by Jenna Grey
The man visibly flinched, his face turning red and then purple, as if it couldn’t quite decide which colour to settle on.
“I meant no disrespect, Majesty. It’s just that we’re all concerned...”
“More so than we are?” the Queen asked. As soon as she spoke Lily knew that this creature was something far removed from normal fey kind. It sent a little shiver through her. “Do you doubt my power to keep us safe even if all else should fail?” As the Queen spoke, a shimmer of raw power rippled the air around her, bright white energy, that turned everything it touched to glistening ice crystals. It was raw power, the likes of which Lily had never seen. Whatever this creature was, she wielded power that perhaps even rivalled that of the old race.
The Queen suddenly stopped, raising her hand to quieten the low murmurs that ran through the hall. “Silence! There is a spy in our midst. I can sense them.” She scanned the room and looked directly at Lily. Lily, didn’t hesitate, but tore the shawl from around her neck, flinging it away from her.
Connor caught her as she fell.
“What happened?” he asked, as she dropped into his arms. “One minute you were here and then you were gone.”
“You mean really gone?” Lily asked, still shaking and pushing the shawl into her holdall as fast as she could.
“Not exactly, you went really rigid, then you just started to fade. I didn’t know what to do, whether to try and take the shawl off or not, and then I thought that if I did you might end up trapped between worlds, so I left it. What happened?”
“Oh Connor, the shit has really hit the fan. I just ended up in the Winter Court, at some sort of meeting. Apparently The Black King has been very busy. He’s hit one of the fortresses in the Winter King’s territory and completely levelled it. It was a massacre. The Winter King has called a war council with all of the Seelie Courts and they are planning to go to war with the Djinn.”
Connor’s face drained of what little colour was left in it.
“Has he recruited an army?”
“Goblins and other snot bags that are willing to serve him. A lot of them too by all accounts. The Winter King really thinks that an alliance between all the courts can beat the Djinn.”
“But they can’t, not without us there! It will be another massacre. They can’t stand against him.”
“I know that, but you try telling them! I think the Queen sensed me there and I got out as quickly as I could. She’s incredibly powerful and there’s something really weird about her. I think she might be a demi god or demon. She sensed me there, even though I was dream walking.”
Connor fell silent for a moment, letting it all sink in, then said:
“We have to try and warn them, tell them to wait until we can get to them.”
“Take solid form, you mean, so they can see and hear us, like Virginia did. Can we do that?”
Connor gave a disconsolate shrug.
“Perhaps, but doing it across worlds… it’s dangerous. You could get lost somewhere in between.”
That was one thing that Lily didn’t even want to think about. She had seen what happened when people got stuck between worlds. Connor had lived almost all of his life trapped between this reality and Otherworld and his life had been a nightmare existence, seeing and hearing both worlds.
“We can’t do anything, make any plans until we find shelter. We need to find a shed or barn, somewhere that’s more sheltered. There must be some around here somewhere,” Connor said.
And Lily suddenly knew what she had to do.
“I’m going to ask Hecate for help,” Lily said. “She helped us before, and we’re desperate. We’re going to die if we don’t get help from somewhere soon.”
Connor thought about it for a few moments, but didn’t seem to need much persuading. He nodded his consent.
Lily lifted her arms and raised her face heavenward, closing her eyes in supplication. She knew how dangerous it was, calling on any deity, because they could all be fickle, even the most benign, but she was so desperate that she had to take the chance. Opening herself up like this was dangerous in other ways as well. While her mind and spirit was open to the greater forces in the universe, she was opening herself up to all of them, higher and lower. There were far more entities out there than Lily could ever dream of, and some of them were as powerful as they were evil. She was calling them to her just as surely as she was calling her Mother Goddess. She recited an age old prayer that her mother, Maggie, had taught her, which mainly seemed to fit her desperate situation.
“Hecate, mighty goddess of crossroads, darkness, death, wisdom, and the moon, please come to me. Please Hecate, protect me and help me in this hour of danger. I am one of your own and I ask you to give me all I need to keep me safe. Hecate, surround me in your darkness so that I can bring forth my light.”
There was nothing for a moment and then, Lily felt a great surge of power coursing through her body, fierce and magnificent. She drew in a breath, a long gasp, dragging air into her lungs as the air around her seemed to coalesce, growing more substantial, unimaginable power all pouring into a space just a few yards in front of them. She felt Connor’s grip tighten, his fingers almost painful on hers as the mist solidified, taking shape and becoming...
...the goddess Hecate herself. Whatever Lily had expected, it wasn’t this.
Connor and Lily both dropped to their knees, heads bowed, overwhelmed by the presence before them. A voice, cold as deep winter, but as rich as mulled wine, made them look up.
“Stand up, children, it’s very hard to speak to someone when they’re staring at your knees.”
