THE MORRIGAN CHRONICLES

THE WALK BACK to the rock seemed much longer. The hunger and thirst were making it a much slower trip. Emrys definitely wasn’t back to one hundred percent—not that Cian and I were—and he struggled with each step.

Finally the giant rock came into view.

Emrys stopped to speak. “We each have a traveling rock. If ever in the future we need to meet in a safe place we meet here. Keep it around your neck at all times.”

Cian and I nodded. Emrys had a way of always being prepared and thinking ahead. I wondered if it was because he knew what was coming or if it was just experience. Probably both but the foreboding look on his face gave me an uneasy feeling.

We each passed through the rock and came out through the Great Oak into Missouri. Our new home, as it were. I closed my eyes and lifted my face to the sky. It was night. No sun hanging frozen in the sky. The breeze brushed over my face. After having been in a void for so long the sounds that surrounded us seemed almost overwhelming.

Emrys put his hand on my shoulder. “Feels good to be back, doesn’t

it.”

“I’m starving and thirsty as shit, but I’ve never felt so happy,” I said sincerely.

We had a long walk back to our home but our pace quickened, the life around us fueling our souls. Emrys seemed to be soaking it in with each step. His chest rose higher, his shoulders straightened. My heart felt good seeing him strong again.

The large estate came into view. Lights illuminated the windows and judging from the moon’s position it was still before midnight. Judging by the moon… I loved this realm.

We made our way quickly, even jogging until we came up the stairs to the massive oak double doors. I pushed them open and we entered the hall. None of us spoke but the other two followed me straight to the kitchen.

When we got there I tossed them each two bottles of water and grabbed a couple for myself. We sat at the marble island chugging our water then began to reach into the Cauldron, pulling out everything we could think of.

The island was covered in smoked venison, braised beef, roasted potatoes and carrots as well as salmon and kelp, the latter obviously being Cian’s choice. We didn’t use plates or silverware. There were no manners to be seen.

Daur entered the kitchen. “Holy gods, welcome back,”he said, pulling up a stool and helping himself to the feast we had laid out. He didn’t bother with utensils either, but that was nothing new.

Finally, our thirst quenched and bellies full, we began to slow.

Daur continued to stuff his face and in between bites said, “So when did you get back? And why aren’t you in the big meeting with the King and everybody right now?”

He swallowed and added, “Can you believe everything that’s happened in the past two days?”

We looked at each other and rose without a word. We used the speed that only a supernatural had and raced to the King’s Library.

I burst through the doors first and stood center. Cian and Emrys flanked me.

We stood frozen for a moment, taking in the room. The large round table was occupied. Conall and Brian sat facing us. There were a few others I didn’t recognize. Neil sat with his back to us, his surprised face looking over his shoulder. The one that had us momentarily paralyzed was the figure that sat to Neil’s left. Artaius.

Suddenly, gathering our wits as if on cue, Emrys shot a white fireball at him as Cian and I threw our Godless soaked knives directly towards Artaius’ head. The scene unfolded in slow motion. Neil jumped out of his chair and in midair turned into the largest werewolf I’d ever seen, landing right in front of Artaius. Protecting him. The fireball and our knives headed straight for the giant wolf’s head. He never moved. Never flinched. He braced, making himself even bigger, to ensure he would be the target and not Artaius. Within inches of Neil, or the wolf… hellhound… or whatever he was, the knives dropped to the ground and the fireballs burned into nothing.

Artaius stood and slowly began clapping his hands. I still stared at Neil in his hellhound form. Yes, hellhound, that was it. His red lifeless eyes stared at me. Teeth bared, with black ooze slowly dripping from them. The matted hair on the back of his neck and back stood at attention. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him, though I know I heard Conall speaking.

I felt Daur come up behind me. He chewed on a turkey leg—though more meat was caught in his beard than went into his mouth—as he said, “Told ya. Fucked up.” Then he turned and continued down the hall.

“Conall!” I screamed in anger as I tried to move, but my feet were stuck.

