Taking a deep breath, I moved away from Meghan and left her to her rest, hoping that I was able to successfully erase those horrible memories form her mind. I slid the glass door into place, trying to be as silent as possible. I lingered for a few more minutes on that small, concrete slab just outside her room, my eyes cast down as I considered the young woman sleeping mere feet away from me.
Fergus’s tiny yip snapped me out of my reverie. Against my will, my mouth tugged into a smile as I glanced down at my spirit guide. His tongue lolled and he gave me that canine grin of his. He didn’t have to tell me what he thought this time, for it was apparent in those intelligent brown eyes of his. I released a slow, deep breath as I turned to make my retreat back into the swamp.
“I believe you’re right Fergus,” I murmured softly as we left the house behind. “I have a feeling this Meghan Elam is going to have a far greater influence on my life than I had previously thought.”
The Morrigan’s Game
“So, you got my message I see.”
I had been making my way to the heart of the Weald, the great forest renowned for its magnitude and magic. Anything could happen amidst these trees, and whenever I entered the realm of the Wildren and the wild forest, I took extra care to keep my ears sharp. And always, my sister managed to sneak up on me without making a sound.
I froze when I heard her voice, the corner of my mouth curving up in a small smile. Enorah made it one of her goals in life to keep the upper hand on me. Shaking my head in amusement, I turned and found her standing on the thick limb of an ancient beech tree, her arms crossed and her longbow strapped across her back.
With agile grace that could only be honed through living in the wilderness, she swung down from her perch, landed lightly on her feet, and strode over to me, her own face graced with a smile. We regarded each other for a moment or two before she flung her arms around me.
“Alright Enorah, let me breathe!”
Enorah stepped back and held me at arm’s length.
“Must it always take some disaster to bring you to my forest?”
I arched a brow at her. “Your forest?”
She merely shrugged and grinned as if I had no reason to question her.
“The Wild belongs to all of us, dear Caedehn.”
“I’m sure Cernunnos would argue that point with you.”
She merely snorted and gestured for me to follow her further down the trail. As we walked, she explained to me why she had requested my help.
“I know you are bound to the Morrigan when it comes to dealing with faelah . . .” she said, letting her sentence trail off.
I grimaced. Enorah knew about my geis and the service I owed the goddess.
“But,” she continued, “I was hoping you would be able to help me and, more specifically, the Wildren.”
Enorah’s voice faltered on that last word. The Wildren were the wild children of Eile; the unwanted boys and girls who ended up in the Weald to fend for themselves. Luckily, they had my sister and a handful of other grown Faelorehn to care for them properly.
I stopped midstride and faced her. “Tell me,” I said.
Enorah crossed her arms and took a deep breath, her pale grey eyes flashing towards hazel. “Some strange faelah have made their way into the Weald and have been attacking the children.”
I grew suddenly tense, fear lacing my blood. The Morrigan, and her faelah, were not supposed to be able to enter the Weald. That is why the Wildren made it their home. The forest’s ancient magic resisted the dark intentions of the goddess and her ilk.
Enorah held up a hand. “So far they have only caused minor injuries, but I don’t want to take any chances.”
“What do they look like?” I asked, relaxing only enough to keep calm.
“Like nothing any of us has ever seen before. They resemble small alligators, those giant reptiles found in the mortal world. Only these ones have longer legs and necks, and their tails are long and narrow, covered in sharp spines. Their snouts are shorter, but they can still produce a strong bite. It’s their tails that are the problem, though.”
I glanced up at her. “How do you mean?”
Enorah grabbed her wrist with one hand, as if she were trying to comfort an injury. “They can wrap their tails around anything, like a noose, and cut deeply into the skin.”
