by Shea Balik
“Get away from him.”
Brandr froze as he searched the other side of the entryway that led to the west wing of the house. Chills raced up and down his spine as he spied a Seelie using its magic to slice Tyree open from his shoulder, all the way down his side.
But before the Fae could make it to Tyree’s leg, Leith kicked the Seelie in the ankle. He wouldn’t have thought the four-year-old all that strong, but apparently his kicks were able to cause the Fae to hop around, practically howling as if it had somehow been mortally wounded.
While that was happening, Brandr raced across the foyer and dove forward, to knock the Seelie completely off its feet. Brandr rolled quickly to his feet, sword already in hand as he stood. He swung while the Fae was still dazed, severing its head.
They had learned in previous battles with the Seelie, they were able to deflect the blows of the Viking’s blades, but only if they knew it was coming. It was as if their magic turned their skin into some sort of shield. But if they were distracted, their guard was dropped and all weapons would hurt them.
Not kill them, which was a pity, but Brandr was fairly sure decapitation would slow the thing down, if not outright stop him until it could be reattached. Then again, they honestly had no idea if that was even possible. Fen had mentioned that all but the pets were hard, if not nearly impossible, to kill but that didn’t mean it couldn’t happen.
Rushing to Tyree’s side, Brandr took out several pressure bandages from one of his pockets. He didn’t have a lot of them, but he had enough to at least slow down Tyree’s bleeding until he could do more for the boy.
“It’s going to be okay, Ty,” he said using the nickname Leith called his brother. “I know it hurts,” he told the boy as he put the bandages on, which weren’t necessarily as unpleasant as being sliced open, but they still caused the wearer to feel even more discomfort. “But these will slow down the bleeding, so I need you to keep them on.”
Applying a third bandage, Brandr prayed Tyree hadn’t already lost too much blood. He was looking quite pale. Then again, so was everyone else, as the Fae continued their attack on them.
“Go help fight,” Ruth told him as she lugged his large med kit to some of the druids who had been hurt. “You’ve taught me well these past few weeks.”
Thankfully, Ruth had been willing to learn. She and only one other, Camden, had offered to learn to basically become a field medic. They had a long way to go to truly be proficient but they would hopefully be able to keep those alive who hadn’t been killed outright.
“Leith,” Brandr took the boy’s hand and led him to Tyree’s side. “You did really good. But I need you to keep watching over Tyree. Yell for me or one of the others if one of the Fae comes near either one of you, got it?”
Leith gave a sharp nod of his head. “Got it.”
Smiling at the boy, Brandr took his sword in hand again and jumped back into the fray, praying Logan wasn’t hurt, since he didn’t see the man.
“We have to seal the Veil,” Logan shouted to his friends even as all the Vikings raced to defend the other druids.
Both Dermot and Ryley waved them on. “We’ll help in here for now,” Ryley said even as he lit the Unseelie on fire. He must not have been very powerful, for the Fae hadn’t been able to put out the flames before becoming incinerated.
According to the others, a Seelie, who apparently had been helping them, named Fen, had indicated that the Unseelie’s lower beings weren’t very powerful. Since the poor thing, not that Logan really felt bad since it had been trying to attack one of the smaller children, hadn’t been able to even put out something as simple as fire, Logan was fairly sure this Fen had been correct.
“Yell for us when you’re ready,” Dermot said as he formed a block of ice around six of the Seelie. They were quickly melting it, but it had stopped them from going after Ruth, who was racing with a large medical kit in her hands toward Brandr, who was kneeling over a bleeding Tyree.
As much as Logan wanted to go to the child, he knew he couldn’t. He needed his strength if their plan was to work. “We can perform the last ritual today,” he called out as the rest of his friends raced with him out the front door.
They all skidded to a stop as hundreds of Fae, both Seelie and Unseelie, poured through the opening they had created. Omri, as well as Labhcás, who was Omri’s sworn enemy, were standing at the opening, waiting for it expand enough for them to get through.
