Catch & Hold-Legend (Legend series)

by Conn, Claudy

  I snuggled him for those words and asked, “Are we allowed to kill the warlock? Isn’t he human?”

  “No longer … he is a sorcerer, but if you have any doubts about it, there are other ways to put an end to someone like him, probably worse than death.”

  I had an idea what he meant, but he was stroking my face and whispering all the things I wanted to hear as he massaged me back to sleep …

  ~ Six ~

  SOME HOURS LATER we shifted to Aaron Dunbar’s home, and although Rolo was back in place once more hanging from the chain around my hip and at my back, he had a slew of things to say about the pillow that had fallen on him last evening. I suppose I shall have to create some sort of Hallow House for him in the future.

  We also had our sheathed swords slung at our backs. We shifted first to the outside of Dunbar’s house. There was no sign of life, but we shifted inside anyway. I looked at Danté and shook my head. I wasn’t picking up anything recent, and then a draft waved in my direction full with Dunbar’s fresh scent.

  We scanned the house, but he wasn’t there, so we followed his scent. It took us to the MacClennys’ driveway and right up to the toolshed that housed the ‘pit portal’ in question.

  He had definitely been there. Not only did the place reek of him, but candles had been candles lit there only recently, as I touched them and found the wax still warm. Humph. Where the heck was he?

  We looked at each other and then went outside. “Where to, boss?” I teased as I sidled over to Danté and stroked his arm. He had donned human Glamour, but anyone looking at him would notice at once that he was exceptional. His dark sweater couldn’t hide the muscles flexing beneath. His height was commanding, the gold that glittered at me in his eyes was warm, loving, and mesmerizing, and I took a moment to admire.

  There was no time for an answer as suddenly a familiar voice broke through our thoughts and said, “Radzia, sweet, my lovely child and Daoine Princess—you and the Tuatha Dé Royal are seriously needed!”

  I looked up because the voice came from the sky, and it was familiar because I knew him well. He was so very welcome. I waved and shouted out his name, “Deimne!” He had been a part of my life for as long as I could remember. He was my mother’s dear friend, the last of his kind.

  He hovered in the air, his great, iridescent-tipped white wings controlling the air current as he looked at me and smiled.

  I laughed because Deimne loved being in the sky more than anything else—it made him feel superior, he had once confided to me when I was very young.

  His upper body was naked but for the wide leather strap holding his death sword at his back. He didn’t have on the white and gold toga he normally wore; instead he sported tight-fitting brown leather pants and sandals. He is not a warrior but, as are all Fae, still muscular all the same, and I realized my peaceful Deimne was dressed for battle. Another reminder of how my world had changed.

  His white gold hair usually blowing in the breeze was tied at the nape of his neck, and his smile though warm in greeting to me held a sense of urgency. His eyes, dark with the gravity of the situation he apparently had come to impart, looked us over.

  Deimne was the last of his kind, the only winged Fae we Seelie Fae have ever known. He was a much beloved Daoine whose house, although not Royal, held a great deal of power. He was the Daoine Sluagh.

  His wingspan was at least twenty feet, and his wings were quite beautiful as he whooshed to stay in place.

  “Needed where?” Danté got right to the point.

  “Danté, Prince of Lugh,” said my Deimne formally. I realized from the way they greeted one another, cautiously as much as cordially, that he and Danté must have met somewhere through the ages.

  As I have said, Deimne was a friend I had loved all my life. In fact, as I was growing up, and to my father’s dismay, Deimne often took me on a tour of the skies.

  At any rate, he nodded at my Danté and sized up the situation with a curt glance, even as he cast me an affectionate smile. “You have chosen well, Radzia. For a Tuatha … he, I think, should do nicely for you.”

  Danté didn’t have the patience for this and shook his head. “Deimne … if you please, you said we are needed?”

  Deimne’s wings shuffled at his back, and he looked as though he was about to take offense at Danté’s tone; however, he got it under control and said instead, “Yes. Prince Breslyn is helping BJ and Daremont Carrick at the Carrick Monoliths, and now we are about to have an ugly situation in Inverness—and as I understand it, Maxine and her mate Julian will be in grave danger very soon. There is no time to hesitate.”

