by J. P. Rice
I saw nothing out of the ordinary and turned back to Johnny, but he had vanished, replaced by a dissipating blue cloud that smelled like a bonfire of his rolled cigarettes. A sharp gust of wind carried Johnny’s smoky remains out over the edge and the azure-tinted fog faded into a distant cloud. Dissolving into nothingness. Just the way he wanted to keep it.
It was almost as if I was getting too close on the trail of his identity, and he had to pull a miraculous escape act to throw me off the scent. He had made dramatic exits before, but this was over the top.
Owen and I made our way down the mountain and headed toward Arawn and Maeve’s compound.
Chapter 14
We waited until sundown and hung our coats over the branch of a tree just outside the complex. I set a powerful illusion spell over Owen, and then one for myself. It would make us and our clothes invisible to the guards. We planned to get inside Arawn’s office, if possible, and steal the spear. At the very least, we needed to gather intel.
I took a step back and couldn’t see Owen any longer. “Can you see me?” I asked. After a short silence, I said, “Well?”
“Right, sorry. I was shaking my head. No, I cannot see you either,” he confirmed.
“Perfect. You ready to do this?” I said with enthusiasm.
“I would suppose. But how will I know where you are?” he asked.
I walked to where he was standing and reached out. I bumped his soft hand and traced up his arm to grab his shoulder. We walked to the main entrance where the vehicles came in. It was set up like an outdoor parking lot with a worker inside the enclosed booth.
We moved over against the brick wall and squeezed by the lifting gate. We entered an open area and all the buildings stood in front of us. We veered to the left, avoiding the random guards patrolling the area and headed for the three-story ivory building. They appeared to be normal sidhe men and I couldn’t smell any magic in the air. Johnny was right again.
A guard opened the door to leave, and we sprinted to sneak inside. Just before the door shut, I jammed two fingers into the gap. Through the tiny crack, I peeked inside and nobody was near the entrance so I opened the door, let Owen in and wedged myself through.
We went left, down a drab hallway with yellow walls and long fluorescent lights guiding the way. It came to a fork where we took another left. We quickly arrived at another split, and I turned to Owen. “This is your post. If anyone is coming, use the whistle.”
Owen nodded silently, or at least, I hoped he was nodding. I let go of him and walked down the hall toward Arawn’s office where I encountered two guards stationed on either side of the door. I almost forgot I was invisible and panicked for a moment, then regained my mental balance.
The guards were dressed in tan pants and tight red long-sleeve shirts. I stared at the black belts around their waists and didn’t see any weapons. It seemed Arawn was paranoid his guards could turn on him. Without magical ability or weapons, the sidhe didn’t stand a chance against Arawn.
Arawn’s office window was in between the guards and me, but I still needed to remain wary of them. I remained calm, tiptoed over to the office and stood in front of a window with drawn blinds.
With the guards only a few feet away, I channeled the dragonfly blood inside me to wake up and supply me with super hearing. As the blood circulated slowly, I perked up my ears. Within a few moments, I could hear the conversation on the other side of the thick pane of wired glass.
I recognized Arawn’s voice. “He says he has it, but we need to go to Pittsburgh to make the deal.”
Another man spoke, “Why go there? Why won’t they come here?”
Arawn answered, “That was part of the deal. If you know someone who claims to have the other half of the spear, then by all means, set up your own deal.”
Someone had broken the spear in half.
The other man said, “Just seems fishy. Why is the spear in two pieces? Almost feels like a trap.”
Arawn sighed. “I appreciate your counsel, I really do. And I will take that into consideration. Be ready to leave in a few days. We haven’t set up a meeting location yet. There are still a few details to iron out, but the deal is as good as done.”
“What’s the plan from there?” the man asked.
Arawn responded, “As soon as we connect Lugh’s Spear, we come right back here and go on the offensive. We start with this state, then the region, then the entire United States. Once we capture all the military might of the U.S., we move on to other countries. Country by country, continent by continent until the world is ours. Then I will rule over Ireland and realize my prophecy as King of my homeland.”
