by Kari Edgren
I pushed my hands into the wet ground and attempted to stand.
The world swayed as a wave of nausea rolled through me. Lurching to the side, I braced myself the best I could and retched a mouthful of clear liquid onto a pile of dead leaves.
Ailish squatted in front of me. “You used too much power.”
My stomach heaved in reply, though nothing more came up. Lowering myself to the ground, I curled into a ball, drawing my knees tight to my chest. Leaves rustled beneath me. An earthy scent of loam and decay filled my nose.
“Are there plants you can eat?” Ailish asked. “Calhoun caught me while I was gathering nightshade this morning, but I suppose those berries be just for Cailleach’s blood.”
I attempted to shake my head, the small movement bouncing painfully between my ears.
“Where do you get Brigid’s power so?”
“The altar,” I groaned. “I... I have to cross over.”
“Where is it?”
“The rock...in the saddlebags...and the herbs.” For the first time in my life, I would enter Brigid’s garden without being properly dressed in my sheath...assuming I even had the power to cross over. What if I didn’t? What if I got stuck like Julian? There would be no one to save me if that happened.
Ailish stood. “I’ll hurry back.” Green and brown wool swirled together as she left at a run.
A small twig poked my temple. I let it be, lacking the fortitude to do anything other than breathe and stare straight ahead. The large stone loomed near, filled the space directly in front of me.
From my vantage, it appeared more plinth than human, though the height and girth matched Calhoun’s. The uneven angles must have been his arms and legs. And the odd shape near the top could be construed as a head. I squinted my eyes at it.
Is that really him?
The notion was phenomenal. Calhoun...turned to a stone. The man deserved worse after the suffering he’d caused. But did he even know what had happened?
Cold sweat coated my skin, and I started to shiver as bile inched up my throat. Last time I’d borrowed power from my soul, Cate had healed me before I died. If Ailish didn’t hurry, I wouldn’t be so lucky this time.
Darkness edged my vision. A great weariness came over me, and I closed my eyes, wanting only a brief respite. For just a moment...then I’ll think about what we did...what we still have to do.
Something soft nudged my forehead. Something familiar... My eyelids fluttered open, and I stared into the yellow eyes of the tabby cat. Purring, the cat nudged me again. I didn’t move as I drifted near to sleep.
Sharp claws swiped across my ear.
“Ooouch,” I slurred, while attempting to bat the creature’s paw away. “Leave me be.”
It growled and bit my hand, breaking the skin of the palm right below my pinkie finger. Blood welled around the puncture wounds.
I yanked my hand away. “Stop it!” The words sounded surprisingly louder.
“Who you talking to?” Ailish asked from behind me.
“That mangy cat.” It sat back and looked at me. Pushing to my arms, I glared at it, ready to strike if it got any closer.
The saddlebags landed on the ground. Ailish crouched down, and the cat moved at once to her side, rubbing its full body against her. She patted its head before turning her attention to the bags. The cat lifted its tail, the tip falling to a gentle curve.
Anger pushed at the weariness, and I struggled to my knees. “Don’t you dare play innocent.”
“I’m not playing at anything,” Ailish said.
“Not you. The cat. It scratched my ear and bit me while you were gone.” I swayed from another onslaught of nausea. The cat inched closer, rubbed its head on my arm.
“Likes you well enough now.”
I watched it, in no wise fooled by the sudden change of behavior. Fickle beast. “It led me to you this morning.”
A fleeting smile crossed Ailish’s mouth. “Cats be special to Cailleach. This one’s been watching out for us since we arrived last night.”
So that’s who she meant.
Ailish pulled a wadded shift from one of the bags, shuddering terribly as she shook the folds open. The altar landed with a soft thud, and I fumbled clumsy fingers to set it charred side up.
The herbs came next. “What do I do with these?” she asked.
“Put some on the stone and light them.”
She did as I bid, striking a flint over the dried leaves. I was shaking anew when she bent forward and gently blew on the sparks until small flames appeared.