Both were part of the royal court. Omri, the Seelie side. Labhcás, the Unseelie. Both were too powerful for Logan or his friends to have any hope of defeating.
“Holy fuck,” Wylie said as they all stared in horror at the number of Fae coming for them.
“Are you sure we can do the final ritual today instead of Samhain?” Kegan screamed out even as several bolts of lightning he controlled struck the Fae just as they were trying to step across the Veil.
Too preoccupied with crossing the divide between their two worlds, they had been unprepared. The slightly weaker ones turned to ash, while the strong Fae were only blown back into their realm. It wasn’t as good a killing them, but Logan would still take that as a win.
“Yes,” he called back as they raced toward the fire pit which Wylie, using his telekinesis, was filling rapidly with wood from a nearby stack.
“Lasadh,” the rest of them said, igniting the ever growing pile of wood into a roaring blaze.
Rushing down the steps of the house, his friends used their magic to keep back the Fae. Huge holes opened up in the ground, swallowing any who were on the ground before they knew what hit them. But Teagan wasn’t done with his ability to wield the earth, for at the same time as the dirt fell away, large walls of mud shot up into the air, knocking the Fae onto their asses.
Cullen formed a tornado, sweeping at least a dozen Fae back through the hole in the Veil. It was the first time Logan wished he had been given a different ‘gift’. Well, not really, but at the same time he had to imagine it was quite satisfying to kick the Fae’s collective asses, even if they only came back for more.
“Ryley, Dermot,” Mingus and Logan yelled toward the door as they approached the fire pit.
As far as being ‘ready,’ they were as close as they were going to get with the amount of Fae coming for them. Streaks of lightning lit up the sky as Kegan, as well as the Fae, wielded it with deadly force.
To protect them from the Fae’s magic, Teagan erected a dirt mound that rose up behind them. It wouldn’t keep them safe for long, but it gave them a few minutes to catch their breath.
“Are you sure this is going to work now?” Mingus demanded.
That wasn’t a question Logan could answer. All he had to go one were the stories he’d heard from not only his friends, but the Vikings and other druids as well. Their ancestor, Aed, may have insisted on them performing these rituals on certain dates, but from what he could tell, it wasn’t the actual dates that mattered, as much as the timeframe.
After each spell was cast, it took six to seven weeks for the threads of the Veil to unravel. Over the past century, the strength of the druids performing those rituals wavered. Like now. The eight of them had been born to work together to seal the Veil for a lot longer.
Aed had thought it would be forever. Logan knew better. The fabric that separated them from the Fae would eventually break down. The difference was, so long as they remained alive, which now that they were immortal, shouldn’t be a problem, they could come together whenever it was necessary to fuse the threads once again.
He imagined this was Aed’s true vision. For if he was as wise as both the Vikings and the Druid ancestors proclaimed, he would have seen that although each of the eight Vikings as well as the eight druids would have the opportunity to choose death, or love for all eternity, they would all pick the only real choice – love.
So, in a way, Aed had been right. Just wrong in the telling. Then again, those who had been listening might have misinterpreted what he’d meant.
A flash of m
ovement from the front door had Logan responding to Mingus’s question. “No. I don’t know for sure, but what do we have to lose?” Even as he said it, Logan realized his one mistake, they weren’t close enough to the Veil to put his plan into place. Somehow, he would need to get over the mountains to where the opening was.
A strong wind swept over them, lifting them up into the air. But they hadn’t moved more than a couple of feet when a counter wind pushed them back. But Cullen didn’t stop there, he spun up three tornados. Two remained on either side of them while the third swept over the Fae who tried to move them from the fire.
“We need to start,” Ryley yelled.
Knowing they didn’t have time to trudge all the way to the Veil, Logan agreed. From years of doing the same moves, he took two steps toward the fire. When he did a side step to the right, his friends joined in. Sure these steps were useless, Logan still wasn’t willing to take the risk. Same as with the fire the others thought wasn’t needed.
