Catch & Hold-Legend (Legend series)

by Conn, Claudy

  Well, I meant to use her to throw Danté off his game. Danté was particularly levelheaded and difficult to deter once he had a bone, but here now was yet a better bone to confuse him with. What I needed now was to get my hands on the Daoine, this Radzia of MacDaun, and then watch and be ready when Danté charged to the rescue.

  These thoughts turned to another time—a few hundred years ago when I had, just for sport, done the unthinkable against a female human. I had done it just to hurt Prince Breslyn. But I had not anticipated the ferociousness with which the prince would come after me. Breslyn was for a Royal quite emotional, and he had actually gotten me into an awkward position.

  I had taken a beating at his hands as he pounded me into the Scottish earth.

  Danté had been the one to stop him, but not for my sake. He stopped Breslyn from killing me with the death sword because, at that time I, not being a Royal and not having found one, was unarmed. Danté did not want Breslyn banished and stopped him from killing me after he had beaten me till my face and body throbbed with unspeakable pain.

  I shrugged these thoughts off and promised myself revenge against them all. However, now, now I had to think.

  How to get the little Daoine into my hands? It was a task that might prove difficult. I looked at Morrigu, who had lapsed into a long dialogue with herself. She was off in another world.

  As it happens, I don’t think I am good for her mental state. In fact, I think I am directly responsible for her decline …

  She must have sensed my dislike, and it pushed her over the crumbling ledge she had been standing on for so long. The madness that had enveloped her years ago had not been given full reign until I walked into her life and hurt her over and over again. When I entered the picture, she had been serviced by her four Dark Royals and suddenly fancied herself in love with me.

  I admit it, I had been cruel, but no matter; I would end her suffering soon …

  Oddly enough, although they were nearly devoid of compassion and empathy, I had witnessed the Dark Royals’ affection, if one could call it that, for Morrigu. They never rejected her and seemed to even pander to her needs …

  Especially Pestale. He had a decided air of kindness and gentleness towards her. It was odd—I thought when I first met them that they were not capable of such feelings; however, it would seem that the Dark King had tried to imbibe them with the softer emotions. At least when it came to Morrigu, it worked.

  I didn’t have the patience for her antics and lived for the day when I might eliminate her. I watched as she donned the blue velvet robe I had thrown at her and thought what a shame it was that she annoyed me so. She was quite stunning.

  “I want out of this Realm, Gais. You promised we would walk on Irish soil once more, like we did when we first arrived, free and happy, and rule all the little humans again. We have to attack them now. When do we let the Green Babblers loose through the ravine portal to Inverness? When?”

  I smiled at the thought of this. The Green Babblers are a particular caste of Dark Fae—as horrendously ugly as their brethren but perhaps even more dangerous to humans. They make a sound that can puncture a human’s eardrums and leave them in excruciating pain and used as food while they were still alive. I liked the thought of torturing the humans in this fashion. “Soon … another few days, and we will follow them out and watch them terrify, torture, and devour until we call a halt and bring order.”

  “Oooh …” Morrigu purred. “It will be so much fun.”

  These last few months with her had displayed very clearly what I had not seen when I first arrived in the Dark Realm. She was irrevocably insane. She had moments of lucidity, sometimes even days of clear sightedness where I was able to catch a glimpse of the Seelie Fae she had once been. However, there was no cure for madness. It was what all Fae feared. Fae Royals could heal nearly all things in humans and themselves if some affliction managed to get past their immunity shields, but madness … ah, there was no cure for madness in humans or ourselves. Morrigu would be something I would have to deal with, and soon, for she was a loose cannon that could ruin all my plans. If Danté had not been interrupted, there was no knowing what she would have told him in bed.

  I had wondered if the Dark King would care if Morrigu were killed—it, in fact, was one of the minor points that worried me. Only Aaibhe knew the Dark King well enough for that answer. After all, the king had not bothered with Morrigu in centuries, yet I had been assailed with a small doubt that the king might actually seek retribution if I intentionally harmed Morrigu—something to think about later, because there was no telling what the Dark King might find a punishable crime. He might believe Morrigu worthless, but would he allow another Fae to kill her?

