The First Spell Weaver of Airendell: Book Two of the Airendell Chronicles

by Audra Hart

  “What’s wrong Rinda?” Morna asks woodenly.

  “Nothing is wrong, love. I just wanted to check on you. You have been dealing with a lot of shit lately and I know you must be hurting very badly. Emotionally as well as physically,” Rinda says softly as she gently rubs Morna’s back.

  Morna tenses at her touch, and says, “I am, but I really don’t want to talk about it with you.”

  Rinda stiffens up and pulls back, “What the hell, Morna? I just came to see how you are doing. Do you think that I am trying to seduce you or something like that?”

  Morna suddenly feels bad for how she worded her rebuff and reaches out to touch her dear friend on her arm. “No, love. Not at all. I am just hurting too much to talk to anyone about it. It felt like Rinda the therapist had come to see me, not Rinda my friend. Just hang out with me for a while. But I just can’t talk about this mess I have made with Luca right now. I really screwed up bad this time and it’s just too raw to talk about.”

  “Okay love. Tell me about your babies, or will that hurt too much?” Rinda asks gently.

  “No not all. Now that I know they are alive and my heart sings with joy. I miss them like crazy. But missing them is so much easier to take than believing them dead.” Morna gets up and grabs her huge purse and quickly retrieves her wallet. She deftly pulls out several pictures of each child to show Rinda. Each photo has frayed edges and it is obvious that Morna has pulled them out her wallet many, many times during the months that she thought her children were dead.

  Morna had believed for eleven months that her children were dead. But recently she had learned that her babies were safe in the care of the Light Elves in Alfheim, their ancient home realm. Morna longs to see her children but knows the Elves won’t allow her to do that until she has removed the threats to their safety because several prophesies predict her children will do much to protect mankind and maintain the peace among Immortals. Morna and her supporters have been trying to figure out exactly who is behind the threats and plan on neutralizing their enemies when they do.

  Morna is certain that her own Mother, Magdrid, is one of the persons behind all of the tragedies she has endured for nearly six hundred years since Kyera cursed her for killing that witch’s mate after he had attacked Luca. Magdrid is the current First Spell Weaver of Airendell, the Clan’s leader. She is very powerful and resentful of own children because Morna was foretold to become stronger than Magdrid and is fated to take over as First Weaver. Morna and others believe that Magdrid is behind the attacks on her children; Aiden who Morna had believed had died mysteriously after several vicious seizures, and Kyle and Nora who presumably had perished in the violent crash that nearly killed Morna and wrecked her body.

  They are also convinced that Magdrid was holding Luca, Morna’s true mate, in a trance when that ancient vampire attacked him in 1435. Morna had come upon them before her mate was killed and destroyed the vampire. She nursed Luca and fed him her own blood to keep him alive as the venom from the ancient one turned him into a Stone Cold vampire.

  Kyera was the vampire’s mate, and she put a curse on Morna in revenge for Morna’s killing the murderous vampire. That curse caused Morna to die and be repeatedly reborn as a mortal with no knowledge of her true origins, her abilities nor of her mate, Lucian Michaels.

  Aideen was the child that Morna had given birth to the day she died the first time. Kyle, Aiden and Nora are the children she gave birth to when married to a mortal named Rolan Montfort in this latest incarnation.

  Morna proudly displays pictures of a beautiful little girl for Rinda. “This is my little Tyrant, Nora.”

  Rinda gasps, “Morna! She looks just like you did at that age, except for the eyes. Amazing!”

  “She behaves much better than I did at that age.” The two lifelong friends laugh at that statement. “She is the sweetest, most even tempered child I have ever met. Nothing ever surprises that kid. She is an amazingly talented artist too. From the very first time she picked up a pencil to draw a picture, you could tell exactly what it was meant to be.”

  “She’s a gem Morna. You must be proud.”

