Guardian of the Moon Pendant

by Laura J Williams

  Blane leaned in. “Aye, ‘tis true.”

  I gulped, not knowing what to do.

  “Lainahwyn,” Blane continued, “will also take the stronger men and make them into warriors to do her bidding.”

  Granny had a frazzled look on her puffy white face. “So are you willing to do it?”

  I could hear Fergus whispering to Izzy behind my back, “That’s yer sister, there, the prissy one who can’t seem to have a hair out of place? Aye, we’re all doomed.”

  The images of the tasks flickered before my eyes, the Bloody Baron, the Ghillie Dhu, the Nuckelavee, and the MääGord standing stones. All of those tasks needed to be completed before Friday on the midsummer solstices by me?

  My heart drummed inside my chest, sending a wave of dread through my stomach. “I don’t know,” I answered.

  Granny crossed her billowy arms, then spoke in a stern voice. “I need to hear a yes, Anabel.”

  “I saw the paintings in Dunvarghan Castle,” I blurted out with a note of hysteria.

  “I’ve got an idea,” said Fergus mockingly, “when the world needs a hero let’s not stop off at the local Hello Kitty store and pick out the nearest girl with her hair dolled up in a ponytail and a lollipop in her hand!”

  Izzy stepped forward, eagerly. “You know I’d do it in a heartbeat, Gran.”

  I cocked my head to the side, steaming inside. I stared into Izzy’s eyes. “What are you going to do?” I said through gritted teeth. “Slit my throat and steal it?”

  “Not a bad idea,” Izzy smirked, “if it gets the job done.”

  Blane’s hand clasped onto the hilt of his double-edge claymore, drawing it out from the sheath on his back, a disheartened look on his face, its edge catching the flickering light of the candles, and powerfully slamming it down into the floorboards, shaking the whole house and all its contents. “Yer words do more harm than good,” he said mightily, his hand extended to me. “As I said before, lass, I shall accompany you on yer tasks.”

  Granny seemed unalarmed by the sudden thrashing of the sword to keep the peace. She glided in front of Izzy. “Would you be a dear and help yer sister out?”

  “Yeah, right,” Izzy snapped, crushing her lips to the side. “I’ll do all the work, and she’ll get all the credit.”

  I rolled my eyes. Izzy was always the one for drama. I needed to end this now and to take back some control in my life.

  I squeezed Blane’s hand tightly and then held my head up high, stepping forward and taking charge of the situation, declaring, “I will recharge the Moon Pendant!”

  “What about me dad?” Fergus interjected.

  “After the first charge,” Blane reminded us, “the Moon Pendant may be strong enough to go on another host.”

  “That would be me!” Izzy proclaimed happily, raising her hand up in the air.

  “If it’s willing,” added Granny.

  Izzy was oblivious to Granny’s warning and faced Fergus. “After the Bloody Baron, I’ll get the Moon Pendant. Then, we’ll go and get your dad out of that demon’s lair.” Izzy looked at me sideways. “Right, your royal highness?”

  I sighed with a note of apprehension. “Yes.” Something inside of me stirred. I knew deep in the pit of my stomach I didn’t want to give her the Moon Pendant, even if it meant my own death. But, I knew it was the last thing I wanted right now. I most definitely didn’t want to face any of those tasks, especially that horrible Nuckelavee.

  “And we all go and save Fergus’s dad,” added Izzy, as if she was calling me out on something I didn’t even do yet.

  “Fine!” I puffed.

  “Good,” said Granny, waving her ghostly finger at me. “Anabel tomorrow evening you will go to the Bloody Baron’s tower and charge it with the elemental of air. Agreed?”

  “Agreed.”

  Chapter 9

  ♦♦♦

  Anabel

  Izzy plopped down on top of Granny’s bed, squished between a pile of plump pillows, leaning back with her hands crossed behind her head. “So Braveheart’s got eyes for you,” she teased.

  I ignored her, pressed the on button for the computer, waiting for it to boot up.

  “You’re not going to say anything back?” Izzy said.

  “We can never be together,” I said somberly, clicking on the Skype icon after everything loaded, “as long as I’m Guardian.”

  “Good thing you won’t be for very much longer.”

