Sacrifice

by Heather McCollum

  “Apparently, there is a foot to smash under that mist,” Anna whispered to Patricia.

  “His lips move differently from his words,” Patricia said.

  “It’s the stone they wear,” Anna said, indicating the colorful pebbles that hung from thin leather straps around Hauk’s and Merewin’s necks. “Kailin told me that it translates for them. The others speak fairly good English.”

  “Amazing,” Patricia whispered back.

  “The demons will be able to raise help from the animals of the forest in each of your time periods to attack the sister there,” Drakkina explained. “You must keep your mate alive against those beasts.”

  “Will we be alone in the circle in our time period?” Kat asked. “As in, just Toren and I standing in the stone circle in the twenty-first century?”

  “Physically, yes,” Drakkina said. “But we will actually all be together on this plane of existence as spirits. You will see each other as you do now, though a little more solid within the magic of the stones.” They nodded as if that made sense.

  “When will this occur?” Toren, Kat’s husband, asked.

  Drakkina’s lips thinned as she pressed them together. “I am not certain.” Her glance at Anna was brief but obvious. “I think soon, although there were wildflowers in the vision.” She shook her head. “Laying on the slab in the stones.”

  “Wildflowers won’t bloom for months,” William said.

  “But I know it will be soon,” Drakkina repeated.

  “Even your visions, crone, can be misinterpreted,” Keenan said.

  Drakkina’s dragonflies flitted faster around her hair, alighting on the silver braid as if they sensed her growing irritation. She ignored him and turned to Kailin. “Then the daughters of Gilla will battle the demons with their powers, given to them by Gilla with the Earth Mother’s blessing.”

  “I will kill Semiazaz,” Kailin said.

  “Aye,” Keenan agreed. “Take out the leader, and the rest fall in chaos.”

  “Accomplishing that will be harder than it sounds,” Merewin said. “We need to distract his twelve disciples.”

  “I have plans for that,” Kat said. She raised her hands slightly. Anna blinked, her heart thudding as a white beard uncoiled from Kat’s chin, her body turning into that of the dark wizard. “Serena pulled his description from Drakkina’s mind,” Kat said. “Do I have it right?”

  Anna found her voice. “His black eyes…it is as if they are coated with a shiny layer of oil, bulbous insets in his face.”

  All gazes turned to Anna as if just noticing her, and she swallowed. Merewin floated closer to her, passing the coolness of her hand down Anna’s arm. “Your daughter is growing well.” She smiled. “Fast but healthy and near bursting with power.” She lowered her ethereal body so that their gazes were on the same level.

  Serena moved next to her. “And full of love for her mother.”

  Anna blinked back tears. “The feeling is mutual.”

  “As it should be,” Merewin said.

  Drakkina cleared her throat. “Anna and the baby will be in the stones, a lure and distraction for Drustan.”

  Anna waddled closer to the rest of the odd group. “Lure Drustan in for what purpose? Do you plan to kill him, too?”

  “If we must,” Drakkina said. Her words were hard, yet her tone was soft.

  Kailin walked over to Anna, her touch real where Merewin’s had only been sensation. “Anna, he is our brother. His blood runs in us. My sisters have not met him, but I have. We will do whatever we can to persuade him to our side. I do not want him dead, and he did say that he does not wish for his sisters to die. But Semiazaz has influenced him against us.”

  “Then we should try to talk with him now,” Anna said, her gaze scanning the gathered group. “Right whatever misconceptions he has and bring him to our side.”

  “We have tried,” Jackson said where he stood on the far side of the table. “We’ve ridden out to where his home is in the trees, but we can’t get into it. He has it warded, locked against us.”

  “And I don’t believe he is there,” Drakkina said, her lips squeezing in a tight circle. “He seems to have vanished from this time period. I have looked.”

  “Vanished?” Anna said, suddenly needing to sit down. Serena looked pointedly at Kailin who used her powers to slide a chair close to Anna. Anna sat heavily between the arms on the round cushion.

  “I don’t sense his presence,” Drakkina said. “Tenebris is roaming the area, as if he’s waiting for his master’s return.”

