The ground shook; air rippled out and tossed fallen leaves. Conall was crouched, one fist and knee on the ground, in a dirt hole. The earth looked freshly tilled where it had been forced to make way for him. He sprung up laughing, and dusted himself off.
I slammed to a stop beside him, and for a moment my body screamed at me to keep going. I was closer to Breandan. If I kept running and I would be at his side. Focusing on the fairy in front of me, I rushed to apologize.
"I didn"t realize." Breathy with panic my tail thumped my shoulder repeatedly. "Forgive me. Are you right?"
My hands flittered around him and he caught one to kiss it.
"I am proud," he said bowed over my hand. "You will be glorious. I"m not heavy, but it was a good demonstration nonetheless. There has not been a female fairy with a talent in strength for such a long time." Conall sounded delighted. "But then you will be talented in most things." He released my hand and tapped me on the nose.
I blinked at the playful gesture. "It was easy, like throwing a ball. G.o.ds, I"m wicked strong."
"I wait bated to see your castings."
My face crumpled. Magic was not something I suspected would come easily to me. "It"ll be a while before I can control calling on the Source, and getting it to do what I want rather than whatever stray thought is pa.s.sing through my mind."
"Apt.i.tude will come quickly or not at all, such is the way of it."
"You said I"m strong for a female. Is there anything else I could try?"
"You"re eager." Conall shook a little dust off, an efficient brush of his shoulder with an eloquent hand. "Every fairy is unique, and it will take time for you to learn your skills."
"I"m curious, what skills do you have?"
He walked off into the trees. "You ask many questions," he said matter of fact and jumped over a huge boulder roughly my height.
I eyed it, my healthy compet.i.tive nature goading me on. Sense caught up me and I walked around it. Conall waited patiently on the other side, and once he was visible continued walking.
I realized we had been travelling for an awful long time and that the forest had changed. It was spa.r.s.er, and the trees swept down into a bowl shape with the land. The leaves had broadened and become darker, just as the trunks had become thinner and lighter. As the day drew to a close my eyes adjusted, and the world tinted to purple and blue again. My sensitive nose and ears picked up lingering trails, the snuffling of smaller mammals.
My senses stretched and I honed onto something, different. The "being" sensed me touch her mind and nudged me away. She was of the two natured, a canine shifter of some kind. Startled, I scrambled back into myself. It was a shock. I knew of course there would be other demons Outside, this was their territory. But still, I was shocked. I sought the comfort of the familiar.
"Breandan," I murmured. I knew he was near but not in my line of sight or range of hearing.
"Yes, he is close." Conall was beside me. He"d stopped walking as I skipped on. "He"ll meet us here." He motioned with his hand for me to continue walking.
I pushed a hand through my crazy hair and stepped forward. Entering the glade I saw a colossal building. Grey stone with marble statues adorned each corner and flanking the entrance. The slated roof was thatched, golden and half caved in. Trees and flowers sprouted on the ground inside, this I saw through the large gla.s.sless windows.
"Witch." Conall called and pumped his hand cheerfully.
"Hai, Rae?" a sunny voice called across the clearing.
I gawped at the blonde, blue-eyed cherub standing in the building entrance. Her hair was plaited into a messy braid, and she wore a plain blue tunic, and soft brown boots. She looked like an upper dwell. She grinned at me like we were the best of friends, and waved me forward.
Skipping ahead, she yapped over her shoulder. "I"m Ana or the white witch if you want to be formal about it." She shot a sour look at Conall.
I followed after her, totally bewildered by her and my surroundings. The building was solemn, and as I walked through the bold entrance pillars - fairy mouths open in silent scream - I wondered of its significance.
"What is this place?" I asked.
"A church. An old and secret place," Conall replied from behind me.
The plant life from outside spilled in through the windows, and ivy snaked its way up the walls, clinging to the grey stone in wild patches. Rows and rows of large stone steps circled the room. Seats? The building foundation was naturally steeped into the dirt, growing from the earth itself. My feet stepped springy, damp moss and crunchy thick gra.s.s mixed with flowered weeds.
"I like your eyes," she declared. "Your family always did have the most beautiful gold eyes." The witch-girl had an innocent, pixie like face and curly blonde hair. She waved her hands up and down my body critically. "You"re meeting me in your true form. That is a good omen. Sometimes you come to me still disguised as human and what I have to say never goes down well."
