Dark Fae

by Shannon Mayer

  “Morning.” Bres rumbled in my ear, his lips taking advantage of their proximity to my sensitive lobes. Luke cradled my hand over his heart, but there was no heat there, not like what I was receiving from Bres. Still, it was very nice to be stuck between them.

  “Mmm.” This was too good to be real. I had to still be dreaming.

  “I think we’d best get moving,” Luke said, breaking the spell, as he let go of my hand and stretched out on the ground, his vertebrae popping and cracking. I let out a sigh and sat up, looking down on my grubby clothes. Scrubbing my hand over my face and into the tangle of knots that had once been my hair I let out another sigh. “What I wouldn’t give for clean clothes and a shower.”

  Bres laughed. “What’s the point? We just have to go deeper into ta forest to find ta three Smiths.”

  “You’re a guy, you wouldn’t understand,” I grumped, stretching as I stood up, feeling several vertebrae of my own pop. Despite sleeping on the ground and dreaming of Ashling, I was completely refreshed. Glancing over my shoulder at Luke and Bres, I had no doubt they were the reason.

  They had their heads bowed together, dark and light nearly touching. Luke nodded, “That seems to be the best course of action.”

  I frowned. “What does?”

  Both of them looked over at me, their eyes far too innocent for anything good. “We were trying to figure out who should go to Nuadha,” Luke said.

  Bres dusted his hands off onto his pants. “We were thinking that you and Luke should go to Nuadha, speak to him, and try to convince him that Chaos is here and is a true threat.”

  Lifting an eyebrow I said, “And?”

  “Then Bres will go deeper into the forest and try to find a gateway to the three Smiths. I don’t believe even Fianna knows which one it is,” Luke said.

  “Let me think a minute,” I said, turning my back on them. Cora, please, please still be here.

  I am here.

  Lir didn’t trust Nuadha; he even made Balor promise to keep me away from him, I said. I can’t go with Luke, can I?

  Nuadha may see you as a threat to his power. You are, after all, supposed to take his place. Go with your instincts, Quinn. They won’t lead you astray.

  There was one other thing I needed to ask Cora, no matter how awkward it was. Ashling thought Cora had led me wrong and I had to ask.

  Did you lie to me? About Card’s powers and freeing Ashling?

  She retreated deep within me and no amount of prodding could make her come forward again. Her silence damned her and her lies. Scrunching my eyes shut, I took a few deep breaths to calm my hurt and the crushed hope that had started to bloom again.

  “Do you be alright, Quinn?” Bres asked. I waved at him over my shoulder. “Give me a minute.”

  Cora had lied to me. But why? Just so that I would fight harder? I knew that was the answer. I might not always fight hard for myself, but for Ashling I would give everything I had, and Cora knew that about me. Damn.

  Without being able to speak with her, I had to go on what I did know. I agreed with Cora about following my instincts; the only problem now would be trying to get the boys to see the truth of it.

  Turning back to them, they tensed the minute I met their eyes. “You’re right, Luke, you need to convince Nuadha of the danger that is coming.” They started to relax and I lifted my hand. “But I can’t come with you. Nuadha . . .he will not welcome me. I will go with Bres to the three Smiths.”

  Bres’ eyebrows shot up, and a small smile played along the edge of his lips. Luke frowned. “Do you really think that’s the best course?”

  He was starting to trust me; I only hoped that I wasn’t making the wrong decision. “Yes. Go to the camp, and then send word back to Fianna. We will find you from here. Hopefully, with a weapon that has the power to destroy Chaos.”

  Luke stepped forward and pulled me into his arms, hugging me tight. “Be safe, Quinn. Please, please be safe.” I tilted my head up for a kiss, but he brought his lips to my forehead in a gesture that was almost brotherly. Was he feeling awkward around Bres? That seemed the most likely cause. Luke stepped away, heading out the far side of the bower towards the lake. “You be safe too. I can’t bring you back from the dead again.” I tried to smile, but my lips were trembling too much. Something had changed between us, and it was more than just Bres being back. It was subtle, but there nonetheless.