  Anna’s heart sank into her stomach. Where was he? Would he return? The thought of losing Drustan forever twisted inside her. As if noticing her distress, the baby kicked and turned inside. Anna placed her clammy palm over the large hump of her belly.

  “So Kat will distract the demons by masquerading as Semiazaz,” Toren said, bringing everyone’s focus back to the battle.

  “I can pick up on his plans as soon as he thinks them,” Serena said.

  “He will block his thoughts,” Merewin added.

  Serena grinned slightly. “I’ve perfected a way to slide into the smallest crack in a mental wall. If he’s being attacked, I will be able to worm my way in and read his thoughts.”

  “You may not have time to react or communicate them to us,” Hauk said, rubbing absently along the white scar on his forehead.

  “True,” Serena said, “but I can confuse him by sending him my own distracting thoughts. I will sing my Romany mother’s favorite songs in his head until he can’t think straight.”

  Keenan pulled Serena in under one arm and squeezed her in a hug. “It very well might drive the bastard mad.”

  Helen bustled in with a tray of drinks and stopped, her eyes wide. The pewter cups rattled as she sat the tray down on the table and passed the sign of the cross in front of her before striding back out of the room.

  Patricia giggled slightly. “We aren’t the only ones that find hovering spirits disconcerting,” she whispered into Anna’s ear and pulled a chair up to sit next to her.

  Above their head, a large bird swooped down. Patricia squeaked and grabbed Anna’s arm as a great horned owl, with wings spread, circled the group, its yellow and black eyes taking in the scene. It landed near Kailin on the arm of a chair.

  “Tuto will not harm you,” Kailin told Patricia. She nodded but didn’t let go of Anna.

  “I didn’t know he came with you,” William said and approached the bird, bending to look into his wise face. The raptor opened its curved beak and closed it as if speaking.

  “He showed up on the ship going across the ocean,” Jackson said.

  Kailin slid a hand down the bird’s back. “Our animals will help in the battle of course.”

  Another bird, blue and much smaller, flew up out of the mist around Serena to soar and dive around the ceiling. Anna’s gaze snapped to the tapestry depicting Serena with her bird poking out the eye of an enemy. This must be the brave Chiriklò.

  “Will the animals be in spirit form so they can attack the demons?” Serena asked as the blue bird landed on her shoulder. It tilted its head in a manner that made it look as if it too waited for Drakkina’s answer.

  “Yes, your animals are mostly magic, imbued with life from Gilla. Just like your magic will work against the demons, so will your animals.”

  Anna felt Patricia jump as a ball of brown fur leapt out of the mist at Merewin’s feet. It clung to the drape of her floor-length tunic, climbing up to find a spot on her shoulder, its nose poking out from her hair.

  “Is that a rat?” Patricia yelped.

  Hauk snorted again while Merewin cut him a sharp glance. “Bela is a mink and actually quite clever.”

  Hauk scratched the little animal on its head. “She helps me keep Merewin alive.” This time when Merewin’s leg moved under her dress, Hauk reacted quicker, a smile of triumph on his face.

  “Look,” Patricia said, pointing up at a cloud of yellow wings. Instead of Drakkina’s zippi
ng dragonflies, these insects fluttered. “Butterflies,” Patricia said. “Beautiful.”

  “And lethal,” Toren added as he watched the delicate insects alight on his wife, Kat.

  “Butterflies?” Anna asked.

  Kat held out one finger and three landed on it. She smiled, the corner of her mouth stretching the scar on her cheek. “Don’t let looks fool you. They’ve sacrificed their lives to save me.” One butterfly hovered before her lips as if kissing her.

  Toren shook his head. “They still feature in some of my nightmares.”

  “I thought that was just your brother,” Kat said, a teasing lilt in her tone.

  Toren ran a hand through his dark hair, scattering some of the insects to flutter around him. “Lass, yer little yellow warriors could scare a Viking raider if he saw what they could do to a man.”

  “Doubtful,” Hauk said, but he turned in a tight circle to follow one butterfly as it circled behind him.

