Echoes from the Veil (Aisling Chronicles)

by Colleen Halverson

  I followed him, pushing away a curtain of roses. The thorns pricked my skin, but it didn’t break or bleed. In a small clearing beside a trickling waterfall stood a beautiful woman in a long white gown, her hands threading through a line of daisies, their petals fluttering up and into the air like snow. Long chestnut hair flowed to the ground in rippling waves. Her eyes were closed and her luscious body swayed as she turned her face toward the pale shafts of sunlight streaming through the trees.

  “Danu,” Bel said.

  The woman opened her eyes and smiled. “You found me.”

  He marched up to her and reached for her shoulders, pulling her in a tight embrace. He kissed her, and I had to look away, the passion thick in the air between them.

  They whispered words I could not hear, and the woman, Danu, turned toward me. Her skin shimmered gold, her eyes a dazzling shade of green, like polished emeralds caught in the sunlight. I thought of Finn’s ring, but the memory fled as soon as she took my hand. Her skin was so warm, like a smooth stone from a riverbank, and a feeling of pure peace washed over my shoulders. I felt rejuvenated, as if I had slept for a week.

  “Thank you for bringing my consort back to me,” she said.

  Recognition dawned on me. “Oh. You’re Danu. The Danu. You’re a goddess!”

  She nodded. “Welcome to Mag Mell.”

  “Thanks,” I said, glancing around. “Is Thornton…here?”

  She looked around, her gaze closing in on something in the distance I could not see. “He is close.” She gestured toward the pool beside her. “Come sit with me and stare into the pool. It will show you the way.”

  Bel nodded.

  “The way?” I said. “You mean, the way to Thornton?”

  She gestured to the pool. “It will show you the way.”

  Okay. That wasn’t vague at all.

  I sat beside her and looked into the pool. The rippling water created an image. A raging battle. Screaming and writhing bodies. Bullets. The flash of explosions. The vision rushed into one warrior like a camera zooming in on a single actor. A giant on the field, covered in blood and grime. He wiped his face, and I gasped. It was Finn.

  And he was in trouble.

  A Fir Bolg pounced from nowhere, a long knife slicing for his throat. Finn parried, throwing his attacker back into a mass of bodies. A bullet whistled through the air and shattered his shoulder. His fighting arm.

  “Finn!” I shot to standing, my heart pounding. “I need to go to him. I need to…” I spluttered, pacing.

  “Why would you show me this?”

  Danu gave me a blank stare. “It’s the way.”

  I glanced back and forth between her and Bel, a cold sweat breaking out on my forehead. “The way? The way? Everyone dies? The Fae alliance loses? All my friends slaughtered? The love of my life destroyed? No, that is not the way.”

  Danu folded her hands in her lap and closed her eyes, a slight hum emanating from the back of her throat.

  I gestured to her. “Bel! Talk to her!”

  He frowned, looking away. “We cannot always see what fate has in store for us.”

  I crouched down, pointing to the pool. “Uh, hello? I can see fate right here. Everyone dies and nothing matters. I save the universe and for what? For what?”

  He shook his head, and with a tentative hand, laced his fingers with Danu’s before lifting his head to meet my gaze. “Everything matters. This is the sacrifice. This is what it means to destroy Thornton, to bring balance to the universe.”

  My blood grew cold. This was the price of saving the world. All my friends destroyed, and Finn alone and dying on the battlefield. Just as Danu had sacrificed Bel, I would need to sacrifice my greatest love and all the people I held dear.

  “No,” I said, edging backward, pointing to Danu. “I won’t take this bargain. I know how this works. This is how you got my mother.”

  Bel began, “Your mother—”

  “My mother is dead.” The words echoed through the garden, the breeze stilling for a moment and the sunlight dimming. “And Finn… I have to go. They need me. My people need me.”

  “If you leave, you may never come back,” Bel said. “And Thornton is close.”

  “The mirror,” I mumbled to myself. “I’ll come back through the mirror.”

  Bel made to reach for me. “Elizabeth…”

  “I’ll come back, I promise.”

  My hands shook and Danu’s palm closed around them, pressing a kiss against my forehead. “We will wait for you.”

