“But he does love me,” Gwen insisted. “I can feel it. I know he does.”
“Then why is he running from you? For a man who takes honor so seriously…” Bianca trailed off and shook her head.
“He’s here as a punishment. He broke a sacred law,” Gwen blurted out. She had kept his secret, but it seemed all bets were off when it came to secrets anyway. “Do you know what that could mean?”
Seamus stopped so suddenly that they all bumped into him, a domino effect that almost toppled them off the side of the mountain.
“I have heard tell of a sacred law being recently broken. There were whispers that the Goddess Danu’s blood was taken. But for what, and by whom, nobody knew. We all assumed the perpetrator was put to death as immediate punishment,” Seamus said, shaking his head in confusion. “But for what reason would Loch do that?”
“What does the blood do?” Bianca asked curiously.
“It’s said to instantly heal those who are on their deathbed.”
Bianca and Gwen turned to look at each other.
“He saved his mother,” Bianca said.
Gwen gazed off across the hills, where moonlight filtered over molten lava running in rivulets down the side of craggy cliffs. Realization slammed into her so suddenly it made her gasp for air. Reaching out, she clenched Bianca’s arm.
“He’s going for the spear on his own. He’s trying to save me from harm. Just like his father did for his mother.”
“That idiot,” Bianca shouted, then sighed, “But also, how romantic.”
“‘How romantic’? He’ll get himself killed. He has no idea the powers of this island!” Gwen almost screamed in frustration. “Damn the man for having to do everything on his own. Doesn’t he realize we are in this together?”
“I don’t know if he has ever really had someone to be ‘together’ with, you know?” Seamus asked. “Aside from his mother who tried to give him everything, he’s taken care of any real challenges on his own. Including taking care of his mother and saving her life. He makes the decisions. He’s not accustomed to having a family to look out for him. Being on a team.”
“Well, he’s about to get a rude awakening,” Gwen said fiercely, looking out to the lava once more. “Watch out, Lochlain of the Fae. You’ve got some serious lessons to learn about being a team player.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
“How can you know where he went?” Bianca grumbled, sweat running down her face as they carefully made their way over jagged black rock, dodging the rivulets of lava.
Gwen turned and grinned – an almost maniacal grin, she was sure of it – and tapped her chest. “I feel it. In here.”
“Whatever you say, Sea Fairy, but can you channel him and tell him to keep away from the lava, maybe? This stuff is ridiculously hot,” Bianca complained.
Seamus snorted. “Maybe that’s why they always refer to it as molten lava?”
“You’re lucky you’re cute,” Bianca grumbled, but blew Seamus a kiss anyway.
Gwen smiled, but her focus had gone inward. An energy seemed to hum through her, one of truth and rightness, and she tuned into it, knowing that deep down, love conquered all. Keeping her heart open, she let it draw her step by step, closer to where she knew Loch to be.
Bianca continued to complain, but good-naturedly. “You’d think I would lose some weight with all this hiking and battling I’ve been doing.” It was a tough hike, and had Gwen not been hiking the hills her whole life, she was certain she’d be in rough shape. Bianca’s chatter didn’t require a response, but it was easy background noise, so she half-listened as they made their way up each steep ascent, only to find another after it. And so it went, until even Seamus was red in the face and puffing from exertion.
“Air’s thin up here,” he said.
Gwen nodded, barely able to speak, so focused was she on finding Loch and trying to breathe. She knew he was close. “We have to keep going,” Gwen urged, feeling panic creep up her spine. Whirling, she looked behind them. Below them the waves crashed in the moonlight, swallowing the red streams of lava, looking for all the world like the mountain was bleeding into the ocean.
“Something’s wrong. Let’s move,” Gwen insisted, and began to run, rocks scattering beneath her feet and tumbling hundreds of feet into the water far below them.
“Gwen! Slow down! You’ll fall!” Bianca screeched, but Gwen kept moving, as sure-footed as she’d ever been. She instinctively knew these mountains, as they were born of her people’s blood. Leaping over the top ledge, she skidded to a halt, her hands coming automatically to her face in horror.