"As long as you don"t tell me what to do," I said and gazed at the buckled roof, "we"ll get along just fine."
Ana smacked her forehead then clicked her fingers into points and nodded. "Sorry, I get confused somewhat when I meet new people. It takes a while to fit them into the bigger picture. The Sight gives me glimpses of possible futures, and you"re radiating images like a beacon whacked up to max. It"ll be easier for me once I"ve done a proper reading on you. The roads of your future will be clearer and we can-" She s.p.a.ced out, her eyes flickered at something unseen. "Oooh, that is not good. Tell your blonde friend not to go outside on her own in the dark. In most futures it ends badly."
"Huh?" I croaked feeling a million miles behind.
"I"m trying to get a feel for where we are time wise," she enlightened. Her tiny palms flew up. "Wait. Has that vampire bitten you yet? You should have met him by now." She frowned and looked inward. "I"m missing something."
My heart thumped. She could only be talking about Tomas. I was hyper aware of Conall standing alert beside me at the mention of a vampire. I twisted my hands into my jumper pockets. "Uh, I don"t know what you mean."
"Maybe if you never meet him you won"t end up at Orchard. That"s a relief. I did a reading on Breandan, and he ends up there in chains. He gets distracted because the vampire wants you." She frowned. "No wait, I think it"s a humans fault. d.a.m.n, I can"t see. Anyway, things get out of control. You know how vampires are once they"ve had your blood. Bottom line is in this future you all died. Sometimes you save him but not the vampire. Or you save the vampire and the human but not Breandan. I can"t see what the difference is between one future and the other. My advice is to avoid Orchard if you can."
"Say-so," I said. Not that I"d ever had any plans to be in the company of Tomas for much longer or ever visit this Orchard place. "Y"know what, I"m going to be honest and say I have no idea what to do with anything you just said. I"ve seen and done unreal stuff today." Sensing its queue my tail whiplashed out behind me. "Nothing is simple anymore and everything frightens me. And you. Your supposed to be a witch and evil by default. You aren"t what I expected."
"Old woman with a hunch back, raspy cackle and a pimple on her nose?" She asked in a bored voice. "Cauldron and a cave?" I nodded guiltily. "d.a.m.n. Stereotyping is a b.i.t.c.h. Yes, witches are bad, but I"m the exception to the rule." She stepped toward me and I stepped back, wary. She extended her hand and I eyed it warily. "Let"s get this done. Sorry to disappoint, but I don"t peer into your palm and trace lines. Hold my hand, I won"t bite."
Taking a deep breath, I reached out and clasped the undersized hand in mine. Ana"s pupils dilated into coin-sized black holes, swallowing the whites of her eyes. The skin on my fingers started to tingle.
"Incredible," she breathed.
Her body became motionless, and her eyes hooded. They flickered rapidly trying to watch a million things at once. My hand grew hot and she gripped me tighter. I flinched to pull away, but she held on, astonishingly strong. She shrieked, a loud, short sound of pain and denial. A pulse of energy shot down my arm, and my hand was wrenched from hers. We staggered back in shock of the connection being broken, and I curled in on myself, blowing on my heated palm.
Ana face was clouded with indecision. "Oh Rae, what have you done," she whispered.
Conall had a big question in his voice, "What have you seen?"
Ana said nothing, but watched me absorbedly. "Could you give us some s.p.a.ce?"
He hesitated, but then nodded. Releasing me he blurred into a sprint and rocketed out of sight. Again, it seemed demons were not big on goodbyes. After a few seconds deep silence, I fidgeted at how intense Ana had become. My eyes darted to and from her gaze that never wavered from its mark.
"Rae, you have many futures but two are clear. You stand at a precipice and I"m telling you, for your own sake you need to step back."
"I don"t know what you mean." I made a helpless gesture.
"The vampire, I see him in your future. He hails the end of people you care about and those you have not yet met. Hear me." Ana stepped forward, hand outstretched and face anguished. "You must stop what you"re doing. Turn away from that future. Plain enough for you?"
Understanding came to me then, and a name slipped through my parted lips. "Tomas."
She paled to gray. "I warned Breandan he would seek you out. I thought he was deflected. They"ve been hunting him for nearly a month now." She swallowed, her unsteady breathing plainly revealing her angst. "You must stay away from him. He is bad news," she said. "You have no idea what he is capable of. If he gets a hold on you we will be lost."