If this worked, they would close the Veil for a long time. No point tempting fate by not performing the ritual correctly.
Lightning crackled all around them, but just as it started to shoot down toward them, Dermot and Ryley came racing up to get in step with the rest of them. Ice instantly formed over them as the bolts of electricity started to rain down in earnest.
The ice wouldn’t hold forever, but for the moment, they were safe. Logan only prayed that was true for Brandr as well as everyone else.
CHAPTER 20
Sweat dripped down Brandr’s back as he fought one Fae after the other. It took all his skill as a warrior to not end up decapitated once again. From what he could tell of his friends, they were all struggling.
A scream rang out from the direction of their wing of the house. “Ulf,” Kyleigh yelled a second later.
But before Brandr could even see what was happening, he heard another voice calling his name. This one seizing his heart just as it had when he’d come down the stairs.
“Leith,” he yelled as he spun around after barely managing to arch backward and miss the firebolt that had been sent his way, while raising his sword to take the brunt of it so that it wouldn’t end up hitting someone he was protecting.
Fire burst along the blade, extinguished almost as quickly as it had erupted. The heat nearly singed every hair on his body. Thankfully, because he was bent backward almost touching the floor, the flames hadn’t been able to do much damage.
Flinging a knife in the direction of the flamethrower, he heard a gasp, followed closely by a thump. He didn’t bother to look. He’d been in enough battles to know the Fae who had targeted him was now lying on the ground with Brandr’s knife sticking out of him.
Even if Fae wasn’t dead, it would still slow the asshole down long enough for Brandr to find Leith. Turning, half expecting another Fae to be cutting Tyree open more than he already was, Brandr’s heart stopped completely. For there, not more than fifteen feet from him, was Labhcás holding Leith by the throat as he dangled the little boy at least five feet off the ground.
If that wasn’t terrifying enough, Tyree, Maisie, and Joffrey were staring at the guy like he was some sort of God and were prepared to worship at his feet. An evil smile was sent his way but before Brandr could take the son of a bitch down, he felt air move behind him.
Sword already in hand, he spun as he went down into a crouch. The legs of the Fae that was about to attack him from behind, were cut off just below the knee.
“Bran.” Leith’s scream was now in front of him as Labhcás ran for the front door with Leith still being held by the Fae and the other three kids running as if they didn’t want to be separated from their new found leader.
“Let them go.” Ulf’s voice practically shook the foundation of the massive home in his rage.
Even as he was running for the door, Brandr caught sight of Omri, with Tess over one shoulder and Gillie over the other. Three fucking steps too slow, Brandr tried to put on a burst of speed but slammed into an invisible wall in the doorway leading to the porch.
Hitting it hard enough to send him flying backward at least ten feet, Brandr shook off the sudden dizziness the impact had created and got back to his feet. Without even hesitating, he once more ran to the doorway. He was sure, one day, he’d be thankful that Ulf had been a few feet in front of him, for his friend slammed into the same invisible barrier only to be flung backward and onto his ass.
The thing about hindsight, it didn’t change the here and now. All Brandr knew was their most vulnerable were in the hands of those who could only be described as the criminally insane and there was nothing he could do about it.
That’s when he heard it. Voices chanting in sync as Logan and his friends had started the ritual that just might close the Veil. But he knew all of that would stop the moment those men saw Omri and Labhcás in complete control of Leith, Tyree, Maisie, Joffrey, Tess, and Gillie.
For this wasn’t like the last time, when Omri admitted to enthralling Kyleigh. The Fae might be insane, but he wasn’t stupid. This time he would take those kids to the other side of the Veil, rendering the druids who could close it, useless.
“We have to get past that door,” Eirik yelled as he charged forward.
“We call to Mother Earth.”
