Children of Cernunnos

by Matthew Fish

  “And to think, just a little over a week ago we were all terrified of the ‘old one’ and here he is giggling like a twelve year old chuckle-fuck in the back seat,” Emily said as she rested her head against the seat and looked out the window. She had been in many cars, many times—also going much faster than this. Still, she could guess how exciting it must be to someone who has spent most of their enormous lifespan walking or projecting. She felt it was rather odd how everything worked out—she had almost forgiven Bradley for his douche-baggery, and here she was joking around with someone she was deeply terrified of not that long ago.

  “It is a little odd to see you happy,” Mark added. There definitely was something completely off about the whole scenario to him. Then again, he had rather come to expect it. He was starting to believe that very little would even take him by surprise anymore.

  “Life is an ever-changing series of events, both good and bad,” Cain said as he sat back in his seat and stared out the side window. “You must learn to embrace the good when it comes and have the strength of will to survive the bad when it follows. I was once filled with happiness, then sorrow found me and left me nearly broken. It may seem trivial to the both of you, but I take happiness in small doses, wherever I can find it.”

  “Fair enough,” Emily said as she let out a short sigh. “I have a bad feeling that little miss creepy grey eyes is going to dump a healthy dose of disparity upon us tonight.”

  “Everyone is here, they are outside waiting,” Mark said as he spoke to Lily alone in the large crimson dining room. “I am sorry that it has taken so long to gather all those that you had requested—after everything I told you about went down, people needed time to bring back some amount of…I guess, normality.”

  “It is fine,” Lily said as she paced around the room nervously. “I do feel that that a darkness I cannot completely explain looms just on the horizon, it may be only be a manner of days…”

  “Well, as I had promised,” Mark said as he placed his hand upon the door. “I will protect you and do what I need to do, when it is needed.”

  “Not yet,” Lily said as she sat down in a chair and took in a heavy breath. She placed her hands upon the table and rubbed them nervously as they began to tremble.

  “Are you alright?” Mark asked, noticing the girl’s odd mood.

  “I’ve not held this kind of counsel before,” Lily said as she looked around the room. Despite the large size of the banquet hall, she felt that the red walls were closing in on her as her heart began to race in her chest. “I mean, I’ve never spoken to so many at once.”

  “You’ve met everyone already,” Mark said as he released his hand from the door and sat across from Lily. “Other than Cain, but he is…more than eager to hear what you have to say. Just, go with what you feel, relax and tell us what you need to say.”

  “Alright,” Lily said as she closed her eyes and tightly squeezed her hands together. “Lead them in…I am ready.”

  Mark opened up the door as it groaned on its hinges. He nodded to Emily as she entered into the room and sat down at the large wooden table. Maddie followed next and sat beside Lily as she looked to the nervous girl and smiled. Bradley was next; he kept his eyes down and let out a heavy sigh as he sat at the table a bit further away from the others. William entered and gave a short graceful bow to Lily and then to the others. Cain entered last, he nodded to Lily as he pulled his hood down and ran a hand over his bald head as he sat on the right side of the table, a bit further away from the others. As Mark was about to sit beside Emily, a knock echoed down the hallway from the entry room.

  “That would be my brother,” Lily said as she looked to Mark. “Would you fetch him—he is the last guest.”

  “Of course,” Mark said as he left the room and made his way down the darkened hall. He stood at the large metal door and placed his hand upon the handle. He pulled open the door just as another gentle knock came upon it. A short young man, close to Mark’s age—maybe a little bit older perhaps, stood there looking rather blank. He was wearing a brown suit; he had messy, short dark black hair and bright green eyes. He had a narrow face with wide, large eyes that dominated his face and made his other features look small in comparison. The young man instinctively put out a hand as Mark squeezed it in a welcoming gesture. “Mark…Mark Argent,”

  “Justin,” The young man spoke as he nodded once.

  Mark escorted Justin to the grand dining room.