"You don"t have to worry." I tired to sound calm and rea.s.suring because she was freaking out. Her face was all red and her hands waved about in the air frantically. "He"s okay. He just wants to talk. I"ll hear him out and then he"ll go."
"You don"t really believe that, do you? That a vampire has risked his life to come and tell you something then run away into the night and leave you be?"
I flushed. It did sound improbable that Tomas would want to tell me something then leave, but what else could he want?
"You have to tell me what"s going on."
Ana did not answer. Instead she drew herself up and was glaring at me again.
"There was a decision I did not understand, but now I see." A sound of frustration gurgled in the back of her throat. "I will not look further down that road, it is a disaster. If you keep this secret about Maeve for much longer, it"ll be the beginning of the end. Breandan may seem cold at times, but he needs to be able to trust you. It is my purpose to reveal what counts, but if I tell him Maeve may be If I tell him everything falls apart." I said and did nothing. I stood and stared at nothing, because once again I hadn"t a clue what was going on. Ana c.o.c.ked her head. "He hasn"t explained anything to you, has he?"
"We only met this morning and he"s been busy hunting Tomas."
Who I"m hiding in my wardrobe, I added silently. Realizing I"d rallied to Breandan"s defense, I pressed my lips together.
Exasperated, a hand flew to her hips, and she tutted. "Lochlann, Breandan"s older brother is the leader of a group of fairies who have broken away from Devlin"s rule, and therefore the Tribe. Rebels."
My mouth flapped open. "What?" I spluttered. "Fairies have Tribes?"
Ana yawned, rubbed at her ear. "There is only one Tribe, the Tribe, ruled over by the fairy High Lord, Devlin. Lochlann is a lord too, from one of the older families. After disagreeing with Devlin about" Her eyes flicked back to me, and she dropped the ends of her sentence. "He took his family and a few others with him. Then he left a month ago, and didn"t say why or where he was going. He just left us." Her shoulders jerked once. "Some panicked and started to lose faith. A few even went back to Devlin."
Shaking my head, I caught up, and frowned. "Breandan took his place?"
She went pink and scowled at the floor. "He was as confused as the rest of us. Lochlann is not weak or fickle. He had a reason for leaving, but it"s hard to keep faith in such times as these. Breandan and Maeve had their own private battle as to what should be done to lead the others until he returned. But neither of them said anything directly to Lochlann"s followers to soothe them. Once, when it was really bad, I touched Breandan trying to get his attention, and I saw his future." She sighed and rubbed her head. "Before I thought it through I blurted it all out. Naturally the rebels turned to him to lead."
"What did you see?"
"Breandan standing over Devlin, victorious with a fairy-girl stood beside him. I saw alternates of course, but when the fairy was gone Breandan failed and died. Lochlann comes back to his brother"s body and turns his back on us."
Of course I was going to ask, "So, who"s the fairy-girl?"
"Seriously? I have to answer that question?"
Pressing a hand to my throat, I searched for the invisible fingers crushing it. "How did you know where to find me?"
"I saw you and Breandan running hand in hand behind the Wall. You wore the green blazer with the Sect sigil. Oh, the fact you are training to be a Cleric went down a treat with the rebels, by the way." She sighed. "d.a.m.n that boy, I"d kick his a.s.s if I didn"t owe him. He played such a dangerous game."
I sunk to my knees amongst the leaves and settled down onto my b.u.m, legs flopping weakly in front of me. My hands burrowed into the dry dirt either side of me, and fisted beneath the surface.
"What game? How is any of this a game?"
"Wrong choice of words." She waved her hands in apology. "Breandan sought you out, no matter how much he may try to deny it. The moment I told him what I saw, he wanted to see you, but it"s screwed things up. I always saw you b.u.mping into each other and your love growing. I told him to stay away, that the time for your meeting would happen naturally. Then I found out he was spying on you for the last month." She smiled. "This morning when you saw him, by the slope before you fell, he didn"t help you up because I called him away. You were not supposed to meet like that. But when you got lost the future changed again, and in pops the vampires chance." She grimaced and looked down at her hands. "But I guess, it"s my own fault for blurting out the truth."
"A few things are starting to make sense," I said, and breathless, lifted a finger to signal time out.
