THE MORRIGAN CHRONICLES

MORRIGAN

The tightness in my chest loosened at seeing Neil safely turn the corner. He was free. He would get the sword back to Conall. Half of this quest was accomplished.

The Godless King turned to us and smiled wickedly. “Put them in the cages. We will be feasting tonight!”

The other Godless cheered and we were picked up and carried further into the castle to a dungeon.

The guard enjoyed throwing us into the cell, but I was glad that we weren’t separated.

“Well we safely got the sword of the Tuatha out of here and on its way home. Now all we have to do is escape, find the weapons, and a way back to our realm,” I said with more cheer in my voice than normal.

“So, this is what you would consider a good day?” Cian said, smiling, leaning against the wall.

My spirits were light. I replied, “I didn’t think they would let Neil just go. And look… they didn’t take our weapons.” I smiled, wiggling my swords.

Emrys chimed in as gloomily as ever, “That’s because they plan on using those as toothpicks to pick our bones out of their teeth.”

Cian ignored the comment. “Emrys, can you blast them and freeze the King so we can question him as to where the weapons are then get back home?”

Emrys stared at Cian blankly before replying, “Blast them? Really Cian? It’s a lot more complicated than that!”

I could feel Emrys’ temper bubbling. “I assume by blasting them you mean can I create fire from thin air and hit them with pinpoint accuracy? Is that what you mean?”

Cian didn’t pay any attention to Emrys’ tantrum. “Yes, that’s exactly what I mean. Blasting.” He smiled playfully.

Emrys threw his hands up in the air and sat down. Wearily he replied, “Magic is not… magic. Things do not just happen. I cannot create anything. What I do is more like transfer, or manipulate elements. I can tap into the life, the energy, around me and use that to do my bidding. There is no life here. Even the Godless themselves are almost lifeless. You saw them. They’re like husks, shells of what they were. Their souls are not even enough to power a small flame to light a cigarette.”

Emrys shook his head helplessly. “I can draw upon my own essence but not enough to take them all out.”

Cian nodded. “Can you draw upon us?” He looked at me as he spoke.

Emrys shook his head. “I’m not willing to do that.”

I started to interject but Cian interrupted me. “Let me rephrase then. Can you draw upon me?”

Emrys sat still. Without looking up he made the smallest of gestures. A nod.

Cian slapped Emrys’ back and sounded jolly. “Well it’s a good thing you’re going to draw upon me rather than Morrigan. I’m more powerful anyway, and have the strength to spare.” Then winked at me.

I couldn’t help but burst into laughter. “You’re an ass.” But there was no bite to my words.

“I will do my best to not drain you, Cian,” Emrys said. I could tell he was developing a plan.

I turned and put my hands on each side of my old friend’s face. “You will draw upon me if you have to. I won’t take no for an answer.”

Before Emrys could say any more, one of the Godless came back and began unlocking our cell.

The door to our cell was small to him. He squeezed his hand in to grab me. I took the opportunity and drew my swords, driving them into the center of his palm. Before he could retract I twisted them, thrusting upwards so his palm was face up. Cian put his hands on mine and helped me drive straight down, pinning his hand. The Godless screamed and used his other hand to try to pry it free. Cian and I used all of our combined strength to hold him. Emrys quickly grabbed the long sword strapped to Cian’s back and sliced open the wrist of the Godless.

Blood that looked like honey began to flow. With each pump of his panicked heart, more blood oozed into the room. The entire floor was covered in it. It was thick and oily. I picked my boot up and could feel it stick a little.

The Godless still fought to free his hand but he was weakening.

Emrys stood at the edge of the bars. The large eyeball’s lid began to flutter and droop. Emrys turned and placed a hand on the wrist of the Godless and spoke. I felt the magic thick in the air. Worry gripped me over how much it would cost Emrys. “Where do we find the weapons? The ones that will kill the Gods.”

The weak Godless couldn’t resist the compulsion. “You have it at this very moment. It is not magical weapons that we have. It is our blood. A weapon, any weapon, dipped in our blood will kill a God.” We stood in shock and looked at one another.

Cian broke the silence. “Explains why they aren’t keen on sharing their weapons.”

I nodded. They were grotesque creatures, but I couldn’t help but pity them. I was sad for them. An entire thriving realm almost destroyed. Down to only a few dozen that we planned to wipe out and now drain them of their blood in order to save our own realm. Guilt gripped my chest. I thought of my children. Of my people. I hated this.

Cian sensed my feelings. I’m not sure if it was a remnant of our bonding or if he could just relate since both of us had experienced near extinction of our people.

He still held his hands over mine, helping me hold the swords down. His hands softened since the Godless had no more fight in him and he said, barely above a whisper, “We haven’t a choice but it doesn’t make this any easier. We do the dirty work. We would be monsters if we didn’t feel the weight of it.”