The Domnua had split the magickal barriers, and poured forth onto the tip of the mountain as though a dam had burst wide open.
And Loch stood, his arms raised to the sky, battling them on his own.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Bianca screeched from behind her. “Of all the hot-headed stupid male things to do, to storm off on your own and battle this? How is he helping anyone by getting his ass killed? And for what? Stupid honor, stupid men! I swear to god I’m going to kick his ass myself when this is over,” she said, and, raising her dagger, charged past an astounded Gwen and dove right into battle.
“She’s something, isn’t she?” Seamus grinned, bow and arrow at the ready, and began to pick off the Domnua that got through Loch’s spell and came too close to his love.
Despite everything, Gwen found herself laughing as she plunged headlong into the battle of her life – for love.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
“Get out of here,” Loch bit out, furious when Gwen plunged into battle next to him, bracelets raised as she began trying to ice the crack in the barrier closed. Realizing it was futile to try and close the ever-widening gap, she instead turned her attention to picking off the Domnua that ranged closer to the peak they stood upon.
“Like hell I will. We’re in this together, you and I,” Gwen argued as she admired Loch’s use of spells to mow down wave after wave of Domnua.
“It’s my job to protect you,” Loch argued back.
“And it’s my job to find the spear – not yours. I love you, Lochlain. You don’t get to battle this alone. That’s what love means, tackling the hard stuff together.” Gwen ducked as an arrow breezed past her head. “And I’m quite certain this qualifies as the hard stuff.”
“You’re crazy, you know that?” Loch said, annoyance flitting across his face as he threw another spell across the peak, this one rumbling the mountain below them so that the Domnua tumbled off the side and crashed to their deaths on the jagged rocks far below.
“Crazy about you,” Gwen said cheerfully, throwing a bolt of ice at a Domnua that was too close to Bianca, who waved a cheerful thanks in response.
“I can’t live if you get hurt,” Loch finally yelled. “I can’t lose you, not like this.”
“There’s no promise of tomorrows, Lochlain. We both know that. Why turn your back on love today?” Gwen yelled back, as more Domnua poured forth.
“All right, you crazy woman,” Loch finally caved. “Enchantress and sea fairy of mine – I love you and you can battle with me.”
Gwen grinned in delight. “I love you,” she called, then gasped when she realized she was being separated from the other three by a river of Domnua. A winged dragon broke through the barrier, of such magnitude it made Gwen’s heart stop. Hundreds of Domnua rode on its back, and Gwen screamed, realizing she was now isolated from her friends, her team, and her love.
She watched in horror as the dragon blew a magick spell from its mouth, unlike any she had ever heard of, encasing her friends and lover in perfect pillars of ice and shaking the mountain they stood on until it rumbled in anger, lava bursting in waves from the top. Gwen lost sight of her friends, her eyes desperately trying to track where they fell into the water below, before she slid into the black, landing with such an impact that stars stunned her eyes and darkness overcame her.
Chapter Forty
Gwen blinked, her eye
s struggling to adjust to the darkness around her, the only light a faint glow coming from somewhere she couldn’t identify to help her to see. She gasped as the ground beneath her shook again. Scrambling to her feet, she realized she’d fallen into some sort of hole or cavern inside the mountain. The sounds of a thousand Domnua screaming aboveground, desperately trying to get to her, propelled her forward.
Feeling her way along the wall, she stumbled forward, the warm glow beckoning her. Realizing she was in a tunnel of sorts, she picked her way further into the mountain, tears running down her face as she tried to not relive the moment that her friends and her love had been blown off the side of the mountain.
“On my life, I swear I will avenge you all,” Gwen seethed. She used her bare hands to tear away the rocks in her path, sweat dripping down her face as she drew closer to where the light was, which now shone brighter. Rounding a corner, Gwen skidded to a stop, her hands on her knees, her chest heaving in pain and frustration as tears and sweat ran down her face.