I thought of how Breandan reacted toward me the first time we"d met. He"d been horrified at who I was, annoyed at me, and yet so persistent. Always coming back no matter how many times I told him to back off, so sure that I had to listen and trust him. My wings curled around me, and my tail flicked about behind me disturbing stone and insect. It was daunting to hear someone you had just met and were beginning to feel something for had known you, and what you would become a long time before you knew they existed.
"And Devlin? How did he find out? I doubt Breandan would have proclaimed my existence to the Tribe." I remembered the reluctance in his expression when he held me for the first time. And I remembered his words, the white witch was right and now I"ll never hear the end of it. "And as much as you tell me he wanted me meet me; I have a hard time believing it."
Ana pulled her top up and I recoiled. The skin across her stomach was a ghastly sight of lumpy flesh and pink scars. "The Tribe caught me and I was not strong enough to hold my tongue." Pulling the top back down a tear rolled down her cheek. Scrubbing it away she looked disgusted at herself for showing weakness. "Breandan saved me, and carried me to Conall for healing. But the cuts were done with magic, and Devlin"s consort, Wasp," she spat the name, "is a tricky b.i.t.c.h with a special gift for knife work."
I yanked my hair a few times, the feeling of helplessness threatening to overwhelm me. "Only you"ve foretold this showdown between Breandan, Devlin and me?"
"There has been no one with such a strong gift of Sight in a long time. I"m good and my gift has yet to improve but trust me, I"m never wrong."
"You can"t see things, say, fifty years from now?"
"That"s not how it works. I don"t see visions, I see future possibilities," she explained wiggling her fingers and nose. "I look at you or touch you and in my head I see you taking different actions, making decisions and the future steps you take altering because of them. Like ghost images moving on top of what I see. It"s hard for me to attach time to it or remember it all. It doesn"t help I have a memory like a sieve. I judge time by appearance and significant events." Ana"s creased face broke into a playful grin. "Sounds mental."
"I hate to admit it, but you"re one of the sanest people I"ve met today."
"I"m the most awesome person you"ve met."
There was a question that pressed on my mind. I didn"t want to seem self-absorbed, but the more I ignored it the louder intuition chimed it meant something, something big and scary.
Chapter Six.
"When I first met Breandan, he touched me and it feltstrange. Then he said something about us no longer having a choice. That is was sealed. And a while ago Conall said he sensed something odd. I think he was feeling thethe after effect of whatever it was."
Ana sucked in a breath. "Ah, that surprised even me, and boy did I feel it. The disturbance slammed into me like a sledge-hammer. Others sensitive to such things would have sensed it too. The moment it happened the future shifted so dramatically it gave me a killer headache." She turned her head and her eyes echoed her reaction to whatever future she saw moving over me. They looked haunted. "But it does explain why you and Breandan coming together is so important. The connection itself, well, it"s happened once before and it didn"t end well." I threaded my fingers through the gra.s.s at my side and waited. Ana focused hard on my face then looked away. "You must avoid speaking of it, Rae. Don"t tell anyone," she said in a rush. "There are those who will not accept."
The sudden urgency threw me, and I leaned up. "Why? And don"t evade the question."
She saw my surly expression and sighed. "In the end they died and they took thousands of fairy lives with them." The curiosity in my face prompted her to continue. "The word you"re looking for to explain what you feel is a nexus. When you touch something is created between you and Breandan that is unbreakable, untouchable. It grows. The longer you are apart the greater the need for contact with him will become. When you do touch it will be likelike a direct tap to the Source. The longer you are apart the greater the, ah, release of energy will be."
By the scared look on her face, I don"t think the big release of energy was a good thing. The larger implications of what she was saying sunk in and burned a hole.
"What if I don"t want to be tied to him?"
"It"s done now."
"But, I-, I still don"t even know what it means."
"Bonded ones can never rule or lead because they end up too wrapped in each other to think or see straight."
"That"s not what I meant. What does it mean in real terms? Like does it mean Breandan and I are destined to be together?"
The idea was so cliche it was gross, but it was one I understood easily.
"How the h.e.l.l would I know?" I shot her a look. "Oh, you"re forgetting what I can and can"t do again. I can tell you if you"ll turn right down a fork in the road instead of left, but I can"t tell you why you chose that direction." She paused thoughtfully. "Unless say, the right was blocked and you had to go left. See what I mean?"
With a tremble, I digested what I had learned. Breandan and I were tied together by an unbreakable magical bond, for life. And I wasn"t even sure I liked him.
"Does Breandan know?" I asked.