  “Tenebris will come with Drustan,” Anna said, pulling their attention. “The wolf is not evil. He protects Drustan.”

  “Tenebris lived with us for several years before Drustan claimed him,” Kailin said. “The wolf is honorable.” She paused. “But he is also loyal, to the end, and will do what Drustan wants him to. We cannot trust him.” She looked at Jackson. “But we won’t kill him unless he attacks us.”

  Anna remembered the gentle way Tenebris carried Josiah on his back and let the little girl from the village lay upon his stomach. “He won’t.”

  Kailin’s eyes were heavy with worry as she nodded.

  “I’ve seen glimpses of the battle when I focus,” Serena said. “So it must be coming soon.”

  Drakkina’s gaze moved to Anna’s stomach. “The babe will be born at the final battle.”

  “What?” Anna said, finding her feet. “I can’t birth a baby in a battle.”

  “It’s what I’ve seen in the scrying bowl,” Drakkina said.

  Anna breathed against the panic filtering through her. “That’s ridiculous. She could die. I could have complications, bleeding.”

  Merewin drifted toward her. “Part of my responsibility will be to keep you and the babe safe.”

  Anna’s gaze snapped around the group. It was obvious from Merewin’s tone that they already knew about this detail. Yet, no one had informed her, the mother, the one who would be immobilized by pain. She threw her arms out as she spoke. “So, I will just be out there in the mud in a circle of stones, baring my nether regions as I give birth before all of you?” She swallowed hard as she took in the faces of the warriors.

  “You will be on the stone altar,” Drakkina said. “Not on the ground.”

  “Lovely,” Anna said. “A centerpiece for all to see.”

  “We don’t intend to look, lass,” Keenan said, his face serious.

  “Women are warriors when they birth life.” Hauk nodded as if the simple tilt of his head made it reasonable. “You will do your part in the battle by safely delivering the babe while we do our part.”

  To him it was simple. To a woman who had been a virgin just two months ago, this was complicated and vastly terrifying. Anna breathed through her nose to dispel the stars at her periphery.

  “There you go,” Merewin smiled and led her back to her seat. “Breathing slowly helps a great deal.”

  “How many babies have you had?” Anna snapped.

  “Three at last count,” she said with a smile, apparently not angered by Anna’s irritation.

  “And how many of them did you give birth to in the middle of a battle with demons who want you and your baby dead?”

  Her smile faded. “None.” She lowered down so that she stared straight into Anna’s eyes. “I promise you that we will do everything we can to keep you and your babe safe. But she must be there. It is the only way we can win this cause to stop Semiazaz. Drustan’s babe is more powerful than all of us.”

  Anna blinked at the woman. A baby, more powerful than these magical people, more powerful than Drakkina, an ancient Wiccan priestess. It was impossible to comprehend. “Why is she more powerful?” Anna looked down at her belly that she swore looked larger than when she’d waddled down the tight staircase less than an hour ago. “Why is our baby so full of magic? I am just a simple, normal woman without powers.”

  Merewin looked to Drakkina. The crone floated above the table, her silvery hair lying in a braid along one shoulder. “When Gilla and Druce had their daughters, they were born with only the potential for magic just like their parents. Gilla and Druce nurtured their natural magic abilities and learned from me, just like they planned to do with their children. Gilla transferred each of her powers to one of her daughters before sending each of you off to save you and hide her magic in time.

  “But she knew that her son was different. Even before birth, Gilla could feel Drustan’s innate magic filling him. He grew very rapidly inside her, like your daughter.” Drakkina lowered to stand before Anna, her gaze dipping to her stomach before rising. Her pale blue eyes seemed to gloss over with regret. “’Tis why the demons came. It wasn’t to kill Gilla really, or even steal her powers. It was always Semiazaz’s plan to take the babe. It was as if all the magic that Gilla and Druce possessed converged into Drustan’s little body. Semiazaz figured this out.”

  “So it is Drustan’s magic that’s transferred to his child?” Anna asked.

  “It seems so. Since you have no magic of your own, it must be that Drustan’s magic combined with something in your daughter’s make-up.”

