Unfallen Dead

CHAPTER 35

Vize led the charge. Long black hair streamed from under his helm as he bore down on the entrance. He rose in his stirrups, holding the reins with one hand as he raised a spear with the other. My heart skipped a beat. I flashed open my sensing ability. Relieved, I read nothing more than oakwood charged with elf-shot. It wasn’t a match to my spear. I knew damned well I didn’t want a splinter of the Wheel in his hands.

He launched the spear. He knew how to use one. It sailed straight and true, piercing Dylan’s airbe druad with a burst of emerald essence. That was all it was meant to do, punch a hole to test what they were up against. Dylan patched it without effort. The spear peaked and dropped toward the center of the circle. It had no more charged essence, so it was a simple wooden spear again. One aiming for my chest, but still pretty simple. I lifted my sword. A streak of pink whirred by, and Joe knocked the spear to the ground.

“Thanks,” I said.

“De nada,” he said, returning to his aerial perch.

A stunning assortment of fey rode behind Vize. I hadn’t realized that the animosity to the Seelie Court was so widespread. Things had become much worse since I had left the Guild. Elves in the same black leather tunic Vize wore, unemblemed. Dwarves rode with him, too, surprisingly. Their loyalty to the Elven King was moderate at best, but aligned with Donor Elfenkonig’s henchmen was the last place I’d expect them. If the Elven King wasn’t supporting Vize, they had much to lose. Plenty of solitaries joined him, all shapes and shades, malevolent and wild looks in their eyes. The scary part was the Celts. He had Celtic fey with him, mostly subclans of the major races, but more Danann than I would have guessed flew air cover. I had no idea what that was about.

Vize rode far ahead of his comrades. He might be as damaged as I was, but he wasn’t going to let his followers see him cower in the rear guard. The Teutonic fey put a lot of stock in crazy bravery. Even so, Vize had to be nuts to put himself in that much danger. As he neared, a heavy-duty body shield on him confused me. He didn’t have one earlier. A blue-skinned solitary clung to his back like a climbing animal, all sharp teeth and claws and tangled white hair. A nixie. The shield was hers.

Vize checked the dream mare at the barrier. He cocked his head up, staring transfixed at Ceridwen. He shouted something to his lead riders, but I couldn’t hear what he called.

Dylan sliced a hand through the air, rending a space in the airbe druad between the entrance stones. He made it look like a tactical error and frantically threw useless bindings at the gap to repair it. Vize waited for his company to catch up, then spurred his horse forward. He lunged through the opening, the dream mare lifting in an impressive leap, smoke trailing after it like exhaust. Dylan yanked his fist down, and the barrier snapped closed. Meryl moved in and amplified the charge on the entrance before anyone else could get through. Vize’s immediate followers slammed into the barrier, and the ranks behind them crashed into them in a satisfying knot of confusion.

Vize was nicely surprised when he realized he was alone. He pulled forcefully on the reins, his solitary friend dangling precariously from his back. He managed to bring the horse to a halt, and the great beast danced in a circle as Vize looked back. His followers had stopped tripping onto each other, spacing themselves as best they could to make room. As they reorganized, they threw lightning strikes of essence against the airbe druad.

Ceridwen soared overhead in a pulsating golden aura. Single-handedly, she fended off dozens of the airborne fairies and winged solitaries who tried to fly over the barrier. Her power amazed me. UnderQueens packed more of a wallop than I would have ever guessed.

The narrow space of the entrance avenue worked in Dylan’s favor. No more than three or four fey could attack the shield without hitting one another. Between the extra charge Meryl gave him and his own considerable skill, the barrier held the riders off. Bergin turned the dream mare toward the Boston portal

“Vize needs some prodding in this direction, Joe,” I said.

Joe grinned deep dimples into his cheeks. He flashed out and reappeared with burst of pink essence in Vize’s face. He slapped Vize on the nose and disappeared. The frustrating thing about fighting with a flit is that they’re too small to target a hit well, too fast to chase, and too unconventional to anticipate. A slap on the nose is the last thing you expect anyone to do. And it hurts, to say nothing of humiliating.

Vize wheeled the horse. Joe appeared and hit him on the back of the head. The dream mare shied sideways, confused by Vize’s shifting and turning in the saddle. Joe flashed in and jabbed the beast in the haunch. The mare reared with an angry neigh and bolted across the stone ring.

Joe popped in next to me. “Careful, he’s got a nixie with him.”

Reining in the horse, Vize realized I was there and cantered toward me.

“You’re too late. Maeve destroyed the Tara portal,” I said.

His eyes shifted among the portals. “That’s better than I hoped.”

Dylan’s calm voice filled my head. We can’t hold this much longer.

The Boston portal started to mist like the other doors had when Samhain ended. I pointed at it with the spear. “You’re trapped, Vize. Order your people to stand down. Surrender to the Guild authorities, and no one gets hurt.”

