Luathara - Book Three of the Otherworld Trilogy (47 page)

I
almost screamed out loud
.  They were all identical, but
my eyes were trained on the one
closest to me.  It was a bull.  A giant bull with horrible, black horns and blood-red eyes, and there were so many of them.  They opened their mouths and bellowed, revealing unnaturally sharp teeth and the same furnace-like throats the C
u
morrig had.  And like the Morrigan’s hounds, these bulls appeared to have been dead for quite some time.  Their heads were nothing more than skulls covered in black hide, the rest of their bodies patched together carelessly.  But I had no doubt they were strong, and there had to be well over a hundred of them.

“Magnificent, aren’t they?  You see Meghan, the D
o
tarbh are Donn’s pets, and they will come in very handy when I march on your mother and my other fellow Tuatha De later this morning.  But let me return to the point I'm trying to make.  You have told me that unless I release your brother, you will use your power to destroy my army.  Well, here’s what will happen if you do.  You are powerful Meghan, I won’t deny that.  But you aren’t powerful enough to fight me and my faelah and stop Donn and his D
o
tarbh.  Their master has given them an order, you see.  If you continue to refuse my demands, then they are to seek out my dear
,
charming
son and, how did I put it?”

She cupped her chin in one hand and tapped her cheek with a finger as she looked up into the leaden sky.

“Ah!” she cried, then lowered her gaze and glared at me with such malice I almost fell to the ground.  “Rend him limb from limb.”

“NO!” I shouted, unable to help myself.

“Yes, I will,” she spat.  “You know I will.  And he won’t stand a chance, you know he won’t.  Even in his
riastrad
, he died fighting only ten of my C
u
morrig.  He will certainly perish against a few hundred D
o
tarbh.”

Tears stung my eyes, but I ignored them.  "You said," my voice rasped, "you said that if you had me, you'd leave him alone, that you'd leave everyone alone!  So here I am, take me and do what you will, but call back your army and let my brother go!"

The Morrigan’s cruel laughter crackled through the magic-tensed air.  “Foolish, foolish Meghan!  When are you going to learn that I never
stay true to
my
word?  I have no honor and you cannot outsmart me!”

I shot the goddess a look of pure hatred.  She knew my weaknesses far too well, but I knew hers
also
: she was far too arrogant for her own good, and
that's what
I was counting on. 
I couldn't have
anticipate
d
the Dotarbh, there was no way for me to know that they
were to
be a factor in this horrible game.  But all hope was not lost, at least not yet. 
Patience Meghan, patience.  Your chance is coming soon . . .
  Cernunnos's magic burned inside of me, but I tamped it down with my own as the spider worked to hide my thoughts.
  Yes, my chance was coming.  I just needed to get into the Morrigan's lair, find my brother, and then let that godly magic loose to wreak my vengeance.

“Come, come little girl, your sniveling bores me.  Come join your little brother and I’ll leave Caedehn be.  At least until he comes with your mother and her friends to confront my army.  But by then you and
that other whelp of Danua's,
and your wonderful magic
,
will be locked away safe where I can use it to replenish my
own glamour
after the fight.”

I hesitated for a split second. 
Every instinct in my body was screaming at me to turn and flee.  Unfortunately, my heart was now running the show.  If I wanted to save Cade, my mother and Aiden, I had to be willing to make this sacrifice.

“Surrender!” the Morrigan screeched, sounding like the raven she often embodied.  “Your attempt at swaying me has failed and you cannot escape!”

Very well
, I thought as I stepped forward.

Immediately, the faelah acted, several of them breaking free of their line and moving around to encircle me, locking the Morrigan and Donn in their ring as well.
  My heart leapt into my throat.  Yes, I was doing this willingly and for the ones I loved, but that fact didn't banish my instinctual desire to run.
As the god of the dead continued to study me,
I tried
very hard
not to squirm
or break down into a full out panic attack
.

"Check her for weapons,"
Donn said, his voice trembling
with the
raw
power of an earthquake.

I sucked in my breath as the Morrigan turned her gaze on me.  Her eyes flashed red once, and then I watched the dark cloud of her magic
creep across the ground.  The tendrils of smoky glamour poked and prodded
me like fingers.  When they got to the top of my right boot, the Morrigan chuckled, "What have we here?"

The
magic
w
ork
ed its way down into my shoe, extracting the broken arrows I'd shoved there before leaving this morning. 
The tendril of power wrapped itself around the makeshift weapon and returned it to the Morrigan like some sick, ethereal tentacle. 
I bit my
cheek.  I had expected them to find Enorah's dagger, but I'd hoped they would overlook the hawthorn
.

The Morrigan eyed my rudimentary weapon and arched a brow at me.  "What did you plan to do with these?  Carve a
whistle whilst in confinement?"

She let loose a
soft snicker of amusement
as her dark magic continued its job.  When it moved up to my torso, I tensed.  Under my shirt
and wrapped securely to my back was
the
dagger. 
It was too obvious to miss,
and
if she had found the broken hawthorn shafts, then she would definitely find the knife
.
 
The black smoke caressed the
blade
and I closed my eyes slowly,
waiting for the Morrigan's cry of discovery, but
the magic moved on
in its search
for more weapons.  Finally, the smoke pulled away and returned to
its wielder
.

"Nothing more,"
the Morrigan
said to Donn in a bored tone.

I felt my eyes grow wide with surprise.  Her magic had been all over that dagger.  How had she misse
d it?  Then I remembered how the blade
had so thoroughly destroyed the faelah outside of the Da
gda's abode.  Perhaps Enorah's
weapon
was more magical than I'd
previously
thought.