  Bel’s hand lingered on Danu’s shoulder. “We are weak. We cannot hold Thornton for long.”

  “I know. But Finn needs me. I’m sorry.”

  The god’s face darkened, the light in his eyes flickering like a smoldering candle. Before he could say another word, I shifted out of there, my feet landing in a quagmire, mud sinking up to my ankles. The sounds of battle deafened me, and when I opened my eyes, I staggered backward, my hand clutching my throat. A roiling mass of bodies collided before me, churning out blood and death. Disoriented in the smoke, I whirled, seeking him through the melee.

  “Finn!” I screamed. “Finn!”

  The faint sound of my name echoed beneath a writhing mass of bodies, and I closed my eyes, seeking out his energy. So faint and quiet, like the end of a symphony.

  Energy blasted through me, all the pain and fear collecting like thread on a spindle. The force washed over me, all-consuming, and my belly rippled with the sensation of imploding. Like vertigo in an elevator in between floors, heavy and weightless at the same time.

  Gravity belonged to me. Time. Matter. I held in the palm of my hand and turned it inside out just as easily. When I lifted my arms and spread my fingers, I sent a colossal wave of energy toward the Fir Bolgs, ceasing their relentless onslaught. Finn appeared, his sword dripping with blood. He roared, racing toward me, planting his mouth on mine. I tasted sweat and tears, other men’s blood.

  I tore myself away. “What happened?”

  Finn pointed at some sparkly howitzer-looking thing pumping out artillery shells like clockwork. “They have us bottlenecked on that knoll. The dragans can’t get to it.”

  I peered at the Fir Bolgs’ defenses and shook my head. “I can’t travel there or I’ll risk getting vaporized.”

  He clapped his hand on my shoulder. “We need to retreat.”

  I shook my head and grasped my spear tight against my body. “Follow me.” I was already two steps ahead of him, my spear whirling up. Down. Making contact with flesh with a satisfying crunch. I paused time, sped it up. Stopped bullets in midair. Traveled in. Traveled out. Inch by inch. Finn fought behind me, even with his shattered shoulder. From far away, I heard him calling to Fianna across the field, and they fell into formation, flanking us. Blood splattered across my eyelashes, my lips. Screams filled my ears. A rain of bullets soared through the air, but they fell like raindrops on the ground with a flick of my hand. The flash of Druid fire sent a wave of protection as we reached the howitzer.

  I threw my spear into Finn’s hands. “Hold this for me.”

  I let the power race through me like a cyclone. The force of it made me levitate in the air an inch off the ground, my hair whipping around me. I held my hands a foot apart, inviting the power to build in the space between my palms. It grew. A great white ball of flame. Of light and energy. My hands burned, the ache spreading through my body, hot and endless. I let out a scream at the same time I turned my hands out. The flame coursed through the field like sheet lightning, and it pierced the howitzer. A great shockwave threw me five feet backward as twisted metal and shrapnel flew up into the sky. A strange silence rushed across the battlefield, right before a great cheer sounded from the rebels. A stampede rumbled behind me, and Finn grabbed my arm, flinging me behind a tree before the army could trample me.

  He kissed me, hands tangled
in my hair. “Jaysus, that was brilliant.”

  I laughed, grabbing my spear from his hands. “You ready to win this, Finn O’Connell?”

  He smiled, wincing in pain, and I reached out a tentative hand to his shoulder. “You’re hurt.”

  “I haven’t practiced with my left hand for a while.” He shrugged and then immediately grunted, his eyes watering. “I was due,” he said in a strained voice.

  I slipped my hand down his chest, lingering at his belt. “When this is over, we’ll make sure that left hand gets a good workout.”

  He growled, lacing his fingers with mine. “Let’s finish this, my lady.”

  I winked and pulled him to his feet. “We need to find Malachy, and—”

  The air fractured, a tinny whistle hitting my ears. A flash of white blinded me, and an explosion hit. I barreled through space, hitting the ground with a hard thud. My spear skittered out of my hands, dirt pummeling me like hail. My ears rang, the world tilting as I blinked, trying to regain focus. Ten feet away, Finn staggered to his feet as a lone Fir Bolg raced toward him. He parried, but not before the Fir Bolg sneaked in another blade in his side.