The Spear of Lugh, encased in something that looked like crystal, glowed brightly before her.
“Oh… oh please, please, I need you now,” Gwen begged, racing forward to bang her hands on what proved to be a huge block of ice. From inside, the fiery tip glowed a furious red, and Gwen remembered the stories of how the spear had to be encased in cool water or ice lest it destroy all that was around it.
She also remembered that no battle could be won against the one who wielded it.
Determination creasing her brow, Gwen began to bang at the ice, trying everything in her power to crack it, screaming in frustration when not even a chip of ice broke away. Blood ran down her hands, beneath her bracelets, and she held them up, channeling her inner energy to fire more ice at it, hoping against hope that the block would shatter.
She hit the floor when the daggers of ice bounced off, racketing back at her and almost killing her. Curling into a ball, Gwen sobbed in frustration, her mind going once again to those she loved going over the cliff.
Here was the spear, finally, yet she could do nothing with it to save them – or the world that needed her to do so.
“You swore to avenge them, Gwenith. O Gwenith of the sea fairies, enchantress, siren of the seas, she who dances with fairies,” Gwen babbled, almost incoherent in her exhaustion and angst, “you’ve found love and lost it in a day. What kind of power do you hold after all?”
It slammed into her so quickly that Gwen almost slapped herself in the head for not remembering what Amynta had made her promise to do.
Crossing her arms across her chest, she closed her eyes and let the blood from the cuts on her hands run down her wrists, staining her shirt above her heart. Looking deep inside, Gwen opened her heart to love – to the love that Loch had given her, which resided deep inside of her, to the love of her friends, of Gran, even silly little Macgregor – and let it pour through her.
Lifting her chin, she opened her mouth and sang – an ancient song of love, of legends deep, of hearts won, battles fought, and songs sung. It was the song of the sirens, the song of fairies who danced in the sea, the song of her father’s people and her mother’s people. The music poured from her, thundering through the room, reverberating up the walls and smashing the ice around the spear into a thousand tiny shards.
And still Gwen sang, spear in hand, as she clambered through a hole that had opened in the side of the mountain. She drew fresh air into her lungs as she ascended the highest peak, the spear raised above her head, her song carrying across the land.
Below her, the Domnua screamed in terror at the sight of the spear – they knew no battle could be won against it. Crouching, Gwen sprang and began to stab Domnua after Domnua, singing like a madwoman, delighting when she heard her people in the waves far below match her in song, their voices raising to a thunderous crescendo.
When the dragon fell from the sky and the last of the Domnua in battle plunged to its death, Gwen lowered the spear and bowed her head, weeping for those she’d lost, knowing she would never again have the love she’d known for such a short time.
Looking out at the horizon, she jumped from the peak, her arms spread in a perfect swan dive, and went to join her people.
Chapter Forty-One
The cold water swallowed Gwen, pulling her deep, welcoming her home. As the sweat and blood and sorrow washed from her in the salty water of the sea, she let herself hang, craving the mindlessness of nothing, allowing herself to drop further toward the bottom.
Hands gripped her, pulling her from the numbness her mind had sought to block the pain, and pulled her toward the surface. Gwen broke through the water, tears streaming down her face as she gasped for air, not wanting to feel the pain of loss.
“Shh, my child, shh. Do not cry. You’ve accomplished a great thing this day,” Amynta said, effortlessly swimming her daughter toward shore, the spear glowing brightly between them. Careful not to touch the spear, Amynta wrapped an arm around her daughter’s waist and helped her to stand as they reached the shore. For the first time, Gwen looked around her, blinking as she saw her people – hundreds of mermaids and mermen, cheering both on land and in the water, their voices surrounding her with their love and support.
“Your people salute you, Gwen,” Amynta chided, and Gwen raised the spear in thanks, standing on wobbly legs, trying her best to smile her thanks. But her mind still raced to those she’d lost this day.