I blanched. By the description she had given me, Enorah and the Wildren were being attacked by the Morrigan’s latest creation, nathadohr, nasty lizard-like faelah that not only had the barbed tails my sister had mentioned, but a venomous bite as well. The last time I had spoken with the Morrigan, she had boasted about them, claiming they could slip past the magical barrier of protection that kept the Weald safe from her wrath. I gritted my teeth. Looks like she had been telling the truth after all.
“Cade?”
I jerked my head up, Enorah’s voice and hand on my arm reminding me where I was.
“Sorry,” I murmured, “it seems as if the Morrigan has finally found a way to get to the Wildren. The creatures you described are called nathadohr.”
Enorah’s expression hardened.
I smiled, despite her fearful look. I knew what she was thinking. Because my geis cursed me to serve the Morrigan, she believed I couldn’t attack any of the faelah without her permission. And why would she allow me to kill her monsters if she had finally found a way into the Weald?
“Don’t worry. I might have to do the bidding of the Morrigan, but anything she tries to send against the Weald is free game. I can get rid of this little problem without violating my geis.”
“Are you sure?” Enorah whispered.
I nodded. “When I was old enough to understand the terms of my geis, I made a deal with her: whatever she created to harm the Wildren, I was allowed to fight without any repercussions. Luckily, she is arrogant enough to think she’ll someday be able to create something that can both break through the magical boundary as well as get past me.”
Enorah gave me a studied look. “So, how do you plan to destroy them? I don’t even know how many of them are out there.”
“I do,” I said. “There are seventeen of them.”
“How do you know that?”
Because I saw the bodies of the seventeen Faelorehn she was able to capture and sacrifice to create them. Yes, I had managed to miss the actual ritual used to create them, but I had still witnessed the aftermath.
“She told me,” I said instead.
“How are you going to kill them?”
I dropped my head, gazing at the ground. Hawthorn wood was the most effective way to kill the faelah.
“I know a way, but I’ll need your help.”
* * *
The next morning Enorah, several of the older Wildren and I spread ourselves out along the edge of the Weald, our longbows fitted with hawthorn arrows and several more waiting in the quivers on our backs. Our plan was simple: we would scour the woods for nathadohr and take out as many as we could find.
As we waited I thought about Meghan and our last meeting. After the Cumorrig attack I let a week pass before sending Fergus, as promised. I waited for her down in the swamp with as much patience as I could muster, all the while listening and looking for any more signs of stray faelah. Fergus and I had spent that week picking off the last of the duinba, but there was always a chance we’d missed one or two.
Eventually, Fergus came trotting around the corner, Meghan’s tall, lean figure in tow. The sight of her made me catch my breath. It wasn’t so much that she was beautiful, but that the fae magic hidden within her radiated an unseen brilliance, a brilliance that brought every one of my senses to attention. There was no doubt in my mind that she was Otherworldly.
Reluctantly, I’d left my hiding place behind and introduced myself. She was wary of me at first, but a burning curiosity shone in her eyes and I knew that if I was careful, I could keep her in my presence for just a bit longer. I tried to answer her questions to the best of my ability, but most of her memory of the Cumo
rrig attack was gone and in the end, despite my caution, I ended up frightening her anyway.
Realizing that I was sinking fast, I had tried to catch her interest by listing off some characteristics the Faelorehn possessed: the gift to hear the spirits of the earth speaking into our minds, our tendency to have premonitions, our changeable eyes . . . She ended up running away, screaming at me to leave her alone. Fergus’s perceptive comments afterwards didn’t help improve my mood any. I had ruined this second attempt to make a connection with Meghan Elam. I was quickly running out of chances.
I suppose I could just give up my efforts. It wasn’t as if Eile was devoid of young Faelorehn women, but there was just something about Meghan’s innocence that drew me to her. For years I had been able to convince myself that I was happy living on my own, being a loner, being Ehriad. I had depended on no one and no one had depended on me, and I preferred it that way. There were too many ghosts in my past for me to ever live the normal, happy life of an average Faelorehn man. The Morrigan pulled my strings most of the time, as if I was some mindless puppet, and my days consisted of hunting terrifying demons one wouldn’t want to meet in their worst nightmares. I had no time for friends, for family, for someone to share my life with.