  “No!” I screamed, grabbing my spear. Blood. Heat. Rage. Fear. It burned inside me, my teeth gnashing, cold sweat rolling down my forehead. I whirled my spear in a wide arc, catching the Fir Bolg’s terrified face before I cut straight through his neck with one clean strike.

  I fell to my knees at Finn’s side.

  “No,” I whispered, pressing my hand into his side. “Nononononononono…”

  He looked up at me, his gray eyes dull, the light in his eyes flickering out. “Look at you. A queen. Savage and beautiful.”

  My heart pounded, my teeth chattering and shoulders shaking. “I need you to get up. We have to find Máirtin.”

  His trembling hand reached up and stroked a loose curl resting on my chest. “You don’t need me now, Elizabeth.”

  “No!” I screamed, grabbing onto his armor. “Get up, O’Connell. Goddammit. Get up!”

  He closed his eyes, a long sigh escaping his lips.

  “Stop…” I let out a low wail. “Come back to me. Please…”

  The sharp crackle of a raven’s call broke through my soft sobs, and my head shot up. A large crow hopped along the battlefield, its beady black eye focused on me.

  “Fuck you, Morrígan.” I waved my hand at the raven. “Is this what you wanted?”

  The raven hopped and then unfurled its great wings and landed on Finn’s chest.

  “Get away from him!” I screamed.

  The black bird dissolved like melting silver, bleeding into Finn’s skin.

  “No!” I grabbed at the strands of light, but I couldn’t stop the flow of magic.

  Finn glowed for a moment with a blinding light, and then his eyes shot open. He bolted to sitting. “What happened?”

  “I…” I spluttered, unable to say. The raven had warned me. The Morrígan had warned me.

  His blood is mine…

  “A Fir Bolg.” I nodded to the headless Fae half buried in the mud. “But you’re okay now.”

  He blinked, rubbing his side. “I feel…different.”

  I shook his shoulder, now healed completely. “We have to go. The Fir Bolgs could be sending reinforcements, and we need to meet up with the Fianna.”

  A dark shadow blocked out the sun, and Malachy and Talia swooped down.

  “Come on!” he cried, gesturing for us to hop on. “We’ve infiltrated Teamhair. Balen is dead. The Fir Bolgs have surrendered. We’ve won the day!”

  I looked up at the sky filled with smoke and the screams of the dying, and I laughed. I thought of that damn raven, the magical force now coursing through Finn’s veins, and I laughed. Laughed until tears poured down my cheeks.

  The Morrígan had saved him, healed him, but now Finn would be bound to her in a way that was so much deeper than his vow. Her essence flooded his, and there was nothing I could do to banish her power from his veins. His blood belonged to her, and while I didn’t know what it meant, I knew that in spite of our victory, Finn was not safe.

  He drew me close.

  “It’s all right now,” he whispered in my ear.

  But it wasn’t.

  And it wouldn’t be.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  I peered down at the Fir Bolg in front of me, his wrists bound and the welts from dragan flames bright red on his face. We stood in the cavernous throne room, sunlight flooding through the long windows that flanked the walls. The stained glass cast an ethereal glow on the weary warriors gathered in the chamber, softening the blood and dirt caked on their bodies. Una and Regina were safe, but I suppressed a shudder, noting how few soldiers had survived the battlefield.

  In the corner in shadow stood the rightful Queen of Teamhair, Alannah, my grandmother. Emaciated and pale, she had aged a hundred years as a captive of the Fir Bolgs, the creatures stealing energy and magic from her to forward their own nefarious plans. Her once luscious brown hair lay in gray, limp locks, her dress turned to soiled rags. Orin, her advisor, stood beside her, his hand steadying her as she trembled on unsteady feet. He, too, looked as though the Fir Bolgs had drained centuries from his immortal existence; weariness and fatigue riddled his once porcelain-smooth face. Alannah was still the true Fae sovereign, but given her exhaustion, she was currently unfit to rule, and I needed to play at diplomacy and make peace first with the Fir Bolgs. Peace…and then a new world, if I could.