  I suddenly felt a sense of relief, swirling around on the chair to face Izzy biting her nails. “You’re right!” I said excitedly.

  “But don’t you love the nerd?” she added, spitting out a few slivers of her chipped polish.

  I was clearly torn between my new feelings for Blane and Edgar. Blane was mysterious, tall dark and handsome with the body of a Greek god, he would do anything for me, and that made me feel so safe being by his side. But he was five centuries old. He had lived a handful of lifetimes. I knew he had a rich past, I wondered what type of past could a Scottish warrior have? Then there was Edgar, my high school sweetheart, quirky, ridiculously smart, and always grounded. I shook my head, “I don’t know anymore.”

  “Luvey!” muttered Edgar from the computer’s speakers, wearing one of his baby blue “Star Trek” shirts with a silver arrow emblem over his left heart. All he needed were pointy ears, and he’d be the spitting image of Spock. “Or should I say, milady? It has been too long,” he snorted.

  Izzy rolled her eyes and then scooted to the edge of the bed.

  “Edgar, we need some help,” I said into the webcam.

  “But of course!” he said, templing his fingers together.

  Izzy pushed me aside to share the chair, one of her cheeks teetering on the edge of the seat, “Listen, nerd…”

  I grimaced.

  “I mean, Edgar,” she corrected herself. “We’ve come into a situation here.”

  I elbowed Izzy back to her side of the chair, staking my claim. “We need to understand certain…” I paused for a moment, not knowing how to explain the fact that we were surrounded by Scottish Fae. “…ethereal creatures and sites here in Scotland.”

  “Faeries!” Izzy blurted out loud. “We’re surrounded by dang faeries and need to know what they are and how to kill them!”

  “We don’t have to kill them!” I said appalled by Izzy’s idea, “just understand them and how to…”

  “Kill them!” she cut me off again.

  I inhaled slowly through my nose and continued. “Get past them,” I stated firmly.

  “Get past them, kill them, whatever,” ranted Izzy, stabbing her index finger repeatedly into her palm. “I don’t care what faery it is. I want to know their strengths, their weaknesses... aka how to kill them if need be. The last thing I need is a faery who pretends they’re all good and then turns into the devil incarnate, hence the Baobhan Sith.” She slapped me on my back. “Who you thought, your highness, was some sort of angelic vision! I’m not dumb enough to fall for that kind of crap!”

  I cocked an eyebrow at Izzy.

  “They’re real?” mumbled Edgar squishing his face into the webcam.

  “Yes, Edgar,” I said. “Like you always said, there’s a thread of truth with all folklore.”

  “But, they’re really – real?” Edgar repeated himself, his eyes bulging.

  “I’m afraid so.”

  “Well, luvey, Izzy. I have just the thing for you,” grinned Edgar excitedly, tapping his index finger against his lower lip. “I cross-referenced the database of my animaland App and changed the UI around to make you a brand new ios App called faeland. I hope you don’t mind. Since, you were going to Scotland I thought it would be interesting to learn more about its mythological creatures and Fae. Mind you, it’s version 1.0, though, and it’s pretty much in its Alpha testing phase right now, but you two could be my Beta testers if want.”

  “So, what do we do?” inquired Izzy, leaning in toward the webcam.

  “Well, first you download the App ont
o your iPhone, launch the App, and when you see one of these faeries, you just take a snapshot of it.” Edgar held up his iPhone to the webcam, showing us the buttons to press. “Pretty nifty app – it will give you a full description of what type of Fae it is, and what its strengths and weaknesses are. Ingenious if you ask me.” Edgar snorted with a cheesy laugh.

  “You forgot the most obvious problem, nerd,” stated Izzy, waving her arms around in front of the camera, speaking with her hands like a New Yorker, “I mean, Edgar.”

  “Go on,” I said, wondering what was running through her thick head.

  “There’s not a lot of reception out here in faeryland, Wi-Fi or 4G. Once we cross those electromagnetic ley lines, we won’t be able to upload a snapshot of the faery.”

  “Not to worry,” said Edgar confidently. “I’ve set it up so it will work locally on your iPhone. But, I’ve limited the Fae data to only Scottish Fae. Beyond that you’re on your own.”

  “Brilliant!” cried Izzy, slapping her palm down on the desk, rattling the keyboard and mouse.