  “Oh great, another socially awkward freak,” Emily whispered as Maddie kicked her in the knee from across the table. “The fuck, Maddie—stop playing footsy with me, I’m not into girls.”

  “Manners, Em….” Maddie whispered.

  “Everyone,” Mark said as he gestured to Justin. “This is Justin, Lily’s brother.”

  “Son of Elise and Ryan,” Justin added as he took his seat beside his sister and met eyes with Maddie for a moment. “You were the one in the field that day.”

  “You were…the white stag,” Maddie said as she nodded mindlessly to the attractive young man.

  “I’ve been watching the perimeter of the Red Manor my sister created,” Justin said as he looked to the rest of the group. “I have seen no sign of danger thus far…I will continue to walk the grounds until the time comes to act. Two more of my folk are in the area; they will assist us when we face this ancient evil that hunts us.”

  “So, Lily,” Cain said as he turned his attention to the scared looking young girl and kept his dark eyes fixed upon her rather striking grey eyes. “What is this ancient evil that hunts us, exactly—and what role do we play in this?”

  “And why does it come after us now? Your people can walk through time, past and future…what makes our time so important?” William added his questions atop Cain’s.

  “Well that would seem obvious,” Cain added as he turned to William. “This is the weakest the Perpetual Council and the Grand Conductors have been in our continent—if this evil being would want to gain power and strike…now would be the best time to do it.”

  “It does not want power,” Lily said as she shook her head and finally found the courage within her to speak up. “This is not like anything that you have faced in the past. It is not about the internal fighting within your groups or councils.”

  “It’s always about some kind of power,” Bradley muttered as he glanced at Lily. “Or revenge…”

  “You know that first hand,” Emily said as she shot Bradley a narrow eyed look and folded her arms.

  “You must all stand together,” Lily said as her voice grew an octave louder as she attempted to regain control of the situation. “If you cannot stop the fighting amongst yourselves, then you will fail.”

  “What’s happened in the past…that’s all unfortunate,” Mark said as he attempted to help out Lily. “It’s been a lot of…well, misunderstanding and good intentions—but we can get past that. We’re already on our way to that point, right?”

  “Right…” Emily muttered.

  “There are things that can be forgiven,” Maddie said as she looked to Bradley and nodded.

  “I’m not happy about it,” William said as he looked to Cain and shook his head. “But we will keep the fighting against those that wish to harm us—not amongst us.”

  “Good,” Lily said in a more meek tone. “I do not know all the answers, at least not yet. It all began when my father broke long standing rules among my folk and turned a human girl that he fell in love with into a White Stag. Before that, he was a kind, but very strict member of our order—he had a family bound to a contract and he was fair with his warnings that they must be exact in their wishes regarding their lives. However, they were Mortals and they often wrote out their desires in haste—and paid the price.”

  “I was told once,” William said as he paused to ensure that his interruption was allowed. “That you and Caesar entered into such a contract…”

  “Caesar was a very intelligent Perpetual,” Lily said as she nodded to William. “I ca
nnot tell you what he wished for—secrecy is part of our former bond. However, even in the cold and terrible conditions we were in, he so delicately and carefully worded his wishes that almost every possible negative outcome was covered. I was very much impressed.”

  “So you are not of the kind to entrap Mortals or Perpetuals into bonds that benefit only you?” Cain asked.

  “Never,” Lily said as she continued back on track. “My father’s action regarding my mother Elise—caused my family to become outcasts amongst our kind. However, given the isolated nature of our people, this was a very lax punishment…if one could even it call it a punishment. Regardless, it started when my father spoke to me about how he went to the very end of time to retrieve Elise that intrigued me. He spoke of a world that was frozen and battered by storms, that there were no more paths to walk further on in time. A time where all life had ended…”

  “So…nothing survives?” Mark asked as she shuddered at the thought. “How long in the future was this?”