  My gaze traveled to beyond the stained glass and to the sky beyond. That dark matter was still taking up real estate in the sky, and it had no sign of relenting even though Danu and Bel were reunited and making kissy face in their little secret garden. We may have won the day, but a battle still waged in Mag Mell. I trusted the gods could hold off a simple wizard, but I had to return to make sure and I had to get there soon. Now. None of this was “the way” as Danu had pronounced before the pool, but I still had the mirror. I still had time to make it right. Maybe. I hoped.

  Finn nudged the Fir Bolg kneeling before me. “What do you want to do with him?”

  Phelan snorted. “Cut off his head? Let him dangle from a noose from the highest tower?”

  I ignored the púca, edging toward the prisoner.

  “What is your name?” I said.

  He cleared his throat, his voice hoarse. “Afred.”

  I nodded. “I remember you from the baths in London. You nearly had us all killed.”

  The Fir Bolg merely stared, his face blank. Finally, he bowed his head, shaking it slowly back and forth. “Belan was mad to want to break the ties with our universe. It was sacrilege to attempt such a terrible thing. We wanted to rule Tír na nÓg, not destroy it.”

  “And how’d that work out for you?” Phelan quipped.

  I raised my hand to silence him.

  “Now, in defeat, do you wish to be a part of Tír na nÓg? To join the Fae in solidarity?” I asked.

  Afred nodded.

  I raised my chin and allowed my gaze to drift across the throne room. Fae, Fianna, and Druids scattered through the hall, intermingling, their eyes glittering with the hope of victory. Change wouldn’t come easily, but I had to seize the moment and start with the first steps.

  “The day belongs to the people of Tír na nÓg and their allies from the mortal side,” I called out, my voice echoing through the great room. “But tomorrow is a new day and our world needs a new government.”

  Finn leaned down and whispered in my ear. “What are you doing?”

  I ignored him. “We will decide the ruler in the old style, according to the ancient Faerie laws. The leaders of the Fae present here will vote on our new ruler, and that ruler will function in a transitional position for twelve months and one day until a proper election can be held.”

  A murmur rose through the crowd, everyone expecting I
would simply usurp the throne. I knew if Tír na nÓg didn’t have something that at least appeared like democracy now, we would never have it. I had to insist upon it before things began to fall apart again.

  I stared down at Afred, gesturing to Aodhan. “My general will see to the conditions of your surrender. If you meet them, which I assure you will be fair and just to your people, then we invite the Fir Bolgs to our vote.”

  Afred nodded and bowed. “The Fir Bolgs will most assuredly agree to your gracious terms.”

  My gaze traveled across the throne room. “The time for petty politics, of divisions, tribalism, hatred, and old grudges is over. Today, the Fae unite as one tribe.” I stared hard into Amergin’s eyes. “And we invite our allies to join with us and do the same, in the name of justice for all magic folk.”

  A great cry sounded up through the chambers, but I kept my face smooth and calm. Pretty words were one thing, but carrying out a democracy and creating a more level playing field amongst Trinity would be quite another.

  I turned to Malachy. “Set up the vote. Make sure the leaders of all the tribes are present. We’ll reconvene this time tomorrow.”

  Gesturing to Finn, Eamonn, and Grainne to follow me, the four of us ducked into a side chamber.

  “Are you going to tell us how you escaped Thornton?” Finn asked as soon as the door clicked shut.

  Grainne smothered me in a great hug. “When you disappeared into that mirror, I was so afraid. Once you entered it, I could not follow you.”

  I squeezed her before pulling away. “It’s all right. I’m glad you’re safe.”

  “What about the device?” Eamonn pressed.

  Grainne took my elbow and led me to a seat as she smoothed her hand back and forth against my shoulders. “I wonder if we can get some tea—”

  I waved my hand. “No. No tea. We don’t have much time.”

  Finn sat on the other side of me. “Tell us what happened.”

  Letting out a long exhale, I recited everything that happened since Thornton cast them out of that world. “He has the device,” I said. “And he’s close to the Tree of Life. Danu and Bel can hold him off, but I don’t know if they’ll be able to defuse the bomb, and who knows what will happen if it goes off in Mag Mell.”