Lily dared to look up at the goddess, and she was beautiful in an awe inspiring way, but it was a cold and terrible beauty: the virgin goddess Hecate, untouched and untouchable, giving off a dark radiance that filled the air around with vibrant energy. It made Lily’s skin sizzle, a strange sensation that was neither hot or cold, but which burnt all the same. Lily stood up shakily to face the goddess, although every instinct in her told her to turn away from that terrible form, lest she be consumed by its majesty. But when she looked, Lily saw that she was really just a woman, slim and gracefully elegant, dressed in beautiful robes as black as the night, beaded with black gems that caught the fading light of the sun as she moved. From behind her came two ghost hounds, both ebony black, their coats as sleek and shiny as black silk; they flanked her as she moved forwards, keeping close to her legs. They eyed Lily and Connor suspiciously, crouching and edging forwards on their haunches, ready to attack at the slightest provocation or threat to their mistress, as if anything could ever be a threat to her.
Lily opened her mouth to speak, but couldn’t get the words out as hard as she tried.
“My Lady,” Connor said, stepping in, “we need your help.”
“Yes, you do,” Hecate said. And did Lily imagine it, or did she hear the trace of laughter in her voice?
A slight movement of the goddess’ head fluttered her black hair, sending it billowing outwards like satin ribbons caught in a breeze, and Lily felt her knees buckle a little as waves of power roiled from the deity in front of them.
“Please,” said Lily, “can you tell us what’s happening? We’re so afraid.”
Hecate gave a soft sigh.
“Ah, there lies a story, younglings.” Hecate said. “And I will tell it as best I can ‒ at least as much as you need to know. I’m sure the first thing you would like to know is that your brother, Kieran is safe…surviving at least and you do not need to worry about him. You have enough to worry about.”
Lily felt overwhelmingly relieved. One part of her had already reasoned that he was still alive. If he had been dead, then the Black King would have used his body to torment Lily, knowing how much more it would hurt her. Having it confirmed, though, did make her feel so much better.
“We don’t understand why the Black King has suddenly got so much power, how he and his people can move about in daylight...” Connor said.
“Or wh
y the world of men has turned to ruin...”
Hecate raised a hand to silence them, but it was done with good will, a slight smile resting on her lips.
“I can answer both questions with one answer. I’m quite sure that you’ve heard of King Solomon’s ring.”
Lily had, of course.
“I know it’s been lost for thousands of years. Didn’t it go missing when the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians? King Solomon used it to control the Djinn, didn’t he?” she said.
“Indeed. When Solomon was building the temple to the Creator, it came to his attention that someone was stealing jewels from the palace, even from his own chambers. The King prayed to his God and his prayers were answered. The archangel Michael appeared and gave the King a ring, that would give him complete control of everything in creation, even the Djinn.”
Lily could see the ring clearly in her mind’s eye. A beautiful golden ring, set with a green stone cut in the shape of an eight pointed star. Inside was carved the four letters of God’s name. YHWH.
“For aeons, after Solomon’s death, the ring lay hidden, until it was discovered recently by a team of archaeologists digging out in the Middle East. It fell into the hands of the Shadow King, and now all of the power that belonged to Solomon belongs to Ahriman, the King of the Djinn. He is drawing energy from the ring to bring about the destruction of your world.”
“So that’s his name then, Ahriman?” Lily asked.
“Indeed. He is the original god of chaos, the Lord of Destruction, but there have been many names for him. It is in his nature to destroy, and always he has opposed the Creator and all that’s good in the universe.”
“But there must be a way to stop him,” Connor said, it was more of a statement than a question.
“If you can take the ring from him, you will have its power. Then nothing can stop you from putting things right.”
Lily wondered if her expression betrayed her doubt. Just find Ahriman, take the ring from him ‒ presumably by wrenching it from his cold dead finger ‒ put the world to rights, and live happily ever after. No pressure there then.
“Mmmm, I… well, I accidentally ended up in Otherworld, at an assembly of the Winter Court and the King Elidor thinks that if the four courts and the elven realm form an alliance they can unite to defeat the Shadow King. They’re going to be massacred without the ring, aren’t they?”
Hecate lowered her face momentarily and when she looked up, her face told Lily more than her words ever could.
“I fear Elidor’s fate is already set. But you are also set on your path.”
“We don’t even know where Ahriman is,” Lily protested.
“I will lead you to him, but the journey will be a long one, and he will not make it easy for you. The ring has great power, the power to control the elements and he will use it against you.”
“And what about Midgard, the world of men? Can’t we do anything to stop him ruining the earth in the meantime?”
Hecate gave a long and tragic sigh.
“I fear not. The only way to save the world is to destroy him. Ahriman wishes only harm for humans, revenge for an imagined slight done to him by the Creator back at the dawn of time. They believe the earth belongs to them, not to humans.”
“He’s going to destroy the world, to get pay back,” Lily said.
Hecate gave a smile that chilled Lily through to her already rattling bones.
“He will try. You will stop him,” she said. “You must stay strong, because the way will be hard. Go to the west, you will find shelter there. An old abandoned barn where you can rest for the night.”
“And where do we go after that?” Lily asked.
“Oh, you will know,” Hecate said, a faint smile touching her lips.
Lily wasn’t quite sure she liked the sound of that, but she knew she could trust Hecate, just as her mother had trusted her, and just as every witch and fey since the dawn of time had trusted her.
