Giant's Daughter

by Jennifer Allis Provost

“Maybe he means to reinstall Fionnlagh and become part of the Seelie Court,” Christopher suggested, but Angus shook his head.

  “Da’s not much for sharing, and neither is Fionnlagh,” Angus said. “If anything he’s struck a deal with Crom and using is Fionnlagh as some sort of prize.”

  “We never did learn how Fionnlagh became so powerful,” I said. “Perhaps Da figured it out, and wants the same for himself?”

  “Anya! Angus!”

  Mum appeared behind us. She was wearing her usual deep red gown, but the hem of her dress was splashed with something darker. “What is it?” I asked.

  “The fuath are swarming the Unseelie Court,” she replied. “The shadow beasts are weaving in and out of the palace.” She paused, and added, “They’re searching for the children.”

  I turned to Angus. “Maelgwyn’s children are my half siblings.”

  “That means they’re our family, too. I’ll round up the lads and get them over, quick as I can.”

  I nodded. “Christopher, the aquila.”

  He held out the standard. I grabbed it with both hands, and blinked.

  A moment later Christopher, Lucius, and I were standing in the midst of Maelgwyn’s apartments. It was pure chaos, with both servants and soldiers wielding all manner of weapons against the smoke beasts that were the fuath; some wielded swords, while others held torches aloft while they flung handfuls of salt into the shadows.

  “Where are they coming from?” I demanded.

  “Not sure,” Maelgwyn replied. “My magic is mostly keeping them away from the children. What I don’t understand is why they’re attacking.”

  “I fear that’s my fault,” I said. “Christopher’s legion captured a fuath spying at the palace. Later, I was telling Angus about the children, and it must have overheard us.” I set my hand on Maelgwyn’s forearm. “My brother swears he didn’t take your crown, and I believe him.”

  Maelgwyn sighed. “Which means Bod most likely has my crown, and he has betrayed us yet again.”

  “I am so sorry,” I began, but Maelgwyn made a cutting motion with his hand.

  “His actions reflect only upon himself,” Maelgwyn said. “Come, and let us see to this latest batch of demons. We’ll figure out how to deal with Bod once the fuath are under control.”

  “My lord,” Lucius said, stepping forward. “My men and I have some experience subduing this type of creature. By your leave, we would lend help.”

  Maelgwyn nodded. “Please, do so.”

  Lucius turned to Christopher, who held out the aquila at arm’s length. A moment later a dozen legionnaires appeared. While Christopher and the Ninth organized their attack on the fuath, Mum reappeared.

  “Beira,” Maelgwyn greeted, then he frowned. “Why are you all bloody?”

  I looked closer at the stains on Mum’s hem. They were indeed blood stains. Before I could ask her if she was hurt, Angus arrived.

  “Anya, there’s something you need to know,” he began, then he turned to Maelgwyn. “Cheers on finding your bairns. I don’t have your crown.”

  “Thank you, and so I’ve been told,” Maelgwyn replied. “Is the reason behind your arrival also why Beira is covered in blood?”

  “Doubtful,” Angus replied. “Da’s attacking the Seelie Court.”

  I felt as if the floor had gone out from under me. “Is Fionnlagh with him?”

  “Fionnlagh is free?” Maelgwyn demanded.

  “Aye, but he’s not the one attacking the court with Da,” Angus replied. “Crom is.”

  WHILE THE NINTH DEALT with the fuath, the rest of us retreated to the apartment’s inner chambers. Thankfully the children were already safe inside with their nursemaids, and once the rest of my brothers arrived they set about amusing the babes. Satisfied that the children of all ages were occupied, the rest of us gathered near the library.

  “What does Da hope to accomplish with all this?” I asked. “He can’t rule the Seelie Court. He’s not fae.”

  “Neither was Fionnlagh, but that never stopped him,” Maelgwyn said. “This is typical behavior for Bod, all of this sound and glory to create a show in hopes of returning to Beira’s good graces.”

  Mum sniffed. “As if I ever wanted him to do any of those things. I’ve no love for the Seelie or its court. I could care less if the place burned to the ground.”

  “But, what if they do just that?” Christopher asked. “If Crom and Bod actually burn down the Seelie, what will that mean for the rest of Elphame?”