  “The only thing left of life was glowing memories…ghosts in a way—small lights that were reflections of lives from the past. Aside from those ghosts, there was nothing. I do not know how far into the future from here this grim place was, it is not something I could know.”

  “So you went there?” Mark asked as he noted that she had said ‘I.’

  “Against my father’s warnings, I did,” Lily spoke as her large eyes began to waver as though she was deeply regretful of her decision. “I was curious of this place that he retrieved my mother’s existence from…curious of a place where one could not wander any further, so I wandered through time until I ended up there. It was bitterly cold, bleak—much of it like father had spoken of. However, I was not alone. As I peeked through a clearing of dead oak trees, in a field just beyond the burning Red Manor my father had created, I spotted one of my folk in the form of anger. It is…a third form that my kind can take, I would not show you it—I do not believe I could summon up the rage to do so. It is a hideous form, powerful, humanlike, and pale as snow with antlers like a demon’s horns.”

  “Could a person in such a state have the power to kill a Perpetual?” Cain pressed as his mind lingered upon the events of the afternoon and the massacre at the meeting hall. “Perhaps tear them into two?”

  “Tear them into many pieces, yes,” Lily said as she nodded once and then met eyes with Cain. “Kill…no. Our folk have always feared your kind, because we cannot destroy Perpetuals. We have always relied on Conductors for protection when we needed it. Your kind, however, has always been very adept at hunting us, and we die very easily in any form aside from that of anger. Anger is the only way we cannot be slain—but it is a temporary condition and it takes a huge toll. Our folk were meant to wander, to be on the side of nature—giving ourselves over to anger is only out of necessity. However, I believe that this one was so consumed with rage and hatred that he had completely given himself over to anger. I followed him for a time, I watched him consume the energy from ghosts that remained in a nearby cabin. I heard a strange grinding noise and a terribly cry that still haunts my dreams to this day. When he emerged from the cabin—he was still in the anger form. It was then that his glowing blue eyes caught sight of me. He had sawed off one of his own large antlers and let it fall to the ground as he began to chase after me. I ran through the woods, darting from tree to tree until I was able to slip through time. I sought out an elder of the White Stags and told him of my story. At first he did not believe me and thought I was making it up—he believed that no one could turn to anger and remain in that state. However, as time passed, he learned that one of his own children had gone off to join a creature that was calling himself the Ankou…a bringer of death. He gave me a case with an ancient bow, made from the antlers of my people by a Perpetual hunter—and arrows with similar ivory tips and fletching from the Chimney Swift—and the dagger which I gifted to Mark. He then tasked me to use these weapons to kill the one called Ankou, and that I would require the help of those I could trust to do so. My brother came to my aid, so did two other’s of my kind. I then rode through time to this point, so that I may find help with Caesar’s successor.”

  “Is it possible that he is already here?” William asked as his mind attempted to take in all of the information.

  “What we saw earlier today would seem to rather…support it,” Cain added.

  “I do not know,” Lily said as she looked saddened. “I fear that I may have brought this trouble upon your time—but I could think of nowhere else to go. If he is here, then it is because he hunts me for I am the one that discovered his existence. If he has gotten word that I have been tasked with killing him and have the only weapon able to do so—then it would make sense that he would be here at this time…or would soon arrive.”

  “You mentioned to me before…that, others would align themselves with him,” Mark said as he thought back to the first night he met Lily. “Both…Mortals and Perpetuals…why would they?”

  “Why would one of your kind want to?” Maddie added.

  “That is not clear to me at this time,” Lily admitted as she let out a short sigh. “The elder I spoke to sent word by a Chimney Swift some time ago and told me that Mortals, Perpetuals, and White Stags would come to him both willingly, and unwillingly. I have not received any further messages from him. I do not know if he still lives—he would have been a prime target for the Ankou.”

