“Told ya’ you couldn't handle ‘em alone!” Thompson coughed.
Several of the animals charged into the circle. Gabrielle ducked as one of the monsters jumped at her head, and she brought the club down on the back of the creature’s neck. A loud crack rumbled, and the animal fell limp. Before she could turn to the next, another hound collided with her, knocking her to the ground.
Gabrielle rolled over and brought her fist up into the throat of the animal as it tried to bring its jaws closed onto her neck. She fought and pushed away, but the creature inched closer and closer to her. It was as if the hound didn’t feel her punches and kicks at all, like she was weaker here in the Other World than she was in real life.
Just when Gabrielle could feel the chilled breath of the animal on her face, she saw its eyes roll into the back of its head, and it was pulled away from her. Gabrielle laid there gasping for air for a few seconds before she rolled to her side and pushed up so she was sitting. A dagger protruded from the hound’s chest where she thought its heart would have been. Gabrielle analyzed the knife until she realized that she’d seen it before. She’d learned to fight with that very same knife years ago when she was a much younger Alexandra. Just then, Fausto appeared and ripped his knife back from the corpse of the beast.
“Can’t leave you alone at all, can we?” Fausto teased, lowering his hand to help her up. As she took his palm, a hound lunged and tackled Fausto away. As Gabrielle jumped up to help her friend, several shots were heard, and bullets tore through the animals hide. It, too, fell dead. Fausto rolled it off of him and stood, brushing the dirt and gravel off his uniform.
“Knives? Really? Why don’t people carry guns anymore?” Sam yelled, turning and firing several more shots at an approaching hound that was sneaking up behind Fionn. Gabrielle was lost in her mind. Her heart swam with emotion as the battle unfolded around her. Everyone was coming back. They all were coming back for her.
“Mind on the battle! Haven't I taught you anything?” shouted another voice behind her. Gabrielle spun around just in time to see a hound jumping at her. She swung her club as hard as she could, hitting it right above the eye and sending it rolling over her. The beast quickly spun around to come at her again when Gianni jumped from behind it and buried his knife into its head.
“I know I taught you better than that!” he shouted at her, turning to help Fausto kill a large hound that had Sam pinned while he was trying to reload.
“Knives don't need reloading!” Fausto snapped, trying to keep the animal’s snapping jaws away from Sam’s head. Gabrielle swiveled her head back and forth, looking at the friends she’d met on different adventures in different times in history helping each other like they were the best of friends.
A strange whipping sound followed by a loud yelp caught Gabrielle’s attention, and she spun on her heels. Two women, both with switches, were whipping at the face of a very fat hound. It tried to lunge at them several times, but Madame Toinette and Renée kept hitting it on the muzzle and driving it back. As it focused on them, another ghost from her past appeared. Heather drove a spike right into its ribs, killing it instantly.
As it fell dead, two more hounds charged at the women. Heather and Madame Toinette managed to avoid the attack, but Renée was knocked down. Before Gabrielle could run to rescue her, Gianni was on the hound viciously, riding on its back with one arm wrapped around its neck and the other continuously plunging his knife into the beast.
Gianni reached down a sturdy hand and helped Renée up. For a moment, the two looked at each other as if they were having a silent conversation. It was like they had once known one another, in another time or another place.
A howl surprised Gabrielle, and she turned to see the deteriorated fur-mangled flesh of a hound’s stomach as it pounced on her. The air was forced out of Gabrielle’s lungs as her back hit the cold, hard ground. She had the awareness to bring her club up and shoved its handle as far down her attacker’s throat as she could.
The monster gagged and choked on the club and soon Gabrielle was able to kick the beast away. She yanked the club free and brought it down on the creature’s head as hard as she could. The hound stumbled backward, dazed, and then limped off into the woods to recover.
Gabrielle spun the club in her hands and scanned the fight for her next target. Eyeing a large hound terrorizing Heather, Gabrielle smirked and charged, but after only a few steps everything around her froze. She darted her eyes from side to side as she realized she was frozen mid-step. She couldn’t move her head or any part of her body except her eyes.