It was Logan’s voice he heard above all others. Turning to look out the window at his fated one, Brandr smiled. That was the thing with the Fae. They were so used to winning in battles with humans, that they didn’t understand warfare. Blocking a door, okay, great. But if you don’t want the enemy to get to out, then one had to block all exits.
Including windows.
Not carrying about any cuts, he ran for that window, leaping through it and landing on the front porch.
“I said, put me down,” Logan turned toward Leith’s voice and his blood ran cold. Because there, rushing down the steps of the porch was a Fae, an Unseelie by the looks of him, with Leith tossed over his shoulder, despite the four-year-old hitting and kicking him. Behind them, three children ran after them, but instead of Tyree, Maisie, and Joffrey shouting at the Fae, they seemed almost…
“Oh fuck,” he whispered, missing the next phrase of the ritual. “They’re enthralled.”
“What?” Wylie glanced in the direction Logan was looking to find another Fae, this one a Seelie, clutching both Tess and Gillie as he ran to catch up to the Unseelie.
If things weren’t already bizarre, a second later both Fae leaped into the air and… well, floated was the only word Logan could come up with to describe it. Flying didn’t seem right, for they were still upright and even though they moved fairly quickly, it wasn’t like they were birds.
That Tyree, Maisie, and Joffrey calmly rose up and went along with them, made it all the more strange. “We have to go save them,” Wylie shouted. “Even if we manage to close the Veil and kill Omri and Labhcás, the kids would end up falling to the ground and probably breaking their necks.”
Considering the two Fae had to be at least twenty feet in the air, that was entirely possible. There was no way any of them would continue at that point. Not if it meant risking the kids’ lives.
He’d thought that would be the end of the weird crap, but as Logan and his friends started to go after them, glass breaking had them looking toward the house to find first Brandr jumping through the window, soon followed by Eirik, Ulf, Bjorn, Arne, Hrafn, Fritjof, and Oluf.
Not about to stick around and ask, Logan continued running after the Fae. He hadn’t even gotten ten steps when he felt his feet lift off from the ground and then he started to float. Eyes wide, he looked around, wondering what in the hell was going on.
Wylie grinned. “They aren’t the only ones who can do that shit.”
Wishing like hell he had something to hold onto, Logan tried not to freak the hell out as his stomach lurched. He wasn’t good with flying, or, well, heights in general if he was going to be completely honest. Then again, with those kids’ lives on the line, he also wasn’t about to
complain either.
Running would have taken them far too long. If they waited, there was no telling what the Fae would do to those kids.
“We’re going to need a fire built as soon as we get there,” Logan warned the others. “I don’t know what it’s going to take to get Leith and the others free, but I do know the moment that happens, we have to be ready to seal the Veil.”
Wylie nodded, since he was the one who would have to gather the wood. “Please, tell me they aren’t going to take them to the Fae Realm,’ Dermot whispered in horror as the two Fae were within feet of the Veil and didn’t appear to be stopping.
“Fuck,” several of them cursed at the same time.
If the stories were true, which he had to believe they were, any human who entered the Fae realm would die soon after crossing the threshold between the two worlds. It was different with each person, but children? Logan feared it wouldn’t take long at all.
Time was too short, so Logan called out, “Lasadh.”
The brush just below where the Fae were flying ignited. It wasn’t large but then again, he didn’t have much to work with since it was late October in the mountains of Colorado and much of the foliage had died. That left the huge towering pine trees, which wouldn’t be as easy to catch on fire.
“Lasadh,” he said again. This time, his friends repeated it after him and three trees were burning steadily. Logan prayed that would be good enough.
“Get right up to the Veil,” Logan told Wylie. “The rest of you, do whatever it takes to keep those kids on this side of the Veil, even if you have to use your magic to pull them out of the Fae realm.”
Determination shone on their faces as they nodded. Wylie placed the others down near the fire and Logan gave two last instructions. “At least one of you has to always perform the ritual if this is going to work, but more is better. So if you’re not fighting, chant,” he said.