I didn’t trust him. Not for a second. I knew in every fiber of myself that he was helping us for his own agenda. But I also knew he meant what he said and he was one of the few people that truly understood the burden I felt.

The Godless went limp as the life bled out of him. I pulled the swords out and we pushed his arm back through the door.

Time to do this.

“Emrys, how are you doing? You good?” I dipped my swords in the blood that covered the floor of the cell and appraised him as best I could. He was still a mystery to me, and even I had trouble reading him at times.

“Right as rain, love,” he said, more lightheartedly than I was comfortable with. I knew he was hiding how weak he felt.

I kept my mask so I didn’t betray my thoughts.

Cian must have had the same concern. He began dipping his weapons in the blood as well. “Morrigan, how about you and I work on taking these guys out? Emrys, let’s hold you back as a reserve and only use your power if one of us is in dire trouble.”

Emrys nodded in agreement. That couldn’t be good. He would never agree to this if he were at full strength.

Emrys led the way out of our cell. Cian and I exchanged a knowing glance. It was up to us.

We made our way without any trouble back to the throne room. Peeking around the corner, we saw the remainder of the Godless standing around, anticipating the guard’s return. To feast upon us.

“Now, how are the three of us supposed to feed that many?” Cian said, trying to lighten the mood.

Ignoring him I tilted my head towards the crowd. “Okay, let’s go.”

Cian grabbed my elbow, turning me to him. “Shouldn’t we have a plan?”

Emrys stifled a chuckle. Cian looked at him, puzzled. Emrys held up one hand while holding his belly with the other silently laughing. “I forget you’ve always been on the other side of things. A plan?” Emrys chuckled a few more times. “That’s a good one. You really are funny, Cian.”

Cian looked at me, confused. I replied to his unasked question. “Yes, we have a plan. We go in there and kill them.”

I took off before Cian could point out the flaw in my plan. That it wasn’t a plan at all. The one thing I had learned was that there were times when you could plan an attack and that other times you had to just fight like hell to live and hope the Creator would grace you with victory.

As I ran, the fury that I’d been holding in began to build and come to the surface. This wasn’t anger. I wanted to unleash the wrath that I felt. The pain of losing my people. The pain of Neil’s betrayal. The pain at knowing that if we failed my realm would be destroyed. The pain that knowing the Gods had been plotting for centuries. The pain at having to wipe out the last of a race of beings. All of it, I let that ferociousness build in me and focused it.

The first Godless didn’t know what hit him. I slashed through his Achilles and as he dropped to one knee I slit his testicles and ripped open his femoral artery. Before he could fall on me I climbed up his back and drove my swords into the carotid artery of the Godless next to him. A woman. She yelled as I held onto my sword with all my body weight as it slid through her skin, ripping it.

I jumped down as she fell and had to do a backflip out of the way of another Godless that was falling. Apparently Cian had joined the fight and had three down already.

“I’m winning! Three to two!” he yelled as he used the

Achilles/testicle/femoral attack that I just had. “Make that four to two!” “Prick!” I grimaced as I screamed it. Wow Morrigan, that was witty.

The Godless had shaken off their surprise and were now on the offensive. I jumped up at the nearest one and drove my sword deep into his chest. Before I could do more damage, his hand came up to grab at me so I pushed off and onto the next one. I landed on the shoulder of one of the guards. I plunged my long sword deep into his eye. Two of his friends were steps away. I turned and threw both of my medium swords and hit both of their eyes as well. I pulled my long sword out and as the other two fell to the ground I went to retrieve my medium swords.

As I was pulling the second one out a Godless kicked me and I flew into the wall. I fell to the ground hard enough to rattle me. I stood as he raised his spear—then he froze.

Cian emerged on his shoulder, having driven his sword into the base of the giant’s skull.

The ass winked. “You’re welcome, Red!”

I rolled my eyes and got back into the fight. I took down two more, getting back into my stride.

I looked to see Cian struggling to fight off three that had him cornered. I ran with all my speed and slashed them all through the Achilles. As they fell Cian stabbed their eyes.

“Those count as mine, and I should get double points for saving your sorry ass,” I said as I headed back to the fight. I could feel his smile even though I never looked back.

I couldn’t help myself but add, “And you’re welcome!”

Cian fell in next to me and we continued fighting. We slashed our way to the throne where the King sat watching, as if it were a show. A guard stood on each side of him, the carnage of their people not affecting them in any way.

Emrys was beside me as we advanced towards the King.

The King stood and laughed. “No worries, boys. Now we each get a whole one to eat. A great feast indeed!”

The guards snorted and grunted laughter. There was no joy in their voices. If there was a sound to define wicked that was it.

The King said, “I am not weak like the rest of these fools. I am not King for nothing!”

Emrys, always the inquisitive one, couldn’t help himself. “You have to answer me one question before this ends. We learned that it’s the blood of your people that enchants weapons dipped in them to kill the Gods. How did that come to be?”

