Dark Isle (Celtic Legacy Book 2) (14 page)

“Tell me
. My ancestors seem to think that
we can stop it
,
”
I said.

Aednat again made the figure eight sign with her left hand. “
Aednat
will tell you, but it is a hard story. A bad story, one that even the Tuatha and Fomorii no longer believe. Only the old gods and those who’ve walked the other side know of this. This evil will destroy the world if given chance to. Destroy, devour, cause chaos.” She shivered
,
and looked very much like the little girl her glamour showed me she was.

And with that warning ringing in my ears, Aednat
opened her mouth to tell me what she knew of Chaos.

“Chaos is the one you speak of
,
”
Aednat said, her voice so slow I had to bend close to hear her. “It is the one that Balor seeks. Chaos will give him great power, more than anyone else. It is too dangerous in
his
hands.” She held a finger up. “But
Aednat
know
s
where they seek Chaos out,
Aednat
know
s
where to find that power.”

She leaned forward, her voice lowering. “Deep in ocean, so deep, hidden below
water and rocks
.
Aednat’s
ancestor
’
s souls tell
her
this, show
Aednat
whe
re the box is hidden, they tell her
one day
she
need
s
to tell you
,
so that you can help Aednat find Chaos.
” She pointed first to me and then to the ground she was sitting on. Surely she didn’t mean what I thought she did. The earthquakes and Card
—
Lir’s son and my half
brother
—
suddenly took on new meaning. What was left of the spit in my mouth dried up.

“That’s what they are doing, that’s what they’re digging for
,
”
I said, certain I was right. “That’s what’s causing the earthquakes.”

A quick nod. “If they let it loose, it must take form. It wants someone to be its body. But who would do that? Who would do that?”
She tipped her head. “It is female, this evil. It will want a body like the one it first had. Young, pretty. Like
Aednat
.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder, the strands floating in an errant breeze.
A chill swept through me and I stared at
her
, seeing a glimmer of something I didn’t like in her eyes; she was more dangerous than she seemed. Seconds passed and the glimmer was gone, as if it had never been. I shook off the chill
, chalking it up to a lingering effect of the poison.

My brain was stuck though on what she’d said
;
Balor wanted this box for a reason. Luke thought Balor was after power and control, but that didn’t fit. I didn’t think that was the case. He’d only seemed worried about one thing
:
Ashling. Worried
,
but unable to take out the one threat to her
—
me
—
because of a promise he’d made to my father.
But if he could get something else to kill me, something that had no ties to him, would that free him of his vow to Lir?

“Luke, wake up.” I patted him on the cheek. I had to ask him about
Excalibur, it was the final piece to this story.

It was destroyed, long ago. Too much power, for a single person
,
Cora said.
Its power corrupted those that carried it.

Aednat let out a laugh. “Oh no, he sleep all night. Girls only tonight.”

I slumped in my seat, wincing as the muscles in my shoulder protested. Tracing the wound with my hand,
I could tell
the ridges of skin were already pulling together, healing faster than I could have ever thought possible.

Rubbing the side of my neck I leaned back. “What about Excalibur? Do you know about that?”

“Broken. Long ago the three
S
miths broke it
,
”
s
he
said, flopping her body down beside mine. Her small form radiated heat
,
and in the cool shade of the trees it was a pleasant surprise. “They are still sad. They loved Excalibur.”

“Too bad we couldn’t get them to
forge
another one.”
I said, “I think we’re going to need it.”

She yawned and stretched her body, joints creaking like an old lady. It made me wonder just how old she truly was. “You could ask, if we could get past the bad
Queen
;
of course, you also need a soul gem. None of those to be found now
.”

That didn’t make sense
. “They came here? With you? I thought the Tuatha hated
Banshee
s?”

Braiding her hair into multiple tiny lengths, Aednat shrugged. “The forest takes you to places. There are doorways like the one that brought us here. The doorway to the three
S
miths lie
s deep in the forest
. Too dangerous
right now
.”

A thrum started at the base of my spine and worked its way up through my guts. Dangerous, but I had no doubt that this was happening for a reason. “I think we’ll have to risk it
,
”
I said.

“What about Shining Boy?” A slim hand pointed to the
passed
-
out form of Luke at our feet. His breath
came
in slow steady rises of his chest,
his
messy blond hair sticking up every which way.

A smile snuck its way onto my lips as I stared at him. Blind, I’d been blind to the fact that he loved me enough to defy those who he was supposed to be following. Loved me enough to fight for me. Bres, though his name still struck a chord of heartache through me, didn’t ev
en trust me enough to believe that I would never hurt Ashling
. Luke believed me. I reached down and ran my fingers through his hair, the strands silken against my skin.