Remembering my boots, I sat back and started to pull pathetically at one heel, my hands slipping from the meager action.
“What are you doing?”
“My shoes...they have to come off.”
Ailish shook her head in disgust. “Herbs, altars, bare feet. Brigid demands a lot from her blood.” She tugged at the first boot, careful not to touch me. “All I got to do is eat some nightshade berries, shoes or not.” She tossed the second boot aside. “What now?”
Forgoing the usual kneel, I just shifted my weight to lean over the altar. “Nothing...” The pungent smoke made my nose tingle.
“Ack!” Ailish choked. “That be a foul smell.” She scooted away and pressed the edge of her cape over her mouth and nose.
Another breath flowed to my lungs. “I’m going to the Otherworld. If...if I don’t wake soon, go to Wexford without me. Find Henry Fitzalan. He’ll know what to do.”
My heart dropped from the prospect of being left behind, helpless. How long could I live that way? A week before my body succumbed to dehydration. Perhaps less while detached from my soul. Regardless, I had to take the risk, or I was good as dead.
Julian had been in much worse straits than me, not even conscious of his own actions.
Ailish eyed me for a moment. “You’ll be grand,” she said, the words muffled by the cape. “Hurry back just. There’s no telling when Paddy will come looking for his da.”
Nodding, I began to quietly mumble the Gaelic words. At the end of the third repetition, my soul came free, and I waited in agonizing suspense for the pathway to propel me forward. It did, and the connecting altar flew by in a blur. Then the Otherworld grabbed hold, grudging at first, before tossing me unceremoniously into the mist.
I stumbled onto thick grass, my torso bent to the ground. Forcing my head up, I took in an empty garden. Not that privacy mattered at the moment. The garden could have been overflowing with goddess born, I had no choice but to continue forward.
One foot grudgingly followed the other. My legs shook with every step, nearly collapsing beneath me as I trudged toward the spring. At its edge, I dropped to my knees and cupped a hand to scoop water into my mouth.
Brigid’s fire rushed to my very center, and I cried out from the intense sensation of the nourishing warmth. With renewed strength, I retrieved the silver cup from the far edge of the pool. Water quivered at its brim when I lifted it to my lips. Draining the contents, I refilled it thrice more and drank to the point of bursting.
Heat burned from the inside out. With a satisfied sigh, I eyed the clear blue sky and lush grass, craving another hour or two before returning to the cold, damp woods. But Ailish was waiting, and every minute counted in our flight from Paddy.
Sighing once more, I contented myself with a full-body stretch that would have made the cat proud. Then squaring my shoulders, I started toward the mist, dreading all that lay ahead.
Balor’s blood...twenty miles to Wexford...a witch and a lunatic—
Something knocked me sideways. I yelped in surprise, the last part coming out in a pronounced “oompf” from the impact with the ground. One arm lay pinned beneath me, and I stared dazedly at the forest of grass lining my vision.
A few seconds passed before the worl
d righted, and I pushed up to look around, not sure what to expect. Cate... Tom... Had one of them been here all along? And would they have tackled me like that?
Nothing appeared. The garden was empty and completely still other than the sound of my labored breath.
Recapturing the last minute, I pulled it apart for any hint of what had happened. Sudden gust of wind...shoved by another goddess born...stumbled over my own feet.
A sharp pain erupted in the fingers of one hand. “Ouch!” I yanked my arm back, but from what?
I opened and closed my fingers, bemused by the sensation that they had been trod upon. What’s happening to me? I started to close my fingers once more when understanding struck.
My body... Jumping up, I lifted my skirts and ran the remaining distance to the mist.
The mortal world took hold, yanking me forward as though well aware of the danger. With dizzying speed, it pulled me past the altar and through the passageway, thrusting me back into my body more forcefully than ever before. The cold hit me first, then the fact that I was lying down, one side of my face pressed into the ground.