  “I am. I have to confess that I wondered if I would be able to bond to her when I carried her. I conceived her when Rolan raped me.” Morna shuts her eyes and shudders at the memory. “We had been drifting apart for years and finally one night he caught me unaware and screwed me from behind, pinning me to the floor.” Morna chokes a little on the horrible memory. She quickly calms herself and says, “Aiden was in the room so I didn’t fight him. I didn’t want to frighten my poor little man any more than he already was, but it was horrible Rinda. I have never felt more worthless, or dirty in my life. I almost killed the sorry bastard later that night, but Aiden started crying in his bedroom and Kyle called my name in his sleep. I came to my senses and just told him to leave and never come back. Rinda, I could have easily slit his throat and I would have never lost a moment’s rest over it.” Morna whispers fiercely.

  “He sounds like a pig. He would have gotten what he deserved if you had.” Rinda spits vehemently.

  Morna chuckles and leans over lightly kisses her friend. “You always make me feel better Rindy.”

  “No one has called me Rindy in centuries. Well, except for Fionn. I think he does it just to piss me off.” Rinda laughs. “God Morna I have missed you so much!”

  “Me too love!”

  Rinda wants to distract Morna from the foul memories of her former husband’s attack and asks; “Why do you call Nora the Tyrant?”

  “Family joke. I suspect she has a touch of the seer’s gift. She was rarely surprised by anything and used her knowledge to manipulate people and situations to get her way. My oldest son called her a tyrant one day and it stuck.” Morna smiles at her memories and then says; “Let me show you my boys. They are beautiful.”

  Rinda gasps when she sees the most recent photo that Morna has of Aiden, “He looks like Ari! It must be so hard for you to look at Ari when he is in original form. He looks sweet Morna.”

  “He is. I am so excited now that I realize I am part of a magical clan of healers. What if we can heal my baby boy? That would be… a gift from God!” Morna sighs happily at the thought. “He probably won’t live very long if we can’t. His health is very poor. He is so very frail.”

  “He might ascend, like Ari.” Rinda offers hopefully. Rinda doesn’t have the heart to remind Morna that brain injuries are very hard for their healers to heal. That’s why their friend Brigid became a neurosurgeon, to learn all that she could about healing injuries to the brain.

  “My babies are half mortal… who knows if it’s even possible. I should have started training them in our lore when they were toddlers… So many missed opportunities, just because I didn’t even know who in hell I am!” Morna says sadly.

  “That’s hardly your fault Morna Glynn!” Rinda chides gently.

  “Morna Glynn Michaels,” Morna corrects automatically. And then blushes when Rinda laughs happily. Morna laughs too and pulls out her pictures of her oldest child. “This Kyle. My oldest.”

  “Morna, he is so handsome! He looks a lot like your Father,” Rinda says enthusiastically.

  Morna nods. “He does, doesn’t he?” She smiles at the picture before adding; “He is so damned smart. Like genius smart. And he has always been such a good, good kid. He’s very level headed and perceptive.” Morna smiles and says, “He gave me purpose when he was born. My babies are the best thing I did in this lifetime. I am so grateful to God that they still live, Rinda!”

  “I can only imagine what you have been through Morna.” Rinda says softly as she starts rubbing Morna’s back gently.

  Soon Morna and Rinda are talking about their adventures and misadventures as girls. Before long Rinda has snuggled up to Morna and goes sound asleep. Morna lies there holding Rinda. All of her memories of Rinda have come back as they reminisced. Morna is grateful that Rinda didn’t bring up how intimate the relationship between the two women had actually been be
fore Morna met Luca. She’s hurting too bad right now over Luca leaving, and she would not have been able to handle any discussion of that time of her life. But she has to admit, it is nice to hold Rinda like this. She leans in and kisses Rinda’s lips softly before she too drifts off to sleep.

  DAY FIFTEEN - March 14

  The next morning Morna and Rinda go to breakfast together. Rinda had just reminded Morna of a prank they had pulled on Shamus, the head of the Elders when they were kids. And Morna is still chuckling as they enter the dining room.

  Morna makes plans with Rinda, Fionn and Micah for them to go check on the girls at The Bridge. She goes back to her room to get her note pad. She wants to send a note to Carlisle about her friends back there and things that she wants him to do to provide for them. She also wants to thank him for looking out for the girls and Mike while she is at the Gateway.

