Besides warnings and shooing us away, Dagda did nothing to help us get off his disappearing island. That meant we had to get off the island the old fashioned way. By running.
Like the magical mist that transported me to Tir na nOg so many times, the Isle of Hybrasail sifted away. If we didn’t leave, we’d be stuck and the Bay Area would be doomed. Only a small bit of land remained, leaving us walking along a sandbar in the middle of the sea. Slowly the sand sank, leaving us little time to enter Scuabtuinne and head back to the Bay Area.
Problem was, with the rising tide, the boat was now floating a ways off. I’d conquered my aquaphobia. Mostly. But when water is rising all around you and you find yourself in the middle of an ocean, you start to freak out a little bit.
Strands of water lifted from the sea, shooting up and over like a fancy water fountain. An archway formed of pure water and in its center spun a vortex of swirling ocean. The vortex opened and a Herculean figure stepped out. He hefted a trident. A crown made of coral reef donned a head covered with a thick mane of salmon colored hair.
It was none other than Manann mac Lir, king of Tir fo Thuinn, whose boat I’d stolen again, and whose sword Fragarach I’d been liberally using to battle monsters ever since I escaped his dungeon.
He had no words for me. Only the wrath of the seven seas. I could tell by the tsunami of focused rage behind his eyes.
“Well, this was fun,” said Aengus Og. “But you know I don’t do drama. Goodbye Sean and friends.” With a wave he both acknowledged his uncle and dismissed him. An instant later the swan-like coward flew off into the horizon, leaving me to deal with an angry Tuatha.
One moment he crushed his trident in an iron grip. The next moment the trident shot like a missile for my head.
Were it not for my Good Luck prompting me to dodge, I would have been kabobed on the end. I ducked under the three pronged fork, but not under his follow up hook punch.
The sand rushed up to meet me and greeted my face like cement. Pain as sharp as a knife’s edge stabbed my head. I spit out blood, but clawed the sand until I got to my feet.
My friends sprang into action as we were suddenly without the Aengus Og’s affectionate charms and thus the Selkies who traveled with us now turned against us. They shifted from loveable seals to trident bearing warriors. We found ourselves outmanned and outmatched.
Gavin gave into the beast yet again. The turning seemed easier for him now, and that worried me. It did not worry Manann mac Lir in the slightest. His herculean figure was not all show. Though fire erupted from my dragon brother’s open maw, water rose up from the sea clashing with the flames, guided by Manann’s willpower. Smoke billowed from Gavin’s snout, but try as he might, he’d been snuffed out.
With a mighty bellow the king of the sea wrangled my brother by the neck and wrestled the great dragon to the seashore. My brother writhed under each of Manann’s pummeling fists until he shifted back to his human form, beaten.
All around us the tide rose and the sand bar we stood on shrank. Water played around my ankles forcing me to backpedal to dryer sand for a place to stand.
Charice, Rob, and Tain faired not much better against the Selkies. I had to remind myself not to kill any of these soldiers. They were not my real enemy. And they were only acting under loyal obligation. Though he was a huge jerk, Manann mac Lir still fought for Order against Chaos. To kill his soldiers was to align myself with Chaos. I just wished he saw it that way too. I resisted the urge to pull out Jade, and least of all Fragarach.
With a flurry of blows I unleashed the most effective kata combo I could without sending anyone to the afterlife. Soldiers crumbled like broken sand castles all around me.
But as I dismantled his team, Manann dismantled mine. My friends knelt in the disappearing sand nursing wounds.
Only two men stood. Mac Lir and me.
He leveled his trident at me and I decided it was a good time to draw the crystalline sword from the depths of my jacket.
The aquatic sword rippled like a wave.
A glint twinkled in Manann’s pupils. “Give me Fragarach, boy.”
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“Later,” I said.
Manann was not expecting that answer. “What?”
“I can give it back after I stop Donn.”
Manann guffawed. “You? Stop Donn the Red, lord of the dead. Impossible.”
“I’ve stood toe to toe with him before. I’ll do it again.”
“He’ll not give you the mercy I will. He’ll snatch the blade from you and cause more devastation then you could imagine. Give me the sword before you deliver it to him and make him that much more powerful.”
“Without Fragarach I don’t have a chance of stopping him. Join me. Help me protect my realm.”
“I’m already failing to protect MY realm. Without Fragarach the tides have favored the Fomorians. We’ve lost battles against Tethra no thanks to you, Sean O’Farrell. Many Selkie lives have been lost, again, no thanks to you.”