My eyes parted to a wash of brown wool of Ailish’s cape. She stood like a protective wall in front of me, her boot heel an inch from my aching fingers. She must have pushed me over...but why?
“Go away,” she said tersely. “You’ll not be hurting her.”
Panic gripped my heart, tightening with each pulse. Desperate to protect myself, I made to stand, only to discover a terrible truth. Brigid’s fire had yet to spread to my body as it always did when I first returned. The rejoining must have been too abrupt, leaving me near paralyzed until my soul figured out it was back.
“Dear sister,” a man replied in a soft voice that put my teeth on edge. “I’ve no intent of harming Brigid’s whelp today.”
Surely, this couldn’t be Paddy. The man sounded older than Calhoun, and infinitely more sinister. He also sounded familiar, in an unpleasant sort of way.
“Then why did you follow us here?”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t think o’ lying, brother. I smelled you in the woods afore Passage East.”
A tense pause stretched for several heartbeats. “Our mistress sent me to kill the girl.”
“Well, you’ll not be having her.”
An eerie laugh came from the man. “And there would be little you could do to stop me.”
Ailish widened her stance as a small fire flickered to life in my core. “Are you wanting to find out what I can do? Come closer, brother, and I’ll send you back to Cailleach, I will.”
The man growled deep in his throat. “You would attack your own blood for that creature?”
“I’ll attack anyone who tries to hurt me friend.”
Tension crackled between them. “Then you’ve nothing to fear from me, as our mistress has altered my mission. You are to proceed to Wexford with the girl, and stay there until you receive further notice.”
Without warning Brigid’s fire flared to life inside me. Heat infused my skin, and I wiggled fingers and toes to ensure all had returned to normal.
Ailish leaned to one hip. “Why would I do that?”
“Because Cailleach demands it.”
“She’s not one to bother herself with humans anymore.”
“On rare occasion the goddess takes an interest in the mortal world.”
Slowly, I pushed up to my arms and peeked around Ailish’s skirts. The breath froze in my throat at the sight of an albino. Cailleach’s hound.
“Why this time?” Ailish asked.
The goddess kept an entire pack in the Otherworld to guard the gates of death, and only the oldest and strongest could take human form as this one had done. He dropped his gaze to me, and his pale mouth curled to a cold smile.
I’ve killed them before... I can do it again.
Otherwise it would kill me, and I had no intention of dying just yet. Brigid’s fire leapt to my hands, thawing my blood as it burned the fear to ash. Meeting the albino’s smile, I lifted to my knees when he unexpectedly stiffened. His gaze jerked upward, over Ailish’s shoulder.
“Are you to answer or no?” Ailish persisted. “What’s caught Cailleach’s fancy?”
The Albino’s expression turned grave. “A situation of the utmost importance. I must leave you now, sister. Godspeed until we meet again in Wexford.” He bowed with unnatural grace and walked to the first oak tree, where he suddenly vanished into thin air.
“Stupid bollix,” Ailish muttered.
I pushed to my feet and brushed leaves and dirt from my skirts. “Satan’s spawn, more like it.”
“I’ve always known them simply as Cailleach’s hounds,” a woman said from out of nowhere.
Ailish and I both whirled around to find Fianna MacCabe standing at the end of the trail that led from the field. Our eyes met for a split second before her gaze moved past us, and she stepped into the clearing, circling around the large stone at its center. We turned with her, too shocked for words.
Fianna ran a hand along what I guessed to be Calhoun’s arm. “I’ve heard o’ stone making afore, but I’ve never actually seen it. ’tis rare indeed for the power it takes.” She glanced at Ailish and me. “Your gifts must be equally matched, or one o’ you would be dead.”
Ailish squeaked her surprise. My mouth fell open, though no sound escaped the tightness in my throat.
Moving her hand upward, Fianna flicked a finger against a small bulge about the size and shape of an eye patch. “I’m guessing this be the charlatan Calhoun.”
I nodded, my mouth still hanging partway open.