Vize leaned forward on his saddle, chuckling. “I appreciate your intent, but, unfortunately, that would be inconvenient.”

“They follow you. If you die, they’ll get the message where this is heading for them,” I said.

He looked down at the sword, then at me. “Since when does the Guild act as executioner?”

“I’m not Guild anymore, thanks to you. My perspective has changed.”

I brought the spear to my shoulder. I meant to use it for what it was — a spear — but something happened. Something I didn’t do. The spear shuddered in my hand, drawing in essence on its own. The air thickened with pressure, and the spear glowed white. Vize’s dream mare screamed and backed away. Vize grappled with the reins as the ground trembled. A wave of dizziness hit me, and my vision narrowed. Pain stabbed behind my eyes, the dark mass scuttling like a crab across my brain. Shouting, Vize clutched at his temples. A roaring filled my ears, a howling of wind. The light of the spear faltered, and the pain in my head subsided. The darkness swelled in my head, a dark blot driving away the light.

Vize looked dazed. Fear etched across the nixie’s face as she clutched his back. She pointed over my head. Outside the stone circle, a blank wall of darkness hung above the horizon. The nothingness from the forest had grown, stretching across the sky in a silent curtain of deepest black. It had no depth or dimension, stretching in all directions beyond sight.

They’re breaking through.

Dylan’s sending drew my attention back to the portal entrance. More winged solitaries filled the air, the Dead joining Vize’s companions. Excitement built among the fighters as Dylan’s shield barrier collapsed. Riders on horseback and the Dead on strange beasts spilled through the entrance and flooded into the field.

Fall back! Fall back! Ceridwen sent. She retreated from the entrance stones, a host of solitaries and Danann fairies pressing her back. A continuous discharge of essence-fire exploded from her hands as she drew strength from the air. I had no idea how long she could keep that up. Even Faerie queens had to have their limits.

I ducked away from a flash of movement in my peripheral vision. Too late. The nixie sailed through the air and dug her claws into my shoulder. I dropped my sword and spun in place, trying to pull her off. I yelled as she sank her teeth into the back of my neck. Joe dove in, sparks flying from his sword when it slammed against her body shield. I jabbed at her with the spear, but the angle was wrong. I stretched my arm out as far as I could for another stab when the spear yanked out of my hand. The nixie’s claws dug deeper, and she leaped away.

Joe chased her as she spun over a knot of fighters battling the Dead. With a squeal of manic joy, she caught the mane of Vize’s horse and swung herself onto its neck. The Dead and Vize’s riders swirled between us in a confusion of fighting. I lost sight of them. The air became thick with essence and war cries from across time. Strange dark animals scurried across the grass or launched themselves into the air, horned and scaled things I didn’t recognize. I grabbed my sword from the ground. Frantic, I searched for the spear.

The fight churned, the heads of the mounted riders rising and falling in the melee. Dream mares screamed as the Dead pressed the advantage of close quarters. The darkness in my head recoiled enough for me to sense essence again. I felt the spear nearby. The mob shifted, and Vize appeared lunging his way through the battle. In a raised fist, he had the spear. He had taken it from me.

I opened my mind for the spear. I pictured it in my hand, let it feel my desire for it. I had a strange double vision, the spear in my mind flaring and the one in Vize’s hand twirling away from him. But it didn’t come to me. The image in my head slipped away, its burning white essence fading. Vize had the spear, or the spear had him. The bright light in my vision dwindled while the dark mass pulsed with renewed strength. The spear was no longer bonded to me.

A shaft of essence tore through the throng. Meryl charged through in its wake, her eyes blazing yellow. She cut a path forward, swinging the sword with one hand and firing essence with the other. When she reached me, she pressed her back against mine and kept fighting. Joe returned in a whirling frenzy, the blue flame of his sword burning in the air.

Move toward the portal, Meryl sent.

“I can’t. Vize has the spear,” I shouted. There was no way I was leaving it with him. I tried not to laugh at the string of cursing Meryl let fly. Swords flailing, we pushed across the field, moving closer to Vize. He reined in the horse, managing to keep it still. Standing in the stirrups, he leaned well back. He threw the spear.

The sounds of battle faded from my awareness as I watched the spear rise, unable to stop it. It seared a streak of flaming orange essence across the air, not toward me, but up. With a concussive blast, the spear struck Ceridwen between the shoulder blades. She heaved upward with the force of the blow, and the spearhead erupted from her chest. A golden halo flared around her, bursting outward in a shock wave. The wave front knocked her airborne adversaries out of the sky and threw everyone to the ground. As we fell in a tangle, Meryl instinctively hardened her body shield around us. Heat scorched the air, and I screamed as the thing in my mind spiked.