  I would have to make it appear that a human managed to get his hands on her death sword and kill her.

  In the meantime, I had to prepare for an attack in Inverness soon. I wanted to do it in the middle of the day and at a school for their young. It would not be expected before Samhain.

  I needed to do it obviously so that while Breslyn and the others rushed to save the children, I could release hundreds of Dark Fae into Edinburgh with specific instructions to follow while disguised in their human Glamour. It would be glorious!

  * * *

  I heard his Royal brother call him, ‘Pestale,’ and he turned to greet them, but then his eyes strayed once again towards me. I literally held my breath. He seemed to concentrate on me, at least on the wall that I was imitating. I had the odd sensation he was staring into my eyes, and it sure seemed way longer than a moment. I had the feeling he could almost see me, and I was just about to exhale (if only because the human part of me wanted to) when his beautiful, black eyebrows drew together and he looked away, dismissing whatever he thought he saw.

  I was a stone wall to anyone or anything looking. Only a Royal Seelie Fae would be able to see through my disguise. At that moment I had no visible breath, heartbeat, or viable bodily function of any kind—I was a stone wall. I didn’t blink, and apparently I didn’t need to breathe.

  It was new to me, and there was the spoke in the wheel that worried me when he turned slowly and glanced again in my direction—he might be an Unseelie, but he was a Royal, and the rumor had always been that they were just as powerful as Seelie Royal Fae. Well, if he was, I would have to shift outta there fast and hope he couldn’t follow my scent trail.

  However, although he frowned and stared hard, after a moment, he looked away again, and I put that rumor to rest. He might have sensed something, but he had not been able to see through my shapeshifted disguise. The four Royal Unseelie princes might not be as powerful as we thought—something to explore, but not of course while I was a wall. However, I did during my wall disguise watch him. He conversed with the Dark Fae in his circle, giving them orders, and my hearing picked up on a couple of things. Something in what he said made me think that he and Gais were not quite on the same page.

  He walked away, and I had to admit to myself that he was one pulsating sexual male—whoa. Another Royal brother entered the bar, and although he looked like Pestale (this one’s hair was auburn, not black, and he was a bit shorter, and his features less sharp), he seemed much younger, and there was a difference in more than looks. This Royal had less going on in his brain. He appeared unconcerned with the plans that Pestale was laying out for him, although he smiled (and I was surprised to see a smile—don’t know why, didn’t think they did, smile that is). The thing patted Pestale affectionately on the shoulder (another thing that surprised me) and said that he and his brothers would do whatever Pestale required.

  “Child.” Pestale seemed amused. “You speak as though you lead them, and you are the youngest.”

  They stood a moment together just a few feet away from the crowded dance floor where Unseelies were doing a grinding, hard-assed dance all around them. Unseelies dancing, by the way, you don’t want to see.

  They left together, and I immediately shifted off for the palace, but midway I thought better
of it and literally held myself in time and space. I took a moment to pat myself on the back as I was getting better at shifting—better at all Daoine power …

  Something in my brain had made me stop and then made me change my direction. I was still headed for Morrigu’s palace but not the same room.

  I went with the flow, as I am a great believer in following one’s instincts. If you close your eyes and allow your brain to latch onto what your gut is telling it, you can’t go wrong.

  Danté! Just where was he? What was he doing, thinking? Was he okay, and why hadn’t he come after me and told me I was wrong—so wrong, and that it wasn’t what it looked like? Hadn’t he because it had been exactly like it looked?

  I stepped out into a huge, dimly lit chamber. A wide table was covered with maps. I walked over and saw that they were maps of Ireland and Scotland, and the air I was breathing got caught in my throat.

  I was just about to memorize the locations when the door opened and Gais stepped through, and he was already in a fighting mode, as though he had expected me to be there. His death weapon was raised and pointed at my human heart.