“The ferry master had a bad feeling about telling the man where you went, so he sent one o’ his sons to warn us this morning. Him and Seamus be chasing after the son right now.” Pulling her hand back several inches, she slapped Calhoun across his stony face. “Damn fraud,” she said to him. “You nearly killed me eldest girl with your poisons. The world be well rid o’ you.”
Ailish squeaked again. Fianna turned to us, and only the heightened color in her cheeks remained of the sudden anger. “Cailleach and Brigid,” she said softly. “These be strange days indeed.”
“Are you...” I gestured between Ailish and myself. “Are you like us?”
Fianna shook her head. “None o’ the Tuatha Dé in me blood, but me granda was considered a druid by those who stayed to the old ways. He taught me everything, and for months now I’ve been seeing signs o’ evil to come. Last night I had a queer feeling in me guts when you arrived with Seamus. Then this morning I saw another sign in the hoarfrost and knew you two be important somehow.”
Instinctively, I took a small step back. “You must be mistaken.”
“The signs don’t lie,” Fianna said. “Folks can read them wrong, but that be our fault, not theirs.”
“Perhaps that’s what happened this time.” I gestured again between Ailish and myself. “You might have interpreted the signs incorrectly, and we’re really not so important.”
“Oh, I have it right, me lass. No more than if someone sang it on me doorstep. Evil be coming, and you’ve work to do to stop it.”
“But how can you be so sure?” I countered. “We can’t very well go running off in search of something you may or may not have seen.” The diversion with Calhoun had already cost valuable time. For Nora’s sake, I couldn’t afford to lose any more.
Ailish shifted her weight. “She be telling the truth, Selah. I can smell it on her.”
Oh, for heaven’s sake. I released a frustrated breath. These two could chase after signs all they wanted, I had no intention of altering my original course. Maybe once I found Nora, I could give it some thought, but not a minute sooner.
“What would you have us do?” Ailish asked.
“It doesn’t matter—”
“Just what the hound told you,” Fianna said. “Go to Wexford. The rest will become clear to you then.”
My shoulders snapped to attention. “Yes! That’s exactly what we should do. Thank you, Mrs. MacCabe.” I knelt down to wrap up the altar and tuck it away. “Come, Ailish, we’ve a lot of miles to cover today.”
“Seamus will take you,” Fianna said. “Come to the cottage, and I’ll pack you some food. There’s hot tea in the coals to warm your bellies afore you go.” With one last pat to Calhoun’s cheek, she crossed the clearing to the path.
Ailish and I fell in line behind her. At the wood’s edge, Fianna stopped. “Please don’t tell me husband what happened back there. Seamus be a good man, but he’s no understanding o’ the old ways.”
We nodded in unison, both well accustomed to hiding secrets. She gave us a grateful smile in return, and I decided to bite my tongue rather than point out the obvious—that one day Seamus was bound to stumble upon the man-sized stone that had miraculously appeared in his woods.
* * *
An hour later, Fianna had us settled into the back of the cart, wrapped snug as bugs in the blankets from last night. Eggs, bread and tea bulged in our stomachs. More food filled our bags, sufficient to see us to Wexford and perhaps through the next week. With a gentle pat atop our heads, she watched after us until the cart turned onto the road and disappeared from view.
With the barrels and gunnysacks gone, Ailish and I sat directly behind the driver’s bench this time. Puffs of fragrant smoke drifted back from Seamus’s pipe. “Too bad we didn’t catch that fellow,” he said. “But after the chase we gave him, he’ll think twice about coming after you again.”
I hoped so, for Ailish’s sake. She huddled deeper into the blanket, her mouth pursed tight.
“We didn’t see any trace o’ Calhoun, though there be another horse tied up where we found the lad. It’s locked in the barn now, and the ferry master’s son be staying with Fianna and the girls in case he comes creeping around while I’m away.” Seamus laughed from the depths of his chest. “No-good charlatan, a long walk home would serve him right.”
