Lycans and Legends

Chapter 14: Can you Swim, Clemeny Louvel?

“I…” I began, but my voice faltered. A million questions raced through my mind. Inhaling slowly, I composed myself.

Remember who you are.

You are a Red Cape.

Remember why you are here.

This is about saving the Queen.

Right.

The Queen.

I’m here for Victoria.

But…

Is she my mother?

Is that my mother?

Are you my mother?

“Where am I?” I asked.

The woman extended her arm, motioning to the trees and the stones. I spotted the long silver cuff twisting up her sleeve, the leaf pattern of the jewel sparkling in the moonlight. “You are in Avalon.”

“Which is where, exactly?”

She smiled. “Not the question I expected.”

“Well, I’m glad I can surprise you.”

Are you my mother?

Are you my mother?

“Avalon is the world between the human world and the Otherworld. It is the guardian plane.”

But are you my mother?

“I see.”

The woman laughed softly and stepped closer to me. “Clemeny,” she said, her expression soft. “I can hear the question on your heart.”

“Then…then are you? Are you my mother?”

The woman shook her head. “No.”

Unbidden and very unexpectedly, tears pricked at the corners of my eyes. “Oh.”

“I am your aunt.”

“My…my aunt?”

The woman nodded. “My name is Nyneve. Your mother was my sister.”

“Was?” I asked, barely choking out the word.

The woman looked down for a moment. A shadow crossed her face. “Yes. My sister, your mother, is gone. But you are here now. And you’ve arrived just in time.”

“In time for what?”

“In time to save the world.”

* * *

I stared at the woman.

So, what to start with? My dead mother or saving the world?

“My mother…”

“The last time the world needed saving, your mother did her duty. But she died in the process. You lost a mother. I lost a sister.”

“How does that land me on the steps of Saint Clement Danes?”

“Your mother was in London when everything happened. She left here pregnant and came back to us…lost. And you along with her. We know now that she gave birth to you in the city, but our enemies came for her. She hid you to keep you safe, to make you anonymous. We believe she left you at the church to hide you. For years, we didn’t know what happened to you. Then, many years ago, one of us spotted you. I went to see you at Saint Clement Danes. You were with the widow Louvel. I saw that you were loved and safe. We decided it would be better for you if we left you where you were.”

“Wait. Hold on. My mother left me at the church to protect me from someone who murdered her? Who?”

“The one whose dagger you’re currently wearing.”

I pulled the dagger from my belt. “This? Whose weapon is this?”

“His name is Melwas. He is a prince of the Unseelie Court.”

“Why in the hell would he murder my mother?”

“Because she was the guardian between the worlds, the Lady of the Lake, and she would not permit him to unleash havoc on the mortal world. She died stopping him.”

“Did you say Lady of the Lake?”

The woman—my aunt—nodded. “Lady of the Lake…the title is an honorific. The first Lady of the Lake, the guardian between the worlds, was a faerie. But when the faeries retreated, the Seelies left the duties of the Lady of the Lake to special humans, humans touched with sight bestowed upon them by faeries. Humans with magic in their veins. Humans like me…and you. You have the magic of Avalon in your veins. We need that magic now. We need you. Melwas is on the move. If we are to defeat him, you must take on the mantle your mother carried. The mantle of Lady of the Lake.”

“I…” I began, scrunching up my brow as I tried to wrap my head around everything. “So let me get this straight. My mother stopped this Melwas from destroying the human world last time. And she died. And you all left me behind in London without ever telling me who I was or that I might be in danger. That’s… fabulous. Do I have a father anywhere or…”

“Your father and mother fought together. Melwas killed them both.”

“So I have two dead parents killed by a dark faerie who tried to murder me yesterday. And I have an aunt who left me behind as a child, not bothering to ever tell me where I came from or why I’m like this. And I’ve been carrying around the dagger that probably killed my own parents. And I don’t even know their names.”

The woman smiled gently at me. “I’m sorry, Clemeny. I know this is a lot to hear. Your mother’s name was Vienne.”

“And my father?”

“Your father was a Rude Mechanical. His name was Langdon.”

“Langdon. Langdon Morrisey?”

“Yes. That was him.”

“He was a Red Cape, not a Rude Mechanical. There is a difference.”

I turned from the woman and looked toward the dim lights of Abbey House. My father had been a Red Cape. I had heard stories about him, about his dealings with the druids and other Celtic wizards in the realm. There had been an incident twenty-three or so years ago. Not much was known about it. Most of the Red Capes in Morrisey’s division died, and after that, the Rude Mechanicals shut the books on the druids and closed down the division.

My father had been a Red Cape.

And my mother was the Lady of the Lake, whatever that meant.

After a moment, I laughed.

Nyneve stepped closer to me, a confused expression on her face. “Clemeny?”

Lady of the Lake.

“Nothing. It’s nothing. Just…prophets,” I said, shaking my head as the Dís’s words rang through my head.

Can you swim, Clemeny Louvel?