Blood Before Sunrise (35 page)

“It probably feels worse than it looks,” Moira said, supporting my shoulders. “Your skin was split clear to the skull. I stopped the bleeding and gave the cut a little jump start in the healing department. It’s nothing more than superficial now. You should be fine.”

A jump start? Okay, whatever. “What happened?” Besides the fact that I’d been knocked out by a lesser opponent. The shame was almost worse than the injury.

“Pride before the fall?” Moira said. “Not quite. They double-teamed you while I was occupied. You turned your attention to the greater threat, and the other took you down with the pommel of his sword. Better a knock to the head than a blade through your heart.”

“Doesn’t feel much better.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re very arrogant?”

Sure. In so many words, almost everyone I’d ever met. But in my line of work you had to be a little cocky. “You have a problem with arrogance?”

“In a Guardian?” Moira smiled. “Not at all.”

I looked around at the bodies littering the ground beside us—senseless deaths at Faolán’s hand. After all, these Nymphs would still be alive and well if it hadn’t been for his influence. How many more had to suffer for his insanity? If I had anything to do with it, not another soul.

“What happened when Faolán attempted his last coup?” All I knew was that Brakae had helped to imprison him. There had to be more to the story, and besides, it helped to pass the time as we walked.

“He never should have fallen in love with her,” Moira answered. “It was his undoing.”

“Yeah. I got that much.”

“Faolán’s race was bred for war,” Moira said. “Fearless warriors, terrifying in their beast forms. Badb kept the Enphigmalé busy for centuries, fighting her battles.
But when the humans became involved, the gods didn’t think it was fair to let them fight against supernatural beings. Humans are so very fragile.”

From Moira’s tone, I got the impression she didn’t chum around with many humans. She rolled her eyes at my thoughts, answering my unspoken question.

“The gods decided it was in the best interest of humanity to separate them from the Fae and their kin and rend the fabric of time in two. They gave their extraordinary children a choice: Live in the mundane and hide their true natures or live in
O Anel
openly.”

It was my turn to roll my eyes. “Seriously, you expect me to believe that actual gods and goddesses did this?”

“Darian,” Moira said with pity, “you’re thinking like a human. Your narrow-mindedness is perhaps your most unsavory quality. Badb pulled Faolán from the battlefield and gave him a position of honor: Guardian of
Iskosia
: the key to
O Anel
. He would help to maintain the balance of time and protect
O Anel
’s Time Keeper if need be. I doubt he was thrilled with the appointment, but he tolerated it…until Brakae was chosen to serve.”

I didn’t think the whole mundane world/Faerie Realm thing had been created too recently. Still…“Faolán had mentioned that he didn’t care about the others, so clearly Brakae wasn’t the first Time Keeper.”

“Brakae was the fifth. In the beginning, there were many uprisings, and Guardians were busy protecting their charges. Faolán satisfied his need to fight for a thousand years, squashing this usurper or that. By the time Brakae had been called to serve, the hourglass was nothing but a myth.”

“I take it peace didn’t sit well with our gargoyle?”

“Oh, it agreed with him. He fell in love, after all. But there were too many rules to follow, too many restrictions. Brakae was bound to the essence of time. She had become one with chaos and could never leave
O Anel
.”

Moira’s story was just too tragic for my usual jaded outlook. “Faolán couldn’t stomach the way she aged.” He’d said as much already.

Moira nodded. “Amongst other things. And so he gathered his army and set to the task of overthrowing the order the gods had created. Obviously, he did not succeed.”

Brakae’s energy called to me, and I steered Moira to the left, following her trail. “Badb punished him?”

“Brakae set the trap, and Faolán never suspected her betrayal. I led a small army against him, and we captured the nine Enphigmalé warriors still living. We trapped them between the worlds; I suppose you’d call it purgatory. Through my blood, Badb punished them all for their treason by imprisoning their beast forms in stone. And in that empty place, they were to stay.”

“Until I came along,” I murmured.

“Yes,” Moira said. “Until you.”

“Why doesn’t Badb step in again?” I asked. “I suspect she could end this pretty quickly, being a goddess and all.”