“He’ll come around
,
”
I said.

Aednat snorted. “You lead him on golden chain. That’s good.”

“Golden chain?” I lifted my eyes to hers. She nodded.

“Yes, golden chain is love
;
it makes men foolish.”

“How do you think we might get past the
Queen
?” I asked, settling back into my mossy bed. Aednat curled against me, yawning again. “We sleep now, talk in morning with Shining Boy.”

Within moments, she was asleep, her breathing as slow and even as Luke’s. But
the rest I needed
evaded me
. T
he Fairy Honey started to wear off and the deep throbbing pain in my shoulder and neck returned full force.

“Cora?” I whispered.

I’m here. I suppose you want to know why I didn’t tell you I am your grandmother.

“That would be nice.”

Blake didn’t understand why I would encourage
Darcy have children by two men
, one of which was Balor of all people
. We could have stopped her you see, but at the time, we
—
Lir and I
—
saw that you would need a reason to save the Fomorii.

“Only maybe that isn’t what the prophecy means. I don’t think Balor is the threat
,
”
I said, keeping my voice low.

Well, perhaps you are right. I only know that we were doing our best with the knowledge we had. Blake didn’t agree and so, voila, I was cursed to be a snake for the rest of my days.

“I thought you said that you liked being a snake
,
”
I said
.

I could almost hear her snort.
When there is no choice, you learn to like what you’ve been given.

“This all seems so impossible. I mean, look at me.” I spread my one arm out, as if she could see me. “One battle with a single
Banshee
and I get the floor wiped with my ass. This is not a good sign
;
I don’t think I’m strong enough, Cora.”

Luke must train you
as much as it is possible to in this short time. I
t is the only way. You must convince him. He won’t want to, but he must.
T
here is no one else who can teach you.

The trees creaked around us, swaying in the breeze, a distant tang of salty ocean air zipped past my nose.

So many people were depending on me.

Luke.

Aednat.

The world.

And more important than all of them, Ashling.

The worst part of
knowing how many people needed me was
that I
had a terrible feeling I
was going to let at least one
, if not all of them,
down.

Darkness slowly faded into early morning light
,
and with it the last effects of the Fairy Honey left me.

“Aednat, please, get off my arm
,
”
I said, no longer whispering. “Aednat!” She jumped up, her eyes wide and her hair a total mess
of mossy bits and pieces of grass
.

In a matter of minutes both Aednat and Luke were awake and I’d downed a dose of Fairy Honey. The glare that Luke sent Aednat’s way was amusing with that much of the intoxicating drink in me, and I couldn’t stop giggling. Finally, Luke gave up and sat beside me.

“Did you learn anything from her?”
h
e
asked, pointing at the
Banshee
as she dangled her toes in the pool of water.

“Yes, but I can’t remember right now.”
I hiccupped and snickered, the Fairy Honey working its magic on my senses.

A rumble in the ground swayed the trees around us. Luke braced himself as if we were under attack
—w
hich
I guess in a way we were, he just didn’t know it yet.
The thought sobered me, despite the Fairy Honey singing in my veins.

“W
e need to talk about the next step
,
”
I said
as I sat up, my body stiff from the hard ground
.

The trees shivered from the earthquake, though it had passed.
I’d thought about this all night and now that my head was clearer, I knew what had to be done.
“Luke, we have to find Lir, he’s the only one who
knows where Chaos is hidden. We need him if we are to stop
Card
—
and that is more important than anything.”
I knew
finding the three
S
miths and having them forge a new Excalibur
was important too, but if we could prevent Chaos’s release, it might not even be necessary
if we were lucky.

He glanced over at Aednat and frowned. “Nice of you to fill her in.”

“She already knew
,
”
I said.

Luke took my hand and steadied me as I stood.
“I thought
Lir
said that he didn’t want you to come for him
.”

“That was before we knew what Card was really doing
,
”
I
said,
my legs wobbling. “Aednat and I, we figured it out last night.”

“Oh really?” Luke’s tone left no doubt to his thoughts on Aednat. “Was this before or after she attacked me?”

A burst of laughter erupted out of me. “Attacked you? She knocked you out with a mushroom
;
I’d hardly call that an attack.”

He
took his hand back, and
knocked a clump of moss off his pants, his movements sharp and choppy, his eyes not meeting mine. “Whatever.”

Really, I had to deal with this now? “Look, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, but I don’t think you would have let the conversation go where it did.
I understand why she knocked you out.
”

Now his eyes di
d meet mine. “And where did the conversation go
,
exactly
?”

Aednat skipped up to my side and slipped her hand into mine
, speaking low enough that only I could hear her
. “
Do not tell Shining boy. He not believe, he try to stop us.
”