The King looked baffled that this man was asking such a question when he was surely going to face death. He obviously didn’t know Emrys. Even if Emrys believed that he really was going to die, he’d still rattle off at least twenty questions.

The King’s bulbous eye squinted at him. “What the hell. You will die anyway. Long ago one of our Goddesses fell in love with me.”

The look of disgust on Cian’s face distracted the King. “What? I’m very handsome and charismatic.”

Cian shook his head. The King went on. “She had told me about the unrest of the Gods. She warned me that something was going on and that someone with great magic from another realm could help. A witch was brought here and she promised she could create a weapon that would kill a God, but it would come at a price. I didn’t ask the cost. We needed something to protect ourselves. She performed a ritual and that was that. It’s our blood. Not just a little blood either. Although it only takes a little of our blood to coat a weapon and it only needs to be coated once for it to always be a God killer, it has to come from one of us that was completely drained.”

The King was mad from centuries of famine, thirst, and the demise of his people. He was wicked and cruel, no doubt. But in that moment the madness had lifted and I saw only his pain.

The King shook off the lucidity and trained his eye on me. He raised

his hands above his head and a massive ball of white fire began to grow.

He growled, “I told you I was not King for nothing!”

The ball had grown to at least twenty feet in diameter and it shot straight for us faster than we would be able to move. We would not make it.

Emrys threw up a shield and dissipated the fire. The instant it burned out he unleashed a wave of the same white fire back at the King and the guards. The King had no shield. The fireball hit them squarely. Their gargled screams only lasted an instant. They fell and smoldered, and the fire burned out as their lives did.

Emrys fell to the ground.

I was on him immediately. “Emrys, take some of my energy. Take it, damn it. You need it.”

He placed his weak hand on my shoulder. “Bitch, I’m planning on it,” he said wearily with a half-hearted laugh.

I teared up laughing. I always felt better when he was being his sassy self. I felt the pull and drain on my power.

Emrys sat up, still very weak.

“You didn’t take enough,” I urged, embracing him.

“I took enough to stay alive. We’re the only living creatures in this realm. As long as I don’t have to blast,” he paused, rolling his eyes playfully at Cian, “anyone anytime soon. I just need to rest. I’ll be fine.”

Cian kneeled down next to us. “Everyone is dead. There is no more threat. By now Neil has taken the sword safely back. Emrys, you rest as long as you need. Morrigan and I will try to find something to put the blood of the Godless in.”

Emrys shook his head. “We need as much as we can get, and how are we going to travel a full day, even when I’ve regained my strength, with all of it? No, that won’t work.”

Cian tilted his head. “Then what? You want to not take it?”

Emrys shook his head in protest. “No, not what I meant. I have an idea. Morrigan, you’re not going to like it, but it’s the only viable option.” I held my breath but said nothing, so he could continue.

“Cian, I am too weak at the moment, but if you let me draw on your power I can reverse the Cup of Plenty. Instead of pouring an unending supply of water from it, we can put all the blood we want into it. So it’s an unending container of sorts.”

Emrys was right. I didn’t like the thought of him doing something that would drain him even more. I knew he would take little of Cian’s power and use most of his own. Fear bubbled up into my throat.

Cian pulled the Cup of Plenty from the tattoo on his arm. “Use as much of my power as you need. We need every drop of their blood we can gather.”

I sat there feeling helpless, staring at them. They held hands, looking at one another. It took me a moment to realize what was happening. Emrys had asked Cian to let him speak into his mind and Cian had agreed. They were having a conversation that I couldn’t hear. The only reason Emrys wouldn’t want me to hear it was because he thought this was dangerous.

“No!” I screamed.

I hadn’t stopped screaming before it began. Both of their eyes had turned white. The cup rose into the air, a golden glowing halo radiating from it. Blood from the room began to form spiraling spinning droplets in the air. The blood that was on the floor, the blood that was still in their bodies, the blood that was in our cell streamed into the room. The spiral spun faster and faster until it looked like a giant tornado overhead. I looked away from it at Emrys and Cian. They hadn’t moved. The bottom point of the blood tornado spun until it hovered above the Cup and as the white disappeared from both Emrys and Cian’s eyes the blood drained into the Cup.

It fell to the ground with a clang as the two men’s bodies slumped over. I was on Emrys in an instant. He was breathing, thank the Creator. I could hear his heartbeat. It was weak. I cried and tried to push my magic into him, but I only have a little magic compared to the great Druid. I only prayed it helped. His heart began to beat more strongly. I could hear it. It wasn’t much, but it would have to suffice.

Cian began to mumble incoherently.

I went to him and knelt down. “Cian? Can you hear me? Are you okay?”

He was barely audible, even to me. “Just need rest.”

Then he passed back out. They were both alive, but on the brink of being lost. I had no idea if either of them would make it. I dragged both of them to a corner of the room and then grabbed the Cup. I sat with my back against the wall and both of their heads on my lap.

Then I prayed and waited.