Guilt stung me worse than rubbing alcohol in a bleeding cut. But I cast it off. I didn’t have time for shame. Besides, I didn’t steal the sword for selfish reasons. I did it to avenge my sister and end the Kelpie. And since then, I’d put the sword to good use.
“Countless spawns of Chaos have fallen under the edge of this blade since it jumped into my hands. I’m not your enemy. Help me.” I whiled the blade, drawing on the water around us, both as a precaution and to show Manann that I had full control of the sword’s abilities.
“Hand over Fragarach, or I’ll rip it from your dead, dry hands.”
I shook my head. “If you’re not behind Fragarach, I’ll see you in front of it.”
Manann’s thick mustache twisted up as he snarled. He thrust the trident at me like an accusatory finger, but pulled it back as quick as he shot it forward. Confusion clouded my mind for a moment. The sound of a crashing wave snuck up behind me. Manann had summoned a wave with that motion. Before I could dodge the wave, it swept me up.
I flipped head over heels until I blasted into an immovable object. The wave broke against Manann like he was a rocky shore. With hands that dwarfed mine, he tried to rip Fragarach from my grasp. Emerald Luck ribbons wove around Fragarach and my hand, sowing the sword into my grip. He’d have to break the magic to get the sword. Or break me.
He chose the latter.
After the third strike to my face, I really wanted to let go of the sword. But I kept a picture of Mom and Aiden’s faces in my mind. With each strike, their faces became blurrier until the only thought I maintained was a single phrase. Hold firm. Hold firm. Hold.
The last strike to my head broke my Luck magic, and me.
Limp, I slipped from his hold as he took Fragarach, the one chance I had at stopping Donn.
The king of the sea hovered over me. It seemed that a fight waged in his own head. Let me go? Or end me?
He raised the sword over his head, the decision made.
A beam of Luck magic shot out of my hand.
Manann hesitated. “You missed.”
“No I didn’t.” A bloody smirk crossed my lips. “Good Luck does wonders for my dog.”
A werewolf’s clawed haymaker raked a strike across the side of the sea king’s head. He reeled back, knocked senseless by the raw strength Tain exerted on his face. But Tain did’t let up. In werewolf form his muscles matched the bulk of Manann and then some. The Tuatha shook off his dizziness and charged. They crashed together like the two walls of the Red Sea.
I wanted, needed to watch the combat, but my brother and girlfriend hauled me to my feet. Sea water soaked my clothes. The water level jumped up to my calves. While Manann was distracted we hopped into the bobbing wave sweeper.
The sand disappeared altogether, leaving werewolf and sea king in knee deep waters. Dad and Manann battered each other’s faces, neither blocking their opponent’s strikes. They both took blows to the head that would put me in a coma or kill me outright. Gavin and I should be helping, but Manann proved to be more man than us. My dad not so much though. In werewolf form he stood toe to toe with the Tuatha.
An idea jumped into my head. I commanded the magical boat straight into Manann. The boat obeyed and shot forward like a battering ram. Good thing too. At that point, Manann had his fingers woven into Tain’s mane of wolf hair, and was pulling his head back at a dangerous angle so that Tain’s neck might snap.
The boat smashed into mac Lir, but he held onto Tain. He raised Fragarach and pointed the tip at the werewolf’s heart.
A hoarse scream escaped my mouth.
I wasn’t expecting an answer. But I got one.
From the vortex archway galloped a beautiful mare. Light poured through her translucent body.
“Enbarr.” I said her name like a sigh of relief. Manann was her master, but she had a mind of her own. She galloped along the top of the water because she was water. She butted between the sea king and the werewolf rising up on her hind legs and bucked at Manann.
“Down girl. Down. Fool of a horse.”
She snorted steam and shook out her flowing mane.
No harm would befall her from Manann though, no matter how much he wanted to finish Tain or me. The interruption seemed to remind him of the beating he’d taken. Swollen and bruised lumps and scrapes disfigured his face. The fight drained the regal air out of him. He puffed out his chest, glared at me, then gathered his Selkies and swam back through the watery vortex until is swirled out of sight.
Pain punished my body. I groaned. Charice kissed my cheek, happy I was still alive. Rob just grimaced at me, unable to stand the sight of his master taking a beatdown. Gavin eyed me, rubbing his sore neck.
Tain may have sent Manann running with his tail between his legs, but all my hopes of defeating Donn had just washed away when Manann took Fragarach back.