Those words made my ears bleed. My father was the only King of Ireland that I would ever recognize.
The man added, “And with the spear in hand, there will be no way you can lose.”
Arawn sighed again. “Thank you for repeating the obvious. We must be careful they don’t unload a fake on us. If these jokers try anything stupid, we might not rule the world, but we will make Pittsburgh a veritable wasteland. I’ll kill anyone who’s ever heard of them without question.”
After seeing their setup and hearing the plan, I realized that Arawn and Maeve were a serious threat. I’d heard many people discuss conquering the world and laughed in most of their faces. However, this was a viable option. With the cloning operation, they could resupply warriors as they went along. Conquering more land would allow them to expand the facilities.
Arawn spoke in a deeper voice, “Once the world is under our thumb, we go after the Gods. One day, the Celtic Gods will serve me. All Gods for that matter. They will all bow before me. There won’t be a set of ears in any world that hasn’t heard the name Arawn. Sorry, Zeus. Sorry, Odin. But there will be a new supreme ruler. The Celtic Gods will rue the days they were rude to me. The Dagda, especially. I haven’t forgotten.”
His assistant said greedily, “I always wanted some slaves to serve me and my property.”
Arawn told him, “You will have your pick of the litter. Many will choose death over enslavement, but if they don’t, they are yours to do as you please.”
I heard a commotion coming from down the hall. Owen screamed, “Help, my invisibility has worn off.”
I spun around and charged down the hall, unworried about making any noise. For some reason, the guards in front of the door stood pat. I rounded the bend and saw Owen surrounded by five guards. They were beating him mercilessly as I arrived. My invisible hands grabbed two unsuspecting guards and tossed them aside.
I punched another guard in the nose, and he flailed his fists around wildly in response, keeping me at bay. One of the other guards grabbed Owen and placed one hand on his chin and the other on the top of the cat man’s head. In one quick motion, the guard broke his neck. I felt the ominous sound in my soul and my stomach turned.
Owen’s eyes rolled back into his head, then his eyelids shut as he crashed to the ground, possibly dead. I kicked the flailing guard in the balls, and he doubled over, clutching his crotch. With him in a vulnerable position, I swung my forearm around and popped him in the jaw.
The other two guards kneeled down to continue attacking Owen. One after the other, I booted them in the face and proceeded to stomp the shit out of them until they were unconscious. Why weren’t the guards from outside the office here yet? Then it hit me. Protecting the spear was the goal. But surely outside resources would show up soon.
Knowing the clock was ticking for enemy backup to arrive, I leaned down and scooped up Owen. Summoning all the strength I could, I slung his dead weight over my shoulder and navigated down the hall. More confused guards showed up, wondering why they could see Owen, but not the person carrying him.
I made it down the hallway and neared the entrance to the building when the guards closed in on me. The guards punched, pulled, clawed and slapped at my invisible body, trying to tear Owen away from me. Considering he was likely dead, I allowed them to pull my friend away so I could formulate a quic
k attack.
I panned the area and noticed five guards dragging Owen back toward Arawn’s office. Three more guards were blocking the entrance door. I could take out these eight opponents easily if nothing else happened. As I prepared to free my friend again, the alarm system went off, replete with flashing red lights and an eardrum-piercing siren.
With no time to spare, I quickly booted the men carrying Owen, causing them to drop his body. Tremors of terror made my arms and legs go numb as more guards rushed into the front of the building, making escape impossible. If they caught me and took me to Arawn, the former Celtic God would surely put me to death. Unfortunately, my options had run out.
An idea hit me, wading through my confused and panicked state to come front and center. I recast the invisibility spell over Owen. Bits of glittery enchantment danced around his unresponsive body, sinking into his fur to complete the spell. Within seconds, his body disappeared.