But Meghan made me reconsider those wonderful possibilities, though I hardly knew her. She made that old yearning, something I had thought I’d destroyed long ago, come back to life like the dying embers of a fire feasting on dry leaves.
I closed my eyes and took a long, deep breath through my nose, picturing Meghan’s face: her long, dark brown hair curling down her back. Her beautiful eyes, pale hazel and wide with wonder. I squeezed my eyelids together. No Cade, not wonder, fear. That night you helped her she was afraid, and again when she met you of her own accord. I gritted my teeth. I may have completely ruined my last two encounters with Meghan Elam, but I was not ready to give up. When I was done with this job I would go back to the mortal world and find a way to talk to her, but this time I would do it right.
“Cade!”
My sister’s sharp hiss snapped me out of my daydream. I glanced up from where I stood behind some bushes to catch sight of her crouching on a tree limb several feet above the ground. She gestured towards the trail with her bow and I squinted my eyes. There, several feet down the path stood a nathadohr, its dark red skin, rough like a newt’s and the color of old blood, complimenting the beautiful autumn colors of the forest.
The hideous thing was growling and appeared to be eating some small animal. The nathadohr’s teeth were pointed but blunt, and it flicked its long, barbed tail back and forth as it ate. About the size of a beagle and five times as long, the nathadohr shouldn’t be too hard to kill. Unfortunately, the muscles that bunched on its hindquarters and front legs suggested otherwise. This creature was very powerful.
Attack?
Fergus’s question surprised me. I had forgotten he was with us this morning.
No, I sent, too dangerous. We’ll use arrows.
Fergus growled in my mind.
I don’t want that tail getting you. It has a long reach. Stay put and be ready to go for extra help if we need it.
Fergus backed down and I took another deep breath, drawing the arrow back against my cheek. I took aim for the creature, between the ribs where the heart was. One moment passed and I released the arrow, striking the faelah exactly where I had intended. The thing shrieked in pain, but unlike most faelah that crashed to the ground in agony from the hawthorn wood, it turned and charged me. I froze and took note of the smoke, evidence that the wood was in fact working, then darted out of the way as it launched itself at me.
“Cade! Move!”
I threw myself to the ground and rolled as several more arrows sliced through the air. The creature shrieked again as the silent forest filled with the shouts of the Wildren.
Slowly, I stood back up as the archers lowered themselves from trees or stepped out of the brush. Enorah landed next to me with a thud, a fresh arrow ready in her bow.
We moved towards the nathadohr, careful to stay clear of its thrashing tail. Ten arrows protruded from its skin, the wounds smoking as the magic of the hawthorn destroyed it. The creature hissed as it slowly died and I cast Enorah a grim look.
“It takes a lot more to kill them than I had previously thought.”
She nodded solemnly.
I huffed a breath and said, “Gather the arrows once it’s dead and head back to the village. We might need more help.”
* * *
For the next few days my sister and I and the twenty oldest Wildren combed the edges of the Weald, searching for nathadohr to kill. After destroying the first one, we learned it was safest if we kept to the trees. During the following week we eliminated thirteen more, but several of Enorah’s Wildren ended up with wounds from the tails and venom of the horrible monsters.
The remaining faelah became harder to find and after a day of hunting with no sightings, I began to worry. I wouldn’t be surprised if the last three nathadohr had learned how to outsmart us. On the eighth day of our hunt, two small girls were attacked and severely wounded, but we could find no trace of the nathadohr. The girls slept for an entire day, but when they woke they informed us that the three creatures were working together. The memory of the Morrigan’s words to me from several weeks ago rose up in my mind like a dark pall of death. Perhaps she had finally found a way to make her faelah more intelligent after all . . .