  “So…then, what’s the plan of attack?” Mark asked. It seemed rather straightforward to him. After all, he was growing rather used to these mysterious and seemingly daunting threats. He at least, hoped there was a plan this time. It seemed as though all the other plans just involved running in and hoping for the best. “How do we handle this?”

  “Eventually he will come for me, if enough time passes…probably with a great force behind him. I am safe as long as I am on the grounds of the Red Manor, we all are. However, if we linger too long he will grow in power. So I believe we must meet him on the field of battle at some point sooner rather than later. I have a mount, in case he is able to travel to time and chase must be given—I will try and destroy him with the arrows. I will give half of my arrows to Maddie, who must learn to ride Justin.”

  “Bahaha,” Emily spurted as she placed the back of her hand to her mouth and attempted to quiet herself. “Sorry…very serious businesses I know—but…come on. I mean…ride, oh alright, I’ll be quiet.”

  “You could use a good wander to clear that mind of yours,” Lily said sharply as she continued. “If I fail to do so, Maddie will take the shot—I do not believe that it is the bow that matters, but the arrow. The antler tipped arrow must pierce his heart. As a last resort, another one of my folk will be Mark’s mount. If we both fail then he must Conduct the dagger into the Ankou’s heart, destroying him.”

  “Can the stag carry two?” Emily asked.

  “You are both light in weight,” Lily said as she nodded. “Yes, I believe he could.”

  “Then I want to ride with Mark when the time comes,” Emily said as she nodded. “I’m still his bodyguard—even if he’s a Perpetual…besides, he won’t survive without me.”

  “A fair request, given your commitment to the cause,” Lily replied.

  “That leaves us with no Conductors though to fight off any Perpetuals that we might face…” William said as he grew heavily concerned.

  “Well then it’s a good thing we intercepted that cache of weapons two days ago,” Bradley said as he wore a grim look upon his face and placed his folded hands upon the table. “With both of us armed to the teeth—I’m sure we can put them out for the night…or…”

  “Actually,” Cain said as he raised a finger to the air to interrupt. “I do believe that is where I come into play. I do have a Conductor I can pull from the new council…and I do have the ability to take out a Perpetual on my own.”

  “Yes,” Lily said with a short nod. “The Perpetual who has the ability to kill other Perpetuals—that is why I ne
eded you to be here as well....”

  “Madeline,” Justin said as he turned to the girl seated on the other side of Lily. “I have heard that you ride horses—it should not be too difficult of a transition for you to ride atop me. We will go through it a few times, just so you are comfortable, it is more just keeping your balance and holding firmly onto my…”

  “Penis,” Emily whispered as Maddie’s cheeks grew bright red. Another sharp kick came from beneath the table as Emily let out an audible yelp.

  “Antlers…” Justin finished as he shot Emily an odd wide-eyed look. “If we must run through time—it will feel very disorientating to someone who is not used to it.”

  “I understand,” Maddie said as she smiled at Justin and attempted to push out all of Emily’s sexual innuendo. She did find Justin rather strangely attractive. It might be that she had long held the White Stags of legend with high regard—or the fact that he seemed awfully mysterious. He was a bit short, but he looked to be in great shape. Maddie pushed out these thoughts as she was sure that any kind of relationship was the furthest thing on this young man’s mind and should be the furthest thing on her own mind…given the situation at hand. She averted her eyes away for a moment after she realized she had been staring awkwardly at Justin for quite some time. “I’m sure it will be fine, with practice we will figure it all out.”

  “I should return to the woods,” Justin said as he got up to his feet and pushed the chair in behind him. “If you wish to ride, come to the forest to the east, I will find you. Mark, Emily—you should come as well some time.”

  “Will do,” Maddie said shortly as both Mark and Emily nodded in reply as the young man left the room and disappeared down the hallway.

  “On that note,” William said as he got up from his chair and placed his suit jacket around his shoulders. “I have some research to do—hopefully we can find a witness or some hint about upcoming gatherings…might lead us to this Ankou person.”