A few guards still had hold of him, so I kicked their hands away from my friend and hoisted him up over my shoulder. I moved to an empty area near the entrance that wasn’t teeming with guards and waited impatiently as a procession of tall men filtered in through the front door.
The confused men shouted at each other, wondering what the hell had just happened. A leader took charge and instructed smaller teams to branch out and search different areas of the building. I bounced up and down on the balls of my feet, hoping the spells would last so that I could wait this out and then escape easily.
I was initially surprised that Arawn hadn’t come out of his office, but I realized he was probably protecting the spear. He likely thought there was an intruder coming after his precious spear.
I noticed the guards had moved away from the front door and I migrated toward freedom.
My shoes squeaked on the floor, but the guards were making enough noise that they couldn’t hear. As I approached the door, it flung open toward me, almost smacking me in the face. I hooked the door with my foot before it could shut and a cold blast of winter hit me, sending a nasty chill down my spine.
As I moved outside, the lamps around the parking lot highlighted guards stationed at various points around the building. As quietly as I could, I carried Owen’s heavy body across the entrance of the building. I smelled freedom when a scream that sounded like it had come from the depths of hell rent the winter air.
I spun around, wondering if my spell had worn off and I was now visible. There stood Arawn, his massive chest heaving in and out, breath clouds shrouding his figure. He leaned forward and pulled the sides of his hood snug against his angular facial features, his burning yellow eyes piercing the darkness of night. His wolf-skin cloak was clasped around his neck by rusted silver chains and swept the snowy ground as he took two steps forward.
A pale sliver of moonlight cast down upon his face, revealing the Celtic rune symbols covering most of his flesh. His ghostly white skin was barely visible among the jungle of black tattoos. His eyes narrowed and his head swiveled forcefully from side to side, searching for Owen and me.
I exhaled a sigh of relief and realized my invisibility spell included breath clouds. Lucky me, since I hadn’t thought about that and could have been a sitting duck.
I carried Owen across the entranceway. After a pulse-pounding escape, we passed the parking gate and were on the outside again. I set down Owen’s body to set a new plan. Nothing rushed into my head as I stretched out my tired muscles, preparing for the second leg of this trip.
I ran over and grabbed our coats from the tree branch where we had stashed them. Due to the strong chill in the air, I slid my arms into the sleeves of my leather jacket and zipped it up. I dusted the snow off Owen’s trench coat and suit jacket and hung them over my shoulder.
Owen needed eight hours to recover from death. I’d seen it before and didn’t understand it, but that was how it worked. I thought about going back to Mount Rainier to get advice from Johnny Tango, but it was such a long hike that I scratched the idea immediately.
I remembered a small wooded area we had passed on our way to the silo and figured that would be the best place to duck out for a while. I slung Owen over my shoulder again and walked down the side of a narrow road.
As we moved carefully toward the woods, I thought about what I had heard about Lugh’s Spear. As previously rumored, it was in two pieces, forcing Arawn to go to Pittsburgh to buy the other half. But from whom? I didn’t know the location or time of the deal, but I had to find out whom Arawn was making a deal with.
I needed to get back to Pittsburgh and put my ear to the streets. Somebody had to know who had the other half of the spear. I had an idea about finding the culprit, but it involved my dead friend whom I set down again as we entered the woods. As I stretched out my back, leaves rustled in the near distance and I craned my neck to see who it was.
The dark shadows twisted under the naked tree branches as a thin cloud floated in front of the moon. Nothing came to the fore, and the sound stopped. A rotten feeling took form in the pit of my stomach. Something wasn’t right. I scanned the area again, but couldn’t see anyone, not even an animal.
From behind a bush, I caught a flash of amethyst. I zeroed in on it, and as it took shape, my heart sank into my shoes. The Bounty Huntress’s afro. I was in her territory now. Fook.