  Watching him go, I wished I didn’t have to see him walk away from me. It felt too much like a final goodbye. Too much like it wouldn’t ever be the way it was before. Without knowing how, I knew that this was a turning point, whether for good or for ill was all that was left to be decided.

  “We should get moving,” Bres touched my arm. We turned to see Fianna waiting behind us, hands clasped in front of her.

  “I have no help to give you on this next leg of your journey, Quinn. Only I bid you to take this.” She handed me a brown drawstring bag that was about the size of a golf ball. “Do not open it now. You will know when the time is right.”

  Tucking the bag into my back pocket, I smiled. “Thank you for all your help.”

  She smiled back and my heart flipped over; it was so like Aednat’s grin. I led the way out of the bower, the pain in my heart driving me with the memories of the little Banshee. It seemed like I was destined to be the one to kill, to end the lives of those around me. Bres caught up to me, matching his pace to mine.

  “Do you know where we be headed?”

  “No.”

  “Then . . .how exactly do you think we are going to be finding ta Smiths?” He asked.

  I paused in mid-stride. “I don’t know.”

  “What about your pa? Could he help?” Now there was a thought. Of course, Lir was off on his own quest, hopefully having better luck than we were. The only way I knew how to contact him involved taking a nap, and I didn’t think that would happen any time soon.

  Bres put his hands on his hips and dropped his chin to his chest. “You took Card’s powers. Can you use them to seek out ta Smiths?”

  I opened my mouth to answer him that I didn’t know, then snapped it shut. The birds had gone silent around us, even the air seemed to have stilled. Bres’ head turned slowly, and he pulled his sword free of his scabbard.

  Lifting his hand, he pointed for me to stay behind him. Trusting his judgement, I followed a few feet back, far enough that if he swung his sword, I wouldn’t be in the way, but still close enough that I could help if need be.

  He pointed at a thick bush, one that was heavy with foliage.

  Ever so slowly, he slid his sword into the bush, then stopped. “Come out. Before I slit your throat.”

  His sword followed our stalker’s movement. I couldn’t believe who it was on our trail.

  Balor.

  Bres dropped the tip of his sword and his jaw. “Pa.” Then as if realizing just who it was, his sword snapped back up. “You’ll not be getting past me to her.”

  Balor shook his head, his arm clutching his middle. “I’m not here for that. I’m . . .dying.”

  He held his hand out and a gush of blood flowed from his side through a wound I couldn’t have spanned with both my hands. He gripped his body once more, barely staunching the flow. But Bres, surprising me, didn’t go to him.

  “Chaos,” I whispered, knowing it to be the truth. Balor nodded, and sunk to his knees.

  “Yes, she stole Ashling from us. I was so wrong to fear you, Quinn, when it was me who brought Chaos on us all.” His head drooped, yet I still didn’t know if I could trust him, or if it was some sort of sham he was pulling on us.

  “Bres, can you do anything to help him?” I asked. Bres shook his head, his jaw tight.

  I crouched down so that we were eye to eye. “Can you help us find the three Smiths?” I asked. “That is all you can do now to help us stop her, to right the wrong you loosed on this world.”

  Again he nodded. “There is a rhyme of sorts that I remember from when I was a boy. You have to understand, it was a
silly rhyme, one that meant nothing to me then, but perhaps now it might help you find your way to them.”

  “Over the hall,

  Through the fall,

  Cross the vale,

  Between the shale,

  There the Smiths of three prevail.” He let out a cough, and the only thing I could think of was how bad a rhyme it was. But if it helped us find the Smiths then it didn’t matter how bad or how corny it seemed.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  “You will try to save her, won’t you?” Tears streamed down his face as he lifted his eyes to mine, a father’s tears for his only daughter.

  “That’s what I’ve been trying to do all along,” I said, my voice gentle. “I will do everything I can to save her from Chaos.”

  A hiccupping sob escaped him and Bres finally dropped to his knees. He helped his father lay down. “Pa, what happened?”