  “How do you know all this?” I asked.

  “My sweet Shee Willow and Shayne Bantry are in the heat of battle at the Middle Lake, and Queen Aaibhe has joined them there to close the new portal that opened just an hour ago. Our own good Queen Mab has gone to Edinburgh with our Trackers to close the portal that opened there. But there is no time, Radzia—my very own and most precious Fios, my dear Maxine, and her Julian are mortals. We must hurry to protect them, as they don’t even have death weapons and Julian can only sense the Dark ones. He cannot actually see them if they are invisible or in human Glamour.”

  “Then what the bloody hell are we waiting for?” Danté demanded.

  “Indeed …” The Daoine Sluagh put up his chin. “It hasn’t happened yet. Shee Willow saw it in a vision she had but a few moments ago while she was in battle with the abominations. I was with them as well, and my dear Shee Willow called to me. She sent me to enlist your help for Maxine and Julian.”

  “Do you shift with us then, Deimne?” I felt Danté take my arm and knew he had already found Maxine and Julian in his mind. Proudly, it occurred to me that my Danté could do anything.

  As he already had a bead on them, he told me to get ready, which meant we had our swords unsheathed and up. “Step to it, Daoine,” he called to Deimne before whispering to me that not only did Breslyn care very much for Maxine, but Aaibhe would be devastated if Julian MacTalbot, the last of a direct line that she held dear, was hurt.

  “Then come on!” I discovered my voice was full with excitement. I was looking forward to some slicing and dicing of Unseelie creeps.

  When we arrived, we scarcely had a moment before we had to dive into action. I did, however, get a good look at Maxine MacTalbot as she held her Rowan Wand high. I mean, damn, but she knew how to use that thing. It had been part of my training to learn about the powers of the Rowan Wand, as there were only two. I had thought Queen Mab owned one and Queen Aaibhe the other. Evidently, Aaibhe had entrusted it to Maxine … another story I needed to hear.

  Ete had told me a great deal about Maxine, Julian, and her own Breslyn. I knew that while her husband did not have the ability to see the Fae, the queen had gifted Maxine with Fios power (ability to see Fae through their magic) when she was just a babe. Our queen it would appear was far-sighted.

  I knew too that the Rowan Wand held a secretive and powerful magic that Fae feared. I watched a moment as she waved it over her Julian and realized she was giving him the temporary ability to see the Dark Fae (one of the wand’s many powers). I couldn’t help but wish that for a moment, just for a moment, my father had been able to see Gaiscioch when the devil had struck.

  The portal there in Inverness was much larger than any other Gaiscioch had tested us with before. Swarms of horrors were slithering across the avenue, pinning Max and Julian to one another, back to back.

  Maxine had taken a stance against the onslaught of Dark Fae. Her long black hair blew in the wind, and she stood firm, her legs spread apart and her Rowan Wand held high, holding them at bay.

  Not a lick of fear showed on her mortal face, and I felt a wave of admiration for her and her husband, who could so easily be brought down by the numbers and the poison they faced.

  They knew they could be killed, they knew that the poison in the Dark Fae’s claws and saliva would kill them, but Maxine waved that wand and smiled to see the Dark Fae slink
backwards, obviously afraid of its power.

  Her mate, Julian MacTalbot, was also equipped it seemed. He held a Seelie relic in his hand and waved it high as he whispered ancient Druid words—which I knew and understood. In addition to being a Daoine princess on my mother’s side, I am my father’s daughter, and he was a high Druid priest.

  I smiled, shifted beside Maxine, and said, “Okay, Max. Time for you two to leave with Deimne.”

  “Oh no, and miss all the fun?” She laughed and added, “You must be Radzia,” and she smiled at Danté, who was now at Julian’s side, as she added, “And he … whoa … must be Prince Danté—Breslyn’s friend. Heard a lot about you two.”

  “You have? Like what?”