  Carlisle had contacted his brother and a cousin from Airendell, both are warriors that were trained by Morna, Luca and Bronwyn, and will protect the girls while Morna is occupied with the as yet unknown threat against their Guild. She sits on the bed and composes her notes, seals them up in envelopes before returning to the group.

  She is walking back into the dining room when she hears Fionn and Rinda arguing. Others such as Breena and Brigid are trying to get them to lower their voices, but Morna hears enough to freeze in her tracks.

  “No Fionn, I did not get into her pants last night! You dumb ass, nosey son of a…” Rinda shouts.

  Morna is sickened when she hears Damian’s calm voice cut in, “That’s enough! Do not talk about Morna that way. Fionn, I will take you out if you ever speak of her that way again! I have been staying outside of Morna’s door when she sleeps ever since Luca left her. I will keep her safe. Safe even from her friends, if necessary. Morna and Rinda did nothing wrong last night. Morna showed Rinda pictures of kids and then they talked about growing up together. God Fionn… can you really believe Morna would do that? She loves Luca more than any person I have ever met has loved another person.”

  “Look Damian, I wasn’t disparaging Morna’s character. But you have to admit she is really vulnerable right now, and this one has been hung up on Morna since they were fourteen years old. Hell kid, they are almost eight hundred and fifty years old. Do you realize how long that is to carry a torch for someone? I was just afraid that Rinda might have made a desperate attempt to get something back she was never destined to have.” The room is silent for several seconds. “Look, sorry. I should have discussed this with Rinda in private, but I suspect everyone was wondering… Rinda can be a little impulsive… God I am a dumb ass.” Fionn rubs his face, and looks around the room, “I am sorry, I should have just kept my thoughts to myself.”

  Breena chuckles and mutters; “Yeah, like Fionn MacLeod has ever kept his thoughts to himself. You dumbass. Good thing we all love you so much and know you aren’t malicious when stupidly blurt out whatever you are thinking.”

  Morna gathers up her courage and walks into the dining room. “Yes, Fionn. You always have been a dumb ass, but we love you anyway. Now if everyone is finished discussing my private life, can we take care of some business?” Everyone looks embarrassed, but Morna acts like she doesn’t notice.

  After Rinda, Fionn and Micah leave for The Bridge Morna mutters, “Poor Micah, I bet he will have to listen to those two snipe at each other all day. I wonder when they are going to realize they are meant for each other.” She chuckles softly to herself and then she looks at Maria, “Have you had any luck with the beads I brought back from the Spirit Plain?”

  Maria and George both looked very troubled. Maria looks at her hands. “What is it?” asks Morna.

  Maria finally speaks up, “The impressions I got from the beads are very, very confusing. I could clearly make out a connection with the tall silver haired witch, and a tiny dark haired Spell Weaver, presumably your mother. But I also get glimpses of a golden woman, and a very, very dark woman of great power and evil. But I can’t make any sense out of those images. I think one of them or both, is who the creature thought of as the great mother, but there are other connections that confuses me. I see an elf.” Everyone gasps.

  “What?” demands Breena. “Which elf? Was it Ari?”

  “Yes, I think might have been Ari. Maybe. My vision is confusing. One time I glimpse him as the light elf, the child, at other times he appears as a dark elf, one I have never seen before. But it almost feels as though these visions point to the same being. Or at least they are connected somehow. As I said, it is very confusing. I can‘t even figure out if the creature saw these elves as friend or foe.”

  Morna looks at Breena, “Why did you ask about Ari?” she breathes, her hands gripping the edge of the table.

  Breena hesitates. “I should have spoken up sooner. I just thought it was gossip, nothing to be taken seriously. A couple of hundred years back, I heard that Almeda had taken a lover a couple of millennia ago. The lover was rumored to be a dark elf. Ari is said to be the product of that union. I assumed that since the light Elf Council had tolerated them, even seemed to embrace them all these years that Ari must have taken after his mother and not his father. It feels wrong, even now to say anything that sounds like criticism of an elf.”

  Morna is deathly white when she asks, “Breena, did you ever hear the name of the dark elf that was Almeda’s lover?”

  “Dortain,” says Breena.

  “Oh God, NO!” says Morna.

  Carrick looks at Morna, “Oh hell, Morna! They are after revenge!”