  “Perhaps it is because she is a girl,” Merewin said. “We are the more powerful sex.”

  Hauk rolled his eyes but held his tongue.

  “There is great power in emotions,” Kat said. “And women tend to open up to their own emotions.”

  “Love will win,” Drakkina murmured, her eyes closing for a long blink. She nodded as she looked again at Anna. “We will let it happen.”

  The woman was crazy. Anna leaned her head back in the chair. She was surrounded by crazy.

  “And I have the amulet,” Drakkina said, and Anna opened her eyes. Drakkina floated closer to Jackson. “You will give me the orb to join it.”

  “At the battle,” Jackson said.

  “It is close this time?” William asked, his voice gruff at almost losing his niece.

  “Yes,” Kailin said. “Very close. We will bring it. He will gift it to Drakkina when it is needed. It is safer separated until the end. Otherwise if Semiazaz captures or kills Drakkina, he could have them both.”

  Drakkina’s dragonflies flitted faster, swooping and lunging out from Drakkina as if angry and threatening vicious harm. And if butterflies could kill, Anna supposed dragonflies could at least maim. Lovely, now I’m going crazy, Anna thought, but continued to watch.

  “Very well, but do not hesitate,” Drakkina said. “If you do, you might doom us all.”

  “What does the orb and amulet do?” Patricia asked, leaning forward in her seat.

  “It is a power source,” Drakkina said without meeting Patricia’s gaze.

  “It will bring you life again,” Serena said. “A solid body and breath.”

  “And back to full power,” Drakkina said. “So I can defeat Semiazaz and his demons,” she defended. No one said anything, but expressions ranged from hopeful to distrust.

  Drakkina turned away. “Now it is up to when.” She looked at Anna. “And that is up to the babe.”

  “I will watch her daily,” Merewin said.

  “As does Matilda,” William said. “When ye are not here.”

  “I will draw us all to the stones as soon as the time comes,” Drakkina said, beginning to fade. Anna watched the others become translucent, following her.

  “We will be ready,” Keenan said, and the others nodded. Of the sisters and their mates, only Kailin and Jackson, with her owl, remained in Kylkern’s great hall.

  “May the Earth Mother and God be with us,” Kailin said. Her gaze drifted to Anna’s round belly. Anna la
y both her hands against it as if protecting the little life beneath the skin. And yet it was this small life that was to protect and save her and possibly all mankind. Love will win. Drakkina’s words seemed strange when speaking of battle. Especially when Anna loved the one they would battle against.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Anna tossed in her bed, and the baby tossed inside Anna. “Ugh,” she murmured. When would it be morning? Anna rolled again to watch the predawn glow filtering through the window. Love will win. The words held hope but also made Anna’s stomach sink. The more she shuffled through the details of their time at the stream, the more she dreaded that Drustan must have overheard and misunderstood. Drakkina said she wasn’t the one there so it must have been orchestrated by Semiazaz so Drustan could hear. What had he heard? What must he think of her?

  The attack on the stables was so unlike Drustan, even if he’d been furious. She’d seen him angry before when he’d confronted the demons, hurling his power back at them. She’d hidden in his house, watching as he levitated, power glowing from him. He’d thrown lightning from his hands, generating huge gusts of wind to defend her, pushing away the demons with their cloying stench of death and decay.

  Death and decay? The buzz of flies over a lifeless carcass came to Anna’s mind. She froze in mid-toss. “The rabbits,” she whispered in the dark. The rabbits at the stables. She struggled to push herself up, scooting back against the headboard.

  No one had been able to explain where the three skewered rabbits had come from when they were uncovered in the rubble. Hamish said that Drustan had walked in without anything, not even a sword. Josiah had questioned the children for William, asking if any of them had caught the rabbits, perhaps leaving them on a dare. But none confessed. As the sisters began gathering, speaking of the final battle, the mystery was forgotten.

  The rabbits had smelled terrible. They’d been at least three days old, their bodies bloated with proliferating bacteria breaking down the rabbits’ organs. They smelled just like the demons. Could they have been placed there to mask the stench of evil? Had Semiazaz created another manipulative scenario to trick Drustan?