I looked at Emrys and Cian and they were apparently experiencing the same problem.

“Just a precaution, dear Queen,” Artaius said smugly.

Conall’s face was furious and I saw him draw his sword. His sword. He had the sword of the Tuatha extended out to Artaius.

Artaius put his hands in the air nonchalantly, but his face showed no concern. “Easy now, good King.” He turned to the others at the table. “Why don’t we let King Conall get his Queen and her cohorts brought up to speed.” He turned to Conall and bowed. “We’ll resume this meeting another time.”

He smiled at me. The same wicked smile that the Godless King had. Lacking any kindness, integrity or good. He snapped his fingers. Neil and the others disappeared into thin air.

My feet were released from the ground and I stormed up to Conall. Myself, Cian and Emrys were on him in an instant. All screaming at the same time.

Conall put his sword back in his sheath and sat down, rubbing his hands over his face. Something he did when his patience was about to run out. I didn’t let that stop the barrage of insults I was slinging at him. Neither did the others. Brian took that as a sign to slip out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

Conall slapped the table and roared, “Enough!”

We stood in silence and Conall extended his arms. “Sit.”

He looked at Cian. “Cian, it’s been a long time since we’ve seen one another. I take it since Morrigan doesn’t have your head on a spike, that you are a friend?”

Cian had his sarcastic arrogant act back on point. “I thought I was, but seeing as how you are good buds with the God that killed my family and nearly wiped out my people, I’m going to have to reconsider this friendship.”

Conall nodded.

Before he could speak I interjected, “Artaius? And what is Neil doing as a hellhound? How long were we gone?”

He put his hands up before Emrys could begin an unending list of questions.

“Let me explain,” he said. He looked weary. “You have been gone but four days. Obviously a lot has happened. Neil came back and returned the sword to me. He told me you were detained and didn’t think you would make it back alive. I wasn’t concerned, I knew better than that,” he said, giving me his smile of surrender. “Brian and I continued with trainings and intelligence gathering. Neil came to see me to plead that there had to be another way other than going to war with the Gods. Having seen the land of the Godless and what their realm looked like, a victory over the Gods

would not be a victory at all if that was what we were left with.” “It was rather dreadful,” I confirmed.

“Yes, of course it is.” Conall moved on. “That’s why my plan was to only wipe out Artaius and his most trusted Gods, preventing the opening of the Hell realm, and then continuing on our merry way until the realms line up again in a few thousand years and they try a stunt like this again.” “Sounds smart enough,” Cian said, nodding.

“Yes, yes. It was a decent plan,” Conall said. “Except, I guess since I didn’t feel compelled to share my plan with the wise old great King of Erin, douchebag Neil himself, he decided to handle things on his own. Because I’m a moron King who only has hundreds of years of experience ruling and defeating evil.”

Conall’s anger threatened to surface but he got it under control. “Neil summoned Artaius…”

Emrys interrupted. “How was Neil able to summon Artaius?”

Conall shook his head. “Let me back up. Neil’s girlfriend Riley, the little Druid you left in charge, summoned Artaius for him.”

“What?” Emrys screamed. “Why that little ignorant dumb—”

I patted Emrys’ back. “They make quite the pair.”

Conall stared at the two of us impatiently, waiting for us shut up. So we did.

“As I was saying,” he said, looking at me. “Neil had Riley summon Artaius. Apparently Neil decided that he and his Knights were ill equipped to fight supernaturals. So Artaius offered the whole, ‘how about I turn you into hellhounds and you answer to me and we’ll fight together to keep Hell from being opened’ option.”

“Wait, what?” Cian said, shaking his head. “So Artaius is not trying to open hell? He’s lying!”

Conall shrugged. “I don’t know. When you walked in, I was meeting with Artaius, Neil as leader of the hellhounds, the new vampire King…”

He paused to look at me. “And yes, I said new vampire King because apparently you killed the previous one, which has unnerved Artaius.”

I smiled. “Good. Mission accomplished.”

