cloak and beat at the flames while Rhiannon cried out in fear.
The flames extinguished, Sparrow helped Rhiannon to her feet. She spied me, paralysed, waiting for them and shouted, ‘Keep running, you fool!’
So, I ran, but I ran because I knew they were running behind me.
We paused, catching up to Aine at the water’s edge.
‘What are we going to do?’ she panted. She tilted her head back to look up at the sky. Oisin had defeated one of the dragons, but there were still two more to fight and he was bloodied.
‘Let him do his part,’ I said. ‘We do our part. How do we cross?’
‘As birds,’ Sparrow suggested, looking down into the white water that leaped and splashed beneath us. As we watched, a stream of water began to rise from the surface of the river, like a fire devil, seeking a soul to devour, a body to steal. ‘We fly high and stay well away from the water.’
I nodded. ‘Birds, then.’
Rhiannon pointed. Three guards, on the other side of the river. ‘Hawks,’ I clarified. ‘Hawks, rise fast and fly fast, and I’ll be with you all on the other side.’
I changed in a heartbeat, my magic even more readily available to me than usual because of my heightened state. I needed to rise and rise fast to get out of reach of those pikes. Aine, Rhiannon and Sparrow rose around me.
I headed straight for the guards. I was going to draw their attention. There was a reason I hadn’t shared this plan with my girls. I made myself conspicuous, wheeling and spreading my wings wide aggressively.
The guards threw their spears at me, ignoring my girls. I felt a thrill of victory, even as I felt the wind of one of the spears as it nearly parted my feathers. I saw the guard who had nearly pinned me. He was focussed. Dangerous. More dangerous, though, he was acting quickly. In the same movement that threw the spear, he went down on one knee and unslung the bow from his shoulder.
He knocked an arrow before I could even get halfway across the river. An arrow missed me by the same narrow margin as the spear. I flew higher and dipped, wheeled and rose again to confound his aim. His brother guards, slower, but still deadly, followed suit.
The next arrow went wide, but in evading the arrows I’d exposed myself to a new danger. I’d dipped so low that I was only a few feet from the water. As I watched in horror, a wave swelled beneath me. I turned my face to the sky and flat harder to climb. A hawk can rise quickly, but this wave was not natural. The river beneath me bulged, arched and then, with a convulsive turn, spun itself into a waterspout, a finger of water, pointing directly at me. My own magic, and the wind it caused, whipped the spout higher and higher.
I tried to evade it, but the unnatural water danced upon the surface of the river. I heard the cries of my girls, heard the shouting of the guards, but couldn't spare time to think about them. I concentrated on flying. Anything to escape that deadly water.
The spout grew, ten feet high, twenty feet, thirty! It slapped itself towards me, stretching out the waves that spun across the top. They splashed towards me, wheeling and spinning. One last desperate thrust of water from the top of the spout caught the edge of my wing.
I screamed. The water burned my feathers, burned into the skin beneath the feathers. I fell. Only the force of my fear made me rise again. I was only splashed by a single drop, but I felt the spirit carried by the drop of water. It burned through my skin and into my blood, working its way to my heart.
Umbra got there first. I felt struggle, the terrible conflict between them. The water-bound soul hungered for life, but Umbra was strong. I never realised how strong until I felt that battle rage within me.
The water-bound soul was cast out, but the battle had a terrible price. I screamed again, the sound terrible as I shared Umbra's pain. She was nearly torn from me. It took all my strength to keep Umbra’s soul bound to mine. I felt like the light was going from the world, like I was being crowded by shadows.
Unable to focus on anything but saving Umbra, I fell. My wings were limp, extended, but driven only by the wind. As I fell, I began to change, unable to maintain my bird shape any longer. The wings separated into fingers, the feathers disappearing into the skin. My blue tunic flew around me. I looked upwards, one last look at the sun, before I died.
Sparrow caught me. Sparrow and Rhiannon and Aine, all reaching out with their magic, holding me aloft. We landed in a crumpled heap on the opposite side of the river.
I wasn’t in a state to fight anyone just then. The pain of nearly separating from Umbra had been intense, unbearable. I couldn’t lift my wings. I didn’t know how I was ever going to gain the strength to move again.
The guards on the riverbank could take me. I didn’t care.
But Rhiannon cared. Sparrow cared. They didn’t even change back into their own forms, but began harrying the guards. An eagle has more than one deadly weapon at its disposal and at such close quarters, their spears gone and arrows expended, the guards were no match for the two huge, determined birds. Their bodies fell into the river, danced upon its surface for a while until the watermaids realised there was no life left in the bodies to be stolen.
I lay on the soft grass and looked up at the waving branches of the trees, filtering the fading sunlight and vivid sky above me. In the distance, I heard Oisin trumpet and mustered the strength to change myself back to my own shape and rise to my feet. The sound was echoed by another trumpet, deep and vibrant. I looked up. As I watched, all three sapphire dragons fell, slowly, to the earth.
Oisin remained aloft another moment, just a single moment. Then he fell, too.
I couldn’t do anything about that. Not now. Not yet. The only way I could help him was to keep moving forward. We were already here, at the third ward. We’d crossed the river, but we were surrounded by the forestmaids.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The trees moved lightly, even though there was no wind, and there was a constant sound of whispers. I strained to hear, and then I strained not to hear, because I was afraid of what they might be saying.
‘Any ideas?’ I asked.
Aine stepped forward, resolute. I thought she was going to give a speech, but instead she just repeated a series of names.
There was a flurry of whispered conversation, soughing around us, indistinguishable from the sound of the water and the leaves of the forestmaids. Then the woods went silent. I stood a little straighter.
Aine repeated the names again and I remembered where I’d heard them. On the night Sir Cai took us away, when he harvested my magic and tried to turn my body into a tree like these, Aine had just enough magic to turn me back into my own
shape. She’d promised the trees that she would find a way to free them. They told her their names. Repeated them. And Aine hadn’t forgotten.
I wanted to cry it aloud, but I had to keep the words in my own mind. She would make a magnificent Queen. She cared. She had kept their names in her memory all this time when even I had forgotten.
‘I don’t know all of you,’ Aine said, ‘but I know some of you. My husband tried to bind my spirit, as you are bound. It was only the faithfulness and generosity of my good friend, the Bach Chwaer,’ she put her hand on my shoulder, ‘that enabled me to escape him. She is here today to free us all. She cares enough to risk her life coming here. She has come to sit upon Umbra’s throne. If she is successful, a new day will dawn for all of us.
‘I promised you that I would find a way to free you. I have been learning everything there is to know about tethered souls. And I promise you, I will find a way to free all of you. I will never forget your names. I will never forget your suffering. I will keep my word to you. But I need you to let us past, so that we may complete our task here, before the White Queen arrives and the world is ruined.’
She waited. The trees whispered together, branches swaying from side to side, leaves brushing together so it was like the trees were passing something from one canopy to the next. The whispers fell silent. The trees went still.
One tree, a willow that grew close to the water’s edge, bent towards us. I, personally, wanted to run screaming, but the only way out of here was over the river, and I wasn’t crossing that river again for anything. I stood firm. Frightened, but firm.
The willow bowed, swaying its branches so low that its leaves swept the grass below it. Aine bowed in return.
Then the willow opened its branches, revealing an open space inside its canopy. It beckoned to Aine. She turned to me and I saw the fear she was trying to hide. ‘Come back for me, Emer.’
‘Wait, no, Aine, you can’t go!’