“Your queen,” Amynta said, her arm still around Gwen’s waist, nudging her to bow as a mermaid, silver stars in her hair forming a sparkling crown, glided through the water to stand before her.
“You’ve performed a great service for your people this day,” the queen said, her voice like moonlight shimmering on water. “Perhaps we were wrong to fear a half-breed such as yourself. What you’ve done here today has taken great steps towards forming a bond with the fae.”
“The fae died for you as well this day. Perhaps you should consider the fact that it isn’t race against race, but good against evil. We’re all in this together,” Gwen said, morosely pointing out the loss of Seamus and Loch, not caring if she sounded rude.
The queen looked surprised at being spoken to in such a manner, and Gwen heard her mother inhale sharply. Lowering her head, Gwen waited for what would come next.
“You’ve made a good point – something which we shall discuss at high council when next we meet. For now, a gift of our thanks,” the queen said.
Gwen raised her head to see several mermen swimming something closer to the shore. “I’m not sure…” she said, unable to figure out what was happening.
“Your friends,” the queen said, looking quite pleased with herself, and Gwen screamed, racing across the sand as the mermen gently deposited three tubes of ice, her friends stuck inside of each.
“No, no, no,” Gwen said, shocked at the sight of their frozen visages, locked in terror, forever ensconced in ice. What was the point of bringing them to her like this? Was the queen really that cruel?
“What would you do… if I sang out of tune?” Amynta shocked Gwen by crooning the words she’d sung earlier on the boat, her old Joe Cocker favorite, and Gwen realized what she was doing.
Spreading her arms wide, the spear raised to the air, Gwen sang from the depths of her soul, calling on all the magick in all the realms to use her siren’s song to break the ice that imprisoned her friends and her one true love.
When the ice shattered and the three sat up as though awakening from a nap, Gwen dropped to her knees in the sand, the spear still in her hand, and sobbed her thanks. Amynta crouched beside her, whispering her love, then disappeared quickly with the rest of the merpeople. Though they knew the others had seen them, they were still a reclusive race and would not let themselves be seen for longer than necessary.
“You’ve got the spear!” Bianca gasped.
Gwen leapt up, tackling her in the water with laughter and tears, as Bianca dodged the fiery tip of the spear.
“Careful with th
at thing. I hear it can take down worlds,” Bianca said, patting Gwen’s back weakly. Gwen laughed through tears as Seamus kissed her right on the mouth before swinging Bianca into a happy jig across the shore, their laughter echoing across from the cliff walls.
“You found it,” Loch said.
Gwen turned, beaming at him in joy. “Aye, I did,” she said.
“I can’t believe you took such a risk,” Loch said, getting up and storming away.
Gwen’s mouth dropped open. She looked at the spear in her hand, so furious that she hefted it for a moment, testing its weight and contemplating just nailing the stubborn fool in his head. Sighing, she lowered it and took off after him.
They needed to settle this once and for all.
Chapter Forty-Two
“You have got to be kidding me,” Gwen yelled, as the disgruntled Loch continued to storm away from her. “Remind me again why I saved you if you were going to be so ungrateful about it?”
Loch whirled, fury on his handsome face.
“I’m not ungrateful. I’m angry.”
“Looks ungrateful to me,” Gwen said, hands on her hips as Loch began to pace in front of her.
“You weren’t supposed to find the spear. I was. You were supposed to be back at the cottage, safe from harm, while I handled everything,” Loch fumed.
“Well, newsflash – that’s not how it worked out,” Gwen said, holding the spear up.
Loch just shook his head and cursed once more.
“You are an absolute idiot to climb the mountain like that and throw yourself into the line of danger. What were you thinking?” Loch asked.
“I’m an idiot? I’m an idiot?” Gwen said, pointing to her chest. “I’m not the one who’s an idiot. You turn your back on my love, make me feel like absolute shite, run out on me after you take my innocence and proclaim you love me, all because you wanted to save me from harm? And I’m the idiot?”
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