  “He couldn’t mean to destroy it,” I began, but even as I said the words I knew I was wrong. “But then, why would he involve Crom, if not to have that beast destroy the Seelie for him?”

  “What Bod wants—what he has always wanted, ever since the day Anya was born—was to go back to the way things were,” Mum said. “Before the days of Seelie and Unseelie. He wants a Summer King and a Winter Queen to rule Elphame, as we once did.”

  “And I’m certain he does not want me to reprise my role as Summer King, which means after the Seelie fall—and fall they will—we will be the next target.” Maelgwyn rubbed his eyes. “This is Bod’s worst scheme yet. Angus, have you any idea what defenses remain at the Seelie Court?”

  “They’re pretty light. What with the Ninth here chasing after the fuath, only Conall and the rest of the Picts are left.”

  “Gods below, Crom will chew them up and spit them out.” I closed my eyes and took a breath.

  “Christopher, tell Lucius to split his men,” I began. “Some will remain here in order to contain the fuath. The rest will come with us to defend the Seelie Court from Crom Cruach, and the Bodach.”

  “You’re going into battle against them? Against him?”

  “Yes. I am going into battle against Da, may all the gods help me.”

  Chapter Twenty Eight

  Chris

  LUCIUS LEFT HALF OF the legionnaires behind to deal with the fuath rampaging through the Unseelie Court. I worried that wouldn’t be enough to protect the children, but Lucius claimed that since the fuath drew their power from water, without a convenient source they were unable to cause any true harm beyond their considerable annoyance. I made sure to remember that.

  Anya and Maelgwyn teleported the three of us and the rest of the Ninth in one go, bringing us to a paved road that led straight to the Seelie Court. I worried that such a massive power output would weaken them, but Anya seemed fine. Maelgwyn had already been exhausted from watching his eleven kids, and after the jump he looked so weak I worried a strong wind could topple him. Just as I was about to ask Lucius to assign a few of the legionnaires to guard Maelgwyn, Angus and the brothers appeared. They’d left behind their human guises and appeared as true giants, all of them ten feet tall and wide as a truck.

  “Da,” they bellowed, beating their chests. “Da, Da, Da!”

  “Are they with us, or not?” I asked Anya.

  “We’re here to get Da away from the Seelie, and Crom,” Angus, who had come up behind me, declared. He was bigger than the rest of his brothers by half, and his voice was deep enough to shake a mountain down to its roots. “No good ever came from dealing with the Seelie, and Crom’s a right mess.”

  Anya nodded. “You lot approach first, try to get Da’s attention and then get him to safety. Christopher, have the Ninth back them up.”

  I extended the aquila at arm’s length. As the standard lengthened from four inches to five feet, I swung it toward Lucius.

  “You heard the lady,” I said. “Back up those giants!”

  Lucius grimaced at my command, then he shouted for the legionnaires to march. As the giants and then Romans filed past us, I asked Anya, “Shouldn’t we be in front?”

  “The boys should absolutely take the lead, at least for now,” she replied. “If Da really has allied himself with Crom, the two of them would be almost unstoppable. The only person who could possibly convince Da to put this madness aside is Angus.”

  “Not you?”

  She glanced at Maelgw
yn. “Once, perhaps I could have gotten through to him. Now, I am not sure how he feels.”

  “He loves you, as he’s always loved you,” Maelgwyn said. “Never doubt that.”

  Anya squared her shoulders. “Hopefully he remembers that, today of all days.”

  We fell into step behind the Ninth, and I checked out the surroundings. I’d never been to the Seelie lands before, save for the time I’d spent enthralled to Nicnevin; not only had I not been in my right mind, I’d never once stepped outside of her den. I didn’t even know if it was in the Seelie portion of Elphame, or somewhere else entirely. The less I remembered about that short, awful time, the better.

  The portion of Elphame we were now traversing was so beautiful it looked as if it was right out of a storybook. Lush meadows rolled away from either side of the road we were stomping down, the road itself being paved with smooth gray stones. I made a mental note to ask Lucius if the Ninth had built one of the famed Roman roads in Elphame. The meadow on the left was filled with red poppies in full bloom, while the right side blazed with thousands of nodding daffodils. What I assumed was the Seelie Court sparkled in the distance, a crystal and white castle surrounded by Elphame’s version of a city. Our magical destination coupled with the wide, paved road made me feel like I was off to see the wizard.