  Brian whistles softly and mutters, “Shit!”

  Everyone looks at Carrick, Brian and Morna feeling very confused and equally worried because the three powerful warriors are obviously alarmed. Morna takes a deep breath and explains; “We were on patrol in the gateways near home. Someone had been tampering with the barriers between Middle and Upper worlds. I think this was about 1360. Does that sound right Carrick?” At his nod, she continues. “The patrol was made up of me, Luca, Carrick, Bronwyn, and Brian. Enya had gone to Waterford on a healer’s mission.”

  “Our patrol came upon a dark elf attacking the barrier at the end of a remote path near Airendell.” Morna continues, “We ordered him to stop and explain himself. He told us his name was Dortain, like we should know who he was, and that we would be wise to mind our own business. That’s when he attacked us. He was acting crazed. I have never seen anything like it before or since. We had no choice. He was killing Bronwyn. Luca and I struck him down. He swore with his dying breath that his Mistress would make us regret interfering in his business.”

  The horrible fear that had been circling around Morna’s heart was now squeezing hard with an icy hand. “Luca let Ari into his mind, and we both let them take Aideen with them. Oh Lord God, help me! What have I allowed to happen here?” Morna closes her eyes and murmurs “Aideen - link” in Ancient Light Elvish language.

  Once the link is established she can hear is her daughter’s voice raving gibberish about the dark one getting revenge, preventing the spread of the weakness… and then nothing. Someone or something has broken the link.

  Morna is frightened and decides to link with Almeda. “Almeda - link,” in Ancient Light Elvish. She hears Almeda’s frightened voice in her head saying, “He’s not responsible. Help him!” And then the connection is severed. Morna tries a couple of times to re-establish the link, but is unable to do so.

  She reluctantly tries to link with Almeda’s son, Ari, “Can’t stop myself. Primordial --- too strong. Help me!” Is all that she can decipher from the gibberish she receives in the link. Again, the link is severed by some outside force.

  Morna links with Luca in desperation and is devastated when he says, “Not now, Morna! Give me some peace!” Tears well up in Morna’s eyes as she feels him break the link. She has never felt so rejected or more alone in her life. She quickly shakes the feeling off and decides to take action rather than sitting here feeling helpless.

  She quickly explains what s
he just experienced and then stands up straight, takes a deep breath and says, “I can‘t just sit here on my fat ass and do nothing! I am sure our enemies are counting on our ignorance and confusion. But since I linked with them, they must know we suspect something. We must move, now! Carrick, you, Enya, and Elias go find my father and the patrol, inform them of this new information.”

  “Breena, Damian and I will go to Alfheim to retrieve Aideen, but we will go by Airendell on the way and inform my half-brother Archer of our suspicions. We will also look for Luca at our cottage in the glen. I suspect, if Ari isn’t exerting too much influence on Luca that he has gone there to sort things out. He told me once in a past lifetime that he goes there when he needs to think.”

  “Whether or not we find Luca, we must approach the high council at Alfheim and let them know what we suspect. Aideen and Ari sounded as though they were possessed or something. But I could sense the same foul taint that experienced when I was being attacked remotely before I destroyed that stone cannibal creature. I can’t explain it, but I have a feeling that Almeda and Ari may be victims as well. But we have to tread carefully where they are concerned. Regardless of Ari and Almeda’s loyalties we must go to Alfheim to look for Aideen.”

  “If they actually took Aideen to Alfheim, I must get permission from the High Council to take Aideen back. If they are not there, perhaps the elves will help me find her and get her back. Either way, I think the two patrols should meet up at the entrance to Alfheim as soon as possible.”

  George says, “What about me?” Morna looks thoughtfully at George. She had been trying to make up her mind about him. When she first met him she thought of him as an ally. George Wellborn is a Stone Breaker. A member of a magical race that dwells in the Americas which has dedicated themselves to protecting humans from the Stone Cold vampires. Ari and Almeda gave the Stone Breakers their endorsement. Now that endorsement may or may not mean that the group has traitors in its midst. She decides to ask him and Maria, his grandma and Shaman, to stay behind and to help Brigid protect this Gateway.