  “There is no time for that now!” Rolo hissed in some exasperation at my back. “If the mortals won’t leave, then create a shield around them and do it now.” He sighed. “Never mind—I’ll do it, and before the uglies can spit.”

  Rolo whispered words, and this time I wasn’t quite sure what they meant. Rolo (being a Hallow) uses a different dialect and one I cannot always decipher. I knew the words were Ancient Danu and that they belonged to the magic of what he was as a Seelie Hallow. That was all I knew.

  Maxine pulled an incredulous face and said in aside to me, “What … who … where is that voice coming from?”

  “My Hallow,” I answered on a giggle.

  “Why a talking Hallow should surprise me …?” She shook her head and laughed out loud, but by then I was busy slicing through a throng of the worst uglies yet as I pushed past the protective shield Rolo had constructed around Maxine and Julian.

  I stabbed and thrust and sliced, and, ugh, there was blood and gore everywhere. I saw Maxine taking them down one by one with her wand (which apparently was able to get past the shield Rolo had constructed), as was Julian with his crystal-like relic, and suddenly I felt a wave of pride and pleasure to be a part of this team, hopeful that we could succeed as a whole.

  One ugly came at me from the flanks; when I sliced him in half, he was a bit close to me, and his yuck green blood went splattering all over me. Maxie made an awful squeal of horror that nearly scared me to death.

  “Oh yuck, yuck, and double yuck!” she exclaimed in disgust. “Uh … please blink it off yourself, Z—just poof it away!” Maxie grimaced at the gore covering me.

  Laughing out loud, I did what she asked and ‘poofed’ the goo away from my face, hair, and clothes. “There … gone!”

  But the uglies had numbers, and they kept coming. I had to get back to the job at hand and forgot about blood and goo because I was quickly covered with it again. As I fought and slashed and killed I watched Julian and Maxine and smiled. They had some serious mojo going on; in fact, we were all of us quite incredible if I do say so.

  Deimne was doing his part from the sky, diving in, collecting a few at a time, and sending them off to another dimension. At one point he hovered over Maxine, and I saw him actually wink at her as he called out, “That’s my Fios!”

  Maxie was killing with her wand and making girlie sounds screeching over each kill, but she was brave, so brave, because the bottom line was she was a mortal and was in mortal danger. It is one thing to go after the beast when you know you can’t be killed …

  When our eyes met I realized somehow we had connected and bonded in just this short while, and it felt good.

  However, we were in something of a predicament. We were seriously outnumbered and had our hands full as we slashed, diced, and fought the Unseelie back.

  It wasn’t surprising that a few escaped. We couldn’t stop them, and once more these mindless (almost mindless) beasts, much like the ones we had fought in Inverness just recently, headed for a school of young children. I stared for a moment in disbelief—it was the same school they had attempted to attack the last time. It dawned on me that the portal had returned very close to its original site.

  Why—to get to the school? Again—why? To divert us? Of course—that had to be the answer. Gaiscioch wanted to divert us as a test. Gaiscioch wanted to test our priorities. Or was it something else? Was there something in the school they needed? Was there something in the school they were trying to do … other than feed?

  This was so not good. I looked at Danté and motioned, letting him know where I was headed. Maxine and her mate would be fine with Rolo’s shield keeping the Dark from touching them and yet allowing their magic to work through the shield.

  We were outnumbered but not outfoxed, and that, I decided was exactly what Gais wanted. He wanted more than a two-front war; he wanted us completely divided so he could slip into this world with his four Royal Dark Princes! With their magic, there was no telling what he could do.

  I shifted to the schoolyard, pleased that this was yet another caste of monsters that couldn’t shift. Their minds couldn’t hold the concept, so I got there before them as they slithered and moved across the concrete playground towards the main entrance of the school building.