Conall couldn’t help but smile. “I was none too upset to hear that. So anyway, we were meeting because Artaius wanted to offer a truce.”

Cian sneered. “He’ll deceive you! He deceived my father and my people and then once he got what he wanted he burned them. All of them! Children!”

Conall held Cian’s gaze as he said, “Cian, I do not doubt a word that you say. I don’t trust him, nor any of the Gods. But I did want to hear what he had to say. Whether I believe a word of it is another story.”

Cian leaned back in his chair, relieved. Conall said, “Artaius says that Lir and a few of the very powerful Gods are the ones that have pressed for the opening of hell, so that the demons may destroy everyone, in order to return back to the Creator.”

He turned to Emrys. “You were right on that.”

Conall leaned back in his chair and propped his feet on the table. “Artaius says that he and most of the lesser Gods fear that the Creator will exert his wrath, turning them into demons because of their involvement in this. That the Creator will not allow them into his realm because they had a hand in the destruction of this realm. He claims that they are playing along, appeasing Lir and the others but are really working to try to stop them, and have been working for centuries to come up with a contingency plan. Which is why he created vampires and hellhounds in the first place. To battle the demons. If the demons don’t destroy all of human life while the realms are aligned, then the Gods cannot leave. It’s also why he didn’t destroy us, or the Fomoire. He was supposed to. He put us to sleep in case he needed us in the future. The other Gods were tricked by that. He was forced to annihilate the Fomoire. He knew of Cian and his people but let them survive, hoping they would go into hiding, but also binding them from reproducing just in case.”

“Do you believe any of this?” Emrys asked.

Conall removed his feet from the table and leaned forward. “It doesn’t matter whether I believe him or not. I don’t trust him, and for every grain of truth he tells there are a hundred things he withholds. I do believe he’s playing both sides and hedging his bets. That has always been his way. He’s out for himself. I will work alongside him as long as it serves my purpose and my goals. We cannot have a realm without Gods. But we don’t have to have a realm with Artaius in it, either.”

Cian, Emrys and I all relaxed, Conall hadn’t lost his mind and began trusting Artaius.

Conall stood and leaned on the table. “You’ve been caught up. Cian, you are now King of the Fomoire, correct?” Cian nodded.

Conall extended his hand. “My brother, can we count on your alliance in this war?”

Cian grasped the King’s hand and then they embraced as our old customs would have it.

Emrys and I stood, and Conall addressed us all, “Whatever plan we develop, we keep our true plan confined to our people. No half druids, no vamps or hounds. We will determine the best course of action and all have input on how we do it.”

Conall placed his hands on my shoulder and kissed my cheek. “Welcome home, my Queen. Glad you’re back.”

He started to leave. “Morrigan, can you show Cian to a room? I believe the room next to yours is free. We’ll make arrangements for his people to come stay here. The Knights are no longer Knights, and as hellhounds, are not welcome.”

“Yes, my King,” I replied.

Emrys, Cian and I walked towards our rooms. Cian would reside next

to me and Emrys had the room across from mine. I felt a bond with these two like I had with no other. Kindred spirits.

We stopped in front of my room and I pointed to the door next to mine. “Cian, that’s your room. It should be well stocked.”

He nodded. I opened my door and grabbed each of their hands and pulled them in, shutting the door behind me.

We sat on my floor in a circle. Nobody said anything for several breaths.

“So your ex-boyfriend is now a hellhound,” Cian began. “Guess that makes the odds low you’ll be reconciling?”

We shared genuine laughter. The craziness of the past few days componded with the absurdity of the last hour was released.

“Either of you tired?” Emrys asked.

We shook our heads.

Emrys gave us his biggest ornery smile—the one I knew all too well. “Good. This realm is literally headed for Hell and we need a plan. No offense Morrigan, but running in and kicking ass isn’t the best plan this time.”

“None taken,” I said giddily. I was made for this. The look on Cian’s face told me he was up for it as well.

“Well then my friends,” Emrys began, “let’s begin planning something that they will never see coming.”