I turned to the Morrigan, my face set rigidly in what I hoped was a mask of defiance, and felt an invisible rope of
glamour
bind my arms to my sides.

The Morrigan looked up at
her partner
.  "I'll just be a half an hour or so.  If you want to start without me, I can catch up."

The god of the dead looked up and narrowed his eyes.  "I think I'll join you in case she tries anything."

The Morrigan snorted a laugh.  "What could she possibly do now?"

Donn remained impassive.

"Fine," the Morrigan snarled, "but first
instruct
your pets to lead my army onward.  We'll have plenty of time to catch up to them before we meet Danua and her allies."

Before the Morrigan tugged me forward, I thought I heard Donn turn and mutter something in the ancient language.  The demon bulls, the
Dotarbh, let out a resounding bellow
that echoed up and down the line of faelah
, then started forward, moving west.  The
Morrigan’s
monsters
quickly followed suit, a black, oily wave of death rolling over the land and covering it with their filth.
  The earth
trembled as the army moved out, and I couldn't tell if it was Eile herself protesting their existence or the result of so many feet marching in unison.

The ice-laced rain began to fall as we took our first steps into the crevasse I knew would lead us to someplace unpleasant.  My magic shivered beneath my skin, but I held it back.  We weren't finished
yet, oh no, not by a long shot.
B
ut when the time came
,
I woul
d let all the magic I contained come boiling forth like a storm of vengeance.

Sending up a silent prayer to whoever was listening, I hoped I would see Aiden soon and that somehow, I was going to get us out before Donn and the Morrigan could destroy everything I loved.

-Twenty-
T
wo
-

Duty

The walls of the narrow c
anyon were practically vertical,
the ground we walked on littered with stones of all sizes
a
nd the remains of unidentifiable, dead creatures.  Three times I almost gagged as the stench cloyed at my nose.  The few faelah that hadn’t followed the D
o
tarbh scurried around us, fighting with one another as they picked at the rotting flesh and broken bones.  Hurrah.  Another scene that would be giving me nightmares for all eternity.

The Morrigan strode before me, her dress of dark evil swirling about her like a black cloud as Donn, still chillingly silent, took up the rear.  Eventually the canyon came to an end.  Ancient
,
Celtic ogham letters and knot work
designs
adorned a
massive
stone doorway pitted with large recesses.  I nearly fainted when I s
potted
what
resided
inside the primitive shelves.  Human skulls, or more likely, Faelorehn skulls.  At least twenty of them formed a gruesome border around the entrance to the Morrigan’s realm.  Two great, dead trees, their limbs bleached white and free of leaves, protruded from the rock wall on either side of the door.  A flock of ravens decorated their branches like nightmarish Christmas ornaments
, the half-blind, white spirit guide who had brought my message to his master sitting higher than all the rest
.  The birds let out a chorus of caws when the Morrigan approached, and she smiled and scratched at their necks as they greeted her.  Donn merely crossed his arms and gave a sneer.

Once the birds were appeased and they had returned to their guard posts, the goddess turned to the doorway and gently ran her fingers down its surface, muttering something under her breath as magic flared from her palm.  I felt it as clearly as I felt all magic, a strange tugging at the back of my knees, as if someone had taken a rope and was trying to pull my legs forward into a bend.  Could this be some
sort of well-disguised dolmarehn?

The rock shifted and a stone slab in the shape of a massive door swung inward, the icy air hissing free like the first breath of the risen dead.  Goose bumps broke out all over my skin despite my warm cloak.  A black abyss yawned before us and as I peered reluctantly into the opening the Morrigan shoved me.

"Your cell awaits, princess.  If you behave yourself I'll let you share with your brother."

I tensed, but forced myself to relax.  Good.  That's exactly what I was hoping for.  Despite the fact that my every last instinct screamed at me to flee in the opposite direction, I made my shoulders slump and shuffled forward,
attempting to adopt
the guise of an acquiescent prisoner.

The Morrigan moved to follow me, but something stopped her.  I peeked over my shoulder to see Donn's gloved hand grasping her arm.  He pulled her closer and hissed something under his breath, his black, disheveled hair and beard hiding most of his expression.  I strained to hear him, but he used the language of Eile.  If only I'd asked Cade to teach it to me earlier . . .

The Morrigan jerked her arm back and snapped at him, her eyes flaring red.  "I hold everything she
cares about
in the palm of my hand.  Believe me, once she's in that cage with her brother, there will be no escape for her."

Donn growled at her.  Actuall
y growled.

"You wish to put the two offspring of Danua and that Fomorian in one cell?"

The Morrigan snorted and grasped her skirts, turning to walk away and herd me further into the pit of darkness that gaped before us.

I braced myself for another shove when Donn barked out, "You fool of a woman!  To come this far and risk combining their magic?"

I froze where I stood, my heart catching in my throat.  No, no,
no
!  Could Donn have any idea what I had planned?  Was I that obvious, or had he figured it out? 
But
if
he
hadn't, wouldn't the Morrigan
know what I was up to
?  Was she, like me, playing dumb until all the dice fell into place?  I knew they hadn't read the thoughts in my head.  My second little spider was keeping th
e details of my plot
nice and out of reach
, but that didn't mean they couldn't read my actions, actions I'd thought I'd hidden from their immediate observation
.  Then I swallowed hard as another thought came to me.  True, they couldn't see what I was thinking, but could they have detected the magic I used to hide the secrets I kept?