Moira leveled her ice blue eyes on mine. “The old gods don’t have much power anymore. No one worships them in these modern times. When there are no prayers to answer, they have no meaning. The old gods sleep.”

Damn. Moira just got cheerier by the second. I closed my eyes, her story swimming around in my head. The urge to rest weighed on me, tugging me toward an inviting darkness I had to ignore.
Focus
. I felt Brakae’s energy. Close. And something else, too—a power that had nearly brought me to my knees the first time I’d been brought near it.

“They’re not far,” I said to Moira. Her face came in and out of focus as I willed my eyes to stay open. “And I know where they are.”

“The Ring,” Moira said as if she’d known all along.

“If you knew where they’d be going all this time, then why in the
hell
didn’t you just take us right to them? Jesus, Moira, what a monumental waste of time!”

The sadness in her eyes made me sorry I’d jumped her shit. “There is no constant this close to
Kotja A’ma
, Darian.
Everything
changes. Even the landscape.”

Christ. I hadn’t thought of that. But then again, how
could I have known? No wonder everyone here was so fucking bummed out all the time. You could leave your house in the morning and the damned thing wouldn’t be there when you got back! That is, if you managed to find your way back. It explained why I hadn’t seen any permanent structures, or many other living creatures for that matter. I’d go absolutely crazy in this place if I were forced to live here. “I’m sorry.” What else could I say?

Moira shrugged. “It is all a matter of the natural order. We are in the heart of chaos, here. That’s all. Outside The Ring, there are provinces, villages, just like the mortal realm. Change isn’t quite so noticeable. It’s not as bad as you think it is. That feeling you have inside you? The magnetic draw that calls to your soul?
You
feel it because you are the Guardian of
O Anel
’s key and are tied to this place.”

“Then why can’t you feel The Ring?”

“I am tied to time in the mortal realm. I feel the pull there, not here.”

Food for thought. But, really, the more time I spent here with Moira, the more I learned. Trial by fire—that was the way for me. Fate sure did have it out for me, but Fate didn’t take into account that I was a hell of a lot tougher than most souls. Dish it out—I can take it. “We need to get moving.” That was, if I could kick my sorry ass into gear. “They’re close, and we’re running out of time.”

“I feel it as well,” Moira said, helping me to stand. “A strange energy charges the air, as if I could reach through time and touch the world beyond the veil.”

Fear stomped a path through my chest, down into my stomach, a knot that settled like a boulder. “Well, then, I guess we’d better get our asses going.”

Moira checked the wound on the back of my head one more time, deeming me fit to fight. The gash had begun to close, albeit slowly, and I didn’t feel as though I were carting a watermelon around on top of my shoulders anymore.

“All right, Guardian,” she said. “Where to from here?”

I smiled. Who would have thought I’d actually like
her? I closed my eyes, felt Brakae’s unmistakable pull, and thought,
south
, but then realized if the landscape changed in the blink of an eye, direction wouldn’t mean much. “This way,” I said, jutting my chin to the left.

We continued to walk, though I wanted to run. My head protested, aching every time I pushed our pace. Our surroundings had changed yet again. Autumn had released its hold, the land becoming dormant for winter’s sleep. Fluffy bits of white drifted down from a light gray sky, and my breath clouded the air with puffs of moisture.

“He thinks of you often,” Moira said, breaking the silence. “Azriel.”

I stopped dead in my tracks.

“Does this surprise you?”

Hell, yeah, it did. “Azriel is dead.”

“Azriel is crossed over,” Moira said. “Nothing is ever truly dead. His soul has merely begun a new existence.”

“You’re a Herald—is that right?” It was time to put Levi’s knowledge to work.

“That’s correct.”

“So you speak to the dead?”

Moira motioned her hand before us, urging me to walk. “The crossed over.”

I closed my eyes for the briefest moment, zeroed in on Brakae’s location, and started off. “You speak to the
crossed over
?” Sheesh.

“When they have something to say, yes.”

“And Azriel had something to say.” My stomach backflipped at the thought. Where was he? Could he see me? Did he know what had happened to me?