  I cocked my head to the side, staring at Izzy as if she had two heads.

  “What?” she mumbled, shrugging her shoulder, “nerds can be brilliant.”

  I just shook my head at her.

  “I’ll go ahead and transfer the app to your local desktop,” said Edgar, his voice muffled as he shoved a Hot Pocket into his mouth, his words becoming warbled as he spewed crumbs out of his mouth as he spoke. “When it’s done,” a confetti of crumbs clung to his lips and then shot out of his mouth, “hook up your iPhone using your USB and load it on.”

  I was beside myself. Edgar was such a peach, this could really help us to defeat these faeries and charge the Moon Pendant. “Edgar,” I purred with a quick wink, “you’re the best ever!”

  A soft knock at the door interrupted our tender moment. It creaked open. Blane poked his head into the room.

  “I know, luvey,” said Edgar, sticking his finger between his back teeth and cheek, scrapping off the pasty residue. “Who’s that? I can’t see very well,” bobbing his head back and forth in the monitor.

  “Oh, just a 6’5, muscular Highlander who happens to look like Wolverine, minus the side burns and steel nails,” joked Izzy, eyeing Blane’s rippled pecks.

  Blane darted his head around, studying the computer monitor, knocking on the flat screen. “What sort of sorcery is this? I doona know how a man can live in a painting’s frame.”

  “It’s called the 21st century,” said Izzy, yanking her iPhone from the USB port, her fingers hastily pressing button, sliding them around on the clear surface of her iPhone, and then pointing its camera to a painting hanging on the wall. “This has to be a Fae.”

  Blane’s body shuffled between the webcam and me, his back leaning upon the oak desk, blocking Edgar’s view.

  “I just realized, lass. After this task,” said Blane, my eyes staring into his powerful chest, making me feel as if I was cheating on Edgar right in front of him, his finger lifting my chin up to meet his twinkling blue eyes. “You will no longer be Guardian.”

  “Luvey?!?” squawked Edgar from behind Blane’s colossal mass.

  “You are right,” I smiled uneasily.

  “Mayhap, we can continue this?” he said, leaning in, reaching for a sweet kiss.

  “Luvey?” hollered Edgar once again, stopping Blane in mid-air, lips pursed. “What is going on there?”

  My face blushed as Blane turned around to face the monitor.

  Edgar’s eyes widened into large saucers behind his chunky glasses.

  “Edgar, this is Blane,” I said uncomfortably, holding an open palm toward Blane. “He’s helping us out with our situation. Blane, this is Edgar.”

  “Her fiancée!” huffed Edgar with pieces of Hot Pockets dangling awkwardly on his lips.

  “I see,” noted Blane, his body tensed, and then turned abruptly, storming toward the door.

  “Blane!” I called, spinning around in my chair, extending my hand out. “Don’t go!”

  “Hey, Edgar!” said Izzy, grinning wide. “I got it to work!”

  Blane’s hand cradled the smooth doorknob. He spared me one glance. I could see hurt behind his baby blue eyes and a muscle working in his jaw. “I’ll see you tomorrow, lass,” he said with a nod, leaving the bedroom.

  Izzy carried on, showing Edgar her results from the iPhone App. “I took a snapshot of that portrait there,” she said, skirting her head toward a portrait of woman, floating within the sea. “Name: ‘Mither of the Sea,’ Strengths: All the powers of the sea. Weaknesses: Fire. Notes: The only thing a Nuckelavee fears.”

  I pulled a lace shawl from the back of the door. “Good job, Edgar,” I said, wrapping it around me, secretly wishing it was Blane’s arms.

  Edgar pressed his face into the webcam with pouty fat lips, “Kisses.”

  “Kisses,” I replied softly, exiting out of Skype.

  ♦♦♦

  Izzy

  My knuckle’s rapped three times on the guest’s bedroom door.

  “Aye,” said Fergus’s voice from behind the door, “come in.”

  I entered into a quaint room decorated in a floral motif, its walls covered in colossal pink flowers, its windows draped with delicate lace, dripping from the curtain rods like icing. It looked as though Martha Stewart had vomited all over the sticky sweet bedroom.