  I counted twelve—hmm, an even dozen—and smiled in greeting. “Hello, boys …” And then one of them broke away and headed as fast as its six legs could carry it towards the school building’s entrance …

  * * *

  Divide and conquer, was that what they were doing? Their actions made it a given that I would go after the one moving towards the children inside the building, and I did. I shifted, and just as I stepped out of the atmosphere, I swung my sword and watched as the Dark Fae’s head flew across the schoolyard. One down—eleven to go …

  I turned back toward the remaining group of uglies and allowed them to accomplish their intent. They circled me. I almost wanted to laugh. They actually thought they had me then, which was what I wanted them to think. They continued to circle me in their lumbering fashion, and a few of them made snarling noises, almost like a pack of wolves bearing down on its prey.

  And then before they could think (though honestly I wasn’t sure how much thinking they could do) and before they realized what had happened, I shifted behind one whose insect-like body couldn’t move quickly enough to avoid my sword. A moment later I had severed his head from his grotesque body. It slumped to the concrete, and I felt its goo on my cheek with severe repulsion. I had to work fast because now they were looking around themselves and scattering. Although they were slow, I couldn’t chance that any would get away. I shifted to be directly face to face with the next ugly and slit its head open from top to chin—I think it was a chin …

  Ha—they didn’t know what this Daoine and her death sword could do, not to mention my Rolo, Seelie Hallow supreme mumbling a protection spell around me. I saw another ugly running (well, hobbling) for the school building; I held Rolo up and whispered, “Stop that one, Rolo.”

  “Easily done—I shall freeze him in place.” Rolo’s voice was full of pride, and I smiled and gave him a pat.

  I laughed to see the thing frozen in place, and I consigned it to another dimension. And then I turned to the others and was surprised to see their intent was still to get to the school building.

  They tried to get around me but stopped dead in their tracks as I made a swaying motion with my sword and then pointed it. “Who wants to be next? Huh?” And that was when I saw it—the ancient mirror fragment hovering between the remaining uglies. Where had it come from? It couldn’t have been there all along, could it? I would have seen it, but damn, it was there now!

  I could see the Dark Fae couldn’t touch it; in fact, they seemed frightened of it, yet it followed them and hovered near them all the same. They were leading it to the school building. What the hell?

  It was only a fragment of what I was sure had been a Seelie Fae mirror. We can recognize our Fae relics at once, although we can’t seem to use our scanning abilities to locate them. It was no more than ten or twelve inches in diameter, and yet I knew it was unmistakably and powerfully full of Seelie magic. I felt its might and wondered why and how it was traveling with Dark Fae who could not even touch it.

  The m
irror traveled with them as though it seemed to have a will of its own, gliding through the air between the Dark beasts. Gaiscioch was a Seelie Fae. He could command the Fae Relic …

  Another of the insect-styled monsters took advantage of my distraction and charged me, but I was fast—at least, faster than he was—so I sliced it across the middle, proud of myself even though this one had more than green blood and yellow goo going on. It burst with pus and made me scream out the same noises Maxie had made only a few moments ago—euuewee. Disgusted, I blinked myself clean.

  How many more to go? I can’t do math, so I didn’t bother and turned into a spinning top with a death sword. Yup, spun through three more, cutting two of them in many pieces. When I stood back to look at my handiwork I noticed that I might be able to get a hold of the mirror.

  I am a Seelie Fae, a Royal no less, so damn, I could touch it. I jumped Ninja-style into the air and reached for it, but before I could grab hold—it was gone.

  I got busy then, slicing, stabbing, slashing, and exterminating. One of them cut me badly with its poisonous claws as it came from behind while I was busy with the two still left standing. I turned, and as you can imagine, I was angry as I made short work of him. However, the poison started seeping through me, and I stood for a moment pressed up against the brick wall of the back of the school building where the fight had taken us. I had to breathe hard as I healed myself, reminding the new me that was what I was: new and Daoine Fae. I looked around for any other monsters I might have missed.

  And then Danté was there, and I was cradled in his arms as though I hadn’t just slaughtered a dozen monsters …

  The feeling of overwhelming need and answered longing overshadowed all else. I was so happy to be in his arms held like a precious treasure. I was so satisfied to just hide against his hard body and let him take over. He was warm, he was safe, and I started babbling like a lunatic about the mirror, but what was the use? It was gone.