On the very next morning I woke up early with every intention of finding the monsters on my own. The fog was thick and the forest was silent as Fergus and I left the village behind. Three nathadohr working together posed too much of a danger for Enorah’s young wards. Though the Wildren were very capable of defending themselves, they had not been trained as I had.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
I stopped in the middle of the trail and sighed.
“Cade, are you leaving us? There are three more nathadohr out there somewhere.”
I released a small sigh and turned to face my big sister, her stubborn face framed by her golden brown hair. For a moment she made me think of Meghan, though the two of them hardly had anything in common. I almost laughed out loud. I didn’t know Meghan well enough to know how much she had in common with my sister.
“I’m not abandoning you. I’m going to kill the last three by myself.”
Enorah strode forward, her bow in hand and her quiver hanging on her back. She looked ready to hunt despite the early hour and I wondered if she had known my intention to carry on alone.
“No, you’re not,” she said, brushing past me at a brisk pace. She turned her head and said over her shoulder, “I’m going to help you.”
I growled and jogged to catch up with her. “It’s too dangerous Enorah.”
She snorted out a laugh. “Caedehn! Have you forgotten who I am?”
Her smile was genuine, but there was sadness in her eyes. Her own past was as troubled as mine, but I shrugged my shoulders and moved to join her.
“No, I guess not,” I murmured as we walked silently and briskly down the path.
“Good. We’ll find these monsters together and killing them will take half the time it would if you were by yourself. I take it you have a plan?”
I nodded. “Fergus, have you located them yet?”
The white wolfhound stepped out onto the path in front of us like a ghost, pale and silent as the foggy air surrounding us. Half a mile away, in a cove, he sent. Sleeping off a late night hunt.
“Perfect,” I said.
“What?” Enorah asked.
“Fergus will take us there.”
Enorah quirked an eyebrow at me.
I simply shrugged and smiled. “The perks of having a spirit guide.”
She mumbled something about Faelorehn men and their magical sidekicks before picking up her pace.
Several minutes later we came to a high point on the trail and Fergus trotted off into a small rocky crevasse to the left of us. Enor
ah and I followed, pushing aside thorn bushes and trying to make as little noise as possible.
Fergus growled and I sent him a quick order to get away from the nathadohr. To my great relief he obeyed, loping past us to wait back on the trail.
They are awake, he sent.
“Get your arrows ready,” I told Enorah.
She nodded and the both of us pulled a hawthorn arrow from our quivers and placed them in our bows.
The nathadohr were prepared for our attack, bursting free of the cove like the demons they were. I managed to hit one with my arrow, but it ran past me, whipping its tail around my leg and jerking me to the ground. The spines cut through the fabric of my pants and dug into my skin, making me gasp. The creature was impossibly strong, dragging me several yards before it stopped. It felt like my leg was on fire, but eventually Enorah’s shouts of anger cut through the haze of pain.
The monster that had dragged me screamed in agony as Enorah hit it with one arrow after another. Eventually its tail loosened and I struggled to get to my feet. I limped to Enorah’s side, pressing my back up against hers as we moved in an awkward circle, searching for the other two nathadohr.
“Are you alright?” I hissed through my teeth, trying to ignore the ache in my leg.
“Yeah, a tail grazed me, but it didn’t cut deep.”
I nodded, but before I could say anything else another nathadohr burst free from the underbrush, charging us at full speed. It was headed straight for Enorah, so I whipped around, putting myself between the giant reptile and my sister. The nathadohr skidded to a stop, whipping its tail around and dragging the spikes against my abdomen. My shirt tore and the blow left a ragged cut across my stomach. I winced, but kept my arm steady, releasing an arrow and catching the creature in the eye. This time the faelah went down immediately, twitching as the hawthorn burned through its brain.
Enorah cursed and punched me in the arm. “What is wrong with you!? Are you trying to die?”
Ehriad: A Novella of the Otherworld Page 4