  Based on Anya’s description of Crom, I did not want to meet this wizard.

  After we’d marched in silence for a few minutes, posts set on either side of the road came into view. They reminded me of the telephone poles that had lined the street I grew up on, which of course they weren’t. As we got closer I realized they were gibbets, and that each one of them had a headless body hanging from its crossbeam.

  “Who are...were these people?” I asked. “Guards?”

  “Observe the clothing, the weaponry,” Maelgwyn said. “It seems Crom has removed the Picts from the defenses.”

  “The fact that he strung up each man fully armed must mean Crom brought an army of his own,” Anya said. “No one’s looted the swords, or shields.”

  “It also means the court is now defenseless against Crom,” I said.

  “If Crom is there, few could have stood against him,” Maelgwyn said. “Even our shared might may not mean victory.”

  I swallowed the lump in my throat, and hoped Maelgwyn was exaggerating.

  We kept on, me trying and failing to not scrutinize every Pict we passed. I’d only ever met three of them, Conall and his two commanders, and I didn’t recognize them on any of the gibbets. Then again, it’s hard to recognize someone without their head.

  Soon enough, Anya’s brothers resumed shouting Bod’s name. “They must have found Da,” Anya said.

  I held the aquila aloft, and the legionnaires parted to allow us to pass. Angus was standing in front of the Seelie’s gates, hands on his hips while his brothers raged and shouted for their father to join them.

  “Are they yelling for Bod to come out, or stay in?” I asked.

  “Look,” Maelgwyn said, nodding toward an area just beyond the gates. In the center of the courtyard stood a creature made of mud and nightmares, his skin cracked like a dry lakebed, with those cracks revealing a bloody red glow beneath the surface. I knew without asking the creature was Crom Cruach.

  Next to Crom was the Bodach, spine straight and wearing Maelgwyn’s missing antlered crown atop his head. Angus hadn’t taken it after all. In front of Crom knelt Fionnlagh, the once proud Seelie King.

  “What have they done to him,” Anya whispered. Fionnlagh was covered in dark bruises and smears of blood, and the skin beneath his wounds was ashen. Bod’s ruse of being distraught over Beira had all been for the sole purpose of beating a hole down to Fionnlagh’s prison in the ice, and dragging him out. Based on Fionnlagh’s pale skin and stiff posture wondered if he’d even fully thawed out.

  “Da,” Anya called. “What are you playing at?”

  “I play at nothing,” Bod bellowed. “The Seelie and their ilk have wronged us for centuries! I mean to have my retribution.”

  “Their ilk?” Maelgwyn repeated. “Do you mean to come after me next? And after me, who then? How many more will need to suffer to repair your wounded ego, Bod? Will you take your anger out on Anya, too? She is half Unseelie.” When Bod spluttered, Maelgwyn added, “No matter who feels your vengeance, it won’t make Beira love you again.”

  “Beira has always loved me,” Bod shrieked. “You were just a dalliance! A mistake!”

  Anya gasped, and Bod realized what he’d said. “I didn’t mean—”

  “Enough,” Crom said, his voice rumbling across the countryside. “Your family and its squabbles bore me. The Seelie Court is mine. I care not what happens to the rest of Elphame, so long as you leave me be.” He bared his cracked, muddy teeth. “I’ll take more when I’m ready.”

  “Will you?” Anya asked. “You forget, we stand in your way.”

  Crom thrust his hand onto Fionnlagh’s head, gripping his cranium like a vise. With a single grunt and turn he ripped the head from his shoulders.

  “Watch closely, for this will be your fate.” Crom held the Seelie King’s head aloft, heedless of the gore than dripped down his arm, then he flung it at Anya.

  Angus caught the head mid-flight, and threw it back. “You do not throw things at our sister,” Angus growled, “and you do not get to claim this or any other part of Elphame. Crawl back into the sewer where you belong!”

  Fionnlagh’s head came to rest at Crom’s feet. Bod snatched up the head as two of the fuath dragged Fionnlagh’s body deeper into the courtyard.