CHAPTER TWENTY
To the best of her abilities, Gabrielle looked around, and she could see that the hounds and her friends were all stuck in the same predicament.
Panic rose in Gabrielle’s chest as she darted her gaze from one side to the other, desperate to figure out what was going on. A distant rumbling turned into a thunderous crash, and she was thrown nearly twenty yards through the air.
She hit the ground and tumbled over and over, unable to put her arms out to slow her frozen body. Gabrielle shot her eyes around as best she could and realized that everyone had been thrown. The field looked like a chess board that had been trampled by a toddler, with figures strewn across the grass, many of them tipped over and jumbled, still frozen in battle.
Lying in the middle of the battle field was Morrigan, back in her human form but bruised and bloodied. Standing victoriously on top of Morrigan was an even more arrogant Arawn. He was wearing his suit pants, but they were ripped, and his bare chest was covered in blood. The triumphant god stood motionlessly, the rise and fall of his muscular chest the only indication that he was a living being. As Gabrielle looked on in horror at the lifeless Morrigan, covered in blood and deep gashes, she noticed that her chest was ever so slightly rising and falling. She’s still alive.
“I . . . left you fools . . . with one task . . .” Arawn panted as he singled out one of the frozen hounds lying on its back with both paws out and teeth bared. His eyes had turned an even deeper shade of red as he looked from one toppled hound to another. Suddenly, Arawn snapped his fingers, and his hounds sprang back to life. Gabrielle tried to jerk her body up only to find that it was still frozen in place. The hounds lined up for a moment, staring into Arawn’s blood shot eyes, and then slunk away with their tails between their legs into the tree line.
“You!” he shouted once the last dog was gone from sight. Arawn stuck one long skeletal finger out towards Gabrielle. “You always have to be difficult, don't you?” With this, he removed his foot from Morrigan’s chest and kicked her aside. Arawn covered the distance between him and Gabrielle within seconds. Gabrielle’s heart beat furiously in her chest as he neared her, but she couldn’t move a muscle, so she lay powerless, and waited.
Arawn stepped over Gabrielle and raised her to her feet by her throat. He pulled her in close and drug his long snake-like tongue across her cheek. Gabrielle felt like she was going to vomit. Inside she thrashed and struggled, willing her frozen body to kick and punch Arawn until he was a pile a blood and sinew, but on the outside, she remained frozen. I’m going to rip you to shreds you cocky asshat!
“How does it feel? How does it feel to fail over and over? Every time you think you have stopped me or saved someone, you fail again, like the little shit you are! Gabrielle, I really think it’s time you just gave up. You’re mine now, you no longer belong to the living.”
It’s a good thing gods can’t die because killing you once wouldn’t be enough! Inside, Gabrielle was screaming at the top of her lungs, but he was right. Her soul was now his to command. Her only chance was if Morrigan knew of a way to kill him, but she was currently lying face down in the dirt. Morrigan. What do I do? At her moment of loss, something began to stir in the distance. In the blur of her peripheral vision, Gabrielle could see a shape standing. The image let out a manic laugh as Gabrielle struggled to see who it was, but she had already known. Morrigan.
Arawn’s face sank as he k
ept Gabrielle in the air, but turned the two of them to look at the origin of the laughter. Morrigan was standing on the other side of the field, laughing as she limped toward them.
“I suppose you’ve found something amusing in all of this? Silence your tongue, Sister, or I will remove it,” Arawn barked, turning his face back to Gabrielle.
“Dear brother,” Morrigan coughed, straightening her dress and clearing her throat for air. “I think you have failed to realize something dire in all of this.”
“Oh? What might that be? And hurry it up, I have a long day planned with this one,” Arawn snapped, turning back to Morrigan.
“That you have lost,” Morrigan retorted, coldly. Arawn looked at Gabrielle, his eyes squinted as if he were trying to read her face. He then tossed her aside, turned and walked back to Morrigan.
“I have lost, have I? Care to explain?” Arawn sounded annoyed as he grew nearer to his sister. He clenched his claws and licked his lips, preparing for another fight.