  Fergus was lounging on top of the mauve duvet covered in budding roses. “You know I’m only helping you out because of me dad?” He stated promptly as I walked through the door, swinging his legs around, and shifting into a seated position on the edge of the bed.

  I froze for a moment, wishing that there was another reason Fergus had decided to help us in our fight against the demon. I let out a silent sigh. “I know,” I replied settling down next to him on top of the puffy peaks, holding out a silver chalice filled with some sort of bubbling green froth. “I brought you some grog.”

  “Aye,” Fergus said cheerfully, taking the ancient chalice, “what is it?”

  “Granny said it’s some sort of miracle food. It’ll help you build your strength. It smells like bluebells.”

  Fergus sniffed the peculiar green foam, flaring his nostrils. “Smells like leather to me,” he said taking a large gulp. His eyes widened instantly, spraying emerald green liquid out of mouth like a sprinkler. “Geez… What the bloody hell is this stuff?”

  “They said it would make you feel better,” I said snatching the metallic chalice from his hand, taking a slow swig to see what it tasted like. My whole body cringed from its rancid taste, spewing it out onto the flowery wallpaper. “Ugh! It tastes like…”

  “Grass,” said Fergus cutting me off.

  “No,” I declared wrinkling my nose, “stinky fish water!”

  Fergus plucked the chalice from my hand and cautiously slurped down another mouthful. His eyes glowed in astonishment. “I taste melon,” he said delightedly, smacking his lips together repeatedly.

  I looked at him sideways, snagging the antique chalice back, and taking another sip. “Tastes like spearmint,” I said in amazement. I shifted uncomfortably on the poufy bed, handing the silvery chalice back to Fergus as he slurped another drop of its peculiar contents. “So now you’ve met my ex Vyx.”

  “Apples,” he added tipsily. His glazed eyes focused on my lips, his body leaned in toward me, his thumb wiping away my green foam mustache. “Men like that don’t know what they have ‘til it’s gone.”

  My heart drummed inside my chest as he gently rolled his thumb over my slightly puckered lip. I think I may have even blushed.

  “Are you blushing?” He asked.

  My fingers touched my burning cheek. I guess I was blushing, but I’d never own up to it. “No, it’s the grog!” I declared, snatching back the chalice and guzzling the last drop down.

  Fergus had a cute grin curling up on the corner of his lips, staring into my eyes longingly, inching his body closer to me. “Izzy MacAlpin,” he whispered stroking my chee
k, “you’re a very beautiful lass. Any man would want you for their own. Don’t go sell yerself short.”

  If I was blushing before, now I was on fire. I felt the tingling sensation of hot blood flooding my cheeks. My eyes cast down to his strong hand which was now caressing mine.

  “You are the treasure that a real man seeks,” he whispered into my ear, his breath fanning my face before he leaned in, kissing my forehead softly. “Aye, most definitely there’s another reason why I’m helping you.” He tucked a finger under my chin, lifting to meet his tender gaze. “And it’s you…”

  Chapter 10

  ♦♦♦

  Anabel

  The moon was almost full. Its light streaked eerily across the purple night, beckoning all of us to the Bloody Baron’s tower. The round stone tower shot up from a grassy embankment, cold and still, two window slits cut into its stone pillar in the shape of a cross near its crown, while twinkling lights flickered above its roof.

  I stood at the tower’s entrance staring up at the mystical lights floating above it. A gentle breeze swept across my face, sending an icy shiver down my spine. My fears were starting to get the best of me.

  Blane and I turned to Izzy and Fergus with their fingers knotted together, explaining as much as we could about the four faeries we were to see for each task. The Bloody Baron in the medieval stone tower, he possessed the elemental of air needed to charge the Moon Pendant’s outer circle of stones. The Ghillie Dhu in the grove possessed the elemental of earth needed to charge the third outer tier of stones. The most dreaded of all was the Nuckelavee, the devil of the sea; he possessed the elemental of water that charged the second tier of the pendant’s stones. The fourth task was the stone faeries within the MääGord standing stones, when the moon rose between the two main monoliths, casting its light into the Moon Pendant’s center stone. It will complete the Moon Pendant’s final charge of all four elementals.

  “But, the moon isn’t made of fire,” noted Izzy, snapping a picture of the ghostly lights on top of the lonely tower.