  Blinking, with only a fraction of a second to spare, I shifted behind him, but he had already turned as though he knew that was what I was going to do. His sword slashed through the air with as much finesse as deadly precision. It was only the air he sliced through and not me, because I had accomplished what I wanted—I had tricked him. I double shifted, or jump shifted if you prefer, and landed right beside him!

  I was so close, and my Death Sword was in position yelling in my head, telling me to plunge it into him, but he shifted away before I could. I wanted to scream and stamp my feet. He had been mine—once more nearly mine for the taking down, and somehow he had slipped off and I had lost my chance.

  However, Gais, being Gais, reappeared on the other side of the room, and he said, “Here to avenge your father, Daoine? He was weak … forget him. You I seem to have misjudged. You have certain abilities that might be useful to my new order. Join me, and we can make a new world.”

  I went into a fury. I mean rage took over my mind and body, and all at once I was on him before he knew what I was doing; Ninja-style, just like my dad taught me, I kicked him in the balls. It wasn’t death, but I was so damn pleased because I could see it hurt like hell!

  He bent over with his pain, and I aimed my sword, which was oddly quiet, no longer telling me where or how to kill him, while Rolo whispered for me to shift out and away immediately. I frowned over the problem, but having already anticipated what Gais would do when he recovered from the pain between his legs, I immediately (human style) jumped away from where I was standing.

  That was not what Gais expected. He had expected me to shift. He wasn’t expecting the kick, and he wasn’t expecting the jump. He had expected me to behave like a Daoine princess, so once again and, only for a moment, I got the better of him.

  I smirked at him as I stood ready with my death sword, about to plunge it into his chest and end his miserable existence, but all at once, he did an unexpected thing just as I lunged: he threw some powder my way.

  Rolo whispered in exasperation, “Did I not tell you, Princess, to shift!”

  It was iridescent, and it clouded my vision for the fraction of a moment before I called on my Fae senses and cleared my eyes enough to see. But by then it was too late. I found myself in what I thought was another dimension.

  Shit! I mean, shit, shit, shit!

  ~ Four ~

  WHERE THE HELL was I? What kind of world was this? Everything was ice … blue ice. There was nothing else.

  I poked my sword into the frozen earth and leaned on it, heartily sick and berating myself over losing my chance to kill Gaiscioch. I had been so close to plunging my sword into Gais’s withered heart—well, he didn’t quite have a heart or equivalent, but he had a chest, and that’s where I would have plunged it.

  My death sword has been (like Rolo) a constant companion, and when I get tired of holding it, I lean on it, but I never let go of it. However, because a prick from its deadly edge or tip could kill me, it is always sheathed, a thing that happens (it seems) automatically when it is not in fighting mode—meaning even if I forget to sheath it, it seems to have the power to sheath itself when it isn’t needed.

  It will only speak to give me advice when it perceives an enemy, and then it will tell me how to use it and where to thrust its lethal blade. Lately, I thought I’d heard it sighing impatiently, but I was not certain.

  All at once, the sword said my name. “Radzia! Now, Radzia!”

  Evidently it had perceived a threat. Rolo joined in, and both began screaming in my head so badly I couldn’t think. I gasped as I tried to focus through the icy cold mist at the frigid tundra.

  “Breathe—breathe,” I told myself, if only to quiet the fear that had sprung up in my head. You see, I have this human element in me, which is very much a part of who I am. I don’t need to actually breathe, as a Fae can maintain or, if you will, suspend its breath for a very long time, but the human in me wants to breathe all the time … no suspension allowed.

  Raised human, you see, lived human—trained as a Druid priestess, yes, but mostly thought like a human. I had been thoroughly informed of my Fae heritage and how to use many Fae skills, but Fae still took second place. Thus, when I looked around and discovered myself in a world of blue ice, I started to shiver and quake.

  “You are quite capable of dealing with this cold. Adjust your body temperature. You don’t need your woolens,” Rolo clucked and then added, “You have to adjust immediately, for it is coming …”

  “What? What is coming? Adjust? Body … yes, woolens, good idea, need warm clothes,” I answered him disjointedly as I tried to focus on the problem. I was turning into an ice mannequin, and my teeth were chattering. I could hear my teeth chattering.