“Are you really that blinded by your power, you weak man? Look around you. The spirits are revolting. You no longer hold dominion over them. They command their own will. They have shown that by coming for Gabrielle. You have lost, Brother.”
Arawn paused a half step but quickly regained his composure. He gestured to all of the motionless, frozen bodies around them.
“Hold no dominion? Well, I think you may be mistaken,” Arawn argued.
“Then why is she standing?” Morrigan asked, motioning behind Arawn to Gabrielle. Arawn whipped himself around to look at Gabrielle, who was still on the ground. Arawn let a nervous chuckle escape his lips as he turned back to Morrigan.
“You cannot trick m—” Arawn froze mid-sentence when he saw Morrigan standing directly in front of him. She plunged her hand into his chest, and Gabrielle watched her claw emerge through his back. Arawn’s hands clenched and released at his sides, but he was powerless to raise them, only labored gasps slipped through his lips.
Gabrielle felt like a warm blanket had been pulled over her, her body began to loosen as if awakening from a long sleep. The force that bound her had been released, and she was able to wiggle her fingers. The sensation slowly crept into her fingers and toes then on to her hands and feet. Through an extraordinary amount of pain, she forced herself to stand, bringing her whole body out of the catatonic state all at once. As she looked around, the others began to stand as well. Morrigan pulled Arawn close to her and whispered into his ear. Gabrielle watched Morrigan’s lips as she spoke.
“You have fallen, Brother.” With a violent jerk, Morrigan yanked her hand from his chest. She held out a small black ball covered in blood for Arawn to see. “I hold your existence in my hand. I think I’ll hold on to it for a millennia or two while I ponder your betrayal,” Morrigan finished, loud enough for everyone to hear, as she slid his still beating black heart into a pouch tied to her hip.
“Take him and bury him at the base of that tree,” Morrigan called out, without taking her eyes off Arawn. “It doesn’t need to be a deep hole, he won’t be able to rise until I allow it.” Everyone calmly walked over to Arawn, who was still standing, eyes wide in shock. They raised him high above their heads and then, like a funeral procession, they all marched off into the woods, leaving Gabrielle standing with Morrigan.
Morrigan’s eyes stayed with the group as they walked and only left them as the last member disappeared into the tree line. Gabrielle, without any sense of what to feel, dropped to her knees and began to silently cry.
“When an eternity does not permit the time to answer all of life’s inquiries, we are all damned to madness,” Morrigan finally spoke. Gabrielle kept her eyes on the emerald grass and watched her tears fall like rain drops on their blades.
“I know this is a lot to take in. Ask me anything, I promise I’ll tell you the truth.” Morrigan crouched down next to Gabrielle and placed a timid hand on her back. “Please, Gabrielle. Please talk to me.”
Gabrielle remained silent for a moment. Waiting for a coherent thought to enter her brain.
“Why?” The question was meaningless, but it was the only thought that occupied her mind.
“The question all mortals have,” Morrigan sighed as she stroked the top of Gabrielle’s head. “Because it had to be this way. I know that’s not enough, but it’s all I have to offer you.”
“Why me?!” Gabrielle shouted, jerking her head up so that she was finally looking into Morrigan’s eyes. “You at least owe me that much,” she continued, a softness creeping into her voice.
“Ah, there’s that spirit I love so much.” Morrigan’s smile faded, and she let out a sigh before sitting cross-legged on the grass in front of Gabrielle. “I chose you because you said yes. Because you are smart and spirited and always do what’s right. Because you love deeply and you truly want to help people.”
Morrigan brought her lavender eyes up to meet Gabrielle’s. The two women stared at each other for a few moments before Gabrielle fervidly closed the gap between them, wrapping her sore arms around Morrigan and burying her head in the god’s neck. Gabrielle let a river of tears burst from her eyes as she sobbed. Morrigan combed her long fingers through Gabrielle’s tangled web of hair and slowly rocked her back and forth. After a few minutes, when the tears had run dry, Gabrielle lowered herself, so she lay with her head in Morrigan’s lap.