“He wants you to know that he holds no ill will toward you. You did what was right and just. He wants you to know”—she paused as if deciding whether she should go farther—“that he cares for you still.”

A sucker punch to the gut would have hurt less. “Is that all he said?”

“That is all he wants you to know. For now.”

Typical. Leave it to Azriel to jerk me around, even in
death. Control was his greatest weapon, and he’d taught me to use it like a master. “So I guess that means I can expect to hear from him again?” Oh joy of joys. Just what I needed.

“If he feels so inclined, yes.”

Let’s hope he decides to keep his fat mouth shut
. Moira’s lips curved into a half smile, and though I knew she’d heard my thoughts, I was glad she decided to keep her own to herself.

The light snow that peppered our heads and shoulders became dense, sticking to the ground and accumulating with each passing minute. I hated the cold, but I loved snow. Silence seemed to accompany its falling, as if the world held its breath for spring’s arrival. I loved the silence here. Time didn’t hammer like an angry drum, reminding me of its never-ending presence. But despite the peace I felt in this place, it didn’t have Tyler. And I’d rather have an entire percussion section take up residence in my brain than live without him.

My bones began to hum in my body, and I knew we were close. The Ring had called to me in an unmistakable way, and beneath that pull I felt Brakae’s presence calming me.
You do realize that Faolán can control me?
There was no need to blurt that fact aloud. Moira could hear my thoughts just fine.
If it comes to a fight, I don’t know how much help I’ll be
.

Faolán’s magic is old and strong
. Moira’s thoughts pushed into my head.
We’ve already established that. But you, Darian, are a Guardian and have power of your own. Don’t forget your purpose: Protect the natural order
.
Set your focus on the task at hand. Keep your heart and your mind fixed to Brakae and you’ll be fine. Faolán is strong, but nothing can overpower a Guardian’s protection. Why do you think he now wants you dead?

Good point.

My boots crunched in the snow as we walked, and I shivered at the cold, though it didn’t bother me as much as it usually did. The sooner Faolán fell beneath my sword, the faster I could get the hell out of here and back
to Tyler. The Ring called to me, my body welcoming its power the closer we came. I could almost smell Faolán’s foul stench beneath the crisp, clean aroma of snow. My fist tightened around the dagger’s hilt as I quickened my pace. Time to go to work.

The forest thinned as we approached the ring of stones. My chest ached with the force of its power, but I drank it in, inviting rather than rejecting the sensation. Already I felt stronger, my feet more secure beneath my body. My head no longer throbbed, and as I twisted my torso, the stab wound didn’t pull at the stitches. A smile crept to my face as the trees seemed to part in our wake to expose the ancient structure. I was itching for a fight, and Faolán was going to bring one to me.

Cover would be an issue, exposed as we were. My assassin’s instincts kicked in, stealth taking precedence over a charge to battle. Moira motioned for me to follow as she kept to the outer ring, crouching low to the ground and using the sparse trees and bushes for cover. Faolán and Brakae were still out of sight, but they were there, somewhere in the innermost ring. I felt them both, each vying for the top spot in my subconscious. I constructed a mental barrier—a brick wall inside my brain, shutting both of them out. If I allowed Brakae inside my head, it would leave me vulnerable to Faolán’s influence. She said she trusted me. She’d just have to keep trusting me.

I caught Moira’s eye and brought my hand to my temple to indicate what I was attempting to do. She nodded once, and since I couldn’t detect her pushing into my thoughts, I had to assume she read me loud and clear.

“I feel you, Darian!” Faolán’s voice sliced through the silence. “You can’t keep me out, no matter how hard you try!”

Wanna bet, motherfucker? I was going to do everything in my power to ensure he’d messed with my mind for the last time.

As the snow fell around us, collecting on branches and bushes, blanketing the tall stone structures of The Ring, a calm fell on me as well, covering me with a warm
composure that this would all end just as it should. I don’t know where it came from, whether it was divine intervention or maybe even Fate itself. But one thing I knew for sure: I was going home, and soon.

Moira caught my eye and smirked—a deadly expression if I ever saw one. She took off through the trees, around the ring of stones to the opposite side. With two Guardians against one fanatic, Faolán didn’t stand a chance.