“Just one more thing, please, Mother. How is it that Ahriman can’t kill us?”
That question brought a smile to Hecate’s face that brightened the world.
“Ah, sweet child… why do you think it is?”
Lily tried not to think ‘now would I ask if I already knew?’, afraid the Hecate would read her mind and smite her with a thunderbolt.
“I honestly don’t have a clue,” she said. “It couldn’t be that I’ve just turned eighteen, because Connor has been eighteen for over a year and the Shadow King tried to kill Connor and would have succeeded if he hadn’t been very lucky.”
“What else has changed?” Hecate asked.
“Connor and I met… when we touch each other our power grew beyond belief,” Lily said. “Is that it?”
Hecate actually laughed, a full throated beautiful laugh.
“And what else have you done with Connor in the last few days?”
Lily just stared at her blankly for a moment, and then she felt the colour flooding to her cheeks.
“You mean…” Connor made an ‘oh’, sound next to her as he realised what Hecate meant. “You mean, we made love.”
“Yes child. When you and Connor became one, consummated your union, you became man and wife. An ancient spell, woven aeons ago, came into force. Your coming has been prophesied for thousands of years, and the Tuatha Dé Danann, your forebears, knew that this time would come and that you would need protection. The spell they have placed on you means that if Ahriman tries to harm you in any way, whatever he does to you, will come back on him three-fold. You placed a protective shield around yourself that he could not penetrate when you two became one.”
Lily tried to process what Hecate was telling her, but there was too much there to take in without a serious thinking session, so she let it wash over her… except for that one comment that registered with all the force of a charging elephant. She and Connor were husband and wife.
“And that will really keep us safe from Ahriman?”
Hecate’s smile had a hint of devilment in it now.
“Well, it might not be a bad idea to reinforce the magic from time to time.”
Lily and Connor both laughed then, they couldn’t help it.
“Thank you,” Lily said. “Thank you for everything.”
“We won’t fail you,” Connor added.
“Of course you won’t,” Hecate said.
And with that Hecate turned and walked into the mist, the two dogs baying at her heels.
Chapter Seven.
They found the old barn about half a mile to the west just as Hecate had promised. There were no other buildings for miles around and Lily couldn’t help but wonder what it was doing out here, miles away from anywhere, with no farmhouse or even the remains of a farmhouse to account for its presence.
It looked as if it had been deserted for quite some time; half of the roof was gone, the rest of the timbers rotting, and the place smelt of rotting hay, horse shit and some other unidentifiable smells which all added up to what could only be described as gut churning. There was a large pile of rather sorry looking hay in one corner, which didn’t look particularly inviting, but it would provide heat for them through the night. Lily had never really quite understood how hay could generate its own heat, but if it kept them warm, who cared? There was a large pile of what looked like old potato sacks in the corner, but other than those and a half demolished packing crate, the barn was quite empty.
“Well, it’s better than spending the night out in the cold,” Lily said. “Just about.”
“The hay will make a soft bed, and we can put the old sacks over us to keep us warm. It’s good,” Connor said.
He went and lifted a few of the rough sacking bags and brought them over to the pile of hay laying them on top of it.
“They stink a bit,” Lily said, “but I just want to get warm.”
Lily pulled away a few more sacks from the pile and found an unexpected treasure. One of the sacks held a few old potatoes. They were mainly r
otten and shrivelled, all of them sprouting, but she pulled out her small knife and found that by cutting away the bad parts she was able to salvage what amounted to a few good-sized potatoes each.
“I never thought I’d be so happy to see a few mouldy potatoes,” Lily said, as she wrapped her hands around them, and cooked them through. She could feel them warming up in her hands, and the heat was glorious, the smell even better. After a few moments the piece of potato was too hot to hold and she dropped them onto her spare sweater to cool down a little. Connor had already grabbed one and was juggling it in his hands, trying to cool it down enough to eat. As soon as it was vaguely cool enough to suffer the torture of a burnt mouth, they began shovelling it in, making orgasmic noises as the unchewed mouthfuls slid down their throats.
“We are so going to get indigestion,” Lily said, “but I don’t care.”
Connor laid the potato sacks over the straw and they both snuggled underneath, Lily wrapped in Connor’s arms. Within moments she began to feel warmer.
“Oh, that’s so much better, I just hoped there aren’t too many bugs in here.”
“Or rats,” Connor said. Lily kicked him lightly in the shins, but instead of retaliating he put his hand to her chin, moved her face around and kissed her full on the lips. It wasn’t just a goodnight kiss either. Lily fell into it and kissed him back, loving the taste of him, and the feel of his lips against hers.
“We really need to make sure that we keep our protection against Ahriman strong,” Connor said, with a wicked smile.
“Aren’t you too tired?” Lily asked, realising that surprisingly, now she was lying down and warm, that she didn’t feel in the least bit tired. The fey were far more resilient than humans, and healed faster, but she couldn’t help but wonder if Hecate was helping them along just a little bit with an extra boost of magic.