“Every thousand millennia or so, the reign of the Other World goes from one god to the next. It’s a way of keeping the balance in life. The circle must move. Arawn held the throne last, and when his time had come to an end, and it was my turn to reign, he had discovered powers. He found that if he could harness the life forces of passing souls, he could build his power and I’d be too weak to do anything about it. The only way I could beat him was to find a way to lessen his power. I discovered if the souls he controlled were set free, the power they gave him would also be lost. I knew if my brother saw me freeing the souls, he would know what I was doing and would stop me before he was weak enough for me to fight, so I needed to find someone to free the souls that he would never suspect. This was you, my love.”
“You mean, you used me to rule a kingdom?!” Gabrielle snapped, though she didn’t move from Morrigan’s lap. “My life is gone. My parents and everyone that I love are dead! All so that you could have power?”
“No, you sacrificed all of that so you could save all of these souls, your friends. Yes, you broke his power, but you saved those damned to relive their own torturous ends. This was far beyond what you could imagine. I know that you know this. I have watched you every step of the way.” Morrigan brushed a strand Gabrielle's hair away from her face.
“Did I?” Gabrielle asked, softening her voice. She thought about all of her friends and all of the love that she had felt for them. Did that justify the sacrifice?
“Aye,” came Fionn’s familiar voice. Gabrielle lazily pulled herself to her feet. Everyone that she had met, helped, loved, and lost on her journey now stood before her with smiles on their faces and life in their eyes.
“Just look at them, Gabrielle. They can all rest and begin the next part of their journeys because of you. This wasn't just about restoring balance. Remember that.” Morgan placed her hand on Gabrielle's shoulder.
“So, what happens now? We stay here?” she asked, wiping the tears from her face.
“We do, yes. You do not,” Morrigan replied.
“What do you mean?” Gabrielle asked, as her eyebrows pinched together and her eyes roamed the curves of Morrigan’s face. “Where am I going?”
“This place is for the dead, young one. You’re going back home. You don't belong here, yet.”
Gabrielle cocked her head in confusion. “I am dead. That’s how I got here in the first place.”
“I see, this is a little strange for you. You did die, yes, but that wasn’t you, that was Alexandra’s life you took. That was the last life of your journey. There is still a life for you back in the land of the living. It is your old life. Gabriel
le, you are still a young girl, sleeping on a couch in a study. That life waited for you.”
“Wait a second, I thought my old life wouldn’t wait for me. All those years ago, Alexandra told me . . . uhh, I guess I told me, the real world would continue to turn?”
“And you will still tell yourself that. You must. The little girl you were then doesn’t know everything that will happen. This is my gift to you, Gabrielle, for giving me back my kingdom and saving so many souls. You will wake up the day after your birthday, having only lost a few hours of your life as you slept. You will also remember everything that happened here, how brave you were and how thankful we all are for you.” Morrigan grasped Gabrielle’s hands in her own. “Gabrielle, this journey is important. You need to convince yourself to willingly take this journey even though there will be risks, death, and heartache.”
“So, after all of this, I just go back? Just like that?” Gabrielle asked, her heart dancing in her chest. She could have her old life back, back in her old house, before all of this happened. She could live a normal life. Gabrielle’s thoughts soured when she remembered her mother’s death.
“Will my parents be there?” she asked, hope in her voice. Morrigan closed her eyes and shook her head.
“No, my love. Your father and mother did die in the mortal world. They are here, now. When you go back, it will be alone.”
“What will I do? What will become of my life?” Gabrielle asked, looking around at all the kind faces. “What if I don't want to go back just to end up in the foster system?” Morrigan smiled a faint, sad smile and rubbed the tops of Gabrielle’s hands with her thumbs.
“My dear, going back is not a choice. You will go back because you must. You are strong. Believe me when I say to you, that if any person could survive this, it would be you. I see a long and happy life ahead of you, and I think that it’s about time you lived it.” Morrigan lightly kissed the top of Gabrielle’s head as hot tears spilled down her cheeks. She’d finally found a family, and now she would, once more, be without one.
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