  “Chaos attacked me and took control of the Fomorii. I couldn’t kill her. Not even now.” He turned his head to me. “I love her, she’s my daughter. Tell her that, when you save her.” I nodded, unable to speak past the catch in my throat. His next words chilled me. “And don’t go to Nuadha, if you can help it. He’s out for your blood, Quinn.”

  Lifting his hand to Bres’ face, he whispered, “I was always proud of you, my boy, even when you rebelled. You are a better man than I could ever be. Don’t let anyone change who you are.”

  I put a hand on Bres’ shoulder as Balor’s violet eyes closed, his breath hitched once, twice and then his body went still. I wanted to give Bres time, time to say goodbye, time to make his peace. But there wasn’t any left for us. No time, no peace, and no more chances.

  “Bres.” I sat beside him and hugged him, holding him as tight as I could. “I’m sorry.”

  He said nothing, just held onto me. I leaned back so I could see into his eyes. They were dry, not a single tear had fallen. “I cannot cry for him, not after all he’s done.”

  Pushing up, he pulled us both to our feet. “We need to go. If Chaos has control of ta Fomorii, I’ve no doubt that she sent someone to watch where Balor went.” And just like that, our fortunes shifted again.

  A Banshee swept into view, her skirt swirling around a pair of cloven hooves instead of feet. “Fomorii have breached the forest outskirts.”

  Bres grabbed my hand, and I put on the brakes. “Wait!”

  I waved at the Banshee. “Over the hall, through the fall, cross the vale, between the shale, there the Smiths of three prevail. Does that mean anything to you?”

  “The Hall of the Dead is the place where we rest our souls. It’s that way.” She pointed to the northeast.

  That was all we needed. Sprinting, we followed her directions, fear driving us. While we were both strong, I wasn’t fully trained, and the Fomorii were no longer ruled by someone who loved Bres.

  The deep-throated howl of Fomorii’s undead hounds spurred us on faster.

  If we get to the three Smiths . . . I let the thought hang between Bres and me.

  He answered, and it was what I was hoping. If we get to them, ta Fomorii won’t be able to pass their gates.

  It was all I needed. We burst through a thick patch of huckleberries and right into the Hall of the Dead. Calling it a hall did not give me the true understanding of what it was—a graveyard. The land had been stripped as if cleared by hand, and then burned to the ground, the dirt beneath our feet —ash and bone. Everything within the hall was black, and our feet left little puffs of smoke as we ran the length of the Banshees’ final resting place.

  A screech behind us made me look over my shoulder. Hounds of the undead skidded to a stop at the edge of the hall, sniffing the ground. Heads on bodies that didn’t match, limbs protruding at weird angles, they snapped and snarled at each other. Even at that distance, I could see their teeth, razor sharp like all the Fomorii. In a sudden boiling mass, they pushed forward, only to have the forerunner sucked downwards into the graves with barely a yelp.

  “They’re undead; they can’t get through ta hall,” Bres said. “They’ll have to go around.”

  Another glance showed me that, indeed, the hounds had figured out that going around was their way to us. It bought us a little time, not much, but more than we had.

  Now, we only had to look for the fall. That is if what Balor had told us was right.

  9

  Leaving behind the blasted ground of the hall, we had a short lead on the hounds. Their howls though, were growing ever closer despite them losing members to the Banshees’ graves.

  Unable to spare breath for talking, I questioned Bres mind to mind. Fall, what the hell is a fall?

  It could be falls, like a waterfall, he answered.

  We need to stop then, I can’t hear anything over my heart beating, and breathing.

  Skidding to a stop, I held my breath. In the distance, the rush of water falling over rocks reached my ears. Bres tipped his head. “There. See ta mist curling over ta tree tops?”

  In the far distance I could see what he was pointing at —the gauzy film above the cedars and fir was just discernible. It was all we needed. Bolting in that direction, we were again running at full speed, dodging trees and leaping over stumps as fast as we could. But our stop had cost us. Thirty strides into our run the hounds were on us, teeth snapping at our heels, lunging in their attempts to hamstring us.

  I spun, and held my hands out, Called my Fire to my fingertips and unleashed it on the hounds, knowing it would roast them, but I hadn’t counted on Card’s power flowing through my veins.