I scooped up Owen and headed up a slight hillock with my calves and thighs burning. Knowing the Huntress could easily catch up, I tried to devise a quick plan. She and her associates would kill Owen just for being with me. I couldn’t let that happen. If they killed him, that would be his last life.
I walked into a slight clearing with a big pile of leaves and brush. Panic snaked through my body as I realized what I needed to do. I set Owen down near the pile and placed his coat over his body. Using the leaves and brush, I covered him up as best I could. Satisfied he wouldn’t be found, I strolled leisurely down the hill.
I couldn’t rely on the invisibility. Under the spell, I could still see my body. Without Owen, I didn’t know if I was visible and I couldn’t outrun her carrying a heavy body. I had to sacrifice myself to save Owen.
These assholes could take a spin with me, but they weren’t getting my friend. Perhaps I could kill the damned Huntress once and for all. I readied my magic and felt it bubbling under my skin as I continued down the hill.
A shrill voice cut through the freezing night, “Prepared to turn yourself in?”
Within the blink of an eye, the Huntress and three associates emerged from behind a tree trunk. I tried sizing up her help as the three men branched out, attempting to surround me. My eyes darted back and forth and I sniffed the air to see if they possessed magic.
The three men were dressed in black skintight suits with connected hoods. It resembled an Olympic skier’s outfit and only left their eyes, noses and mouths visible.
I smelled an herbaceous scent, and quickly narrowed it down to a member of the mint family. Basil. An Italian hit squad?
Practitioners used basil in a lot of fire spells, and I noticed the men’s hands were glowing red. I put my hand behind my back and conjured an invisible sword, as the men maneuvered around to keep me surrounded. I felt the grip in my hand and twisted my wrist, turning the blade, so I could slice the gentleman on my right in half.
I was about to unleash a mighty stroke of the sword when I caught a flash of silver out of my peripheral and turned naturally to check it out. As soon as I realized it was the barrel of a gun, the Huntress pulled the trigger from point-blank range.
I dropped the sword and prepared the dodge the shot, but it was already too late. A purple projectile exited the barrel and raced toward my heart. My muscles tensed as the pellet hit my chest and splattered purple paint all over my black leather jacket.
I looked down as my hand started to disappear and I got woozy. My mental faculties became clouded, and I felt a tremendous amount of pressure on my skull. Nauseated, I tried to fight off the cement mixer feeling in my stomach, when the world went dark.
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br /> My eyelids blinked open, revealing a dark cave. In a flash, the Bounty Huntress began to materialize in front of me. I turned to my right and located a small opening in the wall.
“Don’t even try it,” warned the Huntress. “The Lair of Justice is well protected. It’s over, bitch. I’ll collect my due. You will die while those you stole from watch your demise. Everyone is happy.”
I said nothing. I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction.
“What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue?” she asked and cackled. “Do you know where that saying originated?”
“Don’t care.”
Her insult reminded me of my last act on earth. Saving Owen. At least I’d ended things on a noble note.
The Huntress whistled and said, “You’re going to hear it anyway. In ancient Egypt, they would cut out the tongues of the blasphemers and feed them to cats. Perhaps we should do the same for you. Make yourself comfortable. You aren’t going anywhere.”
I knew nobody escaped from the Lair. I knew they decided the outcome of the trials before they even started. They had never deemed anyone innocent. Death was the only punishment served down here. The magic council was more of a hit squad than a judicial body.
The Huntress grabbed a torch from the wall and led me into another empty room carved out of stone with a post stretching from the floor to the ceiling. Two men in black robes entered the room and moved me in front of the post. They tied my ankles first, then pulled my hands around the post, tying my wrists behind me. The Huntress stood with her arms crossed over her chest and sported the smuggest look I’d ever seen. Even her stupid purple hair was smirking at me.
She waited until the men finished and left the room. As soon as the last man disappeared into the darkness, she rejoiced, “What a great day this is.”