Ceridwen fell. Her essence wave collapsed with a sonic boom, and she fell with a sickening slowness, her lifeless wings flapping and ballooning like limp sails as she twirled down on currents of essence. She hit the ground near the pillar stone in the center of the field. The circle’s essence flickered, and the ground rippled like water.

I struggled to my feet and helped Meryl up. Bodies lay around us in a blasted circle of scorched earth, the Dead as well as Vize’s own fighters. His own fighters. He didn’t care about his own people.

“Good Mother,” Meryl whispered.

Across the field, Vize’s mount churned in a mass of panicked fighters, the nixie’s body shield a shimmering halo of blue light around them. The dark thing in my head jumped, spiking again. Incredible pain fanned the rage within me. A muddy red blurred my vision as I swung my sword. Everyone and everything fell back from me, the Dead and riders alike. My sword grew hot, its plating darkening, and my arm throbbed with the heat.

As people scrambled away, Dylan appeared out of the confusion on the field. He was closer to Vize, close enough to reach him first, and he hit him with essence-fire. It crackled across the nixie’s shield. The mare shied and bucked from the scattered overflow fire. He hit them again, but the nixie deflected. Dylan gathered white-hot essence in his hands and ran at them. With an amazing leap, he became airborne for a moment, hands burning through the nixie’s shield. When his fingers tangled in her hair, he ripped her from Vize’s back. They fell grappling, arms and legs in a frenzy. He shook her off and flung her away. As she landed, she rolled hard on the ground and vanished.

Unprotected, Vize charged through the fighters, the dream mare knocking people aside as he pressed toward the Boston portal. I cut across the field into their path and faced them head-on. The startled mare reared over me, her hooves flailing at my head. I dodged as she came down and bucked.

Vize lost his helm. His hair whipped around him as he fought to control the horse. I darted in and grabbed the harness. The mare jerked her head back, lifting me off my feet. I swung my sword as the momentum brought me within range of Vize’s exposed face. His sword came up under mine and parried me away.

A shock jolted us both when our blades met. Black vapor burst into the air between us. I fell, screaming, as the dark thing in my head writhed. I landed on my feet, fighting for balance and pivoting on my heel. Vize dangled from the saddle with his ankle caught in the stirrup. The horse lunged forward, and Vize slipped farther, his head and shoulders hitting the ground. My vision turned dark, pain bleeding from my eyes. The dream mare screamed again and reared. As his leg pulled free, Vize flipped into the air. He landed on his back at my feet, and I raised the sword over my head, blade down.

I flinched as a white streak of essence blossomed in my mind. The spear had returned to me, bonding to my essence and driving back the dark mass. I looked down at Vize, his eyes wide with the knowledge I was going to kill him.

“Your face!” he said.

I plunged the blade down. It struck barren earth as Vize faded away. I staggered back, my breath ragged as the sword shuddered in the ground. I inhaled and pulled it free. Beside me, Dylan had the dream mare by the reins. She stamped in place, but didn’t pull away. He stared at me with a look of horror. “Connor?”

I heard him. I heard him, but couldn’t speak. It took every ounce of energy to fight the pain in my head. My left arm shook as I focused on the darkness, refusing to give in to it. The mesh on my arm burned with cold, the essence of TirNaNog pouring into it, the essence of the Dead. The darkness receded.

“Connor?” Dylan said again.

I didn’t get a chance to answer him. Screams went up across the field. The Dead fled from the center crescent of stones as fierce bolts of golden essence scoured the ground.

“She’s alive,” I said in disbelief. I didn’t recognize my own voice. “Ceridwen’s alive, Dyl. Get me over there.”

Whatever he saw in my face, he seemed relieved to hear me speak. He mounted the dream mare and pulled me up. We rode back to the center. Vize’s remaining riders clustered on the opposite side of the trilithons, fighting off the Dead.

My gut twisted when I saw red armor. Flanked by Meryl and Joe, Ceridwen lay faceup, the point of the spear protruding from her chest above her heart. The length of the spear held her twisted off the ground. Her body essence shone with a pale light, cycling dimmer and dimmer with each breath.

I jumped and sank beside her. “Ceridwen? Can you hear me?”

Her eyelids fluttered open. “What happened?”

“Vize tried to kill you.”

She inhaled with a wet sucking sound. “He may yet succeed.”

“Hang on, Ceridwen. We’re going to get you out of here.”

“Don’t leave my body here, macGrey.”

“I won’t. And I told you, my name is Grey.”

Ceridwen grabbed my shirt. “Listen to me, Grey.”

“Ceridwen, don’t move.”

Her eyes became brighter. “I lied, Grey. Maeve betrayed us. She refused to lead her warriors in and leave them with me. She could have done it and left unscathed, but she refused, Grey.”

I stared down at her in shock. “She refused?”