  Blue flames enveloped the pack in a mushroom cloudy fire, bigger than anything I’d ever even thought I could do. Their howls lasted a split second before cutting off in mid cry. Shaking, I lowered my hands. The power rushing through me made my skin crawl, as if it were too much for my body. I didn’t like it; it felt as though the power was in control and not me. The flames continued to lick along the charred bodies of the hounds, their flesh crisped black like the ash we’d only just come through.

  “Quinn, are you alright?” Bres asked. A quick bob of my head was all I could manage.

  He touched my arm. “We’ve got to go. There will be more than that behind us.”

  Again we ran, this time towards the growing sounds of the waterfalls. At certain moments I wasn’t sure if what I was experiencing was real, the running drew me into an almost trance-like state. My body was doing the work, keeping me moving, but my mind wandered.

  A week ago, I’d been a normal twenty-six-year old. A week ago Ashling had been safe. Life had been good. I’d understood my place in the world.

  Now I was running through a forest from creatures that I hadn’t known existed. I couldn’t stop wondering if I would wake up, if this was all some sort of bad dream that had sucked me into another world. Bres was breathing hard beside me, and I knew that except for Ashling, I would take on all the monsters in the world to have Bres at my side.

  We’re almost there. His words interrupted my thoughts; I snapped back to the present.

  Rocks littered our path and they were getting bigger as we hit the stream and made our way up to the head of the water where the waterfall spilled into a deep pool.

  “Through the fall,” I whispered.

  Without a question, we dove into the pool in tandem, breaking through the surface and coming up together. Swimming towards where the waterfall spilled into the pool, I could see behind the curtain of it a hazy image of a door. Could it be that easy?

  “Do you see it?” I yelled over the crashing of the waterfall.

  “Yes!”

  We pulled ourselves up over the rocks as the water pounded our bodies hard. Every rock was covered in slime, and it made gripping them damn near impossible. Bres made it out first, then helped me to stand behind the waterfall. From there we watched an army of Fomorii range on the banks of the river. An army of them. All to take on Bres and me.

  “Shit,” I said. Bres tugged on my arm and we leapt towards the door, the hinge
s swinging on the wooden frame with ease.

  “We’ve got to keep moving; they’ll still come after us,” Bres said.

  “Are you serious? How?”

  “One at a time through ta door.” His eyes were grim. Double shit.

  We stepped through the door and into a pitch-black room —or at least I had supposed it was a room.

  “The next thing was crossing the vale. Which is a valley, right?” I asked. I started to lift my hand to light a flame for visibility, then stopped. “Maybe you’d better light the fire this time.”

  A bloom of orange lit over his hand in a perfect round orb and guided us through what turned out to be a valley, indeed, black as a moonless night. If it hadn’t been for Bres’ fire, we would have been lost completely in the darkness.

  “We should still run,” he said, his fingers tightening on mine.

  “Lead the way.”

  Breaking into an uneven jog, we moved as fast as we could. There were no pitfalls, no booby traps, but we were waiting for them, expecting them.

  The darkness didn’t fade. It was just suddenly gone, leaving us blinded by the brilliant sunshine.

  “Damn it,” I said, shading my eyes. I could see nothing past the bright spots that danced in my vision.

  Tightening my hand on Bres’, I stepped forward and immediately began to slide. Downhill, on loose shale.

  “Quinn, don’t let go!” Bres shouted. The rocks around us slid and screeched, as they avalanched with us, our bodies yanked this way and that. His fingers slipped from mine as my vision came back.

  It was as if we were tobogganing down the mountainside, our bodies skimming on the sheets of shale rock. As if getting battered by rock and scree wasn’t bad enough, at the bottom of the slide waited the Fomorii.

  How the hell had they beaten us here?

  It didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was that we had to get past them. I hit a protruding boulder and my body flipped over it, slamming me hard into the ground. I dug my fingers and heels in, trying desperately to stop my downward rush into the arms of the Fomorii.

  Bres was just ahead of me, not having any more luck than I was. We had only a few brief moments before we were caught. There had to be something we could do.