  “We never learned where the Seelie power originated,” I said.

  “Does that matter right now?” Anya asked.

  “Since Bod is taking what’s left of Fionnlagh out of the line of fire, I’d say it does.” Before I could send some legionnaires after Fionnlagh’s remains, Crom bellowed and struck the ground. A score of giants made of rock rose up from the dirt and formed a line between our forces and Crom.

  “The twelve disciples,” Maelgwyn said. “The very ones we spoke with at Magh Slécht.”

  “There are more than twelve,” I said, then twenty more erupted from the ground. “Way more.”

  Maelgwyn nodded. “So there are.”

  “It seems Bod’s had his own agenda all along.” I glanced at Anya. “I’m sorry.”

  She rolled her shoulders. “We will deal with Crom, then I will deal with Da.” Anya grabbed a charm off her bracelet and threw it into the air. It came apart, and by the time the pieces hit the ground they had transformed into another group of giants, none other than Long Meg and her daughters.

  “These giants are beholden to me, Crom,” Anya yelled. “Meg, Bod’s not on our side!”

  Meg cracked her knuckles, a horrible, sickening sound. “What of Angus and the boys?”

  “We’re with you, Meg.” Angus took his place next to Meg. “Just like old times, eh?”

  She grinned. “Just like.”

  Meg bellowed a war cry and launched herself at the disciples. Angus and the rest followed, chunks of stone flying as the giants beat the disciples apart with their bare hands. When they weren’t making any headway, I realized something.

  “The disciples are regenerating!” Even as the giants beat apart their bodies and limbs, the disciples drew stone and earth up from the ground they were standing on. The giants would beat their hands to pulp before the disciples went down. “We need to find another way!”

  “The fuath,” Anya shrieked. The black smoke monsters coalesced around the giants until we couldn’t see them. Lucius gave the order to contain. The legionnaires surrounded the fuath and confined them, much like how they’d surrounded Bod when he’d beat open the floor at the Winter Palace.

  But, there were too many fuath for the Ninth to handle, and they kept escaping. We needed the legion to back up the giants, but they couldn’t do that if they were busy chasing down smoke demons. In the midst of wondering what the hell I should do, I felt a triangular pie
ce of metal in my pocket.

  The absinthe spoon.

  I held the spoon aloft, and shouted, “Elding!”

  Lightning struck the spoon. Amazingly, it didn’t kill me.

  Even more amazing, the lightning branched out and struck down the fuath, obliterating each and every one of them.

  “What is that?” Anya demanded. “How did you do that?”

  “It’s a spoon,” I said, staring at the item in my hand. It had been struck by lightning, yet it wasn’t even warm. “Remy gave it to me, at the bar.”

  “Did he?” Anya said. “Did he also tell you to say elding?”

  “I don’t even know what that means.”

  “It’s the Norse word for lightning,” Maelgwyn said. “A bit of your mother coming through, eh?”

  “I guess so.” I looked toward Lucius. He was rallying the legionnaires to strike at the disciples. I raised the aquila, and Lucius held his sword aloft in response.

  “We’ll rout the stone creatures,” Lucius shouted. “Go, handle the beast!”

  Anya tied back her long yellow hair. “I will beat this monster back into the mud he spawned from.”

  I rolled my shoulders. “Let’s do it.”

  Chapter Twenty Nine

  Anya

  I WATCHED AS THE DISCIPLES struggled against the Ninth, but gained no purchase. The legionnaires claimed to have much experience against monsters, and they clearly held the upper hand. While the some of the disciples floundered against the legion, the rest battled the giants, both my brothers and Long Meg’s crew. Every single one of those giants was part of my family. Even though I wasn’t a giant’s daughter, I was a sister to giants. A cousin.

  I won’t let one man destroy my family, no matter how much I love him. But before I stopped him, I needed to fully understand his intentions.

  I searched the battle until I found Da, who was uncharacteristically avoiding the fray. Odd for a bruiser like him, who’d rather knock heads than do almost anything else. He was standing over Fionnlagh’s body, tearing through his clothing as if searching for something. What could be so important about Fionnlagh’s remains? I recalled what Christopher said, that we still didn’t know where the Seelie power originated.