Ceridwen grimaced as she nodded. “She said your city’s sacrifice would serve Tara’s security. She doesn’t care if Vize gets through to Boston.”

The dark mass roiled within me, anxious to be released again. I kept it back by sheer willpower, letting the light of the spear in my mind keep it from growing again. I grabbed Ceridwen’s hand and leaned in close. “Stay with me, Ceridwen. I’m going to get you out of this, and then we are going to kick some serious Seelie Court ass. Deal?”

She tried to laugh. Blood speckled her lips when the laugh turned into a cough. Not a good sign. “Deal, macGrey.”

If I had never had reason to despise Maeve, I had one now. I marked the distance to the Boston portal. Vize’s remaining riders and some of the Dead pushed toward it. A long way to go through more fighting. The haze in the portal had deepened. I could make out city lights on the other side, but morning was coming to Boston. Samhain was ending, and the portal would close with the dawn.

I lifted Ceridwen gently. “Take her out, Dyl. Find Gillen or Briallen. We need her alive.”

Dylan generated a levitation spell to lift her. We positioned her sideways in front of him, the spear jutting out to either side. A small hope rose in my chest when Ceridwen lifted a hand to hold Dylan’s collar. It slipped off. Her head slumped against his shoulder, her essence sputtering.

“Get on!” Dylan yelled down to us.

“No, you need speed. Get out of here.” I slapped the mare hard on the rump with my sword. She bucked forward before Dylan had any more say in the matter. The fighters fell back at his approach, frightened by the wave of essence he fired in front of him. They swirled into the wake of his passing.

Meryl leaned against the pillar stone watching Dylan ride off. “We’re never going to get through that,” she said.

He reached the portal. The dream mare’s hooves lit with fire as they lifted from her smoky essence. They dove through the haze. A boiling rush of green flame erupted from the door as the Taint from the other side seared through the riders and the Dead. A wind filled with screams roared into the circle. Meryl and I clung to each other as the pillar stone shifted.

“Get out of here,” I shouted.

She tilted her head up to me and smiled. No one should die alone.

I searched her face, traced every curve and line of it with my eyes. I stared down at this person who had done everything I ever asked of her. And more. I saw something, something beyond physical attraction, this brilliant glow of uncommon beauty I couldn’t begin to put words to. My chest ached as I closed my eyes and kissed her, feeling her lips against mine, not with the hunger of sex but the essence beyond it.

I broke the kiss. Meryl smiled from under her bangs. I leaned down and kissed the top of her head, then ripped the silver branch from her jacket. Even with the storm of sound around us, the brooch made a metallic ping as I flung it among the trilithons. Meryl’s eyes went huge with realization. She lunged for me, trying to use me as her anchor in TirNaNog, but I stepped out of her reach.

“Connor!” Meryl screamed as she felt whatever the sensation was that dropped her out of TirNaNog. She vanished. Somewhere on the other side of the Boston portal, the true side where Boston was and my life had been, a supremely angry druidess was reappearing. I didn’t care. No matter how pissed she was at that moment, she was damned well alive, too.

Joe hovered by my shoulder and spoke very quietly in my ear. “I hope you realize I can’t shield you like she could.”

I nodded. Another gust of Taint blew from the door. The force of it sent Joe into a spiraling tumble as a sliver of intense white light pierced the mottled green. It shot hard and true at me, burning in my mind, the bond solidifying with a brilliant spasm in my head. I caught the spear one-handed, and it pulled me off my feet. It burned in my hand, not with the intense cold it once had, but with a white-hot fire. It stabbed the ground at the foot of the pillar stone, twisting and writhing as it sucked essence from the ring itself, great waves rippling through the stone circle. The Taint channeled into me, coursing down my arm and into the spear.

Standing stones cracked. The entire circle warped and swayed. The stones on the sides of the entrance avenue caved inward, pulling down the standing stones and lintels to either side. The adjacent stones fell next, pulling the next set with them. Standing stone after standing stone after standing stone buckled and fell.

Joe tugged at my ear. “Come on! The Way is closing!”

It was more than closing. It was collapsing. As the standing stones tumbled into the circle, they released torrential waves of essence. The circle was half-gone, a tangled heap of crumbling stone. A boulder came flying through the air. Joe screamed as his body shredded into ribbons of pink. The boulder tore through him, and the shreds scattered outward. Joe was still screaming when he snapped back. “I can’t teleport. The Way is closed!”

“The portal! Get out of here, Joe!” I yelled.

He buzzed into my face. I had never seen him so angry and so afraid. He trembled as he turned this way and that, as if looking for an answer to the destruction around us. He flew off, essence waves knocking him about like a leaf on the wind. He dove at the ground and looped back up. He reached the Boston portal as cracks bled up the standing stones to either side of it. Our eyes met one more time as he paused in front of the haze. He flew through to Boston.

Everyone was safe. I was alone.