Luathara - Book Three of the Otherworld Trilogy (50 page)

Aiden and I moved as
swift
ly as we could to get out of that canyon.  I had a sense from my short connection with Cade that the battle had either begun or was mere minutes away from commencing
,
and we were several miles from the dolmarehn.  I could only hope that
the Morrigan's army moved at a very slow pace
.  Regardless of the fact that there was no way we were going to make it
to the edge of her territory in a hurry
, I held out hope
for a miracle.  After all, I had come this far and I was still alive.  Perhaps
F
ate had one more use for me.

Once clear of the imposing granite walls of the ravine, Aiden and I paused a few moments to catch our breath.

Where are we going now Meggy?
he asked me, his words, though not spoken, quiet nonetheless.

There was no point in lying to my brother.  He had been e
xposed to enough horror already;
it wouldn't hurt to tell him the truth.

We're going to fight.

The Morrigan?

Yes.

Good.  She is evil.

That she is Aiden.  But we're going to try and be careful.

Is that where Cade is?

My heart took another plunge and I fought against the panic and sorrow that tried to take over me.

Yes Aiden.  He is fighting with all the kings and queens of Eile, of the Otherworld, and
with our
mo-

I was about to say,
'
and
with our
mother
'
, but I wasn't sure how much Aiden had been told about our birth mother.  Best not to shock him as well as scare him.

I took a deep breath. 
And the high queen of the Otherworld is with him as well.

Aiden squeezed my hand. 
The Morrigan has lots of monsters, and that scary dark man as well.

Scary, dark
man
. . ?
Oh, Donn.  I found it odd that the god of the underworld was so silent and complacent with regards to the Morrigan.  Then again, his part in all this was to lord over the lost souls of the underworld whereas the Morrigan's job was to stir the pot
that sent
them there.  She would be the more violent one, naturally.  Didn't mean Donn didn't scare the crap out of me
, though
.

Come on.  We need to keep moving if we want to help Cade and all of our friends.

Your friends, not mine
, Aiden corrected.  His words were the color of doubt and sadness.

They'll be your friends too, I promise.

Just as I took the first step on what would definitely be a long, grueling journey, a sharp whinny cut through the air and brought me to a jolting stop.
 
A fiery red horse came bursting around the corner, trampling what plants had managed
to live in this desolate place.  The stallion danced around
wildly as several small, ugly faelah snapped at his heels.

"Lasair!" I cried, dropping Aiden's hand and moving to run towards him.

The h
orse let out another irritated scream
and pinned his ears to his head, baring his teeth and snorting.  I stopped my forward progress and instead flattened myself against the closest stone, Aiden at my back.  Guess the stallion wanted to dispatch the faelah first.  Who was I to argue?

With efficient grace, Lasair
crushed
the rotten creatures
under his heavy feet
and came trotting up to me,
throw
ing
his head
back
and digging at the earth with his hoof.

I stepped away from Aiden and the rock, crossing my arms
and wincing against the lingering pain in my injured arm and leg
.

"I told you to leave this place!" I demanded, though I couldn't hide the raw joy I felt at seeing him.

He tossed his head again and then nickered, as if reminding me I was wasting time.

"You're right,
"
I breathed.

Grabbing his mane, I
pulled myself into the saddle
and then reached
out a hand to Aiden.  My brother gave me a wary look and swallowed hard, his aqua eyes filled with fear.

"Aiden, this is Lasair.  He's my horse here in Eile and he is very smart."

When my brother remained where he was, I tried again.  "He won't hurt you, he only kills faelah."

Lasair rumbled and lowered his nose to try and sniff at my brother.

Please Aiden
, I whispered into his mind,
Cade needs our help.

Taking a deep breath, Aiden stepped forward and reached out a tentative hand.  I didn't give him a chance to change his mind.  With a sharp tug, he was atop Lasair and sitting in front of me.

"Let's go!" I shouted, giving the red stallion full permission to head westward to
wards
the epic battle that awaited us.  As we left the canyon and rocky hillside behind, another screech filled the air and the sting of tears broke free of my eyes as Meridian landed on my shoulder.

"Does no one listen to me?" I sobbed as she nibbled at my ear.

Protect
, she insisted. 
Never leave.

I hugged Aiden close as Meridian took off again, screaming her own battle cry as she led the way.  I wanted my friends to be safe and I was unhappy that they hadn't listened t
o me, but I was also happier tha
n
ever to see them.

Luckily, the time it took us to breach the distance between the Morrigan's hold and the dolmarehn was so brief with Lasair running
at full speed
, I didn't have too much time to think about all that could go wrong now that everything was coming to a head. 
After what seemed like an eternity of monotonous landscape,
the flat
terrain
began to lift into a patch of small hills.  I knew the dolmarehn that would take us to the edge of the Morrigan's realm
couldn't be more than a mile away now
.

"Almost there," I breathed, pulling Aiden close.

As we crested one final hilltop, Lasair slowed to a stop and whinnied in distress.  Far below us all hell was breaking loose.  Literally.  We couldn't have been more than fifty feet up, but on the flat plain spread out before the looming dolmarehn in the distance
, a sea of carnage awaited
our arrival
.