  “Z—you aren’t paying attention to me.” Rolo was clucking again. “You aren’t really cold. You only think you are. You are a Daoine—you can adjust your body temperature,” Rolo repeated. “You are a Royal Fae, and even the weakest of the Seelie Fae can survive this temperature, Z. Go into your mind!” Rolo was now shouting at me.

  I did what Rolo asked because he seemed to always know what he was talking about. So, there I was in my Fae mind, but instead of adjusting my body temperature like he asked, I called for ski clothes to cover my freezing body. Old habits died hard, and I was still human in my head.

  A moment later I was dressed in my sexiest ski outfit of black. I choose black more often than not these days. The color matches my purpose. Okay, now, concentrate, I told myself. You are surrounded by ice and nothing else. What to do?

  “Oh-oh,” said Rolo. “It is charging at full speed …”

  “Oh-oh? Full speed? What do you—” and then I saw it, and, Forgive me, Mom, there was no other word to describe how I felt at that moment. “Fuck!”

  It looked all wrong, meaning its skin looked turned inside out, and it was coming at me with Fae speed, saliva dripping from its triple rows of teeth, which were circular and not in its suction opening that served for a mouth but in the middle of its body, which was raised and poised to strike.

  So not good.

  “Its saliva is poison. It won’t kill you, but it will paralyze you for a moment, long enough so that it can chomp down on you. The whole experience might be fatal, I think,” Rolo said in a panicked voice.

  “You think?”

  I took a stance with my death sword leveled threateningly, but whether it saw my weapon or knew what it could do wasn’t clear, because the damn thing kept coming.

  That was why Gais sent me there with his shifting dust, to be eaten by these things, because another two had joined the first—all ugly, all with teeth chomping and ready to feed.

  Obviously I was still in the Dark Realm, and probably this was one of its basest, coldest, most hostile territories. What to do? Didn’t want it coming close enough to spit at me … and how far could it spit? Its spit w
ould be poison as well … oooh, no spit.

  Its inside-out skin, ugh, was covered in wads of something that was meant to be hair. It had four eyeballs in the thing it used as a head, and then I was sure it could spit long distances. Its mouth was a suction machine that could draw in and then … that’s right, spit out long distances.

  There are times when one must stand bravely and meet the danger head on, and there are times when one has to …

  “Shift!” Rolo shouted desperately.

  Shift was the plan. “Oh, yeah,” I agreed. However, one of them lunged just at that moment. Evidently the thing couldn’t shift, but it seemed to fly, and even though I went into overdrive and shifted, it wasn’t in time to avoid its claws.

  It had torn through the black nylon sleeve of my fitted ski jacket, ripped apart the sweater I had on under that, and managed to cut deep into my skin. Uh oh, something in its claws had seeped into my blood, something bad.

  And oddly enough, all I could think at that moment was that I had to get back to the war room. I had to get to those maps, and if I could, this time I had to make more of an effort to kill Gais and honor my father.

  It wasn’t going to be easy, but I didn’t want to die until I knew Gais was dead. That was my goal, although Danté’s face pulled on my heart and spoke softly to me … words that didn’t quite register. I had to tell him, as angry as I was about Morrigu naked on his thigh, but I had to let him know. “Danté,” I whispered out loud. “I love you … I hope you can hear me. If I don’t make it, I love you …”

  “No, Z … don’t go back there—” Rolo started to say just as I shifted in the thick gook of the Dark Realm’s atmosphere and landed in Gais’s war chamber. I scanned the room, but Gaiscioch wasn’t there.

  The table that had once housed the maps with the information I needed was empty with the exception of one low-burning lamp. The room was enveloped in fog of black magic that pulsated with evil, and for a moment I felt a sense of panic. I bucked myself up. I had everything I needed to defeat Gais, and I had to do just that. My dad’s memory was vividly on my mind, bolstering me through the sudden sharp pain in my right arm.