For several heart-wrenching minutes I simply sat in Lasair's saddle, my mind numb as my eyes scanned the battlefield, seeking out those I held closest to my heart.  Donn's Dotarbh dominated the scene, their black shapes barreling through faelah and Faelorehn alike, trying to cause the most damage.  Quickly, I located most of the Tuatha De: Lugh using his
S
pear from horseback, impaling faelah like marshmallows, their rotted corpses going up in flames and burning away as soon as their flesh touched the wood of his
magical weapon
.  Epona
,
in her horse form,
stood out like a beacon,
her pale coat and mane stained with the dark blood of faelah
.  The equine goddess and her fellow horses used their teeth and powerful legs to bring down the enemy
.  Lasair let out an eager whicker as he watched his friends run down and destroy
any faelah standing in their path
.

"Alright Lasair," I growled softly, sliding
off his back
before helping Aiden down.

I quickly removed the stallion's saddle, then his bridle.  Before he took off, he turned to give me one last appraising look.

"Be careful," I murmured as moisture pooled in my eyes.

He tossed his head, then let out his own battle cry
before charging down the hill.
I wiped away the tears and made sure one of my hands held Aiden's tightly before I returned my attention back towards the
fight
.

The sights, sounds and smells of conflict bombarded my senses.  The screams and roars of animals and Faelorehn alike scraped at my ears and forced goose bumps to break out on my skin.  Death, its aggressive smell
akin to
a malicious parasite, made me sick to my stomach, and the grand image of suffering all around me, like a serial killer's slide show gone berserk, was almost enough to make me turn tail and run.  But I couldn't.  My loved ones were down there and if that wasn't enough to motivate me, I had that bone to pick with the Morrigan and the conviction that the Tuatha De needed me if they wanted to win this fight.

Gritting my teeth, I continued my search.  I wasn't doing anything until I found Cade
, so I kept scanning the ongoing carnage, holding my breath and hoping to see some sign of the one I loved the most
.  I spotted the Dagda and my mother next, both of them on horseback and holding their own.  The Dagda used a great battle axe to take out his enemy,
while
my mother
threw
arcs of magic
that blasted the faelah into clouds of black dust
.

A sharp scream followed by the tell-tale
thlunk
of several arrows striking flesh jerked my attention to the small patch of trees off to the left.  I squinted, then grinned when I spotted Enorah and her archers in the branches of the trees, picking off faelah with arrows.  Good.  She was
still in the fight and still alive
.  But where was Cade
. . .
?

M
y eyes darted around frantically,
but it wasn't long until they came
to a screeching halt.  Just at the base of our small hill, something large and dark rose above all the dead monsters surrounding it.  The Morrigan.  She sat astride a great horse.  No, not a horse, but a faelah that looked like a horse.  She wielded a curved, black sword and the sleeves of her dress were torn away.  Wild, unfettered bloodlust
gleamed
in her scarlet eyes and the skirts of her dress billowed around her like a black cloud of death.

Ice pooled in my stomach and I forced my hands to stop shaking.  I could not lose it now.

Something big slammed into the goddess's demon horse and she was thrown from its back, only to land soundly, her sword ready to do more damage.  I watched in horror, unable to look away, as she mowed down men and women with that weapon of hers.  When someone wearing the uniform of the Dagda's guard caught the sword on the handle of his axe and tore it from her hands, she simply threw the smoky edge of her skirts over him, the black substance sucking the life right out of him and making him age before my eyes.  When the Morrigan pulled her skirts back, nothing but dust and a bleached skeleton remained.

"Meghan!"

The familiar, guttural roar dragged my attention away from the
slaughter
.  My eyes flashed to the left and my bones almost melted. 
Cade
.

H
e was coming out of his riastra
d
, his arms shrinking to their normal size, his huge frame returning to its usual proportions.  He looked utterly spent and he stumbled as he tried to make his way towards me.  Too much blood.  There was too much blood covering his body and I could only pray it wasn't all his.

The Morrigan stopped dead in her tracks.  She had been busy burning her way through a group of soldiers wearing Lugh’s colors.  I looked up and gritted my teeth.  They were in the way of a direct path to Cade.  The scorn and malice that
gleam
ed red in her eyes only confirmed my suspicions.  She wasn’t even bothering to check and see if she had killed any of her adversaries
;
she was
far too
intent on
getting to
her son.

Over my dead body
, I thought with fury.  I took in a deep breath and
let
my magic grow and surge.  Aiden clung to me, but I felt him tense up, as if he were about to bolt.

Once her path was clear, t
he Morrigan
gave her son one hard look, then followed
his
gaze
up to where it rested on me and Aiden
. 
A
s the shock rippled over her face, pure hatred and anger took its place.  Her ruby eyes darted between Cade and I, and before Cade could close the gap between us, the goddess spoke a string of ancient words and sent the edges of her living skirts unfurling towards
her son
.  The black cloud pooled at his feet and began climbi
ng up his legs.  He stopped mid-
stride and lifted his hands to his throat, gasping for breath as the Morrigan continued her chant, her words becoming lost in the cries and screams of the battle still going on all around
them
.